A/N: Hey guys!

First of all, I want to say how sorry I am that it's been so long again! I move to my university/college/whatever you want to call it in just under 2 weeks, and I'm so busy at the moment, it's unreal!

If I'm honest (Which I always try to be haha) I don't really like the ending to this chapter, but I've been thinking about it for well over a week now, and I just can't find another way to do it that I like any better :S (Plus, the things that happen in this original episode will kind of keep going in the next few chapters too, so with any luck, if there's something you think I haven't really addressed in this, it'll be sorted soon enough!)

Please r+r! It makes my day, and the feedback is always super helpful to me!

Hopefully the next chapter shouldn't be too long. The next episode I'm doing is Season 1, episode 9: Home :D

I hope you enjoyed my first original episode, and that it didn't suck toooooo much lol

Anyway, please let me know what you think!

hugs,

xoloveJBox

p.s I had a new laptop for my birthday, and I'm still trying to get used to it, so just this once, please ignore any mistakes there might be!

Dean was stood by the window when Lena finally emerged from the bathroom. He wondered for a second if she had been crying, but then he realised that he didn't really want to know. He'd long since run out of things to say to try and make his sister feel better, and he found that the best thing for them all was for him to keep quiet.

"Dean," Lena muttered darkly "Sit down."

"What?" Dean asked, confused by the sudden demand, as he turned to look at her. However, what he saw was that Lena's usually soft, almost grey eyes that were a mixture between his blue ones and Sam's green ones, had been replaced with a colour that looked cloudy and white, like pearls.

"I said," she growled "Sit down!" With little more than a sweep of her hand, Dean was sent crashing against the far wall, pinned into place by strong, invisible fingers. He fought against them, but nothing happened. Dean looked down at Lena's wrists to confirm what he had already guessed; she had taken off her charms. Stupid girl.

Sam shot up from his seat, but he didn't have time to even say anything before Lena flicked her eyes and Sam found himself next to Dean, struggling to free himself.

"That's better." Elena chimed, a sickly sweet smile on her face.

"Elena?" Sam gasped, still trying to push against whatever held him in place.

"Elena can't come to the phone right now." She sang.

"Let her go." Dean snarled, teeth bared.

The thing that wore Lena like a glove pouted mockingly "But I like it in here."

"I'm going to tear you apart." Dean told it, meaning every

word of his promise.

"Tsk tsk tsk," She chided "Not without hurting your baby sis you won't. She's in here, you know. Screaming."

"If you hurt her, I swear to god I'll-"

She threw her head back and cackled, using Lena's voice, but it was nothing like the soft, melodic sound Lena usually made when she laughed.

"What are you going to do Dean?" She hissed "I'm only really in here" she told him, tapping her temple "With Elena. Whatever you do to me, she'll feel it too, and trust me, it'll hurt her more than it'll hurt me."
"Why Elena?" Sam asked quickly, to distract everyone from thoughts of hurting Lena. "You already killed her friend. Why are you even here?"

"Because Lena has my necklace, and she wasn't going to give it up."
"We'll get rid of it." Sam promised firmly, "Just let her go."

"I can't do that Sammy" The affectionate nickname sounded twisted and perverse coming from this thing that looked like Lena "Your little princess has different ideas. She wants to kill me."

"We won't let her." Sam assured her, earning himself dark glances from Dean, who could think of nothing better.

"What are you going to do Sam? Send her away to school again?" She asked, pulling the knife from Lena's pants and playing carelessly with the tip. "Because I can see everything that goes on inside your sister's melon, and let me tell you, she'd rather die than be alone like that again. She's terrified that one day, you two are going to realise that you don't need her around, and you'll send her away and forget about her."

She started to tease the blade along Lena's arms, and seeing the nervous glances on Sam and Dean's faces, she gave a wicked grin and dug the knife in deeper, drawing blood. She ignored their loud protests as crimson trails dripped onto the carpet, and she continued.

"She thinks she's not as good as you two are, that she's not as brave or strong as your daddy tried to make her, and she looks up to you two like gods. You look at her as if she's a child, like you're waiting for her to mess up, and she tries so hard, it's almost pathetic."

She raked a bloody hand through Lena's dark hair, and chuckled again. "You guys should hear the things she's saying to me." She cooed "It's enough to make a sailor blush."

The evil grin on her face soon started to falter when she felt something pulling harshly at her. She looked over at the brothers and discovered that Dean was muttering some incantation under his breath. She pushed her hand out, and forcefully made all the air leave his lungs to stop him. He coughed and spluttered, trying to recover.

"That wasn't very nice." She hissed, taking a few menacing steps towards the two of them. "You haven't said anything for a while Dean. Let's hear your thoughts."

Dean took a few more gulp of air to stop the room from spinning before looking straight in the eyes.

"You're gonna burn, bitch." He breathed.

Rage ensnared her, and she couldn't help but use more of her invisible fingers around his throat, squeezing until his face started to go red.

"Lena," Sam pleaded softly besides them, and she cackled again.

"Aren't you listening Sammy? Elena's. Not. Home."

"No, but she can hear me." Sam snapped angrily, before his face softened again "Lena, don't let her do this to you." He begged "You're stronger than she is, I know you are. Don't let her do this."

For a second, nothing happened, and Sam thought they really had lost, but then the milky eyes of the ghost flickered, and were replaced with Lena's. Lena groaned and clutched her head. She forced her feet to move away from her brothers, but she didn't quite have the strength to release them from their place on the wall. However, she had managed to make it let go of Dean, and he greedily drank in oxygen. Lena stumbled across the room, not trusting herself to be near Sam and Dean, not wanting to let it hurt them anymore.

"Get rid of it Sam." She demanded shakily, almost pleadingly as she turned her back to them. Sam hesitated, but started the incantation anyway.

Sam looked hesitant, but continued anyway, and as Lena fell to her knees, cursing and groaning in pain as the spirit fought to stay inside her head, Dean had to look away. He couldn't bear to see Lena suffering like that, but he knew that Sam didn't have a choice, that Lena would rather endure it than be the still unknown spirit's bitch, so he simply gritted his teeth and turned his head away.

It seemed to take hours for anything to happen, but Dean felt himself let out an abated breath when Sam finally finished his Latin speech, and Lena's head was flung back, and a dark silhouette seemed to be flung from her body before flying through an air-vent. Sam and Dean fell from the wall, and hurried over to Lena, who was swaying precariously on her knees. Dean wrapped his arms around Lena's shoulders to steady her, and he could feel her trembling under his grip.

"Are you guys ok?" Lena asked, her voice shaking wearily "I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop her, she was too strong, I couldn't do anything." She babbled desperately.

"Hey hey, Elena, shhhhh," Sam cooed "We're fine."
"Yeah Princess," Dean assured her "You did great."

"Ok, ok." Lena wheezed out breathlessly, clutched Dean's shirt in her fists, like she was trying to grip onto consciousness. But her attempt was futile, and the colour drained from her face, her grip loosened, and her eye-lids drooped closed. Dean had to force himself not to panic- the spirit seemed to have been a particularly powerful one, and it had probably taken a lot of effort for Lena to fight her off and control her the way she had, there was nothing to worry about-so he hoisted her into his arms and carried her to one of the beds, placing her gently amongst the pillows and quilt. He pulled the blankets up over her and stood for a second, biting his lip anxiously while he watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest, just to assure himself. Sam stepped over to the bed and crouched down, carefully undoing the clasp of the necklace and removing it from around his baby sister's neck. He was fairly certain that the necklace was harmless now, at least for a while, but he wasn't going to take the chance. Dean dug around in one of the duffel bags and pulled out a first aid kit, finding out the bandages and wrapping Lena's wrists in them, seeing that the cuts weren't as deep as they had seemed, as the amount of blood that had flowed from them had suggested.

With nothing else to do, Sam nodded at the necklace in his hand and headed towards the door.

"I'm going to deal with this." He told Dean "You need anything?"

Dean shook his head and sat on the other bed next to the one Lena was lying on, looking at his sister, who now looked so small and broken, and he wished, more than anything, that there was something he could do to take away some of her pain.

Dean lost track of the hours he'd sat there, watching protectively, but no matter how restless he grew, he didn't move. He was secretly terrified that if he dared to wander away from her side, something would happen, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

However, after what seemed like forever, Lena started to stir, and Dean waited with abated breath for her eyes to flutter open groggily, hoping for Lena's sake that nothing else would happen to make things even worse.

"How do you feel?" Dean asked softly when she blinked across at him, though his voice made Lena wince. It sounded like grenades and fireworks were erupting in her ears.
"Like my head's going to explode." Lena replied, barely above a whisper as she clenched her eyes closed tightly against the feeble light crawling in through a gap in the curtains. Dean noticed how sensitive she seemed to be, so yanked the material closed and padded over to Lena's bed, pressing two small, white aspirins into a clenched fist. As he went to get some water, Lena pushed herself into a half-sitting, half-slumping position that would have to suffice, because she didn't feel like her shaky limbs would help her up any further.
"Here you go," Dean mumbled softly as he put the cool glass in her hand. Lena tossed the pills into her mouth and swigged at the water to wash them away. She held the glass between her palms for a minute, the cool smoothness feeling comforting, until Dean took it out of her trembling fingers. Hoping that her mother of a headache would start to cease soon, Lena dared to pry open an eyelid-just one- and peered across at Dean. His features were etched with worry, and dark circles under his eyes gave away the tell tale signs of her brother's vigilant overseeing protection of her while she'd slept. Lena wanted to tell him to stop fussing so much, to go to sleep because he really looked like he needed it, but there was only really one thing on her mind, and she found it hard to stray away from it.
"Where is it?" She asked quietly, bringing her hand up to her neck and coming up empty. She didn't need to elaborate. Dean knew exactly what she meant.
"Sam's taking care of it." He replied simply.
Rage and determination suddenly gripped at Lena's body then, momentarily replacing the weak vulnerability that had held her.
"I need to see it." She told her brother firmly. She needed to see Sam get rid of it. She needed to hear the bitch scream. She needed to know that what she had done had not been in vain and that it could never come back to hurt anyone ever again. Lena pushed back the covers and stood up, but she swayed precariously on her feet, and Dean had to push her down before she fell.
"Take it easy," he instructed as he guided her head softly to the pillow and pulled the covers right up over her shoulders. Usually, Lena would have hated to be fussed over and influenced so easily, but she didn't have the energy to fight or protest. She simply eased back into the mattress, melting against the springs, and let her eyelids droop. She felt a warm, calloused hand sweep gently across her cheek, pushing her hair aside. The warmth and comfort from Dean's hand lingered on her face, and she felt herself begin to drift.
"Go to sleep Le." Dean commanded softly.
"'M not t'red" she mumbled fruitlessly.
Dean scoffed "Yeah, right"
"I've been to sleep." Lena protested, trying to peel open her eyes to no prevail.
"No, you've been unconscious." Dean argued "There's a difference."
Lena wanted to tell him to stop being so dramatic, that she'd be fine once the painkillers kicked in and that she was ready to go, but she was snoring lightly before the words could tumble out.
It was dark when Sam returned a few hours later, and Lena still slept. She'd woken up once or twice, whimpering, but Dean had been at her side in an instant each time, talking quietly to her, assuring her that she was ok, until she slowly fell back to sleep.

When Sam opened the door, Dean reached for his gun until he saw who it was, and then he raised a finger to his lips, motioning to his brother to not make too much noise. Sam nodded and gently clicked the door shut, shrugging off his jacket.

"Is it done?" Dean asked in a low, hushed tone.

"Yep." Sam replied "It took a while to melt, but it did."

"And you scattered the pieces?" Dean checked, though he didn't need his brother's nod to know that he had. There was no way Sam would have half-assed this. Not when Elena was involved.

Sam sat on the end of one bed, unlacing his boots, and both brothers' heads snapped around when Lena started to mutter in her sleep again.

"No...please...leave them alone." She tossed and turned, tangling herself in the sheets. Dean went over and gently stroked her hair.

"Hey, it's ok Princess." He cooed softly "You're alright."

Somewhere between being awake and asleep, Lena reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him close to her, so that Dean had no choice but to lie next to her. Her face was twisted in discomfort, and she was cocooned in the sheets, but after a few more minutes of whispered assurances, Lena fell back into a haggard, uneasy sleep with her head on Dean's chest. While Dean had been settling their sister, Sam had gotten himself ready for bed, and when all was quiet again, he turned to his brother.

"You alright?" he asked "You want me to take her?"

"Nah," Dean replied "I've got her. She's alright." Sam simply nodded, knowing that Dean probably wouldn't sleep unless he was sure Lena was ok anyway, and to Dean, that meant being close to her.

"Ok." Sam answered, unsure what else he was supposed to say. When Dean was certain that Lena was settled, he pulled one of the chairs from the table closer to the bed and sat down, knowing he was in for a long night.

Dean was groggy and sore when he woke up the next morning. He yawned and stretched out aching limbs, but he shot up in his seat when he looked across and saw one empty bed. Sam's head was poking out the top of his quilt, but the bed Lena had been in was neatened and made. He jumped up and dashed over to the bathroom but found that deserted too.

"Sam!" he yelled, making his little brother start and groan sleepily "Sam wake up! Lena's gone!"

Sam was quick into action too, and within seconds they were both dressed and about to head out the door. However, they were quickly halted by a key turning in the lock, and Lena pushing through the front door.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Dean dropped his keys back on the table and rubbed his eyes.

"Elena, where the hell have you been?" he demanded "You scared us."

"I'm sorry," Lena apologized with wide, slightly surprised eyes "I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. I got you guys breakfast while I was out." She offered in a small, exhausted voice, holding out the tray with three take out cups slotted inside, and a brown paper bag. Slung over her shoulder was a long black bag, and Sam frowned at it confusedly.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding at it.

"It's a dress." Lena answered slowly, like she needed to work hard to get each word out in one piece "Jake called me earlier, and told me that Meredith's funeral is tomorrow. I had to get something to wear."

"About that," Dean added, bring up his hand to rub the back of his neck almost anxiously. "Do you want me and Sam to come with you?"

Lena seemed to think for a minute before shaking her head.

"Are you sure?" Sam questioned "We really don't mind, if you need us to be there for you."

"No," Lena answered quietly "I don't want to hang around here now, so I think it would be better if you guys pack up and check out while I'm there, and pick me up on the way past or something."

"Whatever you want Princess." Dean told her with a small smile, and Lena simply gave a slight nod.

"I'm going to take a shower." She grumbled with her eyes low before shutting the door so her brothers couldn't ask her any more questions that she didn't want to answer.

Dean let out a sigh and sat down at the table, deciding to start on something productive with the laptop.

Lena stood under the barely warm dribbles of water for as long as she could before the streams began to bring up goose bumps as they cooled. She was so tired, and she wished she could shut off her mind, even for just a little while, but she knew she wasn't lucky enough for that. So in the end, she shut off the water, stepped out and dried off, dressing in jeans, a plain white t-shirt and an overly large grey hoodie that enveloped her. Her brothers were silent as she padded out of the small, cramped bathroom, but she wished they would say something-anything- that would help her fill the space in her brain that was tormenting her with unwanted thoughts.

She busied herself for a few minutes, brushing her hair and twisting it into a braid that fell over her shoulder, and she listened to the slight clicking of the computer keys under Dean's fingers. But after a little while, Lena looked around and didn't know what to do with herself- she didn't want to sit and do nothing, because that would give her too much opportunity to think- so she made her way over to Dean. When he noticed her approaching, he tried to decide whether or not to hide what he was doing from her, but before he had a chance to make up his mind, Lena was already peering over his shoulder, and it was too late for him to do anything about it.

"What are you doing?" She asked, squinted at the screen, struggling to read the small print since being so tired was making her eyesight worse.

"I think I found who the necklace belonged to." Dean explained cautiously, not entirely sure how his sister would react to the information.

"I don't want to know." Lena replied stiffly, stepping back slightly as if being close to the screen would physically hurt her any more than it was mentally.

"Le..." Dean started, but he was quickly cut off by Lena reaching over and snapping the laptop closed defiantly.

"I said, I don't want to know." She all but snarled "It's her fault Meredith is dead. I don't care who she was."

Rage boiled u and started to course unrelentingly around Lena's body, but more than anything, it was directed at herself, because she felt guilty. She knew that angry ghosts came from spirits who had suffered voilent deaths, or had been left to wander the earth for too long. Whatever had happened to the girl who's ghost had killed Meredith, it probably wasnt her fault, and any other time, Lena would have done whaever she could to help but the person to rest.

But she couldn't ignore the fact that sooner or later, the three of them would have to come back to Portland, and they'd wait until night fall to go to the cemetary to burn some bones. Except, the body in the grave wouldn't be bones; it wouldn't even be some stranger who didn't even look like a real person. It would be one of her best friends, and every time Lena thought about that, it felt like she was being repeatedly punched in the chest.

Before either of them said anything else, there was a small knock on the door, and Lena stomped over and yanked it open, though she was undeniably surprised to see Jake in the doorway.

"Jake, what are you doing here?" Lena questioned, feeling her anger dissipating slightly with the distraction.

Jake raised a hand to rub the back on his neck slightly awkwardly, his eyes dark and tired looking.

"Umm, I realised that I don't have anything to wear to the funeral tomorrow, so I was hoping you'd come with me?" he asked in a small voice, which Lena knew was totally unlike him, though she wasn't surprised.

"Yeah sure." Lena answered without hesitating "Just give a sec to grab my jacket."

Jake nodded, and Lena turned and stalked over to the table, where her jacket was draped over the back of a chair. She yanked it away and shot Dean an angry glare before slamming the door behind herself.

Dean let out a sigh; he knew that if he went after her, Lena would just be more determined to leave. She wasn't like Sammy; she was more stubborn, and would come back when she was good and ready and not a minute before, but she would always come back.

The sun had set, casting a dark blanket over the sky, and Lena still wasn't back. Dean tried to tell himself not to be worried, so in an attempt to convince not only himself, but Sam too, he clambered into bed when it got late enough. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't make himself relax enough to actually fall asleep. In the end, he settled with counting the tiles on the ceiling, and he let out a small sigh of relief when he heard the key in the lock, and a second later, Lena crept inside.

She didn't notice that Dean was awake at first, so she slowly clicked the door closed, and gently placed her jacket on the table, careful not to let her keys scrape noisily on the wooden top. In the dark, Dean watched as Lena hopped on one foot to untie her shoelaces and kick the shoe off before doing the same with the other foot. Then she crossed over to the bathroom and disappeared inside. By the time she emerged a few minutes later, Dean had sat up, and Lena jumped when she saw him.
"I'm sorry," she whispered "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." Dean assured her quickly "Did your friend get something to wear?"
In the light that slipped through the slight gap in the bathroom door, Dean just about made out Lena nodding as she pulled her hairbrush through her hair and twisted it into a loose bun for bed.

"You were gone a long time." Dean commented casually.

"Yeah," Lena agreed guiltily "We went to see Brooke and Anna. I was going to call, but, umm..." she trailed off, looking down at her feet, and Dean gave her a small, warm smile.

"You were mad at me, I get it." He finished for her, and Lena clambered into bed next to him. She spent a few minutes curling against him, trying to get comfortable, and feeling undeniably better once Dean pulled her a little closer and kept his arm wrapped protectively around her, running a hand soothingly over her head.

"We can't save everyone Le. You had no idea this was going to happen. You couldn't have stopped it."

"I know," Lena sighed dejectedly, her voice quivering slightly "but it feels like everyone else seems to get their happy ending except us. I mean, every time we help someone, that's great, but what about the people we love, Dean? It just doesn't make sense."

"I wish I could explain it to you princess, I really do," Dean answered apologetically "but sometimes, things aren't the way we want them, and there's nothing we can do about it."

"Well, that sucks ass." Lena retorted with a weak, half-hearted chuckle.

"I know it does." He agreed sincerely

"Meredith used to tell me that I'd made her brave, even though I only talked to her," Lena mumbled into Dean's chest and her eyes welled up, threatening to spill "But I left her Dean. How was that brave?"

Without warning, something inside Lena snapped, and she started to sob. Because he was so caught off guard by it, Dean took a few seconds to react. He hadn't thought it was possible, but he held her tighter, and Lena bunched up his t-shirt in her fist, clinging desperately to him. Somewhere along the way, Sam had woken up, and he wordlessly caught himself up with what was going on, and slid from his bed to the other. He slipped his hand into Lena's and somehow, the three of them managed to squeeze onto one single bed, just like they had when they'd been younger, and Lena had been disturbed by nightmares. Now, just like then, Lena felt herself get surrounded in the protective cocoon that her brothers formed while she cried, guilt and sadness pouring over her face. In a way, Dean was glad that Lena had chosen that moment to fall apart, because he and Sam were there to pick up the piece, just like they all knew they always would be.