Rayan and Alabama stood side by side on the front porch in silence, facing the old wooden door leading into the home. Alabama just stood staring at the door, and Rayan was beginning to wonder if the other girl was trying to incinerate it with her mind.

"You know," Rayan began softly. "The doorknob won't bite."

Alabama took her eyes off of the door and sent a glare in Rayan's direction. "Very funny, Winchester."

"Hey, I'm just saying that you're not going to die by walking into the house."

There was a pause where Alabama continued to stare at Rayan before letting out a soft sign and dropping her gaze to the wooden porch beneath her feet. "What if we argue?"

"You're going to argue," Rayan replied, lightly placing a hand on Alabama's shoulder. "You're pissed that your dad is going to hell. Arguing is inevitable."

"But I don't want the last conversation I have with my old man to be angry."

"So don't let it end angry," Rayan demanded. "You get mad at him, and you yell and argue. But after that's all out of the way, you tell him you love him. Be angry, but don't stay angry."

Alabama gave Rayan a small smile and a nod of her head before turning her attention back to the front door and grasping the doorknob resolutely. With one quick twist, the door was swinging open and Alabama was walking into the old house and towards the living room, Rayan trailing behind.

When the two girls rounded the corner from the hallway into the living room, Dean and Matt were still sitting on the couch. Only Matt looked absolutely miserable, cradling his head in his hands. Dean, looking one part pity and three parts uncomfortable, was awkwardly patting the other man on the shoulder in a small attempt at comfort.

"Daddy," Alabama half-whispered after a moment of standing in the entryway to the room. Both Dean and Matt jumped up and turned to face their respective daughters, and Dean's face automatically filled with relief while Matt's held more guilt than Rayan would have ever thought possible.

"Hey, sunshine," Matt softly responded to his daughter, not making an attempt to approach the teen. Rayan and Dean looked back and forth between the pair before Rayan cleared her throat and motioned for Dean to exit the room with her.

"We'll just leave you two alone," Rayan spoke as she grabbed her father's arm and tugged him from the room.

There was an awkward silence between Matt and Alabama, neither knowing where to start the conversation that needed to happen. Alabama shifted from one foot to the other, darting her eyes to various points in the room. Anything that would keep her from studying her father.

Matt cleared his throat, making Alabama glance up at him quickly before averting her gaze once again. "Why don't you come over here and have a seat," he suggested as he gestured toward the couch. "We've got a lot to talk about."

"Damn right we do," Alabama mumbled as she quickly walked farther into the living room and perched as far from her father as she could. "So start talkin'."

"I don't really know where to start," Matt admitted as he ran a hand through his hair. "I wasn't really planning on filling you in."

Alabama snorted loudly and turned to fully face her father for the first time. "I figured that out early. But you're gonna tell me what's going on now. I have a right to know."

"I know you do," Matt agreed, holding his hands up in surrender at his daughter's harsh words. "Dean convinced me of that with a little story."

"Why don't you just start from the beginnin'," Alabama suggested harshly. "Tell me what in the hell was so damn important that you sold your soul to the damn devil."

There was a pause as Alabama waited impatiently for her father to explain himself, but she wasn't prepared for the words that left his mouth. "Your mother," Matt admitted softly. "I sold my soul for your mother."

Alabama felt her jaw drop open in shock, and somewhere in her frazzled mind she realized how stupid she probably looked. But none of that was important to her at the moment. What mattered was that Matt had just admitted to giving up his life to save the woman that had abandoned her daughter and husband when Alabama was only six years old.

"What?" Alabama breathed out quietly in shock. "Why would you save her?"

"At the time, she was still with us," Matt explained quietly as he leaned back in the couch. "She had breast cancer, at the time. You were still too young to notice, but it was getting worse as the months went on. The doctor told us ten years ago to the day that your mama wasn't going to last much longer, and I didn't know what to do."

Matt paused in his speech, and something about the look of complete agony and guilt on her father's face made Alabama scoot closer and place her hand on top of Matt's. "Go on, Daddy," Alabama encouraged softly.

"I panicked, Alabama," Matt declared. "All I could think about was you growing up without your mom and I…I just had to do something. So I went to the nearest crossroads, and I made a deal. My soul for ten years and your mama's health. And the demon held up their end of the deal, and when I got back home she was healthy as a horse again."

"And then half a year later, the bitch ran off," Alabama snarled. She could still see her mother's old Dodge spitting gravel from the back tires as the woman sped out of their driveway.

"I guess the idea of having a new life made her reevaluate her options," Matt stated sadly. "I thought I was doing the right thing, Alabama. You'll never understand how sorry I am about all this."

Alabama didn't say anything for a moment. Instead, she let her anger at her mother, and Matt, and everything else in the screwed up world of hers settle in her mind. Once she felt confident that her emotions were under control, Alabama turned to her father. "Why weren't you gonna tell me?"

"I didn't want you to live with knowing what I had done," Matt answered seriously. "I guess I thought it would have been easier if you thought I'd just abandoned you."

"You thought wrong," Alabama snarled as she took her hand off of Matt's and crossed her arms. "I would have hated you."

"And you don't hate me now?" Matt asked skeptically.

"Of course not," Alabama scoffed in disgust. "I'm pissed as hell, and I'm hurt. A large part of me even wants to beat you upside the head a couple of times with a two by four. But I could never hate you. You're my daddy."

Suddenly, Alabama launched herself across the small distance between her and her father and wrapped her arms around his waist. She could feel the tears building in her eyes, so Alabama buried her face into Matt's flannel shirt in an attempt to hide the emotion from her father. This moment didn't need a blubbering teenager in its midst.

Matt held onto his daughter just as tightly, bowing his head to bury his face in her dark hair. "That's good to know, sunshine," he whispered lightly.

11:55 PM

Matt and Alabama were still seated on the couch, talking about anything and everything that came to mind from the last fifteen years. The pair were attempting to create something worthwhile in the last few hours that Matt had; something that would bring a smile to Alabama's face in the years to come.

"And you stood up to show me that you'd tied your shoes for the first time, only you'd tied the laces together and fell flat on your face," Matt laughed as he finished tell Alabama about the first time she'd tried to tie her shoes on her own.

"I'm glad my embarrassment brings you so much happiness, old man," Alabama snapped with no real menace. "At least I can make someone laugh."

Alabama felt the exact moment that her father tensed, and immediately lifted her face from his shoulder to try and figure out what was wrong.

11:56 PM

"Something the matter, Daddy?" she questioned softly as she noted the look of worry between her father's eyes.

Matt shook his head quickly and then turned to face Alabama, plastering a smile across his face. "Course not, sunshine. I just remembered that I left something out in my truck for you. Let me run outside real fast and get it."

Matt stood from the couch and started to make his way towards the hallway, but Alabama quickly grabbed a hold of his wrist.

"You're sure everything's all right?"

Matt nodded as he patted Alabama's hand before exiting the living room.

11:57 PM

Looking back, if Alabama had thought about her father's strange behavior at that point, she might have checked the clock to see what time it was. She might have insisted on following her father to his truck. Or maybe even insisted that he stay in the living room with her.

But in the moment, all Alabama did was pick up her father's old denim jacket off the floor where Matt had haphazardly tossed it hours ago. She held the fabric up to her nose and inhaled her father's familiar scent of Copenhagen and motor oil, trying to commit the smell to memory.

11:59 PM

The sound of footsteps descending the stairs made Alabama turn towards the entrance to the living room, and Alabama wasn't surprised to see Rayan emerge from around the corner.

She wasn't sure if she expected Rayan to join her on the couch, or maybe say something snide like the two teens had been known to do during the last few weeks. All Alabama knew was that she wasn't surprised when Rayan appeared in the living room.

What did surprise Alabama was Rayan's confused face as she scanned the room as if looking for something.

"Where's your dad?"

Alabama never got to answer.

12:00 AM

A scream unlike anything Alabama had ever heard in her life interrupted the otherwise silent South Dakota night. It sounded agonized, tortured even. And she knew right away who that scream had come from.

The young girl leapt up from the couch, tossing Matt's denim jacket to the ground and raced towards the front door. Rayan reached out an arm to stop the other girl, but Alabama just pushed past without a second thought.

Later on, Alabama wouldn't even remember making it to the front door and out onto the porch. She would however, remember the sight of her father rolling on the ground of the salvage yard, blood pooling around him as invisible creatures tore into Matt's flesh.

Before Alabama had a chance to run to her father's side, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind, stopping her from going out into the yard. She struggled and clawed at the arms, strangled cries escaping her mouth.

"You can't help him," a voice she would later recognize as Dean's spoke into her ear, regret coursing through his deep voice. "They'll just tear you apart too. It's too late, Alabama."

She fought harder, but it was of no use. Mere seconds later, even though it felt like hours to Alabama, Matt's body had gone still and the night air returned to the silence it had previously known. Dean slowly let go of the fighting girl, who immediately raced over to her father's side and began to desperately put pressure on the open wounds.

It was too late, of course. Alabama knew this. But this fact didn't stop her from trying desperately to bring her father back to life. Blood was soaking into the knees of Alabama's thin jeans, but that too went ignored. The only thing Alabama could register were Matt's lifeless gray eyes staring into nothing.

When Alabama first felt Dean try to wrap his arms around her shoulders in a hug, she wildly swung out with her right fist at the older man. Dean, expecting the attack, just grabbed her arm and held it firmly in his grasp as he pulled the young girl into his chest. Alabama struggled for a few seconds, desperate cries of "no" and "bastard" escaping her lips. But those soon turned into anguished sobs as she buried her face into Dean's shirt as they both kneeled next to Matt's body.

Everyone in the Winchester household mourned.

It was three hours later that Dean found himself lying in bed staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep, the thoughts of his own death spinning around in his mind. Although, he figured the only one in the house who was asleep was Alabama, who had finally wore herself out with all of her grief.

But Dean was still surprised when his bedroom door started to slowly creak open, and a dark blonde head peered into the room.

"Daddy?" Rayan questioned softly as she slowly entered. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah, short stuff," Dean replied as he sat up in bed. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's…well, as good as can be expected," Rayan assured as she stood at the foot of Dean's bed and fiddled with the small hourglass containing Castiel's grace at her throat. A pause fell between the pair.

"What did you need?" Dean questioned softly, and Rayan jumped a little in nervousness.

"Nothing really," Rayan admitted. "I just wanted to…nevermind. It was stupid." Rayan quickly stood and started to make her way back towards the bedroom door, her head ducked down.

"Rayan," Dean called out, stopping his daughter in her tracks. When the young Winchester turned around, she was relieved to see that Dean had pulled back a corner of the covers and was patting the bed, inviting Rayan to join him.

She quickly ran across the room and curled into her father's side. Dean knew exactly what she needed, because in all honesty, he needed it too. They both needed to be reassured that what had happened tonight to Matt wasn't going to happen again in their family. Hell always seemed too close to home where the Winchesters were involved.

"I didn't know that that's what hellhounds did to a person," Rayan admitted softly, and Dean could hear the restrained emotion in her voice. Instead of responding to her statement, Dean just tightened his hold around his daughter and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Get some sleep, short stuff," he whispered. "I'll see you in the morning."

Hello everyone! I'm sorry that these updates have been every other day this last week or so, but I'm in the middle of finals so everything is kind of crazy. But none the less, I hope you enjoy the updates when they do get up! Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed. I love hearing from you all!

On another note, I put links to pictures of what I think Rayan, Alabama, Andy and Lucas look like on my profile. I have one more to add, but that character won't be introduced for a while.

I hope everyone has a lovely week!

Fallen.