Chapter Four

'And the Story Begins'

Pandora was soaking in her bath tub when she felt the change in the atmosphere. The Winchester brothers had done it. Lucifer was no longer on Earth. She could finally enjoy herself and relax without having to look over her shoulder. And relax she did as she emerged herself further into the warm, bubbly water without a care in the world.

It was a few weeks after the end of the world had been averted that she found herself back at Bobby's house. She wasn't sure what made her come back to see the grouchy old hunter. He seemed just as surprised to see her as she was about her own decision to come here. She wouldn't admit it to anyone not even herself but she was lonely and Bobby was pretty good company.

She was perched on his desk with a glass of wine as she watched him flip through books of lore. She had already been watching him for over an hour and the silence was slowly killing her.

"So how's Dean?" She finally asked. He looked up from the large book briefly to glance at her with a questioning stare.

"Far as I know he's doing alright. Living an apple pie life, just like Sam wants him to." He told her in his gruff voice.

"Wants?" She questioned picking up on the present tense of the word he used.

"What?" Bobby asked not looking up at her this time. His eyes completely focused on the text in front of him. Pandora's emerald eyes narrowed as she watched him with a predator stare.

"You used wants instead of wanted... anything you would like to tell me?" She asked.

Bobby was silent for a long time after that. Pandora had already gone back to sipping on her wine.

"Sam is alive." He all but grunted.

"I'm sorry?" She had to be hearing things. "Did you just say Sam is alive... as in he is not in the cage in hell?" Pandora's body tensed and her heart started to beat just a hundred times faster.

"Yep, that's what I'm saying." Bobby told her finally looking back up at her.

"And... he is Sam right?"

"As far as I can tell, yeah he's Sam." Bobby tried to reassure her.

"No offense but I kind of want to check for myself. Any idea where I might be able to find him?" She asked and thankfully Bobby was able to give her his last known location. She could work with that. With a smile and a wave she left him to his books.

It took her a while to find the right motel but soon she was standing in front of his door waiting on him to answer her knock.

When the door began to open Pandora could feel her whole body tense in anticipation. She hoped that it was just Sam on the other side. She wasn't sure what her plan would be if she was faced with Lucifer after all this time and effort spent avoiding him.

"Sorry, I didn't order any room ser-" Sam cut himself off mid-sentence when he realized who exactly was standing in front of his door. "Pandora?" He questioned confused.

"Sam?" She questioned right back.

"Umm yeah." He answered with a small laugh. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I just discovered that you were top side so I thought I would come and you know welcome you back." She told him with a smile.

"Right... so basically you wanted to make sure I'm just Sam in here." He called her out on her true intentions with a smirk.

"Something like that." She admitted. "May I come in?"

"Yeah, of course."

He opened the door wider so she could step by him. So far she didn't get any Lucifer vibes from him but there was defiantly something different about him she just wasn't sure what it was yet.

"So how long have you been back exactly?" She asked as she studied him closely.

"Pretty much since after it happened I guess." He answered.

"Any idea who did it?"

"No, no idea. Dean's leaving a normal life so it's not him and Bobby said he didn't do anything and I haven't been able to get in touch with Castiel." Sam explained to her.

"Yeah, I'm sure Castiel is pretty busy up there. Angels like their rules and Lucifer wasn't the only one to get thrown in the cage if you remember." She told him. "Well I just came to check on you. Wanted to make sure that I didn't need to continue to look over my shoulder."

"I completely understand." Sam agreed.

Pandora took a few steps closer to Sam before laying a hand on his left arm just above his elbow. "I'm glad you're okay," she told him. She stared up at him for several seconds but his gaze never changed. His eyes never glazed over like they had the first time she had met him making her realize just what exactly was wrong with him. She quickly snatched her hand away.

"Well, I'll leave you to your hunting thing." She told him. She was half way out the door when she paused and gritted her teeth together in annoyance; damn kindness and all the other virtues. With a sigh she turned back around to face the hunter. "Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?" He asked as he leaned against the doorway. His large form towering over her much smaller one.

Snapping her fingers a small rectangle card appeared in her hand and she handed it over to him. The card was a dark purple with large, white curvy writing spelling out her name and ten numbers underneath.

"It's my phone number." She explained to him. "If you... need anything give me a call." She told him.

"Oh okay, well thanks Pandora." He told her. With a nod she turned around and after a few steps she disappeared without a trace of her ever being there except for the card he held in his hand. A lot of time would pass before he would use it and by then he had almost forgot that he had it tucked away in his wallet.

Pandora set alone in one of her favorite restaurants a book in front of her as she waited for the waiter to come back with her food.

"Someone as pretty as you shouldn't be setting all alone." Spoke a voice she hadn't heard since her trip to find Death. She had thought she was safe when he didn't try to contact after weeks had went by. It seemed she had given him to little of credit.

"And what you think you're worthy of me?" She questioned back as she watched him as he came to lean against the empty chair on the other side of her table. His suit was similar to the one she had seen him in last time but his tie was a dark blood red but other wise he looked exactly the same.

"Of course." He told her with a confident smile.

"What are you even doing here? Demons don't have to eat." She reminded him encase he had suddenly forgotten.

"Neither do you, love. Yet, here you are." He threw back at her.

"Well you know.. gluttony. It's a bitch." Pandora told him as she reached for the bottle of wine that sat in the middle of the table. She poured a glass before setting it back down. She watched Crowley as he let out a small laugh. "So are you just going to stand there?"

"Don't have to ask me twice love." He said as he pulled the chair that he had been leaning against out and took a seat across from her.

"What are you doing here exactly?" She questioned. She rested her elbows on the table and leaned her body forward with her wine glass between her hands. She stared at him with suspicion. She knew this meeting wasn't by accident.

"We never had our celebratory dinner together." Crowley told her as a way of explaining his presence.

"If I remember correctly I told you no to your invite." She reminded him.

He shrugged his shoulder carelessly before he picked up the menu from the table to glance over it.

"Your voice might have said no..." He paused in looking at the menu to glance up so their eyes met over the table, "but your eyes were saying yes."

"Is that a pick line?" She asked with a giggle that she couldn't control. "Because if so it was absolutely horrible and untrue. You asked me over the phone... no eye contact."

"I'm demon I just know these things." Crowley insisted. He seemed pleased that his corny line had broken her icy shell. Pandora usually hid behind fake smiles and flirty banter that it was a slight miracle to get a true, positive response out her and his ego swelled just a little bit at knowing he caused the cute sound that came from her mouth. "Besides I'm not just celebrating Lucifer's return to the cage... I've got my own reason to celebrate and I wanted to be the one to tell you the good news."

She raised her right eyebrow. Pandora wasn't sure she wanted to know what a demon, especially one as crafty and resourceful as Crowley, considered to be good news to celebrate over.

"You're looking at the new King of Hell, darling." He told her with pride.

That wasn't what she was expecting. Pandora couldn't help the laugh that came out. The King of Hell?

"You're kidding, right?" She questioned after several seconds of silence after her laughter had subsided.

"No," his tone wasn't as enthusiastic as it had been.

"Sorry," she cleared her throat. "It's just I wasn't really expecting you of all people to become 'The King of Hell'." She told him using her fingers to make quotation marks around 'The King of Hell'.

"Well, Lilith is dead and I was her right hand. Also no one stepped up to the plate so I got it fare and square." He explained.

"Well then, congrats." She said holding her wine glass up in front of her slightly in toast before taking a sip.

If Pandora only knew how much that one small conversation would change her life she might have told him to sod off. But she didn't have the gift of foresight so they spent the whole night enjoying fine dinning with each other. Pandora found that after awhile of getting to know him Crowley actually wasn't that bad. He was charming and well educated. He was a businessman who defiantly had his own ideas and thoughts unlike most demons who just wanted to cause death and chaos. To put it simply he was classy.

Pandora told herself over and over again once she was free that she wouldn't trust anyone again like she had with Lucifer but the longer she saw Crowley the harder it seemed to get to keep him at arms length.

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