AUTHOR'S NOTES: After seeing the episode 'The Third Man' I have actually developed two theories on Sam: Either Sam did something very, very bad down in Hell or Lucifer is still inside him.

In regards to my next chapter, Dean and Castiel have a talk, more hunters turn up, and Sam is in trouble.

Chapter 3

After leaving the Winchesters, Castiel winged over to the Monroe Auto Body Shop and thankfully found Stella alone as she leaned over the engine of a car. Appearing next to her, he said, "Stella Monroe."

Stella jumped, smacking her head on the raised hood of the car she was fixing for a customer. "OW! Son of a bitch!" Rubbing her head as she turned to Castiel, she jumped again and snapped, "Who the hell are you?"

Castiel paused for a moment and then replied, "My name is Castiel. I'm an Angel of the Lord." Stella didn't seem impressed which made Castiel think that she already knew about him. "I know you are close to Sam Winchester."

"Is Sam okay?" Stella asked, wondering if something was wrong.

"You tell me," Castiel replied, allowing himself to display a minute amount of concern.

Stella sat down on the edge of the car front and looked at Castiel. "Sam told me about you. He thinks of you like a friend."

Castiel wasn't sure how to reply to that news and remained silent for a moment. But after Stella stood and resumed her work on the car, he said, "Something happened to Sam while he was in the Pit. Something he has discussed with no one else. His brother feels it. As do I. Tell me how to help him."

Stella lowered her head and the angel recognized the position as one of someone praying for guidance. Finally Stella straightened up and fixed Castiel with a look. "Oh, Sam was in Hell, alright. And his time down there was anything but easy. But that's all you're getting from me." As she went back to her work, she added, "Sam's going to have to tell you the rest."

"He won't tell me," Castiel replied, annoyed. "Why else would I be here? I want answers and you apparently have them."

When Stella straightened up again, Castiel recognized the stance she took as defensive and there was a fire in her eyes that he had seen in Sam Winchester's eyes many times before. "Answers?" Stella repeated, angrily. "How about my answers? Like what the hell happened with my brother! Like why all these dead hunters are popping up again? Are we facing another Apocalypse and we're all being amassed like some sort of army?"

Castiel let out an exasperated sigh. It was very plain that this woman had been spending time with Sam Winchester as she'd apparently adopted some of his mannerisms. Specifically, Sam's temper. "I can't tell you because I don't know," he replied, irritably. "I wish I had answers but I don't. Now…" Taking a breath, Castiel forced himself to regain control of his emotions. "Please tell me about Sam."

Stella crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Let me just… tell my uncle I'm taking a lunch break."

Sam and Dean were used to using fake badges to get into hospitals, police departments, and supernatural crime scenes. Lying was something of a way of life for a hunter and the Winchesters were good at it.

But when they entered the headquarters of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, they were surprised to find high grade visitor's passes waiting for them at security.

"Wait, so we can just go ahead in?" Dean asked, more than a bit surprised.

"You said Special Agent Gibbs was expecting you, right?" one of the guards asked. When Sam confirmed the statement, the guard shrugged. "Then go right ahead, gentlemen. Gibbs is one of the best judges of character I know. If he said you guys are good, that's enough for me."

As Dean and Sam walked around the metal detectors, Dean smiled at Sam. "I really think I'm starting to like this guy."

"It could be a trap," Sam replied as they got in the elevator along with a beautiful, leggy redhead who gave each of them a seductive smile. After a few moments of checking out the young woman, Sam felt Dean elbow him in the ribs. Turning to his brother, Sam said quietly, "What was I saying?"

"That this could all be a trap," Dean muttered as he, too, eyed the hottie standing in front of him. 'Think of Lisa. Think of Lisa,' Dean ordered himself. Hell, it had only been 4 days since he'd last seen Lisa. Was he really that lonely already? Of course it didn't help that this young woman was armed to the teeth. As Dean eyed her, he could see that she was carrying at least three knives and at least two guns. It was one of odd things about being a hunter: weaponry could very easily become a major turn-on.

When the elevator arrived at their floor, Sam and Dean started to step out when they noticed that their elevator companion got off with them and was also heading towards Gibbs who gave her a smile.

"Oh, no, man. Don't tell me she's…" Dean whined as he saw the girl give Gibbs a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

From about 10 feet away, Sam could still hear as the girl said the words 'Hi Dad' and he gave a deep, disappointed sigh. "Yep. She is."

"Can I help you?"

As Sam and Dean turned to the woman who'd spoken, They both found themselves staring at one of the most beautiful women either of them had ever seen. Dark brown—almost black hair—eyes the color of chocolate, beautiful lips, , and there was something exotic about her that neither brother could quite place. And both Sam and Dean knew that this was also one woman who could easily kill them without weapons.

"Uh, I'm—" Dean started to say, although he suddenly couldn't remember what name he was using.

"We-We're Agents, uh…" Sam said, trying to cover and failing miserably.

The woman smiled and held out a hand as she said, "Agent Ziva David." Looking over at Gibbs, she saw that he looked both amused and just the slightest bit annoyed. "I'll be here if you want to introduce yourselves after you talk to Gibbs," she said to the two brothers. Once they'd headed into the conference room along with Gibbs and Kelly and closed the door, Ziva sat back down at her desk, smiling to herself.

xxx

In the conference room, Dean and Sam eyed Gibbs' daughter as she sat at the far end of the table, leaning back in her chair and eyeing the younger men like they were two steaks and she was a hungry dog.

After a moment of watching the visual exchange, Gibbs gave a small sigh of exasperation and leaned forward, smacking both Winchesters on the back of the head.

The headslap seemed to jolt Dean and Sam out of their staring and Sam asked, "How come she's here?" he asked, nodding to Kelly.

"Because 'A': I'm a hunter," Kelly replied, looking almost amused at the fact that the brothers were now making an effort to avoid looking at her. "And 'B'… I look good for a corpse."

"You were brought back, too?" Sam asked, looking at Kelly.

"Kelly died two years ago," Gibbs replied. "Then last year she came back. About the same time Vance started acting strangely."

"Vance is the NCIS Director?" Dean asked. When Gibbs nodded, Dean went on. "Ever smelled any sulpher around him?"

"Yeah, once," Kelly replied, thoughtfully.

Dean looked over at Kelly as a question was starting to tug at him. "Okay, how come no one thinks it's strange that you're walking around if you were dead?"

Kelly shrugged as she sat up, leaning forward. "Dad kept my death quiet. Hell, the only other person who knew about me being a hunter, other than Dad, was Dr. Mallard."

"Mallard?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Our medical examiner," Gibbs replied, succinctly.

"Everyone calls him Ducky," Kelly added. "After I came back we just… acted like I was incommunicado for a year and change."

"Okay, getting back to the main issue," Sam interjected before he started fantasizing about Kelly again. "What's the plan with Vance?"

"Interrogate him and then shoot his ass full of rock salt," Kelly replied, leaning back in her chair again. "We'll be done before lunch."

"Have you ever actually tortured a demon before?" Dean asked Kelly, his expression dark. When she shrugged, he said, "Trust me… it won't be that simple."

"Well, then what do you suggest?" Kelly asked, crossing her arms. Sometimes she really hated working with other hunters. Everyone always thought that they knew the best way to solve a problem when nine times out of ten the best solution was in fact the simplest one.

Looking at Kelly and then at Gibbs, Dean replied, "Leave this to Sam and me. We'll trap the demon and get him to spill anything he knows."

"Yeah, and you're just going to walk right into the director's office?" Kelly asked, amused at the idea. "You're going to need to Vance out of his office first of all."

"And you have an idea of how to do that?" Dean asked, wondering why this kid acted like she knew more than he did.

Kelly smiled and shared a look with Gibbs who nodded. "MTAC," he said, simply. Looking at Sam and Dean, Gibbs asked, "How soon can you be ready to trap this demon?"

xxx

As Kelly helped her father sneak Sam and Dean into MTAC, she found herself thinking about her life as a hunter and the circumstances that set her future in motion.

When Kelly and Shannon had been in a car crash when Kelly was 8-years-old they had both been seriously injured. Shannon had suffered multiple fractures and Kelly ended up in a coma from a combination of blood loss and severe head trauma.

After 3 months of seeing her daughter at death's door, Shannon had—in desperation—found herself standing at a dirt crossroads out in the middle of nowhere where she signed over her soul in exchange for Kelly's life.

10 years after the deal had been made, Shannon had finally confessed her actions to Kelly just before hellhounds attacked, tearing Shannon apart while her daughter watched, horrified.

But while Kelly had told her father about the whole demonic world, she had never been able to tell him about her mother's deal.

xxx

When Leon Vance arrived in MTAC, he was surprised to see Gibbs standing in front of the main screen alone. "What's going on, Gibbs?" Vance demanded as he approached the agent. But when he suddenly found himself unable to move, Vance looked down at the floor and saw a Devil's Trap drawn in chalk on the carpet. Hearing several shotguns he looked around, frowning when he saw Sam and Dean Winchester and Kelly. "I always knew there was a reason I never liked you," Vance said to Kelly as she looked almost gleefully at him.

Kelly pulled a small squirt gun out of her pocket as she approached him, her other hand still holding the shotgun full of rock salt. As she fired the squirt gun—filled with holy water—she replied, "Same here."

Vance hissed angrily as the holy water burned him. Looking at the three hunters he noticed that Gibbs had left the room. "So what now? Going to exorcise me?"

"Maybe," Kelly replied, handing the squirt gun to Sam and raising her shotgun. "If you're lucky. What's with bringing hunters back?"

"You think I'm going to tell you?" Vance sneered. "I'm not that stupid."

"Maybe you're not," Dean said, darkly as walked up to Vance. "But you will talk. I promise you that." Whipping out a silver knife, he sliced Vance across the chest, feeling a bit of grim satisfaction when the demon cried out in pain. "Tell us who's behind this!"

"You want to know what's going on?" Vance hissed as he glared at Dean. "Heaven and Hell are in chaos, that's what's been going on."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, not sure he understood.

"You know what I'm talking about, Sam Winchester," Vance replied. "What you did down there threw everything out of order."

Dean kept his eyes on Vance as he asked, "Sam? What's he talking about?"

"Yeah, tell him, Sam," Vance goaded. "Tell your brother what happened when you ended up in Hell. How you tortured yourself until Lucifer finally released himself from you out self-preservation."

Dean turned to Sam, not wanting to believe the demon's words. "Sammy? Is that true?" When his brother wouldn't look at him, Dean shouted, "Sam!"

Sam turned to Dean, and the look on his face was one of deepest anguish. "I couldn't take it anymore, Dean. I had to get him out. He wouldn't get out."

Sam was nearly in tears and Dean wasn't far behind. He remembered torturing and being tortured and when Dean thought of his brother doing those things to himself… "Why, Sam?"

"I just wanted it to stop," Sam explained, trying not to cry.

"Okay," Kelly said, shakily as she looked at Vance. "But how did that cause all the hunters to come back?"

Vance didn't reply to that and after more than an hour of torture Dean finally raised the Colt and killed the demon.