I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters. I make no monetary profit off of this story.

Twilight Zone

Chapter 4: I'm The Thorn In Your Side

Dean was swiftly awoken by Sam's paw of a hand smacking the side of his face once. He blinked and startled awake, ready to fight until he saw his brother, the battle instinct moving into annoyance.

"What the hell? You can't just shout from the kitchen? Hey, bro, I made breakfast?..." complained Dean, rubbing the side of his face once then rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"I've been saying your name for five minutes and you wouldn't wake up. I'm tired, Dean, I need to get some sleep, too." Replied Sam, sounding like he was already half asleep.

"Alright. Go sleep. Where's Cas?" said Dean, stretching, fully awake now, stomach rumbling with hunger.

"He's still asleep. Get me if anything happens." Sam gave a half wave without looking as he went into the other bedroom, flopping onto the bed and kicking his shoes off before falling asleep.

Dean ventured over to the fridge, pulling out the eggs and setting them on the table. After he got out a skillet, he left the kitchen and went into one of the bedrooms, walking straight to a snoring Cas.

"Hey, wakey, wakey. Let's go." He said, loudly, patting Cas on the back twice. The angel stopped snoring and abruptly woke up.

"What's happened?...Where am I?" he asked, voice groggy from sleep as he rubbed his face.

"You passed out early this morning so Sam and I brought you in here. Come on, help me make some breakfast. Maybe we'll call that Jade and see how far away she is." Replied Dean, leaving the room and heading back into the kitchen.

"Breakfast? Is it still morning?" asked Cas, shuffling out to the kitchen like a very large toddler.

"Uh, no, it's actually a little past noon. But breakfast is good any time of day."

"Is it not only a morning food?"

"Cas…it doesn't matter when you eat it. People just call it breakfast cause you usually eat it in the morning, when you get up. For us, we're just getting up right now, so we're gonna eat it right now." Explained Dean with a sigh, cracking eggs into the skillet.

"Oh. I understand now." Answered Cas, rubbing his neck.

"What's wrong with your neck?"

"Nothing. I think I'm very thirsty."

"There's milk in the fridge." Answered Dean, searching for a spatula. Cas opened the fridge door and pulled out the gallon of milk, opening it and taking several long drinks straight from the container. Dean stared at him until he put it down.

"Dude…cups. Seriously." The Winchester shook his head and returned his attention to the eggs.

"Oh…sorry." Retorted Cas, putting the milk back in the fridge.

Xxxxxx

The sun glaring through the passenger window finally reached a point where it hit Jade right in the face. Bringing her out of her slumber with a yawn. She blinked her eyes open, suddenly remembering where she was as she looked at Crowley's knee, just a few inches from her eyes themselves. Listening for a moment, she heard his breathing was slow and relaxed, he was clearly asleep. Just as she thought about moving, she realized his hand was on her arm, probably assuring that he'd wake as soon as she did move.

Heaving a sigh, she wondered what time it was, how long they'd been stopped. Before she could really dwell on such things, she heard a deep intake of breath then a clearing of a throat. It seemed her captor was waking up.

Raising one hand to rub his face, he yawned before opening his eyes, looking around at the brightened scenery before looking down at her. Without saying anything, he reached up and started the car again before adjusting his seat a tiny bit. She took the moment to remove her head from his leg and sit up, rolling her eyes as she heard his taunting groan of complaint.

"I thought you'd stay like that. Then perhaps I could've convinced you to do me a dirty little favor." He said, pulling the car out of the parking lot and back onto the road.

"How do you go from planning to put me in the trunk to wanting a BJ that quickly?" she snapped at him, thinking it was way too early for this, considering she'd only just woken up.

"Yes, well, stress and a woman's head on your lap does funny things to a King…" was his retort, pushing the car far past the speed limit with ease.

"Nice try but no thanks." She replied, feeling heat in her face at the entire topic itself. She rolled down her window a bit to get some fresh air.

"How long are you going to pretend you're not attracted to me?" he asked, smirking, simply baiting her temper.

"It's not pretending. I would be if you weren't such a dick." She retorted, folding her arms.

"That's a defensive motion, love, you're lying."

"You really like the sound of your own voice, don't you?"

"Absolutely. Who wouldn't like the sound of my voice?"

"Me, for one." Lied Jade, arms still folded until she picked up her phone, checking the GPS.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire…" he chanted with a smirk.

"We're almost there, ass." She retorted, putting her phone away, eyes taking in the surrounding woods.

"I'd imagine we're looking for a nearly non-existent dirt road." He said, slowing down the car to eye the sides of the road.

"The coordinates read that it's half a mile from us." Replied Jade, sitting forward to get a better look, squinting a little bit. The car slowed to just under ten miles per hour so they wouldn't miss the turn off. It wasn't long before Crowley spoke up.

"There." He announced, nodding at tire tracks that they'd have completely missed had they not been looking. He turned onto the dirt road and glanced at Jade, who was starting to feel nervous.

"You're not here to hurt them, are you?" she asked, mentally noting that it was a little late to ask this.

"No. I told you. I need their help. However, they may try to hurt me...They're not particularly fond of me." He answered, seeing the cabin and stopping the car by the Impala, shutting it off with a sigh. She looked at him, finally believing that statement.

"How do you think this is gonna go down?"

"I think Dean's going to do his very best to beat me into the ground until you, Sam, or Cas, who's likely with them, convince him to stop. Without my usual amount of power, I don't really stand too much of a chance with him in a fistfight. If I did manage to win, I'd be in worse shape by the end of it." Explained Crowley, slowly opening his car door.

"You want me to convince Dean Winchester to not whoop your ass? After that car ride we just had?" she asked, attitude in her tone as she got out of the car, watching him get out as well. Standing up straight and stretching briefly, he smiled at her.

"The fate of my handsome face in is your hands, darling." He said, giving her a wink before walking around the car.

"Then you might be up shit creek without a paddle, honey." She retorted in a spiteful tone, starting to walk to the cabin with him, hoping Dean wouldn't beat him up, simply so that she wouldn't end up giving in to what Crowley expected from her.

"Cute." He chuckled, reaching the door.

She just rolled her eyes, waiting for him to make a move about going in or getting the Winchesters' attention.

"Here we go…" he sighed, knocking on the door, preparing himself to be hit.

Xxxxxx

Sitting at the table and listening to music, Cas and Dean were waiting for either a phone call or their new friend to arrive. Cas had his attention on the books again, simply to see if he could find something useful. Dean, on the other hand, was playing solitaire on Sam's laptop. Both quickly looked up when they heard a car outside, Dean reaching up to the table and grabbing his gun, standing to put it in his pants. They waited by the table, Cas standing, looking at each other.

"Should we wake Sam?" asked the angel.

"No. We got this. Wait for them to knock, see if you can get a look at them without being seen." Said Dean, quietly. Cas moved over to one of the windows, standing at the side of it, looking out and catching sight her and then a man's black coat as they walked up the porch steps.

"I see her. She's very petite." He stated. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Cas. What about the guy? Familiar? Either one of them at gun or knife point? Any sign of trouble?" Dean whispered back, hand on his gun.

"I didn't get a look at him. I don't see any weapons, though. She looked rather annoyed but not frightened or malicious." Whispered Cas, leaving the window's side and walking over to Dean just as a knock sounded on the door. The Winchester nodded, fingers drummed on the handle of his gun momentarily before he grabbed the demon blade instead, holding it at his side as he walked to the door.

"Here goes nothing." He said to Cas before flinging the door open.

Crowley and Jade watched the door swing open to reveal Dean, whose expression slowly turned from apprehension to anger. The King of Hell held up his hands.

"You're upset, I see that. This isn't what you're thinking it is." He stated.

Dean stared at him for a moment, the longest awkward silence Jade thought she'd ever experienced, before Dean suddenly punched the King in the face. Crowley saw it coming but couldn't move in time, the man's fist hitting hard and knocking him off balance where he managed to smack the other side of his head right into a post on the porch, causing him to drop unconscious since he currently had no powers to do anything else.

"Holy shit…" muttered Jade, jaw dropped. The young woman was caught between shock, confusion, concern, and a strange urge to move to Crowley's side or hit Dean.

"He is not an angel." Nodded Cas, keeping his part of the plan by announcing whether or not he knew the "angel" being brought over. Dean turned and stared at him for a moment.

"Thank you, Cas. Very helpful. What would we do without you?" asked Dean in a sarcastic tone. Cas didn't realize he was being sarcastic and smiled.

"You're very welcome."

"Cas, go get my bag from the couch, get out the demon cuffs and pull a chair away from the table." Instructed Dean, he watched his friend walk away to do just that and turned to Jade.

"You okay?" he asked in a genuinely concerned voice.

"Do you always just hit people before they've had the chance to explain?" she asked in a snappy tone, making the Winchester blink.

"Okay, wow, I've met some ungrateful people in my time but damn, you might take the cake." He retorted, shaking his head as he leaned down and grabbed Crowley's ankles, dragging his unconscious form into the cabin. Jade grudgingly walked into the cabin, wishing she had nothing to do with this entire thing, wishing she was at home watching movies like she'd planned to do today. Cas helped Dean get Crowley onto the chair and cuffed his hands behind the back of it before coiling a rope around his chest and the back of the chair.

"You said something about explaining. What did you mean?" Cas asked Jade in a curious tone.

"I meant that he wasn't here to cause trouble. He said something about having lost his power and needed your guys' help." She explained, standing awkwardly with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, right. He's not dumb enough to come to me when he's got no powers to keep his ass alive." Piped up Dean, cracking open a beer.

"Dean, it is very possible that he did not lie to her." Said Cas, thinking of how easily Dean was able to knock him out.

"Bullshit. He always lies." Retorted the Winchester, reaching into his coat and grabbing the flask of holy water.

"Whatever, you still didn't have to do that." Said Jade, extremely unnerved by this whole situation, more so than she was in the car with just Crowley. Dean ignored her and opened the flask before dousing Crowley's face with it. The King of Hell's eyes started to ease open but Dean stared in confusion as there was no reaction, no burning.

"Cas, did you or Sam not bless the water that was put in this?"

"I blessed it myself, Dean. It is holy water."

"Bloody hell… " grumbled Crowley before trying to get up, his eyes snapped open wider when he couldn't and he looked up at his captors before sighing.

"The hell's goin on, Crowley?" demanded Dean, dousing him in the face again.

"….Would you stop that already? It's not going to work better this time than it did half a minute ago. Now untie me."

"Tell me what's goin on first."

"If I knew for certain, I wouldn't have come here, would I, prat?! Now let me go! I'm not playing this game with you again!" retorted Crowley, voice raised in annoyance.

"You can sit there and get as pissy as you want, I'm not untying you til you give me some sort of information." Replied Dean, walking away from him as though he wasn't even there. Crowley turned his attention to Cas.

"You're not as stupid as he is. You know I wouldn't be here if I had no other choice. Untie me, Castiel." Pleaded Crowley in a softer, friendly tone. Cas looked at Dean then back at Crowley.

"I'm afraid I don't trust you very much, Crowley. I stand behind Dean's decision." He replied before walking away as well. The King turned his attention to the woman he'd come here with, brows raised.

"Darling?...help me out, would you?" he asked. Jade looked at the other two, thought about saying "no" just to be spiteful, then walked over to untie him.

"This entire thing is ridiculous…." She mumbled, working at the knot before Dean grabbed her arm.

"You untie him and we can pull you up a chair and latch you to it right next to him. He stays til I say otherwise."

"He's basically human right now, you ass. What could he possibly do?" she argued, yanking her arm out of his grip.

"You don't know him like we do. There's all kinds of things he could possibly do, power or no power. You have no idea how many times he's screwed us over."

"And what about all the bloody times I've helped!?" shouted Crowley, annoyance turning to anger.

"Don't care. Don't trust you. Now unless you got theories and names for us, shut your trap." Said Dean, walking away again.

"I've got a suspect." He said, Dean stopped and turned to him.

"Who?"

"Not telling until you unshackle me."

"Tell me and I'll untie you."

"Do I have 'twat' written on my forehead?" asked Crowley, brows raised. Dean blinked.

"What?"

"I'm not stupid, Squirrel. Soon as you hear what you want, you'll leave me strapped to this chair and go about your merry way. Untie me or I'm not telling a damn thing. I'll watch everything crumble around us with a grin on my face." Retorted Crowley, eyeing Dean with a narrowed gaze. Dean eyed him back for a few moments then shrugged.

"Alright. Fine. But I'm feelin a little lazy tonight so you can stay in the chair til tomorrow. Then we'll talk and take you off your chains." Replied Dean, walking away and plopping down on the couch.

Jade grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to Crowley, sitting down and folding her arms. Dean looked over and quirked a brow.

"Really?" he asked. She shrugged.

"I hate all of you so far but he's the one I've adjusted to tolerating so, really, I'm gonna sit here." She snapped back.

"Remember what I said. Any untying goes on over there and you get roped up, too." He replied, turning his attention to Sam's laptop.

"Eat me, prick." She retorted, crossing her legs, glancing at Crowley who was grinning at her.

"I think I'm really starting to take a liking to you, darling…" he said lowly so only she would hear.

"Don't talk to me." She grumbled.

**( I'm really happy with how this story is progressing. Hope you guys are enjoying it, too. Leave me a review on your way out. Thanks. )**