CHAPTER 29

"You okay?" Emma was asking Dean as she got dressed the next morning. Maggie and Sam were out searching for breakfast and filling the cars up with gas. When Dean didn't answer, just sat on the edge of the bed, Emma made her way over and straddled his lap. "Hey, earth to Dean. I asked if you were okay?"

Dean came back to the world with a jolt, his hands roaming her lower back. "Yeah," he said with an easy smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just all this weird stuff lately y'know?" He wasn't going to tell her about what Chuck had written. She would leave again for sure if she knew. But he was going to find a way around it, and was brushing the premonition off his shoulder as easily as he could – of course it would have been easier to get superglue off his shoulder.

"I know," Emma said with a reassuring smile. She kissed his forehead as he kissed her upper chest.

"We could, you know," Dean said. Emma frowned, "We could make everything go right back to normal. We could forget you ever left – that any of it happened." Emma cocked her head to the side and looked down. "That's what you said you wanted right?"

"I've never been one to run away from confrontation." She said matter-of-factly, "And I don't want it coming back to bite us in the ass later when we're all angry and bitter and old." Dean laughed under his breath.

He said nothing as he leaned up to kiss her.

"So…" Sam said as they entered Chuck's house. Chuck was holding a new handful of papers. Emma glanced at them suspiciously, but no one looked at them more warily than Dean. "You wrote another chapter?"

Chuck's face fell even further if that was possible. "This was all so much easier before you were real." He whined.

"We can take it, just spit it out." Dean said, rolling his eyes.

"You especially are not gonna like this."

Dean's flat face didn't change. "I didn't like hell."

"What is it, Chuck?" Maggie asked. She was perched in one of his armchairs, her knees up to her chest. Wide blue eyes blinked at the writer with curiosity.

"It's Lilith… she's coming for Sam… tonight."

"What?" Emma asked sharply.

"Uh, let's see…" he picked up the new papers off the table he had set them down on and adjusted his glasses on his face. "'Lilith patted the bed seductively. Unable to deny his desire, Sam succumbed, and they sank into the throes of fiery demonic passion.'" Emma made a face. Sam started laughing. Maggie stood up from the chair.

"You think this is funny?" she demanded, raising an eyebrow. For once, she was dead serious.

"You guys don't?" he asked incredulously, "I mean… come on! 'Fiery demonic passion'?"

"It's just a first draft." Chuck said defensively.

"What happens after?" Emma asked.

"I don't know, hasn't come to me yet."

"Look," Emma said, her hands out, "Why don't we just take a look at these and see what's what." As she held out her hand, she realized Chuck already had them out toward her. "You-"

"Knew you were going to ask for that yeah." Emma nodded, shrugging her shoulders and handing the papers to Dean, before the four of them turned to leave.

"Emma?" Chuck's voice came from behind her as she went to close the door. She turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Look," Chuck ran his hand through his hair and stood up. His hands shook a bit and he looked down at the floor. "I'm really sorry about all of this. About everything you've been through. I don't blame you for running, I just…" he frowned, "I just don't think you should leave again." Emma frowned deeply, waving her hand behind her when Dean honked the horn.

"What does that mean?"

"Please don't leave Dean and Sam again. They're gonna need you… I don't know why I know that. I just do." Emma nodded at Chuck slowly, before giving him a little smile and climbing down the stairs toward the cars.

This whole situation with Chuck just got weirder. Who knew?

-+s+-

Sam and Dean sat in the front seat, Maggie leaned forward to read the chapter over his shoulder. Emma was absently running her fingers along the back of Dean's neck.

"I'm gonna crash if you keep doing that angel." He said playfully and she kissed the back of his head, leaning her forehead on the back of the seat. A headache had hit again.

"Dean, come on." Sam was saying, '"The minivan accident wasn't that bad, but Dean was still seeing stars. He scratched absently at the pink flower Band-Aids on his face.'"

"So?"

"Dean, we've seen you gushing blood. You'd use duct tape and bar rags before you'd put on a pink flower Band-Aid."

"All of this is totally implausible." Sam said, "It's nuts."

"I don't know that we should just be leaving, Dean." Maggie said. "I mean, don't get me wrong – we're not ready for Lilith, but if we could just get a little bit of her blood…"

"No." Emma shook her head, but didn't lift it up. "No way we're staying here, not ready for Lilith in any way, shape, or form, and risking everything just to get a little bit of her blood that we don't even know is going to do anything."

"What seems to be the problem?" Emma lifted her eyes into the sun and saw a deputy leaning down toward Dean's window.

"Bridge is out ahead. Afraid nobody's leaving town until we get it fixed."

"Is there a detour?" Dean asked.

"Nope. To get out of town you have to cross the river, and to cross the river you have to take the bridge."

"How deep's the bridge?" Emma shook her head and leaned it back down on the back of the seat.

"Sorry, afraid y'all are gonna have to spend the night in town." Maggie leaned back in the seat, one hand on her forehead as Dean cursed, turning the car around.

"I'm starting to wonder why we came back." Maggie said as she left the diner bathroom stall, walking over to the sink and turning it on. "Everything was a lot simpler when it was just us out there. Again."

"A lot sadder, too." Emma said, smiling a little. She was leaning against the wall of the bathroom, arms crossed over her chest. She ran a paper towel over her hunting knife. When she was satisfied with how clean it was she tucked it back into her belt. Maggie was fixing her makeup.

"Well yeah." Maggie replied, globbing on more mascara. There was a bit of a silence. "How are you and Dean? You're not really talking a lot."

"He wants to go back to the way things were before." Emma replied. She looked in the mirror and, licking her thumb, rubbed a bit of dirt off her cheek. "Like he just outright said it. Forget it ever happened."

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I thought it was. I mean, yeah, it'd be nice to go back to all that. We were pretty mushy in the beginning but it was nice to have him close all the time and to hear the gross things he had to say." She laughed and looked down at her hands. "But I don't know how we can."

"You don't even touch him as much."

"My headaches are getting worse again." Emma said, shrugging her shoulders. "I can feel my defenses weakening. I can't hold her off forever. Every second that she's still here he's in danger. So yeah, I'd like to go back to sleeping all curled up together or going everywhere together all the time and all of that... but any second I could hurt any of you." Maggie opened her mouth, "And I'm not gonna leave. I promised I wouldn't. But it doesn't make me any less dangerous." There was a bit of a pause before Emma grinned mischievously, "How are you and Sam?"

"What do you mean?" Maggie asked in surprise. Emma smiled at her friend, lifting her eyebrows. She knew what Maggie was trying to do with Sam. She also knew that it was probably going to work, and that Maggie would be in the wind the next day. Emma didn't want that to happen to someone she cared so much about.

"You know what I mean. Maggie, don't lead him on and get all involved if you're just gonna leave. I'm watching you."

Maggie gave a little sigh and leaned against the bathroom sink, looking at her friend for a few moments. "You know your birthday's tomorrow." She said, changing the subject quickly. Emma looked at her friend sternly.

"No."

"Emmaaaaaaaa," Maggie whined, pouting at her. "Please? You never let me plan parties for you!" She leaned forward and folded her hands in front of her. "Pleeeeaaassseee?" Finally sighing, Emma leaned her head back.

"Small." She said stubbornly, "Something very small. A little dinner. A drink. Something small. I don't have anything against birthdays but I really don't want a big deal made out of it. Okay?"

Maggie grinned at her and winked. "You got it."

As the two of them walked out from the bathroom and met the boys at their table, Emma was surprised to see that the food was already there. She sat down next to Dean, Maggie next to Sam, and looked down at the food she had gotten. "What is this?" she asked Dean.

"Bacon and cheese."

"Sounds good." Emma said with a smile. At least he wasn't going to be one of those boyfriends that tried to get her to go on a kale diet.

"Yeah. I figured if I can't have one, someone should." Sam laughed. Emma picked up a fry and ate it.

"Why can't you have one?"

"We're staying off the books. Sam and I can't fight, no research for Sam, anything the book says we are gonna do, we're not going to." Emma nodded and shrugged her shoulders. Made sense. Emma leaned over to kiss Dean quickly on the mouth, but he held his hand out and stopped her.

"No kissing either. We kiss a lot in here." Emma just scowled and took a bite of her burger.

"You know, Dean, for the first time we have warning that Lilith is close." Sam said out of the blue.

"So?"

"So we've got the jump on her. If we know when she's coming, we know where she's – this is an opportunity." Emma watched the two try desperately not to fight, giggling to herself. Sam glared at her playfully.

"It frustrates me when you say such reckless things." Dean said awkwardly as he picked up his burger. "Tofu," he said to Emma with a grimace. She smiled. "I'm not hiding, Sam. I'm being smart. I'm picking our battles. This is a battle we are not ready to fight." Dean took a big bite of his burger and the three of them watched as his eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, my god!" he said with an open mouth, "This is delicious! Tofu is amazing!" Maggie leaned over and looked at his burger, before bursting out into fits of laughter. "What?"

"That's the bacon cheeseburger, honey." Emma said softly as she took it out of his hand. She handed the one she was given to him. "Looks like she gave you the wrong one."

Sam leaned back in his chair and scowled.

-+s+-

Maggie was driving down an out of town road humming to herself and tapping on the steering wheel. The book said that the truck was going to get a flat tire or something, but it had to be just past a gas station. So here Maggie was, conducting an illegal offroading exercise where there couldn't possibly be a gas station anywhere around. It wasn't ethical, to be tearing down these people's corn like this. But hey, it was all for the good of the car.

Dean and Emma, meanwhile, were parking the Impala. Sam had been left at a hotel, with hex bags and a lack of a laptop while they went out to take care of that. The two of them got out of the car, Emma stretching and jogging across the street. When she got to the sidewalk she struck a match, lighting a cigarette and leaning against the brick wall as Dean checked the windows and walked across the street to meet her.

"That's bad for you." Dean said, like he always did. Emma only raised her eyebrows at him with a smile. She kissed her fingers, bringing them to his lips as he laughed. "This sucks."

"Mm," Emma said, still smiling at him. The two of them looked at each other for a while, both thinking not-so-pleasant thoughts regarding their predicament, but still happy to be with each other again.

"I do want things to go back to the way they were." Emma finally said to him. She took another drag and flicked her ashes. "I don't know if it'll work, or how long it will, but…" she sighed and smiled a tiny sad smile at him, "I'd like to just …" she bit her bottom lip before Dean heaved a great sigh.

"Fuck it." He said and kissed her.

"You'll wear those shoes and I'll wear that dress. Kiss me beneath the milky twilight. Lead me out on the moonlit floor, lift your open hand. Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance…" Maggie sang loudly, turning the radio up and blasting it out the open windows. She had found an old abandoned dirt road, stretching out for miles. Here Maggie was going to camp out for the time being. The book had also said something scary terrible was going to happen to her. Maggie didn't dig scary terrible. "silver moon sparkling. So kiss me."

As Maggie rounded the corner, her eyes went wide and the brakes of the Chevy pickup squealed. A blonde woman was standing in the middle of the road she was flying down, her hand out. The car beneath Maggie suddenly lifted into the air, and it was spinning through the air, tossing Maggie this way and that through the cab of the truck. A flutter of wings was the last thing she heard before her head hit the steering wheel and she blacked out. A crash and boom! and that was it for her.

Crash! One of the teenagers across the street dropped a bottle, which caused Dean to detach himself from Emma and turn around. "Hey!" he shouted and took off across the road.

"Dean!" but her shout was too late. A van came speeding down the road and before Dean had time to move out of the way, he was hit and knocked to the ground.

It only took a few moments for Dean to wake back up. As he did, he mumbled "stars" and Emma looked up to see a woman with long star shaped earrings looking down at him.

"I'm so sorry," the woman was saying to Emma as she supported his head under her hand. "I didn't even see him. Are you okay?" she directed her attention back to Dean. "I'm so sorry… he's-"

"An idiot." Emma cut her off with a smile. "It's really okay. He'll be fine."

"My daughter's going through a doctor phase." Emma looked down at where a little girl was kneeled next to her, and her eyes widened when she saw what the girl was putting on Dean's face. Flower band-aids.

"Really, he's okay. We're gonna go now. Thanks so much for your kindness. It's really not a big deal he's fine." Emma was saying as the woman was overly apologizing, again and again. Emma pulled Dean to his feet and the two of them walked over to the Impala. The back window was blown out.

"Oh no."

Emma frowned as she looked at the back window of the car and jumped as she felt her phone start to ring. "Hello?"

"Emma? Thank God you're okay." It was Bobby. "Listen, the cops in your area just called me, said they found a car under my name just outside of town by an old gas station. Said they found a girl passed out there."

"Maggie has the car!" Emma exclaimed, and looked at Dean in horror. He raised his eyebrows in question. "Did they say if she's okay?" her heart was about to come out of her chest.

"She's alright. They're bringing her to the hospital for some checks but they said she's completely fine, which is surprising." Emma leaned against the car, breathing hard.

"Why is that surprising, Bobby?"

"Your car's totaled, Emma. I'm sorry."

"Take the Impala." Dean said, his jaw clenched. He was fuming. "Go get Maggie from the hospital and meet me back at the motel." He started walking off, tossing band-aids on the ground as he walked away.

"Where are you going?" Emma cried.

"To see our friend Chuck!"

Emma hated hospitals. They were cold and white, too clean. She was jogging through the hospital halls, until she reached the urgent care unit. "Maggie?" she called down the hall. A nurse came out to greet her.

"You must be Emma." The nurse told her. Emma nodded. "She's been waiting for you."

"Yeah, okay, thanks. Just give me my clothes back please? I'm fine. Really. Not a scatch."

"Maggie!" as Emma rushed into the room, she saw Maggie standing at the side of her bed, her hands on her hips, arguing with a nurse who was trying to get her to sit back down.

"Emma!"

"I can take it from here, nurse. Thanks." Emma said calmly with a smile. "You okay?" she whispered as the nurses were leaving the room. "They said they found you by an old gas station. I thought we were staying away from those!"

"I was down some dirt road I had no idea it was gonna be there." Maggie said miserably. She sat back down on the edge of the bed. "Emma, I'm real sorry about the truck. It was Lilith, she was in the middle of the road and she flung the truck like it was nothing."

"Lilith was there?" Emma's eyebrows shot up as she grabbed Maggie's clothes from the chair and handed them to her before going to stand by the door. "How did you make it out of there."

"I'm assuming our angel friend is in town, too." Maggie said, tugging her shirt over her head. "Heard wings and the next thing I know I wake up in an ambulance without a scratch on me. But I know I hit my head on the steering wheel…. Emma… I'm really sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Emma said. She meant it. "We'll get the truck fixed up, and we'll just hitch a ride in the Impala for now. You're okay and that's what matters. I'm serious, Maggie. Forget about it."

Maggie was nodding, though still looking sullen, as she came out from behind the curtain. Her clothes were rumpled. "Okay." She said.

-+s+-

As Emma and Maggie pulled up to the motel, Maggie ominously pointed out that the sign had changed to the "RED" Motel. Emma sighed and parked the Impala carefully before jumping out of the car and running up to the door. She could hear Sam and Dean yelling at each other inside.

"Chuck is not a psychic – he's a prophet!" Dean was yelling as Emma and Maggie pushed open the door.

"What?" Sam and Emma said at the same time.

"Cas showed up, and apparently Chuck is writing the gospel of us." Dean looked over at Maggie. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding her head.

"What happened to Maggie?" Sam demanded as Maggie retreated into the bathroom, grabbing another outfit on the way.

"Lilith crashed the damn truck." Emma shot at Sam, fuming. "We need to get the hell out of here."

"No." Sam said stubbornly. Emma let out her breath and stepped forward up to his chest.

"Lilith is gonna slaughter you." She said angrily.

"Maybe she will, maybe she won't."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Emma shouted. "You think you can take her?" Dean put his hands on his head and turned toward the door. "Sam… I saw what you did! You ripped Alastair apart like it was nothing – like you were swatting a fly."

"Cas told me." Dean said as he turned around and stared at his brother. "He told me you've been using your psychic crap, and you've been getting stronger. We just don't know why, and we don't know how." Emma hung her head and went to get Maggie out of the bathroom. As she pulled her friend toward the door, she heard Dean slam a bag onto the floor, before slamming the door behind the three.

"I need to sleep for a minute." Maggie said to Emma as they walked toward the Impala.

"Of course," Emma said and lowered her friend into the backseat, covering her with a blanket before closing the door and walking over to Dean, who was standing at a vending machine. Her head was starting to pound again, and as she leaned against a pillar she heard laughter ricocheting across her brain. Sarah.

"Prayer is a sign of faith." Castiel's voice came from her right and she turned toward him. Cas walked over to her and placed his fingers on her forehead, leaving Emma to gasp in relief as her headache disappeared. Brushing the tears from her eyes from the pain, she just looked at him.

"I can't interfere with a prophecy." He was saying to Dean in response to something that Dean said. He came to stand next to Emma.

Emma began fuming again. "You have tested Dean. You have thrown him. You've asked him to do something he never should have had to do. We've never asked for your help unless we desperately needed it. And even then you lied and didn't help us." Castiel looked away

"Now I'm asking." Dean said, pleadingly, "I need your help. Please."

"What you're asking… it's not within my power to do." Castiel said. His face fell.

"Why, because it's some divine prophecy?" Dean demanded. "Screw you. You and your mission. Your God." Castiel backed up a step, looking hurt. "If you don't help me now, then when the time comes and you need me… don't bother knocking." Dean left Emma's side and stalked around Castiel, brushing past him. Emma just stood there staring at the angel before looking down at the ground. She rubbed the ridge between her eyes.

"Dean… Dean!"

"What?!"

"You must understand why I can't intercede. Prophets are very special. They're protected."

"Yeah, thanks, I get that."

"Dean listen to him." Emma said thoughtfully. She tilted her head to the side.

"If anything threatens a prophet, anything at all, an archangel will appear to destroy that threat. Archangels are fierce. They're absolute. They're heaven's most terrifying weapon."

"And these archangels… they're tied to prophets?"

"Yes."

"So…" Emma sad slowly, "If a prophet was in the same room as a demon –"

"The most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon. Just so you understand… why I can't help." Emma smiled and kissed Castiel on the cheek. Cas looked surprised.

"Thanks Cas." She said, and Dean rushed toward the Impala.

"Good luck." Castiel said, and he disappeared.

"Go get Chuck, I'll wait here." Emma said to Dean as she saw him rush off. "If there's a chance to get some of Lilith's blood I want to be here for it." Dean hesitated for a second before kissing her hard on the lips.

"Be careful."

"You too. And try not to wake up Maggie."

-+s+-

"Hey sis!" a new voice made Emma whirl around and look at the woman who was waiting at the door of the hotel Emma was standing outside of. The hunter glared fiercely, her face wrinkling up in anger.

"Lilith –" The woman smiled as she leaned forward and knocked on the door to the motel. Emma felt a force crushing her throat, and she leaned forward, coughing and gripping her throat with both hands.

"Emma!"

"Let me in, Sam." Lilith said with a smile, "And don't try anything."

Emma was leaned against the bathroom door, trying desperately to hear what was going on in there, but their voices were too soft. Again she threw herself against the bathroom door, trying to break it open, but it was sealed shut with some kind of demon bull shit. Frowning and wrinkling her brow, Emma closed her eyes and drew on Sara's power once again. She felt heat coursing through her arms, and felt as though her heart would explode any second now. With a shout, she pushed with all her might against the door and watched in horror and surprise as it blasted open the edges of the door pieces charred, into a scary scene.

Chuck was standing at the door, Dean beside him. Sam was standing by the bed and Lilith in the very center.

"You see, Chuck here's got an archangel on his shoulder. You've got about ten seconds before this room is full of wrath and you're a piece of charcoal. You sure you want to tangle with that?" Dean was saying as Chuck was pushed toward her. The room began to tremble, and a white light began to fill the room. Emma grabbed the knife off the bed and attempted to stab Lilith in the arm, the chest, anywhere she could get blood, but the demon just turned around and smiled at her, grabbing her wrist.

"I don't think so." She smiled and opened her mouth wide. Emma stumbled back away from the black smoke that was pouring out of her mouth and disappearing out the window. Lilith was gone.

-+s+-

"So a deal, huh?" Dean was saying from the driver's seat. Maggie was curled up in the back, Emma in the front with her head on Dean's shoulder. Judging by her breathing, Dean believed she was sleeping, but her wide open eyes staring out the windshield proved something different.

"That's what she said."

"To call the whole thing off – angels, seals, Lucifer rising, the whole nine?"

"That was the gist of it. Even threw in a vial of her blood for Emma." Emma looked down at the ground in front of her, and moved closer to Dean. His arm tightened around her.

"You didn't think about taking it?"

"She would have found some way to weasel out of it. And the two of us would be dead. It'd be Maggie and Emma trying to save the world now. But she was scared – I could see it. Lilith is running… I don't know what from, but she is. She doesn't survive this… I'm going to make sure of it."

It was only a matter of moments before Sam was sleeping as well. Emma sighed and said nothing, but held Dean's hand in hers. He leaned his head down and kissed his forehead. "We're gonna figure this out." He said to her softly.

"I know." She replied simply, kissing his hand. She heard her watch beep obnoxiously and quickly turned it off, trying not to wake anyone. It was midnight.

"Happy birthday, angel."