A/N: To all of you who voiced your own ideas about how I should do Sam/Nad's relationship at the end of this story, THANK YOU. I have already started drafting the very last chapter and I am going through all of the possible scenarios, that I can put these two through and I just can't decide which I want to choose, especially when all of your ideas are bouncing around in my head. So I am hoping that, soon, my mind will be able to take all of the jumbled ideas and create a good ending for you all. Either way, I hope you all are looking forward to it! But, let's not dwell on that for now! Let's get on with the chapter, shall we!
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural
Walking down the stairs, Natalie could hear voices coming from the basement. Reaching the bottom of the steps, Natalie stopped and listened, not taking long for her to figure out that it was Dean and Sam. She continued on into the kitchen, spotting Adam still sitting at the table. He looked up at her briefly, before focusing on his sandwich that he was still attempting to eat.
Natalie stood in place, her fingers tapping against her leg in an attempt to alleviate the awkwardness she was feeling. Maybe I should just try and talk with him. Natalie bit down on her bottom lip, debating whether making conversation with him would be a good idea or not. She sighed, relenting to her decision, and slowly walked over to the kitchen table. "Hey."
Adam gave her a nod of acknowledgement, but gave her nothing else...not even eye contact.
Natalie could feel herself smile awkwardly for only a moment, before it suddenly went away. Taking in a breath, Natalie slowly eased herself down in the chair across the table from him, her arms folding on the table. "So. How are you doing?"
Adam scoffed. "How am I doing?" He questioned, looking up at her.
Natalie gave him a small hesitant shrug, showing that she really had no idea what to talk about with him. She hoped that he would just go along with it and maybe somewhere they will find something to converse about.
Adam shook his head and pushed his plate away, then leaned back against his chair. "Well, I'm not fine, if that's what you're thinking."
"I didn't think you would be okay. I'm pretty sure this wasn't what you were expecting." Natalie offered cautiously.
Adam huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, well, I didn't expect to be brought back from the dead, to be honest."
Natalie cleared her throat, mentally thinking that maybe it wasn't a good idea to engage in conversation with him. Not to mention, that they didn't really get off on a good start and they didn't know each other.
"So, who are you anyway?" Adam finally asked. "I mean are you a cousin? A long lost sister they didn't know about?"
Natalie smiled faintly and shook her head.
"Okay." Adam began to think of other ideas as to who she could be. "Are you Dean's girlfriend?"
Natalie let out a breath. "No. I'm not."
"Are you Sam's girlfriend?"
Natalie could feel her expression fall at his words and she could feel her mind buzzing. "N-no...I'm not." But, you want to be. Just admit it, you have feelings for him. "I'm just a...really good friend of theirs."
Adam nodded, but, deep down he could sense the hesitation in her voice. "So. How did you get involved with them?"
Natalie sighed in relief, grateful that he was taking the conversation to a different subject. If they stayed on the subject of being Sam's girlfriend any longer, Natalie knew that she would have exploded. "Um. Simplified story. About a year ago, they saved me from a car wreck I was in and I wanted to become a hunter. Well. I didn't exactly want to become one, but, I did it for my family...what was left of it at least. Bobby, Sam and Dean taught me everything I needed to know, and...here we are."
Adam's brows raised for a slight moment. "Yeah, that really is a simplified story."
"The official one is long and...I'd rather not talk about it."
"Fair enough." Adam replied, but, Natalie could sense the genuine understanding in his voice. Soon Adam let out a long yawn.
Natalie smiled faintly. "You should probably get some more rest." Natalie offered.
"Yeah, think I might do that." Adam leaned back and stretched out his arms before standing up from the chair. Adam turned to her and offered a small smile. "Nice talking with you."
Natalie gave a curt nod. "Nice talking with you too, Adam."
"But, now we have Dean locked up in the panic room, that way he can't go to Michael." Natalie spoke into the phone, pacing back and forth behind the garage.
"I can't believe Dean would even consider saying yes. I mean, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would just give into something like that."
"Yeah, well, it's all getting close to the end, Mari. Dean is just trying to figure out what would be best for all of us. But, I'm not gonna let him do this and I know Sam and Bobby are with me."
"Listen, I know you all don't want him doing this, but, ultimately it is Dean's choice. You can't keep him from doing something he wants to do."
Natalie sighed. "Yeah, I know Mari. But, we just can't let him be used as a warhead in all of this. I just hope he figures it all out."
"Dean's a smart guy. I'm pretty sure he will come around."
"Yeah...me too."
"So." Natalie's brows furrowed at the sudden change of tone in her sisters voice. "How are you and Sam doing?"
Natalie laughed, not believing that her sister was bringing this up, but, Natalie couldn't hide away from it anymore. "Everything is fine, Mari."
"Uh-huh. Come on, Nad."
"What?" Natalie hoped that she would be able to get her sister off of her trail, but knowing Marina, she will push until Natalie admits the truth.
"Nad, I know you have 'feelings' for him, it's not that hard to tell. So, just admit it."
Natalie sighed in slight annoyance at her sister's pressing, but, nodded in relent. Someone as observant as Marina, wouldn't let something like this slip past her. "Okay, were right."
"Well it's about damn time. Have you told him yet?"
"What? No!" Natalie made sure to lower to her voice. "Now is really not the time to drop that on someone, and besides...I am pretty sure he doesn't feel the same way."
"You don't know that for sure. That's why you should talk to him about it."
"No. I'm not just gonna walk up and tell him that. And, what if he doesn't feel the same way? Then me telling him how I feel, it will just make it awkward between us."
"All I am saying Nad, is I think you should tell him."
Natalie went silent, taking Marina's words into consideration, though she knew that she wasn't going to tell him. One, it wasn't the best time for this, and two, Sam didn't feel the same way. So, why would she want to make things difficult? Natalie went to say something when Sam's voice calling for her grabbed her attention.
"Mari, I gotta call you back." Natalie said hurriedly, then hung up the phone and sprinted towards the house.
The front door was halfway opened and she pushed against it, tripping into the house. "Sam?!" Natalie called out and heard him calling her from the basement. She ran over to the basement steps and sprinted down the stairs. Seeing Sam near the panic room, she walked up to him. "Hey, what's going on?" Natalie asked, but went quiet once she saw the panic room was empty and a sigil was painted on the wall.
"Where's Dean?" Natalie asked, but, she had a pretty good idea as to what was going on.
"He's gone." Sam answered, his eyes still scanning around the panic room.
Natalie's eyes roamed the room, in disbelief that Dean had managed to get away, but, really she shouldn't be surprised. It is Dean after all. "What do we do, Sam?" Natalie finally asked.
Sam took in a breath before turning around and walked towards the stairs. Natalie took one last look at the room before rushing after Sam, following him up the stairs. "I'm going to go out and look for him." Sam finally said once they reached the top of the stairs.
"Where do you think he could have gone?" Natalie asked, following Sam into the living room.
"I am not sure, but, he couldn't have gotten far." Sam looked over at Bobby. "Dean's gone."
Bobby sighed. "Where's Cas, then?"
"He's been blown to Oz." Sam replied. "Listen, we have to go out and look for him." Sam said, turning to Natalie.
"Yeah, I'll help you look for him." Natalie answered without hesitation.
"Good. Bobby watch Adam."
Bobby gave Sam an incredulous look. "How? You may have noticed, he's got a slight height advantage."
Natalie sighed and shook her head. "Okay. Sam you go and look for Dean. I'll stay here with Bobby."
"You sure?"
Natalie shrugged, knowing she wanted to go with Sam. "Might as well. It'll give Bobby an extra hand."
"Alright, fine." Sam relented. "If anything happens, call me, alright?" Sam said, directing it to both Bobby and Natalie. They both nodded in agreement and gave them one last nod before turning around and headed out the house.
Natalie sighed, already feeling exhausted from today, and walked over to Bobby's desk, plopping down in one of the chairs. Her elbow leaned on the desk and her hand entwining in her hair, allowing her head a chance to rest.
"You look beat." Bobby said, wheeling himself over to his desk.
"I don't know why I am so tired." Natalie admitted, feeling herself overwhelmed by a yawn.
"Well, I don't blame you. All of this has everyone beat."
"Mmm." Natalie hummed, feeling her eyes begin to close due to the heaviness in them.
"Hey, before you fall asleep on me, there's something I should give you."
Natalie leaned her head up and looked over at Bobby curiously, as he pulled out a small brown box from his desk. Setting it down, he slid it over to her. Natalie gazed down at the box, then back to Bobby, seeing the urging look on his face.
She reached forward and picked up the box, gazing down on the top cover she spotted the letters 'T.W.C' engraved on it. Natalie let out a sigh. "Dad. It belonged to dad." She ran her finger over the engraving. "I didn't know he something like this. Where did you get it?"
"When your dad died, your mom had me take his car, she didn't want anything to do with it. While I was cleaning it out, I found that. Didn't have the heart to open it, it just didn't feel right. So, I thought that I would keep it, until it was time to give it back. Must of forgotten about it."
Natalie nodded and opened the box, finding a small, worn down, picture that she immediately recognized. It was taken the year before her dad died, when everything seemed as normal as it could get. It was her Aunt's birthday, the last time they visited, before, everything went in the gutter.
Natalie closed the box and stood from her chair, walked over to Bobby and kissed his forehead. "Thanks, Bobby." She turned around and headed upstairs, fully intent on keeping this safe until she was able to take it to her Aunt's home.
Walking into her room, Natalie picked up her bag and went to place the box in it, but stopped. She spotted Dean's amulet, that she had picked up out of the trash, and pulled it out of her bag. Natalie, then, opened the box and carefully placed the amulet inside. Putting the box into her bag, Natalie quickly zipped it up and left it on her bed.
She made her way back downstairs and walked into the living room, seeing that Bobby wasn't at his desk and as she panned over to the couch she found, much to her surprise, Adam was gone. Her eyes widened as she stepped into the room, "Bobby?!"
Bobby wheeled himself in from the kitchen, seeing that same thing that Natalie was seeing. "How the hell did that happen?"
"Did he manage to slip past you?" Natalie began to question.
"Of course, not. I would have known of he was trying to sneak past me." Bobby defended.
Natalie sighed in defeat and leaned against the wall, her hand running through her hair. "Shit."
"What do you mean, Adam is gone?" Sam asked. After returning from his failed search to find Dean, it was not to obvious, that him learning that Adam was gone wasn't the information he wanted to hear.
"Should I say it in Spanish?" Bobby questioned.
"What the hell? How can he just be gone?" Sam buried his face in his hands for a brief second. "You two were supposed to be watching him."
Natalie rolled her eyes. "We were watching him. I went upstairs to do something and when I came down, Bobby was in the kitchen and Adam was gone."
"Well..." Sam dropped his arms to his side. "Did you miss him by any chance Bobby?"
"No. I didn't miss him. I would have noticed if he tried to leave and no doubt Nad would have chased him down. It's like he disappeared into thin air."
"It's because the angels took him." The three of them looked over, seeing Castiel carrying a battered and bloodied Dean.
Natalie's brows furrowed in shock as she walked over to them. "Cas, what the hell happened to him?" She took a hold of Dean, not prepared for how much he leaned against her.
"Me." Castiel replied.
Castiel and Natalie walk Dean over to the couch and gently set him down. Natalie walked into the kitchen and ran a rag under some warm water and wringed out the cloth. She walked back into the living room and knelt down next to the couch, gently wiping at the blood on Dean's face.
"What do you mean, the angels took Adam? I thought you branded his ribs." Bobby asked.
"Yes. Adam must have tipped them."
"How?"
"I am not sure. Maybe in a dream of sort."
"Well, where would they have taken him?" Sam asked.
"There is only one place the angels would have taken him. It's sort of like a safe room, the angels can keep track of him, make sure he doesn't leave. Dean was taken there, before, Lucifer was unleashed."
"What are we going to do then?" Sam asked.
"As of right now, nothing. We should wait until Dean wakes up." Castiel replied.
Natalie finished getting the blood off of Dean's face and stood back up. "Well, what do you want to do with him?"
"We take him back down to the panic room." Sam walked forward and hoisted Dean up on his feet, wrapping his arm around his neck. "Cas, little help?"
Castiel took Dean's other side and wrapped his arm around his neck. Natalie stepped out of the way, allowing Sam and Castiel to walk past, to get Dean to the panic room.
Natalie slowly walked down the basement steps, careful to not make any distracting noises. She could hear Sam and Dean talking and she made her way towards the panic room.
For the past hour, she had been getting ready to head out with Sam and Castiel, to go and find Adam. Castiel knew where the 'room' was and they had, somewhat, of a plan to get him out.
"I don't get it. Sam, why are you doing this?"
"Because, you're still my big brother."
Natalie stopped near the open door and hesitantly clear her throat. Sam and Dean both look at her. "Hey, uh, everything is ready."
"Okay." Sam looked back at Dean, before walking out of the panic room. Dean hesitated for a moment, but, Natalie gave him an encouraging nod. Natalie waited for Dean to walk past her before following him up the basement stairs.
Making it out of the basement, Bobby wheeled himself out of the living room and into the hallway. "Nad?" Natalie stopped and looked at Bobby, seeing him motioning her over. Natalie sighed and walked over to Bobby. "Hey, you sure you want to go with them?"
Natalie's brows furrowed. "Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I?"
"I just don't want you getting to deep in all of this angel business."
"Bobby, no matter what I do, I'm apart of this. I can't change that. And I'm not gonna let them go at it alone."
"Okay, well, just make sure that you watch out for yourself...and the boys. Right now, I don't think their heads are clear enough to deal with this."
Natalie nodded her head, running a hand down her face, letting out an exhausted sigh. "I'm tired Bobby. I just want all of this to be over."
Bobby nodded solemnly. "I know, kiddo."
Natalie gave Bobby a faint smile, then turned around and walked out of the house, closing the door behind her. Spotting Sam, Dean and Castiel waiting near the car, Natalie took a deep breath and walked over to the car. "Let's get going."
The four of them get out of the impala, as Dean scanned the building that they were parked near. "Where the hell are we?"
"Van Nuys, California." Castiel replied, shutting the car door.
"Okay, so, where's the beautiful room?" Dean questioned.
"In there." Castiel pointed towards the run down warehouse.
Dean casted Castiel a doubtful look. "The beautiful room is in an abandoned muffler factory in Van Nuys, California?"
"Where'd you think it was?" Castiel asked curiously.
"I don't know. Jupiter? A blade of grass? Not Van Nuys." Dean replied.
"Tell me again why you don't just grab Adam and shazam the hell out of there?" Sam asked.
"Because there are at least five angels in there." Castiel answered.
Natalie folded her arms over her chest. "But, aren't you like, you know, fast?"
"No. They're faster." Castiel pulled off his tie and wrapped it around his palm. "I'll clear them out. You three grab the boy. This is our only chance."
"Whoa, wait a minute. You're gonna take on five angels?"
"Yes."
"Isn't that like, suicide?"
"Maybe. But, then I won't have to watch you fail. I'm sorry, Dean. I don't have the same faith in you that Sam and Nad do." Castiel pulls out a box cutter from his pocket.
Natalie looked at the blade in his hand, her brows furrowing. "Cas, what the hell are you doing with that?"
Castiel turns away from them and opens his shirt and begins to carve into his chest. Natalie looked over at Sam and Dean, confusion written on her face as to what Castiel was doing. He soon finished and placed the box cutter in his pocket and buttoned up his shirt.
"I'm going to banish the angels. Wait until it is clear and then you can come into the warehouse." Castiel said, not giving them a look, before walking towards the warehouse.
The three of them watch silently as Castiel strode towards the warehouse. Natalie took in a breath and bit down on her lip. "Do you think this is a good idea?"
"Well, what other choice do we have?" Dean asked.
Silence fell over them, mainly due to the fact that they were to concentrated on waiting for their que to go in. But, each of them could feel the tension that was building between them and they'd rather not address it. At least not now.
The building soon erupted in a bright light that streamed through the windows causing them to to jump with alert. The light soon disappeared and the silence soon turned a little eerie. Dean gave Sam and Natalie a look before cautiously making his way towards the warehouse, queuing Natalie and Sam to follow him.
Making it to the door, Dean stopped and turned towards the other two. They both gave him a small nod, and Dean took hold of the handle and carefully opened the warehouse door.
He poked his head in, scanning the warehouse and saw no one, and entered the building with Natalie and Sam following. Dean spots one of the angels on the ground, with an angel sword lying next to him.
Dean quickly picks it up and turns to Sam, handing it over to him. "So, there is no way that this isn't a trap. Sam, you and I will go in, get Adam, and if you can, you gank Zachariah whenever you get the chance. And be prepared for anything." Natalie and Sam, both, nodded in understanding.
They made their way over to the door that led to the room they knew Adam was in. Natalie allowed Sam and Dean to enter the room first and then walked in, keeping the door open. She saw Dean rush over to Adam, who was lying on the floor, but didn't see Sam, figuring that he was just getting in place.
"You came for me." Adam said.
"Yeah, well, you're family." Dean said, helping Adam back up on his feet.
"It's a trap Dean." Adam warned.
"Yeah, I figure as much."
Natalie looked around the room and motioned for Dean to hurry. "Dean, come on—' Natalie soon felt a force push her back and she fell to the ground and heard the door slam shut. She rolled over to her side and pushed herself up onto her knees and looked over at the door. "Great." Natalie stumbled to her feet and walked over to the door, grabbed the handle to try and open it, and not surprisingly, it was locked.
Natalie let out an annoyed sigh. "Angels. Really getting on my nerves." Natalie backed away from the door, knowing that she wasn't going to get inside, and made her way to one of the crates so she could sit down and wait.
A growing, ear piercing, shriek soon began to come from the room and Natalie paused and turned around, seeing the room fill with a bright light. She cringed as the sound began to grow with intensity and the door to the room suddenly was thrown open.
"Nad!" Dean called out, carrying a struggling Sam.
Natalie quickly made her way over to them, despite her ears stinging with the noise. She grabbed hold of Sam, "Hey! Are you alright?" Sam gave Natalie barely a nod as she guided him over to a crate and set him down.
"No! Dean! Help!"
Natalie turned around and saw Dean trying to get the door back open, but soon turned her attention back towards Sam. He looked strung out and blood was dripping down the side of his mouth. Natalie sighed and sat down next to him, using the sleeve of her jacket to quickly wipe it away.
Just as quickly as it came, the light and the noise disappeared and the three of them were left in silence. Natalie glanced over at Dean, who had opened the door to a room that was destroyed and Adam was gone.
Natalie saw Dean's shoulders slump in defeat and felt Sam's head lean against her shoulder. It didn't take a genius to know what both of the brothers were thinking. Natalie wrapped an arm around Sam, keeping him close, as Dean turned to look at her, she had nothing to say. Not even an encouraging smile. Nothing.
Dean took one last look at the room, before walking over to them and took hold of one of Sam's arms. "Let's get to the car and get out of here."
The ride back started off quiet, none of them saying anything to each other. Not even a single word of reassurance, because they all knew that it was getting worse, whether they wanted to admit it or not.
"You think Adam's okay?" Sam asked, finally breaking the silence.
"Doubt it." Dean replied. "Cas probably isn't either. But, we'll get them."
Sam nodded. "So."
"So, what?"
"I saw your eyes. You were totally rocking the 'yes' back there." Natalie's head perked up and she stared at Dean. "So, what changed your mind?" Sam asked.
Dean looked at Natalie in the rear view mirror. "Honestly? The damndest thing. I mean, the world's ending. The walls are coming down on us, and I look over at you and all I can think about it, 'this stupid son of a bitch brought me here'. I just didn't want to let you down." Dean finished, casting a glance over at Sam.
"You didn't. But, you almost did."
"But, I do need to apologize."
"Dean, no you don't." Sam said.
"No, just let me say this. Look, I don't know if it's being a big brother or what, but to me, Sam you've always been this snot-nosed kid that I've had to keep on the straight path. And Nad, you might as well call me your brother."
Natalie smirked at his words. "Dean, I have been thinking that way for quite sometime now."
Dean smiled faintly. "You both have had faith in me, even when I was in to much doubt. But, the least I can do is return the favor. So, you know what, screw destiny. I say we take the fight to them and the three of us do it our way."
Sam looked back at Natalie, seeing the optimistic look on her face and then nodded. "Sounds good to us."
How did you all like it?! I am hoping to get the next few chapters up ASAP, but we shall see. Until next time! Xx
