34. God's Children

My stomach is in knots as Sam drives the Impala to our destination. I don't know what to expect. All I know is that it won't be good, whatever we're about to see. Dean's got Amara whisked away someplace. Now we need him to buy us enough time to spring Lucifer and get him and Cas to safety.

"Maybe you should've stayed behind, Jo," Sam tells me as we get out of the Impala. "I mean..."

"Hey, she's not here. If we were going in guns a blazing, I would've been on the bench," I say adamantly. I know it's not safe to risk my baby's life, but as long as Amara is distracted and kept away, this is perfectly safe.

My little brother and I lead Donatello and Metatron inside of the building. I stop abruptly, seeing Cas's body tied to a railing and sagging. Caked blood is dry on his face and his clothes. But I know it's Lucifer she's tortured, not Cas. The sight of him defenseless is the thing that propels my legs forward.

"Oh, goody," Lucifer pants. "Larry, Curly, Moe. Oh, and Castiel's baby mama. Shouldn't you be scarfing down junk food and watching Netflix?"

"Believe me, as much as I'd love that vacation, we're here to save your sorry ass," I retort.

"Search and rescue? Oh, wow. It's one of Dad's favorites." He must mean Donatello. "Your ticket finally got punched, huh? It's wacky, isn't it? One minute, you're...nobody. And then—shazam—you're Joan of Arc. Let's, uh—let's hope this ends better than that."

"All right, can the small talk," Sam insists. "We're busting you out of here."

"Well, it seems fair since I wouldn't be here if you lunatics hadn't set me up to be grabbed by Amara."

"Hey, we didn't intentionally throw you to the wolf," I snarl. Metatron goes up to be beside Lucifer. He begins chanting something.

"You're gonna help us take her down," Sam tells Lucifer. "If you say no, we'll just leave you here in Abu Ghraib."

Lucifer coughs, chuckling. "Say no? You see what she's done to me? Do I look like a fan?!"

Done to you, done to Cas. It looks like there's no difference. I want to see Cas's eyes, not Lucifer's. I want to hear Cas's voice, not his. I just want to embrace Cas, kiss him, be with him. I want him to heal, to tell him everything that he's missed.

"Did you grab this from the steno pool?" Lucifer asks. Metatron continues to chant.

"You understand you'll be working with your father," I tell him plainly. "Is that gonna be a problem?"

The Devil groans. "That's family. This is bigger."

"So, you'll table all the old stuff?" asks Sam.

"What happens in Heaven stays in Heaven."

More chanting on Metatron's part.

"Metatron, are we getting any closer?" I ask. "Dean can't stall forever." He has to stall long enough.

"I'm—I'm—I'm narrowing it down," says the scribe.

We watch and wait in anxiety as Metatron keeps chanting. Seeing the slight change in Lucifer's expression tells me that whatever Metatron is doing, it's working.

"There," the scribe says.

"Okay, good," I say. "Lucifer, zap us out of here—quick!"

"Oh, no can do."

"What do you mean you can't do it?"

"Temporarily grounded. Equipment malfunction."

"You've got to be kidding!" I smack my forehead. "Okay, so, our only option is to hightail it out of here with the car?"

"Well, unless you have an angel on speed dial—oh wait, you don't."

"You know what, Lucifer?"

"Do tell me, Jo-Jo."

I wince.

"Guys, I'm—I'm feeling her!" Donatello panics. "She's coming!"

"All right, we're out of here," Sam says urgently. He and I jump up to pull Lucifer off the railings. Sam and I take an arm each. "Okay. Come on." The three of us are a collection of grunts and groans of straining as we stumble out of the building. Thanks for the time, Dean. Now, that nagging conscience in the back of my head is screaming at me, calling me an idiot for risking my life and my baby's.

As we head for the outside, I count: Lucifer, Donatello, Sam, myself...

Metatron isn't with us. I look back over my shoulder to see the scribe not following.

"All right, Metatron, come on," Sam urges.

"It's okay, Sam," he says. "You go."

"What?!" I say. "Come on! This isn't time to be an idiot!"

"I'm serious. I got this."

Licking my lips, Lucifer, Sam, Donatello, and I all leave the building. Metatron, what are you thinking? You won't stand a chance against her. But he must have something of a plan, no matter how stupid or weak it may be. He's giving us time to escape. He's risking his life for us.

It's the noblest thing that Metatron has ever done. Maybe it's enough for me to almost like him, just a little bit.

"Help me," I say to Donatello. He replaces Sam as my brother gets up front and starts the engine. Donatello and I get Lucifer in the backseat, and I hop up front with Sam, slamming the door. With the tires screeching, we backpedal away and tear down the road, away from the building. I glance over my shoulder. Lucifer looks pretty beat up. I picture Cas, though, when looking at him.

We're not home-free yet. I clutch Sam's wrist in slight panic. We're not safe until we're back inside the bunker's walls, protected by the Men of Letters and their warding. For now, as we speed down the road, we're good. We're in the clear. We're—

"Sam!" I scream as Amara appears in our pathway, a very ruthless expression on her face.

Sam slams on the brakes, nearly sending us through the windshield. I hit the seat painfully, and now my heart is thumping so loudly against my ribs that I'm waiting for it to bust out of my chest. Damn it, damn it, damn it.

"Go, go, go!" I say hysterically.

I can hear Baby go in reverse, I can see the smoke coming from her tires, but Amara isn't letting us move. If the engine gets any louder, I swear she'll explode. We know it's Amara that's keeping us from getting away. Chuck, if there's ever a time to answer a prayer, now would be an awesome time!

"You really aren't worth sparing," she says coldly, watching our fruitless escape attempt in the Impala. "None of you."

My hand digs into Sam's wrist as I see Amara's hand raise, poised to strike.

But our scene changes, and I find myself yelping as the Impala drops, landing into another building. Amara is gone. We're no longer outside. I find myself hyperventilating.

"What happened?!" Donatello explains.

"Jo, Jo, hey," Sam tells me quietly. I feel his hand pry mine off his wrist.

"Sorry," I say, when I see the red marks around my brother's wrist. "I didn't fracture a bone, did I?"

"No, but I thought if you did a sudden movement, you'd take it off."

Sam and I climb out of the Impala, the tire smoke still in the air. I cough, waving it away from my face. Lucifer and Donatello get out of the car. Sam heads for a set of stairs, and the rest of us find ourselves following after him.

"Where are we?" I hear Donatello murmur.

The stairs lead us back to the bunker war room.

"Home," I whisper fondly.

We hear a sigh, and I turn my head to find Chuck, with a bottle in hand, making his way into the room. "Occasionally, I do answer a prayer."

I wonder if I'm the only one who was praying.

I notice that Chuck is focused on one being in particular: Lucifer. When the silence falls, the tension blankets over us.

"You've changed," Chuck sighs.

Lucifer is leaning against one of the bunker support columns. "You've changed."

"Well, still...I'm really pretty much the same."

With a gesture, a light encases Lucifer, and when it dies, his wounds, all the blood, has been wiped clean. He looks untouched. I'm waiting for the battle between God and an archangel to take place, but all that does is the tense silence.

I slip away before I can find myself caught in something I don't want to be caught in. Shower, that's what I need. A shower. And sleep. And food. I'm on autopilot as I find my room and grab clothes before heading to shower.

The hot water spills over me, and I glance down at my tattooed body that's never been mine. It might as well be, I've altered it, and now I'm carrying a baby inside of it.

I push the damp hair and slick it back against my head. Deep breaths, Jo. We're still in this. We're still alive. But I know someone who's most likely not alive anymore: Metatron. There's no way Amara let him live.

As the shower provides solitude away from everyone else, my mind wanders to a very pressing matter: the baby growing inside of me. How long do I have? I'm not going to try and get rid of her now. I never would get rid of a baby inside of me. But this life...it's not for her. She can't be born into a world where her mom fights monsters and her dad is an angel. She can't be born with a target on her back. I exhale shakily.

Time is rushing everything along. The impending showdown between Chuck and Amara. The end of my pregnancy. I got to be smart about this. I can't put myself and the baby in danger. I can't put her in danger. I got to think up a good game plan. I know if I don't, my brothers will for me.

But I can't just walk away from this knowing that Lucifer inhabits Cas's vessel, still. I need to see him back. He needs to see me. He needs to know about our daughter. Thinking about it sends a warm feeling in my heart. Once, a while ago, I had seen a future for myself: becoming a wife, having a stable life, starting a family. Now, some of that future is possible...just...not in the circumstances that I wanted.

I remain in the shower for a long time until the water gets ice cold.

Once I'm out and changed, I go back into the war room to find Chuck and Lucifer. Lucifer is pretty invested in a book right now, so I don't bother him.

"Where're Sam and Dean?" I ask.

"They ran out," says Chuck. "How do you feel?"

"Mentally exhausted."

"Physically?"

"Fit as a fiddle." I clear my throat. "Listen...I, uh, about what I did a while back—"

"It's behind us, Josette. In some ways, I kind of did deserve it."

I laugh nervously. "Truthfully, I wasn't sure if I was gonna live through it."

"I don't punish people who don't deserve it."

I swear I hear Lucifer scoff under his breath, but I ignore him. "So, are we waiting until my brothers come back?"

"It would seem so."

"That could take forever." My stomach grumbles. "Hope they're coming back with food."

"They were making a food run."

"Damn, should've placed an order." I glance down at Lucifer. "We got stuck to babysit?"

"They didn't want to wait for you. It's better if you're here anyway, to rest."

"Yeah, yeah." I shake my damp hair.

"So where were you?" Lucifer cuts in. I assume this question isn't for me.

"That's a...long story," Chuck tells him. "How do you feel? I healed you."

"Mm. Yeah. Didn't ask you to."

"Wow, what an ungrateful child you are," I mutter.

"I don't remember asking for your input, Josette."

"I don't remember giving you permission to ride in my boyfriend's vessel either, but, here we are!" I say dramatically.

"Josette," Chuck scolds me quietly. "Son, be reasonable."

"One cosmic Band-Aid on my knee and what, you think we're, we're even now?" Lucifer snaps, looking up from his book. "Is it time for us to go play catch in the yard?"

"Jesus Christ," I mutter, shaking my head.

Lucifer goes back to his book. "Screw you."

I hear the bunker door open. Oh, thank God.

"Guys?" comes Dean's call. He's tailed by Sam, both carrying bags in each arm.

"How's it goin' in here?" asks Sam as he and Dean come down the steps.

"Listen, I know I've been gone for a while," Chuck tries again with Lucifer. My brothers set the bags down on the table and become silent spectators like me. "I've missed a few...million...birthdays—"

"Yeah, and the second your apes send a distress flame, boom. Daddy's home," Lucifer sasses.

"That's not what happened."

"Hey, these apes saved your ass," Dean butts in.

Lucifer scowls, snapping his fingers. My brothers and I flinch, but no harm comes to us.

Chuck shakes his head. "He can't hurt you."

"Oh, so you're controlling me now!"

"It's just a safeguard."

I take a hesitant step back as Lucifer stares down Chuck. "Hey, guys?" I clear my throat. "Uh, Chuck? Lucifer...uh, Dean...Think we can try and focus here? Y'know, end of the world, common enemy and all that? No biggie if you want to bullshit around for another few hours, because we seemingly got all the time in the world for it."

Lucifer loudly shuts the book, rising. "Enemy of my enemy is my friend." He gets in Chuck's face. "Team Amara. Go Amara."

"You don't mean that," says Chuck.

"You're really not gonna say it."

"He's not gonna say what?" I ask curiously.

"Screw you." In a childlike tantrum, Lucifer storms off down the halls, leaving an awkward silence in the war room.

"Well, that could've gone worse," I say awkwardly. I look to my brothers. "You guys bring back anything good?" I investigate the bags, poking around.

From the corner of my eye, Chuck begins to leave as well. He's a bit worked up too, huffing. "Kids, huh?"

My brothers and I just look at each other, astounded.

**Ah, good times, when Jo is starting to think about the future.

What do y'all think? What should she do when the little girl comes into the world?**