Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

AngelicScream- Thank you! Yup, Cas would totally do that!

Garideth- Yeah, the bloopers are hilarious!

ccgnme- Haha yeah, I thought it would be a really Cas-esque thing to do.

XKaterinaNightingaleX- Thank you!

Chapter name borrowed from Wexford Hurling.

CHAPTER TWELVE- DANCING AT THE CROSSROADS

We approached the front door.

Sam knocked sharply.

A moment later, a squat man opened the door.

"Yes?"

"Evan Hudson?"

Dean stepped closer.

"You ever been to a bar called Lloyd's? Would have been about ten years ago."

Terrified, Evan slammed the door and latched it.

"Come on!" Dean sighed. "We're not demons!"

Sam glowered at him.

"Any other bright ideas?"

Dean paused.

"Hey, angel, poof us in there, would ya?"

Castiel seemed almost bored.

"As you wish."

He touched our foreheads.

We landed in front of the back room.

Dean prepared to knock down the door.

Sam caught his leg, stopping him.

"What-"

Looking at Dean pointedly, Sam turned the handle and pushed the door open gently.

The room was quiet.

"Evan?"

He jumped out from behind a bookshelf.

"Please! Don't hurt me!"

Sam held out his hand in a pacifying gesture.

"We're not going to hurt you, all right? We're here to help you."

Dean grimaced.

"We know all about the genius deal you made."

"What?" Evan backed up. "How?"

"Doesn't matter," Sam looked at him. "All that matters is, we're trying to stop it."

He eyed us suspiciously.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Well, you don't," Dean glared at him.

"But you're kinda running low on options there, buddy-boy."

Evan swallowed, pacing the floor.

"Can you stop it?"

"Don't know. We'll try."

Dean shot a look at Castiel.

"Any chance you can get him out of this?"

"No," Castiel's face was expressionless.

"I cannot interfere with deals. Only the demon involved can withdraw it."

"Great."

"I don't want to die," Evan gulped.

"Of course you don't," Dean banged his hand down on a table. "Not now."

"Dean. Stop." Sam said quietly.

He ignored him.

"What'd you ask for, anyway, Evan? Huh? Never need Viagra? Bowl a perfect game? What?"

"My wife," Evan looked down.

"Right," Dean snorted.

"Gettin' the girl. Well, that's worth a trip to hell for."

"Dean, please." I pulled him away. "Stop."

"No, he's right," Evan looked weary.

"I made the deal. Nobody twisted my arm…. that woman, whatever she was, at the bar? She said I could have anything I wanted. At first I thought she was nuts, but I was desperate."

"Desperate?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Julie was dying."

I sucked in a breath.

I could sympathize with Evan Hudson.

Hadn't I wanted to do the same thing only a few hours back?

Castiel's gaze reminded me that I couldn't.

"You did it to save her?"

"She had cancer," Evan answered Dean.

"They stopped treatment, moved her into a hospice. They kept saying….. a matter of days. So yeah, I made the deal. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

A muscle jumped in Dean's jaw.

"Did you ever think about her in all this?"

"I did this for her."

Dean advanced on him.

"You sure about that? I think you did it for yourself. So you wouldn't have to live without her. But guess what? She's going to have to live without you now."

Sam put a hand on Dean's chest, pulling him back.

"Okay, that's enough. You just sit tight, all right? We're going to figure this out."

…

Sam followed Dean into the hallway.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Dean tossed Sam the bag of goofer dust.

"Hey, I got an idea. You throw George's hoodoo at the hellhound, keep it away from Evan as long as you can. I'm gonna summon the demon."

"Summon-" Sam spluttered. "Are you nuts?"

"Maybe a little. But I can trap it. I can exorcise it, and I can buy us time to figure out something more permanent."

"That would not be wise," Castiel followed us out. "It is too risky."

Dean turned back to look at him.

"You got a better idea?"

"Dean, you can forget it, all right?" Sam crossed his arms.

"I'm not letting you summon that demon."

"Why not?" Dean demanded.

"Because I don't like where your head is at right now, that's why not!" Sam snapped.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, you've been on edge ever since we found that crossroads, Dean, and I think I know why."

"We don't have time for this," Dean brushed past us.

Sam stopped him with a single word.

"Dad. You think maybe Dad made on of those deals, huh? Hell, I've been thinking it. I'm sure you've been thinking it too."

"It fits, doesn't it?" Dean spoke quietly.

"I'm alive, Dad's dead. The yellow-eyed demon was involved. What if he did? What if he struck a deal? My life for his soul."

"I think I hear it!" Evan yelled. "It's outside!"

"Just keep him alive, okay?"

"Dean…"

But Dean was gone.

~Supernatural~

Sam sprinkled the dust in a line outside the window, shoving Evan inside the circle he'd made.

He paused, staring at me.

"So."

I rocked back on my heels.

"So?"

"You've been….."

Sam cleared his throat.

"You've been out of sorts for a while now, Odette."

I smiled without any humor.

"You've got bigger things to worry about, Sam."

He huffed.

"That's not an answer."

…

Evan hugged himself, standing in the middle of the circle.

Castiel stood by the window impassively.

Sam shook the bag of dust.

It came out empty.

"That's the last of it."

Evan whirled around.

"You hear that?"

"No, where?"

We heard the hellhounds howl.

Sam pulled me in the circle, stepping in himself.

The doors began to rattle violently.

The rattling became louder, more violent, then stopped suddenly.

"Do you still hear it?"

"No," Evan looked around hopefully. "Is it over?"

A rumbling sound came from the wall.

We spun around to stare at it.

It burst outward.

…

Castiel pushed me behind him as the barking grew louder.

I clung to Sam tightly.

Deep claw marks gouged into the floor in a path towards the circle.

They stopped just before the edge.

We backed away slowly as the wind ate away at the circle.

"Circle's broken. Come on!"

Sam pulled Evan out of the room, and Castiel grabbed my arm, tugging me along.

We burst into the storage room, and Castiel braced himself against the door, stopping the hounds temporarily.

My head spun, and I found myself inching towards Castiel.

The violent pounding stopped.

Everything went quiet.

We looked around, panting.

Dean had done his job.

~Supernatural~

Dean drove down the dark road.

Sam broke the tense silence.

"Demons lie all the time, right? Maybe she was lying."

"Come on," Dean snorted. "That really what you think?"

Sam bowed his head.

"How could he do it?" Dean whispered.

"He did it for you," Sam's voice was thick.

"Exactly. How am I supposed to live with that? You know the thought of him…. wherever he is right now. I mean, he spent his whole life hunting that yellow-eyed son of a bitch. He should have gone out fighting. That was supposed to be his legacy, you know? Not bargaining with the damn thing. Not this."

I ached to help Dean, to help them both, but there was nothing I could do.

Sam rested an arm on the windowsill.

"How many people do you think Dad saved? Total?"

Dean sighed. "That's not the point, Sam."

"Evan Hudson is safe because of what Dad taught us. That's his legacy, Dean. But we're still here, man. So we gotta keep going, for him."

He waited a beat.

"Dean."

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah."

Sam coughed nervously.

"When you were trapping that demon, you weren't….. I mean, it was all a trick, right? You never considered actually making that deal, right?"

Dean did not answer.

~Supernatural~

I hugged the photo album to my chest, choking back the tears.

I couldn't stand to see their faces.

Couldn't stand to see his face.

I didn't have the courage.

Sam's words ran through my head.

"He left a hole, and it hurts so bad you can't take it."