So I realized that in the last two chapters I got the towns mixed up… It's not a major detail, but Dean and Lilly were supposed to be in Cut Bank, not Whitefish. Sam and Bobby are in Whitefish, waiting for Dean and Lilly to meet them. Sorry if it confused anyone!

Chapter Twenty Six

The panicked moment outside the motel was quickly forgotten on the drive, as they left the small town of Cut Bank behind them. Lilly sat in the middle seat, with Dean's arm around her shoulder. The radio blared a classic rock station from its speakers, and Dean and Lilly sang along, laughing.

Dean figured it would take them about two hours to reach Whitefish and Kalispell, and had arranged with Sam to meet at a motel just east of the latter. When Sam offered to let Dean share the room with Bobby and he would stay with Lilly, Dean turned it down. Sam was obviously confused, but left it alone.

About halfway there, Lilly seemed to grow quiet, reluctant to look at Dean. He stroked a hand down her hair.

"What's wrong, princess?" He asked softly as they came to a stoplight. She looked at him worriedly.

"What if I can't do this?" She asked him. Concern, as well as fear, showed on her features. "What if the Horseman was right, and I'm not strong enough…"

Forcing himself to recall it, Dean reminded her of the night at the strip club close to when they'd first met where she'd killed a demon. He also reminded her that she'd killed Ezekiel.

She didn't keep pressing, but he knew that his words hadn't done much to calm her fears.

"Hey, Lil," he said, speeding down the empty highway. She raised her chin and met his eyes. "I want you to try something."

Dean kept his eyes on the road, and ignored Lilly's piercing stare. "Your… Thing can work on angels, right?"

Lilly shrugged. "I think so," she replied.

Dean looked at her, hoping to convey some of the seriousness of what he was telling her through his eyes. "I want you to look for an angel named Zachariah."

She frowned at him. "What do you want me to do, and why?"

"He's a nasty son of a bitch that makes my life hell."

"Alright."

"Sam's, too."

"You still haven't said what you want me to do to him."

Dean gazed into her eyes briefly, meaningfully. "Kill him." Lilly stared back, her eyes suspicious. Then something clicked, and she nodded.

For the third time, Dean felt the invasive pressure in his mind as Lilly searched for Zachariah. He felt like bait on a hook, where Zachariah was the fish. He supposed it wasn't a completely inaccurate description.

"Got him," Lilly said through gritted teeth. Suddenly, she gasped in pain, and Dean swerved the car.

"Hey, kids," said a voice from the back. Zachariah was smiling from the rearview mirror. Dean cursed and pulled the car to the shoulder of the highway. "Miss me?" He simpered at Dean.

"Screw you," Dean muttered.

Zachariah shook a finger at him. "I'd say the same to you, but Miss Holloway here already took care of that, didn't you?" He turned his gaze to Lilly, and she glared.

He turned back to Dean to speak to him again, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out. The angel's eyes darted to Lilly; Dean saw she was choking off his ability to speak.

"Speaking of missing you, why haven't we heard from you lately?" Dean demanded. He glanced at Lilly, and she let up just enough for Zachariah to gasp a breath and for him to speak.

"Well, see, Dean," Zachariah choked out, glancing at Lilly, "thanks to your girlfriend here, we can't get near you. She's too dangerous…" he trailed off as Lilly choked him again.

Dean glanced at Lilly. "Can you do that thing you were talking about at Chuck's, destroy his mind?" He looked over to Zachariah as he still spoke to Lilly. "So you can control him?"

"I can try," she said. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and threw herself into the effort. Her breath came in gasps, and she began to shake. Dean watched worriedly, afraid to move, or speak, for fear of interrupting her and breaking her concentration.

Zachariah's eyes were full of panic as he clawed at his own throat. Dean watched him grimly. Just when the angel's eyes were almost solid white, there was a rustle, and he was gone.

Lilly slumped forward, her breathing ragged. Dean pulled her forward and rubbed her back, telling her she was alright. Slowly, her breathing went back to normal, and she gazed up at Dean defiantly.

"I almost had it," she said, "I could have, too. It wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be but someone- something- stepped in and broke the connection." She shook her head. "I'm sorry," she added.

Dean pulled her head to his chest. "It's okay," he said soothingly, "I shouldn't have asked you to try,"

Lilly pulled back and glared. "I was fine." She emphasized. "I just got interrupted. He had help; I didn't."

Dean didn't try to argue with her anymore, and he quickly kissed her before pulling the car back onto the highway. He vowed to be more careful in the future.

"You know, what are we going to tell Sam?" Lilly asked, obviously eager to change the subject. She was leaning against Dean, playing with his hand that was draped over her shoulder.

Dean smiled. "This'll be awesome to mess with him," he said. He hoped his little brother's feelings wouldn't be hurt too bad. He knew Sam had a thing for Lilly.

The same thing seemed to occur to Lilly. "Maybe you shouldn't," she said cautiously. Dean shrugged, and then looked at her with big eyes.

"Come on, just once?"

Lilly laughed and swatted at him, but didn't say anything else. Dean glanced back at the road, and up at the dark clouds above them. The weather had been chilly and overcast for a while now, and while Dean recognized that it was winter, he missed at least seeing the sun every once in a while. He hoped the constant bad weather wasn't a sign of the impending Apocalypse.

Pulling into Kalispell, Dean glanced around eagerly. "I remember coming here as a kid," he said excitedly to Lilly. She listened with interest as he told her about the hunting trip with his dad, coming after a spirit haunting the local school, but the feeling that this was going to go horrible wrong was still nagging at her.

Dean parked the Impala next to the car he recognized as Bobby's. He grinned wistfully when he saw it was a four-door truck. Bobby and Sam must have come with that little scheme. They probably thought they were doing him a favor.

Glancing at Lilly, and recalling their night together, he figured he should probably get down on his knees and thank them profusely.

Marching across the parking lot to room 18, which Sam had said was his and Bobby's, Dean banged on the door. Lilly followed close behind him.

Sam peeked out the door, through the chain, and, upon seeing it was them, grinned and opened it wide.

"Hey, guys," he said. Bobby grunted from his wheelchair on the other side of the room. Sam clapped Dean's shoulder, and gave Lilly a quick hug. He'd been more worried about Lilly than he cared to let on.

"So what's with the rush?" Dean asked. Bobby looked up at him.

"I found something that might help us with Conquest," he said. He shook a finger at Lilly. "You sure she's on our side?"

Dean glanced at Lilly. "Hundred percent." He said with certainty. Sam frowned a little, but didn't say anything.

"Alright," Bobby said. "I'm still watching you," he added to Lilly. Lilly grimaced, but nodded.

"Anyway," Bobby went on, "I found this in some real old book. Some symbol to ward off dreamwalkers. I thought we could test it out," he said, giving Lilly a stern look.

Giving Dean a look, Lilly stepped forward. She saw the way Bobby placed a hand casually on the butt on the gun sitting on the table, and so she stopped and held up a hand. With her free hand, she rolled up her sleeve and lifted her arm. Bobby's jaw dropped open.

"How the hell did you get that?" He asked in disbelief. He looked at Dean. "You sure she's really a dreamwalker?"

"Oh, yeah," Dean said quickly. "I'm sure."

Lilly stepped in. "I got caught and held for a month with this thing," she explained. "So I got it tattooed on to become immune to it, and yes, it hurt like hell and I almost died."

Bobby just stared for a minute, and then shook his head. "Point is, it should work on any others we come across. You boys should probably get that tattooed on you like she's got, to keep from being a victim to Conquest or a different one.

"Everything I've read says that dreamwalkers aren't immune to their own ability, so Lilly here could kill another one with her power if she needed to. She's just gotta be stronger. You are, aren't you?" Bobby eyed Lilly suspiciously.

She glanced nervously at Dean. "Let's hope so."

Later on in the evening, Dean sat in Sam and Bobby's room going over maps and their research, while Lilly was in the room next door settling in and taking a shower. If it were up to Dean, he'd be there with her, but she'd told him it'd be better for him to stay, and not be so blatant about it just yet.

Sam was watching the news, seeing if he could see any signs of something big coming there way. Other than the weather, there wasn't much.

"You remember coming here when we were little?" Dean asked suddenly. Sam looked up from the news.

"Not really," he said. "I think I was like five."

Dean nodded, thinking. "Didn't Dad have a storage unit up here?"

Sam shrugged. "Bobby would probably know-"

"Yeah, he did," Bobby said, rolling his chair into the room. "It's about fifteen minutes from here."

"Huh," Dean said. "You got a key, or something?" The old man grinned.

"I reckon I do," he said. "It's on this damn key ring somewhere…" Dean stood up, glancing at the clock. It was just after eight.

"Well, I think I'll turn in. I'll get that key in the morning, Bobby," Dean added. "Night."

"Wait, where the hell are you going?" Sam asked. "Dean, it's early, and Lilly's in there…"

Dean grinned. "I know," he said. Sam's expression was confused, and then went dark with understanding.

"Dean…"

Dean smacked his brother's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sammy, I'll play nice," he said. "Ish," he added under his breath.

"Please don't tell me you-"

Cutting Sam off with another smack, Dean grinned and moved towards the door. "Like I said, Sammy, don't worry about it," he said as he strutted out into the hall. He heard Sam yell for him, but didn't turn around. Instead, he pulled out his key and opened the door next to Sam's, and quietly came inside.

He heard the shower running, and, suppressing a strong desire to do otherwise, sat on the small couch and flipped on the TV. The sound of the shower shutting off woke him from a slight doze.

He moved stealthily to the door, and cracked it open. Steam rolled out. Lilly was standing in front of the mirror, a towel wrapped around her, shaking out her wet hair. She jumped when Dean opened the door, and then smiled when she saw it was him.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Dean nuzzled the back of her neck. She smiled at his reflection in the mirror. Briefly, Dean thought that the walls of the motel were probably pretty thin. When Lilly twisted around in his arms and reached up on her toes to kiss him, he decided he could care less.

"Does Sam know yet?" Lilly asked, slightly out of breath. Dean kissed her neck, and picked her up and set her on the bathroom counter.

"Don't care," Dean managed to say as Lilly unbuttoned his shirt and kissed him.

If the night before had been tentative and gentle, this time was wildly passionate, both Lilly and Dean finally being able to let go of the tension they'd had between them for so long. As they lay in bed, Dean once again thought he should at least thank Sam and Bobby.

Dean didn't consider himself to be clingy or cuddly, but here he was, in a dark motel room, cradling Lilly to his chest and genuinely enjoying just being close to her, and repeatedly professing his undying love for her. Six months ago, he would have been disappointed in himself.

Now, he couldn't imagine having it any other way.

For the first time since they met, Dean and Lilly actually talked, discussing each other's lives, families, pasts… Dean heard himself telling Lilly everything- how his Mom had died, the confusion of growing up on the road and always looking after Sam; finally the subject lingered on his dad. John Winchester had been Dean's hero growing up, but there were things that Dean had hated him for as well, things he'd never even admitted to Sam. They talked about Sam, about the deal, and about hell.

Lilly listened to everything he said, stroking his cheek gently whenever he paused, and offering insight when he faltered. When Dean said he thought that he was damaged, and didn't understand what she saw in him, Lilly laughed, thinking he was joking.

"I'm serious," he said quietly. "I… I've got nothing. No money, no job other than hunting, no concept of what a normal family is like-"

Lilly pressed a finger to his lips. "That's okay," she whispered, pulling herself closer to him, "I don't want any of that."

"Then what you could possibly want?"

She looked at him as if it were the obvious thing in the world, smiled, and looked down at the sheets. "I just want you," she said, "And I don't care how damaged you are or what you've been through. As long as I've got you," she affirmed.

Dean gave her a smile, and pulled her into his arms. He hoped she knew that if he could, he'd give her the world. Luckily, the one thing she wanted was the only thing he had.

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