Summary - What if Sam wasn't the only one who was around Dean the last three months before his deal was up? What if there was someone else? This story follows Sam, Dean, and Apple my original character as they try to get Dean out of his deal; though Apple doesn't exactly know about Dean's deal until it's almost too late. What happens if they can't save him? Is Dean really gone forever?

Author's Note - This follows the last six episodes of season three, I just added my own character into the mix and a few more things. I don't own any of the characters or the episodes, just Apple and the plot following the last episode. Let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I'd also appreciate reviews, or anything just so I know how I'm doing with this. My first SPN fanfic, so yeah, I'd like to know what you guys think.

With my screaming in your itching ears

Chapter Nine

Thunder raged outside as a man sat nervously in his chair. His hand shook as he took a drink of his scotch. It was dark inside and outside of his modest home, the only light came from a lamp not far from him. He jumped as the phone rang. The man stared at it as it continued to ring, his brain told him not to pick it up but he did anyway.

"Hello?" He said, his voice shook as he waited for someone on the other line to speak.

"Ben?" A woman's voice said.

"Linda."

"I had to talk to you," she whispered.

"You can't keep calling here."

"I know. I know, just tell me you've thought about it, please," Linda went on.

"There's nothing to think about it."

"Don't say that."

"I can't," Ben said sadly. "You know I can't, my wife..."

"I'm begging you, come to me," the woman said desperately. "Come to me, Ben."

"No." He said as he hung up the phone. He looked down in shock as the phone immediately started to ring. Ben picked it up once more. "Linda, please. Please, just leave me alone."

"I'm not going to stop," Linda said. "I miss you, Ben. We could be happy! We could be happy together."

"This is crazy."

"I love you, Ben," she whispered. "I love you, forever. Don't you love me?"

"You know I do," Ben said to the woman. "More than anything. But – I'm sorry." He hung up the phone again, and like the time before it rang once more.

Ben, in anger, smashed the phone on the desk and ripped the cord out of the wall. Why wouldn't she leave him alone? He loved her too, but he had his wife to think about. Silence fell over the room once more, he picked up his drink and went to sit in his chair when the phone rang.

Desperation overtook the man as he walked toward his desk. He sighed as he pulled open a drawer and retrieved a gun out of it. "Okay Linda," he said wearily. "You win. I'm coming."

- - - - -

Apple looked over at Dean as he slept beside her. Why was everyone so worried about Dean? They continued to talk about him being saved. Why did Dean need to be saved? She didn't see anything wrong with him, she had gotten extremely annoyed with the way they talked about it in front of her. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. Apple was sick of it, and she intended to do something about that.

She waited till the trio was seated at the kitchen table of their motel room for breakfast. Apple took a bite of her pancakes and contemplated the best way to bring up her question \. She took a sip of her water and looked at both the boys as they ate their own pancakes.

"So, why does Dean need to be saved?" Apple asked, she looked at Sam first, then at Dean.

"What?" Sam was startled by her abrupt question.

"I want to know why everyone talks about saving Dean. I don't see anything wrong with him. Why does he need to be saved?"

Sam sighed as he looked over at Dean. Dean looked at him, unsure of whether or not they should tell the girl.

"Look, I've been with you guys for a while now. I've earned my keep, I've helped you out. Now tell me what you're hiding from me. I care about Dean, I deserve to know." Apple blushed as the words left her mouth, she prayed they thought she meant as a friend. Truthfully, she did like Dean, she'd grown to like him. She never thought anything would come of it, and she left it at that. Unrequited feelings, she could live with that; she would have to live with that.

"Dean?" Sam asked quietly.

Dean stared at the girl. She'd never been so adamant about anything, she usually was quiet and offered up things here and there; but she'd never pushed like that. He was torn, he liked Apple, he did. He'd admitted it to himself after they left Colorado, but that didn't mean he would do anything about it. He couldn't bring himself to. He couldn't tell her the truth now, he remembered the look of sadness in her eyes in Brower County, when she had told him that Sam and herself had watched him die. He wouldn't put that sadness in her eyes. Not again.

"I've got less than two months till I become the first male Spice Girl, Hunter Spice." He said, the look on his face was dead serious.

Both Sam and Apple stared at him. Sam's face was that of utter disbelief. Had Dean seriously just told Apple that? Apple had a look of 'you seriously don't expect me to believe that do you?' on her face. She shook her head.

"Dean!" She said seriously.

"Fine." He sighed as he looked at Sam. "I've got two months until I have to marry Jo. She's the daughter of an old friend of ours."

Sam stared. Who was Dean kidding? "Seriously, Dean?"

"Okay. Okay. I have less than two months until a demon comes to kill me." It was a half truth. Something did plan to come take Dean's soul, but he hadn't told her the exact truth, just kind of left out a few key details.

"Dean are you seriously gong to keep pulling these lies out of your ass? I'm not stupid. Just tell me what the hell is going on."

He looked at Sam for help, but received nothing. It was his tale to tell. "I've got less then two months until my soul goes to hell," he finally admitted.

"What?" Apple asked. She paused in thought. She looked into his green eyes and for once since she had asked her question, saw the truth that rested behind his words. "Okay," she said. "Why?"

"Last year Sammy was murdered, I sold my soul to bring him back. The demon gave me one year, then my soul goes to hell. I've got less than two months," he repeated.

"Is there anyway to save you?"

"We're trying to do everything we can. Bobby, Ruby, and I have been trying to find a way out of it." Sam told the girl.

"Well, I'm going to help." Apple had no idea what she could do to help, but she'd do whatever it took. She wasn't going to lose Dean, not after having lost him in almost every single way possible in Brower County. There was no way she was going to let him go for real. "Sorry about being so pushy. It was just hard to have everyone talk about saving Dean and having no idea why he needed to be saved."

Both brothers nodded at her. They felt a little relief at her having finally found out about Dean's deal. She might have been able to offer some solution, though they doubted that. But still, maybe she could help them find a way out.

- - - - -

Later that day, Apple and Dean sat on a bench in a rain slicked courtyard as they waited for Sam. She thought about what she had found out about Dean's deal. It explained a lot about what they had been doing since Colorado. They hadn't worked any cases, but Sam, herself, and Bobby had been doing research, and that research didn't make any sense to Apple. Now that she knew the truth, it made more sense.

Apple zoned back in as she looked over at Dean. She listened as he spoke on his phone, she listened to his voice and looked around the courtyard. She noticed Sam as he walked toward them and offered a small smile.

"Okay, got it." Dean said as he slid his phone closed. He stood as Sam finally reached them, he held a hand out for Apple and she took it.

"So?" She asked as she pulled herself to her feet.

"So... the professor doesn't know crap."

"Shocking." Dean replied as he walked past Sam. "We need to pack 'cause we're hitting the road."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Bobby called. Some banker blew his head off in Ohio and he thinks there's a spirit involved." Dean explained, slightly irritated.

"So you two were talking a case?"

"No, actually we were talking about our feelings," Dean replied. "And our favorite boy bands. Yeah we were talking a case!"

"So a spirit?" Apple asked after a minute of silence.

"Well the banker was complaining about some electrical problems at his pad for like a week – phones going haywire, computers flipping on and off, huh?" Dean looked at Sam who seemed completely uninterested. He turned to look at Apple who shrugged her shoulders. "This not ringing your bell?"

"Yeah, sure, but Dean we're on a case," Sam finally replied.

"Whose?"

"Yours."

"Yeah, right. Well could've fooled me." Dean turned and started to walk away from them. They had worked on every possibly lead to get Dean out of his deal, but nothing they did brought any kind of result. He just wanted to do his job now.

"What the hell else have we been doing lately other than trying to break your deal?" Sam said, his voice raised slightly.

"Chasing our tells, that's what!" Dean said then let out a small exasperated breath. "Sam, we've talked to every professor, witch, sooth-sayer... nobody knows squat. And we can't find Bela, we can't find the Colt, so until we actually find something? I'd like to do my job."

"Well there's one thing we haven't tried," Sam said.

Apple looked at Sam expectantly. She had stayed quiet through the whole exchange, she knew this was mainly between Sam and Dean, and she knew when to keep her mouth shut.

"No." Dean said immediately.

"Dean, we should summon Ruby!" argued Sam.

"I'm not gonna have this fight." Dean began.

"She says she knows how to save you!" Sam shouted angrily.

"Well she can't."

"Oh and you know that for sure," Sam said sarcastically.

"I do." Dean argued right back.

"How?" Apple asked suddenly. Both boys looked at her, they had been so engrossed in their argument they had forgotten about the brunette girl who stood beside them.

"Because she told me," Dean said softly as he looked at the girl. He focused his gaze on Sam and let him know that the next part was for him. "Okay? Flat out, that she cannot save me. Nobody can."

"And you just somehow neglected to tell this to me?" Sam started.

"Well I really don't care what that bitch thinks, and neither should you," Dean said as he turned around again.

"So now you're keeping secrets from me, Dean?"

"You really want to talk about who's keeping secrets from who?" Dean cut in. Both Apple and Dean watched as Sam walked away. They exchanged glances. "Now where are you going?" Dean asked.

"I guess I'm going to Ohio," Sam said. Apple and Dean both shook their heads and followed the taller man.

- - - - -

"I found him – there," the deceased man's wife said to the Winchesters and Apple as they walked into the modest house. She pointed to the floor near a chair in the house's study.

"Why don't you tell us everything you saw, Mrs. Waters?" Apple asked as she smiled politely.

"You mean besides my dead husband?" The woman replied sarcastically.

Sam smiled at the woman slightly. "Just everything else you saw, please."

"Blood. Everywhere," she began. "The phone was ripped from the wall, his favorite scotch on the desk, what else could you possibly want to know?"

"Why was the phone ripped from the wall?" Apple asked.

"I don't know."

Sam walked to the phone and picked it up, he studied it for a moment before he looked at the widow. "Ma'am, what time did your husband die?" He asked as he went through the last numbers on the phone.

"Sometime after eleven," she answered.

"What about strange phone calls?" Dean asked. "Seen any of those lately? Weird interference, static, anything like that?"

"No," she said quickly. "No."

"Mrs. Waters, withholding information from the police is a capital offense," Dean began. He received weird looks from Sam and Apple, "In some parts of the world, I'm sure," he muttered.

"A couple of weeks ago, there was this.." began Mrs. Waters.

"This what?" Apple asked gently prodded.

"I woke up one morning and I heard Ben in his study – I thought he was talking to a woman," she said.

"What made you think that?"

"Because he kept calling her Linda," she replied. "The thing is, I picked up the other line, and nobody was there. Ben was talking to nobody."

"There was nothing," Sam said.

"Just... static."

"Did you ever speak to Ben about this phone call?" Apple inquired.

"No, I should've, but no," she said.

"Did he ever say who Linda was?"

"What difference does it make, there was no one on the other end!"

- - - - -

"Linda's a babe," Dean said as he looked at a picture on the laptop. Apple rolled her blue eyes. Dean caught this and grinned. "Or.. was."

"Find her?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, Linda Bateman. Her and Ben Waters were high school sweethearts," Apple replied as she read over the article.

"What happened?"

"Drunk driver hit them head on, Ben walked away," she finished.

"So what then, dead flame calls to chat?" Sam suggested from his position on his bed.

"You would think," Dean started. "But Linda was cremated. So why's she still floating around?"

"You got me."

"What about that caller ID?" Apple asked as she moved to sit across from Sam. She sat down on the bed she shared with Dean. He stood before the two, and looked down at Sam.

"Turns out it's a phone number," Sam informed them.

"It's not like any phone number I've ever seen."

"That's 'cause it's about a century old. From back when phones had cranks," Sam said.

Apple quirked an eyebrow. "So why use that number to reach out and touch someone?" She asked.

"You got me there too, but either way, we should run a trace on it."

"Well how the hell're we gonna trace a number that's over a hundred years old?" Dean asked.

+chapter title: i'm so sick - flyleaf