"Zoe, Zoe wake up! Zoe it's just a dre- shit!"

Sam hit the floor hard clutching his nose and mouth where Zoe had struck him with a bony fist. He landed on his back and looked up to see Zoe sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide and confused, like she didn't know where she was.

Sam got to his feet wiping blood from where she had managed to split his lip.

"You okay Sammy?" Dean muttered from the couch, eyes still closed.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep." Sam said and almost laughed when he heard Dean sigh sleepily

"Don't have to tell me twice."

Sam looked back at Zoe who was now sat rocking back and forth, knees up to her chest and hands over her eyes. Cautiously he approached and sat on the bed in front of her.

"Zoe?" he said softly. Carefully he took hold of Zoe's skinny wrists and moved her hands away from her face.

"I'm sorry" she whispered hoarsely looking with eyes full of guilt at Sam's bloody lip "I-I'm sorry, I-I thought..."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, it was my fault. I should've known better."

Sam let go of her arms and they sat in silence for a minute. Finally Sam broke it. saying slowly

"Zoe... I know what happened to you. What-what that piece of crap did to you and I-" Sam grit his teeth at the memory of what Cas had told them, then he continued "He's gonna spend the rest of his life in jail, one way or another he'll die behind bars, but you just say the word and I'll do everything, everything, I can to make sure he's dead before he ever stands trial."

Zoe looked slightly surprised at this before she bit her lip and shook her head.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Zoe bit her lip, nodded then gave him a thin and tired smile.

"I-I don't want to put that on you."

"Trust me" Sam said grimly "It would not weigh on me at all."

"He'll die anyway like you said" Zoe said softly before a surprising level of ferocity entered her voice almost making it a snarl "Let him rot in prison first."

They sat in silence once again, the only sound in the room being Dean's deep breathing.

Sam looked towards the window, where he could just see the top of the crescent moon behind the curtain. When he turned back towards Zoe he was surprised to see her sliding out of bed, supressing a wince when her still slightly weak legs. Slowly and carefully she walked (with the slightest of limps) until she was stood in front of Sam. The twenty year old was so small and Sam so much taller than her that they were almost the same height with him sat and her standing.

"Zoe, you should rest" Sam said but Zoe had a strange look on her face. Every muscle was taught and tensed and her eyes... her eyes had taken on a blank almost living dead sort of look. Like she was there, but not completely there and the part of her that was present n the room wanted to be anywhere else.

"But I haven't thanked you" she whispered, and now Sam was the one to tense up as Zoe moved mere inches away from him, stood between his legs with their faces so close he could count the freckles that dusted her nose.

"Zoe..." Sam said confused and concerned by where this was heading.

"Shhh it's okay. I just want to thank you. Don't worry" she said as she started to sink to her knees and her hands headed towards his belt "I've had a lot of practi-"

But she never got the word practice out because, as soon as she had started to get on her knees Sam had caught her by the shoulders and pulled her back up, standing himself as he did so.

"Don't" he said, a little more harshly than he intended and she flinched so he softened his voice "Don't do that Zoe. You don't have to do that, not with me or Dean. You don't have to do that ever again if you don't want to."

Sam watched as the deadened look slowly faded from Zoe's eyes and tears began to well there instead. Without thinking Sam did what came naturally and used his hold on her shoulders to pull her into his chest and wrap his arms around her. Zoe was tense and rigid for a good thirty seconds before ever so slowly she relaxed into the comforting embrace.

"I'm sorry" came her tearful voice from down by his chest "I-I-I'm so ju-just fucked in the h-head!"

"You're not" Sam soothed "You're not."

They stayed like that for a moment until they slowly came apart.

"You should sleep" Sam said and Zoe nodded moving round him back to the bed she had vacated.

It was a while before Zoe fell back asleep.

It was even longer before Sam let himself drift back into unconsciousness, not wanting to sleep before Zoe.

Not wanting to leave her alone in the dark.

"Wake up sleepin' beauty!"

Something hit Sam in the face just as Dean's voice roused him from sleep.

He opened his eyes to see a generic diner takeaway bag lying in front of his face and could smell the bacon coming from inside. He sat up and flipped his brother off as he started opening the bag and pulled out a bacon and egg sandwich.

Looking to his right he saw that Zoe was already awake and eating her own sandwich. She gave him a small smile as she paused in between bites but quickly ducked her eyes, clearly uncomfortable after what had almost happened the night before.

As Sam ate a thought occurred to him.

"Where'd Cas go?"

"Don't know. Said something didn't feel right and took off. I think he went back to the house." Dean said through a mouthful of bacon, glancing at Zoe as he did so.

Sam furrowed his brow slightly before pushing the thought away. The three of them ate their breakfast in comfortable silence, punctured only by the mindless chatter coming from some daytime talk show that was on the T.V.

When they finished, Sam and Dean locked eyes for a moment before Sam started to speak to Zoe.

"What do you want to do?" He asked her and she frowned slightly in confusion "I know you said there was no one we could call but can we take you anywhere? Do you have somewhere to go or do you wanna stay-" Sam cut himself off in the middle of his offer to stay, afraid that was too forwards. That and the fact that Dean shot him a look. "What do you want to do?"

Zoe looked down at her hands which she was twisting in her lap and said in a voice barely above a whisper

"Can... can I stay?"

Before Sam could answer, Dean spoke

"I got no problem with you stayin' Zo-bird, just as long as you understand that our lives? They're dangerous. I know you been through hell but you gotta understand that even if we try, me and Sammy may not always be able to protect you." He said seriously and Zoe swallowed.

"I..." she said, tailing off before trying again "I have no where else. No one else. I wont be a problem I swear, I'll stay out of your way and I'll do everything a-and anything you say."

"Zoe it's okay. You can stay. Of course you can stay." Sam smiled easily and Dean cracked a grin as well.

"Welcome to the team Zo-bird!" he said with a wink which had Zoe ducking her head, cheeks flushed as Dean continued "If you're gonna hang with us, you're probably gonna need more than one set of clothes."

Dean cleared his throat and did his best valley girl impersonation as he said

"We should like totally go shopping!"

That earned a giggle from Zoe and a snort of laughter from Sam.

They were walking out of the motel room when it happened.

Sam and Dean had just crossed the threshold into the hall when suddenly -

"Shit! Cas!" Dean said as he turned and jumped when he found himself face to face with the angel. His slight annoyance at the angel turned to confusion, confusion which Sam shared when Cas pushed between them without speaking and entered the motel room, forcing Zoe who had been stood in the doorway to walk backwards further into the room.

"Cas what're you-" but Sam didn't get to finish his question as the door suddenly slammed closed, shutting Sam and Dean on the outside and Castiel and Zoe on the inside.

"Zoe? Cas? What's going on?" Dean's voice called through the door, the doorknob rattling. But he got no answer.

When the man in the trench coat turned to look at her Zoe felt whatever strength she had regained since leaving her prison, drop from her body at the dark expression on the man's - no this was an angel - on the angel's face.

"Hello Zoe" Castiel said in his low, gravelly voice.

He reached into his coat and produced something that made Zoe lose ten shades of colour in her face.

The manacles she had been restrained with in Gasrette's basement.

"I think we need to talk."

Dun, dun duuuuuuuh

What in Chuck's name is Castiel doing?

Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think :)

More soon.

Geronimo xx