Thanks to Rachet for reviewing! (And for everyone who added this to your favorites/update alerts)

Finally moving on from Lazarus Rising! Yay! This chapter takes place after Are You There God? and through In The Beginning. (S04E02-03)

10 - Saved

Sioux Falls, SD

Chloe sat on the bed in Bobby's spare room, listening to the shower in the hall. Her heart hurt. The boys had both had a rough time. Dean had faced off with the spirit of Meg Masters and Sam with Hendrickson. Bobby had taken the little girls in stride. Chloe had not been bothered by any spirits even though there were a handful that she felt guilty for. Castiel had later told her by taking her to heaven he had cleansed her in some way. Then he had stared at her in expectation and she had simply not known what he wanted her to do or say. She didn't feel any different. Castiel had then told her that part of the reason he had cleansed her was so that she could be there for Dean.

She had silently amended - and Sam and Bobby. Chloe had never realized she had such a range of maternal instincts but something about these 3 guys made her want to protect them and kill anyone who hurt them. Which wasn't far from the truth. Of course Cas letting them know that another seal had been broken was not the best way to start off the weekend.

Dean stepped out of the shower and came into the spare bedroom, pausing in the doorway when he noticed Chloe sitting on the bed. She patted the space beside her and offered him a smile. Dean rubbed his head with the towel around his shoulders. The jeans he wore rode low on his hips. He sat down and didn't bother looking at her. He knew she was going to want to talk and he wasn't in the mood for a heart to heart, wasn't really his style. He groaned internally when she grabbed his hand and held on tight even when he flinched.

"We have a problem. Bobby has been noticing some patterns around the area."

Dean raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. "You mean you don't want to talk about my guilt and watch a chick flick?"

Chloe laughed. "Nah. That's not really my style." Dean nodded and studied her intently. Chloe just shrugged, "I can't tell you how to feel. Everyone has someone they hurt, intentionally or not. In your and Sam's line of work it's more likely to happen than not, I would think." Dean stared at her in wonder. She wasn't going to lecture him. He cupped her cheek in his hand and leaned in to touch his lips to hers. Chloe sucked in a breath and her eyes searched his. Dean leaned back, trying to assess her gaze. His thumb rubbed against her cheekbone. Chloe's eyes shut and she whispered, "We have a problem."

Dean chuckled softly, his breath fanning across her lips, "You already said that." Then he leaned back in, his lips brushed against hers and Chloe grabbed either end of the towel, suddenly starving for him, pulling him to her and leaning back on the bed.

Dean groaned into her mouth as his weight pinned her to the bed. Her hands traveled quickly. From the towel to his shoulders, down his back to the waist band of his jeans She was a woman possessed, Dean thought. Her fingers caught on the belt loops of his jeans and she pulled his body tighter against hers, arching up into him. His groan rumbled through them both and Chloe wrapped her legs high around his waist so he touched her in exactly the right place.

Sam cleared his throat from the empty doorway, just as Dean had when he'd interrupted the hug he'd given her. Dean glared over his shoulder at Sam to which he laughed. "Bobby called a meeting."

Dean narrowed his eyes, "Right this second?"

Sam shrugged with a smile and moved down the hall to the stairs, wondering how long that had been going on but not terribly surprised. As far as he was concerned, his brother could do worse.

Jefferson City, Missouri

Chloe had been abandoned. Dean and Sam had both disappeared from the but the Impala was still parked out front. Chloe set the bags of food down on the side table and looked around the room. She checked window sills for sulfur. She looked under beds….just in case those monsters were real too.

She waited an hour, picking at french fries and chewing thoughtfully. When she called Bobby and asked him if he had talked to them recently he told her no. She refused to worry. Besides, they were grown men. They had lasted how long without her? Of course Dean had died and Sam had started ingesting demon blood. Chloe huffed out a breath and looked around the room from her seat at the kitchenette. She hated feeling worthless. Sam returned first, his body relaxed and his smile easy.

"Hey." He ruffled her hair.

Chloe ducked aside, "Hey? What do you mean 'Hey.' Where the hell have you been?"

"Relax, Chlo."

"Chlo?" Chloe straightened and pushed a finger into Sam's chest. "Don't 'Chlo' me. Where have you bee? And where the hell is Dean?" She looked around his big frame, searching for the older brother.

"Dean? I went out for a walk. Dean was cleaning his gun when I left."

"You went on a five hour walk?"" Chloe narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I'm calling bullshit," she said and crossed her arms. "What were you really doing?" She asked and glared.

Sam's eyes turned dark as he glared back at her. Chloe took a step back and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, Sam." She reached for him and cringed when he jerked back from her.

"Don't, Chloe." He moved efficiently around the room, throwing his stuff in his duffel.

"Sam!" Chloe grabbed the bag and tossed it off the bed. "Stop it. Explain to me what's going on. I know you were with Ruby. Just make me understand why."

Sam sighed, his eyes softening. He sat on the bed where his duffel had been before she'd pitched it. "If I drink the demon blood I'll be strong enough; my powers will be strong enough to stop Lilith."

Chloe believed that Sam believed what he was saying. "Are you taking into consideration your source?" At Sam's look she held up her hands. "If I told you that – hypothetically – you going down this path with Ruby is what sets Lucifer free, would you still do it?

Sam covered his face with his hands, rubbing his eyes. "I don't know." He looked up at her and smiled sadly, "Are you hypothetically telling me something?"

Chloe nodded slowly, "Sam, if you don't stop – and I mean cut her out of your life completely – she will be the reason Lucifer rises."

Sam shook his head. "She's been helping me hone my powers, Chloe. She was there for me this summer. You weren't."

"I wasn't allowed!" She yelled in frustration. Sam stared up at her and threw his hands up.

"Why not? The angels saved you for Dean?"

"You weren't worth saving! Alright?" Chloe dropped to the bed beside Sam, crying. "Castiel. He told me that you were a lost cause. I'm not allowed to interfere with your path. You had already turned to Ruby. Getting you off the demon blood is going to take time we don't have." Chloe was wiping her eyes as the tears fell. Her voice soft and shameful. She shook her head sadly. "You are supposed to be a lost cause, Sam."

Sam stared at Chloe in shock. Every word she said hit below the belt. He felt the truth of her words in his gut. He had fallen in with a demon for fuck's sake. Sam's shoulders shook at the weight of what he'd done. What he'd been doing for nearly five months now caught up to him. The tears rolling down his cheeks went unnoticed as he mentally reviewed what Chloe had told him. The angels…God's own messengers, had given up hope in him. It made his heart hurt, his soul felt like a ton of bricks and his gut churned with the knowledge that even heaven figured he was damned.

Sam bolted for the bathroom, slid to his knees and then let the blood in his stomach up and out and into the toilet he hung on to. It wasn't long before Chloe was beside him with a washcloth, her fingers brushing his hair away from his face.

When he was sure nothing else could come up, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and turned, hugging Chloe around her knees, his face resting against her hip as he cried and cried. Her hand held his shoulder against her, the fingers of her other hand shuffling through his hair. He couldn't tell what she was saying over the pounding of his own heart beat in his ears but he knew the words were meant to comfort. And they did. Heaven and all it's angels may have lost faith in him. But Chloe hadn't. And she was enough.

Dean found them like that. Chloe leaned against the bathroom sink; her head bowed down, eyes closed as she whispered. Her hands on his brother and his hair. Sammy holding on to her like she was his lifeline. His shoulders shaking in a silent cry. Dean could hear the sniffles, first from Sam and then a fainter set from Chloe.

She lifted his face to her and smiled down at him. Then he heard her say, "I won't let you go." And Sam was nodding and pressing his face into her hands.

Dean had just gone back in time to meet his parents. He was still a little raw from that. The last thing he wanted to do was come back to Sam and a chick moment. So Dean cleared his throat, seemed they'd been doing that a lot lately and he was relieved when Sam looked over at him with a genuine smile.

Dean let out the breath he'd been holding and smirked at the pair in the bathroom, "Honey, I'm home."

Chloe rolled her eyes but she was smiling too. "I think everyone but me had an adventure today. So?"

Dean put his hands on his hips and looked from first Chloe to Sam, "I went back to 1974 and met my mom. Who was a freaking hunter by the way!"

Chloe looked confused. "But I thought your dad…" She remembered a story Bobby had told her.

"Mom?" Sam asked as he stood up, one arm hooking around Chloe protectively. "Mom was a hunter?" Sam asked confused, but filled with awe.

"Not only that, but our grandparents too."

And then Dean told them all about the acid-free trip he'd been on.

Later, when Sam had passed out from sheer exhaustion, Chloe sat with her back to the headboard of the other bed, recording Dean's time travel with all the details into the timeline she'd decided to write. As Chloe tapped away, Dean, sitting in a chair with his socked feet resting on the bed near her hip, gently nudged her side as he lifted the beer bottle to his lips

"Wanna tell me what I walked in on earlier?"

Chloe licked her lips and glanced to where Sam was sprawled diagonally across the bed, about the only way he fit on a twin size. She gently shut the top of her laptop and placed a hand on Dean's shin.

"I think Sam is ready to break it off with Ruby." She watched Dean purse his lips in thought. She gently shook his leg. "We had a breakthrough. You witnessed the tail end of it."

Dean nodded, "Think it will keep?" He searched her face as if looking for the truth and expecting her to lie.

"Honestly? I don't have a clue." She rubbed her forehead with her other hand, "I hope so though."

Dean stared over at his brother, thoughtful. "Me too."

TBC