Dean is driving and Sam is in the passenger seat while the others are in the back. Jack and Athena are both asleep and Larissa is drifting in and out.
"Hey, we still got probably 12 hours until we're home. You want me to drive?" Sam asks.
"Do I ever want you to drive?" Dean asks.
"Look... losing mom and Cas, that's a lot to process, Dean. Especially on no sleep. And the kid--"
"The "kid"? Come on, man, you know how this plays out. Look, when we try to bend the rules, pretend that the bad guys aren't so bad or that things will get fixed, that's when people that we care about get hurt. And then we end up doing what we should've done in the first place, which is end the problem. So this time, let's start with the obvious. Soon as I find a way to take care of... it."
"Dean, the "problem" might be our only shot at saving mom."
"Mom's gone. There's no fixing that."
~ ~ ~
Dean is still driving screaming makes the four jolt up. They turn to Athena who is thrashing around in her car seat with tears streaming down her face as she screams out protests and for her mom.
"Hey, hey, baby. Baby?" Larissa gently holds Athena's arms down to stop her from flailing around too much.
"Baby? Thena. Athena." Sam calls, holding her legs down.
"No! Mommy!" Athena wails.
"Baby, I'm right. Mommy's right here. I'm right here." Larissa tries to get through to her. "Mommy's right here. I'm here."
Athena lets out another scream before jolting awake.
"No!" She gets her limbs out of her parents' hold and curls into herself.
"Hey, hey, baby, mama's right here." Larissa comforts, softly stroking Athena's hair. "I'm right here, baby. We're okay."
"Mama!" Athena sobs, reaching out for her mom. Larissa unbuckles Athena and holds her, letting the girl cling onto her like a koala as Larissa hugs her.
"It's okay, baby. I'm right here. I've got you. I'm okay. You're okay." Larissa softly coos. She and Sam share a worried look as Larissa continues to comfort their daughter.
"Mean man hurt you!" Athena sobs into her mom's shoulder.
"I know, baby. I know, but I'm okay now. I'm not going anywhere. I promise." Larissa assures.
+++
The four walk through the hallway of the motel and Larissa is holding Athena who still refuses to let go of her.
"This is a bad idea. We should've just kept driving." Dean says.
"Dude, you were hallucinating sheep on the road. We need a few hours." Sam says. They get to their room and go in.
"This is nice." Jack comments.
"Let's ward the rooms, get a bite, get a few hours of sleep, hit the road first thing." Sam says. He turns the TV on, an episode of Scooby-Doo playing, and Jack sits on the bed, watching it.
"It's... wonderful." Jack smiles.
"Wanna watch Scooby-Doo?" Larissa quietly asks her daughter.
"Mama." Athena shakes her head, wrapping her arms around Larissa's neck. Larissa rubs her back, softly placing a kiss on her head.
"Hey. No." Dean tells Jack, grabbing the remote. He watches the show for a few moments and chuckles. "No." He turns the TV off. "And you're on the couch, sport, all right. So why don't you go over there? Sit down and... here." Dean tosses Jack a Bible as he sits on the couch. "Read a book. We're out of here in a few hours."
"Jack, hey, I can take the couch." Sam offers.
"Excuse me?" Larissa quietly asks.
"No, no. It's fine." Jack assures.
"I just got back from the D-E-A-D. I'm getting a bed, even if it's crappy." Larissa mumbles to her husband.
"Sorry." Sam mumbles with a sheepish smile.
~ ~ ~
They got food and Jack and Dean are sitting on the couch. Larissa is sitting on a chair across from Jack and she has Athena on her lap. Larissa tries to get Athena to eat something, the girl managing to nibble on a few fries, but she doesn't seem to have the biggest appetite.
Sam finishes up the warding before sitting next to his wife.
"You can slow down, you know. That stuff's not gonna disappear." Dean tells Jack who is practically devouring his burger.
"Ever seen you eat, Dean?" Sam asks making Larissa snicker.
Dean grabs a beer and Jack goes to follow his lead.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. How old do you think you are?" Dean asks.
"3 days, 17 hours, and 42 minutes." Jack states.
"Well, I mean, that is a pretty solid answer." Larissa says. Sam shrugs at Dean and they allow Jack to take a beer. Jack watches Dean take a sip and copies him.
"The book." Jack looks at the Bible. "It mentions my father. Not Castiel, but Lucifer."
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's-- he's big in the Bible. Lotta screen time." Dean says.
"And you... knew him?" Jack asks.
"Well, he's not really an easy guy to know. He's, um, he's kind of rough around the edges." Sam says.
"He's Satan." Dean says.
"And that's... that's bad." Jack says.
"Damn straight. See... he turned on his father, God." Dean says.
"God, he's in here, too. Is he famous or something?" Jack asks.
"You could say that." Larissa says.
"Yeah. Um, God basically... created everything." Sam says.
"Yeah, and then he skipped out, leaving guys like us to clean up his messes like Lucifer." Dean says.
"So, God's like my grandfather. He's my family and that's... that's good." Jack says.
"Sometimes." Dean says. He puts his foot on the table and Jack copies him. "Okay, all right, will you stop?" Jack puts his foot down.
"So, Jack, we know Kelly taught you things before you were born. And obviously, you can, you know, make people or things move with your mind. But, um... what else can you do?" Sam asks.
"I... don't know." Jack says.
"Okay. For instance, say you wanted to-to be someplace else right now. Could you?" Sam asks and Jack gives him a confused look.
"Can you teleport?" Dean asks.
"Teleport." Jack says.
"Yes. If you wanted to be on the other side of that door right this instant, what would you do?" Dean asks. Jack gets up and walks out of the door, shutting it behind him. Jack knocks on the door a moment later.
"You know, it's possible he's more human than we thought." Sam says, getting up and going to the door.
"Mm-hmm." Dean hums. Sam opens the door and Jack smiles.
"Like that." Jack says before walking in and Sam shuts the door.
"Come on. You're trying to tell me you didn't pick up anything before you were born?" Dean asks. "That your father never reached out to you?" He questions. "What?" He asks, noticing Jack's look.
"Jack? Hey." Sam calls. "You all right?"
"Yeah. Uh, good. I'm good." Jack says.
"All right, I say we, uh... get some rest. It's been a long day. We're startin' early tomorrow." Sam says.
They hear a floorboard creak outside the door and ushers Jack and Larissa back towards the bed. Larissa's grip tightens on Athena who quietly whines, gripping onto her mom.
Sam grabs his gun and Dean opens the door, yanking the man inside, the guy falling to the floor.
The four stand around him, looking down to find Donatello.
"Donatello?" Sam asks.
"Sam? Dean? Larissa? Is God with you?" Donatello asks.
~ ~ ~
"You okay?" Sam asks Donatello who sits on the couch.
"Ah, pretty much. No soul, of course, thanks to Amara. It's kinda like losing your appendix. You never really noticed it when you had it. But now, when I come to a moral crossroad, I ask myself, "What would Mr. Rogers do?" And as soon as I nail that, I'm usually good."
"Why are you here?" Dean asks.
"Yes. That is the question we all must ask." Donatello says.
"Why are you in Wyoming?" Dean asks.
"Oh! Uh, well... after God left, I said to myself, "Donatello, you are so retired." I mean, who needs a prophet of God when there is no God? So... a few days ago, I'm online, checking out condos in Boca, and I am knocked off my feet by this weird wave of power. Not exactly like God's. More like... something new, something fresh. I was drawn to it. It's here."
Sam looks over at Jack.
"Wow. Right here. It's... you." Donatello looks at Jack. "Who are you?" He asks.
"I'm... Jack." Jack answers.
"Jack is a Nephilim." Sam informs.
"A child of a human and an angel." Donatello says.
"Archangel, actually. Um... Lucifer." Sam says.
"Lucifer?" Donatello asks.
"And Donatello here is a prophet." Sam tells Jack.
"Which means he has a direct line to God or Heaven." Dean says.
"Yes, well, not so much anymore. But, uh... look at you. The waves of power... so intense." Donatello says.
"Maybe less human than we thought." Dean says.
"Fascinating. You know, I've met your father. Your power's nothing like his. Not dark, not toxic." Donatello says.
"That so?" Sam asks, giving Dean a look.
"Not yet." Dean counters.
"If Jack is sending out a signal strong enough to get Donatello all the way out here... the angels are still out there. I mean, who knows what else might be listening. He needs protection." Sam states.
+++
The brothers had taken Jack to the tattoo parlor to get the anti-possession tattoo and a tattoo to ward him from angels. However, right after getting them, Jack healed them.
Jack is sitting on the couch while the others are standing near the beds. Larissa is holding Athena who she managed to get to sleep about half an hour ago.
"It was a reflex. He didn't do it on purpose." Sam says.
"Who cares if he didn't do it on purpose? He did it. I mean, you didn't see Cas smiting someone every time he got his teeth cleaned." Dean says.
"I'm right here, you know." Jack says.
"Yeah, and what about the vanishing tattoo?" Dean asks.
"An archangel healed himself." Donatello says.
"Another reflex." Sam says.
"Or maybe he didn't want to be warded." Dean says.
"Okay, look, yeah, Jack is on Lucifer's family tree. But we don't know if that DNA is stronger than Kelly's or his connection with Cas." Sam says.
"Oh, you mean the connection that got Cas killed?" Dean asks.
"I'm just saying, Jack doesn't have to be evil. We can teach him not to be." Sam says.
"Ah. The nature versus nurture conundrum." Donatello says. He puts one hand on Dean's shoulder and the other on Larissa's.
"Hey." Dean says.
"Excuse you?" Larissa looks at him like he's grown a third head.
"Dude." Sam gives Donatello a look, dragging Larissa closer to him.
"Oh." Donatello takes his hands off of them. "Speaking not as a prophet, but as a scientist, I don't think teaching him is in the cards. It's like asking a lion to not be a lion."
"But this is not a lion! This is a human!" Sam yells.
"Hey, hey. Sleeping child here. No yelling." Larissa hisses.
"Sorry." Sam whispers.
"With a strong dose of God juice." Donatello adds.
"Okay, that's it. I'm done, all right? Cause he's not God, he's not Cas, he's not Simba. He's the fuckin' devil!" Dean yells.
"I just said no yelling." Larissa says.
"Jack?" Sam calls. Larissa looks over and sees the couch empty.
"Uh-oh." Donatello says.
Whatever, you three loudmouths get out before you wake Athena up. She needs all the sleep she's able to get before she gets another nightmare." Larissa says.
+++
It's the morning and Sam and Larissa are at the table and Athena is on her mom's lap. She had woken up a few times through the night, screaming and sobbing, and Sam and Larissa each managed to calm her down eventually and lull her back to sleep.
Eventually, Sam just stayed up to watch over both of them, wanting to be ready for when or if Athena woke up again.
Larissa glances at the door when there's a knock.
"Come in." Sam calls and Donatello walks in. "Hey. Hi."
"Good morning!" Donatello greets.
"How's Jack? Uh, by the way, sorry to stick him with you. Things got a little tense here last night, so I figured it'd be better to have him stay in your room." Sam says.
"It's not a big deal. He's an interesting kid." Donatello says.
"Yeah. yeah, that's an understatement." Sam comments.
"Let-let me ask ya... do you have any idea how powerful he'll be?" Donatello asks.
"I-I don't. No. But the, uh, the lore says, quote, "A Nephilim becomes more powerful than the angel who sired it." In this case, the sire is an archangel. So..."
"So if he does go evil, we're completely and totally fucked." Larissa comments.
"Swear jar." Athena tells her mom. A few months ago, they created a swear jar for Athena, her parents mostly just doing it as a joke since they knew that Dean would have to pay a lot. Though, Athena gets just as much money from her mom as she does her uncle.
"It's at the bunker, baby. I'll add to it when we get home, promise." Larissa quietly tells her, kissing her on top of the head.
"Does he know about his father?" Donatello asks.
"Vaguely." Sam says.
"So, he's not bonded to Lucifer."
"He seems to have a real attachment to his mom, but only kinda a fuzzy idea about his dad. And his mom, Kelly, was a really good person, so that makes me think Jack can be molded the right way."
"Mm, molded. I hope you're right."
"Yeah." Sam says and Donatello leaves.
"Speaking of moms... yours have to go to the bathroom." Larissa tells Athena. "Stay with daddy, okay?" She hands her to Sam.
"No, mommy." Athena whines, gripping onto her mom's hand with both of hers.
"Baby, baby, I'm okay. I will be okay. I'm not going anywhere, I'll be back in, like, two minutes. Promise." Larissa kisses Athena's forehead before going to the bathroom. Athena sighs, stuck in her dad's lap.
"Hey, baby girl. Your mama's okay." Sam reassures. "You weren't having these nightmares before. What happened?"
"Scary people in cage." Athena says and Sam takes a moment to realize what she means.
"You mean what happened at the jail?" Sam asks and Athena nods.
"Mean people hurt both of you." Athena says.
"I know, baby. I'm sorry you had to go through that. And that you had to see what mean man did your mama. But we're both okay now, I promise." Sam assures, kissing her on the head.
"I don't wike you and mama getting hurt." Athena says.
"I know, baby. I know. We don't like it either and we don't like you getting hurt." Sam says. "But we're all okay now. It'll get better." He mumbles, running his fingers through her brown locks.
~ ~ ~
"Hey." Sam greets as Dean walks in. Larissa is sitting next to him again and Athena is back on her lap.
"Hey. We should probably hit it." Dean says.
"Uh, I was just gonna call you, actually. Um, look... we are gonna be on the road a long time today. Right?" Sam asks.
"Yeah. Well, you know, we don't have to be cause your new pal could just zap us back to the bunker like that." Dean says.
"Point is... if we're gonna do this, keep Jack on the right side of things, then-then we have to be on the same page." Sam says.
"Okay. Well, that's the problem, though, Sam, cause we're not on the same page. Like, at all." Dean says.
"All right. You know what? I know what's going on here."
"Oh. Okay. Well, please, tell me, what's going on here?"
"Headphone time." Larissa mumbles, getting up and going over to her bag, getting the headphones out.
"You thinking mom is gone and Cas is gone, and that Jack can't be saved." Sam says and he sighs. "Dean, after everything we've gone through... we just lost people we love, people who have been in our lives for a long time."
Larissa gets the headphones on Athena's head and puts The Little Mermaid on.
"No, no, no. Peter." Athena tells her mom.
"Okay. Okay, yeah, of course." Larissa says, changing the movie to Peter Pan.
"Everything's upside down. I get it. But we've been down before. I mean, rock bottom. And we find a way." Sam says. "We fix it because that's what we do. And Jack w-wants to do the right thing. Jack's scared to death of who he is, and he's scared of you."
There's a knock on the door.
"Come in." Sam calls and Donatello walks in.
"Morning, guys. Uh, got a minute? I, uh, wanna talk to you about Jack." Donatello says and Sam and Larissa share a confused look.
"We just talked about Jack." Sam says.
"What?" Donatello asks.
"You were just here." Sam says and Larissa nods in agreement.
"No, I wasn't." Donatello chuckles. "I was grabbing breakfast burritos. Extra spicy."
"We're not riding in a car with him, right?" Larissa asks.
The brothers ignore her question as they go to Donatello's room where Jack should be. Larissa picks Athena up and follows them, Donatello close behind.
"Jack?!" Dean calls.
"He's gone." Sam says. "Okay. Okay. So-so-so-so... who's got Jack? And who were we-- or what were we talkin' to? A shifter?" Sam asks.
"What would a shifter want with Jack?" Dean asks.
Donatello drops his bag of food and starts to walk off.
"Where you going, cowboy?" Dean asks.
"Long as he doesn't eat those things." Larissa mutters.
"He-he went this way." Donatello says.
"You sure?" Sam asks.
"I can feel it." Donatello says.
"I'll get the gear." Dean says.
"Um... okay, I don't wanna leave you two here, but we also don't know what we're walking into. And with her already going through enough--" Sam tells Larissa.
"Oh, no, trust me, I am definitely staying here." Larissa says.
"Okay." Sam pecks her on the lips. Sam goes to the Winchesters' room, getting there just in time to save Dean from a demon.
"First angels, now demons. Terrific." Dean says.
"I guess the word's out." Sam says.
"Donatello." Dean says and just then they hear Athena scream. Larissa tries to calm her daughter down as a demon throws Donatello against the wall.
The demon advances towards Larissa and Athena, Larissa holding her crying daughter closer to her. Before the demon can get too close to them, Sam grabs them, putting himself between them and the demon and Dean stabs the demon.
"Well, housekeeping is not gonna like this." Dean comments.
"Okay. Okay. You two good?" Sam asks and Larissa nods. "Okay. You're both safe. You're safe. Okay, now I really don't wanna--"
"Sam, I can handle it and I've got her. Go." Larissa tells him. Sam stares at her reluctantly. "Go. I promise that if anything happens, I'll call." Sam kisses her and kisses Athena's cheek before going with Dean and Donatello.
"We're okay, baby." Larissa assures Athena.
+++
The three hunters are sitting in the kitchen at the table and Athena is half asleep on her mom's lap, the first Scooby-Doo movie playing on her mom's phone.
"These yellow-eyed things just keep on comin', huh?" Sam asks.
"Mm-hmm." Dean hums. "And hopefully this fourth Prince of Hell is the last Kardashian in the family."
"According to this, if that was Asmodeus, it's the end of the line." Sam says. Dean gets up, going to leave. "Dean, wait a second." Sam calls and Dean stops. "The kid came through for us today. Jack saved us."
"No. No, whatever that was, that was a reflex. It was a sneeze." Dean argues. "Maybe next time he sneezes, he kills us." He says. "Goodnight." He walks out.
"Sure. When he doesn't want it to be a reflex, it's not a reflex. But he does something that helps us, and that's just a reflex and it's still evil." Larissa rolls her eyes.
"Let's just... let's just let it go for the rest of the night, okay?" Sam suggests. "The last thing Thena needs is us stressed out."
"You know, there's something I'm about to love a lot more than you for the night." Larissa says.
"What?" Sam asks with a small chuckle.
"Sleeping in my own bed." Larissa states and Sam laughs.
"Well, it's definitely gonna be interrupted sleep." Sam comments.
"True... but it's comfy interrupted sleep." Larissa says.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll be okay tonight." Sam says.
"We both know that's a lot of false hope." Larissa says.
"Yeah." Sam mumbles. "Just wish I could take the nightmares and fear away."
"I know. I do, too. But we can't... so we just gotta be there for her." Larissa says.
"Yeah." Sam mumbles. Larissa leans over and kisses him. "Bed?"
"Yes." Larissa quickly gets up, ready to lay in the bed and Sam softly laughs at her enthusiasm.