SECTION THREE

Back in the kitchen…

Tessa walked into the kitchen, the Winchesters following, and turned around, "You don't remember me?"

"Look, it's been a pretty murky year, lady." Angle sighed, "Care to refresh my memory?"

With a small smirk, Tessa stepped forward, reached up, and pulled Angel down into a kiss. Her memory instantly came flooding back all the way from when a semi truck plowed into the impala. She remembered lying in a hospital bed with a breathing tube beside Dean who was in similar condition. She remembered the conversation she and Tessa had in limbo after she found out she had been speaking to a reaper the whole time. Tessa pulled away just then, but Angel watched her for a few moments before speaking.

"Tessa."

"That's one of my names, yeah."

Deans eyes widened, "So, you do know her."

"From the hospital after the accident."

Sam frowned, "The accident with Dad?" She nodded once, "So, this is the reaper that came after you?"

"Yup."

Tessa turned to look at the boys, "Well, this was fun." She turned back to Angel momentarily, "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Wait, wait, wait." Dean stopped her when she moved to turn away, "You can't- you can't take the kid."

"Why?"

"Demons are in town, that's why. They've already snatched your reaper pal. The kid knows where."

"So?"

"So this should be your que to tuck tail and run, Tessa." Angel added as she moved to stand beside Dean, "Who's to say they aren't going to snatch you too?"

"Look, this town is more than a little off the rails." She said as Mrs. Griffith came back into the dining room, picked something off a side table, put her hair up and left, "And someone has to set it straight."

"Okay, we get that. We do, but right now we're dealing with circumstances that are more than a little special."

"What? Your whole angel-demon dance-off?" Tessa scoffed, "I couldn't care less. I just want to do my job."

"Right, yeah, and, look, we want to help you do your job." Dean added, "So, if you would just bail town-"

"No."

"Fine." Angel sighed, "How about just holding off for a bit then? Just until we fix this?" The two of them stared at each other for a beat, "Please."

"Fine." Tessa sighed deeply, "But just so we're clear, when I start reaping again, I'm starting with the kid."

"Understood." Sam conceded and turned to go upstairs, "I'll find him."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. What-" Sam turned back at Dean's protests, "What are you gonna say to him?"

"Whatever I have to."

In Cole's room…

Sam walked into the room, looking around for a minute before sitting down next to the open closet.

"This all must be pretty overwhelming, huh?" He said to Cole, who was just visible inside the closet, "Pretty scary, too."

"The worst is my mom."

"Must be hard seeing her like this."

"She's always coming in here, talking to me, telling me how sad she is…" Sam nodded as Cole leaned out of the shadow, "I knock some stuff over to let her know I'm here, but… she only gets sadder."

"Well…" Sam chuckled, "You might want to ease up on the flying soccer balls."

Cole studied him for a beat, "I'm not telling you where the smoke is."

"Fair…" Sam went silent as he thought, "What if I told you that if you helped me, you wouldn't have to leave here? Ever?"

The kids' eyebrows furrowed, "What about the one downstairs?"

"Tessa? Oh, she wouldn't bother you. No reaper would. You could just stay here with your family for as long as you wanted."

"You can do that?"

"Yeah, you bet I can do that."

"You swear?"

Sam hesitated at that but lied nonetheless, "I swear."

Back with Tessa and Angel…

"I'll tell you…" Tessa chuckled as she led Angel outside for some privacy, "Life is funny."

Angel cocked her eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"You and me, together again." Tessa turned to meet the curious blondes eyes, "You're the one that got away, Angel. You'd be surprised how little that happens to me."

Angel nodded as she looked away from Tessa and leaned onto the door, "Can I tell you something between you and me?"

"Who am I gonna tell?"

"After our little, uh, experience…" Angel cleared her throat as she locked eyes with Tessa, "For that whole year, I felt like… I don't know, like something was missing. I felt empty. At the time I didn't know what that was… I do now though." Tessa watched her as she listened, "It was you. The pain of losing my father and Sammy… Hell, almost both of my brothers. I just… I wish I had gone with you when I had the chance." They stared at each other for a beat before Angel broke the eye contact, "But I guess things are different now."

"What? The angels on your shoulder?"

"Maybe… I mean most of them are giant douchebags with wings, but… For some reason they brought me back. It's no secret that I've done some… horrible things, but… someone upstairs still decided to give me a second chance. I don't really know how to feel about it though…"

"Hey…" Dean came in and motioned behind him, "Sam's back."

They came back in just as Sam came back downstairs with Cole right behind him, "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Cole." Tessa smiled at him warmly, "I'm Tessa. I'm not going to hurt you."

"It's okay, Cole." Sam earned the kids' attention as he glared at Tessa, "Just tell them what you told me."

"I saw the black smoke at my funeral." Sam glanced back at Dean and Angel as he spoke, "At the funeral home. It was everywhere."

All of the lights flickered around them, putting everyone on edge.

Dean looked over to Tessa, "You doing that?"

"No."

The front door swung open and black smoke poured through, filling the house. Everyone ducked for cover as it poured over them. When it was gone and everything settled, the group looked around: Tessa was gone.

Panic filled Angel, "Tessa!"

Sam looked over at Cole, "You okay?"

"Great! Just fantastic!" Dean yelled, "How the hell are we supposed to fight that?"

Sam shook his head, "Learn some ghost moves?"

"By tonight?" Dean scoffed, "Yeah, sure. I'll meet you back at Mr. Miyagi's."

Cole frowned, "Who's Mr. Miyagi?"

When an idea popped into his head, Sam looked between Cole and both of his siblings.

Later on, on the front porch…

Cole and the Winchesters were standing on the porch as Dean stared intently at a miniature windmill.

Cole shook his head, "It's not gonna move if you don't concentrate."

"I am concentrating." Dean let out a breath and glared just as the windmill turned a quarter turn, "Ah, here we go, baby."

When the windmill stopped Cole looked over at Dean, "You pull a muscle?"

"All right, Yoda." Dean rolled his eyes, "Let's see what you got."

Cole glanced at the windmill and the thing started spinning fast. The porch swing started swinging and the wind chime started chiming. Angel smiled at the flex and Sam chuckled.

"Dude!" Dean grinned, "You are so Amityville."

Cole grinned, "This isn't even the good stuff."

Back in the living room…

Cole punched Sam in the stomach causing him to fold over, "See? If you want to hit something, you just got to get mad."

"Yeah…" Sam slowly straightened, "Got it…"

"Now one of you try." Cole said to Angel and Dean, "Hit me."

Angel backed up a step and motioned for Dean but he shook his head, "Uh, I think I'll stick to just picking on somebody my own size."

Cole whacked Dean in the face causing the other two to laugh. Dean rubbed his face as Cole walked back over to Sam.

"Hit me as hard as you can."

"Dude, I'm not gonna do Fight Club with a twelve-year-old." Cole whacked him in the face again but he shook it off, "Alright, cut it out."

"Make me."

Cole took another swing, but Sam blocked this one and swung back. Cole vanished for a second before reappearing out of reach.

"Okay, now that…" Angel grinned, "You've gotta teach us."

At the funeral home…

The walls of the funeral home were covered in glowing blue diagrams, mostly six-sided figures. Some were in circles and some were in squares, but all had lines through them. Squiggles were inside the triangles as well. The Winchesters crossed the street to the building. Pedestrians walked by, ignoring both the Winchesters and the glowing blue diagrams.

"This looks like New Jack City." Dean motioned, "Can nobody see this?"

"It's probably some sort of supernatural ink. I'm thinking the only reason we see it is because we're in the veil." Angel explained before motioning to her brothers, "Ready to find out what it's for?"

That night…

The Winchesters entered an open door before splitting up. Sam went one way around the stairs while Angel and Dean went the other. Upon finding nothing, Sam joined his siblings.

In the open space in the middle of the room, there was a square with triangles on each side to form an eight-pointed star, with squiggles at each point. Lying in the figure were Tessa and an old man in a suit, presumably the first reaper the demons kidnapped. On the far side of the reaper trap was a man standing guard who had not yet seen the Winchesters.

"Guys…" Dean excitedly whispered, "Check me out."

Dean took a few steps forward and vanished. He reappeared behind the man and tapped him on the shoulder. When the man turned around, Dean punched him in the face. The man straightened up and took a swing, but Dean was gone. He whirled around but he and the reapers were the only ones visible. A hand tapped the man's shoulder again, but this time it was Sam who punched him. Angel then appeared and punched him straight in the face before Dean reappeared and punched him again. Sam kneed the man in the chest and he tried to scramble away. Dean managed to kick him before he scrambled behind the coffin on the dais.

"You know…" Dean smirked as they followed him, "This ghost thing, it's, it's kind of rad."

Another man came out from behind a curtain carrying a chain causing the first man to scramble out of the way. He was groaning like he was in pain as he pulled the chain tight and hooked it to a candle stand.

"Shit." Angel cursed, "That's iron."

The demon then let go of the chain and revealed his smoking hands. The Winchesters looked around to realize the chain surrounded them.

"Winchesters." A third demon walked into the room with its eyes white, revealing itself to be Alastair, "Find the place okay?"