Angel screamed in agony as a demon, one she'd come quite familiar with, sliced through her stomach with a jagged knife. Her body hung on hooks, her breathing ragged, as the demon slowly dragged it along her skin.

"Please!" She wailed as his laughter became louder and louder with each cut, "Please, no!"

"Now now, Kitten." His laughter died down and he grinned at the flinch using her father's childhood nickname caused, "You know how to make me stop."

Angel jerked awake upon someone shaking her. She clutched onto Asa as he steadied her with calm voice and worried eyes.

"Angel, hey calm down. It's okay." He grabbed her face so she could look him in the eye, "It's just me."

Relief flooded her as she remembered where she was. She was in the middle of working a case and had laid down for a nap. A nap that didn't end too well, apparently. She straightened up, more exhausted than before the botched nap, and looked away from Asa's prying eyes.

"I'm sure i already know the answer but…" He put a piece of her fallen hair behind her ear, "You wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" She scoffed, wiping her face with her hands, "My trip to DisneyLand? You wanna hear about my experience living in the Haunted Mansion?"

He looked at her blankly, clearly stating he wasn't impressed with her level of sarcasm, "Angel, i'm not your brothers. You don't have to protect me from whatever you're going through. You can talk to me." She continued to glare, making him sigh, "Look, how long have we known each other? Hm? What, I met you back in… '97, right? On that Sorority girl case I helped you out on?"

"Helped me out?" She snorted, "Please. You were trying to snake that case from me and you know it. I was nice enough to let you join me." Rolling her eyes she managed a light smile for him, "And had i not saved your ass, you would be Kappa chow right now."

"You're probably right… I thank you now and if i recall correctly…" He winked, "I thanked you back then."

"Oh, I remember." She smiled cheekily, "Every detail."

Asa chuckled, pecking her on the lips, "I've known you for 11 years now, we've been through alot. Have I lied to you once? Or given you a reason not to trust me?"

"No."

Angel studied his face closely, really not wanting to delve into this. She knew he had a point. She knew it might make her struggles easier if she talked about what happened, but she was too ashamed to bring everything to light. At least right now.

"I trust you Asa, I do. With my life… with everything. It's just…" She crossed the room to retrieve the bottle of whiskey she snaked earlier, "This entire situation is different. The things I went through… did…" She immediately took a long swig as the memories flooded her, "It's just too much to- to talk about… to relive-"

"Hey, hey." At the sound of her voice cracking he got up and crossed the room to take her into a hug, "I's alright. It's okay. You'll talk about it when you're ready." He let her separate from him so she could wipe her eyes, "You wanna go see if your brothers got anything?"

"Yeah." She took a steadying breath, "Yeah, let's get back to work."

When they shuffled their way back to the other room several things caught Sams immediate attention. Her tired face, puffy red eyes and half empty whiskey bottle in her hand had his alarms ringing.

"Sleep well?"

"Yeah." She took another swig from the bottle before sitting on one of the beds as Sam and Dean both watched with equal looks of worry, "You know what i always say, 'A day without a nap is like a cupcake without frosting.'"

Dean eyed her like she was nuts, "Since when do you say corny shit like that?"

"Since now."

Sam scoffed, shaking his head, "You have another nightmare?" She stiffened, glaring right at him, "You think we cant see something's wrong, Angel? You have nightmares every time you fall asleep. Not to mention you drink more than Dean now." He ignored Dean's glare at that, "Something's going on."

"Sam…" All the fight was going out of her from exhaustion, "Please."

"Uriel wasn't lying, but you are. You remember Hell, don't you?"

"God, Sam!" She snapped, earning a glare from Sam but worried looks from Asa and Dean, "What the hell do you want from me? What?"

"The truth, Angel." Sam motioned between him and Dean, "We're your brothers. I- I just wish you'd talk to one of us." He motioned to Asa who was sitting beside her, "Or even Asa. Just talk to one of us."

"Can we just…" She shifted uncomfortably at the worried looks surrounding her, "Stow the family therapy for a while? We're working a job. I just want to work the damn job." She pressed them when they continued to stare, "Please?"

"We got teddy bear, uh…" Dean obliged with a heavy sigh as he turned to the paper in his hands and as Sam pouted, "Lottery guy, and invisible pervert guy. They all must have wished sometime in the last two weeks."

"Okay, how do we find out who wished first?" Angel mused, "And who else wished for what when?"

"Well, it helps when they announce it in the paper." Dean showed them the newspaper article that read 'Wesley Mondale and Ms. Hope Lynn Casey have announced their surprise engagement' and held a picture of the nerdy man next to the model, "Goes back a month."

She smirked, "Ah, true love."

Asa chuckled, "Best lead we got."

At Wesley's house…

A mid-tempo theme song played on the TV as Wesley slept in an armchair in the living room. Hope came in from the kitchen with a roast chicken on a plate.

"Wes?" She stopped in front of him, "Are you sleeping?"

"Hmm?" He roused and fixed his crooked glasses, "Oh, uh, no. I was just, um… I was just resting my eyes."

Hope chuckled as she gestured to the plate, "I thought you might want a snack."

"Oh." His eyes widened as she set the plate down, "Oh, wow, Hope, you didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. Well, no, I…" She looked from the food back to him as her smile faltered, "I had to." She grinned again, "Because I love you more than anything, lover."

"Um, Hope…" He gestured to the seat next to him as he frowned, "Sit down, okay?" Nodding she did as told with that same smile, "Um… Hope, uh, are you happy?"

"I love you more than anything."

"I know. I know." He sighed, "And I love you. Very much. That's why I want you to start doing things that make… that made you happy before."

"Yes, Wes, I'll try to be happier." Her face dropped as she stared at him with wide eyes and dropped to her knees in front of him, "I'll start right away."

"No, no, no, that's not what I mean. I- I'm talk-"

"Oh, Wes, please." Her voice broke as tears filled her eyes, "Please don't be angry with me. You know, I'd just die, I'd die!"

"No, no, no. Don't- I'm- I'm not angry." He squeezed her hands in reassurance, "I'm not angry."

"Then let me make it up to you, Wes." She slid her hands up his legs with a playful smirk, "Let me make it right."

"No, no, I'm- I'm…"

The doorbell rang so she stood, "I'll get it." A short amount of time later she was leading the Winchesters and Asa into the house, "Wes! You didn't tell me that you called the florists for the wedding."

His eyes traveled from her to the four strangers behind her in confusio, "Huh?"

"You're the best! Mmm!" She kissed his head before nearly bouncing out of the room, "Ah! I'm gonna go get my folders!"

"Uh, o- Okay."

"Wesley." Dean growled as the other three glowered at him, "How's it going?"

"It's Wes… ss..." He attempted to put on a brave, stern face as he stood but at their glowering eyes he quickly sat back down, "Aren't you four from the health department?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah."

Asa motioned, "And florists on the side."

Dean grinned, "Plus FBI."

"And on Thursdays…" Angel's sarcastic voice sounded last, "We're teddy bear doctors."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about who we are. That doesn't matter." Asa crossed his arms, "What does matter is what we know." Something on the wall behind Wesley caught his eyes, "You a coin collector, Wes?"

"Oh. Yeah. My…" The excitement faded from his voice and he looked away from them once he knew where the conversation was headed, "Grandfather gave them to me…"

Dean narrowed his eyes, "Did you happen to lose one of those coins lately?"

"And by lose…" Angel cocked an eyebrow, "He means drop into a wishing well at Lucky Chin's and make a wish on it?"

"No, I- I don't know what you're, uh, talking about."

"Okay, now." Hope walked back in the room, happy as ever, and holding lots of papers and folders as Wesley quickly stood, "I have lots of ideas, but, you know, we don't have all the money in the world. Wes is between jobs right now." She pushed him playfully before shrugging, "Means more time for me." Turning to her pile of papers she started flipping through them, "You know, I'm thinking a Japanese-y ikebana kind of thing."

"Yes." Dean smiled, going along with it, and turning to the others, "I can see it."

"Yeah." Sam agreed stiffly, pointedly looking to Wesley, "So, Hope, uh, tell us how you two lovebirds met."

"Oh, best day of my life."

Angel laughed lightly, "I bet."

"Yeah! It's the funniest thing. We both grew up here, but I never really knew who he was. Not by name anyway. Until one day last month, it was like I just…" She sighed dreamily looking intensely over to Wes, "I just saw him for the first time. He was just... glowing." Her hand came up to caress his face, "Oh, just glowing."

"Uh, babe…" Wesley nervously interjected, "Can you- can you get us some coffee?"

"Yes. Yeah." She took his face in her hands and started kissing him over and over again, "Anything."

"Oh. Okay. Mm-Hmm." Wesley's eyes flickered from Hope to the four behind her who were watching the scene with weirded out expressions, "Okay."

Hope grinned before walking out, "Yeah."

Dean watched her walk out, checking her out on the way. Sam continued glaring at Wesley, and Asa shared his shocked expression with Angel.

"Wes, we know." Sam barked, "So tell us the truth."

"My- my grandfather found the coin in north Africa. You know, World War II." He walked over to the wall and took off one of the framed pieces, "And, uh, he brought it back. He, um, he said it was a real wish-granting coin, but that nobody should ever use it. Um… It was all I had, and when he died, I thought, 'Well, you know what? Why not give the coin a shot?'"

"Yeah, well, now you're gonna wish it back."

Wes chuckled at Sam's words before realising he was serious, "Oh. Ha ha, No, I'm not."

Dean rolled his eyes as he explained, "If you don't stop it, something bad's gonna happen."

"Something bad." Sam motioned to the four of them, "Like us."

When all Wes did was sarcastically nod at her brothers, Angel could feel her patience thinning.

"Oh, Wes." She took out her AE, making sure he saw it, "We just really wish you'd come with us."

Her threat worked and soon had Wes sandwiched between Angel and Asa in the back of the Impala.

"I don't get it." Wes complained, "So, my wish came true. Why does that have to be a bad thing?"

"Because the wishes go south, Wes." Sam answered, "Your town is going insane."

Asa scoffed, "Giant alcoholic bipolar Teddy Bear, insane."

"Come on." Dean looked at him from the rearview, "You're gonna sit there and tell me that your relationship with Hope is functional. That it's everything you wished for?"

"I wished she would love me more than anything."

"And how's that going for you, playboy?" Angel pierced his eyes with her glaring green ones, "Is it everything you ever dreamed of or are there some unhealthy setbacks?"

"Well, it's a hell of a lot better than when she didn't know I was alive!"

"That doesn't make it right, Wesley." Her voice rose just as much as his did, "You're not supposed to get what you want like this. Especially when you're taking away other people choices and fucking with their lives too. This coin takes your heart's desires and it twists it. Like a cosmic karma trip. Why do you think people say 'be careful what you wish for'?"

The impala bucked harshly as if they ran something over and all five of them looked out the window hurriedly.

Sam turned to Dean, "Did we just hit something?"

"I didn't see anything."

"'Careful what you wish for.'" Wesley mocked, "You know who says that? Good-looking jerks like you guys. The ones who've got it so easy because you happen to be handsome." He looked to Angel, "Or pretty."

The Winchesters equally bulked at his words, "Easy?"

"Yeah." Wesley looked between the three guys, "Women- women look at you, right? They notice you." He turned to Angel again, "And you probably don't give any guy that doesn't look like a pro football player the time of day."

"Look, Wes…" She rolled her eyes at the man, "We do not have it easy. It's the far opposite buddy."

"We're pretty miserable." Dean added, "We never get what we want. In fact, we have to fight tooth and nail just to keep whatever it is we got."

"But you know what?" Sam turned to glare at him, "Maybe that's the whole point, Wes."

"Yeah." Dean agreed, "People are people 'cause they're miserable bastards. 'Cause they never get what they really want."

"Right." Asa shrugged, "You get what you want, you get crazy."

"Take a look at Michael Jackson, hmm? Or Hasselhoff."

"You know what? Hope loves me now- completely. And it's awesome. Besides, look around. Where's all this, uh, insanity you guys were talking about?"

As the impala pulled up to a stop sign, across the street was the bullied kid from earlier. He had a large four-wheel-drive vehicle lifted with his hand as his bullies screamed from the inside.

"Well…" Dean gaped at the scene before him, "That should cover it."

"Kneel before Todd!" The kid quickly tipped the vehicle over, "Kneel before Todd!"