ixistargirl89ixi: thanks so much for the sweet review!
Morgan Elizabeth Jacobs: as always, thanks for reviewing 3
Here's Chapter 23. This one's a bit short because it's kind of an in between chapter. It might be a little bit after this one because I want to work on the other Supernatural story I'm working on with the above mentioned, so check in on that one if you can't wait for more Emma and the Winchester brothers!

CHAPTER 23

When Emma opened her eyes the next morning, the sunlight was falling into the Impala, heating the inside like an oven. Her body was pressed against Dean's, a blanket thrown over them. They were both sweaty, and Emma could feel her skin burning under the glare of the sunlight. As she rolled over, her back now pressed against Dean's chest, she felt him stir, and his arm tighten around her. She leaned forward and started sifting through the clothing on the ground.

"What are you looking for?" Dean's voice was thick and groggy. Emma smiled and tapped his hand lightly.

"Phone. I want to know what time it is."

"Morning." Dean replied and pulled her tighter to him so she couldn't lean down anymore. Emma laughed and rolled over again in his arms to face him. It was interesting. Emma normally, should someone be stopping her from doing anything really, would have snapped at them, or pulled away anyways. With Dean it was different. She only smiled and kissed him. He leaned down and covered her mouth with his, his tongue sliding past her bottom lip and sliding across her skin as she let out a little gasping moan.

"Dean we don't have time."

"Sure we do." He mumbled into her skin as he kissed her neck. Emma groaned and pushed him. Every millimeter she pushed him away the harder it got. Finally, Dean laughed and sat up.

"It's hotter than Hell," he complained, "and I would know."

A sharp knock on the window brought the two out of their wrestling match as she tried to pull him back down to her. Both of them looked up at Sam who was averting his eyes obviously, his hand alongside his eyes. Emma laughed and waved to him. "C'mon you guys, ew." Sam's muffled voice said. "Get up. Ruby's gone." Emma and Dean exchanged a look and quickly as they were undressed, the two were pulling on their clothes and walking into the barn.

"I don't know man..." Sam was saying. "Where's Ruby?" Dean shrugged his shoulders and took a drink from his flask.

"Hey, she's you Hell buddy." Emma was combing her fingers through her hair, trying with little success to pile it all on top of her head and tie it. When it was finally done, strands of hair was falling in her face. She leaned against the bar wall and sighed.

"Little early for that, isn't it?" Anna asked, indicating the flask in his hand. Emma walked over and took it from him, before taking a swallow and going back to stand by the door. She kept her gun in her hand.

"It's two am somewhere," Dean replied.

"You okay?" Anna asked. Dean looked at her.

"Yeah, of course."

"Guys –" but Emma couldn't finish her sentence before the door was blasted open, knocking Emma back off her feet and clear across the barn. She hit the ground with an "oof!" and lied there for a minute as she heard two pairs of footsteps coming in the door. Castiel and Uriel. "Ow." She said to them harshly as she stood up, propping herself against a bale of hay as she did so. Neither of them looked at her.

"Hello, Anna. It's good to see you." Castiel was telling the girl. She stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"How?" Sam asked, confused. He was moving to stand in front of Anna, but she stopped him with a holding up of her hand. "How did you find us?" There was a pause. "Dean?" Emma looked over at Dean, her chest rising slowly as she took in a deep breath, mainly to keep from yelling at him.

"I'm sorry." He said to Anna. Sam's face fell.

"Why?"

Anna gave a little smile. "Because they gave him a choice." She said, "They either kill me... or they kill you. I know how their minds work." Emma frowned only a bit, and the question Why not me? Came across her mind, its existence confusing her more than the question itself. Anna leaned down and kissed Dean on the lips. Emma's eyebrows lifted and she started stepping forward. When Anna leaned back, she was smiling.

"You did the best you could. I forgive you. Okay." Emma glared at her as she made eye contact with the angel. Anna almost blushed. "No more tricks. No more running. I'm ready."

Emma's finger was getting trigger happy there, twitching against the gun on her hip. She longed to pull it out, to blow them all away, and leave with the boys and Anna. This was not how they did things. Emma Gordon never lost – the Winchester brothers never lost. Why was this happening now?

"I'm sorry." Castiel said to Anna as he stepped forward. Emma stood back by the wall, Dean and Sam on the other, and watched. She almost felt a tear prickle in her eye, but it didn't fall.

"No you're not." Anna replied, "Not really. You don't know the feeling." Emma wondered again what it would be like to be an angel, to never feel anything. All the pain that she had been through in her life, to watch it all unfold as if it were nothing. To not care.

"Still," Castiel said to her. Anna looked away and then back at him. Emma made a move to walk forward, but Dean held his hand out and caught her arm. "We have a history. It's just-"

"Orders are orders. I know. Just make it quick." Emma turned her head, grimacing as she waited for what was to come. Dean's hand clenched against her arm. She had really started to like this girl – and that's what happens was what a little voice told her in the back of her head.

The flash of light Emma expected never came, and when she looked back up three demons had appeared across the barn from the angels. Emma's eyebrow widened when she saw the bleeding Ruby standing with them, Alastair with a hold of her upper arm.

"Don't you touch a hair on the poor girl's head." Alastair said mockingly. He threw Ruby off of him, and she stumbled to the side. Emma watched as she grimaced, and remained standing next to Dean. The demon's eyes swept across the room and Dean positioned himself more in front of Emma, putting his arm around her waist. She felt her breath speed up just a bit, and felt as if her stomach were piercing itself. Hunched over, against Dean's shoulder, grunting, she let her breath out slowly. Shit.

"How dare you come in this room, you pussing sore?" Uriel demanded, and mercifully, Emma felt her stomach pain go away. She coughed a little, ignoring the red spots on the back of her hand as she did so. Blood.

"Name-calling. That hurt my feelings... you sanctimonious fanatical prick." Dean spared a moment to turn around and look at Emma. She nodded her head, her gun in her hand. Emma felt very much like she was simply watching a show, unable to do much. Small fish in a great big pond.

"Turn around and walk away now." Cas said, tilting his head to the side.

"Sure," Alastair replied, flashing the angel a smile. Just give us the girl. We'll make sure she gets punished good and proper."

"You know who we are and what we will do." Castiel continued. Emma and Dean exchanged a look and Dean backed up a step, is arm still around her waist so she was forced to back up with him. "Leave now... or we lay you to waste."

"Think I'll take my chances." Alastair said, and that was how it all started. The angels and demons in the room began to fight. Castiel tried to exorcise Alastair, his hand on his forehead, but nothing seemed to be happening. Emma rushed forward and pulled Cas from Alastair's reach before the demon could punch him, and deflected the punch with her arm. In a moment she was hitting the demon in the face, pushing him up against a wall. He was too strong though. Alastair flipped them so that he was holding Emma up against the wall by her neck. Emma choked and struggled, as he began to chant. "Potestas infeerna, me confirma..."

He had only gotten that far, though, before the demon was hit off her with a crowbar. Emma coughed and looked up to see Dean holding it in his hand.

"Dean, Dean, Dean ... I am so disappointed. You had such promise." Sam came to throw a punch from the side as Alastair attacked the two of them. Such promise? Emma turned her head and saw Ruby on the ground, coughing and retching. A spot of blood appeared on the ground. Emma rushed over and grabbed her upper arm, pulling her into the doorway.

"You okay?" Before Ruby could respond, there was a shout of "NO!" from the other end of the barn. A white light filled the room.

"Shut your eyes! Shut your eyes!" Anna screamed and Emma could only hope the boys were listening to her as she threw her arm over her eyes and hunched down on the ground.

A moment later, there was only silence. The sound of quick breathing was the only inclination that there were even beings still in the barn. Emma and Ruby stood up, and turned to look at the men and angels staring at each other. Alastair was gone, Ruby's knife on the ground.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" Dean asked mockingly. "Go get Anna. Unless, of course, you're scared."

"This isn't over." Uriel snarled.

"Oh it looks over to me, honey." Emma said, her eyes narrowed. Uriel only smirked at her.

"Enjoy your last months." And the two of them were gone. Emma felt as if she had been hit in the chest with a hammer. She swallowed as she stared at the piece of barn where the angels had been standing. Months?

"You okay?" Sam asked as he walked over to Ruby. Dean stood there looking at Emma the two of them looking at each other's eyes. Emma bit her bottom lip and ran her hand through her hair.

"Not so much." Ruby said.

"What took you so long to get here?" Dean asked, still looking at Emma. He tore his gaze away and looked at Ruby.

"Sorry I'm late with the demon delivery. I was only being tortured." she shot back.

"Bringing Heaven and Hell together, huh Sam?" Emma asked. She leaned against the barn wall, putting her guns back in their place. "Good plan – gotta hand it to you."

"Well," Sam said sheepishly, but he was smiling, "When you got Godzilla and Mothra on your ass you might as well let them duke it out."

"Now you're just bragging."

Emma climbed out of her truck as the two cars stopped at a "view stop" on the side of the road. Sam was sitting on the hood of the Impala with a beer in his hand. Dean was leaning against the side of the car. When Emma walked up he handed her a beer and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Sam politely turned his head.

Emma looked down at her phone and frowned when she saw that she had three missed calls. With a "be right back" to the boys, she walked away and lit a cigarette, answering her phone when it rang the fourth time. "Hey Maggie."

"Do you have any idea how many times I've called you?" the woman said angrily on the other end of the phone.

"Sorry, Mags. I was kind of in angel and demon trouble."

"You guys okay? Sam and Dean alright?"

"Yeah we're fine."

The two of them chatted on the phone for a while. Emma was leaning against the side of her truck, filling Maggie in on what the three had been doing. Maggie had laughed in joy when Emma told her about Dean, and growled low under her breath when she talked about Alastair and Sarah inside of her.

"Seems like you need a day off." Maggie said sympathetically after Emma had finished. The blonde felt like she needed to cry.

"I've only got a few months to live, apparently." Emma said bitterly. "A few months until Sarah comes back."

"Well we'll have to find a solution, right? Since when does anything beat you?" But even Maggie sounded apprehensive. "Listen," she continued. "I just left New Jersey a couple days ago. I was headed to Bobby's house to borrow a book. How about I meet up with you and we have dinner. Think you could hang tight for a couple days?"

"I don't know what Dean-"

"Fuck Dean. Let's have a girls night. It'll be great. We'll get fucked up and run around and we can talk about boys and maybe I'll wrestle you into a dress?"

"Good luck with that." Emma said and laughed, taking another drag from her cigarette.

Sam, meanwhile, was looking at his brother as Dean leaned his head down and pressed his fingers to his forehead.

"How I feel... This... inside me... I wish I couldn't feel anything, Sammy. I wish I couldn't feel a damn thing." His brother was saying as he cried. Sam leaned over and grasped his shoulder tightly, his veins popping out in his hand. This broke Sam's heart. Dean had always been the one who held on, no matter what. Dean was the one who pushed through anything. Sam was always the one who needed to be taken care of – and now that it was on Sam to do something, he wasn't sure what he could do. "And now Emma... Jesus, Sam. She's such a good woman. I love her, shit if I ever believed I'd say it, but I do. And now..."

"Months," Sam said and nodded. "Have you told her about Hell?" Sam asked, suddenly curious. Dean shook his head. "About what happened?" he shook his head again and sniffed, taking a long sip from his beer. The sound of Emma's laughter as she spoke to her best friend rang through the air and he sighed.

"No. She's got enough on her plate right now. I don't want to add my crap on top of it."

"You should tell her. She'd want you to." Dean shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"Nah," was all he said. Emma came walking back over, her phone in her hand.

"Maggie wants to talk to you." She said to Sam and watched with a smile as he picked up the phone and walked away toward Emma's truck. Emma flicked her cigarette out on the ground and took Dean's beer, taking a sip from it. She had finished hers over the phone. "Hey," she said to him as she rested her hands on his chest. Dean smiled.

"Hey."

"Have you been crying?" Emma asked, squinting at his face. Dean pulled his face back and frowned at her.

"No. Who do you think I am? I'm fine, angel." Emma opened her mouth to say something, but Dean pressed his lips against hers, quieting her in a second. She laughed against his lips, wrapping her arms around his chest. They were lost for god knows how long, holding onto each other and kissing each other with a hungry fierceness that could only come after nearly meeting your death. Emma was the first to pull away, leaning her head on Dean's forehead. He kissed her temple softly.

"I love you," Dean whispered. His eyes were closed as he smelled her hair. Emma closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. Her eyes were wide open. She was staring out into the sun.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

"Emma open the door!" Maggie shouted as she walked up to Bobby's front door. She was holding a dress slung over her shoulder. The familiar sight of the Impala in the drive told her for sure there was someone here. Her own truck towered over their car. "I've been calling you all morning – why won't you answer?" Before she could even knock on the door, it swung open. Maggie flashed her dazzling smile to Sam who was standing in the doorway. He looked her up and down briefly and she grinned, striking a pose for him.

"Like the new do?" she had piled her bright red hair on top of her head. Her eyes were lined in eyeliner, her lips a bright red to match her hair. On her body she wore a black and white striped shirt and a pair of tight jeans. She was teasing him. She knew her hair looked awful, but Sam only nodded.

"It looks great." He said uncomfortably. Maggie smiled and pushed past him into Bobby's house.

"Where's Bobby?" she asked as she walked in.

"The Bahamas or something," Sam replied as he followed her into the kitchen. Dean was grabbing another bottle of whiskey from the cupboard, already half drunk. Sam sighed.

"Well this one knows when the party starts," she smiled. "How you doin' Dean?" Dean didn't answer her.

Maggie wasn't stupid. The moment she had walked into the house she had known there was something up. Something off. Something wrong. "Where's Emma?" she finally asked, half suspiciously, half in the mode she was always in – joking.

"Gone." Dean's voice was raspy. He shrugged his shoulders and took another swallow from the whiskey. Sam put his head in his hands as he sat down. "Emma's gone."

Emma was flying down the freeway at speeds unknown to man. Early the morning before she had woken up in Dean's arms, climbed out of them, and left a note on the door. Dean hadn't stirred by the time she was out the drive and onto the road.

But she had seen Sam.

"I have to, Sam." She said, pleadingly as he tried to stop her at the door. "I can't be here. I have to find a way to stop this."

"This is gonna crush Dean." Sam said, sighing. "Please don't make me tell him." Emma had leaned forward and put her arms around his neck. She choked back to urge to cry when he hugged her back and she felt that sting of pain in her stomach.

"Take care of him. Take care of yourself." She had said, and out the door she went, bag slung across her back.

"Wait!" Sam had called, running out the door after her. "Are you coming back?"

Emma turned around and stared at Sam for the longest time. She saw a glimpse of Bobby in his bedroom window, but he didn't say anything. She sighed.

"No."

You're not going to cry. She was telling herself this over and over again. Castiel had appeared once in her truck the day before, but she had sent him packing before he even had a chance to open his mouth. She was done with him. Done with his lying and backstabbing. "You had been prepared to throw Dean back into Hell, for fuck's sake! You told me I wasn't possessed! You lied to me, to all of us!" she had screamed at him. "Get the hell out of my car." And with that, he had gone.

Her phone was lying in a ditch somewhere. She would need to buy a new one. Emma was once again alone – completely alone.

And that was how it was meant to be. That was how she knew it needed to be.

Oh noooo! I'll have another one up soon. Before I update this one tho I'm going to update the story I'm working on with lovely Morgan (a couple chapters). So keep a lookout for that one and then check back around here sometime. :) Thanks for reading everyone! And please review and thanks to those who already have. It means a lot to me.