Valentine, Nebraska.

The world came back to Bobby with sound but no pictures at first. His head was pounding, feeling like something was cracked at the back. His shoulder was aching where Missouri had patched up the through and through bullet wound from a day or so earlier. It was coming back to Bobby in snatches. The trip to Lawrence, finding Dean and John alive, losing Skye, finding Sam. So much had happened and just the act of trying to piece it all together was giving the aging mechanic a headache of epic proportions.

There were hushed voices in the room, Missouri and Phill by the sounds of it. Where the hell was that back stabbing son of a bitch, Walker?

Bobby asked the question, at least, in his mind he was sure he had asked where Gordon was; but it came out a dry, scratchy croak, barely coherent. Just how hard had he been hit?

"Easy, Bobby. Just take it nice and slow…" Missouri's voice was soft spoken and full of concern.

Some cold and wet was pressed to his head, the sharp change in temperature making Bobby realise how very hot his skin felt. "How long I been out?" His eyes flickered open to show Missouri sitting beside him. Apparently they'd moved him to one of the bedrooms after what had happened.

"Not too long, but long enough to have me worried. How many fingers am I holding up?"

Bobby stared at the hand held before his eyes, then batted it away, irritation written across his face. "Don't matter how many you hold up when I'm already seeing double of you anyway, Missouri."

"You've got a concussion, Bobby."

"You think?" He snapped, groaning a moment later and pressing a hand to his forehead as if that would help kill the monumental headache that was thundering around his skull like a bull in a china shop.

"You've also got a fever so don't you be giving me any of the attitude. How could have kept something like that from me? You got rocks in your head, boy?" Missouri scowled.

"Don't boy me, Missouri, I'm too old to be a boy."

"Oh really? Cause from where I'm sitting your acting pretty damn immature."

That drew a snort from Bobby, before he groaned again, then narrowed his blurry eyes at Phill who was sat in the corner of the room. "What the hell are you doing in here, Phill? Looking for another chance to sink the knife in?"

" It's not like that, Bobby. I'm just looking out for your best interests. Those Winchesters have got your head all turned round. You're not thinking right." Phill drawled casually, slumped in an easy chair, shotgun resting across his lap.

" Got my head all--…? Phill, you simple son of a bitch. You've been listening to Gordon Walker, haven't you?"

"Gordon knows his stuff, Bobby. The man's been watching the signs, he's interrogated a demon or two and they all say the same thing. Sam Winchester is bad news. The kid is the Anti-Christ."

Bobby burst out laughing, making Missouri jump and clasp a hand to her chest before she smacked him on the arm. "Bobby Singer, don't you go giving me grey hairs!"

Bobby ignored Missouri, still looking over at the swimming, double image of Phill. A man he had trusted. Somehow, Bobby figured that the man hadn't turned, not like Gordon. It was just a matter of not knowing the truth, of not knowing the Winchesters like Bobby did. " That boy ain't the Anti-Christ, Phill. Walker's a goddamn lunatic. He got burnt the last time he crossed paths with those boys and he's letting some damn twisted sense of revenge drive him. And if you had the sense of a groundhog, you'd see that he's dangerous."

Phill shifted uneasily in his chair, mulling over what Bobby was saying. "You haven't been hearing the word on the grapevine, about what that boy's been doing, Bobby."

"What?" Bobby demanded, sitting up and shrugging off Missouri's efforts to make him lie still. The room spun dizzily and Bobby had to take a moment to fight off the nausea that gripped him, his head pounding even more, but he stayed upright. " What did that boy do besides look for his damn brother and take down some of those demonic sons of bitches in the process?"

The more Bobby argued with Phill, the more he could see how wrong he'd been in the first place to doubt Sam. The kid wasn't some big evil in this world. He was John's son, Dean's little brother…the same lanky, mop haired kid that had sat cross legged in his living room what seemed like a lifetime ago now, reading through tome after tome while Dean worked on cars with his father. The same kid that had learnt how to handle a firearm in the field behind Bobby's salvage yard under his father's firm tuition.

Sam wasn't a monster. Gordon Walker….now there was a monster.

"Don't you dare."

Bobby turned towards the doorway, his vision still swimming and he felt Missouri reach out to steady him with one hand as he swayed. Ellen was in the doorway, her arms folded, her face dark with anger and disgust. "Don't you dare go defending that boy. He's the same as his father. They're dangerous, reckless. All those Winchesters are the same."

"Oh Jesus…." Bobby muttered, knowing that he was fighting a losing battle here.

"You shut your mouth, Bobby Singer. How many times you been in my bar? Ate with my family, hunted with Bill for God's sake…and now your sitting there defending the man who killed my husband? The boys that endangered Jo? Hurt her?" Ellen demanded.

"Bill wasn't John's fault, Ellen and you know it. Cut the bullshit for once in your damn life!" The fighting was making Bobby tired and he felt Missouri give his arm a gentle squeeze. "Your husband was a good man. But he wasn't a saint! The hunt went bad…it happens. John was damn well lucky to have gotten out of there alive himself. He's carried that guilt ever since, so just let it go, already. And you can stop pinning any blame on those boys for how Jo is. That girl would have found trouble without them to point her in it's direction."

" You son of a bitch…" Ellen growled, stepping forward.

Bobby lifted his chin, despite the pain it cost him. "Go on… do it. Hit me if it'll make you feel better, Ellen."

He watched as Ellen stood there bristling for a moment, before she turned on her heel and stormed out. Phill got up from his easy chair, sniggering softly. " Jesus, Bobby, you must have a fever alright, standing up to her like that."

"She had it coming…" Bobby muttered softly. " I didn't say nothing that ain't true."

" Maybe… get some rest. I'll go and see if I have anything for that fever of yours….."

Bobby sagged back on the bed and closed his eyes, feeling Missouri wiping his brow again with a cold cloth. "You know John's going to be saying I told you so if we get out of here, don't you?"

" Uh huh… he'll be downright impossible to live with, that's for sure." Missouri agreed with a soft sigh. She frowned a little, her concern for Bobby growing. The man was too feverish and tired after what had happened to realise yet that he was cuffed to the bed by his ankle.

Gordon wasn't taking any chances with what he saw as the enemy and Missouri could only hope they would be able to get out of there in one piece in time to warn John and the boys of what was coming after them.

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Medicine Bow, Southern Wyoming.

The car ride had been disconcerting as it was. Skye had been sat between Jake and Ava, knowing that Lily was nearby every time Ave mentioned how easily the girl could kill Skye just by touching her. If they wanted her on edge? They were definitely successful. Skye's heart had been dancing a wild rumba in her chest ever since they'd dragged her out of the basement and thrown her in the car. The fact she was wearing a blindfold? Just heightened the fear already pulsing through her.

It was all one big horrible nightmare that Skye just wanted to wake up from. Her arm was bruised from the number of times she had pinched herself in the past few hours, wanting to wake up and just see Connor asleep in his cot. Wishing she could just wake up to Dean lying beside her, his arms around her. The memory of his hands and lips on her skin back in that motel was all Skye had to cling to now. That and the knowledge that he was looking for her.

Dean would never get here in time. A part of Skye knew that. A part of her wept inside for what she was losing. Her son, a chance to have had a real family. It was out of reach now. Just a dream.

Skye didn't want to think it was being fatalistic…but practical. She couldn't keep holding to the hope of a knight in glistening black Impala armour, riding to her rescue. Skye had to face up to the fact she was alone in this. If she was going down? It was with a fight…if she was going to do anything? She was doing it alone.

It was nothing new, really. Her family had turned their back on her after Jason. Then she'd been forced to deal with life alone….until Dean.

No. Skye shook that thought from her mind. She had to face this alone. Dean had Connor. That was the important thing. Her son, her baby boy, the reason she had to draw breath each morning, was alive and safe. Anything that happened now, didn't matter as long as that stayed true.

The car came to a halt and Skye felt a pair of hands grab her hand before she was roughly dragged from the car. The blindfold was jerked off her eyes and she blinked in the half light, realising that the sun was setting. Before her lay an old western style cemetery. Wooden crosses and simple carved tombstones dotted the landscape along with a old tree. An old wrought iron fence surrounded the place.

"Gee…you guys take me to the nicest places." Skye said shakily, trying to sound a lot braver than she felt.

"It's not exactly Lover's Lane…but it has a nice ambience with the lighting, don't you think?"

Skye jumped as the sensation of cats climbing up her spine hit her the moment she heard the Yellow Eyed Demon's voice in her ear. She knew that Azazel hadn't been there a moment before. His ability to just pop up without warning had to be the creepiest thing she'd experienced. How the hell did you fight a guy who just blipped around like a demonic Captain Kirk, beaming in anytime he damn well wanted??

"Hey…personal space. Ever heard of it?" Skye snapped, stepping away and turning to face Azazel. She could see Jake leaning casually against the hood of the car with Lily. Ava was hovering near Azazel, always eager to be in on the action, eager to please. She was like one of the horrible little apple polishers in school who'd do anything to keep the teacher happy and get the good grades, even if that meant selling out her fellow students.

Andy was standing near the back of the car, his hands thrust into his pockets, looking as though he'd sooner be anywhere but where he was.

"Still trying to convince me of how tough you are?" Azazel smiled. He stepped towards Skye and slid an arm around her shoulders as though he was an old friend, steering her towards the cemetery. "This is the big finale, kiddo. Your moment to shine."

Skye pushed his arm off and turned sharply to face him as she backed off a few steps. "What are you talking about? Here? This is where your stupid gate is?"

"She can be taught…" Azazel said condescendingly. "See that doorway in there?" He pointed towards the one long structure inside the cemetery. "That's the Hell's Gate. All I need you to do is take the Colt, walk in there with it and slot the Colt into the door. That's it. It takes care of the rest by itself."

"Great…fine…knock yourself out."

"I can't enter the cemetery. No one with demon blood in them can. Not even that family your so pathetically loyal to, could walk in there. They're all tainted." Azazel growled. "That's why I need you. Now we've already had this conversation and my patience is wearing thing." He took the Colt out and handed it to Skye. "Get moving. I want my Hell's Gate open."

"And if I say no?"

Azazel paused at that and looked at Skye as though she was particularly stupid. "You really want to know what I can do to your son? To everyone you love?"

"If I open the gate…they're dead anyway. I'm not going to help you do it. I'm not handing you this world on a fucking silver platter. You want to kill me? Go ahead…" Skye lifted her chin defiantly, her heart beating wildly. She could only hope Connor would forgive her for leaving him.

Azazel's eyes blazed angrily. Who the hell did this girl think she was? He'd peel her open and make her bleed out over a millennium. She'd know pain so intimately, it would be like a second skin. As if all she had ever been created for, was screaming….

Skye was suddenly thrown through the air and pinned to the cemetery gates. Her head slammed into the bars, splitting the scalp, blood running down past her right eye and making her vision burn. A cry escaped her lips as tears slid down her cheeks, waiting for the end.

"Wait. Wait a minute…. don't kill her."

Azazel turned and saw Andy slowly approaching, every step cautious and hesitant. "Decided to step up and join the team at last, huh, Andy?"

"Well you know what they say? Can't beat 'em and all that…." Andy laughed nervously. He slipped past Azazel and walked up to Skye, seeing the fear in her face, the betrayal.

" Andy…please…no. Don't. Don't listen to him. Please…you're not like them. You're not." Skye begged, her voice cracking as tears spilled down her cheeks. " Please…."

Shhhh. Hey….hey. I need you to trust me right now, Skye. Please. I can save you. I can get you out of this. But you have to trust me. This is the only way I can save you…. Andy's voice whispered in Skye's mind. He looked over his shoulder at Azazel and was rewarded by Skye being released from the gate. She dropped heavily to her knees, looking up at Andy. " No….don't."

"Skye…I need you to open the gate…" The words carried such power behind them that Skye immediately got to her feet, tears still slipping quietly down her face as she obeyed without question, walking in through the cemetery gates and heading for the doorway with the Colt in her hand.

Andy felt tears pricking his own eyes. He was dirt. He was scum. How could he be anything else? Forcing the girl to obey him and open that gate against her will? But all Andy wanted to do was try and save Skye. If she did what Azazel wanted…he might let her go. Andy could argue her case, get him to spare her once the gate was open. He knew Skye wouldn't understand….but as long as she was alive, there was a chance for her still. He could still try and get her back to her son.

Skye felt like she was trapped in a waking nightmare. She couldn't stop herself, couldn't control herself. All she could do was watch, helpless as she marched towards the gate, towards unleashing Hell on the world. This couldn't be happening…. Could it? Skye wanted to wake up…why couldn't she wake up? It wasn't fair! She was going to unleash Hell, she was going to be the reason Connor died, Dean died…everyone she loved. Because she couldn't stop herself….

It wasn't fair…….

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A/N: I know this was a shorter chapter than the others, but the scene is now set for the Hell's Gate fight...so brace yourselves guys...cause it gets rough. Muahahhahaha! ;)