After letting Sam into the bedroom and closing the door behind him, Elizabeth sat on her bed, staring out the window. White points of light glittered in the inky black sky overhead. The three stars Castiel had shown her earlier had already set below the horizon. Elizabeth just liked to look at the stars and think.

Sam sat down gently beside her. "Elizabeth," he began softly, "I- I'm sorry, for my outburst. I just…." He stared hard at a loose thread in the worn rug beside the bed. "I just don't understand why you seem so indifferent about all this. You don't seem to care that you're gonna die." Like Dean, when he'd made that one-year deal with the Crossroads Demon. Or worse, maybe she wanted to die. Not in a suicidal kind of way, but more like she was giving herself up. Her manner was very much like Madison's before-

Sam cut off his own line of thought before it got any further. But he couldn't help noticing that Elizabeth had the same look of fear and self-hatred and desperation that Madison had shown. He placed a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head slowly. Using sign language, she answered Sam, "No, of course I don't want to die. But the idea of spending eternity away from Earth, maybe as an angel…." She sighed again and turned to Sam. "I already know what I'm gonna be like. I won't be human anymore. I won't have human feelings. I'll forget them all. It'll be just like when I was a child. You know what it felt like the first time I laughed?"

Sam shook her head. He was both fascinated and horrified by what she was saying, as he'd never really known what her life would be like once she left, although he had been wondering about it.

"It was like I'd been dead for seven years and I'd finally come to life," Elizabeth explained. "Like Pinocchio becoming a real boy. I think maybe I was happier than he was, though."

Sam's lips twitched. He could sympathize with her on this point very well.

"And now, it's like I'm gonna die again. I'm gonna be walking around in the clouds, an emotionally numb zombie with wings and a halo."

Sam looked puzzled. "Not all angels are like that."

"No," Elizabeth agreed. "But the ones who aren't killers are."

Sam furrowed his brow skeptically. "You sure talked to Cas a lot more than I thought."

"A lot of it I learned from my mother," Elizabeth signed. "I always knew she was an angel. I mean, I never saw her wings until she dies, and I only heard her real voice when she would sing to me, when I was very little; but I wasn't stupid. I figured it out. I'd ask her about angels, but she didn't like to answer. What little bit she did tell me was that some angels are good and some are bad. I always wanted to be one of the good angels." She scoffed. "And then, to find out that they're only good cuz they have a conscience. Cas is great, but he's not human, and he never will be."

Sam muttered, "He's pretty close."

Elizabeth shrugged. "I'd just as soon die as become like that."

Sam said, "You talk like those are your only two choices."

"It's my destiny," Elizabeth said scornfully, "as I understand it."

Sam smiled sadly. "You know what I've learned about destiny? Screw it. if Dean and I had followed our destiny, we'd be smack in the middle of the Apocalypse right now. You and your family would have been killed ages ago."

Elizabeth nodded. "You know, the hardest part of all of this is knowing that they're dead because of me. Meg killed them to get to me."

Sam's expression turned somber as he read her hand signals. She was saying the same things he'd always told himself. She was eating herself up inside. "Don't say that," he told her. "It's not your fault. Believe me, everyone I've ever cared about has died because of me. Everyone, including Dean. Cas brought him back. But you can't keep thinking about it. You'll only hurt yourself more."

"What do I do?" Elizabeth asked. "I can't stop thinking about it, Sam."

Sam chewed on his lip for a moment. "I'll tell you what Dean and I do. We look at the people around us, the ones who have normal lives, aside from haunting or possessions or whatever. We figure, since our lives are so screwed to hell, we might as well help out some others."

Elizabeth smiled a little.

"There haven't been that many of you," Sam reminded her. "No one knows what you're really gonna be like in a hundred years. I don't think you'll forget what it's like to be human. You've got a good heart. You'll be an angel, and you'll save people, the way Cas does, the way Dean and I try to." Her hand was lying beside her on the bed. Sam covered her hand with his own.

Elizabeth intertwined her fingers with his for just a moment, enjoying the feeling of her small hand in his stronger one. Then she signed, "Thanks, Sam. I feel a little better." She circled her arms around his neck and hugged him. Sam shyly returned the embrace.

Elizabeth finally drew back, lightly tracing her fingers over Sam's neck. He felt his heart stop and leap into his throat as Elizabeth's gaze locked with his. She came close again and kissed him gently on the lips. Sam enjoyed it, but didn't return it. Elizabeth paused to give him a questioning look.

Sam shook his head apologetically. "I'm sorry. I just can't take advantage of you on your-" He stopped and dropped his gaze.

Elizabeth chuckled. "On my 'last night'?"

Sam nodded.

"One way or another, Sam, this will be my last night. I want it to be something I'll never forget."

Sam laughed lightly. "Sounds like something Dean would say to a girl." He wanted her, but it just didn't seem right for him to be sleeping with her when he should be looking for a way to save her.

Elizabeth signed slowly, making sure Sam caught every letter. Sam's mouth fell open. "Your… first?" He shook his head quickly, more unwilling now than before. "No. No, I won't. I- I've never… Not with…." He shook his head and backed away.

Elizabeth silenced him by reaching over and placing a finger on his soft, pink lips. She signed quickly. "I want to do this, Sam. Think of it as a last request. You wouldn't refuse the fair maiden her last request, would you?"

While Sam was reflecting on the irony of her use of the word "maiden", Elizabeth threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. Sam's inhibitions fell away as he let his fingers get tangled in her long hair, and he laid her back on the bed.