A/N: Hey! So just so you know, there's a lot of jumping around of focus during this chapter. It may get a little confusing but I'm hoping to make everything clear enough so it's not :). Hope you guys like it!

Ana stood in a beautiful wooded area. The trees that surrounded her were tall and the way the sun was shining through the canopies gave the perfect balance of shade and warmth. As she slowly spun around to look at everything, moving her feet, she realized by the soft sensation of the tall grass against her skin that she was barefoot. Looking down, she took in the white summer dress that stopped just below her knees, leaving the rest of her legs free for the grass to tickle. Turning her attention back to her surroundings, her brow furrowed, something was wrong. For how large the area seemed to be, it was eerily silent. There should have been sounds of birds and other wild critters, but there was absolutely nothing. It was then that she remembered what had happened; the fight with the demons, the devil's gate destruction, and the look on Connor's face before everything went black. Am I dead? The question fled through her mind and she was suddenly filled with fear that she'd never see her family again.

-A-

Dean sat in the driver's seat of the Impala, his hands wrapped around the steering wheel so tight that he was sure if he let go he'd lose all control of his fingers until the blood flow was reestablished. It hadn't taken him much to convince Cas to go get his car and bring it to South Dakota where the whole group was staying at. Staying anywhere near Calvary Cemetery was asking for trouble and this was the first place Dean could think of. He took in a deep breath, trying to steady himself as he had done so many times in the past three days, but just like each time before, it did nothing for him. The sound of his phone ringing broke the silence he had been encased in, with both the engine and the radio off it was strangely quiet in the car, but it had been something he had found comforting.

Sighing, he carefully removed his right hand from the steering wheel to pull his phone out of his jacket pocket. Sam's name was lit up on the screen and the internal argument about whether or not he should answer began. With his luck the words out of his brothers mouth wouldn't be the ones he wanted to hear and he wasn't sure he could take hearing anything else. Ignoring the call, he turned his gaze out the windshield and at the mangled house he had parked in front of.

-A-

"Still no answer?" Gabriel asked, looking over at Sam as he placed his phone back in his pocket.

The younger Winchester shook his head, "No, though I can guess where he went." Sam answered, looking around the parking lot where he and the angel had come looking for Dean.

"He's trying to stay strong, for you and Connor, especially for Ana." Gabe sighed, turning around to look back at the hospital, "He'll come back when he's ready, until then, we should go back inside and check on the kid. I'm sure that he isn't going to be happy with my little party trick earlier."

-A-

Connor hadn't left the chair at the side of Ana's hospital bed since the doctors had finished her surgery and told them they were allowed in her room. The fear of losing her now was just as real and fresh as it had been when she had collapsed at the cemetery, he continued to play the scene over and over again in his mind...

"Gabriel, heal her!" Connor pleaded, looking down at the unconscious woman in his lap. She was barely breathing and almost all color had left her skin.

When the archangel finally reached the witches, he slid to the ground, stopping at Ana's side and placing two fingers to her forehead. When he willed his grace to heal her and nothing happened, the angel was shocked. "It's not working, her magic is blocking me and I can't do anything."

"Connor, if it's her magic, can't you do something?" Sam questioned, his brain fishing for any answers to save his niece who seemed to be dieing.

With a shake of his head Connor looked up at Sam, watching as Dean fell to his knees on the opposite side as Gabriel. "It would take too long, she could die by then."

"We take her to to hospital. If you guys can't do anything, that's our last hope." Dean spoke, voice rough with grief because if a witch or an angel couldn't heal his daughter, what good would a hospital do. "Sioux Falls. Take us to the hospital there." he instructed, looking at Gabriel and Castiel as he stood up.

Connor quickly adjusted Ana so he was carrying her and then stood, following Dean's lead. The angels quickly flew everyone to just outside the emergency room and Connor hurried inside, cradling Ana tight to his chest as he followed after her father who was already shouting for a doctor, "Hang in there, Red, we're going to get you some help." Connor murmured to her as a small group of nurses rushed over with a gurney. Carefully he placed her on the thin mat, barely listening as Dean quickly made up some story about how it had all been some crazy hiking accident and in a last chance hope to save herself, Ana had tried to cauterize the wound by her own hand to try to stop the bleeding. It wasn't long after his explanation that the five men watched Ana be wheeled away by the doctor and nurses...

That had been three days ago. There had been internal bleeding, a couple of her organs had been damaged by the blade the demon had tried to kill her with. They were slowly replenishing the lost blood and though part of the color had returned to her skin, she hadn't woken up. The doctors said it was a coma, that her body was keeping itself that way so it could heal without wasting energy.

He hadn't slept much since they had arrived, too worried that if he took his eyes off of her for longer than a moment that he would lose her completely. So when he jumped awake meer minutes before and neither Sam or Gabriel were in the room with him, he knew the angel must have done something to cause him to fall asleep. Sighing he looked at the monitors hooked up to his… girlfriend? Soulmate? They hadn't ever clarified if they were dating again and though it was true that they were soulmates, it felt weird to think of her as that. Running a hand through his hair, he returned his focus to the machines, seeing that though her heart rate was slow it was still steady.

The sound of the door to the room opening caused him to turn his head, seeing that it was Sam and Gabe, he turned his attention back to Ana. "How long was I out?" he questioned, not caring which man answered him.

"A couple of hours. Nothing has changed with her and Dean's still gone. Jody stopped by again, wanted to check up on her and said that she would stop by again later." Sam caught the young man up on what little he had missed. Though he didn't look much better than he had before Gabriel had put him to sleep, at least Connor seemed a little rested.

Connor nodded, leaning forward and grabbing Ana's limp hand between both of his, "Any word from Cas?"

"There hasn't been any demon action at the cemetery and no sudden appearance of a portal to Hell, so I think we're pretty much in the clear, but he said he was going to wait a little longer to come back." Gabriel answered, "He wants us to call if Ana wakes up."

"When." Connor corrected, "When Ana wakes up."

Gabriel nodded, "Of course. When she wakes up, if he's not back by then, he wants us to give him a call."

-A-

Dean finally stepped out of the Impala, slowly extending up to his full height and turning to look at the rows of cars. He wanted nothing more than to be able to go back into that house and find Bobby sitting behind his old desk, but being reminded that the old man was gone wouldn't help him in his current predicament. Moving away from his car he walked toward the shop where Bobby kept all of his tools and hoped that being here would help clear his mind enough to go back to the hospital so he could be strong for his family.

It was getting colder outside. Autumn was slowly transitioning to winter and if the recent cold was anything to go by, that season was going to be worse than normal for the state. Dean pulled his jacket tight around him and leaned against the workbench as he looked at one of the old junkers Bobby had been tinkering with shortly before he passed. He could only imagine what the older man would have been telling him right now if he saw Dean there rather than at the hospital with the others. "Stop moping around, ya idjit. Get back there, your brother and daughter need you!" The memory of the old hunter's voice brought a weak, pained smile to his face and he was reminded once again of how much he missed Bobby and everyone else they had lost. It was then that he realized how much he was willing to give up to save Ana, how he completely refused to lose anyone else.

With a rough shove, he pushed himself back on to his feet and hurried back toward his car. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he dialed his brother's number, "Hey, I'm on my way back." he spoke as soon as the other line was answered.

"Good, I was starting to worry." Sam's voice came over the speaker as Dean started the engine to his car and shoving the gear into reverse so he could pull around to drive straight down the old gravel road.

"Keep your panties on, I'll be there soon." Dean rolled his eyes before ending the call and moving the gear back into drive before slamming his foot down on the accelerator and speeding off back toward the city. There had to be something they could do to either get Ana out of her coma or make it so that one of the angels could heal her, he just had to find a way.

-A-

Ana had been walking around for what she assumed had been at least an hour and she was almost completely certain that she had been walking in a fairly straight line, but there didn't seem to be an end to this forest. Through however many miles she must have covered she hadn't seen one animal or heard one noise, if it hadn't been for the occasional different tree or patch of wildflowers she would have assumed she had been walking in circles. Where in the Hell am I? There was no way this was Heaven. No, she was certain it wasn't. From what she had seen of her father and uncle's trips to the place, Heaven was something familiar for each person, but this forest was something she had never seen before. So she wasn't in Heaven and this place was much too nice to be Hell, so she couldn't have been dead, but if she wasn't dead then what was going on?

-A-

Castiel had been standing watch at Calvary Cemetery for the past three days, both wanting to make sure that the demons weren't constructing some plan to somehow reopen the portal to Hell so that they could finish their plan to raise Lucifer and Michael from the cage and that the portal wouldn't somehow reappear on its own. The only time he had left was when they had taken Ana to the hospital and a few times since then to check up on everyone. Surprisingly enough there had been no movement for miles around the cemetery, angel or demon alike, and he was certain in his decision that it was safe to leave his post. Flying away from the cemetery, he carefully checked the hospital room that Ana was being kept in, making sure that no doctors or nurses were present before descending and landing next to his brother. His eyes were focused on the young witch in the bed before him, it was anything but easy to see someone he cared about in need of his help, yet being able to do nothing about it.

When Castiel had first met Ana, he wasn't sure what to think about the youngest Winchester. In the beginning their relationship had been completely professional, one of two people working in the same field toward a mutual goal. Over the first year of her living with the brothers they had slowly become friendly, nothing close to the connection she held with Gabriel, but it was something similar to what he had with Sam and Dean. Though he had spent only a short time as a human, he was beginning to understand human emotion more and more, which is why it was easy for him to label the strange ache in his stomach as worry. He was worried for his friend, worried for the small family he had become a member of, and it was a feeling he didn't like.

"Are we still unable to aid her?" Castiel aimed the question at his brother, knowing that periodically he and Connor had been checking to see if something had changed so that one of them could help her. After the doctors had finished Ana's surgery, Connor had attempted a healing spell, but just like Gabriel's grace, it had no affect.

The archangel sighed, looking at Castiel with a dejected expression, "We've tried everything we can think of, neither of us is able to heal her." he answered, slowly turning his attention back to Ana, who still hadn't moved.

"There has to be something we haven't tried." Sam spoke up, pushing himself up from the wall he had been leaning against since Castiel had entered the room. "It's her magic that's not letting either of you help, right? It's like a self defense mechanism since she's unable to protect herself, maybe whatever it is views you as a threat because you're trying to be invasive." he offered, having been thinking about something else to try. Dean was on his way back and Sam wasn't about to let his brother walk through that door and have nothing to raise his hopes even slightly.

Connor had been listening to everything that had been said, but he still refused to pull his eyes off of Ana's sleeping form. He contemplated Sam's words, if his theory was right, something that was less invasive to the body itself should be allowed, but there was only one way to figure it out. "If we could get inside of her head, talk to her, maybe we could get her to wake up." he offered, little hope in his words. At this point he didn't want to get too invested in an idea to just have it fail and him be broken all over again.

"YES!" Gabriel yelled, a glimmer in his eyes that hadn't been there in days. He walked around the bed to stand at the opposite side that Connor was on, "The doctors said that her brain function was normal, right? So she could even be subconsciously doing this herself, which would be a lot easier to deal with rather than her magic doing this." his tone was excited as he basically bounced up and down, moving back around the bed to stride over to Sam. "Riddle me this smarty pants. Let's say our theories are right… Someone can get into Ana's head and inform her of what's going on, she's strong and stubborn enough to pull herself out of this. Wouldn't you say?"

Sam's eyes went wide and a small smile played at the corners of his lips, "She is a Winchester." he offered as answer, turning his attention to Connor, assuming he would be the one to try to get inside of Ana's head. "What are you waiting for, get rolling with the magic."

Connor shook his head, "As much as I would like to, I'm too weak. Between the lack of rest and how much power I've been using to try and break through whatever is keeping our healing out… I'm just not strong enough to get in her head, keep myself there, and explain what's going on."

"It's okay, buddy." Gabe walked over to Connor and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'll do it and I'll make sure she comes back to us."

"We should wait for Dean." Castiel spoke up, thinking that the eldest Winchester would be mad if they tried something like this without him knowing.

The sound of the door opening caused each man to turn their head in that direction, "What are we waiting for me for?" Dean questioned as he walked in. He had caught the tail end of the conversation as he reached the other side of the door and wanted to know what was going on.

Sam placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, "We think we figured out a way we can help Ana." he answered, offering a hopeful smile.

"How?" Dean turned his attention back to the still body of his daughter in the hospital bed. Walking to stand at the side of her bed, opposite Connor, Dean brushed back a strand of her hair.

Gabriel quickly explained the ideas Sam and Connor had, making sure to point out that it would be himself trying to get inside of Ana's head. "It's our best bet, Deano. Everything else the kid," the archangel patted Connor on the shoulder, "and I have tried hasn't worked. This is a good plan."

Slowly nodding, Dean grabbed the free chair on that side of the bed and pulled it closer so he could be almost level with Ana's face. "Do it. You tell her to wake up and get her lazy ass out of this damn bed." he grumbled, grabbing on to her free hand.

The archangel nodded and took a couple of steps back until he was leaning against the wall, he would only be placing part of his consciousness in her head, but it was always a safe bet to not be standing straight up in case more of his focus was pulled from reality.

-A-

Ana had quickly given up on trying to find anyway out of the forest on the ground, there was no way to tell how far she had come or if she was even heading in the right direction. The next logical plan was to take to the trees, if she could climb close enough to the top it would allow her to see the surrounding area and then maybe she could figure out a way to get out. She had made it about ten feet off of the ground and she shook her head, this would all be so much more easier if she were in her jeans and boots, but for whatever reason those were gone and she was stuck climbing a ridiculously tall tree in a dress that was beginning to ride too high. Thankfully she had been an adventurous child and had learned to climb trees from a boy in the neighborhood, that knowledge added on top of the muscles she had gained from training as a hunter meant that the process wasn't too tiring.

A couple more feet up the tree and she jumped at the first sound she'd heard since she'd woken up in this strange place. "I always thought the Squirrel thing was a joke, but you do share his genetics." Gabriel commented, perched on a nearby branch.

If Ana would have had any slower reflexes, she would have probably released the branch she was using to pull herself up and would have fallen to her death. "Gabriel? What the hell?!"

"You're asking me? You're the one in a coma and climbing trees in her head." He shrugged, taking a quick peek toward the ground and another up toward the top of the tree. "What exactly was your plan, Ana?"

Rolling her eyes, she hoisted herself all the way up on the branch and moved until she could sit on it and face Gabriel. "Climb to the top and figure out the best exit route." she explained, raising an eyebrow at him, "I'm in a coma?"

The angel's face fell slightly, "Yeah, princess, you've been out for three days."

"Why haven't you healed me then, jerk?" She questioned, snapping a twig off of a nearby branch and throwing it at the angel. "There's too much stuff going on for me to be out of the game."

Gabriel frowned at her, "Are you kidding? We've tried countless times, Ana, but you're magic won't let us through. It's like there's this shield up between my grace and Connor's magic, neither of us have been able to do anything until now and this whole thing was Sam and Connor's idea, but hey, it worked."

"Okay, so what you're telling me is that I'm keeping myself unconscious?" Gabriel nodded, "Alright, well to Hell with climbing trees, let's get back to the real world." Standing, Ana looked at her friend, "Mind getting out of my head so I can focus?"

The archangel smiled, "As you wish, princess. Just don't take too long, none of us have been handling this well and I think your dad and Connor might lose it." He slipped off of the branch he was sitting on to stand on another, "Oh! Speaking of Dean, I'm to relay a message. And I quote: Wake up and get your lazy ass out of this bed." Gabe winked at her before disappearing, leaving her to do whatever witchy mojo she needed to rejoin the world of the living.

Ana closed her eyes and focused on her magic. When she had first woken up, she hadn't noticed it like she normally did, like a warm sensation resonating from the center of her chest, but now that she knew what was going on everything made sense. She hadn't felt her power in her chest because she was feeling it all around her, this place was created by her magic. Using all of her willpower, she pulled all of it back into herself, taking control of her magic again and willing herself to wake up.

-A-

Gabriel stood up straight, pushing himself away from the wall and taking in each pair of worried eyes on him. "Just wait." he instructed, turning his attention to Ana, praying to his Father that she was able to do what was needed to bring herself back to them.

Connor turned his attention from Gabriel, meeting gazes with Dean before they both turned to focus on Ana. Moments later he watched as her face scrunched and she made a soft groaning noise, "Ana?" his grip on her hand tightened slightly as he waited for her to open her eyes.

"Hey, kiddo, you coming back to us?" Dean asked as he scooted to the edge of his chair. He watched her face closely as she slowly woke up, he didn't realize that he had been holding his breath until her eyes slowly opened and all of the air rushed out of him in relief. "Welcome back to the world." he smiled at her, happy to see his eyes mirrored once again in her's.

Ana quickly closed her eyes once she had opened them, regretting the decision once the light of the room was let in and she hadn't been prepared for it. "Ow." she complained, her voice hoarse from not being used in three days.

"What hurts?" Connor asked, beginning to worry that something was wrong. She had just woken up and he was still so afraid of losing her that he was probably going to hover for a while.

"My hand. Mind releasing your hold there a little, Hulk?" She teased weakly, turning her head to the side to give him a smile.

"Oh," Connor quickly loosened his grip, but didn't let go all the way, "Sorry." he apologized sheepishly, ignoring the sound of Sam sniggering to his side. "How are you feeling?"

The young witch raised an eyebrow at him, "Like I've been in a coma for three days." she replied sarcastically. "Let me guess, internal bleeding?" she questioned, slowly looking at each person in the room, smiling softly at them.

"Yeah, that knife wound nicked a couple of organs and though you closed up the surface wound, you hadn't fixed anything inside." Dean explained, "Which is why you should have let Gabe or Cas heal you before you did the ritual."

Fixing her eyes on her father, Ana sighed and gave her head a small shake, "If we would have wasted any time, I would have been hurt, but you would have died, dad. I had a vision right before we left for the cemetery and that's what I saw."

Dean paled only slightly at that, he had died before and had come close countless times before, but it was completely different when his daughter was putting her life on the line to make sure that he stayed safe, "That doesn't change anything, Ana, you can't put yourself at risk to save me."

Though she was still weak, Ana glared at him and without removing her eyes from him she addressed the angels, "One of you heal me please." She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and felt Gabriel press his fingers to her forehead. The flood of energy that was the archangels grace washed over her and she instantly felt better. Wiggling her hand free of Connor's she sat up, finally breaking eye contact with Dean to look down at the arm that had an IV line running to it so that she could take it out. Making quick work of the rest of the wires that were connected to her, she used her magic to push her father's chair back so she could stand up and look down at him. "You have no idea what it was like watching you die, again. I've seen you die too many times for it to be comfortable and knowing that there was something I could do about it this time… It was clear that I was meant to stop it from happening. So don't you get all high and mighty on me for making sure that you stayed safe, because you have done the same damn thing so many times over that I've lost count." She took in a deep breath, feeling her eyes begin to water, "I refuse to lose any of you and I will stop anything that comes after you with everything I have. This is the closest thing I've ever had to a real family, don't think for a minute that I'm going to stand aside when I can do what is needed to keep you safe." With that she moved around the bed, glad that whoever had tied her hospital gown had made sure it was secure so she wasn't accidentally flashing anyone, and she made a beeline for the bathroom door. Once inside with the door locked behind her, she paused at the sink. Looking at herself in the mirror, she knew that she must have looked a lot better off since Gabriel healed her than she initially did when she first came too. With a quick wave of her hand clean clothes and her favorite boots appeared on the floor. Ana didn't waste anytime changing into her clothes, incredibly happy that she had the power to bring them to her instead of having to wait for someone to bring them to her. Once she was ready she stepped back out of the bathroom and looked at everyone, "We should probably get out of here before the staff start asking about my miraculous recovery."

Sam gave her a small smile as he walked over to her, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "We're in Souix Falls. Why don't we go see Jody so that she knows you're alright. She's been worried about you." he informed her, trying to successfully change the subject to something lighter than what it was before she had left the room.

"Sure." There was a short pause as a thought hit her, "Wait!" She looked at everyone, noticing that all eyes were on her again, "What happened at the gate? I don't remember much after it crumbled. Did the portal close? Everything ended up alright, right?"

Connor stood up from the chair he had been practically glued to since the nurses had let him into the room, "Yeah, everything was fine. Cas stayed behind to keep an eye on things and nothing's happened."

The relief was clear on Ana's face at the news, "Good." She nodded, looking toward her dad who seemed to have come to terms with their argument, or he was at least keeping his mouth shut about it. "Can Connor and I get a moment to talk? We'll meet you outside shortly."

"Yeah, the Impala is in the parking lot, we'll meet you out there." Sam answered before Dean could say no. He placed his hands on his brother's shoulders and steered the shorter man out of the room, checking over his shoulder once to make sure that the angels were following them.

When the room was finally empty, Ana turned to look at Connor, noticing again how rough he looked. There were black circles under his eyes, presumably from lack of sleep, his black hair was tossed in every direction, and he was wearing the same clothes from the cemetery. While she was taking in his appearance and readying herself to lecture him about taking care of himself, he strode across the room and enveloped her in his arms. "You have me so worried." he muttered as he placed a kiss to the top of her head. Wrapping her arms around his middle and hiding her face against his chest, she took in a deep breath, not sure what to say to him. She couldn't take away the pain he felt and she was doing what she could to reassure him that she was alright. Before she could think of anything to say, he placed a finger under her chin and pulled her face up so that she was looking him in the eye, "Don't you ever do that to me again." he told her sternly. Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers and pulled her even closer, relieved that he was able to do so.

When their lips separated, Ana took in a deep breath, refocusing her eyes on his before smiling softly, "You realize you're talking to a Winchester, right?"

Connor chuckled, "You can't use that excuse forever." he pointed out before kissing her again, "Come on, let's get out to the Impala before your dad freaks out about how long we've been in here." Dropping his arms from around her, he took her hand in his own, lacing their fingers together.

"One problem." she looked toward the door that led to the rest of the hospital, "They're not going to just let me walk out of here."

"So we teleport out and into the back seat of the car." He grinned at her, "I bet you we can get a good scare out of Sam and Dean."

Ana grinned and gave him a quick nod, pulling on her power to teleport herself into the back seat of the Impala and when she realized that the car was still empty, her grin widened. "He's going to love this." she muttered sarcastically, turning to look out of the window. It was a couple of minutes before she caught site of the four men walking their way and she hurriedly rolled down the window, "You guys are so slow!" she yelled at them, watching as both her father and uncle frowned at her.

"You're hilarious." Dean grumbled when they were closer to the car. Standing in front of her door, he reached through her window to unlock his door without having to use the key. Turning to Cas and Gabe, he sighed, "So we'll catch up with you guys later?"

Castiel nodded, "We'll keep you updated." he assured both Winchester men before flying off, quickly followed by Gabriel.

"Where did they go?" Ana questioned as the men got into the car, wondering if there was something she needed to be made aware of.

Sam looked over his shoulder at her, "They're going to do some digging, see if there's any other way for the demons to open the cage. Just trying to make sure that we took care of this problem before we switch gears back into normal hunting." he explained as Dean started the engine. "They don't think we have anything to worry about, so we're going to take some time to see Jody and then we'll make our way back to the bunker."

She smiled at the thought of getting a break from people trying to end the world in some way or another, going on a normal hunt was something she was looking forward to, "Sounds like a plan." Leaning against Connor, she relaxed as her dad drove the car away from the hospital and on to the main road.