I'm quite disappointed that I haven't received any reviews recently. As it is, we don't have internet at home anymore, so I can't post the chapters I've written as often. So, for any of you who are still reading this story, I apologize for the long time between updates. The song I used for the last chapter was "Nightmare" by Avenged Sevenfold. Please review!

DISCLAIMER: I STILL don't own Supernatural or Buffy, but I still dream of owning Dean. ;)

Chapter 9: Laying Flowers on my Life

Faith lay on the bed in the hotel room, staring at the ceiling, one hand hanging off the side of the bed, holding a cigarette that was nearly burned away. She knew the hotel had a no smoking policy, but she really didn't give a damn.

The orphanage in Boston had been closed down for years and no one had any helpful information regarding the children that had been there or the nuns that had run the place or if they did they weren't willing to share. They had looked into every possible lead, always coming up empty. Now they were in LA, following another possible lead that would surely end in nothing. Faith took one last drag from her cigarette, then flicked it into the trash can beside the bed.

The door opened, signaling Robin's return. The slayer didn't turn to look at him; she didn't want to see the look on his face—the look that said he'd found nothing.

"I think I found something."

At these words, Faith shot up, her gaze immediately turning to her boyfriend.

"What did you find?" she asked, trying not to sound as hopeful as she felt.

"In nineteen-ninety-eight, a group of orphans were sold as slaves to demons in another dimension. A few months later, a security camera caught footage of people fleeing from an alley. Get this: Buffy was with them," Robin explained, sounding excited. Faith raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is this supposed to sound like good news? 'Cuz it sounds an awful lot like bad news," she said skeptically.

"I just got off the phone with Buffy. Apparently, following the death of Angel, she fled to LA to get away from everything and worked as a waitress, using her middle name as an alias. She said she managed to avoid everything supernatural until a girl who frequented the diner where she worked asked for help finding her missing boyfriend. Buffy found him, but it was too late; he was dead and had aged about eighty years, seemingly overnight."

"I already knew she ran away. Could you get to the point, please?" Faith asked impatiently, cracking her knuckles.

"Sorry. The point is: Buffy and the girl both ended up in the same demonic dimension that those children were sold to under the guise of it being a 'cleansing home for troubled youth'. Buffy kicked some ass and freed everyone who was still trapped there. A five-year-old girl named Catherine was among the children who were sold. She was found in Boston in March of ninety-three and was a Caucasian brunette. She could be your child," Robin finished excitedly.

Faith sat down on the bed, looking upset.

"Even if she is mine, this means that we still don't know how to find her. She could be anywhere now, if she's even still alive. Hell, she could be older than me now!" she said, pounding a fist on the mattress.

"That's true, but Buffy also pointed out something that never occurred to us before. I'm rather embarrassed that it didn't really," Robin said, kneeling in front of his girlfriend, looking a bit sheepish.

"What's that?" Faith asked, still skeptical.

"Willow can do a locator spell," her boyfriend answered.

"I don't know much about magic, but doesn't a locator spell require a picture or something that belongs to the person we're looking for?" the slayer asked.

Robin smirked at her and pulled something from his inner coat pocket. He held the item up, revealing it to be a wallet-sized photo of a small child with fair skin, grey eyes, and dark brown hair.

"How did you get that?" Faith asked.

"I did some digging and found files on every child that was in the orphanage here. Now, most of the children's files state whether or not they were adopted or if they left the orphanage when they came of age. However, there were a handful of children whose files just stop around the time they were five. Catherine, the girl in this picture, was among those children," Robin explained.

Faith was quiet for a long time, staring at the picture of her possible daughter before asking, "Did she have a full name?"

Robin shook his head slightly as he said, "Catherine Alexandria…no last name."

"Why exactly should I help you?" the king of Hell asked, with an eyebrow arched at the hunter and his angelic friend.

Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Because we haven't killed you?" he suggested. Crowley scoffed.

"Try again, Moose. You're askin' me to find some 'saviour'…some 'key' person? What's in it for me?" he asked.

Sam cursed in frustration.

"If the doors are sealed, nobody can escape from you," Castiel pointed out.

"I also can't go down there without gettin' trapped for eternity," Crowley countered.

Sam threw up his hands in exasperation.

"What do you want, Crowley?" he asked impatiently.

They were running out of time to find Erin and they were all too aware of it. The demon smiled.

"That's more like it, Bullwinkle," he replied. He looked thoughtful for a moment before looking back at Sam, his grin smug. "I want a guarantee that I can come an' go between hell and earth as I please."

Sam groaned inwardly.

"How are we supposed to do that?" the hunter asked. The king of Hell shrugged.

"If you want my help you'll find a way. Now, do we have a deal or not?"

Reluctantly, Sam held out his hand for the demon to shake. "Fine. We have a deal. I don't have to kiss you do I?" he asked as Crowley shook his hand.

"You wish, Moose. No, you're not sellin' your soul, so a handshake will do."

Sam looked relieved.

"Now then, your girl Erin is…" Crowley trailed off, closing his eyes and trying to sense Erin's presence.

Sam and Castiel waited on baited breath. Their only hope was that Dean may have neglected to put up demon wards wherever he was hiding Erin.

"'e's got 'er holed up in a cabin near Perry Lake. It's near Topeka. You better hurry, 'er presence isn' very strong," Crowley finally said.

"Thank you," Sam said as he motioned to Castiel to go out to the car.

"Don' mention it. Ever," the demon replied. He turned as if ready to leave, then turned back to Sam.

"Oh, an' ya might need this," he said, reaching into his suit pocket and pulling out another, larger vial of angelic grace. "Catch."

Crowley tossed the vial and Sam caught it deftly. The younger Winchester looked at it for a moment before pocketing it.

"Do I want to know how you're getting this?" he asked rhetorically. Crowley smirked.

"Don' look a gift horse in the mouth, Moose," he replied over his shoulder as he strolled up the stairs and out the door of the bunker.

Sam thought he heard him complaining under his breath about not being able to teleport out because of the wards in the bunker.

The first thing Castiel became aware of as he exited the bunker was the presence of a young man and woman a split second before someone jumped him, tackling him to the ground. All the wind was knocked out of the angel as he hit the ground, ending up with a mouthful of dirt. His assailant, the woman he'd sensed, turned him over and straddled him, one hand around his throat and the other hand holding what appeared to be a wooden stake.

"Tell me what you've done with my daughter! Now!" the woman demanded, her tone both threatening and desperate.

"Faith! You can't attack random strangers and beat them for information!" the man exclaimed.

"He's not human! I can sense it!" the woman, apparently Faith, yelled over her shoulder.

"Oh. Well in that case…" the man trailed off as he pulled a wicked-looking knife out of his coat.

Castiel's eyes widened fearfully. In his weakened state, there was no telling whether or not a normal knife—or a wooden stake—would kill him.

"Miss Lehane, if you would be so kind to release me, I will gladly tell you what you want to know," the angel choked out.

Faith stared at him in shock. Castiel took that opportunity to roll over so that he was now on top of her. He took note of their position, feeling rather awkward, and pushed away from her, standing up and brushing himself off. Faith jumped up and settled into a defensive stance, glaring at him murderously. The angel held his hands up in surrender.

"I know what you're thinking—" Castiel was cut off by a rather angry slayer.

"I'm thinking you better explain how you know who I am and where the hell my daughter is!" The angel sighed.

"What's all this then?" came Crowley's voice from the doorway of the bunker. The angel sighed again, hanging his head in exasperation.

"Not now, Crowley," he said, hoping the demon wouldn't make things worse.

"Don' 'ave to tell me twice," Crowley said with a snarky tone before disappearing into thin air.

Castiel groaned. Seeing someone disappear like that was bound to make things worse. He turned his attention back to the couple.

"I think you should come inside and sit down. This may take a while."

Faith and Robin sat at one of the tables in the main room of the bunker, staring rather dumbfounded at Sam and Castiel. They had agreed, rather reluctantly, to hear them out and after an hour or so, they had been filled in on the existence of hunters and angels and the current situation with Dean and Erin.

"I still can't wrap my head around the idea of one person being chosen to fight all the evil in the world. I thought a hunter's life was tough. … And you're a slayer?" Sam said, directing the question at Faith. She nodded.

"One of many these days," she answered dryly.

"That's not what's important right now, Sam," Castiel said. "I'd like to know how you found out Erin was here. This bunker is warded against magic."

"Well, we didn't exactly track her here. We have a friend who's a rather powerful witch and she—"

"You're friends with someone who sold their soul for magic and immortality!?" Sam exclaimed, cutting off Robin's explanation.

Both Robin and Faith looked confused. Castiel put a calming hand on his friend's shoulder.

"There are different kinds of witches, Sam. Some are born with their powers, some make deals for them—you've met those ones—and some achieve their power through practice and natural talent," the angel explained. Sam calmed visibly.

"Oh…sorry," he mumbled.

"As I was saying," Robin continued, "our friend did a locator spell for us a few days ago and found her in Beulah, North Dakota, but then the spell went crazy and pointed us to Kansas. Unfortunately, it couldn't pinpoint an exact location, so we headed toward the general area that it lit up. It lead us here."

"Makes sense," Sam conceded.

Faith stood up abruptly, looking rather angry. Robin knew that was her way of showing—or rather not showing—anxiety.

"Why are we sitting here talking while my daughter is being tortured to death?" she asked, cracking her knuckles. Robin stood up, closing the distance between them and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We were on our way to go find her when Castiel ran into you," Sam said.

"Well let's not waste any more time. How long has she been missing? Do you have any idea where she is?" Robin asked. Sam and Castiel shared a glance.

"Our…uh…sources tell us she's near Perry Lake. Somewhere near Topeka. It's about a three hour drive. She's been missing for about nine hours now," Sam answered grimly. Faith's frown deepened.

"By the time we get there, she'll be dead; if she isn't already," she said, her voice cracking a bit at the end.

"We're not gonna let that happen," Sam said seriously. "We'll find her and we'll bring her back alive."

"Wait, you don't seriously think I'm going to let you go without me do you? This is my daughter we're talking about," Faith responded.

Robin knew that it wasn't one-hundred percent certain that Catherine was her daughter, but he hated to crush his girlfriend's hopes. He also knew better than to get in her way when she was determined to do something.

"She also has no idea who you are and is a thirty-four year old hunter. If she's able to, she's liable to shoot first and ask questions later after what she's been through," Sam pointed out.

"Sam's right. I think she would be better off with people she knows," Castiel said. No need to mention that they had barely known her for a day.

Faith got uncomfortably close to the angel's face and poked him in the sternum, hard. The angel grimaced in pain.

"She's. My. Daughter. And if I'm not mistaken, you two could use all the help you can get. I'm coming with, end of discussion," the slayer said menacingly.

Castiel looked at Sam helplessly. The hunter sighed, looking to Robin who just gave him a look that said "it's best to let her have her way". Sam ran a hand through his hair and exhaled slowly.

"Alright," he said, his tone one of obvious defeat.

Faith backed away from Castiel, looking satisfied.

"Good, then let's go. It'll be after midnight by the time we get there and if she's gone for a full twenty-four hours the chances of her being alive when we find her become slim to none," Faith said. "I call shotgun!" she declared afterwards, turning and walking up the stairs.

Castiel rubbed his chest and winced.

"Is she always like that?" he asked Robin. The ex-principal smirked.

"Pretty much."