Sam sat looking at his phone, he looked up as Dean came out of the bathroom, the motel towel covered in black blood that had been on his face and arms moments before. He tried to hide what he had just been doing, but Dean was too perceptive for that. "Dude, it's not even sundown, relax. She's going to call."

Sam sighed, it had been more than twenty-four hours since Sera had checked in last, and he was getting kind of anxious. He set the phone on the table, and as soon as he let go it started buzzing. He picked it up to see who the call was from and the little letters spelled out "SERA."

He waited before picking it up, so as not to seem like he was waiting for it. "Sera?" He said, and a voice came over the line, one he did not recognize. "Hi Sam. How was the hunting?"

"Productive. You find your new vessel?"

"That obvious?"

"Your voice sounds completely different."

"Yeah, I know. She'll do though. Where are you guys?"

Sam relayed the city, motel and room number. He felt a shift in the air and turned. Suddenly Sera, in her new vessel, was standing behind him. She was blond now, and slightly older than she had been, with green eyes that had brown flecks in them. She was wearing a black dress with a lace overlay and emerald green high heels, Dean turned around to see why it was so quiet and his jaw dropped. He forced his mouth closed, cleared his throat and said, "Hey Sera."

"Hi Dean." She hung up her phone, since she was there, but it took a second for Sam to do the same. "So," she said, turning, in a circle so they could check her out, "What do you think?"

"I think you're going to have a hard time being inconspicuous."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

She took a few steps forward and then sat on the end of Sam's bed, crossing her legs. They all just kept looking at each other, each waiting for them to say something. Finally Sera broke the silence, "Well, I don't know about you guys but I feel like breaking this body in."

"What?" they said together, obviously hoping they had not understood her meaning. She laughed, "I mean, you know, going out. Dancing maybe, just anywhere with people. I need to get comfortable in this skin and the only way to do that is by throwing myself into the shark tank."

She looked between them. "Seriously, neither of you want to go out drinking with me?"

Dean and Sam looked at each other, then immediately grabbed their jackets. Dean put his hand out and Sera took it as she stood, smiling, they all walked out, locking the door behind them to lessen the risk of someone coming in and seeing all of the weapons they had laid out.

Sera convinced them to go to a karaoke bar, and they had never been more out of their element. Dean had to admit that whoever was DJing in between amateur performances wasn't that bad. They ordered whatever specialty shots the bartender claimed and Dean watched as Sera downed seven in a row faster than he had every seen anyone do shots before in his life.

He was unsure of whether or not he'd even be able to drink it, but he took a chance and tossed the drink back, swallowing the liquid before he had a chance to taste it, savoring the familiar burn in his throat. He turned the glass over then picked up another one and downed it. Sera watched him and smiled, "Getting yourself back a bit there, Dean?"

He nodded. She tapped his shoulder and casually pointed across the room. He followed her lead and saw a woman staring at him like she wanted to eat him alive. He turned back the way he was and took another shot. Sera leaned against the bar and just looked at him. He stood there for several seconds before looking at her, "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Maybe because there's easy game and you're not chasing it."

Dean's brows furrowed and he turned toward her, leaning against the bar. "You think that just because I'm unattached and have a little free time I'm going to jump the first bar skank that gives me bedroom eyes?"

Sam was sitting on a bar stool just behind Sera's back, pretending he wasn't hearing this. "It would follow your usual patterns of behavior, yes." Sera said. "There's nothing stopping you. She's pretty, you're single. Unless you're like, in love with someone else, what's stopping you?"

Dean looked uncomfortable then looked away, downing another shot. Sera's eyes got wide, "No," she said, disbelieving. "Who?"

Dean turned back to her. "No one…"

"No, there's someone getting in your way. Who?"

He looked at her, "I don't want to talk about this okay?"

"Well you're either going to talk about it with me or Sam's going to bring it up later."

Sam, in an effort to disguise his eavesdropping, had in this time struck up a conversation with the girl next to him who looked like she had just gone through a bad breakup and was trying to get as drunk as she could as fast as she could.

Dean looked over her shoulder at Sam, then beckoned her to lean in with his hand. She did, and he lowered his voice. "I'm not in love with anyone; I just don't trust people anymore." Sera leaned back a little. "Because of Cas?" She said quietly.

"Among other things." He took another shot. Sera looked concerned. "But…you trust me, don't you?"

His silence and lack of eye contact answered for him, and Sera looked hurt. Finally she just forced a sad smile, "Well, that's okay."

"It is?" Dean asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, my love and trust is like God's. It's all-encompassing and unconditional. It doesn't matter if you trust me, dean, I trust you, and I have to trust that will be enough."

She grabbed a shot and tossed it back. "You know what? I trust you so much, I'm going to tell you something that I actually considered keeping from you because I thought you'd be mad."

"What?"

"Crowley approached me, while I was vessel hunting. Offered to add me to the protection that he extended to you and Sam, but because I'm an angel, he needed some extra juice, since telling a Demon not to fight an angel is pretty hard to enforce."

"So…what did you do…sing to him or something?"

"No…we made a deal, I had to seal it."

"You kissed him?"

This made Sam perk up and turn around. "What?"

"Sera made a deal with Crowley and she kissed him."

"Good God is everyone I know going to make a deal? Dean, Bobby, Castiel and now you?"

"What exactly does this entail?"

"It means that Crowley will keep his demons out of the way. At least until I call on them."

"Call on them?"

"Yeah. Before I agreed I added in the condition that if I called on him on his legions to fight, he'd come. He's bound to it now. He didn't mind, seemed like he was itching for a possible reason to fight."

"What did you give him? I mean…angels don't really have souls, do they?"

"No, all I had to give up was some the boost he needed. Honestly, he tried to milk it for as much as he could, and there was SO much tongue, and I've never felt so dirty, but no, I won't have to burn in hell or whatever."

Dean squirmed. "That was a little more information than I needed…but I guess I should say thanks for telling me. At least I didn't find out from him."

"Yeah he'd be the type to kiss and tell, that's why I wanted to tell you first." They looked at each other, and Sam went back to chatting up the heartbroken girl when he saw they were having a moment.

"I'm glad…that you won't have to burn in hell, I mean."

"Well, at least you care that much."

"I never said I didn't care, Sera, I just said I didn't trust you. I did come to save you, after all."

"I thought that was just because I was valuable."

"Well, you are, but that wasn't the only reason."

Sera wasn't sure how to feel about this statement. She reached out and touched his hand, which he willingly accepted. She took her other hand and ran it through his hair, "Dean…" She said, looking into his eyes, "you need to find healthier places to place your affection." She pulled away from him, leaving him unsettled, because he had obviously been expecting her to kiss him or something. She turned and walked away, going to talk to the DJ. He watched as she took the song book from him and started flipping through it.

Dean let out an exasperated breath and smoothed the hair she had ruffled, lifting his head to take another look at the woman who had been staring him down before. She was still sneaking glances over. He took about three more shots, then decided to go over to her.

Sera got up on the stage and checked the microphone. "Check 1, 2. Johnny I'm getting some feedback…" Sam looked up when he heard her voice. The heartbroken girl, Emily, looked towards her with him. "Isn't that your friend?" She asked, he nodded. After she got the mic adjusted the music started, and Sam had to laugh as she began to dance and sing. "Right, right, turn off the lights, we're gonna lose our minds tonight…"

The mood in the bar lifted instantly, people started dancing, actually raising their glasses when the song called for it. Everyone sang along with her. Sam knew what she was doing but went along with it anyway. By the time the song was over, Sam couldn't find Dean anywhere. He had slipped off with the random bar skank.

When Sera was back at the bar with Sam, he introduced her to Emily, who no longer seemed quite so sad. Sera convinced her that singing karaoke was incredibly liberating, and she went up to try a song. While she was singing, Sera looked at Sam. "You don't look like you want to be here."

"You should know heavy drinking and public performance isn't really my thing."

"I do, but I like pulling people out of their boxes." She looked around. "You want to get out of here and go get milkshakes?"

"Can there be fries involved?"

"If you want." She reached into Sam's jacket pocket and pulled out the keys to the BMW. He hadn't even known they were in there. She put them in his hand. "Come on, let's go. We can listen to all the music Dean hates and not put his seat back after you adjust it."

About two hours later Sera and Sam stumbled their way back into the motel room, Sera still sucking on the last of her milkshake and trying to brush the grains of salt off her dress from the French fries. They were laughing. "That was fun; we should do it again sometime."

"Definitely," Sera responded. She set the Styrofoam cup on the table as Sam closed the door. Suddenly she started rubbing her temples. "You okay?" Sam asked, walking up and putting his arm around her. "Headache." She tucked herself into his chest and he held her tight. "I didn't know angels got headaches."

"Normally they don't, someone's trying to talk to me and it's not getting through." She looked up at him, her eyes were red-rimmed like she had been crying a long time or burst a couple of blood vessels. She closed them and put her fingers to her temples. Finally she started to pick up a few images and words, and when she opened her eyes again they were no longer full of pain.

"Something's happening…Leviathans…Castiel has seen something and he's trying to warn me."

"Do you have an address?" Sam asked, and she shook her head, "Not a specific one, just a city."

When Dean wandered in around two in the morning, Sam was kneeling in front of Sera at the end of his bed, handing her a glass of water and stroking her legs in that way guys do when they're trying to be comforting. Dean's hair was a mess and he looked like he had thrown on his clothes in a rush and was carrying his shoes.

Sera looked over at him, that sleepy/pained look in her eyes. "Have fun?"

"Are you okay?"

"I asked you something first."

"It was fun at first, but then her boyfriend came home, had to leave through the window and dodge bullets down the fire escape."

Sera started drinking from the glass and Sam looked up at Dean, "She got a call from Castiel, we need to head east."

"What, now?"

"Yeah, we were waiting for you to get back. The car's already packed up."

Sera finished downing the water. "You might want to get yourself in order first, though, and we're going to have to stop somewhere on the way so I can get a change of clothes, I can't fight in this dress."

Sam took the glass from her and took it over to the sink, and she stood and smoothed out her dress. Dean approached her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, really."

"You don't look it."

"Well, looks can be deceiving." She looked up and into his eyes. "Castiel says it's almost time, whatever that means to you."

They just looked at each other until Sam said, "Dean?"

Dean came back to reality. "Yeah, I'm going." He broke his gaze from Sera and went over to his bed, sitting down to get his shoes on.