AN: Thank you, beautiful people, for the amazing response to the prologue. I'm absolutely giddy. Please keep it up! This story is about to go down the rabbit-hole...

Chapter 1: In Which Beth Is Macked On Twice In One Day

Beth took a bite of her chocolate-chip muffin and moaned. "Carbs," she mumbled through a mouth-full of food. "Carbs will be the death of me."

"Focus," Lucy said, frowning at her flash cards. "Now, okay, if you take a bell-curve flow chart…"

"Eli," snapped an unfamiliar voice. Beth glanced up at the two men who had just entered the coffee shop and were walking toward her. They were both quite handsome, in a tense, brooding kind of way: the taller with brown hair that kept falling into his soft eyes and the shorter with a leather jacket, carefully spiked hair, and a scowl on his almost too-pretty mouth. That was the one who had spoken, the leather-jacket one, and he stood before her now with crossed arms.

"Um, hello?" Beth asked, sharing a look with Lucy, who was practically drooling at the men in front of them. She placed her laptop on the squat table and stood, smiling hesitantly. "Can I…"

"Where the hell have you been?" Leather-jacket demanded hotly, stepping too close and looking like he was about to grab her shoulders and shake her. "It's been months, Eli, months. Three months. Shit is crazy, the world is going to hell, we've been searching high and low, and where have you been? In fucking Chicago. Going to grad school. Have you lost your mind? What the fuck?"

There was a long pause in which both girls stared at the wild-eyed man in front of them. Finally, Lucy cleared her throat.

"Uh, Beth, do you….know these guys?"

Beth shook herself out of her daze and grinned weakly at the man. "Hi, uh, yeah, so… I don't know who you are, I think you have the wrong girl, Mister. So if you could please stop screaming in my face, I would…appreciate it."

The man stared at her blankly. "What the fuck are you on, Eli?" he asked, grabbing her arm. "This isn't funny."

"Let go of me!" she snapped, pulling her arm back. "Look, I don't know who you are, if this is a joke or one of those hidden camera improve group things, or if you are seriously confused and insane, but you touch me again and I'm calling the cops."

"Eli, what the hell…" the man started, but the taller one stepped forward.

"I think she's telling the truth, Dean," he said softly. "I think she really doesn't know who we are."

"But how is that possible?" Dean hissed, just as the bell above the door tinkled and a third man walked into the coffee shop, looking harassed.

"Elijah!" he exclaimed, catching her eye and striding forward, his trench coat flapping behind him. Beth had a brief moment of appreciation for his smokin' body and beautiful blue eyes before he closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms, pressing his mouth forcefully to hers.

Lucy's jaw dropped. Beth's eyes became comically wide as she struggled with the logical desire to pull away and the physical desire to keep kissing this incredibly attractive man who smelled amazing and whose mouth was beautiful and soft and oddly familiar…

He pulled away before she could make a decision, pressing his forehead to hers with familiarity. "Where have you been?" he rasped softly. "I've been searching for you."

"Uh, Cas…" the as-of-yet-unnamed tall man started, right as Beth regained her senses and pushed away.

"Aha ha ha…" she laughed nervously. "Um, okay, wow, so, you're a great kisser and all, so, ah, thank you? I guess? But…yeah. I'm sorry to break it to you, all of you, but I don't know what the hell is going on. My name is Elizabeth, not Elijah, and I've never seen any of you before in my life."

The man who had kissed her – Cas, apparently – gripped her arm urgently. "Eli, what are you saying?"

"Okay, so…I've gotta get to class," Beth babbled, jerking her arm out of his grasp and gathering her bag and laptop. "I hope you find who you're looking for, and…yeah. Lucy, you coming?"

"Oh! Yeah, of course." Lucy pulled her eyes away from the trio of men and jumped to her feet, following the frazzled blonde out the door. Cas stepped forward as if to follow them, but Dean grabbed his shoulder.

"Let her go. She doesn't know us."

"How is that possible?" Castiel asked, staring after her. "How can she not know who she is?"

"Good question," Sam said darkly.

"I've got a better one." Dean released the angel's shoulder and stepped back, his eyes narrowed. "How do we get her back before everything goes to hell?"

"Tough day?"

Beth accepted the beer he was holding out to her gratefully. "Before I even enter the door he has a beer ready," she teased, kicking off her boots and unwinding her scarf. "Now that's friendship. And how did you know?"

"You had that big exam today, right?" he asked, helping her with her coat. "Exam of the century, you called it. How'd it go?"

"Oh, fine," she said casually. "Now I just need a Star Wars marathon to clear all of that useless information out of my head. Pizza?"

"Getting cold on the table. You're late, Blondie."

"Like you're so bloody punctual, Tom."

"Stop pretending that you're British."

"Stop pretending that you have a pair."

"Ouch," he said, hand on his heart. "Heartless bitch."

She beamed at him and dropped onto the couch. "C'mon, nerd, start the movie and I'll tell you about the freakish day I've had."

Tom smiled and sat down next to her, his dark hair falling into his eyes. He was cute in a dorky sort of way, with dimples and a big smile, brown eyes large and expressive, a little too thin, like a long-necked bird. Really, he was just her type, but Beth had known him for so long, and he was so close to her that it felt weird to think of him in any other way than her best friend.

The familiar words began to scroll across the screen: A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…

"So what happened today that was so freakish?" he asked, opening the pizza boxes and popping a slice of pepperoni into his mouth. Beth sighed and grabbed her own slice, plopping it gooily onto a paper plate.

"Okay, so I'm studying with Lucy in the Starbucks like we always do, and I'm minding my own business, when suddenly these two men burst in to the place and start harassing me, like, physically. This guy grabbed my arm and yelled in my face, acting like I was someone else. I don't know if it was a joke, or if they were crazy, or what, but they wouldn't quit…" She trailed off. Tom's eyes were narrowed as if deep in thought, his fingers clenching his knees until the knuckles were white. "Tom? Is everything okay?"

He turned to her and attempted a smile, but it came out false. "Fine. So what happened then?"

Beth eyed him suspiciously but let it drop. "So that's when it gets weird. A third guy comes in, and let me tell you, he was hot. Sorry to be girly on you, but damn. He calls me some weird name, Ellis? No, Elijah, that was it. I knew it was something biblical. And then, out of nowhere, he kisses me."

"He kissed you?" Tom asked quietly. "That's harassment, you know. You could press charges."

"Well I wasn't exactly complaining…" she said, smiling a little. Tom looked at her stonily. "Oh come on, it was a joke. I don't even know who the guy is. I got out of there as fast as I could; the whole thing was probably some crazy stunt for like a theater 101 class."

Tom looked at her oddly, his head tilted to the side in an unfamiliar manner. "So there wasn't anything…familiar, about these guys?" he asked. Beth paused, her eyes glazing over as she thought back on it.

"You know, there was something about them. Maybe I've seen them around campus or something." She paused. "I think…" She laughed a little, embarrassed. "It sounds crazy, but I think I've dreamt about them. Weird, right?"

"It doesn't sound weird at all." Tom put his pizza down and turned to her, taking her plate and placing it next to his on the table. He reached out, resting his warm fingers on her temples.

"What are you doing?" she asked, staring into his brown eyes. He grinned at her.

"You're stressed. Probably have a headache, right? This will help." He began to massage lightly. She closed her eyes, Star Wars still going on in the background. "How does that feel?"

"Mmm, nice," she said, relaxing her shoulders. He nodded.

"Good."

Something sparked against her skin and she jumped back. "What was that?"

He looked at her innocently. "Nothing," he said. "Hey, so did anything weird happen to you today?"

Beth frowned at him. "You mean besides my giant monster of an exam? No, why?"

"No reason. Any weird dreams lately?"

Beth raised her eyebrows. "Uh, no, Dr. Freud. You know I never remember my dreams. What is up with you tonight?"

"Nothing," he said, then hesitated before reaching forward and brushing hair from her eyes. "You just…seemed stressed out lately, that's all."

"Exams, Christmas season, a lot to be stressed out about," she said softly. "No need to worry."

"I do worry about you, Eli," he said earnestly. His hand stayed where it was, fingers lightly touching the delicate skin near her ear. "I worry something's going to happen, that someone's going to come and take you away from me."

"I'm not going anywhere, Tom," she said, blushing a little under his intense stare. He nodded.

"I know."

Then he kissed her.

Beth was so shocked that she leaned back, but he just leaned with her, until she was pressed against the armrest of the couch. She knew that he had a thing for her but she never thought he would act on it; she thought that he felt how she did, that maybe there could be something more but it wasn't worth risking the friendship to find out. But he was strange tonight; his words, usually so joking, were serious, and there was an aura of nervousness about him that was abnormal. His lips against hers were unfamiliar, insistent, and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. After a moment she pushed him away, lightly enough that it wasn't embarrassing for him, and sat up, blushing furiously.

"We should, ah, eat the pizza before it gets cold," she stuttered, and he nodded, backing up to his side of the couch without another word. They watched the movie in silence.

Outside the fourth-story apartment, crouched on the fire escape, Castiel watched everything through narrowed eyes.