I see where my decisions have brought me
What's done is done and it's time to start again
Can't let it tear me in two waste me away
I gotta believe
Cause this is now

How can I change tomorrow if I can't change today.
This is now
If I control myself I control my destiny.

What I've seen and what I've been through has made me who I am
There was a time in my life where I had no desire to carry on
I couldn't see a place for me or a will to survive
I never thought to rely on myself or the beliefs that I have denied
But this is now

How can I can change tomorrow if I can't change today
This is now
If I control myself I control my destiny
If I control myself I control my tomorrow

THE END

Century Motel
Kansas City, Missouri

Beth's POV

We'd been driving all day. A couple of days in Cicero with Lisa and Ben had done very little to lift Dean's spirits. He pulled into the curb at the motel, and sighed, looking up at the flickering light and then squeezed my hand.

"Home sweet home," he said and I smiled, leaning over to kiss him.

"Come on," I said, inclining my head. "I have just the thing for relaxing after that long drive."

"Oh yeah?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sleep?"

"Nu uh," I replied with a grin, winking at him and climbing out of the car, giving a little shake of my ass as I did so. Dean sucked in a breath and quickly followed, slamming his door closed and popping the trunk to grab our bags.

While he did that I turned my attention to a man standing nearby handing out pamphlets. The majority of people were ignoring him, but he insistently went about his work just the same.

"Hi. Good evening, brother. Is your soul rapture-ready?" He asked a man walking past, receiving not so much as a glance from the stranger. I realised the he was preaching. "Thank you, sir," said the man, "God bless."

"Good evening, folks," he asked a couple approaching. "Is your soul rapture-ready? Because what I'd like to do is just show you exactly what God's love is for you." They ignored him. The man seemed a little let down, but nodded. "Okay, God bless."

Dean closed the trunk and hoisted his duffel over his shoulder, grabbing mine by its handles, and then locked up the car.

"You ready?" He asked, walking past me, and my eyes fell to the way his jeans were hugging his ass, and I smiled.

"Oh yeah," I said with an appreciative sigh.

"Excuse me, friends, but have you taken time out to think about God's plan for you?" The religious man asked us as we reached the motel. Dean stopped to look at him, but my mind was on what was waiting in the room now.

"Too friggin' much, pal," Dean replied, shaking his head, and then he followed.

Hotel Room

Dean's POV

As soon as we'd checked in to our room my phone had started ringing. Cas. All the way up the elevator to our room, he'd talked about finding the latest thing he thought would help us win this war. I was tired, and frankly not in the mood for any more goose chases.

Beth seemed to be in a whole different space, and tired was not how I would describe it. I was loving it. I kissed her quietly as Cas prattled on the other end of the line.

"We're talking about the Colt, right? I mean, as in the Colt?" I asked, and Beth paused for a moment to raise her eyebrow. I shrugged and she grinned, running her hands around my side and down the back of my jeans to cup my buttocks and give them a cheeky squeeze.

"We are," Cas replied.

"Well, that doesn't make any sense. I mean, why would the demons keep a gun around that, uh, kills demons?" I asked.

"What? What? Did—I didn't—I didn't get that."

Beth's lips latched on to my neck and I groaned softly, both at her wandering hands, and Cas's lack of timing. I laughed suddenly at the whole absurdity of the situation, maybe I was more than a little tired.

"You know, it's kind of funny. Talking to a messenger of God on a cellphone. It's, you know, like watching a Hell's Angel ride a moped."

"This isn't funny, Dean. The voice says I'm almost out of minutes."

I was hard as a rock. All I could think about was getting Cas off the phone and jumping the woman in front of me. Right now I didn't give a damn about the world, Cas, Lucifer or any gun that was going to be able to kill him and whether it still existed. Beth continued to suck on my neck, pressing me against a wall as her knee ground gently against me. I groaned, and was rewarded with the unzipping of my jeans, feeling them drop to the floor and her hand take their place, sliding into my shorts. I let out a hiss of pleasure, closing my eyes and dropping my head back against the wall.

"Jesus…" I muttered, trying to concentrate on Cas's voice. "Okay, all right. I'm…" Beth's thumb circled around my tip stopping my thought process short. "...Damn… babe…." I whispered, and she giggled, nipping at my earlobe. I focused on the call, intent on ending it. "I'm telling you, Cas, the mooks have melted down the gun by now."

"Well, I hear differently. And if it's true and if you are still set on the insane task of killing the devil, this is how we do it."

I sighed, he was determined, I had to give him that. "Okay. Where do we start?" I relented.

"Where are you now?"

Beth wasn't slowing down for anyone, it reminded me of old times when we didn't have the weight of the world on our shoulders. She let go of my cock, balling her hands into my t-shirt and pulling me away from the wall, turning me enough that she shoved me, I fell back on the bed. I almost dropped the phone, forgetting I was even on a call, grinning up at her.

"I like where you're going with this," I said to her as she stripped off her top, her long, wavy dark hair falling loose around her shoulders.

"Dean?" Cas's voice echoed from the phone and I sighed. Right. I picked it up, watching Beth as she shimmied out of her jeans, and then started to inch her panties off slowly.

"Kansas City," I said, crawling back on the bed far enough to grab the room key where Beth had dropped it. I looked at the tag, putting the phone to my ear again. "Century Motel, Room 113."

"I'll be there immediately." Cas replied.

"No!" I said in alarm, getting a hesitant look out of Beth, who stopped with her arms locked behind her back where she was undoing her bra. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…" I said, shaking my head at her and rising to my knees. I moved toward her, starting to knead a breast through the lacy fabric, winking at her. "No, no, come on, man," I said to Cas. "We just drove like sixteen hours straight, okay? We're human. And there's…" I slipped my hand down between Beth's legs, sliding a finger between her folders. "...there's stuff we got to do."

"What stuff?"

I brushed a finger across Beth's clit, this time getting a moan out of her, and grinned.

"Eat," I said into the phone. "For example. Just… stuff man! Then, sleep. I just need like four hours once in a while, okay?" My breathing was starting to speed up as I saw Beth's eyes flutter closed, and she reached out to hold my shoulders as I continued to tease her.

"Yes."

I reached up, tugging on her bra straps and Beth reached behind, releasing the clasp this time, letting the bra fall to the ground. I sighed, catching her left breast in my mouth, my free hand coming up to cup her other one, kneading it as I sucked a couple of times on the hardening nipple between my lips. "Okay," I said around a mouthful of flesh. "So...you can pop in tomorrow morning."

"Yes. I'll just—"

I didn't even wait for him to finish, hanging up mid-sentence and tossing my phone across the room at my duffel bag. I pulled Beth closer, my hand sliding around her waist as I sucked on her nipple.

"Oh my god I thought he'd never shut up," I muttered.

"Are you sure it's not urgent?" She asked, her breathing almost as excited as mine and her voice telling me she didn't want to stop.

"No! Hell no… I … we… need some time out. He can wait."

Several Hours Later
Motel Room

Dean's POV

There was a phone vibrating on the bedside table. I groaned, opening one eye and glaring at it. I'd asked for four hours, four freaking hours! Okay, so maybe it had been a bit longer than that, it had to be the middle of the night here, but still. I reached out, answering it without even looking at the screen.

"Damn it, Cas, I need to sleep!" I cursed, and then I realised, this wasn't even my phone. In my sleep haze, I'd grabbed Beth's phone.

"Dean, it's me," Sam's voice came over the line and I popped an eye open again, glancing at the alarm clock.

"Sam? It's quarter past four," I said.

"This is important," he said. That caught my attention. He'd been calling Beth at four in the morning, that wasn't usual, even with their renewed enthusiasm for each other.

I sighed, sitting up on the edge of the bed and rubbed my eyes. Sam started talking, regaling me with stories of Lucifer, and then he got to the punchline, and I felt the blood drain from my face. I stood up, moving to the fridge. Beth was still sleeping, though the movement seemed to stir her. I grabbed a cold beer and sat down on a chair at the table, instantly regretting it as the cold vinyl stuck to my bare ass.

"So, you're his vessel, huh? Lucifer's wearing you to the prom?" I asked.

"That's what he said."

"Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in, huh, Sammy?" I said, taking a long drink from the bottle in my hand.

"So, that's it? That's your response?" He asked.

I sighed, leaning back in the chair. "What are you looking for?"

"I don't know. A—a little panic? Maybe?"

I shrugged, not that he could see it. Beth was starting to roll around on the bed, and I knew this conversation was about to get a lot more complicated.

"I guess I'm a little numb to the earth-shattering revelations at this point," I said.

"What are we gonna do about it?" Sam asked.

"What do you want to do about it?" I questioned. Seemed to me things couldn't really get much worse than they already were.

"I want back in, for starters," he said, and this instantly had me on edge.

"Sam…"

"I mean it. I am sick of being a puppet to these sons of bitches. I'm gonna hunt him down, Dean," Sam said. I bit my lip, watching as Beth reached out for me, and then went still as she realised I wasn't in bed with her. She raised her head, looking over at me and I tried to toss her a reassuring smile, but I didn't know how convincing it was.

"Oh, so, we're back to revenge, then, are we? Yeah, 'cause that worked out so well last time," I pointed out to Sam.

"Not revenge. Redemption."

"So, what, you're just gonna walk back in and we're gonna be the dynamic duo again?" I asked. This got Beth's attention, she shifted, pulling the sheet around her in an impossibly cute gesture of modesty and then inchwormed her way to the end of the bed.

"Look, Dean, I can do this. I can. I'm gonna prove it to you."

I was so tired. Not just physically, but mentally. "Look, Sam—it doesn't matter—whatever we do. I mean, it turns out that you and me, we're the, uh, the fire and the oil of the Armageddon. You know, on that basis alone, we should just pick a hemisphere. Stay away from each other for good."

"Is that Sam?" Beth asked, and I nodded, seeing her frown.

"Dean, it does not have to be like this. We can fight it."

"Yeah, you're right. We can. But not together. We're not stronger when we're together, Sam. I think we're weaker. Because whatever we have between us—love, family, this promise Dad made Beth and I agree to, to keep you safe—they are always gonna use it against us. And you know that. Yeah, we're better off apart. We got a better chance of dodging Lucifer and Michael and this whole damn thing, if we just go our own ways."

"Dean!" Beth gasped, moving closer as if she wanted to grab the phone from my hand.

"Dean, don't do this." Sam said.

"Bye, Sam," I said, hanging up.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Beth asked, reaching for the phone. I shook my head, putting it on the table and slamming the beer down next to it.

"I can't, Beth. I can't," I said, standing up and grabbing a pair of boxers. Slipping them on I started to pace the room. "It's just too much. I need a break from worrying about him. I need time with you, I need … this," I said, waving my hands around the room where it was just a bed, her, me and nothing else. "I need… us… for a bit."

Beth stood up, coming to face me and stop my movement around the room. "You will always have us, Dean. Sam, he's got nobody."

"You think I don't know that?" I asked, hearing my voice pitch slightly. "I know, Beth. But I can't fix him, I can't make it okay. I really, really can't do that right now. We have the Apocalypse to deal with, babe."

Beth looked at me, the shock written across her face. I nodded, pausing for a moment and letting it sink in. I felt hollow, gutted by the one thing that had kept me going for so long.

"I know," she said softly.

" I don't know that putting us in the same room is such a good idea right now."

"Why?" She asked. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know!" I said, throwing my hands in the air. "But how can it be good? We need to keep Sam as far away from the dangerzone, ie. Michael and me, as we can."

Beth took my biceps in her hands, squeezing them softly. I sighed, wanting to punch something, I was full of tension and rage, mostly directed at Sam for putting us in this situation in the first place.

"Dean, I think you're over-reacting a little here," Beth said. "Sam is our brother. We promised to take care of him, and I'm worried."

I let out a hot breath, feeling that anger flow through me. I pulled away from her, swiping out with a hand and sending a fist into the wall. The plaster gave slightly, and I knew wrecking the place wouldn't do anything good, but somehow I felt a little better.

"I can't Beth. It's too much. I promised to take care of you, of Sam, of Cole and JJ and … everyone, Beth. I am responsible for everyone, and I just don't know how to save us all."

"You don't need to save everyone Dean," Beth replied, watching me carefully. She hadn't even flinched when I hit the wall, and all I felt from her was loving care. Something I didn't deserve.

"Don't I?" I asked, punching the wall again. "Because it sure feels like it. Like I have this weight on my shoulders." I pressed my palm to the wall, leaning against it, the coolness of the plaster soothing to my hot skin. Hands found my shoulders, kneading them, and I sighed as Beth started to caress my skin lovingly. Dammit how did she always manage to fix everything just with a single touch? I turned around, kissing her firmly, my hands tangling in her hair as I explored her mouth almost greedily, like a man who needed to lose himself in flesh and smell and touch.

"It's been there since Dad died," I mumbled into the kiss. "I know what I gotta do, and right now I think the safest place for Sammy is as far away from us as possible." I pulled the sheet down, letting it fall to the ground. "I need to stop feeling so… angry, and hopeless," I said, sliding my hands down her body.

"Dean, you're not hopeless, you…" I silenced her with another kiss, pushing her back toward the bed. I didn't want her reassurances right now. Not those kind.

"I just need you Beth," I whispered as I fumbled to get my shorts back off, and then lifted her, carrying her the rest of the way and laying her down beneath me. "I just need you."

Several Hours Later
Motel Room

Dean's POV

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the uncomfortable springs of a bed sticking into me. I groaned, looking down and finding that the mattress we'd been sleeping on was gone. How much had I had to drink last night? I glanced up, not seeing Beth, and instantly was on my feet.

The room was trashed, like we weren't even in the same one. The alarm clock was broken, and somehow I was fully dressed. What the?

"Beth?" I called out, moving to the window and looking outside. The city looked as if it had been through a war, buildings crumbled around us, and smoke rose on the horizon as I looked down at the deserted streets, seeing nothing but abandoned vehicles and debris littering the road.

Someone came out of the bathroom, and I looked up to see Beth frowning at our surroundings. "What the hell is going on? Why are we dressed?"

"I don't know, but this aint good whatever it is," I muttered as she joined me by the window.

"Are we still in Kansas City?" She asked.

"If we are, someone has some serious explaining to do," I said. "Let's take a look around, see if we can't get some answers."

By the time we hit the streets I was starting to feel a heaviness in my chest, a despair eating away at me. This was it, this was what the end of the world looked like, and somehow we'd got a jump start on it. The buildings around us were graffitied, the entire area devastated by an unseen enemy.

As we stepped down in the road, which was littered with trash, and looked as if no one had driven on it in years, I heard glass splintering around the corner in a back alley. Exchanging glances with Beth, I led the way to investigate. As we rounded the corner I saw a little girl, no more than six or seven, crouching in the alley with a teddy bear.

"Little girl? Little girl?" I asked, extending a hand out to her. She barely moved, just rocked on her heels. She was a mess, dirt covering her long nightgown, and her long black hair was matted and sticking out in all directions. "Are you hurt?"

No reply. I shrugged at Beth who looked just as confused as I was.

"You know the not-talking thing is kind of creepy, right?" I asked. The girl looked up at me and I saw blood drip from her mouth.

"Dean, be careful," Beth said, her voice steady but concerned. Suddenly the girl shrieked, and attacked with a shard of glass. I moved to defend immediately, flattening her with an elbow.

"Jesus Christ!" Beth exclaimed, looking down at the unconscious girl on the ground.

I glanced around, wondering if we'd drawn attention to ourselves, finally seeing a large piece of graffiti on the wall at the end of the alley.

Croatoan.

"Oh crap," I muttered, recognising the word immediately from the time we'd been caught up in a town, and people experimented on - the same time we'd found out Beth was pregnant. I heard Beth suck in a breath behind me.

"You're right, this really isn't good," she said. Just then, several messed up looking people came around the corner, blocking the view of the graffiti. They paused for a split second, and then a wildness entered their eyes and they started to run.

"Time to go," I said, pushing Beth back the way we'd come. We sprinted, my heart pounding out of my chest, running along the streets looking for anywhere we might be able to get ahead of them. A fire escape caught my attention down an alley and I grabbed Beth's arm, pulling her with me.

"Here, quick quick," I said, boosting her up. She grabbed the bottom rung easily and swung herself up to the landing, reaching back for me. The crowd was on us though. I glanced up at her, seeing the panic in her eyes.

"Dean, come on!"

"Get to Bobby's," I said, making my decision. "I'll find you."

I ran. They only saw me, and they gave chase. In the distance I heard Beth shout for me, but I had to keep her safe. It was my job. I could lead them away, and double back, or find another way. I'd find her later.

I sprinted down another couple of streets, and then I hit a chainlink fence. I grabbed it, shaking it to see if there was an easy entrance - there wasn't. They were on me, I had to get out. Just as I started to climb the fence, a couple of army tanks skidded around the corner. I had a split second to drop to the ground before they let loose with a barrage of bullets, shooting all the people who had been chasing me. I crawled to the side of the alley, finding an open door, and pulled myself inside out of danger.

Do you love me?! The Contours started to blast over a PA system as more gunfire went off. I backed away from the entrance, intent on getting the hell out of here and doubling back for Beth. Suddenly I felt the cold press of a gun in my back.

"Well, hey bright spark," a familiar voice sounded. "Mind telling me what you're doing in the middle of the hot zone?"

On The Move

Beth's POV

The gunfire had me moving. I didn't care who it was, but that didn't sound good, and it was from the direction that Dean had gone. I was unarmed, which had me feeling increasingly alarmed, and by the time I found the dead bodies littering the ground, the area was deserted.

"Dean?!" I called out, but there came no reply. He was gone. I looked at the dead, breathing a sigh of relief when I didn't find him grouped in with them. Wherever he was, he'd gotten away from this mess.

First things first, I had to regroup. I pulled deep inside myself, telling the rising panic in my chest to stop, and forcing it back down to my stomach where it belonged. I needed to be able to think, keep my head clear, move. I needed to do as Dean had told me: get to Bobby's.

If we were still in Kansas City, that was a fair drive North of here. Five hours at least. I set my focus on the task ahead. Get out of the city for a start, then see where I was. Hopefully I would find Dean in the process.

By the time I got to the outskirts of the city, I saw I fence surrounding it. That definitely hadn't been there yesterday. We were in a situation all right, and it felt strangely like when we'd been zapped to the past and met our parents. Only this didn't feel like the past.

I had found a crowbar on the ground as I'd worked my way out of town, I used it now to break open a hole in the fence, squeezing through. A sign hung on the other side, white with large black lettering.

CROATOAN VIRUS
HOT ZONE
NO ENTRY
BY ORDER OF ACTING REGIONAL COMMAND

AUGUST 1, 2014, KANSAS CITY.

"2014…. Oh that's really not good," I muttered, looking back at the city. We were five years into the future, and the future didn't look good.

"Get to Bobby's. I'll find you."

I sucked in a deep breath, steadying my nerves. Dean would find me at Bobby's. He was probably on his way there right now. Nodding to myself, I turned my back on the smoking city, and started the hike North.

Half an hour later I came across an old Buick by the side of the road. I hurriedly jumped into the driver's seat, pulling at the wiring under it and twisting the leads together, breathing a sigh of relief as the engine roared to life. Three quarters of a tank of gas showed on the dash, and I closed the door, leaning my head against the steering wheel in relief. Finally. This was going to make the trip to Bobby's a lot easier.

As I started down the road, I searched the radio stations, finding only static. "Well, that's never a good sign," I muttered, hoping there would be better news when I finally made it to South Dakota.

5 hours later
Bobby's House
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Beth's POV

My heart had fallen during the drive. There were no signs of life anywhere along the interstate, and I stuck mostly to that to speed up the trip, and avoid detection that might occur in a town. The roads were mostly clear with the occasional abandoned vehicle when someone had broken down, or run out of gas. My own vehicle was getting low as the familiar sight of Bobby's car yard came into view.

I parked and rushed up the stairs to the main entrance, pounding on the door.

"Bobby? Bobby, I'm coming in!" I opened the door, sticking my head in a crack. "Cole? Sam? Dean?"

No response. I pushed open the door and stepped inside. The house was trashed. Upturned furniture, books scattered across the floor, and the amount of dust and spiderwebs told me that no one had been around in a while.

"Great…" I breathed, moving into the kitchen and stopping short. "Oh, no."

Bobby's wheelchair was on its side in the middle of the room. I picked it up, and felt my heart stop dead at the sight of dried blood and bullet holes. No. Shaking my head, I felt tears start to prick at my eyes. No, I wouldn't think about it, I couldn't. We would have come for him, we would have found him - and saved him. Somewhere, Bobby was fine.

"Dammit Dean…" I cursed, starting to feel despair that he'd separated from me. "Where is everybody, Bobby?"

Standing, I looked out the window in the kitchen, and was shocked at what I saw. I moved to the sink, staring through dirty old windows at the Impala, discarded, smashed up and rusted almost beyond recognition.

"Oh, Baby, no," I breathed, moving to the door and down the steps. "Dean is going to die when he sees you."

Something sounded in the car yard to the east of me and I ducked behind the car, looking through the smashed out windows. Several infected people walked past, and I felt a cold sliver of fear clutch at my heart. I needed a weapon. As soon as they were out of sight I hurried back inside, shutting the door and moving to the gun cabinet. I wondered how smart these infected were - would they open a door to come inside?

The cabinet was empty - no surprise. I let out a hot sigh, trying to think. The hidey hole. Maybe it hadn't been found. Creeping up the stairs, I hoped against hope that I wasn't going to find infected living in our old bedroom when I got there. I held my breath, pushing open the door. It gave way with an eerie, loud creak that I was sure would alert the whole world to the fact I was here. But nothing moved.

Hurrying inside, I looked inside the wardrobe, feeling around for the hollowed out compartment Dean, Sam and I had created years ago. It gave, and the false back popped out revealing a shotgun, a belt with ammo, extra shells… and John's journal. I grabbed a backpack from the wardrobe, shoving all the ammo and the journal inside, and then went back downstairs after loading the gun.

Stepping out on to the porch, my intentions hadn't been real clear. I just knew I was armed, and I needed to get these infected away. A screech came from my right and I turned in time to see a woman attack, shooting her at point blank range. The gunfire drew attention of two more infected nearby and as they advanced, I shot them dead too, retreating inside.

After a moment of listening, all went quiet. Maybe there hadn't been much around.

"Damn damn damn. Where is everyone?" I muttered to myself, finding my way to the library and pulling out John's journal. Maybe it had been left here for a reason. Inside, a photograph I'd never seen before fell out of the front. It was of Bobby, Cole, and Cas. There were three other men I didn't recognise there, and a sign.

"Camp Chitaqua," I murmured. So they'd gone there. Made sense, it would have plenty of cabins for people, a communal area, and they could fence it off and get supplies. I felt the urge to start for it right away, but I couldn't. I had to wait for Dean. Part of me wondered just how long I should wait. What if he'd never gotten out in the first place? What if I was stuck here, in the future?

I sighed, checking the gun again, just in case, and then settled on the couch, my back to the wall where I could see all entries to the room. I'd give it until morning, if Dean hadn't turned up by then, I'd go to the Camp, and wait for him to follow.

Military Base
Just Outside Kansas City

Dean's POV

"Come on Cole," I said, pulling on the cuff holding me to a pipe. "Is this really necessary?"

"Yeah, it kind of is princess. You're not Dean," the petite blonde answered, crossing her arms and looking me over.

"Yeah, I am. I'm just not the Dean you'd know," I replied, leaning back against the wall and letting my arm slump as much as I could from the weird angle it was in.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cole asked, frowning at me.

"I'm from the tail end of 2009," I answered.

She snorted, her derision clear. "Yeah, right. And I'm Martha Stewart," she said.

"It's true, man. I'm not a demon, shapeshifter or anything like that, you already did the damn tests," I replied. Cole sighed, and nodded, thinking that over. For the last half hour she'd been working me over. The longer we sat here, the harder it was going to be to find Beth, and it was starting to eat at me.

"So you're from 2009?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, if you're really Dean, tell me something only you and I know," she said with a raised eyebrow.

I sighed, shaking my head, and then thought it over. Okay. Sure. I could do that. I grinned at her, recalling the perfect thing. I hadn't even told Beth this one.

"Yeah, okay. All right. Back just after Beth and I got together, we were all on that hunt in Delaware? Dad had taken Beth with him to the coroners, but I thought he'd taken you. I snuck into the bathroom where she was supposed to be showering and grabbed a good handful of …"

"Stop!" Cole said urgently, holding her hand out to me and closing her eyes. "Okay, yes. It's you. I have no need to recall that particular encounter!"

I sniggered at her, she was making this too easy. "Oh come on, you liked it."

"Puleeeease Dean, I was sleeping with your father, I had no interest in you whatsoever," Cole retorted. I felt the blood drain from my face at the thought. I mean, I'd known… they had a kid together for god's sake, but it wasn't really something Cole and I had outright talked about since I'd found out. It wasn't something I cared to discuss now, either.

"Ewww. Yeah, well, it's me. So how about you uncuff me? I gotta get back in there and find Beth."

Cole's head shot up from where she'd been looking at some paperwork on the table. "Beth is here? Now?"

"Yeah, and we left her back there with all those zombies!" I pointed out, pulling on the handcuff and looking at her expectantly.

"Relax, we killed them. I'm sure she's working her way out of the hot zone as we speak," Cole replied dismissively.

"How the hell do you know that?" I asked.

"'Cause it's what I would do Dean, you too. Use your brains you numbskull."

I sucked in a breath, closing my eyes. She was right. "Right. Right. I told her to go to Bobby's just before we got separated."

Cole frowned, looking over at me. "Okay, so that's where she'll head. A lot of ground to cover between here and home. And she's not going to find much when she gets there."

"Well, then lets get going!" I said, once again gesturing to the cuff. She sighed, picking up a key and coming over to unlock the bracelet.

"Hang on a minute, okay? Once she's on the road she'll be fine for a bit. She's a smart cookie. Once we're back at the camp, we'll send someone to get her, so just, take a breath. Right now we need to figure out why you're here, now."

"Maybe I can help with that," a tinny, familiar voice said. I looked up to see Zachariah standing on the other side of the room holding a newspaper.

"What the heck?!" Cole cursed, drawing her gun and pointing it at him.

The angel didn't even seem to notice she was there. "Croatoan pandemic reaches Australia," he read from the newspaper.

"Hold it Cole," I said, grabbing her arm. I glared at Zachariah, wishing the bullets would do some good. "I thought I smelled your stink on this Back to the Future crap."

"President Palin defends bombing of Houston." Zachariah continued to look at the paper. "Certainly a buyer's market in real estate. Let's see what's happening in sports. That's right—no more sports. Congress revoked the right to group assembly. What's left of Congress, that is. Hardly a quorum, if you ask me."

"How did you find me?" I asked, thinking to the last conversation I'd had with Cas.

"Afraid we had to tap some unorthodox resources of late—human informants. We've been making inspirational visits to the fringier Christian groups. They've been given your image, told to keep an eye out," Zachariah replied.

"The Bible freak outside the motel—he, what, dropped a dime on me?" I asked.

"Onward, Christian soldiers." Zachariah said with a smile.

"Okay, well, good, great," I said, tossing a hand in the air. "You have had your jollies. Now send us back, you son of a bitch."

"Oh, you'll get back—all in good time. We want you to marinate a bit."

"Marinate?" I asked.

"Three days, Dean. Three days to see where this course of action takes you," Zachariah replied cryptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cole asked, still holding her gun in front of her.

"It means that your surrogate brother's choices have consequences," he replied, looking at me. "This is what happens to the world if you continue to say "no" to Michael. Have a little look-see." Then he was gone, leaving me alone with an angry blonde.

"What the hell does that mean?" She asked.

"You don't want to know," I sighed.

"Well I might not want to know, but I think it's time you get storytelling. I've organised a ride back to the complex - it's gonna be a few hours to get there. There's someone who's going to have to see you."

"Who?" I asked curiously.

Cole stopped to look me up and down, shaking her head. "My day just couldn't get stranger… you know that?"

4 Hours Later
Camp Chitaqua - Cole's Cabin

Dean's POV

It had been a long four hours, the only consolation of which was that we were at least heading in the same direction Beth would be if she was going to Bobby's. I figured we were about an hour and half out from Sioux Falls. Cole confirmed this, telling me that as soon as we hit camp she'd arrange to have someone go to the house and wait for her. We could follow later. That only meant one thing: she still had questions, or worse, for me. I was stewing by the time we hit Camp. The last hour had been in silence, me mulling over my thoughts, and Zachariah's warning. Three days. I'd already seen enough to know that things were not good. I felt sick to my stomach with worry, and it was taking every ounce of discipline that I had not to knock Cole out and take the car straight to Bobby's. I knew better - I needed allies, and beating up family wasn't going to get me any.

The Camp certainly wasn't a summer camp like old days. Now it was surrounded by a huge chainlink fence, the top covered in barbed wire. Armed guards were parolling the perimeter when we arrived. It was dark, and no one seemed to give me a second look as Cole passed through the gate and drove through the compound to a cabin near the back. "Come on," she said, pulling the vehicle to a stop and climbing out. She grabbed a bag from behind her seat, and took the couple of steps up to the door with a leap, seemingly in a hurry. I sighed, debating once more about taking the car, and then deciding - against character - to follow.

I sauntered up the steps, taking a look at the buildings surrounding us, but there wasn't much to see given there was no power around. What light there was flickered inside the cabins, behind closed curtains.

Inside, I was not expecting to come face to face with myself, even though I should have known it would happen.

"What the Hell?" I asked, taking in a copy of myself, standing by a table with Cole and looking into the bag she'd carried in. He glanced up at my remark, and frowned.

"I should be asking that question, don't you think? In fact, why don't you give me one good reason why I shouldn't gank you right here and now?" He asked, picking up the gun that was on the table.

I raised an eyebrow, along with my hands, and grinned. "Because you'd only be hurting yourself."

"Very funny," he said, not looking in the slightest bit amused.

"Look, man…" I said, shrugging. "I'm no happier about this situation than you, believe me."

"Yeah, well, Cole reckons you're flying high from the past. Why don't you start by explaining how exactly that works?" He asked, leaning against the table, the gun resting comfortably in his hand like he was still deciding whether to listen or just shoot me.

"Zachariah," I said.

My twin stood up, taking a few steps toward me.

"Come again?" He asked.

"I'm you from the tail end of 2009. Zach plucked me from my bed and threw me five years into the future," I explained. I made the decision to start calling him Deano in my head, because frankly, this was going to get confusing if I had to talk about him to someone else.

"He's right. Some angel popped right in, minus the Delorean," Cole supplied, moving to the kitchenette and pouring herself a large bourbon from a bottle on the bench. She took a drink, watching us.

"Where is he? I want to talk to him," Deano asked.

"I don't know."

"Oh, you don't know," he replied sarcastically. Cole's drink was starting to look good.

"No, I don't know. Look, I just want to get back to my own friggin' year, okay?" I snapped, I wasn't keen on the freaking inquisition going on.

"Okay. Well… I'm not saying I buy any of this. But, if you're me, then tell me something only I would know," he said to me and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh for God's sake… we already…" I muttered, looking over at Cole who was smirking at me. Well, it had worked on her. "All right, fine," I sighed. I tried to think about something only we'd know. There was a lot of things we'd done with Beth, but who knows what she'd told Cole on one of their girl's drinking nights. I had to come up with something not even Beth would know. Then it hit me. I smirked, glancing at Cole, and then inclined my head at my counterpart who took a step closer.

"Rhonda Hurley," I started, noting that Cole's ears seemed to perk up. "We were, uh, nineteen. She made us try on her panties. They were pink. And satiny. And you know what? We kind of liked it."

Deano stopped and thought about it, a little smile - the first I'd seen - turning up at the side of his mouth.

"Touche…" he admitted, and I knew I had him. The relief of that was surprising.

"Oh man wait until she hears that…" Cole sniggered and I glared at the woman.

"Don't you dare!"

Deano's attention snapped to Cole. "Wait until who hears...wait…" The realisation dawned on him and he looked at me, a slight panic seeming to cross his face. "You're not here alone?"

"No," I replied.

"Of course he's not," Cole said, taking another slug of her bourbon.

"Well, where is she?" Dean asked, looking at me.

"Bobby's, most likely," I answered. There was no doubt in my mind that Beth wouldn't make it. I just hoped she'd managed to find a vehicle to get there. But she was strong and resourceful, she was there, I knew it. I refused to believe otherwise.

"Cole," Dean said, looking pointedly at our surrogate sister.

"Already on it. I sent Rocco to find Charlie, both with orders to find Beth, as I came through the gate. Why do I have to do everything around here?" She muttered under her breath.

"Who's Charlie?" I asked.

"A good friend," Deano replied.

"You trust him?"

"Her. Charlie is a her," Deano said. "And yes, with my life. Beth's too." Cole looked a little troubled at that statement and finished off her drink, moving back to the kitchen.

"Why aren't we going ourselves?" I asked, frowning at the idea of Beth's life in the hands of two complete strangers to me. Deano appeared to ignore me.

"So, what, Zach zapped you up here to see how bad it gets?" He said, I stared up at myself, his eyes looked so much more cynical than I felt even now. What on earth had happened in five years?

"I guess," I said with a shrug. "Croatoan virus, right? That's their endgame?"

Deano shrugged at me. "It's efficient, it's incurable, and it's scary as hell. Turns people into monsters. Started hitting the major cities about three years ago. World really went in the crapper after that."

"What about Sam?" I asked, he had been on my mind since the phone call.

Deano went really still, barely moving, hardly breathing. He looked at the gun he was messing with in his hands and spoke quietly.

"Heavyweight showdown in Detroit. From what I understand, Sam didn't make it." I stared at him in surprise and shock.

"You weren't with him?" I asked.

"No," came the reply. "No, me and Sam, we haven't talk in – hell, five years." The phone call played through my head, I found it hard to believe that Beth would have let me walk away from Sam like that.

"We never tried to find him?" I asked, confused.

"We had other people to worry about." Cole said, pouring herself another drink and taking a sip.

"What about Beth? Why didn't she make you..me.. us go after Sam?" I asked, frowning.

Deano and Cole both went still for the second time that night and I felt a chill run through my body.

He turned, his eyes conflicted, full of sadness and rage.

"She didn't make it," Cole said quietly.

"What?" I asked, barely getting the words out. "What do you mean she didn't make it?"

Deano stepped back, running a head across his face and looking grieved.

"She... she got infected, two years ago," he said, looking down at the wedding ring still on his finger. "I had to kill her myself."

"What?" I was shocked. "No... no, no, no. There had to be something you could've done, there had to be a way to .." I fell silent when Deano glared at me.

"You think I didn't look? You think I didn't try? I watched her! I watched her turn into a monster and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it!" He stepped back, his face shutting down all emotion, locking it behind a wall.

Cole looked at him as he started to walk toward the door. "Dean…"

"Keep an eye on him," Deano ordered her, and she nodded.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"I need some air," he said, pausing in the doorway. "Get on the radio, call Rocco and Charlie back in. I'm going to get Beth myself. Just… keep him here."

Several Hours Later
Bobby's House

Beth's POV

Night had fallen, and I was settled on the couch, gun in my lap trying to rest without falling asleep. I'd waited hours to see if there was any further movement in the area, and when there wasn't, taken the risk of lighting the fire. Currently it was the only source of light in the whole room. I'd started to convince myself that I could take a chance on getting some sleep when I heard the splintering sound of the kitchen door breaking open.

Jumping to my feet, I fired as soon as I saw a couple of infected people entering. I managed to get them both, reloading as the front door was kicked in. I spun, firing, and the gun jammed. I threw it at the shadow moving toward me and then took out the knife I'd found in the kitchen, launching myself at them. We hit the floor, rolling as I fought to get the upper hand. He was strong, grabbing my arms and rolling, twisting my wrist until, with a cry, I dropped the knife. He pressed an arm to my throat, and I froze, recognising those green eyes

"Hey!" I exclaimed, grasping at his arm - I was about to break the hold when he let me go with a shocked look.

"Beth?" He looked at me, eyes conflicted and hurting.

"Dean? Nice to see you too. What the Hell was that for?" I said, clutching at my throat and coughing a little. He stood up, helping me to my feet.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a frown, shifting around and looking for more infected. We really needed to secure the perimeter, in case there were more infected around.

Dean grabbed me suddenly and pulled me to him, his lips crushing mine in an urgent, heated kiss. It surprised me, but I instinctively returned it, my hands sliding up to hold his face. It took me a moment to realise the differences. The subtle change in his posture, the taste of his lips – like someone who had been surviving on military rations and whiskey, and the rough stubble covering his chin. I broke away a little, realising suddenly that this wasn't Dean... not the same Dean I had left earlier. He seemed to figure it out the same time I did because he pulled away.

He was looking at me, struggling with a whole range of emotion as it flicked across his eyes in the dim light of the fire.

"I'm sorry," he said gruffly, and I shook my head.

"No need," I said, "You didn't know."

He frowned and said nothing, just looking at me. I stared at him, not knowing what to say. I mean, what do you say to the future version of your husband after he'd just mistaken you for the future version of yourself, and kissed you as if your very life depended on it?

"Listen, Dean, I'm not…"

"From here? Yeah, I know."

"Great, so that means you found Dean… where is he?" I asked, feeling relief wash over me.

Dean stared at me for a long time, so long that I started to feel a little uncomfortable. I reached out a hand to touch his cheek and he closed his eyes, sinking his face against my hand.

A dog started to bark, and I jumped at the sudden noise. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Come on," he said, taking my arm and leading me out the side door, along the dark porch to a vehicle where a dog was locked in the back. Dean had his gun out, and shot without hesitation, when a shadow rushed at us from the car yard. Two more shots and another infected person lay on the ground.

Dean shoved me to the passenger door and announced, "time to go."

Camp Chitaqua

Beth's POV

The hour and a half ride back to the camp had been relatively silent. Dean was broody and refusing to answer me any questions other than telling me about how the Croatoan Virus had brought us to this, and it was spread from bites. As we got to the Camp, he was reprimanding me for throwing myself at him when he'd come into Bobby's.

"Do you know how stupid that was?" He asked, pulling the vehicle to a stop near the barred entrance where several guards were. When they saw him, they opened the gates, waving us through and barely giving any attention to me.

"Well excuse me Dean, what did you want me to do? Talk it to death?" I said sarcastically, feeling a little slighted from the criticism. This was not the same Dean I knew, he was talking to me like he was John.

"I'd expect you to stop being so damn reckless," Dean said, climbing out of the vehicle and coming around to open my door. "I'd expect you to run."

"Run? Since when have we run from anything?" I argued, sliding down to the ground and glaring at him.

"Since now," he said, his eyes frustrated as he looked at me. "A lot has changed," he said a little softer.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked, pausing to take in the slight change in his tone, and something else behind his eyes, a pain that I couldn't place.

"Nothing," he said. "Come on." He grabbed my arm, and practically dragged me to the cabin nearby. As Dean pushed me through the door, I took a moment to let my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting from a hurricane lamp. Immediately I saw Dean, my Dean, and Cole sitting at a table, having a few drinks.

"Beth!" He exclaimed as he saw me, then his eyes fell to the other Dean behind my back and he sighed.

"You don't split up," the Dean at my back said, and I could practically feel him looking over my shoulder at Dean. "Ever." He grabbed my wrist, clamping a cuff around it and snapping it closed. I looked up at him surprised.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"It's for your own protection," he said to me quietly, pulling me firmly over to a ladder leading up to a loft.

Dean jumped to his feet, reaching for his counterpart. "Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell man?"

His twin's answer was to clamp the other bracelet around one of the ladder rungs and I leaned against it, looking him over as he spun around, grabbing Dean by the arm, and simultaneously cuffing him to the same ladder.

He paused and then started to run his hands along the length of my body.

"Hey! Hey hey hey, what are you doing?" Dean asked quickly, and Future Dean looked at him with a grin. His hands slid down my thighs, over my knees to my boots. Finding the little silver knife I had tucked there, he pulled it out and stood up to plant a kiss at the back of my neck.

"Still haven't forgotten your tricks..." he whispered in my ear.

"Oh come on man, this isn't right!" Dean muttered, looking at us. Future Dean pulled away and frowned. He headed for the door again.

"Wait, you're just leaving us here?" I asked, watching him. Cole was staring at me as if she'd seen a ghost, and the future Dean seemed to want to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

He turned and sighed. "Yes,this is Cole's cabin. No one is going to come looking around here. And I got a camp full of twitchy trauma survivors out there with an apocalypse hanging over their head. The last thing they need to see is a version of The Parent Trap, and my dead wife running around. So yeah, you two stay locked down for the day.

"Did he just say dead?" I asked, feeling my face pale.

"Yeah..." Dean said beside me, looking worried.

"Wait, when? How did I die?" I asked, looking up at the Future Dean. He shook his head and looked at me sadly.

"Tell you later," he said to me.

"Look, all right." My Dean was addressing his counterpart now. "Fine. But you don't have to cuff us, man." There was a raised eyebrow shot at him when he made that comment. "Oh, come on. You don't trust yourself?"

I smirked and shared an amused look with the Future Dean. "No," he said with a slight smile. "Absolutely not."

"Let's go," he said to Cole. "Did you find what I was looking for?" He turned, following her out of the cabin, shutting the door on any reply she had.

"Dick!" Dean muttered and slumped against the ladder.

"You okay?" He asked me after a heartbeat, looking me over.

"No Dean, I'm pissed!" I said, picking at a nail in the floorboards. "You left me behind back there."

"I didn't mean to, but I told you where to meet up..."

"That's not what I'm talking about," I cut him off, frowning at him. "You shoved me up a fire escape and didn't come with. Instead you ran off into unknown danger. I had no way of knowing if you were going to come out alive!"

Dean fell silent and slowly nodded his head.

"I know, I know it was stupid. But your safety is more important," he said.

"Don't say that," I replied, shaking my head. "Especially not now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dean asked. I sighed, starting to pick at a nail in the floorboard near me. It was drilled in pretty hard, but some of the floorboard had started to rot. I picked and picked until some splinters gave, and I was able to get my nail under the head. With some kind of grip now, I worked at it until it started to slide out of the wood.

"I mean, I just found out that I'm dead inside of five years, and the Apocalypse didn't get stopped, and on top of that I can't even tell my own husband from... well … whatever – you two do look really alike you know," I muttered to Dean's confused look.

"What are you going on about?" He asked me, and I fought strange feelings of guilt, but then … what did I have to feel guilty about? It's not as if I was cheating, technically.

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. I broke the nail free, and with a triumphant cry, started to pick at the lock on Dean's cuff. It only took a few seconds and we were both free.

"Come here." I pulled him to me and kissed along his lips, trailing my tongue over a cut that I found there, a sharp metallic taste danced across my tastebuds. Dean groaned and slid his arms around my waist, returning the kiss, lifting my jaw so he could deepen it. He glanced over at the single bed tucked away in a corner.

"Well, we could make use of this time..." he said suggestively and I grinned. "He did say not to leave the cabin."

I laughed, and nodded, kissing him back. "Didn't you get enough last night?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Never."

"What's going on here, Dean?" I asked.

Dean sighed, and leaned his forehead against mine. "Zach has decided to show us the consequences of my actions, should I continue to say no to Michael."

"God, is he mad?" I asked, shaking my head.

"No, he's desperate," Dean replied.

"We need to figure out how to get us back to our own time," I said, thinking about my impending death. I had to get free so that I could stop it from happening.

"And do what?"

"I don't know! Something! Dean I'm going to die!" I pulled my head back from his, searching his eyes urgently.

"No, you're not," he answered stubbornly. "We'll fix this. We can fix this."

"I don't know… I mean, you couldn't back then," I replied.

"And we'll find out what happened later, we'll make sure you're never even there. I'm not losing you Beth."

"And what about Sam? Where is he?" I asked, the absence of our brother not going unnoticed. Dean hesitated, looking at me.

"Dean?"

"He's dead. Me, and Cole… we're the only ones who made it," he answered.

"Bobby?" I asked, although the bloody wheelchair had answered a lot of my questions. "Jefferson?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I haven't seen them," he said.

"Bobby's wheelchair was at the house, it looked as if he'd been… mauled." I said, feeling my heart start to beat a little faster. This was bad.

"Jesus…"

"Dean I'm scared," I said, gripping his sides a little tighter.

"I know," he said, pulling me close and squeezing tight. "I know, but we'll get some answers. It'll be okay. Come on, let's just wait it out for a bit, at least until daylight, then we'll find Cole and figure out where to go from there."

Camp Chitaqua
Morning - Several Hours Later

Dean's POV

We'd waited almost longer than I could bear. I had to get a look around, see if I could find Cole and get some answers. If Zachariah was insisting this as a kind of test, then surely I needed to see what was goingo n around here? Beth on the other hand, that was sending off warning bells in my head.

"Maybe, maybe you should stay here," I said, looking at her as she pulled her boots on.

"What? Why?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Because people think you're dead," I pointed out.

"And having two Deans running around isn't just as bad?" She questioned, standing up from the cot we'd slept in the last few hours.

"No. Yes. I don't know. But it's not as conspicuous as a dead person!" I said.

"Dammit Dean, I don't want to be cooped up in here," she said.

"I think it's for the best. I'll be back as soon as I can. I'm going to see whether Cas is around," I replied. She stopped and concentrated for a moment, like when she was trying to connect with an angel, and then shook her head.

"I can't hear him," she replied.

"Yeah, which is a bit concerning. What about the others?"

"No, it's … there's nothing. Like no one is there," she said, biting her lip. I sighed, nodding.

"Please wait here," I said, taking her by the shoulders and looking in her eyes. "Please? I'll be as quick as I can."

She sighed and nodded, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me tight. I held her close, noting the feel of her against my body, not wanting to think about how I'd be if she was suddenly taken from me. That alone almost caused me to change my mind, but my reasoning was sound - she could be recognised, and that'd cause problems.

Pulling away, I kissed Beth's forehead quickly and then exited the cabin, the brightness of the day causing me to squint for a moment. I took a few steps down from the porch and jumped when I heard my name.

"Hey, Dean. You got a second?"

I spun around. "No…" I replied instinctively, then I recognised the face to the voice. "Yes. Uh, I—I guess. Hi, Chuck."

"Hi," he said, then launched into his question. "So, uh, listen, we're pretty good on canned goods for now, but we're down to next to nothing on perishables and—and hygiene supplies. People are not gonna be happy about this. So, what do you think we should do?"

It was a good question. One that I didn't have an answer for. "I—I don't know. Maybe, uh, share? You know, like at a kibbutz."

"Wait a minute. aren't you supposed to be out on a mission with Cole right now?" He asked.

"Absolutely. And I will be," I said.

"Uh-oh," Chuck said, looking behind me. I turned, just in time to see a fist from an angry brunette coming at me. I ducked out of the way, holding my hands up.

"Whoa! Jeez! Easy, lady!" I said, jumping behind Chuck.

"Risa," Chuck supplied, and I looked her over. She was pretty, kind of my type, if you could say long-haired brunettes with chocolate brown eyes were my type.

"Risa?" I asked.

"You spent the night here, in Cole's cabin, didn't you?" She asked.

"Uh, what? I—I don't—did I?" I stuttered, and Chuck nodded - I had of course just been exiting it, so it looked suspicious enough.

"I knew something was going on between the two of you, sister my ass," she said. "I thought we had a connection."

"Well, I'm sure that we do," I said, trying to ease the conversation. Inside my stomach was churning. Me, and Cole? Surely not?! That was just sick, demented, wrong…

"Yeah?" Risa asked sarcastically, breaking my line of thought.

"Hi, Risa," Chuck said, chuckling awkwardly.

"Screw you," Risa spat out, turning on her heel and walking away.

"Oh, jeez. I'm getting busted for stuff I haven't even done yet," I muttered.

"What?" Chuck asked, turning around.

"Uh, never mind," I said, seeing the cabin door crack open and Beth peer out. I waved her inside, and looked at Chuck. "Hey, Chuck, is...Cas still here?"

Chuck laughed, looking amused. "Yeah. I don't think Cas is going anywhere."

Castiel's Cabin

Dean's POV

I was not expecting the scene in front of me when I walked into the angel's cabin. He was seated, cross-legged, on the floor in front of a half dozen women who were all staring lovingly at him.

"So, in this way. We're each a fragment of total perception," he said in a slow, melodical voice. "Just, uh, one compartment in that dragonfly eye of group mind. Now, the key to this total, shared perception—it's, um, it's surprisingly physical."

He looked up, spotting me and then glanced back at the women. "Oh. Excuse me, ladies. I think I need to confer with our fearless leader for a minute. Why not go get washed up for the orgy?"

Orgy? What the hell was going on here? I wondered as the group of women stood up, smiling and laughing between themselves before leaving.

"You're all so beautiful," Cas said with a smile, watching them as they filed out of the cabin one by one. He stood up, stretching his back with a grunt.

"What are you, a hippie?" I asked.

"I thought you'd gotten over trying to label me," Cas replied.

"Cas, we got to talk," I said, and he looked at me, suddenly taking a quick step toward me.

"Whoa. Strange," he said, stepping right up to my face and looking into my eyes. Yep, same old Cas - right in my personal space.

"What?" I asked.

"You...are not you. Not now you, anyway," he said.

"No! Yeah. Yes, exactly," I said, kind of relieved that I didn't have to explain it to him.

"What year are you from?"

"2009," I replied.

"Who did this to you? Is it Zachariah?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Interesting," he said, still staring at me, and the air around me as if he was getting information from it.

"Oh, yeah, it's friggin' fascinating," I snapped. "Now. Why don't you strap on your angel wings and fly me and Beth back to our page on the calendar?"

"I wish I could just, uh, strap on my wings, but I'm sorry, no dice," he replied. I could smell weed on him and his eyes were looking at me with a glazed over lack of concern for anything.

"What, are you stoned?" I asked.

Cas took a step back, nodding. "Uh, generally, yeah."

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"Life," was the reply.

Cole's Cabin

Beth's POV

Dean had been gone an hour at least, I was getting restless and frustrated. I didn't like being stuck in here. I decided to go find him, and have a look around in the process. Rummaging through Cole's wardrobe, I found a ballcap and put it on, pulling my hair through the loop at the back so it was in a ponytail of sorts. Maybe it would be enough to confuse people from a distance, if I was spotted.

My silver knife was still with Dean, but there was a sharp filet knife in the draw of the kitchen and I took it, tucking it into my belt.

Exiting the cabin, I skirted around the fence near the camp, coming upon a section of the fence a short three hundred metres away which had a thick woolen blanket tossed over the barb wire. I frowned, not liking what that could mean, and wondered if the infected were smart enough to come up with such a bold plan to get over the fence.

Movement caught my attention on the other side of the fence, and I looked up to see a young boy, no older than six or seven, stalking through the undergrowth of the woods beyond. His curly blonde hair was a bit unruly, and he was handling a sawn off shotgun like a pro. I watched with mild curiosity as he tracked his prey, reminded of all the times John had taken us as teens into the woods. The hunts for the chupacabras specifically came to mind, and we'd been a lot older than this kid.

Suddenly the boy stood, revealing his position and shot into a copse of trees. A growl sounded and I was instantly moving, pulling myself up the chainlink fence and over to the other side, landing in time to see the body of what I assumed was an infected person fell from beside a tree, hitting the ground. The boy spun, pointing his gun at me, and I froze, hands in the air.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"Who am I? Who are you?" I asked.

"Answer me!" He demanded, his nerves beginning to show, his finger trembled probably itching to rest on the trigger. I sent up a silent prayer to whomever was listening that this kid wouldn't be the one to do me in.

"Easy, just take it easy. How about we lower the gun, kiddo, okay?" I said, keeping my voice soft.

"Sorry lady, can't do that." He said.

I swallowed, reaching my hand out towards the kid. "What's your name?" I asked.

The kid's brow furrowed, and he bit his lip nervously. I cocked my head, eerily familiar with the nervous gesture. Cole did that all the time and it definitely betrayed her nerves.

"John." He said.

"Alright John." I said. "There's plenty of infected out there, and I'm unarmed."

"Don't believe you." God what was this kid's deal?

"Well I'm clearly not infected, and I came from inside the compound. How about we get you back there?" I asked, gesturing back toward the fence.

A weird shuffling sound came from the left of us. John's eyes widened as an infected man rushed us, and he lifted his gun. I turned, launching myself at the infected. We both met the ground, and I jerked the knife from my belt, the only real weapon I had - Dean's admonishing from the night before ringing through my head. I had to concede it would have been more helpful if I had my gun, or the kid's gun, even.

I stabbed the infected man in the eye, my blade sinking low enough it pierced the brain, flinching back as the blood sprayed across my chest. The body stopped twitching under me, and I looked up at John, picking myself up off the ground.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You're not armed with a gun? Are you insane?" He asked, his voice tight. I caught the underlying current of fear though.

"Long story," I muttered, ushering him toward the fence. "Let's get back inside, it's not safe here."

"Who the hell doesn't have a gun? Who are you lady?" John asked.

"I'm a friend of Dean and Cole's. I'm new, my name is... Elizabeth," I replied.

"Elizabeth, huh…" he said, looking at me with narrowed eyes. "You know you do kind of look familiar… a bit like my mom's friend."

"Wait, Mom?" I asked, then it dawned on me... John…. "JJ?" I asked.

"You know me?" He asked, looking surprised.

"I haven't… I haven't seen you since you were a baby," I said.

"Well that was a while ago," he said.

"Look at you all grown up," I said.

"I'm seven now!" He said proudly. I realised that he would still have memories of the me he did know…

"Yeah? Well how about that, time really does fly." Too fast, I thought. "Hey, I'm actually looking for Dean's cabin, can you point me in the right direction?"

"Sure," he said. "I was headed there myself. Though, you might want to change your top first," he said, waving a hand at the blood stain that was splattered across. "You're really crazy you know? That thing coulda infected you, you didn't get any in your mouth did you?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. I felt my cheeks burn slightly at the admonishment from the child. Dean had lectured me not twelve hours earlier about my recklessness, and I'd just gone and done it again. I pushed it out of my mind, resolving to get a gun - clearly I was going to need it if I was hanging around here.

A Short While Later
Dean's Cabin

Beth's POV

I'd found a new shirt in Cole's wardrobe, and ditched the hat, choosing to tie my hair back instead and hope for the best. At least with JJ by my side, people were less inclined to ask questions - or so I reasoned.

"Hey Charlie!" JJ called out as he pushed open the door to the cabin without knocking. "I got a friend of Mom's here!"

A slightly built red haired woman looked up from where she was reading a book on the couch. "Oh yeah? Who?" She asked, spotting me and dropping the book as she sprung to her feet. "Whoa! Beth?"

"Uh, yeah. Have we met?" I asked, looking at her. She didn't seem familiar.

"Yes, but not yet," she replied, staring at me as if I was a ghost. "I mean, not for you. Wow, you look just like her."

"Huh?" JJ asked, frowning at us both.

Charlie's head jerked toward the boy and she smiled. "It's just been a long time since I've seen Beth."

"Uh, her name is Elizabeth," JJ said, shaking his head.

"Right. Of course, my mistake. Why don't you go check on Sophia?" Charlie said.

"Sophia?" I asked, looking around. JJ nodded and started toward the bedroom at the back of the cabin.

"Wow," Charlie said, walking up to me with a huge grin. "I can't believe it. I mean, he told me, but… to see you… alive."

"Yeah, it's doing my head in too," I murmured, rubbing my fingers at my temples.

The door to the other room swung open and a little girl ran out in a woolen green sweater and brown sweatpants, her bare feet padding softly on the wooden floorboards as she squealed while JJ chased her. I was captivated by her giggle, and the way her curly brown hair cascaded around her face. She was almost identical to me at that age. My heart almost stopped beating at the thought.

"You know, my grandmother's name was Sophia," I said, drawing the girl's attention to me at the sound of her name.

"Yeah, about that…" Charlie said.

"Mom! Mom!" Sophia called out as soon as she spotted me. I felt the blood drain from my face, looking at Charlie.

"Really?" I asked, staring back at the girl now hurtling herself toward me.

"Mom?" JJ asked, looking a little closer at me. "Isn't Soph's mom…."

"Yes!" Charlie said quickly, cutting him off. "She is… gone. Sophia is just confused. Elizabeth looks a lot like her mom." JJ watched as the girl threw herself into my arms. I picked her up and she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, squeezing tight.

"See?" JJ said, turning to me. "Told you you looked familiar."

"JJ, can you go to the mess and get us some food please? I forgot to get Sophia some lunch," Charlie said, and the boy was quick to comply.

"Yeah, okay Charlie," He ran out the door and suddenly things started to hit home.

"Listen, Beth…" Charlie was looking a little anxious.

"This is my… this is our daughter?" I asked, my voice catching with emotion.

"Yeah. She is, Beth."

Sophia was nuzzling into me, her face pressed into my neck and I took a deep breath, feeling the heaviness of her in my arms, the reality of her.

"But, how? When… how… how old is she?"

"She's four," Charlie replied.

"She hasn't been born yet," I realised.

"Not in your timeline, no."

"Oh my God…" I gasped, looking at her again. I took in her bright hazel eyes, the dark chocolate hair, she was … us. And I was gone from her life. I felt my legs start to give, my breath catching in a panic as the reality of what I'd just learned hit home. I had a daughter.

Camp Chitaqua

Dean's POV

I was working my way back to Cole's cabin when I spotted a car and jeep pull up nearby. I recognised my own profile almost immediately. Deano jumped out of the jeep along with a group of soldiers, followed by Cole. He grabbed a couple of beers and tossed one to a guy with him. They both opened the beers and took a drink. I watched as the soldier started to walk toward the main building, and Deano drew his gun, pointing it at the soldier.

"Hey. Hey! Watch out!" I called out, drawing everyone's attention to me. Deano shot the soldier in the back of the head and he fell to the ground. Suddenly all eyes were on me and Deano.

"Damn it," Deano muttered, looking at the ground and shaking his head.

"We're not gonna lie to you," Cole announced quickly, stepping up between us. "Him and him… It's a pretty messed-up situation we got going. But believe me, when you need to know something, you will know it. Until then, we all have work to do," she said pointedly. Deano was fuming, and I suddenly wished I'd kept my mouth shut as the soldiers took all this in, along with the defiant stares from Cole before turning and heading toward the main hall.

I quickly found myself shoved back into Cole's cabin, in the middle of a lecture.

"What the hell was that?" Deano asked, pointing out toward where we'd just come from.

"What the hell was that?" I asked incredulously. "You just shot a guy in cold blood."

"We were in an open quarantine zone," Cole said, dumping her things on the couch nearby. "Got ambushed by some Croats on the way out."

I shrugged and looked at her. What the hell were Croats?

"Croats. Croatoans," Deano supplied, opening a bottle of liquor on the table and pouring himself a drink. "One of them infected Yeager."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"'Cause after a few years of this, I know. I started seeing symptoms about a half an hour ago. Wasn't gonna be long before he flipped. I didn't see the point in troubling a good man with bad news." He lifted the glass to his lips and took a drink, simultaneously pouring another glass and handing it silently to Cole who joined him with a grateful smile.

"'Troubling a good man'?" I asked. "You just blew him away in front of your own people. Don't you think that freaked them out a little bit?"

"It's 2014, Dean. Plugging some Croat, it's called commonplace," Cole said with a shrug. I was staring at the pair of them, I didn't recognise either one of them. Cole had always been reckless, sure, but killing an innocent man while barely batting an eye?

"Trading words with my friggin' clone…" Deano continued. "That might have freaked them out a little." Cole sniggered and nodded, taking another sip. I was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable with how close these two were.

"All right, look…" I started, intending to ask about those rumours.

"No, you look," Deano interrupted. "This isn't your time. It's mine. You don't make the decisions. I do. So, when I say stay in, you stay in."

I stopped short at his look, realising he was right. "All right, man. I'm sorry. Look, I—I'm not trying to mess you—me—us up here."

"I know," he said, taking another sip of his drink as Cole looked around the room.

"Where's Beth?" She asked.

"She should…" I realised that the room had been strangely vacant, not to mention quiet, since we'd entered. "Ah, dammit!"

"Son of a bitch!" Deano exclaimed, downing his drink and moving toward the door. "Nothing changes!" I made to follow and he stopped me short with a glare.

"No! You, stay here!" He shouted, looking at Cole. "Keep an eye on him."

The door opened and a young blonde boy sauntered in. "Hey Mom," he said, oblivious to the tension in the room. "Hey Dean… hi Dean."

I didn't have a second to wonder why this kid was seemingly unconcerned by the clones in the room before I found myself face to face with a sawn off shotgun.

"Hold it right there. I got this thing full of silver, mister!" He threatened and I threw my hands in the air.

"Hey, woah! Woah, woah, woah…" Deano said, moving to intercept. "It's weird, but he's not a shapeshifter JJ."

"Oh yeah? Well what is he then?" The boy demanded, his aim now at the chest of Deano. I looked down at this kid, noting the crazy blonde hair, the attitude, not to mention the itchy trigger finger, and then glanced at Cole. Surely not? But then, why not? Of course JJ would be here, Cole would defend him to the death. I was staring at my kid brother, and the thought was beyond strange.

"It's a long story," Cole interjected, drawing his attention. "Put the gun down, now." He obeyed instantly and Deano knelt down, his demeanour instantly changing.

"You haven't, ah, seen anyone strange around the camp have you?"

"Well yeah, found some chick who said she was a friend of yours, but I never seen her before, name's Elizabeth," he answered, shrugging and flopping down on the couch. I noticed the gun stayed with him, even though he was seemingly relaxed.

"Oh yeah?" Deano asked, standing up and exchanging a look with me. "Where is she now?"

"Your place," he replied.

"My...my cabin?" Deano asked, looking at Cole and I thought I detected a hint of colour draining from his face.

"Go," Cole ordered him, giving him a strange look. He nodded, turning back to the door.

"Son of a bitch!" He cursed, walking out and closing it with a slam.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked, looking at the boy. "Are you seriously JJ?"

"Sure am," he said with a nod. "Who the hell are you?"

Dean's Cabin

Future Dean's POV

My heart was pounding out of my chest as I ran the distance from Cole's cabin to mine. Only in the couple of minutes it took did I come to realise just how far it was from mine. I'd walked the distance a thousand times in the last few years, yet it had never seemed to take as long as it did in this moment.

I leaped up the stairs to the door, barging in without warning. "Soph!" I called out, trying to get some control over myself. I stopped short, seeing Beth on the couch, our daughter sitting comfortably in her arms as they read a book. "Beth?"

"Hey," she said, smiling up at me with ease.

"Hey…" I said, a stabbing pain coursing through my heart. Images of Beth with Sophia, as a baby, on her lap flipped through my mind like a movie and I couldn't move.

"Daddy!" Sophia called out, wriggling from Beth's lap and on to the floor.

I watched her run to me, and only then could I move. "Hey baby girl," I said, scooping her up as she reached me and kissing her chubby little cheeks before squeezing her tight against me. Her hair smelled like vanilla, just like Beth's had, and she gave a little squeal of joy before squirming in my arms.

"Daddy you're breaking me," she complained and I laughed, realising I was holding her a little too tight.

"Sorry princess," I said. I dropped her down to the floor and then looked up at Beth who was watching the scene unfold before her, teeth firmly biting down on her lip. The door opened behind me and Charlie bustled in, her usual whirlwind of energy.

"Okay, here I am with a snack! Oh!" She stopped, looking between me and Beth, still holding a plate of cut up apples and oranges. "Hi Dean."

"Hey Charlie," I said, my eyes still on Beth.

"Sorry, I didn't think… I thought it would…well… this is just messed up, you can't tell me otherwise," Charlie stuttered. I forced myself to look at her and nodded.

"Do you mind taking Soph for a walk?"

"Yeah, sure, I can do that , I'm sure you guys have lots to talk about," Charlie nodded, and she quickly took Sophia's hand, telling her about the adventure they were about to go on, to find the perfect picnic spot to eat their fruit.

As soon as they were gone I turned back to Beth, who was standing up from the couch. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just looking around, I didn't…"

"You shouldn't be here, Beth," I snapped, the pain of seeing her, in our cabin with Sophia had hit me like nothing else.

"How can you say that? Dean, that's my daughter!" Beth said.

"No she's not!" I said a little too loudly, instantly regretting it as a shocked look flooded her face. I hurried to soothe that hurt, stepping toward her. "I mean, yes, she is yours. I'm sorry. She is, of course she's yours. It's just, she's not…" I stopped short, I couldn't say it.

"Mine…" Beth finished and I nodded, feeling tears start to prick at the back of my eyes as I stared at her.

"God this is messed up," I muttered, silently cursing Zachariah for his bullshit 'interventions'.

"I know," Beth said. "I'm sorry."

"You look just like her… I mean of course you do," I said, fumbling for words. I shook my head, looking down at my feet.

"I'm sorry Dean," she whispered.

"I just… I can't even look at you. It's just…" too hard, I wanted to say.

She crossed the distance between us, her hand coming to rest on my arm and I closed my eyes, nodding to myself and taking a few deep breaths. It had been so long.

"Well, what's done is done, can't change it," I said, repeating the one thing I'd told myself since she'd died. The only thing that could get me through the days. I couldn't change the past, I could only make the most of right now, and create a better world for our daughter.

"Maybe we can," Beth said quietly, lifting my chin up. I opened my eyes to look at her.

"No, you're here, he's here… that means nothing has changed, Zachariah is trying to get him to wake up," I said, shaking my head.

"Zachariah wants us all dead!" She said, her hand squeezing my arm.

"No, he wants Michael's vessel!" I said angrily, taking a step back.

"I don't care," she insisted.

"And because of it you wind up dead, Beth! Dead! If I could take it all back…"

"No, don't you dare. Don't you dare say you'd choose differently," she said. I looked at her, all the hurt and anguish rising up inside my chest. I grabbed her, pulling her familiar curves into me and holding her tight.

"I would Beth, so help me I would. Because the alternative…"

"The alternative leaves me alone, and a widow…" she mumbled into my chest. I shook my head.

"No… no, not once Michael wins," I said. She pulled back just far enough to look at me, but her hands had come to my waist, and were holding me as close as I was her.

"There's no guarantee, Dean," she said. "You could end up in a mental ward like Raphael's vessel too."

"Zachariah said that wouldn't happen," I said, and she shook her head vehemently, pulling away with a sigh.

"Zachariah lies!"

I felt her absence from my arms like a hot knife, cutting her from me. "Well, maybe not about this," I said, wishing I could just hold her again.

"That's insane, you're kidding yourself," she said.

"No!" I snapped, seeing red. "What's insane is me putting my needs before anyone elses. I didn't think it through. I thought I was right, it was selfish, and it was wrong, and it screwed the whole world over!"

"And what about my needs Dean?! You made a promise to me!" The look of betrayal on her face nearly stopped me short, but I was just as angry - the rage I'd quietly born since her death eating away at me.

"A stupid, stupid promise Beth! That's the problem with this whole family, we ...we put everything else behind saving our family, and it's madness!"

She shook her head at me, her eyes starting to water. "How can you say that?" She whispered.

"How can I not after what's happened?" I asked, my voice softening.

"I didn't spend all those months, in living misery without you, just to see you hand yourself over to an angel war, I don't care what the cost. I'm not going to do it Dean, I'm not…" She shook her head again, her voice breaking slightly before rising. "I've lost everything, I've lost my Mum, my Dad, our Dad… our baby…. we have no idea where Sam is. How much am I expected to give here?!"

I fell silent, unable to answer to that. I had failed her in so many ways, and I was doing it again. I shook my head, no words coming to me. She stepped closer, her breathing starting to slow.

"Dean, please, can we please not fight," she asked.

"I lost you…" I whispered.

"You won't," she promised, pulling me back into her arms. I wrapped my arms around her waist and hugged her back. "We're gonna go back, we're gonna fix this," she added.

I made a concerted effort to pull myself together. "Yeah, yeah you're right," I said, reluctantly letting her go. "Come on. You need to see this, you need to be in on what's going down tomorrow." I turned for the table, pulling the gun out from under my jacket.

"Going down? What are you talking about?" She asked, following. I stopped, turning to show her the gun.

"I was on a mission today, and I won," I said, noticing her eyes drop down to my hands.

"The Colt?" She asked.

"The Colt," I said with a smile.

"Where was it?" She asked, moving to run a hand along its barrel.

"Everywhere," I said, my hand almost trembling with excitement. "They've been moving it around. Took me five years, but...I finally got it. And tomorrow - tomorrow night, I'm gonna kill the Devil."

Later That Night
Dean's Cabin

Beth's POV

She was heavy in my arms, this tiny little life that I would one day create. Cole had ushered me into Dean's cabin after we'd all had an impromptu meeting about the Colt, and the plan to kill Lucifer. I found it strangely odd, being alone with this little girl, nestled against me. She'd taken to me as if she'd known me all her life, and now I was walking the boards of the cabin with her resting on my shoulder, fast asleep.

"She looks good in your arms," a voice sounded behind me and I turned to see future Dean standing in the doorway to the only bedroom of the cabin.

"I can't believe she's real," I said softly, moving over to the cot and laying her gently on the mattress. I brushed a hand across her forehead and watched as she rolled on to her side and settled. "She's so happy," I said, turning to find Dean standing next to me, looking down at her.

He watched her, conflict in his eyes as he struggled to gain control of his emotions. I reached out a hand to his, squeezing it as he gripped the side of the cot.

"Dean… what about Ben? Lisa?" I asked the question, but deep down I already knew the answer. They weren't here. I'd always had this theory that if anything happened to me, he'd settle down with her.

"They…" he sighed. "We couldn't get to them before things got … I don't know. They weren't there when we got to the house. I haven't found them, if they're even alive."

"Oh my god…"

"God has left the building, Beth," he said with a sigh. "He was definitely absent the day you…" Wiping a hand across his face, I could see the emotion toying with him.

"How long has it been?" I asked and he let out a long, shaky breath.

"Two years, five months… and three days," he said quietly, the fact that he even knew that number was heart breaking. "Soph was eighteen months old, " he added, glancing over at me. "I should never have left you alone."

"Don't… Dean, you would only ever do what was necessary," I said, reaching out a hand to his hardened face, my heart overspilling with love for him.

"If I'd just been there," he said, shaking his head.

"What did happen?" I asked, wondering if this was against some time travel rule. If he told me, would I do something different? Could I change this future?

Dean took my hand and pulled me into the main part of the cabin, closing the door behind us so we wouldn't disturb Sophia. He gestured to the couch against the wall, and then crossed to a table where there were several bottles of whiskey sitting. He poured us each a drink and then sat with me, turning to look into my eyes.

"When everything went to Hell, we set up compounds," he started, turning eyes to look into the swirling whiskey in his glass. "There was an area West of here that wasn't as infested with Croats, so we set up a compound for the women, children and elderly." I nodded. It seemed like a good idea.

"That's not the case anymore," I pointed out, thinking about the women and children I'd seen earlier, not to mention Sophia.

"No," he said quietly, taking a deep breath.

"What happened?"

"You and Cole went with a group to the compound as command, and I'd get up there when I could to see you, but it was hard, we were still learning about what was going on, there were battles to be fought…" he paused, shaking his head. "One day, a group of Croats attacked the compound you were in, they killed the guards, and it was just pure luck that someone even sounded the alarm to evacuate."

I took a deep breath and he looked at me. "They poured in from all directions, and you guys managed to get everyone on the evac bus, Charlie was driving, you and Cole were shotgun. The gate had only been opened a small amount, not enough for the bus... and someone had to open it…" He stopped and smiled sadly at me. "You ran out the door before Cole could do her usual martyr thing."

I chuckled and nodded. "Sounds like me."

"Well, you got the gate open, but a couple of Croats grabbed you on the way back, you fought them off, but it was too late… they'd… you'd been infected, Cole pulled you back on the bus..." he said with a shaky breath, I dared not even move in case it shattered the mood.

"Charlie drove like a bat out of Hell to get here, but you all knew it was a lost cause. When I saw Cole's face as she pulled up to the Camp I knew something had gone terribly wrong," he said, hanging his head. "And you were on the bus, bleeding…"

I slid a little closer until I was right beside him, reaching up a hand to cup his cheek and looking into his tear-filled eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said softly and he shook his head, laying his hand over mine.

"It's not your fault," he said said forlornly.

Dean looked into my eyes, grieved, a shadow of the man that he'd been showing to everyone else. But then, that had always been the way, he didn't show anyone this side except me, and now I was gone – there was no one for him to let it out to.

"I had to … you were infected, and you held on for as long as you could…" He broke away from my gaze, shaking his head.

"You had to kill me," I said in a matter-of-fact voice and he nodded, his face breaking right in front of me.

"Oh God, I'm sorry Dean," I said, sliding into him and wrapping my arms around his neck as he buried his face into my shoulder, his hands balling at my sides and then grasping me firmly, pulling me into him as he shook with emotion, holding me tight.

"I miss you so much," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

"It's going to be all right," I said, stroking a hand down his back and holding his head close. "I'll fix this, I promise," I said, pulling back to look into his eyes. "I'll fix this; I'll make it so none of this happens, so I don't leave you."

He frowned, clearly fighting an inner turmoil and then he kissed me, his lips catching mine in a desperate will to connect, I moaned softly, my hands sliding up into his hair.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't…" he said when he pulled away and I shook my head. This was my husband, and I loved him, and I wanted to comfort him; but at the same time it was confusing, because the younger version of him was just a short walk away. In a split second I had made my decision, standing up and walking over to the door. I didn't even hesitate, turning the lock on the door and then crossing back to him, taking his face in my hands and lifting his head to mine, stifling his moan with my lips as I claimed his mouth, sliding my tongue in to meet his in a loving, gentle waltz between two.

I climbed into his lap, my legs straddling either side of his thighs as I ran my hands down his chest, pushing back his jacket from his shoulders, and then tugging at the t-shirt he wore underneath. He helped free it, breaking our kiss only long enough to remove the shirt so I could run my hands along his bare torso. He had new scars: a combination of bullet and knife, a few claws.

Dean pulled at the hem of my shirt and freed it over the top of my head while I undid my bra, dropping it to the ground. He groaned, leaning his forehead into my collarbone and taking some deep breaths before pressing his lips in to my neck and sucking along the skin.

I stood up, pulling him with me as he continued to kiss along my bare shoulder while I tugged at his jeans, dropping them to the ground with a rush of fabric, mine soon to follow. He lifted me easily into his arms and I wrapped my legs around his waist, letting him carry us to the bed where he sat with me in his lap again, my cotton panties rubbing against his own.

"Tighty whities? Really?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, he'd only ever worn boxers the entire time I'd known him.

"Yeah well, beggars can't be choosers, lucky to have clothes at all these days," he said with a grin and I laughed, grinding against him. We wouldn't be needing clothes for the near future.

"I'm sure there are plenty of women who would prefer that," I joked and he looked a little pained. I didn't like the little stab of jealousy that thought brought up in me. I brushed it off, and with a growing urgency started to kiss him again, drinking from his lips as he moaned and I felt his hard arousal pressing insistently against me. I slid to my knees, pulling on the waistband of his undies, tugging them down while I watched his hazel eyes bleed dark with desire.

I started to move my lips toward his arousal, but he caught my face, shaking his head and pulling me to my feet, tugging at my undies and then guiding me into his lap again, his erection rubbing slowly along my growing arousal. "I want to see you," he said, kissing me and brushing a hand along my cheek. "I need to see your eyes."

I nodded, and together we moved into a comfortable position, him sitting, me straddling him. I pressed my lips to his, taking my time to love him, my heart racing a little as I felt him respond in kind. He slipped a hand between us, his fingers finding my folds and sliding through them. I was already slick and ready for him, and when he found the wet pool of desire waiting he groaned deep in the back of his throat.

His palm grasped my left breast, kneading it as he continued to slide his fingers through me, brushing lightly over my clit, and then further back, sending shivers down my spine. I could feel his arousal pressing against my buttocks and then sliding forward as I raised myself up. I looked into his eyes, just like he'd asked, as I slid him back and forth between my folds, moaning softly. I was going to do this. I knew it, and watching him, any hesitation I might have had - which was precious little - melted.

I kissed him softly, moving back to stare into candy green eyes as I inched down on him. He sucked in a breath, moaning softly and throwing his head back, baring his neck to me so that I could kiss along it, sucking softly as I worked him inside of me, clamping down and rocking in to him.

He grabbed my hips, starting to move me up and down in his lap, guiding me with a determined rhythm; we weren't going to last long at this rate. I was angled so that every thrust hit my clit and sent shockwaves through my legs. I moaned with desire, holding on to his shoulders.

"Dean… oh god slow it down," I whimpered as another wave rushed through me and he gasped for breath, his movements taking a more languid and gentle approach. I was grinding against him, my arms wrapped around his shoulders as I kissed him over and over, breathing new life into this broken man.

Dean trailed his hands up my back and then around over my shoulders, sliding them down to rest against my breasts as I rocked back a little while he flicked a thumb across each nipple, sending shivers through my core. He drew himself in and out of me, angling so that I could feel him pressed so hard against me, and then he hit the sweet spot causing a delicious spilling of passion. I whimpered from the contact, feeling everything clench at the same time, combined with a finger that came down to rub softly, barely the lightest of touches but enough to send me crazy.

I cried out, grasping his shoulders and rocking slowly into him, drawing it out. Like molten waves of fiery lava my release took hold, teasing me to life and I gasped, looking into his eyes, forcing myself to stay present with him and it was all the more intense because of it. He ran a hand up to my neck, supporting me as I shuddered against him, whimpering from the intense bursts of energy rippling through me, like supernovas going off and creating new life.

With a guttural moan he watched me and I saw his eyes start to glaze over as he swallowed and then pulled down on my hips tightly, holding me on him, grinding and rubbing as he stayed sheathed inside, pushing against that sweet spot and sending me over the edge at the same time as his warmth spread throughout me and he gasped from the relief of his release.

"Oh Beth," he said, pulling me in close and kissing along my shoulder again, burying his face in my neck. "It's been so long."

I held him tightly, tears in my eyes as I sought to comfort him from the pain that was so deep inside. He grasped my hips, lifting as he stood up and carried me over to a single bed tucked in the corner of the room. He sat down, rolling on to his back, and I fell with him, half on top and half on the side of the mattress, my leg thrown over him as I held on. There was the sound of raucous laughter that floated to us over the night air and I looked up long enough to wonder about where Dean was, what he was doing.

"He's with Cole," the Dean in my arms answered, and I looked over at him curiously. "I told her I needed some time alone with you, so she's currently on a mission to get him rolling drunk."

I laughed softly, nodding. "I'm sure his head will thank you in the morning," I commented and he snorted.

"He'll live."

He shifted to the side until I was on the mattress and then moved to position me on my back, spreading my legs open and pushing a couple of fingers inside me, stroking me, teasing me to arousal again.

"Already?" I asked without an ounce of surprise.

"I told you," he answered with a grin, leaning in to me and kissing along my breast while he flicked a finger and caused me to arch with the incredible pleasure he was sending through my body. "I've missed you."

He hesitated for a moment, looking down at me. "I wasn't sure you'd… I mean, this is weird for you, right?"

I shook my head negatively at him, and leaned up to kiss him. "No. No, it's not. Now stop talking… make love to me." He smiled, kissing me back deeply.

Within minutes he was erect again and sliding in to me, sawing his way in and out, driving me insane with the intense rush it was causing. I looked into his eyes and I saw a heart that was mending, just for a short fraction of time, in this stolen moment outside of our world, and I knew why I could never live without him, I saw what I always saw when I looked at him: pure, unconditional love.

An hour later we lay twisted in each other's' arms, stroking along soft skin. "I love you," I said to Dean, looking up at him. "I always have, I always will."

His eyes got a little watery as he looked at me and smiled, leaning in to kiss my forehead. "Ditto, sugarpie, ditto."

"God my heart is breaking for you," I whispered and he bit his lip, stroking a hand along my cheek.

"It's all right," he said quietly, watching me. "This is more than I could have hoped for tonight. I half expected you turn me away..."

"How can you say that? I'm your wife," I said, sitting up a little and looking over at him.

"No, you're his wife," Dean said, nodding in the direction of the shack where the bar was located. "My wife is dead."

"Not tonight," I said. "And you're the same person."

"I don't know that I'd agree with that. If he were to walk in right now, it'd break his heart," he said softly and I knew it to be true. I kissed him again, a sadness in my eyes.

"Maybe, but I think he'd understand… eventually. I don't regret it, because to me you're both the same person."

He smiled, brushing the hair out of my eyes. "That's why I love you," he said softly. "You're always thinking of everyone else."

"Well I know one thing," I said with a grin, feeling a little cheeky. "You've learned some new tricks since 2009…" I said, raising my eyebrow at him. "Where did you learn that, uh, that last thing?"

He chuckled and kissed me, nuzzling his way along my neck to my ear. "You taught me," he whispered and I pulled back with a curious look.

"Talk about chicken and the egg," I said, thinking about what that had to mean. Dean laughed and nodded.

"Unless you're tricking me," I said. "To spare my feelings."

He frowned and shook his head. "It's the truth."

"You trying to tell me you've been some celibate monk since I died?" I asked and he bit his lip.

"No…" he said. "There's been… a few, just overnight. Nothing serious." He almost looked guilty. I nodded, I'd guessed as much. "No one compares to you, I will never love anyone like I love you."

"I just want you to be happy Dean," I said, kissing him.

"Then go back, do what it takes to stay alive," he said quietly. I nodded, burying my face in his shoulder, running my hand along his chest.

"I will," I said. "I don't ever want to leave you."

Later, when the bar had fallen silent, I started to wonder just how late it had gotten, and where Dean was. Apparently the same was on my companion's mind.

"You should go," he said finally, stroking his hand along my shoulders. "He'll be wondering where you are." I bit my lip and nodded, looking up at him. I kissed him tenderly, looking into his resigned hazel eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said, but he shook his head.

"Don't be, you've given me more than I've had in a long time," he replied, kissing my forehead and climbing out of bed, tugging me to my feet. He handed my bra to me and once I'd put that back on he kissed along my collarbone, falling to his knees.

I watched as he slipped my undies on around my ankles and then slid them back up, his hands trailing along my legs and sending shivers to my feet. Then my jeans followed and he stood to button them up, pulling me into him and kissing me again.

Finally he reached for my shirt, slipping it over my head and pulling it down as I slid my arms into the sleeves. One last look, taking my face between his hands he leaned down to claim my lips, drinking from me as if a man in the desert who was downing his last drop of water.

"I love you, I never told you enough," he whispered as he pulled back and tears welled in my eyes. I reached up a hand and stroked it along his face.

"I love you more than life itself," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and letting him lift me into him, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist. After a moment he let out a shuddering breath and placed me back on my feet.

"Go," he said softly, and I nodded, grabbing my jacket and walking to the door. I hesitated, my hand on the handle and looked back at him. He didn't look, his head hanging down, his shoulders dejected. There was nothing I could do.

"I can't… Dean I can't," I said, a sob escaping my lips as I saw defeated look.

Dean looked up in consternation, crossing the room quickly and pulling me to him, kissing my lips, eyes, forehead. "It's okay, Beth," he promised, squeezing me again.

"I don't want to leave you like this, how can I do that?" I asked, clinging to him.

"I'm sorry," he said, kissing my forehead again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought you here tonight."

"No, I needed to know, I needed to see."

There was a whimpering sound from the other room, and we froze, listening as Sophia called out for me.

"She was so young, how does she even remember me?"

"I show her your picture, every day," he answered. "Just like I used to do for Sammy."

"Oh Dean…" I buried my face into his neck. "God our lives, they're like this repeating theme…"

"Yeah, I know," he whispered, rocking me softly.

"Mama!" Sophia called out again and I felt jittery and anxious all of a sudden. Was this motherhood? Having a baby call out to you and knowing you'd do anything to make her feel better? With a start I realised it was how I felt about Sam, even though we were practically the same age. It dawned on me, that despite Dean's tough exterior and words, he had to be feeling the same way when Sam called, asking to rejoin us. It would be thousand times worse for him; he'd raised his brother.

"Come on," Dean said, taking my hand and leading us into the room. Sophia was standing in her cot, it was almost too small for her. She grasped the side and smiled as soon as she saw us.

"Hugs!" She said, extending her arms out.

"She is too cute," I said with a smile as I picked her up. Like a little octopus, Sophia wrapped herself around my neck, and Dean followed suit, pulling us both into his arms and squeezing us together. We stood for a long while together, a family, and I felt the settling of his heart; he seemed calmer.

It occurred to me that tomorrow everything could change, and suddenly I was filled with foreboding.

"Dean… tomorrow."

"Shhhh, not in front of Soph," he said, caressing my face with his hand.

I sighed and nodded, looking down at the girl who was squirming in my arms and smiling.

"God she's so beautiful."

"She has a beautiful mother," he replied and I smiled, kissing him.

"Her father is pretty hot too, you know," I said with a grin.

Dean's face furrowed into a frown and he led us back into the main cabin, picking up a toy shape sorter from the floor and handing it to Sophia. She took it and I placed her on the couch where she sat placidly playing.

"Her father is a desperate, angry old man," Dean said to me, pulling me to the other side of the cabin. "You always said I shouldn't let myself turn into Dad...but I did Beth. When I lost you. I… I get it now, why he was the way he was. The only difference is I can't escape this nightmare with her, I can't take her on the road."

"Oh Dean," I sighed, holding his hands. "You will never be completely like Dad."

"Not while I have you," he said. "But, with you gone. Everything I had to live for…"

"You have Sophia," I cut in.

"It's not the same, Beth. It's not. God help me, I've tried to make it enough. But I'm consumed with this… I will see it to the end. For her, and JJ. So they don't grow up in this world… or worse. But Beth… the things I'm going to have to do tomorrow."

"You can do it, you're strong," I said.

"I don't know if I am."

"Then we'll do it together," I promised, knowing deep down that there was no way I could guarantee I'd even be here. How long was Zachariah going to see this through? How did I even know I'd be here in the morning.

"Together," he said quietly. "Separating was my biggest mistake," he said.

"You did what you thought best," I replied.

"And I was wrong, Beth. I should have listened to you."

I swallowed, watching him battle with his inner demons. There was nothing to be done.

There was a round of raucous laughter outside and I jumped, not expecting it - we both recognised Dean's familiar laugh, and Cole's along with it. Dean sighed.

"When you get back there, you make him listen, Beth. You tell him…"

"I won't ever tell him to agree to Michael, Dean. I won't, I can't," I cut in.

Dean sighed with frustration, groaning and pulling me to him, his forehead pressed to mine.

"You want me to go with my gut feelings?" I asked, starting to sob again. "Well… that's not it, Dean. It's not."

"Okay, all right," he said with a nod. "But you guys stick together, through thick and thin, you hear me? We're stronger together."

"We are," I agreed, kissing him. "We always have been."

"You need to go," he said again and I shook my head. "Beth, he'll be starting to wonder where you are."

"I… I can't."

"Yes, you can. You and him, together. You do it for us."

"What about you? You shouldn't be alone tonight" I said, and he sighed, nodding.

"Yeah, okay. You're right. I'm gonna need some sleep anyway. I'll see if Charlie can keep us company."

"She seems nice," I said, my heart lightening just at the thought of the flamboyant and slightly awkward red head.

"She's the best," he said, his frown turning to a smile. "You loved her. She was like a sister."

I smiled, thinking about that. We had Cole, of course, and I'd always had Dean and Sam, but the thought of another sister in our little odd family didn't hurt at all.

"I look forward to meeting her," I said softly. "And I'm glad you have her, and she has you."

Cole's Cabin

Dean's POV

We'd made it back from the bar, but I realised I was sorely out of practice when it came to the kind of drinking post-apocalypse people did. I supposed there wasn't a lot of other entertainment in this world given the state of it.

My mind had wandered a few times to Beth, missing her familiar presence while out drinking, but Cole had quickly reassured me that she was visiting Sophia, trying to wrap her head around everything she'd learned. I found it odd, and after five minutes with our daughter I'd quickly excused myself. It was too strange to think about, but Beth was different. This was the child I'd promised her. I had been mulling it over all night.

"Yo, Earth to Winchester," Cole's voice broke through my revelry. "Have I got a challenge for you, pipsqueak," she announced, staggering over to the cupboard against the wall. She bent down and I caught a flash of ass in her tight jeans and did a double take, just what the hell had been going on between her and Deano?

"So uh, you and me, huh? Never would have picked it..." I said, trying to keep my voice all jovial and nonchalant. Cole practically hit her head on a shelf in her haste to straighten up.

"Come again?" She asked, spinning around with wide eyes.

"You and me? I copped a whapping from … uh, Risa… earlier today. She was more than a little jealous," I commented, pouring myself another drink. Cole burst into laughter, and I felt a little take aback at the reaction.

"Oh...my...god, dude! Are you serious? You believed her? Us? Really?" She asked, her eyes wide as she chortled at me. "I'd rather diddle myself, Dean, uh, no offence."

"Hey, what's wrong with me?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"One. You're Beth's husband," she said.

"Well, Beth's dead in your world, sunshine," I pointed out.

"Not to me," Cole said soberly. "Not to Dean."

We fell silent, and she turned around, resuming her search in the cupboard.

"Call it, mutual commiserations," she said, glancing back at me. "You're a good looking man, Dean. I'll give you that. Every woman in this camp, except maybe Charlie, wants a piece of him. The fact that he's emotionally unavailable just makes him all the more attractive. He hates it."

I nodded, I could see that. I didn't fancy the idea of losing Beth, and if I did, I'd hate to be hit on by anyone else. I took a long drink of my whiskey and felt my legs start to waver - I really had been drinking too much.

"So, uh, what's the story then?" I asked, taking a seat.

"We were hanging out one night shortly after she… it Beth's birthday - and he stayed over. Didn't want to be alone. Nothing happened, but that's not the story that got around Camp. After that, we had a few sleepovers, let people make their own assumptions - it stopped the advances, mostly." she replied. "Aha!" Cole stood up, turned around and waved a checkers board in the air. "Found it!"

I smirked, recalling our old drinking game. "You get the shot glasses," she said, "we are so doing this, cowboy."

"All right, short stack, but you gotta remember - I don't lose at this game, remember Beth's 21st?"

Cole laughed. "Do I remember? Dude, that was one painful week trying to convince her to get over herself." She dropped the board down on the table, noting that I hadn't actually moved from where I was sitting. "Ha, you can't even walk, can you?"

"Sure I can!" I said defensively. "I just don't know where the glasses are." It was as good an excuse as any.

She snorted, shaking her head and moving to the cabinet over the bench. "Sure, sure…"

"So, you said it stopped the advances. What about Deano and Risa?" I asked, my thoughts returning to the original question.

"One night," she replied, grabbing two handfuls of shotglasses and bringing them over, dropping them on the board. "Set these up," she ordered before moving back to the cupboard.

"Risa is a great girl, kills Croats like nobody's business, but she's like a stage five clinger," Cole said.

"Stage five?" I repeated with a grimace.

"With a vengeance," Cole said with a nod. "I don't know what he was thinking."

"Brown eyes," I murmured, recalling the girl from earlier. "Brown hair…"

"Ah," she said as if finally making the connection. "Just like Lisa."

I grimaced, but nodded. "Yeah… just like Lisa."

Cole shook her head at me. "Lisa's a great girl too, from what Beth told me. But she's not Beth."

"No," I replied. "No one is like Beth."

"You took forever to make your move Romeo, I dont know what you were thinking."

"The timing was never right," I reminisced. "Unlike you and Dad, I couldn't just take her off on a hunt on our own. He was practically always around. Especially after he issued the ultimatum."

It was Cole's turn to grimace. "Yeah… that … that might have been my fault, actually," she confessed, dumping another set of glasses on the board. She ignored my curious look and started to set them up, ready for pouring.

"Go on…"

"Uh… well… that was the weekend he'd called in to Dad's. Hurt. We uh, well … I'll spare you the details but let's just say it was my first time, and he freaked out when he realised."

I spat out the whiskey in my mouth, unfortunately having been in the middle of a drink at that moment, and watched it spray all over her.

"Eewwww, Dean!" She cried out, wiping at her top with a teatowel.

"You can talk!" I said, taking another drink straight from the bottle. "That is an image that ain't ever leaving my mind!"

"Oh shut up! It's perfectly natural," she retorted, grabbing the other bottle and taking a drink herself before starting to fill the shotglasses on the board.

"Just the same…" I said, but now my mind was on the way dad had exploded at the motel, having found us lying on the beds in towels, just talking, perfectly innocent for the most part. Suddenly it all made sense if he'd thought he'd just screwed up himself.

"Well, you guys figured it out," Cole cut in. "Eventually."

"Yeah…" I agreed, looking at the board. I made the decision to let it go, the past was the past, couldn't do anything about it now. "Well, prepare to be the next contender to fall before the mighty Dean," I announced with a laugh. "I'll even let you go first."

Cole snorted, taking a seat opposite me at the table. "You are on, brother. Prepare to die."

A short time later
Dean's Cabin

Beth's POV

Opening the door, I brushed a few tears from my eyes and crossed the compound to Cole's cabin. Someone was moving around, actually I should say staggering around, his silhouette in the window, and I realised quickly that it was Dean. I opened the door and he spun around, almost falling over.

"Babe!" He said with a smile, crossing quickly to envelop me in his arms. "Where have you been?" I laughed softly and squeezed him to me, leaning into his warmth.

"I've been visiting Dean and Sophia," I answered, hoping my voice was as level as I wanted it to be.

When I opened my eyes and looked over his shoulder I spotted Cole sitting at the table, a checkers board out with very few shot glasses left in our infamous drinking game, and it looked like she was winning. She smiled coyly at me, raising an eyebrow and then winking.

"How was your evening?" She asked, a twinkle in her eye.

"Uh, yeah... good, interesting," I said non-committally. Dean pulled back and looked at me.

"How is Sophia?" He asked and I smiled at him.

"She's beautiful," I said, "she's perfect."

"Well look at her mother," he said with a smile, leaning in to kiss me.

Cole snickered and jumped the three of Dean's remaining shot glasses in one go, downing them one after the other, and then standing up with a bit of a sway.

"Read 'em and weep baby, Dean Winchester is no longer the champ at this game!" She declared and Dean turned to look at the board in horror.

"What? No! I never lose at this game!" He said, staggering over to the table and staring in disbelief.

"Well pay up dude, you just did," she said, holding out her hand. Dean sighed and looked at her, then pulled his favourite pocket knife out of his jeans pocket, looking forlornly at it before sighing and gesturing toward the door.

"Okay, outta here!" He said with a wave of his hand and an indignant sniff.

"Wait, this is Cole's cabin!" I said with a laugh.

"Yeah, we agreed I'd stay in with Charlie tonight. JJ is already over there," Cole replied, looking at him with a chuckle and then crossed to me, leaning in so I could only hear.

"Sorry, I tried to get him passed out, he's got some serious stamina! Worse than his damn father. Looks like you're in for a long night girl, hope you can still walk in the morning," she said and my mouth dropped to the floor.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said innocently, but she could see it in my eyes, my poker face wasn't that good.

"Yeah, yeah, I wasn't born yesterday," she laughed while Dean continued to stare at the checkers board, shaking his head. "Only this one would be innocent enough to believe you two were just talking all night," she added, flipping her head in Dean's direction.

"Huh?" Dean asked, looking over at us. "What did you say?"

"Oh nothing, just that I think Beth is in for a wild and woolly night, and I hope you don't break her," Cole said with a grin, moving quickly for the door.

Dean stared after her and then when the door closed he chuckled.

"Hmmm, she does have a point," he said, sliding across the floor and pulling me into his arms. "I've missed you," he added as he kissed along my neck, nuzzling into my skin. I groaned and leaning in to him, sliding my hands around his waist.

"God but I'm so tired..." I complained and Dean pulled back a little, frowning.

"Really?" He asked, looking at me. "Because if you are we could...well we could just go to sleep." His eyes however were saying he wanted to do anything but that, he was disappointed and I could already feel his arousal pressing into my thigh.

"Well, maybe I'm not that tired," I said with a smile, leaning in to kiss him and groaning internally.

Dean chuckled and went to pour me a drink, handing it to me with a smile. "So what did you guys talk about all night?" He asked, nodding toward Dean's cabin.

"Oh, just Sophia, and the compound... you didn't really miss anything," I said and he nodded.

"I gotta say, I'm surprised," he said, putting down his drink and coming over to slide his hands around me. "If it were me I'd have been going nuts. He … didn't... try anything... did he?"

I smiled, kissing him quickly. "He was the perfect gentleman," I said, avoiding a direct answer. It wasn't technically a lie, Dean always treated me with the grace of a gentleman.

He smiled again and then suddenly he grabbed me around the waist, pulling me to the bed and pushing me back against the pillows.

"Let's make a baby," he said, his eyes changing to complete seriousness as I stared up at him from the flat of my back.

"What? Dean we're in the middle of the Apocalypse!" I said incredulously. He shrugged and kissed my neck, looking back down at me.

"So? What else is new? If we wait until we're not in the thick of things we'll be old and grey," he pointed out and I had to admit, he was right.

Hot hands were running along my side, sliding my top up over my stomach and he leaned down to kiss my belly button and the stretch marks from when I'd carried our son. I wrapped my legs around his and ran them down his skin, caressing him softly.

"Well, let's talk about it when you're sober, huh?" I said. "Nothing we can do about it tonight," I said.

"Other than practice," he said with a grin, but the alcohol was already starting to get to him. I knew it wouldn't take much for him to pass out. I smiled and pushed him on to his back, unbuckling his pants and starting to slide his erection through my hand. I knew from experience that if I timed this right, he would pass out before long, and I could avoid the guilty feeling of having already done this earlier. While I didn't think I'd done anything wrong, he'd know as soon as he felt me.

"Okay romeo, just lie back and relax, this one's on me," I said, and leaned down, flipping my tongue around his tip, eliciting a low moan from him.

"God, I love my wife."

The Next Morning

Dean's POV

My head was splitting in two and I grimaced, climbing out of bed to pour myself a glass of water from a jug Cole had left us on the table. I groaned, taking a long drink and then turned back to look at Beth in the bed, tangled up in the sheets. She was so beautiful, I just wanted to keep her there forever, the fear of losing her, now made manifest with what Deano was going through sat heavy in my stomach, and I shook my head, regretting it instantly. It hadn't been hard to drown my sorrows last night, I had a lot I didn't want to look at, and Cole had provided the perfect solution.

Beth stirred and opened her eyes, smiling over at me. "Good morning," she murmured, stretching and I saw a peek of pink skin peeping out at me from under the sheet and I wanted to moan and take that nipple in my mouth.

"Good morning," I said with a smile, crossing back to her and kissing her lips instead. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," she said with a grin, lying back on the pillow and groaning. "Tired, but good." I had a sneaky suspicion I'd passed out on her in the middle of repaying her amazing blowjob last night, but if I had, she didn't seem to be holding it against me.

I smiled, pouring her a glass of water and carrying it over to her, my head suddenly on what was going to happen later. "So, big day today."

"Yeah, huge," she agreed, nodding.

"Did he tell you anything more about what was going on?"

"Nope, he was tight lipped on anything mission-like," Beth said and I sighed. Sounded about right.

There was a noise at the door, and I looked up as Cole stuck her head around to peer at us. "Up and at 'em sleepy heads!" She said, waltzing in with plates of baked beans, seemingly completely oblivious to my nudity. "Dean's holding a debrief in half an hour, he wants you both there."

"What happened to keeping a low profile?" I asked, scrambling for my boxer shorts on the floor, and she smirked.

"Kind of late for that, isn't it? Although, a lot of people are talking about how they've never seen you quite that drunk before last night," she said with a grin.

"Ha!" I said. "Sounds like I have a reputation to build. What's he going soft?"

"Something like that," Cole said, "fatherhood will do that to you Dean."

I fell silent. I didn't know what to say in reply. I had been all gung-ho last night about making a baby, but in the raw light of day, and sobriety… I had to ask myself whether it was such a great idea.

"Yeah, I suppose it would," I said quietly, turning to Beth who smiled sadly at me.

"Okay, well let's get this show on the road then," I said, nodding. "Because if he's killing the devil tonight, I'm all in."

"See you there in 30," she said as she waltzed out the door. "Nice ass, Winchester!"

30mins later

Headquarters
Beth's POV

"So, that's it? That's the Colt?" A pretty brunette named Risa was asking of her commander as I looked around the room. This girl, another man I didn't know, plus Cas made up the team along with two Deans, Cole and myself.

Future Dean nodded, placing it on the round table we were all sitting around. "If anything can kill Lucifer, this is it."

"Great. Have we got anything that can find Lucifer?" She asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him. I had a moment to wonder whether something else was going on, but Dean seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Are you okay?" He asked with a frown.

"Oh," my past Dean piped up from across the table. "We were in, uh, Cole's cabin the night before last. And, apparently, we and … Risa, have a 'connection'." He air-quoted the word, and Cole rolled her eyes, moving to place herself between Risa and future Dean.

"Cole's cabin, really?" I asked, looking at future Dean, and then Cole. I didn't see it.

"It's not what you think," he said, looking at me with a guarded expression.

Risa snorted and threw her hands in the air. "No, it never is, is it Dean?"

"Oh the drama of this little paradise of ours," Cas said with a chuckle.

"Shut up Cas, just because some of us look for a real connection instead of having orgies," Risa snapped.

"And some of us look for connections that aren't there," Cole supplied. I watched, flabbergasted at the turn this meeting had taken.

"You want to shut up?" Future Dean said to Cole, glancing at me.

"Yeah, okay. How about we all take a chill pill?" Past Dean said, the voice of reason.

"Whatever," Risa said, glaring at Cole who shrugged and turned to future Dean.

"We don't have to find Lucifer. We know where he is. The demon that we caught last week, he was one of the big guy's entourage. He knew," Dean said.

"So, a demon tells you where Satan's gonna be, and you just believe it?" Risa asked.

"Oh, trust me, he wasn't lying," Dean replied and shuddered at the tone in his voice. I'd seen in action, I knew what he was talking about.

"And you know this how?" Risa challenged.

"Our fearless leader, I'm afraid, is all too well schooled in the art of getting to the truth," Cas replied, looking first at me, and then future Dean.

"Torture?" His counterpart asked. "Oh, so, we're—we're torturing again." Future Dean looked at his clone with a glare and Dean shrugged. "No, that's… that's good. Classy."

Cas laughed, earning a glare himself.

"What?" Cas asked, looking at future Dean. "I like past you."

"Lucifer is here. Now." Cole cut in with a stern look around the room. "We know the block and we know the building." She pushed Dean's pocketknife into the soft wood of the table, marking the spot on the map that covered its surface.

"Oh, good—it's right in the middle of a hot zone." Cas said, throwing his hands up.

"Crawling with Croats, yeah. You saying my plan is reckless?" Future Dean asked.

"Are you saying we, uh, walk in straight up the driveway, past all the demons and the Croats, and we shoot the Devil?" Cas replied.

"Yes."

Cas shrugged. "Okay, if you don't like, uh, 'reckless', I could use 'insouciant', maybe."

"Are you coming?" Cole asked pointedly, looking at Cas.

"Of course," he said. "But why are they?" He asked, gesturing first to me, and then past Dean. "I mean, he's you five years ago. If something happens to him, you're gone, right?"

"They're coming," Future Dean replied without giving a reason. I thought back to the conversation we'd had the day before, how he couldn't go on, and how I'd promised we'd do this together. I wondered if I was the only thing keeping him together right now.

"Okay. Well, uh. I'll get the grunts moving," Cas said, standing up.

"We're loaded and on the road by midnight," Cole said.

"All righty," Cas agreed, taking Risa and the other man with him.

"Why are you taking us?" Past Dean asked as soon as they were gone.

"Relax. You'll be fine. Zach's looking after you, right?" His counterpart said, taking the Colt off the table and slipping it into his jacket.

"No, that's not what I mean. I want to know what's going on," Dean said.

"Yeah, okay. You're coming because I want you to see something. I want you to see our brother," came the reply.

"What?!" I asked, looking up from where I'd been staring at the map. "Sam?"

"Sam?" Dean asked. "I thought he was dead."

"Sam didn't die in Detroit," Cole replied. "He said 'yes'."

"'Yes?'" I echoed. The room fell silent as Future Dean and Cole looked knowingly at us.

"Wait," past Dean said. "You mean…?"

"That's right. The big 'yes'. To the devil. Lucifer's wearing him to the prom," future Dean replied.

"Why would he do that?" I asked, the shock hitting me like a tonne of bricks. We'd worked so hard to keep him safe, to keep him out of this, and now… "Wait, Sam is a vessel?" I said suddenly.

"You didn't know?" Cole asked.

"You never told her?" past Dean asked, looking at his counterpart who grimaced, and bit his lip. "He called us, he wanted back in."

"Wait, that was the other night?" I asked, looking at past Dean. "You hung up on him." I looked at future Dean. "You never went after him!" He looked pained, and I couldn't decide who I was angrier with. Dean for hiding the vessel information from me, or his futuristic version for never telling me, even later.

"I was going to… and then you and Cole were attacked …" Future Dean's voice dropped off and I shook my head, feeling a range of emotions hit me: sadness, anger, despair, love, desperation and betrayal…

"Look, we've all made mistakes," Cole said quietly. "We don't know why Sam agreed to let Lucifer in, but he did. And now we don't have a choice."

"It's in him, and it's not getting out," future Dean said, looking from me to his clone. "And we've got to kill him, Dean. And you need to see it—the whole damn thing, how bad it gets—so you can do it different."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"Zach said he was gonna bring you back, right? To oh-nine?"

"Yeah," Dean replied.

"Well, when you get back home—you say 'yes'. You hear me? Say 'yes' to Michael," he said.

"What!" I exclaimed.

"That's crazy," Dean replied. "If I let him in, then Michael fights the devil. The battle's gonna torch half the planet."

"Dean, we talked about this!" I said, grabbing his arm.

"Look around you, man," future Dean said, ignoring me. "Half the planet's better than no planet, which is what we have now. If I could do it over again, I'd say 'yes' in a heartbeat."

"So why don't you?" Dean asked.

"I've tried!" Future Dean said, pulling away from me. "I've shouted 'yes' till I was blue in the face! The angels aren't listening! They just—left—gave up! It's too late for me, but for you…"

"No, no. There's got to be another way," I said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I was cocky. Never actually thought I'd lose. But I was wrong, Beth. And I know what I said last night… and if all else fails, I mean it. You guys stick together. But, Dean. I was wrong. I'm begging you. Say yes." He stared at his counterpart and I shook my head, the room starting to spin with the desperation I was feeling. I was starting to breathe a little harder, panic clutching at my heart that Dean might actually listen and be taken from me.

"But you won't," future Dean said after a pause. "'Cause I didn't. Because that's just not us, is it?"

Later that evening
Camp Chitaqua

Dean's POV

I was going to be riding with Cas and Beth, she'd been fuming ever since the conversation earlier. Apparently she and Deano had agreed that I wouldn't say yes to Michael, but now he was reneging, begging me to do it. I looked at the world around us, and I had to wonder if maybe he didn't have a point. Right now though, my mind was on our brother, who we were going to have to kill in order to put a stop to everything. I didn't know how I felt about that, I had tried not thinking about it.

A part of me was telling myself that it had always been destined to go down like this. Maybe this had been Lucifer's plan all along, all those decades ago when he's sent Yellow Eyes into Sam's nursery, hellbent on turning him in his demon poster boy. The other part of me wanted to believe there was a plan here, one that was going to see Sam rescued, because that's what Beth and I did, we kept him safe, we watched over him.

All of me was at war with what was coming.

"So, you're really from oh-nine?" Chuck asked me as he walked with me to the trucks.

"Yeah, afraid so," I replied.

"Some free advice?" He said. "You ever get back there, you hoard toilet paper. You understand me? Hoard it. Hoard it like it's made of gold. 'Cause it is."

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Chuck." I wondered how this odd little man had even survived this long, yet here he was, about to enter into the hot zone with us to kill the Devil. I found my respect growing tenfold for him.

"Oh, you'll thank me, all right. Mark my words," Chuck said with a nod.

"I'll see you around," I said, reaching the truck I'd be travelling in, looking up to see Cas and Beth already in the cabin.

"Yeah. Okay," Chuck said with a nod. He walked down, following the convoy as I opened the door and climbed in next to Beth.

Some time later

We'd been on the road for hours. Apparently when Deano had said Lucifer was "right here" he'd meant a six hour road trip. Of course, I suppose in the grand scheme of 'here' vs. Australia, he was right. Cas was still driving, and I looked over as he opened a container, popping a couple of pills in his mouth and washing them down with some water from a canteen.

"Let me see those," I said, reaching across Beth who was fiddling with her rosary, lost in thought.

"You want some?" Cas asked. I looked at the bottle, reading the label.

"Amphetamines?" I asked.

"It's the perfect antidote to that absinthe," Cas replied. I shook my head.

"Mmm. Don't get me wrong, Cas. I, uh. I'm happy that the stick is out of your ass, but—what's going on—w-with the drugs and the orgies and the love-guru crap?"

Cas laughed, and Beth looked up curiously at him.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Dean, I'm not an angel anymore," Cas replied.

"What?"

"Yeah, I went mortal," he said as if he'd just announced he was going down the street to get bread. The ease he said it with was astounding.

"What do you mean? How?" Beth asked.

"I think it had something to do with the other angels leaving. But when they bailed, my mojo just kind of— psshhew!—drained away. And now, you know, I'm practically human. I mean, I'm all but useless. Last year, broke my foot, laid up for two months."

"Wow," I said, speechless.

"Yeah," Cas agreed.

"So, you're human. Well, welcome to the club," I said, finally.

"Thanks. Except I used to belong to a much better club. And now I'm powerless. I'm hapless, I'm hopeless. I mean, why the hell not bury myself in women and decadence, right? It's the end, baby. That's what decadence is for. Why not bang a few gongs before the lights go out? But then that's, that's just how I roll," he said, turning his attention back to the road.

Beth shook her head, turning her attention back to her rosary. I frowned, watching her.

"Sugarpie, don't get me wrong," I started, "I'm glad to see that you're keeping the faith and all, but seriously. A prior angel just said all the other angels are gone. Who the hell are you praying to?"

"God," Cas replied for her as Beth glanced over at me. "She's praying to God."

"God?" I asked. "You really think he's listening?"

Beth shrugged, biting her lip. "I have to believe that Dean. Because nothing else makes any sense."

"Sense? None of this makes sense!" I said, shaking my head. "I mean, first a bunch of angels conspire to let Lucifer out of his cage. Then they try to get us to wage war against him, using our bodies. And when we don't agree to that and Lucifer starts destroying the world, they abandon their posts! I mean, if that ain't enough to get God's attention, I don't know what is."

"God works in mysterious ways," she commented, saying what she's told me her father had said countless times before to her. The phrase infuriated her, yet here she was repeating it verbatim.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that," I replied with a sigh, looking out the window.

Cas laughed again.

"What's so funny?" I asked, looking at him.

Cas turned to Beth, catching her gaze.

"Maybe you're praying to the wrong one," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Wrong one?" Beth asked, watching him.

"Wrong God?" I queried.

"Maybe," he said. "You know, Sariel was on a different mission to mine," he continued. "I was determined to find God to fix this, and well, clearly I failed," he waved a hand around and laughed. "But Sariel… she was, determined, the only one who could fix this was our Mother."

"Mother," I said with amusement. "The mother of angels?"

"Sure," he said with a nod. "You didn't think God made us all on his own did you?"

"Sophia," Beth said softly.

"Yes," Cas nodded.

"Sophia?" I asked. "What does our daughter have to do with this?"

"Nothing," Beth said. "It's a Biblical name. The Wisdom of God. Often said to be the feminine aspect of Divinity… I thought she was just a part of God." Beth explained.

"In a way she is, as much as God is the masculine part of the whole. Divinity, Creator, the One who birthed us all, first came the yin and the yang - Yahweh and Sophia," Cas said. "Not that we're allowed to talk about Her," he added.

"Why not?"

"She was banished, by Him," Cas said and then he hit the breaks, the truck jerking to a standstill. "What the?"

The entire convoy had come to a halt, and as the sky started to lighten with the promise of dawn, I saw Deano, Cole and Chuck exit their trucks, working their way back to us. Chuck climbed up on the side step and smiled brightly in at us.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" He asked.

"Well," Cas said in reply. "It's not going at all. Why have we stopped?"

Deano stepped up on the passenger door, leaning in. "Bridge is out ahead, a few trees came down and took it out - recent too," he said. "But we're close, maybe an hour's hike out. We'll go on foot the rest of the way."

I groaned internally at the thought, but didn't complain.

"Great," Cas said with a sigh. "Well, no time to lose I guess. Let's go tango with the Devil."

An hour later
Hot Zone

Future Dean's POV

I could do this. I had to do this. I hadn't come this far, sacrificed so much, not to succeed tonight. The area was distressingly clear of Croats, and the further we walked in, carrying our guns and scanning the area, the more it was becoming clear to me that we were headed into a trap. Lucifer knew we were coming. My only option now was to try and take him by surprise, and come in the back way while the others mounted a full frontal offense.

"There," I said, crouched low in the bushes surrounding the old Sanitarium. "Second-floor window. We go in there."

Cole frowned at the rickety fire escape that would get them to the window. "You sure about this?"

"They'll never see us coming. Trust me. Now, weapons check. We're on the move in five," I said. The others looked uneasy, but if there was one thing I could count on, it was their obedience. They did trust me.

"Hey, uh, me. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Other Dean said to me and I nodded, stepping away with him.

"Tell me what's going on," he said as soon as we were alone. I feigned ignorance, but I could tell he was on to me.

"What?"

"I know you," he said, glancing back at the group. " You're lying to these people and to me."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. See, I know your lying expressions. I've seen them in the mirror. Now, there's something you're not telling us," he said. He had me, but I couldn't worry about that now, the job had to be done.

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

"Oh, really?" Came the skeptical reply. "Well, I don't seem to be the only member of your posse with some questions, so, uh, maybe I'll just take my doubts over to them, starting with Cole, or maybe Beth - she knows us better than anyone."

"Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait," I said, stopping him before he could get to Beth. She'd know instantly he was right.

"What?" He asked.

"Take a look around you, man. This place should be white-hot with Croats. Where are they?" I pointed out. He paused, thinking it over and then nodded his agreement.

"They cleared a path for us. Which means that this is…"

"A trap," I finished, nodding. "Exactly."

"Well, then we can't go through the front," he said.

"Oh, we're not. They are. They're the decoys. You, me and Beth, we're going in through the back," I said.

"You mean you're gonna feed your friends into a meat grinder? Cole and Cas, too? You want to use their deaths as a diversion?" He asked. I looked away. He knew exactly what I was about to do, and I suspected he wasn't going to let me go through with it.

"Oh, man, something is broken in you. You're making decisions that I would never make. I wouldn't sacrifice my friends," he said to me and I glared at him.

"You're right. You wouldn't. It's one of the main reasons we're in this mess, actually," I snapped.

"These people count on you. They trust you. What about JJ, you think he doesn't deserve to have a mother growing up? He's our brother!" Dean retorted.

"JJ will live without a mother, I did. They trust me to kill the devil and to save the world and that's exactly what I'm gonna do," I said.

"What about your daughter? Our daughter?" He asked. I had already given this a lot of thought, I'd made my peace with it. It's why I'd left Charlie behind with the kids. I'd tried to leave Cole too, in order to protect her, but Cole being Cole, had steadfastly refused not to be a part of this fight.

"She'll have Charlie. All going well, she'll still have me too. This has to happen, I need to get to Lucifer, this is the only way."

"No. Not like this, you're not. I'm not gonna let you."

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Yeah."

This conversation was over. I slugged him with the butt of my gun and he dropped to the ground, unconscious, drawing attention from Beth who came rushing over.

"Hey! Hey woah woah, what's going on?" She asked.

"Nothing," I said hurriedly. "I changed my mind. I'm not sure we can risk taking him and he wouldn't stay behind."

"Dean, it's a little late, don't you think?" She asked.

"We'll hide him in the bushes, he'll be fine. You and I are going in the back, the others will take the lead." I wanted to leave her behind too, but I knew that I wouldn't. I needed her. I wasn't sure I'd have the courage to follow through with killing Sam without her there. I needed to see her, to be reminded of all I'd lost…

"I don't know, Dean…"

"It's our best shot. Lucifer won't see us coming. I need you with me Beth. You promised," I replied.

"Dean…"

"We're stronger together, you said that, I need you to help me with this Beth," my eyes beseeched hers and she relented, nodding.

"Yeah, okay, okay… just, leave someone with him, okay?"

An hour or so later
Jackson County Sanitarium

Dean's POV

It was full daylight when I woke. I was alone. The sound of gunfire in the distance drew my attention and I was instantly on my feet, running, and cursing Deano for the pounding head. The battle was clearly underway, and god knew who was dying as this pointless assault continued. I ran through an arch, there was no one around. Where was I going? I didn't know.

Then I saw lightning flash from behind a wall, a few hundred yards away. My gut told me to run. That hadn't been the weather, it was supernatural, and most likely angelic with it's blue zap. My heart was pounding, I stepped over dead bodies - ours and theirs - as I ran, oblivious to anything but the being I would find beyond that wall.

As I reached it, I realised we were in the gardens of the Sanitarium. Beauty surrounded us everywhere, ironic in all it's glory. I thought about the Garden of Eden, and the first fall of man. Would this be our day of redemption, among the roses?

I rounded the wall through a gateway, the wrought iron swinging open for me with ease. The scene before me was nothing short of a nightmare. The familiar tall figure of Sam, wearing a spotless white suit and standing over my future body, his foot pressed to my throat. Then my eyes dropped to Beth, against a tree with an angel sword rammed through her stomach. The Colt lay discarded out of reach of any of us.

"No!" I yelled as I ran forward. There was the audible sound of Deano's neck breaking as Sam's foot crushed him, and Beth's face broke, staring at him.

"No! Dean!"

I didn't know which of us she was yelling at, but I stopped short as my brother turned to face me. Only it wasn't my brother, he was gone, replaced by the cold, unfeeling eyes of a fallen angel who looked back at me.

"Oh. Hello, Dean," he said with a smile. "Aren't you a surprise. I mean, I was expecting more from the dynamic duo here… wasn't expecting another… younger you."

There was a clap of thunder and a flash of blue lightning as he disappeared. I spun around, feeling a presence behind me and finding him there.

"You've come a long way to see this, haven't you?" He asked.

"Well, go ahead. Kill me," I said. Lucifer smiled.

"Kill you?" He asked, looking down at my dead corpse a few feet away. "Don't you think that would be a little...redundant?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry. It must be painful, speaking to me in this—shape. But it had to be your brother. It had to be." He reached for my shoulder, a familiar gesture, like he wanted to embrace me. I stepped instinctively back, inching myself toward Beth.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, Dean. What do you think I'm going to do?" Lucifer asked.

"I don't know. Maybe deep-fry the planet?"

Lucifer stopped to examine a rose hanging from a creeper on a metallic arch.

"Why?" He asked. "Why would I want to destroy this stunning thing? Beautiful in a trillion different ways. The last perfect handiwork of God."

I didn't answer. I was too busy trying to think how I was going to get to the Colt and kill him myself.

"You ever hear the story of how I fell from grace?" He asked.

"Oh, good God, you're not gonna tell me a bedtime story, are you? My stomach's almost out of bile," I snarked.

His face sobered, and I knew that I was going to hear it whether I wanted to or not. "You know why God cast me down? Because I loved him. More than anything. And then God created…" He smirked, looking me up and down. "You. The little...hairless apes. And then he asked all of us to bow down before you—to love you, more than him. And I said, 'Father, I can't.' I said, 'These human beings are flawed, murderous.'

"I rolled my eyes at him, and he raised an eyebrow. "It's true. I dared speak back to my Creator. My Father. Questioned his will. I went to the Mother, when he cast me out of Heaven, and she went to him, tried to intervene on my behalf. But she failed.

"And then… then when his little mudrat got lonely, as punishment, he took one of our mother's archangels… my counterpart… and he… he ripped out her grace and tossed her to Adam like a plaything. Like she wasn't the ethereal warrior that she'd been created for. Like she was nothing. I wouldn't stand for it. I rebelled. And for that, God had Michael…" He paused, glancing over at Beth who was breathing shallowly, watching from the tree where she was pinned. "...and Sariel, cast me into Hell. Now, tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially, when I was right? Look at what six billion of you have done to this thing, and how many of you blame me for it. "

Beth coughed up some blood, and I took a couple of steps closer to the Colt, using her as a distraction. "You know, for someone so self righteous, you sure didn't hesitate to kill her and open your doorway. You sacrificed your one true love, and for what?" She asked.

"Lilith… she was… she wasn't Layiel anymore. Not after Adam got through with her, not after all those centuries in Hell. She became corrupted, murderous herself, because her grace was gone. She willingly chose to die, so that I could avenge the wrong done to us," Lucifer said.

"There seems to be plenty of murderous angels around with their grace in tact…" Beth commented.

"The foolish Legion… like they could ever hope to stop me without you," he said, looking at me now. "I was my Father's greatest warrior. I asked only to be treated with respect. He case me aside, for you."

"You're not fooling me, you know that? With this sympathy-for-the-devil crap. I know what you are," I said.

"What am I?"

"You're the same thing, only bigger. The same brand of cockroach I've been squashing my whole life. An ugly, evil, belly-to-the-ground, supernatural piece of crap. The only difference between them and you is the size of your ego."

He smiled at me. It was not the smile I knew from Sam, it was cold, calculating, and fake.

"I like you, Dean. I get what the other angels see in you. Goodbye. We'll meet again soon."

He turned to walk away, and I grabbed the Colt, pointing it at him. I looked at Beth, who had passed out and I felt something inside of me break. I pulled the trigger, on Lucifer, on my brother.

Nothing happened. The gun was empty.

"You better kill me now!" I yelled, throwing it on the ground.

Lucifer turned around, looking at me curiously.

"Pardon?"

"You better kill me now. Or I swear, I will find a way to kill you. And I won't stop," I swore.

"I know you won't," he said with a slight nod of respect. "I know you won't say yes to Michael, either. And I know you won't kill Sam. Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we will always end up—here. I win. So, I win."

"You're wrong," I said.

"See you in five years, Dean." There was another crack of thunder, followed by lightning and then he was gone. I turned around to Beth, only to find Zachariah blocking the way and reaching out to me with two fingers which touched my forehead. Then we were gone.

We landed in the motel room we'd started in. I leaned against the kitchenette sink, and saw Beth fall against the bed, grasping at her stomach which now looked completely healed. Zachariah stood in front of me, smiling.

"Oh, well, if it isn't the ghost of Christmas screw you," I muttered, my eyes turning back to Beth.

"Enough. Dean, enough," he said. "You saw it, right? You saw what happens. You're the only person who can prove the devil wrong. Just say yes."

I pushed past him, helping Beth stand and checked her over, just to be sure she was unharmed. She seemed fine, but rattled, as she took my hand in hers. I squeezed it tight, holding it as I faced Zachariah.

"How do I know that this whole thing isn't one of your tricks? Huh? Some angel hocus-pocus?" I asked.

"The time for tricks is over. Give yourself to Michael. Say yes and we can strike. Before Lucifer gets to Sam. Before billions die."

I thought about it. I'd done nothing but think about it while we'd been on our way to the Sanitarium. Beth prayed, I planned, it was how our world worked. I looked over and her, seeing the trepidation in her eyes. She wasn't sure what I would do.

"Nah," I said finally, seeing her eyes fill with relief.

"'Nah'?" Zachariah asked incredulously. "You telling me you haven't learned your lesson?"

"Oh, I've learned a lesson, all right. Just not the one you wanted to teach."

"Well, I'll just have to teach it again! Because I got you now, boy, and I'm never letting you…"

Whoosh!

I felt my stomach lurch, and heard the flap of wings as a hand grabbed my shoulder and then, white light; piercing white light before finding myself on the side of the road, staring at Cas.

"That's pretty nice timing, Cas," I said as Beth laughed and hugged the angel.

"We had an appointment," he said and I chuckled, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Don't ever change."

"How did Zachariah find you?" Cas asked. Beth stepped back, and frowned.

"Long story. Let's just stay away from Jehovah's Witnesses from now on, okay?" She said, and Cas looked curiously at her.

I pulled out my phone, thinking about what I'd just said to Zachariah. There was no time like the present to right a wrong.

"What are you doing?" Beth asked.

"Something I should have done in the first place. Listening to you."

Several Hours Later
Bridge

Beth's POV

The wait seemed to be forever, but finally I saw a Lincoln Continental making it's way toward us and I jumped off the hood of the Impala, watching anxiously as Sam climbed out of the driver's seat. Dean was already walking toward him, and Sam looked from him to me, slightly apprehensive.

"Sam," Dean said. I rolled my eyes at the typical macho behaviour, pushing past Dean and throwing myself into Sam's arms for a big bear hug.

"Sam!"

He gave me a little squeeze and then smiled as he let me go. "Hey, Beth. What's going on?"

To answer, Dean pulled the demon knife out of his jacket. I felt Sam stiffen beside me, looking at it nervously. Dean flipped it, holding it out handle first to our brother.

"If you're serious and you want back in...you should hang on to this. I'm sure you're rusty."

Sam took the knife, looking down at it. He nodded slightly, unable to bring his eyes up to Dean.

"Look, man, I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm...whatever I need to be. But I was, uh—wrong."

"What made you change your mind?" Sam asked, finally looking up.

"Long story," Dean said. "The point is...maybe we are each other's Achilles heel. Maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know the family is all we've got. More than that. We keep each other human."

Sam let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Really. Thank you. I won't let you down."

"Oh, I know it. I mean, you are the second-best hunter on the planet," Dean said.

"Hey!" I said in complaint.

Dean chuckled, winking at me. "Ah, third best… I wasn't counting the girls." I chuckled and playfully swatted at his arm. Sam nodded and smiled.

"So, what do we do now?" He asked.

Dean slipped his arm around my waist and looked at Sam. "We make our own future."

"Guess we have no choice," Sam conceded.

"I don't know guys," I said, looking out at the sun starting to sink below the horizon. "Seems to me, choice is kind of the point. Besides each other, it's the only thing we do have."

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Song for this chapter is: "This is Now" by Hatebreed

Ahhhh, finally! I have had parts of this written for years. It's so awesome to finally pull it all together and publish the chapter.

You'll see through my dialogue we're starting to see the Angelic storyline I'm building bleed through a little. More will come in Gabriel's story Where Angels Fear to Tread as the season progresses. I've had this storyline, along with Beth's background and abilities, in my head from the start. Only now am I getting to really kick it into gear. I'm quite pleased that the story I'd had planned will roughly (with a little tweaking) fit in with the Canon storyline, and not see too much of a change to the overall show. It's exciting!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review, it's very much appreciated, and I do my best to reply when you do - especially if you leave questions. I'm glad people are still enjoying the series as much as I enjoy writing it. I have the plot sorted right through Season 11, so no fear, it's going to happen - I just need to balance it with my other commitments.

A shout-out and thank you to Earthhangel for her loan of Cole. If you want to see more of Cole's story with John, please pop on over to her story How To Save A Life. I have been blessed and flattered to have her write a crossover into the Dean and Beth universe. She very patiently puts up with my changes to storyline and canon story, fitting in with it in her own special way.

You haven't seen the last of Cole's story yet, so go check her out if you enjoyed this sneak peak at the fiery blonde (there's also snippets of Dean and Beth you don't see in this story). Earthhangel wrote some of the scenes with JJ in this chapter, it was a fun little peak at the youngest Winchester progeny, shotgunning his way through life.

Someone asked me recently about JJ and his impact on the Apocalypse storyline. We have already considered this, and it will be covered in due course :) There's a bit of a twist to the Canon story too, but all in good time :D It's a wild case of intrigue and betrayal as we start to interact with the angels, I hope you will enjoy the ride.

Up next should be Fallen Idols but I'm leaning toward making that into a flashback for our young couple - either pre-relationship, or super early relationship - and will likely post it out of timeline order, because I'll need to work the story out. I never thought much of the episode, but it should work for a fun, early-days angst-filled look at Dean and Beth.