Chapter 20

Team player

Lucifer observed Mia and her brother who was utterly shocked and as pale as a ghost. Being possessed usually wasn't a very pleasant experience to a human, although Ezra had assured that he hadn't damaged this human's body in any way. Mia was hugging him and stroking his back, clearly she cared about him very much. For some reason the thought irritated Lucifer quite a lot.

"What…what's going on?" the human murmured after he finally managed to pull himself together enough to form a sentence.

Mia pulled away and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

He looked confused and distressed.

"I… I don't understand… I couldn't control my own body; it was like some kind of nightmare. Am I losing my mind?"

Mia shook her head and touched her brother's cheek.

"No, you're not." She paused and turned to look at Lucifer who observed them silently. "What did you do to him?"

Her tone of voice was angry and accusative; it made the bluish-white light that surrounded her brighter, revealing the fire in her. She truly was magnificent.

"He will be fine," Lucifer replied calmly, suppressing a smile.

Mia gritted her teeth.

"That's not what I asked."

"Who's he?" the human muttered, he was staring at Lucifer.

"The devil," Mia replied tensely.

The human's eyes widened.

"What?"

"It's okay," Mia assured and tapped her brother's shoulder. He looked at Mia and Lucifer in turns.

"What… He's…the devil?"

Lucifer crossed his arms, the human was boring him.

"Yes, that's how you humans call me," he responded dryly. "And no, you're not losing your mind; you were possessed by a demon."

"What?" Mia snapped. "You did that to my brother!"

"Mia," the human muttered tensely and touched her shoulder. "Please stop yelling at the devil."

This time Lucifer couldn't suppress his smile, apparently the human was able to offer him some amusement after all. Mia clenched her fists and glared at him furiously.

"Yes," Lucifer replied. "I'm afraid it was necessary in case you would have contacted him. But as you can see, he's fine now. No harm done."

Mia didn't respond to that; she turned back to her brother.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

The human didn't say anything, apparently all of this was too much for him to handle.

"Can we have a moment alone?" Mia asked tensely without looking at Lucifer.

"Sure," Lucifer replied.

Mia wrapped her arm around the human and guided him towards the sofa. Lucifer walked out the room and closed the door behind him. He wasn't very pleased, but unfortunately he needed to deal with this. The human was important to Mia and keeping her happy was crucial for Lucifer's plans. He was almost finished with the preparations; everything was like it was supposed to be. Very soon he would be more powerful than ever before.

"Are we there yet?" Gabriel snorted. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Dean pressed his lips together and reminded himself once again why they needed this guy. They needed all the help they could get at the moment and sadly Gabriel was their best ally against Lucifer. Dean certainly didn't trust him, but right now it seemed that they were on the same side. For some reason the archangel had actually agreed to help them after they had freed him. Of course he had first made it very clear that they wouldn't stand a chance without him, all they were good at was making a mess.

He was sitting in the backseat looking more than bored. Sam was next to Dean in the front seat, he hadn't really spoken much. Dean was very worried about his brother, Sam wasn't himself at all. Falling for the devil's grace… That must be a new record, even for a Winchester. And the whole match made in Hell… Just freaking perfect. Dean glanced at his brother's callous face and suppressed a sigh. Poor Sammy.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Dean gritted his teeth, trying his best to fight against his urge to strangle Gabriel. Hopefully Cas would be here soon, he had gone to look for some leads.

"Are we there yet? Are we…"

"Could you please shut your damn pie hole already?" Dean finally snapped.

Gabriel grinned.

"Sure, I can be gone in a second if you just tell me where we're going."

"For the last time, no," Dean responded.

Gabriel frowned.

"I offered you duffers my help and you don't trust me enough to tell me our destination? You know, someone else could be insulted."

Dean didn't say anything; he had no intention to tell Gabriel where the cabin was. He preferred keeping the archangel here where he could see him. They needed to pick up Bobby and start to make a plan. A very, very good plan. Hopefully. If Lucifer would manage to harvest his grace's power… Well, they would be pretty much screwed. Not even Michael would be strong enough to beat Lucifer after that. It was possible to destroy an angel's grace, even an archangel's, but according to Gabriel, that certainly wouldn't be a good idea. It would be like a massive nuclear explosion.

Basically their only chance was to find Mia and get her away from Lucifer before he would get anything from her. They would have to hide her; Gabriel had said that he knew places where Lucifer would never be able to find her. Dean hadn't asked what those places were, it didn't matter. He didn't allow himself to see Mia as a person anymore, he couldn't. Of course he felt sorry for her, but he had to suppress those feelings. The only thing that mattered was stopping Lucifer. Obviously Sammy didn't think like that and it was possible that they would have to take care of this without him.

"I'm bored," Gabriel complained.

"That's too bad," Dean muttered.

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, why do I have to sit here? This is slow and inconvenient way to travel and your car smells like greasy fast food."

"You don't like fast food?" Dean asked carelessly.

"No," Gabriel snorted and turned up his nose. "And neither should you, it'll kill you."

"Yeah, I doubt that I'll live long enough to have a heart attack."

Gabriel seemed amused.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." He paused and glanced at Sam. "You Winchesters certainly seem to attract trouble."

Sam didn't say anything; he simply stared at the road with a blank expression. Dean was becoming more and more concerned, but he wasn't going to say anything in front of Gabriel. The ride back to the cabin felt incredibly long, especially when Gabriel kept complaining.

"Sam?" Dean said when he finally parked the Impala in front of the cabin. "Sam?"

"Hmm?"

"We're here. Come and help me with Bobby."

"Yeah, sure."

They both got out and headed to the front door. Bobby was already waiting for them; Dean had let him know what was going on.

"Sam," Bobby said sympathetically. "We'll find her."

"Yeah," Sam murmured, he wasn't looking at Bobby.

Dean truly hoped that he would know what was going on in his brother's head.

"Sammy…"

"What's taking so long?" Gabriel asked, he was standing in the doorway.

Bobby frowned.

"This is the archangel?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Dean snorted and took care of the introductions. "We'll be right there, Bobby needs to…"

"Hold on," Gabriel huffed and marched to Bobby.

"What are you…" Bobby started when Gabriel took a hold of his wrist.

"There, you can walk now." Gabriel glanced at Dean, looking utterly pleased with himself. "See, I can be a team player. Hurry up now, we don't have the whole day."

With that he marched out, leaving stunned Bobby to stare after him. Very carefully Bobby stood up and took few cautious steps. His lips curved into the first genuine smile after losing his ability to walk.

"Well I'll be damned… A dick or not, but I think I really like that guy."