**Nothing from Charmed or Supernatural belongs to me.**

Chapter Thirty-Six

Peyton and Melinda sat at the kitchen table, holding cups of tea laced with a healthy dollop of whiskey from Piper. Paige and Phoebe sat by the girls at the table, waiting on Piper to get back inside with Leo and Dean. Piper walked in, sighing.

"They're going to get cleaned up, then they'll be back."

Melinda nodded, while Peyton just stared into her cup. Phoebe reached over and patted Peyton's hand.

"Honey, please."
"Just block me, Mom."
"Honey."

Peyton shook her head and turned up her cup. She slid it towards Piper, who smiled gently at her.

"Could we just forgo the tea this time, Aunt Piper?"

Piper smiled and nodded, looking over to Paige, who orbed the bottle over to the table. Melinda sighed.

"I think that what he did—"
"Mel, don't."
"It was to protect you, Peyton."
"Don't give me that bullshit, Mel."

Phoebe sighed as Peyton shook her head.

"How long has this been going on? Can you tell me that?"

Melinda looked down at her cup, and Peyton's mouth hung open.

"Oh my God, you know, don't you? You know exactly how long this has been going on."
"I saw it in my premonition."

Peyton shook her head again, taking the cup of whiskey from Piper and downing it. Phoebe sighed.

"Honey…"
"Mom, don't!"

Peyton put her head in her hands as Dean and Leo walked back into the room. They could take the fastest showers, Leo, from his time in the Army, and Dean, from growing up as the son of a former Marine. The women moved around to let Dean sit beside Melinda, while Leo stood behind Piper. Peyton kept her head in her hands and Piper poured her another shot. Melinda wouldn't look at Dean, who glanced from her to Peyton, then back at Piper and Leo. Leo sighed.

"Piper told us what you all did. What, uh… What did you see?"

They were quiet for a minute, and Peyton took a sip of her whiskey. Melinda let out a shaky breath.

"It was bad, Daddy."
"Did you see what happened to you?"

Melinda nodded, feeling Dean tense up beside her.

"Who was it, Mel? Tell me, so I can make the son of a bitch suffer."

Tears welled up in Melinda's eyes.

"It w—It wasn't a demon."
"Who was it, Mel?"

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. Peyton took another sip while Dean looked around the table.

"Melinda, talk to me."
"I don't want to."

Her voice was full of tears, and Dean felt something in the pit of his stomach. He reached over, laying a hand across Melinda's lap, gripping the leg away from him.

"Honey. Mel, look at me."

She shook her head.

"I—I can't. Dean, I can't … I can't tell you this."

Tears slid down her cheeks, some of them falling onto his hand. He looked to Peyton, who pillowed her arms on the table and laid her head on them. Dean laid his arm across the back of Melinda's chair, pulling her closer to him, surrounding her with his arms.

"You can, Mel. You can tell me anything."

She looked at him then, and the look on her face was one he'd never seen before. Sorrow and regret, something close to absolute devastation colored her beautiful features. Paige was staring at the table, and Piper was too, holding tight to Leo's hand. Phoebe was sitting by Peyton, with her head on Peyton's back. Dean let out a shaky breath. He could very easily just slide into Melinda's mind and see exactly what she'd seen. What she'd lived. But he couldn't make himself do it. He shook his head, closed his eyes. He brought his gaze back to her and wiped a tear from her face.

"I need to hear you say it, Mel."

Melinda closed her eyes as she reached over and gripped his hand, then met his eyes.

"Dean, the night of … The Incident, I went to talk to Sam, like we decided, while you went to go get the food."

Dean nodded, gripping her hand just as tightly. She exhaled shakily, feeling Dean gently playing with the ends of her hair.

"He'd left his flask on the table, and I went to hand it to him. I got a premonition from it."
"What was it, baby? What did you see?"

Melinda took in a breath.

"When you …"

She gripped his hand tighter, closing her eyes.

"When you died, and went to hell, Sam was in a bad place. You know that, right?"

Dean looked down, shaking his head.

"We, uh … We didn't talk about it."

Melinda nodded and slowly blew out her breath.

"He kind of had a death wish, I think. Attacking Crossroads demons, gunning for Lilith. Ruby found him, eased him back into the sunshine, so to speak. And she helped him discover his talents."
"What talents?"

Melinda sighed, and Peyton lifted her head, running her hands through the riotous curls on her head.

"His psychic … whatever."

Dean looked over to Peyton, who downed the last of her whiskey, then reached for the bottle. Melinda raised a hand, sliding the bottle out of Peyton's reach. Leo grabbed it then, setting it on the counter behind him. Peyton glared at Melinda.

"What'd you do that for?"
"Because you get mean when you get whiskey drunk."
"Whatever."

Peyton laid her head back down, and Melinda sighed again. She was running her fingers over Dean's hand on her leg. He leaned over, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Go on, baby."

Melinda nodded, still tracing his fingers.

"With all the free time, Ruby and Sam could focus on his … whatever, and they were able to hone it. You know about that, right?"

Dean nodded.

"I caught him once. He just held out a hand, and exorcised the demon. He tried to justify it. Telling me that he was saving people. I said the same thing could happen with Ruby's knife, but he insisted that his way was better, because the person possessed could live."

Melinda nodded, and Dean let out a sigh.

"He told me he'd stop. And he did."

Melinda let out a quiet laugh, and she shook her head.

"He didn't stop, baby. He just learned how to hide it."

Dean looked down, and Melinda could feel his mind start to race. She leaned over, pulling his head to her, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"He hid it from all of us, Dean. I've got to hand that to him. It took some skill, keeping all of us completely in the dark."

Peyton let out a laugh, one that struck Melinda right in her heart. Phoebe turned away from Peyton, letting out a sharp breath and grasping one of Paige's hands. Melinda kept on.

"I tried to talk to him about it when you were in the hospital."

Dean nodded, and Melinda shook her head.

"He wouldn't talk. He got so defensive, and he kind of lashed out at me."
"I confronted him right after that. He told me he'd stop. He promised."
"He lied. Just another thing to add to the list, I guess."
"Peyton."

She shook her head, her face falling as a tear rolled down her cheek. Melinda reached out a hand, but Peyton wouldn't take it. Melinda swallowed.

"We let it be, for a good little while. And then I decided I needed to talk to him. I was getting nowhere, and he was packing up, so I grabbed the flask to hand it to him. I saw Sam, with Ruby, practicing his exorcisms. It started about two months after Dean went to hell. And then I saw something else. Something I couldn't believe. Something I knew just couldn't be true."
"What was it, Mel?"

Melinda looked to her father, rubbing one of her hands across her lips. Her voice shook as she spoke.

"Ruby had a knife. She dragged it across her arm."

Melinda absently did the motions as she spoke. She had to take a deep breath, then she went on.

"And Sam…"

Melinda shook her head, muttering "No" over and over again. Leo sighed, running a hand through his hair. Dean swallowed, then squeezed Melinda's leg.

"What, Mel? What did he do?"

She closed her eyes, then looked directly at Dean.

"He licked up the blood that dripped from the cut. And then he put his mouth on it. He was drinking her blood, Dean. Like he was a vampire or something."

Dean froze, his green eyes going wide. Melinda let out a breath and Dean backed away from her, just a bit. She hid from him how much that stung and he shook his head.

"That's not … No. No, Mel. Sam—Sammy wouldn't do that."

She nodded at Dean, looking down at the table, setting her hands on it and watching them.

"That's what I thought, too, but there were so many different scenes of that same thing that I saw. Ruby bleeding, and Sam ..."

Melinda shook her head.

"I didn't want to believe it, so I went to see what was in the flask. And Sam dove for it, tried everything he could to get it away from me. I wouldn't let him, though. I moved it where he couldn't reach it. I unscrewed the cap, while he was begging me not to. And I poured just a little bit out of it, and it was thick, dark red blood."

A tear rolled down Melinda's face, and she ran a hand across her forehead. Dean was breathing hard beside her, and Leo was shaking his head. Melinda had to take a few deep breaths before she continued.

"He didn't try to deny it. I thought he might try to justify it, but he just pushed it on me, saying I didn't know what I was talking about, and he got so defensive. He wouldn't listen to me, and I said I was going to call you, Dean. And he … He lost it."

Melinda's eyes went to the middle of the table, and she spoke, almost as if she wasn't really there.

"I don't remember what happened. When I saw it again, it still wasn't clear to me. I remember going for my phone, and then I was flying. I remember hitting … something, and falling. Then it's just black."

Dean looked over at her, as she shook her head, still staring off at nothing.

"Say it, Melinda. I need to hear you say it."

She licked her lips, and a tear fell down her cheek.

"When I went to get my phone, Sam told me not to. I did anyway, and he threw out his arm. I went flying through the air, cracked my head on the mirror, fell and passed out. And Sam took off."

Melinda's chin trembled as tears slid down her cheeks.

"He threw me across the room, and then he just left me there."

She let out quiet sobs, raising a hand to cover her mouth. Peyton stood up and left the room in a hurry, and Phoebe followed her. Leo sighed, running a hand over his face. Piper turned to looked at him, after watching Dean, who was just staring at his hands. She spoke softly.

"Leo, what can they do?"

Leo shook his head. Dean stood up, walking out of the room, and Melinda sobbed into her hand. Piper sighed as she went around the table, taking Melinda in her arms. Leo stood up, walking after Dean.