A/N: ONE MORE CHAPTER! Hope you guys are excited for the finale and the next story as well! Also, there is another poll up on my profile. I know, ANOTHER ONE? Yes, I really need you guys to answer the question. It will effect how the next story will be written out, plot wise and character wise.

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural

"He has Lisa and Ben." Dean repeated grimly, his eyes moved their gazes down.

Natalie's brows creased in thought. "Lisa and Ben." She repeated the names when her brows raised. "You mean, Lisa and Ben, they were who you were living with for the past year."

"Yeah." Dean nodded, his sight still focused on the phone in his hand as he began to fumble with the device. "Crowley said they get to live as long as we sit on our thumbs."

Natalie scoffed in her own opposition. "Well, we're not going to do that. We're not going to let Crowley dictate our choices. We need to find them."

"I agree Nad, but if Crowley finds out in any way we're trying to get to him...Lisa and Ben are screwed." Bobby said, bringing some sense into Natalie's thought.

Sam sighed, his hand washing down the side of his face when he looked over at Caden, at first, not really acknowledging the angel's presence. "Caden." The angel turned to him. "Do you think Cas knew about this?"

"I seriously doubt it." His answered managed to receive a skeptical huff from Dean. "Castiel may be desperate, to defeat Raphael, but I don't think he would ever let something like this to happen. Especially if it was anyone who you all cared for."

"You know." Dean cleared his throat, turning fully to Caden. "I'm having a little hard time believing that."

"It's understandable." Caden simply replied.

"Did you know?"

Caden's expression darkened at Dean's question. "About this? Of course not, I only just found out that Castiel had been working with a demon for a year. You really think I would know about this?"

"Well, my trust in angels is a little spotty right now."

"I'm going to offer my help in this." Caden said steering the conversation onto a different route.

Dean stared at Caden, his eyes narrowing in almost a condescending way. "I don't want your help in this."

"You may not want my help, but you definitely need it Dean." Caden retorted. "You all can sit down and do what Crowley says, but know that something will eventually happen to them if you don't do something. So, I'm going to help you."

"How?" Natalie asked, turning to the angel.

Caden paused for a moment and nodded. "Just trust me, for now if you want. I'll find out where Crowley is hiding them."

Natalie turned fully to Caden, eyes curiously looking at him. "How exactly are you going to do this?" She asked again, hoping to get an actual answer from him.

"I might need to get help, but you won't need to worry. I'll find out where Crowley is keeping Lisa and Ben. But, I know that this information you told me, about Castiel, is something another angel needs to know about."

Natalie's expression turned cautious, her head tilting to the side. "Be careful who you tell Caden. Really right now, you can't be trusting anyone and I don't want Cas knowing you're, essentially, going behind his back."

"I appreciate your concern, but I will be fine."

"You might say that, but, Cas really thinks what he's doing is the right thing. Plus, he's stubborn, like every angel I've met. I don't think anyone will be able change his mind about this. And if anyone gets in his way..."

Caden shook his head, not willing to allow himself to fully believe that his brother was out of sensible reach. There should still be a way to convince him to divert from this diabolic partnership with Crowley. "Castiel is my brother. I'll be able to reach through to him. He's not gone…not yet at least."

Natalie had to admit that this was one thing she admired about Caden, other than him always being there to save her ass. But, he is loyal to a fault. Granted, she has met other angels who were loyal in their own ways, but with Caden, Natalie saw a lot of herself in him. In the sense that, they both had utter faith in those they love and cared about. Unwaveringly belief and faith in everyone they loved and trusted. It was a quality they both could use as a strength, but it could also be their biggest weakness.

"Who is the other angel you're going to pass this information onto?" Natalie asked, suddenly curious.

"Balthazar." Caden saw the look on Natalie's face and he nodded his head, quick to reassure her. "I know you three haven't had the best impressions of him, but, both him and I have been helping Castiel with this. He needs to know."

"Okay, well..." Natalie sighed and rubbed behind her neck. "Just, be careful. I guess that's all I can say."

"I'll be fine." Caden assured her, then he pointed his direction back at Dean. "I'll be back soon with information on Lisa and Ben."

Dean gave Caden a subtle side glance, then gave a stern, single nod. This action gave the angel his cue to leave and left the hunters in silence.

Natalie blew out a sigh and turned to look at Dean, who was still standing in a frozen matter, looking like he wouldn't be able to function properly. "Dean." Natalie spoke up, pausing in her own hesitation. "Caden is going to find out where they are."

Dean nodded silently, but Natalie could see the anger pouring off of him. "You trust him?"

Natalie blinked, caught off guard by the menace in his tone. "I don't know. I guess I do. I know what I said to Caden was true, about not being able to trust anyone. But, I don't know, with him...I just feel like he's someone we can confide in. And if I'm wrong...then I'm going to swear off trusting anyone else."

Dean tossed his phone onto the kitchen table, a few feet from him, causing Natalie to jump as the object made a sudden sharp noise on impact. "Well, while your little angel friend is doing his part, I'm going to be doing mine." Dean turned towards Natalie and the look in his eyes made Natalie step back as he walked past her.

"Dean, wait." Natalie quickly turned, seeing that he had stopped with his back still turned towards her. "What are you going to do?"

"Simple." Dean slowly turned to look at her. "I'm gonna take after Crowley...and torture every damn demon I can. Like you said Nad, it's an easy way to get info, right?"

Natalie sucked in a silent breath, her jaw clinching together at Dean referencing back to when she tortured that demon for information on Elais. She swallowed down the urge to retort back, knowing she had no room to argue and settled for only giving him a quick nod.

The air was thick with an icy chill, every breath that Caden let out would collect in huge puffs of smoke that swirled within each other. Of course, he wasn't cold, that wasn't something that Angels felt. If anything, Caden would describe it as feeling like a very thin layer of ice was covering your skin and the temperature was only just barely penetrating the top layer of skin. The only think you would feel is a very distant chill, although sometimes, the sensation really annoyed Caden, but right now, he could care less.

He had been searching for Balthazar, tracking down the previous locations he had visited and found nothing. The last place Caden visited was a location that made him very uncomfortable. He recalled it from a familiar memory from what Castiel described a place as, "a den of iniquity" and from that description, Caden always wondered how Castiel had managed to live through that. Literally. Caden also heard of the things Castiel did during the events leading up to what was supposed to be the Apocalypse. One such event, that he had ridden in a car, which he described as slow and confining.

This was the Castiel that Caden looked up to, the brother who Caden pledged his loyalty to, even before he chose to join him in this civil war. Caden was one of the younger angels in the garrison, therefore, he was susceptible to looking up to the older angels, looking to them for guidance and how to be a good soldier. That's what angels were, warriors under God. But, Castiel was the only one to prove that there was more to being an angel then just following orders. Free Will. A concept that Caden had never gotten the full grasp of. Until he began to follow Castiel and his interaction with Natalie began to effect him. Emotions, something only humans were to evoke, began to become a part of Caden.

His loyalty to Castiel, his brothers...to Natalie, it was so profound, he felt conflicted most of the time. Right now, he was perplexed. How could Castiel work with a demon and keep it from him? From everyone? Why would Castiel think that this was the only way to defeat Raphael? There had to be something else they could do. Right? Caden was even beginning to doubt the possibility of finding another alternative, which was why he needed to consult with Balthazar.

Caden walked back and forth in a slow even pace, when he turned around and began to walk the opposite direction, facing the tree line, he heard the flapping of wings behind him. Stopping his pacing, Caden turned and saw Balthazar with a glass in his hand.

"I heard that you have been looking for me Caden. Been everywhere that I visited huh?" Balthazar brought the glass up to his lips, taking a quick drink.

"Well, I needed to see you, which is why I summoned you...quite a few times actually." Caden's tone tipped towards annoyance at the end.

"Ah, yes about that...I was in the middle of something very important and I couldn't take any calls."

Caden lips ticked into a quick, agitated smile. "And what was so important that you ignored my previous summoning?"

Balthazar took another drink and then stared at Caden as he swallowed the liquid. "I was drinking '75 Dom out of a beautiful soprano's navel."

Caden's eyes closed in disgust, a heavy breath followed it.

"It was actually quite the eventful night." Balthazar added, much to Caden's dismay and his strong desire to not hear about it any further was quite evident, even though Balthazar didn't respect that.

"Well, if you could put away your...delightful memories for a moment, because there is something very important I need to discuss with you. There is a big problem."

"Oh. Did you get into more trouble Caden?" Balthazar tilted his head and grinned. "The young little brother you are, always getting into trouble you shouldn't be a part of. Gotta say, you've been doing that a lot lately."

"Those angels went after me first, I had to retaliate." Caden retorted, feeling the sudden need to defend himself. "But, it has nothing to do with me...it's about Castiel."

"Oh yes, the great mighty Castiel, who is going to lead the army against Raphael. What is it about dear old Cas that I need to know?" Balthazar began to take another drink out of his glass, half of his attention was not towards this.

Caden sighed, recognizing his brother's resilience to listen when he didn't want to. "Well, first off, Crowley is alive."

Balthazar pulled the glass away, smacking his lips together, ridding of the excess liquid that was on his lips. "Oh, yes I knew about that already."

Caden's brows shot up and he blinked several times. "What? You knew?"

Balthazar shrugged and nodded.

Caden, closed his eyes momentarily and took in a breath. "You mean to tell me, that you knew Crowley was alive."

"Do your ears need to be checked little brother?" Balthazar teased, earning a hardened stare from Caden. At this, Balthazar leaned back and sighed, his eyes giving a casual roll. "Okay, yes, I knew Crowley was alive, Cas told me about it."

"Castiel told you." Caden repeated. "And why was I not told about this?"

"Well, Cas didn't want you to know. He knew, the loyalty you had with the lovely Miss Natalie. And her close relationship with the Winchesters, well, I guess you can make the connection. He didn't want you going and blabbering your mouth to them."

"You should have told me. I put my loyalty in his hands, followed him, did whatever he needed me to do. I trusted him. I trusted you. And you both throw that back in my face. My loyalty to Castiel was all I had to give him."

"Now, Caden, there is no need to throw a temper tantrum at this." Balthazar mockingly teased as he drank the last bit of liquid from his glass. "I'm sure Cas was going to tell you eventually."

"I don't believe that, since he was already keeping something else from us." Caden washed his hands down his face, giving a frustrated sigh. When he looked back up, Balthazar was sporting a genuine confused expression and it only took Caden a second to realized he had him hooked.

"Cas...what do you mean he's been keeping something else?" Balthazar asked, trying to not make himself seem to curious to know.

Caden slowly nodded his head. "Castiel and Crowley, have been working together, the entire year."

The look on Balthazar's face told Caden everything, he didn't even have a clue about the partnership. Even though he was trying to hide his shock as best as he could, Caden could see right through it. He had grown good with seeing through Balthazar's many masks.

"Guess Castiel never told you did he?" Caden mocked, although it didn't have the same reaction on Balthazar as it did on Caden just a few moments ago.

Balthazar broke gaze with Caden for a moment, his hand rubbing at his chin, trying to gather his thoughts. "How did you come across this information?"

"Natalie." Caden answered looking back at him.

Balthazar scoffed and grinned. "And you are taking their word for it?"

"They managed to get Castiel to confess to them. He told them everything Balthazar. How long he had been working with Crowley and why."

Balthazar tilted his head to the side. "Well, what reason did he give Miss Natalie and the Winchesters for working with Crowley?"

"Castiel is trying to open Purgatory."

"Purgatory?" The word bounced around Balthazar's mouth, the disbelief dripping from his tone.

"Castiel is going to harvest the souls from Purgatory, use them against Raphael. I can see why Castiel would go for that choice though. The amount of power those souls will give him, it's immense. Balthazar this plan could go horribly wrong and if it does, everyone will suffer the consequences. All of that power, it's like a nuclear reactor, it can equate to Chernobyl...maybe even worse."

Balthazar nodded his agreement, knowing where Caden was leading with the conversation. Castiel was smart, of course, but this has got to be one of the stupidest moves he has pulled. Purgatory is a vast cavern of disgusting souls that are there for a reason and he wants to open the gate? Not only that, but the chances of this plan succeeding without any kind of irreversible repercussions were slim to none. Something was bound to go wrong if Castiel succeeded in his plan.

"Seems like Cas got off at the wrong stop, didn't he? I mean, that's only if he really is working with Crowley.."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

Balthazar simply shrugged. "I'm not saying I believe you, but that's not saying that I don't either."

"Okay, well, how about you have a little chat with Castiel. Just ask him a few questions. See what he says."

Balthazar only raised his brows at this. "And what about you?"

"Right now, I can't do anything. I need to be looking for two people. Crowley took them has leverage to make sure that the Winchesters don't try and look for him anymore."

"Always at their feet, helping them with whatever they need. That's very kind of you Caden."

"These two people are innocent Balthazar. They have nothing to do with any of this. That's why I'm helping them. And you should too."

Balthazar seemed a little taken back at Caden's words, but gave the angel a quick smirk. "Why on earth would I want to help the Winchesters?"

"Because I know you Balthazar. You act like you don't care, but I know there is a part of you that doesn't want to see all of this get wasted. And the idea of two innocent people being dragged into all of this really gets under your skin."

"Oh don't try and start guilt tripping me into this."

"I'm not." Caden kept his gaze focused on Balthazar. "I don't have to guilt trip you, because that's how you are. So if you'll excuse me, I need to find Lisa and Ben. If you change your mind, come and find me."

Natalie walked down the stairs, her hair running through her still damp hair and walked into the kitchen. Heading over to the fridge, Natalie paused when she heard her phone going off and she quickly pulled it out of her pocket.

"Yeah, what's up Bobby?"

"Managed to track down some more info on Lovecraft. Turns out, the idjit tried to open up a door to Purgatory."

Natalie let out a quick hum as she pulled out a beer from the fridge. "Lovecraft tried to get into Purgatory? Why?"

"Not sure if it was to get into Purgatory, but he was definitely fishing around for a way to open the damn place."

"Did he manage to succeed at that?" She asked, as she leaned against the counter.

"Nothing happened. So, I'm guessing he didn't get to. But, I dug through everything that I could find and every guest that he invited, they're either died or disappeared."

Natalie choked on the drink she took from her bottle and cleared her throat. "Oh. Wow. That doesn't sound good. Well, it sounds like something was hunting them down. So either Lovecraft did manage to open Purgatory, for a short while, allowing something to come through..."

"I'm not sure what the case is here. But, I'm on my way to talk with one of the guests."

"Wait a minute." Natalie's brow creased. "I thought you just said that all of the guests that were there...died?"

"Well, turns out one of the maids that died had a nine year old son. He was there also."

"Lucky kid. Well, not lucky that his mom died, but he lived...anyway, he must be pretty old then. Where exactly is he?"

"Same place he's been in since that night...locked in a mental ward."

"That's unfortunate. Well, then I guess just call back if you have anything else."

"Will do. How's Dean doing?"

Natalie paused, gnawing on her bottom lip. "As good as you'd expect him to be."

"Okay. I'll call if I get anything else."

"Okay." Natalie pulled the phone away and ended the call. Then, she began to scroll through her contacts and selected a number before pressing the phone back up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, David. It's me Natalie."

"Yeah, I know it's you Nad. Caller I.D."

Natalie huffed out a laugh. "Right, yeah, sorry. I'm listen...I have a favor I need to ask of you."

"Another favor?" David asked, though his tone was light.

"Yeah, this is actually very important. Listen, it's about Lisa and Ben, they're the people that Dean stayed this past year and Crowley took them. This is all a really long story, but the simplistic form, Crowley took them as leverage. To make sure that Dean and Sam don't find him. We have no idea where Crowley is, but I was wondering, if you and Jake could possibly head over to Lisa's house? See if there is anything you two can find there."

"Sure. But, I thought that Crowley was dead?"

"Yeah, um...like I said it's all a very...long and complicated story. I'll have to tell you some other time, but right now, we need to figure out where Lisa and Ben are."

"Sure thing. Uh, Jake and I will head out right now."

"Okay. I'll send you Lisa's address. Again, thank you for doing this David. I know it must get pretty tiring of me asking for all of these favors."

"You know I would never turn you away Nad. It's the least we can do. I'll call if Jake and I find anything at the home."

"Okay. Thank you."

Caden walked down a dark alleyway, his feet walking through puddles of water, splashing the concrete surrounding it. As he turned out around the corner, he came upon a huge building, possibly the remnants of an old factory. He steadily walked towards two huge metal doors that were locked, with chains wrapped around the door handles. Stopping before them, Caden looked up, the scale of the building filling his sight.

Lisa and Ben were in here.

Caden knew exactly which part of the building they were in, towards the far left side, in some room. But, when he actually tried to "get in", he couldn't. Every single try he would only find that he was still outside.

Angel proofing.

He couldn't get in, but he knew this was the location that Lisa and Ben were in. If anything, the only thing he could do was bring Dean here, he won't be able to do much else, but at least he found them. Just as Caden was about to return to Bobby's, he could hear a summoning from...Balthazar. With a deep sigh, Caden disappeared from outside of the building and found himself standing in the same wooded area he was in earlier, talking with Balthazar.

Turning around, he spotted Balthazar looking at him and Caden couldn't help, but show his annoyance. "Balthazar why did you summon me? I told you to come and find..."

Caden paused once he saw Castiel was standing behind Balthazar and his eyes moved to him.

"Caden. I feel like you and I should ask Castiel a couple of questions." Balthazar said, standing next to the younger angel and focusing his gaze on Castiel.

"What is it that you two want to ask me?" Castiel seemed distant and preoccupied with something else that was bottling in his mind. But, Caden felt that this was his only chance to actually hear it from Castiel, the truth.

"Is it true that you are working with Crowley?" Caden asked and Castiel's attention was now directed solely on them. But, the silence Balthazar and Caden got from him seemed to answer their question.

"You are..." Caden quietly confirmed.

"You both don't understand." Castiel finally spoke. "All that I am doing...it's a means to an end. You both should know that."

"The only means to an end we see is you wanting to harvest all the souls from Purgatory..."

"To win the war against Raphael." Castiel interrupted Caden. "It's the only way that we can defeat him."

"So you are going to purposefully make yourself a nuclear reactor, with all of those souls in you. Seems a little...spotty to me Cas." Balthazar said.

"Anything can go wrong with this plan Castiel." Caden said. "One slip up, this entire planet could suffer from it. Is that what you really want?"

"Of course not. I don't have any other choice."

Caden shook his head. "You should have told us sooner, about your little partnership with Crowley. Maybe, we could have figured something else out."

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell either of you about working with Crowley. But, trust me, there is no other way to win this."

Caden remained silent, his eyes studying Castiel's features, he could see confliction. It didn't take a true genius to conclude that Castiel knew what he was doing wasn't right. But, Caden could see that he was tired. Exhausted from the strain that his conscious was putting on him. He was going against what he knew was right, in favor of stopping this civil war.

"Did you know that Crowley would take Lisa and Ben?" Caden tested, hoping that he was wrong about this suspicion.

Castiel looked up, his brows knitting together in his disbelief. "Of course I didn't. I even went to Crowley. Told him to release both of them."

Caden raised his brows and hummed. "Big load of good that did."

"I know this can't be easy for either of you to accept. But, I need to know, if you both are on my side?"

"Oh, well, you know me Cas." Balthazar began. "I've been in this for to long to just back out now. So, consider this me standing by your side."

Castiel nodded and then looked over to the youngest angel. "Caden?"

Every instinct, internal and logical, were telling Caden to refuse to follow Castiel from now on. To simply just walk away from it, allow himself to dig a deeper hole, but Caden knew that, no matter how much he might want to, to fully turn his back on Castiel would not be the best decision. If anything, Caden could be by Castiel's side, to maybe try and steer his decisions in a different direction. It was a long shot, but, Caden was willing to do it.

"I'm with you Castiel."

"So, you guys didn't find anything that could help us find Crowley."

"No, Sorry Nad. They didn't leave anything behind, other than a little bit of sulfur. The place is clean."

Natalie rubbed her face and let out a groan. "Okay. Thanks anyway David. I appreciate it."

"No problem. Call if you need anything else."

Natalie hummed her response before pulling the phone away and ended the call, then placed the device down on the table. Her palms pressed up against her face, resting her elbows on the table, Natalie remained still. Dean was still torturing every demon he can get his hands on, no information from them. But, Dean was torturing them to release his anger just as much as he was trying to get info on Crowley. And Caden had not come back yet and with that there was no information for them, which really seemed to anger Dean.

He had been at this whole torturing every demon he can for hours. No rest and running on coffee and alcohol was Dean's way of trudging on. Honestly, Natalie was worried for him. How much longer could he possibly go on like that? Probably not that longer. Dean's drive to find Ben and Lisa was rising and the intensity of his violence was reaching its limits. Natalie chose to stay away from the garage, where it was all taking place. Being around Dean when he was like that honestly scared.

Natalie looked up when she heard footsteps entering the house and she saw Sam and Dean walk into the kitchen. Dean looked exactly how he did hours ago. Jaw set, eyes darken with exhaustion and fierce determination and then there was Sam, with nothing but concern for his brother.

Natalie looked at Sam as Dean leaned against the counter, both of them sending looks to each other. Then, Natalie decided to break the silence. "Did you manage to get anything out of them?"

"No. None of them have cracked yet, but I'm not done. Still a lot more demons that I can talk with." Dean finally looked up and locked eyes with Natalie. "Has Caden come back yet?"

Natalie pursed her lips and shook her head. "David called, said that there was nothing back at Lisa's house that could help find them either. Sorry."

Dean didn't respond, no facial reaction was present that Natalie could detect. She has never seen him with this cold expression, almost as if he had no emotion whatsoever. A quick shiver slid down her spine as she let out a breath.

The sound of wings entered the room and the three hunters turned towards the living room where Caden was now standing. "Good. The three of you are here."

"Did you find them?" Dean wasted no time in asking.

"Yes, I did. It wasn't easy, but, Crowley has them in some abandoned factory. The thing is, I can't get you inside, he has angel proofed the entire building."

"That's fine." Dean answered. "As long as you can get us as close to the place as you can, we'll take it from there."

….

Natalie looked around her, seeing damaged and abandoned buildings all over and there was a slight sour scent in the air, which she made a quick face at. Then in front of them, a huge three story building, two huge bulky metal doors and a few ports where shipping trucks would come in and drop off materials.

"Okay, we split up." Dean said, pulling out Ruby's knife. "I'll take the left, Nad you cut down through the middle of the building and Sam will round back by the right side."

Natalie nodded as she checked over her rifle before cocking it. The three hunters went their chosen ways. Natalie walked straight as Sam and Dean split away from her. Reaching a small metal door, Natalie grabbed onto the handle and pulled, locked. Pulling out her pistol from her beltline, Natalie shot off two quick rounds at the lock and it came undone. Placing her pistol back, Natalie slowly opened the door, pausing several times when the metal hinges would creak.

Once the door was fully open, she was met with nothing, but darkness. Moving to her pocket, she slid out her flashlight, switched it on, and aimed it up along with her shotgun. Making sure to keep her back close to the wall, Natalie edged her way down the dark hallway. Reaching about halfway, there was an opening on the left side where a faint light was pouring out and she slowly turned into the room, making a quick check and found nothing. Turning out of the room, Natalie continued on, every sound seemed to be amplified from how fairly empty this place was. From what she's seen so far in just this hallway, there was really nothing, other than a few discarded cabinets and a few other things she couldn't identify.

After reaching the end, which Natalie thought would never come, she came to a huge opening that led to another wider and shorter corridor. Her hand gripping tighter onto her gun, she picked up her pace as she walked down the hallway, which was better lit then the previous one. Halfway down, a hand grabbed Natalie from the shoulder, yanked her sideways and pinned her up against the wall.

Black eyes were all she saw in that split of a second before she kicked the demon in the stomach and shot off two rounds into the demon's torso, his body jerked with the bullet's impact.

"Salt rounds?" The demon mocked and Natalie only sported a quick smirk as she gave a head tilt.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, Omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica, ergo draco maledicte..."

The demon, who had began to groan from the exorcism, charged after Natalie and was able to pin her back up against the wall, his hands securing around her neck. Natalie paused, trying to gain back enough air for her to continue on.

"Ecclesiam Tuam...Securi tibi facias libertate servire te rogamus, audi nos."

The demon's mouth opened as black smoke shot out, an ungodly scream echoed through the hallway as the hands around her neck finally loosened and she braced her back against the wall as the body finally slumped to the ground. Natalie pressed her hand up to her neck, her body shaking with her coughing, an attempt to catch her breath.

"Mom!"

"Lisa!"

Natalie's attention was turned to her left where she had heard Dean's voice and another one, assuming it was Ben's, calling out. Natalie closed her eyes, taking in a few more deep breaths before pushing herself away from the wall and ran down the rest of the corridor.

Finding a doorway, Natalie stumbled towards it, her throat still hoarse, but she still managed to call out. "Dean!"

"Nad! In here!"

Natalie let out a few more coughs as she walked into the room, seeing Dean and Ben kneeling down next to Lisa. "What happened?"

"No time. We gotta get her out of here." Dean moved around to Lisa's side and gently picked her up, only then did Natalie see the huge blood stain on her shirt. "Okay, Nad you need to cover for us, alright?"

Natalie nodded and went to pick up the knife she had spotted on the ground just a few feet from her. Looking up, she saw Dean adjusting Lisa in his hold and his attention was on Ben.

"Ben, you stay close with Nad, alright?"

Natalie looked over at the young boy, who was still staring at his mom with wide panicked eyes and she felt that pang of sympathy hit her. "Okay, come on, let's go." Natalie motioned for Dean to leave the room first, then, she gently pulled Ben in front of her and followed in suit. Dean turned right, taking the opposite way that Natalie had come from. With her gun aimed up, they finally reached an area that had a staircase, leading to the next level and a demon was charging at them.

"Ben." Natalie grabbed Ben, pulled him behind her as she pulled out the knife and in a quick throw, embedded the weapon into the demon's chest, sending the body to fall to the ground. Natalie quickly walked over, yanked the knife out and nodded for Dean to continue on.

Pulling the gun back up into an aim, she motioned for Ben to go in front of her before continuing on with the walk. Only about a few minutes, Dean was leading them towards one of the exits and Natalie gently nudged Ben to move faster, so that he could get out of this building quicker. Once outside, Dean turned left and Sam's calls could be heard coming from somewhere in the building.

Dean paused and looked around, hearing his brother calling his name. "Sam?"

"I'm in here!"

Natalie saw Dean motion her over to one of the doors and she ran over, took out her pistol and shot at the lock and threw open the door, to which Sam walked out and he seemed a little dazed.

"Are you alright?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah, demon just knocked me out."

"Sam, we gotta get to a hospital."

Sam nodded, seeing the condition that Lisa was in and then began to look around, when his mind finally clicked. "Okay, just wait here, I'll be right back."

Natalie folded her arms over her chest as she leaned against the Impala and a pained hiss from Sam earned her attention as she looked over at him, seeing that he was rubbing at his head. "Sam, I think you should just get checked out. Just as a precaution."

"No." Sam hissed out. "It's fine, it's just a little bump on the head."

Natalie scoffed out a laugh as she walked over to stand in front of him. "Sometimes a little bump can become a serious problem down the road."

"I'm fine." Sam said, again, gently turning down any kind of argument she was about to put up with him about getting checked out. "Are you okay?"

Natalie raised her brows. "I don't think I'm the one who needs to be asked that. Lisa still hasn't woken up. Can't imagine what Dean must be going through."

"Yeah, I can't either."

Natalie sighed. "Well, at least Caden was able to find them and we got them out. I don't even want to think about what would've happened to them if they had been there any longer. Pretty sure Crowley would've just done away with them."

"I don't think so. Crowley using them as leverage. As long as they were alive, he thought that we wouldn't try and find him. The minute he kills them...his most valuable bargaining chips will be gone."

"Yeah." Natalie nodded and became a little fixed on the small bruise that was forming on the right side of Sam's temple. She reached up and gently brushed her fingers over the area. "That's going to turn into a really nasty bruise soon."

"Yeah, well, ice and pain killers will do wonders."

Natalie smiled, finally retracting her hand away, allowing her arm to hang down by her side. Sam looked past her and gave a quick gesture, which caused Natalie to turn and saw Dean was making his way towards him.

"How's Lisa?" She asked once Dean was standing in front of them.

"Not good. But, Cas came by and he's gonna take care of her."

"That's good." Natalie commented, actually relieved that Lisa was going to be fine. But, the look on Dean's face told Natalie that there was more to his statement of Castiel being able to help her. Dean almost looked like he was on the verge of tears, which wasn't a good sign for Natalie and Sam was quick to notice it to.

"Dean. What's going on?" Sam asked.

Dean sighed, the agonizing pain that seeped from it concerned Natalie deeply. "I, um. I asked Cas if he could...wipe their memories. Of me. That way, they won't remember me and they won't be in danger anymore."

"Dean, no, you can't do that." Natalie didn't think much on her words, it was more of just an instant reaction she had. But, really, he can't do that.

"I had to Nad. Lisa almost died and so did Ben...because of me. The only way they can be safe, is if they don't remember me. And I'd rather much have that then to have them killed."

Natalie slowly shook her head. "Dean..."

"We can head out, but, I need to do something real quick before we do, so, I'll be back." Dean turned around and walked back across the street towards the hospital.

Natalie stood there, frozen, as she watched Dean walking back into the hospital. She was unsettled at the thought of Lisa and Ben's memories being wiped. Dean had spent a whole year with them, memories that Natalie was sure brought some kind of happiness to not only Dean but to Lisa and Ben as well. Now, that was all gone for those two at least. Without thinking, Natalie walked across the street, despite hearing Sam calling her name, she continued on. This was the last time Dean was most likely going to see Lisa and Ben and Natalie wasn't going to let him walk away alone from this.

….

Natalie turned the corner and began to slow her pacing down when she saw that Dean was standing in the doorway to a hospital. She finally stopped just a couple of feet away from the receptionist's desk and leaned against the wall. She couldn't even fathom what must be going through his head right now. Looking into the eyes to two people you love and to have them not recognize you and talk to you like you were some kind of stranger. That was horrifying. Natalie tried to picture what that would be like if she had to do that with Clara and Marina. The pain of seeing this confusion in their eyes as to who she was. That would destroy her and no doubt, it would do the same for Dean.

Natalie was pulled out of her thoughts when she saw Dean turn out of the room and slowly began to walk back down the corridor towards her, though he didn't seem to notice that she was standing there, waiting for him. As he got closer to where she was standing, Natalie pushed herself away from the wall and stood in Dean's path.

Just a couple of feet away from her, Dean finally looked up, his gaze having been down the whole time and Natalie could see the painful loss that was streaming from his eyes and she sucked in a short quiet breath when their eyes met. Dean finally stopped in front of her, their eyes still glue on each other. She could see so vividly, he was trying to hold it all back. That was the Dean she was so used to. Someone who had complete control, most of the time, over how their emotions would come out. Dean wasn't exactly someone who would show this level of defeat to anyone. He was truly shatter, broken into a million pieces.

And Dean could see that this is what Natalie was thinking. Sympathy was all he could see in her eyes and he could just read her "I'm sorry" so easily in her expression. And Dean, who was always so good at hiding it and keeping it back, something about the fact that Natalie was standing here in front of him, offering her support, it broke something in him. Dean's lip gave a few trembles and he finally broke his gaze from her.

Natalie let out a pained sigh at seeing Dean finally break and she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and he answered by wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close and burying his face into her shoulder. Natalie closed her eyes, feeling Dean's body give a few shakes, she tightened her hold on him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to him, feeling him give her a quick squeeze as an acceptance of her apology.

Natalie knew that she didn't have to physically say the words, it was written all over her face, but sometimes, people need to actually hear the words in their entirety. To hear the genuine emotion behind the voice to assure them that they weren't alone, that's what Dean needed right now and Natalie was more than willing to give that to him.

They both stayed like that, in a tight embrace near the middle of the hospital corridor, no one who was passing by wanted to interrupt the moment, despite that Natalie and Dean were most likely blocking people's way. Dean was the one who broke away first, but it was a slow process. He moved his face away from Natalie's shoulder, then rested his chin on it, taking in a few deep breaths and her back rubs soothed away the tension that had unknowingly built up. Then, his grip around her loosened and he slowly pulled away from her.

Natalie looked up at him, his eyes just slightly red, though there were no tear stains evident on his cheeks. Either he managed to hold them back or they were currently stained on her jacket. Natalie thought the latter was the answer, but it didn't matter to her. Her hands moved to his arms as she gave them a few gentle rubs, which were met with Dean nodding his head, telling her that he was as "fine" as he could be.

"Come on." Dean finally said, his voice was raw and hoarse. "Let's go."

So, how did you all like it?! Only ONE MORE CHAPTER until the end of this story. Hope you all are excited!