A/N - This chapter takes place during the episode 'Born Under a Bad Sign'

January 25, 2007

"Where is your pep, girl?" Ash asked as Lady looked at him with tired eyes.

"My get up and go got up and left," she said with a smile. "Cut me some slack. Give me what you got."

Ash gave her a dirty grin, "Let's head into my office and I'll get to work on that."

Lady returned his smile, "Last guy I got naked I threatened to turn him into a woman."

Ash's smile vanished, "That's just wrong. There is seriously something wrong with you."

"Mmhm," Lady agreed with the same pleasant smile. "Maybe you should help me find some witches so I can vent my anger in another direction."

Ash looked at her apologetically, "Sorry. Things across the board have been real quiet."

Lady let her smile drop, "Yeah, I was afraid of that." It'd been over two months since the black moon and other than Garrett's long-distance attack against her nothing witchy was going on.

"Lady, how long have you been here?" Ellen asked as she came in from the back.

"Just long enough for Ash to tell me he has nothing," Lady said.

"You look beat up," Ellen said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired," Lady admitted.

"No, I mean you look like someone kicked your ass," Ellen said. "C'mere, let's put ice on that."

Lady followed Ellen behind the bar, not willing to argue with the woman. She had finished a job a few days ago with Jo, coming to fill in Ellen was just one of the reasons she had stopped at the Roadhouse on her way back to Bobby's. "Yeah, got in a bit of a brawl." Lady took the icepack Ellen offered and put it on her swollen face. Her left eye was bruised and slightly swollen all the way down to her jaw and still hurt like a bitch. "Jo caught wind of a Heeler in Colorado. She wanted to check it out."

Ellen frowned. A Heeler was rather nasty monster. It was able to jump high and long distances, claws and red glowing eyes. Shot to the head or any vital area and it'd die, but they were slippery bastards.

"It's dead, and Jo's already back in Duluth," Lady said. "I stayed a few extra days to check out old ritual spots. I got pissed off when I found nothing and decided to come here."

"Jo got out without a scratch?" Ellen asked in concern.

"She got out with three gorgeous claw marks across her shoulder," Lady said. "She got herself stitched up and everything looks good."

Ellen let out a breath, "I hate to hear it, but thanks," Ellen said. "Think that injury will slow her down?"

"Knowing Jo, probably not," Lady said with a smile, and Ellen nodded. "I think it's about time for me to start running into random dead ends on my witch hunt, I'll see if she wants to tag along for them."

"What if those dead ends turn into something?"

Lady grimaced, "Then I would have led your daughter and myself into certain death since I still haven't figured out how to kill Garrett." She was narrowing down the ritual, without being able to hear his spell she just wasn't sure what he was invoking. It was a work in progress that had been interrupted by Jo's request for back-up.

"So have you been helping Dean in his latest great Sam hunt?" Ellen asked. Lady's confused look made Ellen quickly realize she hadn't heard. "Dean's been calling here every day, Sam ran off again. He's worried sick. I figured you'd be one of the first people he'd call."

Lady shook her head, "Obviously not. I haven't heard from him in a while. He and Sam have been steering clear of me and Bobby." Ellen was already aware of what happened with Gordon shortly after the black moon in November, but Lady wasn't sure how many details she had been given. And considering how loose lips were in the Roadhouse, there were always others that had sharper ears than they should, they couldn't talk about it. She didn't know if Ellen knew about the newest FBI problems the Winchesters were in, and Lady didn't want to mention it. "We're just giving each other space in case something comes back to bite either of us in the ass."

"Well that's stupid," Ellen said. "First rule of combat, divide and conquer. Those boys are your best allies and you are one of theirs. You need to stick together."

"This is just how it worked out," Lady said, keeping the bitterness out of her voice.

Ellen let out a breath, "I have to say I'm worried about Sam. Just found out one of our guys, another hunter by the name of Steve Wendell, was found killed in his home."

Lady's eyebrows rose, "What did it?"

"No one knows, but he was found with a slit throat. He has a lot of buddies trying to figure it out," Ellen said. "Happens, now and then. One of them does a job, and something follows them home to bite their head off while they sleep. Just can never be too careful. What makes me worry more is it was over in Wisconsin. That ain't far from Jo, you know?"

Lady smiled, "Jo is safe. I promise you, nothing we've gone after can follow her home because we kill it, twice. We can put a neon sign over her head declaring her a hunter and nothing will come back to find her."

Ellen returned Lady's smile, "Thanks. You know if anything ever does I'm going to personally take it out of your ass, but thanks."

Lady's smile became forced, "Wow. You have a way of making me feel like I'd rather be surrounded by a coven of witches, you know that?"

Ellen chuckled, "Why don't you head on back? Get a few hours of sleep."

"No, I have Freddie in my truck. I just wanted to stop in before you got busy. I'll call you later."

Lady got into her large pick-up truck, on loan from Mason. It was white, which she hated. It had no personality. It did have heated leather seats, which she adored in the winter. It had four-doors and a large cab, which she liked if only because Freddie took up so much damn room. She felt like a toothpick riding in a shoebox, though. And thinking about that just made her wish she had more time and money to head to New York to go shoe shopping.

Lady and Freddie parked in a secluded spot for a nap in the truck before making their way north to South Dakota. It was nearly six in the morning when her cell phone rang.

"Hey, Jo," Lady answered.

"Hey, where are you?" Jo asked.

"South Dakota, driving to Bobby's right now."

Jo let out a breath, "Have you seen Sam?"

"Winchester? No," Lady said. "I was at the Roadhouse earlier, Ellen told me he ran off again. Or might be missing. Is Dean trying to recruit your help?"

"No," Jo said. "No, Dean just rescued me from him."

Lady's heart was pounding. Not long ago Sam had been begging her to be there for Dean if something happened to him, if he turned into something like Gordon thought he would. "What do you mean?"

"Sam's possessed by a demon," Jo said. "He nearly killed me. He shot Dean!"

"Is Dean okay?" Lady asked, pressing down on the accelerator of the truck.

"Yeah," Jo answered. "Just, let me talk! Okay?" Jo took a calming breath. "The demon in Sam is going after hunters. I was afraid you were on your way home, if you were you would be real close to be attacked. Dean said he thinks the demon is going to South Dakota. You think Bobby's place?"

"I'll call you back," Lady said, dialing Bobby's cell phone. It went straight to voice mail. She tried his house phones next, the calls didn't go through. Lady called Jo back. "Tell me what happened, I'm only an hour from Bobby's right now."

Jo told her that while she was closing up the bar she worked in Sam showed up. They talked for a while before he knocked her out and tied her up. When Dean arrived they found out Sam was possessed and Dean ran after the demon. The demon escaped in Dean's Impala, and Jo had to fish Dean out of the freezing river and dig a slug out of his shoulder. While he was being patched up he told Jo the demon seemed to be going after hunters. His first concern had been Lady, if she was in New Town she wasn't that far at all, but Jo knew she was too far away to be home already.

Lady pulled into Bobby's lot before Jo could finish, moving her pick-up truck to block the large Impala's exit. Freddie was howling and snarling in the backseat. Lady couldn't hear Jo but said into the phone, "He's already at Bobby's. Call Dean."

Lady didn't bother to pull out a weapon, it wasn't like she'd shoot Sam. He had no control over his own body if he was possessed.

Lady entered Bobby's house quickly, Sam was already black-eyed and seething under the devil's trap in the living room. Lady let out a breath of relief and put a hand on Bobby's shoulder, "How'd you know?"

"How'd I know?" Bobby looked at her. "Kid, I've been around a while. And I've known that boy since he was a pup. You think a demon can fool me?"

"Looks like he can make you out of breath," Lady grinned at him.

"He's a heavy son of a bitch," Bobby complained. "Help me get him tied up."

"You should call Dean," Lady said, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. She saw it was a blocked number and that Dean would be on the other end if she answered. "Never mind, that's him, take it," she tossed her phone to Bobby. "I'll grab the chair."

Lady slid a chair under the devil's trap for the demon as Bobby talked on her phone. He muttered a few words before handing her the phone back. "Dean is on his way, be an hour or so. He wants to talk to this thing, though."

"Good, I can't wait," the demon said through Sam's mouth.

Lady looked at Sam, the black eyes of the demon had retreated and he just looked like Sam. Gentle brown eyes, shaggy brown hair. The only thing that didn't look correct was the wicked twisting smile on his lips. Somewhere in there Sam was trapped by that demon. "Do we really have to leave Sam like this?" Lady asked as Bobby returned with rope.

"Dean wants to take care of it," Bobby said. "Get his other arm, be careful."

Sam looked up at her and stayed still as she tightly wrapped the rope around his wrist and the armchair. "That's right, do it quick. You should be gone before my brother gets here."

"Don't listen to it," Bobby said roughly as he secured Sam's legs.

"You know he just sees you as a useful witch," Sam said. "And all of this is going to be your fault. You couldn't hide Sam anymore. You know how easy it was to find him?" The demon used Sam's laugh to chuckle at her. "So easy it wasn't even fun to wiggle my way in here. You aren't even worth the air you breathe now that you aren't cursed, Lady. Without being able to do that ritual you are useless."

"I hope you enjoy yourself when you get ripped out of that cozy little place," Bobby said in her defense, but Lady was letting it roll off of her, or at least she was trying. The demon hit the nail on the head, when she had spoken to Sam on the phone and told him she couldn't help them any more she had felt useless, she had actually wished to be cursed again, just to help them prevent something like this.

"Hey, Bobby, your wife says hello," Sam said with a sick grin.

Lady put her hands on Bobby's shoulders and pushed him back. Bobby's wife had died years ago. Bobby never spoke of her, and Lady never pried, but John had told her that his wife had been possessed by a demon. Bobby had been forced to kill her, back then he hadn't known any of this. It was what had sent him into this life. "Remember, Sam is in there," Lady said as she held Bobby back from slugging him. "Dean will be here soon and he'll take care of it."

Sam chuckled again, "You have so much hope in Dean, Lady. You must have some serious daddy issues if you fell for Dean knowing what you do."

"You know what, black witches and demons aren't that different," Lady said in a harsh voice. "Neither of you know when to shut the fuck up."

"You know Dean couldn't love something like you, right?" the demon said, and Lady tried to tune it out as she got Bobby into the kitchen and began grabbing jars and vials of things from his collection. The demon continued, more loudly so she could still hear him from the kitchen. "Come on, you are one wart from being something he'll have to kill. He has to use all his energy to keep his brother from becoming evil, he can't waste that time looking over your shoulder, too. Let's face it, you were fun for a time, but he'd kill you the instant he believed you went too far. Sam, on the other hand, I showed Dean a video of his little brother slitting an innocent man's throat and still he wouldn't shoot his own brother. To Dean all you are is a tool. You have uses, but the second you become too greasy to keep in line he's going to throw you in a bucket of gasoline and burn you like the witch you are. He'll be the gentleman you think he is and make it as quick and painless as he can, of course, but he won't think twice about it."

"You ready to see what this witch can do?" Lady asked angrily as she stepped out of the kitchen with a wooden bowl in her hand, her fingers sifting through the powdery ingredients inside.

The demon grinned again. "Sam here thinks the world of you, Lady. He prays for you, did he ever tell you that? He prays for you, that you stay safe, that you and Dean will be together. If he only knew."

Lady waited, and waited, before finally asking, "Knew what?"

"Well, I already told you, didn't I? Dean doesn't care about you, Lady. Dean knows what you are. A witch. A whore. The only reason he was even interested was because you were cursed, dying. Now that isn't the case you aren't nearly as interesting, and not even a bit useful."

Lady held a handful of the powder and the demon struggled as she covered his mouth and nose with her hand until he was forced to take in a breath. His head slumped down immediately.

"What was that?" Bobby asked as she walked away. "Was that…sleep dust?"

"Yeah," Lady said. "Maxine told me how to make it."

Bobby was quiet as Lady put things away and cleaned up her quick spell. It was unnerving how quickly she had managed to mix that up, but he had other thoughts. "So you and..."

"Bobby, don't dig," Lady interrupted. "I haven't seen Sam or Dean since the whole thing with Gordon. There isn't anything there. I don't want anything to be there. And you aren't going to repeat a damn word of it."

Bobby nodded once, "Just demon chatter, kid. Don't get worked up over it."

Lady leaned against the sink as she tried to take Bobby's advice. It was hard, though. Demons lied a lot, but their lies were mixed with harsh truths. She finished cleaning up and helped herself to a hot pocket to quiet her rumbling stomach. She checked on Freddie, he had quieted in the truck but she wasn't ready to let him out. It was too likely he may try to attack the demon inside Sam, and so far Sam seemed like he wasn't physically hurt.

"I think I'll head out," Lady said. Dean couldn't be far now and she wasn't sure anymore that she wanted to see him. She knew the demon's words would be echoing in her mind and she'd be trying to figure out what had been true and what had been said to get under her skin.

"You ain't going to wait?" Bobby asked.

Lady shook her head, "Why should I?"

"I have a demon inside our friend in my living room. Dashing out doesn't seem like the best thing."

Lady shrugged, "I have things to do." Lady paused and frowned at the sounds outside, "Besides, Dean is here. You don't need my help."

Lady stood at the door, knowing she'd be unable to avoid seeing him and wanting to get it over without having Bobby there watching her. Dean stopped in the lot and looked over his car with concern before rushing to the door. "Is he in there?"

"Knocked out," Lady nodded, stepping out of his way. "Sam doesn't look like he was hurt."

"You?" Dean asked, and she froze as he touched her face where her bruise from the hunt a few days ago was. He took his hand back quickly and curled it into a fist. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm made of tough stuff," she said.

"Come on, let's get that thing out of my brother," Dean said.

Lady turned to step aside as his hand reached to touch her waist and lead her inside, "I'm actually out of here."

"Lady," Dean said as she was walking into the lot. "Lady, wait." She looked back at him with wide eyes. "Just...hold on, okay?"

"Sam needs you, Dean," Lady said. She flashed him a big smile as her insides turned and twisted painfully. "I got a lot of things going on, I need to get back to them. Just call me later...if you want."

It wasn't a hard decision, convince Lady to stay for ten minutes or get inside to get that foul evil stinking sulfurous bastard of a demon out of his brother. He stomped into Bobby's house and into his living room. Sam's chin was in his chest. "What'd you do to him?" Dean asked.

"Lady hit him with some sleep dust He should wake up fairly easy," Bobby said.

"Let's see," Dean said, slapping his brother across the face.

Lady got into her truck as Dean and Bobby began their exorcism, behind her was a piece of junk car Dean had driven and the truck was too big to get around it. She had wanted to block the demon from using the Impala as a quick get away if she had to, but her truck had prevented the car Dean drove there from getting into the lot so now it was blocking her in. She turned the key to let the truck warm up. She was going to move the car herself. Dean was rather protective of his vehicle but she doubted he would mind if she just moved the car he had arrived in just three feet back. It wasn't like it was his car. If it bothered him he could kiss her ass because she wasn't going to skip inside and interrupt an exorcism to have him do it. Before she could do anything Freddie began howling and barking furiously again.

"Shit," Lady muttered, as she saw Bobby's house actually shudder. She jumped out of the truck and ran inside.

Once inside she couldn't see Bobby, but the demon was still in Sam and had Dean pinned on the floor, beating the crap out of him. Lady didn't think, just saw herself reacting with her future-sight and followed it. She took quick steps forward and before the demon even realized she was there her foot connected with his chin, knocking him backwards.

"Lady, the demon did a binding link to Sam," Bobby said, throwing himself on Sam to hold him down. "On his arm, how do we get rid of it?"

Lady saw a burned brand on Sam's forearm, a circle with a line through it. Bobby got thrown off and Lady let the demon grab her and wrap an arm around her. "There is no getting rid of it. I'm in here for good," the demon said.

Lady found the rough skin of the mark and bit down while holding his arm in both of her hands. He threw her off the second he realized what she was doing, but she had already tasted blood and broke the skin. The demon howled and fell to its knees before smoking out of Sam's mouth.

Bobby put his hands on Lady and pulled her to her feet as Sam collapsed. "You okay?" He asked. "What the hell did you do?"

Lady spit, "I bit him."

"Sammy?" Dean looked at his dazed brother.

Sam groaned and looked around in shock. "What'd I miss?" he asked, taking deep breaths.

Dean scowled before leaning over and slugging his brother back to the ground. "Son of a bitch."

"C'mon," Bobby said, helping Dean up.

"How'd you know what to do?" Dean asked Lady, using his shirt to dab at his bleeding nose.

Sam was looking at the bite mark she had left that was still bleeding. She shrugged, "Just seemed like the thing to do."

Dean turned to his brother, "Sammy, you okay?"

"Can someone just tell me what happened?" Sam asked as he got to his feet.

"Yeah! I can," Dean said roughly. "You were possessed!"

Sam looked horrified. "Did...did I do all this?" Dean's eyes widened as he nodded. Sam looked at Lady, "Lady, I'm...I'm so sorry, I..."

"This isn't from you," Lady said, pointing at her black eye. "I'll get you something to clean your arm. Uh...sorry for biting you."

Dean let Sam in on what had happened while he was possessed while they got cleaned up and looked after their injuries, and there were a lot of injuries. Sam had teeth marks and a swollen jaw. Dean had a busted lip and a bullet-wound in his left shoulder. Lady let Freddie inside, now that everyone was together and had control of their bodies she didn't want to leave. It had been too long since she'd been able to see her friends, and even if she couldn't meet their eyes she didn't want to leave them.

"I have a bit of a concern," Lady said quietly while Bobby was getting ice for Dean's swelling face. "I was at the Roadhouse last night, Ellen told me a hunter in Wisconsin was killed." Dean's eyes looked away quickly and that told her he was already aware of it. "His buddies are out for blood, everything is covered, right?"

Dean nodded once, "Yeah, yeah, it is."

"Dean..."

"It's covered, Sam," Dean said roughly.

"But..."

"Sam, I've been spending a lot of time at the Roadhouse lately. A lot of them are like Gordon, they only see black or white," Lady said firmly. And they went quiet as Bobby returned. "And we're pretty gray."

Wanting to change the subject away from his brother's possession and the possible ways it would come back to bite them in the ass Dean asked, even when Lady glared at him, "How'd you get the shiner?"

"I fell down some stairs," Lady lied.

"That's cute," Bobby muttered.

"Jo said you had just run a hunt with her," Dean said. "What'd you take out?"

"A heeler," Lady answered.

"Is it dead?" Dean asked.

"I'm alive, aren't I?" Lady answered. "Bobby and I have kept ourselves pretty busy the past few months."

"Any luck tracking Garrett?" Sam asked.

"No," Lady said, looking at her bare wrist. Now that the topic had turned to her Sam had noticed the mark was gone. She let him take her arm in his hands so he could look at the smooth skin. "I feel sort of naked without it. Weird, huh?"

"You had it a long time," Sam said. "How does it feel to be free?"

"Far from free," Lady said, taking her hand back. "I don't think I'll need to track Garrett. Eventually he's going to find me. I'm just trying to prepare myself for when he does."

"Max helping you?" Dean asked.

Lady shook her head sadly, and explained how Max removed the curse. "She couldn't get rid of it, but she took it all herself. I'm hoping she gave me enough information to take Garrett down, but it is still feeling like Mission Impossible right now."

"You know the second you have a plan we're ready," Dean offered.

Lady smiled a bit, "Yeah, I know."

"Bobby, thank you, for everything," Dean said earnestly. "You are the man." Bobby smiled and accepted the compliment. "We should keep moving, though. Everything that's been going on it just isn't safe to stick around. We don't want this coming back to bite you."

Bobby nodded, "Yeah, when you boys do something you don't do it half-assed. That includes getting in trouble."

"If you guys want you can hole up at my place," Lady offered. It wasn't a great offer, considering her place was barely habitable during the winter, but it was secluded and safe.

Dean shook his head, "With all the trouble we have we can't risk it going to hit you or the Masons. Especially after this."

"Good point," she said. "Well, Bobby, I'm heading out, too. I'll call you later." Lady gave Bobby a brief hug as she and Freddie followed the brothers out.

"Nice truck," Dean said as they walked into the lot.

"It's Mason's," Lady said. "On loan until I find something I like."

"You aren't going to get another Beetle, are you?" Dean teased.

"You know what, my Beetle had character," Lady said defensively.

"Lady, you are a character," Dean said happily, and she laughed. "It's been a crazy few months, hasn't it?"

She nodded, "Yeah, you have no idea. But it's been good to see you guys again."

"Hey, how about I get rid of this stolen car?" Sam offered. "I'll find somewhere to ditch it and you can come pick me up."

"Good idea," Dean said.

"Bye, Lady," Sam said, giving Lady the best hug she had ever had. There was a lingering smell of sulfur on him, but she didn't care. "We'll see you again soon, I hope."

When Sam got into the car Dean took a step toward her. "You know, my face hurts like hell, but I feel like if I don't kiss you I might turn into a woman."

Lady's heart thudded as he bent his neck to touch his lips to hers, and she remembered to be gentle against his swollen lips and jaw from the beating the demon had given him earlier. It was hard to pull away. "Manhood in tact?" she asked, licking her lips as they tingled.

"Mmhm," Dean said, his hands comfortably resting on her waist. He let out a breath, "The only sleep I've had the past few days is from when I was knocked unconscious, otherwise I'd prove it to you. Between being knocked out, shot and having the crap beaten out of me, this didn't turn out so bad. I've been thinking about you a lot." Dean looked into her eyes, fatigue from the past week hitting him harder than a bottle of whiskey would have.

"You know, without being able to cloak you guys I'm pretty much useless to you," Lady said, staring back into his eyes and wondering if the demon had been telling the truth about that.

"You kidding?" Dean scoffed.

Lady shrugged, "I guess I am an easy source of entertainment, but I tend to get on peoples nerves after a while."

Dean grinned as he pulled her into a hug, "You owe me a vacation." His hand moved gently down her bruised face and brought it up for another kiss. "Now get this eyesore out of my way," he said, rapping his knuckles on the truck.

"I'm never going to have a vehicle that meets your expectations, will I?" Lady asked as he walked to his car.

"There is only one car that does," Dean said as he patted his beloved Impala. He gave her the best smile he could manage with his beaten face, "Call me when you have Garrett."

Lady nodded as she climbed into her truck, Freddie was already waiting in the passenger seat.