Chapter 26

Maggie had been gone for awhile. Dean hadn't been able to get in touch with her and it scared him. He didn't know what Death might be making her do because she 'dared to help the Winchesters' because it could literally be anything. If Death made a human play him for the day, what would be done to someone who couldn't die?

The thought lingered in his mind for days no matter how much he tried to ignore it. He told himself Death wouldn't do anything too bad because Maggie was supposedly his daughter, but he only slightly believed that. It didn't truly help swage his worry.

After a few cases, Sam learned the hard way that Dean was right. The things that happened in the year he couldn't remember were better left not remembered. Sam was dejected and wanted to fight it, but he couldn't. He felt Dean was right, but he didn't realize the damage had been done.

While Dean was in the other room, Sam seized. He hit the ground hard and there was nothing anyone could do about it. No matter how Dean shook him or how loudly he yelled Sam's name, he wouldn't wake.

Frantic and filled with the purest fear he'd ever felt, Dean called out. He didn't know why he hadn't called Cass, but he didn't. Maybe on some level he thought Maggie was the only one who knew what to do.

"Maggie!" Dean screamed desperately into the air. "Maggie, its Sam! Please!"

Dean was ready to stand and scream some more if he had to, but he didn't. He heard the sound of fluttering wings from behind and spun on his heel to see Maggie.

"Oh Sam," she gasped. Without hesitation, she raced for the young man's side. "What happened?" she demanded.

"I don't know. He was mid-sentence and this happened." Dean said in the same voice he'd prayed in. "Help him."

"Shh." Maggie whispered.

Dean was ready to snap at her to do something before realizing she was. Maggie gently touched the sides of Sam's head. The palms of her hands began to glow with a warm, yellow light. Dean's brows furrowed as he watched her touch him. Seconds passed, but it felt like hours, before Sam suddenly gasped and woke. Dean breathed easier almost immediately.

"Sam?" he asked tentatively.

"Wha… what happened?" he mumbled before noticing Dean wasn't alone. "Jenny?"

She smiled softly. Together, she and Dean lifted Sam to his feet. He wavered slightly, but caught himself as he gathered his bearings. Still, he couldn't stop eying her.

"When'd you get here?" he asked, looking her up and down. "Wow," he muttered. "You look different." When he noticed her raise a brow, he quickly explained. "Good, but different."

"A lot's changed, Sammy." She told him kindly. "It's not Jenny anymore."

His brows came together and his head tilted a bit to the side. Sam glanced to Dean briefly, but got nothing in the ways of a real answer. His brother did little more than shrug weakly.

"Okay, uh… what is it now?" he asked her curiously.

"Magdalena." She said simply. "Or Maggie, as Dean seems to prefer."

"It's less pompous."

"Hey," she snapped halfheartedly. "That is my name, you know."

"Okay." Sam mumbled again. His head hurt and the new information was only adding to the ache. "But when did you get here?" he turned to Dean. "How long was I out?"

"There's uh…" Dean hesitated. He felt weird having to retell Sam the major plot points, but knew he had to. "Well uh…" for some reason, the words had trouble coming. "Remember what Gabriel said?"

"Which part?" he asked. It was clear Sam still didn't understand and he was growing a bit frustrated in the process.

Dean said nothing, but pointed to Maggie. It took Sam a moment, but soon understanding washed over his features. With his mouth stuck in an 'O' position, he turned his gaze back to Maggie. His eyes darted over her appearance again. Maggie only smiled softly and shrugged.

"Seriously?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Show him the…" Dean paused, but motioned at her. "The wings."

Maggie raised a brow.

"They don't exactly fit in here." She replied sarcastically.

"So, that's it then, you're full blown angel now?"

"Something like that." She nodded.

"Wow… so uh… wow. Okay."

"Yeah, well now that introductions are done, can we get out of here?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded and returned to his things. Dean wanted to ask Maggie to stay –if anything to keep an eye on Sam- but he didn't have to. The pair shared a stare and he knew that moment she didn't plan to leave for a little while.

~!~

Sam leaned against the trunk of the car, holding the bridge of his nose trying to get the pain to ebb. Dean and Maggie stood at the little coffee kiosk. Dean paid for their food and drinks while Maggie leaned against the pictures of what they were selling, staring at the man by the car.

"So, any ideas?" Dean asked, holding his purchase in his hands.

"A few." she sighed. "But none of them are good."

"You think he's remembering things?"

Maggie only glanced to him out of the corner of her eye. He knew that look and it didn't make him feel any better. With a sigh, the two made their way towards the Impala.

"So," Dean chimed as he neared the exhausted looking Sam. "How do you feel?"

Sam sighed heavily.

"Like… I got hit by a planet." he joked weakly as he took the offered drink.

"Well lucky for you, I'm a doctor. We've got Joe, grub and..." Dean smiled when he shook a pill bottle with large white tablets inside.

Sam eyed the pills skeptically.

"What are they?"

"Affective."

"I'm okay. Thanks." Sam answered quickly. He held up his coffee as proof and tried to ignore the fact that his brother has something resembling horse tranquilizers in his pocket.

"Suit yourself." Dean shrugged. He shoved the bottle back into his jacket pocket and took his stance beside Sam. Maggie leaned against the Impala on Sam's other side.

Sam eyed the two of them. If they tried to make it look like they weren't hovering, it didn't work.

"So uh…" Sam pushed passed the obvious scene. "How long was I out again?"

"I'm tellin' ya, like two or three minutes." Dean replied. "Why, what'd it feel like to you?"

"About a week." Sam sighed. "Give or take."

Dean nodded and took a sip of his drink.

"You want to talk about it?"

"It?" Sam asked skeptically.

"Yeah, about what that was. It was like you were fuckin' electrocuted."

Sam moved uncomfortably, reluctant to say anything about what he'd experienced.

"Look, it wasn't fun. But I mean I'm-I'm fine."

"Fine." Dean repeated unconvinced. He glanced to Maggie who shared the same concern him while Sam only shrugged his agreement.

The three stood there for a moment, none willing to speak while Sam hoped internally that they would just drop it, but he knew inside they wouldn't.

"It was Hell," Maggie finally asked. "Wasn't it Sam?"

"What?"

"It was, wasn't it?" Dean said. "You got a big fat face full of Hell didn't you?" Sam looked away which was all the confirmation Dean needed. "Did it ever cross your mind that you could've died?"

"Oh come on." Sam scoffed.

"I'm serious. No more of this shit. We did it your way and let you explore and every bad thing I said would happen happened. So guess what? Past stays past. We're not kicking that wall again."

"So what? I'm supposed to act like this past year didn't happen?"

"Yes." he declared.

"Oh come on." Sam sighed exasperatedly. "Maggie, tell Dean he's being childish." Sam pleaded, hoping to get back up from somewhere, but one look at her face let him know she wasn't it.

"Sam, you don't get it do you?" she asked. Sam didn't speak, but she could tell he wasn't willing to believe her and Dean's concern was entirely justified. "That earlier, was only a couple of minutes. If you break the wall anymore, you'll be in a coma, unable to wake up or move, reliving Hell day in and day out. Three minutes felt like a week, imagine what forty years would feel like."

"So you seriously expect me to forget everything?"

"Yes." Dean replied.

Sam looked briefly at his brother.

"Dean, I could've done God-knows-what and you guys expect me to just ignore it?"

"Yes." Dean nodded. "You ignore it and shove it deep down and you let it come out in spurts of violence and alcoholism."

"That sounds healthy." Sam muttered sarcastically.

"Yeah well it's what I do."

"Oh my God Dean," Maggie sighed. "No Sam, don't do that. It's just, there's no use going back and trying to make peace with everything. Even if you try to remember what you've done over the year and manage to survive the damn breaking, which FYI you wouldn't anyway," Sam rolled his eyes at her bluntness. "You wouldn't remember everything. And how do you expect to put things right if you go mad from the memories?"

"This isn't a joke Sam." Dean continued. They were tag-teaming the poor Winchester boy, but evidently it was necessary. "First you were walking around like a soulless dick-bag and now you're not. Okay? End of story. So can we drop it, please?"

"Yeah." Sam sighed. He seemed reluctantly, but between their complaining and what he'd already gone through, Sam was beginning to at least see their perspective. "Okay."

"Good." Dean answered, He wasn't completely convinced, but it was the best he would get for the moment. "We need to get your mind off things. How bout a job?"

"Yeah okay…" Sam muttered while Dean picked up his copy of some newspaper.

"Local janitor found murdered in a high school science lab." He read. "Everything locked up and no one in or out."

"Okay. Where to?"

"Patterson, New Jersey." he declared before chuckling. "Hey, maybe we'll have a Snooki sighting."

Maggie groaned.

"What's a Snooki?" Sam asked curiously.

Dean paused for a moment while folding the newspaper.

"That is a good question."

Maggie only smiled as Sam made his way into the front seat. Dean glanced over his shoulder, making sure the younger Winchester was out of earshot, before scooting closer to her.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think he's too stubborn to listen to either of us." she answered with a weak smile, one Dean shared briefly.

"You think he's going to be okay?"

"I have no idea, but you Winchesters are stubborn and pigheaded men. So, yeah he'll probably be fine."

Dean smiled. He glanced briefly to his little brother.

"Will you uh…"

"I don't know." She said before he could finish his question. Her hesitation drew his attention. "Dean, I shouldn't have come this time, but the way you screamed…"

She fought the shudder as she replayed his panicked voice in her head. Dean fidgeted.

"What's," he found it a bit difficult to get the words out which bothered him. "What's Death got you doing, anyhow?"

"I'm Reaping." She answered heavily. Dean watched as she looked at the ground for a moment. Maggie avoided his eye and elected instead to stare at the pebble she was pushing around with her toe. "I have a specific number of souls I have to take before my time becomes my own again."

"How many?" he asked before he could stop himself.

Maggie took a deep breath and sighed.

"7, 887, 435." She said easily.

Dean felt his mouth fall slack. Eventually, she looked at the man beside her and saw his dumbstruck expression. He was trying to wrap his mind around the immense number, but found something slip through his lips.

"That's specific."

Maggie laughed softly and nodded. It forced him to focus again. He noticed her nod lightly.

"Yeah well," she gave him a half-smile. "That's the cost of a Winchester soul."

Dean let his face relax and soon shared a warm, appreciative smile with her.

"Thank you," he finally said. "For convincing him, or whatever you did, for the deal you made."

"I owe you guys." She said. Dean couldn't keep the confusion from his face. "Despite all of the bad things –and there were plenty-" he scoffed his agreement. "You and Sam helped me out a lot. You guys kind of saved my life. I'm just returning the favor."

"I'm pretty sure whatever debt we got's been erased, a few times over."

She smiled sweetly again and shook her head.

"Not yet." She said. "Take care of him, Dean. I'll be back when I can."

Dean nodded and Maggie vanished.

She wanted to tell him the whole truth, but it wouldn't help anyone in the end and whether or not he liked her as a friend again, he would've tried to talk her out of it.

The part about the souls was true. Death gave her a specific number she had to reap before her time would be her own again, but that wasn't all he told her. He told her when, where and what the vast majority of them were and he told her the real price for him saving Sam's soul.

Neglecting to tell either Sam or dean the truth weighed on her, but Maggie didn't have a choice. Death made himself very clear in the matter and she didn't want him to go back on his end. Besides, Maggie knew that day was coming for decades; she was just surprised these were the circumstances surrounding it. Still… she was happy for the reason behind it…

~~~!~~~