A/N This is short but I feel like this scene needs to be by itself. Thanks to reviewers chinaluv, Carver Edlund (dude GOD reviewed this?), and guest! All of you reviewers are awesome and have a special piece of my heart :) And now for the scene that people have been bugging me for for a while. I hope it lives up to your expectations...

"Leviathan!" Cas yelled. He jerked around. "I can't fight them! Run!" His head twitched to the side. Not long now- they hissed in his head.

"Go find Sam!" Dean told Bobby. He shuffled out of the room quickly and Dean took a tentative step towards the twitching angel.

Cas gave one last jerk and then stood up straight- a playful grin on his face. "Too late!" He practically sang.

"Cas?" Dean asked.

"Cas is… hmmm." He tilted his head but it wasn't like he usually did. His entire bearing seemed off with that maniacal grin on his face. "He's gone… We run the show now." Cas flicked a finger and Dean was flung across the room. Bobby had just come back into the room and was flung against a wall as well. Black tendrils began creeping along Cas' neck. "Well this is going to be sooo much fun." He let out a little laugh.

Chapter 14

Zara woke to the sound of the front door slamming. Somewhere in the front of the house she could hear Dean talking to someone- presumably Sam and Bobby. "You get some rest. I need to stay up for a while." Zara could hear Bobby and Sam head to their respective rooms and quiet down quickly. They must be exhausted.

She padded slowly into the kitchen where she saw Dean downing a shot of whiskey. His back was to her but she could see the tension in his shoulders. He threw the glass down and it shattered in the corner making Zara jump. She probably should have retreated and let Dean cool off by himself but she just couldn't. After all that had happened to her right now, what with being kidnapped and everything else, she needed to talk to someone. She needed Dean. If that was an angry Dean, so be it.

Zara leaned against the door frame. "Tough night?"

Dean rounded on her quickly- aiming a gun at her. He hadn't noticed anyone come up behind him in his distracted state. He lowered the gun as soon as he saw who it was though. Several emotions passed over his face in mere seconds: anger, fear, hurt, loss, then relief, joy… something else? She didn't know. "Zara?" He asked unbelievingly. He rushed over and gave her fierce hug, one for comfort, and two to see if she was actually real. He sighed deeply when he felt that she was, in fact, corporeal. Zara wasn't missing. He could stop worrying that Cas had done something awful to her. "Where did you go? How did you get back? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" The questions tumbled out- all of his own concerns forgotten for an instant. The role of protector was so ingrained in him that his problems didn't matter in the moment.

Zara instantly relaxed into the hug. She didn't realize exactly how much she needed this until now. "Where does one begin the story of their kidnapping?" She gave a dry laugh and extracted herself from his embrace so that she could talk to him face to face. "Cas took me to a cabin in the woods somewhere. Balthazar got me out." She didn't care to answer the other questions.

"But are you okay?" Dean pressed- sensing that there was more to it than Zara's short, dry description.

She snorted. Other than nearly dying and finding out I'm not human? "Balthazar patched me up fine. I'm good as new now, so don't you worry."

Dean's face darkened. "I'm gonna kill Cas." He paused. He couldn't kill Cas. Cas was already dead.

Zara noticed the change in him. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked tentatively. She walked over and hopped up onto the counter- looking at him expectantly.

"But you already know what happened." He reasoned.

"Yes. But you can either brood about it here, by yourself, or you can talk it out. I'll listen- no interruptions. It's probably healthier that way." She half joked- thinking about how Dean always kept everything inside. It might help him a lot to have someone to talk to that wasn't Sammy; someone who knew already and was just willing to listen.

"Cas is dead." Dean blurted out brokenly. He looked at her to see if she was surprised for some reason but she wasn't. "He got rid of the souls but the Leviathans stayed and they took over. They killed him. They're out God knows where, doing God knows what, and now we most likely have to stop another world takeover. Why can't any of these mega powerful creatures be on our side for once? Once! That's all I ask." Dean was on a roll now. "And if that wasn't enough, I found Sam in some back room rocking and mumbling something about still being in the cage like he's completely out of his mind!" Zara hopped off the counter and went over to Dean- putting her arms around him in another comforting hug. He put his arms around her waist and buried his face in her hair. "My best friend is dead and my little brother is going insane and I just- I just don't know what to do. I feel so helpless Zara. What do I do?"

Zara rubbed his back. "You fight, Dean Winchester. You fight because that's what you do and I can help you because I happen to know things." Dean leaned back and looked her in the eyes hopefully. She smiled. "For starters, Cas is alive." Dean's eyes widened. "He'll resurface in a month or so and heal Sam." Zara decided to leave out the bad stuff that went along with all that for now. "And we need to stock up on Borax. It's like acid to Leviathans." Dean gaped at her in surprise. "We can fix this, Dean. It will get better."

Zara quickly noticed how close they were- practically nose to nose in their embrace. Her cheeks reddened slightly. Dean graciously made a little cough and let her go. "I- uh… That's great." He let out a long breath. His emotions were still all over the place. Zara had given him a bit of a whiplash in her attempt to calm his fears. He headed over to the fridge and grabbed a few beers. He needed some dulled senses for a while until he could process everything. "I could really go for a couple of drinks right now. Care to join me?" He offered her a beer which she gratefully took.

After all that had happened, she could go for a few hours of carefree drinking too. "Better grab a couple more." She sighed. They plundered Bobby's fridge and set up camp on the couch. Zara was curled up under a large quilt nursing a Budweiser. Dean plopped down next to her and threw his feet onto her lap. He waggled his eyebrows at her cheekily- daring her to push them off. She just rolled her eyes. He had been through a rough day. "At least take your shoes off, Dean. There's still mud and who knows what else all over them." He kicked them off and popped open another can of the good stuff- almost chugging half of it in one go and then letting out an impressive belch.

Zara snorted at his childish antics. She knew he was trying his hardest to make both of them forget the past 48 hours and she appreciated the effort. Usually, watching Supernatural was her escape from reality, but now? This was her reality… "I'm guessing Bobby doesn't get BBC on his TV now doesn't he? I need to start introducing you to quality shows- much better than Dr. Sexy."

Dean had zoned out for a second. "Huh?"

"Never mind." Everything would be reruns for her anyway- being 3 years behind- and that was IF they even showed here. They were silent for a few minutes- doing their best to drink their worries away. It was almost surreal for Zara. Everything had happened so fast. Not three weeks ago, she was patching up her latest scars while listening to Dean on TV and today… today she was sitting on a couch drinking beer with him. Suddenly, she had been thrown into this world of monsters and mayhem and she was somehow part of all of it. In the brief time she had been there, she had been kidnapped once- no twice- and almost killed because she was some human-word hybrid. It was insane! Completely and utterly insane. She hadn't asked for this to happen. She tried as much as she could to put on a brave face but deep down she was absolutely and utterly terrified.

"Zara?" Dean's concerned voice snapped her out of her mini panic attack. At some point, she had leaned over and put her face in her hands- breathing fast and hard. Dean was rubbing circles into her back. She let out a slow breath in an attempt to calm down. "Are you okay?"

"I don't want to talk about it." She snapped at him. He jerked back his hand- afraid of setting her off. She immediately felt bad. He was only trying to help and she was biting his head off. "I- I'm sorry. It's not your fault." She nestled into his side and leaned her head on his chest. He put his arms around her and started stroking her hair with one hand absentmindedly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked- offering to her what she had given not thirty minutes ago.

"Nope." She smirked. Zara knew that she was doing exactly what Dean always did- drink his feelings and ignore the problem- but she seriously COULD NOT deal with this right now. He nodded and kissed the top of her head. He wasn't going to pry if she wasn't ready. He knew exactly what she was feeling even if he didn't know why. Sometimes you just need someone to hold you and so that's what he did. Just as the sun was about to break over the horizon, Zara drifted off. She might have been mistaken, but she thought she heard a little "I missed you, Zara. I'm so glad you're okay." right before she fell asleep in his arms.