Castiel gives Charlie a vague outline of his conversations with Dean and Jody, but it's not until they're alone in the cat together that they really start to talk about it. It's easier when there's no one around to overhear them. They don't have to be as cautious.

"So Jody knows about Jack?" Charlie asks. "How'd that go over?"

He shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. She didn't even mention it. She barely even acknowledged that I was wrong about Dean not being our guy at Target. She just... didn't care."

"Well, that's a good thing, right?" Charlie asks. "You're not in trouble. That's, like, better than the best case scenario."

"I'm not in trouble yet," CastieI corrects them. "That doesn't mean she's not going to bring it up later, though. She might just want to get this whole Vamp thing out of the way."

"Oh, touché," Charlie says. "On the bright side, you're already planning on running away to California soon. At least you know whatever she says or does won't affect you for long."

"Assuming I don't get in legal trouble, I guess," Castiel says. He's not actually sure if he could get in legal trouble. He's sure he's hindered a few investigations at the very least — Target, for one -- but he'd like to think Jody wouldn't press charges for it.

"Yeah, true," Charlie says. "But you're risking your life tomorrow, so I think that should get you a free pass."

CastieI shrugs. That would be nice. Or, alternatively, the Vamps could just kill him and he wouldn't have to deal with any of his problems. Either one works.

"Can I ask a depressing question?" Charlie asks.

"Sure."

"If something happens tomorrow — and it won't, but, you know, if it does — what happens to Jack?" she asks.

CastieI lets out a long breath. In all honesty, Jack is the least of his concerns; he's more worried about how the rest of the Hunters would react if Dean doesn't make it out. He's not sure he wants to burden Charlie with that, though. If Jack is the most of her worries, that's probably for the best.

"I'm not telling him tonight," CastieI says. "I don't want to get his hopes up if it doesn't work out, and I don't want to worry him, either. I guess someone else would have to tell him what happened if I don't go home."

"I can do it," Charlie volunteers, and he appreciates it. That's what he'd been hoping for, but he didn't want to outright ask her to do something that difficult. "If you end up in the hospital, he'll probably want to see you, right? Could I...?"

"If he wants to visit, he can," CastieI says. "Just make sure he's covered up. He still looks like he got hit by a dozen busses; he's going to draw too much attention to himself if he doesn't." At least crutches are somewhat normal at hospitals. The rest of his wounds, not so much.

"Okay, cool," they say. "Not that it matters because you're gonna be fine, but cool."

"I think I'm going to call his dad, too," CastieI says. "I know I told Jack I wouldn't, but he needs to know his son is safe." That was his biggest takeaway from today. They never would have been in this situation if Dean hadn't been out looking for the kid. He wants the Hunters to know what's happening tomorrow, too, just in case they don't make it out unharmed.

"I've been telling you to do that since Friday," Charlie reminds him, "so no objection here. Just don't let the Hunters jeopardize the mission."

"They won't," CastieI assures her. "I'll tell him to keep it to himself until the end of the night. If he doesn't hear from me or Dean, then he can sound the panic alarm."

"But they will hear from you," Charlie says. "Because it's gonna be fine. You and Dean know what you're doing, and if there's one thing this last week has taught me, it's that you're very good at bullshitting your way out of things."

CastieI chuckles. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"And you're gonna get to put the Vamps in jail, too," Charlie adds. "That's a good thing! I wonder how many fewer missing persons cases we're gonna see with them out of the picture. You are saving lives, Cassie."

"Even Dean's not confident we'll get them all," CastieI says. "We have no idea if we're actually gonna stop the Vamps. They'll probably be rattled for a while, but I don't think we're gonna stop them."

"Well, then maybe you only save one or two lives," they say. "That's still worth something. It's still more than most people will ever be able to say in their lives. And maybe if you do get their leader, they'll get sloppy and we can catch the rest."

"Maybe..." He doesn't want to get his hopes up, though. He doesn't want to think about the implications of this until after they succeed. This way if they don't succeed, it's not as big of a disappointment.

"What's their leader's name, anyway?" Charlie asks. "I'm assuming you know the guy if you think he's gonna talk to you."

"I have no idea," CastieI admits. "One of the Hunters used to be a Vamp and even he doesn't know the guy's actual name. They basically all call him their 'old man' even though he was, like, 12 when he started the gang." The idea of Benny calling a guy at least a decade younger than him "old man" in complete sincerity will never stop being entertaining. It's probably the only thing to come out of that gang that Castiel doesn't completely hate.

"That's... weird," Charlie says. "Well, hey, maybe when you have him arrested, you'll finally get to find out what his real name is!"

"Maybe." It will be weird, though. Castiel has never associated that guy's face with a name; it's always just been a concept. It will be weird for that to change.

Castiel is so distracted by their conversation that he doesn't realize they're nearing his apartment until Charlie pulls off to the side of the road and parks the car. Time flies when your thoughts are full of existential dread.

"You gonna be alright today?" Charlie asks.

CastieI cocks his head to the side. "'Course I will. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just 'cause tomorrow's probably gonna suck," she says, "and knowing that is probably gonna make every moment leading up to it suck, too."

"Oh." Well, she's not wrong. "I'll be fine. I have Jack to keep me company."

"Alright, well, I'm a phone call away if you need me," they say. "Bye, Cas. See you tomorrow."

CastieI forces a smile. "Bye, Charlie." He slides out of the car, and as soon as his back is to his friend, his face falls. He's done with her for the day; now he only has to deal with two more people.

He's not sure which encounter is going to be harder. Part of him thinks that talking to Lucifer will be the hardest part. He has to explain everything — that he's had Jack all along; that the Vamps got to him; that Dean is in prison — and there's not a single part that Lucifer is going to be pleased to hear.

On the other hand, he doesn't want to tell Jack any of it. He doesn't want to worry the boy, and he doesn't want him to feel bad knowing Dean only got caught because he was out looking for him. He's not sure he can pretend everything is okay all night, and calling Lucifer is only going to make that harder.

So, with very low expectations for the night, CastieI heads inside. Jack is, as always, sitting on the couch. After finishing pretty much every piece of Star Wars electronic media in existence, he's taken to watching Scooby Doo in his free time. Castiel wonders every time he comes home to the sound of the Scooby Gang talking whether the boy remembers watching it when he was little with Dean and Casitel. He was so young, it's hard to believe he does. CastieI remembers, though, and it's enough to bring a smile to his face on a shitty day like today.

"Hi, CastieI!" Jack pauses his show. "How was work?" He asks that every day, and usually he gets an honest one- or two-word answer.

Today, CastieI says, "It was fine," which couldn't be less true.

"That's good," Jack says. "Wanna watch Scooby Doo with me? I think the episode's about to end, so we can start fresh with the next one."

Castiel shakes his head. "You watch without me. I'm gonna put on some more comfortable clothes." He loves his trenchcoat, but nothing beats jeans and a tee shirt when he's hanging out at home (except maybe sweatpants and a tee shirt).

Jack doesn't question it, so CastieI has no problem finding some alone time. He heads to his room and locks the door, and, just like he told Jack, he puts on more casual clothes. If he's going to have an uncomfortable conversation, he might as well have it in comfortable clothes, right?

And then it's time to call Lucifer.

He could wait, of course. He could probably wait a few hours if he wanted to. But the longer he puts it off, the more anxious it will make him. At least if he calls now, he can get it out of the way. Then maybe he can watch some Scooby Doo with Jack or something.

Castiel had asked Jack to put Lucifer's number in his phone, and though he hasn't called it yet, he'd like to think it's the right number and that Jack wouldn't have lied about something like that. There's only one way to know for sure, though, and that's to call it. Here goes nothing.

The phone rings.

And it rings.

And it rings some more.

And then there's nothing.

The ringing stops, and he's met with absolute silence. There's no answer. There's no voicemail message. There's no beep. There's nothing.

CastieI pulls the phone away from his face just enough to check the screen. It looks like someone picked up. He's not sure why they're not saying something, though. He's not sure he wants to be the first one to speak. Unfortunately, he's not sure he has a choice.

"Hello?" CastieI says uncertainly. "Is this Lucifer?"

There's a pause. Then, "Possibly."

Yeah, that's Lucifer. Why he didn't actually answer when he answered the phone, Castiel does not know, but it's definitely him.

"Hey, Luce," he says, "it's CastieI. Do you have a minute?"

"Cas?" He scoffs. "Have you had my number this whole time? And you're just now deciding to use it? Wow, Cassie. Rude."

That earns the faintest hint of a smile. "No, just for a couple days."

"Oh, yeah, I totally forgot Dean said he was gonna check with you," Lucifer says, followed immediately by a quick, "Wait, are you calling about Jack?"

Castiel's really not calling about Jack, but when he hears the panic in his brother's voice, he decides that can't wait any longer. "Jack is fine, but that's really all I can tell you right now." He can't get into it all now. It's just too much.

"Oh, thank god," Lucifer whispers. "So, what, he got arrested for something? I don't know why he didn't call me. That's supposed to be what I'm here for."

"That's not quite what happened," CastieI says, which is his polite way of saying you're completely wrong. "We need to talk."

"I don't like the sound of that," Lucifer says warily.

"Oh, trust me, you really don't," CastieI says. "But Jack is okay. I really wanna emphasize that."

"If Jack's okay, I'm fine with whatever else you're gonna tell me," Lucifer says.

I don't know about that.

"Can we meet somewhere?" CastieI asks. "Just you and me?"

"Um... I guess?" Lucifer says uncertainly. "Is this something I can tell Dean about? He should be back any minute."

"I'd rather you didn't, actually," CastieI says. It's probably easier than telling him that Dean is in jail. That's part of a much bigger mess that he'd rather unravel for him in person. "Are you free right now? I just really think this is something we should get out of the way sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, sure," he says. "Where do you wanna meet?"

"You know that old office building on Main Street?" He might as well keep all his Hunter-related meetings in one place.

"'Course I do," Lucifer says. "We practically grew up there. See you in a few."

"Cool, thanks. Bye."