Come Hell or High Water

by belladonna78

Sequel to "Between Heaven & Hell", and the 6th installment of my Supernatural fanfics. Check out my stories and AN for more info on where to start. This is Season 6 - Dean and Beth are trying to build a normal life with their child, but as always, things are never that simple. Dean/OC. Slightly AU but mostly follows the Supernatural show with my own spin. MA for smut. Please R&R!

8. You Can't Handle The Truth

I need another story
Something to get off my chest
My life gets kinda boring
Need something that I can confess
Til all my sleeves are stained red
From all the truth that I've said
Come by it honestly I swear
Thought you saw me wink, no
I've been on the brink

So tell me what you want to hear
Something that will light those ears
I'm sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away

---

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

---

2 weeks earlier
Battle Creek, MI

Dean's POV

There was nothing quite like being Zachariah'ed to the future to get us questioning our reality. Just like last time, this possible future had us reeling as much as the Croatoan future had. A world where hybrid creatures ruled? The only thing more troubling was the fact that once again, this possible future seemed to revolve around Beth's and my choice to leave Sam.

I was starting to think that God, if he was still alive, was trying to tell us something.

But I'm not that much of a believer.

I was still angry with Sam. Heck, I was furious. But Sophia had said the future they lived in had gone to Hell in a handbasket not just because we had chosen to retire from hunting, but also because of Sam's recklessness.

It was Sam and his strange behaviour we were focusing on for the moment.

I was terrified of the path we were on; we'd been down this path before with the secrecy and the lies when it came to Ruby. I knew he was hiding something, so did Beth, but what it was had us baffled. Quietly, one night while lying in bed, Beth had voiced what I'd been unable to say myself - that maybe Sam wasn't Sam at all, and if that were true, then where was our brother?

"I know what I saw, Bobby, it might have been months ago, but it's kind of hard to forget," I said into the speaker phone resting on the dining room table.

Beth was sitting nearby on her laptop, doing research. I was walking around the living room with Sophia's chubby little hands wrapped around my fingers while she squealed and giggled, toddling on two feet. She'd started pulling herself up on furniture a while ago, but her efforts at getting mobile on two legs were more determined of late; my back was starting to ache with the amount of bending over and walking with her that I'd been doing.

I was loving every minute.

"We tested him," Bobby replied. "Salt, silver - everything."

"He threw me to that vamp. I'm telling you, it's not my brother."

"Well, then he's something we ain't ever seen before," Bobby countered.

"Yeah," I sighed, kissing the top of Sophia's head before leaning her up against the coffee table, then standing to straighten my back out. "Or it's freakin' Lucifer."

I walked over to join Beth, placing my hands on her shoulders and rubbing at them, enjoying the way she leaned back into me with a smile.

"Did you call Cas?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah," Beth replied. "He's not answering, not even for me."

"Screw him," I muttered. "I can't wait anymore."

"Look, I get it," Bobby said. "You're rattled. You're right to be. But let's be professional-"

"Professional?" I scoffed. "He watched me get turned!"

"What you saw… are you sure that's what you saw?" Bobby asked.

"Damn it, Bobby, yes. I know," I said, dropping into the chair next to Beth.

"There's more, Bobby, it wasn't just Dean. I overheard Samuel accusing Sam of the same thing," she said quietly.

"Well that's not disturbing at all," Bobby replied.

"We need to do something about this," I said, "it's not just the vamp, okay? He's been different from the jump."

"All right," Bobby said. "I'm with you guys."

"Are you?"

"Yeah, I'll hit the books hard, Beth you do the same," Bobby replied. "Just don't shoot him yet, all right?"

"Shoot him? I'm not going near the guy!" I said. "I told you we're out, and I meant it."

"Well we need to watch him, Dean, we need facts. 'Cause if it ain't Sam… we don't know what it is. And if we're gonna put him down, we need to know how."

I sighed, shaking my head.

"Look, Bobby," Beth said, leaning forward. "Sam hasn't been near us since the vamps, and we haven't sought him out."

"If he turns up again we'll watch him," I added. "We need to figure out what's going on with him. But I don't want to leave Beth and the kids behind to do that."

"Yeah, all right, I hear ya," Bobby said. "Well if what you've been telling me is right, he'll show up again. He can't seem to stay away from you guys."

"Yeah, and why is that?" I questioned. "I mean, he clearly has no regard for our safety."

"I don't know, but you can bet your ass he will show again, and when he does - he's your case."

I hung up and looked at Beth, frowning.

"Yeah, and we need to solve it, fate of the frickin' world and all that!"

She sighed at me and reached out to squeeze my hand. "So, just another regular Thursday, right?"

---

Present Day
Calumet City, IL

Beth's POV

As we pulled up to the unassuming ranch style home in the suburbs, Dean killed the engine and looked past me to the front porch where Ben was waving at him from the steps. He smiled, and waved back at the boy and then looked at Sophia in the back seat, chewing on a doll as she spotted Ben and giggled.

Dean raised an eyebrow at me and sighed.

"Man this is gonna suck," he muttered and I chuckled, leaning over to kiss him.

"I know, but Lisa is family now, this is what family does for each other," I said.

Dean groaned and shook his head. "When the Hell did our life get so complicated?"

"Stop your whining," I laughed and opened the door, starting to climb out the door. "A death in the family is horrible, Lisa needs us."

"Yeah I know," he said, getting out and following me around to the sidewalk. "Still sucks."

He went about getting Sophia out of the car seat while I grabbed her diaper bag and a couple of toys to amuse her. I knew they wouldn't do much; Sophia was mobile after having taken her first steps a few months back so the whole house was on lockdown because of it.

Ben joined us and Dean ruffled his hair, his eyes taking on a nostalgic gaze. I could tell he was thinking about the adult version of the boy in front of us; it was hard to see anything else.

"How's it goin' in there?" Dean asked and Ben rolled his eyes.

"Well, there was a lot of crying this morning. It's a bit better now," he shrugged and Dean chuckled.

"Yeah… I hate the crying," he said, getting a nod from his son.

"It's okay, we'll take Sophia out for a walk, and escape the waterworks," Dean promised.

Inside, we found Lisa and her sister Olivia sitting in the living room, the latter sniffled and dabbed at her eyes and nose with kleenex. They both had the same light-toned skin, but Olivia's hair was dyed red, unlike Lisa's natural black. I suspected that if left to grow out, Olivia's hair would be identical to Lisa's - the same as Jane's had been when she wasn't bleaching it blonde.

"It's all my fault," Olivia sobbed and Lisa shook her head, patting her sister on the back.

A week earlier Lisa had received a call from her sister Jane, she'd been upset about a guy she'd gone on a date with, and how he hadn't called afterwards. Jane had been at work as a waitress at Biggerson's Restaurant and ended the call telling Lisa she just wanted the truth.

Reports after that told us that she shot and killed herself a short time later while she'd been on the phone to their other sister Olivia. Lisa had missed the return call.

"No, no… Liv you can't blame yourself," the dark haired sister said. "It could have just as easily been me, I'm sure you tried your best."

"Yeah, of course," Olivia nodded.

Lisa stood up and handed Olivia more kleenex, then led us into the kitchen.

"Is she gonna be okay?" I asked, looking back at the woman on the couch.

"Yeah," Lisa nodded. "I hope so. It sounds awful, but I'm glad it wasn't me who answered that call, I can't imagine." I nodded my agreement, also relieved that Lisa didn't have to carry that guilt.

"So uh, what can we do?" Dean asked, moving to lean against one of the benches. "You want us to take Ben home? You need us to stay?"

"I don't know," Lisa said with a shake of her head. "But something feels… off… I just, keep waiting for her to come through the door, you know?" She sniffed back tears and I nodded, wrapping my arms around her and rubbing her back.

"I just want to make sure she… crosses over, or whatever," Lisa sniffed, pulling back. "You guys know more about this stuff than me."

I squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Yeah of course," I said, seeing Dean's face pinch a little at the request. "We can do that."

"Thank you."

Our experience told us that Jane was probably well on her way to whatever came next, a reaper would have come to collect her upon the moment of death. If there was nothing holding Lisa's sister to the earthly plane, she was probably long gone.

"Why don't you take Ben and Sophia for ice cream?" I asked. "I can have a chat to Olivia about whether she's seen or felt anything since then… and Dean can check the house."

Lisa nodded and smiled in relief.

"It would be really good to get out of here for an while, I'm cooked," she said. I could see the fatigue in her eyes from having driven the couple of hours interstate to console her sister, as well as having to deal with her own grief in the process.

It wasn't long before Lisa was gone with the kids, and I stood in the kitchen once again with Dean while he made coffee for the three of us left in the house.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered again and I chuckled, sliding in behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist.

"Let's just humour Lisa, set their minds at peace, and then we can get out of here," I said, kissing the back of his neck.

Dean sighed and leaned back into me, nodding.

"Yeah okay," he agreed. "But we're getting a motel for the night, this place is giving me the creeps."

I laughed and cheekily slipped my hand down to rest against the front of his pants, nothing too tantalising, just a light promise of what could come after.

"That's a good idea," I said. "I owe you a massage."

Dean groaned softly and turned to kiss my cheek.

"I will take anything you want to do to me right now, sugarpie," he said, his eyes darkening. His libido had been insatiable since the vampire attack, and to be perfectly honest, so had mine. It was as if we were drowning all our fears and worries into the physical act of loving one another until our bodies were exhausted and we fell into a deep sleep, wrapped around each other.

A knock at the door sounded and we froze, looking toward the foyer.

"Expecting anyone?" Dean asked.

I shrugged and walked over to the door, pulled it open, and then gasped.

"Sam?!" I asked, seeing our little brother standing on the front stoop in a blue suit with a pin striped tie and white shirt. "What are you doing here?"

He smirked and put the FBI badge that he'd been holding back into his pocket, nodding at Dean when he walked up behind me.

"I could ask you guys the same thing. You working the case?"

He looked questioningly at the casual clothes we were wearing, taking in Dean's jeans, blue shirt and light-weight green coat, along with my similar attire of red flannel shirt and black jacket.

"What case?" Dean asked, confused, sipping from his cup of coffee, holding the other one out to me.

"The deceased was Lisa's sister," I said to Sam, accepting the coffee. "This was a suicide."

Sam scoffed and shook his head.

"No, there's something more to it than that," he said. "She's the fourth suicide in the last couple of weeks."

"Really?" Dean asked, looking at me and frowning.

"Really," Sam replied. "I'm here to talk to the sister, uh, Olivia?"

"And ask her what exactly?" Dean said, frowning. "She's pretty upset."

"Yeah well, I still have a few questions," he pushed.

I looked at Dean and could see him thinking over what Bobby had said to us a few weeks earlier, how we should observe Sam when we could. Now seemed as good a time as any. I shrugged and waved him in, sending a warning glance to Dean.

"I'll get her coffee," I said, and moved to the kitchen. Dean and Sam went straight into the living room and I could hear Dean introduce Sam to the woman.

I cut back toward the dining area through a door from the kitchen, and smiled warmly at Lisa's sister while she talked to Sam. Dean joined me at the entrance, looking at a pin board of different photos, receipts, tickets and schedules hanging on the wall behind me.

"I don't understand," Olivia said as I handed her the coffee and she gave me a grateful smile, sitting at the dining table, picking up a teddy bear that had been Jane's.

"Why would a federal investigator be interested in a suicide?"

Sam took a breath and shrugged. "Well, um… it's a new, more caring administration," he lied and Dean snorted as he dropped his cup in the sink and then leaned against the open doorway.

"Well, I already told the cops. Jane was having a really bad day, so I-I did what any sister would do," she said, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. I saw Sam's face twitch at the motion and looked curiously at Olivia.

"I tried…to cheer her up, you know? Told her to hang in there."

Sam looked skeptically at her, and Olivia dropped her eyes down to the teddy bear in her hands, and her hands squeezed it tight.

"You know what a 'tell' is?" Sam asked.

Olivia looked up at him, her brow furrowing. "Excuse me?"

"It's a poker term," Sam continued, "for when you're bluffing. Like what you just did with your hair."

Dean's eyes widened behind Sam and I glanced between him and the girl, frowning.

"What are you trying to say?" Olivia asked, looking uncomfortable.

"You're lying," Sam accused.

My head shot up at Sam, shocked at his audacity.

"What?!" Olivia exclaimed.

Behind Olivia, Dean's face showed genuine surprise at the line of questioning. His eyes narrowed warningly at his brother, but Sam glared at him as if to say 'wait and see'.

"Tell me what you did to your sister," Sam said firmly, his eyes cold and unwavering.

I held my breath. I didn't like what he was implying with Olivia, she was Lisa's family! I resisted the urge to jump in as the woman looked to me for reassurance.

I smiled and reached out to squeeze her hand as it rested on the table.

"It's okay Olivia," I said softly. "I'm sure the Agent here has a good reason to ask."

Olivia stared at Sam, and he barely moved a muscle, waiting to see if she was going to break. She hesitated and then nodded.

"Okay, you're right," she confessed. "I was lying."

Sam raised his chin, jaw set firm as he looked at Dean, vindicated.

"I wanted to tell her, 'I love you. I'm here for you.' Oh, but what came out was… 'You're a burden. Just kill yourself.'" She said, the last few words nothing more than a whisper as she started to sob again.

Sam was eating the confession up, a slight uptick to his mouth as he watched her. I gaped, turning to Dean who was watching his brother curiously,

"Who says that?!" Olivia asked, turning to me and grasping at my hand. "I-I-I-I-I just couldn't stop! Please don't tell Lisa! I'm a horrible, terrible sister!"

The woman jumped up from the couch and ran out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom.

"Uhhh.." Dean stammered, looking confused. "What just happened?"

"I told you," Sam said with a satisfied expression. "This is our kind of case."

---

Sam had left when Olivia returned to tell us she was going out to get some air.

We took the opportunity to thoroughly go through the house.

"This is crazy," Dean muttered as we started going through couch cushions, cabinets and checking vents.

"Maybe," I said, reaching up and feeling on top of the fridge. "But we've had stranger stuff happen. I mean, Lisa did say Olivia wasn't acting herself."

"I'm not talking about Olivia," Dean responded as we moved down the hallway toward the bedrooms. "Something is clearly wrong there, and we need to get to the bottom of it. No one just sprouts stuff like that, least of all Lisa's family - they're freaking saints."

I chuckled as we moved into Olivia's room and looked through the closet, bedding and anywhere else we might find something strange.

"So what are you talking about?" I asked, waving the EMF meter around and getting nothing.

"Sam!" He said, throwing his arm in the air. "What was with the Robocop questioning in there?"

"Yeah," I agreed, turning to frown at him. "That was odd."

"Odd doesn't even begin to describe it, I mean, I've gone hard on people before but calling someone out on their tell? Asking them what they did to their sister - their dead, suicided sister?"

I smiled, moved to place my hands on his chest, and he paused to look at me.

"Do you think maybe you're taking it a little too close to heart, given we're dealing with Olivia…and Sam?"

Dean sighed and nodded, his hands reaching out to grip my hips.

"Yeah maybe," he admitted. "But you can't tell me I'm wrong."

"No," I agreed. "No, there's definitely something we need to keep an eye on. He almost looked like he enjoyed getting that confession."

Once done, having found nothing, we decided to join Lisa and the kids, and were leaving the house, when Sam climbed out of his car where he'd been waiting for us across the street.

"Thought you'd left," Dean said, cutting across to him.

"See anything in the house?" Sam asked, ignoring the comment.

Dean shrugged and leaned against his car. "No hex bags, no sulfur, no EMF," he replied.

"I found a tuba and an issue of Crochet Today in her room," I said with a shrug. Who really played tuba?

"So she was already kind of suicidal?" Sam asked.

"She had her moments," I replied. "But she's been pretty good lately." Lisa had filled me in before she'd left to come here.

"So, what? Olivia's Taxicab Confession sent her over the edge?" Sam asked.

"Question is, what made Olivia open her big fat mouth in the first place?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "That is the question."

---

The Next Day

Beth's POV

We had settled into the motel overnight, taking a family room with a separate bedroom area so that we had a bit of privacy. It was for a dual purpose - so we could indulge our raging libidos; but also because between the two of us we weren't exactly the world's greatest sleepers.

We both suffered nightmares to varying degrees, and while a simpler life and some time had helped lessen them, they still appeared at least every few nights. Simply put, Sophia slept better in her own room.

Last night had been a good night overall - so we were refreshed this morning and ready to start looking into whatever was going on with Olivia. Ben had already called twice asking when we were going to arrive at his aunt's house, to save him from what he coined "the cryfest".

I was feeding Sophia a combination of cheerios and yoghurt for breakfast, while Dean paced next to the table where we had Bobby on loudspeaker.

"I'm telling you, I've been looking," Bobby was saying. "Nothing fits."

"Yeah, well, my skin crawls just being in the same room with him," Dean said, stopping in front of the phone. "Why don't you look that up."

"I'm working on it."

"I'm not sure we can do this Bobby," Dean continued. "You should have seen him yesterday, the way he spoke to Olivia? It was cruel. You gotta figure out what the Hell he is and fast."

Bobby sighed on the other end of the phone and I tossed Dean a sympathetic look.

"I'm trying," Bobby said. "But, guys, there's a worst-case scenario…"

"What? Satan's our co-pilot?" Dean asked.

"Well, that'd be the other worst case." Bobby replied.

"Well, then what?"

"Maybe it's just… Sam."

The implications of what the older man was telling us hung heavily on the air. I sighed, and shrugged as Dean threw me a questioning look.

"Well that's comforting," I said quietly, listening to Bobby sigh in response.

"Right, well, it looks like we're stuck working this case with him," Dean cut in. "So… you got a day, Bobby, and then I'm handling this."

He hung up the phone and then took a sip from a beer that was dangling from his hand and I frowned. It was awfully early in the morning to be drinking.

"Hey," I said, getting up and wiping Sophia's face, letting her down on the floor to crawl around. I straightened, and walked over to Dean, placing my hands against his shoulders.

"I know you're worried, but… it's a little early isn't it?" I asked. My eyes dropped to the beer and he sighed, nodding.

"Yeah I know," he muttered. I took the bottle from him and dropped it in the trash can by the kitchenette. While we'd never shied away from drinking when John had been alive, or after for that matter, the last year or so we'd slowed down considerably when there was our family to consider. It was not normal for Dean to be drinking first thing in the morning - which told me volumes.

"Why don't we go get a coffee?"

Dean nodded, and then smiled down at Sophia as she teetered toward him. He scooped her up and was tossing her in the air when someone let themselves in the open door.

"Sam?" Dean asked, frowning at him as he caught Sophia in his arms and she grabbed onto his chin with a laugh. "Don't knock or anything!"

Sam looked at the entry and back at his brother, and shrugged. "Door was open."

I made a mental note to be more careful about slipping the chain whenever I returned from going out.

"There was another one," Sam said, stepping further into the room. I closed the door and frowned at him; he was already dressed in his suit and ready to take on the day.

"Another death? Where?" I asked, rounding Sam to look at him.

"Dentist drilled a guy to death," he replied, the words hanging between us.

"You mean the… non-sexy kind of drilling, right?" Dean asked with a grin. Sophia looked at her father's face, saw the grin, and giggled. It made me smile and shake my head.

"Fifty bucks says he's mixed up in all the crazy," Sam said.

"Okay, then let's go talk to him," I said, getting a short nod in reply.

Sam had already turned back to the door and was reaching for the handle when Dean's face flashed with panic. He cuddled Sophia to his chest, and tossed me a strange look.

"Okay. Uh… why don't you go ahead?" Dean replied, causing both Sam and I to look curiously at him. "I'll catch up. I mean, I'm on baby duty. Sophia and I'll just stay here and do a little research."

Sam scoffed.

"Baby duty?"

"That's what I said," Dean replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "We got to know what we're up against, right?"

Sam looked questioning at me and I shrugged, still thrown by Dean volunteering to do research over going to an interview.

"Let me get my suit on," I said, crossing the room to pull a pants and jacket combination out of the closet.

"I'll wait outside," Sam shrugged, and left the room.

"What the Hell was that Dean?" I asked as I slipped into the pants, a white blouse and buttoned it up at the front.

"I don't know! I panicked," he said, rocking Sophia in his arms. "And you should stay here too!"

I scoffed, shrugged into the jacket and grabbed my FBI badge out of my bag.

"Don't be ridiculous," I said, crossing and placing a kiss on both his, then Sophia's cheeks. "Someone needs to watch Sam, right?"

"I guess," he replied, his face falling.

"I'll be fine," I said. "You stay here with Sophia, or take her to see Ben, he's begging to be rescued anyway. We will look into the dentist and I'll fill you in when we're done, okay?"

"Be careful," Dean said, his eyes looking troubled.

"Seriously, what has gotten into you?" I asked, shaking my head and kissing his lips quickly. "No more alcohol before noon, okay?! I'll be back soon."

---

Police Station

Beth's POV

Sam had taken the lead on questioning the killer's colleague. We were at the police station, and when we'd been informed that the dentist had killed himself in his cell hours earlier, we'd managed to get some time outside with the only other living witness to the event that had occurred first thing this morning.

Susan was the dental hygienist's name and she was a young, sensible looking girl with long brown hair pulled back in a bun at the base of her neck, dressed in pink scrubs over which she was wearing a powder blue lightweight jacket. She wore white nurse's shoes on her feet; I was staring at what appeared to be a spot of blood on the outer edge of one of them.

"That's right," she was saying to Sam who had his notepad open and a pen poised.

"Ted and Paul were friends. They were laughing when I left the room, and then when I came back I heard Ted telling Paul about how he'd…he'd…"

She hesitated, looking up at Sam and whatever she saw in his face made her frown slightly then turn to me for understanding.

"It's okay," I said comfortingly, "just tell us what you heard."

"He said he'd slept with Paul's daughter!" Susan's facial expression was akin to horror, Sam seemed to either miss this or not care.

"And Dr. Conley didn't approve?" He asked.

Susan looked at him with an open mouth.

"She's fifteen! He did it at a sleepover of his own daughter's."

"Ah," Sam said, nodding and writing that down. I looked at him and raised my eyebrow, reaching out to pat Susan on the shoulder.

"And that's when the Doctor attacked the victim?" I asked.

Susan nodded. "He didn't even hesitate. I saw the whole thing, he just… shoved the drill straight into Ted's throat!"

"That must have been awful," I said softly and she turned watery eyes to me.

"Paul is a good man, his whole family are pillars of the community. I just, I can't even believe he's gone like that."

We'd excused ourselves and started to walk back to the car.

"It's probably a good thing Dean wasn't here to hear that," I commented, as we crossed the road.

"What? Why?" Sam asked.

"Well, you know, he's different now Sam. Since Sophia was born," I said. "Surely you've noticed?"

Sam frowned and stopped by the driver seat of his car, leaning on the roof with his forearms and shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, maybe, I guess," he replied. "But he can't afford to be like that Beth, not if he's hunting."

"It's not really something you can turn off," I said, watching him closely.

Sam smirked and shook his head.

"Well, you gotta. Feelings, anger like that, it's distracting, it'll just get you both killed - Sophia and Ben too."

I stared at him, a little shocked at Sam Winchester - the one who had always snarked at Dean and I about burying our feelings and never talking - lecturing me on getting soft.

When I didn't respond, Sam raised an eyebrow at me, as if to say he was right and he knew it. He then got into the car and started it, barely waiting for me to join him before peeling away from the curb.

I took out my phone as Sam pointed the car toward the morgue, and I dialed Dean.

---

Dean's POV

Sophia and I were halfway around the block when the phone started ringing. We had already eaten our morning snack, had some water, and fed the ducks at the pond across the road, and now I was simply restless.

"Hey," I said when I saw it was Beth, "anything from Marathon Man?"

"Not exactly," she replied, "he hung himself in his cell before we got there."

"Yikes," I said with a grimace.

"He was definitely involved though," she said, "we got the scoop from his assistant."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Let's just say, the stuff his patient was confessing to - we'd have murdered him too," she continued. I paused and thought about what might possibly drive me to stick a drill down someone's throat, but there were too many options. Most of the motives came back to my family, and I glanced down at Sophia's dark curls as she sat in the stroller, watching the scenery around us as we walked. I knew without a doubt that any harm to her or Ben, or Beth and Lisa would drive me to murder in an instant.

"So," I said, clearing my throat and pushing those morose thoughts out of my head. "Root canal and Russian roulette - both of 'em, like they were cursed, right? I mean, people are just compelled to puke the truth? And when the other person hears it they lose it?"

I felt bad for Olivia, she didn't deserve to have Jane's death hanging over her head. What was worse, she didn't understand the supernatural world like we did, even Lisa having even a tiny little glimpse of it was enough that we could explain this to her - but Olivia? She'd freak, and because of that, she'd instead have to live with the guilt for the rest of her life, thinking she'd caused her sister's suicide.

"Well, getting hit with the ugly truth, making you go postal? I'd call that a curse," Beth said. "What are you up to now?"

"Uh, nothing much, what do you need?" I asked.

"We're gonna check the morgue," she replied. "Think maybe you can check out the dentist's office without getting your daughter arrested?"

I chuckled and felt a surge of adrenaline rush through me at the challenge.

"We're on it," I replied with a grin.

Ten minutes later I had Sophia strapped to the front of me in the baby carrier. It was an inward facing one, so like giving her a big hug, while having my hands free - she was watching my face with those big gorgeous green eyes and I smiled, kissed her forehead.

"Let's go baby girl, it's 'take your daughter to work' day," I said, and I walked us down the street toward the dental office. It was still open at the front of the building, so I walked us through to the elevators and took us up to the second floor. No one was around, which was a relief, it would be hard to explain why I had a baby strapped to the front of me at a crime scene, Federal badge or not.

The treatment room was unlocked. I swung the door open and slipped us under the tape when no one was looking, entering quickly into the office.

I looked down at the baby in front of me and saw that she'd drifted off to sleep somewhere between the foyer and here, and that was a bit of a relief, she'd be out for at least an hour.

Given what had occurred in the room we were standing, there was remarkably less blood than I expected. Most of it was contained to the dental chair and immediate surroundings of the table, stainless steel tray with all its implements, the little sink and lamp.

I glanced around the walls and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Behind me was a door leading into a room with a desk and filing cabinets, clearly the dentists office. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, apart from a brass saxophone displayed on a cabinet behind the desk. There were photos of someone playing a couple of different brass instruments on the wall, and I gazed curiously at the sax.

Jane had a tuba in her room. That seemed out of place too.

I turned and looked over the desk, there was a steel box of saxophone reeds next to a receipt for Harry's House of Horns. My mind flashed back to the pin board at Olivia and Jane's house; I'd seen a sticker with the same logo. Same store.

On the dentist's calendar there was an appointment for the shop and a lesson marked for yesterday.

"Huh," I said, folding the receipt up and putting it in my pocket. I rubbed Sophia softly on the back and smiled. "We got a lead baby girl."

I was still pushing Sophia around in the stroller, with her fast asleep, when I hit up Harry's House of Horns. I parked the stroller inside the door to the brass riddled shop and then turned to smile at the owner, a little guy with a comb-over, thick-rimmed glasses wearing a puke-yellow knitted cardigan. I made an excuse about meeting my wife while being off-duty, and he smiled, paying attention as I flashed him my badge and then presented the photos I'd gotten out of the doctor's office and of Jane from the car.

"Jane and Dr Conley," the man said with a gasp. "I heard. Awful. What do I have to do with it?"

"Honestly?" I asked. "You're the only thing they have in common. Did they say anything to you before they…uh?"

Harry shook his head at me sadly. "Sorry. Not really."

"What about anyone else, anyone you know who has passed away recently?" I asked.

Harry looked thoughtful, and then nodded. "Yeah, there was Terry O'Ryan a few weeks back, he committed suicide too, like Jane."

"Right," I nodded. "And he was a customer?"

"One of my best," Harry nodded. "You think there's a connection?"

"Probably not, I was just fishing," I said, shrugging and trying not to concern the man. There was definitely some kind of connection, I was sure of it, but what it was I had no idea and would need to investigate a little deeper.

I turned to collect Sophia and leave while Harry moved back behind his counter.

"Hey, by the way, how 'bout my horn?" He asked.

I paused and looked back at him. "Sorry?"

"Stolen horn?" He asked, as if I should know about it.

"Right," I said with a smile. "We're - we're working on it."

"Well I hope so," Harry replied. "Thing's one-in-a-billion."

I turned slowly back to him; now I was curious.

"What makes it one-in-a-billion again?" I asked.

"It's a museum piece," the man said, flipping through a folder in front of him. "And near as anyone can tell, about a thousand years old." He spun the binder around to face me and I walked back to the counter. Harry was showing me a photo of a strangely shaped horn that looked like it belonged as an extra in a Christmas nativity.

It was large, curved down and then up like you might see on angel ornaments or statues where they were flying around trumpeting about the birth of Christ or whatever it was that angels did.

"Where's it from?" I asked.

"No one knows," Harry replied.

"When did it get swiped?"

"About… two weeks ago, around the time Terry died," Harry said with a wide-eyed glance at me. I sucked in a breath and flashed him a tight-lipped smile.

Of course it was.

I wondered if this was one of Cas's missing angel weapons - that might explain the sudden body count!

---

Olivia's House

Dean's POV

I'd decided to call in on Ben and see how he was holding up, he looked relieved when Sophia and I were let into the living room. Lisa and Olivia were at the dining table with the funeral director, discussing the burial that was in a few days. I grimaced, looking at Lisa who rolled her eyes like she wanted to shoot herself.

"How's it going?" I asked as she stole a moment with me in the kitchen.

"Torture," she said, sighing loudly. "Olivia is totally freaking out, like, she wants to spend five thousand dollars on a coffin!"

"Coffin?" I asked, frowning. "Why don't you just cremate?"

"We are!" She said, looking at me urgently. "I'm not spending five thousand dollars on something that's fire tinder, Dean. I don't care how guilty she feels."

I sighed and patted her on the shoulder, frowning when I realised how tense she was.

"Dude you gotta relax a little," I said, moving my hands to knead the back of her neck. "You're worse than Beth."

"Arghhhh," Lisa groaned, leaning back into me. "Four more days and this'll be over."

I rubbed her muscles a little more, contemplating what she was going through, and she took a couple of deep breaths, then smiled back at me.

"Thanks," she said, stepping away. "So you're sure, there's nothing weird going on here?"

"Well, there's something odd going on," I said, "but Jane's not around, if that's what you're asking."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, it's not really related to Jane, as such," I said. "But we need to stick around a few days, look into something else," I lied.

Lisa frowned and nodded, glancing through the open doorway into the dining room where Olivia was still talking to the man seated with her.

"I better get back to it, can you take Ben out? He's bored out of his mind," she asked.

"Yeah of course, no problem," I nodded. She smiled her appreciation and then took the coffee she'd been making for Olivia back into the room, setting it in front of her sister. I watched for a moment and then made my way back to Ben and Sophia at the other end of the room.

"Hey buddy, surviving?" I asked as Ben came and flopped down on the sofa next to me.

"Dean, you gotta get me out of here," he groaned, and I looked sympathetically at the boy, nodding my head.

"Sure, we can do that," I agreed. "Let's grab lunch."

"Burgers?" Ben asked hopefully.

"Of course!" I said, as if there was any other option. "Hey can you watch Sophia for a minute while I make a call?"

"Sure," Ben shrugged, looking over at his sister where she was playing with some blocks that we'd put in front of her.

I patted him on the shoulder and stepped outside, I needed to get away from all the people in the house. I walked down the side drive, finding myself near the garage. I popped the hood to Lisa's car and started to check the oil, trying to remember the last time I'd done a service on it. Working on the cars relaxed me, I could use that.

I sighed, leaning over the hood and then nodded to myself.

"Okay, here goes nothing," I muttered to myself. "Castiel? Hello?" I paused for a moment, eyes turned upwards.

"Possible nuke loose down here," I continued, "angelic weapon… kinda your department? You hear that, Cas?"

I had no idea if the angel was listening, he'd certainly been MIA enough recently. I'd pulled my flask out of my pocket and was taking a sip of whiskey when I heard Cas behind me.

"Hello, Dean."

I scoffed, turning to face him. "Are you kidding me? Beth and I have been on red alert about Sam for weeks, and you come for some stupid horn?"

"You asked me to be here, and I came," Cas said in his infuriatingly calm manner.

"I- Beth has been asking you to be here for days, you dick!"

"I didn't come about Sam because I have nothing to offer about Sam," Cas replied, his eyes narrowing slightly at the insult.

"Well, that's great," I said, throwing my hand up in the air. "Because for all we know, he's just gift wrap for Lucifer."

Cas's expression was contemplative and he tipped his head to the side.

"No," he said. "He's not Lucifer."

The angel walked up to me and took the flask out of my hand, taking a long drink from it himself. I watched curiously as he handed it back to me.

"And how do you know that?" I asked.

"If Lucifer escaped the cage, we'd feel it," Cas replied.

I looked at him and I saw the resoluteness in his eyes. He was certain it wasn't Lucifer. Part of me felt relief at the assessment, but simultaneously, if the fallen angel wasn't to blame then what the Hell was going on with Sam?

"What is wrong with him?" I asked.

Cas shrugged. "I don't know, Dean. I'm sorry."

I felt a sadness wash over me. This was not the same angel who had befriended Beth and I during the last year or so. He was different, as if he'd been reset to factory settings.

"What happened to you Cas?" I asked, pursing my lips together. "You used to be human, or at least like one."

Cas sucked in a breath and I wanted to believe he was looking at me with regret, but I wasn't completely sure.

"I am at war, Dean," he said monochromatically. "Certain… regrettable things are now required of me."

I wondered what he meant. I did know that it had been a while since the angels had come calling on Beth to use her as a vessel in this so-called war and I was grateful for that. I was still unhappy about the risk she'd taken in helping Ezekiel to fight the incursion into Heaven by demons.

"And Gabriel's horn of truth?" I asked, thinking about the research I'd done before coming to Olivia's. "That's a real thing?"

"You've seen it?" Cas asked, looking at me in surprise.

"I think it's in town," I said with a nod. "Something's forcing people to-"

There was a sound of wings and then he disappeared.

Right in front of me.

Gone, vanished, no warning.

"Oh, well, you're welcome!" I called out to the empty driveway.

I sighed, looking back at Lisa's car and sipping from the flask again.

Wings sounded and Cas was in front of me again.

"It isn't the horn of truth," he announced.

My head was reeling.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, frustrated. "You were gone like two seconds, where did you even look?"

"Everywhere," he replied.

I sighed, shaking my head. "Right, well, nice seeing you anyway," I said, shrugging and closing the hood to Lisa's car.

"Dean."

"What?" I asked shortly.

"About your brother," Cas said, and I thought I heard a touch of the old Cas in the way he spoke. I looked up at him, hopeful. "I…I don't know what's wrong with him, but I do want to help. I'll make inquiries."

I nodded, and he disappeared.

"Yeah, thanks," I said to the thin air in front of me, taking one last sip of whiskey before I capped the flask and slipped it back into my jacket.

It was time to get the kids out of the house for a bit. Burgers were sounding more and more appealing.

---

Morgue

Beth's POV

The coroner seemed a bit confused by our request to see the dentist's body, but had not outright refused. We stood at the gurney, seeing nothing particularly out of the ordinary - for all intents and purposes this was just a regular, straight down the line suicide following a very disturbing murder.

Sam nodded and then looked up at the tall slim man in front of us, his hair was grey and thin on top, a pair of nondescript spectacles perched on his nose over disinterested eyes.

"Now, we'd actually like to see all the suicides that came in this week, not just Dr Giggles," Sam said. "Is that gonna be a problem?"

The coroner hesitated, glancing between the two of us.

"Well," he said, "they're - they're already gone."

"As in transferred?" I asked, and the coroner shook his head.

"Yeah, not exactly," he replied cagily. Sam's eyes narrowed at the man and he let out an almost imperceptible sigh of frustration.

"Would you like to tell us what's going on here, or should I have a little chat with your supervisor?" Sam asked coldly.

The coroner leaned closer to both of us, looking around the room as if we might be overheard, and then whispered, "they're gone."

"As in… gone, gone?" I asked.

The man nodded at me and I looked up at Sam who was frowning, clearly as perplexed as I was.

---

Bar Cafe

Dean's POV

It's not the kind of place I would have ordinarily brought kids to, but it was serving alcohol in the middle of the day, and while I'd told Beth I'd slow down, I also wasn't coping with the situation we found ourselves in.

So we ordered burgers, fries, and of course pie from the small kitchen in the back of the cozy little bar, and I tucked us away in a corner booth. The place was quiet at least, other than a TV hanging over the bar where a talk back news show was broadcasting with a Sarah Palin looking reporter droning on about "predatory prices" for consumers and "facts" and "truth" we all needed to be aware of for the good of the nation.

I'd left Ben to feed Sophia some of the apple pie we'd just been served and approached the bartender, asked and received a shot of whiskey which I looked down at with an element of apprehension, then knocked back.

"Another one?" She asked, her dark eyes flicking between me and the kids, curious. She had a kind face, much like most bartenders when they were good at what they did - someone with an open expression, ready smile, and willingness to let you cry on their shoulder.

I shook my head, pushing the shot glass away from me.

"Uh, no, thanks. I've got the kids," I said. "And I'm meant to be getting back to work."

She smiled at me and then my phone rang, it was Sam. I answered, turning to watch Ben and Sophia while we spoke.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"All the bodies are gone," Sam replied.

"What do you mean? They just vanished?"

"That's what the coroner said," he answered and I could hear Beth speaking in the background to someone. "But we got a lead. One of the missing bodies, she died a whole week before everybody else."

"Suicide?" I asked.

"Reported as a car accident, but no reason it couldn't have been."

"So then that would make her our patient zero, right?"

"I'm thinking maybe whatever got this whole curse thing rolling started with her," Sam said. "We're at her place now, corner of Burnham and 159th."

"Yeah, okay," I replied, nodding. "Well I got the kids with me, I'll drop them at Lisa's and come join you."

"Really Dean?"

"What?"

"We're working a case, and you haven't made other arrangements yet?"

"What the hell? You have Beth with you Sam, and we have other responsibilities you know. Lisa was busy, organising her sister's damn funeral. I can't just dump them on her."

There was silence on the other end and I could hear Beth talking in the background and then she was on the phone.

"Hey," she said. "Everything okay?"

"No, everything isn't okay, your brother is a dick," I muttered, and was warmed when she laughed.

"Oh so now he's my brother?"

"Yeah well, if the shoe fits," I said with a chuckle.

"I got the kids," I continued, "but I can ask Lisa if she's ready to take them if you need me over there."

"We can handle this, if you need some more time," she replied.

"Uh, yeah, let us finish up lunch and then I'll get back to you okay?" I asked.

I was starting to feel her absence like a missing piece of myself, and that alone wanted me to pack up the kids and go join them. But I couldn't do that while we were questioning the friends and family of dead people.

"Okay, I'll talk to you soon."

There wasn't an ounce of irritation or bitterness in her voice at all; that alone made me think of how lucky I had it - she got me, all of me, and when I needed the space to work through whatever I was holding, she let me.

I hung up - noting that Ben and Sophia were doing fine for a moment without me, and sighed heavily, looking up at the bartender.

"You know what? I will have that other one," I said, and she grabbed the bottle, walking over to me.

"Thought you had to get back to work," she commented.

I rubbed my eyes, shaking my head. I felt like shit. The ramifications of this case, the little jump into the future we'd experienced a few weeks back, and whatever was going on with Sam were weighing heavily on me.

"I am… working up to it," I said, shaking my head at her.

"You okay?"

"No, not really," I said softly, listening to the reporter on the TV ramble on about the truth.

"I talked to local experts to bring you the truth."

"On me," the woman in front of me said as she poured me the drink I'd asked for. "Anything else I can get you?"

I shook my head, glancing back at the kids one more time before looking down into the whiskey in front of me.

"I'd just like the freakin' truth," I muttered under my breath before knocking back the shot.

I smiled at her. "But, I'll settle for pie, and some more time with my kids."

"Your kids are gorgeous," she said with a smile, glancing over at them. "Sometimes I think I can't get pregnant 'cause God knows my marriage is a sham," the woman added out of the blue, her mouth dropped open in shock at the words.

"Why'd I say that?" She asked. I shrugged.

"I mean, I've been snorting oxy all day," she continued, and her eyes widened. "Why'd I say that?"

I frowned, looking down at the empty shot glass and recalling the words I'd just said.

Shit.

"I'm pretty sure I know," I said. "I uh, I've gotta get back to…" I gestured to where I'd left Ben and Sophia, they were both waving over at me and making motions like they were going to eat my pie. I left the shocked bartender at the bar and made my way back toward them.

There was a busty woman sitting to attention at a high table, perched on a stool. She flashed me a smile as I walked past.

"I'm sitting like this so you'll look at my breasts," she commented. "I just bought them. I need a lot of attention," she confessed. I took a peek down and nodded appreciatively at her, they were a great set of breasts.

"Good luck with that," I grinned at her, and she blushed and giggled at me.

I made my way back to the kids and grabbed my plate of pie off Ben before they could do any further damage. They'd already eaten a third.

"Hey now, that's my pie!" I said, getting a laugh out of them both as I forked a piece into my mouth and started to chew with a small groan of appreciation.

"You snooze, you lose pal," Ben said, grabbing his drink instead and taking a long sip.

"That's…fair," I nodded at him.

"It's the least you can do for abandoning us," Ben said casually and I glanced up at him, swallowing hard. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I wasn't going to like where this was going.

"Abandoning you?"

"Well yeah Dean," Ben nodded. "You and Beth, taking off all the time, doing whatever it is you're doing. You haven't been around much."

I frowned, but there was no way I could disagree with him.

"Yeah, yeah I know buddy, and we wish that things could be different," I replied.

"I know," Ben shrugged. "I mean there's the monsters to consider, and Sam. Mum's really not happy with Sam."

"She's not?"

"She says he's the problem," Ben continued.

I wasn't sure I liked this whole truth thing, but this was a side I hadn't heard from Lisa or Ben, I was part curious, part terrified at the turn in the discussion.

"Well, you know, something is wrong with Sam," I said to the boy. "And… you know how you feel about Sophia? You love her? Want to protect her?"

Ben nodded, smiling over and handing Sophia her drink bottle.

"Well, Beth and I feel like that about Sam," I continued. "He's our little brother, you know? And I have spent my whole life looking after him. But it's hard, because we have you guys now too, and we want to give you a better life than we had growing up."

"Yeah, Mum said all that to me too, but it sucks," Ben sighed.

"We're trying Ben," I said quietly, feeling like a failure.

"You should be home, like you have been lately."

"Yeah, I've loved that too buddy," I said with a smile. "And we're gonna do more of that, okay?"

Ben smiled and nodded, and then smoothly slid my pie back to his side of the table and cut himself another mouthful.

"Oh man, it is on!" I said, laughing and grabbing back the plate, shoveling another piece into my own mouth as we both chewed furiously.

"You already had a whole piece yourself!" I said around a mouthful of food.

"Dude, it's pie! You can't ever have too much pie!" He replied and I chuckled. This kid was definitely mine.

---

I took them to the park next to work off some of their excess energy from lunch. Ben was climbing around on the equipment and chatting to some of the other kids, meanwhile I put Sophia into a swing and started to push her, much to her delight.

The whole truth session had me thinking about its reach, and I dialed Bobby with one hand holding the phone, while I pushed Sophia with the other.

"Hey," I said when he answered. "Anything you're itching to tell me?"

"Not really," Bobby replied. "Sorry to disappoint."

I nodded, feeling almost relieved. "Ah, that's all right," I said. "I'm just testing a theory." I started to hang up when Bobby continued to speak.

"Well, I'm here hittin' the books while drinking a nice glass of milk, while watching 'Tori and Dean'."

"Wha-wait, who and Dean?" I asked.

"Tori Spelling," Bobby replied to my amazement. "I'm a huge fan. Girl's a real talent."

"Oh," I said. "I guess it does work over the phone," I commented to Sophia, grinning at her.

"You know what else? I get a pedicure once in a while - this nice Vietnamese joint," Bobby continued. "This one gal - Nhung Phong - her name means 'velvet phoenix'. Tiny thing, but the grip on her. She starts on my toes, and I feel like I am gonna-"

"Whoa! Whoa! Hey come on, man, now I'm scarred for life. Thank you." I said with a grimace.

"Da! Down, down!" Sophia called out and I slowed the swing down and picked her up, hoisting her onto my hip where she giggled and tried to grab the phone from me. I smiled, and kissed her nose, walking over to the sandpit to put her down in it.

"I never told anyone that," Bobby said. "Why am I telling you?"

Sophia started to dig around in the sand and I watched her to make sure she wasn't going to eat any of it, but curiously listened to Bobby in full confession mode.

"Maybe 'cause you're my favourite," Bobby said, and I chuckled. "Well, you and Beth. Although, Sam's a better hunter. Lately anyway. Whoa! Why the Hell am I tellin' you this?!"

"Because I'm cursed," I sighed.

"Cursed?"

"Yes."

"How is it… that half the time you clean a mess, you end up dirty?" Bobby asked. I was curiously wondering this myself, but at least this time I might be able to use it to my advantage.

"Actually, this might be the best thing that's happened to me in a while," I commented.

"What do you mean? Dean… Dean what damn fool move are you about to-"

"I gotta go," I cut in, thinking about joining Sam and Beth. I was going to get answers whether he liked it or not.

"Okay," Bobby said, seemingly unconcerned. "But did you know my first girlfriend turned out to be a -"

"No, no! Mnh-mnh, no!" I said emphatically, hanging up on him. "I don't wanna know."

I looked at my watch and considered my options. I had to give the kids a few more minutes to play at least, so I called Beth.

She answered on the third ring.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey, we're almost done here," she said.

"Yeah, good, because I got a few things I wanna ask Sam when I catch up to you," I said.

"Dean, you're not about to start anything are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you always start things with Sam, you know that. Especially when he's hiding stuff."

"That's hardly my fault," I said. "He should be more upfront with us."

Beth sighed softly on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, I know, but you don't always make it easy Dean."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just that you can be a bit bossy, especially with Sam."

"Bossy?"

"Dean, you like things to be your way or the highway. Which is generally fine by me, because I will follow you anywhere, you know that. But Sam… he's different."

"Different? Beth he's so freaking different our kids came back in time to warn us!"

"I know, I know!" She said, whispering now, so I assumed he had come into whatever room she was in. "I'm on your side. I want answers too."

"Yeah, I know," I said, shaking my head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called."

"No, I'm sorry, I'm not sure where that came from," Beth said after a brief pause. I imagined she'd been pulling herself together while I felt my heartbeat start to race again.

"Uh, yeah, about that, we gotta talk, and soon."

Sam sounded in the background and she came back on the phone.

"I gotta go," she said. "Ignore what I just said. I got your back, always."

She hung up and I sighed.

I was just about to gather the kids up when I saw a familiar face pull up to the park and get out of her car, waving to me.

"Dean!" Lisa called out. "Hey, you guys having fun?"

"Yeah," I said, cringing slightly knowing I shouldn't do this, but figuring I should make the most of my curse while I could.

"Hey Lis, I got a question for you."

"Shoot," she said, taking a seat next to me.

"Me and Beth," I said. "And this whole arrangement we got. How do you really feel about it?"

"You sure you want to ask that?" She asked with a wicked grin, thinking I was joking around.

I felt my heart stop for a moment, chuckling.

"Well, probably not, but tell me anyway," I said, holding my breath.

Lisa shrugged and shook her head at me.

"I'm fine with it Dean."

I felt my mouth drop open. "Really?"

"Well you two are messed up, you know that right? I'm not sure there's much more messed up than you and Beth. But, we knew what we were signing up for when you arrived in Cicero."

"You don't get angry?" I asked, "like having to help out with Sophia, having us gone sometimes?"

"It's actually easier when you're not around."

She gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

"It's… okay," I said with a small sigh. "I kind of get it. Ben said you blame Sam?"

Her face fell and she looked guiltily away, watching Ben and Sophia playing together by the slide.

"He told you that?!"

"Yeah, over lunch."

"Look, Dean. I never expected Sam to come back. And I'm glad he's okay, I am. But the minute he walked through that door, I knew. Life as we'd had it, it was over. The three of you have the most unhealthy, tangled-up, crazy thing I've ever seen," she said, reaching out and squeezing my hand. "And as long as he's in your life, you're never gonna be happy. Either of you."

She sucked in a breath, frowning at me.

"That came out so much harsher than I meant," she said apologetically.

"It's not your fault," I said quietly, feeling a heaviness on my chest.

"I'm not saying don't be close to Sam," she continued. "I mean, Liv and I were close to Jane, but we wouldn't bring her back from the dead!"

I nodded.

"Yeah, you're right," I said quietly. "I'm sorry we've put that on you."

"I'm a big girl, Dean, I make my own decisions," she said. "I chose you guys. I am in this with you both - you're my best friends. But at the end of the day, when it comes to Sam - me, Ben, even Sophia… we aren't your highest priority."

She grimaced, shocked at her own words.

"I'm sorry!"

"Oh Lis," I said sadly. "No, I'm sorry."

"I know you and Beth are doing the best you can. You're trying to keep us all safe. But… Sam…"

"He makes it hard," I offered and she nodded, tears in her eyes.

---

Carlton Court Apartments

Beth's POV

Corey, who had died in the car crash had lived in an apartment complex with her friend Sandy. I looked at the sorority-type girl with her curled blonde hair, little white dress and green cardigan and was reminded of the time we'd gotten caught up at a University, hunting down a hook man.

Looking around the clean, bright and white surroundings, it was hard to believe anything untoward had gone on here.

Sandy looked puzzled at our line of questioning, staring at Sam from her seat on a couch. He was perched on the chair beside her, holding one of the many photos of Corey that were scattered around the room.

"So, why is there an investigation for a car accident?" Sandy asked.

Sam looked at her, his expression not the puppy dog look I was used to seeing, but cold and calculating.

"It wasn't an accident," he said, and the girl gasped, looking over at me.

"We uh, we believe that Corey committed suicide," I said with a more gentle tone.

The girl burst into tears and nodded, grabbing some kleenex from the box the table between us and dabbing at her eyes and nose as Sam handed her back the photo frame.

"You know… I wondered," she admitted. "I'm-I'm sorry, I just…"

I took the box and handed it to her, she sniffed back a couple of tears as she replenished the kleenex in her hands.

"So, you had some idea Corey might have taken her own life?" Sam asked, sitting down next to me, leaning forward.

"Well… she had been going through a bit of a hard time lately, at school," the girl said. "And then, um, her cat Mittens, had just run away. But really, it was her boyfriend."

She nodded when she said this, looking me in the eye.

"Corey was sure that he was cheating on her. But he was just very good at covering his tracks. Which of course, made her completely obsessed with.-"

"-finding out the truth," Sam said, finishing the thought. The girl nodded.

"Yeah."

"You mind if we check her room?" He asked.

The room itself was pristine, like the living area. Only instead of white walls, they were painted a lime green, which strangely worked with the décor of white furniture, and various items also in white like a cat statue on the dresser, a framed leafy artwork on the wall above it. There was a large cat climbing tree by the door into the ensuite, and it sported a black cat statue on top of it.

No Mittens, however.

"Pretty unassuming room," I commented as we flipped over pillows, finding no hidden journals. I looked around at the bookshelf with college textbooks and framed photos, seeing mostly pictures of Corey and her boyfriend in various poses. It struck me that we had those things now, photos in frames on tables, in a house. That was certainly something I'd never expected even three years ago.

"Check it out," Sam said, reaching under the bed and tugging on something. He pulled out a a wood trimmed floral box that looked like an old sewing box, and placed it on the bed. he glanced over his shoulder at me as I moved to stand beside him, then lifted the lid. Inside were ingredients for a spell - seeds, herbs, a knife, and a cat's skull that had been cleaned of its fur and thankfully eyeballs. Sam lifted it up and looked contemplatively at it.

"Sorry, Mittens," he said, and I grimaced with the realisation of what had happened to Corey's missing cat.

"Damn," I said. "That's hardcore desperate."

"Yeah," he agreed, standing up. "Let's go."

We were almost at the bottom of the stairs when Dean let himself into the building. Sam was carrying the box in front of him and nodded at his brother as we met on the landing.

"Hey, about time," Sam said, "we found something." He thrust the box toward Dean who shrugged dismissively at it.

"It can wait," Dean said, frowning. "We gotta talk."

"Yeah?" Sam asked, moving past him and starting to descend the stairs. "What's up?"

Dean hesitated, a quick glance in my direction, and then turned to follow Sam.

"There's a few things I want to ask you, and uh, you're gonna tell me the truth," he said. His eyes were determined and I felt a shock of concern ripple through me.

"Uh, yeah Dean. Of course," Sam said, his eyebrows knitting in confusion. "What are you talking about?" We all reached the ground floor and Sam turned to look at Dean.

It was the determination about the truth in Dean's statement that had caught my attention.

"Dean, what do you mean he's gonna tell you the truth?"

"Whoa," Sam said, "are you saying you're…?"

Dean nodded. "I asked for the truth. And you know what? I'm getting it."

Sam scoffed, looking amused at the statement. I could see the tension in Dean's face when he said that, and wondered who else he'd been talking to that had him on edge.

Suddenly my spontaneous confession over the phone earlier made sense to me, and I gazed curiously at Dean, knowing that he'd been with Lisa and the kids earlier. More concerning was where had he picked up this - curse?

"So," Dean continued, oblivious to my own inner contemplations, "like I said, I have a few questions for you."

His eyes narrowed and he took a short breath.

"When that vamp attacked me, why did you just stand there?"

Sam opened his mouth, faltering for a moment as he started to answer, and then his eyes turned to the familiar, comforting puppy dog expression we were both familiar with.

"I - I didn't," he said. "I froze."

"You froze," Dean said skeptically. "You have been Terminator since you got back."

"I don't know. Shock?" Sam said with a shrug, letting out a sharp breath. "And then it was too late."

He seemed sincere, I felt myself believing him, and I could see Dean's eyes soften at the admission. He was under the truth spell, so Sam had to be honest, but even as I wanted to trust that, the exchange he'd had with Samuel still played in my mind.

Maybe Samuel got it wrong.

"I feel terrible about it, believe me," Sam continued. "Dean, I can't lie here. Do you really think I would let something like that happen on purpose?"

He looked from me to Dean, his eyes sad.

"You're my brother. H-how could you even-"

"Okay," Dean said gruffly, nodding. "Okay. Sorry. I- I thought - I thought I saw something," he said dismissively, glancing sideways at me. I could see the confusion in his eyes - we'd been so sure.

"I guess I was wrong," Dean said softly. "It's just been a really, really bad couple of months." He reached for me as he said that, his hand slipping to the small of my back, resting there like he often did when he needed some reassuring contact, but we were out in public and on the job. His other hand moved to rub at his temples, and I was surprised to see Dean blink back tears, instantly wanting to protect him from that.

"It has," I agreed with him, drawing Sam's attention away from Dean. "We uh… we still haven't really gotten over the shock of what might have happened if Samuel hadn't…"

Hadn't had a cure for vampirism.

"Hey, it's okay," Sam nodded. "I got your backs, all right? I always have."

Dean nodded, but he didn't quite smile. "Thanks Sammy."

Just like that the conversation was over, and Sam turned to leave the building, the two of us remained behind for a moment, staring at him as he walked out the door.

---

Motel

Dean's POV

Beth had been silent on the ride back to the motel, and I couldn't blame her given what was going on. I'd seen her face, doubtful but with a tinge of hope, when Sam had told us he had frozen during the whole vampire incident, and I know we were both feeling dubious; but he couldn't lie to us, not right now, so I had to believe.

I felt relief wash over me because the alternative was too much.

Back at the motel Beth had shown me the box they'd found in the first victim's room. I was pacing the room while she was on the computer, and Sam made a call.

"So this was the chick's pet?" I asked, frowning at the skull in my hand.

"Well, she was obsessed," Sam said, hanging up.

"I think you mean crazy," I replied with a shudder.

Sam took the skull out of my hands and shrugged.

"All right, so cat skull, uh, grains-of-paradise seed, and devil's shoestring," he said. "Mix 'em well, you got yourself a summoning spell."

"Demon?" I asked.

"I'm thinking…. God," Beth said, squinting at the laptop and then turning it around so I could see the screen. "More specifically, Veritas, Goddess of Truth."

Sam looked over the screen, taking in the information, and then nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, okay, so Corey was so desperate for the truth about her boyfriend's cheating heart, she went digging around. Nothing panned out, so she went looking for a different kind of help."

"Opened a door she couldn't close," I mused, chewing on my lower lip.

"Could be," Beth nodded. "And now anyone in town who asks aloud for the truth invokes Veritas."

"And she doesn't just give it to you," Sam theorised, "she slams you with it until you kill yourself and she gets her tribute."

"So, all that 'tribute' vanishing from the morgue," I said, looking between them both, "what do you think, uh, Soylent Green situation?"

Sam shrugged. "Gods got to eat too," he said.

"Which means we gotta take her out or you're on the menu too," Beth said with a worried glance at me.

I sucked in a breath and nodded. So far the things I'd heard were not surprising, given our circumstances, but if I got Beth talking long and hard about our situation, that was gonna get rough, I knew it deep down in my gut.

If there was something that had gotten us through all the years of hunting and heartache it was the surefire ability Dad had instilled in us both to shove all the pain deep down and not look at it. To use it to fire our anger, motivate us to do better, be better hunters. We had moments of vulnerability, and our love for each other was as strong today as it had been since the day we met, but that didn't mean we didn't keep our little white lies well hidden.

I knew, simply because I knew it was within me too, that there was a storm brewing inside Beth that was threatening to engulf us both as well as our new family, and Sam. I also knew neither of us wanted to look too hard at it because of what we might find.

"All right," I said, pushing that thought to the back of my mind. "Well what do we know, besides crazy cat lady?" Everything about the website spoke about Veritas' love of cats, and how they were her familiar, and sacred to her. It also explained the cat skull summoning ingredient.

"Well, dogs are her Achilles heel," Sam offered.

"Naturally," I said.

"And she was a pretty hands-on goddess back in the day," Beth added, turning the screen back toward her and skimming the article in front. "Her thing was coming down from the mountain to speak truth to the masses…she wanted more than tribute. She wanted to be worshiped."

"An attention whore," I commented.

"If you want to put it that way," Beth nodded.

I was thinking about the news show I'd seen at the bar.

"And what is the 21st-century version of speaking truth to the masses?" I asked aloud, moving to the table by the couch and picking up the remote for the TV. I soon had the channel with the show, which was aptly named "Frank Talk with Ashley Frank."

Beth stood up and moved beside me, slipping her hand along the small of my back. I smiled at her, inclining my head toward the TV.

"I know what medium I'd be using if I were a modern day God looking for followers," I commented. "What do you think?"

"Yeah," Beth nodded. "Let's check it out."

---

Television Studio

Dean's POV

I'd made Sam carry the computer tower, a big ass clunking thing that didn't seem to add up to the laptops we were using these days. He was dubious about this whole venture, but if there was one thing to be said about Sam, he went along with us when we had our gut feelings.

It didn't stop him from questioning every step of the way.

"So you really think this God is slumming as some farm-league Diane Sawyer?" He asked, not for the first time.

"I told you Sammy, call it a hunch," I replied as I whipped some money out of my wallet and fed it to the doorman who conveniently looked the other way while we exited the building with station property.

I chuckled to myself about how easy it was sometimes to get in and out of place, so long as you had a bit of cash greasing the locks.

Beth was in the car, sitting at the front of the building and she flashed me a smile as we hurried toward her. She slid over to allow me the driver seat, and Sam climbed in the back with the computer.

"That was easy," she commented.

"Very," I said. "They never saw us coming!" I grinned and she shook her head at me endearingly.

"I doubt this woman even knows we exist right now," she replied.

"Well she's about to," I replied as I started up the car.

"If she's Veritas," Sam added, and I rolled my eyes.

"Well, let's find out."

---

Motel

Beth's POV

Sam had set up the computer next to a chair, plugging it into his laptop so we could watch it on his screen while he perched on the end of the twin bed in the room, and Dean and I pulled the loveseat closer to use. Dean was getting antsy, getting up and down, pacing the room. He was now making us coffee at the little kitchenette.

"I'm Ashley -" the woman's voice on the screen was interrupted by her coughing. "I'm Ashley Frank, bringing you 'Frank Talk'. Let's do that again."

"Okay, still rolling," the camera man replied off-screen.

"I'm Ashley Frank, bringing you 'Frank Talk'... Again…I'm Ashley Frank, bringing you 'Frank Talk'. Are organic fruits and veggies really worth the cost?"

We were looking at B-roll footage and a lot of it was like this.

Dean walked over with a cup of coffee for me, and then returned to pick up his own, along with a donut from the box we'd picked up earlier, and sat next to me on the couch.

"She's creepy," he said, squinting at the screen and chewing on a mouthful of pastry. "I mean, the hair alone. I don't know. Maybe there's nothing here."

Sam reached out and increased the speed on the video, which made it sound like we were listening to the chipmunks.

"Maybe," Sam shrugged, but he was willing to follow Dean's hunch just the same.

We kept watching.

And watching.

At some point I went to Olivia's to check on Sophia - we'd thought it best if Dean wasn't around to trigger any more confessions out of the family. He'd filled me in earlier on what Lisa had said, and I felt both relieved and uncomfortable with some of the things she'd said.

Because of that, I'd thought about bringing Sophia back to the motel, but seeing that we were distracted by the case, Lisa insisted she stay with her, and I didn't have a good enough reason to disagree. As much as I disliked Lisa's summation of the dysfunctional relationship Dean and I had with Sam, which inevitably overflowed into our relationships with Lisa and the children, she was right. Sophia was better off with her when we were hunting.

I was exhausted by the time I returned to the motel alone late into the night.

Dean was pacing the floor, and looked up with a smile when I slipped back in the door, Sam didn't seem to have moved other than to take off his overshirt. He was staring at the screen which was still in overdrive and running through the B-footage.

"You know if you want to get some rest, I'm okay to take over for a bit," I offered to them both.

"I'm good," Sam replied, his eyes barely even leaving the screen.

"And I'm exhausted," Dean said, rubbing his eyes. "Let's get some sleep."

He inclined his head toward the bedroom and I could see from the look in his eye that sleep was the furthest thing from his mind right now. I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sam who was completely absorbed in the video and then shrugged.

"Well, no point all of us staying up I guess," I said nonchalantly, but my heart beat was starting to race at the promise of what lay beyond the bedroom door.

---

Dean's POV

I was aching. I'd been playing over in my mind the small touches that Beth and I had shared throughout the day, and my brain was exhausted from overthinking everything else that had happened. I needed to work out my frustrations in a good way. Making Beth moan, while having to keep it down, was the perfect distraction.

Before she'd even closed the door and turned the lock on the handle, I was behind her, my left arm slipped around her waist and pulled her tightly against me so that she could feel the burgeoning erection I had pressed against her buttocks. With my right hand, I moved her hair aside, grazing the back of her neck with my teeth as she shuddered softly and let out a shaky breath.

Last night she'd given me a tantalising massage, followed by a mind-blowing headjob and I was of a mind to return the favour this evening, although I was a little disappointed that Sam was in the other room because she'd have to keep it down. That wasn't swaying my mind away from the idea however.

"Come on," I said, pulling her toward the bed. I started at the buttons and slipped her shirt from her milky white shoulders, brushing her hair back at the same time. She smiled at me, her hands coming out to fiddle with my shirt, I batted them playfully away.

"My turn tonight," I grinned, and deftly unzipped her jeans, pushing them down to the floor, taking her underwear with her. Within seconds I had her naked before me, and I kissed her greedily as she moaned softly into my mouth.

"Dean…"

"Shhhh…" I whispered back at her, urging her to lay down on the towel we'd used last night to protect the bedspread. "Now where is that massage oil?"

I fumbled around in the drawer next to the bed, and then let out a triumphant sound when my fingers circled the little plastic bottle.

"Okay then…let's see…"

I slathered up my hands liberally with the oil, and for good measure dribbled some on Beth's back as well, then started to smooth my hands over her soft skin, up and down, over her shoulders, down her sides. I used my thumbs to circle over the tense muscles, repeating the movements until they softened little butter, and she was moaning softly into the pillow under her head.

I'd stripped off my clothing, so my erection was obvious, hard and prominent as I straddled the back of her legs, moving my hands to rub her buttocks which got a chuckle from the woman beneath me. When she was well and truly oiled up, I slipped a hand between her legs, sliding a couple of fingers through her wet folds, which earned a gasp as well as caused Beth to rise up, pushing against me.

She moaned her approval again and I slipped further to start teasing her clit. I circled it slowly, and then rubbed back and forth, a little faster, harder, feeling myself starting to get worked up.

Beneath me, Beth tensed and shook her head. I stopped.

"What's wrong?"

Her hands bunched in the sheets and she let out a long breath.

"Beth?"

"Dammit, dammit…" she muttered and glanced over her shoulder.

I slipped my hand out from under her and shifted so that I was lying next to her long form, pressed in against her for warmth but not pushing the sexy time in any way. I frowned in concern as she looked sheepishly away.

"What is it?"

"Uhhhh, so apparently this… curse, spell, whatever it is… it's making it really hard to just go with things."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… I keep wanting to tell you things. Stuff I don't want to tell you! It's… I hear myself saying it and I would rather cut out my tongue than…"

"Hey, hey hey hey," I soothed, brushing a hand across her face. "You're starting to worry me."

"I'm starting to worry myself!" Beth whispered fiercely. "It's the spell, it's not real."

"Talk to me."

"I can't, I don't…it'll only hurt you."

She was struggling to hold it in, I could see it in her eyes and that destroyed me.

"Whatever you have to say, I can take it."

"Can you?" She asked, shaking her head. "You know how messed up we are! Take right now for instance, we… we're using sex as a distraction, again. We always do that. But I can't do it this time, everything, all of it is inside of me stirred up like a tornado and wanting to come out."

I bit my lip, holding her face in the palm of my hand.

"Tell me?"

She sighed, wriggling in closer so that her arm was under my shoulder and she could wrap both arms around me while she buried her nose under my chin, her breath ghosting my neck.

"I am a terrible mother, and sister," she said after a moment. "I hate myself."

My arms tightened around her and I sighed.

"Oh sugarpie…"

I had no response for that. I couldn't tell her how to feel.

"You're not, Beth, if anything I'm the problem."

"Yes!" Beth agreed, surprising me. "We both are. I look at Lisa and I think… she's such a good mom. I find myself thinking Sophia would be better off if we left her with Lisa so we could go deal with Sam. And I hate myself for it Dean."

"You're her mom Beth, no one is ever going to replace that role for her," I said quietly, my heart breaking.

"We can't keep our promise to Dad and look after our family," she said.

"I don't know," I confessed. "I'm not sure you're right about that."

"I am," she pressed. "I am Dean, and things just don't work when we separate. I can't breathe, I can't think straight, I don't know who I am without you or the hunt, or … or without Sam. I thought I'd never get over losing my Dad, and then…then our Dad."

"I know," I whispered, kissing her hair. "But you did."

"Because of you," she said. "Only because you were with me."

I held her quietly, thinking about what she was saying. None of it was new.

But it was raw.

"I know this visit to the future, seeing the kids like we did… it's turned everything upside-down," I said after a moment, she nodded against me.

"I am going to fix this," I said. "We will get to the bottom of whatever is going on with Sam, I swear it. And then we can get back to normal."

"Normal? Since when have we ever been normal?" She asked.

"I know, I don't know Beth, but I gotta try… this last year with you? The time we had in Minnesota together? Those were some of the best times I've ever had. For the first time in my life I saw us getting out of dying bloody, y'know?"

"We can't have that and keep Sam safe," she said.

"We can," I said. "We just gotta figure out what's wrong with him, and we will do whatever it takes to get him back to our brother, okay?"

She nodded slowly.

This truth spell was getting weird. Everything I'd heard about the previous victims had been confessions that drove them to suicide or murder, I just wanted to hold Beth close and never let go. If anything it felt like she was the one spiraling down. That did worry me.

So I turned to the only thing I knew that could possibly get her refocused.

"You can tell me 'no'," I said after a moment, lifting her chin up so I could look her in the eyes. "But you can't tell me you didn't want me to keep going earlier?"

Beth nodded slowly.

"Let me distract you, and yes it's just like we always do, but heck, it works right?"

She laughed softly and shook her head, but I'd made her laugh, we were moving in the right direction.

"You want to keep talking?"

"No," she said, turning to look at me with big, vulnerable brown eyes. "But I don't just want sex either."

"So what do you want?" I asked, more than willing to accommodate her every request.

Beth reached a hand out to trail it along my hip, looking thoughtfully at me as she pondered the question.

"I need you," she whispered after a moment.

"I'm right here," I said, sliding my hand up to her face, frowning in confusion.

"I know, I know that… but I need to feel you… close."

I could do that.

I loved doing that.

"As you wish," I said with a genuine smile, leaning in to kiss her softly. I brushed my lips across hers, and when she opened them to me after a moment, I pushed a little further, slipping my tongue in to find hers, teasing it with a dance of flicks and caresses.

I pushed gently until she was lying on her back, my right hand grabbing a fistful of hair at the base of her neck and holding her firmly, my mouth continuing to lavish hers with all the love I felt for her. I rolled on top of her, feeling that way she responded and moaned her approval as she received my full weight on top of her. We slid easily along each other with the earlier addition of massage oil.

One leg I pushed between hers, rubbing it against her centre as I slipped my free arm under the small of her back, moaning softly at how close we were, barely an inch of skin not touching.

"Like this?" I asked, breaking the kiss.

"Yes…" she replied breathlessly.

I took my time, slower than the massage, kissing her lips, along her jaw, down her throat where I sucked and licked at the soft skin, my face buried in the crook of her neck. My body slid atop her, unhurried, drawing out the sensations as we moved together.

Unwilling to pull too far apart, I had one arm wrapped under her shoulders, holding her head as I kissed her again. The other hand slipped along her body while I moved my leg to spread her open beneath me, feeling instantly the wet, hot welcome of her sex, my cock pressed in against her like we were made for each other.

I groaned and paused everything, resting against her, I made the slightest movement as I ground my hips forward, telling her with action what I wanted to do. I stared into her eyes, waiting for her to tell me to keep going.

"Not yet," she whispered. I licked my lips, nodded as her legs moved to wrap around my calves, our legs tangled together as she arched beneath me, pushing us closer. We were hot, oily, sweaty and I loved every second of it.

I tightened my grip on her hair, pulling her head back slightly, exposing her neck as I grazed my teeth along the skin.

Beth moaned loudly and I felt myself twitch against her centre.

I bit down on her neck, not hard, but enough that it got a whimper from her.

"Yes…" she breathed out, and I could feel her body positively react.

I growled softly, my breath coasting along her skin until I nipped at her earlobe, then pressed my lips to her ear.

"You're mine," I whispered. "Is that what you want to hear?"

"Yes," she replied. "Tell me."

She'd needed this in the past, but it was rare. We'd been together so long that doubts didn't come up often for us. But occasionally one or both of us needed the reassurance that we were right here with each other. Not a dream or a nightmare from Hell or the Underworld. The knowledge that we chose each other, especially when things were hard - like they were now.

"I need you," I said quietly, her arms tightened around me. "I am not leaving you."

Beth sucked in a shaky breath as I called out the old fear that we'd both been struggling with in the last few months since Sam returned. Not just with having to separate for hunts, but with the vampire attack and the realisation that I could have been taken from her.

"There is no me without you Dean," she whispered. I turned to look at her and saw tears swimming in her eyes. "If you'd…if there'd been no cure."

"I know," I said, my voice shook. "But I'm here, now."

"Do it," she said, and I felt her arch against me, inviting.

I didn't hesitate and thrust forward, filling her with my hard erection until I couldn't go any further and we both let out a breath of relief.

"Oh god…" she sighed beneath me.

I thrust forward once, drawing out a soft moan, and swallowed my own groan.

"Yeah?" I asked, moving against her again.

"Yes… just like that," she said, her eyes closed, breasts pressed against my chest.

It was torturous in this position. Hard to move, but the oil helped, and I was unwilling to change when she was so needing this. I wanted it too. I raised up slightly on my elbows, just enough to give me some leverage to slide my body along hers. She didn't protest, but her arms did tighten along my back, holding me close.

"Tell me…" I said after a few more thrusts and she moaned softly, nodded.

"That's good… a little faster."

I did as she instructed, gasping at how a slight change in pace could wreak such havoc on my sensitive body.

"Harder…"

"Slower…deeper…"

"Stop, wait, hold… oh god…"

Every little order was barely audible, but I heard them all with how close I was, my cheek pressed to hers, ear next to her lips listening as she gasped and moaned with every movement. I groaned softly as I paused my movements, feeling the way she was spasming around me - she was close, but not there yet.

"God… Beth…"

She squeezed then, and my cock felt everything. I gasped, not sure I could hold much longer.

"Cherrypie…" my voice was raw, hoarse, wanting.

"Now," she whispered, and then she moved again. "Dean…now."

I swallowed a breath I'd been holding, dropped my head to her shoulder and started to thrust forward again. This time I didn't stop, I followed the path of her moans and gasps to our peak.

It was like being in the ocean, wave upon wave washing upon us, until finally that unexpected bigger one hit us and pulled us under. I felt her go first, and that dragged me along with her.

We were so tightly wound together, my arms wrapped under her, one hand still holding and tugging on her hair, kneading her skull as I shuddered, feeling myself unload inside of her to soft, gentle whimpers and nails being pressed into my back.

When all was spent, I collapsed on top of Beth, boneless with satisfied exhaustion.

"Oh god you know how to wreck me," I murmured against her shoulder.

"Ditto…" she breathed shallowly. I knew I was crushing her, but she didn't seem to want me to move yet, so I stayed wrapped around her.

I wasn't going to let go until she told me to.

Secretly, I wished we could stay like this forever.

---

The next morning

Beth's POV

Sam hadn't interrupted us all night, and I was grateful because I'd needed our time alone more than I was willing to admit. I was shaken by this case, by Sam, and still feeling the effects - it seemed - of what had happened with the vampires. By the time Dean and I untangled from each other to a more comfortable position, it was a relief to close my eyes, lay my head on his chest, and let the sound of his heart beat lull me into oblivion.

By morning Dean was up before me with a gentle kiss and loving smile before he went in search of food and coffee. When I emerged from the bedroom, Sam hadn't seemed to have moved from where he'd been sitting when we'd left him.

The fast voice of Ashley Frank continued to echo in the room.

"Are we - we're spinning? Do the rent-to-own prices…
…A recent trend in furniture stores…
…But think twice before you decide to buy…
…Before you make that big purchase…
…Okay.
…We'll ask the councilman ourselves.

I had a hot cup of coffee in my hands, Dean was sitting at the table, now munching on the pizza he'd ordered last night. I walked over to stand beside Sam.

The footage now showed Ashley out the front of a house, and in the background a large doberman dog started to snarl and bark at her from the other side of the fence.

The woman jumped a little, moving a step away from the fence.

"Are we still rolling?" She asked.

Sam's attention perked up.

"Hold on," he said, reaching for the laptop and replaying the segment, pausing at the exact moment when the dog started barking. "Check this out."

Dean's head shot up and he dropped the pizza back into the box, moving to sit back on the bed.

"Zoom in on that," I pointed out, a flash of light catching my interest.

When Sam magnified the screen, there was a distinct non-human glow to Ashley's eyes when the camera had caught her glance at the dog.

"Eye flare," I breathed.

"Now we're talking," Dean agreed.

---

Ashley Frank's House
Later that night

Beth's POV

We'd spent the day preparing for our attack on the talk-show host.

Now, as the sun dipped below the horizon, we were sitting outside an enormous, modern style mansion with grey concrete walls, straight lines, and huge floor to ceiling glass windows that replaced walls in sections. I was feeling the cold air seep into my bones even while we sat in the Impala.

We'd followed the woman back to her house from the studio, and she'd just entered the property through the front door, having parked her car right out front in the circular driveway.

"Looks pretty normal right?" Sam asked from the back seat, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the back of our bench seat.

"I'm sure it's chock full of creep," Dean replied with a steely gaze.

We waited for the woman to reappear, and shortly she did, a light flipped on as she walked into the house, it illuminated a large foyer with a sweeping white staircase curving upstairs to the left, a dozen small pendulum lights were the feature piece in the empty space above the foyer. Beyond the immediate entry, a red light shone in what was likely the living area.

Dean held up three large knives, handing one to me and extending the other to Sam.

"Ready?"

Sam reached behind him, showing us a large jar of blood.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Dog's blood," Sam replied. I nodded, liking the attention to detail. While Bobby hadn't known what would work, we'd all assumed it would be similar to other Gods we'd killed over the years - usually anything pointy, to the heart, would work. If we had real doubts, we cut off their head too. Dog's blood however was likely to be weakening at the very least to Veritas.

"Do I even want to know where you got that?" Dean asked, looking a little green around the gills.

"Probably not," Sam said with a shrug. He unscrewed the lid off the jar and took our knives one by one, dipping them in the red liquid.

As we finished the knife consecrations, we saw Ashley start to ascend the stairs from her foyer, the view clear and easy from outside as there were no blinds.

"All right, let's do this," Dean said, opening his door and climbing out of the car.

We passed a flashy red convertible as we picked the lock and let ourselves into the mansion. The open plan living and dining area was minimalist in design, but expensive looking; Ashley clearly lived well on her income, and probably with a few favours from her God powers.

"So where's all the creep?" Sam asked, as we moved into the dining area which was indeed lit up with a red chandelier. The room was sleek and beautiful, a glass wall with water running down it created a stark contrast to the gas lit fireplace next to two white leather lounges and a coffee table. To my left I spotted a baby grand piano in a small windowed nook, and shook my head at the opulence.

A ginger cat caught meowed as we moved behind the couches, running in front of us and out of the room, away from the piano, leading us toward stairs going down This was not the way we'd seen Ashley go, Sam started after the cat, I hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Dean whispered.

"She went upstairs," I replied, "not down."

He hesitated along with me, but Sam was already following the cat and was halfway down the flight of stairs.

"You in a hurry to meet her?" Dean asked, and I sighed, biting my lip.

"I'm in a hurry to get the hell out of here," I replied.

"Basements get the major creep factor," Dean said. "But I'll come up if you want."

I could see that he really wanted to stick with Sam, so I shook my head and sighed softly.

"Forget it, let's stick together," I said, and the relief on his face told me everything I needed to know.

We hurried after Sam, reaching the bottom step to find the basement as finished and refined as the rooms above. The walls down here were polished cement, and there were several glass cabinets standing on display with old artifacts, most of them cat statues of some kind. Several looked thousands of years old.

Dean led the way through two frosted glass doorways into another room. A feature wall with a tile mosaic of Veritas, just like the one we'd seen on the website greeted us, hanging on a white textured wall, beneath it was a table that held lit candles, more cat statues and what could have been a cat skull, only bigger. I swallowed and glanced at Dean, we were definitely in the right house.

The cat meowed and moved through another set of frosted doors, and Sam led the way once again, knife drawn, full attention on our surroundings. We were in what appeared to be an old Roman-style bath, large, with tiled flooring and a huge empty marble tub set into the floor.

A gurney holding a mutilated corpse was the first thing to catch my attention as we found the creep show we'd been seeking. The cat had jumped on the body and was now lapping, grossly, at the bloody corpse.

"Ew," I shuddered. The view when I turned away was no better. A gutted, bleeding torso hung from a hook in the centre of the room, and the body of the recently deceased dentist was lying on yet another gurney.

"You came for dinner."

Before we could react, Veritas stepped into the room from behind us, dressed in a long, well-fitted cream satin gown befitting a Greek goddess, a gold wreath on her head with her long, brown wavy hair hanging down her front in ringlets.

With a wave of her hand, the goddess sent us all hurtling across the room. I hit a tiled wall hard and then everything went dark.

---

I came to as Ashley was tying Dean to a handrail that was attached to a series of columns around the empty tub. I was suspended from a hook hanging from the ceiling. Next to me, the bloody torso from earlier was swinging about, almost on top of Dean.

Ashley had already tied Sam to one of the other rails, he was awake, and he looked at me with steely eyes - he was furious underneath his calm exterior. Dean's eyes opened and the first thing he saw was the mutilated corpse over him, he startled, and I saw a flash of panic ripple through him not unlike the times he'd woken from a nightmare about Hell.

"Dean," I said, drawing his attention. "This is real."

His eyes flicked to Ashley, who stood up and looked curiously at me. I saw Dean calm himself and take in our surroundings.

"Quiet," she said to me, "you're next."

She moved away from the three of us and over to the gurney with a dead body, I recognised it to be that of the dead dentist we'd seen earlier at the morgue. A few feet away, Sam moved and waited for the goddess to do something. I watched in disgust as she opened the man's mouth and reached inside with pinchers. There was a tearing sound to my left, and a zing of a switchblade opening to my right. I looked at Sam and he nodded at me, I could see him slowly start to cut at the rope holding him.

"The tongue…" Veritas said, ignorant of what our little brother was up to, turning back to face us with a chunky red piece of meat. "...is the tastiest part. It's where the lies roll off."

She took a bite, and Dean closed his eyes, looking a bit sickened by the woman eating a raw tongue. I felt my stomach churn as well, tugging on my bonds and feeling them loosen a little.

"Mmm, mmm," she continued as she chewed on the tongue, looking pleased. "I cannot wait to eat yours. I mean, I've seen liars before, but you three? Gold standard."

Dean smirked, getting his poker face on after the initial reaction to the tongue.

"Point of professional pride," he quipped, drawing her attention away from Sam.

Veritas moved to stand in front of Dean, looking down at him.

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Dean. You know what happens when you base your life on lies, right? The truth comes along and …." She shrugged, looking at him and then me.

"So while you've still got your tongue, God knows you've had an earful…" Veritas sat on the tiled bench next to Dean that marked the side of the large empty tub.

"I think it's your turn to spill some," she said. "How 'bout we play a little truth or truth? What should we ask Dean first, hmmm? Something… personal about you?" She turned to look at Sam, who froze at the sudden attention.

"Hey Dean, I'm curious. What do you really feel about your brother?"

Dean swallowed, glancing at me and then at Sam.

"Better now," he said after a moment. "As of yesterday, I wanted to kill him in his sleep."

Sam frowned, his eyebrows twitching at the confession.

"I thought he was a monster," Dean continued, looking at Veritas. "But now I think…"

"Now you think what?"

"He's just acting like me," he continued with a glance toward me. "Like both of us."

"What do you mean?" The goddess asked, a look of genuine curiosity on her face. I moved my bonds against the hook, wondering if I could at least get myself off them, if not unbound, while she was distracted by the boys.

"It's the gig," Dean replied, drawing her attention back to him. I could see Sam start sawing at his ropes again.

"You're covered in blood until you're covered in your own blood," Dean continued. "Half the time, you're about to die, like right now. I told myself I wanted out… that I wanted a family."

My breath caught in my throat, thinking back to what we'd talked about last night, and my confessions.

"But you were lying," Veritas accused.

"No," Dean said, shaking his head, his eyes looking up at me - honest. "But what I'm good at… is slicing throats. I ain't a father. I'm a killer. And there's no changing that. I know that now."

I gasped softly, hearing my own thoughts put into words. I was starting to think it would be the one thing that destroyed us.

"No… Dean, don't say that," I whispered. I didn't want to hear it coming from him, because then it was real.

"It's the truth Beth," Dean said, his eyes sad but resolute. "Both of us have been killers since we were fifteen years old. Ain't nothing changing that."

I shook my head, watching Veritas soaking in everything he was saying.

"We just get people killed. We couldn't protect Dad, we're not protecting Sam, how many times have our kids been threatened already?" Dean said gruffly. "You were right, last night, maybe everyone would be better off without us."

The goddess patted Dean on the shoulder, smiling, and moved over to Sam who had taken in Dean's confessions with a curious expression on his face.

"So, Sam walking back into your lives must have been a relief for you both, hmmm? Back into the frey? Hunting again?"

"No," I said, the words escaping my mouth though I didn't want them to. "It's just made everything harder."

Sam raised an eyebrow at me, but Veritas simply smiled, peering down at him.

"And how do you feel about the band getting back together? Hmm, Sam?"

She crouched down in front of him, peering into his open face. Sam frowned, turning on his puppy dog eyes, it was only the second time I'd seen them, the earlier time had been at the car victim's house when Dean had confronted him about the vampire attack.

"Look… what we do… is hard," Sam said, his words stilted and not at all flowing like mine had.

Dean was looking around the room now, and I watched his eyes fall on a hook nearby, still out of reach for both of us while our hands were bound.

"But we watch out for each other," Sam continued. "And that's what's important. And that's it. That's the truth."

"No," Veritas breathed, looking at him in consternation, standing abruptly and taking a step away from him. "No, it's not."

"You said yourself - I can't lie," Sam insisted.

"How are you doing that?" Veritas asked. "That's not possible. You're lying to me!"

"No, I'm not!" Sam insisted.

"What are you?" Veritas asked, looking at Sam, then at Dean.

"What is he?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sam said.

"Really? I doubt that. I doubt anything that comes out of your mouth right now. You're not human."

"What?" Dean whispered.

"You didn't know that?" Veritas asked, looking at Dean. "Now, that I believe."

Sam was pouting, his eyes steely and staring ahead, then suddenly he broke through the ropes and launched himself at the goddess, sliding his knife to Dean in the same motion. He rushed her, pushing her back into the room while I jumped, managing to fling myself high enough that I was free of the hook, stumbling to the floor while Dean cut his ropes.

"Beth!" Sam called out. "Top drawer!"

I hurried to the drawers next to me, and opened them, finding the knives we'd soaked in dog's blood earlier. I cut my ropes with one as Veritas lashed at Sam with a couple of punches, sending him flying backwards, falling on to the floor. I rushed her, feinting to the side but not quick enough to connect a blow. She stopped my arm mid-strike and spun me around, throwing me across the room and into the empty tub, the knife flying from my grip.

Veritas grabbed Sam, who was now closer and started to choke him in a rage. Dean was now free of his ropes and grabbed the hook he'd seen earlier, impaling Veritas with it through her back. She let go of Sam as I struggled to get to my feet, my head spinning where I'd hit the tiles.

The goddess' true face, like that of a serpent with fangs reared forward as she lashed first at Sam with claws that sprang out of her fingertips - ripping his cheek open, then she turned toward Dean but Sam had his hand on the knife I'd dropped, and he thrust it through her heart.

She gasped, her face returning to human-like, and fell forward, landing half in the tub as I scrambled backwards and away from the dead creature.

But the fight wasn't over for Dean.

He'd moved to the drawer where the other daggers had been, and was now wielding the knife in front of him, pointed at Sam who backed away.

"Dean, it's me," he said as he moved around the tub toward the end I was currently in.

I forced myself to be calm and breathe as Dean circled around toward Sam.

"You are not my brother," he said, his words furious.

"Just listen…" Sam pleaded.

"What are you?!"

"I'm me, Dean," Sam said, his hand held in front of him. "Look, please just let me explain."

"Why the Hell should I believe anything you say?" Dean snapped, his eyes were solely on Sam, but I knew he was aware of my location in the room. My head was still spinning, but I forced myself to climb out of the tub, landing tri-corner to Sam, Dean on the other side.

"You did let that vampire attack Dean…" I whispered, and Sam looked at me, almost panicked.

"Okay, okay. You want the truth? Here it is," he said as we all stopped moving. "God's honest. She was right. There's something wrong with me, really wrong. I've known it for a while. I lied to you… both of you."

Dean's eyes flicked briefly to mine, a world of torment inside of him.

"And… I let you get turned by that vamp," Sam continued with a nod. "Because I knew there was a cure, Dean, and we needed in that nest! And I knew you could handle it!"

"Handle it?!" Dean snapped. "I could've died! I could've killed Beth!"

"And that should stop me cold," Sam said. "But I - I just don't feel it."

"You what?" Dean asked, his face and voice scarily calm.

"What do you mean, you don't feel it, Sam?" I asked, taking a step toward him.

"Ever since I came back, I am a - a better hunter than I've ever been," Sam replied, looking at me now. "Nothing scares me anymore! 'Cause I can't feel it. I don't know… what's wrong with me. I think… I need help."

I hesitated, watching his face as the confession came out. Was he bluffing? I wanted to believe him! It sounded like my little brother, the one I'd always looked out for. But if he couldn't feel anything… where was this need to fix it coming from? He couldn't feel guilt, or shame.

Dean looked as conflicted as I felt. He turned away for a moment, laying the knife on one of the glass shelves behind him, his shoulders drooped as he thought through what we'd just heard.

"Beth…" Sam looked at me, almost a little hopeful.

That was when Dean made his move. He spun around, closed the distance between Sam and him, and slugged our brother in the face. Sam fell back on the ground.

"Dean!" I gasped as Dean set upon him, landing blow after blow against Sam's face. He was going hard, vicious. In front of me I saw Sam refusing to fight back, not sure he even could if he'd wanted to.

"Dean stop!" I grabbed his arm, and pulled him back as Sam's head lolled to the side, bloody.

He yanked free of me, kicking at a stainless steel canister nearby, sending it flying across the room.

"Ughhhhh! Son of a bitch, god dammit!" He yelled, breathless and angry.

"What the Hell do we do now?!"

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AUTHOR'S NOTES

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Song for this chapter is: Secrets by OneRepublic

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it.