Eight

Sam

The early morning light shone in through the drapes that only motels seemed to own. I blinked a few times, adjusting to the morning air. I flopped my arm over to the other side of the bed expecting to find Callie's warm body laying there, curled up in a ball, the only way she ever sleeps. But the bed was cold, there was no one next to me and the covers were neat, drawn up around me.

She's just in the bathroom. She always wakes up before me, always makes coffee or tea, is always singing in the shower. I leapt out of the bed and pulled on the pair of sweat shorts I usually wear to go running and walked through the bedroom door into the bathroom, passing a knocked out Dean. The shower wasn't running and there was no steam coming out from under the door. I threw the door open and there was no one.

She wouldn't leave me in the middle of the night.

I ran back into the bedroom.

Her bags were gone.

"Dean!" I shouted, my heart pounding in my ears. I thought she'd stay after last night. I told her I loved her. I told her the truth.

I heard the wooden chair slide across the linoleum and heard his body hit the floor.

"Sonovabitch." Dean muttered under his breath. Five seconds later he was standing in the doorway right behind me. "You rang?"

"Callie's gone," the words came out, barely a whisper.

Dean laughed, "Like gone to go get coffee and donuts like she did the other morning?"

I turned around and found my voice. "No, gone as in, packed all of her things and left while I was still asleep gone." The words didn't even sound true coming out of my mouth. How could she?

"Wait, why would she do that? Last time I checked, which was about 1 in the morning last night, you two weren't exactly being quiet about what you were up to. You guys were like, I don't know, in love or something."

I looked down and watched the muscles in my arm contract as I clenched my fist and let it go, over and over again. "At least I was." I grumbled remembering the sting of her words last night. She didn't love me enough the stay, didn't think she belonged here, with me.

"Wait, wait, none of this is making any sense." Dean held up is hand, his eyes trying to sort through everything.

"No, it doesn't," I shoved through him. I charged though the hotel room to the door throwing it open. She had to have taken the car.

"Bitch better not have touched my Baby." Dean ran past me, out onto the sidewalk, his body visibly relaxing when her shiny black coat was still sitting there covered in dew drops. Then he stood up straight and looked next to Baby.

"Wasn't there a green Camaro parked next to us last night?" He asked, looking over his shoulder, towards the motel room next to ours.

Dean walked over and knocked on the door. A clatter came banging out from under the door, muffled curse words following. A man answered the door, the floral bedspread wrapped tightly around him.

"What the hell do you want?" He squeezed one eye shut against the sun.

"Were you by chance driving a green Camaro last night?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"It's gone." Dean grinned, "Have a nice day." Then he turned grabbed my arm and yanked me back inside of our room, the mans cries of anger the only evidence of our conversation.

"How did Callie steal a Camaro?" I wondered out loud, grabbing a tee shirt and pulling it on over my head.

"Dude, she hot-wired a boat for fun, I think she can handle a car."

We both stood there in an awkward silence for far too long before I felt the anger rising up again. She left, ditched me in the middle of the night. She made love to me and then left me. She let me make love to her. Maybe she was lying to me, telling me those things to get away for a completely different reason? Maybe she did love me.

"I have to find her Dean." I said, determined as ever.

He followed me into the bedroom where I began throwing my clothes into a bag, leaving out jeans and a flannel to change into.

"I agree, I was actually growing fond of the little pain in the ass." Dean turned and began grabbing his own belongings.

"Where's Cas? Maybe he could help us find her?" I suggested. He was here last night when I went into the room after Callie.

Dean looked around the room, as if Cas wouldn't be right next to Dean. The two were pretty inseparable.

"Call him." I more or less ordered. "Please." I added when Dean glared at me.

He look a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Cas buddy, we need you, Callie's missing."

Callie

"They're calling me Callie, they've noticed you're gone." Cas said, keeping his eyes on the fields passing him on his right side.

"The rooms only so big." I rolled my eyes. Sarcasm was a good cover for the hurt I felt in my heart.

"Are you sure you should be doing this?" He asked turning towards me. "It is his child too…."

"What do you think would happen to this child?" I cut him off, my anger spilling over. "This baby would be used in every way shape and form to make Sam do things he doesn't want to, by Heaven and Hell." I snapped, squeezing the steering wheel too tight.

"Callie, he needs to at least know."

"No." I grit my teeth. I left so he wouldn't have to deal with this.

"But…"

"No," my voice softened, Cas was just looking out for his friend. "It's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission." He wouldn't forgive me though.

"What's your plan then?" Cas said, rubbing his temple. The boys were probably annoying the crap out of him, Cas always came, and now he wasn't.

I sighed and put my foot down on the gas, speeding up. I needed to put as much distance between us as possible. "I'm going back to Montana, there's this small little village up in the Rocky's. I have a friend who lives there. I think that's where I'd like to raise it." It was a beautiful place, in the summer and the winter. Winter was my favorite though, the village was almost completely cut off from the outside world, isolated.

"Her," Cas said, eyes hooded.

I felt my heart stop for a second. "Her?" I felt tears welling in my eyes again.

"Not an it, a her. The genitals on a fetus don't begin to form until week 15, but I know what it is. The angels know, they've been talking about it non stop, they've seen her. Haven't you been listening?" Cas asked, vibrant blue eyes turning on me.

"I shut them out." I sniffled, sucking back any tears that threatened to fall. "There's only so much you can stand to hear about your baby being the anti-christ's heir. It's a bit discouraging."

A baby girl.

Samantha.

"I think you should go back." Cas said, eyes pleading with me.

"I think you need to stay quiet. Please Cas, don't tell them where I'm going. I love them both too much to be a piece in this war that could hurt them. Once it's over, come find me, come find me and then I'll find them. Beg for forgiveness. I won't let Sam live his life without knowing he has a daughter." One tear left a salty streak down my cheek.

"How will you keep her safe, keep you safe?" Cas laid an awkward hand on my shoulder.

"I know the sigils, Bobby taught me that week you guys disappeared and ended up killing Zachariah." I wanted to smile at the thought of seeing his dying face, broadcasted in my mind in the eyes of his many followers. But there was no time for smiling now. "I meant to ask you by the way, could you mark my bones, make me invisible to the angels, the way you did the boys…."

"It's done." Cas grunted.

My head snapped towards him. "When….."

"A year ago, when we ran into War, and you got thrown through that window and passed out?"

"Yeah?"

"I healed those wounds, you felt body aches for a week because I marked your ribs, Sam asked me to."

Of course he did.

"You should go to them." I changed the subject. "But please don't tell." I begged.

Before I could blink, he was gone.

I looked over and for the first time in forever I was driving a car, but I was alone.

Sam

"Where the hell have you been Cas?" I heard Dean say right after the familiar sound of Cas's wings bringing him into the room.

"I had to check up on a lead, I might know someone who can get us to Pestilence." Cas's gruff voice said, but he wouldn't look Dean in the eye.

"Uh-huh, who?" Dean says, crossing his arms.

I narrowed my gaze at Castiel. He knew something. He and Callie had been growing very close over the past couple of months.

"Crowley." He looked up and met Dean's gaze, but still refused to look at me.

"Where is she Cas?" I interjected in the conversation.

"She who?"

"Callie, she was here last night, just like you and then when I wake up, you're both gone, that's too much of a coincidence." I stepped towards him.

"She doesn't want to be found Sam." He said with eyes that held more than just one secret.

"Nothing we look for wants to be found, but we find them. I'll look for her, with or without your help." I grabbed my bag and walked out to Baby, tossing my bag in the trunk, next to Dean's. There was a spot next to mine that was vacant, Callie's spot. I closed my eyes and attempted to turn off the hurt, abandonment that was poking at my insides like the angel blade Cas was teaching her how to use so well.

When I walked back in Dean and Cas were standing close, whispering.

"What is it?" I asked.

Dean looked over at me, jaw set. "Cas really does know how to find Pestilence."

"I can't go after another one of the horsemen right now. I need to find Callie and Cas is going to help." I glared at him. Cas actually rolled his eyes.

"I feel as if the apocalypse takes precedence over your girlfriend." Cas growled.

I opened my mouth to say something but Cas held up a hand, closing his eyes and then grabbing his ears, letting out a deep grunt.

"Cas, what is it?" Dean asked, crouching down next to him.

"Callie, someone has her." He mumbled out through gritted teeth. "A demon."

Several minutes passed before he opened his eyes and unclenched his jaw, letting out the breath he'd been holding, and standing up, with the help of Dean.

"Where is she?" Words that felt as if they'd been released from my mouth a thousand times today.

Cas looked away, almost as if he was ashamed. "She wouldn't say, she asked me not to come. Said to keep you two safe."

"Looks like we'll be paying a visit to Crowley after all." Dean said, still holding on to Cas's arm, supporting him.

"Moose… someone piss in your cheerios this morning?" Crowley said in a snide manner.

I clenched my jaw, now was not the time to screw with me.

"I'll take that as a yes." He sat down his glass of scotch and leaned against a table that looked as old as Cas probably really was.

"You, you pissed in our cheerios when you gave us the colt, which by the way if you didn't know… didn't kill the the devil." Dean interjected, slinging back his own glass of hootch.

"Technicalities darling." Crowley shrugged. "It was a guess and you two were more than willing to take the chance and try it." He smirked in that way that made me want to rip his damn foreign head off.

"What we're really trying to say here is that you owe us." Dean said,

Crowley's eyes flashed to me. I was never this silent, or this brooding. It made him uneasy. Good.

"I don't owe you two one damn thing." He sat his glass down and turned to leave the room, hailing one of his henchmen to drag us out.

I stepped in his path, Callie's tear stricken face from last night, the only thing I could see. "You do," I growled.

He smiled slightly and backed up. "What do you want?"

I opened my mouth to tell him that I wanted the demon that has Callie, God knows what was happening to her now, but Dean cut in.

"We want Death and Pestilence. Cas said you can help."

Crowley leaned a hip against his desk, "That damn angel… I know the horsemen's handler that is true. However; he really doesn't want to be found, even has an insurance policy on not being found."

"What kind of insurance policy?" Dean questioned.

"That cute bugger of a girl you two have been running around with actually."

"The handler of the four horsemen is the demon that kidnapped Callie?" I said through clenched teeth.

"Yes." Then he looked down at his watch, "You might want to get a move on Dean, or else poor Callie may not last the night." He tore of a piece of paper with the address and a name written on it.

I reached forward but he pulled it away. "Not so fast Moose, i will only give Dean this address if you don't go."

"Like hell that's going to happen, Callie's there. I'm going."

Crowley grinned and handed the paper to Dean. "Alright, but I'm telling you, you won't like what you find. The man your looking for, The Handler, his name is Brady."

We pulled into an abandoned parking lot a little after 2 in the morning, clouds blocking out almost all of the moonlight. It was pitch black out.

Cas appeared by our sides. "She's in there, I can feel her." He gestured toward the worn down building.

Just then an ear shattering scream pierced through the windows and broken doors of the building in front of us. I looked over at Dean who eyes were just as panicked as mine had to be. He cocked the shotgun and we ran in, full force. The only thing to do was follow the screams. I wanted to try and shut it all out, not hear her screams but it was impossible.

We ran up the stairs, it was worrisome that there were so few demons in the place, it was literally unarmed, not protected at all. When the screams were close enough to be emanating from the door in front of us we busted in, all three of us. My eyes scanned the door, looking for the girl with the red hair.

She was curled up and crumpled in the farthest corner of the room. Dean tapped my shoulder and I took that as my go, I ran towards her. When I reached her she was shaking. I grabbed her shoulder and turned her over, she wasn't crying, wasn't screaming, or trembling, but was laughing with a sick smile on her face.

"Hey there Sammy," her face contorted into a look that I had never seen her give before.

"You're not Callie." I released her arm, and watched as she stood up, her one wrist bent at an odd angle.

"No," she shook her head. "But let me tell you, it was adorable the way you came running when you heard her screaming. Coming to save the damsel in distress and all that good stuff. It was entertaining though, breaking her wrist." She flopped her hand back and forth, no bone keeping in it place.

"Where's Brady?" Dean demanded, looking away from her face for a second. It was horrible knowing Callie was in there somewhere.

"I am Brady and let me tell you Sammy this girl has some intense secrets she's been keeping, I never thought a woman could keep any more secrets than Jess…."

My breath left my body. "How do you know Jess?"

"I'm a little disappointed Sam, I thought those years in college meant something to you." Brady laid a hand on Callie's chest, the tone of voice sounding sick coming from Callie's mouth.

Just then Cas dropped an unconscious body in front of me, a body I recognized.

The demon possessing Callie glanced at me and grinned.

"Let it all sink in buddy." He clapped me on the shoulder. "I wish I could tell you how amazing it is to be present for the inhalation of not only one but two of your girlfriends." He shook her head, bangs falling into her eyes, but they weren't her eyes at all.

I thought back, trying to figure out why that face was ringing bells in my head. An image popped up, of us sitting in class together during freshman english…. Stanford.

"Brady? My friend Brady?" I asked.

He nodded then rolled his evil eyes, eyes that couldn't seem to stay black. "God, it was obnoxious, pretending to be your friend for so long, pretending to care about you, about Jess. But all I was really doing was trying to set you and Jess, I needed you two to fall in love so that I could kill her and set Azazel's plan in motion, and the plan worked!" He laughed, not melodic like Callie's, but sick, mangled sounding.

"You… you were possessed the whole time?" I felt tears well up in my eyes. He was the reason Jess was dead, the reason we were even together in the first place.

"Duh, you really aren't as smart as this dumb bitch thinks you are." He pushed a few pieces of Callie's hair behind her ear.

"Why possess Callie if you have this meat suit broken in?" Dean asked, not lowering his shot gun while I blinked back the tears tying to forget the sight of Jess burning on the ceiling. Now the bastard was inside of Callie too, burning her from the inside out.

"Because, look how helpless the three of you are, I have the most feared hunters in all the land in front of me and an angel of the lord and none of you will even take a step towards me. Why? Because I'm inside of someone you love, it was too rich of a moment to pass up." He laughed, crossing his arms, Callie's broken wrist bending awkwardly.

"I knew you were coming, heard it from one of Crowley's men who just so happens to work for me as well. So I figured I'd pick up this little whore and bargain with you."

"Bargain with us?" Cas spoke up.

"Yeah, you let this all go. Let the apocalypse happen, stop looking for Pestilence and Death and she'll live."

I couldn't say anything. What kind of decision could I even begin to make. I looked at Callie, looked at her features, but they weren't hers. I couldn't see her kind eyes, eyes that made me believe in myself, her soft smile, or the determined crease in her eyebrows. I could only see Brady, and could only hope to see those things of hers again.

"No," Dean growled. He threw the shotgun on the ground and pulled out the knife. He was making the decision I couldn't.

Brady backed up against the wall and put his hands up, his eyes narrowing into a look of malice, a satisfied smile gracing his lips.

"I don't think you'll want to use that on precious Callie?"

"And why not?" Dean asked. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Cas closed his eyes in defeat.

"She didn't tell you, did she?" Brady looked at me.

"Didn't tell me what?"

He cackled, tossing his head back, his body shaking with laughter.

"She's pregnant."