Dean and Sam attempt to take the fight to Lilith but there are several problems that must be solved along the way--such as once again finding each other.

Special thanks to Insane Troll Logic for editing, suggestions and reminding me that less is more. The story continues from where Avoidance left off but it is not necessary to read that first.

From Avoidance-

"Hey, don't worry about it, Sam. Why don't you go back inside and get some sleep. No reason that both of us should be up."

"Dean?"

"Sam, really, just go back inside. I want to stay out here a while longer."

The only thing that he could do for his brother right now was to leave him alone.

So he did.

Better to Reign

Adam and Lilith never found peace together; for when he wish to lie with her, she took offence at the recumbent posture he demanded. "Why must I lie beneath you?" she asked. "I also was made from dust and am therefore your equal."

Hebrew Myths-The Book of Genesis

Chapter 1

Bobby had called Dean after midnight but the Winchesters didn't get on the road until just before dawn. The roughly sixteen hour drive would have them at the salvage yard a few hours before midnight.

"And Bobby didn't say anything except that he had something he wanted to talk to us about?"

"For the tenth time, Sam, that's all he said. I'm not holding out on you."

Dean turned the tape player's volume up, singing off key to CCR. It was an only slightly desperate attempt to drown out any more questions from his bother and his own depressing thoughts.

Sam grimaced at the noise blaring from the speakers and pulled his Ipod from the glove compartment. He snuggled the ear buds as deep in his ears as he could. The only communication exchanged for the remainder of the trip was basic questions such as do you want to stop to get something to eat—take a leak—stretch your legs? It only emphasized the uneasy silence between them.

SNSNSNSNSN

By the time the Impala headed up the winding dirt drive to Bobby's house, both Winchesters were tired from the long drive and even more exhausted from trying to maintain the uneasy silence between them. When they finally stopped the car and looked at the warm yellow lights coming from the slightly run down house, both were more than ready to put a little distance between themselves, even if it was only the space of an extra chair at the table.

Sam put his hand on the door handle preparing to get out when he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He swiveled his head around to look at this brother.

"Sam," Dean said looking more than a little uncomfortable, "Don't tell Bobby, okay."

"About my psychic mojo?"

Dean shook his head. "About what I told you about Hell. I don't want him to know. No reason he should."

"Dean, Bobby's our friend. Don't you think he would want to know?"

"He'd only feel sorry for me, which I don't deserve or…" Dean cleared his throat nervously, "I don't want him to be disappointed in me."

"I won't say anything."

Dean gave a sigh of relief and favored his brother with a small smile. "Thanks, bro. Now that you bring it up, though, it might not be a bad idea to totally gloss over the psychic mojo stuff. I know that Bobby would understand but he is a hunter and you using demon powered exorcisms might not go over too well. Let's not stress him out."

"I wasn't planning on telling him. You're not the only one that doesn't want Bobby disappointed in them."

"Sammy, Bobby could never be disappointed with you. You got that whole geek brotherhood thing going on."

Sam looked at his brother quizzically. "You think Bobby's a geek?"

Dean laughed. "Bobby's got more reference books than the Library of Congress. If that doesn't qualify him for geekdom, then I don't know what would."

Sam nodded slowing as if filing a new fact away. "I guess he is a geek. I never thought about him that way before."

"The way I see it, you and Bobby will probably be getting your geek on while I'll be outside changing the oil in the Impala or sent on errands so I'll stay out of your hair. You and Bobby always did have a lot in common. Well, let's get out of here. I've been sitting so long my ass is numb."

The Winchesters didn't even make it to the door before it opened and Bobby came out with a revolver in one hand and a silver flask in the other. He handed the flask to Dean, who took it and with a salute took a big swig… and promptly spit it out all over the front steps. "What the hell, Bobby! What's this? Cat piss?"

Bobby laughed and pounded Dean on the back as he continued to cough and gag. "Something like that. Come on son, you really think I'd waste good holy water on you? I figure if you got angels still hanging around, no way you could be possessed."

Bobby glanced at Sam and held the flask out. "How about you, boy, you want a drink?"

Sam smiled and pushed the flask away. "If it's all the same to you, Bobby, I think I'll pass."

"Smart kid. Come on, get your butts inside and I'll pour us some of the good stuff."

Bobby sat the bottle of Jack and three glasses on the table before he took his chair. He poured a shot in each glass. "Well," Bobby began, "depending on what mythology you want to believe, Lilith either started out as a night demon or human—first wife of Adam. If we go with the latter, it seems she wasn't happy being subservient to a man, especially in the bedroom. So she ran away and..ah..knew Lucifer."

"So she met up with him?" Dean asked.

Sam and Bobby both rolled their eyes. "No, Dean, she knew him," Sam stressed.

Dean looked at them blankly. "Yeah, they knew each other before he got locked behind the seals."

Bobby gave an exasperated huff. "She was his consort, you idiot. They had sex!"

Dean mouthed a silent "oh," then suddenly smirked. "If Lilith and the Big Bad got down and dirty, bet they weren't using the missionary position."

Bobby and Sam stifled a groan. "As I was sayin'," Bobby continued, "Lilith got together with the original Fallen and became the mother of demons. It seems she may have also been the original succubus, preying on men at night. Her leisure time activities included sneaking unto children's bedrooms and killing them. She became known as the seducer of men and the destroyer of children. A talisman inscribed with the names of three angels was said to provide protection from her."

The idea of demons seducing men made Sam uneasy, though he really never made a conscious connection between a succubus and a regular demon seducing a man. He didn't want his mind to wander in that direction so he nudged it back on topic.

"Bobby," Dean's voice was thoughtful, "Holy water didn't work on ol' Yellow Eyes and Ruby's knife didn't work on another demon we came across. Do you suppose the weapons we've found are demon-type specific? Like maybe the knife and holy water only work demons that are made in Hell, those that used to be human. That these weapons won't work on demons that were born in Hell or that…ah…fell."

"It's possible." Bobby slowly nodded. "That would seem to make sense given what I've read of Hell's hierarchy. Most demons would be those that used to be human and had their souls stripped and corrupted. There would be much fewer that were never human but were born soulless in the Pit. Only a handful, hopefully, would be some of the most powerful: the original fallen angels."

"Then what kind of demon would Lilith be?" Sam wondered. "She was human but chose Hell rather than was sent there. She seemed to be afraid of the colt, at least she didn't want us to have it. I wonder if a regular exorcism would even work on her or if a devil's trap would hold her?

"We have to be able to stop Lilith, Bobby. How else can we keep her from breaking the seals? I wonder if there's a way to find the colt?"

"I've been looking for it, Sam, but so far it seems that when Bela gave it to Lilith, it disappeared. I may have had a break on Lilith though. I've been in contact with a Rabbi that teaches at Baltimore Hebrew University and is considered one of the foremost authorities on Hebrew mythology in general and on Lilith in particular. If anyone might know something about how to stop her, it would be him. He's already agreed to photocopy and e-mail me part of a scroll that shows how to write the names of the three angels. Once I get that, I can get started on protection talismans."

"How did you arrange that that? I can't imagine you telling him that Armageddon was coming and we need to know how to stop a demon." Dean didn't like involving non-hunters in their world. It was too dangerous for them and once their eyes were opened to what was in the dark, they could never really feel safe again. He didn't like taking that last bit of illusion away from people.

"I told him I was doing research for a book on demons and he would get an acknowledgment as a source if I could pick his brains. He seemed to think it would be good publicity for the university if the book would get published. In the meantime I thought I'd try to find out more about the seals. If we know where or what they are, we can figure out what our next move should be. I got some promising leads while I was down in the Caribbean." Looking at the Winchesters' identical smirks, Bobby got defensive. "Well, what the hell, did you think I was doing down there, hanging out on a sandy beach in a banana hammock?"

Sam looked away quickly but Dean only smiled brighter.

"Humph," Bobby growled and shook his head to hide his amusement. "Anyway, that's why I asked you here. With your help, I should have a couple of talismans made in a couple of days and by then I might be able to tell you where a couple of seals may be. 'Course the problem being the talisman is supposed to only work on Lilith and we don't have any way to test it. Least wise no safe way."

"We could ask Ruby," Sam reluctantly suggested.

Dean gave Sam an angry glare. "No."

"Dean, she probably would know whether or not…"

"Sam, has she volunteered any information on how to stop Lilith other than…." Dean waved his hands around, not wanting to get into what Sam had been up to over the time he was gone in front of Bobby.

"No, but…"

"If she knew something, she would have told you if she was the ally you want to make her out to be. She would have laid out some different options."

Sam got a stubborn look on his face that clearly told Dean that this wasn't over.

Dean sighed in frustration and shook his head. "It's near midnight and I'm beat. I'm heading up to bed." He stood and headed for the stairs.

Sam and Bobby remained sitting at the table staring at their drinks. Once Dean's steps could no longer be heard on the stairs, Bobby turned to Sam. "You want to tell me what that was about?"

Sam continued to stare at his glass. He then lifted it and drank all the burning liquor down in one long swallow. "No, not really."

Bobby sat still a minute, nodded and stood, taking his and Dean's glasses to the sink.

"Bobby," Sam said sounding contrite. "I need to apologize."

Bobby shifted around to look at the younger Winchester. "No need to apologize boy. None of my business."

"No, not about," Sam waved his hand around the table, "this, about before."

"Before?"

"After Dean…after we buried…I'm sorry I didn't stick around. I was in a bad way."

"We both were. Would've been nice to know you weren't laying in a ditch somewhere bleeding out. You didn't want to stick around, fine but you could have at least returned a phone call. I may not have been much use, but I could have helped some." Bobby didn't even realize how pissed he was at the young man until the words started coming out of his mouth.

"I know. That…I think that's why I didn't call. I didn't want any help. I wanted to…I just wanted Dean."

Although Sam's face was carefully neutral, Bobby thought he could see the glistening of unshed tears. The boy was still hurting and he didn't have it in him to stay angry. He walked back to the table and put a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder. With a weary sigh he gave it a little squeeze. "I know. Don't worry about it no more, Sam, it's all water under the bridge. Besides we got him back."

"Yeah, we got him back."

Bobby noted that Sam still looked like he was barely holding back tears. His mood should have lightened at the thought of having his brother back but it hadn't. What the hell was going on with these two? He squeezed Sam's shoulder hard, just to get his attention.

"I changed my mind, it is my business. What the hell is going on?"

Sam looked up and met Bobby's eyes. All he saw there was concern. Quickly looking down at the table, he muttered, "It's all fucked up, Bobby."

"Sam, aren't you happy to have your brother back?"

Sam looked up again startled. "Yes, god yes, that was all I wanted…I thought that was all I wanted…the whole time he was in Hell. It's just…while he was gone…" Sam hesitated wondering how to explain himself.

"Spit it out boy! The nights not getting any younger and neither am I."

"Ruby came back a month or so after Dean died. She started helping me, tried to keep me from self destructing."

Bobby shook his head. "Sam."

"No, listen Bobby," Sam continuing almost desperately, "after I finally realized that I couldn't make a deal for Dean and there were no spells that would bring him back, all I could think of was finding and killing the demon responsible for him being in Hell. I wanted to get Lilith and Ruby was more than willing to help. She was helping me and we were hunting down and destroying demons right and left. We took out more demons in a few months than Dean and I did all last year."

"Good Lord, please tell me that you didn't say that to your brother."

Sam dropped his eyes and said reluctantly, "It might have come up."

Bobby took off his ball cap and rubbed his head tiredly. "Dean get the idea that you would rather be hunting with a demon than with him?"

"It's not that I would rather be hunting with Ruby than with Dean. That's not the point."

"Then get to the point."

"Dean doesn't want Ruby helping anymore. He doesn't want her around. She's helpful, Bobby. She can tell us things about other demons; where they are, their strengths and weaknesses. I just don't think that with the way things are going we should just ignore a possible asset." Sam started to fiddle with his glass. "It's become a running disagreement. What it comes down to is that Ruby can get me closer to destroying Lilith and I don't want to let that chance slip through my fingers."

"So, tell me Sam, what would you give to get to Lilith?"

"Anything, Bobby, what ever it takes."

"Even your brother?"

"No, of course not!"

"Well that's not what you said Sam. You said anything and boy, I believe that's what you meant. Hell, when did you become your daddy?"

Sam sat up straighter and his jaw hardened. "The whole world might literally be going to Hell, maybe being more like dad is exactly how I should be."

"I've know you since you were little more than a rug rat drooling and teething on my end table. I watched you go from a curious child into a rebellious teen. Saw the fights you had with your daddy about the life he gave you versus the life you wanted. Saw you before you left and after you came back, but I never thought I'd see the day that you would chose a demon over your own brother."

"It's not like that," Sam said, even though he guiltily thought it was exactly like that.

"Boy, all those fights you had with your daddy, what were they all about when you got right to the root of it?

Sam thought a minute; sure that he was being lead into a trap. "That he put the hunt and his need for revenge on the thing that killed mom ahead of me and Dean."

Bobby nodded. "Your daddy loved you boys, can't deny that but he would get so caught up in finding and killing every supernatural son of a bitch out there that he would forget the most important thing: family. Apparently the only one that never forgot that is Dean."

"I am putting family first. I'm doing this for Dean!" Sam raised his voice in anger.

"How is hanging with a black hearted bitch doing anything for Dean?" Bobby yelled back.

"Lilith held Dean's contract. She's the reason he suffered for forty years in the Pit. For that alone, she deserves to be killed, not sent back to Hell but destroyed. What if she tries to claim him again? To protect him, I have to track her down and take care of her. Ruby can help me do that."

Bobby tried to listen but the only thing he heard was forty years. "Four months, Sam, not forty years. He was gone four months."

Sam snapped his mouth shut quickly, only realizing his slip when Bobby pointed it out. Dean had asked him not to tell Bobby but if Bobby really knew what his brother had been through, maybe he would be more sympathetic to Sam's decision and maybe, just maybe, he could tell Sam how to help his brother cope. "He remembers, Bobby, he remembers it all. He told me that four months up here was more like forty years down there."

"Damn" Bobby murmured softly.

"Exactly, now you know why she has to pay and Ruby can help me make that happen."

"Yeah, son, maybe she can but don't kid yourself that you're doing this for your brother. You're doing this for you. This is your quest for revenge every bit as much as going after that thing that killed your momma was your daddy's." Bobby sighed heavily and stood. "I'm going on up. Make sure everything is locked up."

Sam didn't watch Bobby leave. He clasped his hands together on the table. After a few minutes he lowered his head and rested it on top of them. Over the last few years he had come to understand his father better. He respected the man's tenacity, drive and dedication to the hunt more now than he ever had while John had been alive. He was finally able to empathize with him.

But he certainly didn't want to be him.

Dean and Bobby had been stuffing him full of uncomfortable truths. That didn't mean he wanted to swallow them. He was afraid that if he tried he might choke.

tbc