Dean blinked several times and looked over at Sam as he yawned. The trio (and Castiel on occasion) had spent days in the library researching any kind of way to bind Crowley to Hell.
"Find anything?"
"No. You?" Sam asked flatly, closing another book.
"No," Dean sighed and stretched then looked over at Eva, who had fallen asleep with her head resting on her arms. "We gotta do something, man. We can't let her go to hell."
"Yeah but we also can't kill Crowley…and the last time we tried to stop a prophecy it didn't work."
"Well it sort of did, we stopped the apocalypse."
"Yeah, and I went to Hell and spent almost a year without a soul and then all that other crap with Lucifer sitting on my shoulder," Sam argued, raising his voice slightly. Eva lifted her head sleepily and yawned before sitting up.
"How long was I out?" she asked, groggily. Dean smiled a little.
"Not that long, about an hour or so," he stood up and held his hand out to her. She studied him with a confused look for a few minutes before he spoke again leaning over with is hand still outstretched. "C'mon, you need to go to bed or we're going to be peeling you off the ceiling."
"I'm fine, honestly," she protested as her eyes fought sleep.
"You're not fine, you're exhausted and you fell asleep on the table," he insisted, helping her to her feet. She sighed and shook her head, at the eldest Winchester.
"Just one more file," she reached over to pick up the small pile of paper she had just previously been using as a pillow. Dean shook his head and threw her over his shoulder. She let out a yelp in protest then looked at Sam through the long blonde locks of hair hanging over her eyes. "Apparently I'm going to bed. Goodnight Sam." He laughed and shook his head as Dean made his way down the hall to the bedrooms. She had spent the last few nights sleeping either on the floor of the library surrounded by books or in Dean's bed, nestled into the crook of his arm, taking in his scent of soap; whiskey; and gunpowder; with just a hint of leather. She wanted to take in as much of him as possible just in case their plan failed and she never saw him again.
When they reached the bedroom he tossed her onto the bed with ease, then sat down on the edge and rubbed his face. He was silent for a few minutes until she sat up.
"Can I ask you something?" he finally spoke.
"Anything," she replied softly, resting a hand on his shoulder, "what's wrong?"
"We've been staring at paper and computer screens for the last week and we've got bupkis…how the hell are you dealing with all of this so well?"
"I'm not," she said quietly, moving beside him. She took a breath and forced a smile as she shook her head, "I'm terrified. I don't want to go rule Hell; I just want a good burger at the end of a long day. I want like…a million more sunsets like that one after the shifters in Atlanta," she smiled and he nodded, recalling the colors of the sky, as the three of them sat on the beach. His thought was interrupted when she spoke again, "I want to wake up next to you for the next 50 years and make breakfast with you and read the stupid paper," she bit her lip in a wide smile making Dean grin involuntarily, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "But it doesn't matter what I want if we can't try to stop this or find some way out of it so until we do, I have to have hope that I'll get all those things."
"You really want all that with someone like me?" he was in shock at her confession. After so many years of one night stands and disappointments, he was in disbelief that someone would want to spend their time with him, let alone the rest of their life.
"Not someone LIKE you. YOU. Of course I want all that with you; idiot. When are you going to get it through your thick dopey skull?" She smiled as the strap of her tank top slid down her shoulder then let out a yawn.
"Go to sleep," he smiled.
"Stay," she said softly, planting soft kisses from the base of his neck to his cheek, then climbed under the covers of his bed. Dean stripped down to his boxers before getting in after her and pulling her close, taking in the coconut scent of her hair.
"I'm not going anywhere," he murmured as the two fell asleep in each other's embrace.
While Eva and Dean slept, Sam continued to research. He sipped endless cups of coffee until his vision began to blur with sleep. 'Ok one more book,' he thought to himself as he got up and browsed the shelves, grabbing another volume. As he made his way back to the table, he heard the familiar flutter of Castiel entering the room.
"Cas? What's going on?"
"I think I've found something," he replied hesitantly.
"Really?" What did you find?" Sam's ears perked at the news.
"It can be done…binding someone to hell, but it isn't going to be easy."
"Of course, why would it be," he replied, rubbing his face. "So what do we gotta do to bind him to hell?"
"There are two options," he began, his blue eyes searched the room for the right words. "The binding must be completed in hell either by a soul destined there, or by Death."
"So one of us has to die to do it," Sam sighed.
"Or, you attempt to summon Death, and plead him to do it."
"I don't think that's an option now, do you?"
"It may be worth a try…if not…" the angel was hesitant to complete his sentence.
"One of us goes back to hell," Sam shook his head in disbelief.
"Perhaps we should attempt to contact Death first, he may be sympathetic to your cause, he seems to have a soft spot for Dean in a strange way."
"Yeah I kind of sense a pattern there," Sam spat.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing, nothing, I'm just really exhausted…Thanks for the info, Cas."
"You're welcome, Sam," he replied before disappearing to recharge his angel batteries. The younger Winchester shut the book and finally wandered down the hall to go to bed, briefly looking in on his brother and Bobby's daughter. Their only hope to have the trio live happily ever after now rested in the hands of Death. This was going to be a hard pill to swallow for all of them.
