Summary - What if Sam wasn't the only one who was around Dean the last three months before his deal was up? What if there was someone else? This story follows Sam, Dean, and Apple my original character as they try to get Dean out of his deal; though Apple doesn't exactly know about Dean's deal until it's almost too late. What happens if they can't save him? Is Dean really gone forever?

Author's Note - This follows the last six episodes of season three(minus Ghostfacers), I just added my own character into the mix and a few more things. I don't own any of the characters or the episodes, just Apple and the plot following the NRFTW. Let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Review please. (:

To here, the days pile up

Chapter Twelve

Dean pushed at the couch as he moved it from the center of the room. He scooted the rest of the furniture away and made sure there was enough room for the symbol he was about to spray paint on the floor. He looked over the room once more before he knelt down.

He popped the top off of the can and began to spray the symbol on the hardwood floor. It didn't take him long before he stood up and admired his handiwork. Damn, he was good.

- - - - -

Lanie's little brother, Simon, began his trek through the traffic. He didn't notice as a yellow refrigerator truck came straight for him. The driver started to rummage through his glove box as he looked for another CD. He looked up just in time to see the little boy in the road. He nearly slammed on his breaks before an older man ran behind the boy and scooped him up.

Sam put Simon down on the sidewalk. The group of four made their way back to Lanie's house. Simon told them about the call that he had received from his mother.

- - - - -

"Dean, it's not your dad!" Apple said as she sat in the passenger seat of Sam's rental car.

"What is it?" Dean asked.

"A Crocotta."

"Is that a sandwich?"

Sam watched as Apple rolled her blue eyes at, what he assumed, was a stupid comment his older brother had made. "Some kind of scavenger, mimics loved ones, whispers 'come to me' and lures you into the darkness and swallows your soul." Apple repeated as she remembered what Sam had told her. He smiled over at her slightly before he turned his attention back to the road.

"A Crocotta, yea, that makes sense." She heard Dean say.

"Look Dean, I'm sorry, I know..." Apple began. She felt bad for having left him like she did, she should have stayed and talked to him, but after he yelled at her like he did, she wasn't sure she wanted to stick around. Her decision to leave with Sam gave her time to clear her mind and get a better perspective on the argument the boys and herself had had.

Dean cut her off and started to speak. She looked at the phone in wonder at his next statement. The boy was just full of surprises. "Hey don't those things live in filth? The flies, at the phone company."

- - - - -

Sam and Apple walked into the building and found their way to the room that they had last talked to Stewie in. They watched for a minute before Sam slid up behind Stewie and pulled him out of his chair. Apple followed closely behind as Sam led Stewie out to the rental car. Apple slipped off the side to call Dean and tell him where the pair were.

She watched as Sam slammed Stewie up against his car, and pressed a knife to his throat. "We know what you are," he said. "And we know how to kill you."

Stewie pleaded with the woman, and the man. He told them he could help them with phone stuff, and at this Sam hesitated. Seconds later, both Apple and Sam felt an intense pain and collapsed to the concrete.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you mess with the phone company, dillweeds!" Stewie said with a grin. "Thank you, Clark." He looked at his boss but the grin was quickly erased from his face as he also collapsed to the ground.

- - - - -

Apple was the last to wake up, she was confused and her head hurt like a bitch. She went to rub at her sore head but quickly realized her hands were bound behind her and she was tied to chair. What the hell? She looked at Sam and then Stewie. What had happened?

"There's a good man inside of you, I know." She heard Stewie tell Clark.

"What is inside me?" Clark said as he looked at Sam and Apple. "Am I a good man?" He asked.

"Just let him go," Sam said.

"I would, I really would, if only I'd had more than a salad for lunch," Clark started. "I'm starving." He stabbed Stewie in the heart and opened his mouth wide. He revealed long, sharp teeth that he immediately used to siphon Stewie's soul through his mouth.

"That last call with Dean," Apple said. The reality of what had happened washed over her. It hadn't been Dean at all, it had been the Crocotta. He had sounded so much like Dean. "You lured us here."

"Some calls I make, some calls I take... but you have to admit, I had you both fooled for a while," he said with a smile. "All that Edison phone crap. Oh well." A pair of blue eyes and a pair of brown eyes watched as he walked over to a generator and placed a hand to it.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I'm killing your brother," he said as he looked at Sam. "Or your precious little boyfriend," he added as he smirked at Apple. "Or maybe I'm killing another guy. We'll just have to see how it goes."

- - - - -

A man had just finished getting ready to go home when his phone rang. He stared at it for a second before he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hi daddy," said a little girl's voice.

"Hey baby," he said softly. "I thought you said you weren't gonna call anymore?"

"I know, daddy."

"You know how sad this makes daddy. How sad I was at your funeral," he went on, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I had to call," she said. "I know who killed me, daddy."

"What?"

"The man who killed me? He's at the house right now," she explained. "He's at the house, daddy. He wants to kill you, too!"

- - - - -

"You know, mimicking Dean is one thing. But my dad... that's a hell of a trick," Sam said to the Crocoatta.

"Once I made you three as hunters, especially the Winchesters, it was easy. Found Dean's number. Then your number and Apple's. Then your father's numbers, and emails, voice mails. Everything. You see people think that stuff just gets erased... but it doesn't."

As the Cocotta continued to ramble on, Apple glimpsed Sam out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to listen as the monster spoke, but she noticed his hands quickly moved behind his back. She caught a glimpse of silver and realized he had worked to cut the ropes off that bound his hands.

"You'd be surprised how much of yourself is just floating out there, waiting to be plucked." The Crocotta went on.

"Dean's not gonna fall for this. He's not gonna kill that guy." Apple argued as she tried to get the attention on herself and off of Sam.

"Then the guy kills him," the monster said with ease.

- - - - -

Dean crouched into the darkness as he noticed a set of headlights as they shined in through the windows. He grabbed a bottle of holy water and quickly opened it. He prepared to splash the blessed water on the demon to get him down. He heard footsteps and mentally prepared himself.

Out of the corner of his eye, he realized something wasn't right. He looked up and saw the demon with a shotgun in his hands. Dean rolled out of the way and lost the holy water in the process.

"Son of a bitch," he hissed. He quickly charged the man. Each man was able to throw a few punches here and there. Eventually Dean had the man pinned beneath him, he punched him the face.

- - - - -

"Technology, makes life so much easier."

Apple gritted her teeth. The fucking monster, she hoped, had nearly finished his monologue. It had started to get extremely old after the first few sentences. She prayed that Sam was almost finished with his ropes.

"It used to be I'd hide in the woods for days, weeks, whispering to people, trying to draw them out into the night. But they had community. They look out for each other. I'd be lucky to eat on, two souls a year. But now when I'm hungry, I simply make a phone call. You're all so connected.. but you've never been so alone."

Then the monster did something Apple hadn't quite expected. She thought after his little speech, he'd go for Sam. That's what he had led on anyway, his eyes had been on Sam almost the whole time. But no, he opened his large mouth and revealed his nasty teeth once more, he took a few steps and stood directly in front of Apple. She leaned back as far as she could, away from the man. His breath smelled so rancid.

"Sam!" Apple shouted as the man's mouth neared her own. "God! Give him a fucking tic-tac." The Crocotta roared as he lowered his mouth directly in front of Apple's. "Sam!"

As Apple cried out Sam's name for the last time, he was out of the chair and on top of the Crocotta. He tossed Apple the knife as he and the monster began to go at it.

- - - - -

The man continued to fight with Dean. Neither were about to give up. Dean kicked the man in the ribs before his stood to his feet. He managed to get the man's gun and unloaded it. He pulled the man into the red symbol he had painted earlier.

"What is this?" The man asked, a mix of confusion and rage in his voice.

"Your funeral." Dean said as he began the exorcism.

"Did you do this to my daughter, too?" The man continued as he stepped out of the circle.

Dean watched in shock. How did he do that? "How did you get out?" He voiced.

"You did this to her too?" The man yelled.

"Wait, this is a mistake." Dean began.

"You killed her," the man said and once again attacked Dean.

- - - - -

Apple had finally released herself from the chair she had been bound to and fought along side Sam. Apple and Sam both noticed a spike that stuck out from the wall and both knew what they had to do.

They managed to slam his head against the spike, it instantly killed him. Apple crossed back to the chair and sat down, she stared at the dead Crocotta. Sam kneeled in front of her and glanced up at her.

"You alright?"

Apple nodded. "This, being with you and Dean, fighting what we fight. It's just more intense that anything I ever fought with my family. Werewolves, the occasional possession, and maybe a vampire's nest or two. Nothing like this."

"Come on." Sam encouraged. He pulled her up lightly from the chair and wrapped his arm around her in a half hug as they made their way to the car.

- - - - -

"She was nine years old!" The man hollered as he punched Dean on the jaw.

"I didn't – you gotta believe me!" Dean said as he managed to get the guy off of him.

"Why did you kill her?" The man asked.

"I'm sorry. I didn't kill your daughter."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I don't know." Dean said sadly.

- - - - -

All any of the trio wanted to do was collapse on their beds and pass out, but they knew they still had things to discuss. Apple rubbed gently at a bruise she had gained on her jaw, and then rubbed lightly at one she had received on her side. She joined Sam and Dean in the bathroom as they cleaned themselves up.

"I see they improved your face," Dean said to Sam.

"Right back atcha," Sam replied.

"So a Crocotta, huh," Dean said. "That would explain the flies."

"Yeah, it would." Apple said as she and Dean sat on their bed, while Sam sat on his.

"Hey, um, I'm sorry it wasn't dad," Sam whispered.

"No, I gave you a hell of a time on this one. Both of you."

"Ahhh, no." Sam disagreed.

"You were right," Dean said.

"Forget about it."

"I can't." He replied. "I wanted to believe so badly there was a way out of this. I mean, I'm staring down the barrel of this thing. You know, hell. For real, forever. And I'm just... I'm scared. I'm really scared."

Apple felt her heart break. She hadn't forgotten about Dean's deal, she couldn't stop her thoughts as they wandered to that. She hadn't heard him speak as he spoke then. It scared her and shook her to her core. She didn't want to lose Dean. She knew Sam didn't either. Neither of them could bear that.

"I know." Sam replied.

"I guess I was ready to believe anything. The last act of a desperate man..." Dean went on.

"There's nothing wrong with having hope, Dean." Apple said gently from his side. She placed a hand lightly on his leg as her blue eyes stared into his green ones.

He jumped slightly at the contact. His skin burned, he hadn't felt that in a while. It scared him slightly. She must have noticed the small jump because her had was gone, and all Dean could think was that he wanted it back. It made him feel warm, and for so long all he felt was cold, he needed that warmth, he craved that warmth. He mentally shook his head as he stopped his train of thought. He turned to look at Apple and slipped on that tough facade he so often wore.

"Hope doesn't get you jack squat." He said as he looked over at Sam. He couldn't stand to look at Apple for longer than he had to. It hurt too much. Apple and Sammy were all he had left, he didn't want to think about not being able to see either of them ever again. "I can't expect dad to show up with some miracle at the last minute. I can't expect anyone to, you know. The only person who can get me out of this thing is me."

"And us." Sam said.

"And us?" Dean repeated as he stared at Sam.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Deep revelation, I"m having a real moment here and that's what you come back with? And us?"

"Do you want a poem?" Sam asked.

Apple laughed at the scene that played before her. They were so just, there were no words to describe the pair. "Moment's gone." Dean said as he leaned back and rested his back on the head board of his bed.

He looked at Apple for a moment, she stared back at him before she slid next to him. Their arms touched and Dean figured that the warmth from that simple contact would be all he could get. He shook his head. "Unbelievable." He muttered.

Apple once again laughed as both boys opened their beers at the same time.

-chapter title: happy birthday to me (feb. 15) – bright eyes