Dean felt his heart shatter in his chest at Aline's and Tom's wide-eyed gazes filled with fear as they stared and pointed at the empty air in front of them. Everything except for their pleas for him, Sarah, and Sam to just shoot them! They're right there! was silent. Sarah's reassuring statements of saying that no one else was there with them fell on deaf ears.

He would've handed her the gun or at least attempted to shoot the person if they were there.

Those thoughts ran through his mind as he watched the cousins' panicked expressions and mumbles ("They're right here. They're right here. They're right here. They're right here. They're right here.") switch to expressionless masks, the fear disappearing before his eyes. Both of their heads lowered and their eyes closed.

No sound was heard except for Sarah's panicked breathing.

Sam's words from earlier that night played in his mind, reminding him of something he already knew.

"She's barely talked about her past, and now she's decided to come here, to a place that she says was a big part of her childhood? The only things we know about her, I'm talking about basic stuff, are her parents died when she was ten, and she was almost raped by a man who was supposed to be her father while he was drunk. Other than that? Nothing! There's something she's not telling us, Dean."

They barely knew her, even after hunting with her for the past three years. That never mattered to him, though. She'd saved their asses plenty enough times to earn some privacy when it comes to what happened before she met them.

That didn't stop him from remembering that flicker of recognition he saw in her eyes that night three years ago. Clearly, she'd heard his name before meeting that shifter version of himself.

He always figured she'd talk about it when she was ready to.

The sound of the cousins gasping yanked him out of his thoughts. Aline didn't even look his way, but her eyes seemed a bit unfocused, like she was trying to figure out where she was.

"Harry and Red Hood aren't here," Sarah said.

Axel shook his head. "Oh, they're here. Aren't you, Harry and Red Hood? You been living inside Tom and Aline?" he asked.

That was when Aline's eyes darkened and focused, and both cousins lifted and turned their heads to face Axel in unison. Aline's posture oozed danger, torturer, killer.

"Oh, I'm right here," Tom replied, his voice darker than before.

"I was so sure you wouldn't figure it out, Palmer. Hell, I would've bet my soul on it," Aline threw in, her own voice sounding gravelly but still sexy in Dean's mind.

Axel's face paled and his eyes widened. "What the hell are you?"

"You tell me since you're so damn smart."

"Aline?" Dean questioned.

She turned her head to look his way, but her eyes were a darker shade of blue and she smirked at him, her eyes flicking black for two seconds. That smirk sent chills down his spine.

"Hey Dean, Sammy."

Dean immediately pulled his gun out of the back of his jeans. "Get the hell outta her, you son of a bitch."

'Aline' chuckled. "It's funny that you think I'm not really me. Baby, there's no one else up here but me. And human me, of course. She's freakin' out about the whole thing. I'm callin' it my last hoorah before going down to the Pit with you. 'Cause we're in this together, aren't we, Dean-o?"

"You're half-demon?" Sam questioned in shock.

"Yeah. I know what you're gonna say next, but enough with the niceties and," she paused, taking her demon knife out of her boot, "let's have some fun." She smirked and looked over at Tom, silently conversing before splitting up.

Both Sam and Dean took off running, Aline following them.

The brothers found an alcove to take cover in.

"You got a plan?" Sam asked.

"We're gonna wake her up," Dean replied.

"She said she's half-demon, Dean!"

"I mean her human half! We'll put the demon half to sleep for a while."

"Then exorcise her?"

Dean shook his head. "We don't know what that's gonna do to her."

Just then, one of the light bulbs popped.

"Come on, boys! You can do better than this!" she teased, her voice echoing in the otherwise empty tunnel. "I've seen ya take down demons and exorcise 'em without a problem. What's stopping you from pushing my trip to Hell to tonight? You can tell me."

Neither of them answered.

"Is it because of the fact I saved your asses on a bunch of hunts? Or the fact that I'm gonna do the one thing Sammy can't do without dying in the process? No matter what you do, no matter what choices you make, we'll always end up here, you know. You bring human me back, you'll just be dealing with this me again in the future. Maybe twenty years from now." She paused. "Time's different down there. Two months up here is, like, twenty years down there. If you two could see souls, you wouldn't even recognize mine after twenty years up here time. I'd probably kill ya without a second thought."

Dean chose that moment to step out of his hiding place, locking his eyes on those cold dark blue ones as she held the demon blade to his throat. "You wouldn't kill me, sweetheart," he pointed out. "We both know that. Besides, what I'm looking at right now, it isn't the Aline I know. The girl I know saves people. She's a hunter who takes down monsters like no one's business. What I'm looking at right now is a killer."

She shook her head, that smirk gone from her face. "You don't know me as well as you think you do. I might deserve death. Even more than you think I do."

"You don't think I know that I don't know you? I've been waiting for you to just tell me everything about you. I'm gonna let myself pull a chick flick moment here and say that you being half demon doesn't bother me. Hell, you could've killed me and Sammy at any point, but you never did. And, truthfully, I don't think you ever will. It doesn't matter to me that you think you deserve to die. I started feeling for you what I feel for Sam. You're like my sister, Ally, and I need you."

She lowered the demon blade while her eyes softened, the animalistic quality that was in them slowly fading away. The look was being replaced by shock, panic, and sadness, her human side was slowly breaking through.

It looked like he was getting through to her.

Then Sam stepped out.

Her eyes darkened again before switching to black as she threw the knife at him.

Dean tackled her to the ground and struggled to keep her there. His hands held her wrists to the ground while he straddled her to keep her still. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam dodge out of the way, and the knife lodged itself into the wall.

Aline was snarling and growling while struggling to break free of Dean's hold.

"Aline. It's over." There was a note of finality in his voice, but she continued to struggle, almost biting him. That was when he made the conscious decision to place his lips on hers. He barely noticed her struggling slow down until she pressed her lips firmer to his, deepening the kiss.

Bliss.

Heaven.

Dean was the one who broke it minutes later in order for the two of them to get any air, gently but not unkindly. His eyes slowly opened, and he saw that her eyes were back to being that shade of blue he knew and loved. A deep red blush was coloring her cheeks as they continued to stare into each other's eyes. He smiled down at her.

"Welcome back, sweetheart."

Just then, Sam cleared his throat, causing Dean to notice their position and quickly stood up. He helped her up while Sam picked up her demon knife.

Aline held her hand out, expecting to get the knife back, but Sam shook his head firmly and shoved it in his pants pocket. "There anything else we need to know about you?" he asked.

She sighed and ran her fingers over her hair. "I'll tell you everything you want and need to know about me," she replied.

That was when they all heard a gun shot echoing through the tunnel. Dean suddenly got a bad feeling about what was gonna happen.

She whirled around and yelled out Tom's name, but Dean grabbed her hand, and the three of them ran out of the tunnel and up to the Impala, watching tunnel 5 explode in a fiery blaze.

"NO!" Aline screamed, trying to run back, but Sam grabbed onto her and held her in a firm back hug.

"Aline, no," he said.

"TOM! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! I gotta save him!"

"No! You go in there and you'll be gone too!"

Dean watched her as she broke down, tears streaming down her face at the realization that her only remaining relative was gone for good. She screamed and punched Sam and pushed herself out of his arms, covering her face with her hands.

Somehow, he knew exactly how to calm her down.

Dean knelt down next to her and pulled her into his own arms, and she didn't resist. He rubbed her head soothingly and softly sang, "At the end of the day, they don't mean what they say, they don't say what they mean, they don't ever come clean - and the answer..."

She stiffened slightly before responding with, "Is it's all a facade!"

"Is it's all a facade!"

Sam knelt down next to them and joined in on the next part.

"Man is not one, but two, he is evil and good, an' he walks the fine line we'd all cross if we could! It's a nightmare we can never discard so we stay on our guard though we love the facade. What's behind the facade?"

Sam and Dean let her sing the last line, which she did.

"Look behind the facade!"

The three of them stood back up and walked over to the Impala. Sam let Aline sit in the front seat. On the drive back to the highway (the three of them had checked out of their room at the Thunderbird, instead choosing to all bunk with Tom), Aline told the boys about her past, not leaving out a single detail.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

Two days later, Aline got a text from someone completely unexpected.

'I need your help, Batgirl. Room 248. Terminus Hotel. Bring your first aid kit.'

She didn't let her surprise show on her face as she volunteered to go pick up dinner. The three of them had caught wind of a case in Gatlin, South Carolina. A handful of men died due to mysterious circumstances. Hex bags were involved.

Aline's and Sam's friendship suffered because of what happened in Harmony. Her relationship with Dean suffered as well, but it was mending better than hers and Sam's friendship, since those two boys (and Bobby) were now the only family she had left after the explosion at tunnel 5.

She made sure to sneak a flask of holy water into her jeans pocket. A silver knife wasn't needed since she had the silver ring with a Celtic trinity knot on her right ring finger (it was something her mom had given to her before her death, and she used to wear it around her neck when she was a kid).

The Terminus was half-an-hour away from the motel she and the Winchesters were staying at, while the convenience store was thirty-five minutes away. It gave her plenty of time to steel herself for the possibility that she was going to be meeting up with a monster.

Once she got the first aid kit, along with a bottle of whiskey for the pain (as much as she internally cringed at getting the stuff) and her's, Dean's, and Sam's dinner (and, of course, two pies), she drove over to the Terminus, knocking on the door that lead into room 248. She heard a grunt of pain coming from behind the door, and she pulled the holy water out of her pocket, opening it.

Right when she saw 'Tom's' face, she threw some holy water onto his face.

Nothing happened. No steam, nothing.

"I guess I deserve that," he said, wiping the liquid off his face. He held out his hand. "Where's the silver, then?"

She held out her right hand. "My ring," she replied.

He willingly touched the ring, and, once again, nothing happened. She smiled widely and hugged her cousin tightly, making him groan in pain.

"I thought you were dead, Supes," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly.

"Nah. An explosion can't kill me. I'm Superman, remember? As much as I love hugs, can you let go? I'm slightly in pain."

She quickly let go and glanced over his body before her eyes settled on the makeshift bandage on his left side. She immediately went to work, handing him the whiskey.

"What happened?"

"You first." He took a long swig of the whiskey.

"Long story short, Dean brought me back, and, right when we heard the gun shot, we got the hell outta there and watched tunnel 5 explode."

"Axel and I fought until I stabbed him in the side with a pickaxe. Then, Sarah started shooting at me, and I ran away. I came back, and Axel started shooting at me before he hid in a corner. Sarah came out and called my name. I was about to throw the axe at her, but she shot me right there. Shit, that stings! Then, this rescuer came and found me, and I killed him and took his clothes so I could get outta there undetected."

She was finished in fifteen minutes, and she kissed the top of his head. "I'm glad you're alive, Tommy. Don't you dare scare me like that again, you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah. I hear ya."

Aline stood up to leave, deciding to leave the first aid kit with Tom. Her hand was resting on the doorknob when Tom spoke up.

"Hey, Lin."

She turned to look him in the eye. "Yeah?"

"Come outta Hell human, you got me?"

She gave a small smile. "I'll do my best."

"Call me every day. Just like before."

"If I can't, I'll be sure to text you."

"And, when your time runs out..."

She clenched her jaw, but she kept that small smile on her face, letting him know her answer. "Keep your stick on the ice, Tommy."

Then she left, knowing this would probably be the last time she'd ever see him ever again.