I'll Come Back To You

Chapter 19: Can I Kill You?

"So," Lucifer started, fiddling with his thumbs. Jack sat across from him, his arms crossed defensively. Balthazar was perched at the end of the table, watching them carefully. Lucifer sighed and turned to the angel. "Why are you even here?" He demanded.

"Castiel asked me to keep an eye on you." Balthazar explained. 

"I'm not some reckless child, I don't need a babysitter."

"Agreed. You're a psychopath who inadvertently murdered his own son. You need high security at all times."

"Oh, and you're high security?" Balthazar shrugged. 

"I'm the best we have right now, and I had nothing to do." He got up and started poking around the room. "Do you think the Winchesters have any decent liquor in this place? I could use a drink."

"There's some whiskey in the cabinet," Jack piped up, pointing. Balthazar followed the gaze and emerged with a decanter full of amber liquid. He uncapped and sniffed it, letting out a low whistle as he grabbed a glass and poured some.

"Well, at least they've still got great taste in alcohol," Balthazar declared, drinking. Jack smiled. He didn't know anything about the angel before them, but he was already starting to like him. And if Castiel liked him, and Sam and Dean had made no move to murder him on the spot, then Jack liked him even more.

"Can you leave?" Lucifer demanded. "I'm trying to talk to my son," Balthazar leaned back and propped his feet up on the table.

"No can do, Luci. Just talk, I don't care. I'll just be drinking and fantasizing about sopranos." Jack stifled a laugh.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me," Lucifer muttered. "I'm your dad, you blood relative, and you hate me for no reason, but this guy shows up for five minutes and you already love him?!" Jack glared at Lucifer.

"You killed Castiel. You hurt my family. You stole my grace and were going to kill Sam! You're horrible! All he's done is drink and make snide comments! You're a dick, whereas he sounds like he and Dean could be great friends."

 "No, no," Balthazar shook his head. "Please never group me with Castiel's neanderthal lover again." Lucifer scowled.

"Look, Jack," He started. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Sorry for what?" Jack demanded.

"For everything. But I had my reasons! Castiel tried to kill me!"

"Who hasn't?"

"And Sam ditched me in Apocalypse world."

"You deserved it."

"And I needed your grace to fight against Michael,"

"And even though Michael was low on grace himself, he still kicked your ass." Balthazar snickered as Jack and Lucifer stared at each other.

"What will it take for you to like me?" Lucifer asked.

"Nothing," Jack shrugged. "I'll never like you."

"I'm your father!"

"In biological sense only." Jack declared. "Cas and the Winchesters are my fathers. They're my family."

"What do they have that I don't? I could give you the world, Jack!"

"I don't want the world." Jack sighed. "They care about me. They'd do anything for me. They love me."

"I love you!" Lucifer retorted. Jack stood up.

"You're not capable of love, Lucifer." Jack said coldly. "We're done here." He walked out of the room, leaving him alone with Balthazar.

".....I like him," Balthazar commented.

"Not helping." Lucifer snapped.

******

Dean sat across from Anna in the library, having no clue what he was going to say.

"So," Anna said. "You're seeing Castiel now?"

"Yeah," He offered.

"How long?"

"We've been dating for a few years, but I think we both knew for a while before that."

"....Did you know you liked him when we were together?" Dean paused, and slowly shook his head.

"No, no I don't think so." He frowned. "I was a very different person then."

"So you're different now," Anna said. "And I'm still the same."

"You tried to kill Sam."

"It would've been for the greater good. Without a vessel, Lucifer would've been weaker-"

"But trying to murder my brother doesn't make that okay."

"You wanted to stop the apocalypse too. That's how we could have."

"Newsflash, we did stop the Apocalypse."

"And your brother still died, didn't he?"

"But he came back."

"He went to Lucifer's cage. They must have used him as a chew toy. With my plan, he would've gone to heaven and never had to suffer."

"With your plan, millions of people would've died."

"Not if Lucifer didn't have a vessel-"

"Lucifer had a vessel! He still does! So he wouldn't have worn my brother to the showdown; they still would have fought, and people would have died. You didn't think that through."

"Or you are just too stubborn to see things my way."

"And what kind of sicko goes back in time to murder somebody's parents so that they're never born?"

"It was a good idea."

"You realize that if that had worked, I never would've been born either."

"I was okay with that outcome," Dean sat back.

"So I meant nothing to you."

"I didn't say that."

"That's not an answer."

"....No, not really. You're a human. I don't think I'm supposed to feel anything towards you." Dean scoffed and stood up.

"When then I'm glad I picked Cas," He muttered.

"Castiel betrayed us all in heaven."

"No," Dean shook his head. "Castiel learned what a real family was, and you weren't it."