Again, just making this up as I go along, so let me know what you think...

- Dean's POV -

I'm not one to break down and cry, but I'll be the first to admit that there were a lot of tears that night. From everyone. Lisa and I fought throughout the night because we knew it would never work out, but our hearts just couldn't accept it. The worst part of it, though, was when Ben came in and demanded that I teach him to be a hunter. When I heard that, I lost it completely.

"No," I told him. "Never."

"Why not!" he shouted. "Your dad taught you!"

"I would never sentence you to this life, Ben! I love you too much! I want something better for you! Not this!"

"But-"

"Do you think I want to see you out there in those dangerous situations, risking your life instead of hanging out with your friends! Do you think your mother wants you in the middle of gunfire instead of at school! Do you want to spend your whole life doomed to be alone until your early death, constantly losing people, watching them die! This is not the life you want, Ben! Don't you ever say that to me again!"

"Back off!" Lisa yelled, stepping in front of her son. "Don't you yell at my son that way!"

"Do you hear him!" I shouted. "He wants to throw his life away! You're his mother! Tell him that it's never gonna happen!"

"Why not?" rang out another voice. We all looked up at the top of the stairs to see Diana staring down at us.

"Stay out of this, Diana!" I warned. Sam appeared at her side, head low.

"It's not her, Dean."

"Fine! Stay out of this, you mega-watt freak!"

Diana rolled her eyes at me. "Look, all I'm saying is Ben and Lisa are important to you. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. They will always be targets. Why not teach them to protect themselves?" She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, as though she'd just made an immovable argument.

"Yeah!" Ben chimed in. "I don't have to go looking for them, I just have to be able to protect myself! C'mon, Dean, please! It makes sense!"

"No!"

"Fine!" he shouted, glaring at me. "Then I'll just go sit in my room and wait to be attacked!" He stomped up the stairs, past Diana and Sam, and down the hall.

Lisa exhaled, covering her face with her hands. "Great," she groaned. "Now I have to talk him out of running away and becoming Van Helsing."

I glared up at Diana and Sam. "Would you just-"

"What do you want me to do?" Sam asked. "Chain her up?"

"You wish," Diana hissed, then started down the stairs. "Look, it's a very simple matter. Logically, you want to be together and nothing is stopping you. Lisa and Ben would be in constant danger? Breaking news, Dean, they already are. You erased yourself from their memories completely and they were still attacked. Sorry, but staying away doesn't keep them safer. In fact, it's worse because it'll take you longer to get to them if they need your help. The rational solution is to teach them to protect themselves and keep them close. You humans are ridiculous. This shouldn't be a debate."

She walked away, head high, and all I wanted to do was just punch her in the face.

"What the hell is with her?" Lisa asked.

"She's sort of possessed," Sam sighed. "I'll try to keep her from causing any more problems. I'm sorry for what she said."

"Well, she wasn't wrong," Lisa exhaled, watching them go.

"What are you talking about? Of course she's wrong!"

"No, Dean," Lisa sighed, looking up at me with pained eyes. "She was being rational. Everything she said made sense. You can't deny that, Dean."

"So... What are you saying? You want Ben to grow up the way I did?"

"No, but I only have a few short years left during which I can make decisions for him. I want him to grow up to be a good man, Dean. A good man, like you are." She moved closer to me, reaching up to touch my cheek, tears in her eyes. "I don't want my baby to die. But he can't keep living his life going back and forth between normality and your reality. And now that he's older, he's able to form his own opinions and make his own choices. He loves you, Dean, we both do. And we both want you around."

"You told me that we could only-"

"I know what I told you," she cut me off, her voice breaking. "But I also know that, realistically, what Diana said was true. Dean, we can never go back to that life. Not without you. We need you. Please. If not for my sake, for Ben's. You keep saying you want him to have a good future. He may not even get a future if you leave us again. Please, Dean."

I stared down into her eyes as she begged. My heart was shattered at her words and I gently removed her hand from my cheek and replaced it by her side.

"Fine," I whispered, turning away from her. "If you follow Ben upstairs and go down the hall on your right you'll find some empty bedrooms. You can each have one. I have to go."

"Thank you so much," Lisa breathed behind me. "And Dean?" She caught my arm and I turned to look back at her coldly.

"I have to go," I told her, pulling my arm away. "Excuse me." I stalked off in the direction that Sam and Diana had earlier gone, leaving her behind.

I finally found them in the library, Diana flipping casually through a few books, smirking to herself, Sam glaring at her from across the room, his eyes following her suspiciously. I walked up to him and leaned back against the shelf he was standing in front of.

"What's with the sour face?" I asked.

"She's trapped inside there with something powerful enough to send a god running back to Olympus and I can't help her," he replied impassively. "You?"

"She begged me to let them stay so that I could protect them."

Sam glanced over at me. "Seems legitimate."

"Yeah, too bad she didn't even bother to mention maybe wanting to stay because she misses me and wants to try again."

"She iced you?" Sam asked softly. I raised my eyebrows in reply, shifting my weight and crossing my arms over my chest. "I'm sorry, man."

"Yeah, well. How about you? What happened after we left besides the Freaky Friday mind switch?"

Sam exhaled, returning his gaze to Diana. "She said she wished you and Lisa and Ben could have a happy life together because she thinks you deserve it." I felt a tiny smile pull at my lips. "And she told me... She told me she loves me." I forced my painfully small smile to grow for him.

"I'm happy for you, man."

"Yeah, it's great," he sighed. "If I could ever get her back."

"You will, don't worry," I promised, putting a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, let's call Cas and have a little chat about TNT over there."

"She'll be pissed if she finds out what we're talking about and we can't exactly chain her up."

I raised an eyebrow as I watched Diana pull out more books and pace around the table, smiling and occasionally laughing at what she read. I glanced back at Sam.

"I think she's pretty invested in those things."

- Sam's POV -

We left Diana in the library and went to pray for Cas outside so as not to completely compromise the base if it didn't go so well. He appeared after almost five minutes.

"I apologize for the delay," he said. "It was a bit difficult to locate you."

"Good," Dean said, shifting his weight. "Sam said you want to help us."

"I said I was willing to listen to your reasoning as to why I should not kill the girl," Cas corrected.

"Because she's innocent," I snapped. "She's done nothing wrong. In fact, she's done a lot of good and wants to, and is more than capable of, doing a lot more. Just because she got saddled with this supernatural burden, you want to take her life. She did not have a choice in this matter. She's the equivalent of no more than an unfortunate bystander."

"Fair enough," Cas nodded. "But why can we not strip the power of the vessel and move it somewhere else?"

"Is that possible?" Dean asked. "I thought you said the only thing strong enough to contain that thing was a human soul."

"True," Cas agreed. "But perhaps we can transfer it to a different soul. One that is not on earth to trouble the living."

"Could you do that?" I asked. "And Diana would be all right?"

"Well, frankly, I don't know," he admitted. "It would be a delicate process and would take a great deal of power. It would not be a task that I could complete alone. We would have to compromise."

"Compromise?" Dean asked. "With who?" Castiel didn't answer, just cast his eyes down towards the ground. "What, Crowley? No way! That son of a bitch will just stab us in the back, are you kidding!"

"If he agreed," I asked, "would it work?"

"We would need further cooperation," Cas explained. "But if we got enough people behind us, then yes, we could potentially remove the power from Diana's soul without causing too much damage."

"What kind of further cooperation?" I asked.

"Sam, you can't be serious!" Dean laughed.

I looked him square in the face. "This is the woman I love. I am dead serious, Dean." Looking back at Cas again, I repeated my question.

"With the combined efforts of myself, and Crowley, we may be able to remove it with damage," Castiel confessed. "In order to transfer it completely, with minimal damage, we'll need the cooperation of the Black Horseman."

"Death?" Dean raised his eyebrows, putting his hands on his hips. "You want us to ask Death to help?"

"If you wish Diana to survive the transaction, yes, that is advisable."

"Dean," I begged. "We've gotta try."

He took a deep breath, then started to move his hands as he spoke, painting a picture in the air of his thoughts.

"Okay, here's what I'm thinking. If we can get Crowley and Death to cooperate, we organize an attack to exhaust the power, get it to go on autopilot again. When Diana's back in the saddle, we fill her in a the last minute, then strap her down and play surgeon. Extract the power and move it to a human soul that is not on earth. A human soul that understands us and our situation. Someone that we know can handle this. Someone that we know we can trust. Someone pure."

"Dean, is that fair?" I asked.

"No, but is anything?"

I sighed. "Do you think she'd do it?"

Dean sighed, folding his arms again. "For us, Sammy? I think she'd do anything."

I sighed as well and nodded. We looked at Castiel. "Let's do it."

What are you guys thinking?

How are the guys at understanding their girls? Will the ever get a chance at love and happiness?

Who does Sam and Dean want to ask to retain the power?

Will Crowley and Death cooperate and, if so, will it work?