Trapped In the Amber (Dean/Castiel, Jo/Dean | R)
Fic Title: Trapped in the Amber
Author: kijikun
Artist:casper_san
Fandom/Genre: SPN, Romance, AU
Pairing(s): Jo/Warning: Lucifer, Dean/Castiel, Dean/Castiel/Jo, Dean/Castiel/Jo/Lucifer
Rating: R
Word Count: 5675
Beta:pandionpandeus, metaallu
Warnings: Threesomes/Foursome, pregnancy, AU, set in season 5
Summary: Jo wakes up trapped in Carthage.
Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.- Vonnegut
Art - AO3 - Playlist
Jo wakes in the darkness on a soft bed, covered by blankets. Her stomach hurts like hell and her hand goes there first but comes away clean. No blood, no wound.
That --doesn't sit right. She remembers -- there’s a flash of memory to quick to catch -- nothing. Last she remembers was hunting with her mother as back-up. A werewolf.
She lays as still as she can while creeping her hand down to the knife she keeps in her boot. She feels it there and its weight is comforting. Jo doesn’t know where she is and she wants a weapon while she finds out.
A dim light pierces the darkness in what Jo makes out is a doorway.
“You’re awake,” a soft male voice says from the doorway.
Jo squints in the darkness, trying to get an impression of the man holding the candle. Her hand closes around her blade. She says nothing.
“I feared I had not healed you properly,” the man goes on. He comes further into the room and uses his candle to light one by the bed Jo lays on.
He’s older than Jo, maybe Dean’s age. Handsome, blondish, with kind, sad eyes. “Who are you? Where am I?” Jo demands. “And what do you mean healed me?”
The man moves like he’s not quite at home in his body. Demon? Jo wonders and mentally goes over the Latin for an exorcism. He sets his candle down on the dresser in the room and stands like he doesn’t know what to do with his limbs.
“They call me Heylel,” he tells her. “You are in one of the many abandoned shelters in this place. I found you grievously wounded.” In the dim light she sees him frown.
Jo sits up in bed, the knife besides gripped tight beside her. “And you healed me?” She narrows her eyes. “What are you?”
He tilts his head to the side. “I am an angel of the Lord.” There’s a pause. “What are you? I’ve never come across something like you in my Father’s creation.”
Like Cas, she doesn’t say because an angel would know what a human is right? “I’m a human.”
“Human,” he says like he’s tasting the word. “You look a great deal as we do, but I can find no grace.”
Jo pushes her hair back. “Look, Heylel, I appreciate the help but I know about angels. How can you not know about us? They have you locked up upstairs or something?”
Heylel looks pained for a moment. “My elder brother was very protective.”
Jo has to laugh at that and winces at the pain in her gut.
He moves forward. “You’re in pain.”
“Just phantom pain, my body knows it should be wounded. It’s nothing,” she tells him, not wanting him close. “You said this place is abandoned?”
He nods. “There are many places like this standing empty. Your kind keep odd nests.”
Jo almost laughs again, he sounds so innocent and confused. She shakes off the urge. “Did I have anything on me?”
“Yes, a strange device. It’s on the table beside you,” he points and there sitting by the candle is her cell phone.
She snatches it up and speed dials her mom’s phone. It rings and rings and rings. Then goes to voice mail. “Mom? Where are you? I’m okay -- I think. Call me back, okay?”
Then she calls Dean. The phone rings and rings then --
“Talk to me.”
“Dean? It’s Jo. Have you heard anything from my mom, we were on a hunt and --”
Dean hangs up.
Jo frowns down at her phone. She dials again. This time the signal drops. She tries again. It drops again.
“I can’t get a call out,” she says unnecessarily to Heylel.
He nods. “I have been unsuccessful in contacting my brothers and sisters. I once was able to reach Gabriel but he severed the connection.”
Jo wrinkles her nose. “Okay, look, in the morning we’ll just get out of this town. Obviously something bad went down and we don’t want to stick around for the aftermath.”
Heylel cocks his head to the side again. “I believe we are the aftermath,” he says. “As we cannot leave this place. I have tried. There is a barrier around this garrison.”
“Town,” Jo corrects. “Unless this is housing on a military base.”
“We cannot leave this town,” he repeats.
Jo scowls into the dim light. “Yeah, we’ll see about that. I know a few tricks that might work.”
And what could trap an angel didn’t necessarily trap a human.
***
Jo walks the whole perimeter of the town. It takes all day. Just as Heylel said, there’s a barrier Jo can’t cross surrounding the town. A sign helpfully tells her the place is called Carthage.
Something about the name stirs a memory.
”Carthage? Sounds appropriate for all this to go down in.”
Heylel follows behind her like a lost puppy.
The place truly is empty.
Heylel is silent behind her, but she kind of appreciates that right now.
She tries to call Dean again as the sun starts to fade from the sky. She keeps expecting street lights to come on, but they don’t.
“Dean, it’s Jo, please don’t hang up again,” Jo says quickly into her phone as Dean picks up.
“This is some sick idea of a joke,” Dean growls.
“Dean, it’s me!” Jo protests. “My first hunt, you told me the story about how your dad took you shooting.”
There’s a pause. “Jo -- you’re dead.”
“Uhm, not really. Unless being trapped in Carthage is being dead.” And holy crap what if it is? What if she somehow has a really crappy Heaven and a working cell phone?
Another pause. “You’re what?”
“Carthage, trapped. There’s a barrier around the whole town. Look, Dean, there’s an angel in here with me named --”
The line goes dead.
Jo swears.
“Something does not want us communicating with the outside,” Heylel says. “But they seem to be having trouble with your device.”
She scowls at him. “Any idea what this ‘something’ is, angel?”
Heylel looks at a loss. “I do not. I almost feel my Father in this, but this -- I do not understand why he would do this.”
“Maybe another angel?” Jo suggests.
Heylel looks up at the sky. “He does not answer me,” he says mournfully.
Jo swallows hard, unsure how to comfort an angel.
***
It’s two days of trying to reach Dean without success and Jo’s close to giving up.
She throws her phone in a fit of frustration only for Heylel to retrieve it for her.
“I will keep trying if you will,” he tells her, folding his hands over hers.
Jo thinks of how despondent and pained he looks every time he fails to reach one of his brothers or his father. “Okay.”
***
Jo wakes to an arm flung over her hip. She stretches lazily. “Make me breakfast,” she mumbles into Dean’s chest.
She’s half aware she’s dreaming. And she’s had this dream before. It’s a good one. Her and Dean.
“Jo?” Dean sounds startled and the warm skin is pulled away from her.
“What?”
“You’re -- “ He’s staring at her like she’s come back from the dead.
Jo suddenly gets it. “We’re dreaming.”
“Damnit, freaking angels,” Dean swears. “Cas said he had a way for us to talk, but he didn’t say --”
Jo wakes up.
She punches her pillow and swears.
***
Heylel finds her on her knees clutching the toilet, emptying out her stomach. It’s the third morning in a row this has happened and Jo’s starting to worry.
“I’m sure it will soon pass,” Heylel comments gently, kneeling down beside her. He touches her back hesitantly, like he’s not sure he has permission.
Jo lifts her head and glares at him. “Can you fix me?” she demands. “What’s even wrong with me?”
His mouth thins for a moment and he shakes his head. “I dislike seeing you in distress but it would harm the life you carry inside you.”
For a long moment Jo doesn’t get what he’s saying, her brain just doesn’t want to comprehend it then it jolts forward and oh shit.
“Life I carry inside me,” she echos. “You’re saying I’m pregnant?”
Heylel nods. “You’ve been so since I first encountered you.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it?” Jo demands, because hey, that’s shit you tell someone.
“I thought you had known,” Heylel protests, sitting back on his heels.
Jo holds on tighter to the toilet and tries to remember. It has to be Dean’s, right? That’s what half her flashbacks are about and she can’t think of who else she’d have had sex with. Hard to get laid when you want Hunters to take you seriously.
She closes her eyes and focuses on that last flash of memory. Of holding Dean’s hand as they walk out of Bobby’s house.
Everything goes sideways.
”He’s still a virgin,” Dean says, a bit of forced humor in his voice. He doesn’t let go of her hand, like he’s scared she’s going to rabbit off.
But Jo’s stubborn. Plus, Dean wants Cas and, well, Cas is -- Cas is damn attractive. They’re all going to die tomorrow, what’s a threesome between friends?
Cas looks back and forth between them, looks at their joined hands. “I don’t understand,” he whispers.
Jo lets go of Dean’s hand and slides into Cas’ space. “We’re going to take care of you,” she tells him. She cups the side of his face and leans in to kiss him.
“It’s okay, Cas, we want to give you this,” Dean tells the angel.
He’s still under her lips for a moment before he groans and starts to kiss her back. Dean’s hand cups her hip and nudges her closer to Cas. She laughs into Cas’ mouth and presses more into Cas’ space.
“Pushy,” she accuses when she breaks the kiss with Cas to claim one from Dean.
It’s wet and a little bit desperate. They aren’t as careful with their teeth and they both come away a little raw. Dean tangles his fingers in the short hair on Cas’ neck and leans in for his own kiss.
Jo watches the two of them, hunger rolling in her belly. She plays with Cas’ tie, tugging him closer to both her and Dean. She runs her hands under his trench coat, pulls up his shirt from his pants to find bare skin underneath.
Cas jolts at the first touch of her hand on his skin. He gasps into Dean’s mouth. “I - I -”
“Shhh, Cas, just enjoy it,” Dean reassures him. He presses kisses down Cas’ jaw, making the angel tip his head back. Jo joins in on the other side, adding in a hint of teeth. When her mouth meets Dean’s on Cas’ skin they pause to kiss.
Cas whimpers.
“Think we should move someplace a bit more private,” Jo points out as she unbuttons Cas’ shirt. She’s already growing wet inside her panties, just from watching Cas be so taken in by such basic making out.
Dean chuckles, dark and low, and it makes something in Jo’s belly twist deliciously. “Got a place all planned out,” he promises, biting her bottom lip.
He leads the way to an old van, Cas in between them, their hands constantly touching him. Jo thinks if they give Cas too much time to think about this that he’ll run. He’ll think he’s intruding.
Dean throws open the door of the van to show that he’s padded down the floor with blankets and pillows stolen from the house. He grins cockily pleased with himself.
Jo rolls her eyes. “Okay, you did good. Don’t let it go to your head.”
Dean laughs and drags her close for a long kiss.
When they break apart Cas is watching them with dark, hungry eyes. His shirt is half unbuttoned. Jo grins and walks towards him swinging her hips, watching his eyes follow the movement. “Let’s get you out of that.”
Dean’s hand slides up under her t-shirt. “I think we’re all over-dressed for this party.”
“Jo, Jo,” Heylel is saying her name.
Jo opens her eyes carefully. She’s laying in bed with Heylel hovering over her, his faced creased with worry. There’s a single wing coming out from his back, curling around her body.
“I’m okay,” she says, pushing up onto her elbows.
“You passed out,” he points out. “That is not very okay.”
She shakes her head. “Another flashback. I think -- “ she bites her bottom lip. “Is the baby human?”
Heylel looks away. “Joanna...”
“That’s why I’ve been so sick, isn’t it? It’s not that I’m pregnant, but the baby isn’t human,” Jo’s voice rises.
His brow creases. “The child is -- special.”
“That doesn’t help,” Jo tells him crossing her arms over her chest.
He sighs and sits on the edge of the bed in that awkward way of his. “The child is part you and part both your mates.”
Jo blinks. “They aren’t my mates,” is the first thing out of her mouth. Which hello isn’t the most important thing here. “Wait, that’s impossible.”
“Not for an angel,” Heylel tells her, looking almost ashamed. “It should not have been done without your permission”
Jo bites her lip. “Cas might not have been thinking clearly. No excuse, but -- “
Heylel looks confused. “Cas? I’ve never heard such an odd name for an angel.”
“Castiel,” Jo tells him. “It’s short for Castiel.”
Suddenly, Heylel gets to his feet. “You should rest.”
Jo frowns. “Do you know him?”
Heylel touches her shoulder. “I will bring you some food and tea.”
“Heylel!” Jo grabs his hand. “Do you know him?”
Heylel twists out of her grip. “He is Gabriel’s child,” he says, then stalks from the room.
“Oh.”
***
Jo tries to call Dean. Because he should know and she wants to know if Cas is still alive. She never thought to ask before. She just assumed....
“Dean!” She so damn happy when he picks up. Almost two months without contact has been nerve wrecking.
“Jo?” Dean sounds relieved. “Jesus, it’s good to hear from you.”
“I know, it’s been two damn months. I think the whatever put up the barrier is interfering,” she says. “Any luck breaching the barrier outside Carthage?”
There’s silence on the other end of the phone.
“Jo, it’s been two days since I talked to you.” Even less time since the last cut off dream.
The world sways a little around her. “Two days, but that’s...”
There’s the sound of talking, she can hear Cas’ voice. She’s glad he’s there, if just for Dean’s sake.
“Cas thinks time might be moving differently inside the barrier,” Dean tells her.
“Really, you think?” she says sarcastically.
“We’re trying out here,” Dean tells her. “But nothing is denting it and, well, the world is sort of going to hell. Any luck on your end?”
“No, Heylel’s been trying everything he knows, but --”
“Heylel? The angel with you is named Heylel?” Cas is suddenly on the phone, voice demanding.
“Yeah, he’s --” There’s a burst of static. “Look the line’s going to cut out again. I called because you guys should know I’m preg --”
The line goes dead.
Jo almost throws the phone against a wall.
***
When she wakes up in her dream that night to Dean’s arms around her, she blurts out her news. “I’m pregnant.”
Dean goes still. “That’s what you were trying to say on the phone.”
Jo nods, tightening her fingers over his arm. “I remembered something today, too. About us. And Cas.”
“Jo,” Dean says softly. “I -- me and Cas, we thought you were dead.”
“Dean, I don’t care if you’ve been having sex with Cas while I’ve been missing,” Jo laughs.
His arms tighten around her. “We should have gone back to check,” he tells her. “Jo, I’m so damn sorry.”
“Hey, we’ll figure out how to get me out. Heylel is helping,” Jo reassures him, though she wonders about her chances of escaping Carthage.
Dean doesn’t draw away, but she feels him tense up. “Jo, you should know, Cas says Heylel is --”
Jo wakes up.
***
“So Cas is Gabriel’s son?” Jo asks tentatively the next morning, over breakfast. She’s never going to stop feeling guilty about eating a possible dead person’s food. “Like the archangel Gabriel?”
Heylel looks at the food he insists he doesn’t need to eat, though he eats it anyway. “Yes, he is my brother’s child.” He traces a finger across a fork. “Gabriel spoiled him. It seems hard to believe he is grown.”
“All grown up,” Jo says, biting her tongue on a more crass remark.
Heylel looks up at her. “What color are his eyes?”
“He’s in a vessel,” Jo points out. “I wouldn’t be able to tell.”
Heylel blinks and tilts his head. “Vessel?”
“Yes, like what you’re in. You’re in someone’s body,” Jo points out.
Heylel’s face twists with horror. “We --”
“I don’t know how it works, but I’m pretty sure they have to agree to it. So your guy said yes,” Jo hurriedly assures him. She pauses. “His eyes are blue though.”
“I last remember seeing Castiel -- “ Heylel trails off and frowns. “It’s odd. I have this memory of him fully grown in a circle of fire.”
“Maybe you’re getting your memory back,” Jo tells him, half hopeful this is this case. The other half of her brain knows it might not be a good thing for Heylel to remember things. He might not be on her side if he does.
Heylel moves his shoulders in a imitation of her own shrugs. “He stood like Gabriel would have. Defiant and proud even when trapped.”
Jo smiles. “I think I would have liked Gabriel.”
“He would have liked you.”
***
Jo makes her patrol around the city like normal. She refuses to just give up or take it easy -- like everyone tells her. She’s pregnant, not dead.
She stops outside the ruins of a hardware store.
She always stops here. Like the store draws her. Calls to her.
Normally she stops then keeps walking, but today...
Today) she moves closer to the blown out shell.
Jo’s feet crunch over the gravel and debris as she moves closer. This place...
This place feels familiar.
It looks like a bomb went off inside, she thinks as she steps in.
“Ahh,” she clutches her head as pain spikes through it. Not the time for a headache, she tells herself. Or a memory.
There are still gaps in her memory. It’s fills out in flashes and sudden revelations. Heylel is normally with her when they hit. He sits with her, sometimes for hours, stroking her hair and rubbing her back.
“Why do I know this place?” Jo asks aloud, pushing aside how she wishes Heylel would show up. Her fingers itch to call Dean. “Why?”
Maybe her mom would know. It’s weird how she never thinks to call her mom first. It’s always Dean. But she hasn’t been able to get through to her mom’s phone. It just rings or cuts off.
Jo moves more inside what’s left of the building. Oh yeah, a bomb -- the pain spikes again.
She stumbles forward and --
On the floor.
There is...there is...
Jo makes a sound that doesn’t even sound human to her. Her knees hits the floor.
“No, no, no,” she yells. “No!”
And she remembers....
***
Heylel finds her clutching her mother’s body.
He wraps a wing and an arm around her. Doesn’t say he’s sorry or anything else that would make Jo want to scream. He’s just there.
“I need to burn her,” Jo says hoarsely. “I need to...”
His wing curls tighter around her. “We will do whatever needs to be done,” he promises.
Jo shudders and buries her face in his grey feathers. “She needs a hunters’ funeral.”
“Then she will get one,” Heylel tells her. “Who did this?”
She shakes her head, she can’t talk about this now. She can’t.
He dips his head against her shoulder and is silent.
Later he helps her build a funeral pyre for her mother. His wing curls over her shoulder as they watch Ellen Harvelle’s body burn.
***
The first kiss comes as a surprise. They’re talking in the candle lit darkness as rain pounds on the roof. She’s telling Heylel some silly story from her childhood.
“I thought dad was going to have heart failure when he found me in the back of the truck,” she laughs. “I was grounded for a month.”
Heylel’s hand strays to her stomach. She doesn’t really mind, she gets the feeling he’s checking on the baby growing inside her. She thinks she’s maybe four - five months along. Her stomach is just starting to swell.
It’s sort of his great nephew in there. Which makes the way she watches his backside a little creepy.
“You loved your father a great deal,” Heylel says softly.
She nods. “I adored him,” she laughs softly. “Part of why I became a hunter, daddy issues.”
“I understand. I have done many things for my Father,” he sounds almost mournful. “Your father, he sounds like a good man.”
“He was,” Jo agrees. Though maybe he could have been a better father, a better husband, by staying home a bit more. Maybe he could have taken less risks, but you can’t change a hunter.
“Isn’t your Father too?”
Heylel almost hesitates as he nods, a gesture he’s picked up from watching her. “In his way, yes.” He spreads his fingers across her stomach.
Jo leans against him a little. “Tell me a story now.”
“I have little to tell,” he protests.
Jo shakes her head. “Not buying it. Come on, there must be some story you can think of.”
She glances up at him, and he looks so -- sad. Like there’s really no story he can think to tell her, no happy event, no funny little story. Nothing.
Jo kisses him.
He’s as still as Cas was at first, then his fingers are carefully sliding around the nape of her neck. His mouth is gentle, so very gentle on hers.
But this is a man -- angel -- that’s kissed before.
She draws back first, resting her forehead against his. “I --”
“I should not have,” he whispers. He looks torn, but he hasn’t moved either of his hands. “You belong to Dean, to Castiel.”
“I belong to myself,” Jo points out. “I gave comfort that night, I wasn’t ready to give my heart.” It been hard though. Her heart has always wanted Dean and Cas -- Dean’s love for him could easily spread to her like wild fire.
But Heylel...oh Heylel.
“Is that what you plan to give me?” Heylel asks, eyes dark.
Jo shakes her head. “No,” she whispers, half afraid of her own thoughts. “I plan to give you more.”
His other hand is shaking has it leaves her stomach and cups her cheek. “Joanna, we shouldn’t...”
“I think we should,” she counters and kisses him again.
He groans into her mouth.
In the end, though they don’t do more than kiss and touch that night, she wins out.
***
Jo finds Heylel sitting in the backyard of the house they’ve been staying in. His wing is wrapped around his body. His head is buried in his hands.
He rocks back and forth making soft bird like noises.
“Heylel?” Ho asks as she gets closer. “What’s happened?”
Heylel body flinches as she touches his wing. “I remember,” he keens brokenly. “What I have done.”
“Heylel?” Jo says again settling carefully next to him. “What have you done.”
“I defied my father. Betrayed my brothers,” he tells her. “I waged war on my own kind.”
Jo stares at him. That’s not -- it can’t be. Was that what Cas kept trying to --
“I have killed my brothers. I fought Michael. I wounded Gabriel,” his voice shakes but he keeps going. He doesn’t look up at her. “I created demons.”
“Stop it,” Jo demands. Because it can’t be. Heylel, kind, gentle Heylel can’t be --
“I ordered my hellhounds to attack you. I trapped Castiel in a ring of fire and left him to be tormented by a demon.”
“You're lying,” Jo accuses desperately, getting to her feet. “Why are you doing this?”
He looks at her then, his eyes looking haunted. “I’m an abomination, Joanna. I’m Lucifer,” the words come out sharp. “Run from me.”
“No,” Jo stands her ground.
Heylel surges to his feet, his wing flaring out to the side. A blade appears in his hand from nowhere. “Run,” he growls.
Jo turns and does.
When she stops, she calls Dean.
***
“Dean?” her voice sounds rough to her own ears. Like she’s been crying, but she hasn’t. She won’t.
She can’t.
“Jo? What’s wrong? What’s happened? Has that son-of-a-bitch hurt you?” Dean demands.
Jo closes her eyes and focuses on his voice. “He hasn’t hurt me,” she admits, because he didn’t even try and touch her. “He’s Lucifer.”
Dean’s quiet for a moment and she’s afraid the line has dropped. “I know.”
“How --”
“Cas, he recognized the name Heylel. Seems Lucy used to go by that before he was cast down,” Dean tells her. “I tried to tell you once but Cas thought it better if you didn’t know.”
“And finding out when he got his memory back was better?” she demands. “I -- damnit Dean, I trusted him.”
“You know how we’ve been dreaming about each other?” he asks quietly.
“Yeah?” Jo asks, looking up at the sky.
“Cas and Lucifer -- Heylel have been having the same sort of freaky communication. Cas kinda hoped he wouldn’t remember.”
Jo clutches the phone. “I kissed him,” she tells Dean softly. “We -- had sex.”
“Okay?” Dean sounds shaky.
“But I still, you and Cas,” Jo doesn’t know how to communicate this. “Dean I --”
The line goes dead.
***
Jo avoids the house for most of the day but at night falls she goes back. Heylel -- it’s hard to think of him as Lucifer -- is still in the back yard, his single wing wrapped around his form.
She goes to bed alone for the first time in what feels like months. She strokes her hands over her stomach. “I don’t know what to do,” she tells the little life.
The baby kicks.
Jo laughs weakly. “That’s not an answer.”
She gets another kick.
“You want me to go get Heylel, don’t you?” she asks.
Another kick.
“Okay,” she sighs, pushing herself up. “But this is under protest I’ll have you know.”
She makes her way down stairs and out into the dark backyard. “Heylel,” she calls out.
His wing twitches, but it’s the only sign he hears her.
“Heylel,” she says again, moving towards him. “I -- “
“Why did you come back?” he asks roughly.
She stops walking towards him. “I had to.”
His wing bristles. “That is not an answer.”
“You're not him,” Jo says finally. “Your not the one that did all those things. You're different.”
Heylel turns then. “I would have killed Castiel. I would have killed you.”
Jo walks around and kneels down beside him. “Do you want to kill me?”
He looks at her with those pale blue eyes that seems to go straight into her soul. “No,” he whispers brokenly. “I could never harm you, Joanna. I could never -- “ He reaches out towards her stomach but freezes before he touches.
She takes his hand and presses it there. The baby kicks.
“I think I’m a little bit in love with all of you,” she confesses. “I lost my mother, don’t make me lose you too.”
His hand trembles. “They won’t accept me, Jo. You’ll never have a flock with me.”
Jo scoots closer, burrowing under his wing. “A flock?”
“We form flocks. Groups of mated pairs,” Heylel tells her. “Castiel, Dean, they will not accept me into yours.”
Jo frowns slightly. “Was Gabriel part of your flock?”
“No,” Heylel tells her. “He was part of Michael’s. I had no flock. Castiel, in the brief communication we’ve had, he -- I hoped -- but that was before I knew.”
“Cas knew,” Jo points out, she rests her head against his shoulder. “Why would you knowing change things?”
Heylel is quiet then drops a kiss to her neck. “It changes everything, my brave hunter.”
Jo threads her fingers through his feathers, feeling him shudder against her. “I’m not giving you up easily. I don’t give up anything easily.”
“You might lose Castiel and Dean,” he says into her skin.
Jo kisses him softly. “That’s my choice.” She kisses him again. “Come to bed with me.”
Even in the dim light she sees his eyes darken. “Jo.”
She runs her hand down his wing. “You turning down sex?”
A soft laugh rumbles up from his chest. “No,” he admits.
Jo smiles and gets to her feet with as much grace as she’s able. She holds her hand out to him.
He takes it.
***
Jo’s aware she’s dreaming from the start. Not just because of Dean’s hands on her stomach or the smell of gun oil and sweat.
There’s more than one set of hands on her.
Cas’ wings are draped over her and Dean. She knows they’re Cas wings just by the color, even if she didn’t remember how his hands felt on her skin. He touches her like he doesn’t know quite what to do. Heylel touches her like he’s afraid to break her. And Cas has more than one wing.
It’s nice, Cas and Dean around her. It’s familiar in a way that shouldn’t be possible after only one night with them.
“About time you joined us, Cas,” Dean complains good naturedly. She feels him brush his fingers across the feathers that rest on her skin.
“It seemed wise to give you and Jo time,” Cas says. “Flocks are not common with humans.”
The word has Jo pulling away from their hands and warmth. Away from the safety she could have with just them. “Heylel,” she protests. “It’s not right without him.”
“He is here,” Cas tells her, brushing his wing tip across her back. “Though it took a great deal of convincing him.”
Jo sees Heylel now. He’s huddled at one end of the pit of cushions they’re resting in. His wing is wrapped around him, his eyes down.
“Heylel,” Jo calls, holding out her hand. “Why are you all the way over there?” She knows why, but it shouldn’t be a reason. She’s going to have this, she’s going to make this work.
Making this work might save them all.
Heylel looks at Dean, then Cas. “I am not welcome.”
Dean snorts. “You want my brother for a meat suit. Excuse me for having trouble with this,” Dean snaps, chin jutting out in a way Jo finds attractive and infuriating.
“Dean,” Cas says sharply.
Dean looks away. “Look, Cas and Jo, they trust you for some reason. They want this...flock thingy to work. I’m just -- it’s going to take time.” He takes a deep breath. “You hurt Sam, a lot. I -- just give me time.”
Cas’ hand joins his hand with Jo’s. “We wish for you to be a member of this flock. No matter how much time it might take for it to work.”
“It’s going to take work,” Jo agrees, because this isn’t going to be happily ever after.
Heylel is still Lucifer, he’s still expected to end the world. He’s still tried to end the world. The world is still headed towards the end unless the angels can be derailed. People aren’t going to understand this thing they have. Jo hardly understands it.
But she wants it.
The baby moves inside her.
Heylel looks at their joined hands, then at Dean. “I cannot make up for what I’ve done.”
“You can try,” Dean tells him. “Cas and Jo are worth trying.”
Heylel bows his head. “They are worth everything.“
Dean nods. “Yeah, now get over here.”
Heylel goes.
***
Jo holds Heylel’s hand tightly as the stand in front of the weakest point of the barrier. She can’t see the small opening in it but she knows it’s there. On the other side Dean and Cas wait. Hand in hand.
Dean scowls for a moment at Jo and Heylel’s joined hands, then his face softens. She sees his hand tighten on Cas. Jo’s not sure if this flock thing will work, but she’s going to give it a go if it gives her a chance to have almost everything she wants. Everyone she wants.
“This is it, I guess.”
He nods and there’s the sound of feathers as he brings out his wing. Beautiful marred wing. “I will go before you and hold it open with my wing,” he tells her.
She nods. This is the moment of truth. Does she really trust the devil to allow him to go first? To possibly leave her here?
But Heylel isn’t Lucifer.
Jo tugs him close as she can with her pregnant belly and kisses him. Dean watching be damned. “I love you,” she whispers.
His eyes light up and he strokes the mark he made on the back of her neck. “When I tell you, go quickly. Castiel will pull you through to the other side.”
She nods. “No heroic stuff, okay? Leave that to us Hunters.”
Heylel gives her a small smile. “I love you, my brave Hunter.”
Jo lets go of his hand.
Heylel walks into the break in the barrier. Light fills the air.
The End
Author: kijikun
Artist:casper_san
Fandom/Genre: SPN, Romance, AU
Pairing(s): Jo/Warning: Lucifer, Dean/Castiel, Dean/Castiel/Jo, Dean/Castiel/Jo/Lucifer
Rating: R
Word Count: 5675
Beta:pandionpandeus, metaallu
Warnings: Threesomes/Foursome, pregnancy, AU, set in season 5
Summary: Jo wakes up trapped in Carthage.
Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.- Vonnegut
Art - AO3 - Playlist
Jo wakes in the darkness on a soft bed, covered by blankets. Her stomach hurts like hell and her hand goes there first but comes away clean. No blood, no wound.
That --doesn't sit right. She remembers -- there’s a flash of memory to quick to catch -- nothing. Last she remembers was hunting with her mother as back-up. A werewolf.
She lays as still as she can while creeping her hand down to the knife she keeps in her boot. She feels it there and its weight is comforting. Jo doesn’t know where she is and she wants a weapon while she finds out.
A dim light pierces the darkness in what Jo makes out is a doorway.
“You’re awake,” a soft male voice says from the doorway.
Jo squints in the darkness, trying to get an impression of the man holding the candle. Her hand closes around her blade. She says nothing.
“I feared I had not healed you properly,” the man goes on. He comes further into the room and uses his candle to light one by the bed Jo lays on.
He’s older than Jo, maybe Dean’s age. Handsome, blondish, with kind, sad eyes. “Who are you? Where am I?” Jo demands. “And what do you mean healed me?”
The man moves like he’s not quite at home in his body. Demon? Jo wonders and mentally goes over the Latin for an exorcism. He sets his candle down on the dresser in the room and stands like he doesn’t know what to do with his limbs.
“They call me Heylel,” he tells her. “You are in one of the many abandoned shelters in this place. I found you grievously wounded.” In the dim light she sees him frown.
Jo sits up in bed, the knife besides gripped tight beside her. “And you healed me?” She narrows her eyes. “What are you?”
He tilts his head to the side. “I am an angel of the Lord.” There’s a pause. “What are you? I’ve never come across something like you in my Father’s creation.”
Like Cas, she doesn’t say because an angel would know what a human is right? “I’m a human.”
“Human,” he says like he’s tasting the word. “You look a great deal as we do, but I can find no grace.”
Jo pushes her hair back. “Look, Heylel, I appreciate the help but I know about angels. How can you not know about us? They have you locked up upstairs or something?”
Heylel looks pained for a moment. “My elder brother was very protective.”
Jo has to laugh at that and winces at the pain in her gut.
He moves forward. “You’re in pain.”
“Just phantom pain, my body knows it should be wounded. It’s nothing,” she tells him, not wanting him close. “You said this place is abandoned?”
He nods. “There are many places like this standing empty. Your kind keep odd nests.”
Jo almost laughs again, he sounds so innocent and confused. She shakes off the urge. “Did I have anything on me?”
“Yes, a strange device. It’s on the table beside you,” he points and there sitting by the candle is her cell phone.
She snatches it up and speed dials her mom’s phone. It rings and rings and rings. Then goes to voice mail. “Mom? Where are you? I’m okay -- I think. Call me back, okay?”
Then she calls Dean. The phone rings and rings then --
“Talk to me.”
“Dean? It’s Jo. Have you heard anything from my mom, we were on a hunt and --”
Dean hangs up.
Jo frowns down at her phone. She dials again. This time the signal drops. She tries again. It drops again.
“I can’t get a call out,” she says unnecessarily to Heylel.
He nods. “I have been unsuccessful in contacting my brothers and sisters. I once was able to reach Gabriel but he severed the connection.”
Jo wrinkles her nose. “Okay, look, in the morning we’ll just get out of this town. Obviously something bad went down and we don’t want to stick around for the aftermath.”
Heylel cocks his head to the side again. “I believe we are the aftermath,” he says. “As we cannot leave this place. I have tried. There is a barrier around this garrison.”
“Town,” Jo corrects. “Unless this is housing on a military base.”
“We cannot leave this town,” he repeats.
Jo scowls into the dim light. “Yeah, we’ll see about that. I know a few tricks that might work.”
And what could trap an angel didn’t necessarily trap a human.
***
Jo walks the whole perimeter of the town. It takes all day. Just as Heylel said, there’s a barrier Jo can’t cross surrounding the town. A sign helpfully tells her the place is called Carthage.
Something about the name stirs a memory.
”Carthage? Sounds appropriate for all this to go down in.”
Heylel follows behind her like a lost puppy.
The place truly is empty.
Heylel is silent behind her, but she kind of appreciates that right now.
She tries to call Dean again as the sun starts to fade from the sky. She keeps expecting street lights to come on, but they don’t.
“Dean, it’s Jo, please don’t hang up again,” Jo says quickly into her phone as Dean picks up.
“This is some sick idea of a joke,” Dean growls.
“Dean, it’s me!” Jo protests. “My first hunt, you told me the story about how your dad took you shooting.”
There’s a pause. “Jo -- you’re dead.”
“Uhm, not really. Unless being trapped in Carthage is being dead.” And holy crap what if it is? What if she somehow has a really crappy Heaven and a working cell phone?
Another pause. “You’re what?”
“Carthage, trapped. There’s a barrier around the whole town. Look, Dean, there’s an angel in here with me named --”
The line goes dead.
Jo swears.
“Something does not want us communicating with the outside,” Heylel says. “But they seem to be having trouble with your device.”
She scowls at him. “Any idea what this ‘something’ is, angel?”
Heylel looks at a loss. “I do not. I almost feel my Father in this, but this -- I do not understand why he would do this.”
“Maybe another angel?” Jo suggests.
Heylel looks up at the sky. “He does not answer me,” he says mournfully.
Jo swallows hard, unsure how to comfort an angel.
***
It’s two days of trying to reach Dean without success and Jo’s close to giving up.
She throws her phone in a fit of frustration only for Heylel to retrieve it for her.
“I will keep trying if you will,” he tells her, folding his hands over hers.
Jo thinks of how despondent and pained he looks every time he fails to reach one of his brothers or his father. “Okay.”
***
Jo wakes to an arm flung over her hip. She stretches lazily. “Make me breakfast,” she mumbles into Dean’s chest.
She’s half aware she’s dreaming. And she’s had this dream before. It’s a good one. Her and Dean.
“Jo?” Dean sounds startled and the warm skin is pulled away from her.
“What?”
“You’re -- “ He’s staring at her like she’s come back from the dead.
Jo suddenly gets it. “We’re dreaming.”
“Damnit, freaking angels,” Dean swears. “Cas said he had a way for us to talk, but he didn’t say --”
Jo wakes up.
She punches her pillow and swears.
***
Heylel finds her on her knees clutching the toilet, emptying out her stomach. It’s the third morning in a row this has happened and Jo’s starting to worry.
“I’m sure it will soon pass,” Heylel comments gently, kneeling down beside her. He touches her back hesitantly, like he’s not sure he has permission.
Jo lifts her head and glares at him. “Can you fix me?” she demands. “What’s even wrong with me?”
His mouth thins for a moment and he shakes his head. “I dislike seeing you in distress but it would harm the life you carry inside you.”
For a long moment Jo doesn’t get what he’s saying, her brain just doesn’t want to comprehend it then it jolts forward and oh shit.
“Life I carry inside me,” she echos. “You’re saying I’m pregnant?”
Heylel nods. “You’ve been so since I first encountered you.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it?” Jo demands, because hey, that’s shit you tell someone.
“I thought you had known,” Heylel protests, sitting back on his heels.
Jo holds on tighter to the toilet and tries to remember. It has to be Dean’s, right? That’s what half her flashbacks are about and she can’t think of who else she’d have had sex with. Hard to get laid when you want Hunters to take you seriously.
She closes her eyes and focuses on that last flash of memory. Of holding Dean’s hand as they walk out of Bobby’s house.
Everything goes sideways.
”He’s still a virgin,” Dean says, a bit of forced humor in his voice. He doesn’t let go of her hand, like he’s scared she’s going to rabbit off.
But Jo’s stubborn. Plus, Dean wants Cas and, well, Cas is -- Cas is damn attractive. They’re all going to die tomorrow, what’s a threesome between friends?
Cas looks back and forth between them, looks at their joined hands. “I don’t understand,” he whispers.
Jo lets go of Dean’s hand and slides into Cas’ space. “We’re going to take care of you,” she tells him. She cups the side of his face and leans in to kiss him.
“It’s okay, Cas, we want to give you this,” Dean tells the angel.
He’s still under her lips for a moment before he groans and starts to kiss her back. Dean’s hand cups her hip and nudges her closer to Cas. She laughs into Cas’ mouth and presses more into Cas’ space.
“Pushy,” she accuses when she breaks the kiss with Cas to claim one from Dean.
It’s wet and a little bit desperate. They aren’t as careful with their teeth and they both come away a little raw. Dean tangles his fingers in the short hair on Cas’ neck and leans in for his own kiss.
Jo watches the two of them, hunger rolling in her belly. She plays with Cas’ tie, tugging him closer to both her and Dean. She runs her hands under his trench coat, pulls up his shirt from his pants to find bare skin underneath.
Cas jolts at the first touch of her hand on his skin. He gasps into Dean’s mouth. “I - I -”
“Shhh, Cas, just enjoy it,” Dean reassures him. He presses kisses down Cas’ jaw, making the angel tip his head back. Jo joins in on the other side, adding in a hint of teeth. When her mouth meets Dean’s on Cas’ skin they pause to kiss.
Cas whimpers.
“Think we should move someplace a bit more private,” Jo points out as she unbuttons Cas’ shirt. She’s already growing wet inside her panties, just from watching Cas be so taken in by such basic making out.
Dean chuckles, dark and low, and it makes something in Jo’s belly twist deliciously. “Got a place all planned out,” he promises, biting her bottom lip.
He leads the way to an old van, Cas in between them, their hands constantly touching him. Jo thinks if they give Cas too much time to think about this that he’ll run. He’ll think he’s intruding.
Dean throws open the door of the van to show that he’s padded down the floor with blankets and pillows stolen from the house. He grins cockily pleased with himself.
Jo rolls her eyes. “Okay, you did good. Don’t let it go to your head.”
Dean laughs and drags her close for a long kiss.
When they break apart Cas is watching them with dark, hungry eyes. His shirt is half unbuttoned. Jo grins and walks towards him swinging her hips, watching his eyes follow the movement. “Let’s get you out of that.”
Dean’s hand slides up under her t-shirt. “I think we’re all over-dressed for this party.”
“Jo, Jo,” Heylel is saying her name.
Jo opens her eyes carefully. She’s laying in bed with Heylel hovering over her, his faced creased with worry. There’s a single wing coming out from his back, curling around her body.
“I’m okay,” she says, pushing up onto her elbows.
“You passed out,” he points out. “That is not very okay.”
She shakes her head. “Another flashback. I think -- “ she bites her bottom lip. “Is the baby human?”
Heylel looks away. “Joanna...”
“That’s why I’ve been so sick, isn’t it? It’s not that I’m pregnant, but the baby isn’t human,” Jo’s voice rises.
His brow creases. “The child is -- special.”
“That doesn’t help,” Jo tells him crossing her arms over her chest.
He sighs and sits on the edge of the bed in that awkward way of his. “The child is part you and part both your mates.”
Jo blinks. “They aren’t my mates,” is the first thing out of her mouth. Which hello isn’t the most important thing here. “Wait, that’s impossible.”
“Not for an angel,” Heylel tells her, looking almost ashamed. “It should not have been done without your permission”
Jo bites her lip. “Cas might not have been thinking clearly. No excuse, but -- “
Heylel looks confused. “Cas? I’ve never heard such an odd name for an angel.”
“Castiel,” Jo tells him. “It’s short for Castiel.”
Suddenly, Heylel gets to his feet. “You should rest.”
Jo frowns. “Do you know him?”
Heylel touches her shoulder. “I will bring you some food and tea.”
“Heylel!” Jo grabs his hand. “Do you know him?”
Heylel twists out of her grip. “He is Gabriel’s child,” he says, then stalks from the room.
“Oh.”
***
Jo tries to call Dean. Because he should know and she wants to know if Cas is still alive. She never thought to ask before. She just assumed....
“Dean!” She so damn happy when he picks up. Almost two months without contact has been nerve wrecking.
“Jo?” Dean sounds relieved. “Jesus, it’s good to hear from you.”
“I know, it’s been two damn months. I think the whatever put up the barrier is interfering,” she says. “Any luck breaching the barrier outside Carthage?”
There’s silence on the other end of the phone.
“Jo, it’s been two days since I talked to you.” Even less time since the last cut off dream.
The world sways a little around her. “Two days, but that’s...”
There’s the sound of talking, she can hear Cas’ voice. She’s glad he’s there, if just for Dean’s sake.
“Cas thinks time might be moving differently inside the barrier,” Dean tells her.
“Really, you think?” she says sarcastically.
“We’re trying out here,” Dean tells her. “But nothing is denting it and, well, the world is sort of going to hell. Any luck on your end?”
“No, Heylel’s been trying everything he knows, but --”
“Heylel? The angel with you is named Heylel?” Cas is suddenly on the phone, voice demanding.
“Yeah, he’s --” There’s a burst of static. “Look the line’s going to cut out again. I called because you guys should know I’m preg --”
The line goes dead.
Jo almost throws the phone against a wall.
***
When she wakes up in her dream that night to Dean’s arms around her, she blurts out her news. “I’m pregnant.”
Dean goes still. “That’s what you were trying to say on the phone.”
Jo nods, tightening her fingers over his arm. “I remembered something today, too. About us. And Cas.”
“Jo,” Dean says softly. “I -- me and Cas, we thought you were dead.”
“Dean, I don’t care if you’ve been having sex with Cas while I’ve been missing,” Jo laughs.
His arms tighten around her. “We should have gone back to check,” he tells her. “Jo, I’m so damn sorry.”
“Hey, we’ll figure out how to get me out. Heylel is helping,” Jo reassures him, though she wonders about her chances of escaping Carthage.
Dean doesn’t draw away, but she feels him tense up. “Jo, you should know, Cas says Heylel is --”
Jo wakes up.
***
“So Cas is Gabriel’s son?” Jo asks tentatively the next morning, over breakfast. She’s never going to stop feeling guilty about eating a possible dead person’s food. “Like the archangel Gabriel?”
Heylel looks at the food he insists he doesn’t need to eat, though he eats it anyway. “Yes, he is my brother’s child.” He traces a finger across a fork. “Gabriel spoiled him. It seems hard to believe he is grown.”
“All grown up,” Jo says, biting her tongue on a more crass remark.
Heylel looks up at her. “What color are his eyes?”
“He’s in a vessel,” Jo points out. “I wouldn’t be able to tell.”
Heylel blinks and tilts his head. “Vessel?”
“Yes, like what you’re in. You’re in someone’s body,” Jo points out.
Heylel’s face twists with horror. “We --”
“I don’t know how it works, but I’m pretty sure they have to agree to it. So your guy said yes,” Jo hurriedly assures him. She pauses. “His eyes are blue though.”
“I last remember seeing Castiel -- “ Heylel trails off and frowns. “It’s odd. I have this memory of him fully grown in a circle of fire.”
“Maybe you’re getting your memory back,” Jo tells him, half hopeful this is this case. The other half of her brain knows it might not be a good thing for Heylel to remember things. He might not be on her side if he does.
Heylel moves his shoulders in a imitation of her own shrugs. “He stood like Gabriel would have. Defiant and proud even when trapped.”
Jo smiles. “I think I would have liked Gabriel.”
“He would have liked you.”
***
Jo makes her patrol around the city like normal. She refuses to just give up or take it easy -- like everyone tells her. She’s pregnant, not dead.
She stops outside the ruins of a hardware store.
She always stops here. Like the store draws her. Calls to her.
Normally she stops then keeps walking, but today...
Today) she moves closer to the blown out shell.
Jo’s feet crunch over the gravel and debris as she moves closer. This place...
This place feels familiar.
It looks like a bomb went off inside, she thinks as she steps in.
“Ahh,” she clutches her head as pain spikes through it. Not the time for a headache, she tells herself. Or a memory.
There are still gaps in her memory. It’s fills out in flashes and sudden revelations. Heylel is normally with her when they hit. He sits with her, sometimes for hours, stroking her hair and rubbing her back.
“Why do I know this place?” Jo asks aloud, pushing aside how she wishes Heylel would show up. Her fingers itch to call Dean. “Why?”
Maybe her mom would know. It’s weird how she never thinks to call her mom first. It’s always Dean. But she hasn’t been able to get through to her mom’s phone. It just rings or cuts off.
Jo moves more inside what’s left of the building. Oh yeah, a bomb -- the pain spikes again.
She stumbles forward and --
On the floor.
There is...there is...
Jo makes a sound that doesn’t even sound human to her. Her knees hits the floor.
“No, no, no,” she yells. “No!”
And she remembers....
***
Heylel finds her clutching her mother’s body.
He wraps a wing and an arm around her. Doesn’t say he’s sorry or anything else that would make Jo want to scream. He’s just there.
“I need to burn her,” Jo says hoarsely. “I need to...”
His wing curls tighter around her. “We will do whatever needs to be done,” he promises.
Jo shudders and buries her face in his grey feathers. “She needs a hunters’ funeral.”
“Then she will get one,” Heylel tells her. “Who did this?”
She shakes her head, she can’t talk about this now. She can’t.
He dips his head against her shoulder and is silent.
Later he helps her build a funeral pyre for her mother. His wing curls over her shoulder as they watch Ellen Harvelle’s body burn.
***
The first kiss comes as a surprise. They’re talking in the candle lit darkness as rain pounds on the roof. She’s telling Heylel some silly story from her childhood.
“I thought dad was going to have heart failure when he found me in the back of the truck,” she laughs. “I was grounded for a month.”
Heylel’s hand strays to her stomach. She doesn’t really mind, she gets the feeling he’s checking on the baby growing inside her. She thinks she’s maybe four - five months along. Her stomach is just starting to swell.
It’s sort of his great nephew in there. Which makes the way she watches his backside a little creepy.
“You loved your father a great deal,” Heylel says softly.
She nods. “I adored him,” she laughs softly. “Part of why I became a hunter, daddy issues.”
“I understand. I have done many things for my Father,” he sounds almost mournful. “Your father, he sounds like a good man.”
“He was,” Jo agrees. Though maybe he could have been a better father, a better husband, by staying home a bit more. Maybe he could have taken less risks, but you can’t change a hunter.
“Isn’t your Father too?”
Heylel almost hesitates as he nods, a gesture he’s picked up from watching her. “In his way, yes.” He spreads his fingers across her stomach.
Jo leans against him a little. “Tell me a story now.”
“I have little to tell,” he protests.
Jo shakes her head. “Not buying it. Come on, there must be some story you can think of.”
She glances up at him, and he looks so -- sad. Like there’s really no story he can think to tell her, no happy event, no funny little story. Nothing.
Jo kisses him.
He’s as still as Cas was at first, then his fingers are carefully sliding around the nape of her neck. His mouth is gentle, so very gentle on hers.
But this is a man -- angel -- that’s kissed before.
She draws back first, resting her forehead against his. “I --”
“I should not have,” he whispers. He looks torn, but he hasn’t moved either of his hands. “You belong to Dean, to Castiel.”
“I belong to myself,” Jo points out. “I gave comfort that night, I wasn’t ready to give my heart.” It been hard though. Her heart has always wanted Dean and Cas -- Dean’s love for him could easily spread to her like wild fire.
But Heylel...oh Heylel.
“Is that what you plan to give me?” Heylel asks, eyes dark.
Jo shakes her head. “No,” she whispers, half afraid of her own thoughts. “I plan to give you more.”
His other hand is shaking has it leaves her stomach and cups her cheek. “Joanna, we shouldn’t...”
“I think we should,” she counters and kisses him again.
He groans into her mouth.
In the end, though they don’t do more than kiss and touch that night, she wins out.
***
Jo finds Heylel sitting in the backyard of the house they’ve been staying in. His wing is wrapped around his body. His head is buried in his hands.
He rocks back and forth making soft bird like noises.
“Heylel?” Ho asks as she gets closer. “What’s happened?”
Heylel body flinches as she touches his wing. “I remember,” he keens brokenly. “What I have done.”
“Heylel?” Jo says again settling carefully next to him. “What have you done.”
“I defied my father. Betrayed my brothers,” he tells her. “I waged war on my own kind.”
Jo stares at him. That’s not -- it can’t be. Was that what Cas kept trying to --
“I have killed my brothers. I fought Michael. I wounded Gabriel,” his voice shakes but he keeps going. He doesn’t look up at her. “I created demons.”
“Stop it,” Jo demands. Because it can’t be. Heylel, kind, gentle Heylel can’t be --
“I ordered my hellhounds to attack you. I trapped Castiel in a ring of fire and left him to be tormented by a demon.”
“You're lying,” Jo accuses desperately, getting to her feet. “Why are you doing this?”
He looks at her then, his eyes looking haunted. “I’m an abomination, Joanna. I’m Lucifer,” the words come out sharp. “Run from me.”
“No,” Jo stands her ground.
Heylel surges to his feet, his wing flaring out to the side. A blade appears in his hand from nowhere. “Run,” he growls.
Jo turns and does.
When she stops, she calls Dean.
***
“Dean?” her voice sounds rough to her own ears. Like she’s been crying, but she hasn’t. She won’t.
She can’t.
“Jo? What’s wrong? What’s happened? Has that son-of-a-bitch hurt you?” Dean demands.
Jo closes her eyes and focuses on his voice. “He hasn’t hurt me,” she admits, because he didn’t even try and touch her. “He’s Lucifer.”
Dean’s quiet for a moment and she’s afraid the line has dropped. “I know.”
“How --”
“Cas, he recognized the name Heylel. Seems Lucy used to go by that before he was cast down,” Dean tells her. “I tried to tell you once but Cas thought it better if you didn’t know.”
“And finding out when he got his memory back was better?” she demands. “I -- damnit Dean, I trusted him.”
“You know how we’ve been dreaming about each other?” he asks quietly.
“Yeah?” Jo asks, looking up at the sky.
“Cas and Lucifer -- Heylel have been having the same sort of freaky communication. Cas kinda hoped he wouldn’t remember.”
Jo clutches the phone. “I kissed him,” she tells Dean softly. “We -- had sex.”
“Okay?” Dean sounds shaky.
“But I still, you and Cas,” Jo doesn’t know how to communicate this. “Dean I --”
The line goes dead.
***
Jo avoids the house for most of the day but at night falls she goes back. Heylel -- it’s hard to think of him as Lucifer -- is still in the back yard, his single wing wrapped around his form.
She goes to bed alone for the first time in what feels like months. She strokes her hands over her stomach. “I don’t know what to do,” she tells the little life.
The baby kicks.
Jo laughs weakly. “That’s not an answer.”
She gets another kick.
“You want me to go get Heylel, don’t you?” she asks.
Another kick.
“Okay,” she sighs, pushing herself up. “But this is under protest I’ll have you know.”
She makes her way down stairs and out into the dark backyard. “Heylel,” she calls out.
His wing twitches, but it’s the only sign he hears her.
“Heylel,” she says again, moving towards him. “I -- “
“Why did you come back?” he asks roughly.
She stops walking towards him. “I had to.”
His wing bristles. “That is not an answer.”
“You're not him,” Jo says finally. “Your not the one that did all those things. You're different.”
Heylel turns then. “I would have killed Castiel. I would have killed you.”
Jo walks around and kneels down beside him. “Do you want to kill me?”
He looks at her with those pale blue eyes that seems to go straight into her soul. “No,” he whispers brokenly. “I could never harm you, Joanna. I could never -- “ He reaches out towards her stomach but freezes before he touches.
She takes his hand and presses it there. The baby kicks.
“I think I’m a little bit in love with all of you,” she confesses. “I lost my mother, don’t make me lose you too.”
His hand trembles. “They won’t accept me, Jo. You’ll never have a flock with me.”
Jo scoots closer, burrowing under his wing. “A flock?”
“We form flocks. Groups of mated pairs,” Heylel tells her. “Castiel, Dean, they will not accept me into yours.”
Jo frowns slightly. “Was Gabriel part of your flock?”
“No,” Heylel tells her. “He was part of Michael’s. I had no flock. Castiel, in the brief communication we’ve had, he -- I hoped -- but that was before I knew.”
“Cas knew,” Jo points out, she rests her head against his shoulder. “Why would you knowing change things?”
Heylel is quiet then drops a kiss to her neck. “It changes everything, my brave hunter.”
Jo threads her fingers through his feathers, feeling him shudder against her. “I’m not giving you up easily. I don’t give up anything easily.”
“You might lose Castiel and Dean,” he says into her skin.
Jo kisses him softly. “That’s my choice.” She kisses him again. “Come to bed with me.”
Even in the dim light she sees his eyes darken. “Jo.”
She runs her hand down his wing. “You turning down sex?”
A soft laugh rumbles up from his chest. “No,” he admits.
Jo smiles and gets to her feet with as much grace as she’s able. She holds her hand out to him.
He takes it.
***
Jo’s aware she’s dreaming from the start. Not just because of Dean’s hands on her stomach or the smell of gun oil and sweat.
There’s more than one set of hands on her.
Cas’ wings are draped over her and Dean. She knows they’re Cas wings just by the color, even if she didn’t remember how his hands felt on her skin. He touches her like he doesn’t know quite what to do. Heylel touches her like he’s afraid to break her. And Cas has more than one wing.
It’s nice, Cas and Dean around her. It’s familiar in a way that shouldn’t be possible after only one night with them.
“About time you joined us, Cas,” Dean complains good naturedly. She feels him brush his fingers across the feathers that rest on her skin.
“It seemed wise to give you and Jo time,” Cas says. “Flocks are not common with humans.”
The word has Jo pulling away from their hands and warmth. Away from the safety she could have with just them. “Heylel,” she protests. “It’s not right without him.”
“He is here,” Cas tells her, brushing his wing tip across her back. “Though it took a great deal of convincing him.”
Jo sees Heylel now. He’s huddled at one end of the pit of cushions they’re resting in. His wing is wrapped around him, his eyes down.
“Heylel,” Jo calls, holding out her hand. “Why are you all the way over there?” She knows why, but it shouldn’t be a reason. She’s going to have this, she’s going to make this work.
Making this work might save them all.
Heylel looks at Dean, then Cas. “I am not welcome.”
Dean snorts. “You want my brother for a meat suit. Excuse me for having trouble with this,” Dean snaps, chin jutting out in a way Jo finds attractive and infuriating.
“Dean,” Cas says sharply.
Dean looks away. “Look, Cas and Jo, they trust you for some reason. They want this...flock thingy to work. I’m just -- it’s going to take time.” He takes a deep breath. “You hurt Sam, a lot. I -- just give me time.”
Cas’ hand joins his hand with Jo’s. “We wish for you to be a member of this flock. No matter how much time it might take for it to work.”
“It’s going to take work,” Jo agrees, because this isn’t going to be happily ever after.
Heylel is still Lucifer, he’s still expected to end the world. He’s still tried to end the world. The world is still headed towards the end unless the angels can be derailed. People aren’t going to understand this thing they have. Jo hardly understands it.
But she wants it.
The baby moves inside her.
Heylel looks at their joined hands, then at Dean. “I cannot make up for what I’ve done.”
“You can try,” Dean tells him. “Cas and Jo are worth trying.”
Heylel bows his head. “They are worth everything.“
Dean nods. “Yeah, now get over here.”
Heylel goes.
***
Jo holds Heylel’s hand tightly as the stand in front of the weakest point of the barrier. She can’t see the small opening in it but she knows it’s there. On the other side Dean and Cas wait. Hand in hand.
Dean scowls for a moment at Jo and Heylel’s joined hands, then his face softens. She sees his hand tighten on Cas. Jo’s not sure if this flock thing will work, but she’s going to give it a go if it gives her a chance to have almost everything she wants. Everyone she wants.
“This is it, I guess.”
He nods and there’s the sound of feathers as he brings out his wing. Beautiful marred wing. “I will go before you and hold it open with my wing,” he tells her.
She nods. This is the moment of truth. Does she really trust the devil to allow him to go first? To possibly leave her here?
But Heylel isn’t Lucifer.
Jo tugs him close as she can with her pregnant belly and kisses him. Dean watching be damned. “I love you,” she whispers.
His eyes light up and he strokes the mark he made on the back of her neck. “When I tell you, go quickly. Castiel will pull you through to the other side.”
She nods. “No heroic stuff, okay? Leave that to us Hunters.”
Heylel gives her a small smile. “I love you, my brave Hunter.”
Jo lets go of his hand.
Heylel walks into the break in the barrier. Light fills the air.
The End