Addie stared at her face in the mirror, breathing slowly and willing her heart to stop pounding. She couldn't lose control, not now. Sam and Dean needed her, and she wasn't about to let them down.
But seeing Sam like that had forced ugly memories to surface, and suddenly she felt eight years old again, watching helplessly as her father slowly and painfully died from the poison in the arrow that lay broken on the floor.
And thinking of that would only lead to—
"Hey!" Dean rapped twice on the door.
Addie, startled (thankfully) out of her morbid thoughts, flushed the empty toilet, wiped her eyes, ran some water on her hands and opened the door.
Dean searched her face. "You okay?"
"About as okay as you are. Shall we?" She moved past him, back into the room where Sam was. Dean followed her quietly.
"Now, this being may be frightening to you, if you can even see him. I don't know if he can appear to humans. I just need you to know that he is neutral; he doesn't choose whose soul to take, or who dies. But I'm hoping he'll know who—or what—does. Whatever happens, just try to stay calm." She looked at Sam for a moment, fighting back memories that were coming anyway. Addie, Sam, and Jess at the Gamma Psi Halloween Party, then at the beach where a jellyfish stung her, then studying at Sam and Jess' apartment, she and Sam talking on the roof of her dorm, Sam helping her home the night she got drunk, Sam comforting her after she'd dreamt about her parents, and when she did the same for him…
She, Sam, and Jess had spent less than four years together, but in her heart it felt like a lifetime. For some reason, though, she and Sam had been closer than she'd been with Jess. It was a bond that went beyond any normal relationship she knew of, they were more than friends, lovers, siblings. She'd never figured out why, but now she didn't care. She just wanted him back.
Addie put her hand on Sam's for a moment. Then she drew it back and clenched it into a fist. Her resolve strengthened, she turned around and said the spell.
"Spirits of air, sand, and sea,
Converge to set the Angel free.
On the wind I send this rhyme,
Bring Death before me, before my time." They waited two seconds, then three, four.
After about 15 seconds, Dean asked, "Is he here?"
"No, but he should be. I don't understand why that didn't work. Prue wrote that spell, and she was like Superwitch. Hey! I know you heard that spell! What, are you afraid to face me?"
A disembodied voice sounded through the room. "I cannot help you."
Addie rolled her eyes. "I am so not in the mood for games. Show yourself!"
A man with an impassive face and clad entirely in black materialized in front of them. Addie expected Dean to cry out, jump, something. But the appearance of the Angel of Death got nary a flinch out of him. Addie thought it was very strange, and noted it.
"What do you mean you can't help us? You're the Angel of Death. Don't you respond to a higher authority?"
"Not directly." Addie raised an eyebrow. "I have as much contact with the higher powers as you do. Find someone else to help you." He began to disappear.
"Wait!" Addie cried. He reappeared. "You know what we want." He nodded slightly. "Is it possible?"
The Angel thought for a moment, then half-smiled. "I suppose few things are impossible when magic and the Charmed Ones are involved." With that, he disappeared.
Addie and Dean looked at each other.
"'Charmed Ones?'" he asked.
"Yeah. I met them after I got my powers. They taught me what they knew and we learned the rest together. They're like my big sisters," she said, smiling. "Anyway, now that Death is out, they're the next ones we turn to. I'll go get them." She went to orb out, then stopped. "On second thought, you two should come with me, and we can do this at the Manor. It's safer—" She looked around. "—and nicer."
Dean looked around too, and laughed slightly. "Yeah, I guess this place is kinda run-down. So how do we do it?"
"Pick up Sam and then I'll touch you on the shoulder. I'll orb us to the attic so you can put him down right away. People tend to feel a little dizzy and nauseous their first time."
"Oh, great." Dean turned around and started to pick up his brother. "Come on Sammy," he said quietly as he hefted him up. "Time to save your butt again."
Addie put her hand on Dean's shoulder and they disappeared.
After they reappeared seconds later in the attic of Halliwell Manor, Dena quickly laid Sam on the couch and sat on the arm, looking pale.
"You all right?" Addie asked him.
"Yeah." There was a pause. "No." Pause. "Ask me again later."
Addie grinned. "So the Great Dean isn't invincible."
Dean looked at her. "Says who?" He stood up. Then he stumbled slightly and Addie grabbed his arm.
"I warned you. Just sit down until you actually are all right." She sat him back down.
"It was just a little dizzy spell. I'm fine."
"Like hell you are." Dean blinked. "Just relax. You don't have to be the strong one right now; that's why I'm here." She walked toward the door. "The sisters and I will handle this," she said determinedly on her way out. What Dean didn't see was the dark look in her eyes, or the thought that passed through her mind at that moment: Whatever it takes.
Okay, all you lovely, wonderful, supporting people who chose to read this, press that pretty button and tell me what you thought! Lol, actually I have a request of my readers. I know the general direction I'm heading, but I was wondering what you all wanted to happened. I was thinking of putting in a soft moment with Dean talking to Sam's body/soul, and/or a moment where we really see the bond between Addie and the sisters. And the hubbies. And Wyatt and Chris. FYI, in case y'all didn't know, Addie appeared in the sisters' lives sometime in season two, so she was at Piper's wedding and went through Prue's death and pretty much everything with the sisters. There's a lot of history between them. Also, she was there when Big Chris was. She was 18 during that season, and it was a very important time in her life, same as the sisters. More on that later. TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT, PEOPLE!
