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Mel: No! I haven't forgotten this site! I did, however, end up getting my computer whiped clean and lost the url...but I'm back now and updating!! Thanks!

Chapter Six

Sam sighed as he felt the temperature of the water in the bath tub again. After Liz had woken up and admitted that she was falling in love with his brother they had sat in silence for a few moments before he reluctantly nodded his concession.


The injuries she had sustained during her vision needed to be cleaned and bandaged, but every time she moved she just bled more. He had nearly had a heart attack when she tried to heal herself and the again when she had tried to heat the bath water with her powers. it wasn’t so much that her abilities made him nervous, but more what would happen to her if she over extended herself. If her injuries weren’t an indication of her weakened state, then the dark circles under her eyes were a really good indication as to just how much all of this was taking a toll on her body. From what he could understand from the visions of her entire life that she had sent to him…her powers took a toll on her every time she used them; and while that may not have been a problem in the past it was now that she was taking Dean’s injuries onto herself and now that she was getting injured from Hell, she probably shouldn’t be using her powers for the little things. He can help heal her up…it will take longer but he could patch her up and refilling the tub with hot water barely took a few minutes.

This was how he found himself sitting on the bathroom floor, back against the cabinets that were under the bathroom sink with his feet stopped by the tub as Liz lay in the tub with water up to her shoulders, while wearing her black bra and a pair of his clean boxer shorts. He had contemplated having her use Dean’s shirt again to cover herself as she lay on her stomach, while he cleaned her wounds, but this was the easiest way to clean all of her injuries as well as possible and at the same time help her relax her tense muscles that were really only making certain injuries worse.

Feeling that the water had cooled down more than he would like, he let out some of that cool water and let the hot water run again.

“My powers would be quicker,” Liz mumbled, with her eyes closed.

Sam just rolled his eyes, “Yeah and have you pass out on me again? I don’t think so. – How do you feel?”

Liz opened her eyes and held up one of her hands for inspection. Her nose wrinkled as she frowned, “Wrinkly. When can I get out?”

Sam could hear her impatience in her voice. He had a feeling that if she hadn’t been so weak from her last vision he would not be getting away with taking care of her. Shaking his head he pointed to her hair, “We just need to get your hair washed and then you can get out, dry off, get dressed and you can call Maria and Ruby.”

She nodded silently and gently slid herself under the water to wet her hair. Sam just shook his head in amusement. Her independent streak was going to drive Dean insane. It would probably make his brother fell other things that he didn’t want to think about his brother feeling, but it would also drive him insane.

He grabbed his own bottle of shampoo and waited a few moments for her to come back up. It wasn’t a girlie shampoo but it would have to do; besides some floral smelling shampoo would probably irritate her head injury that she had taken from Dean.

“Actually can you and I talk before talking to Maria and Ruby?” she asked when she broke the surface of the water and allowed him to help her sit up.

He looked at her in confusion but nodded, “Yeah, sure. –I know you can wash your own hair but you’ll rush through it if I let you. So can I please do this? I can see where your head injury is.”

The two just looked at one another…well, more like glared, in Liz’s case. It was clear that she didn’t like to feel like she was being treated differently just because she was injured…boy he would pay to see what would happen when Dean went into his mother hen moments. But Liz did finally relent, though not without and annoyed sigh.

“Hey, Sam, can I ask you something about your powers?” she asked as he gently moved shampoo through her hair.

He stopped his movements, surprised by her question, but nodded, “Sure, I guess.”

“Do powers in general scare you?” she asked curiously.

Sam frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Well, what if you had powers that weren’t given to you buy a demon would you be okay with having them and learning how to use them?” she asked, but this time he could hear the nervous tone to her voice.

“You mean like yours?” he asked as he eyed the back of her head while he picked up a plastic cup and began to gently rinse her hair.

He heard her hiss before she could answer and muttered, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. But yeah, like mine,” she said cautiously.

He sighed as he finished rinsing her hair and then leaned back against the bathroom sink cabinets to look at her. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her pointedly, “Liz, what are you trying to get at?”

She sighed and motioned to the towels he had gotten for her from the front desk. He sighed and helped her out to the tub and held her steady with one hand on her shoulder and handed her the towels before covering his eyes with his towel free hand.

“You know you practically gave me a bath that is pretty unnecessary by now, “she said sounding amused.

He turned his head toward her voice without uncovering his eyes, “I can explain that to Dean as patching up your injuries. However, standing here without covering my eyes with out in a bra and my boxers…I’ve have a broken arm, at the least. –He’ll still probably be mad that you’re wearing my boxers and not his boxer briefs.”

She giggled at that, “You can look now, Samantha.”

He uncovered his eyes and glared at her and shook his head, “I left you cargo pants and…other things,” for some reason he could bring himself to mention the rest of her underwear that were currently sitting on his bed, “and one of Dean’s t-shirts on the bed.”

He guided her toward the bed and helped her move slowly as she sat down, “As long as your gentle and don’t make any sudden movements your powers are healing you pretty quickly. I’m going to go get you something to eat, while you get dressed. Hell is making you too thin.”

He watched her wince, though he knew it wasn’t from physical pain.

“You saw that through the connection, huh?” she asked.

He just smirked and grabbed his coat and his…Dean’s car keys, “Like you said Lizzie…you have no secrets from me. I know all about you. Plus if I don’t feed you…Dean would do more than break my arm.”

She just raised her eyebrow, “You know how I feel about Dean, but how do you know Dean feels anything like that for me?”

He smiled, “Dean’s not one to admit things to himself. And I know every look, every action and every front he puts up. I’ve been studying my brother since I was four…trust me…he may not be able to see you while he’s in hell, but that doesn’t change his facial expressions…he likes you, at the very least.”

And with that he walked out of the motel room.

________________________________________

Liz sat on the bed; clothed in her cargo pants and one of Dean’s gray t-shirts that was like a dress on her, as she flicked through the channels. It had only been 10 minutes since Sam had left but she was going stir crazy already.

At least with Maria and Ruby she wasn’t enveloped in silence. Sighing she turned off the TV. She looked around the room and spotted a few newspapers sitting on the table. She got up and walked over to the table and then being careful not to mess up Sam’s thought process on paper she pulled out the section of the funnies and sat down in the only empty chair and began reading.

That was how Sam found her, when he returned with a bag sporting the KFC logo.

“Having fun?” Sam asked as he closed the door behind him and walked over toward the bed.

She shrugged her shoulders and help up the funnies page, “Not as entertaining as they used to be. I don’t know if it’s a kid thing or a ‘creative thinking is on a downfall’ kind of thing.”

Sam pulled out two potato bowls and handed her one as he took a seat on the edge of the bed to eat the bowl of mush reluctantly.

Liz laughed at his face as she took a bit of popcorn chicken, “Not a big fan of KFC?”

Sam chuckled, “Oh no, I like KFC. Hell, I practically grew up n it when we had to eat while Dad drove without stopping…it’s just all mashed together and…”

Liz smirked, “Baby food like with hunks of fried chicken?”

Sam laughed and nodded, “Yeah that’s a good description. –So you were talking about me having similar powers to yours?” he asked as he clearly forced himself to eat a bite of his bowl.

Liz couldn’t stop herself from laughing, “Dude, eat the chicken first. Most of the cheese and gravy will come off
with the chicken. Then all you have left are potatoes and corn, and those two tastes pretty good together,” shaking her head in amusement and went back to her potato bowl as she began answering his question, “And yeah, --Um, I was thinking that my healing ability might be able to ‘destroy’ whatever Azazel did you when you were a baby. You would probably gain alien powers, but at least I could help you get those ones under control easier and you’d have the peace of mind that you wouldn’t become a demon one day.”

She slowly lifted her head to look at his face. She was nervous about what she would see, but knew she had to look at him so he would know she meant no harm in using her powers on him.

His eyes were bugged out in shock with his fork mere inches from his mouth. If she wasn’t so nervous his face would be comical.

She knew he needed time to process her offer so she stayed silent and let him do what he needed to do.

“Y-you could do that?” he asked as though he didn’t wasn’t to get his hopes up.

She gave him a small smile, “I could try. Dean made me promise not to do it if it hurt me and I wouldn’t do it if it hurt you.”

“You asked Dean first?” he seemed a bit mad.

She smirked, “I know how you feel; like I asked permission about something that is your choice. But trust me if
someone did to me what I’m planning on doing to you…my big brother, Michael, would blast first ask questions later.”

He smirked and seemed to relax a bit, but then he frowned, “Wait, getting rid of whatever Azazel did to me might hurt you?” he exclaimed.

Liz sighed and set aside her dinner and then leaned her elbows on her knees to be closer to so he was looking right into her eyes, “Sam, I promised Dean that I wouldn’t do this if it hurt me in anyway. And I’m going to make you that same promise. I can’t fault what Dean did because if I had known about a cross roads deal when my friend Alex died, forgive me, but I would have sold my soul in a heartbeat. But I also know it must be killing you inside to know what he’s going through for you…I won’t add to that pain.—If I can’t do it…I’ll find another way, I swear.”

It took Sam a few moments before he swallowed thickly and nodded, “Yeah, okay. –Do I have time to think about this?”

Liz smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I’m too weak to do anything right now. And I don’t want you to make this decision impulsively, but please…I know all about Lilith and all the demons who want Winchesters on a bloody silver platter…the sooner you make a decision about which powers you want to train with the sooner we can take these sons-a-bitches out alright?” she pleaded with him a bit.

Sam nodded and then hesitated for a moment, “Who would train me if I kept the ones I have now?”

Liz sighed and ran a hand through her still damp hair, “I’m not going to lie to you Sam; Ruby would probably be your best bet. But I’d help because I just don’t have enough trust in Ruby to leave you at her hands and allow her to mold your abilities. Although, you and I would have to run some serious interference with Dean and Ruby…sometimes I think trusting Ruby is causing more problems than her help is worth, but then she goes and helps more with Dean…and I…I just don’t know Sam. I don’t know which choice is the right one to make. Only you can decide that.”

Sam nodded once again and they finished their dinner in silence. Liz sighed and tossed all the trash into the miniscule motel room bin and grabbed her jacket, “What do you say we go face the music and deal with the annoying blonde bitches that will probably drive us to within an inch of our sanities?”

Sam laughed, grabbed his own jacket and followed her out the door, “Dean’s car or yours?”

Liz looked at her car longingly, “Ruby will have a shit fit if she sees my blood on the driver’s seat. I’ll have to clean that later…guess we’re taking the Impala.”

They both got into the Impala and just as Sam was about to start the car he looked over at her and playfully glared at her, “And I don’t have feelings for Ruby.”

Liz smirked and put her feet on the dash board and rested her elbow on the passenger door, “Sure you don’t, Big Brother. I mentioned that four hours ago...now why don’t you start the car so we can go get yelled at by your girlfriend.”

“Bitch,” Sam muttered as he started the car, but Liz saw a small smile of amusement on his face.

“Asshole,” she shot back automatically as they pulled out of the parking lot.

Sam just gave a chuckle and shook his head.

________________________________________

Liz sighed as she lay back against the hood of the Impala. Sam was inside the motel room she shared with Maria and Ruby. Sam was yelling at Ruby for not telling him about what she knew about Liz and Dean and maybe getting Dean out of Hell. Maria was yelling at Sam for seemingly only being concerned about Dean while her best friend was suffering for his brother and to top it all off Ruby was yelling at Maria saying that she should get off of her high horse and realize that sacrifices needed to be made to get the upper hand in this war. And that of course just got all of them started all over again.

She had finally sighed and nicked Sam’s cell phone out of his jacket pocket and headed out to the Impala. She just didn’t have the energy to get involved in an argument between three extremely stubborn people. Besides no one would listen to her anyway, their emotions and pride were getting in the way.

Sighing she sat up and dialed the cell phone she had given Michael and Kyle again.

“Liz? What’s wrong?” Kyle demanded.

She smiled slightly and took a deep breath, “Kyle, I think I’m going to need some help. My powers will work but the amount of energy that it will take to do it…will probably kill me.”

“Buddha, Liz, just drop a building on my head with you announcement why don’t you! Geez!” Kyle trailed off with a groan.

Liz chuckled humorlessly, “I don’t know I was thinking that my announcement was more of a dropping an intergalactic galaxy on you all while demanding compliance.”

“You’re a barrel of laughs, Liz,” Kyle practically growled as she heard a thump, “Guerin, wake up, Liz is on the phone!”

Liz sighed as the two fought over the phone. Getting aggravated she rolled her eyes, “GUYS!” she practically screamed in annoyance.

“Parker, what’s going on?” Michael ignored her as he made his own demands.

She closed her eyes and began rubbing her temples with her free hand, “Michael, I will explain everything to you. I promise, but for now I just need you to know that someone who has to do with my visions was infected, in a way, by someone who is out to hurt him. I want to try and clean his blood out so that his family’s enemies can’t use it against him and his family.”

She paused letting what she told him sink in, “Do you love him?” Michael demanded.

She sighed and closed her eyes, “I love his brother. And if anything happens to him it would destroy his brother.”

She could almost see Michael sigh silently, “Are you looking for permission, Parker?”

“No, I’m looking for some help from my brothers. –Mike, I have a feeling that cleaning or healing Sam’s blood will just about kill me, if I do it on my own,” she didn’t even get to finish.

“We’re on our way,” Michael said with no room for argument.

“You don’t know…” Liz trailed off as she found herself talking to a dial tone. She sighed and closed Sam’s cell
phone, “I don’t even want to think about how they are getting here,” she said as she moved to lay on the hood of the Impala again, to enjoy a few more moments of relative silence, minus the yelling of course, before the shit it the fan.

Chapter Seven

She was really getting nervous. She hadn’t had a vision of Dean in nearly 3 days. Sure that meant her power levels were up to what they had been before she started having these visions, but that didn’t put her mind at east.

“Look what the galaxy dragged in,” Liz heard Maria’s voice from the doorway.

She looked up from her place on her motel bed and smiled genuinely when Michael and Kyle walked in behind Maria.

Maria smiled and winked at her, “I’m going to go make sure Blondie Bitch and Giant Man don’t go and kill one another.”

Liz raised an eyebrow, “Are they really that bad today?”

Maria snorted, “Please, between Ruby being pissed that Sam won’t try using his powers and Sam being pissed that Ruby is pressuring him, and not to mention the sexual tension that not even an atomic bomb could defuse…oh yeah their getting along great,” Maria laid the sarcasm on thickly, “If the demons don’t get them first then they’ll end up killing each other…or doing each other, whichever comes first.”

Liz groaned and let her head fall back, “Great then when Dean gets out of Hell you can tell him how his little brother really IS interested in a demon.”

Maria scoffed again, “And get shot? Ha, I don’t think so. He’s your man; you tell him about his little brother’s newest obsession,” Maria called as she walked out of the room leaving a whining Liz and a confused Michael and Kyle behind.

“Um, Parker, what the HELL is going on?” Michael finally demanded after a few more moments of silence.

Liz sighed as she stood up off of the bed and stretched her now nearly 100% healed body. ‘God, she loved her advanced healing ability that Max had given her’, she couldn’t help but think when her abdomen didn’t protest her muscles movement, “Well, Mikey, that would be Hell…literally.”

The two guys looked at her like she had lost her mind.

“Lizzie, want to run that by us again,” Kyle asked in confusion.

Liz smirked humorlessly, “Hell exists, so I’m assuming that heaven does too. Anyway, Dean’s in Hell because he sold his soul to save Sam’s life, a.k.a. Giant Man. I have visions of Dean in Hell, although now they have evolved to full, corporeal trips to hell for me. Except I haven’t ‘visited’ in two days, soon to be three and if I don’t ‘visit’ I can’t get him out. Oh Yeah! And Ruby is a demon from Hell here to help and we have to find a way to get Sam cleaned of Demon blood that is in his system, from when he was a baby. Dean is Sam’s older brother. Sam apparently has a thing for Ruby and vice versa but rather than just get over it they are having screaming matches. Dean is going to have a shit fit when he finds out that his little brother has the hots for a demon and I am in love with a guy who is currently in Hell. –‘Kay, I think I have you all caught up now. So, if you’ll excuse me I have to go try and force a ‘visit’ to hell before I sell my soul to a crossroads demon just to make sure Dean is okay!”

________________________________________


Michael and Kyle sat in concerned silence as they watched Liz practically stomp her way to the bathroom.

Michael looked over at Kyle when he heard Kyle sigh in a defeated kind of way, “What was that?”

Kyle scrubbed his hand over his face before glancing in the direction that Liz had left in, “That was Liz in a rare moment of uncertainty, vulnerability and helplessness. She feels useless…it doesn’t happen often, but when it does she gets sarcastic and snippy.”

Michael nodded, “Like when Alex died…”

Kyle interrupted him with a shake of the head, “When Alex died she felt alone and defensive. The last time I saw her like this her grandfather had just died.”

Michael frowned, “When was that?”

“We were 12. She and I weren’t that close at the time but I saw enough to recognize it again,” Kyle said as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Michael just nodded before getting up, but before he could go check on Liz, Kyle stopped him with a tight grasp on his elbow, “Don’t follow her, man. Just let her be. Go see what you can get from Maria. –I’ll keep Max and Isabel away from here…and maybe find some aspirin while I’m at it,” Kyle mumbled the last part.

Michael just nodded and made his way to the motel door before turning back to Kyle, “Don’t you dare leave me with a pissed Liz, an annoyed Maria, and the bickering couple, Valenti.”

Kyle scoffed but didn’t open his eyes, “Thanks for the concern, Guerin, but it’s just a headache.”

“Make sure that’s all it is,” Michael said before he walked out of the motel in search of Maria.

Kyle sighed and opened his eyes, which happened to open in the direction of the sketch pad Liz had obviously been drawing in sometime recently. Even from a good ten feet away he could see the devastation in the picture of what he could only assume was what Hell looked like from when she ‘visited’, “Buddha,” he breathed out.

He swallowed thickly and looked up at the ceiling trying to forget the image on the pad of paper, “Alex you better have some heavenly angels watching over her,” he whispered before he flicked his wrist and forced the motel comforter to keep the drawing hidden. (A/N: Yes I know, a very ‘Charmed’ power, but I couldn’t help myself. Telekinesis is one of my favorite powers.)

________________________________________


She wasn’t sure what was going on but she kept herself hidden as best she could. St the moment she was forcing herself to see what was going on from a mere vision point of view. Something about the man/demon that was standing near Dean and the pissed look on Dean’s face had her staying back and keeping her from going to Dean immediately.

“Come on, Dean. What do you say? Your pain stops…all you have to do is help me torture souls. I have a feeling you’ll be great at it,” the demon taunted.

Liz could feel her eyes widen in shock as she willed Dean to tell the bastard to go fuck himself.

“Not in a million years you sick son of a bitch!” Dean ground out through clenched teeth, blood spitting from his mouth with every painful word.

The Demon shrugged his shoulders, “You’ve already been here for thirty years, Dean. A million will be here soon enough,” and then he proceeded to hold up his hand, in an obvious use of demonic powers, with Dean’s scream of agony as the biggest indication.

Liz felt her eyes well up with tears as they just kept pouring from her eyes. Her heart sped up to a terrified rate as she watched Dean get torn apart by what she could only assume were Hell Hounds. Figures that Hell Hounds would be visible to every set of eyes in Hell.

In all the depictions of them that she had seen in the books Ruby had shown her…not one Hell Hound had been depicted correctly. Their bodies looked like a skeleton with skin. The only picture she could compare them too was from that time she had seen a severely neglected horse, on the Animal Planet Channel, that had been so malnourished that it had been on the brink of death and didn’t even have the energy to eat let alone stand on its own.

It was as if the Hell Hounds themselves were tortured as well; starved for who knew how long and then let loose on the suffering souls in Hell to feed.

She wrapped her body into itself as she sobbed her heart out. She couldn’t do anything as Dean was ripped apart to nothing. Only hooks remained.

When she thought it was over she gasped in horror when Dean’s body slowly reappeared as he screamed in equal agony that he had when he was being ripped apart.

“Until tomorrow, Dean,” the demon said in amusement.

“Fuck you, Alistair,” Dean panted.

She stayed back a moment to make sure the demon, Alistair, wouldn’t sense her. And then she was corporeal and at his side, “Baby?”

“Liz?” Dean asked, still panting.

Liz nodded through her tears, “Yeah, Baby. It’s me. I’m here.

Dean laughed humorlessly, “Oh, Angel, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice.”

Liz smiled as she ran her hand over his hair soothingly, “I’m sorry it took so long for me to come back. I don’t know what happened. I haven’t had a vision for two days. I had to force this one.”

Dean frowned, “Force it? You didn’t hurt yourself did you?”

She laughed in disbelief at his question and shook her head, “No, Baby, I meditated.”

Dean just nodded, but she could see the tension still in his body.

“Can you do me a favor, Baby?” she asked him as an idea came to her.

Dean raised an eyebrow, “What kind of favor could you possibly come up with here?

Liz pleaded with her eyes even though he couldn’t see her, “Please. Just trust me, please, Baby.”

Dean sighed and nodded, “Alright, what do you want me to do?”

Liz smiled, “Close your eyes and think of some place that is safe and painless for you; something serene and calming.”

As he closed his eyes Liz placed her hand on his forehead and closed her eyes as she let her power flow through her.

________________________________________


Dean opened his eyes when he didn’t feel any more pain. There in front of him stood his baby; his Impala…with junk yard cars and parts all around him.

“Not exactly what I would have chosen for serene and calming, but hey to each his own,” said an angelic voice form behind him.

He slowly turned around; not believing what he was seeing. Not only was he at ‘Bobby’s’ but a beautiful brunette who couldn’t have been more than 5’3’’ was standing on ‘Bobby’s back porch’.

“Liz?” he asked hopefully.

She smiled widely and slowly walked down the few porch steps, “In the flesh…” she frowned her brow in confusion, “well, kinda. This is just a type of dream sequence. We look as we normally do but we’re away from any outside forces of pain.”

Dean felt his eyes widen and pointed to the scene around him though he never took his eyes off of her, “You created this?”

She smiled and shrugged, “I borrowed your idea and made it as real for you as I could. The Impala, the house, the junkyard… it’s all from your mental recollection. Kind of like a projection only you can touch it. –Besides I’m pretty sure the Impala has a new addition to it in reality.”

Dean sighed and closed his eyes, “What did Sammy do to my car?”

“He may have hooked up an iPod to the stereo,” he could hear the amusement in her voice.

Dean’s eyes snapped open in anger and shock, “He…he…he violated my car!”

Liz smiled and rolled her eyes as she stopped about a foot in front of him, “Oh please, Baby, like you never had sex in the back seat of your Impala. I don’t think an iPod can do that much damage.”

Her words were blasphemy but the twinkle in her eyes had him narrowing his own in suspicion, “What did you do?”

She just smirked wider and shrugged, “In my moment of panic of not seeing you for two days, I may have taken my aggressions out on your brother’s iPod.”
Dean smirked, “You destroyed is iPod?”

Liz shook her head, “Oh no, it’s still there. It’s now just filled with porn and boy bands…and he can’t take them off no matter what computer software system he uses,” she said completely casually.

Dean’s smile just got wider as he listened to what she had done to Sammy’s iPod. ‘Served the little bitch right for violating his precious Impala,’ he thought to himself as he said, “You are a little witch.”

Liz shrugged, “Eh, would have had to have happened eventually, little asshole suggested I put one in my brand new Charger.”

Dean shook his head in amusement as she moved around him and sat on the hook of his Impala. ‘Damn, his two girls looked sexy’ he couldn’t help but think to himself as he took in the image she gave him.

Even though she was short she had long, shapely legs encased in skin tight jeans. Her feet were poking out from under her jeans in red flip-flops, topped with deep read toenails. Her skin glowed against her white tank top that hugged her waist and emphasized the swell of her breasts. Her dark hair was down in curls and her chocolate eyes were looking at him in concern, while she smiled at him in an upbeat way as if trying to keep his mood light. She was even more angelic than he had originally pictured.

He hadn’t realized he was staring until her concerned voice pulled him out of his thoughts, “Dean?”

He gave her a smile, “Yeah, Angel?”

She was silent for a moment as she continued to look him in the eye, “What was that with Alistair?” she whispered.

He sighed and looked away. If it had been anyone else to ask his that, even Sam, he would have lied. But this was Liz, the woman who had stayed by his side through the worst of this. He couldn’t lie…not about this.

He looked back at her when he felt something tug at the belt loops of his jeans. He easily moved forward as she pulled him to stand between her legs.

“You know you can tell me anything, Baby,” she said softly.

“You know time moves differently in Hell?” he murmured after a moment.

“I had a feeling it did. Your injuries were always too different each time I saw you. But I wasn’t sure the ratio,” she acknowledged.

Dean moved his gaze to her hair as he gently smoothed her hair behind her ear, “From what I was able to figure it about 10 years for every 1 month.”

When he caught her eyes he felt his heart constrict at what he saw; her eyes filled with tears, “Angel…” he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

“You’ve been here for 30 years already? –How often does Alistair ask you that?” she choked out.

“Every day,” he reluctantly admitted. “I’ve never said yes,” he said softly, “but it gets harder each time to say no.”

She nodded in understanding, which surprised him more than seeing his mother ‘alive’ had when he had been captured by the djinn.

“The anger and pain of being in hell,” she said softly, “of being tortured, it’d be hard for anyone.”

There was something in her voice that didn’t settle well with him. “Who hurt you?” he demanded softly as he cupped her face in his hands.

Liz sniffled, “When Alex died…I knew he didn’t kill himself. You don’t plan a romantic date with your girlfriend and then kill yourself before you go through with it. Besides, I had never seen him happier. When I wanted to prove everyone wrong they just kept telling me I was being selfish and that it was okay to hurt when my best friend killed himself; but they thought I was taking it to an extreme. Max wouldn’t even think alien involvement was a possibility. And then when it turned out to be Tess…he protected her. He said he was protecting his son,” she shook her head vigorously, “But even after Zan was born he protected her. He wouldn’t even let me blast her. –She could protect herself, so it wasn’t like my powers would have done anything to her. But he wouldn’t even let me get some kind of revenge for Alex. She was the mother of his son and that was more important. –I’m not saying she didn’t love Zan, I know she did…but she still killed Alex. Being a mother didn’t absolve her of murder.”

He watched as she angrily wiped away the tears that fell down her face. He wasn’t goo with crying women or being a comforting shoulder to cry on; but he had a feeling she just needed him to listen. That he could do. He could also beat the shit out of this Max guy if he ever had a chance to meet him.

She sighed and breathed deeply, “I know that doesn’t even compare to what you’re going through, but I wanted others to feel what I was feeling at that time, too. It’s normal, as long as you don’t act in the same fashion that caused you the pain.”

Dean was silent, thinking about what she was saying. He knew as long as she came to see him, he wouldn’t say yes to Alistair, but... “How did you deal with it all though?”

He raised an eyebrow when she blushed, giggled in embarrassment and looked away.

“Liz?”

She cleared her throat, “Um, do you remember me telling you about Sean, Maria’s cousin?”

Dean chuckled a bit, despite the twinge of jealousy that he felt at the mention of this other guy that had obviously meant something to her, “Yeah, you said he helped you with your first B&E.”

Liz’s hand came up to her head as she scratched her scalp nervously, “Yeah, well, he introduced me to angry make out sessions, too.”

He chuckled. He was both amused and exceedingly jealous all at the same time, “Angry sex? Angel, color me surprised.”

Liz playfully glared at him, “We never actually got to the sex part…Maria walked in on us.”

Dean laughed at that and pulled her into his arms, feeling relieved that someone else hadn’t introduced her to angry sex.

He laid his head on the top of hers as he held her in his arms for the first time. Her face buried in his chest and her hands resting on his abdomen…he had never felt more at home than he did with her now.

After a while of holding her he pulled back and raised an eyebrow, “How’s Sammy doing?”

She groaned and playfully ‘bashed’ her head against his chest, “When you’re out of Hell…make sure your brother gets laid. He and Ruby are driving me nuts. –I’ve got those two being all with the unresolved sexual tension, Maria with her bitchiness when she’s a little strung out, Kyle trying to get used of his powers and Michael in overprotective, Big Brother mode.”

Dean was amused but concerned at the same time, “Do you think Ruby is a problem?”

Liz sighed and pulled back from him and lay back on the hood of his car. He was using every ounce of energy to pay attention to what she was saying and not the image of pure erotic beauty that she obviously didn’t even realize she was, especially at that moment.

“So far he’s turning down her offers to practice his powers; and he looked pretty hopeful when I mentioned the cleansing. So, I’m hoping that he accepts my offer, it works and all you have to worry about is your brother shaking up with a demon,” she stretched as she finished.

As she arched her back a bit her tank top road up giving him a tantalizing view of her golden, toned stomach. “Angel, you keep doing that and I’m going to teach you anything and everything you want to know about sex, here and now,” he said huskily.

Liz blushed but laughed a bit as well before gripping his black t-shirt in her hand and pulling him down so he was leaning over her, “Is that a fact, Mr. Winchester?”

He leaned his weight on his right arm and buried his left hand in her hair as he leaned down closer to her face, “That’s a promise, Miss. Parker,” he said seriously before closing the gap and capturing her lips in a heated kiss.

The kiss grew as they both fought to remember the others taste. He pulled back to let her breathe and proceeded to kiss down her neck and over her collar bone. They continued like that with Liz wrapping her arms around his shoulders and threading her fingers through his hair and pulling his mouth back to hers.
Liz moaned and lifted her hips into his causing him to hiss in her ear.

“Angel, you do that again and I really will not be able to stop myself from ravishing you completely and entirely on the hood of my car,” he said trying to convince her to stop. He didn’t really want to have to come out and say why he wanted them to stop right now. This wasn’t exactly the place that he wanted to get to know her this intimately.

She laughed and nodded, “You forget, Baby, I’m from a state that has nothing but desert for miles…hood of a car…it’s been in the vault of fantasies for a while…but okay, I’ll stop.”

Dean narrowed his eyes at her, “You’re a minx; do you know that?”

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him again, though softer and quicker than before, “So you’ve said before.”

He chuckled deep in his chest and pressed a small kiss to her lips and pulling back and pushing her further onto the hood of the Impala before joining her to just lay there and bask in the ‘sunlight’ as she used his chest for a pillow.

She cuddled into his side and he rested his hand possessively, but gently and lovingly, on her hip while rubbing circles on a patch of her bare skin whit his thumb.

Feeling content for the first time in what was to him years he relaxed and unintentionally fell into a deep sleep.

________________________________________


Liz slowly opened her eyes with a smile on her face…until she felt a motel sheet under her head and not a muscled chest. She squeezed her eyes shut knowing that he was back in Hell and still in pain. She could only hope that what she had given him was enough to last him a bit longer.

“Liz!” she heard Sam say in relief. She turned her head and saw him making his way to the side of her bed.

She frowned in concern, “Sam? What’s wrong?”

He looked at her in concern, “You’ve been asleep for a few days. What happened?”

She shrugged and stretched, “I used more energy than intended this time around apparently.”

Sam frowned deeper, “What did you do?”

Liz smiled, “I gave him something else to fight for.”

Sam looked confused for a second and then his eyes shot up in surprise, “You told him you liked him?”

Liz laughed and shook her head, “I gave him a dreamscape away from Hell…and made out with him on the hood of his car.”

Sam then let out a bark of laughter, “Oh God, he’s met his match with you that’s for sure.”

She gave him appreciative smile and then sat up and got completely serious, “Sam, do you want to try the cleansing?”

“You’re calling time on that already?” Sam asked a bit surprised.

Liz sighed, “I wasn’t planning to but then Dean told me he’s been in Hell for over 30 years already. I have to do something.”

“Shit!” Sam swore in anger before slowly nodding, “Yeah, I want to try it.”

Liz nodded, “Okay, I want to try and get your blood cleaned first. Michael will be able to help me pull Dean out hopefully and with Kyle, his power is newer,
stronger because it is so raw. So I’ll be able to tap into his to stabilize my powers while I fix whatever Azazel did, okay?”

Sam took a deep breath and nodded, “Yeah.”

“You up to doing this tomorrow?” Liz asked seriously.

Sam just looked her in the eyes for a moment and nodded, “Okay.”

________________________________________


Castiel sighed, “You know I can’t get him out yet. It’s still too dangerous!”

The brunette man standing in front of Castiel narrowed his eyes, “I am aware of that. It’s my point exactly! You know damn well if you don’t get him out she’ll get him out. If it’s dangerous for you how is it going to be for her?” the man demanded.

Castiel sighed, “Do you really think she won’t succeed in getting him out?”

The man rolled his eyes, “Of course she’ll get him out! There is no doubt about that. She’ll go to the ends of the earth for those she loves. But fixing Sam and getting Dean out…she’ll run herself too thin. We don’t know what that kind of power use will do to her!”

Castiel sighed, “You have to have faith that she’ll be okay.”

The man glared at Castiel, “’Okay’ doesn’t always mean alive. And ‘okay’ doesn’t mean that Dean and Sam will agree to cooperate if she’s hurt in anyway.”
Castiel and the man just looked at one another…neither backing down from their argument.

Chapter Eight

Max’s head shot up from where it rested in his hands when he heard his sister sigh one more time, “Anything?”

Isabel sent a cold glare at her brother, “I would have said so if I had Max.”

Not wanting to annoy his sister anymore than she already was he muttered a “sorry” though he wasn’t sure if he meant it. He had no idea what was going on. First Liz and Maria left and now they couldn’t find Michael and Kyle. At least Liz and Maria had left a letter even if it had been for Michael and Kyle, but neither Kyle nor Michael had left any indication why they had left or where they had gone.

He had been over their entire room. It had looked like they left in a hurry, so he had been hopeful to find something they may have left behind. –He had found nothing. They had taken everything and were gone. There was no mention of a stolen car around town or any clue that they had been at any public transportation terminal. –Absolutely nothing. It was like the four of them had simply just fallen off the face of the Earth.

And now Isabel couldn’t even get into their heads never mind their dreams. It was as if there was something blocking the four from him and Isabel.

Isabel had mention previously that she had thought something odd was going on with Michael and Kyle, but that she wasn’t sure what. He had thought she had been imagining things and now he had no clue what was going on with the rest of his ‘family’.

“Do you think someone from ‘home’ got a hold of them?” Max asked softly.

Isabel sighed as she ran her fingers over the one picture of their whole group that she had been using, “No, I think something happened to Liz and that they found out somehow and went to go help.”

Max looked at her incredulously, “Then why wouldn’t they come to us?”

Isabel smiled sadly, “Because Liz is their ‘sister’ and they’d do anything for her…including not telling you what was going on.”

Max’s frown deepened, “Why would Liz not want me to know?”

Isabel bit her lip as she looked at him uncertainly, “Because one night I heard Kyle and Michael talking. Michael was talking like Liz had found someone. –He said that she said she loved the guy.”

Max glared, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Isabel groaned in annoyance, “Because who she loves is none of your business, Max. Liz would never endanger us! And if there was something going on that would endanger us she would tell about herself not us!”

Max was silent for a moment before he got up and stormed out of the motel room; slamming the door behind him.

Isabel sighed and looked down at the picture in her hand, “If he ever finds out that he’s the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on he’s going to be furious,” she said before looking up at the man standing at the foot of the bed.

The man nodded, “He loves her and he’s a person that needs to be in control and right now he has no control over anything.”

“She’ll never love him the way he wants her too,” she whispered.

The man shook his head and took a seat on the bed and turned his head to look at her, “No, but she does love someone else just as fiercely as Max loves her. –Eventually he will understand that.”

Isabel nodded torn between being happy that Liz had found the person she was meant to be with and feeling sad that her brother would get the ‘happily-alien-ever-after’ he had always wanted with Liz.

After a few moments of silence Isabel opened her mouth to speak, but stopped before she could voice her question. The man just looked at her for a moment as if studying her for a second and then voiced similar thoughts to what she had been thinking herself.

“I didn’t expect you to trust me this quickly,” he said casually.

Isabel shrugged, “Alex trusts you. He may not like you at the moment, but he trusts you.”

Again the man studied her a bit, “With all the enemies you seem to have you still put so much faith in one person and yet you don’t have faith that God is watching over you and your family.”

Isabel snorted, “Look, Castiel, there is one thing I know for absolute certainty and that is that Alex Whitman would never betray a person he cares about, in life or death. So, yes I trust his judgment even if I am having a hard time believing in Angels and all that comes with them at the moment. –Look being an alien hybrid gives you a different perspective of the world around you…and that includes religion.”

Castiel sighed and looked up at the ceiling in thought. To Isabel is looked as if he was praying, talking to the deity that be put so much of his faith into.

When Alex had come to her for help it hadn’t surprised her that, if some kind of heaven did exist, he would be there. It was the idea that Angels were all the sudden at MAJOR war with demons that had shocked her. Outside of aliens she hadn’t really given any thought to what other fantastical beings might be in existence. And yet the first person to ever capture her hear was now one of those Angelic beings.

“This will all work out in the end right?” she whispered, “When this grand war is over we can all go back to the way things were?” she asked hopefully.

Castiel sighed, “Isabel, I can tell you to have faith that things will work out in the end, but only you can choose to have that faith. But you have to know that the events that will happen between now and the end…no one person is going to be the same afterwards. –Do you really think Liz will be able to ignore the call of the hunt when this war is over? Also, every war has losses…not even Angels are exempt from that. But have faith that good will triumph over evil once again. Have faith in your friends; your family.”

And with that he was gone; just as Isabel opened her eyes and let her tears fall.

Isabel took a shuttering breath trying to calm herself as she thought of Castiel’s words, Alex’s request to trust in him and what he was doing, and finally what Liz must be going through. “I trust you, Alex, I do. Watch over her Alex. Michael and Kyle will be able to handle anything that doesn’t take Liz’s life; Maria will learn to adjust as long as Liz is alive and well. She is the corner stone to s all, Alex, and we didn’t even see it. Keep her safe, Alex, keep her safe,” she whispered to the empty motel room.

________________________________________

Sam jiggled his leg up and down in agitation. He was extremely nervous as to what was going to happen when this ‘cleansing’ started, “So…umm…” he cleared the nervous tone from his voice, “how did you get Ruby and Maria out of here…together?” he was honestly curious about that.

Liz smirked at him, “I told them I wanted Maria to learn how to defend herself. Ruby jumped at the chance to fight Maria and Maria jumped at the chance to spend a whole day annoying Ruby to no end.”

“So in other words they are both going to be cranky and in a lot of pain when they get back?” Kyle asked carefully.

Liz thought for a moment before nodded her head, “Yeah, that about covers it.”

“Great,” Michael muttered as he and Kyle sighed and leaned back further into the couch in hopes it would swallow them whole. Even after only one day of being around Maria and Ruby bitching at one another they knew that a whole day together did not bode well for the rest of them at the end of the day especially when so much was being kept from the two blondes.

Liz looked over at Kyle, “Are your shields down?”

Kyle nodded, “No headache and if Isabel tries she’ll be able to find us in seconds.”

Liz sighed, “It’s a risk we have to take.” She turned back to Sam, “Alright big brother number three shirt off, get your ass on the bed and make any Dean like comments…you will find your ass fried before you can say ‘bitch’. Are we clear, Asshole?” she asked with an affectionate albeit nervous smile.

Sam tried for an amused smirk but he knew he failed miserably, “Got it, Bitch,” he said as he did what he was told.

Liz took a deep breath before getting on the bed and sitting on her knees, next to his chest, “Kyle don’t go far,” she said softly even though in the silent room her voice sounded as though it was connected to an amplifier.

“Not going anywhere, Liz,” Kyle said in a tone that indicated that him leaving wasn’t even in the realm of possibility,

Liz nodded her head lightly to let him know she had heard what he said, but she never took her focus off of Sam. She let her powers run at full force before lifting her hand up, “You might feel a static electricity shock,” she said to Sam who only nodded before she set her hand directly over his heart, over the anti-possession tattoo he had gotten with Dean not long ago.

Sam didn’t even flinch at the little shock that stung a little when her skin met his. The little sting ws nothing compared to what he had felt in the past.

The moment she felt the demon blood in Sam’s system she knew she was going to hit a few snags. She shifted her eyes from his chest to his eyes, “I need to open a connection with you. The tattoo is keeping anything from possessing you, but it is also keeping in what Azazel did to you as well.”

Sam’s eyes widened in surprise, but nodded his concent.

“Why don’t we just cut through his tattoo? You’ll use less energy that way,” Michael asked in concern.

Liz shook her head negatively, “No, doing this is going to weaken his own energy. If we open the symbol he’ll be wide open for possession. By willingly opening a connection with me he’s giving me and only me a direct window to his whole being. –It’s the only way.”

Michael sighed not happy in the least, “Just be careful, Parker.”

Liz ignored her pseudo brother and made the final connections with Sam. It was one of the strangest connections she had ever purposely made with another person. If they had had even a single secret from each other before, they sure as hell didn’t have any now. Oh the things she REALLY didn’t need to know about her new brother.

She moved her powers through his blood. The green tint that colored the current of her powers attacked and surrounded the blood cells that were infected with Azazel’s blood. When the cells wouldn’t collapse under her powers’ attack she began infusing her power into the cells. The alien power was advanced human cells and was thankfully stronger that the hold that the demonic infection had on his cells.

As her powers overpowered the ‘demonic’ cells she pushed the new cells to all of his organs to flush out the demonic cells. She kept this up until his heart began pumping out the changed blood cells on its own. Then she searched deeper into his bone marrow.

Sadly because of the age Sam had been when Azazel had fed him the blood nearly all of his marrow had the demonic cells as well. Azazel really had gotten him all the way to the bone; so much so that it was far more understandable as to why Azazel had called all of the babies he had infected his children. She was going to have no choice but to find away to replace the demonic cells in his bone marrow.

She reached out and grabbed onto Kyle’s power and a little bit of his bone marrow since it was male and a bit more ‘human’ than hers. She winced as she pulled out her marrow through her powers and gently pushed it into Sam all while mixing in Kyle’s marrow.

‘Liz! Stop! You’re hurting yourself!’ Sam yelled in her mind through their connection.

She shook her head just slightly, ‘No! I’m almost done!’ she told him the same way he had ‘spoken’ to her.

When she pulled out Sam’s ‘infected’ marrow she was happy to see that her powers were holding his own marrow in place and simply using her and Kyle’s marrow to infuse the alien ability and defuse the ‘demonic gene’. Her power was using her marrow as a filter of sorts. Kyle’s marrow was anchoring the alien ‘gene’ to Sam’s marrow and her marrow was pulling out the demonic stuff.

A thought came to her and she quickly allowed her powers to temporarily absorb the ‘demonic gene’ into herself. When that was done she once again sent her power through his whole body. Every inch of his body was met with her power for a moment before she pulled it out when she found no more traces of Azazel’s influence on Sam’s body. Before she closed the connection she imbedded the Alien power into the anti-possession tattoo and reinforced it so that he couldn’t be possessed by any demon or alien. Then using just a little more of her depleting power she apologized for having to have such access to his body and soul. Then she gently closed the connection and pulled out the power she wouldn’t be leaving behind within him.

When the connection broke she blinked her eyes and tried to catch her breath.

There was an odd look on Sam’s face, but she knew it was just him feeling the alien power in his body.

“It worked,” she whispered.

Her words catching his attention he looked at her hopefully. She smiled weakly and nodded, “No more Demon blood. You’re going to have Alien powers coming out of the woodwork, but nothing demonic. The demons have no control over you anymore.”

She quickly closed her eyes as Kyle’s power quickly receded from her body making her slightly dizzy.

“Liz?” Sam asked her in concern.

“I’m fine,” she gritted as she tried to stop her body from feeling as though it was on a twist-a-whirl.

“His body, Sam,” she said the moment the spinning sensation slowed a bit, “Where is Dean’s body?”

She saw is eyes widen in alarm when she slowly pried her eyes open.

“Parker, why didn’t you tell us to get his body before you started?” Michael demanded.

Liz never took her gaze away from Sam, “Don’t need it. Just need the location. His soul is in Hell. The soul takes on the form of the human body, but it’s not the body.”

Before she could get an answer from Sam she was viciously thrown into a vision. “Damn,” she muttered to herself as her soul was sent hurtling through Hell.

“Hang on, Lizzie. You’re doing great. And don’t worry about Dean’s body its being taken care of,” said a voice in her head. She frowned in confusion. She knew that the voice could be a trick from Hell but the presence she felt all the way to her bone was 100% Alex.

“Alex?” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah, it’s me, Lizzie. I’m right here with you. Everything is going to be okay. This is going to be far more painful than any of your other ‘visits’ here. Don’t worry about getting his soul connected back with his body a man named Castiel will handle that. Just get yourself close enough to touch Dean. The more physical contact between the two of you the better,” he said quickly but soothingly.

Liz nodded her head just as she landed harder than ever before not too far from Dean. Once again Alistair was at Dean’s feet asking him torture the other souls.

She ignored every ounce of pain that was coursing through her body and pushed herself up.
She knew that the meat hooks had ‘sensed’ her soul enter and that they would be coming for her soon. When she was completely standing she moved closer to the two and allowed her alien powers to charge the ‘demonic gene’ that she had taken from Sam. She was thankfully able to keep the demonic powers from immersing themselves into her and was simply able to use them. It was kind of like hot wiring a car in a weird kind of way.

Once she knew she was in effective range of Alistair she glared at the demonic son of a bitch, “Get away from him you son of a bitch!” she demanded with her hand raised and palm pointed directly at Alistair’s ‘body’. She let the demonic powers loose at full force, catching Alistair off guard and getting him far enough from Dean.

“Liz?” Dean asked in shock and a bit weary of her display of demonic power.

She smiled lightly since she could sense the meat hooks getting closer and closer, “Hey, Baby, um…this is going to hurt a bit…possibly a lot…I’m not really sure. And it’s going to be my fault, I’m so sorry.”

Dean frowned, “What are you talking about? And how the Hell can I see you here?” he demanded.

With Alistair coming back and the hooks getting closer she didn’t have time to answer his questions. She walked p to him and pressed an apologetic kiss to his lips before she climbed on top of him and wrapped her arms around his waist as quickly as she could.

Dean screamed at the added weight of her body that pulled his body even more painfully on the hooks.

Liz buried her face in his chest, “I’m so sorry, Baby,” she said one more time with tears running down her face just as three hooks grabbed at her. One went through her right ankle, another went through her left calf and the other went through her left shoulder.

Even as she screamed in pain she couldn’t help but feel thankful that the hooks came after her and not Dean. She also felt Dean’s breathing become ragged as she got his own pain under control, but she could also tell that he was concerned about the pain that she was in.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Alistair asked in twisted amusement. “You’ve found a girlfriend in Hell of all places. –She’s very pretty, Dean, so innocent. I wonder what she did to land here.”

“Stay away from her you son of a bitch,” Dean threatened through clenched teeth.

Alistair chuckled, “You’re in no condition to be making threats, Dean. Now I think it’s time we welcome your girl to Hell properly, don’t you?”

Dean fought against his restraints as anger boiled inside of him. Ignoring the pain; he just wanted Liz out of harm’s way.

“He may not be in any condition to make demands, but I am. Leave them alone,” demanded a regale voice off to the side.

The three turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Dean was confused but still eager to get Liz away from danger some way. Liz smiled in relief when she recognized one of the men and Alistair was furious.

The younger of the two men smirked triumphantly. The familiar smirk made tears come to Liz’s eyes, “Alex,” she whispered. Both Dean and Alistair heard her. Dean looked at her in confusion and Alistair’s gaze turned deadly rather than his normal sinister.

“You brought Angels into Hell?” Alistair demanded murderously.

Liz just smirked through the pain, “Surprise asshole.”

And with that a bright light erupted from the two Angels and Liz felt herself being pulled back into her body. Keeping a tight hold on Dean she once again buried her face into his chest; this time to protect her eyes from the bright light.

Her whole being felt heavy and weighted down; she was so tired. All the use of her powers was leaving her the most drained she had felt to date. And with her personal Hell-hook injuries her body just wanted to shut down and repair itself. But something in the back of her mind was telling her she needed to open her eyes for a couple of moments.

“Liz! Angel? Liz, come on open your eyes. –Damn it, Liz, open your eyes! You promised you wouldn’t do this if you were going to get hurt!” Dean’s voice made its way through her fogged brain.

She sighed happily. He was safe.
________________________________________

Dean’s eyes flew open and he pulled in a loud, deep and painful breath. It took him a moment to realize the only pain he felt was his throat from lack of use and his stiff muscles. It almost felt like he had spent the night at a rock concert and was sore the next morning.
He felt a hand on the back of his head and a bottle of water pressed to his lips. His eyes found his little brother’s face before gently nodding and taking the bottle of water in his own hand and downing half of it. Swallowing hurt a bit, but the pain he felt at the moment was nothing compared to what he felt down in the pit.

Taking a moment to breathe he took in the faces around him that were looking at him in different states of expression. Sammy looked both relieved and concerned. The guy he kind of remembered Liz telling him was Kyle looked a little green around the gills. The long haired guy that could only be the Michael guy Liz had mentioned had a raised eyebrow but other than that was impassive. And the two guys from Hell…the Angels…one was studying him curiously and the other had folded his arms and had raised an eyebrow that seemed to say, ‘What the Hell are you waiting for?’

That’s when he felt his eyes widen in disbelief and concern, “Liz!”

The younger Angel just pointed to the area next to him. Looking to his left he saw Liz. She was so pale. Her usual glow and tanned skin was too colorless for his liking. There wasn’t even a flush to her face to let him know if she was running a fever or not.

Dean ignored his body’s protest and turned on his side. He quickly examined her body and noticed the blood that was at her left shoulder and down by her feet.

“She’s not bleeding or injured anymore. It’s just residual blood,” said one of the voiced he didn’t recognize.

He didn’t care if it was residual blood or her ‘dreaded-time-of-month’ blood it was still HER blood. She had promised she wouldn’t do this if she would was going to get hurt.

He cupped her face in his hand; ignoring those around them, “Liz!—Angel?—Liz, come on open your eyes!” he ran his hand over her hair and then felt her pulse. When felt a strong and steady beat he relaxed a bit…only a bit.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead trying to coax her awake. He forced the tears back, not letting them fall, when she didn’t budge.

“Damn it, Liz, open your eyes!” he demanded, “You promised you wouldn’t do this if you were going to get hurt!” he said through the lump in his throat.

He couldn’t find this amazing woman only to lose her. He wouldn’t survive it. And then like some miracle her eyes slowly fluttered open. He let out a relieved laugh when he saw her chocolate brown orbs looking up at him.

“Hey, Baby,” she whispered.

“You promised you wouldn’t get hurt,” he said not knowing what else to say.

She just smirked lightly, “Not hurt; tired.”

He smiled as his eyes misted a bit again. He nodded and ran a hand soothingly over her hair, “Then go to sleep, Angel. But you better wake up again…you hear me?”

Liz smiled and nodded as her eyes began dropping closed, “Night, Dean,” she managed before she gave over to sleep.

Dean smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead again and whispered, “Night, Angel.”

Chapter Nine:


Dean sighed and leaned back against the uncomfortable chair posts that made up the back support of the cheap motel chairs. He hadn’t left the motel room since Liz had pulled him out and fell asleep. That was nearly thirteen hours ago.


Just looking at her still form sent shivers down his spine. This was the woman that had been through so much with him, and she was just laying there with the palest complexion he had seen on her to date. Sure he had technically only ‘seen’ her a couple times. But she just looked so sickly.

He hadn’t really had a chance to take in her appearance when she had pulled him out, but the difference between appearance now and during the dreamscape scared him a bit. She had had a healthy amount of weight on her in the dreamscape; she had been curvy, soft, and her skin had practically glowed under the sun; but now…now she looked as if she hadn’t been in the sun for some time. She still had some curves, but where her soft curves had once been were now interrupted with the hardness of her slightly protruding bones.

Even though Liz had been curvy she had also been slim, but he didn’t like how thin she was now. Before she had looked like a tiny force to be reckoned with, and while he was sure she still very much was that force to be reckoned with…she looked fragile…breakable. He just hoped that there was a way to get her back to a healthy weight. He had known that Hell would take a toll on her, but he had only considered the mental and emotional damage that it could do to her…he had never considered the physical damage it could cause as well.

Dean hated how much she had suffered because of him. He was determined to help her improve her health, and to make those sons-a-bitches pay for all the pain that they had caused her.


Dean glanced up when he heard the motel door open. He breathed an internal sigh of relief when he realized that it was only Sam that was walking through the door. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with the others.


If he had had his choice earlier he never would have left Liz’s side, but it seemed like the others couldn’t grasp that fact…or why, if the argument he had had to break up earlier was any indication.


Ruby had come storming in yelling at Sam for going through with Liz’s plan…how she had found out Dean wasn’t entirely sure, but he didn’t really care either. Sam had tried to calm Ruby down. It had been clear that Sam had been worried about the yelling waking up Liz.


Unfortunately things hadn’t stopped there. Maria yelled at Sam for thinking that he knew what was best for Liz, Ruby started yelling at Maria for talking to Sam that way, Michael started yelling in defense of Maria, and it just snowballed from there.


Finally he had just gotten so fed up that he had threatened them all, Sam included, that if they didn’t shut up and leave he was taking Liz and hiding her away from everyone until she was awake and feeling better. From the look Sam had thrown at him, Dean figured he must have channeled his father when he had yelled.


“I’m sorry,” Sam whispered as he sat down in chair across the table from Dean.


Dean shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault, Ruby started it.”


“I know, but I still feel like it’s my fault. She started yelling because of me,” Sam said quietly as he leaned forward, his elbow on his knees, and his hands fidgeting with a pen.


Dean looked over at his brother with a pinched frown on his face, and his left eyebrow arched in annoyance, “Sam…” he trailed off in annoyance.


Sam looked up slightly confused, “What?”


“No emo chick-flick moment shit right now, okay?”


Sam scoffed, but nodded in agreement. Then the two of them turned their gazes back to Liz.


“It’s so strange to see her so still. She’s hasn’t been this still since I met her…not even when I was forcing her to lie still in the bath tub,” Sam said distractedly.


Dean slowly turned his head to look over at his brother. He could tell by the far away expression on his face that Sam probably hadn’t even meant to say what he had said. But he had said it…


“Why were you forcing her to lay still in the bath tub?” he tried to make his voice sound casual, but he knew that he hadn’t.


Sam shrugged, “It was after one of her visions. I couldn’t keep her injuries closed long enough to heal on their own, and she kept trying to heal them herself. It took me a while to convince her that wearing herself out from using her powers wasn’t a good idea. Her injuries needed to be cleaned…it was the easiest way. Although then I had to stop her from heating up the water with her powers.”


Dean sat there for a moment not knowing what to say. On one hand he wasn’t exactly happy that Sam had seen her in the bath tub, but on the other hand he understood where Sam had been coming from. So he simply settled on being annoyed and worried at the same time, “Of course she did, she too damn stubborn.”


Sam scoffed at that, and seemed to be pulled out of his thoughts, “She’d have to be stubborn to put up with you on a good day.”


Dean felt the corner of his mouth twitch upwards, “Bitch.”


Sam smiled, “Jerk.”


They continued to sit there in silence for a few long moments before Sam frowned and turned to look at Dean, “Did I just tell you that I saw Liz in the bath tub?” his tone was halfway between uncertainty and dread.


Dean looked at him with a sarcastic smirk and a glare, “Yeah, ya did.”


Sam winced, “Sorry.”


Dean groaned, “Sam you say sorry one more time and I’m going to kick your ass!” Sam knew when and when not to push his brother’s buttons and today was definitely not the day to cross that line.

XXXXXXX

The others had been shocked when Dean had threatened to take Liz and leave, but he knew his brother better than almost anyone, though Liz was giving him some stiff competition in that department, and it was so blindingly clear to anyone that truly knew Dean…he was hiding. The woman that he cared about and that had pulled him out of Hell was laying so still that if it wasn’t for the slight rise and fall of her chest…you wouldn’t even know she was alive.


“She’s good for you,” he whispered before he could stop himself.


“What?” he could feel Dean’s gaze on him; his brother’s gaze seemingly burning twin holes in his head as his brother looked at him in annoyance and confusion.


“Liz. She’s good for you.” Sam said again softly before sitting back in the chair, though he never took his eyes off of Liz; never took his gaze off of his sister.


“I knew she was following me pretty much from the beginning,” he couldn’t stop the smile of amusement that grew on his face as a small laugh forced its way past his chocked throat, “She actually really sucks at the whole tailing someone thing.”

Dean looked at him in surprise, “Really?”

Sam nodded, “Yeah, and I mean it’s really bad. She was a couple cars behind me one day, and obviously she was too happy that she had found a ’67 Impala, because got a little too eager. Once the cars that were separating us turned off the road, she followed right behind me for a couple miles. I don’t even know how I lost her as easily as I did,” he shook his head in disbelief. “I was driving a ’67 Impala, and I lost her is a crowd of brand new cars…it really makes no sense…it’s so clear she likes cars, and yet…” he trailed off in confusion.

Dean sat back in disbelief, “How the hell have they all been flying under the FBI radar if she can’t even follow someone without being seen?”

Sam scoffed, “Your guess is as good as mine. Although, I have a feeling that Sir Bitch A Lot might have had something to do with that. That asshole is way too controlling.”

Dean rolled his eyes, “Yeah, cause if you do the fucking job for her she’ll know how to escape on her own if it ever comes to that.” Dean shook his head in disgust, “He’s going to get her killed one of these days.”

Sam smirked and looked over at his brother, “Not if you show her the right way to evade the FBI, follow someone, shoot a gun, exorcise a demon if needed, create a proper devils trap…” Dean cut him off before he could continue on with the list.

Dean lifted an eyebrow in slight disbelief, “You want me to teach her how to hunt? You? Mr. Spokesperson for a normal life?”

Sam just shrugged, “Her life hasn’t been normal since she was 16. At least give her a fighting chance. I can only guess that she’s lasted as long as she has while she’s been on the road because of Ruby. I’m a hundred percent sure what Ruby’s taught her already, but I know you’d feel better if you taught her yourself. At least you’d know she was doing everything right.”

Dean sighed, and Sam could tell that he had made his point; Dean was merely putting on a show, so it wouldn’t look as though his brother had given in that easily. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. God only know what Ruby has been teaching Liz,” Dean shook his head in annoyance.

Oh yeah, his brother’s dislike for Ruby certainly hadn’t lessened any, Sam couldn’t help but think to himself.

Reaching over to the fridge that was about a foot away Dean pulled out two bottles of water. Sam didn’t think he had ever seen his brother drink as much water as he had since Liz and Castiel had pulled him out.

Silently, but gratefully, he took the bottle of water that his brother offered him.

“So since Liz is so bad at trailing people why didn’t you confront her then?” Dean asked him in a mix of curiosity and concern.

He shook his head in a bit of self loathing, “At first I didn’t care. I welcomed anything that tried to get me. I let my anger take over. It was like I was moving through this haze, and all I could feel was anger. I was angry that you were gone, angry that I couldn’t get you out, and angry that everything just seemed so…happy…that you were in the pit.”


Sam sunk lower in the chair, and ran his hand over his face, “When she didn’t come right out and attack me, I figured she was planning something. So, I decided ‘hell, why not’, and let her do whatever it was she was doing. But then I realized that she wasn’t even aware that she had been following me so closely. I guess she had thought that she was farther behind me or something. I was kind of surprised that Ruby either hadn’t realized it, or hadn’t told her, just how close I was.”

Sam could feel the tears glaze over his eyes as he remembered their first meeting, “But that night, when I confronted her at her car…” he shook his head and genuinely laughed, “I swear it was like dealing with a female version of you. She actually called me an asshole when I, as she likes to put it, bossed her around. She’s not too fond of being told what to do.”

Dean lifted his bottle of water to take another drink as he muttered sarcastically, “I can’t imagine why.”

Sam felt the corners of his mouth lift just slightly at his brother’s sarcasm. He knew only too well the kinds of feelings that his brother had toward one Max Evans. And by the look of anger in Dean’s eyes, Liz has obviously told his brother a bit about her ex-boyfriend. The only question remained, was how much had she told Dean?


Swallowing past the lump in his throat that had formed at the thought of the many things Liz had been through before she had even turned 18, “She had done this alien mojo thing on me that let me see her entire life,” he actually felt himself giving an involuntary shudder at the thought of seeing what he had, “I had never wanted to know that much about your girlfriend, and the fact that she is like a little sister to me only makes it that much worse.”


“Run that by me again, Sammy? What do you mean you know more about her than you ever wanted to?” Dean practically demanded. It was clear that Dean didn’t like the idea of Sam knowing something intimately personal about Liz, but at the same time Dean was also concerned that something else had happened to Liz that he didn’t know about.


Sam cringed, “She did this mind connection thing, where she showed me her entire life so that she could get me to trust her; thus I now know more about her than any one person should know about another.”


Dean looked at him almost uncertainly, “Like what?”


Sam could actually feel himself turning at least ten different shades of green, (No pun intended), “I now know when she got her first period, I know exactly how she felt when she had to go get her first bra, I have seen every fantasy she has ever had since she hit puberty, oh, and there was even the memory of her accidently walking in on her parents having sex when she was twelve!”


Dean’s face contorted into a look of freaked out mixed with a heavy dose of creep-ed out, “Glad it was you and not me, after all you’re the girl in the family.’


Sam glared at his brother, to which Dean just smirked and pointed at him, “See there’s your bitch face.”


“Jerk.”


“Bitch.”


“So have you met King of the sour pusses, yet?” Dean asked him after a few moments of amused silence on Dean’s part.


Sam felt his anger build at the mention of Max Evans. He clenched his fists and set his jaw, “Don’t mention him or the blonde gerbil to me right now.”


Dean looked at him in surprise, “Why? And seriously, ‘the blonde gerbil’?”


Sam glared at his brother, “Yeah, it’s what the others call Tess; I think Maria came up with it. What those two put Liz through,” Sam shook his head and set his jaw again, as if he was that action alone would hold back his anger, “If I think about it too long, I can feel this building feeling inside me. I’m not completely sure, but I think it’s the new powers I’m going to be getting now that Liz ‘healed’ me. From what I understand their abilities are connected with their emotions.”


Dean nodded slowly, eyes wide, and eye brows lifted high in shocked disbelief, “Okaaayy. That’ll take some getting used to.”


Sam smirked and pushed his anger away, “Let’s put it this way, if I had met Liz before you died, and she and I were as close as we are now…he wouldn’t have survived after you were gone.”

Dean returned his smirk, only Dean’s wider, and was filled with more mischief and malice, “I’m sure there’s still plenty of time before Liz wakes up. Alex said she was going to be out for a while to let her body recuperate from her power overload. Come on Sammy, we could turn King Sour Puss into some demon bait; maybe cut him up into small bite sized demon snacks? It’ll be fun.”

Sam laughed at his brother’s enthusiasm, “As much as I’m sure we’d both enjoy that, I don’t think either of us want to die when Liz wakes up.”

Dean’s shoulders fell dramatically in mock defeat, “Steal all my fun, Sammy.”

Sam shook his head in amusement, “You want to turn Sir Bitch A Lot into meat on a stick, go right ahead, but I’m not saving you from Liz afterwards. I’ll wait till Liz is the one coming up with the plan to make him pay for something, and then I’ll just happen to take the plan up a few notches. More harm to him, less fowl for me.”

“Traitor,” Dean muttered.

Sam just laughed, and shook his head at Dean’s antics. The guy had just spent the equivalent to nearly 40 years in Hell, and he was still acting like the same old Dean. Sam couldn’t help but wonder how long it would last. No matter how strong Dean was or appeared to be, there wasn’t a person in the world that could come out of Hell unscathed mentally, physically, or emotionally. He was just waiting for his big brother’s barriers to crack a little; they couldn’t stay up forever that was for sure.


“What did you do while I was gone? Liz said you weren’t doing to good, but she wouldn’t go into too much detail,” Dean’s concerned question didn’t really take Sam by surprise. He had known that it was just a matter of time before Dean got to asking about that.


Sam shrugged, trying to appear as casual as possible. He didn’t want to worry Dean anymore than he obviously already had, “I figured Ruby was in Hell since she hadn’t popped up anywhere, until Liz started following me. I spent most of my time looking for ways to save you, and when I would come to a dead end…” Sam trailed off. He didn’t really want to tell his brother what he had been up to.


Dean’s eyes hardened as he obviously picked up on Sam’s attempt to evade the question, “Sam you don’t tell me what you did, and I’m telling Liz you slept with Ruby while she was asleep.”


Sam glowered at his brother’s threat, “Jerk.—Most of my searches to get you out lead to demons. And when they couldn’t do anything, I killed them. I even went back to the crossroads to try and get you out. Trade me for you or something like that. When that didn’t work, I killed him too.”


“Wait…him? I thought they were supposed to appear in the form that is most appealing to you…Sam?” Dean asked in confusion, with just a tinge of teasing added in.


Sam rolled his eyes. He knew exactly where his brother was going with this one, “They didn’t really care at that point. They had what they wanted. You were in Hell and I was a mess. I was by myself, and was more or less drunk all the time, so it wouldn’t have been all that hard if one of them really wanted to kill me,” he admitted reluctantly. He tried his best to ignore his brother’s look of disbelief and shock.


“The night I confronted Liz was one of the few nights that I was sober, which was probably a good thing. When I had exhausted all of my efforts of finding a way to get you out of Hell, I decided that I was going to go after Ruby to see if she could help me with my powers. I had figured that since Liz seemed to be the one looking for me that she would be the easy target. Get to her to get to Ruby.”


Sam sighed and looked back at his ‘sister’ with concern and longing. He hated to see her like this, and he just wanted her to wake up, “If it hadn’t of been for Liz…” he shook his head uncertainly, “I don’t even know where I would have been right now. – It pissed me off so much when she reminded me of you that night. But in the long run, it was probably for the best. I finally had someone to talk to that understood at least a little bit, and arguing with her was like arguing with you. Well more like her yelling at me and me trying to defend myself. If I tried hard enough I could pretend that she was you, and that it was you that was yelling at me; I could pretend that you weren’t dead,” he finished softly.
XXXXXXXX


Dean sat in companionable silence with his brother, just letting everything he had just been told sink in. To think about how close he had come to losing his brother again, it nearly killed him inside.


He let his gaze fall on the sleeping girl that had not only completely turned his entire world upside down, but had saved his brother from himself. He owed her everything. She had obviously sacrificed so much for the both of them, and he had no idea how to repay her for it.


He hated being in debt to anyone, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate his debt to her. He knew she wouldn’t hold it against him, or use it against him. Hell, she probably didn’t even consider him as being in her debt at all. That didn’t mean he would just back out of that debt, but he felt comfortable knowing that with this debt he wouldn’t feel any tense obligation, or feel this looming sense about it hanging over his head.

He felt comfortable knowing that he could payback this debt at his leisure and over what he hoped would be quite an enjoyable long period of time. Say the rest of their lives. It wasn’t everyday that you met a girl that would go to Hell and back for you…literally.


With a soft sigh Dean stood up and walked over to the bed. He sat down on the free side and reached up to move a piece of her hair off of her face. He was pleased to see that she looked like she had a little bit more color to her face.


“There was this demon, Alistair, and he’s come to me every day, and offer to take me off the rack,” he said quietly.


He didn’t have to look up to know that Sam was wearing a shocked expression on his face. The soft and incredulous “What?” was enough of a reaction to know what his brother was thinking.


Dean nodded slightly, “He’d tell me that he would take me off the rack, if I helped him torture other souls. I told him ‘no’ everyday, but each day it got just that much hard to turn him down. It got harder when I started hearing her voice, because I didn’t know whose voice it was or what it wanted.”


Dean sighed and let his head fall back against the pillow behind him as he stared up at the ceiling, “Sam, if she hadn’t shown up when she did…I think that given time…I think I might have ended up taking his offer.”


He didn’t say anything after that and merely let the guilt that he felt for even thinking about taking up Alistair on his offer, even for a moment, flood over him. The woman next to him had saved him from possibly making a decision that he would have ended up regretting for the rest of his life.


Liz really had saved both of them.

XXXXXXXX


Liz frowned as she looked at what was around her. It was almost like she was in one of Isabel’s dreamwalk moments. Everything had this kind of angelic shade of white to it. What she couldn’t figure out is why she was at the Crashdown.


“I must say, I have seen many things in my life, but never have I seen something quite like this,” a female voice said behind her. Liz quickly turned around to find a tall blonde woman…in a white nightgown.


Mary Winchester.


She had no idea what to say, and even if she did, Liz doubted she would have been able to say it at that moment.


Mary smiled at her after a moment, “It really shouldn’t surprise me that my son would end up caring for a girl from the alien capital of the world. Not that I disagree with his choice.”


Then the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, “Just to clarify, we’re talking about the shorter one, right? The one that has a freakish obsession with a certain ’67 Impala and mullet rock, and not the tall one that seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis?”


The moment Liz realized what she said she winced, “Sorry,” she quickly said.


Mary just laughed and shook her head; “No, it‘s fine. But just so you know; if you had said that about them, and I didn’t know you cared deeply for both of them, we’d be having some problems. And to answer your question, yes I was talking about Dean.”


Liz smiled slightly embarrased and nodded, but then frowned, “What’s going on here? Why are we at my parents’ diner?”


Mary sighed and walked up to her, “I brought you here, because this is what you know. It’s kind of like what you did for Dean, his comfort zone was Bobby’s salvage yard and his car; yours is home. No matter how old you get or how far away from here you are, your comfort zone will always be this very diner were you worked, lived, and loved.”


Liz nodded in understanding. It did make sense. But the intergalactic sized question was…Why? “I guess I get that, but why is this happening? And not that it’s not nice to meet you, but why is it you that I am talking to?”


Mary smiled and proceeded to sit down in one of the booths. Liz silently followed. Mary was silent for a moment, as though she was gathering her words, “Liz what I am about to explain to you, might be hard for you to understand. You see there was a part of me that my boys don’t know about; not even John knew. I’m not sure if he figured it out before he died, but he didn’t know while I was still alive.”


Liz frowned. She had no idea where Mary was going with this, “What?”


Mary took a deep breath, although Liz didn’t think she really needed to, what with the being dead and all; “When I was alive, before I met John, I was a hunter. I knew about the supernatural before John even knew it existed. I never told John. I wanted out of that life style so badly. And I had ten wonderful demon free years with my husband and my two boys. I just wish that it hadn’t ended the way it had; that I could have had more time with them. This was never the life that I wanted my boys to have.”


Liz could tell that Mary was pretty upset about the fact that Dean and Sam were hunters. She silently reached over, and took one of Mary’s hands into her own, “I know it may not be much of a consolation, but they are both very good at what they do. And family comes first, for both of them. They are brave, strong, and genuinely good men.”


Mary smiled at her and gave her hand a light squeeze, “You see the good in everyone, Liz.”


Liz gave a scoff, “No, I really don’t. If I did that I would see the good in the bad guys. There isn’t any. Sam and Dean…they are the good guys. I know that you don’t want this for them, but like I said they are good at what they do. I am sorry that they have had to make so many sacrifices for others, but they have done so much good for the world, I don’t even want to imagine where we would be right now if they weren’t doing what they are doing.


I’ve known people who have the ability to do great things with the gifts given to them, but they don’t do nearly half the good that your boys have done, with nearly no supernatural help what so ever. I have to give credit where credit is due, and those two, no one gives them enough credit.”


Mary smiled widely and nodded. Almost as if she was pleased with herself or something.


“What?” Liz asked in confusion.


Mary laughed a little, “Nothing it’s just nice knowing that I am leaving my boys in good hands.”


Liz couldn’t stop the small smile that grew on her face, but looked down at the table a little bit embarrassed. She hadn’t been looking for any kind of recognition or anything; she just wanted their mother to know that she had two sons that she could be very proud of.


Mary laughed once again, and gave her hand another squeeze, “I’m afraid that as much as I am enjoying getting to know you, this isn’t a social visit.”


Liz looked up again and nodded. She understood that whatever Mary was about to tell her was extremely important.


Just as Mary was about to say something; they both tensed. It was clear that whatever presence Liz was feeling that Mary had felt it too. Liz quickly focused her senses to get a read on the new presence. Once she realized who it was she couldn’t stop the sigh of slight annoyance that escaped her lips, “You can come out Isabel.”


A couple moments later Isabel came walking out of the ‘backroom’ looking surprised that Liz had sensed her.


Liz smirked and arched her left eyebrow, “I thought Alex told you that dreamwalking me was a bad idea?”


Isabel got over her surprise relatively quickly and shrugged, “He came by and mentioned that you had gotten Dean out of Hell. So I figured I would give it a shot, especially once he said that you had conked out after everything was said and done.”


Liz nodded and motioned for Isabel to pull up a chair, before turning back to Mary.


Mary smiled and nodded, “Hello, Isabel.”


Isabel gave her a nervous smile, which caused Liz to laugh a bit, “It’s alright Isabel; she’s not going to hurt us.”


Isabel sent a mock glare at Liz, “I know that. I don’t sense any evil coming from her, but she’s not human either.”


Liz rolled her eyes, “That would be because she died over 20 years ago.”


Isabel’s eyes widened slightly, “Oh.”


Mary apparently found amusement in Isabel’s surprise just as much as Liz did, as the small amused look the two shared told quite clearly.


“Anyway, you said that this wasn’t a social visit?” Liz tried to get the conversation back on track.


Mary nodded, “Yes. Liz it is very important that the little bit of power you held onto from Sam gets buried on sacred ground. The Holiest you can find. Jerusalem would probably be the best place. However, there is another catch, not just anyone can bury it. The power has to be encased in everything Holy. If done right, then it will be as untouchable as if it was surrounded by an iron devil’s trap.”


Liz frowned, “Like the gate to hell? But why?”


Mary sighed, “I know this is going to be hard to hear, but you need to know. Lilith is looking to raise Lucifer. And in order to do that, 66 seals have to be broken. There are 666 for her to choose from, but ultimately 66 have to be broken. From what I can tell she was banking on Dean being the one to break the first seal, which was why the Angels have been watching over him so closely. If he had given into Alistair’s offer the first seal would have been broken.”


Liz’s frown just deepened, “But he didn’t, so shouldn’t that mean that everything is okay for a little while?”


Mary sighed and shook her head, “Unfortunately no; you see there was a type of failsafe with the whole situation, at least for the demons side anyway. If they couldn’t get Dean to break the first seal on his own, there was another seal that could be broken on his behalf, of sorts. This is why I don’t understand why Castiel didn’t pull Dean out earlier. When you pulled him out, you became a part of Hell.


There is a seal that says ‘When the one that doesn’t belong becomes a part of the nightmare’, it is so loosely based that it is open to vast amounts of interpretations, which is why it worked for them. You didn’t belong in Hell, but you became a part of it to pull him out. And I am sorry to say that that was the first seal that was broken. 65 remain.”


Liz sat back in disbelief. All she had wanted to do was help Dean, and get him out of Hell. He didn’t belong there. And now in doing so she had started the prelude to the apocalypse.


“So what, it was a catch 22 all along? Either Dean breaks the first seal or Liz keeps Dean from breaking the first seal, and in turn breaks it herself?” Isabel asked in just as much disbelief as Liz, but for a different reason.


Liz hadn’t thought of it that way.


Mary nodded solemnly, “I’m afraid so, but that’s how it is with demons; as my son has pointed out numerous times, demons lie. That, however, is putting it mildly. Yes, demons lie, but at the same time they don’t have any qualms about how they achieve their goal, as long as they get it done.”


Liz looked at Mary for a moment, and studied the woman’s face. There was a warning in that last statement, of that she was sure. She just wasn’t sure what it was.


Then it clicked.


“Ruby.”


Mary nodded, “I don’t know what she is up to, but be careful. There is a chance that she is batting for the good guys, and there is a chance that she’s not. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful in regards to her.”


Liz shook her head negatively, “Don’t worry about it. I’ve gotten to the point where I just let Maria annoy her to no end. But why is it so important that the power that I held onto from Sam be buried? Something told me to hold on to it.”

Thanks for posting here! Loved this part by the way!