A/N – Howdy! It's been a while. I'm sorry. Forgive me? You may need to skim over the last couple of chapters to remember where we left off. Basically, Dean was supposed to tell Bella about a particular job he and Sam were working … he tried to be sweet, but then Bella had to bring up saving him again and he took off.

Chapter song: Before the Worst by the Script


Chapter 18

It's been a while since the two of us talked. About a week since the day that you walked. Knowing things would never be the same. With your empty heart and mine full of pain.

"Dean, this is getting fucking ridiculous." Bella huffed and flexed her jaw, taking a moment to compose herself. "Look, I get it. We won't talk about that …" Yet, she added to herself. "Just call me, okay?"

She squeezed the cell phone in the palm of her hand before chucking it across her desk.

The intercom on her desk buzzed and she picked it up. "Swan."

"Bella, could you come into my office for a minute?"

"Sure." Bella hung up the phone and smoothed her shirt down as she walked toward Sheriff Mills' office.

She rapped gently on the doorframe and Jody Mills looked up. "You wanted to see me?"

Jody nodded toward the empty seat in front of her desk. "And shut the door."

After a long inhale Bella carefully closed the door behind her and took a seat.

A heavy newspaper slapped against the hardwood of the Sheriff's desk. "Looks like your boys got into a little bit of trouble," she said, sliding it toward Bella, her lips curving in a slight smile. "Made front page news in Little Rock!"

Shaking her head, Bella scanned the article. The feel of the paper under her fingertips and the ink seeping into her skin made it all too real. "Is this a joke?" Bella asked, her eyebrows raised in question.

"No," Jody said, her voice flat.

Bella threw the paper back down on the desk. "This is bullshit. Breaking and entering … in a museum? I don't buy it."

"They got sloppy and got caught. It happens. I'm sure Bobby is trying to find them a way out as we speak."

Narrowing her eyes, Bella leaned closer to her boss. "Dean and Sam don't get sloppy. Even if it was a case … some type of haunted artifact … they wouldn't have let themselves get caught."

Sheriff Mills shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Maybe Dean's a little preoccupied with something … or someone." She gave Bella a knowing look as she stressed the last word.

The scraping of Bella's chair across the floor filled the tiny office as she pushed away from the desk and stood up. Straightening her back, Bella said, "If Dean's preoccupied by someone, it's his own fault. I've been here, ready and willing …"

"You should cut him some slack." Jody's voice was softer, no longer in Sheriff-mode but rather offering Bella some friendly advice. "He's giving you what he can."

Cocking her head to the side, Bella gave Jody an incredulous stare. "Have you been talking to him?"

Jody forced out a cough. "Not exactly. I've seen his type before. I can tell how much you mean to him, even if he can't."

Bella sighed, plopping back down in her chair. "I just wish he could give me something more."

"What more do you need? Have you seen the way he looks at you? He's always got this cocksure smile on his face, nothing and no one can get to Dean Winchester … but then you walk in the room and I actually see the minute his heart falters. Hunters aren't exactly known for raining buckets of happiness. The minute he sees you that smile … it's not forced. You make him happy, Bella."

The truth of Jody's words washed over Bella and she fidgeted in her seat. Dean made Bella happy too, but was that enough anymore? And that was where Bella knew Dean was right. He didn't want her to get too attached because he knew there was no way out of his deal. He knew the closer they got, the worse it would hurt her in the end. Dean lived with enough guilt. There was no way he'd survive that.

"I need … I need him to let me save him. He's fighting so hard, pushing me away … if he'd just let me do this … I can do this, Jody."

Jody nodded, looking down to hide her watery eyes. "I know you can."

~o~

"You did good today," the woman in the white nightgown said as she stood in front of Jody Mills desk.

"I didn't do it for you … I did it for her," Jody spat, turning away from the ghost and getting up from her desk walking toward the door.

"She will save him," Mary Winchester whispered, placing a gentle hand on Jody's back.

Jody spun around, her eyes narrowing. "How do you know?"

Mary smiled, her eyes full of warmth. "Because she loves him."

~o~

"Hey, Bells. Enjoying your vacation from the boys?"

"I didn't call for small talk, Dad. You knew they were getting locked up, didn't you?"

Charlie let out a long sigh. "It was my idea."

"Why? You think jail is going to keep the Hellhounds away?" She laughed with disbelief.

"What Hellhounds? You better not be messin' around with the Crossroads demon, Bella." His voice was stern, a seasoned hunter to a green one, but also filled with fatherly concern.

Charlie didn't know. Bella swallowed past the lump in her throat, trying to catch some of words she'd lost with Charlie's revelation.

"Wh-what …" she struggled, "what kind of case is it?"

"Old buddy of ours, mine and John's, needed help. Deacon, he's a warden at the prison. His prisoners are showing up dead, heads bashed in like they've been used for batting practice. But the cause of death is always the same—heart attack."

"So you had them break into the museum and get caught so they'd be locked up to figure it out …"

Charlie chuckled, smiling to himself. "Pretty good plan, huh?"

"Yeah." Bella's voice wasn't very convincing.

It was a good plan, except for the fact that no one decided to include her. There was an upside to not being involved. It would give Bella some time to research without Dean breathing down her neck, telling her it was a waste of time. It also meant she could focus on the task at hand. Whenever Dean was around, she found herself getting distracted. A part of her wondered if he was doing it on purpose, keeping her from finding a way out for him. His self-loathing act was getting old. Dean didn't deserve to die. Bella just needed to prove it to him, but every time she got close, an immense amount of guilt would eat at him and they'd be back at square one. Maybe the key to saving Dean was finding out what he felt guilty for.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not a good idea. Even if I could get Deacon to make you a guard, there's no way I'm putting you in a jail full of horny scumbags. Some of these men are killers."

"I've got stuff I need to do anyway." Bella paused and Charlie could tell something was bothering her. His fatherly instinct told him it had to do with a guy … and all signs pointed to that guy being Dean. The last thing he wanted to do was have that talk. "Hey, Dad?" Bella said after a beat. "Do you know any female hunters?

"Well …" Charlie squinting his eyes trying to think. "There's Ellen, and I guess her daughter Jo is into it now."

"But they're both still alive …"

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed, concern etched on his face. "Where are you going with this, Bells?"

"What about the dead ones?"

"The last person who died was Mary, but she wasn't a hunter."

"Mary …" Bella squeezed her eyes shut, willing it to not be true.

"Winchester," Charlie finished.

The air was punched from Bella's lungs, and she dropped the phone. With her back pressed against the wall, she slid down to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest. She could hear Charlie calling her name from the phone now lying next to her, but she didn't answer. Eventually the line went dead.

After Bella finally picked herself up, literally and figuratively, she knew what she had to do.

~o~

A tall prison guard dressed in dark green rattled his billy club against the bars of a jail cell. The clanking noise startled Dean, and looked up from his bed peering through the bars.

"Winchester," the deep voice called, "you got a visitor."

Dean's brows knit together and he pursed his lips. He wasn't expecting any visitors. Bobby didn't even know they were here. He stood hesitantly and shuffled toward the cell door.

"Visitor?"

"Yeah." The guard looked Dean up and down, puzzled by his odd behavior. "Your wife?" He raised one eyebrow.

"Shit," Dean hissed, scrubbing a hand down his face.

Ankles and wrists cuffed, the guard led Dean down the corridor. Sam had been watching when they passed his cell. "Dean!" he called.

Dean turned over his shoulder. Sam gripped the cell bars, his brow wrinkled with worry. Dean mouthed one word: Bella.

They reached the end of the corridor and the guard punched in his code before a heavy metal door buzzed open. He brought Dean over to an empty visitation stall and motioned for him to sit down on the stool. Dean sat down and scooted forward, closer to the glass, so he could reach the phone.

He wanted to be pissed. Here she was meddling in shit that she didn't need to, complicating things. This was going to be an easy job, in and out, and her being there just made Dean tense. Jail was dangerous enough as is, especially with some type of vengeful spirit on the loose. He was already watching his back, keeping his head down and letting some of the other inmates walk all over him just so he wouldn't get shanked in the prison yard. Deacon could only offer so much protection. If Bella had one of her stubborn ideas in her head, like maybe becoming the newest guard on the prison block, he was going to have to listen to the other prisoners talk about what they'd like to do to her, and there was no way he could just let that go. The minute his gaze caught her eyes and Bella smiled, he just wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her, feel her warm body pressed against his, and erase the cold nights in solitary.

Bella held the phone up to her ear, her brown eyes big and round under the harsh florescent, and smiled. "Hey," she said softly, her need for Dean slowly seeping into her voice.

The rasp of her voice only made him hard under the thin fabric of his prison garb. He grunted, clearing his throat, and narrowed his eyes at her through the glass. "What are you doing here, Bella?"

She smirked, not letting his attitude faze her. "Orange is a good color on you, Dean."

Dean adjusted himself under the table. Why the hell did she have to look so damn good? Did she even think before she got dressed this morning? Wearing a low-cut top to a jail? He didn't see what she had on for pants, but knowing Bella's no-fuss style, it was probably a pair of tight fitting jeans that hugged her perfect ass.

He let out a pained grunt. "We've got this covered. You can go home."

She leaned into the glass, her shirt dipping dangerously low as her breasts pushed up against the glass. She raised an eyebrow. "Still think Mark Moody's your guy?"

"Mark who?" Dean asked, completely mesmerized. It had only been forty-eight hours and he was already aching for her. He could only imagine what the lifers felt like, which was why Bella was not to enter the jail under any circumstance.

"Satanism, ritual murder, died in jail …"

"Yeah, yeah. We're working on it."

Bella cleared her throat and sat back in her chair. "Dean, I'm over here."

Dean settled back on the stool and glared. "Not cool, sweetheart."

"It's not him."

"What are you talking about? Of course it is! Nothing else fits," Dean said, shaking his head.

"I did some research on my way here. I think it's this nurse named Glockner. She had it out for cons. They'd show up in the infirmary with a cold, next thing you know, they're leaving in a body bag."

"Vigilante in life, vigilante in death?"

Bella shrugged. "Maybe. I didn't get any further than that."

Dean pursed his lips. "So is that why you're here, sweetheart? To show me you can do my job better than I can?"

She shook her head, looking down. Dean didn't mean it to sound as harsh as it did. This place was starting to get to him.

He sighed. "Baby, I didn't …"

Bella's eyes snapped open and the pain he saw there twisted a knife into his heart. She knew the next thing she was going to say would bring back old memories he'd rather not think about, and it was killing her. But if this was the key to saving him, if she could get answers … she'd take a little pain.

"That's not why I came." She swallowed, licking her lips.

"Bella, you're killing me here. What's going on?"

"Your mom … what did she look like?"

Dean's eyes widened and he almost fell of his stool. "What?"

"Just tell me, please?" she pleaded with her eyes, and Dean could never say no to those deep brown pools.

He smiled, thinking about his mother. "She was beautiful. Blonde, a smile that made your heart hurt. Her voice was like a warm blanket."

Bella could feel her eyes welling with tears and she forced a smile. "Did you get your eyes from her?"

Her chest was tight and the back of her neck was covered in cold sweat. Legs shaking under the table, Bella tried to stay strong as her whole world was about to implode. Those eyes had haunted her every night since she saw the ghost until she'd finally figured out what was so familiar. She had a feeling, but Charlie confirmed it.

"Yeah," Dean answered gruffly.

Placing her hand against the glass, Bella nodded. Dean brought his hand up to meet hers. "Stay safe, Dean."

She gave him one last sad smile before dropping the phone and turning around to leave.

"Bella!" Dean yelled, banging the phone against the glass. "Bella!"

Even if she could hear him, she wouldn't have turned around.


E/N – Slight cliffie! I know. Don't hate me. The next few chapters are already written and chapter 20 is a doozy! Show some love. Dean kind of needs it after that.