Author's notes: So there, I managed to finish this one before Christmas! Honestly, I never expected this story to be so long. It was initially meant to be a one-shot, then I thought about 3-4 chaps, not more. And here I am again, with the 10th one wondering how it happened :))

This chap was a big challenge for me, I had serious problems with it. Especially with the ending; there were so many variants of how to end this story rolling in my head that I thought I'd go crazy. A couple of bad-endings even. Well, hope I made a good choice after all!

Chapter 10

Bela spotted the Impala parked near the old building with small glassless windows as soon as she drove through the long broken gateway into the territory of a closed plant or something like that. On a sigh of relief she parked her car next to Dean's. Heart was still beating too fast, but at least she came to the right place.

She retrieved her gun from the gloves compartment and made her way into the warehouse listening carefully, trying to catch every sound but there was nothing. Nothing special at least. It was pretty dark inside, and she stopped in her tracks to let her eyes adjust to the twilight of the interiors of… wherever she got. And right when she got used to it… she saw him, and… Oh, crap! Lilith.

The picture rendered her speechless, immobile, terrified, buried with animal fear and panic. Bela cocked her gun automatically, soft click sounded as loud as a shot. Instinctive gesture. In the back of her mind she knew that no weapon could help her now. Well, maybe with the exception of the one that little demon was holding in her hands. And if seeing Lilith didn't paralyze her, not exactly, seeing the Colt definitely did.

"Hello, Abby!" Lilith turned and beamed at Bela; and rolled her eyes when Bela's face pulled. "Oh, I know that you don't like this name here." And on a smile again. "But I do."

Dean caught his breath. How the hell did she get here?! Like the situation hadn't been complicated enough already! Still very bad at logical and straight thinking – at any thinking actually – he muttered, "Get… out."

Oh, sure, trust Bela to get an advice and ignore it!

She didn't move. Of course. Um, did she hear him at all?

And right when Dean started thinking that the things couldn't get any worse – because, seriously, he was on the wall; Sam was unconscious; Bela was there all alone against God knows how many demons and Lilith had some plans on each of them in her little head, so cute! – when Sam moaned quietly, his arm moved. So, geek boy forgot to stay frozen.

He was up in the air and on the opposite from Dean's wall on the instant. Dean suspected that it happened before Sam even realized where he was and what was going on. Teeth clenched in order to try and fight back the pain, he opened his eyes slowly, observed the interior of the warehouse and fixed his look on Lilith. He anything but gasped at the sight of Bela – Dean nearly scoffed – but the pain was obviously too severe to concentrate on such insignificant nuances.

"Oh, hi, Sammy!" Lilith's greeting made him cringe. "I'm so happy to see you again!"

Sorry, I'm so not sharing your joy. Sam gave her a poor imitation of a sneer.

Dean was halfway through saying mental goodbyes – just in case, practical as he was – when he suddenly realized that something changed. Pain eased somehow. Now that Lilith's back was to him, it was still hellish, but not as hellish as a minute ago. Trying not to think of how Sam must be feeling now, he made an attempt to move his hand, slow enough not to draw any unnecessary attention. Several seconds were all he needed, just to reach into the pocket of his jacket. Guns couldn't harm demons, true, only the bodies they possessed, so they never bother to disarm their victims, but the weapon could be loud and distractive sometimes, and it was exactly what he, Sam and Bela needed at the moment.

Sam caught Dean's small movement out of the corner of his eye and peered at Lilith even more intensely lest she decided to turn back and check on her other toy. Fought to find the words to keep her occupied with easy friendly chat but she spoke first.

"Now that we're all together here…"

Listening to her wasn't that necessary though.

Got it!

Dean's hand closed around cold steel and he pulled the gun out as cautiously as possible. He was almost sorry – past the wish to get rid of the little monster forever – for ruining her party.

"Your daddy is so disappointed with you, Abby!" Little girl announced reproachfully looking back to Bela again. "It was so rude to sneak out like that!" She put her hands on her hips. "He is not going to leave it like that, you know that?" And then waved her hand on a small laugh. "Oh, but don't worry! We're still going to have a lot of fun after that! Do you remember how it was?"

Bela was barely breathing, Dean could see it even across these almost twenty feet between them, and it made the whole situation look different. He didn't want her to get hurt, one way or another, ever again.

Son of a bitch! You stay away from her!

The following evens happened so quickly that Dean failed to register them all.

Still unnoticed, he aimed at the ground near Lilith's feet and pulled the trigger. Deafening sound echoed under high ceiling. Lilith dropped the Colt, out of surprise mostly, and turned slowly to Dean, amazement on her girly face quickly transformed into pure fury. A small wave of a hand, and Dean was off the wall and flying into the corner before he could blink. He landed onto the pile of dusty wood boxes and strange rusty iron constructions. The pain in his whole body was gone for a split of a moment only to be replaced with the one caused by the fall.

"No!" That was Bela screaming.

Another shot followed, definitely not his this time, and it was the last thing that Dean heard through the ringing in his head before everything went black for him.

Bela's shot was more automatic than planned. She wasn't aiming and therefore she missed. It didn't matter though since it wouldn't have harmed Lilith anyway, but it made her curse mentally anyway.

The girl turned to look at her. The gaze of her light-blue cold eyes made Bela's blood freeze in her veins. And before she could think about one thing or another, she was on the wall, on the exactly same spot that Dean left not more than ten seconds ago, or somewhere very close. Bela guessed that shaggy surface might still be holding his warmth but she couldn't say for sure as burning pain in her entire body sort of switched off all of her other senses. She swallowed hard and tried to hold her breath for as long as she could; each intake was nearly driving her insane. Her nails scratched against the old painting convulsively.

"Your daddy will so not like it!" Lilith frowned, and her words sounded like a warning.

Oh, tell me about that. Had she not been suffering so much, Bela would laugh little bitch in the face. And then fear for Dean came, consuming her completely; she could have sworn that it even helped to block the pain out a little bit. He didn't move. She couldn't turn her head to look at where he landed but if he did, she'd notice it. Maybe. Or she'd probably hear it as he fell not onto the heap of pillows. Everything remained silent though, except maybe for her blood that seemed to be boiling within her. Literary.

"You shouldn't have left, Abby," Lilith told as if they reversed the places at once and now she was an adult, reprimanding Bela like a misbehaving child. "And you shouldn't have taken Dean away. You belong there. And you know it, right? Oh, we were all so angry when you left! And now you're going to go back. Both of you." She paused, and then her lips stretched into a genuinely happy smile. "No, three. Aw, that would be so great!" She cocked her head then, considering. "And if you try to leave again it would be bad, Abby. Really bad. Your friend will be punished for it," on a quick look at Dean's direction. "Not you. Dean."

Threatening Dean was her undoing though. Fear was replaced by anger within a blink of a moment, panic – by fury, burning her from inside, maybe even stronger than the pain. The hatred that was flooding her now couldn't be compared with anything that she had ever felt before. Pure wish to do whatever it could take to make this creature disappear in hellfire or elsewhere. Desire to eliminate every piece of Lilith.

Bela narrowed her eyes. "Go to…"

A sudden flash of bright light blinded her before she could finish the sentence, made her shut her eyes and wish to cover them with her hand too as it seemed to have no problem with going right through her eyelids.

It was gone as unexpectedly as it appeared, together with Lilith and presumably the demon. The woman whose body it had been possessing before was now lying unconscious on the floor. And the pain was gone, too. Bela fell off the wall and landed onto her knees, gulping the air, feeling weak and wholly drained, and then she snapped her head up when full realization of what had just happened kicked in.

Surprised, she gawked stupidly at the place where the girl was standing moments ago and then span around, expecting all the show to be another trap, but there was no one in the warehouse. No one but.... She leaped up to her feet and rushed to Dean. Noticed from the corner of her eye that Sam slid down the wall on a moan as well, and felt relived about the fact that he was okay. Two Winchesters in bad shape were more than she could handle, that she was sure of.

Bela fell to her knees near Dean, tossed aside a piece of wood from his chest.

"Dean?" Voice small and terribly high-pitched. Fear squeezed her chest and left her completely breathless allowing only shallow convulsive intakes.

She crawled closer to him, picked his head carefully and rested it in her lap. Brushed hair of his face and ran her hand along whatever she could reach searching for possible injures. Couldn't hold back a sigh of relief when it turned out that he was relatively unharmed, aside from the tennis-ball-sized bump on the back of his head, which was probably going to give him a hell of a headache later, and a thin string of blood on his temple. Thank God, just a scratch. But then Lilith was a demon. Who knew what she could do without even touching her victim?

Bela leaned closer, trailed her fingers down his cheek, terrified beyond herself, eyes burning and throat clogging. It was unbearable to see him like this, so… lifeless.

"Dean?" Barely in a whisper. "Come on, open your eyes. It's not funny! Wake up. I know you can do it." She sniffed. Well, okay, sobbed. "Please, you can't..." leave me like this. "I can't…" lose you again. Furiously, she threw aside her hair that kept on falling on her face. "Damn it, Dean! Stop it! Don't you dare be such a coward! I'm not done with you, you hear me? Don't you dare give up. Oh, God… Dean, please…"

She put her hand onto his chest longing to feel his heartbeat, proud and strong, under her palm. It was there, but rather weak and unsure. It couldn't end like this. Couldn't…

"Holy crap!" His sudden groan was so unexpected that Bela anything but jumped on the spot. "What the fuck is there under my back?"

Dean opened his eyes slowly, blinked and focused his look on her face.

"Hey there," Bela touched his cheek having probably the silliest smile ever on her face. Had she been anyone else, she'd probably cry with happiness. And she was close. Very close.

His poor attempt of a smile past grimace of pain and obvious discomfort – because she had absolutely no idea what the hell could be there under his back – squeezed her heart. Made her bit her bottom lip to hold back strained laugh and, well, another sob, too.

"What happened?" He reached for his head and cursed under his breath. Snapped his eyes open when the whole nightmare came to him. "You okay?" Damn, she wished he didn't sound so genuinely concerned. Bela nodded quickly. "Sam--"

"We're fine," she repeated.

"Lilith--" Dean anything but jumped.

"Easy here," on a nervous smile. "She's gone," Bela said in a low voice not quite sure how she felt about it. On the one hand she seriously doubted that there was a way to kill the demon even with the Colt, otherwise she wouldn't carry it around so thoughtlessly, so having her away was good. Whereas on the other, the problem remained and they still were back to square one. This delayed-action bomb still could explode any moment.

"Damn…"

"Come on." Carefully, Bela helped him up to his feet, her arm wrapped supportively around his waist. She frowned when he cringed at her touch. "Okay, Rambo, what is it?"

Dean moved his right shoulder slowly and clenched his teeth. "Son of a bitch! It fucking hurts. Could be a dislocation."

Well, how else this day could have ended?

"It's okay," he assured her then in response to her concerned frown.

"You sure?"

He hesitated for a moment trying to decide if his broken self could be so optimistically called okay, and then nodded slowly hoping that it wouldn't knock him out. The headache was terrible, too. "Guess so."

"Great!"

And the next moment Bela let go of him and her fist met pretty soundly with his jaw nearly sending Dean back to the floor. Full strength blow, right from the heart if you please.

"Jesus, Bela!" Surprised, shocked. He didn't even feel pain at first, only amazement. Wincing, he touched his jaw carefully with his functional arm. She could have sworn that he added something else under his breath. "What the hell was that for?" Dean looked up at her, eyes big with pure misunderstanding.

"You're an idiot, Dean! Do you have any idea…" She started but anger rendered her speechless, made the words stuck in her throat. "Don't…" she warned him when he opened his mouth. "Just… just don't!" Before he said something that could possibly lead to the dislocation of another shoulder. Or something else painful.

She turned on her heels and stomped towards the exit, kicking the junk that was scattered all over the floor on her way. Paused near Sam who was checking on the pulse of a former demon and now a purely human woman.

"I don't know where he is!" Bela mimicked him; poor imitation of his voice ruined even more by her British accent.

"His idea!" Sam anything but jerked away from her, and hurriedly poked his finger at Dean.

But she only gave him a flaring look and rushed outside, lips pursed tight into a thin line and chin tipped high as if talking to them was beneath her dignity.

"Thanks, bro," Dean snorted making his way through the warehouse; cartoon starts still dancing before his eyes.

"Sorry, man," Sam got to his feet and gave Dean an appraising once-over from head to toe. "You okay?"

"What do you think?" Dean grimaced. Darted a quick look after Bela and complained, "She broke my jaw!"

"No, she didn't. You can speak, see."

"Dude, you're supposed to be on my side!"

"Between you and Bela? No way, Dean! I'm not taking any sides."

"Traitor," Dean hissed. Looked around and sighed. "Damn bitch slipped away. Again. Can't friggin' believe it!"

"Yeah, well, but she left something behind."

Sam handed him an object he found on the floor.

"Bloody hell," Dean breathed out with utter disbelief.

***

Sunset was beautiful. They always were, generally. Play of the shadows, change of the colors. Everything was special about it, even when one was surrounded by wreckage and distraction.

Beal leaned against the hood of her car and watched the sun descending slowly, turning from yellowish to orange to purple. It was mesmerizing. And the realization that she might have never seen it again made the moment even more precious.

She didn't hear how he came up but sensed it somehow – wondered rather absently if it was a permanent effect from now on, like a Dean Winchester radar – and wasn't surprised when he showed up from behind. Didn't look at him when he rested against the hood of her car, too, barely half a foot away from her now.

"Sam found two more men between the containers over there," Dean told her and waved his hand quite indefinitely somewhere to the left. "Unconscious, but alive. Hadn't been possessed long enough to get seriously harmed. Strange memories would probably bother them for a while though. He's calling the ER."

Bela nodded pretty indifferently, and asked herself once again why she was still there. Should have left right away. And yet…

"We got this back," Dean added then rather casually; his words made Bela turn her head to see what this was.

The Colt. She totally forgot about it. Didn't even think about the precious gun when everything happened.

"Bet, Lilith didn't plan to let it go," he anything but beamed like he won the damn thing in a severe and uneven battle, and gave her a warning look before putting the Colt onto the hood behind them.

Bela rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not touching this thing ever again."

She noticed that he was mainly using his left arm but swallowed her question about his right shoulder. Figured that if it really was dislocated, Sam helped to get it fixed.

And… silence.

Bela looked down at the gravel beneath her feet, thoughts mixed and jumpy in her head. She kicked the stone with the toe of her shoe and watched it roll into the grass.

"I'm sorry," Dean breathed out quietly, looking straight before him.

"For what?"

"For making you worried," he shrugged, not quite comfortable with the conversation; not sure what to say, or what to do. Chick-flick moment. Sort of. You gotta be worried if you made it here somehow.

"Pissed off, Dean," Bela snorted, annoyed. "Not worried. See the difference." She wanted to roll her eyes again but changed her mind. It would probably look too melodramatic. She was hurt, true, but not in a let's talk and sort out relationship out kind of way. Didn't want to talk about any of that. If what happened between them really was only a way to say goodbye, she didn't want to know about it. "Leave it, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," he smirked, which sounded rather bitter to her, but then again – mixed signals. She could be wrong. "So," Dean cleared his throat after a while, paused, "you and me… it was nothing, then?"

A question or a statement? Hope or fear?

"Definitely," under her breath and looking down at her shoes. "Can't be anything." Why?

"Impossible," he nodded in agreement after a short pause.

"Too complicated." Really?

"Unnecessary."

"Better pretend that nothing happened."

"Absolutely." Hell, no!

"Right."

"Right."

So, that was it.

And it was right, so very right. Like the most right thing to happen ever. For both of them. The best way to make everything simple and easy. She said what he wanted her to say and he heard what he wanted to hear – not wanted exactly, but speaking of right things. He tried to be reasonable, noble even. So why the hell he was feeling that it was so wrong? Like he was losing something very big and important?

By this time only the very edge of the sun was visible over the horizon line, bright purple and pulsating, grasping at whatever it could reach with its rays like some natural incarnation of desperate hope.

"So, okay then," she started not quite knowing what exactly she was going to say – See you around? Good luck? Have fun? So pathetic!

"Yeah…" in a whoosh of breath, and then, "But it… it won't, you know, kill us if… if we try… right?" Quickly, like it could be too late or like he could change his mind, or like whatever courage he needed to say this line could disappear any moment, and yet faltering all the time as if his tongue refused to move in his mouth.

Bela caught her breath. Good thing that she was leaning against her car, otherwise she'd probably shamelessly fall right there and then. Slowly, she turned to him, looked him fully in the face, not quite sure that she heard what she thought she heard, and let a small smile touch her lips when their eyes met. It was hope then. Desperate hope in the flesh.

"Of course," she bit her bottom lip to stop her smile from growing too wide, doing her best to ignore the flopping of her stomach and the noise in her ears, trying to sound calm and all business; like it was nothing at all. "We can give it a chance." Casually, past happiness, lest it be too obvious, and yet...

"Try to find a way--"

"-- to compromise." A pause. "And if it doesn't work--"

"We can always turn back."

"Any time."

"Sure."

Dean found her hand, covered it with his, and entwined their fingers when she opened her palm eagerly. Surreptitiously, Bela inched closer to him, their shoulders almost touching now, and looked down at their hands, then ahead of her again.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" He looked at her curiously. "Did you… you know, with Lilith… did you do it? I mean she was just gone, so… suddenly, and all."

"I don't want to even start thinking about it," Bela cringed. And okay, she didn't want to know an answer to that question because there always was a chance for it to be positive, and it definitely wasn't something that she'd like to deal with.

"What? I told you – this stuff's friggin' cool!" He sounded enthusiastic. Bela only snorted in response. "If it is any consolation," he paused, gave her a long appraising once-over, "you're the hottest psychic freak I've ever seen."

"Shut up, Dean," on a soft laugh and trying to kick him wherever she could reach.

"Whatever. How did you find us anyway?"

Still smiling, she thumped her forehead into his shoulder. "Oh, God. You're such a dolt, you know that?"

"Aw, come on, Bela! I'm curious."

"By the breadcrumbs you left behind," she giggled.

Dean let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer, desperate to feel the warmth of her body. Bela turned her head, let him find her lips, and then buried her face into his chest. And that was when sudden sense of alarm struck her, something that slipped her mind at first, and Bela anything but shivered at the memory, because… because he heard it, right? He couldn't not to hear.

"Dean? What Lilith said…"

He knew instantly what she was talking about. And he also knew that the timing was bad. Like really bad. And yet it was something that he couldn't turn back and change. No way to make this easy. "It's okay, I know," he whispered into her hair as his lips pressed to the top of her head.

"You do?" She didn't look up, surprised and confused. Other than that, a small convulsive intake of breath was the only reaction.

"Don't think about it, okay?" Dean said quietly. We'll make it up somehow, later. She nodded eagerly, grateful.

"And what now?"

"Well, I don't think it was the end… but I hope that out little friend stops being so persistent, especially now that I have the Colt… and you." And meaningful pause followed. Bela huffed. "You have a good right-hander," he commented then, almost with admiration and definitely with respect.

"And you have an iron jaw," she looked at her knuckles. It was a miracle that she didn't break her wrist. Being a negotiator, not a fighter, she probably missed a moment or two in dealing with some… species.

His short laugh broke the stillness, she felt that he finally let go off the tension. "Next time you're… pissed off, just tell me about it, okay?"

"You scare me like this once again, Winchester, and I swear to God a couple of broken bones will be the least of your problems," Bela warned him in the most serious voice she could muster.

"Well, that's a good start," Dean snickered. "I'm flattered actually." And then added, "I still don't approve of your business, you know," like they were laying down the rules or something.

"Your job makes me sick." She stated, so that no one was left behind. Well, not sick exactly, to tell the truth. She just thought that it was a useless waste of time. Add unpaid to that maybe. But hell, she could play with him here.

"I'm not going to help you."

"Mmm. And I'm not going to help you either."

The paused and looked at each other.

"Sounds like fun, huh?" Dean chuckled, shook his head. "A mercenary bitch--"

"--and a serial killer."

"Bela? Shut up."

The end!

Now, reviews are always love! :))

PS Author's notes: I'd like thank everyone for your support. It means a lot!

Special thanks to The Rasmus, Within Temptation and Poets of the Fall, my never-ending source of inspiration. Don't laugh, I'm serious :))

Happy holidays! You all have a lot of fun and be happy!