Thanks so much for all the great reviews… Keep them coming!! Also, if you have ANY input on where I should take the story, I'd love to hear it. I haven't made up my mind completely on where I want to go with this, and any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Eleven

For the next week, Dean was uncharacteristically silent. He didn't make his usual smart-ass comments to everything, and those seven days were fairly uneventful. He woke up a week later feeling blank and distant.

Dean tried all day to cover up the pain of Lilly leaving. Whenever Sam wasn't asking him questions or trying to talk to him, Dean wondered if Lilly was thinking of him as much as he was thinking of her.

Of course she's not… Dean told himself. I was an ass. She probably hates me. He sighed. The day couldn't be over soon enough.

He went to sleep thinking of Lilly, and woke up several times in the night. His nightmares were horrible, moreso than usual- he hadn't realized how well he'd been sleeping since Lilly had been with them.

The next morning Dean found himself going through the motions. He went to get breakfast, he made plans with Sam to check out the case later that evening, and he drove around town in the Impala. He did anything and everything to keep his mind off Lilly, and where she might be.

What danger she might be in.

Castiel's warning jumped into his mind- keep her safe from human dangers. Dean felt almost sick with worry, but pushed it out of his mind, telling himself they were better off without her anyway.

After talking it over with Sam, Dean agreed to check out a park where the demon was hunting and killing people. Dean thought it was odd that it was staying in one place, but what demons did wasn't his concern. His concern was killing them.

They made sure they had plenty of rock salt, and everything else they needed. Their plan was to catch the demon in a devil's trap, and exorcise it as quickly as possible. They quickly realized that this was not going to go according to plan.

As soon as they arrived, they could tell there was a demon around. Street lights flickered, the Impala's radio buzzed on and off with static, and the air seemed almost alive with electricity. They saw the demon a few moments later.

It was possessing the body of a little girl, with brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a blue frilly dress.

"I gotta tell you, Sammy, I am seriously creeped out by demons possessing kids," Dean muttered. He hated that the little girl would probably die.

Sam nodded. "I'll work on setting up the devil's trap," He said, as he jogged farther into the park. Dean stood by a tree, watching, his eyes searching for the demon. He didn't care if it was a little girl- he'd shoot it on sight. Over the years, the hardness of the job and the lifestyle had taught him that one life wasn't worth dozens of others.

A movement caught his eye- a flash to his right. He cocked his gun, and prepared to fire.

Dean was shocked when a blast from his left threw his against the tree. The demon approached him, laughing. The black eyes and the slightly out-of-body voice terrified him more than he could ever tell, but he glared and tried to fight his way out of the hold.

"Hey, Dean," the demon said. He didn't recognize it.

"Go back to hell," Dean hissed, from where his throat was constricted. He didn't like being thrown back into things and strangled, and it was happening too often.

The demon laughed. "No thanks, I like it up here." It smiled coyly at him. "Where's your little girlfriend?"

Dean bit his tongue and glared.

"Oh, she's not here? Did you let her out of her cage, finally?" It paced in front of him, occasionally flicking a wrist or a finger, causing him to cry out. "Too bad. I'd have liked to take a crack at her… Seems like all of hell thinks she's untouchable! Is that true, Dean?"

Dean coughed and didn't answer. Where the hell is Sam?!

"What, you don't know, or you won't say? Everyone wants a piece of her, Dean. If anyone gets their hands on her, well, she'll be our next sporting event. Whoever can break her gets the glory."

Dean felt sick. He saw something out of the corner of his eye, and prayed it was Sam.

"Poor dreamwalker… She's the first in thousands of years, you know. There's a few from back then that haven't died off yet, but none nearly as powerful as her. They're a dying breed, Dean." The demon sliced at his stomach, and Dean gasped. "If you only knew…" It chuckled.

"Knew what?" Dean gasped, almost choking.

"Oh, nothing serious. Just that quite a few of us are curious… Well, it's not important." It glared at him. "You've got other things to worry about."

Just as it started to cut into Dean's stomach again, he saw movement, and almost cried with relief that Sam was finally there.

Except it wasn't Sam.

Dean watched transfixed as Lilly hit the demon head on, seizing it by the throat as she had the one in the club. The demon screamed at her touch, crying and begging her to stop. Dean couldn't see that she was doing anything to it, but its eyes held a tormented look that told him otherwise.

There was a shock through the air, like soundless thunder. The demon's eyes went from being black to a murky grey, swimming with darker shapes. It continued to scream, even after Lilly let it go. Finally, the black smoke rose from the little girl's mouth. Lilly seemed to draw it up and out with a finger, and when her hand fell, the smoke disappeared completely.

Dean fell to the ground and gasped for air. He looked up at Lilly, dumbfounded, as she stared at the body of the little girl. Her chest heaved slightly, and her eyes held the wild look that they'd had when he first saw her. Dean had never been happier to see her.

"How… What…?" Dean stuttered, still catching his breath. "Why?"

Lilly ignored the first two questions and offered him a hand up. "You saved me, I saved you." Her eyes were distrustful, and Dean felt a pang of regret.

"Look, Lilly, I'm sorry-" He tried to begin.

"Fine." She said, turning away from him. "I'll go get Sam."

Dean stopped. "Where the hell was he?" He demanded. Lilly kept walking, but glanced over her shoulder.

"I told him to stay where he was. This could have gotten… Messy."

Dean didn't ask for elaboration.

Sam was waiting for them, pacing under a street light. He rushed towards them when he saw them coming. "Oh, thank God," he said. "I thought I made a big mistake leaving you out there." Dean grunted. Lilly gave Sam a sharp glance. "No offense," He added.

Dean sagged down onto the sidewalk. "Whoa, come on," Lilly said softly, hooking her arms under his armpits and hoisting him back up. She glanced at the bleeding wound on his stomach. "You need that stitched up," she said.

Sam took the initiative. "Come on, Dean, let's get back to the car." Lilly glanced around awkwardly.

Dean lifted his head to look at Lilly. "Well, are you gonna just stand there?" Lilly's eyes brightened. "Don't think I'm not still going to watch you. I still don't know what you are. But that angel you met, he told me to keep an eye on you, and I can't do that if you're somewhere else."

Glancing briefly at the ground, Lilly nodded. When she looked up, the vaguest hints of a smile played at the corners of her mouth.

Dean didn't even crack a smile, and even though he was worried about himself and Sam being in the proximity of something so terrifying, he felt a little better knowing Lilly was with them.

They arrived back at the motel later than Dean would have liked, but they had stopped at Lilly's motel to get her bags and check her out. She plopped her bags on the bed and started to go through the Winchester's first aid kit. Dean lay down on the bed, exhausted, and looked around. His vision was a little blurry, and his stomach throbbed.

Lilly found a needle, thread, and alcohol and sat down gingerly next to Dean.

"Shirt off," she said.

Dean grinned. "You could buy me dinner first," he mumbled. Lilly laughed and helped him pull it over his shoulders. She gently dabbed the cut with alcohol, and Dean flinched slightly. She put her other hand on his chest; Dean wasn't sure if it was for balance or not.

Humming softly, Lilly stitched the cut quickly, giving Dean a sip of whiskey before giving him his shirt back. Smiling, she patted his chest.

"All better," she said. Dean grinned.

"Thanks." He flopped back on the bed. Sam snapped his laptop closed from the table in the room and stood up.

"I'm gonna run to the vending machine… Lilly, wanna come with me?" he asked. "Dean, you want anything?"

"Sure," Lilly replied, throwing on her jacket. Dean muttered that he wanted a beer, and Sam said he'd see what he could do.

Dean drifted in and out of sleep, and was jolted awake by someone saying his name.

"Dean!" Dean jumped when he saw Castiel sitting on the edge of the bed, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Yeah?"

Castiel folded his hands. "You made the right choice earlier."

"Huh?" Castiel rolled his eyes.

"With Lilly. There was prophecy speaking of this, and if you hadn't let her come back with you and Sam, the eventual consequences would have been disastrous."

Dean sat up. "Well, you know how much I love being heaven's bitch-puppet," he grumbled.

Castiel gave him a small smile. "Just because you don't agree with everything doesn't mean you don't have faith, Dean," he said. Dean nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Dean wiped a hand over his face. "So why are you here?"

"To tell you that while it's very good that this particular fork of prophecy has come to pass, there are other important parts that must be fulfilled."

Dean didn't like where this was going. "Like what?"

Castiel straightened his tie. "First of all, you can't kick her out again." Dean nodded. "Second, you have to let her help you, with your work and with other things."

"Oh, hold on a second-"

"This is not negotiable, Dean."

"But she's dangerous! We don't know half the crap she can do!"

Castiel sighed. "Trust me, Dean, you would rather this path. Let her help. She can control herself."

Dean sighed loudly. "Fine."

"I'm afraid you'll have to choose the rest for yourself."

Dean snorted. "Alright, but if I end up blowing the world up by saying 'good morning' to her the wrong way, don't come crying to me."

Castiel stared blankly. "Dean, I seriously doubt the world will explode from simple kindness."

"No, Cas, I was- never mind." Castiel stared for another moment, then shook his head.

"Just remember what I said, Dean- be very careful about what you do."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, fine."

Castiel stood and brushed invisible dust from his coat. "I need to be going," He said. Dean sat up a little straighter.

"Thanks for the advice, I guess," Dean said. He didn't like that there was so much prophecy controlling his life.

"You're welcome, Dean. It's my job to help you." Castiel bowed his head slightly. Dean didn't say anything, and Castiel walked out the door.

Sam and Lilly came back a few minutes later and found Dean lying in bed, half asleep. Sam smiled slightly at seeing his brother get some rest. They both needed it; hell, Lilly probably did too. Neither Sam nor Dean knew what she was capable of, and while it itched at Dean constantly, Sam was okay with it. He was able to trust Lilly easily.

Lilly flopped on the other bed, not aware that Dean was barely still awake and watching her. Sam smiled at her.

"You take the bed, I'll take the floor."

Lilly nodded; she was too tired to protest. "Thanks," she said. Dragging herself up, she grabbed her bag and headed to the bathroom to change.

Dean slept better than he had in a long time that night. He didn't wake up once, and didn't dream at all. No nightmares from hell, no angels or demons, no prophecy. For the first time in months, his sleep was completely peaceful and uninterrupted.

Lilly spent the night in hell.

Her dreams were plagued with demons and angels coming after her, visions of being in hell- both of being tortured and torturing others. She cried in her dreams and woke up several times almost clawing her eyes out, the images burned into her mind. Whenever she woke up almost screaming, she looked over at Dean's peaceful face and closed her mouth and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the next round with Dean's nightmares.

Waking herself up did no good. She could still see things, and couldn't shake the pain she felt. In an effort to make Dean's life a little easier, she had tried to take everything he felt herself, to let him sleep. She didn't know one person could hold this much pain and suffering and still be sane.

She tried to dig through Dean's mind to find something, anything, that wasn't tainted by evil or demons, and found nothing. This had been his whole life.

After searching most of the night, trying to fight and break the nightmares, she found a memory that left her sobbing and barely able to breathe.

It was fuzzy, and she didn't understand most of it- but the message was clear.

An old man sat in a wheelchair, but Lilly could tell it wasn't just a man. This was something worse than a demon, though she couldn't tell exactly what it was. It was something horribly evil.

People were starving and tearing each other apart, and Lilly recognized Sam and the angel, Castiel. There were several other people she didn't know standing around, and she almost screamed when the focus turned on the old man again.

It was like looking emptiness in the face.

He started speaking to Dean in a ragged, cracked voice, and Lilly tried to reach into the memory and grab him, kill him. But when she reached out, there was nothing there, almost as if he wasn't real.

Yet she knew he was.

She tried to make sense of the words coming from the old man's mouth, and couldn't. He said something about hell, and people starving, and a famine-

Famine.

Oh, dear God, this isn't happening- Lilly knew it was. She'd read the Bible, and she knew about the four horsemen. The man in the wheelchair was Famine, and was feeding on souls. She knew he would take Dean's.

She felt the old man reach out steal Dean's soul, and saw his surprise when he found nothing. She heard him say that hell had stolen it already, that Dean was a broken man with no hope. She cried because she knew it was true.

Lilly sat up quickly, and felt tears streaming down her face. They turned to tears of relief when she that sunlight flooded into the windows. Running a hand through her hair and wiping her eyes, her gaze darted around the room. Sam was sitting at the table with Dean, and they were eating breakfast.

Dean turned towards her and gave her a big smile. "Morning," he muttered through a mouthful of sausage biscuit.

"Morning," Lilly said shakily. "How long have you been up…?" The previous night was blurry, and she was all too glad to put it behind her.

"Just a couple hours." Sam's voice was gentle, and Lilly felt a little better as she swung her legs out of bed. Standing up, her legs screamed at her. Without Dean to keep in her chained up in a motel room all the time, she'd been out a lot, always running. Over the last week, she'd pushed herself harder than she usually did, and sprinting around the park last night to find the demon hadn't helped.

Lilly pulled her back quickly into a ponytail and moved towards the table. She hadn't eaten much over the last week, and was starving. The guys' food smelled amazing.

"What are you hungry for?" Dean asked. She looked pretty hungry, and he wanted a chance to talk to her.

Inhaling the scent of breakfast, Lilly sighed. "Cheese and carbs," she said. Dean laughed.

"Put some clothes on and I'll get you something to eat," he said. Lilly grinned.

A few minutes later they were in the Impala, headed into the small town to find breakfast. Sam had decided to stay and look for another case, and though he didn't say anything, Dean was kind of glad.

"So… Rough night?" Dean asked, trying not to be too intrusive. Lilly flinched slightly.

"Yeah."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault."

Lilly's voice was tight, so Dean didn't press the issue further. As usual when he was around her, he was hit with indecision about whether to try to hit on her, or kill her. Whenever the first instinct started to overwhelm him, he thought of the demons she had killed, and what Bobby had told him. Whenever he thought about the second, he remembered Castiel's warning.

Just don't shoot her.

Without thinking, the hunter got the better of him and he spoke up. "Look, so I've gotta ask…"

Lilly raised her eyebrows and met his gaze.

"What are you? Like what can you do?"

Lilly smiled and stared out the window.

"What, you can't talk now?"

You already know.

It sounded as if she'd spoken inside his head, but he knew nothing had been said out loud. He looked at incredulously, and found her watching with a smirk.

"So you're like a… Psychic or something?" Lilly laughed out loud.

"Not even close." She spoke aloud this time. Dean was a little relieved. He didn't like the idea of things being in his head.

He didn't know that Lilly had heard that thought.

They passed a sign for a small diner a couple miles down the road. Dean pointed to it. "Sound good?"

Lilly nodded. "Sure."

Dean didn't really know what to say to Lilly. He didn't know what to ask, or how to react to the answers. They sat down in their booth quietly, and when he waitress had set off to get their drinks, Lilly looked across the table at Dean, folded her hands, and smiled sweetly.

Waiting.

Instead of saying something immediately he picked up a menu and leafed through it, pausing to look at several items. Finally he realized he couldn't stall any longer, and looked up to meet the gaze of the woman across from him. She was watching him in that unnerving way, like a hawk watching a mouse- knowing it didn't need to hurry, only to watch and wait for the mouse to come closer.

"How do you do it?" Dean blurted. It was the best he could think of.

Lilly smiled and waved her hand absently. "I just… Do."

That wasn't the answer Dean had wanted. "What do you mean? I want to know, Lilly."

"You don't want to know." Her eyes went icy and her voice changed. She was dead serious.

"Yes I do."

"Leave it alone, Dean."

"Dammit, Lilly, tell me, or I'll shoot you right here."

Lilly's eyes flashed angrily. She bit back a smart remark as the waitress came back with their drinks and took their orders. As the waitress walked away, she turned her eyes on Dean viciously.

"That was disgusting, Dean."

"Huh?"

"I'm sure she would never do that with you, considering she'd married."

"How the hell-!"

"I said you didn't want to know." Lilly sipped her sweet tea and fixed Dean with a hard stare.

"Fine."

"Good."

"So it's settled."

"Guess so."

"Sleep well?" Lilly asked, trying to sound innocent.

Dean nodded and relaxed slightly. "Great, actually,"

Lilly nodded. "That's good," She slightly regretted the fact that Dean would never know that she was behind it. There was something depressing about being the one saving people behind the scenes, especially when they didn't even know they needed saving.

But then, she figured, Dean probably knew something about that.

Sighing, Lilly swallowed her thoughts and feelings and looked up at Dean again, but not before she was hit with a wave of pain- knowing that he would never feel the way she did, that he would never trust her, or let her into his life.

Like she always had, she wanted to save him, and put the broken pieces of him back together. She had always wanted to help people; it was why she had become a doctor. Seeing Dean clearly so destroyed by his own life was heartbreaking to watch, but she knew she could never be the one to fix him.