"We're not the ones you should be scared of, Nancy."
Piper rolled her eyes and strolled into the tiny sheriff's office the FBI agent had taken Sam and Dean into. When she entered, they were walking down a hallway, which lead to the cells in the back.
She approached a scared looking girl at the front desk and smiled. "Hi, Nancy?" The girl turned back, still gripping her rosary, and smiled timidly at Piper. "Yes?"
Piper gave her a winning smile. "Hi, my name is Sarah Fry, I'm the attorney for those two idiots. Do I need to fill out a visitor's badge application?"
Nancy's eyes widened and she hurried to give Piper the information she needed. As Piper filled out the stupid form, she fumed. Idiots. She had told them not to underestimate Bela, and look where they were. In a freaking jail cell.
When she was done, Nancy handed her a badge to clip to the lapel of the blazer she was wearing. She picked up her briefcase, took a breath, and walked down the hallway, letting her heels click loudly on the concrete floor.
Agent Henriksen was talking to her "clients," apparently taunting them. Dean, true to form, was rising to the bait. "You know, I wouldn't bust out the melted butter just yet. Couldn't catch us at the bank, couldn't keep us in that jail."
Henriksen was nodding. "You're right. Screwed up. I underestimated you. I didn't count on you being that smart, but now I'm ready."
Piper walked in, head held high. "Mr. Winchester, I'm advising you to shut the hell up right now."
Henriksen glared at her. "Who the hell are you?"
She stopped, looking straight into his eyes. "I'm the Winchesters' attorney, Sarah Fry. And I'd like to know why you were speaking with my client without my presence?"
He glared at her, and then looked back at Dean. "Take a good look at Sam. You two will never see each other again."
People threatening the Winchesters had never sat well with Piper. Her eyes narrowed to slits, and her voice was low and dangerous. "That is quite enough, Agent Henriksen. You may leave."
Henriksen left without a word. Piper glared at Dean. "Do you have to antagonize every law enforcement official you come into contact with, Winchester?" she hissed through the bars.
Dean shrugged and looked at Sam. "How are we going to Houdini our way out of this one?"
Sam was shrugging as another man walked into the holding cell area. Piper felt ice at the base of her spine, and instinctively moved forward to stand in front of the cell.
The man ignored her. "Sam and Dean Winchester. I'm Deputy Director Steven Groves. This is a pleasure."
Piper frowned as Dean replied. "Well, glad one of us feels that way."
Groves' expression didn't change. "I've been waiting a long time for you two to come out of the woodwork."
He pulled a gun out and pointed it at Dean, shooting him in the shoulder. As Dean fell back Piper swung the briefcase in her hand, knocking the demon's hand up so the next shot went wide. She flung herself at him, fighting for the gun. "Sam! Exorcism!" she shouted angrily.
Sam started chanting the Latin required to exorcise the demon. Groves' eyes turned black and he grinned at Piper. "Sorry, I've gotta cut this short. It's gonna be a long night, bitch."
He flung his head back and black smoke poured into the air vent. Piper let Groves' body fall, took the gun, and turned back to the cell. "Dean?"
She didn't turn around as Henriksen and the sheriff came running in, guns drawn and pointed at Piper, who rolled her eyes.
"All right, put the gun down!" the sheriff shouted at Piper.
"Wait! Okay, wait!" Sam was saying from the cell.
Sheriff Melvin turned to look at Henriksen. "She shot him?"
"Oh for God's sake, I didn't shoot anybody."
"He shot me!" Dean shouted.
Henriksen pointed his gun at Piper, too. "Get on your knees, now."
She rolled her eyes again and dropped to her knees while Sam tried to placate them. "Okay, okay, okay. Don't shoot. Please. Look. We didn't shoot him. Check the body. There's no blood. We did not kill him. Go ahead, check him."
Another agent had come in, and knelt to look over Groves' body. "Vic, there's no bullet wound."
"He's probably been dead for months," Piper snapped, irritated that she had to kneel in her stockings.
Henriksen glared at her. "What did you do to him?"
Dean stood, hand still clutching his shoulder. "She didn't do anything. We didn't do anything."
The agent pointed at his gun at Piper. Honestly, if she rolled her eyes anymore she was going to give herself a migraine. "Talk, or I shoot."
"You won't believe us," Dean said, anxiety lacing his words.
Sam wasn't as worried, though. "He was possessed."
Henriksen snorted, then realized they were serious. He holstered his gun. "Possessed? Right. Fire up the chopper! We're taking them out of here now."
Piper got to her feet and went to stand in front of Dean, moving his hand so she could look at his shoulder. "Yeah! Do that!" Dean said to Henriksen's back, wincing as she pulled at his jacket.
"Bill?" There was static on the other end of the agent's walkie-talkie. "Bill, are you there?" He nodded to the other agent to go check outside. Piper ignored all of them and started to work Dean's jacket completely off, as much as she could while he was cuffed.
The walkie snapped to life. "They're dead. I think they're all dead." Piper turned around, eyes wide. There was a shout, then silence.
Henriksen spoke into the walkie. "What the hell was that? Reidy? Reidy?!"
xxxxx
Piper was trying to look at Dean's wound when he grunted in pain. "Don't be a wuss," she said crossly, not stopping.
"Listen, woman-" he started when the lights went out.
"That can't be good," Sam said ominously.
Henriksen walked into the holding area. "What's the plan? Kill everyone in the station, bust you two out?"
Dean frowned, batting Piper's hand away. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about your psycho friends. I'm talking about a blood bath."
Piper snorted. "Please, I'm their only psycho friend, and I'm in here."
Dean nodded. "I promise you. Whoever's out there? Is not here to help us."
"Look, you got to believe us," Sam begged. "Everyone here is in terrible danger."
Henriksen raised an eyebrow. "You think?"
"Not from us, jackass," Piper snapped.
Dean tried to appeal to the agent. "Why don't you let us out of here so we can save you?"
Agent Henriksen snorted. "From what? You gonna say 'demons?' Don't you dare say 'demons.' Let me tell you something. You should be a lot more scared of me." He turned and walked away.
"Oh, please," Piper said, turning back to Dean. "How's your shoulder?"
Dean pulled away Piper's jacket, which they had been using to stem blood flow. "It's awesome. I'll live. You know, if we get out of here alive. So you got a plan?"
Piper turned around. "Yes, I'll be back." Dean sputtered as she walked away.
She went to the front and came to Nancy's desk. "Nancy?"
The younger woman squeaked and jumped. "Oh, um, yes?"
Piper tried for a reassuring smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. May I sit?" she gestured to the chair in front of the younger woman's desk. Nancy nodded warily.
Piper sat and then leaned forward, making eye contact. "Look, Nancy, I know you think those guys in there are the bad guys, and I know you think I'm a bad guy for helping them. I'm really sorry that I don't have time to explain everything that's going on, but it's a very long story. You seem like a lovely person, and I wish I had time to make you understand, but I don't. I need a favor, Nancy."
Nancy's eyes widened. "What?"
"This is going to sound weird, but stick with me, okay? I need a couple of clean towels and your rosary."
"My what?"
Piper sighed. "Nancy, I know, I know. But I need you to look me in the eye and decide if I'm crazy. Either way, that's gonna make this whole thing a lot easier." Piper didn't want to take the things she needed by force, but she would. They were in pretty bad trouble, and the brothers were still handcuffed, so she was on her own. It would be easiest of Nancy just gave the damn thing to her, but Piper wasn't willing to walk back into the holding cell without it.
Nancy was quiet for a long time, studying Piper's face. She seemed to come to a decision and nodded. "Okay."
xxxxx
"Is he… is he dead?"
Piper shook her head. "Probably not."
Henriksen, dripping wet, started coughing as he regained consciousness.
Sam knelt next to him. "Henriksen! Hey, is that you in there?"
They had just exorcised the demon who had possessed the federal agent, making him shoot the sheriff he'd been with earlier.
Henriksen looked dazed. "I… I shot the sheriff."
Dean grinned. "But you didn't shoot the deputy." Piper punched him on the arm.
Henriksen, however, ignored him. "Five minutes ago, I was fine, and then…"
Piper was kneeling to check him over. "Let me guess, some nasty black smoke jammed itself down your throat?"
Sam looked sympathetic. "You were possessed."
"Possessed, like… Possessed?"
Piper nodded. "That's what it feels like. Now you know."
Dean handed him back his gun. "I owe the biggest 'I told you so' ever. God dammit, Piper, quit hitting me!" he yelped as she punched him in the arm again.
Henriksen raised an eyebrow. "Piper?"
She smiled. "Are we going to start getting picky about names now, Agent?"
xxxxx
Dean was in the office with Agent Henriksen, loading shotgun shells with salt. He was wondering how the hell they were going to get out of this sheriff's office.
"Shotgun shells full of salt." Henriksen was looking at him, bemused.
Dean shrugged. "Whatever works."
The other man rolled up his sleeves and starting filling his rifle with the salt shells. "Fighting off monsters with condiments." There was a pause. "So, it turns out demons are real."
"FYI, ghosts are real too. So are werewolves, vampires, changelings, evil clowns that eat people." Piper would have hit him, he was sure.
Henriksen thought, then nodded. "Okay then."
Dean grinned. "If it makes you feel better, Bigfoot's a hoax."
"It doesn't. How many demons?"
Dean thought for a moment. "Total? No clue. A lot."
"You know what my job is?"
Dean looked over at him. "You mean besides locking up the good guys? I have no idea."
"My job is boring, it's frustrating. You work three years for one break, and then maybe you can save... A few people. Maybe. That's the payoff. I've been busting my ass for fifteen years to nail a handful of guys. And all this while, there's something off in the corner so big. So yeah… Sign me up for that big, frosty mug of wasting my damn life."
Dean shrugged. "You didn't know."
Henriksen sighed. "Now I do." He looked at Dean. "What's out there? Can you guys beat it? Can you win?"
Dean pulled a face. "Honestly? I think the world's gonna end bloody. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. We do have choices. I choose to go down swingin'."
"Plus you got nothing to go home to but your brother."
Dean looked away. Henriksen smiled. "Ah, the lovely Piper. She's something else, man."
Dean grinned. "Yeah, you're not kidding. What about you? You rockin' the white picket fence?"
"Mhm. Empty apartment, string of angry ex-wives."
There was a crash from the main office. Dean sprinted in, heart racing. Sam came in after him, Piper was already in the room, gun drawn.
Dean felt his blood run cold, eyes widening. He met Sam's eyes, and saw similar panic in them.
Henriksen ignored them and came to stand next to Piper, pointing his rifle. "What the hell is this?"
"A demon," Piper replied. "We have to kill it." Dean winced. She's going to kill me.
Sam stepped forward and lowered their guns. "We don't."
Piper's turned to look at Sam. Dean saw his life flash before his eyes. "What do you mean we don't, Sam?" she asked quietly.
Sam sighed, looking anywhere but Piper's face. "She's here to help us."
xxxxx
Dean couldn't recall a time when he'd been quite as turned on as he was in that moment, or if he'd ever been this scared and turned on at the same time.
Piper was in the blouse and skirt that she had worn to disguise herself as their lawyer. She was
pacing in front of them, refusing to make eye contact.
She was also holding a rifle, tapping it into her left hand as she paced.
"So… Let me get this straight," she said, still refusing to look at either of them. Rage came off of her in waves. Dean couldn't take his eyes off of her, even as he worried that she would send him downstairs ahead of schedule.
"Ruby, is a demon. That you met… Months ago. She lied about being a demon. She lied about being able to help Dean out of his crossroads deal. And we have spontaneously decided to trust her, because surely she's telling the truth this time."
Sam opened his mouth, starting to get mad. "Pipe, it-"
"Shut up, Sam." She whirled around and glared at them. "And for some reason, I wasn't in on this? For some reason, even though I can't think of one damn thing I've done to deserve it, you two decided, at some point, to completely exclude me from this situation. Even though," she glared at Sam, who had opened his mouth to interrupt again. "Eventhough, it means that I have been working alongside a demon, and no one saw fit to tell me that." She look at them for a long moment. "Did I miss anything?"
Sam sighed, "Piper, look, I'm sorry we lied to you-"
"Okay." She nodded decisively. "So I didn't miss anything, excellent." She calmly walked between them and out the door, rifle slung over her shoulder.
Dean shuddered as the door shut. "That was the sexiest thing I've ever seen in my life."
Sam glared at him. "Dude, she-"
Dean ignored him to follow Piper out.
xxxxx
When Piper left the room with the brothers in it, still seething. What the hell did she have to do to prove to the Winchesters that they could tell her the truth? She was screwing one of them, for Christ's sake!
She pushed her thoughts away when she heard Henriksen start yelling. "No. Hell, no."
Piper ran in to see Henriksen, Ruby, and Nancy standing in the front room of the sheriff's office. "What the hell is going on?"
Henriksen looked at Piper. "She wants to sacrifice Nancy!"
Ruby sighed. "Look, it's a spell. It can kill every demon in a thirty mile radius, including me, and it will work. But it requires the heart of a virgin."
Dean looked at Nancy, shocked. "You're a virgin?"
Piper's eyebrow creased. "I don't know if ripping people's hearts out should be our first move."
Nancy looked at Piper. "All my friends are out there. I want to do this."
Piper understood what the younger woman was saying, even was inclined to agree. But sacrificing a young woman was a hard pill to swallow. And Piper already hated Ruby, so disagreeing with her was basically a must.
"You don't need to do this," Dean was saying.
"We don't sacrifice people. We do that, we're no better than them," Henriksen snapped.
Ruby was shaking her head. "We don't have a choice."
"Yeah, well, your choice ain't a choice!" Dean's voice was starting to raise.
Ruby turned to Sam. "You know I'm right."
Piper looked at Sam expectantly, but he was silent. She felt her jaw drop open a little. "Sam?"
Dean glared at his brother. "Sam, tell her."
Nancy stood up straighter. "It's my decision."
Ruby nodded. "Damn right, cherry pie."
Dean pointed at Piper. "Don't let them kill any virgins!" He grabbed Sam and dragged him into the hallway.
Ruby sidled up to Piper. "So you're the woman riding Dean Winchester's-"
Piper pointed the rifle at Ruby, almost lazily. "Say it and die, bitch."
Ruby shrugged. "Whatever, you don't want my help, I can leave."
"Go, then."
But they were interrupted by Sam and Dean walking back in. "We have a plan."
xxxxx
"I better call in. Hell of a story I won't be telling," Henriksen said, with the hint of a smile on his face.
The plan had worked, the demons had been exorcised, everyone had lived. Piper felt fierce joy, and some petty pride that their plan had turned out better than Ruby's.
Sam shook Henriksen's outstretched hand. "So what are you gonna tell them?"
"The least ridiculous lie I can come up with in the next five minutes."
Piper smiled. "Good luck with that."
Dean shook the man's hand next. "Not to pressure you or anything, but what are you planning to do about us?"
Henriksen shrugged. "I'm gonna kill you. Sam and Dean Winchester were in the chopper when it caught on fire. Nothing left. Can't even identify them with dental records. Rest in peace, guys."
He turned to Piper, who stretched herself up for a hug before he could offer her his hand. "Thank you," she whispered into his ear.
He laughed and hugged her back. "Take care of these boys, Piper. Now get out of here."
xxxxx
They were sitting in the motel, Piper stretched out on her and Dean's bed, when there was a knock at the door.
Sam stood, walking over to open the door. Ruby walked in. "Turn on the news."
Startled, Piper obeyed without thinking. A pretty reporter looked solemn. "The community is still reeling from the tragedy that happened just a few hours ago. Authorities believe a gas main ruptured…"
Piper covered her mouth with her hand. Dean came to stand next to her, wrapping his arm around her waist.
"...Causing the massive explosion that ripped apart the police station and claimed the lives of everyone inside. Among the deceased, at least six police officers and staff, including sheriff Melvin Dodd, deputy Phil Amici, and secretary Nancy Fitzgerald as well as three FBI agents, identified as Steven Groves, Calvin Reidy, and Victor Henriksen."
Tears stood in Piper's eyes as she watched the pictures of the people they'd fought beside flash on the screen.
"Two fugitives in custody were also killed. We'll continue to follow the story here at the scene, but for now, back to you, Jim."
Ruby came in front of Piper to turn the television off. Piper smothered the urge to exorcise the bitch.
Sam was in shock. "Must have happened right after we left."
"Considering the size of the blast," Ruby muttered as she tossed hex bags to the three of them. "Smart money's on Lilith."
Dean was looking at the bag in his hand. "What's in these?"
"Something that'll protect you. Throw Lilith off your trail… For the time being, at least."
Sam looked up at her. "Thanks."
Ruby rounded on him. "Don't thank me. Lilith killed everyone. She slaughtered your precious little virgin, plus a half a dozen other people. So after your big speech about humanity and war, turns out your plan? Was the one with the body count. Do you know how to run a battle? You strike fast and you don't leave any survivors. So no one can go running to tell the boss. So next time… We go with my plan."
Piper waited until Ruby left to run to the bathroom, losing everything she'd eaten.
xxxxx
A/N: Hi, everyone! Here's my notes:
I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural, or the characters (heartbroken).
Reviews and comments give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.
If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.
