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Is this the Real (Apple Pie) Life?
Too difficult? Seriously? Too god dammed difficult? His ass. Dean wanted to punch the idiot in front of him in his smug, stolen face. He slipped a hand into his pocket and found the little token made of river-smoothed carved stone Gabriel had given him all those years ago, tucked inside that DVD case that he still had in the trunk of the Impala. He’d not told Sam about it, just attached it to his car keys as a keyring and a talisman when he needed it. After everything it was still in tact, the sigils still raised on the surface however many times he had rubbed his thumb over them, the colours still bright and un-chipped.
He rubbed it again and decided as he stared at Chuck while he was rabbiting on about something to Sam that he’d waited long enough. “So that’s it?” he interrupted, making them all turn to face him. “You’re just going to leave it at that?” he asked Chuck, his tone belligerent. “Two of your eldest kids to stay dead because it’s ‘too complicated’? I thought you were supposed to be all-knowing? All powerful? Too complicated? Too selfish more like.”
“Dean!” Sam hissed in his usual way when he thought his brother had said something stupid. He used a hand to make stop motions and stepped towards him.
Normally Dean ignored him or tried to make a joke of it. Not this time. “No Sam,” he told him instead. “He’s trying to tell us how wonderful he is, but he can’t be bothered to help his kids. He let one of them kick the rest out of their home and burn their wings off, he’s let others kill each other and stood by and did nothing. He only turns up now when his sister almost kills him. Even our Dad was a better father to us than that! And he was a really shitty father, we both know that!”
Chuck glared at him, the air around him crackling with his anger. “There are so many more planets I’ve been visiting than this one, Dean,” he retorted. “I’m not going to waste all of my time and energy on this one.”
Dean snorted in derision. “Fucking them up as much as this one, more like,” he snapped. “But why do you care about those more than your children? Your eldest? Two are dead apparently, one is fucked up and the other one hates you. And all you care about is different planets? Is that because of all the delusional creatures on this one that think you’re more than a selfish piece of crap? I bet you love it when you hear all the shit they do in your name, don’t you? Do you bathe in all the blood they’ve spilled for you? Laugh at all the lives ruined? At least Crowley and Lucifer never hid who they were and what they wanted.”
Chuck was incensed. “How dare you?” he demanded. “I am your creator, your God. I can wipe you from existence with a blink.”
Dean was not impressed. “So?” he replied. “If you did that you’d have no-one here to clear up your messes, would you? Sam and I are the result of generations of selective breeding on your part to clear up after you abandoned your kids. I am of your making, Chuck,” he sneered. “If you don’t like it, tough. You should have been a better ‘God’!” He stepped forward, angry enough to punch him out, but Sam grabbed his arm in a tight grip and held him back. He stared down at his brother, hoping his expression was telling him that that action would not end well. It seemed to work, Dean didn’t fight him any way, he stood next to him and stayed there instead.
Chuck was furious. “There are no better Gods than me!” he shouted back.
“Really?” Dean sneered in response, not in the least intimidated. “Kali manages to do her own things, Odin manages to fix his own mistakes. You run away when you’ve made a mistake and expect everyone else to deal with it for you.”
“I don’t make mistakes,” Chuck growled at him and took a step forward. He smirked when Sam tried to put himself between him and his brother and flicked a tiny amount of Grace at them both to keep them from moving. Which gave him an idea. “You think I’ve not done a good job, Dean?” he asked the puny human in front of him. “How about you and your brother show me how it should be done?” He gave them enough time to frown before he flicked a large amount of Grace at Dean. He made sure it was not enough to kill the human, but the certainly wouldn’t be the same Dean Winchester again. The elder human gasped quietly as the ball of Grace, about the size of a baseball, impacted his chest and dispersed through the minuscule protection of his clothes and skin. Before the boy could speak or do anything about that, Chuck did exactly the same to Sam: sending another baseball-sized ball of Grace at him. He had plenty to spare, the amount given would do nothing to him. The other stuff he had in mind was quite complicated, but not as much as he made out - Dean was right on that one. It only took moments, time enough for Castiel to struggle to his feet and take a step towards the bothers. But then he stopped and stared at the scene unfolding near him.
Lucifer and Michael had just appeared to the side of the Winchesters, Lucifer back in Nick’s form, Mike leaning heavily against him. They both looked surprised, not expecting to be here, and Luc, surprising them all, grabbed his older brother around the waist before he could fall and pulled one of his arms over his own shoulders so he could hold on. “Wha..?” Chuck’s eldest managed before his father acted again.
Two other people appeared in the room, also surprised at their sudden change in location.
Raphael stared around him in shock and then turned to the other Archangel close beside him. It was Gabriel, his youngest brother, and he grinned at him and surprised him by hugging him tight.
Chuck smiled at the four of them and turned back to the Winchesters, blinking at them to let them move again. “I hope your Bunker is child friendly,” he told them and smiled even wider as the pair of humans frowned at him and then at each other. “Better get home soon,” he added. Then decided he could also be magnanimous, even if Dean had pissed him off. “Sam, check the panic room as soon as you get back there. Okay?”
The younger Winchester nodded at him even as he reached across to grab Dean’s arm again, probably just to make sure he was still with him.
Then, almost as an afterthought, Chuck looked at Castiel and pointed at him, murmuring something before turning away again.
That done Chuck walked over to his eldest children, all of them staring at him and each other, and ignored the Winchester brothers.
Sam, realising he could move, stepped close to his brother and looked down at him. “You okay?”
Dean looked up at him and absently rubbed his sternum with his free hand. “Think so,” he replied, still frowning. “You? What the hell just happened?”
Sam, surprisingly, smiled at him. “You goaded God, you idiot,” he told him and shook his head ruefully. “I’m just hoping that because he didn't smite us on the spot it might actually be something positive.”
Dean didn't believe him for one minute from the look on his face but he didn’t say anything to Sam. Instead he looked around to find out what else had happened.
Castiel grabbed his notice immediately - he was standing and walking over to them but staring at something beyond them. Dean followed his eye line and ended up staring, open mouthed, as well.
Chuck was still there, his back to them, surrounded by his eldest children - all four of them. None of the Archangels looked exactly pleased at what he was telling them but Dean didn’t care. What he did care about was standing a little way back from the pack, ostensibly looking at his father but actually glancing at them every so often.
“Too difficult, my ass,” Dean murmured and started to walk over. He had to brush Sam’s hand off his arm with a nod, but then continued to walk over.
Only one of the Angels moved away from the group to meet him; and Sam was surprised, not pleased that it was Gabriel. The two met half way between and just stared at each other for a few moments, looked at each other.
Gabriel smiled at him, a proper smile, not a smirk and stepped forward. He reached out to Dean with one hand, and, in a move that surprised all but Chuck and Cas, Dean ignored that and stepped forward himself. Instead of punching him, as Sam thought he would, Dean threw his arms around the smaller Archangel and hugged him tightly. He buried his face in Gabriel’s neck and crowded close to him, as close as he could.
Gabriel laughed quietly and embraced him back as tightly. “I got you, Deano,” the Archangel said softly to him so only the human could hear. And to prove it he unfurled his wings and wrapped at least one pair around the human. “I’m not going to let you go.”
Dean moved just a little so he could speak in his ear. “You’d better not, or I’ll gank your feathery ass.”
Gabriel laughed again and squeezed him tighter. “Can’t have that,” he agreed fondly. “I’m rather attached to my feathery ass.”
“So am I,” Dean replied quietly.
********D/G********D/G********D/G********D/G********
Dean didn’t take much notice about how they got back to the Bunker. One moment they were somewhere else, the next they were back in the Bunker. Well, all bar Chuck who had gone, again, but this time to ‘commune with Amara’ apparently. The only surprising thing about that was Michael’s eye roll, not Lucifer’s.
Dean found that he really didn't care, just that Gabriel was still with him. In fact the Archangel was almost as clingy as the human himself, when they pulled apart Gabriel didn’t move from him, just stood close, pressed against Dean’s side, arm around his waist. Dean slung his own arm around the Angel’s shoulders and looked around them with a frown.
Sam was looking around them with a matching frown, he did not look impressed with the situation. The other angels too stood around and simply stared at themselves, so for a few tense moments no-one said anything. Until Lucifer sighed and helped Michael over to a chair by the large table in the centre of the main room. “Sit,” the Devil told him surprisingly fondly. “Stay.”
Michael smiled at him. “I’m not a dog,” he replied.
Lucifer grinned and used a hand to ruffle his brother’s dark hair.
It was Raphael who spoke what they were all thinking: “What the hell?” the Angel, back in a male vessel, demanded. “Where are we? And why are you two acting all ‘loving brother’? We all know that’s crap,” he asked, looking straight at his older brothers.
“We worked it out,” Lucifer told him, deadpanned.
Michael sighed and nudged him with an elbow. ”We had a long time to be able to do that,” he explained. “And it appears we’re in the Men of Letters Bunker in Lebanon, Kansas.”
“You know about this place?” Sam asked, unable to stay quiet.
The First Born nodded. “Your line, the Winchesters and Campbells, have been associated with this group from before they were organised into a group. Its not a surprise you two found this place.”
“What is a surprise is that,” Luc added, nodding at Dean and Gabriel. “That would explain why you wanted me dead so much,” he said to Dean.
The Hunter knew what he meant and found himself trying to move his own body in between the Devil and God’s Messenger. “One of the many,” he retorted darkly. He glanced over at Sam who was standing a few feet away, looking at the Devil with wide eyes: Cas was close to him, one hand on his arm, also staring wide-eyed at his older brothers.
“Well, neither of you need to worry,” Luc continued. “Dad just told us that we’re all stuck in these vessels now.”
Michael punched him in the arm and shook his head. “No he didn’t, moron,” he told him fondly. “He told us we have no need of any other vessels now. You won’t burn through Nick.”
“Don’t be insulted if we take a while to believe you,” Sam retorted dryly.
Lucifer appeared to be ready to comment but Michael cut him off. “What did Father say about a … a panic room, Samuel?” he asked the younger Winchester.
“What is that?”
Sam looked at him for a moment, glanced at Dean then turned on his heel and sprinted off. Dean was torn for a moment before he turned and followed him. Gabriel looked at Cas, then shrugged and hurried off after them.
Sam got there first and when Dean, Gabriel and Castiel reached him he was standing at the doorway, the heavy panic room door wide open. He was staring into the large room and the three newcomers shared concerned looks before Dean stepped forward so he could see round his brother. “Holy shit,” he said quietly when he saw what had his brother spell-bound. Which made the two Angels shoulder their way forward as well.
Cas gasped and only just managed to stop Gabriel from swearing loudly with a hand over his mouth.
The panic room, about four times the size of the one at Bobby’s old place had previously been sparse and virtually empty. Now it was stuffed full. Over to the left of the large space Dean could see at least eight pallets with some more stacked behind them too. Whatever was on them, paper it looked like, was well-wrapped with plastic wrap and he couldn’t really make out what it was. Each wrapped block was about five feet high and wide, with another one the same size on top of each. In front of them, at the back of the space, was another wall of large boxes, of different size and shapes, the ones on the top with ‘fragile’ written on them, again with no indication of what was in them. Dean could actually figure out what was piled up in the right side of the space, even he’d seen gold bars on TV before.
But what was really taking everyone’s attention was what was in the space in front of them. The concrete floor was covered with rugs, bean bags, mattresses, and a couple of low sofas - it all looked cosy. Which was just as well because there were at least a dozen young Angels scattered around the area, all of various ages. Dean couldn’t see any that he thought were older than 12 years, and that was just the one, a young boy who stood and stared at the four of them in shock.
The shock all of them were feeling, and showing in their faces, was broken when the youngest Angel, just a baby started to cry, a pitiful wail that had Dean moving. He pushed his way into the room, looking around him and found the wailing baby in a basinet on the corner of one of the couches. The creature couldn't have been more than six months old, the age Sam had been when he’d been pushed into his older brother’s arms. This one looked like Sammy back then - red in the face, features all screwed up as he wailed in anger and frustration, hands clenched into fists. Dean did now as he had done then: picked the Angel up gently with both and hands and pulled the baby close. “Hey, Baby,” he crooned, let the baby lean against his shoulder and gently rubbed the small back with one large hand. He had to be careful, this one had tiny wings fluttering from their shoulders - they were white at the shoulders changing to light blue at the tips of the perfectly formed feathers. As soon as the baby realised someone was holding them and they weren’t being ignored, it settled against Dean’s shoulder and stopped wailing.
Which seemed to get the others - adults included - to start moving and talking. Gabriel walked in to the mass of Angels, took them all in and smiled widely. “Balthazar,” he said to the oldest one who stared at him in shock for a moment before he leapt over to him.
“Gabby!” the kid yelled, his voice strangely high pitched, and threw himself at the ArchAngel, silver wings fluttering, knowing his older brother would catch him.
Gabriel did and pulled him close and hugged him tightly. This seemed to encourage the others and soon enough Gabriel was surrounded by a gaggle of Angels, all happy to see him, all clambering for his attention. He looked over at Dean at one point when he had a toddler - red haired Anna perched on his shoulders, her tiny hands clutched in his hair, giggling, another young boy he called Joe perched on one arm and hanging onto him. The grin on his face was huge, wide and a little watery, even more so when Joe pressed a sloppy kiss to his cheek. Dean couldn’t help but smile back, even though a spark of worry was getting bigger in his gut.
Twelve, no thirteen baby Angels - there was one, a young girl aged about four sitting on a couch glaring at the floor with her arms crossed over her chest. How the hell was he going to look after all these kids? It was almost impossible to look after Sam, he held so much guilt over how badly he had screwed up with Sam, not realising still that he hadn’t, that he was the reason his younger brother was as strong as he was.
He looked over at Sam who was still staring, wide-eyed, at the mass of wings and feathers. He looked shell shocked and Dean had to laugh quietly at him, making the kid in his arms giggle too.
And then the doorbell rang.
********D/G********D/G********D/G********D/G********
Lucifer and Michael both watched the other four rush off and Raph move in the opposite direction to explore before they looked at each other. “Grace?” Luc asked his older brother, disbelievingly. “He gave them Grace?”
Michael nodded. “It appears so,” he replied. “And quite a bit too.”
Luc was silent for a moment. “I’ll let you tell them,” he said eventually. “They won't believe me.”
Michael snorted in amusement. “And who’s fault is that, Little Brother?” he asked him. “You tried to destroy this world, then Sam, then little Cassie too. What do you expect?”
Luc shrugged. “I’m the Devil, Mikey,” he answered. “And don’t forget the stuff you put Dean through. Where did you stash Zachariah anyway?”
Michael shrugged as well and looked well … angelic. “Father decided he needed to spend some time in Purgatory.”
Luc stared at him, wide-eyed. “Dad?” he queried. “Riiigghht, of course. Where was Zac when Dean was there?”
Michael shrugged again. “Probably stayed away; he’s not stupid.”
Luc was going to say something else, no doubt derogatory about his older brother’s chosen deputy, but before he could a loud sound reverberated through the bunker. It sounded like a bell.
The Angels looked at each other in surprise. “Isn’t this supposed to be a super secret covert bunker?” Michael asked curiously.
Luc looked towards the sound. “Even paranoid conspiracy theorists need Amazon deliveries,” he replied. He looked towards the front door with a frown, and walked towards it when the bell was sounded again. Michael stayed where he was, but he was tense and ready to use whatever strength he had when Luc glanced back at him, so he turned back and opened the door with a click of his fingers.
There seemed to be a whole group of people standing there, all of them staring at him in surprise. One of them pushed his way through the small crowd and stood in front of the Devil, hands on his hips. “What happened, Lucifer?” Adam demanded. “You and Mike disappeared in a puff of smoke, and now we’re all here.” He looked around. “Where the hell is here?”
“The bunker!” another young woman with fiery red hair crowed as she shoved her way past him and Luc into the main space. “Where’s Dean and Sam?" she asked the two Angels staring at her in surprise. “Did they get better wifi?”
Another male walked in behind them, gently shoving Adam through the doorway. He was older than the pair it seemed, grizzled, shorter, more stocky, and he had a confused frown on his face. He was also not entirely human, Luc could see that about him straight away, and he concentrated on him for a couple of moments before he could figure out what it was. "You were a vampire,” he said to the man, who did look up at him then from under his leather cap and nodded. “But you’re not any more.”
The man looked up at him, took him in and then nodded. “It seems that way, Chief.” he answered him quietly. “One moment I was in Purgatory, the next I was here, with these two.” He shrugged. “Who are you?”
“Lucifer,” the Devil replied and shut the door behind them, keeping them in. “You?”
The guy didn’t seem to be phased. “Benny Lafitte,” he answered him, then pointed to the woman. “She calls herself Charlie Bradbury. It seems you know the kid.”
Luc nodded and was not at all surprised when Adam pushed past him and stalked over to Michael. “You’ve not done anything stupid and used up more Grace, have you?” he demanded of him, glaring fiercely at him.
Michael huffed a laughed and shook his head. “It’s only been a few minutes, Adam,” he answered him, amused. “How much trouble do you think we got into in that time?”
Adam shook his head. “It’s you two, a lot of fucking trouble. Where are my brothers?”
Raphael, who had moved back to the area when he’d heard the door bell, laughed quietly when he walked back into view. “This kid knows you quite well,” he said fondly to his brothers. “I’m Raph, the Winchesters went that way,” he pointed at the way the others had gone. “You’re the youngest Winchester?” When Adam nodded a bit warily Raph grinned at him. “You spent a lot of time with these two,” he said and indicated to his older brothers with a wave of his hand. “I bet you’ve got a lot of blackmail material. Care to share?”
Adam grinned back and nodded. “You’ll never guess what Luc liked to do before he slept,” he began, making the aforementioned Angel groan loudly. “I made a lake, and he…”
Luc ran over to them, waving a hand and shouting loudly. Michael laughed and looked up at Charlie as she walked over to him. “Good to be back?” he asked her as she looked around them.
She smirked at him and nodded. “Heaven was great, but boring. It took an age to get any Stucky. All the decent porn was censored.”
********D/G********D/G********D/G********D/G********
It took a while to get everyone and everything settled. Once they had corralled all the kids in to the main area of the bunker and figured out who they all were, Dean and Sam had almost fallen over each other in their haste to get to the loved ones they thought had gone for good. Sam glared over at Benny when he enfolded a crowing Dean in a tight hug, but Charlie punched him on the arm and glared at him until he took proper notice of her and Adam. “You’re going to be glaring a lot if you don’t get over it,” she told him when she hugged him as well. “I see Gabriel’s back too.”
Sam groaned and nuzzled her hair for a moment as she laughed. “I’m never gonna get another decent night’s sleep, am I?”
Which was the point the baby started to wail again, which then made a couple of the youngest Angels also start to sob.
“Nope,” Adam grinned at him. “You’re not.”
********D/G********D/G********D/G********D/G********
Gabriel looked around him later and smiled to himself. “You’ve outdone yourself this time, Dad,” he said quietly and gave it a little Grace so He would hear it. Not expecting an answer the Archangel looked around to take stock.
Dean was snoozing against him, stretched out on the sofa with him, still a couple of angels dog piled on top of them. The others were either on the other furniture or corralled into the many rooms of the bunker. He, Cas, Raph and even Lucifer had gone through the residential areas of the Bunker, using Grace to make them liveable, and an area in the main room into a large sitting area. The sofas were large, comfortable, corner ones, designed by Michael, with a few armchairs dotted around and a large wooden rocking chair in the corner of the area. Michael himself had taken residence in that one, Luc had provided him with some soft cushions and a blanket, and despite the unamused look he’d given his smirking younger brother he was supremely comfortable in it. As was Naomi, in a four year old body, curled up on his lap, sucking her thumb, with and arm hugging a blue teddy bear Cas had created for her. Baz was collapsed on one of the new bean bags near by, with Charlie, and they were watching something avidly on the huge wrap around TV Raph, surprisingly had created for them. The other Archangel had found the kitchen with Benny, and between them they were cooking up a storm in there, and Gabriel hadn’t even known Raphael could cook.
Sam, Luc and Cas were somewhere else, hopefully making sure the other young angels were settled in bed and Adam was back in the safe room, cataloging stuff in there to his heart’s content.
Gabriel had no idea what was going to happen from then on, he had no illusions that they were all headed for that mythical ‘apple pie life’ Dean had been thinking about wistfully for a long time but now their chances of that were definitely increased. Dad had made sure they were never going to run out of money, even if they all went to Las Vegas and lost millions every day for the rest of their natural lives, and Adam was finding more and more items hidden away in that very large safe room not too far away. But the money and other wealth didn’t matter to Gabriel, he had been accumulating wealth for as long as humans had been creating it, what was important was all around him now. His older brothers weren’t trying to kill each other, or others, he had his younger siblings around him in various ages, and he had Dean back.
His human was a ball of tired, stressed anger and a lot of self loathing, and pretty sick as well, but Gabriel could feel some of that start to dissipate, even now as he carded his fingers through Dean’s short hair as he slept. He’d been concerned that it had been so long, too long, that Dean had moved on, but the kisses they’d managed to steal during the day had shown him otherwise. They did have a lot of hurdles to get over, the babies, that newfound Grace rolling through Dean’s veins, the rest of the universe, and the ArchAngel didn’t believe for one second that Sam was going to let his opinions be ignored, but with family around him, safe in their secret hiding place, he couldn’t find it in himself to worry.
********D/G********D/G********D/G********D/G********
Lucifer watched for a moment while his younger brother stared down at Dean, stroking his hair, deep in thought before he walked over to them. He smiled when Gabriel jumped, startled, at the hand he put on his shoulder, and then laughed when he glared at him for ruffling his hair with his free hand.
“Jumpy,” the Devil said to him, amused.
Gabriel flipped him off. “We’ve got precedent,” he answered, and Luc winced and nodded.
“Yeah,” he agreed, and lost some of his smile. “So to make up for that, why don’t you take your Winchester to bed? I’ll make sure the rest of these get settled as well.” He let go and used his hands to encompass the other angels in the room, including Michael who had dozed off in his rocking chair. “I’ll even bring some food in when Raph and Benny have finished whatever they’re cooking.”
Gabe studied him for a moment but couldn’t see any malice from him, so he nodded. “Okay,” he agreed. “It’s a start, I guess.”
“Yes, it is,” his older brother agreed. He obligingly picked up both sleeping angels currently using Dean as a pillow and stepped back as Gabriel then gathered the human in his arms and stood, using only a small amount of Grace to do it. Dean didn’t even stir as he was taken to his bedroom, and Luc smiled as he hugged his younger sisters close. “Come on,” he said to them, even though they were fast asleep, and wandered through the bunker to the bedrooms, to find where the others were stashed. A whole flock of baby angels, his brothers, and some humans all living in the same place? This was going to be a disaster. And so much fun!