The Saturday after Beat The Devil aired, I was still all twisted up over what had happened. I realized I needed to fic fix-it for my own sake. I talked some ideas out with Tempestuous Ocean—who was fabulous—and then I got to work. First chapter done, I reached out to Jenjoremy to see if she was up for a challenge. She said she was, and that began the last twelve days of crazy . Jenjoremy rose to the challenge like a star. With everything else she has to do, she edited each chapter I sent her and had it ready for me to post each morning. She also advised, guided, shared ideas, and gave feedback on what she was getting. She made this ride a treat.

I never imagined I would see so many new names reading one of my stories, and I love that so many of you seemed to enjoy reading is as much as I did writing it. I am posting this chapter satisfied by my version while still looking forward to seeing what canon offers when the episode airs tonight. Thank you all for reading, old friends and new, and I hope to see you return with whatever story comes next—Depending on how the finale goes, I might be writing a Post 13 AU.

Enjoy the last installment of Homecoming…

Epilogue

Sam walked to where Lucifer was chained to his tree and kicked his leg. "Wake up, Lucifer!" he said harshly.

Lucifer opened his eyes. "Not sleeping, Sammy. Just resting my eyes. I was awake to watch that whole fight go down. I was really rooting for Hester to take you out, but my boy got in there and saved you all. I knew he was going to be special."

"He is," Sam said. "More special that you could ever hope to be, especially since you're human now."

Lucifer winced.

"Don't like hearing it?" Sam asked. "It's what you are. Do you think your dad will love you more now you're one of us? He always did prefer humanity."

"Shut your mouth!" Lucifer spat.

Sam grinned. "I'll take that as a yes."

"You know nothing about it."

"I know plenty," Sam said, satisfied by the former angel's distress.

Dean came over to them and looked down at Lucifer with hatred. "What are we going to do with him?" he asked,

Sam shrugged. "We'll have to talk about it together." He turned and saw that Mary and Jack were still celebrating with their friends. "We don't have to interrupt them though."

"We're in no rush, I guess. We only have Heaven to save," Dean said dourly.

"We will," Sam said. "There's got to be a way."

"I could help with that," Lucifer said slyly. "Sure, I'm not an archangel anymore…"

"Or any kind of angel," Dean interjected.

"But if you can get me some grace, I can be an angel again, bolster the troops upstairs."

Dean laughed. "Do you really think we're that stupid?"

"Well, all evidence points towards it, yes," Lucifer said.

Sam kicked him hard and he cried out in pain. The sound drew the eyes of the celebrating group, and Mary, Jack, Bobby and Gabriel drifted over to them.

"Are we playing Guantanamo Bay?" Gabriel asked. "If so, sign me up."

"We're deciding what to do with him," Sam said.

"What do you want to do, Sam?" he asked. "I think you have earned the deciding vote in this."

"We can kill him," Dean said.

"Or we can strip him of all memories and leave him to wander the earth as a vagrant," Castiel suggested, coming to stand with them. "I have lived that life. It is not a good one."

Sam considered. He did want Lucifer dead, but he wanted him in pain more. If he was dead, it would be over for him. He wanted him to really suffer.

"I think we should leave him as he is," Sam said. "If he forgets what he was, he won't know what he lost. If we kill him, it's over. We can leave him to live as a human; I can't think of a worse fate for him."

Lucifer narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?" Sam asked.

"I'm on board with that," Gabriel said. "I think he could do with the lesson of living a human life."

"What do you think, Jack?" Mary asked.

"Whatever you think will hurt him more," Jack said edging closer to Sam so that it was clear where his loyalty lay.

"Do you want to take him back with you?" Bobby asked. "Cause if you don't, we can handle him here."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

"Of course," Bobby said. "We'll keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble. We have handcuffs still. It will be a pleasure even. We never had our revenge on our Lucifer. This'll make up for it."

Sam considered. Lucifer had wanted to bring their world to its knees, with humans obliterated. He'd failed, and this world wasn't everything he'd hoped for, but Sam thought leaving him to live as a human here was an appropriate fate for him. If they kept him prisoner, there was no chance of him getting grace from an angel.

"Sammy?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. He can stay here as a prisoner," Sam said.

Bobby rubbed his hands together. "Perfect. I'll enjoy this, and I know a few more people that will, too."

"Thank you, Bobby," Sam said.

Bobby waved away his thanks. "It's for me as much as it is for you guys."

"What are you going to do now that it's over?" Mary asked him.

"It's not over," Bobby said. "We've still got work to do. Jack didn't kill every angel in this world. They won't be such a threat now since they have no leader to organize them, so we should be able to pick them off pretty easy. We have plenty of swords to make bullets out of. Work it might be, but it'll be a pleasure, too. What about you? You want to stay and help with the clean up?"

Sam's eyes darted to his mother and he saw her forlorn expression. He thought he knew her answer. She did want to stay. She wanted to leave them. His heart ached. He had understood her needing to see the Michael fight through to the end, but it was over now. Shouldn't she want to come home with them? Weren't they enough?

"Mom?" Sam prompted as Dean glared at her.

"I want to go home with my boys," she said quietly.

Sam's mouth dropped open and Dean stiffened beside him.

"I've made some bad choices since I was brought back," she said. "Though I thought they were the right ones at the time. I've let my boys down more than once. I didn't see it clearly until that angel had me and I thought I would never have the chance to make it right. I'd like to use this chance to do that now." She looked from Sam to Dean, her smile tentative. "What do you think?"

"I think I'd like that," Dean said, and Sam nodded.

Bobby looked disappointed. "Jack, what about you? Do you want to add some firepower to our fight?"

"I would," Jack said. "But there is a fight waiting for us at home, too. Heaven needs to be saved, and if it can't, we're going to need as much firepower as we can get there to deal with the souls that are released."

Dean nodded his agreement. "That's a lot of spirits that will eventually turn vengeful."

"That's fair enough," Bobby said. "If you change your minds, you know where we'll be."

"Let's go then," Gabriel said cheerfully.

Bobby hugged Mary and clapped Jack on the back. "It was a pleasure fighting with you," he said, then turned to Sam and Dean. "And it was good to see you again. You two keep on keeping on. I hope things work out for you back home."

"Thank you, Bobby," Sam said, looking into the familiar eyes with the different awareness behind them. "Good luck to you, too."

"Don't need luck," Bobby said. "Not while I've got my people with me. We'll clean up and then start rebuilding. I might not see it through in my lifetime, but there are enough of us left to make this place a home again. It will work out eventually."

"Are you ready, Jack?" Dean asked.

"Yes," Jack said.

"Hold up," a voice shouted behind them. Charlie ran toward them, a wide smile on her face. "You're not going without saying goodbye, are you?"

Dean grinned at her. "Wouldn't dare."

Charlie hugged Mary and Jack and then addressed Sam and Dean. "It was good to meet you guys. You're pretty badass."

"So are you," Sam said.

"And the other me?" Charlie asked.

"She was more than badass," Dean said seriously. "Our Charlie was a hero."

Sam nodded solemnly.

"Liking her more and more," she said with a grin. "Later, bitches."

Sam swallowed down the lump in his throat. "Goodbye, Charlie."

She bounced away and Bobby cleared his throat gruffly and followed her.

"Now?" Jack asked.

"Yes," Mary said seriously. "Take us home."

Jack closed his eyes and his expression became concentrated. When his eyes opened, they were glowing gold. Sam followed his gaze and saw the golden tear appear in the air. It stretched and lengthened into a rift.

"Here goes," Gabriel said, marching forward and disappearing through the rift. Mary glanced around the camp one last time and then followed him. Castiel went after her, leaving Jack, Dean and Sam alone.

"Ready, Sammy?" Dean asked.

"Almost," Sam said. He looked past Dean to Lucifer where he sat chained to the tree. He was staring back at Sam with hatred, and Sam smiled at him. "Goodbye, Lucifer," he said, and then walked into he rift.

He landed heavily on the floor, feeling the ache of his injuries from the fight. He rolled out of the way of the rift and took Castiel's offered hand to get to his feet. Dean landed hard behind him, and then Jack came through. The rift pulsed and then shrank into nothing.

Sam looked around him. They had arrived in the library of the bunker. Rowena was sitting at the desk surrounded by open books and an almost empty bottle of whiskey.

"You're back," she said, sounding stunned.

"We are," Dean said.

"Did I do that?" she asked.

"Not exactly," Sam said.

"I opened the rift," Jack said.

"Oh," she said. "I can stop now then?"

"Yes, Rowena," Sam said. "You can stop."

She got to her feet and wavered slightly. "That's good, I've had a wee bit too much to drink and think I need to have myself a lie down."

She took two steps away from the table and then pitched forward. Gabriel jumped forward and caught her before she hit the floor. He scooped her into his arms, saying, "Easy, Red. Let's get you somewhere to sleep it off."

He carried her out of the room towards the bedrooms.

Dean laughed. "Looks like she had a party without us."

"She was trying to get us home," Sam said, examining the spines of the books she'd been reading. "She was helping."

"Rowena helping," Dean said. "Still not used to that idea." He shook his head and pointed a finger at Sam. "Now, you get your ass to bed. You may not need a doctor anymore, since you were strong enough to take out an angel, but you still need to rest and recover."

It was on the tip of Sam's tongue to protest, but then a wave of lethargy swept over him and he knew he needed to accept what Dean was saying and do the sensible thing for once.

"Okay," he said. "Don't let me sleep too long."

"I'll wake you in a few days," Dean said.

Sam waved a hand at him and started away. He had gone a few steps before someone caught his arm. He turned back and Mary wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Sam held her in return, feeling the loss when she pulled back. "Thank you for coming for me, boys," she said, looking between Sam and Dean.

"Thank you for coming back," Sam said.

She smiled sadly. "I realized this is where I belong."

"You do," Dean said seriously. "We need you. It's not over yet."

"Heaven could fail," Castiel said dourly.

"Exactly," Dean said. "We never seem to stop saying this, but we've got work to do."

Sam nodded as he patted his mother's arm and started away again. It wasn't over. They needed to save Heaven still, but for a little while he was going to just stop and rest. He was going to get back on his feet properly, and then they could save the world again, fighting together as a family.

It was everything he thought he could want now. Family.

So… That is that. I am happy with how this finished up. I feel like they're all in a good place now. What do you think? Is there anything you would have liked to see that I missed? Maybe it will find a place in a Post 13 AU if it gets written.

Until the next story, whatever that may be…

Clowns or Midgets xxx