Title: Give You Back Life

Author: OpheliacAngel

Characters & Pairing: Dean/Bela, Sam

Genre: Romance/Angst/Family

Rating: Teen

Summary: The stupid things they do for love. The ways in which they suffer, the manner in which they fall, their eyes locked and searching, mouths open and needy. It's all been done before except Dean thinks it hasn't, not like this anyway. Set Season 3, alternate ending to 'Time Is On My Side'.

A/N: I very much love Dean/Bela at times, when I'm not obsessed with Dean/Gabriel or Ruby/Bela that is. Hope you like…

Inspired by: Swifty's 'Give You Back Life' ~the dubstep one

Their hands find each other in the darkness. It isn't groping but it's brought on by nothing but a need of comfort. They've opened up because of what's happened and they're changing, together, not afraid to reach out for something that matters.

Fingers lock even though the room they find shelter in is pitch black, eyes not finding any purchase on this darkness and therefore all they both have is their touch. Dean sends out a prayer for Sam to get himself out of the mess he's in and come find them before something else finds them. Bela merely brushes her fingers across Dean's hand. Her wrist is bleeding and Dean feels the steady dripdripdrip on his palm, lets himself freak out a little over it but mainly treats it as a sign of life.

"Thank you," Bela quickly says as if she's in a hurry, out of breath, hand tightening on the Winchester's.

Dean doesn't know what to say except; "You just should have told me sooner is all. Now we're in a helluva mess, Bela. Not that I'd expect you to care about that."

He speaks like he's pissed at Bela even though he's not. He can't be after all she's gone through and what she just did for him and Sam. Dean doesn't want to give the impression that he's happy she's here, even though he's nothing other than happy because Bela had her eyes set firmly, unwaveringly, painstakingly on hell and now she's safe, for the moment anyway. She's still here and real and so touchable…

Dodging in front of Sam when a hell hound went gunning for him was a stupid thing to do, but something Dean is eternally grateful for. Something that makes Bela just that bit more bearable to be around. He couldn't leave her behind, neither of the boys could and he doesn't regret it. Bela is still salvageable.

All he wants to do is hold her and breathe her in until everything is alright again.

Another drip off her skin and onto his and he finally remembers what blood means after all this time of being so used to seeing it, to emitting it for Sam and the world to see, knows that it's supposed to stay within the body and not leak out like the levees have been torn down and the damage becomes almost permanent.

"You need to stop the bleeding," he pulls out a piece of cloth from his back pocket and gently wraps it around her wrist, whispering a mumbled apology at her wince.

"Thanks for taking the blow." He means that, he really does.

"It's the least I can do."

Dean smiles, knows that Bela can't see it but kinda hopes she can anyway. It means a lot to him that she's here right now, even if he wants Sam here more, just to make damn sure that he's safe and not self-sacrificing himself. His smile doesn't fade even as the worry for Sam increases and the panic does as well when he realizes this may not be the safest place after all.

With Bela here, it's not killing him because he's not alone. And even though the hell hounds may be howling, either in his mind or for real outside, Bela is that constant presence that screams 'We're in this together'.

XxXx

It's another hour or so before there's a knock on the door and light from the candles in the hall spills into the cramped and dusty room. Dean catches the paleness of Bela's face and it makes him think of his mother, how white her face was when she was on the ceiling before her redred blood covered everything else in sight.

He didn't actually see it happen, her body ignite with terrible flames but he remembers it so vividly in a dream as if he saw it a million times over.

"She okay?" Sam whispers as he closes the door behind him and darkness descends upon the three of them. Dean's pretty freaking sick of the darkness by now, but complaining isn't exactly top of his list at this point. He's more concerned over the state of Bela.

Dean nods before remembering that Sam can't see it, but his brother places a comforting and strong hand on his shoulder that shows he knows what his answer is.

"I'm fine," Bela confirms it as well even though believing her would be like Sam believing Dean every (any) time he says it.

It's then that the two Winchester brothers draw Bela closer, letting her lean against them and stretch out her legs a little in order to get more comfortable. The woman sighs in relief a little and sniffles minutely, though it's loud enough to let the both of them know she's trying not to cry.

"I'm gonna take it that by not turning the lights on means you weren't able to find them and gank their asses."

"Yeah, pretty much. Don't even know if they can be killed anyway."

Everything can be killed, Dean thinks but he finds himself not so sure about that after all, so he keeps his mouth shut.

"Are we safe here?" Bela suddenly asks, leaning closer to Dean instead of Sam and he can imagine the look on his brother's face at that. It's no secret his brother's attracted to Bela, he thinks he's so smart at hiding it but Dean knows better. "Maybe we should get some sleep then," she offers, not waiting for a response and the brothers think that maybe it's because she already knows the answer.

They're not safe anywhere, they'll never be again and the only person the hell hounds and demons of hell aren't gunning for is Sam, yet he's still in the line of fire cause he'll be damned if he permits anyone to take his brother or Bela for that matter.

Bela sacrificed for them and that doesn't go lightly in their book. She made the decision to stay by their side and told Dean she would have his back always, Sam included in the deal. She tried to atone for her previous mistakes and as far as the two are concerned, she has already and has done so much more. Plus, it's no secret that she has a major crush on Dean and how in the world could the youngest Winchester ever spoil that possible happiness?

"Great idea," Dean sighs and leans back against the hard concrete wall, dragging Sam along with him and he really wishes that he could watch his brother, be free of all this darkness as he falls asleep.

Sam strokes Bela's hair back from her forehead and shuts his eyes, freaks out a little to see he's content just being here with the two of them, despite the fact that his legs are cramping up and Dean's face has now fallen into his shoulder. Bela giggles a little when he starts snoring softly before settling more of her weight against Sam.

It's gonna be a long night.

XxXx

Sunlight pours through windows that should have been shaded when Dean comes back to wakefulness. Bela's squished up between the other wall and his legs, staring straight at him with vacant eyes before she latches onto the fact that he's awake and smiles a little. He stretches as well as he can while he's in this damned closet-like room and smiles back.

"You should have told me."

He yawns and rubs a hand over his face, doesn't have to look around to know that Sam's not in the room with them and because the windows aren't shielded means the coast is clear. For the present moment anyway. "Told you what?"

"That Dean Winchester has a major crush on the wicked girl next to him."

"Whoever said I had a crush on you?" He asks but leans forward to kiss her gently on the lips anyway. It's not the first time, last night he couldn't help himself either and had to give her a quick peck on the cheek while they stopped for a minute while making their escape.

This is more real though, incredibly vivid because he isn't doing it spur of the moment and he honestly gives a damn what Bela thinks of it now. He gets the vibe off of her too, that she has a little crush on him, except, it doesn't really feel like just a crush anymore.

It feels like something far more dangerous.

They lock eyes for the first time in innumerably long hours, let something other than touch mean something substantial. Bela's eyes are beautiful, so beautiful that he would love to drown in them now, to not worry about what's inevitably going to happen to the both of them. A knock on the door abruptly rips them away from each other though.

"Come on," Sam sticks his head through the now open door. "Let's get some breakfast, I'm starving."

"That's supposed to be my line," Dean pouts for a split second before getting up on his feet slowly and holding a hand out to Bela, who takes it gratefully, still smiling a little even though Dean can tell she didn't sleep a wink last night, probably too frightened that a demon would break down the door and drag her down to what everyone else thinks to be her rightful place.

Her rightful place is beside Dean and Sam though, nowhere else and the two of them will fight to keep it that way.

Sam seems pretty comfortable walking down the stairs of the abandoned mansion and into the kitchen, starts rummaging through the cabinets as if nothing could be wrong. Dean is pretty wary at first, but he settles down and reciprocates Sam's relaxation and shows Bela she can do the same.

The two of them collapse at the counter, Bela laying her head on her hands and Dean looking around the massive house that he didn't quite get the chance to check out last night.

"Nothing but cereal and bread," Sam breaks him out of his thoughts. "But I think we should stay here," he glances outside the window, "at least for a little while."

Dean and Bela nod simultaneously.

"Yeah well, I'm gonna go get a shower then."

Bela merely runs a hand through her unwashed and bloodied hair as she eyes Dean heading upstairs, not looking back once.

"He'll be fine," Sam smiles. "You know Dean."

Yeah, she knows Dean. But she gets the feeling that she's about to know a hell of a lot more about him, the both of them, in the days to come.

XxXx

They agree to stay in the house for the day, it's certainly large enough to keep them occupied for hours on end, and even though Bela hated what was promised to her in the morning; fears and doubts, by the early afternoon she found that she didn't mind being cooped up in this huge, mysterious and incredibly dusty house after all.

Primarily because she wasn't alone in it.

They found some old games in one of the closets, nothing much really but a game of Scrabble that must have been missing at least a third of the letters and a monopoly game that failed to contain money. Dean had only shrugged and took out a wad of cash from his back pocket, saying that they'd play with that. Bela had laughed, carefree and happy, and Sam shook his head before they settled down to play for the next couple hours.

They were bonding. And while neither of them were natural bonders, especially Bela, they found themselves really enjoying it. It kept their mind off of the boredom and especially, off of the way their bodies would look after the hell hounds were done with them.

Sam had left them alone for a little while after that, it had to be getting on to late afternoon but Bela was staying away from the windows and honestly didn't care anyway. "So what's the plan?"

"Really wish I had some M&M's with me right now."

"Dean," she presses.

He sighs, "The plan, Bela, is to keep us alive. Other than that, I really don't know. Sam's probably trying to get online right now, which I guarantee you he won't, to find out how to kill those damned hell hounds. If they can be killed. The thing is though," he adds, "there is nothing more to learn. No way to get out of this. So we best keep our heads up and guns loaded."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

He pushes her now washed and drying hair off her forehead and behind her ears. She lets him because it's a sweet gesture and a sweet gesture that she wants, has secretly wanted since she met Dean.

"You don't think he…"

Dean leans forward, presses a finger to her lips and grins, "No, I don't think Sam's eavesdropping. And even if he is," he kisses her gently, wraps an arm around her tightly, "I don't really care."

She smiles, wonders if this is a good idea after all and a million other things as well, like if they should move this up to the bedroom or even not go through with it at all because half the time she doesn't know what she's doing anymore and the other half she does know what she's doing but doesn't know if she hates or loves herself for doing it.

"Sam's gonna be jealous."

"Oh, I know he will be."

When Dean takes her in his arms, she doesn't pull away. Her smile is the only thing that gives her intentions away.

XxXx

When Bela wakes up, it's sudden and painful, she's covered in blood and dried sweat and there's a demon hovering above her and for a split second she believes she's in hell. Until she sees Dean bloody Winchester wink out of the corner of her eye and suddenly there's no one on top of her, nothing to see but darkness and nothing to hear but someone calling her name.

She drifts for a while, allowing the black to clear out all her surroundings and make her forget who she is, where she is, even what she is. She needs this, even if only for a brief moment, needs to forget about the Winchesters even if she loves them both so much and wants to tell Dean so badly that she craves him as much as he craves her.

When she tries to pull out of the blackness, it resists, fights her roughly and then she can start seeing blood again, some of it fresh and still dripping and some of it dried. She can hear herself breathing hard, Dean screaming something unintelligible at her and this time she surges upward with all the fight left in her.

Bela gasps, grabs onto Dean's arm because it's the only thing in reach and she needs it. Needs it to ground her.

"You blacked out for a minute there, Bela. You're fine," he bends down to look her in the eye. "You're fine," he repeats and suddenly she believes it, because it comes from him.

She nods once, slowly but coherently. Dean gives her one of his famous smiles that she so loves before directing her attention away from him and down at the ground, where a dead human body lays. Must be just a vessel.

Her eyes must show nothing but confusion.

"Sorry, Sam got the bright idea to use you as bait and I found myself compelled to go along with him."

In a split second she can feel her strength come back and she smacks him in the arm, laughs and cries a little at the same time when he shrinks away from her, pouts and rubs his arm before helping her sit up on the bed.

Bela finds Sam standing near the window a little nervously, watching the two of them, primarily Bela. "You okay?" She nods once, a second time to reassure Sam before getting up off the bed, having to steady herself for a few seconds before rushing over and giving Sam the biggest hug she's ever given anyone.

She feels nothing but sappy and she kinda hates it, then again kinda loves it too because this is her home now, with these two boys and it's weird and frightening though perfect all at the same time.

Her lips brush Sam's cheek and he stares down at her momentarily in surprise and pride.

And then Dean suddenly takes her hand and instead of everything falling away, everything starts to come together with such clarity that Bela can barely breathe normally.

"Come take a shower with me?" He grins and brushes her hair back and behind her ears for what must be the millionth time in the past two days.

Bela thinks back, to when Dean went out of his way to drag her away from the hell hounds despite all the damage she caused. When Sam made it more than clear that saving her was a bad idea and they were wasting what little time Dean had left before he shared her same fate. She reminisces upon when she jumped in front of the hell hound, to save Sam and how much in disbelief and scared Dean was even though the thing's claw had only torn into her wrist, instead of causing more permanent damage, and it wasn't even bleeding that badly for him to have such a reaction.

She remembers that Sam started accepting her and even started liking her as the hours ticked by, as her death didn't come like she knew it should have already. She thinks back to Dean's frantic kiss on her cheek, telling her that things had changed so much and all for the better.

The woman thinks, 'Dean Winchester, you are going to be the death of me.'

Bela honestly can't think of anything else she'd rather do though, so she takes his hand and allows it to pull her towards him, plants a hungry kiss on his lips before dragging him slowly out of the room and forcefully, permanently into her life.

FIN