Tasha's legs collapsed beneath her and she fell to the floor, a pool of blood forming beneath her head. Dean swallowed hard, but forced himself to remain under cover. Max started to stand, but he immediately pulled her back down. They wouldn't do anyone any good by just storming down there; they would just get themselves killed and probably the hostages too.

Max spun back towards him and glared, angry tears filling her eyes. Dean felt the same anger, but he refused to let it control him.

"Huh…I thought that was going to work…" White muttered, almost to himself. Then it sounded like he was speaking to one of his henchmen, "Get another one up."

Dean peeked around the edge of his cover and saw that one of the familiars was starting to pull Dalton to his feet. Dean almost panicked at seeing the kid getting pulled up to be the next to go. Dalton almost hero-worshiped Alec; he would follow Alec around command and would do anything Alec told him to do. He was a smart kid and he knew Alec would be devastated if something happened to him or to any of the kids down there. Dean wouldn't be able to bear it either; he'd taught a couple of them how to play poker and he'd be damned if White took any of them away.

"I'm surprised at you 452," White drawled in his slimy voice. Dean was starting to get the impression that the guy really just liked to hear himself talk. "I didn't think you would just let one of your precious freaks die…guess I'll just get rid of another one then."

White aimed his gun at Dalton who was standing almost at attention, with his head held high. Dean couldn't stop himself this time. Without coming up with a better plan, and without really thinking about what he was doing, he stood and ran to where the floor had fallen through. He launched himself over the edge aiming for White.

Dean landed right on top of White, causing both of them to crash to the ground and making the gun fly out of White's hand. Dean almost groaned at the pain that immediately sprung up, but he pushed it out of his mind for now.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw that Max had followed him over the edge and had tackled one of the other guys to the ground. Dean got to his feet as fast as he could and ran over to Dalton, ignoring White for now. He cut the rope that was tied around the kid's hands, but then had to shove him out of the way as a familiar ran towards them.

He ducked under the punch that the guy threw and kicked the guy in the back. He stumbled forward, but caught himself and turned back to Dean. The guy charged at him and Dean ducked his shoulder and the guy went flying over his back.

Dean took a second to look for Max and saw that she was in the middle of fighting another familiar. But the guy grabbed her already hurt wrist and twisted.

"Max! Duck!" Dean yelled. She instantly dropped down and Dean threw his knife hard at the guy. It landed with a thud in the guy's chest. He looked down in surprise at the knife that was sticking out of him and then fell to the ground.

As soon as Dean let go of the knife, another familiar was behind him and got him in a headlock. He tried to pull the guy's arm off of him, but he wouldn't budge. Dean saw through blurry eyes the guy that he'd hit with the knife crumble to the ground. Max pulled the knife from him and then turned to face Dean. She tossed the knife to him before she had to fight off another of White's men.

Dean caught the knife and then stabbed it into the guy's arm that was cutting off his air. He was immediately released, but the guy was already coming at him again. He faced off with the guy, but a second later was tackled to the ground. White had come out of nowhere and plowed right into him.

Dean slowly got his feet back under him and stood to face White. His eyes were narrowed and it looked like he was sizing him up and trying to figure out who he was at the same time.

"You must be a clone of 494," White said in disgust.

"What clued you in?" Dean asked sarcastically.

White snarled, but there was suddenly gunfire that managed to draw Dean's attention for just a fraction of a second. White took his distraction and lunged into action. Luckily, Dean saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned just in time to block White's punch.

White instantly followed up with hit after hit and Dean blocked as many as he could, but he didn't block them all. His shoulder was already dislocated and White took advantage of his injury. Dean took a hard punch to his jaw that threw him to the floor. He just barely rolled out of the way of a kick to his ribs, but he wasn't so lucky on the second kick, or the third.

Dean gasped as he felt a few of his ribs break and immediately tried to protect them instead of his head. White took the opening and tried to deliver a hard kick aimed at Dean's nose, but Dean moved just in time to only get grazed on his cheek. White kicked him hard again on the ribs and his vision was really starting to go in and out. He was barely able to breathe or see and he knew his fight was going to be over soon.

Distantly, Dean heard the front door crash open and then a second later he was being pulled to his feet and held upright. His vision wouldn't focus for the first few seconds, so he didn't immediately know what was going on. Once he could see what was going on he didn't really feel all that relieved.

Mole and his team were standing right inside the room, guns pointed at White and his familiars. Dean tried to look around at his own team and saw that some of them were down and that Max was being held hostage just like he was. He was relieved to see that Dalton and the kids were still alive, but they were also being held hostage so they still weren't safe.

White was the only thing holding him up, and Dean didn't know how, but White had managed to get a gun and was currently holding it against him.

Dean expected either Mole to start making demands or White to just start yammering away again. He did not expect Mole to suddenly shift his aim and fire. Dean felt a burning in his dislocated shoulder and he heard White curse. He didn't really manage to put two and two together until he had been released. His legs collapsed and he heard a lot of gunfire this time, but he didn't think he'd be much help.

Mole had shot him! The bullet had gone straight through to hit White behind him, but that didn't change the fact that Mole had shot him! He couldn't dwell on that fact for very long though. The fight was still going on and he was currently in the middle of the room.

A hand suddenly grabbed his arm and he tried to throw them off until he realized it was Max. She was bleeding heavily from a deep cut on her forehead and her wrist looked terrible, but he was glad to see her. She tugged on his arm again and he made a small sound of pain. She was pulling on his hurt arm.

"C'mon, we gotta get to cover," Max said to him when he looked up at her in confusion.

Dean tried to shake out the fog in his head. There weren't out of this fight yet and he couldn't just sit here and be useless. He managed to get to his feet with Max's help and held his injured arm against his broken ribs to hopefully protect both of them.

Max started to lead him to cover, but he stopped and scooped up a gun on his way. He didn't want to be completely defenseless.

"What about the kids?" Dean asked over the gunfire.

"They're already over here!" Max yelled to be heard.

"Where's White?" Dean asked as they both ducked behind an old sofa. Dean saw Dalton and the others in a little room off to the side, safe from all the gunfire.

Max shrugged, "Don't know. I think I saw him busting through a window, but I don't know."

It was only a few minutes later and the gunfire died down. Dean peeked out from behind the sofa and saw that Mole and his team were all standing. Four of White's guys were down, but it looked like White was gone.

Dean forced himself up and Max stood with him, offering support if he needed it.

"Who's down?" Max asked as they made their way over to the others.

"Tasha's dead, the rest are just injured," Mole reported. He turned to Dean and said, "Sorry 'bout shootin' ya. Thought it would give us the element of surprise."

Dean just glared at him, too tired to get back at him right now, but he wouldn't forget this. Instead he just mumbled, "Too bad you didn't actually kill White…"

It was Mole's turn to glare, but he let it go for now and started helping the other injured to the truck. Dean looked around the room, trying to find where Sam and Alec might be. Everything had happened so fast, he didn't think they had been in the fight but he could have missed them.

When he didn't see them, he started to look for the stairs to the basement. Max followed him; it seemed like she was just sticking around to make sure he didn't collapse, but she didn't stop him from his search.

He started opening doors when he didn't immediately find the stairs. He was starting to get desperate. Alec and Sam would have been here; they would have never missed the fight unless they couldn't get to it. He needed to find them and make sure they were ok.

"What are you looking for?" Max finally asked.

"The basement," Dean said shortly. His ribs were killing him and maybe she knew where the stairs were. If asking for help got him to his brothers faster, then he would do it.

Max's eyes widened in understanding and she spun around, scanning the room for Alec. When she didn't see him, she ran over to a door on the other side of the room. She seemed to know where things were and so Dean followed her. She had just gotten the door open when Dean got there and they both stared in horror at what they found.

The stairs went down for a little and then were completely blocked. It would be a miracle if Sam and Alec had survived the explosion and hadn't been crushed by all the debris. But they were also trapped. Dean just prayed that they could hold on until he got to them.

Alec startled awake at the sound of gunfire. He had no idea how long it'd been and there was no way of knowing what was going on upstairs.

"What's…going on?" Alec gasped out even though he doubted that Dozer or Zip would know what was actually going on. He was disappointed to realize that his chest felt even tighter than it had earlier.

"Sounds like the fight's started…" Zip said glancing up to the ceiling.

"You alright?" Dozer asked in concern. Alec just nodded back, saving his breath.

He checked on Sam and found that he was the same as he was when Alec had fallen asleep. He forced himself to his feet and scanned the small area that they were trapped in. He didn't immediately see a way out, but there had to be one somewhere. And if he couldn't find one, then Dean would get them out.

Alec started to slowly climb up a pile of debris and tried to find a good spot to try and break through. He was able to move a few things, but the chunks of wood were too heavy for him and lifting them just about killed his chest.

"Alec, why don't you come back down here?" Dozer sort of asked, sort of suggested.

"No," Alec replied, moving to another spot that was hopefully weaker. And maybe it wouldn't have as many big chunks of wood. He had to stop every few seconds to catch his breath and he didn't get much further in his new spot than in his old one.

Alec sat back a little after a few minutes; his breathing was coming out in short gasps and his forehead was starting to sweat. This was a lot harder than he thought it was going to be. But he didn't want to give up yet; he hated sitting around and he hated missing the fight even more. A quiet groan was the only thing that managed to catch his attention.

"Looks like Sam's starting to come 'round," Dozer called out.

Alec slid down the pile as fast as he could, but that stirred up a ton of dust and made him start coughing and wheezing. He couldn't catch his breath and he felt himself fall to his knees.

"Slow down Alec," Dozer suddenly said next to him, rubbing circles on his back.

Alec tried to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth, nice and slow. It took him a few minutes to finally be able to breathe easier and another few minutes after that to be able to see again.

"Thanks," Alec breathed out, letting Dozer help him to his feet. He staggered his way over to Sam who was just starting to come around. Alec dropped down next to him and put his hand against Sam's chest so he knew he wasn't alone.

Sam's eyes fluttered open and he looked around, confused. He looked worried until his eyes landed on Alec and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" Sam asked. He started to try to sit up, but Alec put a little pressure on his chest and kept him lying down.

"Explosion…took out the stairs…" Alec said, trying to hide how much trouble he was having breathing and failing miserably.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked in concern, easily removing Alec's hand from his chest this time and sitting up.

"Just some…bruises…" Alec muttered, trying to stop Sam from checking him over. He instantly lost that battle; Sam grabbed his wrist to keep him from getting in his way. Sam barely pressed against his chest and Alec couldn't help his small gasp of pain.

"Alec…" Sam said in sympathy.

"'S not…so bad…" Alec tried to reassure; it definitely didn't help that he couldn't even say one whole sentence. Sam just scowled at him, but he looked away at the sound of gunfire.

He started to stand, but as soon as he was on his feet he swayed and collapsed back to the ground. "I think we're gonna have to sit out for this fight," Sam muttered.

Sam started to look around at their confined space and Alec supplied, "We're trapped…"

"Then get your ass over her and let me look you over," Sam said. Alec glared at him, but didn't have the air or the strength to argue. He scooted over to Sam and he gently lifted his shirt. "Alec…" Sam whispered. He reached out and barely touched Alec's chest, but even that was painful.

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but Alec cut him off, "Can't we just…wait to be rescued?"

Sam gave him a small smile and then nodded. He scooted back until he was leaning against a pile of rubble and motioned for Alec to come over there too. Alec looked at him like he was crazy, but then gave in and crawled over to Sam.

"Not a word…to Dean…" Alec breathed out, leaning against his big brother.

"We're trapped, I'm dizzy and you can't breathe, so I think we get a free pass," Sam said with a smile.

"Sam…" Alec mumbled after a few minutes.

"Yeah?" Sam asked quietly.

"I'm really glad…you're ok," Alec said, his eyes starting to slip closed again. He couldn't hear any fighting from upstairs anymore. He had to believe that Dean was alright and that he was going to come find them.

"I'm really glad you're ok too," Sam replied, his arm tightening around Alec's shoulders.

"Sit down and shut up or else you're going back on the truck with everyone else," Max said in a stern voice, steering him over to the sofa that they'd used for cover just a little while before.

Dean reluctantly sat down and let Max help him out of his jacket. She started taking off his outer shirt when she grumbled, "How many layers do you wear?" Dean just rolled his eyes and started bouncing his leg up and down. He wanted Max to hurry up so he could start help looking for his brothers.

Max suddenly ripped his t-shirt sleeve. "Hey!" Dean yelled at her and she looked up at him; her eyebrows drawn together practically screaming 'so? What're you gonna do about it?' "This was a good shirt…" Dean finally grumbled.

Max's mouth popped open and she shook her head at him, "You got shot! Your stupid t-shirt already had a hole in it."

"I coulda fixed that hole!" Dean grumbled; wincing when Max started wrapping gauze tightly around his shoulder. "OW!" Dean yelled at her when she moved his arm to get a better angle.

"Sorry!" Max said in aggravation. "I forgot…" Before he even knew what was happening, Max pulled hard on his arm and popped his shoulder back into place.

Dean yelled in surprise pain and then said, "A little warning would be nice…"

"Well, it's over now and we're done," Max said with a forced smile. "We can go help look now."

Dean sighed and then grabbed Max's good wrist to stop her. He sat her down and this time it was his turn to surprise her. He popped her wrist back into place without warning. She gave a little gasp of surprise and then glared at him. He smirked and ignored her as he started wrapping her wrist. He was quick wrapping it and then stuck some butterfly band aids on the cut on her forehead and then he was done.

"Now we can go look," Dean said.

They both got up and went over to where Mole was leading a search and rescue team. They hadn't gotten far and Dean knew that he and Max wouldn't actually be much help.

"Where are we at?" Max asked as they walked up.

"Can't find a good spot to break through," Mole grumbled. "Every time we start digging, the floor gets too weak and it all starts to collapse."

"Have you been able to talk to any of them?" Max asked.

"No. Haven't heard a peep, but that doesn't mean they aren't there," Mole tried to reassure.

Dean thought for a second and then pulled out his cell phone; it was probably a long shot, but it didn't hurt to try. He pushed the number to call Sam and waited.

"S'm…" Alec mumbled, making Sam startle awake.

"What!?" Sam asked, trying to calm down so he didn't cause Alec any pain.

"Phone…" Alec mumbled. He didn't make any move to actually get up so Sam had to shift around a little to get his phone out of his pocket.

"Yeah?" Sam answered without checking the caller ID. He was really just surprised that he had service down here and that his phone had survived the explosion.

"Jeez, took ya long enough," Dean's voice suddenly came through and relief washed through him.

"Dean," Sam breathed out.

"You alright?" Dean asked before Sam could say anything else.

"Yeah, you?" Sam asked back, hoping that Dean would give him the truth.

"How's Alec? Is he with you?" Dean asked instead of answering.

"He's here…we could all use some fresh air," Sam replied. "Now answer my question."

"Shoulder's a little messed up and ribs are a little tender, but we won," Dean finally replied.

"You gonna get us outta here any time soon?" Sam teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"Working on it," Dean said and Sam could hear the small smile in his voice. He still sounded tense, but Sam knew he would be relieved to just hear from him. "You guys all able to move?"

Sam hesitated and then hedged, "Not very fast…"

Dean took a deep breath and then said, "We're trying to get you guys out, but every time we start digging it starts to cave in. Just keep an eye out ok?"

"Alright…just try to hurry," Sam wanted to give his brother a heads up that he and Alec were both hurt without actually telling him. And he wanted to get out of there so he could make sure Dean was ok.

"I will. Take care of yourself and Alec," Dean said and then continued, "Gotta go, talk to ya again soon." And then he hung up.

Sam looked down and saw that Alec still had his eyes closed, but he knew that his little brother had heard the entire conversation. He was proven right a second later when Alec mumbled, "Glad to…hear from him…he's ok…"

"Yeah, he's ok," Sam agreed. "He's gonna get us out of here…"

"I know…" Alec breathed out and then fell asleep again.

"They're alive," Dean said, even though he knew it wasn't necessary. Max had stood by him and hung on to every word that was said.

"Alright people! Let's get back to work!" Max called out to everyone who was standing around.

Dean started to move to help, but Max caught his arm. It was hit bad arm and he let out a little squeak of pain.

Max groaned, "Sorry, I keep forgetting…" She disappeared for a second and then came back carrying his jacket and over shirt. She started tying the sleeves of his shirt together and then looped it over his head.

"I don't need this…" Dean mumbled as Max put his arm in her makeshift sling.

"Yea, you do," Max argued. "This will keep you from lifting things and it'll remind me to not keep grabbing that arm."

Dean grumbled some more but he didn't take off the sling. He hated not being able to help, but he knew he would just slow them down. But that didn't mean he was just sitting there waiting for someone else to rescue his brothers. He analyzed the structure before they started to try and break through and he kept an eye on things to make sure it wouldn't collapse. Max stayed next to him and helped keep everyone in line.

"You know I can handle this right?" Mole grumbled after a few minutes of Dean and Max taking control. "You two should be looked over by medical anyway…"

"I wonder why?" Dean said sarcastically. "It might be because someone shot me!"

"It's just a flesh wound…You're gonna have to get over that Pretty Boy," Mole replied with a smirk.

"Isn't that the name you gave Alec?" Dean teased.

Mole glared at him, "You two look alike so get over it."

Dean chuckled just a little and then said, "Get back to work Lizard-Man."

Mole just looked at him, "That's the best you got?"

"What? You want me to call you something less obvious, like Poker Face…wait never mind that one's pretty obvious too…Especially since you don't actually have a poker face…" Dean said, pretending to think.

"I'd shoot you right now, if I hadn't already put one hole through ya," Mole stated.

"Would you two stop," Max said, but she couldn't hide her smile. "Time to get back to work Mole."

Mole switched his glare to her instead, but eventually went back to moving debris.

"Guess this whole thing coulda gone worse…" Dean finally muttered to Max. They didn't really have anything to do and for some reason he just wanted to talk.

"Coulda gone better…" Max whispered back and Dean knew she was thinking of Tasha.

"I'm sorry…" Dean had to clear his throat to get the rest out, "I'm sorry about Tasha…"

Max took a deep breath, "Me too…I don't know how I'm going to tell Ryan…" Dean looked at her in confusion so she continued, "Her and Ryan were together. Have been for a while now…actually they might have been together even at Manticore…"

"Oh…" Dean said in response.

"Yeah," Max breathed out.

"But we got the kids out…that's what Tasha would've wanted," Dean said after a moment.

"Yeah, it is," Max agreed.

"I hate waiting," Dean grumbled when Max didn't say anything else. Max smiled a little, but she still didn't say anything. He had to do something or else he was going to go crazy. He thought about calling Sam again just so he could have someone to talk to, but he didn't want to kill their batteries in case they really needed them later.

Sam would love this; he actually wanted to talk to someone, but no one would talk to him. Sam was always trying to get him to share his feelings and he was always brushing him off. Alec was kind of the same way as him and Dean wondered how they were getting along being trapped together.

"No!" Mole suddenly shouted, making Dean and Max look up in alarm. Mole reached out and pulled Penny back and they both fell back; the floor in front of them caving in.

Alec suddenly sat bolt upright and Sam looked at him in alarm. He clutched his chest, but looked up at the ceiling. He was scrambling to his feet and pulling Sam up before Sam even knew what was going on.

"Move!" Alec tried to yell. Dozer seemed to get the message though and helped Zip move out of the way.

Sam looked up just in time to see the ceiling collapsing right where they'd been seconds before. The ceiling kept falling though and they were running out of space to move. Sam suddenly threw up his arm and turned to shield him and Alec from the falling debris.

The stuff finally stopped falling and dust filled the air. Sam and Alec both started coughing, but Alec was more like wheezing than coughing. Sam rubbed Alec's back as he looked around their new space. It was a lot smaller now than it had been. There was pretty much only room for the four of them to sit down and that was it.

"You alright?" Sam asked Alec when it looked like his breathing wasn't going to get better. Alec just nodded, starting to bend over. Sam forced him back up straight, "It'll be easier to breathe this way."

Alec tried to glare at him, but then held out Sam's phone. The kid had pickpocketed him and he hadn't even noticed. Sam gave him a bitch face and grabbed the phone out of Alec's hand.

Dean's phone seemed to barely ring once before he picked up, "Sam?!"

"We're alright," Sam immediately said to ease Dean's worry. "What happened?"

"The floor was too unstable…we're gonna have to start over again," Dean said; defeat starting to creep in his voice.

"It's alright, Dean, we're alright," Sam tried to reassure. "At least you guys know you're digging in the right spot," Sam joked when Dean didn't say anything.

"Yeah…I guess…" Dean muttered.

"Dean, we're gonna be fine," Sam said softly.

"Sam…"

"No Dean. Listen to me. You're gonna get us out of here and we'll be fine," Sam said desperately. He couldn't let Dean think anything else.

Dean took a deep breath and Sam thought he was probably nodding to himself. "Yeah…You guys just hang in there ok?"

"We will," Sam promised. Dean hung up on him before he could say anything else. "Dammit Dean," Sam muttered as soon as Dean hung up.

"He's worried," Alec whispered, starting to lower himself to the ground again. He put a hand to his chest once he was sitting and grimaced in pain.

"You alright?" Sam asked even though he already knew what Alec's answer was going to be.

"'M fine," Alec answered and Sam sat down next to him. Alec leaned against him again without Sam even making him do it. He couldn't help feeling overjoyed that Alec trusted him enough to be vulnerable around him.

"Dean told me…you were afraid of…clowns. True?" Alec asked, looking up at Sam curiously.

Sam chuckled, "Yeah, I'm afraid of clowns. But Dean's afraid of flying."

Alec huffed out a laugh, "I know…pointed out a plane…and he shuddered…"

Sam sort of put two and two together and figured out that Alec hadn't dropped the fact that he knew this. Instead, he'd been bringing it up until Dean finally told him about Sam's fear of clowns, hoping to direct Alec onto a new path. "So that's why Dean told you I'm afraid of clowns."

Alec rolled his head over and smirked at Sam. "Why are you…'fraid of them?"

Sam laughed, "I'm not answering that question…and enough about clowns! Talk about something else."

Alec kind of groaned and then asked, "Why's Dean…'fraid of flying?"

"Planes crash is what he told me," Sam said with a smile, remembering when they took down that demon on the plane. Dean had been a mess, but they'd gotten the job done.

"So do cars," Alec argued.

"Yeah, but Dean's driving so he's in control and he's on the ground. With flying, someone else is in control and he's really high up," Sam said and Alec sort of nodded. "What about you?" Sam asked after a few minutes. Alec looked at him in confusion so Sam clarified, "What are you afraid of?"

Alec was quiet and Sam almost thought he was going to refuse to answer, but then he whispered, "Small spaces…"

"Is this space too small?" Sam asked curiously.

Alec shook his head no, "I can still move…Manticore used to use…small spaces as punishment…for insubordination…"

"Remind me when we get out of this to tell Max thanks," Sam said. Alec rolled his head and glanced up at Sam again, silently asking him why?

"She got you out of there," Sam said quietly. Alec didn't say anything in reply and Sam almost thought he'd said too much. But he looked down and saw that Alec had a small smile on his face.

"This is taking forever," Dean muttered to Max after they'd been digging again for a few hours.

"They're just being extra careful so we don't have another repeat," Max replied.

"I just want them out of there," Dean confessed quietly.

"Me too," Max whispered.

They stood there quietly, just watching the progress. Dean had paced for a while, but Max had stopped him. She had looked like she wanted to pace, but Dean wouldn't let her either; if he couldn't pace, then neither could she.

"Alec?!" Mole suddenly called out, drawing Dean and Max closer to the rescue.

Dean almost shoved Mole out of the way, but luckily Mole moved before he could. He almost had to crawl to get to the hole that the team had made, but it was worth it. As soon as he made it to the hole he saw Sam and Alec sitting and leaning against each other. Dozer and Zip were sitting near them, but Dean was mainly just focusing on his brothers.

Alec gave him a little wave, but didn't even try to move away from Sam and Sam just smiled up at him. Max crawled up next to him and surveyed the team for herself.

"It's good to see you guys," Dean called out.

"Good to see you too," Sam answered.

"Ryan?" Max suddenly asked and Dean realized that Ryan wasn't sitting there with the rest of them.

Alec shook his head no and Max hung her head. The only thing good from that was, at least Ryan and Tasha went together.

"Would you two move so we can actually get them out?" Mole suddenly interrupted.

Dean glared at him, but he and Max both moved after just a moment. Mole stepped up and Drizzle come forward carrying a harness. Mole lowered her down in the harness and Dean watched. He couldn't do anything as Drizzle went down there and helped Zip into the harness and then a group of transgenics pulled him up.

It seemed to take years for the others to bring Zip up and then even longer for Dozer. He started pacing when he heard that Sam was next. He could hardly breathe until Sam was finally pulled up. It took a second for him to untangle his long legs from the harness and then he was standing in front of Dean.

Dean pulled his brother into a tight, one-armed hug that Sam instantly returned. They stood there for a minute and then Dean took a step back and looked Sam over. He was covered in dirt and dust and he was swaying a bit, but he seemed to be ok.

"Alec wouldn't come up until everyone else was up," Sam explained quickly.

"That's alright, he's coming up now," Dean reassured.

"What happened to your arm?" Sam suddenly asked in concern.

"It's fine for now…I'll tell you once I know Alec's safe too," Dean hedged. He turned and saw that Max was pacing now and he and Sam both waited anxiously for Alec's return.

He was brought up a minute later and Sam moved to help him get out of the harness. Alec was actually dirtier than Sam was and he was moving pretty slowly. Sam got Alec free and then helped him over to where Dean and Max were waiting.

Dean was about to pull Alec into a hug, but Max beat him to it. She crushed him against him and Dean saw him wince, but he put his arms around her and closed his eyes. Max released him a second later and he didn't seem quite ready for it, but he stayed on his feet. Dean pulled him into a gentler hug and Alec almost collapsed against him.

Dean stepped back after a moment and looked at Sam, Alec, and Max. They were all dirty and hurt, but they were alive.

More soon...(also, the next chapter will probably be the last for this story)