A little housekeeping before we get into the chapter. 1) This chapter ended up being a couple of pages longer than usual, but I don't think you guys will mind. Too bad if you do. 2) I think we may be reaching the end of this story. I have a few more things planned for the series (so far), but I think this chapter brings us to a nice stopping place for Dean and Meredith and Claire's story lines. I need a little more for Sam and his little family, so I can't mark this story as complete just yet. They're still kind of flapping in the wind here, so I think we need another chapter or two to get them to a good place to stop. If you have any suggestions please feel free to share, because I really have no idea what to do with that. I know where I'd like them to end up, but I think it's a little too soon for happily ever after. 3) Since I don't have anything beyond this chapter it may be a little while before the next one is ready, so don't go thinking I've dropped dead or something if I don't post for a few days. 4) Enjoy! ~SG

Chapter 11

Claire felt awful when she woke up to Meredith shaking her gently. She groaned as she opened her eyes a little to peek at her friend. "Where am I?" She knew she wasn't in her bed, but that was all her brain was willing to register at the moment.

"You're in the living room." Meredith said, crouched in front of her, her tone indicating that she was in a no nonsense mood.

"What happened?"

"You decided to have a one-woman party last night." Meredith explained. "We let you sleep in, but you need to get up now. Jody and Alex are here, and we're about to have a little family meeting and talk about what's going on with you."

Claire shook her head and immediately regretted the action. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Too bad." Meredith said, her patience having worn thin very quickly after last night's incident. "You lost the right to not talk when you shot Dean last night."

"I did what?" Claire exclaimed, jerking into a half sitting position, wincing at the pain, and falling back down. She groaned as she covered her face with her hands. "Oh my god. Mere. I'm so sorry. Is...is he okay?"

"He's fine." Meredith said. "Cas fixed him up this morning."

"Cas is here?"

Meredith nodded.

"Great." Claire groaned. She moved her hands and turned her head to look at her friend. "You must hate me."

Meredith's face softened, and she reached out to brush Claire's tangled blonde hair away from her face. "I don't hate you, Claire. I'm worried about you. We all are, and I know we promised to let you take this at your own pace, but after last night...we can't have something like that happening again. You could've seriously hurt someone."

The events of the previous night had come flooding back to her when Meredith told her she had shot Dean, and she nodded as she sat up carefully. "I know. I just..." Sudden tears flooded her eyes against her will, and she buried her face in her hands again as they spilled over. "I don't know what to do, Mere. I'm scared."

Meredith moved from the floor to the couch and pulled Claire into her arms, rubbing her back and holding her tight. "I know you're scared, but you're not in this alone, okay? We're all right here, and we're going to get you through this, but you've got to talk to us so we can figure out how to help you. I know you don't want to talk about it. I know it hurts, but you have got to let it out. You know you can't hide from it forever, right? Not if this is what it's going to do to you. You're too young to start drinking yourself to sleep every night, Claire."

Claire couldn't speak. She was sobbing too hard. Meredith held her until she had cried herself out, and then fixed her a cup of strong coffee and brought it to her.

"Take this upstairs with you and get cleaned up. I know you don't feel good, and this isn't going to be easy for any of us, but we've got to figure something out, okay?"

Claire nodded, taking the mug and throwing the blanket off her lap.

"Be careful of your foot." Meredith cautioned as Claire stood up and remembered that she had injured herself as well. "Do you need help?"

"No. I think I got it." Claire said. "Why didn't Cas fix my foot too?"

"We asked him not to." Meredith admitted. "Figured it would serve as a good reminder of what happened, and maybe help keep it from happening again."

Claire made her way slowly and carefully up to her bedroom, and sat down on her bed to drink her coffee before she went to take a quick shower. As she drank she thought about what had happened last night, and realized just how amazing Meredith Mitchell was.

She was aware of what had happened with Meredith's mother after her dad had died, knew it was part of why Dean had cut back on his drinking, and Claire was extremely grateful that Meredith had chosen to continue loving her instead of hating her for what she had done last night even though she had every reason to at least be mad.

Sharon Fairchild had let her grief over loosing her husband get the best of her, and had turned to alcohol instead of turning to her friends and family to help her through it. Because of that Meredith had lost her mother, her best friend, and almost her own life. It was why she and Kim didn't drink. They knew how dangerous that road was, and last night Claire had gotten way too drunk and had accidentally shot Dean. She could've killed him.

Meredith should be livid right now. She should be throwing her out of the house, refusing to even look at her. She could've killed Dean. She could've hurt Kit. Claire hated herself for what had happened even though it had been an accident. She had chosen to get drunk, so accident or not it was still on her, and Meredith should be raising Hell with her right now. But instead she was taking care of her, fixing her coffee, offering to help her up the stairs because of her injured foot, holding her while she cried her eyes out.

It took an incredibly strong person to make that choice, to react with compassion instead of anger, and with everything Meredith had been through over the years Claire was pretty sure strong was an understatement. In Claire's eyes Meredith Mitchell was invincible, and she felt incredibly lucky to have her as a friend.

%%%

When Claire hobbled back downstairs she found her friends waiting for her, and realized she was walking into a sort of intervention. Meredith, Dean, Sam, Cas, Jody, and Alex were all sitting in the living room, ready to help her in whatever way they could. Kim and Jake weren't there because she wasn't as close with them, and obviously the kids weren't there, but Claire suspected it wouldn't take long for her story to reach them, and she didn't mind. They were part of her little pieced together family too. She suspected Kit had been sent across the street for a while so she wouldn't interrupt, and Claire took a deep breath as she slowly made her way into the living room and sat down beside Alex on the love seat. She couldn't even look at Dean.

"Okay." she said, running her hands nervously over her thighs. "Fix me."

"We don't want to fix you, Claire." Sam said. "We want to help you."

"And for us to be able to help you," Dean said. "You have got to tell us what happened. So talk."

Meredith, who was sandwiched between the Winchesters on the couch, put a hand on Dean's arm, a gentle reminder to go easy on her. Claire understood that Dean wasn't trying to be rude or harsh. He was just worried about her and wanted to help, but he didn't know how to help because he didn't know what was going on. Not all of it anyway. The others were in the same position. They all had bits and pieces of the story, but none of them knew the real reason why she was spiraling, though Meredith could probably guess.

"First of all," she said, finally meeting Dean's gaze. "I am so sorry about last night."

Dean shook his head, brushing it off. "It's okay. I'm fine."

"I could've killed you, Dean." she argued. "That's not okay!"

"No, it's not." Dean agreed. "But you didn't kill me."

"You made some really stupid decisions last night, Claire." Jody said, having been filled in as soon as she and Alex had arrived a couple of hours ago. "But everyone in this room has made some really stupid decisions. Except maybe Meredith. I think she may actually be a perfect person."

Meredith laughed at that. "I promise you I've made mistakes. Maybe not as bad as the rest of you, but I've made them. I probably never should've married Jake, for instance."

"What you did last night was really serious and dangerous, but trust me. You've got nothing on these three." Jody said, gesturing to the men in the room.

"No one can top us for stupid decisions." Dean agreed. "We've messed up so many times, and gotten more people hurt or killed than I can count. I don't want you beating yourself up for last night, Claire, because I'm fine. All I want is for you to tell us what's going on so we can help you."

Claire took a deep breath, and began her story, knowing that she was safe here. "A couple of months ago this guy, Todd, asked me out. I didn't really know him, but I'd seen him around, and he seemed like a nice enough guy. So I went out with him. It wasn't a bad date, but I wasn't interested in seeing him again, so when he walked me back to my dorm I told him thanks and good-night. That's when he decided he deserved more and tried to kiss me. So I pushed him away, and he got pissed off and shoved his way into my room. I knew what he was going to try to do, so I let him shove me onto the bed and grabbed my knife from under my pillow. He freaked and ran away, and the next day the campus police came and searched my room and my car. They took all my weapons, and the dean sat me down and told me that they didn't want to make a big deal out of it. If I would go quietly Todd wouldn't press charges, so I had Alex help me pack up my stuff, and I went home.

"I explained everything to Jody, and Cas, and Alex. We argued about it, but eventually they agreed to let me handle it the way I wanted to handle it." she paused and glanced at her surrogate sister. "That's about when Alex and I started talking about hunting full time. That's also about the same time I started drinking."

"So this wasn't a one time thing." Dean said. "This is something that's been going on for a while now."

Claire nodded. "Jody caught me one night, and we had a huge fight, and I left. I figured maybe I would be able to control it better if I wasn't in Sioux Falls, so I decided to go stay with Sam for a while. I stopped a couple of times between home and the bunker, and got too drunk to drive so I ended up spending a couple of nights in motel rooms. Then I got that call from my friend about the demon in Reveille, and I thought that would be a perfect distraction. When Dean showed up I decided Meredith would be an even better distraction because she doesn't drink, and neither does Kim. I thought that would make it easier for me not to drink too. I stopped at another bar on the way here, and slept it off in a motel room, and I was doing really good once I got here. I was only sneaking a couple of drinks here and there."

"So, what happened last night?" Meredith asked, not commenting on the fact that Claire had been drinking underage under her roof without permission.

"I had a nightmare."

"About the indecent with Todd?" Sam asked.

Claire shook her head. "About the time I was raped."

No one said anything. No one had known.

"Mom was gone, and I was a mess. In and out of juvie, spending nights on the streets, getting into trouble." Claire continued. "One night I was trying to find a safe place to sleep when some guy grabbed me and dragged me into an alley. I didn't know how to fight back, and he raped me. When he was finished he knocked me out, and I woke up in a pile of garbage bags the next morning with a homeless guy rooting around for breakfast and muttering to himself about aliens or something. I went straight to the police and told them what had happened. I think because of my record they didn't really believe me. They sent me back to juvie, and said they couldn't find the guy, but I don't think they even bothered to look. That's why I didn't fight the school about the Todd thing. I didn't think it would do any good. And that's why I started drinking. I thought I was doing better until I had that nightmare last night, and...I just broke. It hurts so much to even think about what happened, and I didn't want to hurt anymore. So I got drunk."

Alex was holding her hand, and it was a long time before anyone said anything. Claire could tell just by looking around the room that more than one of her friends would like to hunt down and kill Todd and her rapist, which was exactly the reaction she had expected. It was also why she hadn't said anything until now. She was afraid that they would go and get themselves in trouble. She didn't want that.

"We can fix this." Jody finally said. "We can press charges against Todd, against the school for wrongfully throwing you out. We can find the other guy."

"I can smite him if you like." Cas suggested.

No one laughed because he was completely serious.

"We're not smiting anybody, Cas." Dean said. "We can beat the crap out of him though."

"Or trick him into making deal and have Crowley okay early collection." Meredith suggested. "Death's too easy, but at least that way he'd be roasting in Hell forever."

"Even without a deal he wouldn't be allowed into Heaven." Cas said. "I would make sure of it."

"Guys." Claire said, interrupting their strategy session. "No smiting, no deals, and no beating the crap out of anyone."

"We can't let this go, Claire." Cas said, easily shifting gears from angel to the protective father figure he had become. "This assbutt that hurt you..."

"Hat, Cas." Dean corrected. "It's asshat."

"I don't know." Meredith said, her arms crossed in anger at the unknown man. "I think assbutt works just fine."

Cas continued without acknowledging their comments. "He must be made to pay for his actions. He hurt you."

"Yeah, and I got over it."

"Apparently not if you're getting drunk to forget about it." Sam said. "It's still your decision, but Cas is right. We shouldn't just let this guy slide. We can make the police do something."

"I'll have my guys take over the case." Jody suggested. "Maybe Sheriff Archer can help. You have options, Claire."

"I know." she said. "I know there's things that we can do, but right now I don't know what I want to do. Just...give me some time to think about it, okay?"

They watched as she got up and went back upstairs. Cas started to go after her, but Jody stopped him.

"Let her go." Jody said. "That couldn't have been easy for her. Give her some time to calm down."

Alex pushed her long, dark hair out of her face and looked at Dean and Meredith. "Maybe I should stay here instead of across the street." She and Jody were sharing Jake and Kim's guest room, but Alex thought it might be better for Claire if she moved in with her while they were in town. "Maybe if she's not alone..."

Meredith nodded. "Good idea. Check with Claire first, though. She may not want a roommate."

Alex nodded and got up to follow after her sister, intending to sit outside the bedroom door if Claire didn't want her inside.

"What are we gonna do about this?" Dean asked once both girls were gone.

"Whatever Claire wants us to do." Meredith said. "Even if that's nothing. We can't go behind her back on this."

The others agreed even though no one liked the idea. They couldn't force her to take action, and if they did anything without her permission it would only make things worse. They had to follow her lead on this.

%%%

"Can I ask you something?" Claire asked.

She and Alex were lying on her bed, snuggled up because she needed the comfort from her best friend.

"What?"

"Why did you stick with Alex?" Claire asked. "Why not go back to Annie after you moved in with Jody?"

Alex understood exactly what Claire was getting at. Not only was Alex not her real name, but it was the name her kidnappers had given her. She sighed heavily. "I know it wasn't exactly an ideal situation, being kidnapped by vampires and used as bait, but I did love them. They raised me. They were my family. They took care of me. I only ran away because I couldn't take the guilt any longer, and if I hadn't met Jody, or if she hadn't been so nice to me I guess, I would've completed the transition when Mama fed me her blood. By the time I was free I didn't know who Annie was anymore. Why try to go back to someone I didn't know when I could just move forward and try to be a better Alex?"

"I guess that makes sense."

"You know you can't just let this go, right?" Alex said. "Those guys could hurt other girls. They probably have."

"I know." Claire said. "I'm just scared. I don't want to face all of that again."

Alex stroked Claire's hair as the other girl snuggled closer. "You won't be facing it alone this time. Personally, I think you should just let Cas smite the jerk. Both of them. They deserve it."

Claire giggled. "They do, but they're human as far as I know. We're not supposed to hurt humans if we can help it, remember?"

"Yeah, but some humans aren't worth saving." Alex said. "They hurt people. They hurt you. They're lucky Sam and Dean aren't hunting them down right now."

Claire sighed. "We can't kill them unless we have to, but I don't want anyone else getting hurt because I was too scared to fight back. I'm a hunter. I'm not supposed to be scared."

"Oh please. You think Sam and Dean are never scared?" Alex said. "Hunters aren't fearless. We're just the only people stupid enough to dedicate our lives to killing monsters."

"Or angry enough." Claire corrected.

"Both." Alex decided.

Both girls smiled at that and fell into a companionable silence followed soon after by sleep.

Meredith found them snuggled up together when she came up to check on them and see if they were hungry. Since they were asleep she simply tucked them in and turned out the light. She wasn't sure about Alex, but she knew Claire needed the rest. She didn't see any reason to wake them up to ask if they wanted to come down for lunch. They could eat later. And since it was such a sweet scene she couldn't resist snapping a picture on her phone.

"Aw." Jody said, smiling when Meredith showed her the picture a few minutes later. "My girls."

"Now, that's just too sweet for words." Dean said, looking over their shoulders. "Are you sure that's Alex and Claire?"

Meredith gave him a playful shove. "Like you haven't caused your fair share of trouble, and I know for a fact that you have a sweet streak that could make a sugar cube taste bitter."

"I do not."

"He's blushing!" Jody teased, grinning. "You embarrassed him."

Meredith put her phone on the counter and turned around, grabbing Dean's face and pulling him in for a playful, smacking kiss. "Suck it up, sweetheart."

Meredith shrieked as Dean tickled her, and Jody joined Sam and Cas in watching them play.

"It's good to see him happy like this." Cas said.

"Yeah." Sam agreed.

"Do you think you'll be that happy with Brooke?" Cas asked conversationally.

"Who's Brooke?" Jody inquired. "Sam, do you have a girlfriend?"

"No." Sam said in answer to Jody's question.

"Brooke is the girl he impregnated ten years ago." Cas said, making Sam cringe.

Jody looked surprised at the news, and a little amused at how Cas had worded it. "Oh. So..."

"Yeah." Sam said. "I've got a kid. Thanks, Cas."

"I'm sorry, Sam." Cas said, looking apologetic. "I assumed it was common knowledge at this point. I didn't realize..."

Sam shook his head. "No, it's okay, Cas." He turned his attention back to Jody. "I just got back from meeting him actually. I spent a week up in Pennsylvania with them."

"How did that go, by the way?" Dean asked, joining his brother, Cas, and Jody at the table after helping Meredith serve up leftovers of last night's chicken quesadillas and the year's first batch of peach salsa. "Did Trevor run away screaming when he met you?"

"No, Dean." Sam said. "I explained everything to Brooke, and met Trevor. He's a great kid."

"Gabriel say 'I told you so'?" Dean asked.

"Gabriel?" Cas asked, his mouth full of cheesy chicken even though he had no reason to eat. He had discovered that he didn't need to be hungry to enjoy Meredith's cooking.

Sam and Dean gave Cas and Jody a quick run down of what had happened with the fake demon in Reveille, and weren't surprised to find that Cas had known his brother was alive for a while now.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Dean demanded lightly, more curious than upset.

"I didn't think it was of import." Cas said. "I wasn't aware that he was involved in anything that would affect either of you. He organized the reapers after you killed Death, Dean, and I haven't heard anything from him since. I had no idea he had taken on the role of guardian for anyone, much less Sam's family."

Dean glanced at Sam, expecting him to argue that Brooke and Trevor were not his family, and smiled a little when Sam said nothing. Apparently the idea was growing on him.

"Did you now about the soul mate thing?" Sam asked, not bothering to ask why Cas hadn't known what Gabriel was up to since he was currently in charge of whatever was going on upstairs.

Cas shook his head. "No. I wasn't aware that Heaven cared about your futures beyond your roles in the Apocalypse. If a cupid was brought in I figured it would be afterward for whichever one of you had survived. If either of you survived. Sort of a consolation prize if you weren't reduced to pudding. I didn't realize steps had already been taken to find your matches before you were even aware of your destinies. I'm glad it's all worked out well for you though."

Everyone at the table caught the happy smile on Dean's face when he looked at Meredith. Things had definitely worked out well for him.

"I wish I didn't know." Sam said.

"About Brooke and Trevor?" Meredith asked.

"No, I'm glad I found out about them." Sam clarified. "I wish I didn't know about the whole soul mate thing. It brings a whole new level of pressure to the mix."

"Relax, Sammy." Dean said. "It's a sure thing. You can't screw it up."

"That's exactly why it's ten times more difficult." Sam said. "How would you have felt if you had known Meredith was basically your only choice?"

"Gee, thanks, Sam."

"I didn't mean that in a bad way, Mere."

Dean considered this while he chewed, and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that would've made it...weird. But in this hypothetical scenario you're talking about, did I know I'd found my soul mate before Cas pulled me out, or after I crash landed on her doorstep last year?"

"Does it matter?" Sam asked.

"I'm just thinking I would've fought against it had I known back when I was roasting Hanna Durant." Dean said. "No way would I have put her through loosing the guy she was in love with like that."

"I hate to break it to you, babe, but you did." Meredith informed him.

Dean choked on his mouthful of peach salsa. "What?"

Meredith nodded. "I wouldn't admit it for a long time, but I was already in love with you back then, Dean. Falling for you at least. And I knew it. Things wouldn't have worked out the way they did with Jake if I hadn't felt more than friendship for you. I'm surprised you haven't figured that out yet.

Dean had been aware that Meredith had been attracted to Jake because of the qualities the two men shared, but he hadn't been aware, at least not completely, that she had already developed actual romantic feelings for him. And that only made her fear of marriage more understandable. Jake had been a substitute and she had known it, they had suffered through the loss of two children, their marriage had failed, and it was entirely likely that she felt like she had betrayed Dean on some level because she had tried to replace him. She wasn't just afraid. She felt guilty. She was afraid she'd screw up her second marriage as well. And of course this had all come out in front of everyone, and they couldn't really get into it to sort it out. This was too personal for an audience.

"Hey." Sam said. "I wonder if you two were hit on that case or when you were kids."

"I could find out." Cas offered.

"No!" Dean and Meredith exclaimed in unison. Both of them were fine not knowing exactly when their futures had been decided for them.

"Oh my god." Meredith said, nearly choking on her water as a thought occurred to her, setting her glass down before she spilled it.

"What?" Dean asked, instantly worried.

"Were my parents fixed up by a cupid just so we could end up together?" she asked, looking at her boyfriend, and knowing that John and Mary Winchester had been put together specifically so that Sam and Dean could play their parts in the Apocalypse.

"It's entirely possible that many matches were made throughout history to ensure that you and Dean ended up together." Cas said. "Other events were probably arranged as well."

"Like what?" Jody asked.

"Like my great-grandfather going insane and murdering Hanna Durant and Aaron Reeves." Meredith said. "Her ghost trying to kill me is what brought Dean back into my life."

"I'm sorry if I've cast a shadow on your love." Cas said, drawing strange looks from the others because of how he had worded it.

Meredith shook her head. "No, Cas, it's fine. It's just crazy to think that someone went through so much trouble just to make sure we'd fall in love."

"It's freaking insane." Dean said. "I feel like some kid's doll right now."

Meredith and Sam understood exactly what he was feeling because they were feeling it too. The whole thing was just plain weird, and it made Dean wonder what kind of path Heaven was going to try to force Kit down. Sam was having similar thoughts about Trevor. What kind of mess was the kid going to end up in later in life just because his father was Sam Winchester?

%%%

The house was quiet. Claire and Alex had come down for dinner and then gone right back to bed, Sam was possibly asleep up in his room, and Jody had gone back across the street with Kim, Jake, and the kids. Meredith was sitting in the nursery chair, buttoning up one of Dean's old flannel shirts after feeding Kit, and Dean was pacing around the small space in the room, holding Kit up to his shoulder and trying to get her to burp. She didn't usually need it, but tonight she had been a little fussy after dinner, and Dean was perfectly willing to let his child throw up on him if she needed to, though he was really hoping that the only thing that came out of her mouth was air.

Kit let out a quiet, but audible burp as Dean gently patted her back, and he was glad that was all that came out. "That's a good girl." he told the baby, and then looked down at Meredith, coming to a stop. "So, you want to talk about that little revelation you made at lunch earlier?"

"What about it?" she asked, knowing exactly what he was referring to.

Dean placed Kit in her crib after giving her a kiss, and sat down on the ottoman, pulling it back a little so they weren't quite so crowded. "I didn't realize you were actually in love with me back then."

"Neither did I." Meredith said. "I mean, I did. It just took me a while to realize that that's why I had married Jake, that it was the things about him that reminded me of you that I was in love with and not actually him. When we first got married I thought I'd gotten over you, that Jake had helped me heal and move on from loosing you, and in a way he did, but I finally realized it wasn't what I thought it was. That's when I started feeling like my marriage was a lie, and I wasn't being fair to him, and..."

"And you felt like you were betraying me." Dean finished when she trailed off, knowing her well enough to fill in the blanks.

She looked away, but nodded slightly. "I never thought of it like that, but yeah. Maybe a little."

"And that's why you won't marry me." he guessed. "Not just because it didn't work last time. You're afraid you're gonna screw it up this time too, but you didn't screw it up last time. It wasn't right, Mere."

Her nod was more definite this time. "Dean, I know proposing was a huge deal for you, and I know I hurt you when I said no, but...I just couldn't do it. I was too scared."

Dean couldn't help but notice the past tense of her words. "Couldn't? Was?"

Meredith smiled. "I was afraid to marry you because of what happened with Jake, but I was also still afraid I was going to loose you somehow, and I guess some part of me thought that would be easier if you weren't my husband. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea. I don't know if it's got something to do with Kit, or the cupid, or if I've just realized how silly I was. Or maybe it's all of that, but I'm not afraid anymore. I want to marry you, Dean. If you still want to marry me."

"Yeah." Dean said automatically. He didn't need to think about it. A smile stretched across his face as she moved to sit in his lap and he put his arms around her. "Of course I still want to marry you."

Meredith mirrored his smile as she took his face in her hands and kissed him.

"Does this mean I get a pretty diamond to show off to all my friends?" he joked.

Meredith laughed and hugged him. "Yes. If you really want, I will buy you an engagement ring."

"How about I buy you one instead?" he asked, still smiling. "We'll go shopping this weekend."

"Deal." she kissed him again.

"You know," he said, as Kit began to fuss again and Meredith got up to get her. "In this case I'm okay with having my choices taken away." He got up and wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissing her temple and smiling down at their daughter in her arms. "I probably never would've got here on my own."

"Careful, Dean." Meredith cautioned. "You're starting to sound like a chick flick."

"I don't care." He reached down and stroked Kit's cheek with his finger. "I'm a happy man, and if that means chick flick moments, then so be it."

%%%

Claire was sitting out on the front porch steps. She had woken up about two hours after she and Alex had gone back to bed, and hadn't been able to get back to sleep. She had felt restless and boxed in, so she had come out here for some fresh air. Alcohol would make her feel better, but after what had happened the previous night, and the conversation she had had with her friends today she knew better. She may not be able to stay sober by her own force of will for long, but she could make it through tonight at least.

She knew she had some important decisions to make, but she didn't have to make them right now. Right now she only had to focus on ignoring the voice in her head that was urging her to go inside and have a drink.

She heard the gentle rustle of wings and suddenly Castiel appeared in the yard. He walked over and sat down beside her.

"Are you okay, Claire?" he asked.

She had sent up a silent prayer asking him to come sit with her. She smiled softly at him. "Yeah. I just wanted some company."

Cas could sense that she was struggling with the weight of the decisions she had to make, and wished he could make them for her. They had managed to move beyond the fact that he was the reason she had lost her family, and had grown to love and care for each other. He could only guess that what he now felt for Claire might be close to what Dean felt for Kit, and put his arm around her when she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Together they sat in silence and watched the sun rise.

I believe "YAY!", "AWWWWW!", and something I'm not going to even try to put into words, but falls in line with Dean, Meredith, and Cas' ideas on how to avenge Claire sufficiently sum up my thoughts on this chapter. ~SG