Dean didn't stay in the bedroom like I had ordered. Soft sounds reached me from downstairs and I gathered my nerve and headed that way. Damn him, I had killed sixteen demons all on my own and never once been this nervous. Bobby's rumble reached me first as I swept down the hallway, then Dean's sharp rebuke and Sam's laughter, followed by Cas's rough chuckle. Despite my tension I felt light, airy almost in the snug dress and I couldn't remember the last time I had felt something so soft against my skin. Clothes were a necessity, a functional part of getting through each day but I hadn't known that it could feel so good to look nice. I had even taken a minute to brush out my long hair – the first time since this whole snafu began – and get every single tangle out. From what I could see in the small mirror in the bathroom, I actually looked … good.

I ran a hand through my hair one last time and sucked in a breath before walking blithely into the kitchen and spotted a seat next to Sam. I slid into it without hesitation and tried to catch up on the conversation I had been able to hear snippets of from upstairs.

"Nope! Stop right there, sweetheart." Dean's voice cracked across the room as he turned from the stove, an oven mitt on one hand and a spatula in the other. He still looked relaxed and was wearing a black t-shirt and sweatpants, his bare feet poking out of the dragging cuffs. Seeing him in such a domestic way was like a punch to the gut. Was this what we had ahead of us? After this thing with Krieger, if there was an after, would I be spending nights in the kitchen while Dean cooked dinner, listening to Bobby, Sam, and Cas argue animatedly about anything and everything? It was terrifying to realize how very much I wanted that. I wanted to be part of this crazy family with every fiber of my being.

"Stand up, turn around. Let me see," Dean demanded with a twirl of his spatula, green eyes sparking at me playfully, taking the edge out of his tone.

I fought back the flush creeping up my neck and stood back up, feeling every eye on me. God, this was awful. "Dean, so help me if you make me spin I will gut you with a dull knife," I warned.

"Are you in a dress?" Sam leaned back in his seat so he could see me more clearly.

"I picked it out," Dean boasted. "Fits her like a glove." Dean could no more hold back the sexy twinkle in his eye than he could stop breathing.

"You look beautiful," Bobby said gently with a gruff smile. "Things have been a little hectic around here, and I know I can't count on these two idjits to tell you right, so I'm just going to say it – scars or no scars, you're a truly beautiful young woman. Dean's a damn fool if he hasn't made sure you know that, yet, dress or no dress." He swallowed hard and a flush filled his cheeks and made his eyes crinkle.

I swallowed roughly and my words came out soft. "Thank you, Bobby."

Dean flashed him an insulted look. "I'm no fool. She knows. Now come on and turn for me, baby, I want to see all of it." Dean put down the spatula and set the mitt on the counter, grabbing hold of my hands to pull me out to the middle of the room.

"If you make me twirl, Dean, so help me—" He smiled so big that his dimples appeared and I locked my jaw to prevent caving. "I don't twirl."

"You looks gorgeous, baby girl. You always do." He leaned into me, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek, dropping his voice to a husky murmur for my ears only. "Hell, Lex, all I can think about is getting you back out of that dress. I just had you and my mouth's watering, reminding me of all the places I haven't kissed yet-"

There was an odd sound behind me, like a crackle and hiss of flame. "My, my, aren't you a ravishing thing."

The cold unflappable accent tipped me off that a stranger was within two fucking feet of me and had appeared out of thin air. I pulled the knife I had slipped behind the corset lacings and had it at the stranger's throat before he took another breath. "Who. The fuck. Are you?" I demanded, pressing hard enough to draw a single drop of blood from the side of his throat. He simply raised an eyebrow at me and lifted his chin against my blade.

"I'm Crowley, love. I've been waiting patiently to meet you but the boys seem to be rather stingy with the women in their lives."

Dean tried to tug me behind him but I held firm, refusing to back away from my target. "Why are you here? Are you with Krieger?"

Crowley snorted. "If I were, do you think I'd be foolish enough to show up in this house uninvited?"

"You're never invited, Crowley." Bobby rumbled, and I shot him a quick glance only to find that he was surprisingly relaxed, still seated in his chair.

"Yet you show up here all the damn time," Sam pointed out, also without heat or surprise.

Their lack of alarm didn't calm my own. "So what do you want?"

He tilted his head at me, completely disregarding the blade against his skin. "I told you – I've been wanting to meet you. There's been quite a bit of juicy gossip floating around hell about you, darling. Is it true what they say? Did Krieger manage to do it?"

I swallowed hard. Hell?

Crowley seemed to pick up on my train of thought. With a flick of his finger a force of air shoved me back, sending me stumbling into Dean. My blade clattered uselessly to the floor. Crowley lifted an eyebrow, spreading his arms at his sides and executing a short bow. "Pleased to meet you, Alexis Lane Montgomery. I'm Crowley, King of Hell."

Well, fuck.

"You are quite a bit prettier than the rumors say," he prattled on and I eyed the distance to my knife on the floor, judging how quickly I could get it back in my hand. "Last I heard, you were still scarred and torn quite to bits by Stokes and his minions. Bum rap, that. If we had managed to get our hands on you first, we would have treated you with nothing but respect for your abilities. We would have still turned you into a Chinuitor, of course –that's the only logical course of action with your bloodlines, sweet—but all the unnecessary pain and frustration…" He clicked his tongue. "Complete waste of time. But now that all that mess is taken care of …" He raised a bushy eyebrow at me. "You're quite a prime piece of real estate, now. That is, as long as Krieger hasn't managed to do the impossible. He was dipping his toes into some mighty deep waters last I heard." His eyes ran over me in a way that made my skin crawl and that just pissed me off.

I was wearing Dean's dress and damned if I was going to feel like prey in it. I stiffened, maintaining eye contact with the King of Hell while bending over and picking up my blade nonchalantly and tucking it back behind the laces on my dress. "Prime real estate? That should earn me some respect regardless of whether I answer your questions. So keep your damn eyes to yourself." Dean stepped up behind me and gave my hip a small squeeze of approval.

Bobby snorted. "You heard the lady, Crowley. Be respectful or get the hell out of my house."

Crowley shifted, disgruntled. "I have just one simple question, love. Does Krieger own you?"

"Nobody fucking owns her," Dean snarled, his grip tightening.

Crowley lifted his brows at Dean's passionate defense and I suddenly felt as if the scales had tipped somehow. Tension entered the room and Sam and Bobby slowly got to their feet, picking up on the shift immediately. "Interesting," Crowley murmured, a bastardly little grin on his mouth as he watched as Cas stood taller in the corner, the blue of his eyes burning hotly at the demon. "You've become quite their little pet in such a short while, darling. The boys are such bleeding hearts for a lost cause. I guess that answers my question after all."

"Time for you to get out of my house, Crowley," Bobby said firmly. "You've worn out your welcome."

"What a pity. I would've thought that you'd want to be privy to the information that I have about removing the Asuat." With a negligent shrug, Crowley lifted his hand to snap is way out of the room.

"Wait!" Dean shouted, pressing himself in front of me. "What do you know, Crowley?"

The demon tipped his head pityingly. "Sometimes it's just so pathetically easy with you boys. But you know I don't hand favors out for free."

Dean gnashed his teeth together. "Name your price, Crowley."

He smiled devilishly and dropped me a wink. "Let me think on it." With that, he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean slammed his fist into the wall and Bobby snapped a rebuke at him, but I couldn't hear it over the roaring in my ears. Damn, damn, damn. Crowley was playing us, I knew it. He had only surfaced to find out if the rumors were true, but Dean had given himself away and now Crowley had all the leverage he needed to weasel a deal for virtually anything he wanted. The King of Hell thought he held all the cards now, but he didn't realize that the next time we had words I would be going full Chinuitor on his ass. I would know if that skeevy little bastard was lying to me and I would get the answers we needed.

"Alex?" Sam touched my elbow.

All my senses were hyper aware with the adrenaline pumping through my veins and I could feel Dean's emotions as if they were my own. Our connection was only strengthening with each passing moment and the instant Sam touched me Dean's possessiveness started overriding his fury at Crowley. Dean's building aggravation was not worth the brief comfort Sam offered, so I quickly pulled out of his grasp. "What, Sam?"

He stepped back, giving me some space with a keen look at his brother. "It may seem insane, but Crowley's smart. If anyone can find a way out of the Asuat, it would be him."

"Are we really going to trust that son of a bitch?" Dean snarled. "He's thrown us over more times than I care to remember."

"And saved both of our lives more than once," Sam pointed out.

Cas piped up. "Crowley may actually have the means and knowledge to help us remove the Asuat. I did not consider his knowledge of the dark lore or contemplate how it could aid us."

I ran my hands through my silky hair. "I don't care what Crowley knows, there's no way I trust that skeevy bastard farther than I can throw him. The last thing we need is another demon trying to claim me." I shot Dean a look. "But now he definitely knows he can use you against me, smartass. Next time why don't you just stamp your name on my forehead to make sure he doesn't miss that we're involved."

Dean arched an eyebrow at my sarcasm. "What do you want me to do, hide it?"

"If it's going to protect you, then hell yes!" I started pacing across the faded yellow tiles and felt like the room was shrinking with every pass. "Crowley must have an angle. Even if he does know how to remove the Asuat, that just frees me up for him to claim. We can't go at this half-assed, Dean. Krieger—"

"Krieger isn't going to get anywhere near you," Dean interrupted. "It's just not happening."

"You need to get your head out of your ass, boy, and start thinking about this thing realistically." Bobby took off his hat and ran a hand through his thinning hair. "None of us want to even think about it but the reality is if he can get to her dreamwalking then he sure as hell can find out where she is. This is not your run of the mill demon, Dean."

"I don't care who this mother fucker is, Bobby, he's not getting Alex. Nobody is." Dean's flashing green gaze dared anyone to disagree. "We have to make a deal with Crowley. Figure out what he knows." He held up a hand to stop the flood of words beginning to tumble out of my mouth. "I understand what you're saying, Lex, but if Crowley can at least get the mark off you we have a chance. Then we can figure out how to handle Crowley. We should've killed him a thousand times over by now – we can handle him when the time comes."

Sam cleared his throat. "You really think you could do it, Dean? You two have been through a lot."

What the fuck? Dean and the King of hell?

"We don't have any other options unless you three managed to scrounge something up." Dean crossed his arms on his chest.

Bobby humphed, settling his hat back on his head. "We'll keep searching but we haven't found a daggone thing that might be useful. When God tries to erase the details of something, it usually stays pretty hid."

"This is a horrible idea. Crowley's lying," I insisted. "He doesn't know a damn thing and the next time he shows up I'm going to prove it to all of you."

"How?" Cas watched me doubtfully.

I lifted my chin. "The same way I handled Grady."

Everyone got quiet.

"Don't give me that look, Dean," I warned him, glaring daggers and trying to keep my cool. "I can handle Crowley."

"He may look like a chump, Alex, but he's powerful. I've seen him disintegrate people before. Literally with a snap of his fingers."

"I'm a goddamn Chinuitor." I straightened to my full height, shaking out the bottom of my skirt and hiding the angry tremor in my hands. "I can fucking handle a two-bit demon, king or no king."

Cas gave me a strange look. "Alex, Crowley is not someone to trifle with-"

"You were right, Cas." I fought back the anger and frustration beating at me from Dean. "You said I was still an empath and you were right. Next time I'll be ready and I'll be able to see if Crowley is lying."

"What do you mean? You can feel everyone's emotions again?" Bobby's brow crinkled.

I swallowed, wishing I had taken the time to explain what I had been trying to tell Dean earlier. "All I know is that I can feel Dean. Sometimes, I can even read his thoughts."

Dean threw me a startled look and I reached for him mentally, finding a flood of words already waiting for me. What the fuck? Can you read my mind right now?

I gave him a small nod and he jerked back. Then tell me what number I'm thinking of. F—

"Four."

Six-

"Sixteen. Twenty. One hundred and eighty-two. Seriously, Dean. Give me a challenge."

His green eyes sharpened, a muscle jumping in his jaw. I love you more than life itself and the world can burn to the ground around us as long as we're together.

I swallowed hard, repeating it back to him softly.

Silence fell.

"How long have you been able to read minds?" Bobby frowned at me, eyes narrowed beneath the brim of his ball cap, puzzling this new information over.

"It's only with Dean, and it hasn't been long." A slow flush crept up my neck and I cleared my throat, hoping he wouldn't ask the exact moment it started.

"Have you tried to read anyone else?" Sam asked me warily.

"No."

Cas watched me carefully. "Alex, you and Dean have formed a very special bond. I do not believe telepathy is part of your gifts, it may just be a byproduct of your link to him."

Sudden cold chills raced down my spine. "What do you mean, link?"

Cas arched an eyebrow. "You two have weathered a great deal together. You have also been intimate with him more than once. In certain special … cases … that closeness carries over into other areas. It is logical to assume that with your added strengths factored in, being more closely connected to Dean would allow you more access into his mind. It is instances like yours that feed the belief in soul mates."

Fuck. Dread sucked every ounce of warmth from my body. "Dean, you can't hear my thoughts, right?" Oh, God, no. Please, please, no- "Please tell me you can't."

Dean raised an eyebrow at me. "Is there something I should know?"

"Just answer the damn question," I snapped.

Dean concentrated for a long moment before raising his curious eyes back to mine. "No, Alex. I can't hear your thoughts. I can't read your emotions, either. Apparently this only works one way."

Thank God. Relief nearly took out my knees and I dropped into the nearest chair gratefully. I sank my head into my hands, running my fingers through the silk of my long hair roughly. "Good."

"Why good, Alex?" Dean asked softly, dropping to his knees in front of me with his hands on my thighs. He tilted his face so he could peek through the curtain of my hair. I tucked my fingers into the collar of his flannel shirt, angry to find a fine tremor in my hands. Because when Krieger hunts me down I don't want you to be able to hear my thoughts, hear the pain or my screams. I have to be able to protect you from that. "A girl needs to keep her secrets," I said lightly, pissed to hear how thin my voice was. Damn it. I had been fighting so hard to be positive, had almost convinced myself to only think forwards and imagine a life with Dean on the other side of this thing. But it wasn't until this moment that I realized there truly was only one way for this to go. I knew it and a searching look around the room showed me that Bobby and Cas knew it too. Dark shadows and understanding told me that they knew exactly why I didn't want Dean to hear my thoughts, why a link between us like that was so dangerous. Damn Sam and Dean and the hint of hope in their eyes. They truly thought we could find a way out of this, find a way to be together, a way to circumvent this entire clusterfuck without seeing it through to its inevitable conclusion. Krieger was coming and I suddenly knew with stark clarity that the only option was to meet him head on.

Slowly, I got to my feet. I knew what I had to do next. But first, I needed to find Crowley.