♪ What comes next? You've been freed! ♫

Despite the whole debacle with the angels throwing everyone off, they still have their celebratory lunch together before everyone goes their separate ways. Obviously, there's a lot going on, so let's take a look at everyone separately.

Sam looks over at the archangel sitting next to him. "So, did you finally decide you're not going to try to kill Lucifer?"

Gabriel gives a very dramatic sigh. "Yeah, I I can let him live."

Sam, knowing just as well as Gabriel that Lucifer would be more likely to come out on top anyway, rolls his eyes. "So, if you're not picking fights that you can't win, what are you going to do now?"

Gabriel shrugs. "I don't know. I'm out of hiding for the first time since Lucifer's fall from grace. I guess I can pretty much do anything." Not that there's really much do; his deadly pranks were mostly a part of his cover. Doing them now would just put him on the Winchesters' bad side, and even though he knows they wouldn't try to kill him again, he doesn't want to send them on a wild goose chase just to find out that it was him causing problems the whole time.

"Do you want to hang out with us?" Sam asks. "You would make a great hunter."

Gabriel snorts. "I'm not planning on being the hunt anymore, but I'm not hunter material." Mostly because he would be too good at it, but he's not going to say that.

"Are you at least going to stop by and visit?" Sam asks.

Gabriel shrugs. "I don't know. Do you want me to?"

Sam shrugs, too. "I mean, yeah, kinda. We're friends, right? No reason to ignore each other after all this."

"Fair point," Gabriel says. "Then yeah, sure, I'll pop back in every now and then."

"Cool."

And awkward silence.

Dean groans. "God, you two are . Just kiss, for god's sake!"

Sam slaps him on the shoulder. "Dude!"

Dean rolls his eyes. "Come on. We were all thinking it."

"We were," Castiel agrees.

Sam shoots them both a glare.

Gabriel, in a moment of brave stupidity, says, "Well, they're not wrong."

Sam stares at him for just long enough to make him think that was a bad idea before saying, "I can't tell if you're saying that to humor them or if you really mean it."

"That depends," Gabriel says. "If I really meant it, would you feel the same way? Because if so, I meant it. If not, I was totally joking."

Sam chuckles. "In that case... " Sam grabs him by the shirt and pulls him in for a kiss.

Well, isn't this just the perfect day?

~~

Meanwhile, Jo and Michael are having their own conversation. Jo was pleasantly surprised to find that Michael was still willing to go out for lunch with them, despite his refound allegiance to Heaven. It makes her feel a lot better about their future together. The fact that Michael didn't just leave the first chance he got -- or the first chance he felt he should take -- is nice. If he's willing to stay with her now, he must be willing to put in the effort.

"How often do you think you'll be able to come back and visit?" Jo asks him.

Michael sighs. "I don't know. I guess it depends on how Heaven is doing."

"Do you think you can come by at least once a week?" Jo asks.

"Of course I can," he assures her.

"And I mean for more than five minutes," she adds. "Like, come and visit." They can't carry out a relationship where they only see each other for a few minutes at a time. She has to hope he knows that.

"I promise," he says. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this works out."

Jo smiles at that. "I know you will. I'm just... I'm a little nervous. This is a big change from being quarantined together for months on end. I just don't want anything to change now."

"Nothing's gonna change, Jo." He kisses her cheek. "I promise."

~~

Overall, Lucifer finds the celebratory lunch boring. He gets to watch the lovefest between Sam and Gabriel and the lovefest between Michael and Jo and don't even get him on Dean and Castiel. To say he's eager to get out would be an understatement, so as soon as he gets the chance, he takes Jack and heads down to Hell.

Seeing the demons again is... well, it's very interesting. Apparently Crowley has reclaimed Hell for himself, which makes Lucifer the least welcome person that could possibly intrude. Fortunately, all it takes is disintegrating one demon for them to decide that they probably shouldn't bother the two newcomers.

They manage to maneuver their way through Hell and to the hellhounds without any run-in with Crowley because the author doesn't have the energy to write that encounter, and finally, they've reached Lucifer's puppies.

"Ramsey!" Lucifer runs to his favorite dog and pops open her cage. "Hey, baby, how are you?"

Ramsey jumps up on her owner and licks his face, and Lucifer can't help but laugh. He didn't realize he missed her so much until he saw her again. Her mere existence is one last "fuck you" to his father, and that alone earned her a special place in his heart.

"He's cute," Jack remarks, reminding Lucifer that he's there.

"I know, right?" Lucifer agrees. "Here, hang on." He picks her legs up off his shoulders and drops them on the ground. At the snap of his fingers, she sits down and looks up at him expectantly.

"Wow," Jack whispers. "He's so well-trained."

", actually," Lucifer says. "Jack, this is Ramsey. She was one of the first hellhounds good ol' Dad made. When he decided they were too vicious, he tried to kill them all, but I took her before he could hurt her."

Jack smiles. "Aw, that's sweet."

"I only took her because she was my favorite." Lucifer scratches behind her ear, and she leans into his hand. "I had no idea at the time, but she was actually pregnant, so that's where the rest of the hellhounds came from."

Jack's eyes widen. "So she's the oldest hellhound? She's, like, the mother of all hellhounds?"

Lucifer nods. "That she is."

"Wow," Jack whispers.

"Do you want to pet her?" Lucifer asks.

Jack smiles. "I can do that?"

Lucifer nods. "Of course you can. She won't bite -- at least, not unless I tell her to. She's very well-trained."

Lucifer pulls his hand back and steps away, giving Jack the chance to pet her. He pats her head a few times, seeming a little wary, but when she doesn't try to stop him, he seems to get more comfortable with it. He scratches her head and she stands up, walking over to him and leaning against him.

"She wants you to scratch her butt," Lucifer tells him.

"How do you know?" Jack asks.

Lucifer shrugs. "You spend enough time with a pup, you really start to figure them out."