41. Waiting on the World to End...Or Not
"Well, this looks promising," I note bluntly as Sam pulls up to a restaurant called "The Lazy Shag". I'm not kidding about the name.
All Impala passengers shuffle out of the car. I notice the big "Closed" sign on the door. A man walks by, bearing a sign that says "The End Is Near".
"He's not wrong," Crowley comments. He sighs, looking at the restaurant. "One little apocalypse and they shut up shop. Quitters." With a snap of the King of Hell's fingers, the doors swing open. "Your round, moose."
This place has recently been evacuated. I flick the lights on, and Rowena and Crowley take stools up at the bar, flicking on the TV. The news is on, no surprise there. All eyes seem transfixed on the small screen above.
"And while law enforcement is telling people not to panic, residents are being advised to stay in their homes as authorities are baffled by this st—" The TV is shut off with a snap of Crowley's fingers.
"Boring," he mutters.
I steal a glance at Chuck, nudging Cas. "He looks horrible." I look around the place. "Any chance you can magic up some music to make this less depressing, Crowley?"
"What am I, your maid?" But he obliges anyway.
I look through the windows. Outside is darkening, and not from a coming storm. Time is running out. Dean, as much as I hate to think it, pull through. Please pull through.
I notice Cas has taken seat at one of the many empty tables. Chuck has himself resting in a booth, his color fading by the minute. I feel unnerved by seeing God dying. Any religious person would have a heart attack if they believed half of the stuff I've seen and the people that I've met in the recent years.
"You mind?" I ask Cas, gesturing to the open seat next to him. He shakes his head, and I plop myself down. I sigh. "Guess it's a nice place to be for the end of the world."
"Why are you so stubborn?"
"What?"
"You could've gone anywhere. You should've stayed in the bunker."
"Oh, you mean the un-warded bunker? The one that Amara snuck herself into and kidnapped me from?" I lick my lips. "Cas, if this is the end, I want it to be with people I love. I don't want to be alone in my last what-have-yous on Earth." I grab his hand, squeezing tightly. "If I can't run from this, why bother?"
"Grim thoughts, Josette."
I shrug. "You call them grim, I call them realistic." I put my head on his shoulder. "Does it ever get old, being threatened with the end of times?"
"I wish. This is just as different from the last." Cas moves our intertwined hands to rest on my stomach. I smile meekly as the baby kicks at us. "I'm sorry, Josette."
"Sorry? For what?" I run my thumb over his hand.
"For what's happened to you."
"Cassie..."
"I'm the reason you got pulled back into all this."
I pick my head up, looking at him softly. "You're not. You didn't make the choice for me, I did. And you know what? As bad as things may seem right now, I don't regret the choices I've made. If we go, I'll go out happy knowing that I've helped people, and mended my relationships with my brothers, and met amazing people along the way. If this world ends, I think it's telling me something."
"And what's that?"
"That a Winchester has no business having a normal life."
"Josette."
"I know, I know, it was bad humor," I groan. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sam going to Chuck, talking with him. "It's crazy. After all this time, we meet God, and now look at him. He's on his way out, too." I chuckle. "It really is the end of all times. But this is it. No more hoaxes like the Mayan calendar crap. This is really it. And few people will know why it really ended." I look into Cas's eyes. "I'm glad we got you back, Cas. Just in time to spend what little time we've got left." I run my other hand through his hair.
"I miss those brown eyes."
"Mm, I do too. The song doesn't apply to me now." I frown slightly.
"It always will to me."
"Thanks, Cassie." I peck his cheek sheepishly. "If this works in our favor, we need to go somewhere. Just you and me."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Someplace quiet. A beach maybe. Find a nice house with the amazing view. Get sunburn, feel the sand between our toes, dip our feet into the water..." The more I think and talk about the beach, the more I can picture it: Cas and I, our newborn baby, in a place where the only beings around are human. No monsters. No hunting.
"Have you not been to one before, Josette?"
"Would it surprise you if I said yes?" Even when I was out on my own, in Rexford, a beach wasn't exactly in my backyard.
"Not as much as it would have before."
"Chuck?" I hear Sam say. I look to my right. Sam has a glass of water in his hand, but there is no God in the booth. "Chuck?!"
"Where'd he go?" I panic, rising out of my chair. I feel cold seep into my veins. "You don't think Amara...?"
"He wouldn't have just disappeared on his own, I don't think he would be that strong enough."
"Great. So, we're most definitely not going to survive this. If Amara has him, we're finished."
"Dean won't let that happen," Cas tells me adamantly as he stands by my side. "Josette, he won't."
"Aw, look, the baby daddy has to assure the baby momma," Crowley simpers. "How sweet. Won't mean much when the world goes dark and our lives go out."
"And you thought I was the grim one?" I say to Cas out of the corner of my mouth.
"Shame. I was looking forward to meeting the little bugger."
I scoff. "As if I'd let you so much as within spitting distance of her. Remember our deal."
"What deal?" asks Sam.
"What Sam said," says Cas.
"You made a deal with Fergus?" Rowena groans. "Lass, I thought you were smarter than that?"
"Hey!" I snap defensively. "It's not what you think."
"Josie's right," Crowley sides with me. "We bargained the non-traditional way. No soul attached. I stay away from her and her little one, and in turn she stays out of the family business for good. Win-win for both sides."
"And you're sure she didn't sell her soul?" Cas asks, glaring at Crowley. "Because if I find out that that's what really happened, so help me, Crowley—"
"Back off, father-to-be." Crowley puts his hands out in surrender. "It's true. Besides, I'll give Josie a pass on taking a...what is it now?...third Hell tour."
"That's almost kind of you, Crowley," I say sweetly. "But demons don't bear souls. All that is, is empty words. I appreciate the try, though." My eyes focus on one of the tables nearby. It looks as though there's...sunlight bouncing off of it.
I look over my shoulder, and then fully turn. Sunlight is streaming through the windows. In the midst of our conversation, we didn't realize the darkness lifting and the sun taking its rightful place. Oh my God.
I'm the first out of the place, with the rest of our group behind me. Looking up at the sky, there's not a trace of darkness in it. The sun burns brightly. The world continues to live on.
"He did it," Crowley whispers.
"He bloody did it," says Rowena.
"And Dean?" asks Cas.
Those two words hit me in the chest. And Dean? My eyes downcast to the ground. I quietly hyperventilate to myself. I know Sam is holding his emotions back, but I can't. The silent tears fall down my slightly-damp cheeks. My hands tremble, they still do as they find home on my stomach. He'll never meet her. She'll never meet him.
"Well, it looks like the world's been saved, again," says Crowley. "See you all around for next year's World Ending." I hear nothing, but I'm sure Crowley has disappeared already. Rowena's clack of her heels tell me that she's walking off. Now, it's just Cas, me, and Sam.
Whatever happened between Chuck, Amara, and Dean, it didn't help Dean out any. I can't believe I have to think this again. Only this time, it's permanent. He's not coming back. He's stuck in the ground, just like Dad, just like...like Mom. I think about Dean's dying wish, to have his ashes where Mom is buried.
"We, uh," I sniff, "we need to get back. It's a long drive to the bunker." I approach Sam carefully, touching his arm. "You good to drive?"
"Y-yeah." Sam clears his throat. "I'll drive."
"Are you sure? Cas or I can—"
"I'll drive, Jo."
I back off when I hear the threatening, angry undertone in his voice. He's upset. We should've done more to stop Dean. There was probably another way, we just didn't have enough time to dig around for it.
With a heavy air over us, Sam sits up front in the Impala. Cas coaxes me into the backseat with him. Honestly, out of the two, I would feel better around Cas than Sam.
He's never gonna hear her purr again, I think as the Impala starts up. Sam will take good care of her. He will. Unless he wants Dean to haunt his ass.
When the sky grows dark the longer we're on the road, it's not because of the Darkness, it's the natural order of things. I snuggle into Cas's side. None of us have said anything. The radio isn't even on, which feels strange for this car. But Dean isn't driving it. Sam is. The music will remind us of our older brother.
Time to time, I doze off, but I quickly wake. When my eyelids shut, I see images, my worst nightmares. Dean exploding from the bomb of souls within him. I wonder how Chuck fit into that problem. What happened to him? Did he get caught up in the confrontation? He must be gone. Without light and dark, there is balance. If one still lived, we would still be in danger. And seeing how things look right now, it's pretty clear: Amara and Chuck no longer exist.
"Do you still want to leave?" asks Cas.
"Hmm?" His voice pulls me from my dark thoughts. I look up front, where Sam drives in solemn silence. The occasional streetlight casts a glow in the Impala. "Not until I know he's okay."
"If you want, he can come with us, so he can be watched."
"I don't know if I can do that to him, Cas." The baby kicks. "You can take hunting out of the man, but sometimes you can't take the man out of hunting."
"I'm sure it's happened before."
"But it never lasts. We Winchesters are living proof." I swallow, hissing as the baby kicks again. "Boy, she's being vocal right now." Her movement is way more than normal. I have to hunch over, it feels like she's using me as a punching bag right now.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah. I'm fine." I rest back against the seat. I wince, she still doesn't stop kicking. "She's just worked up, I guess."
"Sam," Cas says. I notice my brother's head turn a fraction towards us in the back.
"What's up?" he asks. His voice sounds so hollow that it shatters my heart. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Sam," I say. "Cas is just...being worried. Ow."
"Worried with good reason," says Cas. He pulls out my phone, the bright screen filling the darkness in the Impala.
"Why?" asks Sam.
"Josette might be close to going into labor."