(A/N)-Sorry this is so late. I love you guys and your reviews. I own nothing.
As soon as Lydia and Cas left Bobby's, Cas took them to laboratory. What they were doing there exactly, Lydia didn't know, but she put down her stuff and started walking around, looking at every corner of the room with a suspicious look.
"Where are we, exactly?" she asked him. The echo of her voice sounded both creepy and, for some reason, depressing.
"Crowley's lab," Cas explained as he walked up next to her and took her hand in his. "Not where I would prefer to work, but it's not up to me."
Lydia shook her head, sighing. "Y'know, if you had told me a week ago I'd be working with a demon, I would've never believed you."
Cas nodded. "I know. I felt the same way at first." He let go of Lydia's hand and continued walking around the laboratory. "Crowley should be here. I don't know where he is at the moment..."
"Right over here, darling." Lydia and Cas both turned to find the King of Hell himself. He smiled cunningly at Lydia and said, "Well, it's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"You haven't changed much." Lydia replied.
"Of course not," Crowley winked. "Would you expect anything less?"
Lydia shook her head. "Nope."
"Well," Crowley clapped his hands together and widened his grin. "I must say, I definitely wasn't expecting you to join us, Ms. Carmichael. I was half-expecting you to side with the Winchesters, I'll be honest."
"You thought wrong."
"Apparently I did," smirked Crowley. "Anyway, I need you and Castiel to do a little research for me. Her name is Dr. Eleanor Viysak. She's posing as human, but certain sources have told me that she's actually a Purgatory native."
Lydia was dumbstruck. "Are you saying a monster from Purgatory is acting like human? That doesn't make any sense. Shouldn't she be eating us or something?"
"That's what you'd suspect, yeah," Crowley shrugged. "But she's been here for a number of years. Decades, actually. But she hasn't harmed a damned fly." The demon shrugged again. "Whatever her reasons are, you two need to find her. I've searched all over and questioned every monster I could get my hands are, but no one seems to know where this woman is!"
"We'll find her, Crowley," Cas assured him. "She might be the only one who knows how to open Purgatory. I'll find her."
Lydia nodded, still hesitant. "Yeah, I'll try too."
Crowley scowled. "Just try and hurry up, would you? We're running out of time."
"Time?" Lydia questioned. "We have plenty of time."
Crowley shook his head. "Uh, sorry to break it to you, but we really don't. This thing, according to the rumors, has to be done at a certain time exactly. If we miss this opportunity, this whole scheme could go under."
"How much time are we talking about, exactly?"
"It doesn't matter!" Crowley snapped. "Just find me that monster!" Before either Lydia or Cas could say anything else, the demon disappeared into thin air, leaving them there.
The pair stood and stared at the now-empty air where Crowley once was silently for couple seconds, before Lydia coughed into her fist and asked, "So that's what you've been working with for the past year? That's what you've had to put up with?"
Castiel nodded, sighing. "Unfortunately, yes. Crowley's useful, but he's definitely not the ideal partner." The angel paused for a moment, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. "You don't have to do this, Lydia."
"I know," Lydia shrugged. "I want to."
"You want this?" asked Cas doubtfully.
"I mean, granted, this isn't the ideal situation," Lydia explained. "But all we have to do is find this doctor, open the door to Purgatory, and win the war! How hard can it be?"
"Harder than you think," Cas explained. "It's a very long and complicated process, and if we don't get it right, any chance of winning the war is gone." Cas looked at her again. "Not to mention, if Raphael knows that you're working with me and we lose, you'll be punished just as severely as I will."
Lydia tried to wave his concerns away. "He doesn't like me anyway. You know, the whole human thing?" Cas still looked stoic as ever. "We'll just have to make sure that we don't lose then. So do you have any idea where this doctor is?"
Cas shut his eyes, mentally searching, but opened them after a few seconds, frowning. "She's hidden from me. I can find her, but it's going to take a while."
"Alright then," Lydia, from her bag of things, pulled out her silver laptop. "You get to do what the humans do-research."
XXX
Over the next few days, Lydia slowly fell out of her old routine at Bobby's, and started falling into a new one. She would get up, research with Cas, maybe have a shag once in a while, then fall back asleep in some crappy motel she was staying at. They hadn't really gotten to far in the search for Dr. Visyak-they had interviewed nearly everybody she had come in contact with, searched entire cities, and even found one or two of her safe houses-but they still couldn't locate her. Lydia and Castiel became more aggravated and more desperate with each passing day.
One day, Lydia became so frustrated with going around in circles, she shoved the laptop in Cas' lap and stood up, walking out of the room. "I'm going for a walk. I'll be right back, okay?" She walked down the long corridor of the abandoned building where Cas and Crowley had set up base, looking around cautiously. She still occasionally got lost in this building, as demonstrated when she opened a door to find herself in Crowley's lab, Crowley experimenting on one of Eve's children with a sadistic grin on his face-a grin that only widened when he looked to see Lydia standing in the doorway.
"Ah, Miss Carmichael!" Crowley clapped his hands together and walked over to her, much to Lydia's discomfort. "How are you doing this fine day, love?"
"I'm..." Lydia was nervous, of course, but she didn't feel threatened by the demon; at least not at the moment. "I'm doing alright. How're you?"
"Well, I'm okay," Crowley's voice purred dangerously at his attempt at small talk. "I just have a bit of a...dilemma, and I was wondering if you could help me with it."
Lydia started pointing to the direction in which she came and stammered, "Well, Cas and I are in the middle of something, and I was just..."
"Oh, I'm sure it can wait," Crowley took her by the shoulder and started leading her farther and farther away from the door. "While I very much appreciate that you and Castiel are trying to find Dr. Visyak, there's something...else that you can assist me with."
"And that would be...?"
Crowley only winked at her, and Lydia found herself inside...actually, she didn't know where she was; all she knew was that she definitely wasn't in that laboratory anymore. She looked around and assumed she was in somebody's house-namely, somebody's kitchen. Exactly whose kitchen, however, was yet to be determined.
"As I'm sure you've noticed," Crowley walked right past her and started inspecting the kitchen with mild interest, picking things up and putting them down gently. "We're not in Kansas anymore."
"Where are we, exactly?" Lydia asked.
"Battle Creek, Michigan." Crowley explained. "And we, my dear, are in the home of Lisa and Ben Braeden. You remember them, don't you, Lydia?"
Lydia stopped for a moment, trying to remember the names, then gasped when she finally remembered them. "Dean's Lisa and Ben? What the hell are we doing here?"
"We're not doing anything," Crowley smirked. "You're going to kidnap Ben and Lisa. Not for anything sinister, really. Consider it...insurance, if you will."
"What!" Lydia yelped. "Are you crazy? There's no way in hell I'm…"
"Lydia?" a voice came from behind her. Lydia turned around and saw Lisa, Ben, and another man looking at her and Crowley from the doorway, fearful looks plastered on their faces. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"
Lydia tried to answer Lisa, but no matter how many times she opened her mouth, nothing came out. It was finally Crowley who broke the silence by snapping, "Go on! Do it!"
"No," Lydia shook her head. "I won't do it."
Crowley, in response, grabbed her by the front of her shirt and held her face dangerously close to his. "Here, let's try this, then. You take them, or this deal with Cas and I is over."
Lydia still shook her head furiously. "No! This is going way too far, Crowley! I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, but this is not the way to do it!"
"Au contraire," Crowley held up his finger. "This is exactly how to go about it. And since you're not going to…" Crowley only had to snap his fingers once, and almost immediately, some of Crowley's demons came barreling through the door, taking Ben and Lisa prisoner, ignoring their protests and screams as the other man was killed right in front of them. Lydia looked on in horror, but her feet felt glued to the floor, and she only watched as the Braedens were led away.
"Where are you taking them?" Lydia was still in shock, and her voice felt distant in her own ears, like she was underwater.
Crowley shook his head, refusing to tell her. "Now why would I give that away? That would be spoiling the best part!"
"Crowley!" Lydia hissed through gritted teeth. "They're totally innocent! Why would you even involve them? And if Dean finds out…"
"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" Crowley mocked sarcastically. "That's the point! I want Dean to find out and go after them! If he and his moose are too busy chasing after his precious Lisa and Ben, they won't be on our tails, trying to stop us. Get it?"
Lydia stopped and considered this, then nodded slowly. "Well, yeah, but…"
"See, that's your problem, Lyd!" Crowley put his arm around Lydia's shoulders-much to her disgust-and sighed. "You're too nice. And for a hunter, that's not a good thing -especially now that you're working with Castiel and myself. My methods are, if nothing else, a little bit shady, but they work. Cas got over it, and so will you."
"I shouldn't have to," Lydia grumbled. "Dean and Sam and Bobby were my friends. And anyway, I'm not going to kidnap a mother and her son when they did nothing wrong!"
"You should be thankful I'm being so generous, Lydia," warned Crowley. "I won't tear down any deals, but consider this your first and final warning. Comprende?"
Lydia gave him a look of pure contempt before she nodded slowly. "Capiche."
Crowley gave her one of his signature dangerous smiles. "Great. So how about we go back to lab and not mention a word of this to Cassie-boy?"
"Sure, if that's what you want…" Lydia said slyly as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, winking at him. "But how about you ask Dean how he feels about that first? I mean, he's on the other line right now hearing all this, and I'm sure he can't be too happy right now."
Crowley looked at the phone in her hand, shocked, and Lydia couldn't suppress her glee at seeing the King of Hell caught off guard for once, even if it was only for a few seconds. Eventually, Crowley recovered enough to snatch the phone and speak into it. "Hello there, Dean. How much of that little spiel did you happen to hear?" Lydia couldn't make out his exact words, but she could hear Dean yelling and threatening Crowley on the other end of the phone. Crowley only nodded, bored, as he rolled his eyes at Dean's threats. "Are you done yet? You sure? Splendid. As much as I love to hear you talk dirty to me, let's get to the bit where I tell you how this goes. Your chocolate's been mixed in my peanut butter far too long, Dean Winchester. It needs to end, and soon, preferably." Cue more threats and swearing from Dean. "Oh, Dean. Ever the wit, aren't you? Well, as it is, I've got your ex lady friend and not-kid, and I'm keeping them until I'm satisfied that you've backed the hell off!" There was another short gap of silence before Crowley continued, "I love it when you get all threatening. But don't worry, I won't hurt them. As long as you and Jolly Green stand down, that is. Understood? Wonderful. Kisses from me and Lydia." Crowley slowly hung up the phone, looked at it curiously for a few seconds, before he chucked it at Lydia's face, the phone landing on her left cheek with a yelp of pain.
Lydia didn't have time to react beyond that, however; the demon grabbed her face with his hand and brought his own dangerously close to hers. "You're really something, you know that, Ms. Carmichael? Most people wouldn't be so stupid as to pull a stunt like that with the King of Hell, but you just keep on going, don't you?"
"Go to hell," Lydia snarled in response.
"Gladly," smirked Crowley, then started yelling, "And I'll take you down with me!" Crowley started breathing heavily, still furious, and hissed, "You'll come to realize that compared to most demons, I'm very patient. Extremely patient, actually…" Crowley clutched her face even tighter and whispered in her ear, "But you will pay for that, Lydia. Maybe not right away-I've got too much to lose with this whole Purgatory business-but rest assured, you will be punished very severely for going against me like that. Are we clear?" Lydia started to answer, but stopped when Crowley yanked her face one last time. "And don't say capiche."
"Got it," Lydia managed to succeed in finally getting out of Crowley's grasp. Shakily, she stood up and dusted herself off, nodding. "Let's just go back, alright?"
Crowley raised an eyebrow, his usual cocky, snarky demeanor slowly returning to him. "Sure, by all means." Lydia saw that she was back in the building and felt relief flood through her; Castiel might not have been in that room, but just knowing he was down the hallway made her feel better.
She quietly turned around and walked out of the lab, then took off running in the angel's direction as soon as she was out of Crowley's sight. When she got back into the room, Cas looked up at her, eyebrows furrowed at the look of fear on her face. "Lydia, are you…"
Lydia already had her arms around him before Cas could finish his sentence; he could feel her heart beating rapidly against his chest, and he put aside his questioning for a few minutes, hugging her tightly instead. After Lydia's breathing had returned to normal, Cas pulled away and studied her, holding her at arm's length. "What happened?"
"It was Crowley, he…"
"What did he do!" Cas thundered so loudly, it scared Lydia a bit. Ever since the incident with Sam, Cas had been extremely suspicious of others, and Crowley was no exception. "Lydia, did he do something to you?"
"Not to me," Lydia shook her head. "To Dean. He…he took Lisa and Ben. He said he wasn't going to hurt them, but I don't know where they are, and I…"
Cas' eyes widened in anger. "He…" Cas' lips suddenly became a thin line, and taking hold of Lydia's hand, he pulled her back into Crowley's lab. "Crowley!" The demon, who had gone back to doing experiments on Eve's monsters, tried to look as innocent as possible-for a demon, anyway-as Cas demanded, "Did you take Ben and Lisa?"
Crowley looked at over at Lydia, unamused. "Telling your boyfriend on me now? Can't say I'm too impressed." Crowley glanced back at Cas and sighed. "You're the one who told me not to touch Dean and Sam, Castiel. So I didn't. I'm merely using the most obvious loophole. As long as I have the woman and boy, your little pets be scouring the Earth for them, therefore not you, not your girlfriend, and not me. And since I'm not going to kill them, everybody wins."
"And you think that's good enough?" Lydia snorted, feeling braver. "That's only going to make Dean madder, and he's plenty angry as it is. You have to return them right now. Right Cas?"
Castiel, however, only shifted uncomfortably. "You should've talked to me first, Crowley," Cas finally admitted. Crowley winked at Lydia with a smug look on his face as she sputtered indignantly at the angel. Cas tried to ignore her anger as he sternly told Crowley, "Where are they?" Crowley, instead of answering, made a zipping motion with his lips, which only further infuriated Cas and Lydia. "Just don't harm them, Crowley. Do you understand me?"
"You want to know something, Cas?" Crowley put down his medical tools and squared off against the angel, preparing for a battle. "I'm pretty sure that you're all maxed out on putting humans out of bounds. I will do with them as I please. You want to stop me? Go find Purgatory!" Cas and Crowley stared at each other, both infuriated beyond belief, before Cas finally broke eye contact when he pressed his hand to his temple with a wince of pain. "You've got a call on the bat-phone? They never call during business hours, do they?"
"I'll be right back..." Cas was getting ready to transport to wherever he needed to, but then remembered Lydia and gripped her hand tightly, taking her with him. Before she could say anything or react, Lydia opened her eyes to a grassy, bright green forest, Balthazar standing in front of her and Cas, grinning at them.
"Ah, Cas! Lydia! So good of you two to come!" Balthazar exclaimed. Lydia couldn't help but genuinely smile back; she liked Cas' older brother, in spite of his arrogant, immature ways. Balthazar, in turn, gave her the tiniest wink before he coughed into his fist and asked Castiel, "Do you mind if I ask you a direct question, Cas?" The trench-coated angel shook his head, and Balthazar took a deep breath. "Are you working with the King of Hades?"
"Of course I'm not," Cas protested, but all it took was one look from Balthazar to make Cas let out a sigh, visibly defeated. "Balthazar, it's merely a means to an end, you must understand that."
"It's just to win the war," Lydia added. "Cas is going open Purgatory, soak up all the souls, defeat Raphael, then put the souls back and close Purgatory again. Problem solved."
"No, problem not solved," Balthazar shook his head. "You're going to be the vessel, Cas? Suck up all those souls and all that power into yourself? What happens if something goes wrong? If you explode, you're taking a substantial chunk of the planet with you."
"That won't happen, I promise," Cas swore. "It's not the ideal situation, but it's the only way to win the war. I know what I'm doing, brother." Balthazar turned to the side and grimaced, unconvinced at the other angel's words. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Balthazar, but I need to know…are you with me or not?"
Balthazar didn't answer right away, but eventually he let out a chuckle. "Sure. You know, you two may be certifiable, but fine. I'm in." Then, after a few seconds, he added, "Your howler monkeys told me all about this, by the way. They're just a touch worked up about that kidnapping business."
"That was Crowley," Lydia told him. "Cas and I had nothing to do with that."
Balthazar shrugged his shoulders, no longer interested, and suddenly, he was gone. In his place stood Dean Winchester, pacing around a demon tied to a chair in what looked like a barn. Lydia looked over, surprised, at Cas, but the angel only motioned for her to be silent. She nodded, still confused, and went back to watching Dean again. After a few seconds of Dean not acknowledging their presence, it occurred to Lydia that she and Cas were invisible. She should've figured it out sooner, but she could still see herself and Cas perfectly, and she didn't feel any different. Instead of thinking too much into it, she joined Cas as they stood silently and watched Dean some more.
It was awful. Dean was interrogating a demon on Lisa and Ben's whereabouts, and he was becoming more frustrated-and violent-with each increasing question. It got so bad, Lydia had to cover her ears to drown out the demon's scream. She thought Dean was finally going to snap and kill the demon, but suddenly, Dean was thrown against a van, the demon grinning sadistically from inside the circle he was confined to. Lydia took a step forward, trying to go and help Dean, but Cas' hand on her shoulder held her back. She looked back wildly at him, pointing at Dean excitedly, and Cas only held his hand up, signaling her to wait. Although she wasn't happy about it, Lydia stayed back and waited, biting down on her tongue as the demon walked over to Dean, still grinning that awful grin. But once he grabbed Dean by the throat and started strangling him, Lydia couldn't take it anymore; she grabbed the nearest object she could find, a brass fire iron, and stabbed it into the demon's middle as hard as she could, with all the force in her body.
As Dean stared at her, a wild look in his eyes, Lydia vaguely realized that he could see her; she wasn't invisible anymore. Not that it really mattered at this point-the demon looked back at Lydia, the sickening smile across his face only widening. Lydia let go of the fire iron and slowly backed up as the demon looked down and pulled the metal object out of his body, tossing it to the side carelessly, more annoyed than injured. Before anybody else could react, however, Cas touched the back of the demon's head, smiting him with his angelic powers. Seconds later, the demon fell dead at his feet as Dean and Lydia stared at it, eyes wide and breathing heavy.
"I didn't ask for your help," Dean growled as he stood back up, catching his breath. Giving Lydia and Cas nasty glares, he continued, "Why are you even here?"
"Saving you," Cas answered simply. "Neither Lydia nor I had any idea Crowley was going to take Ben and Lisa."
When Dean didn't answer, Lydia sighed and tried to talk to him as well. "He's telling the truth, Dean. I didn't know he was going to take the two of them, and neither did Cas. Hell, he tried to make me take them, but I didn't, and then risked my life again by calling you in front of Crowley! I wouldn't do that for no reason!" Dean still didn't answer; he wouldn't even look at them. Lydia took a few steps forward and tried again. We're your friends, Dean. You said yourself that we were like your family just a few days ago! Maybe you don't see it right now, but it's true. We just saved your life again! The least you can do is trust us!"
Dean just shook his head, still looking upset. "No, I can't. You want me to trust this plan to pop Purgatory? I'm sorry, but I just can't."
"Dean, I do everything that you ask of me," Cas insisted. "I have always come when you call, and I am your friend. And still, despite your lack of faith in me, and now your threats, I just saved you, yet again. Has anyone but your closest kin done more for you, Dean? All I ask is this one thing." Dean kept on looking at the ground with his eyes shut, trying to block out his words. Cas sighed as he told him, "I came to tell you that I will find Ben and Lisa, and I will bring them back. Just please stand behind me, the one time I ask."
"Please, Dean," Lydia was surprised to find herself actually begging, not surprised enough to stop. "Maybe you don't trust me, and that's fine. But at least trust Cas. He's done so much for you, and I think he's earned that much."
Dean didn't even look at her; he started walking towards Cas, an angry expression lighting up his face. "You're going to tell me to stand down? That's the same damn ransom note Crowley gave me, you do know that, don't you? Well no thank you. I'll find them myself. In fact," Dean's voice became increasingly venomous. "Why don't you go back to Crowley and tell him that I said all three of you can kiss my ass." Dean turned on his heel and stormed away from them coldly. Lydia didn't even try to go after him or say anything else; she stayed behind and waited next to Cas. Finally, she let him lay his hand on her shoulder, and she shut her eyes, knowing what was going to happen next.
XXX
Once they got back to their base, Lydia and Cas went back to work, trying to find Dr. Visyak, but things were definitely different between them. Dean's words had unnerved them, so they buried themselves in their work, neither of them willing to voice their thoughts out loud. It wasn't until about 24 hours later, when Crowley barged in on them, screaming, that they even mentioned Dean at all.
"I'm going to tear their hearts out!" Crowley stormed into the room that Cas and Lydia were working in, his face flushed red with fury.
"Who upset you this time, Crowley?" asked Cas.
"Lost another deal?" Lydia offered.
"No!" Crowley thundered. "Your little pets screwed up everything! They found the woman and the kid, and they killed some of my boys! Once that Lisa kicks the bucket..."
Lydia and Cas both stopped what they were going and stared up at the demon, jaws slack. "You mean Lisa like Dean's Lisa?"
Crowley didn't answer; he was pacing back and forth, ranting and raving about the Winchester brothers. It wasn't until Castiel yelled, "Crowley! What were you saying about Lisa?" that the demon acknowledged them again.
"I said she's going to die soon!" Crowley finally answered them. "You get possessed and stab yourself in the gut, you think you're gonna make it out alive?" Neither of the other two answered, so Crowley just growled, "Don't let it happen again!" and walked back out of the room.
"Oh shit," Lydia put her head in her hands with a low moan. "We gotta help them, Cas. We have to do something."
"What would you like me to do?" Cas asked, bitterly. "Dean already made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with us. We should stay out of it. It will only make things worse."
Lydia shook her head. "No, it won't, I can promise you. I don't care if Dean never speaks to me again at this point. But if Lisa dies..." Lydia shut her eyes, inhaling sharply. "I know what it's like to lose your mom to something supernatural, alright? It sucks. A lot. It twists you and warps you and messes you up. I mean, before I met you, I was a stripper and drugs, and now I'm a hunter who could be killed at any second. If Ben loses his mom, he's going to end up exactly like me. Don't even do it for Dean, but at least do it for Ben!"
Cas stopped and looked at her, his eyes deep in thought. "I didn't think..."
"It doesn't matter," Lydia shook her head. "Just save her, okay?" She looked up at the angel pleadingly. "Please, Cas."
Castiel nodded, then stood up, fixed his clothes, and disappeared right in front of her. Lydia sighed, pressed her eyelids and reminded herself to breathe, then went back to more research-all of which lasted about five minutes. She was on her twelfth straight game of Solitaire by the time Cas popped back in.
"How'd it go?" Lydia asked, not looking up from the screen. Instead of a verbal response, all she heard was heavy breathing that sounded so not like Cas. She slowly turned her eyes upwards, then slammed her laptop shut and stood up at the sight before her; Cas was gripping the arm of a blonde woman that Lydia recognized from pictures as Dr. Eleanor Visyak. The look on her face was nothing short of terror, while Cas had a smug, almost inhumane look on his face.
"I found her."