9/6/2016 - I've been getting a few comments about the romance bits, and to be honest I have no freaking idea what I'm doing with them. This would be my first time trying to actually develop this sort of thing and kind of went with the flow instead of a structured guideline. If you liked it, okay, if not, well I apologize :(

Added a bit to the end of Chapter 43. Felt Dawn needed a bit more sendoff. Edits continuously happening because I'm of the picky sort and I always find something wrong -_-

Anyways, here we go for the Finale. Thank you everyone who stuck with me the whole time! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed! And thank you ahead of time for not killing me for ending!

"So you're quite certain you do not know a Dawn?"

"How many times do I have to say it? No, Cass, I've never had a sister named Dawn. You'd think I'd remember if my mom ever brought home a baby."

The seraph sighed in relief. "Okay. Thank you."

"Here," Buffy said as she handed him a beer. "Relax a bit!"

Chuck had gone all out in making a party. Lights, streamers, balloons, and a mix of the best rock and roll dance songs from the sixties to the seventies were all set up in the library (the tables temporarily removed). In the adjacent kitchen he'd provided pizza, beer, and liquor. There was something for everyone to enjoy.

After setting everything up, Amara and Chuck spent several minutes alone in order to restore God's borrowed power. When they returned to the feasting crowd, the Darkness gave apologies to both Buffy and Dean. The former received it graciously, the latter begrudgingly. After that, Chuck declared everything to be settled and that it was time for the partying to get started.

Crowley set himself up with a bottle of excellent cognac on the kitchen table, then surprisingly found a second glass plunked down beside his own. The demon exchanged respectful nods with Giles and the two spent the celebration pouring drinks and sitting in companionable silence.

The other Sunnydale expats danced merrily on the cleared library floor. No amount of coaxing could get Castiel or Dean to join them, but they eventually wore down Sam. Relishing in the memories of (relatively) carefree days partying at Stanford, the younger Winchester let alcohol break his inhibitions. Later, Sam made his brother swear that he would never, ever remind him of his dance floor antics.

Willow took a break and cornered Lucifer with drinks and conversation, hoping to eat away at the disdain for humanity the archangel had harbored for centuries. Despite Lucifer's inability to address her in a tone not redolent with contempt, the witch was persistent, and somehow he found himself actually beginning to like her. The archangel had to admit that there were a few of the little dirt monkeys that weren't so despicable. A very few.

Chuck and Amara sat watching the festivities from the map table with small smiles. They spoke a little about their future, but they were for the most part merely content to be with their family again.

Castiel kept away from the ruckus by sitting in the demon cell with the Key. He was astonished to discover that the former, vacuous ball of energy had retained a minor amount of self-awareness and could express feelings if not words. Much of what it responded with correlated with what the seraph remembered of Dawn. He assumed that the monk's spell had altered the Key more than they could have anticipated. The two celestial beings spent their time "conversing," with Castiel speaking and the Key answering. He was happy to know that some vestige of the child would still exist.

Muffins ate half a pizza before anyone noticed. Crowley and Giles witnessed the carnage but thought the dog deserved her own celebratory meal. Dean rushed in to rescue the precious pie and started walking towards Buffy's room to deposit the fluffy burden.

Spotting his exit, the Slayer rushed after him. "Hey!" she called.

"Here," Dean said as he stopped in the hallway and shoved the yipping bundle at its owner. "All yours."

"Wait." Buffy put Muffins on the ground. The puppy immediately plopped over panting happily and showing off a distended tummy. "You haven't said more than a word to me since I got my soul back."

The hunter shrugged. "What is there to say?"

"Uh, how about: I'm so glad for you, Buffy? I missed you while you were experiencing God-induced sleepage, Buffy? Let's have us a kiss, Buffy?"

Dean folded his arms. "How about: exactly what I warned you about just went down, Buffy? Damnit, you lost your frigging soul because someone was after me. Nothing you can deny about it."

"Well, okay." The Slayer thought for a moment. "But you didn't make me try to kill her with a sword, and you're not the reason Spike was even here to be a jerk. By the way, no fair staking him while I was out!"

"Dude deserved it."

"Duh. I'm just disappointed I didn't get to do it myself."

"There a point to all this?"

"The point is that there's enough guilt to go around for what happened, so no use doing your mopey Dean thing."

"'Mopey Dean thing'?"

"Yeah, this whole thing where you're blaming yourself for everything bad that happens. You wanna blame yourself for the stuff that happened before you stepped foot in Sunnydale? Like, you known Hellmouthy stuff?"

"No! It's just…" Frustrated, Dean threw his hands up and let them drop. "Look, your Watcher already told me that you gotta go back to your Hellmouth. I already made the stupid mistake of asking you to stay and now I don't know what to do!"

After a moment of silence, Buffy quietly pleaded, "Can't you come with me instead of staying here?"

"And do what, Buffy? I ain't smart like Sam so I'm not going to that college of yours. I don't even got any real job skills other than hunting." Dean sighed. "I did the home life thing for a while, okay? And something came and bit me in the ass like it always does."

"So? I'm the Slayer. Fighting bad guys; that's what I do."

"Yeah, Hellmouth demons and dusty vamps and all that simpler crap. Crowley and Lucifer out there are puttin' on a good show, but they've got frigging eternity to make good on the their debts, and believe me, me and Sammy have racked up a lot. Once Chuck's gone they're gonna go back to trying to make our lives hell."

Buffy folded her arms and glared. "They don't scare me."

Dean glared back. "Either of them could snap their fingers and that'd be the end of every one of your pals in that room."

The Slayer's eyes watered. "You're not coming. I can't stay. What do we do?"

For a moment, Dean let himself feel devastated by the inevitability of their separation. Then he squirreled it away and covered his lapse with a smirk. "Hey, we got at least tonight."

Buffy managed a smile of her own. "Yeah, we do." She grabbed his lapels. "Might as well make the most of it," said the Slayer as she pulled him to his room.

The party wound down around 2am when the humans had decided they were too drunk or too tired to continue. Xander and Sam catcalled at Dean's door as they passed; his and Buffy's absence hadn't gone unnoticed. Once they realized that the mortals were either doing a private celebration of their own or, in Giles and Sam's cases, fallen over on their bed in a drunken stupor, Amara and Chuck recast the Bunker's wards. Both Lucifer and Crowley wore disappointed frowns while Castiel curiously flipped through the December 1952 edition of Busty Asian Beauties.

"There," Chuck said as he swiped his hands together. "Added a few more besides in case anymore Hellgods come calling." He turned to his sister. "You ready to talk to them?"

Amara nodded and the pair of omnipotent beings cast their gazes on Crowley, who squirmed, and Lucifer, who lifted an eyebrow. "We have been speaking about Hell," the Darkness explained, "and how it has fallen."

"Hey!" Crowley cried indignantly.

"We need time to truly reconcile," added Chuck, "and while the angels have things kind of figured out, Hell is a mess."

"We would like you, nephew, to rule the demons."

"Really now?" Lucifer asked, clearly uninterested.

"Yes, son," Chuck confirmed. "Your brothers and sisters are content upstairs not interfering with humanity, but demons are, well, demons."

"You are not to obliterate them," cautioned Amara.

"Aw," pouted the archangel.

"Balance," said Chuck. "It must be maintained. And, frankly, the demons aren't going to listen to him anymore."

"It's his fault!" Crowley complained petulantly.

"No, it's yours," corrected the Darkness. "You lost their respect a long time ago with your shenanigans. But we would like you to be Lucifer's advisor."

"Without the dog collar, son," said Chuck.

"What?" exclaimed both Lucifer and Crowley. "Him? Why?"

"The demons will fear and follow you," God clarified for Lucifer.

"But it is you who understands how Hell truly works," Amara said to Crowley.

The archangel and the demon glowered at one another. Crowley capitulated first, shrugging and looking intrigued. "Don't want to be looking over my shoulder all the bloody time."

Lucifer, however, was adamantly opposed to the idea. "I really don't care about Hell or whether or not it'll fall apart. Give me another incentive."

"You can keep Michael in the Cage," Amara suggested. Chuck sputtered indignantly.

"I'm in!" the archangel responded cheerfully.

Castiel sighed.

Lucifer and Crowley walked out of the Bunker soon after. Chuck and Amara then joined them in Hell for a short conference with some of the more influential demons to reinforce God's decree. The presence of God and the Darkness certainly did wonders to subdue the more unruly members, especially when Chuck didn't object to his son smiting one after a rude remark.

After that, God quietly gave Crowley an "emergency contact" spell just in case his son decided to go back on his word. Amara also gave the demon a warning not to stab Lucifer in the back while standing behind the throne. She vowed that if he did, she would return and exact a terrible punishment. Crowley paled and made his promise.

By the time the duo returned it was late morning at the Bunker and the humans were brunching on leftover pizza. They explained what had happened to general astonishment before offering to deposit the Sunnydale residents back home.

Buffy glanced at Dean and sighed; then, more practically, asked, "Uh, I don't suppose you'd…"

"Already done," responded Chuck. "Bank account's full for all of you. Kind of payment for services rendered, you know?"

"Us too?" Sam wondered.

"Sort of. Yours are on these cards." God lay two Visas in front of the younger Winchester. "But it's not an unlimited amount. Just enough to get you all comfortable and settled."

As most of them used each others' phones to eagerly check their bank accounts for the additions, Amara gently pulled Buffy aside. "I want to apologize again."

"It's okay," the Slayer said. "I mean, you got rid of Glory so I think we're about even."

"I also wanted to tell you: Dean will join you in your home."

"What?"

"I know he will be there." Amara gently placed her hand on Buffy's cheek. "It was your soul that showed me the beauty of my brother's work. I would return the favor by giving you hope."

When the Slayer next looked at Dean, the desolation was gone from her eyes. She then realized that the others were crowing about the seven digit amounts that were now in their bank accounts. Anya was particularly excited, bouncing up and down in her seat while crying out various things she really needed to buy.

"No, Dean," an exasperated Sam was admonishing, "you can't spend it on a lifetime subscription to Busty–"

"Fine! Killjoy."

It took a few more hours for the Sunnydale residents to gather their belongings and prepare to leave. The Winchesters gave an open door policy to all of them, an invitation that Giles and Willow were sure to take up on. They packed their things into both Xander and Giles' cars and made their goodbyes.

Dean eyed Buffy warily as she stood before him. Her misery over his conviction that they wouldn't see each other for a good long while seemed to have disappeared. The Slayer gave the hunter a smirk that he was certain she'd learned from him before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him lightly on the lips. "It was wonderful, Dean. Everything."

"Yeah, it was," he answered as he tightened their embrace. "I promise, whenever we're near California we'll drop in."

"You better."

There were hand shakings and vows made all around while God and the Darkness watched, smiling. Amara was astonished to receive a hug from Buffy, and Chuck was nearly knocked over with a group hug from all the Sunnydale youth. They treated Castiel to the same, only he actually did fall over and was dogpiled under the laughing group. Sam gave Muffins her own teary-eyed farewell while Dean rolled his eyes. Then, with the Key floating in his hand, God gave the Winchesters a nod in thanks and snapped his fingers.

Sam, Dean, and Castiel stared at the empty space in front of the Bunker. "Dean," said the seraph, "why did you not go with her?"

"What?"

"Don't humans stay with those they couple with often?"

"Dude!" Sam exclaimed.

"Also, Buffy has a child coming. I think you should name her Dawn. It's a very nice name."

The Winchesters gaped at their friend before staring at each other. "You didn't–" began Sam.

"I didn't think about it at the time, okay?"

Silence reigned before the younger Winchester threw his arms up and let them drop. "So, we packing?"

"I will keep an eye on the Men of Letter's Bunker," assured Castiel.

"I… I…" Dean stuttered, clearly unable to process the news.

After exchanging glances, Sam grabbed one of his brother's arms and Castiel grabbed the other. "Don't worry," soothed the younger Winchester as they dragged him inside. "We already know how to change diapers. Remember the shapeshifter baby?"

"Baby?"

"I will be there to ensure the child's safety," added Castiel.

"Child?"

"I like the name Dawn, too," Sam concurred. "Maybe Dawn Mary Summers-Winchester."

"Dawn?"

"You will be a better father than any of us have known," reassured the seraph.

"Father?"

"Cass," Sam said over his brother's head. "I think you broke him. Drink?" he asked Dean.

"Drink," agreed the elder hunter. "Then pack. Then go."

"Sounds like a plan."

Fin

Author's Note : Ending with thoughts of future possibilities! That's what this is. I might attempt a sequel in the future, particularly with Season 12 on the horizon (squee!) but I've got Paschendale and Astronomy Domine to handle in the meantime. Please give them a try if you've got a moment!

Thank you to all my reviewers and commenters: Authoressinhiding, Mike3207, sweetzchristopher, lilnudger82, ggf1, Jennee77, The Urban Spaceman, deadly embrace, willdawg992003, CrystalCipher, , demon19027, Wlyman2009, Scaramou, daveanthony1, and whoever you strange and wonderful Mystery Guests were!

Special thanks to xxRomanceGirlxx, thedarkpokemaster, and IoSolUno (even though I lost you part of the way) for being there from the beginning! :D

On to the next story…