Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire Part 2

"Well, you know where I stand," Dean told Sam, arms folded across his chest.

"No, you're not… You can't be serious." Jenna's eyes widened. "And if he goes out there, they'll kill him."

"So, we just wait around for him to kill us?" Angela scoffed. "Oh, yeah, that's—that's a plan."

"Or we just wait for him to die," Sam argued. "There was a—whatever you want to call it—a 'rabid' attacking the closet door, and he just died. Dean, you saw it. These things have a shelf life."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing here." Angela shook her head in disbelief.

"No, he's right. We lock him up, find a cure." Jenna suggested. "This is a hospital."

"Yeah, well, call it a hunch, but I don't think you're gonna find this in the medical books." Dean retorted.

"I didn't open up that closet door to find a cure." Mike chimed in.

"Look, Mike, I'm sorry, but this is untenable." Angela shook her head.

"I know." He nodded. "That's why I thought maybe we could make a deal. I'll go find somewhere quiet to lay low until this is over. And you save my baby girl."

"Yeah," Angela replied immediately. "You've got yourself a deal."

"And I thank you for that. I truly do. But I wasn't talking to you." Mike told Angela before turning to Jenna. "I know you. I've seen you in church since you were knee-high. Please."

"I don't even own a guinea pig," Jenna commented as Mike handed her the baby.

"There you go, little girl." Mike cooed at his daughter. "There you go. Thank you. Thank you all."

"Why do I get a feeling that that is gonna bit us in the ass?" Dean muttered as Mike ran out of the room.

"You good, Jenna?" Angela asked softly.

"Oh, yeah. Aces." She nodded.

"Alright, let's gear up," Dean instructed.

"That might be tricky." Sam looked out the window and saw another car of rabids pull up.

"What are they doing?" Jenna asked as Dean and Angela started loading their guns.

"Dean, Angie…" Sam trailed off.

"We made a promise." Dean reminded.

"To do what? Charge out there, guns blazing?" Sam inquired. "We don't even know how to kill them."

"She does." Angela nodded to Jenna. "Chest, right? I'm guessing heart."

"This is madness." Jenna acknowledged.

"No. No, that is madness." Dean pointed out the window. "This is horse sense."

"Save Mike's baby, but shoot Mike. Tell me where that makes sense." Jenna demanded.

"Look, we can just wait for them to die," Sam stressed.

"And how long is that? And when they infect others, how long is that?" Angela questioned. "No, we stay here. We did this, Sam. Okay? We broke it, we bought it. You know there's no other way." She added firmly before her phone started ringing. "Where the hell are you, Cas?"

"I'm… I'm okay." Castiel's voice rang through.

"You don't sound okay." Angela's brows furrowed.

"Angela, I am fine." He assured. "Besides, what I have, you can't help me."

Angela looked even more confused at that. "What do you mean, what you have?"

"Just please tell Sam and Dean—Rowena escaped with the Book of the Damned and the codex," Castiel explained.

"Okay, forget Rowena. Where are you?" Angela asked worriedly.

"Now, you tell me—the mark…" Castiel trailed off.

"Oh, really?" Angela's brows shot up. "You're worried about me after everything that I've—

"Angela, is it gone?" Castiel cut her off.

"Yes," Angela answered softly. "I'm good. I mean, I'm not great."

"Makes two of us," Castiel muttered as Angela put him on speaker. "This is good news."

"Hey, Cas." Sam and Dean greeted.

"Sam. Dean." Castiel addressed.

"Okay, your turn. Talk to us about the darkness." Angela told Castiel.

"Why would I talk about the darkness?" Castiel asked, confused.

"Because it's free," Dean responded.

"No," Castiel denied. "That can't be."

"Removing the mark opened some kind of lock. Angela saw her." Sam explained.

"The darkness is a woman?" Castiel questioned.

"Well, that's what we're asking you," Dean replied. "We were hoping you could tell us what kind of defcon screwed we are."

"Cas?" Angela asked after receiving silence.

"Sam, Dean, Angela… Goodbye." Castiel replied ominously. "It may be some time before we see one another again."

"Wait, Cas. Cas!" Angela frowned when the line went dead.

"FBI, my ass." Jenna glared at the three hunters.

~/~\~

Jenna soothed the crying infant as Sam, Dean, and Angela argued in the exam room.

"Look, I get it. I do." Sam assured. "We're gonna save that baby, okay? And we're gonna find Cas, and we're gonna stop the darkness."

"Okay, so what are you talking about?" Angela raised her brows questioningly.

"The plan." Sam returned.

"We have a plan, okay?" Dean retorted. "It's the same plan as it's always been. In order to get out, we go through."

"And? How's that been working for us?" Sam criticized.

"We can't save Cas if we're stuck in some hospital, okay?" Angela argued. "Just like I can't strap on a time machine, go back, and tell Cain to shove that mark up his ass or stop you and Dean from releasing the darkness. Now, have we made mistakes? Yes. Hell, yes. And we can analyze each and every one of them once we're out of this damn room!" she snapped. "Right now, all I can do is I can gear up, I can head out, and I can save that freaking baby, which is exactly what I'm gonna do."

"Angie's right, Sam. The priority has got to be saving that baby." Dean agreed.

Sam looked between his brother and his wife, sighing heavily. "When did we forget how to do this?"

"What?" Dean's brows furrowed.

"Guys, if we don't change—right now—all of our crap is just gonna keep repeating itself." Sam pointed out.

"Okay, I-I don't even—what?" Angela stammered.

"This—this 'kill first, question later.' What happened to us?" Sam asked. "Hunting things—we're good at that. Sure, we're great at that. But that's only half of the bumper sticker."

"Sam, we are trying to save that baby," Dean stressed.

"And what about the others out there?" Sam argued.

"You mean the ones trying to kill us?" Angela reminded her husband.

"I mean the ones that are sick, the ones that are dying." Sam corrected.

"Yeah, who won't rest until they've infected us all," Dean complained.

"So, we just forget about a cure?" Sam frowned deeply.

"What cure? Jenna's cure?" Dean held up his shotgun.

"There is always a cure. You just have to want to find it." Sam countered.

"Yeah, how are you gonna find it if you're dead?" Angela retorted. "And around and around we go."

"Saving people means all of the people, Angela." Sam pointed out. "Not just that baby. Not just each other. Dean and I unleashed a force on this world that could destroy it… to save you."

"And I told you guys not to," Angela recalled, folding her arms across her chest.

"And we'd do it again. In a second, we would do it again." Sam stressed. "And that is what I'm talking about. This isn't on you. It is on all of us. We have to change."

"What are you thinking, Sammy?" Dean sighed heavily.

"Get Jenna to the car. Get her and the baby somewhere safe." Sam planned out.

"Without a shot," Angela muttered. "And what are we gonna do about those things on our tail?"

Sam paused in thought, pursing his lips. "They won't be on your tail."

Dean frowned, realizing what Sam was alluding to. "No way."

"Sam, you are not staying here!" Angela snapped.

"You said it, baby. We broke this." Sam reminded.

"Yeah, we broke this, okay? We did." Angela admitted.

"I heard it in your voice when you agreed to take that child, Angie." Sam murmured. "I get it. You and Dean do what you do. But you guys have to let me do what I do, too."

~/~\~

Sam looked over the railing into the stairwell, looking down at the rabids that stood on the lower level. "Hey! Over here!"

"Come on," Dean said as he and Angela led Jenna out the other way.

"Come and get me, you sons of bitches!" Sam yelled out.

Sam locked himself in a nearby supply closet and the rabids outside started pounding on the door. Sam turned around, only to find that he's locked himself in with one of the rabids. The rabid woman attacked Sam and he slid her throat, getting her blood all over his face. Finally, the other rabids broke down the door and pinned Sam to the wall.

"Don't do this." Sam pleaded. "Let me help you."

The rabids smelled Sam, and after a few moments, they left him alone and walked out of the room.

~/~\~

Jenna, Angela, and Dean almost made it out of the hospital when they were suddenly stopped by Mike, who was clearly infected.

"Come on." Angela urged.

"The baby," Mike demanded.

"No." Jenna shook her head.

"The baby," Mike repeated.

"No," Dean replied firmly. "We're not gonna hurt you, Mike. As long as you leave that baby alone. Mike."

"Amara." Mike gasped out.

"What?" Jenna's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Her name… is Amara." Mike groaned before he keeled over and died.

~/~\~

Dean, Angela, and Jenna pulled into a gas station in a nearby town. The three of them got out of the Impala and Jenna held Amara in her arms.

"You good, Jenna?" Angela asked, brows furrowed in concern.

"Yeah. Baby. Poop." She chuckled. "What could go wrong?"

"I've been there." Angela laughed lightly. "Godspeed."

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Jenna admitted to the two hunters.

"Right," Dean pursed his lips. "Listen, we know things might seem dark right now—hell, call it pitch-black. And you may not be able to see it, but your way back is right there. You and her. You're gonna help each other."

"Joy comes in the morning." Jenna recited. "My grandma leads a Bible study."

"Ah." Dean nodded. "Well, let's go with that."

Angela pulled out her phone as Jenna walked away and called Sam, putting the phone on speaker.

"Hey, you good?" Sam's voice rang through.

"Yeah, about 40 minutes outside of town," Angela replied. "As far as we can tell, it's isolated to Superior."

"Well, that's something," Sam muttered.

"How about you? You okay?" Dean asked concernedly.

"What'd you expect?" Sam scoffed lightly. "Like it or not, I'm gonna find a cure."

"Yeah, we know you are," Dean replied. "Man, things are screwy right now. I know we don't have any answers, but at least we got one win, you know?"

"I hear you." Sam agreed.

"Alright, we're gonna run Jenna up to her grandmother's," Angela explained. "Shouldn't be more than a few others. Then we clean up that town. We find the Darkness, and we kick her ass. I love you, Sammy."

"Yeah, that's great, baby. That um… sounds like a plan." Sam replied. "I love you, too."

~/~\~

Angela was back in the cloud with the Darkness.

"If you're as bad as they say you are, why haven't you hurt me?" Angela questioned.

"For the same reason that you'll never hurt me." The Darkness replied, pulling aside her dress to show the Mark of Cain on her collarbone. "We're bound, Angela. We'll always be bound. You helped me. I helped you. No matter where I am, who I am… We will always help each other."

~/~\~

Sam grunted as he pulled himself off the ground and he stumbled to look in the mirror. He pulled aside his shirt, and he had the same black marks starting on his chest that the rabids had.

A/N: Hey, guys! I hope you liked this chapter :) I've been rewatching this season and I honestly forgot how good it was. Thank you for the recent reviews! Your feedback means so, so much to me. Love y'all, xoxo.

~Emily