Piper stood next to Dean, her hand wrapped in his. Sam and Bobby were on his other side. Guilt lay heavy in the air between the four of them as they watched Pamela's funeral pyre burn.

Because of us, because of us, because of us. The words had set up a drum beat in Piper's head, and she let it happen. It was good to remember this, this feeling. They had to be careful who they dragged into this mess that had become their lives, because people got hurt. Good people.

People like Pamela.

The first sticks started to fall. The pyre was mostly ash now. "Come on, kitten," Dean said softly, squeezing her hand and pulling her along with him back to the Impala. Sam and Bobby stayed where they were.

"Tessa said something to me, before she disappeared." Dean started as they reached the Impala.

"Tessa is the reaper? Who tried to take you at the hospital?" Piper asked, her mind sluggishly trying to keep up. She was tired.

He nodded. "She said to trust my instincts. She said this isn't a second chance, that the angels don't have something good planned."

Piper thought about it slowly while Dean stayed silent. Finally, "She's probably right. I mean, it's not like the angels have been very forthcoming when it comes to the truth. Even Castiel, he just said that he lied to you about the seal." She sighed. "I wanted to believe, I did, and I'm grateful that I have you back, but…" she smiled and leaned into him. "Only one good thing has ever just happened to me, so I don't have a lot of faith."

He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Yeah, me neither."

xxxxx

Bobby went home, and the other three got into the Impala. Sam offered to drive, so Dean and Piper were in the backseat. She had curled herself into him, her back pressed against the door and her legs stretched across his lap. She rested her head on his shoulder and listened as Sam spoke.

"Ruby will meet us outside Cheyenne. She's been tracking some leads. I know she's not exactly on your Christmas list, but if she can help us get to Lilith-"

Dean shrugged. "Hey, man, work with Ruby, don't. I don't really give a rat's ass."

Sam looked at the rear view. "What's your problem?"

"Pamela didn't want anything to do with this and we dragged her back into it, Sam."

"She knew what was at stake."

Piper frowned. "Did she? Because I sure as hell didn't."

Sam ran a hand through his hair. "Guys-"

"I'm tired of burying friends, Sam." Dean interrupted, pulling Piper closer.

Sam sighed. "Look, we catch a fresh trail-"

"And we follow it, I know. Like I said, I'm just, I'm just getting tired." Piper pressed a kiss into Dean's jaw, hoping to provide comfort.

"Well, get angry." Sam muttered as they pulled into the motel parking lot.

They got out of the car and went to the door in silence. Piper unlocked it and let them in.

"Ah, home crappy home," Dean grumbled as he flicked the light switch on.

Uriel and Castiel stood in the middle of the room. Piper gasped.

"Winchester, Winchester, and Finley," Uriel drawled. Piper tried to meet Castiel's eyes, trying to read his face for a clue as to the reason of the visit. He avoided her gaze.

Dean groaned. "Oh, come on."

Uriel looked at Dean. "You are needed."

Piper frowned, never looking at the other angel. "Needed? We just got back from needed."

Uriel glared at her. "You mind your tone with me."

"You mind your tone with us." She snarled back, finally turning her gaze to Uriel.

Sam put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "We just got back from Pamela's funeral," he said calmly.

Dean was glaring at the angels. "Pamela. You know, psychic Pamela? You remember her. Cas, you remember her. You burned her eyes out. Remember that? Good times. Yeah, then she died saving one of your precious seals. So maybe you can stop pushing us around like chess pieces for five freaking minutes!"

"We raised you out of hell for our purposes." Uriel said softly, looking at Dean.

"Yeah, what were those again? What exactly did you want from me?"

"Start with gratitude," the angel snarled.

Piper was furious. "Oh, screw you." Dean stepped in front of her, blocking her from the other angel's view. She went up on tiptoe and tried to look at Castiel again. Why won't he look at me?

Castiel looked at Dean instead. "We know this is difficult to understand."

Uriel glared at the taller angel. "And we don't care. Now, seven angels have been murdered, all of them from our garrison. The last one was killed tonight."

Piper frowned. "Demons? How are they killing angels?"

"We don't know."

Sam shook his head and came to stand next to Dean, effectively blocking Piper. "I'm sorry, but what do you want us to do about it? I mean, a demon with the juice to ice angels has to be out of our league, right?"

Uriel rolled his eyes. "We can handle the demons, thank you very much."

"Once we find whoever it is," Castiel finished. Piper felt ice start to form at the base of her spine.

Dean scoffed. "So you need our help hunting a demon?"

Castiel shook his head. "Not quite. We have Alastair. But he won't talk. Alastair's will is very strong. We've arrived at an impasse."

Dean ran a hand through his hair. Piper put her hand on his lower back. "Yeah, well, he's like a black belt in torture. I mean, you guys are out of your league."

There was cold glee in Uriel's eyes when he looked at Dean again. "That's why we've come to his student. You happen to be the most qualified interrogator we've got."

Piper gasped and pushed the brothers out of her way. "Excuse me? Absolutely not. Cas, what the hell?" The angel met her eyes, and she thought she saw misery there before his face became impassive again.

"Dean, you are our best hope," Castiel said to Dean.

Dean was shaking his head. "No. No way. You can't ask me to do this, Cas. Not this."

"Castiel," Piper started, "Please, you can't-"

She was interrupted by Sam grabbing her arm and pulling her behind him as Uriel stalked up to Dean.

"Who said anything about asking?"

Castiel, Uriel, and Dean disappeared.

xxxxx

Castiel, answer me damn you!

Piper had been praying to Castiel since they left, calling him names, begging him to bring Dean back, asking him how he could do this. He wasn't answering, but she hadn't expected him to. Bastard.

Sam had summoned Ruby. Piper didn't like the bitch, but if it would get Dean back before they made him do this, she was on board.

"I can still smell them." The demon was bitching. "Seriously, Sam, I'm not exactly dying to tangle with angels again."

"Just shut up and do what you're told," Piper snapped.

"I need you to find out where they took Dean." Sam shot Piper a look, which she shot back.

Ruby shrugged. "Not sure I see the problem. You know they have Alastair strung up six ways from Sunday. Dean cuts himself a slice, Al's reduced to a quivering heap, and the good guys get the goods. What's wrong with that?"

"How dare you-" Piper started before Sam put a hand up to interrupt her.

"He can't do it." Sam stated simply.

"Look, I get it. You don't want him going all torture master again."

"No. I mean, he can't do it. He can't get the job done. Something happened to him downstairs, Ruby. He's not what he used to be. He's not strong enough."

Piper looked at Sam incredulously. "Sam…" She was shocked. How could he not see clearly what Dean was? How could he think Dean was less than he was before hell?

Ruby ignored her. "And you are?"

"I will be."

xxxxx

Something had gone wrong when they got there. Alastair was free, standing over a prone Dean. He had Castiel against the wall, hand around the angel's throat. "Like roaches, you celestials. Now, I really wish I knew how to kill you. But all I can do is send you back to heaven."

He began to chant in Latin. Piper followed Sam into the room, waiting until he had raised his hand. Alastair choked and flew against the wall next to Castiel.

"Stupid pet tricks," Alastair snarled. Piper felt the demon's eyes on her as she ran to Dean, rolling him onto his back and putting her hands on his face.

"Dean," she whispered, "Dean, baby, come on."

Sam ignored them. "Who's murdering the angels? How are they doing it?"

Alastair chuckled. "You think I'm gonna tell you?"

"Yeah, I do."

Piper ignored Alastair's sudden choking, still trying to revive Dean. "Come on, baby, wake up for me. Oh, please, Dean, come on, baby-"

"How are the demons killing angels?" Sam shouted.

"I don't know." Alastair gasped out.

Sam wasn't convinced, apparently. "Right."

"It's not us. We're not doing it."

"I don't believe you."

Alastair was smirking again. "Lilith is not behind this. She wouldn't kill seven angels. Oh, she'd kill a hundred, a thousand. Oh, go ahead, send me back, if you can."

Piper looked up at Sam, and was stricken speechless again at the difference in her friend and the man standing there. "I'm stronger than that now. Now I can kill."

Alastair started screaming. Light flashed from him, and his meatsuit fell.

"Sam," Piper said quietly, terrified. "Dean needs a hospital."

xxxxx

Piper was pacing outside of Dean's room, praying constantly. I swear to Christ, wings, if you don't get your ass down here, I will-

The sound of feathers interrupted her. She whirled to see Castiel standing in the hall behind her. "Piper, I-"

"Heal him, Castiel." She said coldly. "Fix him now. This is your fault. Fix it."

"I can't."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Excuse me? Can't, or won't?"

Sam had come out of the room to see what had happened. "Castiel? Are you here to heal Dean?"

"I can't."

Sam stepped toward Castiel, growling. "You and Uriel put him in there because you can't keep a simple devil's trap together." Piper nodded.

Castiel looked distressed. "I don't know what happened. That trap… It shouldn't have broken. I am sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry?" Piper asked, incredulously, advancing toward the angel. "Are you kidding me, Castiel? You're sorry? Sorry doesn't even begin to cover what just happened."

"This whole thing was pointless." Sam was just as taken aback as she was. "You understand that? The demons aren't doing the hits. Something else is killing your soldiers."

Castiel started to look desperate. "Perhaps Alastair was lying."

Sam shook his head. "No, he wasn't." He turned and walked away.

Castiel looked at Piper, and she felt no sympathy for him. Instead, she closed the distance between them and looked up at him, their noses almost touching.

"You listen to me, Castiel, Angel of the Lord. I don't know what you want with Dean Winchester, but I know it's something. And let me tell you right now, listen closely, because I mean this." He looked at her miserably, and she tried to let her rage show in her eyes. "Whatever you ask of him, whatever you want from him, you won't get it. I will do everything in my power to get him to resist you, forever. And when you're trying to get us to submit, when you're desperate for his help, you remember that it is because of this, because of this moment, that he will be saying no."

She turned and walked back into Dean's room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

xxxxx

She was sitting next to Dean, her hand wrapped around his. He had asked her to leave when Castiel had appeared in his room, and she had acquiesced quietly. She had had enough of the angel, anyway, and had ignored the puppy dog look in his eyes when she'd left.

She had reentered the room as soon as she'd seen the angel disappear. Dean hadn't said a word to her, just let her hold his hand. She kept her eyes on their hands, giving him the privacy he needed to cry.

He wiped his face with his other hand, and gave hers a gentle squeeze. "Sorry, Pipes."

She looked up at his red eyes and tilted her head. "Hush, Dean. No apologies from you."

He was quiet again, looking up at the ceiling. She kept her hand in his and let him think.

She felt her eyes starting to get heavy when he spoke again. "And it is written that the first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in hell. As he breaks, so shall it break."

She looked up at him, examining his beaten, upturned face. "What?"

"I broke the first seal, kitten. I broke the first seal of the apocalypse." A tear slid down his cheek.

"What?" Piper asked, horrified. "Why didn't the angels pull you out faster?"

"They tried, apparently. They, uh, 'laid siege to hell' But they didn't get there in time."

"I don't understand, Dean," she said softly. "How do you know this?"

"Alastair." His voice rang with anger and despair.

"Could he have been lying?"

"No."

She didn't know what to say to help him. So, taking a page from his book, she stood and gingerly started moving the tubes and wires connected to him. When she made enough room, she moved his arm so she could lay next to him on the hospital bed, and wrapped his arm around to rest on her hip. He didn't move, so it was a tight squeeze, but she didn't give up. She lay her head on his chest and stayed there.

Slowly, he moved his arm to hold her tighter against him. "Alastair, he, uh… He had my dad. When he was in hell. He had him there for a year. A century in hell." He let the silence draw out. She almost said something when he spoke again. "He never broke. He never tortured anyone."

She thought for a moment. "So they took you instead."

His chest heaved. "And they broke me in less than half that time."

"Well, John wasn't righteous, so they were barking up the wrong tree there."

He shifted to look down at her, the first time he'd looked at her since the angel had left. "What?"

She smiled sadly, thinking of the man who changed her life. "He was… Revenge driven. He was mad with it. He hunted, sure, and he instilled a code in you boys, but he was so intent on killing Azazel for what he did to Mary. He wasn't righteous, Dean. He was bent on vengeance."

He looked at her for a long time, then put his other hand on her face, gently running his thumb against her cheek. "What makes me righteous?" He asked softly, his voice raw with emotion.

She thought for a long time, trying to put together the words. "Dean, everything I have ever known about you is good. I have watched you sacrifice everything to save other people. You have given everything you have, up to and including your life, to keep people safe. You are a righteous man, Dean, because the only thing you've ever gotten in return is a life lived in motel rooms, having to steal for a living, and crappy diner food. You hunt to save people, because it's the right thing to do, not because it's easy. You loved your father, and you love your brother." Tears were swimming in her eyes, and she felt them spill over. "Dean Winchester, I know that you are a righteous man because you love me, and I have never loved anything like I love you. And those are the things that tell me you're a righteous man." She sniffed and wiped her eyes, suddenly shy after her little speech.

He put a finger under her chin and made her look at him. "Not everything," he said roughly.

Her forehead crinkled. "Not everything what?"

He examined her closely. She felt his gaze down to her soul. "I haven't given up everything." He ran his thumb along her lower lip. "I haven't you up."

She breathed in shakily. "And you'll never have to."

xxxxx

A/N: Hi, everyone! Here's my notes:

I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural, or the characters (heartbroken).

Reviews and comments give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.

If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.

**Another long chapter! We're in for a few long chapters, beautiful readers. The next few episodes are ones that I really want to dig into.