Silent Lucidity

LVI

[Stairway to Heaven]

Sam was asleep on his bed. Loud rock music played and Sam jerked awake, pulling a gun on the intruder to see that it was Dean.

Dean shut off the music. "Nice reflexes. Better hair."

"What's wrong with you? I could have shot you." He checked his watch. "Why aren't you sleeping? We got in like two hours ago."

"Not tired. And we got work to do, so put on your dancing shoes, and let's boogie. We're gonna wake Kennedy."

Dean made his way to his and Kennedy's room and blasted the same song he'd done for Sam.

"Wakey wakey eggs and bacey, baby."

"I do love you, but I have half a mind to stab you. You know not to wake me up."

"Come on, babe. Get up and get ready."

Dean walked to the main room. Sam and Kennedy both walked in with a cup of coffee. Dean was packing his duffel on the table.

"All right. What's up?" Sam and Kennedy asked.

"I called Cas," Dean replied. "He said there's something going down in Missouri."

"What kind of something?" Kennedy wondered, sipping her coffee.

"He said he couldn't talk about it over the phone."

"Why?" Sam asked again.

"Because he is a weird guy, okay? He's a weird, dorky, little guy. But he happens to have an army of angels behind him, and even though I hate to say it, if we're gonna take a shot at Metatron, he might be useful."

Dean went to put the First Blade into his duffel, but Sam and Kennedy noticed and their levels of concern grew.

Sam frowned. "Well, do you think we need the First Blade? Why don't we just leave it here?"

"We talked about this, and we decided that-" Dean began.

"No. In all fairness, we didn't decide. You did."

"Okay, I decided that hockey stick that can kill anything might come in handy, so sue me."

Kennedy let out a sigh. "How many times have we been around this block? Magic that powerful always comes at a price, and right now, we have no idea what that price is."

"I'm fine. I'm fan-friggin'-tastic."

Sam looked at his brother. "And we're glad. Honestly. We're not saying we bury this thing. We're saying we just save it for when we really need it. Crowley. Metatron. The big boss fights. You don't have to have it with you all the time, right? I mean, just leave it. Please."

Dean set the blade to the side. "No problem."

"Thank you," Sam and Kennedy replied.

---

They stood outside the exploded Colonel Scoops. Sam, Dean and Kennedy approached a deputy on duty outside. They went to pull out their badges, but before they were able to flip them open, she addressed them. "Agents Spears, Aguilera and Gomez? FBI?"

"Uh-huh," Dean confirmed.

"Your partner said you'd be along."

"Thank you," Sam said.

They entered and greeted Castiel, who'd been talking to the sheriff. "Thank you for coming."

"Spears, Aguilera and Gomez?"

"I've noticed your aliases are usually the names of popular musicians," Castiel explained.

Dean said, "Wow."