Thanks for reading, it really means a lot...
- Sam's POV -
With all of the secret planning with Cas, sneaking around, making deals in the dead of the night, I was exhausted, but at the same time, I couldn't imagine ever going to sleep again. It was hard to convince Lisa to keep an eye on Diana without telling her why. She was terrified of her, and for good reason. Dean and I lingered around her whenever we could to remain looking suspicious and distrustful in her eyes. The last thing we wanted was for her to feel like we'd become more relaxed and start snooping around to find out why.
One night, we stayed in to map out an attack in secret, then spend the evening in the open to appear as though Dean was trying to spend time with Lisa and Ben while I got some sleep. I tossed and turned, restless with anticipation and anxiety. At some point, I sat up to get some water and jumped when I raised my head.
"Relax," Diana whispered. "I'm not gonna hurt you."
"What do you want?" I snapped, my hand sliding under my pillow and wrapping around the gun.
"If I tell you, you'll think it's stupid," she said, casting her eyes away.
"Well right now I think it's an attack, so start talking," I growled, my grip tightening on the handle.
She sighed and brought her eyes up, glowing silvery blue in the darkness of my room, to meet mine. "I miss you."
"What?"
"I miss you, all right?" she snarled, folding her arms and turning her back on me. "I hate it and it's annoying, but I do."
I sat up a little straighter, staring at her skeptically. "Well, I miss Diana, so I guess we're both gonna be disappointed."
"What if I gave her to you?" she asked, fingering the photograph of my mom stuck in the side of my mirror.
"What?"
"Just for a little while," she smiled softly, sadly, at me in the mirror. "Just to ease your apprehension a bit."
"And why would you do that for me?" I snapped, rising from the bed slowly. "You don't care."
"I do, though," she sighed, turning to face me. "It's really frustrating, and I don't want to, but I care."
"Why?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "My vessels have fallen in love before. What's so different about this one, right? Well, I really don't know. All I do know is I can feel her inside and she aches for you. And, for whatever reason, so do I. And I want to make it stop."
"It won't stop," I sighed. "You took me away from her. It will never stop."
"Well, I figure if I let her be with you for a little while, maybe it'll at least ease up, right?" She bit her lip as she looked up at me and I could almost see my Diana just below that surface.
I shook my head. "No."
Her expression darkened. "What, you don't want her, now?"
"Of course I do."
"Well, I'm offering her!"
"I know!" I barked. "I know what you're offering, all right? And, yes, I want to talk to her, I want to hold her, I want to be with her, but you're only going to take her away again! And the ache you're feeling? It'll only make it worse, for you and for me!" The cell on my bedside table rang out loudly, and I snatched it up and put it to my ear without taking my eyes off her. "What?"
"I'm sending you the backup you requested," Bobby's voice said from the other end. "What's with you?"
"Don't worry about it," I sighed. "Thanks. When?"
"Should be there within a couple days. I'll warn ya, though. Don't judge her by her size."
"Yeah, got it. Thanks, Bobby." I hung up and tossed the phone down again. She had turned her back on me again while I was on the phone and was holding one of my button downs, running her thumbs over the material.
"You really need to wear something other than stripes," she said softly and I could hear the smile in her voice. She lifted her head and when I saw her hazel eyes in the mirror, I almost collapsed. I reached out and took her wrist gently, pulled her close, wrapping my arms around her and burying my face in her hair.
"I'm so sorry," I whispered. She reached up to stroke the back of my head.
"For what?" she asked, holding me tightly. I squeezed her gently and kissed her shoulder.
"Believe me," I sighed, "you'll know."
- Dean's POV -
I listened to Lisa tucking Ben into bed and my heart ached, but I knew it wasn't for want of being with them. I'd come to terms with losing them before. Now I grieved the life they hoped that they could still have.
Lisa came to the top of the stairs, then started down to me. "You wanna come to bed? With me?" I shook my head. She stopped. "Oh..."
"Lisa," I sighed. "We've talked about this."
She looked down and nodded. "I know... I guess I was just hoping..."
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine." She lifted her head again, fighting her disappointment. "Actually, it's great, you know? You're doing this because you care. Thank you." I nodded. After another moment of silence, she spoke again. "You know... I still love you..."
"I know," I sighed. "I'll always love you, Lisa. But not like I did."
She cast her eyes down once more and nodded. "Goodnight, Dean," she whispered, then turned and disappeared back up the stairs. As soon as she'd gone up and out of sight, Cas appeared at my side.
"Everything is set," he said. I nodded once. "This is may not work, Dean. You know that, don't you?" I nodded again. "Are you prepared?" I only blinked. "Is Sam?" I still didn't respond. Cas sighed and nodded. "Very well. Take her to this address," he instructed, touching my temple and sending the address straight into my brain. "We'll attack at dawn to guarantee proper timing for the transformation." I nodded once more and he disappeared.
Sam appeared at the top of the stairs and I knew he'd just seen Cas too. We exchanged glances, then turned again to begin.
- Diana's POV -
It was a weird feeling. I was sort of awake, but at the same time, everything was involuntary. I felt like there was another person living in my body and mind, and yet, it felt like it was all a part of me. Sometimes, I got groggy and confused and started to wonder whether or not it was all real. Sometimes I was allowed to come to the surface, like the previous night when I was in Sam's room.
Oh, God, Sam. I felt so horrible every time I saw that sad look in his puppy dog eyes. And when he'd looked at me the night before, apologizing over and over, I could almost feel my heart physically breaking beneath my ribs. But, despite the pain we both felt, we made the best of the night. We hadn't made love, that would've felt weird, but we talked and laughed, and pretended for just a little while, like we were normal. It was really nice, but within a few hours, Dean had knocked on the door and I fell back into the dark recesses of my own consciousness.
Sam became rigid beside me, sensing the shift within my head, and rose to open the door. Dean stood there, looked at me, then shifted his eyes back to Sam and cocked his head to the side, signaling for us to follow him.
"Crowley's back," Dean growled in the car. "We need you to help us send him back under."
I smirked and folded my arms casually, leaning back against the leather seats. "Happy to."
They drove to an abandoned farm with a rotting barn and a few stables that were falling apart. When we got out of the car, Sam pointed me toward the barn.
"We figure he's most likely in there, but we're gonna check the fields and stables just to be sure," he said. "You coming?"
"If you think he's in there, why would you look elsewhere first?" I rolled my eyes. Sometimes these boys were about as sharp as a spoon. Sam rolled his eyes back at me and Dean just walked off in the direction of the stables. I turned on my heel and headed for the barn.
- Sam's POV -
Walking around through the stables, we climbed into the creaky hayloft of the barn from the back and crawled on our bellies through the rotting hay to peer over the edge.
"This better work," Dean whispered.
The barn doors creaked as Diana pulled them open. She walked down the center of the barn, glancing around impatiently, but silently. Soon, demons began emerging from the animals stalls and dark corners, three at a time. Diana laughed when she saw them, spread her feet to ensure stability and grinned.
"Bring it on."
They all lunged at her at once. Despite the power we knew that she harbored to take them all out with a simple blow to the ground or the walls of the building, she enjoyed fighting and destroying them each personally, just as we had anticipated.
As we watched, my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. Afraid Diana would hear or feel it, I quickly fumbled to silence it. Dean had to do the same. Luckily, our shuffling was muted by the smack of skin on skin, the snap of bones, pop of joints, and cries of pain coming from the brawl beneath us. The demons started to drop quickly when Crowley and Cas appeared in the thick of them.
They exchanged glances and nods before acting as game players, moving the demons as pawns, their influence hidden from Diana by the growing number of bodies as demons kept charging into the barn to fight. She kicked, punched, elbowed, kneed, bit, fought tooth and nail, and it took a while before her energy appeared to be draining. Once she got irritated and was about to start tapping into the telekinetic base of the power, Crowley upped the numbers and power levels of the demons he brought in.
Suddenly, the doors of the barn burst open and something rushed head first into the middle of the violent throng. Demons dropped quickly and Crowley and Cas backed up, pulling their pawns back as they tried to figure out what had just happened. With a snap of Crowley's fingers, they all dropped to the ground, leaving to women left standing.
"Diana?" gasped the intruder.
She whipped around, eyes wide. "Kara?"
"Look what you've done you mini-bitch," Crowley snarled, charging at her in fury.
"No!" Diana screamed, running at them. Crowley's hands stretched out to grasp Kara's head, but, within an instant, Kara was on the ground and Diana had taken her place.
"NO!" we all screamed as a loud crack shattered through the tension in the air and Diana dropped.
What do you think...?