Bobby called with a new case for the brothers, and he suggested not letting Adam tag alone. Candy decided to search for her own case, since she was stuck babysitting Adam with Castiel. Dean and Sam were led to believe she would stay at the hotel, but as soon as they left, she rented a car, and she left with her two temporary companions. Castiel was hesitant about lying to the boys, and even more reluctant to let Candy lead her own case. Hunting was a dangerous job after all. It would kill him if something happened to Candy.

Adam was excited about the opportunity to hunt. There was no way, after being possessed, dragged into hell, and beaten cruelly by Michael and Lucifer, that Adam could ever lead a normal life. He was doomed to the life, whether his brothers wanted to admit it or not. Angels, demons, ghosts, monsters, all of it became a part of him when Michael invaded his body. For whatever reason, Crowley decided to pull him out of the pit, most likely because Crowley wanted leverage to use against the Winchesters. He didn't expect Adam to turn on him so easily.

The case that Candy found online sounded like the typical demon case. With Castiel's help, Candy was confident that she could safely exercise any demons and hopefully save the host in the process. Luckily, the demon was more than willing to come out to play. However, once the case was done and the host was purged, Adam got a phone call from someone. Candy didn't hear the conversation, but when she woke up the next morning at the motel, Adam and Castiel were both gone. When she stepped outside, she discovered the car was gone, too.

Immediately, she called Dean to tell him what happened. Dean told her that their case would take two more days, then they would be there to get her. Candy, angry at Adam, hung up the phone and flopped down on the bed in frustration. She decided to watch a little TV to waste time, and eventually she dozed off. In the middle of the night, she got a call from a number she didn't recognize. When she answered the phone, Adam started shouting frantically about his friend being possessed by a demon. He begged her to help him.

Candy prayed for Castiel, who came down quickly to aid her after hearing the distress in her voice. He used his angel abilities to take her to Adam's location. When she got there, Adam was standing in the middle of a living room in front of a man tied to a chair with black eyes and an evil grin.

"Well if it isn't the Winchesters girl," the demon announced her presence. Adam turned around with watery eyes to call her into the room. "Of all the people to call," the man chuckled, "you definitely picked the cutest little hunter out there."

"Shut the hell up," Adam snapped at the demon hatefully. "Listen, Candy," he explained, "Crowley found out about me choosing your side, and he's sending his flying monkeys out to kill everyone I care about. You have to help me. He's my best friend."

"Cas," Candy turned to the angel, "can you save him?"

"The man that was Adam's friend is already gone. He's been killed," Castiel said seriously as he stared into the eyes of the demon. "The best thing to do now is exorcise the demon and call the police to come for the body."

"No, you said he was alive!" Adam yelled at the demon furiously. "You said I could save him!"

"Oops," the demon shrugged. "I forgot about the little incident with the pills. I ate so many, but I couldn't feel anything. Your friend wasn't so lucky. When the police find him, they're going to see all of the drugs in his system and rule it a suicide. It's the cleanest way to kill without all of the investigating. All I have to do is pop pills like candy."

"You're going to burn in hell, you son of a bitch," Adam said through his teeth. Castiel stepped forwards, placing the palm of his hand on the forehead of the man that was once Adam's friend. A white light pierced the eyes of the demon, and after it dimmed, the man fell still. Adam hit his knees, head hanging in defeat.

"I got here as soon as I could. I didn't know he was dead," Adam sniffed. "I'm sorry, Candy. I didn't know he was gone... I'm so sorry." She knelt down beside Adam and laid a hand on his back gently,

"Don't worry about it. I would have done the same. I'm sorry we couldn't help your friend." Candy looked back to Castiel, who seemed disturbed by Candy's empathy towards Adam. He made a disapproving face at her, but Candy ignored it. She knew what it was like to lose someone important to her. She died a little inside when Sam jumped into the pit. Any gesture of compassion or kindness made it hurt a little less, and despite everything, Adam deserves that same consolation that Dean gave to her when he got her through all of those long, difficult nights when she laid in bed sobbing for hours and hours over Sam Winchester.

Candy drove back to the motel she was staying in, stopping only once to eat and put gas in the car. Once they got back into town, she returned the rental car, and met Cas and Adam back at the room. Castiel didn't want her leave her alone with Adam, so he stayed there with them until Sam and Dean arrived the next afternoon. As soon as he saw the Impala pull up outside, he vanished, returning to his own war in heaven.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning, first thing," Dean told them with his arms crossed over his chest. "We already paid for the room next door for Adam. Sam has your key."

"Thanks," Adam muttered, taking the plastic card from Sam. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." He sulked out of the room, and Candy couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She didn't know how much he'd gone through before she arrived, but she imagined it was a lot more traumatic to him than it was to her. Once she and Cas arrived, it ended quickly and anticlimactically.

"How am I supposed to trust you now, Candy?" Dean scolded her, pulling her out of her thoughts. "You were told to stay at the motel with Adam, in separate rooms, until the case was done and we returned. Not go running off to handle demons on your own."

"I'm a hunter, too, Dean," she frowned. "I'm not doing my job if I'm sitting around doing nothing while you do everything by yourselves."

"You're not a hunter, you're a tag along," Dean scoffed. Candy's eyebrows furrowed as his words hit her like knives in her chest. How could he say that? After everything she had gone through with him, after all of the cases, how could Dean say she was anything less than a hunter? Candy stood defiantly,

"Bite me, Dean. I've done everything I possibly could to prove to you over this past year that I am good enough to hunt, that I can do anything you can. No, I'm not as fast or good at combat, but I can handle my own. I have been for a year. You bitched to me about being replaced by Sam, but it looks like I was the one he replaced." She snatched up her duffel bag and purse. "I'm taking what money I have and getting my own room."

"Candy, wait," Sam tried to stop her. His efforts were thwarted when she left and slammed the door behind her. He stared at Dean. "Why do you have to be so harsh instead of telling her you were worried? It'd be so much easier if you didn't try to mask all your emotions with anger."

"She's not a baby, and she doesn't need to be babied. This job is hard, and she cannot do it alone. If she does something stupid like that again, she could get herself killed," Dean sighed. "Candy had to understand that this isn't a job she should ever get used to, or get comfortable doing. Without always being on guard, always having backup, Candy could end up burning like every other hunter who got careless."

"Your feelings come from a good place, Dean, but damn it, you suck at expressing them to her." Sam slid off his jacket and sat on the edge of the bed to remove his socks and shoes. "Find out which room she's going to be in and go apologize to her."

"Actually," Dean peeked out of the window. "She's getting in a taxi."

"Going where?"

"I don't know. Put your shoes back on, grab Adam, and I'll meet you in the car," Dean grumbled irritably as he yanked open the door to the motel room. Sam took a deep breath and picked up his socks from the floor.

Candy had the driver take her to the nearest bar. When she arrived, Candy politely as the man to close his eyes while she changed her shirt before going inside. Being a kind man, he did as told. The top she put on was one of Dean's favorites and least favorites. While he loved how it cupped her breasts and hugged her curves, he hated how every other person around her could see how well it accented her body. Men would stare, but Candy was used to it. It wasn't often she went anywhere without lonely men trying to hit on her. It wasn't that she was all that beautiful, she thought, it was more that there weren't a lot of options.

As expected, she quickly got the attention of a group of college boys playing pool at the other end of the bar. She decided to take the opportunity to hustle some money out of them. She pretended not to be very good at pool, so that the boys would offer to teach her. After a few drinks, she challenged one of them to a game, betting a hundred dollars that she could beat him. At the end of the game, the boy didn't even flinch when he handed her five twenty dollar bills. Instead, he asked her if she wanted to go back to his dorm with him.

"I can't," she smiled. "I need to head home soon before I worry anyone."

"Someone's worried about you, huh?" The boy grinned, grabbing her hips and pulling her agaisnt him forcefully. She pushed on his chest until he released her.

"Yes. Sorry, boys, gotta run." She grabbed her beer and headed to the door. After calling a taxi, she sat outside and waited for it patiently. At some point, without her realizing it, the group of college boys came out of the bar and noticed her standing there alone. The boy who asked her to leave with him approached her. She half-expected to have to fight the boy, but she was surprised when he pulled out her wallet and handed her another twenty.

'Sorry about that in there," he scratched the back of his head. "Use that to pay for your ride home. I had fun playing pool. You got pretty good."

"I had a good teacher," she smiled in a friendly way. "Thank you."

"No problem. Just get home so you don't worry anyone too bad," he chuckled. "Bye, beautiful. Have a safe trip home!" He waved goodbye as they approached their cars. She waved back, delighted to have met someone who apologized for being handsy and seemed really nice as a person. The men she was used to dealing with didn't react well to hearing no, but that boy had been a good sport and had respected her enough to apologize and help her home. Candy smield to herself as she waited for her taxi, and she thought about why she was attracted to Dean, about how kind he was to her after she lost Sam. That gentleness disappeared when Sam returned.

Before her taxi arrived, the Impala pulled up in front of her. Sam leaned out of the passenger side window and asked her to get in. She stood there for a moment, contemplating, then climbed in slowly, suddenly feeling the alcohol hitting her. The whole ride back was silent, almost aggravatingly silent. When they got back to the hotel room, Candy walked inside carefully so that they couldn't see how tipsy she actually was.

"How many guys hit on you?" Sam asked jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Candy answered with a slight giggle.

"Only one. I hustled a hundred bucks out of him, and he tried to grab me but I pushed him away. Then he apologized and gave me another twenty for the taxi ride home. He was actually a sweet kid. A preppy college boy, but nice. You know, I would be almost graduated from college by now if I had gone. Then I could get good temporary jobs and not have to work in bars where I get hired because the managers like to have me around to look at me. It makes me feel dirty and gross. Only you and Dean can look at me like that."

"You're drunk," Dean noted.

"I wasn't driving," she defended herself. "Don't get mad at me, Dean. I'm tired of you always scolding me and telling me I messed up or that I'm not a real hunter. I do my best and that's all I can do. So just stop bitching at me."

"I don't bitch at you."

"You kind of have been lately," Sam shrugged his shoulders. "She's not completely wrong. Is there someone on your mind?"

"Other than having to share my girlfriend, no there's not," Dean answered with a scowl. Sam lowered his head, knowing that it was his fault Dean was taking out his frustrations on Candy. Sam was the one who asked to share her.

"Baby," Candy walked to him, placing her hands on his chest. "You know I love you and want to make you happy. You just have to have patience with me sometimes. I mess up. I'm only human. I promise I won't run off on my own anymore."

"Please don't. I hate working a case when all I can think about is whether or not you're okay," Dean have into Sam's suggestions about sharing his feelings. "I don't mean to scold you."

"I forgive you," she stood on her toes and kissed him tenderly. "Let's go to bed." She pulled off Dean's shirt and pushed him towards his side of the bed. "You, too, Sammy," she motioned for him to come over with her finger.

Candy took her place between the boys, snuggling against Dean's side while Sam wrapped his arms around her waist. It didn't take her long to fall asleep, since being between the brothers was the warmest, safest place for her to sleep. It was always easier and better to fall asleep wedged between them. She was feeling light as air, and she dreamt of good things, of Sam and Dean, and of settling down with them one day.