Dean called the hotel room that he and Sam would have been staying in that night save for a perfectly timed premonition from Scarlett.
The phone clicked as someone on the other end picked up.
"Hiya, Bela." Dean didn't need a response to know she was listening. "Here's a fun fact you may not know, I felt your hand in my pocket when you swiped that hotel receipt." Dean half-lied.
"You don't understand-" Bela's voice was desperate.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure I understand perfectly." Dean recalled the vivid picture that Scarlett painted of Bela's intent to murder him and his brother in their sleep. "You see, I noticed something tucked above the door in your hotel room. An herb, Devil's Shoestring. There's only one use for that," Dean's voice grew grave, thinking of his own impending future, "holding hellhounds at bay."
Bobby and Dean had figured out that Bela shook on a demon deal a decade earlier to kill her abusive parents. Now that the deal had come due, Bela tried to postpone her death with another one: retrieve the Colt and kill Sam Winchester by midnight that evening.

As Bela cried on the phone for help, Dean hardened himself. In all of his turmoil this year, knowing his soul was Hell-bound, leaving this world just when he started to feel like he had a stake in it, he never- not even for a second- thought of compromising his humanity to squirm out of it. That was the difference between him and Bela, she was a coward; her parents may have deserved what they got, but now so did she.
"Funny thing is, if you had just come to us sooner, we probably could have used the Colt and helped you." Dean seethed.
"I know," Bela sobbed on the other end of the phone, "and yourself too. I know about your deal, Dean."
"And who told you about that?"
"The demon who holds it. She holds mine too. She says she holds every deal."
"She?" Dean thought of Scarlett's earlier speculation.
"Her name is Lilith."
"Lilith…" Dean looked to Sam, who caught on. "Why should I believe you?"
"You shouldn't, but it's the truth."
"I can't help you Bela, it's too late."
"I know."
"Then why are you telling me this?"
"Because maybe you can kill the bitch."
Dean didn't allow himself to hope. "I'll see you in hell."

Sam's face fell, just for a moment, as Dean hung up the phone.
"So what now?" Sam asked.
"Regroup back at Bobby's, track down Lilith, and gank the bitch."
"You sure you want to go to Bobby's?"
"Where else?" Dean shot his brother a crazy look.
"I don't know, but Scarlett is with him, you know...that girl you snuck out on?"
"I didn't sneak out, we had a job to do." Dean tried to convince himself as much as he did Sam.
"All I'm saying is Hell hath no fury…"
Dean smirked. "Is that a joke?"
Sam raised his eyebrows in silent judgement.
Dean knew he was in for it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at Bobby's, Scarlett was about to start on making a pot of tea.
"Welp, that was the boys." Bobby said, closing his cell. "Should be here in about 20. Guess they found out you were right, girlie. Lilith holds Dean's deal."
"Perfect!" Scarlett perked up. "You got the Colt working, we just scry for Lilith and-" Scarlett stopped herself.
"What?" Bobby asked.
"I need something of hers to scry with, or something of the person she's possessing, which…"
"How the hell are we gonna get that?"
"Exactly." Scarlett sighed. "I guess I better make some coffee."
"No, get up to bed. It's been a rough couple of days. We'll all work better after some rest."
Scarlett smiled, there was no way she would be able to sleep that night. "Okay, I am pretty beat." Scarlett gave a fake yawn.
"Get a good night's sleep and we'll start early tomorrow."
"Yessir." Scarlett nodded and headed off to the stairwell.
"And Scarlett?" Bobby called after her.
"Yes?"
"Don't stay up too late researching."
Scarlett chuckled to herself as she made her way to her room, thinking about how Bobby would have made a wonderful father.

After changing into pajamas and about 30 minutes into an internet search on whether she could psychically scry for a specific demon, Scarlett was interrupted.
"Knock, knock." It was Dean.
Scarlett's stomach flipped, she didn't know if she was ready for how hurtful this conversation might be.
"I brought you some tea, Bobby said you forgot to make yours after he sent you to bed." Dean gave Scarlett a sheepish grin.
So far this was not what Scarlett thought was coming, she gave him a curious look.
"It's lemon ginger…" Dean set it on her desk.
Scarlett looked up at him, waiting for something to make sense.
"You're out of chamomile and," Dean walked over to Scarlett's bed and sat down on the edge, "I didn't think you'd want anything caffeinated right now, since it's so late, you know-" Dean had started to ramble.
"What is this?" Scarlett interrupted him.
"Hmm?" Dean stopped short.
"Dean." Scarlett pressed as she shut her laptop.
Scarlett folded her arms across the back of her desk chair and rested her chin on top of her hand as she turned to look at Dean sitting on her bed. His hands were folded in his lap like a school child.
"I'm sorry."
"For?"
"Running away after…" He couldn't bring himself to say it. "I just didn't-"
"Stop." Scarlett could see the pain on his face. She knew he didn't feel the same way about her as she did about him. Maybe he couldn't right now, maybe it was unfair to ask. "It's ok, I don't need you to tell me."
Dean sighed, grateful that Scarlett could read him so well. He did love her, he just couldn't bring himself to say it, because that meant saying goodbye to it. If they somehow pulled it off, if a miracle saved him from Hell, he would tell her then. But now, they could just know in their hearts it was true.
Scarlett noted Dean's sigh of relief. It was as she thought. But it didn't matter to her, she didn't love him so he would love her in return, she just loved him; she loved him in spite of everything and because of everything, she loved him without choice and beyond reason, and she loved him unconditionally- even if that meant loving him from a distance.

"So, what were you researching?"
"Just trying to find some way to make my powers work at my will for once."
"Want to take a break?" Dean asked as he patted the bed next to him.
Scarlett knew this would end in heartbreak anyway, so what did she really have to lose? "Sure." She got up to walk over to him.
"Don't forget your tea." Dean jumped up to grab it for her.
Scarlett was confused, had she misread his implication? Dean set the teacup down on her bedside table as Scarlet sat down on her mattress.
"I have something for you…" Dean sat next to her.
Scarlet watched as he pulled something out of his back pocket. It was a photograph, it was an odd size, smaller than usual, maybe 3.5x5inch, so it had to be an older photo. Dean passed it to her.
"Bobby dug it up a while ago, back when your-well, anyway. It's a picture of-"
"Us." Scarlett barely choked out the whisper.
"Our moms were friends." Dean explained a little.

Scarlet traced over her mother's young face, it was round like the moon and framed with dark brown curls, her features were soft and romantic- Scarlett could never see herself in them usually, she was angular like her father, but in this photo she had a few freckles splashed across the bridge of her nose in the same way Scarlett did during the summer, and something about her smile mirrored her own somehow.
Dean wiped a tear trailing down Scarlett's face. "I remember that week, you know." Dean admitted. "They're some of the few memories I have of my childhood while my mom was alive."
"Tell me." Scarlett begged him.
"Can we lay down?" Dean asked.
Scarlett nodded a yes.

Dean got up and held open the duvet for Scarlett to crawl under. Scarlett propped the picture up against her table lamp next to the bed and got situated on her side. She watched as Dean removed his jeans and tossed them onto her desk chair before climbing into bed with her. Dean held up his arm and motioned for Scarlett to move closer. She quickly shuffled over to him, snuck her head under his arm and laid it down on his chest. She breathed in his familiar scent as he took a deep inhale himself.
"Ok, well, it was the summer before Sammy was born…" Dean lightly kissed Scarlett's hair as he tried to recall the memory. "Dad was out of town for some reason that week, so mom and I went to the farmers market that weekend." Dean started to run his fingers through Scarlett's hair and she let out a light coo that made him smile. "We always went to go see the baby chickens first, mom loved the little chicks and she would first talk herself into buying one- usually going on about having fresh eggs, and then once we got there she would talk herself out of getting one- the mess, it would be lonely, dad wasn't there to sign off…"
Scarlett never heard Dean talk about his mother, but she could picture her clearly from the visions she used to have of them. As Dean stroked her head, she let her own hand wander from where it was trapped between her stomach and his side. Scarlett gently moved her hand under Dean's shirt and rested her palm against the middle of his sternum; she absentmindedly scratched small circles on him with her fingers and lightly pulled at the hair on his chest as Dean continued.
"That Saturday when we went to see the chicks, you and your mom were there too. Your mom said something to my mom...I can picture them talking, but I don't remember about what, it seemed like your mom knew my mom from somewhere. They held each other's forearms and smiled." Dean smiled, thinking of his mom happy like that. "You were trying to coax a little chick into your hands." Dean chuckled. "It wouldn't come and I told you they never come on their own unless you have feed, but we didn't."
Scarlett tried hard to remember the interaction, she vaguely remembered interacting with baby chicks when she was a kid, but it might have been a planted memory.
"You held up a small white dixie cup with some leftover kernels from your eaten popcorn and asked me if it would be enough. I remember thinking that I liked how red your hair was, so I would try to help you with the chick."
"Ever a ladies man." Scarlett joked.
Dean smiled into her hair and gave her another kiss. "I was going for the long-con."
Scarlett laughed. "Well, did we get the chickens?"
"After you threw a couple kernels out, 2 chicks braved coming up to us for feed in the hand. I tried to grab mine but it ran. You had one finger out and you were barely petting it on the head, being extra careful."
Scarlett did remember that moment. "I didn't want to scare it off."
"You didn't, but when I tried to come pet it too, it went off to the other side of the pen with its little sibling."
"Aw." Scarlett sighed sympathetically.
"I was worried that you would be mad at me, but you weren't. You seemed to take it as a wish fulfilled and said you wanted to tell your mommy. They seemed to be done talking and told us we would spend the week together. You were visiting from out of town and my mom wanted to take us all to the park the next day."
"Sounds lovely." Scarlett yawned.
"It was. The next day I helped my mom make sandwiches for all of us and we met you down at Broken Arrow Park for lunch. They sat on a blanket and watched us play tag in the grass. I remember your hair was so red in the sun, when you ran it looked like a fire was chasing you." Dean reached up to tuck a few stray hairs behind Scarlett's ear. "After a few rounds, we made our own game. It was 'hide and seek' plus 'tag' added in, so that the seeker, when they found the hider, still had to chase the other down and tag them. You were it first and I hid behind a big camphor tree. A squirrel caught my eye, he was eating an acorn up in the tree, and I lost track of whether you were still counting or looking for me."
"Oh no!" Scarlett left a quick peck on the side of Dean's chest.
"You'd snuck up behind me and I hadn't heard you, you were very, very quiet." Dean pat her head. "I was looking off the other way and you tagged me with a kiss on the back of my neck. The first time a girl ever kissed me."
Scarlett gasped. "Dino!"
"What?" Dean had a confused look on his face.
"Oh my God!" Scarlett let out a cackle. "I remember that day, you, the kiss. I thought you were the cutest boy...well, ever. I remember thinking that was it, you'd be my husband and you'd come live with me and my mom." Scarlett laughed as Dean looked bewildered. "But I thought your name was Dino, like from the Flintstones! I even tried to find you on MySpace a few years ago. Searched for any Dino's in Indiana…but I figured it was just a childhood nickname and gave up."
"Guess I made an impression." Dean pulled Scarlett back down to him.
"I don't know why I kissed you, you know. Or I mean I didn't understand it then. I just really wanted to, like how I saw my mom and dad do, and then I saw you there under the tree and I didn't think you'd notice it was a kiss instead of my hand." Scarlett giggled.
"Oh, I noticed. I remember it felt tingly and when I turned around, all of a sudden you were there, giggling just like that; I thought you were magic." Dean curled his pointer finger and used it to pull Scarlett's chin up to his own so he could kiss her. For a moment, he was a child again, playing chase in the summer sun. He pulled away. "I guess I was right."