I can't be losing sleep over this, no, I can't
And now I cannot stop pacing
Give me a few hours, I'll have this all sorted out
If my mind would just stop racing

'Cause I cannot stand still
I can't be this unsturdy
This cannot be happening

This is over my head but underneath my feet
'Cause by tomorrow morning I'll have this thing beat
And everything will be back to the way that it was
I wish that it was just that easy

'Cause I'm waiting for tonight
Then waiting for tomorrow
And I'm somewhere in between

SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN
(It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester)

7 years ago
Chicago, Illinois

Beth's POV

The wind whipped up around us and I laughed as Dean tried to catch me in his jacket, opening it up and swooping in from behind as we walked leisurely along the streets toward our destination. We'd scored the night off after John had to go and meet with another hunter over a spirit haunting in Oak Park, and we hadn't hesitated to make our way into the city to do some fun, normal things.

My side ached from the cold and the walking, but I bit back the pain and smiled, I was having too much fun to beg out now. Dean stopped trying to swallow me into his leather jacket, instead tucking it around his body with a shiver, and then slipped his arm around my waist, pulling me tightly in against him as we tried to avoid the multitude of people walking around.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up in excitement as he leaned in to place a kiss behind my ear, the simplest of touches and I was ready to fall at his feet, it still felt so surreal, being able to just slide my arm around him whenever I wanted, not worrying about who was going to see, what they were going to say, how they were going to react. It was a relief, and one we took advantage of regularly, although we were still quite reserved with John around – we didn't want to push our luck on the whole blessing.

I felt my neck getting strained as I looked up at all the skyscrapers around us, we didn't go into cities that much, or if we did, they were never quite so tall as Chicago seemed to be. Everything towered above us, almost giving me the chills, it didn't seem quite right that we should live so far from the ground. We rounded a corner and there in front of us was the building we'd been looking for. It towered above all the others, Sears Tower, I stopped short, gasping at its reflection against the twilight sky.

"Wow!" I said breathlessly and then I mumbled an apology as people ran into me because I was stupid enough to stop moving. Dean pulled me aside and out of the way of foot traffic, tossing me a smile.

"You like?" He asked and I nodded, taking his hand and pulling him along the pavement.

Present Day
Fort Collins, Colorado

Dean's POV

Praying definitely wasn't my thing, but after two weeks I was starting to get desperate. It was 6am, and I stepped into the chapel, the sunlight starting to light up the stained glass windows. Beth would have loved it; she loved all stained glass windows. I ran a hand across my tired eyes and sighed: she was the only reason I was even here.

Kneeling down, I looked up at those windows and then bowed my head.

"Cas? I don't know what to do here man, I need help, I need to find Beth, I need you man, please."

The words weren't the most elegant on the planet, they didn't even seem like a prayer, but they were the best I could do right now. My stomach growled in protest over the fact that I hadn't eaten in days, but I couldn't eat, I could barely function at this point.

"You know humans require regular nourishment to maintain their energy," Cas said, suddenly appearing next to me, causing me to jump.

"Jesus! Don't sneak up on a man like that!" I said, peering over at him.

"I am not Jesus," Cas said and I frowned at him. "What do you need Dean? Where is Beth?"

"What do you mean where is Beth? I was hoping you could tell me," I said and he frowned at me.

"Is she not with you?" He asked and then he looked into the distance, coming back with a surprised look. "No, she's not... she's gone..."

"Well duh, that's why I called you man," I said to him, shaking my head incredulously. "You're supposed to be her guardian angel, well, guard her or something – I thought you guys had some kind of … bond thingy."

"We do, but it doesn't work like that Dean. She has to let me in, if she shuts down the connection, which she has, then she has to tell me where she is," Cas said. That didn't sound good.

"What might stop her from telling you where she was?" I asked.

Cas looked curiously at me, and then frowned. "Death, Unconsciousness – although that depends on the state of the spirit, a number of other things. Why?"

I took a deep breath, looking down at my hands; they were still healing from the cuts they'd gotten during when I'd attacked Beth. I looked at my wedding ring, stark and silver against my hands and I sighed.

"I hit her," I confessed to Cas, who didn't react, he simply remained looking at me impassively. "It wasn't my fault, not really, I was sick, ghost sickness, and I started to hallucinate... but man, I hurt her pretty bad. I knocked her out, I'm sure of it."

"There where is her body?"

"That's the thing man; she got up just after that... only something else was controlling her. I can't explain it. Her eyes, they flashed blue, and she spoke to me, but it wasn't her, I know it wasn't," I said, looking over at him, that nervous, sick feeling sitting hard in my stomach like it had for the last fortnight.

Cas' eyes narrowed just shortly and then he looked away.

"You know something," I accused him, shaking his shoulder. "What? What aren't you telling me?"

"What did she say to you?" Cas asked, looking back at me.

"Uh, she uh... something like I have to protect her. But it doesn't make any sense!" I said. "Does it?"

"Unfortunately it does," Cas said, looking at me.

"Cas, where is my wife?" I asked more sternly and he sighed, looking at me.

"I will go and look for her, but it might take me some time since she is blocking my connection, or at least, something is," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think it would be best if she explains it to you," Cas said and before I could argue with him he'd vanished as swiftly as he'd come. I sighed, looking up at the lightening sky, if I didn't do something soon I was going to go nuts.

Present Day

Beth's POV

I was hanging up laundry on the line, listening to the play of the children in the yard while Dean chased them with the garden hose. It was a hot Summer day and we were all enjoying the chance to be outside. Suddenly I felt the cold spray of water washing down my back as I shrieked and turned to find Dean standing behind me. I grabbed the hose off him, laughing and turning it away so I wouldn't get any more soaked than I already was and he caught me around the waist, kissing me.

Dropping the hose to the ground I wound my arms around his neck and kissed him back, feeling all the love and adoration I had for the man swell in my heart. He took a step back and tripped over the washing basket and we fell to the ground, me landing on top of him with a grunt. "Ow…" he said and I chuckled, kissing along his neck.

"Want me to kiss it better?" I asked, sucking on the soft skin in the crook of his neck.

"What, my ass?" He asked with a laugh and I raised an eyebrow, pulling back to look into his eyes.

"Well… you might have hurt other things," I said with a grin and he groaned, rolling me to the grass and pinning me under him, his hand trailing along my side under the wet shirt I was wearing to caress along my skin. I moaned, and claimed his lips again, slowing it all down and enjoying the moment.

Water hit me again and I gasped at the chill of it; this time we were both getting a shower. We looked up to see Patrick standing there with the hose, diligently spraying it over the pair of us.

"Come on Mom! Dad! Come play with us!" He said and we laughed. Dean jumped to his feet, running after him and scooping him up in his arms, tossing him over his shoulder and spinning in circles as Patrick yelled his excitement. I smiled, climbing to my feet and watching them as Dean put him on the ground and then started to chase him and his little sister.

"Beth?" Someone said, and I looked around for the source. I glanced back at Dean who was wrestling with the kids and frowned because it hadn't been him talking to me. I shrugged, and grimaced at my wet clothes, deciding I might as well finish hanging out the laundry before going to change.

I pegged a sheet on to the line and paused. A shadow passed on the other side, but when I looked behind it, nothing was there.

"Hello?" I asked, looking around.

"Beth, where are you?" Said the man's voice and this time I paused, listening closely.

"Castiel?" I asked.

As soon as I said his name he appeared next to me in suit and trenchcoat, looking at me.

"You have to come with me," he said. I turned to look at Dean and the kids and hesitated.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because this isn't real," he explained.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Of course it's real!"

"No Beth, it's not. None of this is real," he said, turning me to face him. "You're stuck in your mind, and it's my fault. You need to snap out of it, now."

"No."

"Beth, Dean is looking for you, he's worried about you, if you want to see him again you have to come out of this fantasy," Cas said, shaking me a little.

"Leave her be, Castiel," said another voice, and I turned to see a young man with spiky black hair looking at us.

"No, she wouldn't want this, not if she knew the truth," Cas said and I frowned. Knew the truth? What was going on here?

I closed my eyes and a piercing pain shot through my forehead as I tried to recall the last few days. We'd had roast beef last night, best one I'd cooked yet, the kids had loved it. The day before we'd gone to the beach, first time for baby girl, and she'd squealed at the waves lapping at her feet. Dean had picked up a couple of custom restoration jobs with the garage… and then he'd hit me. Wait, what? Dean wouldn't hit me.

Looking up I frowned at Cas, shaking my head. "He did hit you," Cas said, I shook my head, moving away from him.

"He would never," I disagreed, frowning at the angel.

"It wasn't his fault," Cas stated, "but nonetheless, it did happen."

I felt my stomach tighten at what he said, something about it sounded true, but he had to be mistaken, after all, I was here, Dean and the kids were here.

"And what about Sam?" Cas asked, I looked up sharply, realising he hadn't been anywhere near this picture, it didn't seem right. I dug a little deeper.

The motel room appeared in my mind, wait, what motel room? Suddenly it started flashing before my eyes.

Returning back from the lumber yard and finding the Sheriff dead on the floor, Dean in the middle of a hallucination. He'd grabbed me, throwing me across the room where I'd hit the wall, hard. He hadn't stopped at that however, punching me in the gut and backhanding me across the face and I'd been powerless to stop it in the heat of his frenzy. I could fight, he'd taught me to, but I'd been caught off guard and he was much stronger than me.

I'd managed to block a few punches before he landed another low blow and I even got in a punch to the face, hoping it would stop him. Instead he head butted me and I felt the sickening crunch of my nose breaking. I knew then that I was in a lot of trouble and he wasn't coming out of this hallucination easily. The ghost sickness had him firmly in its clutches. I stumbled back, grabbing at my nose and trying to move away as he stalked after me.

"Dean… Dean it's me!" I said, but he didn't hear me, or he didn't see me.

"Just stay away from me!" He yelled at me as he punched me again and then kicked me in the gut, dropping me to the ground. That was the last I remembered, and I shook my head in disbelief.

"No, no Dean would never hurt me," I said and suddenly we were standing in a field of green grass, and I was looking out over vast mountains in the distance.

I realised with a start that I didn't have control of my body when I tried to move but failed. I felt around for the presence of another being inside of me and found it, reserved and waiting.

"Ezekiel," I said, "You have to let me go," I said.

"It is not the place of the husband to abuse his wife," he answered and I groaned.

"He didn't know it was me! Please Ezekiel you have to let me go, Dean is going to be worried sick!"

"So he should be," was the reply and I sighed. This was going to get me nowhere.

"Castiel promised me that you would not hijack my body like this," I said, trying to reason with the stoic angel who was steadfastly in disagreement with me. "I can make my own decisions."

"You have some odd ideas," he said and I would have rolled my eyes if I could have.

Instead I started to focus on my surroundings. We were in a lower level of Heaven, that much I could tell. This area seemed largely abandoned and quiet, but when I looked close enough I saw things moving on the periphery of my vision.

"This is the birthing grounds," Ezekiel explained to me. "You cannot see anything because it has not been made manifest," he said, and I frowned. That sounded very complicated.

"The dinosaurs had their first walk here, and the plants, animals, humans..." He sounded a little nostalgic.

"Until He left us," he said quietly.

"Who?" I asked, and I thought I heard a sigh.

"Our Father," came another voice and I turned to see Castiel standing next to us.

"You mean God?" I asked, curious. "Is there no God in Heaven?"

"God doesn't have to be in Heaven to watch over us," Castiel said and I would have crossed my arms if I could have. "Ezekiel, what are you doing?"

"She was abused, I had to protect her," Ezekiel replied.

"I see Chamuel has fully healed her since. Dean is looking for her," Castiel said and I nodded, I knew he would be.

"I want to see Dean!" I said.

"Let her go, Ezekiel," Castiel said. "I promised."

There was an internal sigh that echoed through my body and then I felt a slight lift as he left me in a burst of light. When I turned the same young man from earlier was standing next to me with spiky black hair and piercing dark eyes.

"Elizabeth, you should consider staying here with us," he said to me and I frowned.

"Ezekiel?" I asked, sighing with relief that I had full use of my body back.

"Yes," he said with a smile. "This is my regular vessel, but he is well known among Heaven, I cannot use him when I am in need to moving discreetly, that is why I need you."

"Well, happy to help, I guess," I said with a shrug. "But I'm not very impressed with the whole kidnapping thing."

"I apologise. I reacted to keep you safe, he was out of control," he said with a slight nod.

"He was in the middle of a hallucination!" I snapped, covering my face with my hands. God, I needed to get back to Dean. I turned to look at Castiel. "He's never hit me like that, he's never hurt me, all this time that he's been dealing with these nightmares and flashbacks of Hell… he's always taken back his control at the time, yes, a few times that knife came out, but I never felt like he'd hurt me, I knew he'd stop. It was the ghost sickness."

"Beth, we need to consider that perhaps he's not going to get better," Cas said.

"But he has been getting better! The nightmares, they've been next to nothing compared to when he first got back, lucky to be once a week now, we're working through this." I argued. I was steadfastly not going to give up on Dean, not after everything we'd been through, even though there was a little part of me that was scared after what had happened this time.

"Where is he?" I asked and he frowned.

"They haven't moved far, Dean has them in a motel. He has even been praying, which is unheard of for him," he said.

"Take me to him," I said. "How long have I been gone?"

"Two weeks," Cas said and I almost fell over.

"Two weeks?!" I exclaimed.

"You should reconsider Beth, it is safer for you here," Ezekiel said and I shook my head.

"I go where Dean goes," I replied.

7 years ago
Chicago, Illinois

Beth's POV

Within a short amount of time we were in the elevator, heading up to the sky-deck, 103 floors above street level. I felt my ears pop from the change in atmosphere as we were whizzed to the top in about sixty seconds.

We piled out of the elevator along with a handful of other tourists all chattering excitedly about how we were now in one of the tallest buildings in the world. Dean chuckled, taking my hand and pulling me away from the rest of the group to look down over the city.

"This was a great idea," I said with a smile, wrapping my arms around his waist and looking out over Lake Michigan. Night was falling and the lights of the city were taking centre stage as we stood still, just listening to the rush of the wind outside, feeling the gentle sway of the tower as it moved, almost creating a bit of a sickening feeling. Dean tilted my chin up, and I held my breath as he moved in, brushing his lips across mine. I moaned softly, closing my eyes and tasting his lips as he locked my lower lip between his own. I ran my hands up under his jacket and shirt to brush lightly along the bare skin of his back, earning a soft moan in return.

He deepened the kiss, his hand caressing along my cheek, as his tongue met mine in a slow tango as we moved closer together, ignoring the view and the people around us. I sighed softly with pleasure as his hand slid under my hair, gently cupping the back of my neck and holding me to him. He broke away and I almost moaned a complaint until he started kissing my face with tiny little soft pecks along my forehead and cheeks.

With a smug grin tossed at a couple of guys standing nearby, Dean pulled me over to a window where there weren't any people standing around, sitting down against the glass and pulling me into his lap, wrapping his arms around me as I leaned back against his chest, and stared out the window. I giggled as he started to kiss along the back of my neck again and turned slightly to catch his lips in my own.

"You're in a mood," I commented and he nodded, kissing along my jawline.

"Mmmhmmm," he agreed, one hand sliding discreetly under my top, covered by my jacket and brushing along my stomach. I gasped at the sudden sensation and then bit my lip as his fingers dipped below my belt-line, not touching anything too forbidden, but the promise was there.

"Naughty," I said softly with a chuckle, staring out the window again.

"Can't help it," he said, pulling me around to face him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and smiled into his twinkling eyes, then caught his upper lip in my own, softly sucking and then opening his lips to meet his tongue again. He slid his hands up to the back of my neck, the kiss deepening and taking on an urgent feel as we leaned into it. I forgot to breathe, losing myself completely in the moment until Dean pulled back, bumping his nose against mine and smiling.

Someone cleared their throat next to us and we looked up to see one of the tour guides looking down with a smile on her face.

"Sorry, I hate to interrupt such a beautiful moment, but we're about to close up," she said kindly.

"No problem," Dean said quickly and I scooted out of his lap, fighting the urge to pull away from him like we hadn't just got caught making out when we shouldn't. Then I remembered, it was okay, we were a couple now, and that meant I could touch him as much as I wanted and I didn't have to hide how I felt. I slipped my arm around his waist with a smile.

"First date," I said, looking up at Dean's surprised expression.

"Oh, well… congratulations," she said with a smile. "Can't say as I blame you," she said to me with a wink and a slight giggle before turning to lead us back to the elevator. "I'd be kissing him too!"

Present Day
Wallace House
Fort Collins, Colorado

Sam's POV

When he needed to be distracted it didn't take long for Dean to find a case to work. Take for instance the one we were on now, much to my disapproval, which involved the classic urban legend of razors in Halloween candy. It seemed a little far-fetched, but being just days out from Halloween and having no leads on where to find Beth, at least it was something to do.

"Now, how many razor blades did they find?" I asked the woman standing before me. She sighed and looked at me, nearly in tears.

"Two on the floor, one in his stomach and one was stuck in his throat. He swallowed four of them, how is that even possible?" She asked, glancing at Dean who was walking around the kitchen, inspecting everything. He opened the door to the over and looked inside.

"The candy was never in the oven," Mrs Wallace said sternly, frowning at his actions.

Dean looked over at us. "We just have to be thorough Mrs Wallace," he answered.

"Did the police find any razors in the rest of the candy?" I asked.

"No," Mrs Wallace replied quickly, shaking her head. "I mean, I don't think so." She buried her face in her hands and shook her head in quiet disbelief. "I just – I can't believe it. You hear urban legends about this stuff, but it actually happens?"

"More than you might imagine," I replied with a nod. Dean had been looking on the floor at something and he stood up from behind the island bench, waving a hex bag at me behind her back. I kept my face impassive as I looked at it, things were definitely starting to look like our kind of case.

"Mrs Wallace, did Luke have any enemies?" I asked, and she looked at me confused.

"Enemies?"

"Anyone who might have held a grudge against him?" I clarified.

"What do you mean?"

"Co-workers? Neighbours? Maybe a woman?" I prompted. It was never nice to have to make this kind of a suggestion and they always reacted the same way. Badly.

"Are you suggesting an affair?" She asked, looking at me incredulously.

"Is it possible?" Dean asked.

"No!" She said sharply. "No, Luke would nev…." She broke off, a stream of fresh tears starting as she shook her head at us.

"I'm very sorry, we just have to consider all possibilities," I said quietly to her.

"If someone wanted to kill my husband, don't you think they'd find a better way than a razor in a piece of candy he might eat?" She asked, and there really was no arguing that logic, not without revealing the truth. I looked over at Dean, and he raised an eyebrow at me, shrugging.

As we reached the car I saw Dean starting to get angsty again, banging on the roof of the Impala and then getting in the driver's seat, taking a few deep breaths.

"Hey," I said, climbing into the passenger seat. "Maybe we shouldn't be looking into this case, you want to look into Beth again?"

"No, no I gotta do something, I'm going nuts. I talked to Cas a few days ago, he's working on it, but I haven't heard anything yet," he answered. I sighed and nodded, maybe an hour ago we could have walked away from this, but now? We had to find out what was going on, before someone else got hurt.

"I'll drop you at the motel, I need to go out for a bit, clear my head, I'll look into that guy while I'm out," Dean said, which was as much to say he was going to hit up a bar or something like he had been for the last few weeks.

"You want me to come with you?"

"Nah, I just want to think," he said quietly and I nodded.

Present Day

Beth's POV

I looked over at Cas and sighed. "Can you take me to Dean now?" I asked, looking at him. I was feeling anxious and nervous, and just wanted to get back to my everyday life.

"Yes," Cas said, and he put his hand on my shoulder. "Are you ready?"

I nodded and then suddenly we appeared in the middle of a red brick bridge in a park somewhere, water flowing underneath. I frowned, looking around; it didn't look like anywhere I'd ever been before.

"Dean?!" I called out, looking around.

"Beth?" Dean's voice sounded from the other side of one of the walls, and he stood up from where he'd been sitting on the grass, hidden from view. My breath caught when I saw him, an ache in my heart so strong and hurting.

"Oh, God, are you okay?" He asked, rushing toward me. I took a few steps back instinctively at the fast movement and then chastised myself when he stopped, looking at me with hurt eyes.

"Sorry," I said, taking those steps back toward him.

"No, it's okay," he said quietly, looking down at the ground.

"It was just a knee jerk reaction," I explained, moving toward him. He didn't move, lifting his head to watch me, tears in his eyes. Dean never cried, so I could see how much he was hurting from this whole thing, and it broke my heart. I hurried forward, taking his face in my hands and kissing him gently.

"Are you all right?" I asked softly, looking up at him. He smirked, and shook his head at me, not moving to touch me, barely even breathing.

"Only you would be more worried about me than yourself," he muttered, shaking his head.

I looked around for Cas, but he'd obviously disappeared when he saw that I was all right. It was just the two of us standing on the bridge now.

"Dean I love you, of course I'm worried," I said, reaching out a hand to lay it on his chest. He still refused to move and I frowned, looking up at him. "Are you just going to stand there?"

He sighed and shrugged at me, shaking his head. "I don't know what to do Beth, I don't want to hurt you."

I took his hands, moving them to my hips and stepped into him, sliding my own arms around his waist and pulling him tightly to me. "Hold me," I requested, nuzzling my nose into his neck a little. He surrendered into the movement, sighing and wrapping his arms around me, stroking along my back.

"Where have you been?" He asked, resting his chin against the top of my head.

"Heaven," I said honestly, and he pulled back to look at me in surprise.

"Heaven?"

I nodded, resting my head against his chest where I could hear his racing heart.

"Beth, I broke your nose, among other things…is that how you're fully healed?" He asked and I nodded.

"There's some things I need to tell you," I said softly, and I felt his arms tighten a little.

"What?"

"Can we go somewhere to eat first?" I asked, pulling back slightly to look into his eyes as my stomach rumbled. "I haven't eaten in two weeks."

He frowned, reaching a hand out to brush a couple of stray hairs out of my eyes. My first instinct was to back away, but I fought it, closing my eyes and leaning in to the touch as his fingers trailed down my face.

"I love you," I whispered softly and felt soft lips caress my forehead.

"Me too," he said, looking at me when I opened my eyes. "I'm am so, so, so sorry Beth," he said, his face starting to crack as he fought back the anguish he was obviously feeling.

"It wasn't your fault," I said, reaching up a hand to caress his face. "It wasn't your fault."

"I still hurt you," he insisted.

"And I'm okay, the angels put me back together," I said.

"You've been missing for two weeks!" He said, shaking his head.

"It wasn't my choice, Dean, I swear. I would never leave you, not like that. That's what I need to talk to you about, okay? I didn't leave you," I said, leaning into him.

I felt him take a couple of deep breaths and then surrender into my embrace, his arms coming to circle around me.

"Promise?" He asked, uncertainly.

"I promise," I said, looking up and kissing him gently. "I'll explain everything; can we just get some pie first?" I asked with a cheeky grin. He chuckled and nodded, taking my face in his hands once more, staring into my eyes and then leaning in to capture my mouth, trailing his tongue along my lips and then hesitantly prying my mouth open.

I met his kiss without resistance, thinking about what that must have been like for him: two weeks? I had to touch him and kiss him; I needed him to be all right because I couldn't cope if this was going to break us.

7 years ago
Chicago, Illinois

Dean's POV

She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever known, the only one I'd ever really loved. Now she was mine and sitting in a corner booth at a little pizza parlour we'd found down the street. Munching on some garlic bread, she smiled, looking over at me as butter dripped down her chin. I laughed and dabbed at her face with a napkin, and she groaned, not from the fussing but from the delicious mouthful of food she had.

"Oh my god," she said when she finally swallowed, "this is incredible!"

"Babe you say that about just about any garlic bread," I said with a grin, taking a bite myself. Admittedly she might have been right this time. "You know I have to kiss you after this right?"

"Mmm, yeah, but at least we won't be attacked by vampires," she said with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes at her and laughed.

"There's no such thing as vampires," I said and she shrugged.

"Can't be too careful," she grinned.

"Yeah well this ain't Port Charles you know, vampires don't just suddenly appear and start interacting with the world," I said with a shake of my head. I had only just caught up with that particular spin on one of our daytime soaps and I was still reeling from it.

"Although…" I said, glancing out the window at a strange looking person in a black cape who was walking by. "…you never know…"

Beth laughed and shook her head. "This is Chicago, Dean. It takes all kinds."

"You got that right," I said with a smile as our pizza was delivered to our table. The waitress walked off with a smile and I looked at Beth, reaching out to take her hand and squeeze it a little. "So… first date huh?" I asked, recalling what she'd said up in the tower.

"Technically, yeah," she said with a shy smile, chewing on her bottom lip.

"What about all those birthday pie sessions?" I asked and she scoffed.

"It doesn't count if you're not officially dating," she said.

"Hmmm, fair enough," I said, smiling back at her. "So, first date. How is it going so far?" I asked.

She laughed softly and scooted around in the booth to sit closer to me, leaning over to kiss me as she laid her hand on my thigh under the table. "Sitting on about… 8 out of 10," she said with a grin and I widened my eyes at that statement.

"Only an eight?!" I said and she giggled as I pulled her in to me, tickling her.

Present Day
Motel Room
Fort Collins, Colorado

Dean's POV

We walked back slowly toward the motel room, my hand resting gently at the small of Beth's back. She was still a little jumpy, I could see it; the effects of nearly being beaten to death had to be having an impact on her regardless of how much she said she didn't blame me. I pushed the guilt down in my stomach and tried not to think too hard on it, when she explained about the angel, and the mission she'd gone on with him, I thought my heart was going to stop – how could she have put herself at risk like that?

Beth had been quick to chastise me because I did the same thing all the time. She was right, but I didn't have to like it. We'd eventually decided to try and put it all behind us, and work through things, but it was going to take baby steps. She was still cautiously watching me, and I resigned myself to the fact that it might take some time to get back to where things were before all this had happened.

Sam was sitting on the couch when we got back, and he looked up in surprise when Beth walked in with me.

"Beth?!" He said, jumping up and crossing over to us. "What… are you okay?"

Beth nodded and smiled at him, giving him a slightly awkward hug.

"God, we've been worried sick," Sam said, looking down at her. "Where have you been?"

"It's a long story, we'll fill you in later," I said, spotting a piece of candy on the table and unwrapping it, tossing it my mouth.

Sam stopped to look at me incredulously. "Really? After that guy choked down all those razor blades?" He asked.

"It's Halloween, man," I said with a grin, watching as Beth made her way over to the coffee pot.

"Yeah, for us every day is Halloween," he countered.

"Don't be a downer," I said, perching on the arm of the chair and looking at his research. "Anything interesting?"

Sam moved to sit down on the couch again while Beth poured herself a cup of coffee, turning and leaning against the counter, watching us quietly.

"Well, we're on a witch hunt, that's for sure," Sam said, still watching Beth curiously. "But this isn't your typical hex bag," he added.

"Hmm, no?"

Sam shook his head and picked up a dried up flower from the hex bag.

"Goldthread, an herb that's been extinct for two hundred years. And this …" he said, picking up a silver charm. "It's Celtic – and I don't mean some new age knock-off. It looks like the real deal, like 600 years old real."

I reached out and picked up a small charred item from the bag, lifting it up to smell, it was rank and I jerked my head back.

"And um… that is the charred metacarpal bone of a new born baby," Sam said.

"Ugh!" I said, putting the bone back down. That was disgusting! "Gross."

Sam picked up the bone and looked at it. "Relax man; it's like, at least a hundred years old."

"Oh, right, like that makes it better?" I said, shaking my head and looking at Beth. "Witches man, they're so friggin' skeevy." She chuckled and me and nodded.

"Well it takes a pretty powerful witch to put together a bag like that. I don't know that we've ever dealt with one with that kind of juice," Beth said.

Sam nodded, looking up at me. "Yeah, it's hard-core. What about you? Did you find anything on the victim?"

"Luke Wallace?" I asked and he nodded. "He was so vanilla that he made vanilla seem spicy. I can't find any reason why somebody would want this guy dead."

Present Day
Motel Room

Beth's POV

I was feeling almost normal again after a long hot shower. Pulling a towel around my body and tucking it under my armpit, I leaned over and turban tied a second towel around my hair, flipping it behind me so I wouldn't drip water all over the place. Sam was missing when I walked back into the main room and Dean was lounging on the bed, channel surfing and looking bored. When he saw me, he sat up anxiously, watching me.

"Hey," I said, crossing around to the other side of the bed and picking up my duffel, starting to rifle through it for a t-shirt and pair of sweats to put on. I slipped on a clean pair of underwear, and looked over at Dean who was suddenly staring across the room. "You okay?" I asked, pulling a t-shirt over my head and dropping the towel to the ground.

"Yeah," he said gruffly, nodding, but he still refused to look at me.

"Liar," I accused, crossing my arms and looking over at him.

He sighed and turned to face me, sitting up on the bed. "Sorry, it's just... the last time I saw you, you were...well bloody, and beaten, and now there's not a scratch on you," he said, throwing his hand in the air.

"Yeah, I know," I said quietly, looking down at my arms. I was thankful for that because I didn't want to think about how much pain I'd have been in had I not been healed by the angels.

I crawled on to the bed, moving over to Dean and he looked a little warily at me when I came to rest in front of him. "You can't avoid me forever," I said and he sighed at me again.

"You should be running from me, Beth," he said, biting his lip.

I sighed and moved to sit next to him. "Look, I won't lie to you; there are moments when my whole body freezes, just from the memory of what happened. But it wasn't you Dean, you would never hurt me," I said.

"I know," he said softly. "But I still did." Tears started to pool in my eyes and I brushed them back impatiently.

"Oh Beth, please don't cry, I don't want to cause you any more pain," he said, moving to hold me as I buried my face into his neck.

"I just want things to go back to how we used to be, I'm so sick of all this … of everything," I said. "I just want us to be okay."

"I know," he said, rocking me softly. "Me too. I'm sorry." I pulled back and looked at him, blinking back tears.

"Okay, babe. You have to stop saying you're sorry. It's going to drive me insane. Can't we just... I don't know, can't we pretend things are back to normal? How are we ever going to get past this otherwise?" I asked. I watched the way his eyes darkened, he was as frustrated as I was about this. My heart started to race a little at the darkness swirling behind those green eyes and I swallowed, trying to breathe, but all I could see were his dark eyes as he attacked me.

Dean reached out a hand to stroke my face without warning and I flinched, kicking myself instantly as he pulled it back, retreating so that I wouldn't freak out. I grabbed his hand, holding it to my cheek, pushing back the irrational fear.

"God I hate this," I whispered. "I don't want to feel this way."

"I don't know what to do," Dean said.

I closed my eyes, my fingers trailing along his hand as he rested it on the side of my face. I resolved to push through this, because this was my husband, and he wouldn't hurt me. I had to trust that we could work through this, that we could heal it.

Lying back against the pillows, I pulled him with me, and he hesitated, holding himself over me and looking down into my eyes. Reaching out to grasp his face in my hands, I pulled him down, meeting his lips the rest of the way, and moaning softly as he opened to me, allowing the kiss.

Moments flashed before me, the head-butt, the pain searing through my nose, and then memories of our first date, of kissing him up the top of Sears Tower and how innocent our lives had been. Hot tears welled in my eyes and started to stream down my face and Dean pulled back as I tried to stifle a sob, resting his forehead against me.

"Beth..."

"Don't stop," I whispered, shaking my head.

He slid his hands along my arms and down to my wrists and I froze for a moment.

"Okay, wait, maybe … maybe not on top. But, you know you don't do so well with me on top lately either," I said and he sighed, nodding.

"We're a disaster," he said softly and I looked at him, pain in my eyes.

"Lie down with me," I asked and he complied, leaning on his side as I rolled to face him. We traced our hands along each other's hips, and I smiled, leaning in to kiss him. We started out slowly, exploring each other as we moved closer together. I slipped my knee in between his thighs and pressed it against his groin. There was a slight press back from a half-arousal and I smiled.

"I love you," I said for the third time today and he smiled, nuzzling my nose with his own.

"I have no idea why," he said, burying his face into my shoulder and pulling me close. We didn't move, holding each other and trying to fill the void caused by our mutual guilt – mine in him being like this, him for causing me harm. The door opened behind us and Sam walked in, his breath catching when he saw us on the bed.

"Hey, uh..."

"It's okay Sammy," Dean said, pulling back slightly. "You're safe, we're not doing anything like that."

"Sorry," Sam muttered and walked past the bed, putting a bag of fast food on the kitchen bench. "You guys hungry?"

I sat up, nodding with a smile and he grinned back at me. I grabbed the sweatpants that I'd left discarded on the end of the bed and slipped into them.

"Might want to try the suit," Sam commented, tossing me a wrapped burger and then following it up with one for Dean. "Eat fast, we got another incident," he added.

7 years ago
Chicago, Illinois

Beth's POV

The date had slowly progressed from an eight until we'd hit what I was now considering a 9.5 out of ten. The walk back toward the motel had been laborious, and I was feeling the effects of the cold night combined with my pain levels shooting through the roof, but I was fighting it off – nothing was going to ruin this night for us. Considering he had a few broken ribs himself, Dean was coping fairly well, but it wasn't likely he'd let on if he was in pain anyway.

Delaying the return to the room, we wandered into a nearby park, holding hands and leaning comfortably against each other as we looked around us. Hunting never fully disappeared, even when you were on a time-out, and dark parks were the perfect places for supernatural creatures to go looking for their evening meal; and then there were the humans.

A drunken man stumbled toward us along the path and as he came within arm's reach of us he suddenly pulled a knife, grabbing me and pulling me to him, the blade against my throat. I gasped, surprised at how quickly he'd been able to move and it became very apparent that he was nowhere near as drunk as he'd been pretending to be.

"Your wallet!" The man barked at Dean and I rolled my eyes. He wasn't going to get much out of our wallets, especially since we were already dealing in fraudulent credit cards.

"Yeah, okay, just take it easy man," Dean said, reaching for his back pocket. He held out a hand toward us and our mugger pulled me back a step.

"Don't try anything funny!"

I snorted and shook my head, waiting for him to relax a little, which he did as Dean pulled out his wallet slowly, holding it in the air.

"Just let her go," Dean said, watching me warily. I raised an eyebrow and smirked at him seeing the little twinkle in his eye as I nodded toward him.

"Catch!" Dean called out, tossing the wallet at the man and catching him unprepared, he instinctively reached for the wallet, breaking his hold on my arm and I thrust my elbow back into his side, catching him hard in the ribs. When he doubled over I spun around and kneed him in the nose, dropping him to the ground with a groan.

"I'll take that," Dean said, grabbing the knife out of the man's hand as he picked up his wallet from the ground and tucked it back into his pocket, the knife sliding into his waistband. "Man you picked the wrong people to mug," he said, hauling the guy to his feet while I gingerly touched my side which was now throbbing from the exertion of defending myself.

The man looked scared at Dean and attempted to break his hold on him. "Get out of here, if I see you around here again, you'll have more than a few sore ribs to deal with, hear me?"

Present Day
Halloween Party
Fort Collins, Colorado

Dean's POV

The party had been happening in the basement, and from what I could see it had been pretty lame until a girl had decided to simultaneously drown and boil to death in the apple bobbing tub. Forensics were around taking photos, and police officers were questioning all the party-goers as we walked down the stairs, taking the scene in. There was a cop questioning a pretty blonde dressed in a skimpy cheerleading costume and I raised my eyebrow.

"Have you been drinking?" The officer asked her and she nodded.

"Yes."

Sam went to go join in the questioning and I placed my hand on his arm.

"I got this one," I said and felt Beth push in with a raised eyebrow.

"Two words: jail bait," Sam said and Beth shook her head.

"I got two more important words: married man," she said with a smirk, and I looked at her with a grin.

"I would never …" I said and she laughed.

"Even still, I got this one," she said and walked off on us. I trailed behind her, checking out the apple bobbing tub.

"It's just so weird. The water in the tub – it wasn't hot, I had just been in there myself," the girl was telling the cop.

"Your friend didn't happen to know a man named Luke Wallace?" Beth asked, walking up and cutting in on the conversation. The girl turned questioningly to her, and Beth held up a badge, smiling. "Agent Seger, FBI," Beth identified herself.

"Um, who's Luke Wallace?" The girl asked.

"He died yesterday," Beth said and the girl shook her head.

"I don't know who that is," she commented.

Sam had been rooting around in the couch and suddenly stood up, holding a hex bag. Beth noticed and nodded at him, meeting my expression. Witches, again. Great.

Present Day
Motel Room

Beth's POV

Dean had commandeered the computer while Sam and I hit the books. I was lying on one of the beds, stomach down and flipping through a book on witches when Sam sat up, looking intently at the book he was reading.

"I'm telling you, both these vics are squeaky clean," Dean said, looking over. "There is no reason for a wicked bitch payback."

"Maybe cause it's not about that," Sam said and I sat up, looking at him questioningly.

"Wow, insightful," Dean said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. I looked over at him and chuckled, he didn't have a lot of patience when it came to Sam's cryptic nature. Sam rolled his eyes and moved to sit on a chair between the bed I was on and the table where Dean was sitting.

"Maybe this witch isn't working the grudge, maybe they're working a spell. Check this out," he said, handing me the book and pointing to a section.

"Three blood sacrifices over three days, the last before midnight on the final day of the final harvest," I frowned and looked up. "In the Celtic Calendar the final day of the final harvest is October 31st," I said, handing Dean the book.

"Halloween," Dean said and Sam nodded.

"Exactly."

"What exactly are the, uh, blood sacrifices for?" Dean asked.

"Uh, if I'm right, this witch is summoning a demon, and not just any demon – Samhain," he said. I frowned, that was the new age witchy word for Halloween, but it meant a lot more than that.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Dean asked with a shrug.

"Dean, Samhain is the origin of Halloween. The Celts believed that October 31st was the one night of the year when the veil was the thinnest between the living and the dead, and it was Samhain's night. I mean, masks were put on to hide from him, sweets left on doorsteps to appease him, faces carved into pumpkins to worship him. He was exorcised centuries ago," Sam said.

"So even though Samhain took a trip downstairs, the tradition stuck," Dean said and Sam nodded.

"Only now instead of demons and blood orgies, Halloween is all about kids, candy and costumes," I commented, looking out the window at the dark night.

"Okay, so some witch wants to raise Samhain and take back the night?" Dean asked with a smirk.

"Dean this is serious," Sam snapped.

"I am serious!" Dean insisted.

"We're talking heavyweight witchcraft. This ritual can only be performed every six hundred years," Sam continued, looking insistently at his brother.

"And the six hundred year marker rolls around….?"

"Tomorrow night," Sam said.

"Naturally," Dean said with a sigh. He looked down at the book in his hands and frowned as he took in the pictures of a demon standing atop a mountain of bodies, holding a head in his hand. I shivered, recalling how I'd found Dean in a similar position when Cas had used me to pull him out of Hell. Dean didn't seem to make the connection.

"Well it sure is a lot of death and destruction for one demon," Dean said, looking up.

"That's because he likes company," Sam said. "Once he's raised, Samhain can do some raising of his own."

"Raising what, exactly?" I asked.

"Dark, evil crap and lots of it," Sam said, looking at me. "I mean, they follow him around like the friggin' Pied Piper."

"So we're talking ghosts?" Dean asked.

"Yeah."

"Zombies?" I said and Sam nodded.

"Mmhmmm.."

"Leprechauns?" Dean asked and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Dean…"

"Those little dudes are scary!" Dean insisted and I chuckled, thinking back to the night Cole had gatecrashed our Leprechaun movie night. Of course that led me to thinking about other things from that night and I contemplated something that we hadn't revisited… I chuckled and Dean looked at me, mistaking my smile for the Leprechaun comment. "Well they are!" He said, waving his hands in the air. "Small hands."

"Look," Sam said impatiently at the pair of us. "It just starts with ghosts and ghouls, this sucker keeps on going; by night's end we are talking every awful thing we have ever seen. Everything we fight, all in one place."

Dean looked at me, swallowing and sighing. "It's gonna be a slaughterhouse."

7 years ago
Chicago, Illinois

Beth's POV

Dean's expression said it all, I think it had been enough to scare off our would-be mugger more than any threat of violence. He scrambled away as he was dropped to his feet and ran in the opposite direction, soon gone from sight.

"You okay?" Dean asked and I nodded with a smile, slipping my arm around his waist.

"Yeah," I confirmed, "especially when I have my knight in shining armour to protect me." He scoffed and shook his head.

"You could have dealt with that guy all on your own," he said.

"Yeah, I know. But I didn't have to, that's what counts," I said, smiling and leaning up to kiss him lightly. Dean caught my chin in his hand, shifting the angle and deepening the kiss, leaving me breathlessly clinging to him as we finally broke away.

"I don't want to go back yet," I said and he nodded, pulling me over to a nearby park bench and sitting down. I settled into his lap, sitting sideways and wrapping my arms around his neck as I leaned my forehead to his.

"So, still an eight?" Dean asked and I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Nope, I think you've hit the perfect ten mark by now," I said. "I think it all hinges on this next kiss."

"Oh really?" He asked with a grin and I nodded, brushing my nose against his.

"Mhmmm…"

With a smile Dean leaned in to me, catching my lip between his and softly licking along me, sliding his tongue tenderly in to meet and start circling my tongue, teasing it with his own. Soft shivers ran down my back as his hands trailed under my top and in against the bare skin at my hip. He moaned softly as he made contact with the skin and the sound made me melt. After what seemed a lifetime he pulled away, kissing me a couple more times quickly and then smiled, a questioning look in his eyes.

"Well?"

I looked at him dreamily and smiled, licking my lips. "Oh definitely an eleven," I said, eliciting a soft laugh from his perfect lips.

"Good," he said with a nod. "Though you know… practice makes perfect," he added, moving in to connect with me again. I moaned softly and nodded, looked like we weren't going anywhere for a while.

Present Day
Wallace House

Beth's POV

Dean's sweet tooth was on an all-time high. I looked over at the pile of candy wrappers now sitting between us on the front seat and shook my head in amazement as Dean opened yet another one and shoved it in his mouth. Suddenly my phone started to ring and I grabbed it, flipping it open and looking at the Caller ID.

"Hey Sam," I said and Dean stopped chewing and grinned at me instead.

"How's it going?" Sam asked and I raised my eyebrow at Dean.

"Awesome, we talked with Mrs Wallace again, and we've been sitting out in front of her house for hours. We've got nothing," I replied.

"Look, Beth, someone planted those hex bags, someone with access to both houses. There's gotta be some connection," he said. I nodded my agreement.

"Well I hope we find them soon because Dean is going to start cramping up soon..." I said as he rubbed his stomach, looking a little green around the gills.

Dean startled from the seat next to me, and then looked across the road more intently. "Son of a bitch!" He said.

"Tell him to quit whining," Sam said over the phone, having heard the comment and I looked to where Dean was focused.

"No, Sam, he means son of a bitch..." I said, watching as Tracy, the cheerleader girl from last night walked up to the Wallace house and knocked on the door. Mrs Wallace opened it with her baby on her hip and Tracy started to make a fuss over the kid. "We just found the connection."

Present Day
Motel Room

Dean's POV

I scowled at Sam as we walked into the darkened room, he was just lying there, lounging about on the bed with the computer while we had just spent the last few hours getting sore asses staking out the Wallace house. Normally that wouldn't have fazed us, because we'd just have some fun of our own, but things were a little strained on that front, and it left me instead having eaten almost an entire tub of candy from the shops: I now had a gut ache because of it.

"So, our apple bobbing cheerleader?" Sam asked, looking up as I threw the room keys on the table.

"Tracy?" I asked, not sure if that's who he was talking about or not, up until a few minutes ago I hadn't even heard her name. Beth had caught it from last night, of course.

"Mhmmm," Sam said with a nod.

"The Wallaces' babysitter," Beth said, sitting down on the bed opposite him and pulling off her shoes. "She told me she'd never even heard of Luke Wallace."

"Huh, interesting look for a centuries old witch," Sam commented and I raised an eyebrow at him, not sure of his logic.

"Yeah, well, if you were a six-hundred-year old hag and you could pick any costume to come back in, wouldn't you go for a hot cheerleader?" I asked. "I know I would, hmm…" I added, thinking back to what it felt like to have been in Beth's body, able to caress any body part that I wanted, any time I wanted, the soft feel of her skin as I ran my hands down along... I noticed Sam and Beth staring at me and I cleared my throat self-consciously. Enough of that. I smiled innocently at Beth, but I wasn't altogether sure that she couldn't read my mind sometimes, she chuckled and looked back at Sam.

"Well, Tracy's not as wholesome as she looks," Sam said. "I did some digging – apparently she got into a violent altercation with one of her teachers, got suspended from school."

He spun the laptop around to show me and Beth leaned forward, joining me to look over the details on the screen. "Looks like we're going back to high school," she said with a grin and I shook my head. High school. Great.

Present Day
High School

Dean's POV

One thing I hated about Halloween, the decorations. This was no exception. I stepped into the art room and suspended from the ceiling were dozens of warped masks pictured in various degrees of torment and agony. I stared at one, stopping short, and all I could see was the twisted, demented looks of the demons in Hell, watching me, tormenting me. Screams echoed through my head and I jumped when Beth put her hand on my shoulder. I grabbed at her hand and she backed away, fear in her eyes, and bumping into Sam who was looking behind us.

"Bring back memories?" He asked, looking at the pair of us.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking over at him and then at Beth, wondering if he was thinking along the same lines as us.

"Being a teenager, all that angst," Sam said, gesturing to the art on the walls. I sighed, relieved that he hadn't seen my reaction to the mask, and Beth's consequent reaction to my grabbing her hand. I was pretty sure neither Beth or I had experienced much of a chance to be an angsty teenager, unlike our little brother who was always caught up in some drama or another. Then again, I suppose I'd had my fair share of angst-riddled girls chasing me.

"Oh, uh... no."

"What'd you think I meant?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," I replied quickly, looking over at one of the students who was attempting to put the biggest bong-shaped piece of pottery I'd ever seen into a kiln it was never going to fit into.

"Now that brings back memories," I said with a grin, watching as the kid pulled the bong out of the kiln again, sighing.

"Dude, I need a bigger kiln," he said and I chuckled.

"You gentlemen wanna talk to me?" Someone said from behind us and we turned to see a middle-aged man walk into the room carrying a box, a cup of coffee perched precariously atop it.

"Ah, Mr Harding?" Sam asked.

"Oh, please, Don," he said, reaching for Sam's hand. Sam shook it and smiled.

"Okay, Don."

Don reached for my hand next, shaking it, and then around to Beth, smiling.

"Gentlemen, and lady, I see," he said, taking her hand in his. "Even my students call me Don," he added before moving to put the box and coffee down on a nearby table.

"Yeah, we get it Don," I commented, not really enjoying the way he was looking at Beth, it made my skin crawl. I pulled out my badge, as did Beth and Sam when they saw me move.

"I'm agent Geddy, these are Agents Lee and Weinrib," I said, waving to first Sam and then Beth. Beth raised her eyebrow at the name and slightly shook her head. She hated these aliases I picked out most of the time, though I had scored on the Ford and Fisher ones.

"We just had a few questions about, uh, Tracy Davis," Beth said with a smile.

"Oh, yeah, Tracy. Uh, bright kid, loads of talent. It's a shame she got suspended," Don said, looking at us.

"You two had a... uh, violent altercation?" I prompted.

"Yeah, she exploded. If Principal Murrow hadn't walked by when he did, Tracy would have clawed my eyes out," he said.

"Why?" Sam asked, looking at him questioningly.

"I, uh, you know I was only trying to rap with her about her work," Don said. "It had gotten inappropriate and disturbing."

I turned, gesturing to the demonic masks on the ceiling. "More disturbing than, uh, those guys?" I asked.

Don smiled, looking down at the floor then back up at us. "She would cover page after page with these bizarre cryptic symbols, and then there were the drawings."

We looked at him questioningly and he continued.

"Detailed images of killings, gory, primitive, and she would depict herself in the middle of them, participating."

"Symbols, what kind of symbols?" Beth asked, stepping forward. She held out one of the coins from the hex bags. "Anything like this?"

"Yeah," Don said enthusiastically, nodding. "Yeah I think that might have been one of them."

"You know where Tracy is now?" I asked.

"I would imagine her apartment," he suggested, which floored me.

"Her apartment?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, she got here about a year ago, alone, as I understood it, as an emancipated teen. God only knows what her parents were like," he said, shrugging.

7 years ago
Chicago, Illinois

Dean's POV

She didn't want to admit it, but the whole evening had taken a lot out of her. I watched as Beth changed into pyjama pants and a tank top, grimacing at the pain in her side from where she'd had her surgery. She slipped under the covers of the bed with a soft groan and laid back against the pillow, closing her eyes.

I smiled and joined her, stripping down to my boxer shorts and putting a t-shirt on. It was cool in the room, but I never felt it when Beth was in bed with me. I pulled her in snuggly against my body and kissed the back of her neck. Dad wasn't back yet so I liked to take full advantage of these moments, even though we weren't technically sneaking around behind his back any more.

"I'm sorry… I don't mean to be so tired," she mumbled into my shoulder with a yawn.

"It's okay," I said, kissing her forehead. "Get some rest."

"I had a really great time tonight Dean, thank you," she said with a smile and happy sigh, wrapping her arm around my waist.

"Glad you liked it," I said, lifting her chin up so I could kiss her. "So you going to invite me back for coffee?" I asked cheekily and she nodded, her hand sliding along my skin and sending shivers down my spine.

I groaned, pushing her back to the mattress and hovering over her, kissing along her neck and down her collarbone as I brought my hand down over her left breast, squeezing it softly and then brushing a thumb across her nipple, causing it to stand to attention. I was rewarded with a soft gasp and chuckled, lifting her top up to catch the same nipple in my mouth, sucking gently and twirling my tongue around it.

It had been a long month between deciding to follow our feelings for each other, and then actually getting Dad's blessing, and of course she'd been hurt so we'd been unable to do much of anything in the way of taking things to a new level, a more intimate one.

I groaned softly with the thought of sliding into Beth, my mind really only on the soft milky skin beneath my hands and mouth as I kissed my way along her abdomen. I started to think about going further when the key rattled in the door and with a quick movement born of plenty of nights practice, Beth pulled her top down and the covers up, and I moved up beside her, trying to hide my obvious arousal.

Dad walked through the door, looking at us with a raised eyebrow when he saw us in bed.

"Tired?" He asked and Beth nodded.

"We walked for hours!" She said and he chuckled, coming over to ruffle her hair.

"But did you have a good time?"

"Yep, we went all the way to the top of Sears Tower and saw the city, and we had pizza for dinner," she answered with a grin. It could have been any conversation she'd had with him all through her teenager years, when it came to Dad, she reverted to the same fifteen year old teenage girl she'd been when we found her. It was kind of cute.

Present Day

Motel

Beth's POV

Dean pulled up at the motel and we climbed out, Sam meeting us at the car on his way back from checking out Tracy's apartment.

"So?" Dean asked, looking at Dean in the hope that maybe just once we'd caught a break.

"Tracy was nowhere I could find. Any luck with her friends?" Sam answered and I shook my head.

"Nah, luck is not our style," Dean answered. "Her friends don't know where she is. It's like the bitch hopped a broomstick."

We wandered over to the motel room when a chubby little kid in an astronaut costume walked toward us. I watched him curiously as his eyes fixated on us.

"She could be making the third sacrifice any time," Sam said redundantly and Dean let out a frustrated breath.

"Yes, thank you Sam," he said with a sigh.

Astronaut boy held out a bucket of candy to us and looked at us with beady little eyes. "Trick or treat," he said.

Dean looked surprised at him and chuckled. "This is a motel."

"So?"

"So we don't have any candy," Dean said.

Sam gestured toward the Impala. "No, we have a tonne in the uh..."

"We did, but it's gone," Dean said firmly, glancing at Sam, his message clear: he'd already eaten it all, it was why his stomach was churning and sick right now. The kid looked unimpressed and narrowed his eyes at Dean.

"Sorry kid, we can't help ya," Dean said.

"I want candy."

"Well, I think you've had enough," Dean said, his eyes falling to the rotund little belly the kid had. I gasped and hit Dean's arm as the kid glared at him and Sam chuckled, walking toward the motel room. The kid shoved past Dean, bumping into him and Dean looked at me incredulously.

"You've had enough?" I asked, shaking my head and walking to the motel door. "Kind of like the pot calling the kettle black isn't it?" I chuckled and turned as Sam let us into the room.

He immediately went on the offensive, drawing his gun and advancing into the room, and I pulled my gun out of my waistband, following his lead.

"Who are you?!" Sam yelled at a familiar person standing in the middle of the room, his back turned to us. I sighed and dropped my gun.

"Sam! Sam, wait!" I said, reaching out for him and putting my hand on his shoulder.

"It's Castiel." Dean said as he came rushing in. "The angel." His eyes fell to the same dark figure I was looking at standing over by the window. "Him I don't know," Dean said.

Cas turned to look at us and Sam smiled, dropping his gun, a look of wonder crossing his face.

"Hello Sam," Cas said in his usual monotone voice.

"Oh my God – er – uh – I didn't mean to – sorry," Sam stuttered, stepping forward and eagerly holding out his hand. "It's an honour, really, I – I've heard a lot about you."

Dean turned to close the door to the room and I watched as Cas looked down at Sam's hand, clearly unsure about what he was meant to do with it. Sam shook his hand in the air a little and finally Cas realised, putting his hand in Sam's, earning a smile from our little brother.

"And I, you. Sam Winchester," Cas said, placing his other hand over the two joined. "The boy with the demon blood."

Sam's face fell at the statement. I flinched at the words, even though they were said with no more venom than anything else, it was our emphasis that we put on it, our judgement, that caused the pain.

"Glad to see you've ceased your extracurricular activities," Cas said, looking into Sam's eyes. Dean had told me Sam had been a lot better while I had been missing, and from what I'd seen, he was – I had hope that maybe he was coming back to us, and statements like this just made my heart hurt a little for him. He had a good heart, and no matter how angry I was with him, I still wanted to protect him from that pain.

The stranger at the window continued to look out to the world beyond, but his voice was strong and booming when he spoke. "Let's keep it that way." Sam glanced uncertainly between the pair of them and Dean jumped to Sam's defence.

"Yeah okay chuckles," he said with an unimpressed tone.

"Who's your friend?" I asked Cas, but his eyes were all for Sam.

"This raising of Samhain, have you stopped it?" Cas asked him.

"Why?" I asked and he looked at me.

"Beth, have you located the witch?" He asked, avoiding my questions. There was an extra intensity there that I didn't always see with Cas, something was bothering him.

"Yes, we've located the witch," Dean cut in, frowning.

"And is the witch dead?" Cas asked.

"No, but we know who it is," I said. Cas walked over to the table by the bed Dean and I had been using and picked up something.

"Apparently the witch knows who you are too," he said, holding up a hex bag. "This was in the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it, surely one or all of you would be dead." He said and I swallowed, looking at Dean who ran a hand across his face.

"Do you know where the witch is now?" Cas asked. We all exchanged a look, frustrated and tired.

"We're working on it," Dean answered.

"That's unfortunate," Cas said.

"What do you care?" Dean asked angrily.

"The raising of Samhain is one of the sixty-six seals," Cas revealed and suddenly things were starting to make sense.

"So this is about your buddy Lucifer," Dean said.

"Lucifer is no friend of ours," the man by the window said, still with his back to us.

"It's just an expression," Dean snapped, rolling his eyes.

"Lucifer cannot rise. The breaking of the seal must be prevented at all costs," Cas said.

"Yeah, we know Cas, you've sent us on a few of these missions so far," I said, stepping up to him.

"Yeah, and you never show up to help. So now that you're here, why don't you tell us where the witch is, we'll gank her and everybody goes home," Dean said.

"We are not omniscient. This witch is very powerful, she's cloaked, even to our methods," Cas said, looking at me.

"Okay, well we already know who she is," Sam said. "So if we work together..."

"Enough of this!" The man by the window said. His attitude was clearly starting to rile Dean.

"Okay, who are you and why should I care?!" Dean snapped as the man turned to face us.

"This is Uriel," Cas said. "He's what you might call a... specialist," Cas finished and something in the way he said that made my hair stand up on end. Uriel walked slowly toward us and I could see Dean also sitting uncomfortably with this declaration.

"What kind of specialist?" I asked, watching his dark eyes as he peered at Cas, an understanding passing between them that did not look good from where I was standing.

"What are you going to do exactly?" I questioned.

"You – uh, all of you – you need to leave this town immediately," Cas said, almost appearing anxious, except he didn't really do emotion.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because we're about to destroy it," Cas said, his voice returning to normal, speaking like wiping a town off the map was no bigger deal than going down to the diner and having a cup of coffee.

"So this is your plan, you're gonna smite the whole friggin' town?!" Dean asked incredulously.

"We're out of time. This witch has to die, the seal must be saved," Cas explained.

"There are a thousand people here," Sam pointed out.

"One thousand two hundred and fourteen," Uriel clarified and I felt my jaw drop.

"And you're willing to kill them all?" I asked.

"This isn't the first time I've...purified a city," Uriel said and I shook my head in disbelief.

"Look," Cas said, glancing at me. "I understand this is regrettable."

"Regrettable?" I said with a short laugh.

"We have to hold the line. Too many seals have broken already," Cas said.

"So you screw the pooch on some seals and this town has to pay the price?" Dean asked, his brow furrowing with anger.

"It's the lives of one thousand against the lives of six billion. There's a bigger picture here," Cas argued.

"Right, cause you're bigger picture kind of guys," Dean said snarkily.

"Lucifer cannot rise. He does and Hell rises with him. Is that something that you're willing to risk?" Cas asked, looking Dean in the eyes.

"We'll stop this witch before she summons anyone," Sam said. "Your seal won't be broken and no one has to die."

"We're wasting time with these mud monkeys," Uriel said, and Cas turned back to the archangel.

"I'm sorry, but we have our orders," Cas said quietly in our direction.

"No, you can't do this, you're angels..." I said, shaking my head. Sam nodded.

"Yeah, aren't you supposed to – you're supposed to show mercy," He added.

"Says who?" Uriel asked with a smile. I was shocked, this was the first time I'd come across angels who weren't trying to do the right thing. Or at least, it seemed like they weren't to me. Ezekiel had been willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the mission, but then humans hadn't been involved – maybe he might have made a different choice if they had, maybe he would have sacrificed them just as quickly as Uriel.

"We have no choice," Cas said.

"Of course you have a choice," Dean said. "I mean, come on, what? You've never questioned a crap order, huh? What are you both just a couple of hammers?"

I was feeling sick to my stomach as I focused on Cas, there was something swirling beneath the surface there, something no one else was seeing. It was almost as if he was … upset?

"Look, even if you can't understand it, have faith. The plan is just," he said, looking back at me.

"How can you even say that?" Sam asked.

"Because it comes from Heaven, that makes it just," Cas said.

"Oh it must be nice, to be so sure of yourselves," Dean said, shaking his head in frustration.

"Tell me something Dean," Cas said, looking over at me as he spoke. "When your father gave you an order, didn't you obey?" He asked, and I swallowed. That was a low blow.

Dean looked at Cas, struggling with that statement which had caused us both so much pain and anguish in the last few years. It was all we ever did; follow John's orders without question. But both of us had started to question that in recent times.

"Well," Dean said finally. "Sorry boys, looks like the plans have changed." I frowned, looking at Dean.

"You think you can stop us?" Uriel asked smugly, looking at him.

Dean moved toward Uriel and stood in front of him, staring up into his face.

"No, but if you're gonna smite this whole town, then you're gonna have to smite us with it, because we are not leaving. See, you went to the trouble of busting me out of Hell. I figure I'm worth something to the man upstairs. So you wanna waste me, go ahead, see how he digs that."

"I will drag you out of here myself," Uriel said, frowning at Dean.

"Yeah, but you'll have to kill me, then we're back to the same problem. I mean, come on, you're gonna wipe out a whole town for one little witch? Sounds to me like you're compensating for something,"

"Dean!" I said warily, not liking where this conversation was going. He turned, glancing at me and then looking at Cas.

"We can do this. We will find that witch and we will stop the summoning," Dean promised.

Uriel's face broke into anger. "Castiel! I will not let these peop..."

"Enough!" Cas said, holding up his hand at us. He looked over at me, and then stared at Dean for a second, assessing the latter. "I suggest you move quickly," he said finally and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Within seconds the angels had vanished, leaving us standing in the motel room. I sighed and walked over to Dean, punching him in the arm.

"Ow! What'd you do that for?" He asked.

"Didn't I say to stop pissing off the angels?!" I asked and he grinned at me sheepishly.

I sighed, shaking my head at him with a smile. "What am I going to do with you?"

Present Day
Motel

Dean's POV

We really had no idea what our next move was, but we were heading for the car regardless. I walked the few doors down to where we had parked and stopped dead, Beth running into my back.

"What?" She asked, but I was speechless, staring at Baby and the desecration that had been done to her. All over her hood and down the sides was runny white egg. Beth took in a sharp breath and then looked at me a little anxiously while Sam surveyed the damage, opening the passenger door.

I walked around to the driver side, fuming and looking around for the little brat, I knew who it was, and his chubby little hide was mine if I ran across him again. "Astronaut!" I yelled out across the yard and Sam snickered a little before getting into the front, Beth taking the back seat.

I shook my head in disbelief and got behind the wheel. Sam was staring at his hands looking sullen and Sam-like.

"What?" I asked and he shrugged. I was not in the mood for his whole sappy I've got demon blood in me misery, some of us actually had problems! I rolled my eyes in the mirror at Beth when Sam pouted and looked out the window.

"Nothing," he answered, looking down at the hex bag in his hands and taking a deep breath. I watched him, not believing him for a second. "I thought they'd be different," he said finally.

"Who, the angels?" Beth asked, leaning forward.

"Yeah," Sam breathed, shrugging again.

"Well I tried to tell ya," I said, shaking my head.

"I just...I mean, I thought they'd be righteous," Sam said.

I nodded in agreement, thinking about it. "Well... they are righteous, I mean, that's kinda the problem," I said. "Of course, there's nothing more dangerous than some a-hole who things he's on a holy mission." Sam nodded and smiled a little, at least I'd gotten him to smile.

"But I mean, this is God? And Heaven?" Sam asked. "This is what I've been praying to?"

Beth sat forward a little more and squeezed Sam's shoulder, looking over at me with a sad expression.

"They're not all... like this... I don't think," she said, shrugging. "Well they're kind of all bossy like that, but... you kind of get used to that."

I chuckled, shaking my head at her. Only Beth would let angels get away with treating us with the same amount of bossy orders Dad used to hit us up with. The girl had a serious hard-on for angels, and I wasn't entirely sure it was warranted.

"Look, I know you're both into the whole God thing, you know, Jesus on a tortilla and stuff like that. But... just because there's a couple of bad apples doesn't mean the whole barrel's rotten," I said, mostly to Sam who was looking sad and forlorn. "I mean, for all we know, God hates these jerks." Beth looked at me incredulously, but at the end of the day she'd just been returned to me after two weeks of being hijacked by one angel, and the other one who was supposed to be looking out for her hadn't been anywhere in sight – I mean, what the Hell? I looked back at Sam.

"Don't give up on all this, Sam," Beth said, smiling at him. "I mean, Babe Ruth was a dick but baseball's still a beautiful game." I raised my eyebrow at her, seriously? A baseball reference? Man there was definitely a reason I loved this girl.

Sam continued to look sadly at the hex bag and Beth shrugged, not knowing what else to say. He picked up little bone in the bag and looked at it.

"Well, are you gonna figure out a way to find this witch, or are you just gonna sit there fingering your bone?" I asked with a grin, starting the car.

"You know how much heat it would take to char a bone like this, guys?" Sam asked, back to business.

"No," I answered.

"A lot, I mean, more than a fire or some kitchen oven," he said.

"Okay, Betty Crocker... what does that mean?" I asked.

Sam smiled and looked over at Dean. "It means we make a stop."

7 years ago
Chicago, Illinois

Beth's POV

Dean had fallen asleep after the movie but I found myself wide awake and unable to shift that feeling of alertness. I went outside and said my prayers, giving thanks for a wonderful day and the fact that I actually was happy, and had Dean in my life, and we were alive. I hadn't been this joyful in a long time.

The room was dark when I went back inside, John and Dean both fast asleep as I crawled back into bed, flopping on to my stomach beside Dean and looking at him. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping, his eyes lightly closed, and his mouth pouting slightly as his eyelids fluttered. He was dreaming and I smiled, wondering what might be going through his head right now.

After a while he rolled toward me just slightly, and let out a long breath. I smiled, reaching out to trace my fingers along his face before dropping them to his chest.

"You know it's rude to stare..." he muttered suddenly, his breath husky and soft as he opened one eye to look over at me. I blushed and then shrugged, smiling up at him.

"Can't help it," I said, leaning in to kiss his nose softly. He chuckled and slid his arm around me, pulling him to him so I could bury my nose in to the crook of his neck, breathing in the comforting pine scent of his cologne. I placed a single kiss into his skin and he murmured his contentment, lazily running his fingers along my arms and turning to kiss my forehead.

"You should be sleeping," he said and I groaned quietly.

"I'm not tired," I said and he shook his head in amusement as I started to run my fingers along the skin of his abdomen, splaying my hand across his stomach and tracing large, wide circles in a teasing motion.

Sighing Dean slid down beside me, grasping my hip and staring into my eyes.

"Two can play that game," he whispered with a cheeky grin as he slid his knee between my legs, pulling me against him and gently grinding against my groin. I bit back a moan and wrapped my arms around him, leaning in to kiss him softly.

Dean's breath was short and hot as he kissed me back; drawing it out as his hands softly caressed the skin under my t-shirt. John rolled over with a grunt and Dean looked up with a sigh, turning apologetic eyes to me before pulling out of my arms and sitting up on the edge of the bed, grimacing at his arousal.

"Get some sleep," he said softly, leaning in to kiss me, and then he was up and walking to the bathroom, where I heard the shower start up. I flipped on to my back and groaned, this room sharing was going to be the death of us.

Present Day
High School

Beth's POV

We found ourselves in the art room at the high school again, and Sam led the way toward Don's desk.

"So Tracy used the kiln to char the bone, what's the big deal?" Dean asked as Sam started to rifle through the stuff on the desk.

"Dean, that hex bag turned up in our room, not after we talked to Tracy..."

"After we talked to the teacher," Dean finished with a nod.

I nodded my agreement and turned to look back at the kiln, suddenly images of a park flashed through my head and I stopped, closing my eyes. "The decision's been made," I heard Castiel say and I frowned. We'd been working on more telepathic communication but never like this, more in dreams.

Sam pointed to a bottom drawer of Don's desk which was locked with a latch and padlock.

Uriel laughed mockingly. "By a mud monkey," he said and I could almost feel Cas's disapproval.

"You shouldn't call them that," Cas replied.

"Hey..." I turned around, thinking Dean was calling out to me, but instead he'd spotted the lock on the drawer too and handed Sam a hammer from the table behind them. Sam knelt down, hitting the lock and it broke free.

"Ah, it's what they are, savages, just plumbing on two legs," Uriel said and this time I felt a bristling across my shoulders.

"You're close to blasphemy," Cas replied to Uriel, who sighed in return. I shook my head, what was the purpose of forcing this conversation on me? I looked over to see Sam pull out the drawer to Don's desk, taking a few steps forward.

Upon opening the drawer we found tiny little bones in a bowl, one charred, the others not. Sam straightened up with a grimace.

"My God, those are all from children," he said.

"And I'm guessing he's not saving them for the dog," Dean said with a smirk.

"There's a reason we were sent to save him," Cas's voice sounded in my head again and I stopped short, listening. "He has potential, he may succeed here."

"Beth? Are you okay?" Dean asked, looking at me with concern. I held up my hand and nodded, closing my eyes and cupping my ear with my hand, indicating that I was listening to something. Sam and Dean fell silent; clearly trying to ascertain what was going on.

"At any rate," Cas said. "It's out of our hands."

"It doesn't have to be," Uriel replied.

"And what would you suggest?" Cas asked.

"That we drag Dean Winchester out of here and then we blow this insignificant pinprick off the map." Uriel said and I gasped, opening my eyes and looking at Dean.

"You know our true orders. Are you prepared to disobey?" Cas said as Dean walked around to stand next to me, I reached out a hand and grasped his arm, frowning as the connection with Cas was severed and I was fully back in my mind again.

"Okay that's new," I said, taking a deep breath and shaking my head.

"What?" Sam asked, looking at me with concern.

"I think Cas just sort of... mind melded me," I said with a frown and Dean chuckled.

"Awesome!"

I smiled and looked at him, still holding on to his arm. "Not so much," I said with a grimace. "Now I have a splitting headache."

"Well what did he say?" Sam asked, pushing for information.

"It was almost like he, uh, wanted me to eavesdrop on the conversation he was having. Uriel wants to drag Dean out of town and wipe it off the map, Cas says they would be disobeying orders if they did that, so you were right, they can't touch you," I said, looking at Dean. "But I got the definite impression that time is running out."

"So let's go check out Don's house eh? He's looking more and more like a likely candidate," Dean said and I nodded.

Present Day
Don's House

Dean's POV

It was already getting dark by the time we got to the house; kids were all over the place in costumes, carrying an assortment of candy bags with them, enjoying the festivities. We crept down the side of Don's house and peered through the windows. Nothing. Beth gestured to us from further down the side where she was looking in the basement window.

We saw a flash of candlelight and then I caught sight of Tracy tied to the ceiling and Don standing at an altar nearby.

"This is it, let's go," I whispered to them, running softly down the side of the house to the back door, which was open. We let ourselves in, moving quickly to the basement entrance located in the kitchen. As we moved down the stairs we could hear Don chanting in a foreign language. As I hit the bottom step to the basement I held my gun in front of me, just in time to see Don standing in front of Tracy and lifting a knife to stab her.

I didn't hesitate, pulling the trigger three times and shooting him dead. He fell to the ground and Tracy sobbed with relief. I quickly cut her down as Sam and Beth checked on Don's body. Tracy ripped the gag out of her mouth.

"Thank you, he was gonna kill me! Ugh, that sick son of a bitch. I mean, did you see what he was doing? Did you hear him?" She looked down at Don, rolling her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. "How sloppy his incantation was?"

Sloppy?

We all looked up at her with alarm in the same time.

"My brother..." Tracy said, and I saw Beth move to draw her gun again. "...always was a little dim."

It was too late, before any of us even got close to drawing our weapons Tracy threw her hand out in front of her, yelling an incantation and I felt myself lifted through the air, slamming against the ground in terrible pain, it felt like a thousand knives were stabbing into my stomach, I couldn't move.

"He was gonna make me the final sacrifice, his idea, but now, that honour goes to him. Our master's return? The spellwork's a two man job you understand, so for six hundred years I had to deal with that pompous son of a bitch. Planning, preparing, unbearable. The whole time I wanted to rip his face off," Tracy said, leaning down to catch blood from Don's bullet wound into a chalice. "And you get him with a gun, uh, love that," she said with a chuckle.

She stood up and moved back toward the altar Don had been standing at earlier.

"You know back in the day, this was the one night you kept your children inside. Well tonight you'll all see what Halloween really is," she said.

We were going to fail, I couldn't move my body. I reached out for Beth and she grabbed my hand, looking at me with worry. Sam, groaning, crawled toward Don's dead body as Tracy started up the incantation again. He put his hand in the blood pooling under the body and then reached out, smearing it over Beth's face, and then reaching for me.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he rubbed blood over my face and then his own.

"Just follow my lead," he whispered back, moving away from Don. Tracy finished the incantation and the ground near us cracked, black smoke pouring out of it and into Don's body. I felt the pain leave my body but it was too late, we couldn't do anything about this demon right now, we were sitting ducks.

Don's body rose off the floor and I glimpsed white eyes like Lilith's peering out for a second before I shut my eyes altogether, hoping against hope he wouldn't realise we were still alive. We had to wait for our opportunity and run. He stood up, moving toward Tracy who turned and smiled at him. He leaned forward and kissed her.

"My love," Tracy said.

"You've aged," Samhain replied, looking at her face, beyond the girl she was disguised as.

"This face... I can't fool you," Tracy said sadly.

"Your beauty is beyond time," Samhain said, leaning in to rest his forehead against hers as she smiled. Suddenly there was a loud crack as he twisted her neck, breaking it, and she fell to the floor.

"Whore," he said.

The Demon turned toward us and I lay deadly still, grasping Beth's hand in my own and willing her to stay quiet. Sam did the same and after a moment Samhain walked past us, almost as if he couldn't see us, shutting the door behind him.

I leaned over to Sam once he was gone, feeling my like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. "What the Hell was that?" I asked softly.

"Halloween lore," Sam said. "People used to wear masks to hide from him, so I gave it a shot."

"You gave it a shot?!" I asked incredulously, what had he been thinking?!

Present Day
Fort Collins, Colorado

Beth's POV

We walked quickly toward the Impala, wiping the blood from our faces.

"Where the Hell are we gonna find this mook?" Dean asked as he opened the door and climbed in the front. I claimed the seat next to him and Sam took the back.

"Where would you go to raise dark forces of the night?" Sam asked.

"The cemetery," I answered, looking back at him.

"Yeah," Dean said with a nod, starting the car.

Sam sat forward as Dean drove and looked long and hard at Dean. "So, this demon's pretty powerful," he commented.

"Yeah," Dean agreed.

"Might take more than the usual weapons," he said quietly and I looked back at him, frowning. Was he suggesting what I thought he was suggesting? The look on Dean's face confirmed where I was going with it and he sighed.

"Sam, no, you're not using your psychic whatever," he said. "Don't even think about it, Ruby's knife is enough."

"Why?" Sam asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Well because the angels said so for one..."

"I thought you said they were a bunch of fanatics," Sam cut in and Dean scowled.

"Well they happen to be right about this one," Dean replied.

"I don't know, Dean, it doesn't seem like they're right about much," Sam bit back.

"Forget about the angels Sam, that's hardly the point," I said, turning to look at him. "Look, we haven't seen eye to eye on things much lately, but … well you said it yourself, these powers, it's like playing with fire. You are not you when you're using them Sam, it scares me."

Sam sighed, looking conflicted at me, and it was as if he wanted to argue, but he knew that his behaviour whilst using the powers hardly gave him a leg to stand on.

Dean picked up the knife and held it out to Sam.

"Please," he requested.

Sam took the knife, sitting back in the seat and looking out the window. I exchanged a worried look with Dean and then settled in the front seat to think about the fight ahead. What would be waiting for us when we arrived? How would we put to rest everything that Samhain raised from the grave?

I opened up my senses and thought about Cas, reaching out telepathically to him. Not surprisingly he wasn't responding, I'd only done it in dreams so far, but if today's experience proved anything, I now knew it could be done when awake. Then again, we'd failed to stop the rising and the seal had broken, it would stand to reason he might be a little annoyed, especially after Dean had been so determined that they could not wipe this town out. Once more, it looked like we were on our own again.

Cemetery

Beth's POV

When we arrived at the cemetery it was pretty clear where to go, the mausoleum doors were wide open and we could hear alarmed shouts from people inside. We ran down the stairs and found a group of teenagers locked behind a wrought iron gate with corpses that were soon going to be rising from the dead and trying to eat them. They looked at us in a panic and started talking at once, shaking the gates.

"Help them!" Sam said before starting to move.

"Dude, you're not going off alone," Dean said, grabbing his arm.

"Do it!" Sam said, running after Samhain. Dean threw me a frustrated look and then pulled out his gun.

"Stand back! Stand back!" Dean yelled at the group who were clawing at the locked doors, once they saw the gun they ran to the far wall and Dean shot the lock, kicking the gate open.

"Go on, come on, get out, move!" Dean yelled and I nodded at the wall of the mausoleum which was starting to crack. Within moments of the kids all getting out the cover to one of the graves crashed to the ground and broke, a zombie crawling out, followed by another grave opening and more zombies. Dean looked soberly at me, dropping the weapons bag to the ground and pulling out a silver stake.

"Bring it on, Stinky," he said with a dark look in the zombie's direction.

"Dean," I said, gesturing for a stake.

"Go help Sam," he said, glancing back at me and I shook my head. "Beth!" He said, frowning at me. I saw it in his eyes, he was more worried about Sam going after the demon alone, but he wasn't about to leave me here by myself to deal with the zombies either. I bit my lip, fighting with myself and he crossed to me, handing me the stake, not that it would do any good against the demon. He kissed me quickly and hard, looking in my eyes and then pushed me in the direction Sam had gone.

"Go," he ordered and I nodded, taking a few steps. "And Beth?" I looked back and saw he'd already pulled another stake out of the weapons bag. "Don't get dead, huh?"

I smiled and nodded. "You too," I answered before jogging down the hallway toward Sam.

I ran down a couple of corridors that twisted like a rabbit warren, finally seeing Sam enter into a private crypt followed by a flash of light flaring out from where he was. I gasped and moved quickly toward him.

"Yeah, that demon ray gun stuff? It doesn't work on me," Sam said with a smirk to Samhain. A fight broke out between the two of them, and I reached the arch in time to see them both land some lucky punches, and then Samhain got Sam around the neck, pushing him up against the wall.

Sam was struggling to get Ruby's knife out as I rushed toward them, ramming the only weapon I had into Samhain's neck. The spike splintered at least a couple of vertebrae but it didn't stop him. Instead he turned to look at me, and I felt myself propelled from my feet, hitting the wall hard. I slumped to the ground, winded, as Sam brought the knife down into Samhain's arm. It sizzled and glowed red, catching the demon by surprise, but wasn't enough. He flung his arm aside and the knife went sliding across the floor as Samhain turned his attentions back to Sam, tossing him across the room into the wall opposite me.

The demon started to run at Sam, but was stopped short when he put up his hand, using his psychic power to stop him. Samhain struggled against him, advancing a few steps, but not getting far. Dean come running around the corner, his face fell when he saw Sam using his powers and then he saw me on the ground and ran to my side.

"You okay?" He asked as I struggled to my feet, leaning against the wall heavily and I nodded.

"The knife..."

Dean looked around; his eyes searching for the knife but Sam and the demon were between us and the only other weapon we had to kill this creature. Sam was concentrating hard on Samhain, and I panicked when I started to see blood running from his nose. Dean moved around them toward the knife as Sam gripped his head with the one hand he didn't have extended in front of him; he was struggling.

Finally, black smoke started to pour out of Samhain's mouth and sunk into the ground as Dean reached the knife, turning back to Sam, but it was too late – Sam had exorcised the demon, Don's body falling to the ground. Sam gasped for breath and I moved toward him while Dean watched on, conflicted. We all stared at the body of the dead teacher on the floor, breathing hard and then looking at each other in resignation.

"Come on," I said, taking Sam by the arm and supporting him. "Let's get out of here," I said to Dean, before he started with the lecture.

Next Morning
Motel Room

Beth's POV

Dean was out packing the car while I brushed my teeth and ran a brush through my hair, tying it up into a ponytail. Suddenly I heard voices coming from the motel room, and when I realised it wasn't Dean talking to Sam, I stood at the door listening in.

"Tomorrow," someone said and I realised it was Uriel speaking to Sam who was inside packing. "November 2nd, it's an anniversary for you."

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"It's the day Azazel killed your mother, and twenty two years later your girlfriend too. It must be difficult to bear, yet you so brazenly use the power he gave you. His profane blood pumping through your veins," Uriel pressed.

"Excuse me?" Sam asked.

"You were told not to use your abilities," Uriel said.

"And what was I supposed to do? That demon would have killed me, my sister, my brother and everyone else," Sam said.

"You were told not to," Uriel said.

"If Samhain had gotten loose in this town..."

"You've been warned, twice now," Uriel continued and I felt myself getting angry at the lecture. It hadn't been Sam's fault this time; he'd only been doing what he had to in order to keep us all safe.

"You know what?" Sam asked, looking up as I opened the door to the bathroom, hesitating on threshold. "My brother was right about you, you are dicks," Sam said.

I looked around to see Uriel sitting on the couch looking at Sam with a haughty expression, and then suddenly he had moved so quickly I didn't even see it and he was standing in front of Sam.

"The only reason you're still alive, Sam Winchester, is because you've been useful. But the moment that ceases to be true, the second you become more trouble than you're worth, one word. One, and I will turn you to dust," he said to Sam.

"Hey!" I said, moving into the room and glaring at the angel.

Uriel backed off, looking at me and then back at Sam. "As for your brother, tell him that maybe he should climb off that high horse of his. Ask Dean what he remembers from Hell." Uriel said. "Failing that... ask his wife," he said, and Sam looked at me, wide-eyed as Uriel vanished to the sound of wings fluttering.

City Park

Dean's POV

It was the day after Halloween, and kids were running around laughing and playing on the playground, completely oblivious to the dangers that they had narrowly avoided during the night. I sensed the arrival of Cas before I saw him, and wasn't surprised to see him sitting at the end of the bench when I glanced over.

"Let me guess, you're here for the 'I told you so'," I said to him.

"No," Cas said simply and I looked over at him.

"Well, good, cause I'm really not that interested," I said. "Beth told me about that little conversation you had with Uriel about my potential? I guess I screwed this one up."

"I am not here to judge you, Dean," Cas said and I frowned, not expecting that.

"Then why are you here?"

Cas looked at me. "Our orders..."

"Yeah, you know, I've had about enough of these orders of yours-"

"Our orders," Cas cut in, looking at me. "Were not to stop the summoning of Samhain, they were to do whatever you told us to do."

I paused, looking at him, the logic in that was just … wrong.

"Your orders were to follow my orders?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"It was a test, to see how you would perform under... battlefield conditions, you might say," Cas said.

"It was a witch, not the Tet Offensive," I said and Cas chuckled. I looked out over the children playing again, seeing Beth walking toward us from the other side of the park. I smiled at her and then turned back to Cas.

"So I, uh, failed your test, huh? Been failing at a lot of things lately, I get it. But you know what? If you would have waved that magic time-travelling wand of yours and we had to do it all over again, I'd make the same call," I said, looking over at Cas who nodded slightly, watching me intently. "'Cause see, I don't know what's gonna happen when these seals are broken, Hell I don't even know what's gonna happen tomorrow. But what I do know is, that this, here? These kids, the swings, the trees, all of it is still here because of my brother, my wife, and me." I said, slipping my arm around Beth's waist as she reached us, sitting down next to me with a smile.

"You misunderstand me, Dean. I'm not like you think; I would think Beth could tell you that. I was praying you would choose to save the town," Cas said, and Beth chuckled, smiling over at Cas.

"You were?" I asked, curious.

"These people, they're all my father's creations. They're works of art, and yet, even though you stopped Samhain, the seal was broken and we are one step closer to Hell on earth, for all creation. Now that's not an expression, Dean, it's literal. You of all people should appreciate what that means," Cas said and I swallowed, feeling the burden of failure sit heavily on my heart.

Cas looked over at Beth, and then back at me. "Can I tell you both something if you promise not to tell another soul?"

Beth nodded and I looked at Cas. "Okay."

"I'm not a… hammer as you say. I have questions, I have doubts," he said and for the first time I saw the uncertainty cross his face as he stared at the kids running around the playground. "I don't know what is right and what is wrong anymore, whether you passed or failed here. But in the coming months you will have more decisions to make."

I felt Beth squeeze my right shoulder as I looked at Cas, seeing the concern in his eyes for both of us.

"What I do know, is that if you two don't get past this... dark period... then you don't stand a hope in Heaven of succeeding. I don't envy the weight that's on your shoulders, especially you Dean. I truly don't. And you need each other."

I looked out at the children again and when I glanced back Cas was gone, leaving me alone with Beth. She leaned in to my shoulder, grasping my hand in her own and leaning her head against my shoulder.

"Told you he was one of the good guys," she said softly and I chuckled, nodding.

"And what about me?" I asked, looking at her doubtfully.

She turned her face up to mine, watching me carefully and then kissed me softly on the lips. "You're the ultimate good guy Dean, why do you think I love you?" She asked. I thought about all the evil things I'd done in Hell, and I didn't believe her. It was undeserved, this devotion from her. But she was smiling at me, and not running away for the moment, so I'd take it.

I slipped my arm around her shoulders and she sighed softly, leaning into me again and turning to watch the kids again. "We need to go see Ben and Lisa again," she said and I nodded, kissing her forehead.

"And that is why you're so incredible," I said to her. "You look after everyone else, often at a detriment to yourself," I clarified at her confused look. She looked at me sadly and then shrugged, looking away again.

"Ben's your son Dean, and he missed you while you were gone, it's gonna take time to fix that, he's never going to forget what we told him," she said.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "Yeah, you're right."

I cursed at myself for doing that to the kid. Maybe it would have been better if we'd just told him I died in a car crash or something. But that would have been even harder to explain now I was back, and I didn't like lying my kid. He was smart, and he said he understood what I was telling him, but I worried – I worried I'd turn into my father and take things too far with him. It's why I relied on Beth so much to keep me honest with it, because no way in Hell was she going to let me mess up Ben the way Dad had messed up me, no way.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Song for this chapter is: Somewhere In Between by Lifehouse

Hope you enjoyed the little First Date flashback. It follows on a week after John gives his blessing to Dean & Beth in Resolution – Dead In The Water (Part 3) Chapter 12 in Hell To Pay. It's also immediately before Stolen Moments – Chapter 2 in Highway to Hell.

I have an original flashback planned soon which will cover the period almost immediately after the first date, and we get to see early relationship Dean and Beth go on a hunt, looking forward to writing that!

Next up is an original piece before I get to Wishful Thinking as Dean and Beth start to come to grips with the guilt they feel around their actions in the last year, their PTSD and deal with the aftermath of everything that's happened. I'm hoping to have it up by the end of the weekend, but it's just going to depend on how well the writing flows, it's fairly keen on being written, so I'm hoping it is a fast update

Welcome to all the new readers, hope you're enjoying the story so far! We have a facebook page too where I'm always posting SPN related stuff, Dean & Beth fanart and things, plus little questions about the stories and their updates etc. Check us out if you're interested by searching Facebook for Dean & Beth – Supernatural Fanfic

As always, thank you to everyone who sent reviews for the last chapter, I haven't had a chance to reply yet, but I will get to it, things have been really hectic as I try to squeeze in time to write around all my other life commitments. Just know that I absolutely treasure all my reviews and love to get them, they get me smiling all day!

That being said, please review and tell me what you think! It totally makes my day xoxo (Plus, you know, I assume you hate it if no one says otherwise haha)