Song Remains the Same Chapter 95: Trading Spaces, a supernatural fanfic

Song Remains the Same

Chapter 95 / Trading Spaces

"I get up and pace the room, as if I can leave my guilt behind me. But it tracks me as I walk, an ugly shadow made by myself."
- Rosamund Lupton

Dean was in the foulest, most pissed off of moods. He clenched the steering wheel tight enough that it creaked under his hand. His teeth groaned from the way he pushed them together in his mouth. The car engine whined protest as he gunned it to top speeds out of aggravated fury. Of all the bullshit he'd ever been subjected to, this topped it all.

It wasn't that he'd been woken up out of some very much-needed sleep in the middle of the night—that was normal. It wasn't that he'd dropped everything and raced across the miles the entire time worrying about something bad happening to someone he cared about—that was also normal. It was that the entire thing had been a dirty trick schemed by of all people his sister who, he could only assume, wanted to get rid of him long enough to get off with Cas. And of all the ways to accomplish that goal, she had picked the one that was furthest below the belt.

When Dean had woken up to see the text on his screen from 'Jamie' that said 911 - DON'T CALL - just come asap - IN TROUBLE - HURRY he hadn't questioned it for even a second. All he'd known was she was in trouble and he had to help. He'd taken the address she included and double-timed it that way, worried as crap because Jamie never asked for help. But when he got to the suspiciously-close location that was only twenty minutes or so away from the motel room and then found nothing and no one, he scrolled through his contacts to call Jamie and then found two 'James' contacts listed there. When he saw that, he immediately realized he'd been duped. But just to be sure, he called the first one, which just so happened to be the real Jamie. He woke her up and she was confused by his demands to know if she was okay and if she was in the same state he was in. She wasn't. Pissed off that he'd worried over nothing at all, furious that Alex would pull some shit like that, Dean basically snapped that he was glad Jamie was 'alive and stuff' and then hung up on her then headed straight back to the motel room, angry enough to spit.

Of all the dirty tricks. Of all the selfish, immature moves. Sam was dying and Alex sent him off on a wild goose chase that played with his feelings just so she could screw Cas in peace? The guy who had killed her and broken Sam and fucked up the entire world? Oh, there would be hell to pay. As he closed the distance back to the motel room, a thousand berating insults formed in his mind. He was ready to put those two in their place and start some shit. However, when Dean realized at a stop light that he really didn't feel like walking in on them in the middle of whatever freaky sexcapade they were definitely in the middle of, he fired off a quick, snide text to her and then changed her name from 'James' back to Alex and fumed again that he'd fallen for that trick.

Cas had some nerve, but damn if Alex didn't too. Dean wondered if they had conspired together and he didn't get why they couldn't have just zapped over to some other room if they really were that desperate to fuck each other—why'd they have to involve him and worry him over James? That was so low. Also, Dean had thought Alex would have been classier than that to so quickly take Cas back with open arms. Once an addict, always an addict he reasoned bitterly. And to think he'd been feeling sorry for his sister and even for Cas marginally during the drive earlier. He'd been thinking about how hard it had to be for Alex to have lost Cas and just when she was finally getting stronger and more adjusted to suddenly find him still alive and married to some bimbo… that was rough. Dean had also been contemplating how awful it had to be to suddenly get back a bunch of memories you'd forgotten and find yourself responsible for a ton of horrible, heartbreaking crap. He had kinda felt for Cas.

Well, any sympathy he'd had for either of them was gone. Dean pulled up to the motel and jerked to a stop then slammed the car into park, getting out of the car with a hearty, loud slam of the door. He stormed into the motel room, expecting to find a smirking Alex and a slyly triumphant angel. So, when he instead found his sister alone in the dim room, sitting on the bed fully dressed with slumped shoulders and eyes bloodshot red from crying, he abruptly lost all of his steam and froze in place when she looked at him reluctantly, like she was dreading what was next. He recognized that look in her eyes, the way she was looking at him: like she had been caught and was waiting for judgment and punishment. She used to look at Dad like that. She looked so upset and he could tell she had cried herself to exhaustion—her eyes weren't just red, on closer inspection as he drifted a little closer, he saw they were puffy and red-rimmed like the tears had been so copious that they aggravated her skin. Immediately, his rage faded.

"…What happened?" he asked intently, not sure if he knew what was going on anymore—he looked around for Cas, losing his confidence and bravado and anger in the face of confusion. The angel was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?"

Alex shrugged and her depressed tone came out in a cracked, weak whispery voice. Her eyes avoided his. "Outside somewhere… I don't know."

Unsure if he should still be pissed or what, Dean hesitated. He hadn't expected to find his sister obviously heartbroken and hurt, so it made it pretty hard to be mad. "…What the hell is going on here?" he asked cautiously, starting to fear something bad had happened while he was gone. "...You okay?"

She shook her head, refusing to look him in the eye again. She stood and motioned at the exit vaguely, her hand flopping like she was out of energy. "Can we just go?"

He ignored her attempt to sidestep the issue and he stopped her gently with both hands when she tried to walk past him. "Did he do something?" Dean demanded lowly, searching his sister for any sign of foul play, any sign that Cas had wronged her. "Do I need to knock the little tree topper down a few notches?"

Alex looked at him through a pained expression for a very brief couple seconds and it really killed him—something had obviously really gotten to her. "Haven't you punched him in the face enough for one day?" she asked, and her tone didn't really give anything away except her weariness.

"Debatable," Dean answered immediately, then set her with an ever-narrowing stare. "…Have I?" He waited for her to let him know what was going on. Just tell me what he did and I'll take care of it.

Alex brushed him aside feebly, defeated. "Let's just go, there's no way I can sleep now."

Dean stopped her again, more forcibly this time. "Did you guys fight or what?" She tried to pull out of his grip but he tightened his hands. He needed to know what the hell was going on and why she was acting like this. It set him on impatient edge. "Alex, come on."

"I hate this," she said, then suddenly yanked out of his grip and her voice raised to a cracking shout. "I hate this!" Dean stared as her brief outburst turned into more tears that made her eyes glint. "Nothing good ever lasts," she choked out, anger and grief making her voice thick with the onset of tears. "It's ruined. It's too fucked up. I can't."

She was about to start bawling again—Dean could tell—but before she did, she barreled past him and out of the motel room, leaving Dean to remain clueless, exasperated, confused, and blindsided. He stared after her and spread his arms out in a gesture that indicated how he had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. "Okay… thanks for letting me know exactly what the issue is," Dean muttered, rolling his eyes to himself and complaining about her to himself. "Friggin' baby." He didn't know whether he wanted to shake her or comfort her. So he did neither. He exited the motel room—she was at the end of the car facing away, gripping the trunk with a hard hand.

Dean sent a scowl at Meg, who he noticed skulking a ways down the sidewalk and watching with a haughty smirk. She then pointed a long finger the opposite direction as her smile grew. Huh? He followed the direction of where she'd pointed and saw across the street how a man's silhouette could be made out leaning against a chest-height wooden fence—across the field the fence contained, there was a church illuminated in the dark night. Souring further, Dean headed that way.

Cas was gazing across the field at the church steeple with a forlorn expression on his face. He wore the trench coat over his other clothes, so he actually looked kind of like himself again. He had his arms resting on the top of the fence and his hands clasped loosely. His expression was somber and tense. He kind of had the appearance of a guy who was in the doghouse. At Dean's approach, he turned his head slightly and his eyes slid in his direction. "Are you here to strike me again?" he asked quietly.

"That an invitation?" Dean retorted, because right now he honestly wouldn't mind. He glared at Cas and demanded to know what was going on with Alex. "What'd you do?"

Cas sighed deeply, eyes going down to the ground as he began to list things off. "Opened Purgatory despite everyone's insistence that I shouldn't, decimated Heaven, let Leviathan into the population here on earth and subsequently—"

Dean rolled his eyes in exasperation and cut off the clueless angel. "No, no—I know that, I mean what'd you do to upset my baby sister in there?"

"Oh." Cas became more visibly downtrodden and his guilt grew. He hesitated to say and Dean's eyebrows jumped up in angry, expectant impatience as he pursed his lips slightly. The angel finally spoke, low and morose. "Essentially, I told her that we can no longer be together." He grew sheepish and his hands loosened to gesture just barely. "Um, after we—uh…" he trailed off, seeming reluctant to finish his sentence.

The second Dean understood, he got predictably disgusted. "Yeah, spare me the details," he muttered cynically. He was pissed all over again because that was hella fucked up to screw a chick one last time and then tell her it had to be over. Dean had done it a bunch of times but he had always found justification for it in his own mind. Now some guy was gonna do that shit to his sister? No wonder Alex was so upset. That was low.

Cas looked entirely regretful. "I… I didn't intend for tonight to happen at all," he said, and by all sounds of it he was being genuine. "And I wasn't thinking clearly because—"

"Okay, you know what?" Dean asked harshly, cutting Cas off before he got graphic. "Just shut up. You wanna live, you shut your trap." Dean had to really work not to attack Cas right then and there. He folded his arms tightly so the temptation to smash the angel in the face was less achievable. "So that's why she's crying right now?" he asked in barely-concealed anger. "Because you broke up with her right after you slept with her? …Do you even get how fucked up that is? Jesus Christ, Cas!" Dean was shaking he was so mad.

The angel looked gutted and he honed in on one thing as he stood, no longer leaning on the fence. "I don't want her to cry," he said softly, his voice distorting oddly. "Especially not because of me. It… it breaks my heart." He said those last few words in such a struggling way that he could have been about to cry himself—and he looked back at the motel in complete worry, his eyes magneting to Alex.

Dean resisted the way that small moment made him marginally little less angry with the angel. Had Cas even realized he said he had a heart? Dean had definitely noticed that and it took him aback slightly—even if Cas was a moron in a lot of ways, he obviously did really care a lot. A lot. Sure had a way of showing it though. "Yeah well, it breaks mine too," he returned gruffly, trying to stay angry and trying to shame Cas about what he'd done. But what Cas said next made Dean realize maybe no one could make Cas feel more ashamed than he already did. It was obvious when he spoke how deeply he was broken up over it.

"After what I've done… I can't risk it, Dean. It's simply not right of me to be with her after what happened. I love her but…" he trailed off emptily. "Love doesn't seem to be enough." What weight was in those words. What grief and disillusioned soberness. "These feelings," Cas mused softly, emptily. "They're so confusing. I don't know what to do." He paused, his eyes on the ground as a pained expression held on his face. "I'm not good enough for her." Face tense with guilt, Cas looked at Dean. "I know you agree."

"Well… uh… no offense, but yeah," Dean said bluntly. "To be fair though, no one'll ever be good enough for her, Cas. An angel from Heaven, the prince of freakin' Paris, a regular dude from the Midwest… doesn't matter. None of them would ever be good enough."

"I don't think there's a prince of Paris, Dean," Cas said flatly, sounding depressed and distracted. His voice softened. "I don't know how to stop loving her, but all I ever seem to do is hurt her. How do I stop hurting her?"

Dean only knew one way. "You leave."

Cas immediately looked resistant to the idea as well as mildly alarmed. "But… I married her," he protested. "I vowed to stay by her side forever. I have to protect her, watch over her." At war inside of himself, Cas's eyebrows moved further and further together as he appeared to become more and more harrowed by uncertainty. "I can't abandon her. But… I can't stay with her, either." He looked like he could have cried from the desperation and the wretched confusion. "I'm trying to find a way. But this is an impossible situation," he whispered. "Why is this happening to us?"

The way he said 'us' instead of 'me' touched Dean without warning and he felt a tug of sympathy for them again. Alex and Cas. Both so childlike and naive in such surprising, unexpected ways. Both obviously very in love with the other despite everything. It was a tragedy and a half that things had turned out the way they had. Even though he had a huge grudge against Cas, Dean couldn't find it inside of himself to be as mean as he had wanted to be. In fact, he found himself being surprisingly gentle with all things in consideration. "Look—chalk the whole 'marriage' thing up to a mutual mistake made by two dumb kids in love," he said, drawing another tortured, silent look from Cas. "Happens all the time. But as far as you staying around… I think we both know you can't have your cake and eat it too, Cas."

Cas looked vaguely sick and his eyes fell away as he looked into middle distance. "I don't want cake. I just want her to be all right," he said quietly in that ridiculously deep voice of his.

Dean ignored the mistake and looked at the angel pointedly. "If you want her to be all right then what you do is let me do what I do. Take care of her. She was fine before you came around and she'll be fine after awhile once you leave again. May take her awhile, but if you stay gone, she'll move past it and get her life back." Cas looked like he was about to protest and Dean held up a finger. "Look, I know one thing for sure. You can't stay around then try and be just friends. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but… I know you two ain't ever gonna be good at the whole platonic thing. Freaking bunnies…"

Cas's eyes crimped deeply. "Why are you comparing us to lepus curpaeums?" he asked, then just as soon as he asked, he seemed to make the connection. "Oh." Rueful and chagrinned, maybe a little ashamed, he looked down. "Never mind."

"Uh huh," Dean said, passively aggressively letting it be known that he wanted Cas to feel bad about it. He turned to the fence and let his arms rest on the top of it, clasping his hands loosely as he thought for a minute. Heaving a weighted sigh, Dean used a hand to gesture assertively as he talked. "Look. For now, just… keep your distance, man. And after you fix Sam… you leave." He looked at Cas sidelong. "Let her get on with life."

Cas considered Dean's statement with a somber expression but made no clear cut reply to it. "I'm so sorry about what I did to Sam," he murmured instead. "To you. To Bobby."

Dean abruptly remembered being killed then finding himself in Heaven. He still wondered how the hell he'd been sent there at all. Most hunters ended up downstairs from the sounds of things. "He's dead, you know," Dean said quietly, thinking of Bobby Singer, who was one of the only other humans Cas had really known or had a relationship with.

"Yes," Cas replied heavily. "Alex told me. Another loss I can count as my fault." Surprised, Dean looked at Cas, recognizing the guilt he heard in the angel's voice—he carried a lot of the same. Cas joined Dean in leaning his arms on the fence. "If I hadn't let out the Leviathan… Bobby would be fine."

It would have been easy enough to let Cas feel bad about that. But honestly, Dean couldn't let Cas carry that guilt, too. "That's not a hundred percent," he replied honestly, shaking his head. "He was a hunter. Every day's a gamble when you're in this life." For a minute, they were both silent. Dean sighed long and hard. Maybe it was how tired he was. Maybe it was the full moon. But Dean suddenly found himself nearly commiserating with the angel beside him. "I get why you did it, Cas. Took in all those souls, risked everything. To save her. Am I right?"

There was a guilty nod. "Yes." A heavy sigh. "She tried to stop me. You all did, but… why didn't I listen?"

Dean was off in his own head, thinking of Sam who was suffering because of Cas. Thinking of Alex who was suffering because of Cas. Anyone else who caused his family this much pain would get a kick in the ass or had the name Dad. And then there was Cas, the angel who kept reappearing and saving them while screwing them over simultaneously. It was a sad, seemingly unavoidable song and dance. Dean was so tired that all he could do was sigh softly out of his nose and stare at that church across the field. "You know… I'd do just about anything for Sam and Alex," he mused aloud. His chest hurt from the feeling and truth behind those words. He would, he had, and he probably would again. "Right or wrong, no matter what anyone said… to save them… I'd probably do whatever."

There was a long pause. Then a curious, cautious question. "Are you saying we're not that different, you and I?"

Dean frowned, looking at Cas sharply sidelong. "I didn't say that."

"You inferred it," Cas said, sounding mildly disappointed.

"Quit analyzing me," Dean complained. "I'm too tired to know what the hell I'm even saying."

There was another short, heavy silence. "Someday I would like to be your friend again, Dean," Cas said earnestly, looking at the other man sidelong with one of those completely open, emotional expressions on his face. The kind that made Dean hella uncomfortable.

A defensive ghost of a scowl crossed Dean's face. "Buddy, I just dunno if that's in the cards," he said, pushing away from the fence to stand instead.

Cas watched him, remaining leaned against the fence in quiet sadness. "I understand your reservations," he said, but it was hard to miss the defeat in his voice. "I'm not sure I deserve friendship after what I did." He stood up straight slowly and looked at Dean solicitously. "But just so you know. I truly do care about your family. And I want to make things right. I owe you at least that."

It would be so much easier to be pissed at Cas if he denied everything and lied or tried to make excuses for what happened. But instead he admitted it all and owned up to what he'd done. He kept on trying, even though it had to feel beyond depressing to even do that at all. Dean didn't want to admire anything about Cas in the least because it went against his prideful nature, but he had to admit that Cas was a lot more of a standup guy than he'd given credit for in the past. Keeping his poker face on, Dean raised his chin slightly and didn't let Cas know what he was thinking. "Yeah, well, that's why I came out here, actually," he said, focusing on business. "Every hour we wait, Sam's worse off—I am not in the mood to drive however many damn hours with Meg yappin' in my ear—and I don't feel like dealing with the awkwardness that is you and my sister, so…" he spread his hands and waited.

"…You want me to take us to the hospital in Indiana," Cas summarized after a short, confused silence. He looked reluctant to use his angelic abilities but he didn't offer protest. Instead he grudgingly swallowed down his reservations and nodded stiffly. "Of course. I'll transport us there."

First good news he'd had all night. "Good," Dean said gruffly, then motioned for Cas to hurry it up. "Come on." They crossed back over the road to the parking lot where the Impala waited. Alex had gotten a grip apparently—she had her arms crossed and a stony game-face on. Meg obviously sensed something was going on—she sauntered up to join them. As soon as they were to the car, Dean addressed his sister and the demon as Cas brought up the rear. "All right, so we're gonna—" abruptly, the scenery around them changed and they were no longer in a motel parking lot—instead, they were at the back entrance of the hospital in Indiana. Dean looked at Cas sort of incredulously. "Didn't even let me finish," he complained, a little startled at the sudden movement.

Cas, stern and confused as always, squinted and frowned at the other man. "…Should I take us back so you can finish?"

Dean let out a disgusted breath and rubbed his forehead. In that brief instance, Alex and Cas's eyes met—his eyes were guilty, hers were hurt.

"Well well well, what have we here?" Meg murmured. Her dark eyes skimmed the hospital entrance quickly. "Sulfur heads, everywhere o'clock."

Alex looked at Meg oddly. "Huh?"

"Demons," Cas breathed, looking at what Meg saw. Alex and Dean followed their gazes to where a bunch of hospital employees were loitering the area surrounding the hospital back entrance.

"…All of them?" Dean asked, worry making his tone soft.

"No grass growing under your feet," Meg observed in silky sarcasm.

"Why?" Alex asked, clearly thinking about Sam and worrying over him immediately. Her eyes were scanning the demons closely, mental wheels spinning already. "Why are there so many here?"

Meg arched an eyebrow loftily. "Best guess? They got the head's up that Sam Winchester was in town and they're here to kill him, capture him, maim and torture him… or something equally heartwarming I'm sure." She smiled languidly.

"Then we gotta take them out, now, before they do whatever the hell they're here to do," Alex said urgently, already reaching for her blade.

"Sounds like a plan, gang," Meg said throatily, eyeing Dean who was pulling out his demon blade, obviously on board for his sister's idea. "Anyone got a demon-poker they wanna share?" When all she got were disparaging looks, Meg feigned surprise. "No?"

"Get your own," Alex muttered, clenching her weapon a little tighter.

Not paying attention to the girls, Dean was eyeing the demons. "Looks like a fair fight," he murmured, counting them quickly. "What is that, like eight? That's two and a half for each of us." He paused significantly and threw a glance sideways. "If Cas is up to helping."

"Of course I am," Cas confirmed. He sounded slightly insulted that Dean thought otherwise.

"You got the juice?" Dean asked doubtfully.

Cas looked further insulted. "I have more than enough… juice," he replied, then reconsidered. "I think. Either way, I'll do this myself. There's no need to involve yourselves." He drew in a deep breath, made to step forward, then a slender arm shot out to stop him. He halted and looked sidelong in slight surprise to see Alex stopping him with a firm shake of the head.

"No—eight's too many, even for you," she said firmly, leaving no room for argument. Even though she remained mostly inscrutable, her eyes gave away her worry. "They could rush you. We're going with you."

Dean watched the silent stare between his sister and the angel, then added in his own two cents. "Cas, you know this is kinda what we do, right?"

"Well yes, but—"

"Then let's go," Alex said, already taking off and leading the way, leaving Cas to stare, taken aback for a second, before he quickly followed. Dean threw a glance back at Meg as they left. She huffed impatiently and hung back, weaponless and annoyed to be that way.

Cas caught up to Alex where the parking lot began and he did what she had a moment ago—held an arm in front of her to stop her from walking. Three demons approached them, while Dean, who flanked Cas and Alex, was heading toward another cluster that was noticing the oncoming fight.

Behind the three that were approaching Cas and Alex, two more were drawing close. "Hey… I know you," the leading demon said to Cas as he got closer and realized who the angel was. "You're dead."

Castiel was grim. "It would appear you were wrong about that," he said quietly, then slapped a hand to the demon's forehead and blinding light burned out of the demon's eyes and mouth as he screamed, dying.

Madness erupted—Dean killed two demons brutally even as Cas smote two more in tandem. Alex knifed a fleeing demon in the back with her angel blade and even as she yanked the blade out of its back from where it had fallen on the ground, Cas sent a would-be attacker flying away from her and slamming into the concrete hospital wall—he ported himself into the demon's face and clapped his palm to the demon's face, sending it into nothingness as he wiped it from existence. Dean stood up from the eighth demon he'd just killed and he looked around slowly. "…That wasn't so bad," he commented breathily, wiping the bloody knife on his jeans thoughtlessly.

Castiel was squinting deeply, like he was listening to something. And then his face fell and horror passed over his features. "Wait—oh no—" he breathed, then disappeared from in front of them.

Alex blinked twice, shocked. "…Cas?"

"The hell?" Dean muttered, then suddenly went flying sideways with a yell. A ninth demon who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere had sent him crashing into the side of the ambulance. Dean fell down, groaning hard and dazed to stillness.

Before she could even register the threat, Alex was knocked back and lost grip of her blade in the strong blow. Her back collided bruisingly with the hospital wall and Alex found herself being choked by strong, crushing hands. "Whatcha gonna do to me now without your little pocket knife, bitch?" the demon seethed, his face right in hers.

"Hey!" came a sudden, sharp shout. The demon turned his head to look in confusion, and Meg drove Alex's discarded angel blade into the other demon's skull. Light exploded and flickered crazily as the demon screamed. Meg yanked the blade out and the other demon fell down dead.

Breathing hard, gone slack against the wall, Alex looked at Meg in shock. Meg gave her a 'see?' look at held out the blade, handle first. Alex hesitated, looking at the blade and then Meg. She slowly reached out, took it… and then furiously grabbed Meg and slammed her against the wall, using her elbow and forearm to hold her in place as she poked the tip of the blade hard into Meg's throat.

Dean was getting up from where he'd fallen and stiffly making his way over, face screwed up in an expression of pained concentration. He held his own arm and watched his sister closely, drifting closer just in case. At the end of a knife that could end her existence, Meg looked incredulous. "Are you serious?!" Meg demanded, her eyes wide. "Look I like it against the wall as much as any other gal but you're pointing that thing at the wrong part, Ariel."

Alex pushed the blade in harder, malice making her face hard. "Any last words?"

Meg gritted her teeth together in what appeared to be restrained cold anger. "Maybe instead of cutting my throat you should be inside where Sam's currently being fried like chicken, you ever think of that, princess?" Alex's hard face fell even as Dean, a few steps off, reacted similarly. Sam? Was that where Cas went? Oh no. Seeing Alex's thought process, Meg pulled a face. "Yeah," she confirmed sarcastically. "Might wanna step on it, Doublemint."

Without another word, Alex let go and she and Dean, of the same mind, rushed into the hospital. Meg straightened her jacket and stared after the Winchesters indignantly. "You're welcome for saving your life!" she shouted. She got a slamming door as a response.

Dean and Alex found themselves on one of the residential wings of the hospital, somewhere near to where Sam's room had been before. They turned a frantic corner and came to a sudden stop at the sight of Cas, carrying Sam's gigantic, woozy form like a child. Cas did not stagger under the enormity of Sam nor did he look like he was struggling in the least. He only looked gaunt and severe.

"What happened?!" Dean exclaimed breathlessly as both he and his sister stared in dismay at their brother, who looked sicker and paler and closer to death's door than ever.

"A demon had him," Cas said grimly, then motioned at an open door to an unoccupied room they were near. "In here." He led the way and as he laid Sam down onto the bed carefully and gingerly, he gave another command. "Close the door."

Although Sam was conscious, his glazed over, dead expression was frightening. His breathing was quick and shallow, his mouth hung open slightly—he had stubble, dark shadows under his eyes, a pallid color to his skin, bloodshot eyes, and the white hospital patient's uniform he wore made him look smaller and frailer than he actually was. His eyes stared at an empty chair beside the bed and he groaned faintly as if in miserable protest.

On the opposite side of the bed as Cas, Alex was leaning over her brother, touching his shoulder, trying to get him to respond—she blocked his stare, gently and anxiously trying to catch his attention. "Sam?" she asked in a shaky voice. "Can you hear me?"

His sluggish gaze wandered over to her, then his eyes widened and he jerked away from her with surprising energy the second he recognized her. "Get away, get away!" he bellowed, startling everyone in the room, pushing himself up against the headboard as he tried to distance himself from his shocked sister. "Don't touch me!"

Dean was already pulling Alex back and away from Sam, who looked like he was out of his mind and poised to do some harm. "Back up, back up, I don't think he knows who you are."

"I know exactly who she is!" Sam shouted, staring at his sister with eyes like a wild animal's. "The devil!"

"Jesus Christ, he is totally gone," Dean murmured in a pained voice, looking at Sam and seeing a man who was far gone and nearly unrecognizable. Dean looked at the angel in sick hope, faltering because he was so afraid this wouldn't work. "Cas?" he asked softly. "You gonna fix him or what?"

Castiel's jaw clenched and his eyes rose slow and guilty to Dean's. "I already tried." He became increasingly quiet and disheartened. "I… I can't."

The room became incredibly quiet when he said that. All hope that Dean had been holding onto suddenly seemed to slip away into nothingness. "…What the hell do you mean you can't?" he asked slowly, confusion and distress making him look ten years older than he actually was.

"I mean there's nothing left to rebuild," Cas said, and he looked absolutely beside himself with guilt and dismay.

"N-nothing left to rebuild?" Dean managed.

"It crumbled," Cas said heavily, obviously blaming himself. "The pieces got crushed to dust by whatever's happening inside his head right now."

Dean was thunderstruck and at a loss. "S-so you're saying there's nothing?" he asked in disbelief. "That, that he's gonna be like this until his candle blows out? That he's as good as dead?"

Cas was the picture of defeated misery. "I'm so sorry," he said quietly.

Beside Dean, Alex found her voice. "You can't let him die," she said, then stronger: "You can't." She looked at Sam, who had lost his fire and had his head slouched against the wall above the headboard of his bed—his breathing was shallow, his expression lifeless, he looked like an animal that was obviously dying. "Just, just look at him," Alex pled, "he's in so much pain—Cas, please." Her eyes begged him. "Don't let my brother die!"

Cas's heartbreak and sorrow increased when she put it that way but he shook his head helplessly as pain crumpled his face. "There isn't anything I c—" he suddenly seemed to have an epiphany. His face fell, he looked at Sam instead of Alex, a new light sprang up in his eyes. "Wait—wait. There is something," he said intently, and from the sounds of it, he had a new, real hope. "I may be able to shift it."

"Shift what?" Dean asked.

"This madness, this brokenness, his pain," Castiel replied, still looking at Sam. The angel's intensity was growing as he focused on Sam and grew more and more certain of his plan. "Yes, I think I could—it would get Sam back on his feet, and as long as I carry it with me, he'll be free of it." He had been bending over Sam slightly as he said that, but he straightened and glanced at Alex, then Dean for input.

"And just what happens to you in this scenario?" Dean asked cautiously.

Cas's enthusiasm faded into a more somber demeanor. Tellingly, his eyes slid to Dean's sister. "All in all… I think it's better this way."

Alex stared at him with a gathering expression of dismay. She could hear something in his voice that she just didn't like. "What do you mean it's better this way?" she asked, fearing the worse. "Cas…"

He was resigned but reluctant. "I'm not sure, but… I may not survive this."

"May not survive?" she repeated, suddenly horrified for entirely new reasons.

"I have no way of knowing what it will do to me," Castiel said softly. But he sounded like he was okay with that. Almost like he wanted to suffer.

"Now just hold on a minute, Cas—" Dean started.

"No." Castiel cut him off gently, firmly, surprising both of the Winchesters with what he said next and the way in which he said it. "I don't want either of you to make this decision for me or try to find another alternative. We don't have time for that. Sam is in this bed because of me. I did this to him, now I have to fix it." His voice softened and his eyes found Alex's. "I've run from what I've done before and… I can't anymore. I won't." Confusion and fear was jumbling up in a huge ball that pitted itself deep in her stomach. What was he saying? Cas looked at Dean in a sad, earnest way. "You'll have your family back. As you were before I came into your lives." Cas let his eyes go back to Alex, and he was resolute, guilty, quietly emphatic. "I love you," he said plainly, factually, but a hint of pain colored his tone. He looked at Dean. "All three of you. I hope you know that, despite everything I did."

Dean looked taken aback, watching Cas in stumped silence as the angel approached Alex and studied her silent, worried, protesting face. She said nothing. Her heart was beating sickeningly fast, she sensed the goodbye of this moment and didn't understand how just twelve hours ago she had believed Castiel was dead. Fast forward to now and she was in new kinds of pain from everything that had happened in the past few hours. She didn't understand. His hand came to cup her cheek in tender hesitation—a touch that she thought she should despise. But she didn't. His eyes locked on hers deeply, pleading with hers quietly. "Remember me as who I was in the beginning," he entreated in a voice just above a whisper. "Before the war, before everything fell apart. When I was much worthier of the love you gave to me." Remember you…? Where are you going? Why do you always leave? Her confused, scared eyes searched his. "I'm sorry," he whispered huskily. "For everything." His thumb stroked against her cheek, a mournful and loving touch, then he leaned in and pressed a long kiss to her forehead—an innocent, earnest, apologetic touch that made her eyes squeeze closed and her chest twist in pain. Her hand came up to clench into the lapel of his coat as he pressed that kiss to her skin. She wanted to protest, to throw her arms around him and tell him to stop yanking her around from one end of the spectrum to the other. To just stop messing with her emotions and promise her he was going to stay, fix what he'd done, and stop breaking her heart. But she couldn't bring herself to say a single damn thing because it wasn't even about her and Cas anymore. Sam's life was on the line. And maybe this was how it was supposed to be. Maybe they weren't supposed to be together. Maybe Cas was right. She didn't know anymore.

Cas drew back from her, a thousand regrets and sadnesses etched across his face. She thought her face probably looked the same. His hand fell away from her cheek and he took her hand that clenched into his coat and gently held it as his skyblue eyes silently held hers in a soulful, painful gaze. And then he let go.

Dean, who had watched uncomfortably, was obviously not the biggest fan of what he'd just seen. But he didn't comment on it or make a point to overemphasize his distaste.

Cas backed away from Alex, drew in a deep breath, then nodded to himself, maybe steeling himself. He turned and sat at Sam's side on the bed. Dean's scowling expression faded. "Cas, what are you doing?" he asked softly, and it was easy to hear how he wasn't entirely convinced about what was about to happen.

"What needs to be done," Castiel replied grimly, looking at Sam the whole time. He rolled his sleeve up to the forearm. "Now, Sam… this may hurt. And if I can't tell you again… I'm sorry I ever did this to you."

Sam stared at Cas without recognition, just fear, then flinched when Castiel put a hand on his head. Immediately, he seized and groaned in pain between gritted teeth as red light sprang to life beneath Cas's hand. He gasped and his eyes flew open—they were burning red. Up Cas's hand and arm, red veins of light traveled, then could be seen creeping up his neck until his eyes burned red, too. He began to tremble violently, but his hand remained on Sam's head until the red light sizzled out and died out. With a huge gasp of air, Sam looked around with wild, bright, sharp eyes and Cas's hand drew away as he stared at the ground in what appeared to be confusion.

"Sam?" Dean asked urgently, disbelief hurrying him to Sam's bedside.

"Dean?" Sam asked, sounding like himself again. He caught sight of his sister, too. She was standing near Cas. "Alex!" Then Sam recognized Cas and disbelief shook his features. "Cas? Cas, is that you?"

Cas looked at Sam in what appeared to be terror, then at Alex, who had crouched in front of him in concern and he abruptly shoved her away and stood, stumbling back to stand against the wall. "No—no!" he said, holding a hand out to anyone who would approach him. He looked from Alex, who was getting up off the floor where he'd made her tumble, to Sam in growing horror. "Why are you her?" he asked, then abruptly clutched two hands to his head and groaned in deep pain. "Oh—my head—" he managed.

Dean pulled Alex back from where she'd been—she didn't really protest. "Get away from him, he might hurt you," he said sharply, staring at the confounded, seemingly insane angel.

Still on the bed and in shock, Sam looked around with wide eyes at his brother and sister, then Cas, then back at his siblings again. "How is Cas here? I'm hallucinating again, aren't I?"

"No—you're not," Dean said, turning to his brother. "This is real, you're okay again."

Sam got out of bed slowly, like he was testing the water. But by all appearances, he was fine. He looked healthier, too, rested even. "So… Cas is alive?" he asked in dawning disbelief as he drifted over to join his siblings who all watched Cas. "And he just… just…"

"Took your crazy, yeah," Dean confirmed.

Castiel gritted his teeth and sank down against the wall to a crouch, his head in his hands. Alex couldn't just stand away and watch him in pain, she went to him and crouched with him, supporting him and helping hold him steady. Dean hovered close, ready to snatch her away at a second's notice. "Cas? Can you hear me?" she asked in a voice that was bare with worry.

Cas looked up into her face, appearing like a frightened, pained child. "No—no—I'm—" he suddenly got a look on his face like he was going to pass out. And then he did, his substantial and heavy weight proving too much for Alex to keep from falling over.

"Whoa whoa whoa—get him in the bed," Dean commanded, and he and Sam usurped Cas from Alex and carried him over and put him where Sam had just been. The angel was non-responsive, but when Dean checked his vitals, it wasn't bad news. Uncertain, Dean looked around for a second opinion. "He's breathing fine, so…"

"Well, doesn't look like he's going anywhere anytime soon…" said a low, smirking voice behind them. Meg had appeared out of thin air and was watching the scene with crossed arms and a lofty, smug expression.

Stunned, Sam looked immediately defensive. "What the hell is she doing here?!" he asked, looking absolutely shocked at how his siblings merely looked annoyed.

"Gosh, I've missed you too Sammy," Meg said sarcastically. "You never call me anymore."

"It's okay," Dean said flatly. "She's with us. I'll explain later."

"She's with you?" Sam asked, then scrunched his face up into a squint. "Are you sure I'm not still tripping?"

"You're fine, Sammy," Dean assured tiredly.

Alex looked ready to kill. "Dean, are we done with her or what?" she asked, eyes on the demon the entire time.

"Are you still on the murder thing, Ariel?" Meg asked, arching an eyebrow at Alex cooly. "Just what exactly does a girl gotta do to prove herself around here?"

"You can't prove yourself because you're a demon," Alex snapped, short on temper and upset to boot. It made her very short and sarcastic in the way she spoke. "You're evil. We kill evil. So… you see my dilemma."

Calm in the face of Alex's obvious duress, Meg's head canted to the side. "And do you see your dilemma?"

"What are you talking about?" Dean demanded, coming closer to stand at his sister's side. He could sense that she was becoming volatile and knew his presence would help her calm down a little.

Meg's smile grew fractionally wider. "Who's staying here with our little winged friend to see if he ever wakes up, hmm? You three? It could be awhile, trust me. And don't you have, gosh I dunno, a whole treasure-trove of Leviathans to go figure out how to kill?"

Alex's face twisted. "What, and you think we'd ask you to stay here with him…?" She gave a short barking laugh. "Wow, so tell me, what's living in delusion like, Meg?" Her smile fell into a severe expression. "I'm staying with him, don't be a moron."

It was Dean's turn to be shocked. "Whoa, no you're not," he said, giving his sister a look that said she had lost her mind.

"Well are you gonna stay instead?" Alex asked. Dean's expression said uh, no.

Sam, who had been at Cas's side and watching the angel in concern, looked over at his brother. "We can't just leave him here, Dean," he said, voice soft with worry. "Can we? Especially after he just, you know—fixed me. He didn't have to do that. But he did."

Dean was at a slight loss for words. "Well yeah, no but… but we can't bring him with us either—everything on the planet's out for us… word gets out, we can't protect him. It'd be safer to leave him here where he can lay low."

"…Alone?" Alex asked challengingly, like Dean was suggesting the absolutely unthinkable.

Dean's patience was wearing thin and he shot her an inconvenienced side eye. "Well judging by his current state of comatose, I don't think he'll exactly notice if he doesn't have the pleasure of your company!"

Alex matched his bad attitude blow for blow. "Demons were after Emmanuel—and if Crowley finds out the angel who screwed him over is still alive… Cas'll need someone here who can have his back, Dean."

"Which could be me," Meg volunteered casually.

"When Hell freezes over, Meg!" Alex retorted loudly, obviously close to losing her temper.

"Look—demons won't find him," Dean argued in growing impatience. "Every demon who knows about Cas is dead." Meaning the ones they'd ganked outside the hospital. For that statement, Dean got a very animated look from his sister that implied he was nuts—then she looked at Meg for indication and effect.

Seeing the look aimed at her, Meg's mouth drew into a thin line and she became glib. "If I was gonna blow the whistle, I would have done it awhile ago, kay?" She looked at the three hunters in turn and frowned defensively. "Do you three honestly have to look at me like that?" Her antagonizing smile returned. "I mean, if we had a contest to see who'd killed more innocent people, pretty sure you hypocrites would take home the giant stuffed teddy bear… so maybe we take it easy on the dirty looks, hm?"

Even though all three attempted not to react to what she said, all three did appear mildly startled then guilty over the accusation. "So, say we actually let you walk," Alex said lowly, her eyes sharp on Meg. "What's to stop you from telling Crowley where Castiel is in exchange for weaseling your way back into his good graces?"

Meg looked like she was offended, then she quickly became condescending. "Listen to yourself, pipsqueak. Crowley is the king of the double cross. How stupid do you think I am, huh?" She was getting mad. "We all hate Crowley and can agree staying out of his way is the dandiest option, right?" She paused, and was surprisingly earnest. "I'm here to help. I've decided to stick with the winning team which is clearly you three." Her glibness returned. "So sign me up for arts and crafts or put me on the drama team, I don't care what, I just wanna be in the gang."

"…Wow, this is almost funny," Dean commented, at the point where he was clearly internally laughing at Meg.

"We don't need or want your help," Alex reiterated icily. "Not now, not ever."

"That so?" Meg's eyes narrowed. "Not back at that convenience store where I saved Dean's ass? Not two minutes ago when I saved yours?" She looked at Alex pointedly.

She got three unfriendly stares in reply. "Do yourself a favor and walk away while we're all still in good moods," Dean said flatly.

Meg's mouth twitched as she struggled to control her anger. "Fine," she said, then disappeared into thin air.

The second she disappeared, Dean turned on his sister. "Okay, first things first. You are not staying here."

Alex was undeterred. "Dean. Someone has to, and it sure as hell wasn't gonna be Meg."

"Al, he'll be fine, we can tell the staff to call us if he wakes up!" Dean protested.

"No," Alex said firmly, obviously ready to tell Dean no all day long no matter what he said. "When he wakes up, I wanna be here. Not halfway across the country, not a thousand miles away."

Dean stared at her with a growing expression of disgusted confusion. "Okay—sorry, but what the hell? What is wrong with you?! Three seconds ago you hate the guy now you're gonna stay with him sight unseen?! You couldn't be bothered to be here for Sam, your brother, when he was going through his shit a few months ago but now that it's Cas you're gonna sing a different tune?"

Ouch.

"Dean," Sam chastised at the harsh comments. "Come on."

"Well it's true!" Dean defended before leveling their sister with a hard stare. "And what if he never wakes up, huh? How long you gonna wait around for the guy who ruined your life and just broke up with you?"

Alex appeared quietly hurt by that statement. "That's not a fair thing to say."

"Well it may not be fair but it sure ain't something I made up," Dean fired back.

Alex became surprisingly fireless. She instead seemed resolute and weary, resigned, sorrowful. "Cas is family," she said. "More than anything else, he's family. And we don't leave family behind. He's not about to become the exception to that rule." Her brothers were both silent—Dean with raised eyebrows, Sam with a somber, intent expression. "Yes, he's messed up. But what he just did, saving Sam, switching roles with him—he didn't have to do that. He could have walked away but he chose to stay and do the right thing." Emotion showed in her eyes and she chanced pleading with her oldest brother earnestly. "Dean, he has no one but us in the entire world. No one!" Dean's mild guilt was hard to see under the scowl on his face. Alex's mouth worked for a couple seconds. "Look. He's made it exceedingly clear to me that we're over, okay? I get that and it's not why I'm staying. God, you make me sound so pathetic." Her conflicted emotions were obvious. "I don't honestly want to stay right now, all right? I don't. I would rather try and pretend he never even existed at all, I would rather be as far away from him as possible. But we don't leave family behind, and… and even after everything, I still…" she trailed off and didn't finish her sentence even though everyone knew what she was going to say: love him. "So call me whatever names you want and insinuate whatever you want but… I can't let him be here alone—I won't abandon him, okay? And you're not gonna guilt me into changing my mind." She seemed genuine about the next part: "Sorry."

Dean shook his head, disapproving completely of the entire thing. "This is becoming such a damn pattern with you," he accused lowly, then got loud. "You can't just keep coming and going and coming and going! Either you're in or you're out, so which is it?"

"Dean, that's not fair to just put that on her—take it easy," Sam said, drawing an incredulous look from his brother.

"Why, Sam? She's miserable with him but she's like, signing up for it! It's absurd!"

Sam hesitated, obviously loathe to fight or argue, but choosing to stick up for his sister either way. "I mean aren't all three of us signing up for misery?" he asked cautiously. "Choosing to hunt, choosing to do what we do?"

"That's different," Dean retorted.

"Is it?" Sam challenged quietly.

"Yes!" Dean exclaimed, getting angry at his brother's quiet, reasonable questions. He took in a deep breath and tried again with his sister. This time, he tried the guilt trip. "Alex, come on. Don't stay here and mope around more, didn't you just get over that? We were a family again, we were us and now… you're walking out on that?"

Alex appeared disappointed. "Why do you have to put it like that?" she asked, obviously hurt and frustrated by the way he chose to phrase it. "I'm not walking out on you. I'm staying here to protect our friend."

Dean worked hard to keep in an insult in response to her statement and he shook his head, forced a cynical little smile. "You know what? I give up with this," he said brusquely. "Do what you want." He was pissed, and it was obvious. He was already heading out of the room. "Come on, Sam."

"Uh, gimme a couple minutes," Sam said, remaining where he was standing with an expression on his face that said he was anticipating getting some grief for his request.

For a second, it looked like Dean was going to turn around and start a fight with both his siblings. Instead though, he decided against it. "Yeah, whatever," he muttered, throwing another dirty look at his sister before leaving and letting the door slam.

The twins were left alone, both shaken up. The room was quiet, a reflection of their stunned states of mind. Sam looked at his sister plaintively, then suddenly smiled ever so slightly. "Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," she echoed, automatically returning his smile with a tiny, bittersweet one of her own.

Wordlessly, they hugged each other, then Sam drew back and studied her face closely. "You okay?"

Her eyes flickered over to the bed where Cas was unconscious. They both knew she wasn't. "I guess." She peered up into Sam's eyes tensely. "You?"

"I am now," he said, seeming to still be in disbelief about it. "Not even sleepy anymore, Cas must have angel-magicked me better or something." He looked at Cas's still form on the bed and he looked guilty, confused, sad. "Can't believe he's alive—where's he been this whole time?"

Alex was reluctant to recount the details. "Had amnesia. Dean can tell you all the horrible details later, okay?" she was trying to joke around, but it was obvious that she was having a tough time.

Sam nodded, obviously sensing there was some source of new pain for her there. "Okay."

Alex looked at Sam, barely able to believe he was just… okay again. Walking, talking, seemingly totally normal. "You must have been seeing some pretty trippy shit, huh?" she asked him soberly. "You kept yelling that I was the devil."

Sam's expression wavered, he looked mildly stunned, then aftaid. "Uh, yeah," he answered, eyes dodging hers. "Some… some pretty trippy shit."

Alex caught on to the fact that he was concealing something. "You okay, Sam?" she asked gently, forever worried about him but even more so right now after all the crazy crap since Lucifer and Michael and the end of the world.

"Fine," he said, attempting to shrug off whatever was bothering him. "I'm… I'm just glad it's over with. And I just hope he'll be okay."

They looked at Castiel in tandem, each of them quiet and concerned. "Me too," Alex said quietly, deeply confused and upset. She had her brother back, but now Cas was maybe never coming back. She didn't know how to feel. In all honesty, she felt like she was in physical shock.

"Hey, so once Dean cools down… I'll talk to him about—" Sam gestured vaguely and he sounded darker, "all that."

In the midst of such an emotionally devastating day, Alex's heart warmed at her brother's perceptive kindness. She hugged him again, really tightly. "Thanks Sammy," she said, fighting a lump in her throat. She shut her eyes briefly, afraid she'd really gone and done it this time with Dean. He had a limit, as all people did. Maybe she wouldn't be allowed back in after this, after 'walking out' as he put it yet again. But she couldn't let Cas be unprotected. She couldn't leave him without a guardian when he was completely vulnerable like this. Sam's big brother shape comforted her for a second and she let out a heavy breath of relief—Sam is okay. At least there's that. One crisis averted, one more to go. Well, who was she kidding. There was always going to be a hundred other crises to avert. She drew back and looked up at her just-slightly-older brother then tweaked his chin, drawing a little surprised smile from him. "Do me a favor and stay alive out there, okay?" she joked.

He returned the gesture, tweaking her chin playfully in response. "You too," he said, but then his smile faded in favor of true, slight worry. "You're sure about this?" he asked, second guessing leaving her there alone with a comatose angel. "I can stay too if you want. Dean's got other hunter friends he can call. If you want backup or just, you know, company…"

He was so sweet. "No," Alex said. She could hold her own, at least she thought she could. Maybe needed to prove to herself that she could. "You and Dean go save the world. I'll be here." He nodded, not appearing fully convinced that she was all right with being left alone. But he left and went with Dean.

Alex sat down on the hospital bed beside Cas and studied him a long time. What if he did never wake up? Anxiety rolled over her like high tide and she reached out to put one of her hands on his gingerly. So much uncertainty. So much.

Meanwhile
SucroCorp Headquarters
Tacoma, Washington

Edgar the Leviathan dragged a much smaller Leviathan into the CEO's office at SucroCorp. At the mahogany desk, a slyly smiling Dick Roman eyed the newcomer leeringly, watching how he stumbled to a stop when Edgar shoved him forward.

"Well hi there, fleck," Dick greeted enthusiastically, standing up and smiling patronizingly at Least—or as he was known now, Zip. The slight, young-looking Leviathan was a little out of breath, his clothing disheveled from what looked to have been a cute struggle he'd put up against Edgar's grip. "How's things?" Dick boomed, approaching the much weaker and less capable Leviathan at a leisurely stroll. "Gosh, it's been awhile," he commented smoothly, enjoying the clear anxiety that Zip was currently suffering from. "I can only imagine what you've been up to these past few months…" Zip's face showed a ripple of fear—then he raised his chin defiantly even as Dick smiled wider and circled closer, not unlike a shark. "I heard you've been getting cozy with someone I'm trying to get on the books with!" he exclaimed, then stopped in front of Zip, still not entirely sure how this little failure in front of him had reportedly managed to get an 'in' with the Winchester girl. "And here I am trying to figure out how a bottom-muncher like you pulled that miracle off. What's the secret? Care to share?"

Zip's jaw was tight and his voice was low. "You know what?" he asked softly. "Why don't you go ahead and kill me so I don't have to listen to one more second of your asinine, sophomoric shit?"

Dick grinned and patted Zip on the cheek twice. The other Leviathan flinched. "You'd like that wouldn't you, you sanctimonious little defect," Dick said pleasantly. "If I would just end your miserable half-existence. Do the entire universe a favor and clean up the embarrassingly pathetic little glitch in the system." He set the other Leviathan with a mocking smile and gaze. "What's it like, anyway? To be such a disgrace to your own kind, to be such a laughingstock no matter which realm you're in? Say, here's a winning idea! You should write a memoir—toilet paper is so passé these days—the pages of that volume would be just perfect to wipe crap all over. What do you think?"

Inexplicably, a haughty little smile played on Zip's plain, young face at the insult that had just been lobbed at him. "I think you made me, you complacent, primitive cretin, so what do all my so-called failings say about you?"

Abruptly overcome with age-old anger, Dick seized Zip by the front of his hooded sweatshirt and yanked him close, seething. "You slimy, mucky little stain… I would like nothing better than to stick you in my mouth and chew you until you're fishpaste," he breathed. Abruptly, he shoved and sent Zip hurtling back into an all-glass cabinet of awards on display. With a huge crash, his body shattered the glass and Dick was grinning ear to ear as Zip groaned on the ground. "But hey—what can ya do? Sometimes patience is a virtue, am I right?" He sauntered over and looked down at Zip with a lazy smile on his face. "You know how to get something I want, Zippity-doo-da. And generous guy that I am, I'm prepared to let you live if you help me get it."

Zip panted on the ground. He wasn't as strong or indestructible as other Leviathan, and he took longer to regenerate and heal himself. As such, he was incredibly vulnerable there on the ground. Even so, he defied Dick immediately. "Go ahead and eat me, troglodyte scum," he spat. "I will never tell you where she is."

"Gosh, that's cute," Dick commented, then abruptly darkened. "Get up you microscopic little jerk-off." Zip complied slowly, spite and contempt making his face hard. Dick grinned at him. "We've spent, what… all of your existence doing the same old song and dance. You run and hide, I try and wipe the blight called you off the map… and around and around we go. Well. I know you have to be tired of it, champ. All the other of our kind just as ready to see you gone as I am—gosh, it has to be just exhausting!" He chuckled contentedly, like it was a fond memory. Zip looked mildly haunted, even if he tried hard to hide it. "So, here are my terms," Dick said. "Bring her here or tell me where she is, I call of the dogs. Let you live in peace forever after. This is the part where most masterminds would offer a variety of ridiculous things to the pathetic chump they're trying to buy off—'you'll be my right-hand guy, you'll have power and influence'—you get the idea. That's how you know I'm serious about this." Dick waggled his eyebrows up once. "I'd never put the likes of you in a position like that and we both know it." At Zip's stony, defiant silence, Dick's smile crept a little wider. "It's a good offer. You're a smart guy." He paused. "Well… let's be realistic: marginally intelligent. I'm giving you a month, kiddo. You don't deliver, you're dinner."

"Fuck you," Zip retorted loudly, by all appearances already a thousand percent committed to doing the opposite of what Dick said.

With a raunchy laugh, Dick clapped Zip on the shoulder. "All right! Good talk!" he exclaimed. His smile dropped away and his hand gripped Zip's shoulder at bone-crushing strength. "Now get out of my sight you repulsive, infinitesimal little crease."

And instead of having him exit the way he'd come in (manhandled by Edgar), Dick picked Zip up with one hand and tossed him through the floor-to-ceiling glass window to fly out of the several-story building, sending him to what would have been his death had he been human. Instead, Zip was left to pick himself up off the ground and limp away wounded, scared, and upset. He had lost the Winchesters some time ago and had been trying to find them since. Now, he wasn't sure if he should find them because what if someone was following him? But the thought of her made him desperate. He had to warn her, he had to convince her to come away with him. He had to convince her that he was so in love with her that it hurt.

With grand speeches that would convince her of his feelings and cares, Zip set to work all over again to find the Winchester family.