A/N: I can't post this without giving a HUGE thanks to all those who reviewed my last chapter, I've never had so many reviews from one chapter before. I am so glad you were happy to see Part 2 begin – you guys really really made me smile!

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Tasha answered the knock at the motel room door and paid the delivery man, taking a big sniff of the pizza box as she kicked the door shut behind her with her foot. "I can smell the pineapple," she declared. "Dean never let you get Hawaiian, 'no fruit allowed on real food' remember?" She winked at him. "You little rebel, you."

Sam gave her a tight lipped smile, sadly remembering the hundreds of teases Dean had thrown his way over the years because he liked pineapple on his pizza.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I don't mean to keep bringing him up. That just sort of came out…"

"Nah, it's alright," Sam dismissed with a wave of his hand. "It's funny, but I think it actually helps a bit to talk about him. I haven't really been able to since it happened and I don't know why, but it feels alright with you."

"Grief knits two hearts in closer bonds than happiness ever can," Tasha said absently, pulling at the messy strings of cheese that just wouldn't seem to break off her slice.

Sam raised an eyebrow in surprise and chuckled. "Did you seriously just quote De Lamartine?"

Tasha shrugged sheepishly, unable to answer with her mouth full.

"Dean never mentioned you were so up on your French poets," Sam teased.

She grinned back at him. "I restrict my quotes to Metallica and Zeppelin for your brother," she admitted. "My mom loved poetry."

She took another bite and her face grew serious again. "Speaking of parental figures," she continued, "That Bobby guy's really worried about you."

Sam let out a long exhale, grabbing his slice and leaning back in his chair. "I know," he confessed. "But I just can't be around him right now."

"Why not?" Tasha never was one to beat around the bush. "He seemed nice. He made me eat and even changed the oil on my car before he let me leave."

"He is nice. He's like a dad to us but he just worries too much. He was pretty messed up about Dean too but his solution was to focus on making sure I was okay. Problem was I wasn't. I was anything but okay and the last thing I wanted to keep hearing was how it would get better with time and how we had to keep truckin'."

Tasha nodded slowly in understanding as he spoke. "Well, I have a feeling the only truckin' he's doing is down into a bottle of whiskey," she said and Sam's heart lurched at the painful revelation.

"He wouldn't have understood what I was doing," he defended, as much to convince himself as Tasha.

"What do you mean?"

Sam swallowed. "I was trying to get Dean out," he divulged.

"Out?"

"Out of Hell. I was trying to save him." He wasn't going to sound apologetic because he wasn't sorry.

Tasha stopped chewing and stared intently at him for a long moment. She finally swallowed her bite and put the last bit of her slice down. "Did you try to make another crossroads deal?"

"Yes," the hunter admitted.

"Dean wouldn't want that, Sam."

"I know!" he almost snapped. "But I seriously doubt he wants to burn in Hell for eternity either."

"Is it even possible?" she breathed. "Getting someone out of Hell?" Her look was mostly one of skepticism but Sam recognized a glimmer of hope in her eyes and suddenly felt guilty for letting that happen.

"No," he answered with certainty. "I tried everything. It just can't be done."

Tasha's face fell, grief taking control over her pretty features again. She sighed and slumped in her chair, glancing over at the king size bed.

"I'm beat," she said, sounding genuinely tired. "I haven't slept since I found out. You mind if I hit the hay?"

Sam shook his head. "Of course not. You take the bed," he offered. "I'll take the floor."

She rolled her eyes. "It's a king size, Sam. We're grown ups. You even try to sleep on the floor and I will kick your ass in the morning," she warned, grabbing her backpack and heading to the washroom to change.

She was fast asleep within ten minutes but Sam remained seated at the table for a long time afterwards, nibbling at the pizza and watching her sleep. He had stopped asking for a double room after the first week alone because staring all night long at the emptiness of the second bed had been pure torture. Besides, Ruby often showed up these days and a king size came in handy when the energetic demon was in an amorous mood.

His mind was still spinning a little with Tasha's unexpected re-entry into his bleak existence. It was as if a tiny ray of sunshine had been allowed to sneak past a set of thick, tightly-drawn curtains. Problem was, in a way he had been getting used to the darkness.

He had told her almost everything but hadn't been able to admit that he was working with Ruby and using his powers to exorcize demons. He had no intention of ever telling her about ingesting drops of demon-blood to enhance those powers. He realized that by not telling her he was admitting to himself that what he was doing was wrong but he somehow knew what her reaction would be. She would say exactly what Dean and Bobby would say – that the end doesn't justify the means.

He closed his eyes and listened to the soft sounds of her slumbering breath and was struck by how nice it was to have some company. Most of the time he thought he was fine; propelling his way through every day with determination and anger often replacing food and sleep as fuel. He had a goal, a purpose, a mission to channel all his rage and pain into – killing Lilith. But there were moments when he felt so incredibly alone. Those fleeting instances when he was behind the wheel of the Impala and looked over to find the passenger seat empty or when he ordered a double half-caff latte and waited for the teasing snort that never came or when he checked into a motel with 'magic fingers' and realized he wouldn't be annoyed by the sound of quarters being pumped in and the droning vibration. Tasha reminded him of Dean. Somehow her being here was making him feel closer to his brother. Like some small piece of Dean was back in the land of the living – that small piece he had given Tasha when he had fallen in love with her. And having even that small piece of Dean around seemed to loosen the grip that hate and vengeance had on Sam.

He was still sitting at the table hours later, his face bathed in the pale light from his laptop screen, when he heard a quiet knock on the door. He jumped to his feet and sprinted over to the peephole, his hand reaching around to the demon-killing knife at the small of his back.

Damnit. It was Ruby.

He answered it quickly, pressing his finger to his lips to shush the demon before she could make a noise. He stepped out of the room, forcing her backwards as he did so and closed the door softly behind him.

"What's going on, Sam?" she asked, her annoyance clear. "Why can't I come in? What, did you pick up some skank? Thought that was your brother's thing."

"Ruby, shut up," he retorted, not rising to the bait. "I got a hunter friend crashing in my room, that's all."

Technically it wasn't a lie. He and Ruby weren't exactly a couple since they never talked relationship crap but he didn't feel up to explaining Tasha's presence and he grudgingly admitted to himself that the demon would be jealous, justified or not.

"What's up?" he demanded, changing the subject. "Got any new leads on Lilith?"

Ruby narrowed her eyes and pouted, clearly not thrilled with the less than enthusiastic welcome she had received. "Isn't that why you're here?" she snipped.

"Isn't what why I'm here?"

She studied him for a moment, her arms folded across her chest. "Okay, maybe I was wrong," she said finally. "I thought you knew. Remember that demon named Succorbenoth?"

Sam nodded, his interest peaked. "The gate demon? The one that Yellow-Eyes used to make the devil's gate?" He was referring to the devil's gate in Wyoming that Samuel Colt had shut down by surrounding it with a giant devil's trap made out of iron railway tracks.

"Yep, the gate that you and Dean let get opened and Lilith got out of."

Sam gave her an unimpressed look but didn't say anything. She could get snippy when she was annoyed with him and he wasn't in the mood for her demon sense of humor. She had informed him a couple of weeks ago that Lilith had been one of the hundreds of demons that had escaped when Jake had opened the gate and Sam's sense of responsibility for that event had further intensified his determination to destroy the white-eyed demon.

"Anyway," she continued with a huff, sulking at not being able to get a reaction from the hunter. "He's also in direct contact with Lilith," she informed him. "And he's supposed to be here, in town. If we find him, he may be able to give us a lead on where Lilith is or at least what her plans are. And he'll be good practice for you."

Sam's heart skipped a beat as the new information sank in and not because they may have a lead on Lilith. "If he's here, I'm not gonna exorcize him," he breathed as his eyes widened. "I can bind him and maybe I can get Dean out of Hell!" The pitch and volume of his voice both rose in his mounting excitement.

Ruby groaned and shook her head. "Sam, I thought you were past that. You know it can't be done. I've told you, there isn't anything powerful enough to bring a human soul out of Hell. You tried everything. Let's focus on killing Lilith."

Sam ignored her, his heart thumping loudly in his chest. "He can pull Dean out."

"It's too dangerous, Sam."

"I don't care!" Sam hissed. "If there's a chance I can get Dean back, I'm taking it! If you don't want to help then don't. I'll just do it alone!"

The motel door behind him opened sharply and Sam spun to see Tasha standing there wide-eyed in her t-shirt and sweats. "You won't be alone, Sam," she announced. "I'll help."

Ruby's eyes narrowed as she took in the sight of the pretty brunette. "Hunter friend, huh?" she spat at Sam, not bothering to hide her disapproval.

"Oh, uh…it's not like that," Tasha said quickly, looking back and forth between Sam and Ruby and clearly assuming they had something going. "We're just friends."

Ruby shrugged. "None of my business," she said curtly. "We're just friends too." She wagged her finger between her and Sam. "Right, Sam?"

Sam groaned, not missing the sarcasm. He really didn't have the patience for this.

Tasha turned back to the tall hunter. "Tell me I heard right," she demanded. "You think you've got a way to get Dean back?"

Sam hesitated, not sure what to say. Finding and binding Succorbenoth was going to be insanely dangerous and he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he let Tasha get killed. Not to mention that Dean would be devastated if he made it out of the pit to find that she had died trying to save him.

"We should take this party inside," Ruby suggested suddenly, nudging him from behind. "Before we wake the neighbors. It's the middle of the night."

Tasha frowned impatiently but stepped back into the room. Sam followed and Ruby brought up the rear, closing and locking the door behind her.

"Sam?" Tasha urged, clearly wanting an answer.

"Hi," Ruby interrupted again, introducing herself and giving Tasha a little wave. "I'm Chrissie, by the way. Sam forgets his manners sometimes."

"Natasha." Tasha smiled politely but never took her eyes off Sam.

"Look, Tasha," Sam said slowly. "I don't know what I've got a lead on. Let me just check it out and I'll call you in a couple of days if the information pans out."

Tasha shook her head. "No way. If you have a lead on a way to bring Dean back to life, I'm staying right here."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure this is out of your league, sister," Ruby interjected. "Do you even know what's involved here?"

Tasha narrowed her eyes at the demon. "I'm a hunter," she said coolly. "I can handle myself so why don't you let me decide what's in my league?"

Ruby snorted but Sam interrupted before things escalated. "Can we just play nice?" he asked them both. "Tasha, Chrissy's right, this is too dangerous for any of us."

"That's not what you said on the porch." Tasha argued. "I don't know who this Succorbenoth is but like I said, I'm a hunter, so I can damn well find out." She gave Sam a hard stare. "I know what you're doing," she accused. "I appreciate that you're trying to look out for me but if there's even a sliver of a chance that we can do something to help Dean, I'm in. I don't care about the risks."

She held his gaze, her brown eyes hard and determined and Sam knew he had no choice but to let her help. He'd rather she stay safe but he wasn't going to miss this golden opportunity no matter what. Tasha obviously hadn't realized she had won for she continued pleading her case.

"I love him too, Sam," she argued more quietly. "I'd give my life to save him just like you would so you can't ask me not to try if there's a way to get him out of there. I know this demon's name so I'm gonna poke around with or without you." She paused and gave him a sly smile when he still didn't answer. "In case you haven't noticed, Sam, you're kinda buff and those bulging biceps of yours might come in handy if things get rough so I'd rather work this thing with you than by myself."

Sam could see Ruby rolling her eyes but her stiff stance was gone, the resentment clearly dropped with the understanding that Tasha had been with Dean and wasn't with Sam. He let out a long sigh and threw his hands in the air in defeat.

"Fine," he caved. "Here's what we know so far."

Sam explained that Succorbenoth was a demon with a special gift. In conjunction with a complicated ritual, he was able to open gateways from hell. Sam had been looking for him during his drunken rage in the first weeks after Dean had died but had hit a dead end. He had discovered that Succorbenoth was in Hell and therefore, out of range. If 'Chrissy's' intel was correct, then Sam had previously been wrong and the plan was back on the table.

That plan involved capturing him, trapping him in a devil's trap, and performing a binding ritual on him so they could control him and force him to do their bidding. Their bidding, of course, was to open a gate to hell and bring Dean back topside.

"Can he do that?" Tasha asked.

"Theoretically," Ruby sneered.

"What does that mean?"

Sam shot Ruby a sharp glare. "She means she doesn't think Succorbenoth can find a single soul in all of hell."

"It's a big place, Sam," Ruby pointed out.

"Do you think he can?" Tasha asked Sam.

Sam just shrugged. He really didn't know but he wasn't going to leave Dean to burn if there was even a chance it would work. "It's probably a long shot," he admitted.

Tasha took that as a yes. "Okay, then," she nodded. "Good enough for me." She turned back to Ruby. "So where do we find SucckyBoy?"

"Finding him's the easy part," the demon warned. "Then we gotta trap him and, even worse, bind him." She had her hands on her hips as she addressed Tasha. "You ever try to bind a high-level demon?"

Tasha just shook her head.

"Well, it ain't no picnic."

The hunter shrugged. "I really don't give a fuck if it's like storming the beach at Normandy if it gets Dean back," she said.

Sam noticed Ruby's face soften and the demon actually smiled. "I can respect that," she said, sounding genuine and as Sam studied the demon he realized he had yet to figure her out. Sometimes she seemed so demon-ish but then other times, most of the time actually, she really did seem like she cared. Cared about getting rid of Lilith, about saving the hosts of the demons he'd been exorcizing, but mostly about him. He couldn't deny she had saved him from himself in those dark days after Dean had died.

"Okay then" Ruby continued, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Succky is supposedly holding out with a few low-level lackeys at an abandoned saw mill on the Vermillion River."

Tasha moved over to the chair and grabbed her jeans. "Let's get going," she said, heading to the washroom to change.

As soon as they were alone in the room, Ruby gave Sam an uncertain look. "She know what you can do?" she asked with a hushed voice.

"No," Sam answered, shaking his head fervently. "And I want to keep it that way."

"Hmph. This would be easier if it was just you and me," the demon griped.

"Tasha can hold her own," Sam defended but fell silent as the brunette emerged from the bathroom dressed already and tucking a knife in the back of her jeans. As she put on her boots, he walked over and handed her Ruby's demon-killing knife, ignoring the audible gasp of disapproval that escaped the demon.

"This knife can kill any demon," Sam explained. "If things get ugly, use it."

"Is this the knife you were telling me about earlier?" Tasha asked, pausing to admire the silver blade. "The one you got from Ruby?"

Sam nodded, feeling just a little guilty that she didn't know Ruby was standing right behind him, tapping her foot in extreme displeasure.

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They decided to leave the Fiero at the motel so Tasha climbed into the passenger seat of the Impala with Sam behind the wheel while Ruby got in the back. She let out a cry of surprise when she noticed the newly installed iPod jack on the dash.

"Bout time this car got updated," she smiled in unconvincing approval and Sam didn't miss that she still dragged out Dean's box of cassettes and pushed a Motorhead tape into the old player as the car roared out of the parking lot.

It was only a ten minute drive to pretty much anywhere in Pontiac, Illinois and they arrived at the old saw mill in less than eight. Tasha was digging around in her backpack on the back seat while Sam and Ruby stood at the open trunk getting supplies and Ruby slipped the tall hunter a small flask. He raised his eyebrows in question and she mouthed the word 'blood'. Sam nodded brusquely and took the flask, sneaking a quick sip and slipping it into his pocket before Tasha came around the back of the car.

"Got any chalk?" she asked him. "I'm out."

"Yeah, sure," Sam nodded, handing her a couple of pieces from the Winchesters' well-stocked stash. It was the fastest and easiest way to draw a devil's trap. He tucked a gun and a knife under his jacket and slammed the Impala's trunk shut. "Let's go get this guy," he said curtly, jerking his head for the women to follow as he strode across the street to the chain link fence around the mill yard.

The three launched themselves over the eight foot fence effortlessly, dropping silently to the ground on the far side behind the cover of some overgrown bushes. They made their way to the large, empty building and Sam boosted Tasha up to peek in the dirty but high-up side window. She jumped back down and informed them it looked like a main equipment room that was empty with no signs that anybody or anything had been here recently except perhaps the odd partying teenagers, judging by the sub-par graffiti and the empty beer bottles strewn on the floor.

Sam suggested they sneak inside and lay out a few devil's traps that they could conceal as well as a big one in this main room. Then they would split up and search the place. When they found Succorbenoth, they could just lure him back to this room and snag him in one of the devil's traps. He got no arguments from the girls so he boosted Tasha up first to climb in the window as the door was more exposed and their plan relied on having the element of surprise. Tasha disappeared inside quietly and Ruby boosted Sam up, her demon strength making it easy to hoist the two hundred pound hunter up to window height. To his relief, Tasha never questioned how 'Chrissy' managed to reach the window of her own accord as she was already in the process of spreading a salt line across the exterior door threshold.

The mill was large with a series of buildings all interconnected that housed a loading area by the river, the main equipment area, a smaller office area, a warehouse, and old housing bunks. When they were done demon-booby-trapping the main room, Sam signaled for Ruby to go left to the offices while he and Tasha went right to the warehouse but Tasha scowled at the order. She whispered that she was going to go check out the bunkhouse instead. Sam shook his head.

"There's supposedly a bunch of other demons with him, Tasha," he pointed out. "Lilith couldn't use her demon powers on me so I think I'm immune their psychic thing. It's too dangerous for you alone; you should stick with me."

Tasha looked thoughtful for a moment but Sam could tell by the look on her face that he wasn't going to win the argument. She was stubborn, so much so that Dean had quickly stopped trying to get her to take the safe position when she had been hunting with them and had agreed to treat her as an equal.

"You have a point," she conceded. "But it's not safe for Chrissy here to be alone either so I'll go with her."

Sam growled his disproval under his breath but nodded. He couldn't argue Tasha's reasoning without giving away the fact that Chrissy was indeed Ruby. He gave the demon a warning glare to make it clear she had better look out for Tasha and slipped through the door towards the warehouse. At least by himself, he could use his powers more freely.

It didn't take him long to find the demons. He peeked into the open warehouse to see six of them sitting around a table on the far wall.

It's showtime, he thought, wishing his brother was here to give him a cocky grin and say the words out loud.

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A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out – I promise the next one will be faster :-) Let me know what you thought – I love hearing from you.