The long goodbye.
Dean walks out of the garage to see Sam placing a large stack of papers on the table, weighted down by his laptop.
"What's that?" He asks. Sam looks over, a surprising amount of stubble on his face for having been gone for less than an hour.
"Oh, hi." Sam gives him a bright but tired smile, his eyes finally free of that tension and distress that's been there so long. "This is just... paperwork. For the wedding."
"You made up with her, huh?" Dean tries not to sound too unenthused, though he is relieved. Dam just smiles. He opens his mouth to say something but when he lets go of the pile, the laptop slides down, scattering the loose sheets.
"Shit."
"I'll help. Are they numbered?" Dean heads over.
"No, no, I got it." Sam quickly holds his hands out and starts grabbing sheets before Dean can, but he finds one under the bookcase on the other side of the room.
"the first party that the second party, in order to secure the life and liberty of any unnamed third party or the aforementioned parties may engage in any sexual or non sexual behavior otherwise forbidden without penalty barring evidence that the offending part orchestrated said conditions for that purpose. What the hell is this?" Dean looks up and quickly backs away from Sam as he tries to come get it keeping the table between them as he keeps reading it off.
"Dean. give it back, Dean."
"Infidelity subset V fertility gods?"
"Stop reading! That's private!"
"Both parties agree that neither party shall engage in illicit acts as defined in subset II second class sexual acts with any firtility god without extending invitation to the other party if at all possible.... What the hell. Did you create an erotic follow up to Staples and Secretaries or whatever that weird rpg is?" Dean looks up as a blushing Sam climbs over the table to snatch it away.
"No, that's our prenup." He explains and hurries it off to his room.
"Your what?" Dean laughs. "Wait, what the hell.. you... what kind of prenup is that?"
"A comprehensive one, subject to revision quarterly." Sam informs him as he locks it away in his file cabinet.
"Like I can't have that open in two minutes." Dean leans on the bedroom door. "So, your response to her inability to follow rules is to make more of them? I thought you were smart."
"You wouldn't understand. Your lover is relatively sane and straightforwards." Sam stretches. Dean can't exactly argue with that. "We have an understanding."
"Wait, so you're allowed to have an affair with a fertility god or was I reading it wrong. Or is that she's allowed to have an affair with a fertility god? As long as it's a threesome or at least the offer of a threesome?"
"Dean.." Sam just looks at him.
"What?"
"Trust me when I say, you don't want to pursue this." Sam looks him straight in the eyes. Dean suddenly feels as if he believes his little brother with his whole heart. "Oh, yeah, we set a date. February fifteenth."
"The day after valentines day?" Dean emphasises the after. "Couldn't get a reservation earlier?"
"No, that's when we first met." Sam says. Dean just looks at him. "You remember, february fifteenth, 2007? At Crawford Hall? She stole my laptop."
"Wait, you mean, the first time we tried to kill her?That's when you're getting married?" Dean just shakes his head. "How romantic."
"I know, I mean it's not like you and Cas went off on a long romantic weekend in september the weekend of the eighteenth, the anniversary of the day your first met and stabbed him in the chest. Oh wait..."
"Geez, no wonder you two have supernatural lovers, no one else could survive the mating ritual." They hear Krissy say and look to the closet. "My little jellybeans all worn out and so am I." She explains nodding to the sleeping baby in her arms. "Little angels are exhausting. Thank god for the existence of sleep."
"Well, you know what they say, it's not really love until you've stabbed each other a few times." Dean jokes. "That was a short visit."
"No. No it wasn't. But glad to see you made your way back out. I just wanted to make sure in case I had to send your brother in after you." Krissy smiles. "So.. you look like you spent a long vigorous time somewhere. Is the wedding back on?" She gives a suggestive grin.
"February fifteenth."
"What? Are you insane? It's November. You can't put a wedding together in three months. You'll never get a venue. That reminds me though, you'll have to join us for junior's first christmas. At least part of it."
"Hara still calling him Krissy junior huh?" Dean suppresses a laugh.
"Yeah, it's kind of stuck. It'll be so fun, Chrys' first Christmas. I'm getting him one of those little gingerbread man costumes for our christmas cards. I'll be mrs. Clause, Nat will be Santa and Hara will be our elf. Saul agreed because he wants to see the little jelly bean in costume. Hara kind of insisted on one of those family photo cards he saw in reruns."
"I think she's as in love with the little guy as you and Nat." Sam smiles at his brother.
"Yeah, I know, it's so cute. And mini-me loves his guardian angel, doesn't he?' She kisses the drooling infant. "But you have to stop by or we'll stop by. We'll figure it out by thanksgiving. Jo refuses to discuss anything Christmas until black friday. Wait, where'd Hara go?" Krissy turns around.
"Sorry, Krissy. Miti and Hara needed me to help find a spell, but I can't find my sister anywhere. Can I have a few hours after I take you two home?"
"Of course. We'll be fine. Later, boys."
"Bye, Krissy."
"Have you told her yet?" Hypnos asks as he and Thanatos recline together on his bed.
"No, not yet."
"How long are you going to wait? She's not pregnant anymore. I think you can tell her."
"No, she'll insist on doing something and I just..." He shakes his head. "Chrysander's still too young. He needs his mother with him."
"Are you going to wait until he's seven? I'm not sure we'll have that much time." Hypnos sits up. "If you don't tell her, I will."
"Okay I will!" Thanatos rolls off the edge of the bed. "I can't keep coming back and forth as much as I have been. I don't know how much energy I have left. And I have to take care of my son."
"Why that angel is more than willing to take care of your wife and the woman who won't marry you." Hypnos crosses his arms. His brother just ignores him.
"You know, maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe you won't be so sensitive to the light anymore." Thanatos tries to console him.
"Just go." Hypnos turns away from him.
"Okay." Thanatos gives his brother a kiss on the cheek. "I will be back." Hypnos doesn't reply. unfortunately Thanatos can't seem to take himself back past the entrance of Hades. When he gets there he can't detect anyone dying in Conrad Springs. Or anywhere for that matter. It's all gone. Thanatos takes a breath, swallows his pride and prays to Krissy's angel. He might as well, he is mortal now.
"is everything alright?" The celestial thing appears beside him.
"No." He sighs. "We're out of ambrosia and have been for a while. Without any kind of worship, even latent, I can't replenish my strength and I've used the last of my godly powers. I'm mortal and can't get back to my family." he looks down.
"Oh. Is there anything I can do?" The angel asks with what can't be genuine concern.
"Give me a ride?" Thanatos tightens his lips.
"I mean beside that. I can't worship you, of course, but is there anything else? Was the recipe written down anywhere? If it was I probably have a copy in the library. I mean it's not really allowed but I'm sure if I ask Gabriel she'll be okay with it for Krissy's sake." Harahel frowns. "I could maybe make you some if I have it and can't give it to you. Maybe nectar? i might have the recipe for nectar. Let me look." He frowns in thought.
"Are you being serious?" Thanatos frowns at the angel, stepping back to appraise him.
"Of course. You're Krissy's lover and Krissy Junior's father. Anyone in her life needs to be able to protect themselves and you have no experience being mortal. Besides if Hades is mortal now it means that the underworld will start to collapse. Then it'll take your brother with it and lethe and mnemosyne and your dog. That would be awful."
"It won't be for a while, Hades hasn't been using his as much as I have mine." Thantos confesses. "But, why would you help me? With me out of the way, you'd have Krissy to yourself."
"Why would I want that?"
"Harahel, I know you love her." Thantos crosses his arms. Hara just looks at him, like he said the sky is blue.. "You're not going to deny it?"
"Why would I deny it? And what does that have to do with helping you? And why would it mean I want you out of the way? She likes you and you love her and you're the father of her child." The angel can't be that stupid. Or that innocent. He's in a human body.
"Because you're in love with her and you want her for yourself."
"Well, yes, but you couldn't use her as a vessel anyway and you know I'd give her as much time alone as you two need. Saul will probably let me use him so I watch Chrysander when you two are together."
"You don't want to have sex with her."
"Oh no. Saul does, but not seriously and she doesn't like him." The angel shakes his head. Thanatos just stares at him.
"You're in his body. That means you do too."
"No, I don't want to have sex with her. It's not... I feel things in a vessel that I don't as an angel, taste and smell are new, but they're very dull. Things like pain and pleasure aren't really as great which is good since I hear they're very distracting. And we're usually down here for a reason, so distractions aren't so great. Besides even if I did I couldn't do that. It's not allowed. Well, it is now actually, but there's consent issues and it's still very taboo at least." Harahel shakes his head, putting way more thought into it than Thanatos actually likes.
"Well, okay then. And you're alright with her being with me, a god of a different pantheon."
"Oh, we're not a pantheon we only have one god, the one who created everything. And free will is a very important part of our religion. After all what good is love if it's not given freely?"
"If it's not given freely, it's not love." Thanatos says. Harahel smiles at him.\
"See, you understand, even if other pagans don't. As long as you don't do anything bad to her, why would i object to you loving her at all."
"I might convert her. Send her soul to hell or to Hades."
"Oh, no you can't. Willing vessels belong to heaven. There are only a hundred and forty four thousand of them at a time usually though. I think those limited numbers She might convert you, though." Harahel teases. Thantos gives a wry smile.
"Okay, so, take us home?" Thanatos gestures off into the distance. Hara puts a hand on his shoulder and takes him back to the house.
"I'll take you back when you want to go see your brother again." Hara offers, looking around the living room. There's a fire dying out in the fireplace, and an empty mug of hot chocolate and a plate with a few graham cracker crumbs and drops of melted chocolate next to a bag of marshmallows and a metal skewer. There's a gummy marshmallowPlus all the lights are on, which means that Josephine's not home. There's a snowstorm outside, the first of the season. "The air seems wrong." Hara frowns and looks around.
"It's the lysol. Josephine sprays it like air freshener." Thanatos says heading to the downstairs bedrooms to check on Krissy and the baby. "They're asleep in Krissy's room." He informs Hara and goes inside to tuck Krissy in and maybe hold his son for a bit. He doesn't hold josephine's view on mother and infant sleeping together, but it's just nice to be able to hold him for a while. As he goes to ease his son away from his mother's arms, her cellphone rings. He frantically tries to grab and silence it so it doesn't wake the baby, but it takes until the last ring to find it. Miraculously it doesn't wake either of them. It's Josephine, but it's already gone to voice mail. There are seven calls from her and a few texts. 'Snowed in at restaurant, getting room at the motel. Kiss Crys for me. see you in morning.' 'Is everything okay?' 'I know your phone isn't dead, it rings seven times before going to voicemail.' "Krissy?" He shakes her shoulder a little. There's no response and her breathing is very shallow. It's then that he notices Crysander's not moving at all. "Harahel!" the angle rushes in as Thanatos just stares at his son's still body, feeling weak and nauseous. "Do something. You're an angel...."
"I'm a librarian. They're... They're too broken. Open the windows, get her outside, call an ambulance. I don't know. This is... Rye" Hara snatches Chrysander up and takes him to his brother in the hotel where he and Miti are looking over the list of components. "Rye. Help. The air is bad. Oh, Krissy!" Hara goes back just in time to see Thanatos stumble and throw up. He grabs them both and takes them outside. "The air is bad. I have to, we have to....
"Where's my son? Why aren't you with him?" Thanatos demands, grabbing his arm. "We... we'll be fine. Just go!"
"But..."
"GO! I called that emergency number just go!"
"I'll be back. I'll..."
"GO!" Hara goes back to Rye who's just holding Chrysander, silently.
"Rye?"
"It was too late, Hara. He's gone. I'm sorry."
"Well, ... well bring him back. Nobody knows yet. It's fine just... bring him back!" Hara demands.
"I can't. His soul's not in heaven." Rye says gently, handing the baby back to his sister.
"He-he can't be in hell, he's an infant! They don't... they don't do that. They don't." Hara raises his voice.
"Hara..."
"If demons can ressurrect souls that are in heaven, then why can't we ressurrect people who's souls are elsewhere? Huh?"
"They have corrupt reapers to help them, we don't and Dad's not here. Hara, I'm sorry." Rye puts a hand on her cheek.
"No, you... you're just not good enough. Raphael! Where's Raphael? Why can't I reach him?"
"He turned off communications while he's with the fledglings in the abyss. But, Hara, he can;t.." Harahel doesn't wait for Rye to finish before going as fast as he can to the abyss with Crysander's body. As soon as he steps through. It sends him directly to the fledglings in the middle of their wing strengthening exercises.
"Brother." Is all he can say, tears starting to well up in his eyes. Raphael doesn't even have to look up to know what's wrong.
"I'm sorry, Sister." he says gently, ushering him aside. "Wait here." The young angels wait silently in rows as only Raphael and Michael can get them to do. Despite their concern at their brother's obvious distress and the strange change in the baby.
"No," Hara shakes his head. "No, you have to fix it. You can... you can save him. I know you can. You can. You can do anything. I know it." He holds out the infant.
"I cannot create or conjure souls and I have no access to his." Raphael says gently.
"Why isn't he in heaven? Why?" Hara demands. "He's just a baby. He should be in heaven."
"He's a pagan demi-god Harahel. They don't go to heaven.
"He's a baby. It's not right. I... I'll get his soul. I'll find it. I will. I don't care where it is, I'll bring it back to him, just...just bring him back now, without it and I..."
"Harahel, I won't ressurrect a soulless body, especially not an infant one, what it could do to him... no. Sister, I'm sorry. You have to let it go. Give her to me. I\ll take him back to his parent and explain." Raphael holds out his hands for the baby.
"No." Hara steps back, clutching Chrysander to his chest. "I.. I'll do it." She takes off and heads to a crossroads. If heaven can't help him, then maybe hell will. It takes short work to make the summons. No one appears for the longest time.
"Are you kidding me?" A demon says behind Hara as she drops down to her knees. "An angel wants to make a deal? Granted a tiny little angel, what are you five stories unencumbered?"
"No. No, I'm not kidding. I need to make a deal." Hara looks up at the young man in kaki's in front of him. "Bring him back and I will give you anything I have."
"Really..."The man looks at him. "That's it? Bring back this dead damaged baby? I'm not sure he's even completely human. Is that why heaven can't do that? Or won't they?" The demon looks down at them, arms crossed. "Is this a trick? I hear your new viceroy is a bit of a prankster."
"No. It's no trick, they don't know I'm here. I swear on everything that is just bring him back."
"Well, okay, then... my price... is you." He taps Hara's nose. "You don't have a soul, so next best thing. And since angels can't be trusted, no ten years. Just an immediate trade."
"And you'll bring Chrysander back?"
"Of course. A deal is a deal." He smiles.
"Then yes." she takes a breath and lifts her head to seal it with a kiss, but when the demon bends to kiss her a hand grabs his head and burns the life out of him.
"Harahel." Raphael snaps. "What do you think you are doing?"
"Excuse me." Claire taps the orderly on the shoulder. "Where's room twenty seven?"
"Around the corner." He points.
"Thanks." She runs over to it. Krissy is lying on a hospital bed, one of those oxygen tube thingys under her nose, staring at the wall. "Hey," she stops at the doorway, not sure what to do. "I got here as soon as I could."
"Hey, Claire." Krissy says blankly not looking at her.
"What happened? Where's Nat? With junior?" Claire pulls a chair over.
"No." Krissy replies quietly. "The fireplace was clogged or blocked or the boiler broke or something. I don't know yet, but it's carbon monoxide poisoning. Nat had less exposure than me but he got some bug from the hospital.".
"Greek gods, get sick?"
"Apparently."
"He'll be okay, though, right?"
"It doesn't matter."
"That's cold." Claire frowns at her, leaning forwards.
"I didn't want him. I didn't. Not even a little. I wasn't ready. I'm stubborn, flirty, reckless, restless, I drink, probably too much. Who needed a lover, a baby? Who wanted to be a mom? Not me. I know you understand." She moves her head slightly towards Claire. "I didn't... I didn't need to love somebody so very, very much. I didn't have to. I could have gotten an abortion. I could have. Never seen Nat again. I didn't have to feel this way at all. I didn't."
"Kris?" Claire starts to feel worried.
"Ms. Chambers." Some woman in a sweater with a clipboard knocks on the door. "Can I talk to you? Is now a better time?"
"No." Krissy doesn't look at her, or change her affect at all.
"Again, my name is Elise. I'm the grief counselor. I'll be here until seven. If you change your mind, you can reach me at this extension."She holds out a card. Krissy just ignores it.
"Thanks." Claire takes it instead. The woman nods and looks at Krissy a moment before leaving. "Where's Hara?"
"I don't know. Hiding probably, like the useless little coward she is."
"Krissy?"
"I don't know what happened. Everything was fine. It was snowing, Crys was sleeping in his crib. Jo and Aiden had a fire going and went out to dinner. It started snowing, I had some smores and hot chocolate. He woke up hungry so I went to feed him. I had a headache and he was fussy so I lay down with him and woke up here. They told me.. they told me Chrys..."
"Oh, Krissy." Claire takes one of her hands.
"I don't understand. Why am I alive? I was there too. I... I shouldn't...Why? Why would this happen? Why?" She curls in on herself starting to cry. "I didn't even want him. What's the point in making me love him so much then just taking him away from me?"
"I don't know." Claire puts her arms around her. "I don't know."
"Harahel." The archangel Gabriel, viceroy of heaven, sits on the throne, hating the very feel of it around her. "Please tell me there was some kind of... misunderstanding."
"No."She looks down. "I'm guilty."
"Do you understand what you've done? You almost gave yourself and your vessel over to a demon. Do you know what they would have done to you?" She asks, "Do you? to the both of you? Worse than death, Hara."
"I didn't care. He was still mine. I had to.. I had to save him. It would have been worth it."
"I know." The archangel of justice and judgement enfolds her little sister, with her wings, and lets her cry until she can't anymore. "Hara. I know what you're going through. I do. I'm not angry, and I do forgive you, but what you tried to do would have put more than just yourself at risk. It would have put every angel and vessel in danger and even potentially aided demons in the persuit of human souls. Even if we got to you before you broke or they got anything more out of you, we'd have had to invade Hell to do it, and at least one of them has an angel blade. We archangels are locked out, we could have lost any number of our brothers to the abyss. We barely have enough to keep heaven going as it is. We can't even bring back the fledglings yet. Do you understand the enormity of your actions now?" Hara gives a slow nod. "You understand that you're going to have to be punished for this."
"Yes, I know."
"I'm placing you on strict probation. You will return to the library and go only return to earth when given an assignment or special permission to do so. You will report to one of the elder angels once I decide who it's going to be. It won't be one of your freinds."
"I know. Krissy's my only friend."
"Krissy... yeesh... alright, if she calls for you, you can go to her. I'll assign you a probation officer Asap. Now, while you're waiting I want you to write a thesis on why making demon deals is a bad idea. Make it five thousand pages at least and make sure you cite all your references." She pats Hara's arm. "Send your vessel back, too, if you would."
"He doesn't want me to go. He still wants to just be locked away."
"The nazi torture stuff?"
"He was protecting me. I won't leave him if he doesn't want me to. It's the least I can do." Hara looks up at her sister with pleading eyes.
"Okay." She kisses her little sisters forhead. "But try to convince him to maybe go talk to Alex. You can take him there if he agrees. Just let me or your parole officer know."
"Yes, sir."
"It's okay, Hara. I promise, it'll be okay. " Hara doesn't say anything. "Ruth, take Harahel back to the library. I'll be sending Miti and Zuri and Rye in shortly."
"Yes, ma'am." Ruth walks over and waits for them to stand up again.
"Love you, baby girl. We'll move past this." Babe pats Hara's back and sends her on her way. When they're gone she notices Michael standing in the wings. She'll probably has alot to say about Hara's sentencing. Well, that'll be fun. 'Can I help you?" she steels herself for the coming reproach.
"I didn't expect you to be so compassionate." Comes the reply. "Based on your history, I expected a summary execution."
"Don't mistake my history for yours." Babe crosses her arms with a scowl. Michael doesn't say anything to this, she just looks down slightly. "You only saw the worst things I'd ever done, not the best."
"Will you tell me?" Okay, that's not what she expected her big sister to say at all.
"What, my greatest hits?" Babe starts to feel uncomfortable, her wings twitching slightly. Talking to Michael, she usually just ran, or let Luci do the talking. He was better at it.
"Yes."
"Well, there's a surprising amount of overlap between the two."
"I have time." Michael sits down on the floor in front of the throne like Babe used to do when listening to their brother tell her stories of life before her and Raphael. But now it'll be her, telling Miqa about her life without them.
"Okay." Babe goes back to the throne and sits down." The first was this pearl diver. It was how I got out of the ocean undetected. He was in love with this girl, but she hated the sea so I started sending her these dreams..."