"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Piper rolled her eyes as Sam winced. "Dean-"
"No," Dean snapped. "Don't 'Dean' me. I mean, you… You have had some stupid ideas in the past, but this." He turned to Piper. "Did you know about this?"
She glared at him. "Fuck you, Dean, you know I would have told you."
He had the good sense to look a little ashamed. "You're right, kitten. Sorry."
She hmphed. "Dean, let's table this discussion for now, please? We have two other horsemen to catch, we can argue about this later."
Unfortunately, Bobby chose that moment to walk in. Dean moved his glare to him. "Did you know about this?"
Bobby frowned. "About what?"
"About Sam's genius plan to cram the devil down his throat."
Bobby nodded, and Piper frowned. "Bobby."
"Thanks for the heads up!" Dean snapped.
Bobby shrugged. "Hey, this ain't about me."
Dean turned back to Sam. "You can't do this."
Sam sighed. "That's the consensus."
Dean nodded sharply. "All right. Awesome. Then, end of discussion." His phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket and pointed to Sam. "This ain't over." He flipped it open. "Hello?"
Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then looked at Piper, who smiled gently. "Sorry if I upset you, Pipe," he said softly.
She took a deep breath and stood to walk over to him. "It's okay, Sam," she said softly. "Just… Just… Let's not give into the Winchester need to sacrifice ourselves until we know for sure it's our only plan, okay?"
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her to hug her tight. She wound her arms around his neck and hung on, breathing in his scent, absorbing the essence of Sam. Something told her she wouldn't have that chance forever.
"Okay, Pipe."
xxxxx
Piper waited in the car, glaring after Dean, who had told her to stay put as they walked into the nursing home they suspected Pestilence was in. Idiot.
They had argued on the way here in sharp whispers, while Sam was in the backseat.
"I want you to stay behind."
"No."
"God dammit, woman, I don't want you walking in there with us."
"No."
"Piper, please," he suddenly switched to begging, making her heart break, "Kitten, I just need to know you're safe. Please. Please?"
She had agreed, because he'd turned his own version of puppy dog eyes on her, and they always killed her. She hoped he wasn't catching on to that, because she didn't know if she would ever have it in her to resist them.
So now she waited, getting more nervous for every moment that they didn't walk out.
She was distracted by a bus pulling up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a thin, pale man with a mop of dark hair get off. She did a double take, then was opening the car door and running toward him. "Cass!"
He turned and blinked, then caught her as she tossed herself at him. Remembering what Dean had said about him being human now, she pulled back a little, just landing lightly against him and wrapping her arms around him.
She buried her face in his warm neck, reflecting for a moment how weird it was that Cass was warm now. "Oh, God, Castiel, I'm so fucking glad you're alive."
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. "I find myself being rather relieved, as well."
She leaned back and smiled. "How are you feeling? Dean says you're down here, slumming it with the rest of us humans now."
Cass nodded. "It's… Overwhelming, how many things you humans feel."
She grinned. "You get used to it."
He surveyed the area around them. "Where are Sam and Dean?"
She pointed. "In there. They're going after Pestilence." She felt the smile start to fade off of her face. "They… Should really be back by now."
Without having to speak, they each started to run toward the building.
xxxxx
"Well, it's nice to actually score a homerun for once, ain't it?" Bobby looker around at their blank faces. "What?"
Piper sighed as Sam spoke. "Last thing Pestilence said. 'It's too late.'"
Bobby frowned. "He get specific?"
"No."
Piper and Cass had run in on Sam and Dean on the floor, with Pestilence gloating over them. Cass had taken care of the Horseman, and they were now three for four on the rings needed to shut Lucifer's cage.
"We're just a little freaked out that he might have left a bomb somewhere," Dean said testily. "So please tell us you have actual good news."
Piper stood and went to him, wrapping an arm around his waist. He maneuvered them so she was standing in front of him, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her to him tight. She went willingly, leaning against him.
Since Sam had revealed his plan, Dean had been back to being borderline desperate to be touching Piper. She again let it happen without a word. Dean being okay was her top priority, and if this is what he needed, she would give it gladly.
Bobby was shrugging as she settled her back against Dean's chest. "Chicago's about to be wiped off the map. Storm of the millennium. Sets off a daisy chain of natural disasters. Three million people are gonna die."
Piper blinked, shock rolling through her. "What?"
Cass frowned. "I don't understand your definition of 'good news.'"
Bobby shrugged again. "Well… Death, the Horseman… He's gonna be there. And if we can stop him before he kick starts the storm, get his ring back-"
Dean snorted from behind her. "You make it sound so easy."
"Hell, I'm just trying to put a spin on it," Bobby snapped.
Sam frowned. "Well, I mean, Bobby, how'd you put all this together, anyway?"
"I had, you know… Help."
"Don't be so modest," a familiar, cool English accent said behind them. Piper whirled in tandem with Dean to see Crowley standing in the doorway. "I barely helped at all. Hello, boys, peach. Pleasure, et cetera." He waved a hand at Bobby. "Go ahead. Tell them. There's no shame in it."
Dread starting to pool in her stomach, Piper turned to look at Bobby. "Tell us what, Bobby?"
Bobby tried to look casual, but he wouldn't meet Piper's gaze, which had her narrowing her eyes.
"World's gonna end," he said gruffly. "Seems stupid to get all precious over one little… Soul."
"You… Sold your soul?" Piper snarled. Only Dean's arms tightening around her middle kept her from moving.
Crowley smirked. "Oh, more like pawned it. I fully intend to give it back."
"Well, then, give it back!" Dean exclaimed. Piper nodded vigorously.
Crowley nodded. "I will."
"Now, Crowley," Piper snarled, starting to fight against her husband's arms. Dean tightened them again, and it was like pulling against cast iron.
"Did you kiss him?" Sam asked.
Dean turned. "Sam!"
Sam shrugged. "Just wondering."
"No!" Bobby shouted, indignant.
Crowley held up a cell phone, which featured a picture of he and Bobby kissing. Piper blinked, momentarily shocked out of her anger.
"Why'd you take a picture?" Bobby grumbled.
Crowley arched an eyebrow. "Why'd you use tongue?"
Piper wrinkled her nose as Dean spoke. "All right, you know what? I'm sick of this. Give him back his soul now."
The demon shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't."
Piper was back to basically growling. "Can't or won't?"
"I won't, all right?!" he shouted. "It's insurance."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Dean said from behind her. Piper heard the frown in his voice.
"You kill demons." Crowley pointed to Sam. "Gigantor over there has a temper issue about it. But you won't kill me… As long as I have that soul in the deposit box."
Bobby looked a little dazed. "You son of a bitch."
Crowley smiled. "I'll return it. After all this is over, and I can walk safely away. Do we all understand each other?"
xxxxx
Dean walked outside to clear his head, anger making it hard to think. Piper's hand in his made it easier.
He walked until they were at Baby, where he turned and leaned against the car. Piper leaned against him in turn, her head tucked under his chin, his arms wrapping around her automatically. He sighed and closed his eyes.
"Well… Fuck." she said softly, nestling into him.
He huffed out a laugh. "Yeah."
"We'll figure it out, Dean. We always do."
Before he could respond, Dean sensed Sam's presence. Without opening his eyes, "Let me guess. We're about to have a 'talk.'"
Sam sighed, and Dean grumbled when Piper stepped away from him. She smiled and pressed a kiss to Dean's cheek, which he leaned into. "I'll be inside, berating Bobby," she said softly, then turned to kiss Sam's cheek, as well. "Be nice to each other."
Dean watched her walk up to the house, appreciating the view absent-mindedly, but appreciating more everything else that made his wife the best thing that had ever happened to him.
"Look, Dean, um…" Sam started, and Dean suppressed a sigh and looked at his brother. "for the record… I agree with you." Dean frowned, but Sam kept going. "About me. You think I'm too weak to take on Lucifer. Well, so do I. Believe me. I know exactly how screwed up I am. You, Bobby, Cass… Piper… I'm the least of any of you."
"Oh, Sam, come on-" Dean started. That wasn't a fair comparison. Piper was better than each of the named men put together, Sam couldn't hold himself to that standard, no one could.
"No, it's true," Sam interrupted. "But… I'm also all we got. If there was another way…" He shook his head. "But I don't think there is. There's just me. So I don't know what else to do. Except just try t-to do what's got to be done."
Dean winced. God dammit. He was struggling with this, he hated it, he couldn't let it happen. He was the one who was supposed to do this. He was the one who was going to die to save the world, so that Sam and Bobby and Piper could move on and live happy lives without him. He couldn't let Sam do this, even the thought was tearing him up on the inside.
"And… Scene."
That smarmy English voice set Dean on edge, and he turned to Crowley, an exorcism on the tip of his tongue.
Before he could, Crowley was pushing a newspaper into Sam's hands. "There's something you need to see."
xxxxx
Piper was giving Castiel a quick review on how to shoot a shotgun, and the boys were splitting up.
She was nervous. How do you kill Death? If she was going to be honest with herself, she was petrified. But she put on a brave face, because that's what Dean had done. And this was their only choice. So it had to be done… One way or another.
"All right, well… Good luck stopping the whole zombie apocalypse."
She smiled and, done with her brief lesson, turned to see Sam chuckle. "Yeah. Good luck with killing Death."
Dean held an arm out without looking at her, and Piper slid beneath it, feeling it wrap around her shoulders and pull her close. Inexplicably, she felt braver. When she and Dean were together, they could do anything.
"Remember when we used to just… Hunt wendigos? How simple things were?" Sam asked.
Dean thought for a moment, then, "No, not really."
Piper smiled up at him while Sam pulled out the demon knife. "You guys, um, might need this."
"Keep it," Crowley said from next to Piper where he had appeared. She jumped a little, then smothered her growl. Jackass.
"Dean and the peach are covered." He handed Dean a small scythe. "Death's own. Kills, golly, demons and angels and reapers and, rumor has it… The very thing itself."
Castiel was frowning. "Where did you get that?"
Crowley gave a sarcastic wave of his hand. "Hello. King of the crossroads." He turned to look at Piper and Dean. "So, shall we?"
He then gave Bobby a sly look. "Bobby, you just going to sit there?"
Bobby scowled. "No. I'm gonna riverdance."
Crowley smiled. "I suppose, if you want to impress the ladies." Piper frowned as the demon shook his head sadly. "Bobby, Bobby, bobby. Really wasted that crossroads deal. Fact, you get more if you phrase it properly. So, I took the liberty of adding a teeny little sub-A clause on your behalf." At the bewildered looks he received, he shrugged. "What can I say? I'm an altruist." He looked at bobby again. "Just going to sit there?"
Slowly, with wide eyes, Bobby got out of the wheelchair and stood.
Piper was stunned, and tears spilled down her cheeks as she put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, my God," she whispered, shaken. Dean tugged her close, his stiff posture telling her that he wasn't unaffected by the scene in front of them.
"Son of a bitch," Bobby said in wonder.
Crowley smiled tightly. "Yes, I know. Completely worth your soul. I'm a hell of a guy."
Bobby stared at the demon for a moment. "Thanks."
Crowley rolled his eyes. "This is getting maudlin. Can we go?"
xxxxx
Piper sat next to Dean in the Impala, listening to him panic while she tried to think of a solution.
"So, what? Call in a bomb threat? A thousand bomb threats? Fuck. I mean, how the fuck are we supposed to get three million people out of Chicago in the next ten minutes?"
She placed a calming hand on his thigh. "Come on, baby, think. We can do this. We just can't freak out."
"How the hell am I supposed to not freak out?!"
She didn't get upset at his yelling, mostly because she thought the same. How the fuck are we supposed to do this?
Before she could think of an answer, she looked up through the windshield. Standing there, outside a pizzeria, was Crowley. He was gesturing wildly.
She frowned. "What?"
He gestured more.
"We can't hear you, dumbass," Dean snapped.
Crowley appeared in the backseat. "I said, I found him. Death. He's in there."
Dean nodded. "Okay, you coming, or…" When they looked, he was gone. "Not."
Before he could get out of the car, Piper put a hand on his arm. "Dean, let me talk to Death."
He frowned and turned back to her. "What?"
She nodded, keeping his gaze. "Dean, let me do this. Let me talk to him."
"Talk to him? Kitten, we're here to kill him."
Piper shook her head. "Dean, I don't know about that. I mean… This isn't like the other horsemen. I mean, it's Death. Like, capital 'D,' holy shit, touch you and you're dead Death. I think we're better going in talking than shooting."
xxxxx
Goddamn woman and those goddamn hazel eyes.
Dean watched Piper approach the pizzeria, panic clawing at his gut. Shouldn't have let her go in. What happened to sticking together until the end of the apocalypse? God dammit, Winchester, stop fucking up.
It occurred to Dean that, for someone who had decided to be the dead one in the three of them, he was sitting on the sidelines a lot lately.
xxxxx
Piper entered the pizzeria cautiously, nerves making her a little nauseous. But she knew she was right. She had no desire to kill Death, Death was the natural order of things, Death shouldn't die.
Maybe Death would be reasonable.
She held the scythe in her hand, but held it blade down, not in a way that could be interpreted as a threat. She hoped.
Despite her efforts, as soon as she was in the building, the handle of the scythe started to heat up. She held on as long as she could until she dropped it, hissing at the burn on her hand. When she looked up, it was sitting on the table that the only other person in the building was sitting at.
From where she could see, he was tall and thin. Dark hair was slicked back, and he wore what was actually a lovely coat. You know, for Death.
"Thanks for returning that to me," he said in a dry voice. "Join me, Piper. The pizza's delicious."
She cautiously stepped forward, scared, but unwilling to defy his orders. She slid into the chair across the table, eyes wide, and took him in.
He had very avian features, a strong nose and wide eyes. He was very striking. Not handsome, per se, but not a man easily forgotten.
"I've been wanting to talk to you."
She blinked. "I… Have mixed feelings about that."
He nodded. "Understandable. But I have no desire to kill you, Piper Winchester. It's not worth my time or effort, quite frankly."
Piper nodded, relieved. "Um, okay. What, uh, what do you want to talk to us about?"
He shook his head, cutting another piece of pizza off as he did so. "No, Mrs. Winchester, not 'us.' You. I wanted to talk to you."
Piper gave a weak smile. "More mixed feelings about that, honestly." she took a deep breathe. "My husband would say that this is above my paygrade."
"Your husband would be correct. But you are… Interesting, Mrs. Winchester. I was hoping you'd be the one who came in."
Piper's nerves couldn't take much more of this. "So, um… How can I help you?"
He gave her a dry, tight smile. "I doubt you can, dear girl. I want the leash around my neck off." His words grew bitter. "Lucifer has me bound to him. Some… Unseemly little spell. He has me where he wants, when he wants. That's why I couldn't go to you. I had to wait for you to catch up. He made me his weapon. Hurricanes, floods, raising the dead. I'm more powerful than you can process, and I'm enslaved to a bratty child with a temper tantrum."
His last words rang true in Piper's heart, and she found herself nodding along. "That's disgusting."
He put his silverware down and examined her closely. Worried that she had offended him, she quickly spoke again. "Do you think… I mean, what can I do about this?"
He looked at her for another few long moments, then slipped his ring off of his finger. "I understand you want this."
She nodded.
"I am inclined to give it to you."
Her eyebrows rose. "Give it to me?"
"That's what I said. There are conditions."
"Such as?"
"Whatever it takes. Your brother-in-law. He's the one who can stop Lucifer. The only one. So I need a promise from you. You're going to let your brother jump right into that fiery pit." He looked at her for another minute. "Well? Do I have your word?"
Piper could barely think around the panic and grief and sadness welling up in her. Give up Sam? Her Sammy, who watched nerdy movies with her and made fun of her and tickled her during sparring? She was supposed to just… Give him up?
In that moment, with that thought, Piper realized something.
Sam wasn't hers to give up.
If Sam wanted to do this, if he was willing to do this, she couldn't stop him, nor should she try. Sam was an adult, a fine man who she was proud to call her family, and if he wanted to do this, she had to accept his decision.
And if this would get them there, then so be it.
"Yes," she said, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat a little, then, "Yes, I'll do it. I'll make sure Sam jumps into the pit."
Death nodded and handed her the ring. She took it, then paused. "What about…" she waved a hand to the door.
"Chicago?" He seemed to consider. "I suppose it can stay. I like the pizza."
xxxxx
That night, Piper lay in Dean's arms, worrying. They were both fully clothed, just holding each other, lost in their thoughts.
"Dean," she said softly, looking up at him.
He turned and moved them around until they were lying on their sides, facing one another. "Yeah, kitten?"
She took a deep breath. "Dean, about this Sam thing."
His face hardened. "Piper, I don't want to talk about it."
"Tough," she said gently. At his surprised look, "Dean, we're running out of options, and we're running out of time. We've avoided this conversation for long enough."
He shook his head. "Well, it's not happening."
"Dean," she said severely. "I don't…" She swallowed back her emotions. Crying wouldn't help now. "Dean, baby, I don't think we have a choice."
He closed his eyes. "Pipes, I-"
She put a hand on his face, stopping his words. "Dean… Dean, Sam has become a good man. I mean, how long has he been saving people right alongside us? How many times has he saved our asses? I'm not saying he's perfect, but he's… He's a good man. He can do this."
He opened his eyes and stared at her for a long time, then, brokenly, "Pipes, I can't let him go like this. It was supposed to be me."
She ignored that, because her husband had a martyr complex, and she had already known that he was planning on it being him dying. She wasn't stupid. "Dean, it's not about letting him do anything. It's about… It's about maybe loving him too much. It's about him being an adult, and if he thinks he can do this, we need to stand behind him and believe in him, too."
Almost before she got the last word out, Dean was crashing his lips to hers. She sighed and kissed him back, worried he was going to ignore the situation in front of them. He kissed his way down to her neck, and she tilted for him, because she would always tilt for Dean.
But his lips paused where her shoulder met her neck, and he just kept his face pressed there, his strong arms holding her tight against him. She wrapped her own arms around him, running one hand through his short hair and the other up and down the broad expanse of his back. She wasn't surprised when she felt the wetness on her skin, just held him, murmured soothing nonsense, and stopped occasionally to wipe at her own eyes.
They lay that way for a long, long time, until they drifted off to sleep, comforting one another.
xxxxx
Hi everyone! Here's my notes:
I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural or the characters. (heartbroken)
Reviews, comments, and kudos give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.
If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.
