Chapter 45

July 2008

"Sam… please let me help you…" Sarah whispered. It worried her so much how Sam was taking Dean's death. He was on a suicide mission to either bring Dean back or switch places with him.

"Out of my way, Sarah." Sam slurred moving to push passed her.

"Sam, you're drunk. Please just slow down and think about this!" Sarah said, stepping into Sam's path. "Dean, wouldn't want this. You know that."

"Don't tell me what Dean would want!" Sam growled, shoving her out of his way.

Sarah grabbed his hand and twisted it up behind his back. "I'm not going to let you do this!"

Sam struggled for a minute then stopped, "Fine. You're right."

Sarah let out a the breath she was holding and released her hold on him. "Thank god, Sambo."

Before she could say or do anything else, he swung around enough to hit her with his elbow. She was knocked back a few steps but recovered and caught his arm as he tried to punch her.

"Sam. Don't do this." Sarah begged, but Sam punched her side with his other hand. As she doubled over slightly from pain, Sam grabbed her head and hit it with his knee. Sarah fell to the floor with blood pouring from her nose. Sam then kicked her a few times before grabbing some of her hair, pulling her up slightly.

"Sam… stop… please…" Sarah pleaded, watching his hand pull back to hit her again but he stopped, staring down at her as if he'd come out of some trance. Letting go of her hair, he backed away, taking in what he had just done, before rushing to the impala and leaving.


Present

Sarah woke with a start. Her body breaking out in a cold sweat from the memory. She tried to steady her breathing but suddenly felt that now familiar feeling of nausea. She pushed off the couch and rushed to the bathroom to empty the small amount of food from in her stomach. When she was done, she walked back out to main room and looked around. Everything was as they'd left it. Empty beer cans covering the counter. Lore books and weapons covering most of the other surfaces. The old beat up couch next to the old beat up chair. The TV so old that it only picked up a couple of stations with the rabbit ear antenna. This cabin was the closest thing to a safe haven that she could find to recharge.

Grabbing her pack of saltine crackers and some water, Sarah sat down at her computer to continue her search for Dean.

Sarah was researching a case she thought could be a possible demon possession in Wisconsin when her phone pinged. Picking it up she found that it was giving her an update on Sam's location. Which was currently in the town that she was researching for her case.

"Well, Sambo, looks like we're on the same case." Sarah mumbled before she grabbed her things and hurried out to the car.


4 Weeks earlier…

"Sarah, get out of my way." Sam growled at her, as she blocked him from leaving the bunker.

"Sam we need to think this through." Sarah replied, trying to keep a firm stance against him.

"Think what through? This might be our only chance to find Dean."

"Sam, you're out of control. We have been making stupid move after stupid move, one of which cost the use of your shoulder. What is this one going to cost? Your soul?"

"So what if it does. I have to find him. I have to. Whatever the cost." Sam growled, pushing Sarah against the wall with his good arm.

Memories of years before when Sarah and Sam were have a very similar conversation flashed through Sarah's mind.

"No Sam. Not at any cost." Sarah responded, placing one of her hands protectively over her stomach. "Do whatever the hell you want to do but I can't." She then pushed away from him and walked back inside the bunker.


"Hiya, Sambo." Sarah said as Sam walked out of the police precinct.

"What are you doing here, Sarah? " Sam asked, tiredly as he walked passed her to his car.

"I saw that there was a case here, just like you. You just got here first." Sarah replied. "What did you find out?"

"Look, I've got this. Just go back to whatever it was you were doing." Sam replied firmly while reaching for the door handle.

"I've been looking for Dean. Same as you. I'm just doing it with less of a death wish." Sarah countered, getting between Sam and the car. "So what did you find out?" Sam just stared at her, still looking pissed. "Look I know it was wrong to leave you like I did, but I have my reasons. And I promise to explain everything after we find Dean."

Sighing, Sam said, "Fine. Get in, I'll explain on the way."


"Sarah, I've missed you so much." Dean said, pulling her into his arms. "I thought you were gone forever."

"Dean… is it really you? Are you really here with me?" Sarah asked, not believing what was happening.

"Of course, I'm here. Where else would I be but with my girl and our baby." Dean replied, looking down at her then at the space between them.

Sarah looked down and saw that she was holding a baby. "What? But I…"

"Shh… Everything will be ok." Dean soothed, placing his hand on her cheek. Sarah looked back up at him but jumped at the sight of his black demon eyes, staring down at her. "I'll take care of you now."

Sarah was suddenly running down a corridor, scared and frightened, clutching the baby to her chest. She turned down a different corridor and saw Dean standing at the other end.

"Sarah…" he drawled, "you know you can't run from me…"

Sarah quickly ran the other direction, but he was suddenly there blocking her path again. Everywhere she ran, he would appear until all of a sudden he was standing right in front of her. She turned to run away again but found she was now at the end of the corridor with no escape in sight.

"Dean… please…" she stammered, turning back to look at him.

"Dean please…" Dean mimicked with his black eyes boring into hers. "You had to know that this was how it ends. How it all ends." He pulled out the first blade and stepped closer.

"Dean… please… she's your daughter… please don't…" Sarah pleaded.

"And she will make one hell of a demon." Dean said before grabbing the baby from Sarah before thrusting the first blade into her stomach. "Maybe even a queen one day."


Sarah jolted awake. Looking around she found that she was lying in a small dark place. A trunk of some sort. With her hands and legs tied, a gag in her mouth and no memory of how she got there. Thinking back over what she could remember, she tried to figure out what had happened.

She remembered meeting up with Sam. Finding out that Dean was a demon. Talking with the clerk of the Gas-N-Sip that had witnessed Dean kill another demon. Calling Crowley with Sam. Tracing the call. Driving with Sam and then nothing.

Just then, she heard a pair of heavy footsteps approach her. Then the trunk opened and was filled with light, blinding Sarah momentarily.

"Well, Good morning Sunshine." A man Sarah didn't recognize said before pulling her from the trunk and carrying her inside an old barn. "Got a little motivation for you."

"Sarah!" Sam growled. "Cole, she doesn't have anything to do with this. Let her go."

"Sure, Sammy. I'd be glad to… once you tell me where to find Deano." Cole said, placing Sarah in a chair next to Sam's and zip tying her to it.

Cole walked over to Sam and punched him in the face. "Now tell me where Dean is… Or I start asking your girl, here." Without waiting for a response, Cole punched Sam again. Then he grabbed Sam's injured shoulder and pressed on it forcefully. "Where is he?!"

"Shove it up your ass." Sam gasped angrily.

Sarah struggled against her restraints while screaming through her gag. Making Cole turn his gaze on her.

"You say something, Darling?" Cole asked, moving over to her and removing the gag.

"I said, you touch him again and you'll regret it." Sarah growled.

"And what are you gonna do about it?" he mocked. Sarah smirked before head butting him.

"Ah!" Cole cried out, taking a few steps back to steady himself. "Well, you are a spunky one aren't you. I guess it's time to crank up the volume, then. Huh?" Cole said, grabbing a huge hammer and walking towards Sarah. He held it up to her knee, "Right there."

"Don't." Sam warned.

Cole smirked before pulling the hammer back. Sarah steeled herself, waiting for the blow as he swung the hammer close to her knee then back again.

"No!" Sam growled out.

Just then Cole's cellphone began to ring. "Ain't you lucky?" Cole said smugly as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked outside to answer it.

Sarah let out the breath she had been holding. "You okay, Sam?" she asked, not wanting to think about what might have happened if Cole hadn't gotten that call.

"Peachy." Sam mumbled, before noticing that Cole's keys had fallen out of his pocket and were laying on the ground nearby. As quickly as he could, Sam picked them up and used the knife on the key ring to cut the zip tie from his wrists and the ones securing him to the chair. He then cut Sarah's off as well and pulled her toward the back door, grabbing his cell phone and bag along the way.

"What the hell was that? Who was that guy?" Sarah asked once they were a good distance from the barn.

"Someone that wants to kill Dean. We have to move fast." Sam stated, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I gotta fill Cas in."

"Cas? You brought Cas into this?" Sarah asked quickly.

"We need him."

"He's in no condition to help. You'll get him killed."

"I had no choice, Sarah. I needed his help." Sam growled, before calling Cas. Sarah rolled her eyes and shook her head at his insinuation that it was her fault that he had involved the dying angel. "You need to get to Beulah, North Dakota - now." He said as soon as Cas answered.

"I do?" Cas asked.

"Yes. Crowley and Dean were there. We got to pick up their trail."

"Good. Great."

"Yeah, um...not so much. Cas..." Sam said. "Dean's a demon."

"Dean's a demon? How?"

"The Mark -I-I guess it -it just messed him up. I don't know." Sam replied to both Sarah and Cas.

"That is a vast understatement."

"Right. Now, Cas, listen. I know you're not feeling so hot, but this is kind of an 'all hands on deck' situation here, so..."

"So... I'll meet you there."

"Sam, we need a plan." Sarah said, when Sam had hung up the phone.

"We have one. Find Dean and change him back." Sam replied, before spotting an old truck.


After talking with a bouncer for a strip club that Dean had beat up, Sam and Sarah set up at a motel to do some more research. They'd only been there a little while when Crowley showed up and eagerly told Sam where to find Dean.

"Come on, Sam, you know this is a trap." Sarah stated as they got out of the car.

"Your point?" Sam retorted.

"My point is we don't know what we're walking into." she replied, grabbing Sam's arm and stopping him. "I'm not letting you go in there alone."

"Sarah, just go around to the back. Give me a few minutes to talk with him. Please." Sam pleaded, giving her as close to his puppy eyes as he could manage.

Sighing heavily, Sarah rolled her eyes. "You have five minutes, then I'm coming in." She then turned to walk around to the back of the building. Once she was in the back alley, she did a quick once over then began to pace, anxious to see Dean again.

After giving Sam approximately two minutes inside alone with Dean, Sarah couldn't take it anymore. She made her way to the door to go in but was jerked back forcefully. Before she could do anything, someone had their arm wrapped around her neck, cutting off her air supply.

"There we go. Nice and easy." Cole mumbled, as he lifted her unconscious body. He then carried her behind some trash cans and placed her against a chain link fence before handcuffing her to it. "Now don't you go anywhere." Cole chuckled to himself.


Slowly, Sarah began to regain consciousness hearing fragments of a conversation going on not too far from her.

"We met?"

"Talked on the phone."

"Right. Right. You're the guy who's supposed to put a bullet in Sammy's brain. Did you miss?"

Sarah's eyes shot open at that voice. She knew that voice. For weeks she thought that she'd never hear that voice again. She began pulling at her handcuffs so she could look over the trash cans, but stopped when what Dean had actually said filtered into her brain. 'Did Dean admit that he gave Cole permission to kill Sam?'

Sarah snapped out of her thoughts and pulled herself up just enough to see over the trash cans.

"You remember me?" Cole asked.

"Yeah, yeah. You're that guy from that thing." Dean replied coolly.

"Nyack, New York, June 21, 2003." Cole supplied, suddenly serious.

"That supposed to ring a bell?" Dean countered.

"It was the night you gutted and murdered a man by the name of Edward Trenton. He was my father."

"Okay." Dean replied dismissively.

"'Okay'?" Cole retorted.

"Well, hey, I'm not saying I didn't slice and dice your old man. I'm just saying that he wasn't the first, and he certainly wasn't the last, and they all just kind of get blended up." Dean replied. Sarah sucked in a breath at his cold demeanor.

"I saw you...That night...After. You let me live. That was dumb - real dumb. I spent half my life training for this moment. I've played out this fight a thousand times in my mind. And I know all about you, Dean-o. And you're good. Oh, you're real good. But, you see, I'm better." Cole ranted cockily.

"Prove it. Take a shot." Dean challenged.

"Now, that's not payback." Cole stated, putting his gun back in its holster then pulled out a long knife. "This is payback."

Cole leaped to attack but Dean easily deflected his attack. Cole attacked. This time Dean easily pulled the gun from Cole's holster and dropped the clip from it and emptied the chamber, not fazed by Cole's attacks.

"You know...And I'm just spit balling here, but, uh, maybe...you are not as good as you think you are." Dean mocked. Cole took another stance against him. "Oh! You know Kung Fu?"

"I know everything." Cole swore.

"Well, come on." Dean dared. Cole attacked in an almost blind fury. Dean easily threw him to the ground.

Sarah watched in shock at Dean's whole demeanor. She'd never seen him act or fight like this. He looked unstoppable. Her mind flashed back to the dream she'd had of Dean killing her. She grabbed the hair pin that was in her hair and began to unlock her hand from the handcuffs.

"What did you think was gonna happen, huh? You just stroll up here and say 'my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die,' And I'd just roll over? Well, that's just - it makes me sad." Dean leaned mockingly over Cole but didn't see him pull another knife. Dole slashed Dean's face with it.

"Ugh!" Dean grunted at the cut but quickly grabbed Cole by the throat and held him against a car. The cut on his face quickly heals itself. "You have no idea what you walked into here, do you? None."

"What are you?" Cole coked out in shock.

"I'm a demon." Dean replied, taking out the First Blade and holding it against Cole's throat.

"Do it! You said if you saw me, you would kill me, so do it!" Cole yelled.

"No!" Sarah cried out against her will. Suddenly Crowley was kneeling next to her. He quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her with him. Transporting them both from the alley.

Pulling her arm from Crowley's hold, Sarah took in her surroundings. The middle of the woods.

"What the hell, Crowley!" Sarah growled out, grabbing her stomach with a sudden need to throw up.

"Easy now. Deep breaths. In through the nose. Out through the …" Crowley instructed, before Sarah elbowed him. "Oy! This is what I get for trying to help."

"Trying to help? Help what?" Sarah asked, as she continued to breathe deeply, getting her stomach to calm down.

"You, ya git."

"I don't need your help."

"Ah but you will." Crowley crooned with a smirk.


Sam threw one last glance around the alley looking for Sarah, when he didn't see her he continued to pull Dean out to the impala, cuffing him to the door of the back seat.

Once by himself again, Sam pulled out his phone.

"Dammit Sarah. Where the hell are you? I've got Dean. Call me back." Sam growled into the phone.