We have kept a light on through the trouble
Treaded water - in a sea of tears
Now I'm shooting arrows across your night sky
Trying to land in your atmosphere

If we can make it through the storm
And become who we were before
Promise me we'll never look back
The worst is far behind us now
We'll make it out of here somehow
Meet me in the aftermath
Oh, meet me in the aftermath

CRISS ANGEL IS A DOUCHEBAG

2 months earlier
Cicero, Indiana

Beth's POV

Lisa stood at the window watching as Dean, Sam and Ben threw a baseball back and forth in the back yard. She smiled and then turned to where I was staring into my cup of coffee, lost in my own thoughts. It had been four days since Dean and I had been through that strange body swap and I had been thinking about how unaffected I felt by it all; it was almost as if the amount of strange things we saw in our lives didn't freak us out anymore, we just rolled with the punches. I wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

"So how are things with you guys?" Lisa asked, sitting across from me at the table. I looked up, glancing out the sliding glass door at the boys and smiled.

"Yeah, good, I guess," I said with a shrug.

"You guess?" Lisa raised her eyebrow at me and I sighed, looking into her dark eyes. "Aren't you thrilled?"

"Yeah, of course, I am… it just, it hasn't been easy," I said, looking at her.

"I can imagine! I can't believe he's… well, I never thought we'd see him again. I thought… well, I just don't believe it. How is he here?" Lisa asked, and for the first time I noticed that even Lisa seemed to be rolling with the punches these days; how many lives were we going to mess up just by associating with them?

"Uh, it's a long story, which I will tell you. But short version is angels, and I don't know why they saved him, I don't know how, but they did…"

"Is he okay?" Lisa asked in a low voice, almost afraid Dean might overhear us talking about her. Her voice told me she'd seen something in him that hadn't been there before.

"I don't know Lis…he's… he's Dean but he's been through a lot, and he's not talking about it yet. He has nightmares, horrible nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night yelling and … well I don't know if I can help him if he doesn't start to let me in." I ran my hands through my hair, pulling it back from my face and sighing again.

"I'm sure he'll open up when he's feeling like he can," she assured me. I shifted uncomfortably and nodded.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Look, Beth, I know things haven't been… well… easy with us. And I can't say that I blame you for being wary about me, I mean, he and I have a kid together. But, at the end of the day, that was one night… one night."

"Yeah I know," I said quietly, looking at my hands.

"And he called me by your name at the end of it!" Lisa said with a short laugh, shaking her head.

I squirmed in my seat, feeling both awkward and happy about that statement. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Not your fault. But what I'm trying to say is… Dean's just the father of my child, nothing more. But you, you're everything to him Beth, and I'm not too proud to say that. He married you for Pete's sake! And, well, I like to think we're friends," she said, reaching out a hand to squeeze mine.

"I honestly didn't think I'd see you ever again once Dean died. I figured it was him pushing to see Ben. Dean asked me to call you and keep an eye on you, and you always took my calls, even though I could tell I was the last person you wanted to talk to…"

I started to protest, to say I hadn't wanted to talk to anyone, it hadn't just been her, but Lisa interrupted.

"But then you showed up on my doorstep a month after he died, with Sam, and Ben was so happy to see you guys, and spend some time with his uncle. I thought, okay, maybe you don't hate me… maybe we can be friends."

"We are friends," I said softly, feeling like I was Dean caught in some sort of chick-flick. I hadn't had a conversation like this with anyone since John had died, and I'd found myself in the gym with Cole, mourning his loss with her.

Lisa smiled and squeezed my hand again. "Good," she said. "Because I'm gonna say something to you that I think you need to hear…"

Present Moment
Sioux City, Iowa

Beth's POV

Dean still looked tired when we arrived, but I'd managed to catch a decent amount of sleep, so the cobwebs were starting to clear from the head. Grabbing a coffee from a little corner stand, I loaded it up on milk and sugar and passed it silently to my weary man and he smiled gratefully for the thought.

"Thanks Beth," he said softly as we started to walk along the street toward a group of people gathered around a young magician. The man was made up with dark eyeliner, his hair black and spikey, and sporting a slightly gothic look with black leather jacket. He looked around the crowd talking about the supernatural. This garnered our attention and we pushed a little closer to listen.

"This, this isn't a trick, okay? I, I, I don't do tricks. This is a demonstration about demons and angels, love and lust…"

"What a douchebag," Dean muttered, taking a sip of his coffee.

"…all that stuff mixed up in my head," the magician continued without missing a beat.

"That's Jeb Dexter," Sam commented and Dean rolled his eyes.

"I don't even want to know how you know that," he said.

"He's famous," I said with a grin, "well, kind of."

"… but whatever happens," Jeb continued, oblivious to our conversation. "…no matter how…"

"For what?" Dean asked, leaning toward me. "Douchebaggery?" I sniggered at his comment and Sam sighed, I could tell he was already regretting dragging us along on this trip.

"…messed up it gets, don't touch me, okay?" Jeb said to the crowd. I paused and inhaled deeply and looked on curiously, wondering where he was going with this performance. He exhaled, shaking his head and then his whole body started to shake like he was having a seizure. He reached out with one hand holding a deck of cards and which he turned and sent flicking toward the window behind him.

"Go back to Hell, Demon!" He yelled. A card stuck to the window and I looked over the shoulder of a woman in front of me to see it was an ace of diamonds. Jeb stepped back, dragging his hand across the glass, trying to move the card, but it was on the other side of the glass and not going anywhere.

"Is this your card?" He asked and the crowd erupted into applause.

"You've got to be kidding me," Dean muttered, swallowing the rest of his coffee and throwing his empty cup in a bin nearby. "A fake demon possession?" He started to walk along the street, away from the performer. Sam and I followed closely behind.

"I can't believe people actually fall for that crap," Dean said.

"It's not all crap," Sam argued, walking a little faster until he'd caught up and was able to pace alongside Dean.

"What part of that was not a steaming pile of BS?" Dean asked, stopping to point back at the performer who was still talking to the crowd and waving his arms around.

"Okay, that was crap, but that's not all magicians," Sam agreed. "It takes skill."

"Oh, right, right, I forgot. You were actually into this stuff, weren't you?" Dean said, smirking at our little brother. "I mean you had, you had like a deck of cards and a wand…it was just before you joined us baby," he said, turning to me with a smile.

"Dude, I was thirteen. It was a phase," Sam said, rolling his eyes.

"Come to think of it… that kit disappeared when Beth joined us. Oooh you didn't have a little crush on your big sister, did you? Got rid of the kit to prove you were all grown up?" I gaped at Dean's audacity and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"What are you talking about Dean?" Sam asked, his eyes wide and annoyed. "Like you can talk about the crush on the sister!"

"Come on, cut it out guys," I said, shaking my head with a smile.

Dean sniggered and smacked Sam on the back of his shoulder. "I was just messing with you bro, you never stood a chance anyway," he said, winking at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Amazing how you did actually…" I commented and he pouted at me, causing Sam and me to laugh.

I turned serious, looking back at the performer. "Still… that does kind of bug me. Playing at demons and magic, when the real thing will kill you bloody," I said, and the boys nodded their agreement.

"Like a guy who drops dead of ten stab wounds without a single tear in his shirt?" Sam said, referring to the guy who had died a few days back while we'd been on a break.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Dean said, shaking his head.

"Come on, we're gonna be late," I said, inclining my head down the street toward our destination. We had a meeting with the dead magician's assistant.

Vance's assistant was a beautiful fair skinned woman with curly red hair and piercing blue eyes. She was packing up the room when we arrived. She continued to toss magic paraphernalia into a trunk and we questioned her.

"So did your boss have any enemies that you know of?" Dean asked.

"Vance had plenty of enemies," she said, leaning down and grabbing the end of a series of handkerchiefs tied together, she started pulling them from a bag one after the other and Dean watched in astonishment as it just kept going and going.

"How so?" Sam asked.

"He would steal from other magicians. All the time," she said, straightening up and looking over at us as the handkerchiefs finally came to an end and she balled them up in her hands.

"What would he steal?" I asked, making notes.

"Stage effects, closeup techniques, anything he could get his hands on," she said, shrugging and tossing the handkerchiefs into the trunk.

"Is that enough to get him killed?" Dean asked.

"These guys take this stuff pretty seriously," she answered, moving a cloth off a white rabbit and smiling. "There you are," she said, bending down to pick up the rabbit, cradling it in her arms and petting its soft fur.

"Did you find anything weird in Vance's stuff?" I asked. "Well, weirder?" I asked, gesturing to the rabbit.

"Matter of fact, I did," she said with a nod. She put the rabbit in a bag, and then reached into the exterior pocket of the bag, pulling out a Rider-Waite tarot card: it was the Ten of Swords.

"I'm guessing this didn't belong to Vance?" Sam asked.

"He hated card tricks. Never wanted them around. Let alone in his precious cape," she said as I reached out and took the card from her. I flipped it over in my hand, shrugging at the boys, it looked like a perfectly normal tarot card to me.

Present Moment

Dean's POV

Pretty boy, or as Sam called him Jeb Dexter, was crapping on to someone on his phone when we walked into the theatre. All we could hear was him whining about how he didn't like the gig he had been landed with and how he should have been in Vegas playing Cirque du Soleil. I sniggered and shook my head, he could complain about lame gigs, he should take a week in our lives.

Glancing over at Beth, she was looking up at a sign over the stage that read The Incredible Jay and under it was the Table of Death, the very trick that had been performed the night Vance had died.

Pretty boy sat down at a table and I looked over at another table where two older men were sitting. We'd had them pointed out when we arrived as persons of interest. One of the men had dark grey hair, balding in the top and a neatly trimmed beard. Silver rimmed glasses sat on his nose and he was dressed in a simple grey suit. The other had a full head of white hair and was wearing a similar suit.

I nodded toward them when Beth looked at me and she nodded back at me, gesturing for me to take the lead.

"All right, boys, get it in gear, I don't got all day!" Pretty boy called out to the stage hands. A camera person and someone with a microphone started moving. I walked over and sat in the empty chair between the men, Beth perched on the arm of a chair a few tables away, arms crossed and watching Pretty Boy with a raised eyebrow.

"You Vernon Haskell?" I asked, and they both turned to look at me.

"Who's asking?" The man with the beard asked.

I looked down, pulling out my fake FBI badges and flashing it at them.

"Federal Agent Ulrich," I replied, "Looking into the death of Patrick Vance."

The men raised an eyebrow at me and then turned back to Pretty Boy who was now sitting opposite another old man.

"I'm Jeb Dexter. This is Devil Twist. We're chilling at the International Magician's Convention, which is a dope chance to tip my hat to the wicked cats who came before me," he looked at the man opposite him, gesturing with his hand. "Smoking hot effect last night, Jim."

"Jay," corrected the man and Beth sniggered behind me.

"Huh?"

"My name is Jay," the man said, leaning back in his chair and giving Jeb the once over.

"Yeah, whatever. We can loop it later," Jeb said dismissively.

"What a douchebag," Vernon commented and I grinned.

"Couldn't agree more," I said with a smile. I reached into my pocket, pulling out the tarot card we'd gotten from Vance's assistant. "Is, uh…this familiar to you?" I asked, holding the card in the air for the men to see.

Vernon turned to look at the card. "Should it be?"

"Well, I heard that you used tarot cards in your act," I said.

"My act?" Vernon asked with a laugh. "That was a long time ago. I haven't touched a deck in years, you know…" he waved his hand around in the air.

"Do you know someone that might use them now?" I asked.

"Well, there was a guy down on Bleeker Street," Vernon said.

"Oh yeah!" The other guy agreed. "He, he peddles that kind of specialty stuff."

"Did he have a problem with Vance?" I questioned.

"Matter of fact, Vance crossed him about a year ago. Probably cost him fifty grand in royalties," Vernon said and the other man nodded with him.

"You know the exact address?" I asked, finding myself hoping that we would get to the bottom of this quickly, the sooner we were away from Magic Town, the better.

"426 Bleeker," Vernon said.

"Ask for Chief," the other guy told me.

"Chief?" I said with a smirk. He nodded. "Thank you." I stood up, scribbling the address into my notepad and then started for the door, inclining my head at Beth as I passed her. She turned and followed me, shaking her head at the interview that had continued while I was talking to Vernon.

"What a douchebag!" She said with a laugh as we hit the street.

"Yep, seems to be the general consensus," I said with a grin, waiting until we were around the corner and out of sight to slip my arm around her waist. "Hey Scully…"

"Uh huh, hey yourself there, Mulder," she said, tossing me a grin.

"We got a lead," I said, let's get this over with so we can go back to the motel and relax.

2 months ago
Cicero, Indiana

Dean's POV

"So Ben, you got a girlfriend yet?" I asked the boy as we tossed the baseball back and forth out in the yard.

Ben sniggered and shook his head. "No, why would I want one of them? I don't want to tie myself down."

Sam snorted at the comment, and raised his eyebrow. "Now you sound like your Dad," he said with a grin.

"What? I don't think so, Dean is whipped man, married and stuck with Beth. He's nothing like me." Ben said and I was so shocked at the comments coming out of this eight year old that I completely missed the toss from Sam and had the ball hit me square in the chest.

"How old are you again?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"Almost nine," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"And you're playing the field?"

"Dude, you asked if I had a girlfriend!" Ben said to me and I shrugged, kid had a point.

"There's nothing wrong with committing to a woman when you reach Dean's age," Sam said with a smirk and I raised my eyebrow at him.

"You can talk? How's … Jo?" I asked, grinning at him and tossing the ball at his head. Sam caught the ball deftly in his mitt and then threw the ball back at me, hard.

"She's good, thanks for asking, Dean." I smirked and watched as Sam threw the ball to Sam.

"You got a girl too Sam?" Ben asked and Sam shrugged.

"We're… well… dating I guess," he said to Ben.

"Huh…"

"One way of putting it," I muttered under my breath, raising my eyebrow at Sam.

"But she's not your only girl right?" Ben asked.

Sam laughed and shook his head. "Well if you're asking if I'm whipped, I can safely say… not like Dean!"

Ben sniggered again and I rolled my eyes.

"So what else is happening?" I asked Ben as the ball got tossed to me. Ben stopped and looked at me, a frown on his face.

"Dean?" he said, cocking his head in my direction.

"Yeah?"

"Did you really die, or were you just making it up because you didn't want to see me?" He asked, and Sam looked at me, swallowing hard.

"Uh… why would you think I didn't want to see you?" I asked, frowning and kneeling down in front of him.

"Well, you're here, so you're not dead. And maybe, well maybe you and Beth just broke up and told me that so you wouldn't have to see me."

Sam had joined us, crouching in front of the boy too, and gave him his trademark puppy dog look.

"Ben, I know it's hard to believe, but your Dad… Dean… he did die. You remember Beth and I coming here and talking to your mom about it?" Ben nodded, and took a deep breath.

"Beth was really upset."

"Yeah, she was," Sam said quietly and I lowered my head, feeling as if someone had stabbed me in the gut with a knife.

"Listen, Ben. I know I haven't been around much, but I swear, I like spending time with you, and I'm gonna spend more time here, if you want," I said to him and he smiled, nodding.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, of course. We have a lot of time to make up for buddy," I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah okay," Ben said. "Will you come too Sam?"

"Sure man, I'd like that," Sam said with a smile.

"Me too," Ben said. "We can be a family! I only have my mom, and well, it's kind of nice having some guys around."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" I asked with a smile.

"You always have your brother with you, that must be nice," Ben said and I glanced at Sam who smiled.

"Yeah, it's good having family around," Sam said.

"You think I might have a brother one day?" Ben asked, looking up at me and I felt that twist in my stomach again, the imaginary knife driving deeper.

"Uh, well I don't know, Ben. You'd have to ask your mother." It seemed like an odd question to ask, where was all this coming from? I leaned back on my heels and inspected the boy. He was smart, smarter than I had been at his age, and it was clear that he'd been giving this a lot of thought recently.

"What about you and Beth?" He asked innocently and I swallowed, glancing over at Sam who looked at me with a frown.

"Well, that's complicated," I said nervously, looking down at my hands.

"Because you're always travelling?" Ben asked and I ran with it, nodding.

"Yeah, that's part of it," I said.

"Well maybe you can come live here?" He asked, and Sam raised his eyebrow at me, glancing in the window at Lisa and Beth.

"Uh, well, maybe…" I said. "But our work kind of takes us all over." I didn't want to promise on something I wasn't sure I could deliver. Ben sighed and looked at me in disappointment.

"Mom said you'd say that," he said softly, looking down at his feet. It was my turn to glance back at Lisa and Beth, trying to hide the incredulous look from my face.

"Listen, Ben," I said, turning back to my son. "Things change, all the time. You never know, huh? Tell you what, let me think about it, okay? But I'm not making any promises."

Present Day
Sioux Falls, Iowa

Beth's POV

Dean led the way down the alley toward the building we'd been directed to, I looked curiously at the barred door while Dean pounded on it. The inner door swung open almost instantly and a young man looked out through the bars at us. I exchanged a look with Dean who adjusted his tie and shrugged.

"We're uh, we're here to see Chief," he said and the young man raised his eyebrows at us, opening the barred door.

He turned on his heel and without a word led us down a small flight of stairs to a lower level where there was a large open room.

"Stay here," he said, looking at the pair of us, his eyes roaming down my legs which were clad in the pants suit I was wearing. "Don't touch anything."

He left us and as Dean looked around I started to feel nervous. There was nothing here that indicated we were in a place that dealt in tarot – magic or not. Graffiti lined the walls of the dark room and a heavy bass beat pounded through the walls from a distance.

"I dunno Dean…" I said, moving a little closer to him. "This doesn't feel right."

"Yeah well, this is where they said to come," he said, looking at me. "Just… stay alert."

A door ahead of us opened and drew our attention, yellow light flooding the surrounding area and a large man in a leather vest and cap, looking like he belonged in a Village People video, stepped into the room brandishing a BDSM flogger in his hands. He slapped it into his hand a few times and I took a step back realising, at the same time Dean did, that we'd been had.

"Oooh, a couple," he said with a smirk. "Well you two are really gonna get it tonight, yuppies." He repeatedly slapped the flogger into his hand and I almost wanted to laugh.

"There's been a misunderstanding," I said as Dean pushed me behind him a little.

"Yeah," Dean chimed in. "I uh, think we've been had."

The man grinned at us and tilted his head. "Oh, you ain't been had til you have been had by the Chief," he said confidently.

Dean frowned in front of me and stuttered little, I found it almost amusing to see him so flustered given his recent bedroom activities. Chief took a few steps toward us and then stopped, holding out his hand.

"Oh, and before we get started," he said to us. "What's your safeword?"

Dean swallowed and looked back at me and I shook my head, chuckling quietly. "Time to go," he said, turning me around and pushing me toward the stairs.

Present Moment

Sam's POV

There was a knock at the door and I glanced up, wondering who would be visiting. Dean and Beth had their own room, but the door was unlocked and Dean never knocked, always just barging in. I stood up from where I'd been working on the computer and crossed the room. Looking through the peephole, my breath caught when I saw who it was.

I opened the door, feeling a world of conflict beating inside my chest when I looked into the eyes of the brunette in front of me.

"What are you doing here, Ruby?" I asked, it coming out a little harsher than I intended.

"I should be asking you the same thing," she said with a roll of her eyes, walking into the room without an invitation.

"I'm working a job," I answered, closing the door behind her.

"The whole world's about to be engulfed in Hellfire and you're in Magictown, USA." She said, turning to look at me. I laughed, shaking my head.

"You got something against magic?" That seemed a bit ironic given she'd been a witch, once upon a time.

Ruby smirked, crossing her arms and looking at me. "That would almost be funny if thirty-four seals hadn't been broken already. Thirty-four, Sam. That's over halfway."

"Look, I don't know where these seals are. I don't know squat, go talk to someone who can do something about it. I thought I made myself perfectly clear last week that I didn't want to see you anymore."

"Whatever, Sam. You can go on convincing yourself all you like that you're not important and all the rest, but at the end of the day, the angels are losing this war. Every day is one day closer, and if someone doesn't do something soon…"

"And that someone is me?" I cut in.

"Who else would it be?" She asked.

"So why don't you tell me where you'd like me to start?" I snapped, realising she was goading me but not able to stop it.

"Well you can quit dicking around here, for one. Bigger fish, Sam. And if the seals are being broken, you might want to go after the one doing the breaking," she said.

"Lilith?"

"Cut the head off the snake," Ruby shrugged. "You're the only one who can stop her, Sam. So step up and kill the little bitch."

"Look," I said to Ruby, running a hand across my face. "It's not the psychic thing I got a problem with. I'm game, believe me."

"Yeah, I know what you got a problem with, me, the demon who killed precious little Beth's daddy…"

"Among other things," I said with a glare.

"Tough. It's the only way," Ruby said, crossing her arms and looking at me.

I stared at her, my head arguing with my stomach.

"No." I said finally.

Ruby threw her arms out in disgust, shaking her head. "You know, this would all be so much easier if you'd just admit to yourself that you like it. That feeling that it gives to you," she said, and I looked away from her, afraid of what she might see in my eyes.

"You don't know what you're talking about," I said, looking back when I knew I had my expression under control.

"Oh I don't, huh?" She asked, smirking. "Fine." Turning on her heel, Ruby made for the door, but before she could reach out for the handle she spun back to face me.

"It's simple. Lucifer rises, the apocalypse starts. You think that you have demons on your hands now? People are gonna die, Sam. Oceans of people. So you just let me know when you're ready," she opened the door, walking out and slamming it behind her, leaving me to stare at the dark timber following her exit. I took a deep breath and released it, running a hand across my face.

I didn't like it, but she was right. And there were a lot of people out there who we cared for, who we wouldn't be able to protect if this all came to pass. I shook my head, trying to remove those thoughts from my mind. I wouldn't give in, not this time. Closing the laptop, I shrugged into my jacket and made for the door. I'd find Dean and Beth, and focus on the job at hand, we could at least do that.

2 months ago
Cicero, Indiana

Beth's POV

"A… a family?" I stuttered at Lisa's question and she nodded.

"Why not?" She asked, tilting her head. "Maybe it's time Beth. Dean has been to Hell and back, literally, and you guys are still running around doing the same things that nearly get you killed on a regular basis! Something has to change Beth, and you're gonna have to be the one to make it happen, because Dean is so stubborn…"

"I'm not going to give him an ultimatum Lisa, you don't know him like I do!" I snapped, shaking my head.

"I know him well enough to know that if you did, he would choose you," Lisa said.

I paused and thought about that. He'd said as much, several times over different things. But that was when we'd been talking about John and if it had been him giving us the ultimatum. But things were different now, and just a few days ago, when we'd been in each other's' bodies, hunting down a killer shapeshifter, Dean had said to me that he felt like he had a calling now. That we were helping people, making a difference, and he liked that. I wasn't convinced that he'd choose a normal life over the hunt. If anything, the hunt was keeping him sane.

"Don't you want a child Beth?"

"Of course I do!" I said, looking up at her, tears in my eyes. "But…"

"But if you're waiting for Dean to figure it out, you'll be waiting a long time," Lisa cut in, standing up and taking our cups over to the sink, turning to lean against the bench and look at me.

"You've already lost one baby to this life, Beth. Don't think it will be any different this time."

"I can't … Lisa. Not yet, not now."

"Now is the perfect time!" Lisa pushed, coming to lean on the back of the dining chair. "Now, before you guys get caught up in something you can't get out of."

I didn't know how to tell her that we were already kind of caught up in something. The seals. The angels had us working to help save them from breaking, and I'd only recently been on a secret mission with an angel called Ezekiel to the Third Temple, where we'd almost lost. Had it not been for last minute reinforcements coming from Heaven, I wouldn't even be having this conversation with her. As it was, I had an angel, dormant inside of me, as he healed from the wounds he'd sustained in trying to keep me alive.

"It's not that simple," I said softly, looking down at my hands.

"Yes it is!" Lisa said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Let it go, Beth. Pick a place, heck come here to Cicero if you want! Sam can come too. Get jobs, get a house, have a family with Dean. Be happy Beth."

"I'm scared Lisa," I admitted, looking up at her.

"Of what?" She asked. "Having a normal life?"

I nodded, tears in my eyes again. "We've never had one! Dean and I, never together. Me, not in twelve years, him longer. I'm not sure we'd even know what to do with ourselves if we did quit and give up the hunt. I don't know us outside of a hunt, the kind of people we are…" Would we make it? Or would the quiet life kill our passion for each other? How long would it be before one or both of us went looking for that sense of adventure anywhere we could find it?

"You'll never know if you don't try," Lisa said softly, her eyes soft and compassionate. I knew in my heart she was right, I just didn't know if I was willing to take the risk.

"Dean loves you, Beth. Not just the hunter, he loves all of you, anyone can see that."

I sighed and looked out at the window where the boys were now kneeling on the grass, talking among themselves.

"Just talk to him," Lisa urged and I nodded.

"Yeah, okay, I will," I said, feeling a little bolder with her encouragement.

Present Moment
Sioux City, Iowa

Beth's POV

Sam was in the theatre when we returned, Dean was livid and on the lookout for Vernon, cursing them out as we approached our little brother.

"Find anything interesting?" I asked when I was shoulder to shoulder with him and I could have sworn Sam jumped nervously.

"What? Uh, no. You?" He asked, deflecting the question.

"Nothing I want to talk about, or think about, ever again," Dean scowled and I chuckled, shaking my head at Sam's questioning look.

"You don't want to know."

Dean spotted Vernon and the other man, whose name we'd learned was Charlie, standing by the side of the stage, and he quickly made a beeline for them, Sam and me following behind. The two men were locked in a conversation which quickly ended as we approached.

"The Chief, huh?" Dean asked in a stern voice.

"What's the matter? Chief not your type?" Charlie asked with a smirk.

"No, and not my partner's type either, you think she needed to be subjected to that?!" Dean snapped, and they looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

Charlie smirked, giving me the once over and I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

"She looks like she could handle the Chief no worries," Charlie said with another amused look.

"You know, I could have you both arrested for obstruction of justice," Dean said angrily.

"How? You're no Fed," Vernon said with a smile.

"We con people for a living, son. Takes more than a fake badge to get past us," Charlie said.

Dean and Sam laughed nervously and I shook my head, smiling. They had us, and they knew it. Dean nodded at them, a grin spreading across his face.

"You got us. Yeah, we – we are actually – aspiring magicians," Dean said.

"Yeah, we – we came to the convention 'cause we thought we could learn something," Sam chimed in.

"Yeah, get some ideas for our new show," Dean added.

"Ooh, what kind of show?" Vernon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, it's – it's a…."

"It's a brother act," Sam said quickly.

"Yeah. Yeah, you know, with the rings and doves and...rings," Dean said. I resisted the urge to smack myself in the face. We'd just gone from lame cover to pretty much a cover no one was going to believe.

"Ladies and gentleman, I give you the… Incredible Jay!" A man's voice announced over the loudspeaker drawing applause from the audience gathered.

"You want to learn something?" Charlie asked, looking back at us. "Stick around." He turned and walked toward the stage, approaching the man from earlier, Jay, who was standing in the spotlight, his grey hair tousled atop his head. He was dressed in a simple black suit with a shiny coral shirt and black bowtie.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you're about to witness is a feat so daring, so dangerous, even the great Houdini dared not attempt it. I give to you… The Executioner!" He lifted his arm in the air, gesturing to the structure on stage, and as we watched a noose fell from a set of gallows to the startled gasps of some of the patrons.

Charlie joined Jay on stage, holding the noose as Jay climbed on to the small gallows and allowed the noose to be tightened around his neck.

Jay looked around the room, and seeing us standing nearby waved me over. "Young lady, would you be so kind as to help my assistant with the straitjacket?" I laughed nervously and shook my head.

"Go on Beth," Sam said with a laugh, shoving me gently toward the stage.

"Ladies and gentleman, a big round of applause for our honoured guest!" Jay said and I felt myself blushing furiously as I climbed the steps to where Charlie was securing a straitjacket on Jay. He tightened the sleeves and with Jay's encouragement, and I tugged on the restraints, finding them tight and unyielding.

"Now, miss, as you can see, this jacket is the real article," Jay said and I stepped back with a frown, nodding. "Thank you, please take a bow," he said with a roguish grin and I awkwardly did so to the applause of the crowd. "Isn't she great folks? Maybe after I'm done with this feat, she'll agree to be my new assistant?" He asked with a wink. I laughed and happily left the stage to more applause, my heart pounding a little.

"He's mad…" I said softly as I reached the boys and Dean frowned at me.

"Now I will have one minute – 60 seconds – to escape certain death," Jay said. "Let's see if I can do it." Charlie closed the curtains in front of Jay and a clock over the gallows started to count down the minute. All we could see was Jay's silhouette struggling to get out of the straitjacket as seconds ticked by.

"I don't think he's gonna make it," Dean said after about fifty seconds, his eyes widening as he watched. The crowd's murmurs got louder and more panicked as Jay continued to struggle and the clock hit sixty seconds, turning red.

To the sounds of women screaming in alarm, Jay's body fell through the gallows, and it appeared like he had hung when suddenly the curtains were pushed open, and Jay's smiling face peered out at us, unharmed.

"Oh!" Dean exclaimed next to me with a grin. "That was amazing! That was freakin' amazing!" The sound of the applauding crowd almost drowned out my disbelief as I stared at the man on stage.

"That was…" I started.

"…Not humanly possible," Sam finished.

Present Moment (The next morning)
Hotel Room

Dean's POV

While I had first been amazed at the feat Jay had just managed to pull off, I was starting to lean toward scepticism now that Beth was swearing black and blue there was no way he could have slipped that jacket.

"Looks like this guy Jay was a pretty big deal in the '70's," Sam said, looking up from his computer.

"Which in magician land means what, exactly?" I asked, continuing to read from a selection of books Beth had spread out on the bed.

"Big enough to play radio city music hall," Sam answered. I looked up, curious.

"What got him stuck in the 'where are they now?' file?"

"He got old," Sam replied with a shrug.

"Okay, so maybe Incredible Jay is using real magic to stage a comeback?" Beth suggested, looking up from the end of the bed where she was flipping through a book on arcane magic.

"It's possible," Sam said with a nod. "Some kind of spell that works a death transference."

"How does the tarot card mix into it?" I asked, looking at Beth who had more knowledge on tarot than any of us.

"I don't know," she shrugged, looking baffled.

"Man… maybe it would be better to die before we get old after all. Whole thing seems brutal, don't it?" I asked, looking at Beth.

"You think we will?" Sam asked.

"What?"

"Die before we get old," he said, oblivious to the conversation Beth and I had been having about this exact thing a few days ago.

"Haven't we both already?" I quipped, raising an eyebrow at our little brother.

"You know what I mean, Dean," Sam said in a frustrated tone. "I mean, do you think we'll still be chasing demons when we're sixty?"

"Hell no," I said, shaking my head and thinking about what I'd promised Beth a few days ago. "You want to end up like Travis? Huh? Or Gordon, maybe?"

"There's Bobby," Sam said.

"Oh yeah, there's a poster child for growing old gracefully," I snorted, shaking my head. "No, I think we're going to have to retire long before then, or die bloody."

"It's not looking real good on the retirement factor," Sam said and Beth looked up, frowning.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying not to let her panicked look get to me.

"Well, I'm just saying, the apocalypse, Dean, it's kind of on its way. I'm not sure we can avoid it, which means, it ends bloody."

We all fell silent, Beth staring down at her hands and biting her lip. I wanted to reach out and tell her not to take it on, that I was going to fix it so that we would get those sixty years I'd promised her, but right now, I didn't have the faintest idea how I was going to do that. Sam was right, we were headed down a one way street, and the destination wasn't looking real good, regardless of how much we wanted it to be otherwise.

"What if we could win?" Sam asked suddenly. Beth looked up with a frown, matching my own.

"Win?" She asked curiously.

"If there was a way we could just… put an end to all of it," Sam said, and I didn't like the way he was talking.

"Is there something going on you're not telling us?" I asked.

"No," Sam said.

"Sammy," I growled, not believing him for a second.

"No. Look, I'm just saying… I just wish there was a way we could… go after the source. That's all. Cut the head off the snake," he said, standing up and walking around the room.

"Well, the problem with the snake is that it has a thousand heads. Evil bitches just keep piling out of the Volkswagon," I said.

"Yeah," Sam said, sighing. "I guess you're right."

I decided we needed something to distract us from this conversation and Beth was already giving me a look of consternation.

"Look, why don't you go see if you can track down Jay," I said to Sam. "We'll see what we can dig up on this tarot card."

2 months earlier
Cicero, Indiana

Dean's POV

Dinner was pretty quiet by our standards, everyone seemed to be caught up in their own thoughts as we worked our way through a homemade lasagne that Lisa had cooked. By the time Ben went up to bed, Sam was hovering around me like a bad smell, and I could tell he had something he wanted to get off his chest so I led us outside while the girls did the dishes.

"What is it?" I asked, turning to face my little brother.

"Are you gonna talk about it?" Sam asked, getting straight to the point.

"Talk about what?" I asked, avoiding the question.

"What Ben said, about giving up the hunt? Settling down," Sam said.

"What's to talk about Sam? Ain't gonna happen," I said, looking up at the stars overhead.

"Why not Dean?" He asked. "Don't you want to give Beth a home? A family?"

"Of course I do, man," I said, running a hand across my face. "But it's not that easy."

"Why not?"

"Because I just got out of Hell! I have work to do, and we have these seals we have to deal with now. Since when do I give up on a job?"

"Well, maybe since now Dean. Since you have a wife, and a son, to take care of."

I shook my head, feeling that familiar sensation of panic settle into my stomach. The nightmares that dogged even my waking hours were strong and while they seemed to be getting better, it was the job that distracted me from having to face them as much. If I stopped, what would become of me? How would Beth feel about having to deal with my mess?

I looked nervously back through the windows at her. Twenty feet. That's what I guessed it to be. She was just twenty feet away from me, and apart from about thirty minutes when we'd been at Oktoberfest hunting a shapeshifter, I hadn't been away from her at all since I got back.

It wasn't just that I hadn't seen her in forty years, or what felt like forty years, it was her mere presence that helped me through the dark moments, and those moments could come up at any time. If we stopped now, we'd have to find work, pay bills, and what did we have to start with? I could work any job almost, labour, mechanic, whatever. Beth too was multi-skilled. But the likelihood of getting work together was non-existent, and the selfish part of me wanted her with me all the time.

I sighed at Sam, letting him know without words that I was almost through with this discussion.

"Look Dean, I'm just worried about you guys. You've done enough, man. You've looked out for me, gone above and beyond for that. You're out of Hell, and I want to make sure things stay that way. Just think about it Dean, for Beth, she wants a real life with you." Sam threw me those puppy dog eyes and I groaned, rolling my eyes at him.

"Just talk to her," Sam said.

"Yeah, all right, all right. Enough with the chick flick stuff, okay?" I said. Sam smirked at me and then headed back indoors.

"Just do it Dean, before it's too late."

I watched him go inside and start talking to the girls and thought about what he'd said. Jo had been hanging around a lot lately, they seemed to be getting along well, and maybe there was something worth pursuing for Sam there. Maybe if he found the right girl, he would settle down too. I felt my heart start to race a little at the thought that maybe we could get out if we could keep Sam safe. That seemed to be the key, I had to know that no matter what we decided, our little brother was going to be all right.

Present Moment
Hotel Lobby

Beth's POV

"Hey," Sam said, finding us in the lobby as we watched the body of Jeb Dexter being wheeled out of the hotel on a gurney. Sam looked questioningly at the departing body and I nodded.

"Maid found Jeb hanging from the ceiling fan. Police think it was a suicide," I said as Dean reached into his jacket and pulled out another tarot card, this time of The Hanged Man.

"We beg to differ," Dean said. "Pulled a little sleight of hand myself," he added with a grin.

"On Dexter's body?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, so we're thinking if this spell is a death transference, then these cards work like black magic targets," I said, taking the card from Dean and looking it over.

"Any connection between the victims?" Sam asked.

"Jeb was a total douchebag to Jay yesterday," Dean said, running with his theory.

"What about the first vic? Uh, Vance?" Sam asked.

"Asked around. Apparently, Vance was heckling Jay at the bar the day he was killed," Dean answered. It seemed as good a story as any to go with, and I had to agree with Dean, Jeb had been a total douchebag.

"Okay, so Jay sneaks a card into Vance's pocket, does the table of death…"

"And Vance takes ten swords to the chest," I nodded. "Yep."

"Then Jay slips a noose and Jeb doesn't. Hell of a trick," Sam said, looking around the lobby.

"Yeah, I think it's time we had a little chat with Jay," Dean said. "Any luck tailing him?"

Sam looked a little uncomfortable and then cleared his throat. "He slipped me."

"He's a 60 year old," Dean said disgustedly.

"He's a magician," Sam said, shrugging. They stared off until I nudged Dean in the back.

"Come on, let's get something to eat while we wait for this magician to come back," Dean said with a sigh. He turned and led us to a café that was in the lobby, taking a seat at a table that was facing the entrance and the hotel elevators.

We were nursing coffees when Jay made his appearance, and dropping enough money on the table to cover our bill and a tip, Dean stood up and silently led us toward the stairs when Jay stopped at the lifts.

"Beth…" Dean said, looking at me and I nodded, breaking away from them and moving to wait at the elevator with Jay.

"Ah, it's my new assistant!" Jay said with a smile as I approached.

"Good morning," I said, flashing him a smile of my own. "That was quite the show last night."

"You liked it? Even Houdini wouldn't brave The Executioner," he bragged, his eyes shining from the excitement as he held the elevator door for me and we stepped into the interior.

He pushed a button for his level, and I chose the one above him, stepping back to wait for the lift to start moving.

"Well it was very impressive," I said with another smile.

"You're not going to ask me how I did it?" Jay questioned and I shook my head.

"You wouldn't tell me anyway, a magician never…"

"…reveals his secrets…right," he finished for me.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. "Well, I'll see you around," he said with another smile and I nodded, feeling a little bad that this was someone we were about to bring down, he seemed like a pretty decent guy.

"You will," I said. The doors closed and I pulled my phone out, texting Dean the floor number he'd just let out at. When the lift reached the next floor up I got out, running for the stairs and moving back down to join the boys.

They'd already reached Jay's room by the time I found them and I heard the telltale sound of them kicking in the hotel room door.

"Up against the wall!" I heard Dean shout to the consternation of Jay.

"God, who are you? What do you want?" Jay cried out.

"Now!" Dean demanded as I reached the doorway only to find the door getting slammed in my face by Sam.

Dean's POV

"We know what you've been up to," Sam said, keeping his gun drawn on the magician.

"We? What? Why are you here?" Jay asked startled.

"You been working some real bad mojo to jumpstart your act," I accused Jay, stepping a little closer, gun drawn.

"What?" Jay asked, looking confused. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look, we know you put a spell on those tarot cards," Sam said.

"Messing with real magic?" I asked, hearing the lock to the door start to tumble. I realised that it must have automatically locked when Sam shut it, well at least Beth could let herself in, we weren't without our own tricks of the trade.

"Real magic?" Jay questioned, looking flabbergasted. "Come on, there's no such thing as real magic!"

"Oh, is that so?" I asked.

"Yeah, believe me. I've been around this stuff my whole life. It's all just – it's – it's illusions. It's tricks." He took a step toward us and we gripped our guns tighter, raising them to Jay who took a wary step back, raising his hands in the air. "It – It's all fake." Jay said, and I started to wonder if we were talking to the right man.

"Hey…" Beth asked cautiously as she started to open the door.

"Babe… stay where you are," I said, and the door stopped moving. "Wait for us downstairs." Something wasn't right here, and Jay didn't know Beth was with us right now. That gave us an ace up the sleeve. She didn't question, and I heard the door shut behind us, knowing she'd obey without question.

"Jeb Dexter strung up – was that just an illusion?" I asked, turning back to Jay.

"What? Something happened to Jeb?" Jay asked, surprised.

"He was found hanged in his room," Sam said, looking at the magician.

"Right after you slipped the noose last night," I added. Jay dropped his hands to his sides, looking genuinely surprised and confused.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please… just let me go," Jay said.

"Something's not right," I said, chancing a glance at Sam.

"Usually they're whipping some badass hoodoo at us by now," Sam concurred, looking just as nervous as I was feeling.

"What do you want to do?" I asked, looking back at Jay.

We tied Jay to a chair, but I wasn't convinced it was going to hold the guy, I mean, he was a magician regardless of whether or not he's legitimately slipped that straitjacket or not last night.

"All right," I said, turning to Sam who was frowning and showing his hesitation. "So if it's not him, who is it?"

"Even if Jay's not working the magic, he's still getting the reward, his shows are selling out," Sam pointed out.

"So whoever it is, they're obviously in Jay's corner," I said, glancing over at the man, wondering if he knew what his friend was doing for him.

"All right, so we got Vernon and Charlie on the list. Anyone else?" I asked.

"Uh… we could always ask him," Sam said, and we nodded at each other, turning back to the… empty… chair.

"I knew it!" I said, hitting my forehead with the palm of my hand.

"Should have seen that one coming," Sam commented and I sighed.

"I did! I swear … I'm getting sloppy," I groaned.

"Come on. He couldn't have gotten that far," Sam said, moving for the door. We left the room and started down the hallway, running down the stairs.

"No way could he outrun us," Sam said in frustration when we didn't find Jay.

"Maybe he vanished," I said, shrugging. "I mean, he really is good."

"Or he found a back door," Sam said with a grin and I rolled my eyes at him. Or there was that.

"That's them!" We heard Jay yell as police came into the lobby. Damn! I looked up at Beth who had started to make her way toward us, but she froze when I shook my head sharply at her. "Those are the two nut jobs that just broke into my room!" Jay shouted, coming down the stairs behind where we'd come from and pointing at us.

Fortunately we'd stashed our guns inside our jackets, but that wasn't going to help us for long. Beth sighed and backed away toward the café, taking a seat and blending in with the other patrons. I winked at her and she rolled her eyes. Well, life was certainly never dull.

2 months earlier
Cicero, Indiana

Beth's POV

I was packing up my duffel bag and preparing to go clean out the Impala when Dean entered the room, slipping behind me and bringing his arms around to pull me back against his firm chest.

"Hey beautiful," he said, kissing the back of my neck. "Take a break."

"A break? I only just started," I laughed, turning my head so that I could catch his lips with my own, tracing my tongue around his mouth and then slipping it in to meet his. Dean moaned and turned me to face him as he kissed me back, his hand coming up to hold my head still while he lavished my mouth with loving attention.

"Mmmm, but I have a better plan than packing," he said breathlessly, pushing me playfully back toward the bed.

"Is that right?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at him and crawling back until I was in the middle of the bed.

"Mhmmm," he nodded, pushing me down against the mattress and climbing over me. His forearms came to rest either side of my shoulders as he kissed me again.

I groaned and broke away from his lips, only to have him start trailing them down my neck, kissing as he went.

"Dean, you know there was something I wanted to talk to you about…" I cringed internally, thinking about the last time I'd started a conversation with him like this. I'd been pregnant, and we'd been on lockdown, laying low from the FBI who had Dean on their most wanted list. Come to think of it, he'd been distracting me with kisses then too.

"Oh?" Dean asked, continuing to suck at the crook in my neck, his left hand sliding down my side and pulling my thigh up around his hip. My leg naturally curled around his to pull him down into me.

"Uh, yeah…" I gasped as he nipped at my skin.

"Well, spit it out," he said and I sighed as he stroked along my hip, his fingers inching under my buttock to knead my ass.

"I just… you know, maybe we should… maybe…"

"Maybe?" He asked, his breath getting a little heavier as he ground his pelvis against mine and I could feel the bulge inside the jeans he was wearing, straining to get out. I groaned, trying to fight my body's heated response to his attention and I decided to give up and go with it.

"Maybe we can talk about it later," I conceded, lifting his chin up so that I could kiss him again. "Your plan is much better."

He chuckled starting to kiss along my shoulder as his body pressed needily to mine and I pushed thoughts of bringing up the conversation out of my mind for the time being.

Present Moment
Backstage of Theatre

Beth's POV

I had several things to consider as I followed Jay to the back of the auditorium at the hotel. I weighed in my mind whether or not I should just go straight to the police station and get the boys out, in the trusty attorney role that ironically always seemed to be me playing. I chuckled, wondering how many times I had impersonated a lawyer to get Dean and Sam out of jail, never mind when it had been John and Dean.

Not this time, I could do that later if my current plan didn't pan out. I wanted to talk to Jay. I trailed him down to a dressing room, and I stopped to listen at the door while he talked to his friend Charlie.

"They said my act is killing people. They said that I was using real magic, that I was casting spells on tarot cards!" Jay was saying and I heard Charlie snigger

"'Real magic'? Those guys are nuts," he said, pausing in his thoughts. "You're lucky to be alive."

"You don't think…" Jay sounded hesitant as he failed to finish his sentence.

"What?"

"Well, the things that I can do now – the cards…"

"You've been working the cards your whole life," Charlie said dismissively.

"Well, what about the escapes? I haven't been able to slip a pair of cuffs in 30 years. And then there was the way that – that Patrick Vance died. And that Jeb Dexter." Jay sounded worried, even from the distance I was listening to him from.

"Yeah, no great loss there," Charlie muttered.

"Oh Charlie, he didn't deserve to die," Jay said.

"You had nothing to do with it," Charlie said. I frowned, we were convinced now that Jay had nothing to do with the deaths, but if he didn't, who did?

"He was hanged the same night that I performed The Executioner," Jay said.

"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you actually believe those guys?" Charlie asked. "That there was some kind of 'real magic' involved?"

"No," Jay said sharply, but then I heard an intake of breath. "I don't know. I don't know, maybe. I shouldn't go on tonight Charlie."

Charlie's voice raised as he spoke back to his friend. "Are you kidding me? You have a sold-out house out there. Sold out! When was the last time that happened?"

There was a pause and I wondered if perhaps they'd left through another exit. I looked around, considering twisting the handle and entering, when…"The other night…" Jay's voice sounded. "When I was doing the Table of Death, I was, um… I was gonna kill myself. And I have no idea how I got out alive."

"But you did," Charlie answered him. "Somehow, you did. Jay…when you were in your day you were incredible. 'The Incredible Jay'. You were the best I ever saw. And now you got it back. I don't know how, but it doesn't matter. Just to see you at the top of your game again. Hell, it makes me feel young."

"But…"

"No buts, Jay. This may be mana from Heaven, I don't know, but whatever it is, you don't throw it away," Charlie said.

There was the sound of footsteps echoing and I realised that they had indeed left by the back entrance. I cursed, sticking my head into the room they'd been in and then crossing the room when I found it empty.

My phone started to ring and I looked at the Caller ID. It was a silent number. Answering it I grinned into the phone.

"Beth's Bail Bond Services," I said and I felt my heart skip a beat at Dean's low, husky laugh on the other end.

"Uh yeah, Beth, so I'm in need of some of your extra special attention," he said and I chuckled.

"I bet you are," I replied. "The company not to your liking where you are?"

"Hell no!" He exclaimed with a laugh. "Way too many… third legs… running around in here."

"And I'm your first phone call? I'm flattered," I teased.

Dean chuckled again. "You were the only one I could be sure would pick up."

"You saying I'm desperate?"

"I'm saying you know I got what you need," he said with a grin.

There was the sound of someone speaking in the background and Dean sighed over the line. "Hey, I don't have long, everything's all right on your end, right?" The concern in his voice started to filter through.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You guys got to Jay, but he's still going on, I have to go and try to convince him not to do tonight's act."

"No, look, Beth, you need to just get us out of here, we'll worry about Jay later," Dean said, his voice raising a little.

"He's going on soon Dean, just sit tight, I'll get you out after, okay?"

"Wait, no, Beth! Beth!" Dean's voice got louder as I bit my lip, feeling a little anxious.

"I'll see you soon," I said into the phone. "Don't bend over in the shower, huh?" I said with a grin before hanging up. I imagined Dean's facial expression on the other side of the phone and shook my head. He was going to kill me.

I tucked the phone back in my pocket and went in search of Jay. I found him by the side of the stage, waiting to go on.

"Why hello, you know it's been many years since I've had any fans come backstage before an act…"

I smiled and stepped a little closer to him. "Yeah, about that, sir…"

"Jay, please," he interrupted.

"Jay," I nodded. "Listen, I uh, I haven't been entirely honest with you," I said. "The reason I was in the elevator with you was so I could let my brothers know what floor you got off…" his eyes widened. "We needed to talk to you."

"Talk!" He said, standing up and looking at me in outrage. "They threatened me with guns!"

"And we thought you were a person using black magic, they were protecting themselves," I said in a placating tone, holding out my hands. "Please, just hear me out. I heard you talking to Charlie, how you think maybe they were right."

"It's nonsense, it doesn't make any sense," Jay said, shaking his head.

"It's not, Jay. Magic, spells, they are very real with the right knowledge," I said to him, stepping a little closer. "Now, I don't believe you are behind it, but someone is, and we need to find out who before someone else gets hurt."

"No, no it's all make believe and nonsense," Jay said, shaking his head. "Charlie is right. Maybe I just got back what I had all along."

"Jay, please, just listen…"

"No, you listen!" He said, spinning on me and causing me to take a step back at the anger in his voice. "All my life I was the best, the best, and for the last decade, or more, I have faded away while no-talent upstarts like Vance and Dexter took the limelight. Now I'm on top of my game again, and it feels good."

"You can't go on tonight, someone is going to get hurt!" I beseeched him, but I could see it was a losing game.

"Nonsense!" He pushed past me, adjusting his bow tie and glancing back at me one last time as his name was called out over the PA system.

"Come and watch the show, you'll see there's nothing going on."

He plastered a smile to his face and walked out on to the stage, waving at the crowd and I felt someone place their hand on my arm.

"Miss, you can't be back here, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," said one of the security guards from the lobby. I looked up to see Charlie watching me and I nodded, stepping toward the stairs that led down the side of the stage and back into the audience. The guard followed me into the crowd and I watched, horrified and unable to do anything as Jay progressed in his act, the swords dangling fatally above him fell from the ceiling, seemingly stabbing him to the startled gasps of audience members.

Suddenly the curtain was thrown back to the triumphant look of Jay and he looked around the room, taking a bow. Almost immediately a scream sounded from the back of the room and I felt my heart sink, pushing through the crowd as a woman called out for somebody to call 911. I pushed through the audience and made my way back to the back of the stage. Almost at the same time as Jay, we came across Charlie lying on the floor, multiple stab wounds bleeding through his pristine white shirt.

Jay recoiled in shock, his face going pale as a ghost. With a sigh, I pulled out my phone and started to dial 911, watching sadly as Jay knelt next to Charlie, shaking his head in disbelief.

Present Moment
Hotel Lobby

Dean's POV

When we'd gotten the call that all the charges had been dropped we'd immediately headed for the hotel again. Beth had called and said she was waiting in the lobby for us with Jay. I didn't start to breathe easy until I saw her standing across from me, an easy smile coming to her face.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked, as we rushed through the door, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" I nodded in reply and then pulled her in for a quick hug, kissing her forehead.

"Jay," Sam said from behind me. "Thanks for dropping the charges."

"You mind telling us why you did it?" I asked, Beth hadn't been able to go into detail on the phone at the time of her call.

Jay turned sad eyes to us and nodded. "We have to talk," he said, and without another word he led us into the bar at the end of the lobby.

When we'd settled down with a drink, Jay looked at me and began to tell his story.

"I was just a kid when we first met. All I knew was how to cheat at cards. Charlie got me out of more scrapes than I can count," he said with a smile, shaking his head. "Hell, I would have been dead by the age of 20 if it hadn't been for him." He stopped and sighed, taking a sip of his drink. "He was more than my friend. He was my brother."

Beth reached out and squeezed Jay's hand with a compassionate smile. "I'm sorry, Jay."

"Look, I should have listened to you, all of you, when you told me that my show was killing people," Jay said, looking a little pained.

"Well, you weren't the one pulling the trigger," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but someone did, and I want to find out who did this to Charlie. So I'll do whatever you guys say, just tell me what to do," Jay said, giving me a determined look.

"Jay, whoever's doing this…they like you. They're probably close to you. Did Charlie and Vernon get along?" Sam asked, and I nodded. He had the same idea I did, it had to be Vernon.

"No. No it's not Vernon," Jay said, shaking his head.

"He's the only one that makes sense," I said.

"Charlie and Vernon were your family, Jay," Beth said softly.

"And now Charlie's gone." I added.

"Yeah, but… they butted heads sometimes, but Vernon could never do something like this," Jay said. I looked down at my hands, sighing and thinking about Sam. I would have said the same thing about him a year ago.

"That's the thing about real magic, Jay," Beth said carefully, glancing over at me. "It's a whole lot like crack. People do surprising things once they get a taste of it."

I glanced over at her and she had lowered her eyes to her hands which were wrapped around her drink. Sam was looking at her, and I could have sworn he had something to add, but he closed his mouth and then looked away at the people milling around in the bar.

"You better me damn sure about this," Jay whispered after a moment, looking me right in the eyes. "Vernon is all I got left."

2 months ago
Cicero, Indiana

Dean's POV

I happily hummed away to myself in the shower, revelling in the fact that it had been four whole days without a nightmare. The visit to see Lisa and Ben had been a great idea and I found myself thinking more and more about what Sam and Ben had talked about. Maybe they were right, perhaps it was time to settle down and make a real life for us all.

My heart pounded a little faster at the thought, I still wasn't convinced, but there had to be a way to make it work. Sam could come with us, it would get him out of hunting too, maybe he would settle down, find a girl, and make babies. Babies. I thought about Beth and the promise I'd made her when we'd been zapped back to the past, how I swore to her that we would have a family together. I wanted that more than anything, yet the thought also terrified me.

If you'd said to me a few years ago that I would be a father I'd have laughed in your face, but now, after the surprise pregnancy, and then losing our baby, there was an emptiness there. Ben helped fill it, and I found myself more and more falling into that idea of fatherhood. Now I wanted it with Beth, I wanted to give her the baby she'd lost, to see her eyes light up when our child toddled into the room.

Things with her and Sam weren't good, they were fighting and tense, maybe if we were to get away from hunting, get him away from that damn demon, they could start to repair their relationship. Having Jo around had started to fix that just a little, or so it seemed, but there was a long way to go yet.

I shut off the water and grabbed a towel, drying my hair quickly and then rubbing myself dry with brisk, short strokes. I pulled on a clean pair of boxers, followed by jeans, socks and boots. The final touch was an AC/DC t-shirt Beth had left out on the bed for me. I chuckled, looking at the tousled sheets on the bed after our little romp. She'd wanted to talk, I managed to convince her to wait until later. Whatever it was she'd wanted to discuss, I had a feeling it wouldn't be better than what I was about to bring up.

Pulling on the t-shirt I grinned at myself in the mirror over the bureau and then winked at my reflection. I was on a roll, time to score some more goals. Skipping down the stairs, I found Beth standing in the archway into the living room and I walked up behind her, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist like I had upstairs earlier, nuzzling into her neck.

"Hey baby, got a minute?" I asked and she turned, kissing my cheek.

"Shhhh," she whispered, and gestured into the living room.

Sam was pacing the carpet, a frown plastered to his face. "Yeah, okay, we'll look into it," he said with a nod. "Why don't you join us?" He asked and I looked questioningly at Beth.

"Jo," she mouthed softly to me and I raised my eyebrow.

"No, I didn't say that…I just meant," Sam stopped pacing in front of a window, staring out the glass. "Jo… no, look, I didn't say that. Well yeah I want to see you… what?" I frowned, and Beth sighed.

"This don't sound good…" I said softly.

Sam let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head as he listened to Jo on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, whatever Jo, you do what you have to do. You always have," he snapped.

There was another exchange from her end and then he sighed again. "Well if that's the way you feel then it's probably best we do that," he said, pausing. "Yeah, sure, good bye Jo."

He hung up and turned to see us watching him in the living room. I moved into the room, running my hand through my damp hair and trying to look like I hadn't just been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"You guys catch that?" Sam asked, looking at us.

"Uhhh, not really," I said, shrugging.

"You have a job?" Beth asked, not answering the question directly.

"Yeah… in Colorado, three heart attacks, all in close vicinity to each other, all within a day, and all perfectly healthy men," Sam said.

"Doesn't sound that strange," I said, thinking I'd much rather hang here for another few days and talk to Beth and Sam about our options. We'd have to start turning down hunts eventually, why not start now?

"Look, Jo asked me to check it out, she's tied up in another job. I said we'd do it," Sam said, looking at me with his no-arguments expression.

I sighed and glanced at Beth who was staring down at her hands. "What do you think?" I asked softly and she looked up at me.

"Uh, yeah, well we gotta get back into it sometime, huh?" She said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess…" I said hesitantly.

"So it's settled then," Sam cut in, nodding and clapping me on the shoulder. "We should get going, the car's packed anyway, we were ready to roll…" He walked out of the living room and toward the front door, meeting Lisa as she was coming in from checking the mail.

I looked back at Beth and frowned, she looked preoccupied by something.

"You okay?" I asked and she nodded, but didn't meet my eyes. "You sure?"

"Yeah, it's just…" she hesitated and then looked up at me with those big brown eyes.

"You wanted to talk about something?" I asked, wondering what had her so preoccupied.

"Yeah," she said, nodding and looking at Sam and Lisa.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked, reaching out to caress her face.

"Come on guys!" Sam called out, and he gave Lisa a brief hug before picking up his own bag and heading for the door.

"Uh, maybe now isn't a good time," she suggested and I sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, we can talk later," I said. I smiled and leaned in to kiss her lips softly, leaning my forehead against hers.

"You're okay though, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm good… I'm great, I'm with you," she said with a smile, staring up at me.

"Yeah, me too," I said, and I meant every word. So long as she was with me, I would always be okay.

Present Moment
Sioux City, Iowa

Beth's POV

Jay placed the call through to Vernon's room as a distraction and asked him to come down to the theatre. Now it was just the waiting game.

"Maybe you shouldn't be here," Jay said nervously to me as we waited, but I shrugged it off.

"It's probably safer that I am, sometimes people can do uncertain things when confronted with the truth, but just try not to get into that until we know where the tarot deck is, and what's involved," I recommended. Jay nodded and then gestured to a screen which I could hide behind.

I took my position, better to have the element of surprise, and waited for Vernon to arrive, knowing that the boys would be searching his room at any moment.

Vernon strolled into the theatre and down the main aisle to where Jay was standing on the stage, looking at the Table of Death blades above him.

"Just talked to the head of the convention," Vernon said as he reached the stage, panting a little from the exertion of his walk. "Headliner gig is yours."

Jay turned to face him and shook his head.

"What?" Vernon asked, looking surprised. "You don't want it?"

"A day ago, if you told me I'd be standing on this stage…" Jay sighed. "No, I can't do it, Vernon."

"What are you talking about?" Vernon asked.

"Charlie's gone," Jay said softly.

"Charlie would have wanted you to go on. This is your shot. It's our shot," Vernon argued, shaking his head at Jay.

"Really? This is what Charlie would have wanted?" Jay asked. "Charlie's dead."

"Hey, he was my friend too, you know," Vernon said, sounding a little hurt.

"It's a hell of a way to treat a friend," Jay said cryptically.

"Again, what are you talking about?" Vernon asked, appearing confused.

"You killed him, didn't you?" Jay asked. I bit my lip, shaking my head at the impatience of the man. "And for what? So that I – so that we could be back on top?"

"That's insane," Vernon said, laughing nervously. "No, you're scaring me!"

"First it was Vance, then it was Jeb Dexter. Even if you thought you were doing it for me, how in God's name could you kill Charlie?" Jay asked.

"Oh you are crazy," Vernon said. I stood up, gripping my gun and preparing for some kind of backlash if it were to come. I didn't get very far, suddenly there was the press of cold steel to my throat and I felt my head forced back at the edge of a blade. I'd never even heard him approach.

"You used me, and you used my act to do this to him," Jay continued. "If you think…"

"I wouldn't be so hard on him Jay," the man holding me at knife point said, pushing me out on to the stage. "He didn't do it."

"Sweet Mary and Joseph," Vernon said, looking stunned as we approached.

"Charlie!" Jay exclaimed. I frowned, feeling myself disarmed by the man and not liking the sound of this at all. Charlie?"

"It's really me Jay," the man said while still holding the knife to my throat.

"How the Hell…" Vernon stuttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"God," Charlie said from behind me, slipping his arm around my waist as he pulled me back against him. "You forget what it feels like to be young. It's amazing, isn't it Beth?" He asked, breathing down my neck. I ignored him, watching Jay and Vernon approach us.

"Now, Charlie, let the girl go…"

"No, I don't believe I will, not yet. She's my insurance against those idiots upstairs going through Vernon's room," Charlie said and Vernon looked surprised.

"Come on Jay," Charlie continued, "It's me!"

"How old are you?" Jay asked, shaking his head.

"Oh, it depends on what you mean by 'old'. Right now, technically, about 28, but I've been around a lot longer than that," he answered.

"How long?" I muttered, receiving a response of having the blade thrust closer to my throat.

"Long enough to have shilled for Barnum," Charlie replied. "And he gave me something."

"What's that?" Jay asked.

"The Grimoire – a book of real magic. At first, I thought it was a scam, but then I tried one of the spells, and it worked. In fact, they all worked. So when I got to the end there was one for immortality…"

"My god, Charlie," Vernon muttered, staring at us.

"And my show, the things that I can do?" Jay asked

"Different spell," Charlie said. "But it gives you a little taste of what's possible." He pushed me on to the table, and I started to sit up but found the blade at my neck again.

"Uh uh, Beth, just sit pretty," he said, clamping my wrist into one of the restraints, and then reaching across me to secure the other one. He flipped his wrist and the ones at my feet suddenly secured around my ankles and I gasped for breath, staring up at twelve deadly swords hanging overhead.

Charlie pulled out a deck of tarot cards and fanned them in front of him, smiling. Vernon reached out to touch them but Charlie pulled them out of reach. "Oh, no, I wouldn't touch those Vernon. They're – they're still radioactive," he said, tucking them back in his pocket.

"You killed Vance and Jeb Dexter," Jay said, and he glanced over at me with concern.

"What, you think this is a parlor game? You were being humiliated by those punks. A washed-up old man who couldn't even defend himself," Charlie said.

"You used me to do those terrible things…"

"I used them to give you a gift. And you wanted it, Jay. I saw it in your eyes," he said, smirking.

"No," Jay said, shaking his head. "I never wanted this."

Dean's POV

As soon as Vernon left the room we picked the lock, letting ourselves in. The room was neatly laid out in piles from books, to posters, to other magic paraphernalia.

"Wow. It's like a…magic museum," Sam commented and I sniggered at him.

"You must be in Heaven," I said, receiving a glare in reply. "This guy doesn't travel light," I pointed out, wondering where to start.

"He's been on the road his whole life. Probably everything he owns is in this room," Sam said with a shrug. I sighed and looked around the room again, this wasn't going to be as fast as I thought it would be. I hoped Jay and Beth had Vernon occupied, because this was going to take a while.

"Let's get started," I said, stepping up to the nearest pile of books and starting to flip through them.

After a good ten, maybe fifteen minutes I sighed, looking at Sam. "This is just a bunch of old-timey magic stuff – none of it magic."

Sam was going through an old carpet bag, pulling items out. "No herbs, no candles, and… no tarot decks," he said.

I sighed and started flipping through a bunch of old posters on the bed, and paused when one caught my eye.

"I'll be damned," I said, picking up one that caught my eye.

"What?" Sam asked.

I held it up for Sam to look at. Even as a young man, he looked like Charlie, but the poster read The Great Dessertini. It was Charlie, it had the same birthmark over his eye and everything, and in the poster he definitely looked to be playing with dark magic.

"We gotta get down there," Sam said, standing up.

"Yeah, man are we out in left field," I said, running for the door. "How long have they been down there?" I asked urgently, thinking that we had to get to Beth, maybe we'd been played all along, maybe Jay had known, how could he not have known?

Beth's POV

"You were ready to kill yourself. I saved your life," Charlie said to Jay as I tugged at the restraints. They were tight, and I couldn't see myself getting out of them.

"Is that right, Jay?" Vernon asked, looking at his friend with concern, who looked sheepishly at the ground.

"I was there for you, like I've always been. Like I'll always be. Come with me, both of you. You think the first time around was good? The second time's even better. All the knowhow, none of the aches and pains," he reached a hand out to his two best friends in the world and I bit my lip thinking it was an impossible offer, could they really resist?

"No, I won't do this. I won't," Jay said, shaking his head.

"I've never made this offer before. But, then again, I've never had friends like the two of you before," Charlie said. "Let me do this for you." Vernon smiled at Charlie and I could see he was caving.

"And who else has to die so that we can live forever?" Jay asked, gesturing to me. "Her? What's the price tag on immortality?" He asked. "This isn't right, Charlie, what you're doing. You know that. Somewhere, you know that."

"I know I don't want to come back alone, to start all over, alone. And her? Well, we wait for the brothers to get here, we use them too. You can't hear it, but I can see it, I saw her with the older one, they're lovers – and there's a little panic that goes through them whenever they're separated, isn't there Beth?" He asked, coming over to look me.

"You're not getting away with this," I spat out at him.

"Oh, I think I am. I'm going to give you both what neither of you are brave enough to do. I'm going to send you off together, and there will be no more fear of being apart."

"You're insane," I said, shaking my head and fighting the restraints.

Charlie smiled and turned back to the two older men standing there.

"Come with me," he said to them.

Vernon looked excitedly at his friend. "Jay, we can be young again."

"The three of us together – vital and alive – forever," Charlie said, nodding.

"Not so fast!" Dean's voice was a welcome sound in the din as I looked up to see him and Sam strolling casually down the aisle. His eyes flicked to me on the table and there was a simmering anger there which was hidden below the surface of his devil-may-care attitude – all a show.

"I ain't Guttenberg," Dean continued as the men turned to him. "And this ain't Cocoon." They stepped up on to the stage, Jay and Vernon backing to either side of Charlie. Dean waved his gun at them, gesturing for them to move, and raising his eyebrow at the younger man. "Immortality? That's a neat trick."

"It's not a trick. It's magic," Charlie said. I cried out as suddenly a noose dropped down around Dean's neck and lifted him into the air.

"Dean!" Sam yelled, pulling his gun and shooting Charlie. Charlie didn't even move, and I gaped as he caught the bullet in his teeth and spat it out into his hand.

"Hey, bullet catch! Been working on that," Charlie said as he tossed the bullet in the air and then vanished.

"Get him!" Dean said, struggling with the noose, holding it around his neck. Charlie reappeared a short distance away and winked at Sam.

"Let them go, now!" Sam said, advancing on Charlie, gun held out in front of him.

"Just leave me and my friends alone," Charlie said.

"I said now!" Sam demanded, glancing over at me and then up at Dean.

"All right, I will give it up – the spells, the hexes. This is the last time, I promise," Charlie said, holding his hands in the air. Sam hesitated, and then took a swing at him. Charlie vanished, and then reappeared behind Sam. Suddenly another coil of rope appeared and wrapped itself around Sam, trapping his arms to his body.

I looked urgently over at Dean who was still struggling in the noose and I saw that we were trapped, there was no getting out of this. The rope holding the swords at bay started to fray and I gulped, trying once more in vain to escape the restraints.

"No…" Sam said, fighting the ropes that bound him.

Charlie watched as the rope continued to fray and Dean struggled, slowly choking to death. I closed my eyes and put out a silent prayer, calling on Cas to come and help us.

Suddenly there was a gasp as Charlie clutched at his stomach, looking down in surprise. Blood pooled in his hands and when I looked up, I saw Jay standing nearby with a knife thrust into his stomach. He pulled it out, and as he did a spray of blood squirted out from Charlie.

Charlie fell to his knees, clutching at his stomach and Jay pulled the knife out of his, appearing completely unharmed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the deck of tarot cards that Charlie had been carrying before, holding them out in front of him.

"Jay…" Charlie said, looking surprised, reaching into his pocket to pull out a card. "You picked these strangers over me?" Jay's face broke into one of sorrow as Charlie fell dead to the ground, and suddenly Dean was dropped to the floor, the noose and rope around Sam going limp. I found the restraints suddenly freed and I sat up, working at my ankles and swinging off the table just as the swords fell. Dean looked up in alarm and then breathed a sigh of relief when I felt to the floor beside him.

"You okay?" He asked, gasping for breath and I nodded, crawling over to him and allowing him to pull me into his arms.

"Yeah, yeah I'm all right." I looked up just in time to see the blue eyes of Castiel peer out of the shadows at me and I nodded at him, reiterating I'm all right in my mind to him. He nodded at me and then vanished, leaving us as quickly as he had arrived.

The next day
Dean's POV

I leaned against the bathroom wall watching Beth as she rinsed the conditioner from her hair and then applied a lather of the rich vanilla body wash she always used. I smiled, enjoying the sight of her in the hot water as she hummed to herself happily. She turned around and startled a little, not having realised I'd snuck in while she was mid-shampoo.

"Hey," she said with a smile. "You gonna join me?"

"Nah," I said, with a smile. "Just enjoying the view."

"Oh yeah? Anything in particular?" She asked, rinsing the soap from her body and then allowing the water to run down over her hair a little longer, moaning softly as it soothed her body.

"Hmmm, maybe one or two things," I said with a grin, waiting for her to turn off the taps and step out of the shower. I pulled a large towel from the rack and held it open for her and she smiled, stepping into it and allowing me to wrap it around her, pinning her to my body so I could kiss her lips.

"These are good," I said as I sucked softly on her lower lip, "and your eyes, I love your eyes."

Beth giggled and pulled away, taking another towel and tying it turban style around her long hair to keep it from dripping everywhere.

"Well, they're about the only things that aren't going to get old and wither away with time," she said with a grin while she undid the towel and started to dry herself off.

"Yeah, right," I said, frowning slightly. "Did you think about that Grimoire? What we said about living to an old age?"

"Yeah, it did come to mind," Beth admitted with a nod. "Of course."

"Would you do it?" I asked. "If it meant we could be together forever?"

"We will be together forever," she answered, moving closer to me and draping her arms around my neck. "It doesn't matter how long we live, Dean. Not really. Because it's our eternal life we need to worry about," she said. "And I know that you and I are going to be together again, in Heaven, no matter when we die."

"You really believe that?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Of course," she replied with a smile. "We were married in a church, under the blessing of God, and took vows of forever. Not even death can separate us Dean."

I smiled and nuzzled at her nose. "I like that," I said, even though I wasn't sure I fully believed it. "Just the same, I want a nice long life with you."

Beth smiled and nodded.

There was a knock at the door and I silently cursed whoever it was interrupting. Was I never going to get to have this conversation with Beth?

"Yeah?" I yelled out as Beth pulled away and walked into the bedroom of the hotel room.

Sam opened the door and stuck his head in with troubled look.

"Hey guys," he said, entering and closing the door behind him.

Beth looked up and flashed Sam a smile. "Hey Sammy, everything okay?"

"Uh yeah, sure, just got a few things on my mind," he said dismissively and she nodded.

"I saw Jay down in the bar on my way up, he looks kind of depressed," Sam said.

"Well the man did just lose one of his best friends," I said, tossing a few things into my bag as Beth grabbed some clothes and walked back into the bathroom to change.

"Yeah, I know … listen, Dean, I wanted to thank you," Sam said and I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Thank me for what?"

"You know, for always being there for me, you and Beth, and I know you guys do a lot, sacrifice a lot to keep our family together and I just wanted to say, thanks… it's important, and I'm sorry I give you a hard time over it. I know it hasn't been easy. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you guys though," he said and I swallowed, taking that in.

"Wow, that's really… chick flicky," I said with a smirk and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Really Dean? I tell you all that and you get smart with me?"

"Hey, you know what I'm like!" I said with a laugh. Sam smiled and nodded, shaking his head. My mind turned to our little brother and how we needed to keep an eye on him. He'd been around Ruby lately, but from what I could tell that had changed, he'd told her to leave. I believed him. Still, how long would that last if I took Beth and tried to make at a normal life?

Maybe we needed to deal with one thing at a time, and right now that thing was putting an end to the upcoming apocalypse. Once that was dealt with, maybe then we could settle down, Sam included, and have a real life.

Beth walked out of the bathroom and smiled. "So, we all done here?" She asked.

"Yeah," I said with a nod, watching the way her curves moved as she walked. "Let's go talk to Jay."

Sam's POV

Jay was nursing a drink and flipping a deck of cards at a table when we arrived and he looked up at us, sorrow in his eyes.

"Hey Jay," Dean said as we walked up. "We wanted to thank you, for what you did yesterday."

"I killed my best friend yesterday, and you want to thank me?" Jay asked, silencing whatever else we'd been about to say. I looked around, frowning.

"Where's Vernon?" I asked.

"Oh, he's gone. He said he didn't want to speak to me again after what I did to Charlie."

I cringed, thinking about how Beth had said Vernon had been willing to go along with Charlie and kill us for his chance to be young again.

"Listen, Jay… you know Charlie was never gonna give up what he was doing. Ever. You did the right thing," Dean said.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked, looking up at us. "You know, Charlie was like my brother. And now he's dead… because I did 'the right thing.'" Jay stood up, putting the deck of cards on the table and swaying slightly on his feet. "He offered me a gift, and I just threw it back in his face. So now I have to spend the rest of my life old and alone. What's so right about that?" He asked, looking at us and then walking away.

Something about what he said struck me hard in the stomach. Something Ruby had said about me sacrificing my gift just so I could do the right thing: the right thing as determined by Dean and Beth, the two people I wanted to protect. I thought about how I wanted them to grow old, have a family, how much they both wanted that too. What if Ruby was right? What if I could put an end to all this now? What if I could give Dean and Beth the future they so desperately wanted, even if they wouldn't admit it to themselves?

"Jay," the bartender said with a smile as she came to collect the glass left on the table. "Your cards," she held up his deck and Jay turned back with a sullen face.

"Throw them away," he said, and he turned and walked out of the bar.

We stood there in silence for a moment, each of us lost in our own thoughts, and I suddenly knew what I had to do. What I'd been wanting to do all this time, but had been afraid of.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but… I could go for a beer," Dean said, looking from Beth to me as he slipped his arm around her waist. Beth nodded and they looked at me, an unspoken question in their eyes.

I swallowed, trying to push back the guilt even as it rose in my chest. "I'm uh… I'm gonna take a walk," I said quietly.

"You okay?" Beth asked, reaching out a hand to stroke it along my cheek with a concerned look.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. You guys, you both have a few drinks, enjoy a little downtime. I'll be back in a bit okay?"

Beth nodded and looked at Dean who shrugged and then led her over to the bar. I watched them take a couple of stools at the worn wooden counter and order some shots, smiles crossing their faces as they talked and Dean reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind Beth's ear while she smiled back at him.

I sighed, heading for the door and as soon as I was out of sight I pulled out my phone, dialling.

Within half an hour she was pulling up beside me several streets over, and I had to admit that I wasn't unhappy to see Ruby again, her dark hair and eyes watching me warily as I opened the passenger side door of her car, looking in at her.

"Okay," I said as she looked at me expectantly. "I'm in." I climbed into the car and closed the door.

"What changed your mind?" She asked and I sighed, looking back at her.

"I don't want to be doing this when I'm an old man. I want Dean and Beth to have a real life, to have a family. If I can stop this, I'm gonna stop this…and they can go live out their lives in Indiana or wherever they want, not having to worry about the end of the world."

Ruby nodded and put the car in drive, and as we pulled away into the night I felt a resolve blanket me like a comforting old friend, I could do this, I had been made to do this.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Song for this chapter is: Aftermath by Lifehouse

After School Special is coming up next, and I have been dying to do this one for so long because we get to see Dean and Beth nine months after she joins the Winchesters. Yay!

I skipped over Family Remains and it'll feature a little later on, possibly as an early relationship or pre-relationship hunt for Dean and Beth.

Please leave a review, they always make my day