Chapter 11

Cascadia, Oregon

Dean woke, aware of the emptiness beside him, the sheets already cool. He swung his feet to the floor, pulled on his jeans and padded downstairs, following the dim reflections of the kitchen light. Ellie leaned against the counter, her gaze on the darkness outside the kitchen window. Beside her, the coffee pot burbled.

"Sam and Tricia have gone." She turned to look at him over her shoulder, her face pale.

"Gone where?"

"Gone to Kansas, I think," she said, taking down two mugs when the pot hissed. She poured out a coffee for him and a small one for herself.

"What?" He took the coffee she handed him automatically, his mind blanking on the idea of his brother leaving. They'd talked about it. Sam had been clear. "How do you know?"

"Trish has been walking with me, in the early mornings," she said, gesturing at the window. "I checked their room when she didn't show. They left sometime in the night. In the Camaro. No note, no discussion, just gone."

"He said he wasn't going to go." Dean carried the mug to the table and sat down.

"Something happened. Something changed." She turned back to the window. "Something too fast for her to let us know, and maybe he didn't want to talk about it at all."

Dean put his coffee down and rubbed his hand over his face, thinking about possible options. There weren't many. He wasn't about to go chasing after his brother at this point and Sam probably wouldn't listen to anyone else.

"I'll call Cas. He can intercept them and bring them back." He downed the hot coffee then got to his feet.

Ellie nodded. "The stuff they grabbed was pretty random. A week's worth of clothing, their handguns and a shotgun. It was rushed."

Rushed, Dean thought, heading for the side deck. It didn't explain what could have triggered their leaving like that.

He strode down the broad steps, walking out into the cool, dark garden. Sam had been sure, he knew that. Whatever had changed, whatever had happened, it had taken his brother by surprise.

Except nothing had happened.

"Cas? Yo, Cas? Castiel, got your ears on? Really need some help here, can you come?"

The garden remained still and empty. He turned around. "Cas, c'mon. I'm not dicking around, we really need your help. Sam...Sam's on his way to Kansas."

Out of range? He turned around again, still seeing only the trees and plants and the long vista of the valley beyond. Or too busy? Too tired of helping out?

He sighed as he glanced at his watch. It was another half hour till dawn. The angel wasn't coming. He'd have to figure out something else.

Ellie watched Dean walk back toward the house and wondered if Cas was in the middle of fighting. Dean didn't seem that surprised by the lack of a response.

"Ellie?"

She turned from the window, her stomach dropping as she registered Frank's expression. "What's wrong, Frank?"

"I can't get hold of the lab." He stopped next to the table, his gaze going to the coffee pot and he changed direction. "I got worried so I plugged into the traffic camera across the street."

"And?" she asked as he poured himself a mug of the strong, black coffee.

"You'd better come and see." He carried the mug out of the kitchen and Ellie followed him to the server room.

Frank pulled up the footage. The video was dark and grainy. Ellie looked at the timestamp in the corner. Six-fifteen, yesterday morning.

Two figures walked toward the door of the building, and stopped there. After a few minutes, one pushed the door open and walked inside, followed by the other one. The door closed behind them, and Frank manipulated the image, zooming in on the doorknob. It hung loose, pulled free of the door.

"Godammit."

"Yeah."

She closed her eyes. "Alright, we'll have to send someone over there. Have you seen Trent this morning?"

He shook his head. "Been in here since about three."

"See if you can do something with the faces of those two."

"There isn't much there."

"I know. Please, just...try, okay?" She got up and walked out of the room. There was no doubt in her mind that Roman had found the lab and whatever progress had been made was gone now.

She stopped in the hall as Dean came out of the kitchen. His expression soured as he looked at her.

"More good news?"

"No Cas?"

"No," he said. "What you got?"

"Roman found the lab," she said. "Looks like he sent in the goon squad and they've trashed it. We'll have to send someone."

He nodded. "Trent?"

"With Katherine and Garth," Ellie confirmed. "No one is going anywhere alone."

"Think they'll be watching the place?"

"Wouldn't you? Aahh..." Ellie made a face as the baby changed position. She drew in a shallow breath, massaging the side of her abdomen. "They have unlimited time and resources. We're a lot better than we were but nothing like that."

Dean looked down at her hand. "He pushing at you again?"

"It's fine," Ellie said. "He likes the coffee, I think."

"Sit down, I'll make some breakfast, then we'll round up our crap."

With food in her stomach and the baby settled, Ellie admitted she felt less anxious and more focused. Trent, Katherine and Garth were the best choice to go and take a look at the lab, if she could find them.

In the dining room turned library, Cassie and Talya were already reading through the books that had come from Ellie's library in Thompson Falls. Both looked up as she leaned in the doorway.

"Have you seen Trent or Katherine this morning?"

They shook their heads and she continued on to the living room, belatedly registering the television's noise, broadcasting the latest round of special news bulletins about the situation in Kansas.

If it hadn't been so damned not funny, she would have laughed. Situation? For all humanity's love of end-of-the-world scenarios in the media and popular fiction, they were hopeless at recognising the real deal when it came along.

Adam, Twist, Trent, Garth and Katherine were sitting around the big flat screen, drinking coffee and watching as the news teams tried to figure out ways to see inside the darkened state.

Trent looked around as she came up. "Might as well be trying to look inside purgatory." He sniffed.

"To all intents and purposes, that's pretty much what it is now," she agreed, watching as a helicopter rose behind the television vans and cars, lifting and turning in the air. Her hands tightened into fists as it attempted to cross the bordering line of thick smoke, a pall reaching into the sky for hundreds of feet.

The smoke swirled furiously as the rotor blades chopped through it and the 'copter tilted forward slightly, heading deeper. Less than a minute later, they heard the sound of an explosion, the smoke closest to the border flash-lined in yellow and blue and green, then more black smoke billowed out, adding to the diaphanous but deadly boundary.

"They're not quick at learning, are they?" Twist shook his head.

"They won't acknowledge it's out of their league." Katherine's mouth hardened.

Ellie turned away from the television, burying her anger. There was nothing they could do in the face of pigheaded stupidity. "Uh, guys, we lost touch with the lab and the surveillance footage we have isn't hopeful. Can you drive to Tennessee and see what's going on?"

Trent leaned forward, hitting the mute button on the remote, and getting up. "You think Roman's found it?"

"Yeah, I do." She waved a hand at the television. "Kansas is a brilliant diversion for them, and he'll use it as much as he can."

"No problem." He glanced at Garth and Katherine. "Feel like a little road trip?"

"Don't I always?" Garth said, smiling. He got up as Katherine nodded and stood.

"We'll get the truck loaded," Katherine said over her shoulder as the two of them headed for the hallway.

"She'll be alright?" she asked Trent. He turned to look at the empty doorway and shrugged.

"She says so." He turned back to Ellie. "Gonna take us a few days to get there. Don't want to get too close to Kansas."

Ellie agreed. "I think via Albuquerque and Dallas should be safe enough for now. But come home the scenic northern route, all right?"

"Yeah." He scratched the graying stubble that covered his jaw. "What exactly do you want us to do there, Ellie?"

It was a good question. They would have to play it by ear, really. Too many variables. If Roman was looking to bait the trap, and she was sure he was, having left the sign of the break-in so obviously, they would need to spring it, or at least be able to report on it.

"If no one's there, then go in, look around, see what you can see, report back." She thought about the situations they were most likely to encounter. "If the Leviathans are still there, or you even think they're still there, then hang back and watch it. Hang back a long way." They didn't need to lose any more hunters.

Trent nodded, distaste flashing over his features made it clear he understood. His expression changed to worry as he said, "I haven't seen Sam or Trish this morning."

"They left, last night sometime," Ellie said. "We think they've gone to Kansas."

"Sam still wants to take on Lucifer?" Trent suggested.

"I guess. I don't know what happened." She lifted her hands helplessly, the gesture filled with frustration. "Yesterday he was fine. I think Trish went with him, to try and turn him around."

The more she thought of it, the less likely it all seemed. Sam had been fine the day before. What could have changed in such a short time that none of them saw as well?

"Let's hope she can do it then?"

"Yeah."

She turned as Trent's gaze slid past her to the doorway. Dean walked in, and nodded to the older hunter.

"You're taking the long, long road to Memphis?"

"Yeah. And back again. We'll see you in about ten days."

"Go talk to Frank. He's got some gear for you," Ellie said to Trent. "Stay frosty."

"Always," Trent affirmed. As the sound of Trent's boots thumped across the deck, Ellie stepped closer to Dean, leaning against him as he put his arm around her.

"Get the feeling it's all going to hell?" she asked, her tone as dry as she could make it.

Frustration was clear in his face, and she knew it was mirrored on hers.

"Yeah, I do." He looked down at her, brows knitted together. "How'd they find out about that place? It wasn't on the comms, not even the scrambled ones."

It'd bothered her as well, until she'd thought of the list of names from Cassie's files. It'd been a short list. For someone with Roman's resources, it had probably only taken days to find. "I think this time it was just bad luck. There aren't that many labs that can do this kind of work and he was probably just being systematic."

"Huh."

He sounded unconvinced and Ellie didn't blame him. It wasn't possible to tell what was manipulation and what was just plain old bad luck any more. Maybe she'd been kidding herself and there'd never been just bad luck.

"How are the mines coming?"

His expression cleared and she got a faint smile from him. "All laid. Come on, I need to show you the layout and detonators anyway."

Cassie closed the book and set it on the pile of books she'd been through, rubbing her eyes as her thoughts reeled in confusion. There was a lot out there she had no idea about. She leaned back and stretched her muscles, studying the woman at the other end and on the other side of the table covertly.

Dean's wife, a hunter who seemed more like a scholar, appeared completely immersed in the work, reading through another massive tome about black magic. The only movement from her was an occasional scribbling in the notebook to her left.

Despite Ellie's earnest warnings about the subject matter, Cassie found it hard to take seriously. It might have helped if she'd had any background in this at all, even an enjoyment of the subject in fiction works, but she'd kept her life practical, pragmatic and sane, choosing only high-brow literary fiction to indulge in.

"Tricia said that Dean and Sam were always involved with this stuff," she said, clearing her throat as the words came out roughly.

Ellie lifted her gaze. "Yes, their family was targeted a long time ago."

"Targeted? By who?"

"Heaven." Ellie shrugged. "Hell. There was a prophecy and it involved them."

"A prophecy about Hell?" Cassie leaned on her elbow, looking down the table. "What happened?"

For a long moment, Ellie sat with her eyes closed, and Cassie wondered if she would answer. Then she sighed and straightened in her seat, opening her eyes. "The prophecy instructed the demons on how to open Lucifer's cage. The cage needed two keys and Heaven conspired to make them.

"And…Dean was one of these keys?" Cassie asked uncertainly. "How?"

"Cassie, if you want to know this stuff, you really should talk to Dean about it."

"I've tried. He won't tell me what happened over the last six years." Cassie looked down at the book under her hand.

"Then perhaps he doesn't want you to know."

"Looks that way, doesn't it?" She felt a brief stab of regret and pushed it away. "But you went to Hell as well, to find a way to get him out?"

"Yes." The shortness of the answer suggested the hunter didn't want to talk about it, but Cassie wasn't ready to leave it at that. She wasn't sure why she wanted to know. To know something of Dean's life? To understand what these people did? Neither of those things were the complete extent of her curiosity but they were still things she wanted to know.

"How did you...how did you even know that you could do that?" That was something she couldn't get her head around. The jumping off point. The starting gate. How had this woman known how to find a way into a place that wasn't supposed to even exist?

"I didn't. I just kept trying to find a way to do it." Her expression became thoughtful as she met Cassie's eyes. "This is all pretty ancient history...why do you want to know about it?"

Cassie shrugged, unsure of that herself. "When that...thing...was in the other house, I realised how much I don't know about a lot of things. I'm trying to fill in the holes, I guess. I'm starting with Dean because he's the only hunter I know."

To her relief, Ellie nodded, perhaps recognising how out of her depth she must be feeling. "That's fair enough, but a lot happened, Cassie. And I mean a lot. It can't be summarised or tidied up or even explained very well, most of it. It doesn't come under the category of 'memories to share with others'." She took a deep breath. "A lot of what we've seen or done, we don't look back on ourselves. Ever."

"How is it that you're even sane?"

"Therapeutic violence." Ellie's mouth twisted wryly. "And good friends."

"You're saying I shouldn't be trying to find out anything about him. Or you." Cassie shifted back in her chair.

Ellie shrugged. "I'm saying that it's not a very fertile field of investigation. People aren't really just the sum of their experiences. You won't know who he is now by knowing what's happened to him."

Leaning forward again, Cassie looked at Ellie, seeing something she'd missed before. "You've loved him for a long time, haven't you?"

Ellie met her eyes steadily. "Yes."

The moon rose slowly over the Cascades, playing hide and seek with the big, slow-moving clouds, and the landscape became a stark black and white, all the shades in between gone. In the cool chiaroscuro of the garden, Dean found himself studying Ellie's face, the gleam of her pale skin in the flat light, her bright hair darkened, shadows revealing the bone structure under her skin. He shifted closer to her, and let his lips brush over her temple.

"What are you thinking?"

Her eyes opened and she sighed. "You don't want to know."

"That bad, huh?"

"Worse."

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "Can't be worse than what I'm thinking."

She snorted. "Care to put that to a bet?"

He shook his head. "No, you cleaned me out the last time."

"Exactly."

The soft scrape of a foot along gravel caught their attention, heads snapping around in unison as the dark figure emerged from the shadows under the trees and crossed the clearing. Dean was on his feet, moving to stand in front of Ellie as the figure stopped in front of them. The boy was taller, his voice deeper.

"I told you I'd come back when you needed me."

"Jesse?" Dean relaxed, peering at the youth in the moonlight. It explained why the alarms hadn't been tripped, though he'd thought the zones through the garden were supposed to keep entities like the cambion and nephilim out.

"What have you done here, Dean?" Jesse said, looking around as if in discomfort. "It feels prickly standing here."

Ah.

Dean glanced at Ellie. "Uh, some defences…"

Jesse turned to Ellie, his forehead creasing.

"This is Ellie, my, uh, wife," Dean stumbled a little over the word, wondering if it would ever come naturally. "You can trust her."

"I've heard a lot about you, Jesse," Ellie said, getting up. "What brings you here?"

"I have something for you, Dean." Jesse stepped closer and held out his hand. Balanced on it, a long object rested, wrapped loosely in cloth. "Hell and Heaven are fighting, on this plane, right now, Dean."

"Yeah, we know." He took the object from Jesse, holding the bundle awkwardly as he unwound the cloth wrapping. The fabric fluttered to the ground when he lifted out the length of iron rod, tipped with a three inch triangular spearhead. An equal length of hardwood had been included in the package.

"What's this?"

Ellie took a step closer, her eyes wide and fixed on the weapon he held.

"Lancea Longini." She cocked a brow at Jesse and the boy smiled and nodded.

"Yes."

"What's Lancea Long—whatever you said?"

Ellie held out her hands and Dean handed the rod and staff to her. She found the hole where the iron slotted into the hardwood shaft, and twisted, the mechanism's small click clear in the silence of the night.

Holding the spear, now a little under seven feet long, she rested the butt on the ground, careful to keep her hands away from the spearhead. Dean looked at it closely. The pointed tip had been broken off.

"The Holy Spear, the Spear of Destiny, the Lance of Longinus." She stared at the broken tip, shaking her head slightly. "A weapon out of legend, out of time."

Dean looked at her blankly. "Still no clue what you're talking about."

"This is the spear that pierced Christ's body when he was on the cross," she elaborated, gesturing to the broken tip. "Look at it, it's still stained with his blood."

Jesse nodded. "This can kill the Devil. It will kill Lucifer."

Dean turned and looked at him. "Yeah?"

"Because it has the son of God's blood on it, Dean," Ellie explained, picking up the cloth and wrapping it around the head again. She disengaged the two pieces with a deft twist and wound the cloth around both. Tucking the pieces under her arm, she turned to the cambion.

"How did you find this? It was lost so long ago, there are no records left."

"Not hard. I can find most things, if I know I'm looking for them. They have a—a sound, a sound I can hear," Jesse said. "This one was easy; most people think that those fancy ones in the museums are the real deal, they didn't go looking—"

"—for what a simple Roman soldier would have been carrying." Ellie's mouth lifted at one corner as she finished his sentence.

"Right."

She shrugged. "Most people prefer the fable to the truth."

"Right again."

Dean looked at them, shaking his head inwardly at the easy camaraderie between them now, in contrast to Jesse's suspicions of her five minutes before.

"So Sam needs this." He looked at Ellie, knowing what she was going to say, not wanting to hear it anymore than he wanted to think about what it would mean.

"Yeah, he will." Ellie's gaze dropped to the wrapped pieces in her hands, her mouth tightening. "I think it's the only thing that will kill Lucifer."

Pushing aside his unease at the emotion in her voice, Dean turned back to Jesse. "Don't suppose you can get in there and drop it off to him?"

Jesse shook his head, his expression regretful. "I'd be captured in a second, Dean. Both sides have been hunting for me high and low these last few months. You can get it to him. I think you'll have enough time."

Enough time for what, exactly, Dean wondered. He caught the change in Ellie's expression as she looked up, her eyes narrowing at the boy.

"Can you see this line of destiny, Jesse?"

"Some of it," Jesse admitted. "The Devil has to be killed in this line, at this time; beyond this ending I can't see anything at all."

"Great." Dean ran his fingers through his hair, closing his eyes. He couldn't leave. He wouldn't, not now, not with Ellie so close. He wanted to punch something, wanted it so badly he could taste it. He wanted to scream. "Fuck it. Fuck it, fuck it—FUCK IT!"

"Is he alright?"

The cambion's voice held concern. Dean swung away, ducking his head, wishing that God would choose someone else, anyone else for his errands.

"He doesn't like being forced into doing things he doesn't want to do," Ellie said.

She knew him so well. Dragging in a deep breath, he opened his eyes and turned back to them. She wasn't going to try to talk him into it, but he didn't need a discussion to know what he had to do. What he needed...what he needed to know was that he could do it and nothing would happen to her while he was gone.

"Who does?" Jesse looked down at the spear in her hands. "You understand the importance of this? It cannot be lost."

She nodded. "Yes, I understand."

For a moment, the cambion and Ellie stood there, both looking at the wrapped weapon, still as statues and Dean felt a shiver thread its way down his spine. Fate seemed too close, watching them from the shadows and waiting for their decisions. Waiting and planning on how it could screw him over in the most painful way possible. He wanted to shout at them, break the moment, stop whatever was coming from happening.

It was something he'd wanted to do multiple times in his life, and it'd never yet worked. He let out his breath and Ellie looked up at him, her expression softening in understanding.

Jesse moved as well, glancing at Dean before turning for the forest. "I have to go, as far as I can now. I can feel them; they're out across the land and if I stay too long in one place, they'll find me."

The faint thread of panic in the boy's voice sent another shiver through Dean. He remembered the way it'd felt, huddled in the crevice of the rocks, his life force being drawn from him and the world getting colder and greyer every second. To be hunted by the archdemons wasn't something he would wish on anyone.

"Jesse, do you know what they're looking for?" Ellie asked. "The soul they want? Do you know where it is?"

The cambion halted, looking back over his shoulder. "No."

"What about the ritual, the ritual they'll need to ensoul Lucifer?" she asked. "Do you know what it entails? What's needed apart from the soul?"

"It's not like that," he said, his tone apologetic as he gestured to the spear. "Things that are written down, I can't hear or find. Only objects, the things that have their own voices."

"It's okay, Jesse," Dean said, going to stand next to Ellie. "You should get out of the country. Thanks for this."

Jesse nodded and took two strides toward the road before he disappeared. There was a very faint pop as the air rushed back in to fill the space he'd occupied.

"You have some very useful friends," Ellie said.

"You think you have the monopoly?" he countered, putting his arm around her and taking a step toward the house. "I'll have to go down there, won't I?"

He felt her hesitation, the sudden tension in her shoulders as she considered what he was asking.

"Yes. I think so. Jesse was right. This is too important."

"I don't want you here alone," he said, perversely glad it was out, in the open, where they could both hear it.

Her shoulders rose and fell with her sigh. "I've got Frank, Twist and Adam and Talya and Cassie. I'm not alone, Dean."

The deck was painted in silver and black, the moon free of the cloud again. Dean stopped by the back door and turned to face her.

"I've got an unbelievably bad feeling about this."

"Maybe it's for you, not me," she said, making a face as the words came out. "This place is as safe as we can make it, Dean. There's nothing more we can do."

That was exactly what he was afraid of, he thought, opening the door.

"I don't understand. You were freaking out about Sam going down there, and now you're going as well?" Cassie demanded, her gaze flicking between Dean and Ellie.

Since the dining room had been commandeered for research, they'd been eating at the big pine table in the kitchen, the wood-fired range handling the cooking requirements and keeping the room cosily warm. Except for the muted clatter of cutlery and china, the room was silent and Frank, Twist, Adam and Talya kept their attention on their food.

Dean shrugged at her and kept eating. He didn't want to go, it was the very last thing he wanted to do, in spite of his knowledge that Sam needed the spear, couldn't destroy Lucifer without it.

Cassie turned her attack on Ellie. "Why are you letting him do this? You can stop him!"

"I don't dictate what Dean does or doesn't do," Ellie said, her tone mild. "He's doing what he has to do, and he's not happy about it, Cassie, so give him a break."

"God, I don't understand you people." Cassie threw down her fork and stood, glaring around the table. "Don't any of you care if he dies?"

No one looked up or answered, and she stormed out of the room, grabbing the edge of the door on the way out and slamming it shut behind her.

Twist cleared his throat, setting his knife and fork together on his cleaned plate. "What time you want head out, Dean?"

"Straight after breakfast" Dean finished his food, pushing his empty dish aside. "We take shifts, we'll be in Grand Junction sometime day after tomorrow. Then you turn around and come home."

Twist nodded. "Puts you pretty close to Kansas."

"Yeah, just a few hours, I'll go in across the Colorado border, head straight for Hutchinson. Shouldn't be more than a day." He turned to Ellie. "Nobody leaves the house. Not for anything. Not until Twist and Adam get back."

"SOP, Dean. We won't take chances," she reassured him.

"Adam could stay, you know. I can drop you off on my lonesome." Twist looked at Adam, who nodded readily.

"No." Dean leaned back, his gaze switching from the two men to Ellie. "Everyone in pairs. Two pairs of eyes are better than one and we don't really know what's going on out there right now."

Frank grunted, pushing his plate to one side and getting up. "Stop by the server room before you go. Ray and I have new code for phone routing. We'll update your phones. Might keep the Levis off your tail." He looked up at the ceiling. "Can't say it'll do much for demons following you, but I suppose you've got methods for avoiding them?"

Ellie raised her brow at Dean. "It's a good point. You'll need to take some of the herbal pastes for warding—not just you but the cars."

"We'll add it to the gear." He glanced over his shoulder at the spear. It was sitting on the sideboard, still wrapped in the cloth. "What do I tell Sam about this damned thing?"

"He has to hit the heart," Ellie said. "Through the rib cage on an angle will be the easiest. But he has to hit the heart the first time or the power will be gone."

Dean nodded, thinking how goddamned impossible that was going to be for his brother. Better not to think about that right now. He looked around the table. "Did we hear anything from Trent?"

"Demon signs are spreading out from Kansas but just omens, thunderstorms, lightning storms, some earth tremors." Frank pushed his glasses up his nose and looked at Ellie.

"They'll be trying to spread out but with just the one gate open, and the Host sitting on their doorstep and the Princes god knows where, it's not serious yet." Ellie stood up, collecting the plates and carrying them to the sink. She leaned against the edge of the counter. "Except for the people living in Kansas."

Cascadia, Oregon. Next day.

Dean handed Ellie the remotes to the mines. "Keep them somewhere easily accessible. They're all expanding kill zones, all sides, colour coded."

She nodded. He was packed up, ready to go, and Twist and Adam were waiting for him.

"You think I've got a snowball's of getting through?" He looked down at her, his breath catching. He didn't want to leave, not now, not at all. The sense of events closing on him was getting stronger, and she was so vulnerable.

"Yeah. I think they'll leave you alone, both sides." She put her arms around him, laying her cheek against his chest. "I don't know why, but I think they will."

"Even carrying the spear?"

"Especially carrying it. There are a lot of legends about it, how it protects the bearer." Her expression screwed up and he knew she was imagining his trip, probably better than he could. "Going in, I don't think you have to worry. Coming out again, that's a different matter. You'll need to be much more careful."

He slid his fingers through her hair, lifting her face to his. "Don't take any chances, alright. No matter what. I'll be back in four days, at most."

"I won't." Ellie struggled to keep a hold of the thoughts of all that could happen in four days, happen to him, forcing her imaginings of the worst case scenarios out of her head. "You too, okay?"

He nodded and bent his head, and her eyes closed as he kissed her, her arms tightening around him as the intimacy seared into her.

She'd understood Cassie's fear and frustration, but couldn't act on it, couldn't tell him what he could or couldn't do. She felt him shaking slightly and held him closer, their kiss deepening as passion was subjugated to the overpowering need to stay together, a yearning to capture this moment for all time, in case it was all they would get.

He released her and she stepped back reluctantly, watched him get into the truck. Twist waved as he pulled away, but Ellie stood still, arms wrapped around her chest, watching until the dust cloud had blown off the road and she couldn't hear the engine any more.

She'd suggested going with him last night, when they'd lain close together in the dark. She'd known his reaction but she'd said it anyway, knowing that she wouldn't be able to help, knowing that her being there would only make the job harder for him. His imagination had fed him a preview of what could happen and the horror in his eyes had forced her to drop it, to promise that she'd stay here.

She turned back to the house and walked inside, closing the door and walking down the hall to the dining room. There were piles of books waiting her attention and the most effective way she knew to push aside her fears was to find the solutions to the problems they faced.