A/N: Hi, guys. I hate to say this, but this is it. Like…It, it. Like…Last chapter. I'll be mushy later. Go on…Read this week's chapter. You know you want to.

A whole week without juicing. Sure, it was hell. My veins caught fire more than I would've liked. The mere thought of food was enough to make me puke. The pain...Oh, god, the unbearable pain...If I didn't have Chuck by my bedside taking as much of it away as possible, I would've begged for death. I would've been desperate enough to summon a reaper to take me. But dammit, I did it. As much as I wanted to forget this whole mess ever happened, it needed to be talked about. And I think I'm finally ready.

Although, I will say this. I missed the bunker. It's nice that Sam and Dean let me detox in my room. No one was ever allowed in my room (except for Cas that one time), but I didn't really have the status to object right now. When I woke up this time around, though, I woke up alone. No Chuck. No Cas. No Uncle Bobby silently judging me while viciously yelling at me. No Sam and Dean. If I didn't know any better, I'd think I had the bunker to myself.

The footsteps growing louder toward my room and the gentle knocks at my door told a different tale. I had a little bit of strength in me. I could probably handle any company, "Come in."

The door hinges creaked, uncovering the angel on the other side with a sheepish smile on his face. Then again, I should expect nothing less from him, "Hello, Lena. I'm glad to see you're awake."

"Hi, Cas," I sat up in bed, "Please. Come in."

"Thank you," he pulled up a chair, "How are you feeling?"

"A bit achy," I reported, "Kind of tired."

"Any cravings for demon blood?" Cas asked hesitantly, "Or angel grace, for that matter?"

""No," I promised, "It's all out of my system."

"Sam," Cas stuck his head out the door, "Lena's awake."

"Lena..." Sam made a beeline for my bed. He sat down and hugged me tightly, "How you feeling?"

"I've been better," I reveled in my brother's embrace, "But I'll be ok. So, what? No Dean?"

Sam and Cas exchanged nervous glances. Almost if they were calling not it through mental telepathy. There was something neither one of them wanted to tell me. And I already had an inkling. Honestly, I couldn't blame him. Or them for keeping it to themselves. I could understand their hesitation, but my god, if they could just spit it out, the world would be so much simpler.

"I get it, guys," I rolled my eyes, "Dean's not coming."

"Sorry, Lena," Sam winced, "I wish things were better, too."

"But," Cas chimed in, "He might be more receptive if he had more context."

"In other words," I figured, "I should probably explain myself, shouldn't I?"

"It'd really help," Sam admitted, "So, maybe you could start from the beginning."

"Define the beginning."

"When you ran off." Subtlety never was Castiel's specialty.

"Alright..." I began, "When I left, we were fresh off of beating Lucifer, part one. I had all the angel grace out of me. And I had a strange realization that, if I continued down the path I was on, I was destined to be nothing more than the Winchesters' damsel in distress. There was no way in hell I was going to let that happen, so I took control of it and left. You two were actually pretty close to finding me a few months later."

"What do you mean?" Sam wondered, his big, puppy eyes sparkling with worry.

"A couple years back," I explained, "You and Sam were in Missouri, right? Working a haunting case?"

"Yeah," he nodded, giving me a look, "How do you know about that?"

"There was a diner in town," I went on, "And a nice, older lady that ran it. I think her name was Vivian."

"Yeah..." Sam started putting more pieces together.

"You were saying you were working a missing persons case," I remembered, "But I was behind the counter when you guys came in. I was nowhere near ready to deal with you guys yet. Everything upstairs was still pretty scrambled. Vivian had let me live with her for a while before I got on my feet and she knew about my brothers. At first, she thought I was on the run. Then, she realized I was just another runaway. And Vivian was going to protect me at all costs."

"I still remember what breakfast tasted like," he smiled, "It was way too similar to your cooking to be anyone else's. You were working a legit job, though?"

"For the first time in my life," I nodded, "Aside from playing at the bar. And I might have gotten ten bucks per show. But then, because I didn't want you guys catching too much of my scent, I had to leave. So, I bummed around the Midwest for a while and kept driving until I hit coast. That's how I ended up in Baltimore. I got a real job there, too. And things were pretty stable for a couple years. I lived on coffee, cigarettes, whiskey, and leftover Chinese food. Thank God for the nuns putting me in that whole big brother, big sister program because my big sister taught me more about running tech than I could ever want to know."

"Running tech?" Cas wondered. Oh, how the human lexicon perplexes the celestial being.

"Doing the lights and sound for a stage show," I elaborated, "That was my job. But my asshat director made me, and I'm quoting here, serenade him. If I would've said no, I bet Crowley never would've found me."

"Crowley found you in Baltimore?" Sam asked.

"Yep," I chirped, "When he brought you and Dean to that theater to see Chicago and said it was just to introduce you to a little culture? He wasn't wanting to give you culture. He was testing me. He knew I wouldn't be able to handle you two. Not the way I was. And he saw my weakness as opportunity. I needed to be stronger. I wanted to be stronger. I hated feeling like I was at the bottom of the barrel, so I decided to pal around with him for a while. Crowley got me. I screwed up. Can we move on now?"

"You did screw up," Sam confirmed, cradling me a little closer, "There's no doubt about that. But what matters right now is that you're ok. We can be mad all we want, but at the end of the day, we still need you around. And I'm glad you're back."

"We all are," Cas added, "Even if Dean's too proud right now to admit it."

"And you don't want any more blood?" Sam hoped.

"No," I shook my head, "I'm good. I'm pretty sure I've kicked this."

"Good," he wasn't letting me go, "Good, good, good."

Cas put his hand to my forehead, checking me over, "You're clean, Lena. You still may feel a little weak for a while, but you'll be ok. For the most part. As long as you keep the fluids of celestial beings out of your stomach, you should be healed in no time."

"Thanks, guys," I laid my head on Sam's chest, listening to his rhythmic heartbeat. I nearly fell back to sleep, "So, Cas...You forgive me?"

"As long as you swear not to do it again," he hid a little smile from me, "Yes. I forgive you."

"Yeah," I let out a little yawn, "I think after my adventures in demon blood, I'm scared straight."

"I was hoping my precautionary tale would've scared you straight," Sam teased.

"But idiot me wasn't having it."

"You're not an idiot, Lena," he promised, "You just had a lapse. You're fine."

"So," I thought a little more, "What about Crowley? Is he still on the hooks downstairs?"

"What do you mean?"

"I, uh..." I bit my lip, "In my aforementioned adventures in demon blood, Crowley's was pretty top shelf. Like, top shelf, behind the glass, and you have to talk to the guy behind the counter to get the key. When I was ruling Hell, Crowley came back down to retake his throne, but I wasn't having it. I had been taking incubus blood at this point."

"When the hell did you find an incubus?" Sam gasped, questioning my sanity.

"When we did that job in Illinois," I reminded him, "Annie. You remember Annie, right? The first time I had been back to school since the orphanage fire."

"Yeah," he remembered, "Why?"

"Xander, the guy from English that took me back to Hartford," I explained, "I summoned him after Crowley cut me off and screwed me over, so I'd still have a blood source. But all that aside, I was jacked up on incubus blood and I kept getting stronger with every drink. I kicked the crap out of Crowley and put him on meat hooks in Hell. He got around-the-clock ass beatings and more importantly, I've been draining his blood from him."

"Chuck's taking care of him," Sam got real nervous real quick, "Are you sure you're perfectly fine now?"

"Yes," I grumbled, "I'm not that sadistic anymore. Just my usual levels of sadism."

"The demon blood was distorting her thinking," Cas explained, "I checked her myself, Sam. She's fine now."

"Good," Sam pushed my hair out of my face, "Now, do you plan on going back to Hell?"

"Don't get me wrong," I admitted, "Ruling Hell for a while was fun, but my god, it's exhausting. But that power...Do you know how kickass it is to have control over all the demons in Hell? It's freakin' awesome!"

"Lena..."

"But!" I settled him, "I don't need that kind of power anymore. It's too much for little old me."

"Don't scare me like that," Sam put me back down on my bed, "Why don't you get some rest, kiddo? We can talk more later."

"No," I fought him, "I feel fine."

"No," Cas held me down, "Trust me. You need to get some rest. Demon blood withdrawal is never pleasant."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "The more sleep you can get, the better."

"Fine..." I caved, nestling down into my blanket, "I guess I'll just lay here, watch some Netflix."

"Exactly," he demanded, "You worry about getting better."

"What about Dean?" I worried.

"He'll come around," Cas promised, "For now, please rest."

"I will," I laid my head on my pillow, "Night, boys."

"Good night, Lena," Sam pulled my quilt over me a little better, "And by the way..."

"Hmm?"

A little smile crept across his face, melting my heart, "Welcome home. We really did miss you around here."

"I love you, too," I shut my eyes for a minute or two. It wasn't long before I fell asleep. That was a weight off my shoulders. I had Cas and Sam's forgiveness. All I needed now was one more. Dean's a tough cookie to crack. Hopefully, Cas can get him to come around. I love both my brothers, but I had a special relationship with Dean. We clicked a little differently than Sam and me.

Regardless, it's good to be home. I got my boys. I got the bunker. Hot damn, it's good to be home. I wonder...I doubt Sam and Dean went through my room. If that's the case, then that means...I looked under my bed and son of a bitch! My liquor cabinet's still here! Well...Most of it was stolen from Dean, but that's here nor there. I got whiskey and that's all that matters! Looks like I'm drinking it straight. That's fine. I don't want anything watering my buzz down. I took out one of my glasses and cracked the Jack open.

"Hey," a familiar voice rumbled, "Didn't I ever teach you that it's sad to drink alone?"

"You want one while I'm pouring?" I offered, pouring my own first. I know it's out of turn, but I don't have enough confirmation and I would absolutely love a drink right now.

"Sure," Dean came in, pulling up a seat. I gave him my glass and poured another for myself.

Aaaaaand...Silence. Long, awkward silence. I thought a casual glass of whiskey between friends would've broken the ice. But to no avail. Dean savored his drink, taking his sweet time. But then, he finally broke the silence, "I could've killed you, Lena."

"I know..." I could hardly speak. I knew he was pissed, but I didn't think he was still that pissed.

"I heard some rumors a while back," he told me, "Some hunters were hot on the trail of what they thought was a demon with purple eyes in Denver."

"Really?" I winced, knowing damn well who that was.

"But we kept them off your back," Dean assured, "You might have been a pain in the ass and slowly turning into a monster, but you were still family."

"Thank you," my stomach started to ease, "Look, Dean, I know I..."

"No," he cut me off, "I heard you talking to Sam and Cas. You don't need to repeat yourself. Grab your shoes."

"What for?" I wondered.

"We're going for a drive," Dean insisted, finishing his drink, "Don't worry. I'll leave my gun here. If I was taking you to your death, Sam would never forgive me. And I don't know about you, but I like my brother. We don't do well without each other."

"Because you two have such a beautiful codependency that will be spoken of for generations?" I figured.

"Lena..."

"Alright," I grabbed my shoes from the end of my bed and Dean snuck me out of the bunker. I'm not quite sure how well this is going to go. I love my brother, but I may be slipping my knife in my boot, "Hey, Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have my car?" I hoped.

"Of course I do," he promised, my keys dangling from his pinky, "Like I'm going to leave that on its own wherever."

"Good," I took my jacket off my chair and threw it over my shoulders. Although I'd be taking a huge leap here, I couldn't help myself, "And Dean?"

"Yes, Lena," Dean sounded like he was starting to get annoyed with me.

"Are..." I crossed my fingers in my pockets, "Are we...Are we good?"

He looked at me like I just punched him in the stomach. Maybe my words did in their own special way. Dean's heart shattered in his eyes. He wanted to stay mad at me. He really did. Dean wanted to hold this grudge until the cows come home. But then, in a sudden change of heart, Dean threw his arms around me, holding onto me like he was afraid to lose me, "Yeah. We're good."

The two of us suppressed as much emotion as we could and got in my car. I know Dean gets pissy when he's not the one driving, but in my defense, this was my car. And if I remember the house rules right, I get to turn on any jams I want to and Dean's just going to have to take it. However, I knew just what to play right now. A soft, acoustic guitar riff played.

Dean looked over at me with half a smirk on his face, "Really, Lena?"

"What?" I giggled, feeling so much more at ease, "I was a little too tall, could've used a few pounds..."

"Lena..."

"Tight pants points, hardly renown," I continued singing.

"Lena..." Dean was trying to force back a smile. Keyword, trying.

"You love a black-haired beauty with big blue eyes!" I sang, jabbing my finger in my brother's shoulder.

"Dammit, Lena," he chuckled to himself.

"Points all his own," I went on, "From way up high..."

"Shut up, Lena." There it was. There's what I was looking for. Not only did I put a smile on Dean's face, but I think I might've made him blush a little, too.

"What?" I teased, "Tell me we can't jam Night Moves and I will say too damn bad."

"I'm never going to turn down Night Moves," Dean's knee started bouncing.

"Hell yeah!" I squeaked, "There's nothing in our lives that can't be summed up in a Bob Segar song."

"Damn right," he nodded, "Hold on. You ready to take it home, sister?"

"Yes, sir!" I beamed, waiting for the chorus to hit. The windows were down. The back roads were empty. The music's up. I had the love of my brother back. The two of us were back to belting out the classics in my car again. Damn, it's good to be home. And I couldn't wait to see where the road's taking us next.

A/N: And so, another chapter in the Winchester gospels. I'll miss writing for Supernatural. I really will. But I do have a different Supernatural story waiting in the wings. I might start posting that next week, if that's cool. It's a little Destiel-ish and I got the idea for it at three in the morning, but it's a delight. I promise you. (AlsoIlovethatLenacalledDeanoutonCasthankyouforcomingtomyTEDtalk.) It's been fun, you guys. It really has. I'm not totally sure if this is going to get another sequel, but I'll be sure to let you guys know via either Twitter or I'll post about it in my bio. I don't know. We'll talk. I have a chapter to outline for tomorrow, so I'm going to go. I love you and I'll see you later. xx