I HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN MY CAST OFF OF MY ARM! I have never been happier to type with two hands before in my entire life, I'll never take it for granted again!;-) So I apologise for not updating the past couple of weeks, I don't know if I've ever said how frustrating I find typing with one hand but it was getting impossible to get out like a 10,000 word chapter with one finger. So it's all better again now and I'm back on with my updating!

Thank you for sticking with me through my little injury hiatus, hope you're still enjoying the fic and thank you so much for your support. Your views and reviews and favourites and follows honestly motivate me so much.

Saving Grace

Chapter Twenty-Six: Demons, Demons, And More Demons

Police Station — Kearney, Nebraska — 06:37 am.

From the moment her lips pressed against Crowley's, Haley had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was making a mistake. She probably was. But it was too late, it was sealed, and their deal was done. She couldn't back out now, not even if she had wanted to.

Haley was the first of them to pull away, calm and stoic as though nothing had happened between them. There was nothing romantic about the kiss, there was nothing special and nothing meaningful. It was just business, at the end of the day she was selling herself to a crossroads demon. In the end, all it meant was that she was willing to do what he told her to. She was ready to do his dirty work for the sake of her brothers, or for the sake of herself, in honesty, she wasn't sure which motivated her more—the thought that Zachariah would be unable to harm her brothers, or the fact that she would be the one to end the life of the angel who had tormented her. To her, it was a win win situation.

What could go wrong?

Her palms were flat against his chest and she pushed herself back from him with purpose, although he barely budged an inch. His lips detached from hers, and he looked down at her with a satisfied smirk on his face, smug, as though he knew something that she didn't. Her eyes moved up to find his, her body still pressed between him and the table, and she narrowed her eyes the slightest bit, distrustful. "I mean it, Crowley," she warned, her tone hard. "If I find out you're screwing me over here, I will kill you."

Crowley nodded slowly and took a step back from her, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "Claws away, kitten." he drawled. "I'm not screwing you over. Now, go get your angel and scat. I have deals to make." And with that, he was gone, and the room was once again silent.

Haley breathed out deeply, as if in an attempt to release the tension that had built up within her over the past few hours, and pulled a hand down her face, trying to work through her thought process. Her eyes fell to the FBI agent still lying unconscious on the floor, and she hesitantly moved towards him. She reached down and pressed her fingertips to his neck, holding her breath as she waited, and then she felt a pulse. Satisfied that he was alive, that he hadn't been killed by Crowley because of her, she straightened herself up and headed for the door. Truthfully, she couldn't get out of there fast enough.

The rest of the police station was deserted, and she didn't like to think why. There were no officers anywhere, none of the people who had been there when they had been brought in. It was almost as though everyone had just suddenly stood and ran from the building without a second thought. There was work abandoned on the desks, coffee mugs still half full, computer screens still turned on. But she didn't have time to stop and worry about where everyone had disappeared to, they had to leave, before someone came back and caught them.

Hastily, she grabbed a set of keys from one of the empty desks and headed through the doors to the cells, hoping that he would still be there. And thankfully, he was. Castiel rose from where he had been sitting on the small bed towards the side of the cell as he watched her approach, a curious frown set deep within his face. He moved towards the bars as his eyes fell to the set of silver keys in her left hand, and he gave her a questioning look.

"Come on," She smirked at him as she turned the key in the lock and opened up the cell door. "We're getting out of here."

But Castiel seemed hesitant for a moment, as though he could tell that something was wrong. It showed itself in the way she rushed her actions, in the way that her voice was a low whisper, in the tenseness of her muscles, like she was waiting for someone to jump out and attack her. "How?" he asked her, seeming uncomfortable with the situation.

He noticed how Haley paused at the question. For a moment, she contemplated telling him the truth. Could she really trust him well enough not to tell Sam and Dean about what had happened? Things he had kept from them in the past, things like what had happened while they had been in heaven, or what had happened between them when he had helped her escape from heaven, that didn't matter. But this was a demon deal. She couldn't be sure that he wouldn't tell her brothers. She couldn't risk it. She couldn't take a lecture from any of them about how what she had done was stupid, in the back of her own mind she already knew that. There was nothing safe about working with demons, every hunter out there was aware of that. The daunting and punishing thoughts already circled her mind, and she didn't need to hear them from anyone else. Whether Castiel would be able to help her or not, it wasn't worth the risk of Dean finding out, because she knew, he would never forgive her.

Haley gave a short shrug and smirked a little more convincingly at him. "I told you we'd be out by morning," she answered lightly, standing back from the doorway as he stepped out of the cell. "Now let's go."

Kearney, Nebraska — Motel Room — 06:59 am.

Sam huffed a sound of disbelief and shook his head at his brother. "You're an idiot, Dean." he said as he moved to sit down at the table towards the edge of the room. He rested his forehead against his palms, exasperated.

Dean, however, continued to pace the length of the motel's dirty carpet, the same way he had been doing for at least half an hour, since Sam had returned to the motel room. "Do you have any better ideas?" he countered. "Huh?" But Sam said nothing. "No, I didn't think so."

"They're waiting for us there, Dean." Sam snapped. "Haley told you that herself. If we go anywhere near that police station we are screwed. I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life in prison."

"When are we ever in a situation that we aren't totally screwed anymore?" Dean rose his voice, fast turning defensive. "She's our sister, you wanna leave her to rot in a jail cell for the rest of her life? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Sam could see it, his brother was starting to panic, he was getting worked up thinking that something was going to happen to Haley. He wasn't thinking straight anymore. All Dean could see was the fact that their sister was gone, she was in trouble, and he was the one who had to help her. At whatever cost. "They can't hold her there, Dean." Sam told him calmly. "They have nothing on her and they know it, they can't prove anything. But you know what will put something on her? You storming through the front doors of a police station waving around a gun to break her out."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on—"

"No, you come on," he retorted. "Because that's been your only suggestion so far, Dean, and it sucked."

Dean sighed, defeated, and dropped to sit on the edge of one of the beds, facing his brother. "We need her out, man." he said, shaking his head slowly. "I can't—" But he stopped himself before he could say more.

"What?" Sam pressed, curious. His voice fell softer, more understanding.

But Dean said nothing. "Forget it." he muttered. "We need to think of something, Sammy. And fast."

Sam opened his mouth to respond, but stopped at the sound of footsteps passing the window of their room. It was a quiet motel, and neither of them had seen another person staying there yet. At that time of the morning, it couldn't have been a coincidence. There was movement behind the door, soft talking, and then the door handle moved the slightest bit. The door opened silently, and Haley gave a quick glance inside. The moment her eyes fell to Sam and Dean, now standing and watching her intently, frowns on their faces, she sighed. The attempt she had been making to be silent was over, and she pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside, Castiel right behind her.

"Well," Sam gave a reassured sigh as he glanced between them. "Thank god for that. We were getting worried about you."

"Thank god?" Haley raised an eyebrow at him. "You sound relieved. Like you didn't have some big, dramatic escape planned for me."

Sam huffed a laugh and nodded. "Of course we did," He smirked at her. "Right, Dean?"

"Oh yeah," Dean nodded. "It was basically Ocean's eleven, Haley, you should've seen it all. No, no, wait. Winchester's three. Plus Cas."

Haley scoffed, shaking her head at him. "You didn't have a plan, did you?" she asked, already knowing exactly what the answer would be.

"No, we didn't." He shook his head, and she could've sworn he looked almost disappointed with himself for it. "I'm glad you're both out."

"How much did they know?" Sam suddenly asked, his tone much more serious than it had been. All joking was gone.

"Well, they worked out that I was Roxy, and after that it wasn't too hard for them to work out that I was Haley." She saw how both Sam and Dean's faces fell at that comment. It was one thing for them to know that she was Roxy, but Haley was a whole different level. To the police, that was the difference between a girl who had bailed town and a girl who was the sister of two wanted serial killers. "And then that was it really, they were just convinced that I knew where you two were, and that I was in on whatever the hell they think you get up to in your spare time." She shrugged. "They know you're not dead, let's say that much. They're looking for all of us right now, so, you know, might be time for us to get the hell out of town."

"Yeah," Dean nodded slowly, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. "I second that."

"On the up side," Sam's voice perked up a little. "We have somewhere to go. We found a case, few hours away from here."

"Oh yeah? Anything good?." she asked, the relief evident in her tone. Moving on from everything that had happened to them over the past couple of weeks was all she wanted to do anymore. She felt somewhere in the back of her mind that they were running away, that they were just always running from something, but at that point, she was okay with it.

"Blue Earth, Minnesota." Sam said to her. "Demonic omens. Lots of them."

"Demons." Haley nodded slowly. "Love them. Let me grab my stuff."

"Hey," Sam's voice stopped her before she could disappear into the bathroom. "How did you get out of there?" he asked her curiously, his eyes slightly narrowed. And he noticed how Castiel looked to her at the same time, as though he wasn't sure, either.

Haley frowned a little, and for a moment she didn't look sure of herself. "I, uh, I managed to knock out one of the guards," she shrugged it off as though it wasn't a big deal. "And then I got Cas and we ran."

Neither brother seemed completely convinced, but they didn't press it further. Dean looked her up and down slowly, somewhat sceptical that she had escaped from a prison in the heels she still wore, but shook it off. There was something more pressing at his mind. "You know," He glanced between them curiously. "What I wanna know is how the two of you managed to get yourselves arrested in the first place. I told you to be careful." His gaze became suspicious when neither spoke. "Which one of you punched someone?" he asked, as though he already knew. His eyes were fixed to his sister, but her gaze slowly moved over towards Castiel, and his blue eyes fell to the floor. "Seriously?" Dean huffed a laugh, dubious. "What the hell happened?"

Castiel looked up at him, as though confused by Dean's amusement, and frowned. "Someone was harassing your sister." he replied bluntly.

Dean's face fell at that, and all signs of humour were gone. "What?"

Sam stepped forwards, before Dean could get defensive, and quirked a brow at his sister. "What happened?"

Haley shook her head. "It wasn't a big deal." she muttered. "He called me a skank, got a little grabby, so Cas here pulled a Dean Winchester and tried to beat him half to death. It was actually kinda funny. Up until the cops showed up."

Sam opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, an amused smile playing on his face, unsure of whether or not he should be laughing. Dean frowned as he glanced between them, as if unsure whether he should be angry or amused by it, while Castiel and Haley said nothing. "You know what," Dean chuckled. "You can fill us in on the road. It's time to go."

That Night — Blue Earth, Minnesota — 09:53 pm.

There were demons everywhere, way more than they had anticipated. Dean was sure that no one had ever been surrounded by more than they were at that point. They were coming from every direction, relentless. It was as though they just couldn't kill them. The more they took down with them, the more seemed to appear. A quick glance over his shoulder showed him that his sister seemed to be handling herself fine, fighting off four or five of them herself without a problem. But, over the other shoulder, things were different. There were twice as many of them crowding Sam, and his brother was already injured.

Dean couldn't do much for him for a long moment as he fought off the demons surrounding him. His mind was anywhere but the punches he threw at them, his mind focused solely on his youngest sibling. And, when he got a free second, he sprinted towards him. Everything around him stopped in that moment, nothing around him mattered as he skidded to his knees beside him. There was blood pouring from a stab wound in his chest, and all Dean could do at that point was press his hand against it in some lame attempt to stop the bleeding.

They hadn't thought for a moment that a drive into that town would result in full armed combat with dozens of demons. They had driven for most of the day to get there, expecting nothing more than a quiet town with a couple of demons running around waiting to be exorcised. But things hadn't worked out like that. From the moment they had gotten into town, something had been wrong. It was quiet, almost as though the residents had fled in a hurry to escape something. Houses and cars had been abandoned throughout the silent streets, remaining untouched.

That had been enough to coax them from the safety of the Impala, which had turned out to be one of their biggest mistakes to date. They had gotten only half way down one of the streets before an army of people came stampeding around the corner towards them. And from there it had been a case of fighting for their lives.

Haley turned sharply at the sound of her elder brother shouting her name. The momentary distraction was enough to pull her from the fight which she had, until then, been so engaged in. As she turned, the sight before her took her by complete shock, and for a moment it was as though everything around her came to a halt and faded into the background, because it was no longer relevant to her. Sam was slouched down against the wall behind him, with Dean kneeling down facing him. His hands braced Sam's shoulders, to the extent that he blocked the younger Winchester almost completely from her view, but she could almost see the panic in her brother's stance. She wasn't sure of anything, until she heard him once again calling her name.

For a second she was sure that Sam was dead. That she had turned her back on her younger brother for that moment and something had happened to him, something that had been out of her control, something that had ended his life. Something that she wouldn't be able to forgive herself for, ever.

In that moment everything had stopped, Dean had turned to look at her over his shoulder, eyes wide. She snapped back down into reality and seemed to realise that his focus was off somewhere behind her. She turned sharply just as one of the demons lunged itself at her. She managed to dodge the attack and punch the man in the face, knocking him back a few steps. And that's when she heard him, Dean, and the desperation in his voice. "Haley, get the car!" he yelled at her, and she glanced back to see him pulling Sam up with him. There was no winning that fight, not there, and so it was time to bail.

Haley sprinted towards the Impala and threw herself behind the wheel, instantly starting up the engine. She was all too aware of the demons that were running towards her at some unfaltered and relentless speed, the ones that she knew were intent on ripping her apart, but she didn't have the time to give them more than a second thought, because Dean was lunging his brother into the back seat before he could say much else in protest, and then Dean was beside her, shouting at her to drive before he had even pulled his own door closed.

Haley pressed her foot down on the gas pedal and they were gone, with dozens of bodies following them at an unholy speed. But the impala was faster, and soon enough they were away from there, and they were in the clear. Dean looked back over his shoulder, partly to see if they were still being followed, and partly to check on the state of their younger brother. "We need to get him to a hospital." he instructed simply, the first thing he had said in over five minutes of silent and panicked driving. Everything in the car had been tense, and no one had dared utter a single word. Haley had been too focused on driving, and Sam had been falling into unconsciousness. "Haley," he snapped at her when she said nothing in response. "Are you hearing me?"

"What do you want from me?" she countered, barely looking at him before her eyes fell back to the road, wide and never blinking. "I'm already doing double the limit."

"Well, how about you try and triple it?" he retorted, and all she did was glare at him, but she still pressed her foot down a little harder. Dean sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face, shaking his head to himself. It wasn't her fault, and he knew that. Haley was still new at hunting, she wasn't used to being yelled at to drive at speeds she had never experienced before, with her brother lying unconscious in the backseat where she didn't dare to ask if he was even breathing. "He's fine." Dean muttered, his voice low, somewhat comforting. "We just need to get him to a hospital." Haley looked overwhelmed, she looked scared, she looked as though she wanted to burst into tears, but he knew that she wouldn't. He wasn't all that sure that she could even remember how to cry anymore. "What happened back there?" he asked her, his voice was understanding, and she knew that he wasn't angry at her anymore. He never had been.

Haley frowned a little, but didn't manage to tear her eyes away from the road ahead. "What do you mean?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"I mean, Hales, you just zoned out on me back there." he said, there was concern lacing his tone. He wasn't sure she even realised what had happened. "I yelled at you and you just stopped. I mean, you didn't say anything, there were demons there and you just…you didn't even flinch. You weren't hearing me."

Haley shook her head. "I don't know, Dean." she murmured, honestly. "I saw Sam and I thought…well…I don't know what I thought."

Dean nodded slowly. "He'll be fine, alright? I promise you. But you can't freeze on us like that, you'll get yourself hurt."

But Dean remembered the first time he had seen his brother hurt on the job, he remembered when Sam had first started hunting with him and Dean hadn't known how much of a hit he could take before he broke down and snapped. The level of beating Sam could take was scary, and in time Dean had become accustomed to the sight of it. He had seen him beaten with black eyes and covered in blood, and, while the panic was always there with him, he knew better than to stop and drop everything in the middle of a hunt at the sight of him like that.

But Haley was different.

She didn't know how tough her younger brother was, she hadn't seen him like that before. Dean understood, it was scary. From her position it had to have looked as though Sam was dead. And he knew, that was what had been going on in her head at the sight. No wonder she had stopped like that. No wonder her face was pale and no wonder her eyes were wide. Haley was scared, he could see it in the way her knuckles were white from gripping the wheel so tightly.

A groan came from the back seat of the car before either of them had much of a chance to say more. Dean instantly turned as Sam pushed himself up to sit, holding the front of his chest. His face was scrunched up in pain, and Dean could see he was biting back his urge to moan in complete agony. "You alright, man?" Dean asked him, eyes scanning him over carefully for anymore damage.

Sam didn't seem to fully register his question for a moment, but then he nodded, short and unconvincing, but it was there. And Dean knew at that, he wasn't about to die on them, and that was okay. Everything else they could work out later, when they could stop, when they were away from that town, but until then, they were alright. He turned around in his seat, his back to the road ahead, as he looked over Sam's injury.

It was as Haley slammed down on the breaks that Dean's back collided with the dashboard. He let out a pained shout, ready to turn and ask her what the hell she was doing, but the look on her face stopped him. Sam pushed himself up from where he had all but fallen face first into the back of the seat, and his eyes went wide, the same as hers. Slowly, as if not to break eye contact with the, at least twenty, demons standing before them, she shifted the car into reverse.

"Haley." Dean breathed, his voice a low whisper.

"Yeah, Dean?" she asked, her voice a little shaky.

"Drive." At that one firm word, she slammed down her foot on the gas and the car took off backwards down the road. She span the wheel to the right and made a sharp turn in the middle of the road, the tires screeching in protest against the surface. She shifted to drive and slammed her foot down, taking off again in the opposite direction. "Alright, need for speed, time to show me some driving skills." His tone was light but she could hear the panic clearly in his voice.

"Driving skills?" Haley repeated, incredulous, as though she couldn't for a moment work out what he found to joke about. "We're being chased down by like fifty demons and you're worried about my driving skills?! What the hell, Dean?!"

"I'm not worried about your driving skills, Hales, I'm worried about you driving a hundred in my damn car." he threw back at her, switching his gaze rapidly between the road ahead and the demons running at an unnatural speed after them. "If you scratch that paint, Haley, I swear to god I'll throw you to those demons myself!"

"Seriously?!" Sam called from the backseat. "Are you seriously having this fight right now?"

Dean rolled his eyes at his brother, shaking his head. "You know the rules, Sam."

"You just told her to triple the limit and now you're yelling about your damn paint being scratched." He would've laughed had she not have been driving the lethal speed she was.

"How are they still behind us?!" Haley said, glancing back over her shoulder. "Are they like supercharged or what?!"

"Keep your damn eyes on the road would you?!" Dean yelled back. But she was right, there were at least twenty demons running right behind the Impala, seemingly unstoppable. He shot a look back to his brother, who was clutching his own chest with a bloody hand. "Are you alright?" he asked, his tone was hard and demanding, but the panic came through in his words.

Sam shot him a look, as if to say he couldn't even believe he had asked that question, and fought back the urge to laugh. "I'm just awesome." he muttered. "Have you ever seen so many?"

"No," Dean shook his head, still a little shell shocked. "No way, not in one place."

The tires screeched below them as Haley brought the Impala to an abrupt halt in the centre of the road. Before them, blocking their path, was a large wall, stretching far enough that they couldn't go anywhere. There were flames engulfing it, illuminating the area around them, and it was strong enough that she and Dean could feel the heat from it through the window.

There wasn't much that they could do for themselves in the short moment they were parked there. It wasn't more than five seconds before the windows of the Impala were smashed around them and the shards of glass crashed over them. Two strong arms grabbed Haley around her middle and made an attempt to pull her from the car, the same way as with Sam and Dean. It was when they were all at least half way through their own windows that a large truck came speeding from seemingly nowhere. It pulled up at the side of the road, right behind the Impala. Holy water was fired out of a hose at the demons, causing them to screech in agony as the white steam rose from their skin. A man appeared and pulled out a microphone, chanting a few short words of Enochian that quickly had the demons smoking out from their bodies.

"Well," Dean breathed out a heavy breath. "There's something you don't see every day."

Haley and Sam glanced up at him but couldn't seem to find the words to respond. Everything was surreal to the three Winchesters still sitting in the car, perplexed. The water was shut off and the man stepped down from where he stood on the truck.

Slowly, cautiously, he approached the car towards Dean's smashed window, a frown on his face. "You three alright?" he asked, his voice was gruff and impatient, as though he were asking more out of obligation than actual concern.

Dean gave a short nod, looking anything but sure. "Peachy." he muttered.

The man nodded, satisfied. "Be careful." he warned. "It's...dangerous around here." And with that, he turned away from them, heading back to the truck still parked in the centre of the road behind them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dean called after him as he pushed open his door and climbed out of the car. "Wait!"

"No need to thank us." The man said over his shoulder, not bothering to turn and face Dean as he replied to him.

"No, hold up a sec!" he persisted, Sam and Haley now following closely behind him, equally curious as to what they had just witnessed. "Who are you?"

"We're the Sacrament Lutheran Militia." he said, looking at them as though they should already know exactly what that was, but none of them followed.

Haley glanced up at Dean, who gave her a look, while Sam simply shrugged. "I'm sorry," she pressed, frowning at him. "The what?"

The man scoffed. "I hate to tell you this, but those were demons and this is the Apocalypse." He smiled, almost sarcastic, and nodded. "So…buckle up." At those words, he once again turned around, ready to walk away from them.

"Hey, wait, hold on," Sam shouted, coaxing his attention back to them. "Hear us out for a second."

Dean instinctively moved around towards the trunk of the Impala, as if knowing already what Sam had in mind to make him listen, and opened it up to reveal the vast collection of weapons there. "Looks like we're in the same line of business." he said, raising an eyebrow at him. "And among colleagues. That's a police-issued shotgun." he said, gesturing to the gun strapped over his shoulder. His eyes fell to the vehicle behind him. "That truck is, uh…inspired. Where'd you guys pick up all this crap?"

"You know," He shrugged, as though it wasn't such a big deal to him. "You pick things up along the way."

But Dean appeared sceptical with his response, unsatisfied. "Guys, come on," he pressed. "This whole corner of the state is nuts with demonic omens. We just wanna help, that's all."

"We're on the same team here," Sam coaxed. "Just, talk to us. What the hell is going on around here?"

Another man stepped out of the truck and approached, eyes narrowed at the three of them, as though he was studying them. He shared a quick glance with the other man and nodded slowly. "Follow us." he said.

Sam, Dean and Haley instinctively looked between each other, as though to come to a consensus of whether or not it was a good idea, and made a move back to the Impala, ready to follow the two men back to wherever they had come from and get some answers.

So, like I said at the top I am very, very sorry about not updating the past couple of weeks. I also forgot to mention at the top, thank you so much to Winchestergirl67 who wrote some of this chapter with me, you really helped me get back into it after my little break!;-)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you for all of your support!

I also had this review on my last chapter: "I love your writing but I have a few questions because I kind of forgot so was Sam Azazels chosen one or was it Haley? and Do you make the story up as you go or did you already have it planned out since the 1st chapter?Oh and does it actually take you a whole week to write this gold or do you like to keep us in suspence?", which was left with a guest account, and as I don't want to be rude I'll answer it here for you.

Sam was still Azazel's chosen one, and everything with the visions and the storyline through season two would have been the same as in the show, no change there. And I do make a lot of it up as I go along, but there is a very rough plan to it. It's like I know where I'm going with it but I have to think up the details of it as I'm going along. And yes, it does usually take me about a week to get around to writing a chapter (a lot of the time I write a draft during the weekend, go over that maybe Wednesday or Thursday, and then read through and spell check before I update on Friday. If it did get finished before Friday I probably wouldn't update anyway, as I don't want to spam you all with like 30,000 words a week!

So hopefully the next chapter will be up next Friday, maybe earlier this week since it's already half done! Thank you for reading! :-)