Dean scowled around the bar that Marshall had led them to, which was littered with bodies. "I take you to the nicest places, kitten," he muttered. His wife snorted next to him.
Bobby was frowning, too. "Well, the sheriff's a mook, but still. You'd think he'd notice this many missing folks."
Dean grabbed a towel from the bar, then approached one of the bodies and knelt next to it. Using the rag, he lifted the upper lip and pressed down on the gum. A long, thin fang extended, and he grimaced. "We got a vamp over here."
Piper came to stand next to him, and shifted the thing's arm with her foot. A spike was protruding from its wrist. "Well, that's a spike from a wraith," she said. "What has fangs and a spike?"
When they looked over at Bobby, the older hunter was scratching his chin. "Never seen it in my life."
"Ugh. So, Eve's making hybrids now?"
"Looks like."
"The question is why," Piper said thoughtfully.
"Yeah!" Dean was irritated. "I mean, what does she want with a… What do we even call these?"
Bobby shrugged. "Well congrats. You discovered it. You get to name it."
Dean grinned. "Jefferson Starships." Piper laughed out loud, while Bobby, Sam, and Cass just looked confused. "Because they're horrible and hard to kill."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It looks like the whole bar has been turned into these…"
Dean grinned again. "Jefferson Starships," he said with relish.
Sam's bitchface was in full force. "Fine. But why are all the… Starships dead?"
"I can't say," Bobby said from across the room, "but it looks like they were all burned up."
"Burned up like a fever?" Piper asked, walking over to join him.
"Yeah. The flu, kinda."
Dean frowned. "What the fuck is going on here? Does every monster in this town have the motaba virus?"
Piper opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the door slamming open. The sheriff and two officers rushed in, guns drawn, already shouting. "Hands where I can see 'em!"
Because Dean had already been crouched, he was able to scramble behind the bar, out of sight. He peeked around, already irritated and restless at the thought of the other three being taken away from him. Specifically Piper.
"Now, this is not what it looks like," Cass intoned.
"We're the Feds," Piper snapped, obviously already agitated.
The sheriff scoffed. "Yeah? Well, Feds aren't allowed to do this." To the officers. "Cuff 'em."
Dean watched helplessly as the hunters were handcuffed and led away.
Piper tried to reel in her frustration as the officers manhandled her into the police station. She spared a moment to be grateful that Dean wasn't there to see their rough treatment of her. She didn't think he would have handled that very well.
"Listen," she insisted. "if we can just make a phone call, we can straighten all of this out."
The sheriff scoffed. "Straighten out a massacre? I'd like to see you try."
Before she could retort, Sam reared back and headbutt the sheriff.
"Sam!"
"Jefferson Starships!"
Piper yanked herself to the side, throwing the officer that was holding her off balance. It snarled at her, and she kicked out hard, wincing when she heard its knee snap. As it howled, she watched a machete slice through its throat, and in the resulting spray of blood, her husband stood there, face stony and vengeful.
He gave her a quick onceover, then turned back toward the action. Cass was busy killing the officer who'd attacked Bobby, and Dean raised his machete to kill the sheriff, who was trying to kill Sam.
"Dean!" Sam shouted. "Wait!"
"Well, I'll say this. You're the healthiest looking specimen I've seen all day."
"I take my vitamins," the sheriff sneered.
Piper watched, her brow furrowed in concentration, from the other side of the mirror as Bobby interrogated the sheriff, who was bound to the chair he was in. She wasn't so sure that this wasn't a futile effort. The creature seemed no closer to telling them anything useful than he had been when they'd started.
"So, you wanna tell us what's going on here?" Bobby asked. "You boys are, uh, Eve's cleanin' crew, is that it? You, uh, you come around to clean up the bodies? Make sure the word doesn't get out, huh? Is that why you snatched up the doctor?"
The sheriff sighed. "You're so wasting your time, you stupid head of cattle."
The sound of something rustling behind them had her spinning. The Winchesters, who had been flanking her, turned with her.
"More Starships," Dean said grimly.
"Come on," Sam said, leading the way out and toward the sound.
There were smears of blood on the walls of the station, which easily led them to the cells. Inside one of those cells were two young boys, tied up and gagged. Piper recognized them immediately.
"Oh, God," she said softly as she crouched next to where the younger boy had wiggled himself closer to the bars. "You're Dr. Silver's boys, yeah?" The boy nodded. She reached through the bars to run her fingers soothingly through his hair. "Don't worry, okay, we're going to get you out of here." She looked up. "Will one of you go grab the keys?"
Sam nodded and left, and Dean knelt next to her. "Hey," he said, the timbre of his voice gentle, "My name is Dean. This is my wife, Piper, and that was my brother, Sam. Those cops, they're not coming back, not ever, okay?"
Sam came back with the keys, and Piper hurried to unlock the doors. As soon as she could, she hurried into the cell to untie both of the boys. "What are your names?" Her voice, too, was gentle.
"Joe," the older brother answered. He pointed to his younger brother. "This is Ryan."
Dean smiled at the boy, and Piper felt her heart constrict. Oh, he would be such a good father.
"How you doin', Ryan?"
Ryan flushed and looked away, inching closer to his brother.
"He won't talk," Joe explained. "Not since they came for us."
Piper smiled at the younger boy. "That's okay, honey."
"Listen, Joe," Dean said seriously. "We're gonna get you out of this cell. But you, um, understand what's going on around here, don't you?" The boy nodded. "So first we gotta make sure you're you."
"How you gonna do that?"
Once they were done with the tests to prove that Joe and Ryan were human, andJoe had told them that the boys had an uncle in Merritt they could go to, Dean was ready to take the win and get the boys home.
He was watching Piper with them, a smile on his face. She was speaking with Joe in a low voice, her hand carding through Ryan's hair. The boy had warmed to her considerably, and was currently hiding his face by pressing it into her leg.
"Dean," Cass' voice brought him from his reverie. "Can I have a word?"
Dean turned to look at the angel, eyebrows raised.
"We need to find Eve. Now."
Confused, Dean nodded. "Yeah. Go. Me and Pipes just gotta make a milk run."
"We need your help here."
Dean outright frowned. "Hold your water. We'll be back in a few."
If Cass had been human, Dean was sure he would have groaned. "Dean. Millions of lives are at stake here, not just two. You have to stay focused."
"Are you kidding me?" Dean hissed.
"There's a greater purpose here."
"You know what? I'm getting real goddamn sick of 'greater purposes,' okay? And I know that Pipes is, too. We need a fucking win, Cass, especially her." It was a low blow, using Pipes against the angel like this, but Dean couldn't think of another way to get to him. "So you know what? We're gonna go save a couple of kids. We'll catch up."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked back toward where his wife was standing with the kids. She looked up at him, her hazel eyes darkening in concern, but he shook his head. This wasn't the time.
"Come on, everyone. Let's go."
Piper stared critically at the sheriff's very headless body. They had just gotten back from dropping Joe and Ryan off at their uncle's house.
"Rigorous interrogation?" she asked dryly.
Bobby shrugged. "Well, we got a location. Now we just gotta get close enough to take a shot."
She nodded. "All right, well. Let's go, then."
They walked back out to the main office, where Dean was handing out the shells containing the phoenix ash. There were enough to give each of them one. "Make 'em count," he said gravely.
Dean stared incredulously at the diner they'd been in earlier that day. "She's been in here the whole time?"
"Why'd she even let us in?" Sam asked. "Or out?"
"Well, there's one way to find out." Dean took a step forward, only to be stopped by Piper's small (but seemingly made of iron) hand.
"What, you're just going to stroll in?"
"We don't know who's human and who's her," Bobby said dryly.
"Well, there's only one way to draw her out." Dean took a deep breath, ready for a fight. "Me and Sam will go in."
"Absolutely not," Piper said immediately. "I'm coming with you."
"No," Dean protested. "Pipes, I don't want you in there, and it's us that she wants."
"What makes you think that?" she hissed. "no. This is a terrible plan. We're not doing it this way."
"Piper," Dean said softly, wrapping a hand around the back of her head and pulling her close to press a hard kiss to her forehead. "Kitten, we gotta get in there and take care of this. I don't know if we're gonna be able to make the shot from in there. I need as many of you out here as possible, so I know that you can make it."
She was glaring up at him, her eyes burning with fury. "I hate that plan."
"I know, baby, I'm sorry."
She kept eye contact for a few more minutes before growling deep in her throat. She yanked him forward and kissed him hard, all teeth and tongue and anger, before she pulled away. "Stay alive," she ordered firmly. She went to stand between Bobby and Cass, still fuming.
Sam handed his bag to Piper, who shifted her hefty glare to him. "You, too, Winchester," she snapped. "There had best be two of you walking out of that building, you got me?"
Sam smiled tightly. "Yes, ma'am."
"No sass from you!" She went up on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck. "Not until you get back."
"We'll be all right, Piper," he murmured, hugging her back.
"Well, don't lie to me." She sighed and came back down. "Go be brave, you jackasses."
Dean shot her a wink and led the way into the diner.
No one seemed to take too terribly much notice of them as they slid into a booth. Dean scanned the people around them nervously. The little hairs on the back of his neck were standing up at attention. He watched Sam use his phone to see if anyone's eyes were glowing, and he knew his answer when Sam paled.
"Shit," his brother muttered. "Shit, shit."
"Starships?"
"Yeah."
"Anyone in here that's not a flesh-eating monster?"
"Uh… Me and you."
"Okay, well, let's get the hell out of here."
Sam nodded. "Shall we?"
Before they could, a pretty brunette in an apron approached them with two giant plates of food. "Two specials, right?" She slid the plate onto the booth in front of them.
Sam eyed it carefully. "Uh, no. that's not for us. We were just headed out, actually."
"Now, that would be rude, Sam," she purred.
Dean started, but Sam looked up smoothly. "Let me guess. Eve?"
"Pleasure," she simpered.
"Why don't we step outside," Dean asked with a smile. "Chat?"
"Why? This is private."
A group of the Starships got up to close the blinds. One took Dean's bag and pulled it opened. Eve reached in to remove one of the guns and sniff it. "Phoenix ash. I'm impressed. I bet you had to go a long way for that."
"You have no idea."
She looked over at one of the Starships. "Destroy these. Thank you." Once he'd taken the guns, she turned back to the brothers. She rolled her eyes. "Relax, I'm not here to fight."
Dean snorted. "No? Just to rally every freak on the planet, bring in Khan Worms and, and half-assed spider men, and dragons. Really, sister? Dragons?"
She just shrugged. "So I dusted off some of the old classics. I needed help."
"With what?" Sam asked harshly. "Tearing apart the planet?"
Eve leaned forward, earnest. "You misunderstand me. I never wanted that. Not at first. I liked our arrangement."
Piper was glaring at the building, now completely unable to see in since the blinds had been closed. "Fuck," she hissed, angry and scared.
"What do we wanna do?" Bobby asked. The only sign that he was upset, too, was the way the lines around his eyes deepened as he tensed.
"We should go in," Cass said solemnly.
Piper nodded. "I agree."
As she reached for her gun, she was grabbed from behind. Before she could make much noise, a hand was wrapped around her mouth, and her arms were twisted behind her. She kicked futilely, watching as Bobby and Cass were both restrained, as well.
"Mother wants to meet you," the Starship holding her crooned in her ear. She jerked away from it and struggled as the creatures led the three of them into the diner.
She met Dean's eyes when he swiveled to watch them be forced into the diner. She surveyed he room around the, her eyes finally landing on a blonde woman standing next to the brothers' table. She felt her own eyes widen in recognition.
Mary.
"Well, so much for your plan B," the thing wearing Mary Winchester purred. She looked over to Cass. "And you, wondering why so flaccid? I'm older than you are, Castiel. I know what makes angels tick. As long as I'm around, consider yourself unplugged." She turned back to Sam and Dean. "Work for me. It's a good deal. Bonus! I won't kill your friends."
Dean leaned forward. "Look. The last few months, we've been working for an evil dick. We're not about to sign up for an evil bitch. We don't work with demons. We don't work with monsters. And if that means you gotta kill us, then kill us!"
Eve smiled and tilted her head. "Or, I turn you. And you do what I want, anyway."
"Beat me with a wire hanger, answer's still no."
She was suddenly behind Dean, her hands clamped down onto his shoulders. Piper yelled behind the hand quieting her and began her struggles again. Sam was restrained, too, as he tried to help Dean.
"Don't test me," Eve purred into Dean's ear.
"Bite me," he snarled.
Piper's whole world came to a screeching halt as Eve, the Mother of All, reared back and sank her teeth into her husband's neck.
"No!" Sam roared.
"Dean!" Cass was struggling harder now.
Piper knew, vaguely, that she was screaming, but couldn't swear to the fact that she was holding her own self up.
Dean didn't seem to be sick, though. Eve pulled her teeth out, he clapped a hand over the wound, and then grinned as he turned around to look her in the eye.
Eve was coughing, sputtering and bending over. Dean was still baring his teeth at her in what was kind of a snarl and kind of a grin. "Phoenix ash," he said triumphantly. "One shell, one ounce of whiskey. Down the hatch. Little musty on the afterburn. Call you later, Ma."
Eve morphed from Mary to a petite brunette as a bright white light started to shine from her chest. She was choking, dark liquid spilling from her mouth and nose. She collapsed to the ground, dead. The Starships moved to attack, and Piper gasped as the one holding her tightened his grip painfully.
She heard Cass' shout over the din. "Shut your eyes!"
She obeyed, and still saw the light through the red filter of her eyelids as it blasted from where the angel was standing, obliterating the Starships. Cool hands steadied her as the monster holding her up collapsed, and she opened her eyes to see that Cass had caught her.
"We gotta take you on more monster hunts," Bobby said gruffly.
"Hey, Cass?" They all looked to Sam. "Dean's bleeding pretty good."
Piper pulled away from Castiel to hurry over to Dean as he spoke. "Yeah, I think she turned me into a Jefferson Starship. Could you clear that up, too?"
Piper stood in front of him and smacked him on the arm. "What did you think was going to happen?" she snarled. "What the fuck kind of plan was that? What the fuck, Dean?!"
As Cass was healing his neck, "Pipes, baby, it was just a backup plan. I just wanted to make a hundred percent sure we could get her."
"I am going to wring your goddamn neck," she snapped as she stepped forward and buried her face in his chest. "I hate you," she muttered.
She felt him smile against her temple as he kissed her there. "Love you, too, kitten." He looked up, slinging an arm around her waist. "We gotta go. Now."
Piper looked up at him. "Where?"
"The kid. The littlest kid. He's one of 'em."
Cass face, which had been relaxed in relief, hardened. "Unbelievable," he growled.
Dean scowled. "Yeah, yeah, I know, Cas, you told me, all right. Let's just go."
Piper had her arms wrapped around herself as they stood outside of Joe and Ryan's uncle's house. They'd gone inside and found both the uncle and the two boys dead on the ground. The stink of sulfur had been thick enough to choke on.
"So, what do you think" Sam asked.
"I think that demons don't give a shit about monsters unless they're told to."
"So do you think she was telling the truth?"
Piper frowned. "The truth about what?"
"She said that Crowley's still kickin'."
Cass' face hardened. "But I burned his bones? How… Was she certain?"
"Sounded pretty sure. According to her, Crowley's still waterboarding her kids somewhere."
"I don't understand," Cass confessed.
"Well, he is a crafty son of a bitch."
"I am an angel." Cass straightened. "I'll look into it immediately." He disappeared.
Piper's spine was tingling with unease as she walked with the three men to the car. Bobby and Sam finally stopped to look back and Dean and Piper. She knew what they were going to say, and she wanted more than anything for them not to say it.
No such luck.
"What?" Dean snapped.
"How did Crowley get away?" Bobby asked carefully. "I mean, it's not like Cass to make mistakes like that. Unless…"
"Unless what?"
"Unless he meant to," Piper whispered, her eyes falling closed and her heart breaking.
"Pipes, this is Cass we're talking about."
"Look," Sam offered peacefully, "it's probably nothing. You're right! It's… Probably nothing."
Piper prayed to God for the first time in a long, long time that Dean was right.
**Feedback gives me the warm fuzzies and keeps me going.
**I just want to thank everyone who continues to read I'll Wait For You. I just think it's amazing that I started out this long-ass fic, just because I wanted to see Dean with someone long-term who would ground him and love him like we all do, and you're all still here. Now I've got eight published fics here, What the Actual Fuck? took the fuck off (who saw that coming?), and Dean and Piper are still going strong. So thank you, again. If you ever feel like this ridiculously long ride isn't for you, go ahed and jump off. I'll understand. But if you want to keep going because you love them like I love them, stay with me. There's some crazy times ahead. 3
