Episode 20

"The Burning Saint."

Chapter 1

Thy had nowhere to run as the sound came from all sides of them... They were surrounded and in the darkness of the near moonless night it was hard to make out by how many people...

They shut their eyes tight and curled protectively around Kaia as they heard the cocking of guns and knew they were about to be exicuted by this makeshift firing squad.

Then the sound of a familiar voice in an annoyingly familiar English accent floated on the air with a smooth caress of "Hold your fire!...We're taking them alive!"

A smug chipper looking Crowley came into view as he trained a gun on them and both Dean and Laney tried to speak but found their voices staying firmly mute against their wills.

Crowley had been around a VERY LONG TIME... Longer than MOST knew... And as a survivalist he had long since known how to cloak himself and appear human to any who might be able to see him for his true form... And it was a skill that had been coming in handy ALOT...

He'd played Walt and Roy's informant SO WELL that he'd worked his way up through their ranks and he was now a respected leader in their camp.

And as a respected leader the men followed his orders and merely kept their weapons trained on the three "creatures" in the middle of their circle.

Roy came crashing into the circle... His footfalls stomping angrily through brush making him sound larger than he really was.

When he reached Crowely he had an insane glint in his eyes as he growled " What is the meaning of this?... We kill them. There is NO taking prisoners in this war.

"Bullets won't do anything to them you oaf!" Crowley shouted sounding annoyed. "Turn and look at who we're facing."

" Dean Winchester." Roy said seethingly. Then he turned to Crowly stating " I thought he was human."

"The abomination beside him is a powerfull witch and she must have infected him with her poison... But it doesn't matter he's a monster now... and we WILL kill them. We just can't shoot them because it won't kill them... It'll hurt like hell... But they won't die. She' s a witch so she has to be burned at the stake... And he's familiar so he'll have to be drawn and quartered."

"What about the child?" Walt asked looking like he was conflicted.

"The child must be drowned in holy water as she is part witch part demon." Said Crowly sounding amused.

Both Dean and Laney knew Crowley was making things up as he went along and then it dawned on them that all the people there including Walt and Roy wouldn't know what any of the "things" that Crowley was spouting off about looked like even if those "things" were to bite them in the asses... But MOST hunters knew that witches and familiars were usually one hundred percent human... Yet both Walt and Roy bought into Crowley's ramblings and Roy instructed a few men from the crowd to bind the "monsters" with chains.

Both Laney and Dean put up a fight as Kaia was pried from her father's arms... Kaia struggled putting up just as good of a fight as her mother and father but there were to many men and the small family had been without food or real rest for three days so they were weakened and the hits that found their ways into their heads didn't help any.

They were chained and dragged to an army truck.

It was brutal and all three of them were cut to ribbons from the thorns and roots of the underbrush, with scrapes and gashes from being drug along asphalt along with bruises from being punced or kicked.

Both Laney and Dean were furious that their child had been harmed and they were thinking of all the ways they were going to kill Crowley and ALL of the people who had taken part in doing this to them.

The truck drove for what seemed to be an hour or less before it came to a stop. And when they were drug out Dean recognized the walls to be those of the prison like building he and his family had been on the other side of earlier. And it was no longer only like a prison... Because it WAS actually a prison. Or had been once upon a time. Dean guessed it was now Walt and Roy's base camp. He knew Laney would probably agree but he could see her mind had one singular focus right now... KILLING EVERYONE that had DARED scare and hurt her child.

He couldn't blame her... He was PISSED to but he also knew that they were gonna have to get out of here somehow and that meant he was going to have to be the level headed one for a change because she wasn't calming down ANY TIME SOON. So he'd have to be the one to come up with a plan.

Crowley looked all to happy as he took point on the group that drug the small family across what had once been the prison's exercise yard into the well fortified building of the prison itself.

Dean found it was almost remaniscent of the time he and Sam had wound up in a small prison in Arkansas as he was thrown into a small cell.

Kaia was thrown in with him but Laney was drug off to somewhere else that Dean couldn't see her.

He reached out with his mind so not to lose contact with her and was relived when he found that she was still alright and still fuming to the brink of explosion and any other time it would have made him grin at how protective she was of Kaia. But right now her anger was getting them nowhere.

And his staying calm wasn't exactly turning up roses either... There was no way out of the cell.. There was no way to get the chains that bound him off because there where no locks to pick on the shackles that bound his wrist and no way to slip them because they were to tight.

He knelt to Kaia to tell her not to be afraid. That he was going to get them out of this. But he still couldn't speak.

Of course Crowley wouldn't want them tipping anyone off to the the fact they were being played by a demon.

So to comfort his frigtened child and himself (because he really had no idea how to get out of this) he leaned into her and let her rest against him in a makeshift hug as their arms were bound behind their backs and they couldn't embrace each other.

Laney paced like a caged lion. She'd been seperated from her child and the pain of the anger and worry was unbearable. She felt Dean find her mind but her thoughts were so engrosed by the thoughts of getting her hands on the "real monsters" outside of her cell. The "monsters" that had threatened the life of her child.

She tried using her mind. Tried focusing on her grace the way she had on the night of Kaia's birth. But to no avail it was failing her now.

She knew she had to calm down and she heard a smart-assed comment from Dean's mind telling her that much. And at least that meant he and Kaia were alright. So she fought her temper down and let the fog of fear and anger roll away so that she could focus on getting out.

She tried praying to GOD for Gabriel to find and save them but the angel never showed.

She'd been in her cell for what felt like hours when Crowley appeared on the other side of the iron bars saying "Humans really are a bunch of imbeciles. Aren't they?"

"Most of us. I guess." Laney stated, slightly surprised by her ability to speak again.

"Aren't you even curious as to how I wound up here?... Or how we just so happened to be lucky enough to catch you?... Or for that matter why you're still alive?" Crowley asked.

"No... I'm guessing you have some sort of plan... So if you want to segue into the normal villian's obligatory monolouging... Be my guest." Laney answered sarcastically.

Crowley made a "Tut, tut, tut," noise as he waved his index finger side to side and shook his head "No". as he said "You are right, I DO have a plan. But you're wrong... I'm not exactly the villian you'd make me out to be... I mean you ARE still alive and so is Dean and your daughter. For the time being...And that's because of me."

"Well, demons never do something for nothing, so spill it. What do you want?" Laney commanded.

"I let Dean and your daughter escape from here unharmed... They'll go on their merry way to wherever it was you were heading and all I want in return is your power." Said Crowley.

Laney didn't miss the fact that Crowley had failed to include letting her go as well, which meant she'd most likely be killed if not worse. But that didn't matter. What mattered was her daughter. She heard Dean screaming into her mind that they'd find another way out because he knew she was tempted to take the deal even if it meant sacrificing her own life.

Now Dean was begging her not to do this. Telling her to remember that demons would always find a way to screw a person over in the end. But the facts were that they were pretty screwed over now and that meant having to take this deal into serious consideration.

She felt her heart clench in her chest as she shook her head "No" because everything inside of her wanted to scream she'd do it because her motherly instinct was waring with her rational mind. She slumped to the floor bawling when Crowley left because it felt like all hopes of saving her husband and child left with him.

Dean could sense she was regretting saying no and he tried to tell her she'd done the right thing but she couldn't see reason through her guilt.

Now he could hear her praying again.. In so much earnest that he knew GOD to be a heartless, cowardly, bastard because the way she lamented should have been impossible for any kind of caring creator to ignore or to deny.

But she still prayed.. She prayed for strength, for the wisdom to do the right thing, and for her family to be saved.

Laney was still angry... She was even pissed as hell at GOD himself but she still had faith that a "GOOD" father like GOD was "SUPPOSED" to be wouldn't just abandon his children.

Crowley reapeared at the cell with another man ... It it both Dean and Laney with a "Duh" moment because obviously Crowley couldn't touch the iron bars to get into her cell on his own so he had one of Walt and Roy's lackies letting him in so that he could better persuade her into giving him what he wanted. As the other man left Crowley alone with her Laney heart skipped a few beats as Crowley pulled a sinister looking knife from his waist.

"Are you sure you won't just give me what I want?" Crowley asked.

Laney stood firm and flatly replied "You're not getting anything from me."

"I tried to play nice, tried to give you a choice... But you had to be a stubborn little Saint that couldn't let me close a simple deal and now I'm going to have to take what I want by force." Said Crowley with a look of pure malice in his eyes.

Dean could feel her fear and and now he was boiling with rage because this was a new low even for Crowley.

Crowley caressed the blade along her shoulder and she found she couldn't do anything at all to stop him as she was frozen to the spot against her will as the tip of the knife as it broke the skin. The demon carved some kind of ornate symbol into her flesh just below her colarbone and he place his hand over the cut and blasted heat from his palm to carterize the wound.

"Now I've just made your body, your soul and your powers mine." Said Crowley.

"But of course I would have owned you the same had you accepted my deal. I guess that give a true meaning to the saying of "Damned if you do, Damned if you don't." Crowley finished with a laugh.

Walt, Roy and six other men entered her cell and drug her away not even taking notice of the new injury...

He had known her prayers weren't going to be answered and now he could see through her mind that she had been taken to the prison yard where a stake had been errected with a pile of wood laid around the base. She was chained with her arms behind her back and there were over a hundred armed men. Dean knew she wasn't going to get out of this, neither was he and neither was their daughter... They were going to die.

Chuck bolted up sweating... the nightmare had been aweful... But it couldn't have been a vision because he'd seen Dean, Kaia and Laney coming through the gates of the camp together... Yet the headache that throbbed through his head told him otherwise... This hadn't been just a nightmare... This had REALLY happened... He couldn't understand how... But something had changed the outcome of his vision and now as the remanants of the vision faded the looks of grief on Dean's and Kaia's faces were permantly seared into his mind...

They hit her, called her a witch, bound her to the stake and lit a fire that took only seconds to build and consume her...

The flames crept up her legs, blistering her skin on her calves, roasting away the meat, sizzling her her blood and then it was at her waist as she felt blood vessels bursting from the heat and the fluids in her stomach started to litterally boil... Then her face was being burned and everything turned white.

The last things in her mind were Dean's sobbing and her own pleas to GOD that both her husband and child would somehow get away from this place... would get to safety...

She was floating in nothing but white and then she felt a presence beside her. When she looked over she recognized DEATH and she felt no fear. She curtsied to him and he looked amused by the gesture.

She wasn't trying to bargain for her life nor did she act disrespectful... This interaction was different from what he was normally used to. Yes he'd known she was a Saint but even MOST of the Saint's he'd come across had been either mouthy or fearful in his presence.. Yet she was neither.

Then she continued with outright calling him a liar while still holding a respectful tone and nature.

Now he was stunned and marveled at her boldness as he implored her to elaborate on when exaxtly had he ever lied and when did she have occasion at seeing him commit such an act as this was the first time she'd met him.

Laney told him about the things she'd witnessed from Dean's life and told him that the incident in question was when Dean bound DEATH and how DEATH had told Dean that he could better spend his efforts somewhere else and told Sam that he didn't care what happened to the human race.

DEATH asked her exactly how had that been a lie.

And Laney replied: "Because you're the only Horseman that I saw that didn't abuse his power... Because I believe as DEATH you would recognize what a miracle LIFE is and therefore you care what happens because you respect LIFE and you care about balance so you'd do what it took to help keep the balance from tipping to far to the side of the complete destruction of the human race, that's why you've helped Sam and Dean on more than one occasion... You KNOW they're the keys to the salvation of the human race... I believe all the Horesmen were meant to have dual natures: WAR and PEACE, FAMINE and ABUNDANCE, PESTILENCE and HEALTH, and you're the only one that held true to yours. DEATH and LIFE."

DEATH took in her words and then HE bowed to her and admitted that indeed he was a double edge sword that had DEATH on one side and LIFE on the other, that it was true that his brothers had abused their powers and that it was true he really did care about LIFE and the redemtion of the human race.

She smiled down at him and knelt to his level asking if she could call him friend and he told her "ALWAYS." Because she had been the first person to actually offer friendship and she had been the only human he'd ever met brave enough to call his bluff on not caring for humanity.

To this she asked "Then as my friend would you do me a favor."

DEATH contiplated her intentions but he nodded as he sensed she wouldn't take advantage of his freindship.

"Please just save my my daughter and my husband... Let me pass to where ever it is my soul will go with the hope that my family will be safe. It's all I ask." She begged.

Just then Crowley appeared and grabbed Laney by the arm snarling at DEATH "Thought you could just take my property?... Thought I wouldn't find her did you?"

DEATH appeared angry as he ranted at Crowley how this wasn't meant to be and a person nor their soul could never be property unless they willingly sold themselves.

Crowley retorted that he was going "Off script" and that he'd done the binmding magic SO WELL that DEATH had no choice but to view the girl, her soul and her powers as "Property of Crowley."

DEATH was about to kill Crowley but Crowley haulted him saying that the binding magic he had done was so strong that if he died the girl's soul would suffer The Eternal Death. And that's something even DEATH himself feared.

The Eternal Death was worse than Hell and Purgatory combined. It was an existance of suffering tortures worse than even The Cage could offer, the horrendous fate of slowly dying little by little in the most agonizing ways for eternity and no chance at all for salvation or rescue. It was something there was no coming back from ever. There had only been one being ever destined to recieve such punishment and it wasn't to be inflicted upon that being until the end of time. And DEATH could not allow an innocent to suffer through that.

She was bound to Crowley and DEATH could do nothing to help her.

Laney gave DEATH a sad smile, put her hand on his shoulder and said "It's alright as long as I know I can have hope then I can withstand whatever torments and temptations he has in store for me."

DEATH nodded and whispered that she could have hope... BUT he was going to insure she'd have more than hope. He'd found only a handful of people that he respected as much as he did her and he didn't care what RULES he'd have to break or what BALANCE he'd have to tip... He wasn't going to leave her to suffer and he wasn't going to leave her family to the nefarious ends that had been plotted by SEVERAL players on the board...

Now Crowley was pulling Laney away saying "And to think all you had to do was just willingly sacrifice your life and give me your power and you would have been spared all the delights I have prepared to break those that defy me."

Dean felt the flames and he was trembling from the immense pain of being burned alive along with the grief, fear and anger that coursed through his veins... As he felt his wife's life fleeting the ground trembled and the sound of several loud explosions erupted from outside the wall of the prison...

The chains fell from his wrist and Kaia was freed from hers as well and the door to the cell swung open.

He scooped Kaia up and went for the door but found himself scurrying back as he came face to face with DEATH.

Dean tried to shield Kaia from him but DEATH mearly reached out and touched him and he was looking up to find himself somewhere else.

DEATH stood over the man that crouched protectively over his little girl.

He pulled Dean up to a stand and wasn't surprised in the least at the struggle or the way Dean positioned to be between Kaia and himself. He'd always found Dean's fiercly protective nature of those he loved endearing and in that moment Dean had DEATH'S respect as well.

He could see Dean's grief and he found himself regretful that he could do nothing for it for the time being... All he COULD do was make sure that Dean and Kaia were safe.

Dean looked up and seen the sign for Camp Chautauqua and realized that DEATH had helped him and his daughter... But he was angry and grievous for the death of his wife and without realizing it he was shouting at DEATH to bring Laney back to do something useful for a change to JUST DO SOMETHING... Screaming and sobbing "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HER TO?"

DEATH held back the onslaught of the grieving man's fury and for once Dean's attitude didn't bother him in the slightest... Because he felt the same way.

But he still had his role to play so he held out a hand and forced Dean to become both still and quiet saying "You have your wife to thank for even being out of that cell!... So do yourself a favor and don't let her sacrifice be in vain."

Dean looked horrified screaming "WHAT DID SHE DO?"

"She didn't sell her soul if that's what you're asking... No Crowley took it by force." DEATH replied.

"HOW COULD THAT SON OF BITCH DO THAT?... WHY WOULD YOU LET HIM DO THAT?" Dean shouted.

"He marked her before I came, he did binding magic that made her his property and even I could not undo it." DEATH stated calmly.

"What does that mean?" Dean cried.

"It means he can take her body, soul and powers wherever, however he wants and there's nothing anyone can do about it." DEATH replied. Then he stated "She was never meant to be martyred for a demon's lust of power and she was never meant to see Hell first hand, yet Crowley managed to go against what was written for her.

Now Dean sobbed harder as it became clear that Crowley would have oviously taken her to hell. But then it hit him that if Crowley truely owned Laney that he could just force her to do his will. So why would he take her to Hell? It shouldn't be necessary to break her.

DEATH regarded Dean's thoughts for a moment and replied "Crowley has been selling sin to Saints for centuries Dean... And he couldn't get your wife to take a deal. And so he stole what he wanted by force... Yes he owns her and can force from her WHATEVER he wants. But he's going to try to break all the parts of her that WOULD defy him if she had the ability to chose.. Which I suspect is all of her. Crowley takes defiance VERY personally and it makes him feel inferior."

" Sam and I used to defy the asshat all the time... Why didn't he ever try this kind of crap on us?" Dean asked. feeling his rage course through his veins.

"Because he didn't need to, He was able to manipulate both you and your brother very sufficently without it." DEATH replied. Then he took in the bewildered look on Dean's face and elaberated with "Ruby worked with angels and demons to manipulate both you and Sam. But her main boss was Lillith and Crowley was Lillith's right hand man and her lover. And Lillith worked with Azazel, Crowley and a handful of angels to manipulate both you and Sam. But her main boss was Lucifer. It wasn't until Crowley realized that Lucifer would erradicate demons that he started to play the game for himself and started trying to sway the balance of the battle in his favor. And in turn he made his own conections and alliances and usued them as consorts to further manipulate you to his will. Which also helped drive you and Sam apart because of all the ways Crowley and the angels played the two of you."

"The easier way to explain this would be to say, that both angels and demons have been pulling you and your brother apart, pushing you back together and pulling you apart again in attempts to tear the fabric of your bond, because together you, Sam and yor family can save humanity and those who want either control of everything like Lucifer and Crowley or just the end of humanity like the Leviathans will continue to manipulate you and your family until your family is broken beyond repair beacuse your family is stronger than all of them... Your family is destined... Chosen by GOD himself to stop evil in it's tracks."

"They each want control of the destinies of EVERYONE in your family and they'll all do what they can to force you to be their pawns whenever they can because they believe that corrupting, controlling and breaking you and your family will serve the purpose of winning them the war."

"Crowley wanted control of of your wife's power and destiny and when she wouldn't give that control to him he took it by force because she's a key piece in the game between good and evil and he couldn't afford not having her."

"So she wouldn't let him play her and now she's suffering the same way she would have been if she had?" Dean asked in a seething snarl.

"Yes.." DEATH replied nonchalantly.

Now Dean was seeing red because DEATH seemed to be making light of the situation. But of course when did anything actually play on his side of the board. So it wasn't entirely unexpected that DEATH didn't seem to care. But now he got it... There wasn't reallly ANYONE on his side besides his family. Which meant he and his family were apparently the ONLY ones REALLY on humanity's side... And well. That just SUCKED.

...

DEATH vanished causing Dean to turn around franticly to curl again over Kaia because with EVERYTHING it wouldn't surprise him if DEATH, or anyone, or any"thing", else for that matter just popped up and tried to snatch Kaia away.

But when he swiveled in his spot he saw the sign for Camp Chautauqua and felt a rush of relief.

...

Chuck didn't understand how his visions of Dean and Laney's future could have been changed. He'd already seen them and their family have a happy ending for crying out loud and now... Now he didn't know what the hell.

But as Chuck witnessed Dean come through the gates carrying his little girl and Laney was nowhere to be seen he knew there just might not be any happy ending in store for anyone.

Chuck knew both Dean and his little girl would be weak from grief, lack of sleep and hunger so he rushed to them calling for someone to fetch Adam and Sarah.

Adam went running toward the gates. The second he'd heard word that Dean was finally there he couldn't contain his excitment at having at least one of his brothers back. But when he saw Dean and the little girl he held the excitement burned to anger. It looked like they'd been through hell. Chuck had clearly stated that he'd seen them being alright when they arrived. But this looked the farthest thing from alright.

Chuck shook his head at the look on Adam's face and leaned in and said "Something altered the future I saw in my vision. Laney's dead and I've tried. But I can't see what's supposed to happen next now. I can't see anything."

Adam nodded feeling the tears stinging his eyes. He'd been so happy to think that Dean would be alright, that they were going to save Sam, that they were going to get Sam and Dean's son back and that they were going to prevail over evil. Now that future had been taken...

Chapter 2

Adam took Kaia and Dean to the camp's clinic to get them rehydrated and to get some food in them. He gave them both strict instruction not to get out of bed for at least two days as they were both to weak to be up moving around and Dean, true to the Winchester nature was out of bed in under six hours, which had just been long enough to get one meal and a half a bag of I.V. fluids into him.

As Adam came back into the clinic he found his older brother not only out of bed but found him helping out as a few injured members of one of the scouting parties had made their way in. And apparently Dean wasn't setting a very good example for Kaia because now Adam saw her bed was empty as well and then he spotted the girl following at her father's side close enough to be counted as a new appendage.

"You both need to rest Dean." Adam scolded.

"I've rested enough." Dean replied flatly.

"But has she rested enough?" Adam asked pointing to Kaia.

Dean looked down at his little girl and scooped her into his arms and carried her back to her bed saying "Your uncle's right, you need to rest."

Kaia had a pout on her face as she grabbed her father's arm. Dean wouldn't leave her side and she wouldn't leave his. That meant Dean had to concede to staying put and letting himself heal for a change or else Kaia would be up and making her condition worse as well.

Adam felt concerned because Dean didn't seem to be dealing very well with either his grief or his injuries and past experience taught him that Dean could be reckless in a state like this. He only hoped Dean would remember he had Kaia to look out for now and that fact would keep him from doing anything stupid.

...

Staying down a total of fourty-eight hours to heal is easier said than done, especially for a Winchester who are a bunch that think their pain doesn't matter because there's work that needs to be done and they're always so self sacrificing to think they're the only ones to do said work.

But on this occasion it was particularly hard for Dean because that meant stillness and quiet, which meant reliving some of his best times and worse memories which made the pain of his grief hurt even worse and if he stayed like this much longer it might mean actually having to deal with his emotions and for a Winchester that was practicly unheard of.

Dean was antsy and restless trying to find anything that could distract him but if he got out of bed then so would Kaia, if he didn't rest then neither would Kaia and Kaia was the most important person in his whole world right now which meant he was going to have to do something completely against the nature of a true Winchester. He was going to have to actually let himself heal physically, mentall AND emotionally for his daughter's sake. The revelation was stunning and he knew bottling up didn't count as healing so he did the only thing he could think of that would help both him and his daughter start to truely mend.

He talked to Kaia about her brother, her other daddy and her mom and told her how much he missed them and wanted them all there right now. Kaia cried and healing physically be damned because Dean was up and holding his crying daughter before she could blink. Well at least he was working on emotional healing. That was a start.

...

When the two days were finally over Adam took Dean and Kaia to his cabin and showed them the rooms they'd be staying in. Dean didn't know how he felt about Kaia being out of sight even if it was just on the otherside of the wall after everything that had happened. But he knew his daughter had a strong sense of indapendance and Laney would have wanted that to be respected so he simply asked Adam if there were any way he could get some shoes and clothes for Kaia as the little girl still had nothing but her father's shirt to wear. Adam had already thought of that. Several people in camp had children. Some of them had just grown out of clothing that would fit Kaia and he'd had Caydence to go get them. That's when Adam realized that he hadn't talked to Dean about his live in girlfriend yet because he didn't want his happiness to rub open any of his brother's emotional wounds.

"Umm Dean.." Adam didn't know how to talk about his love for Caydence. Then he realized he didn't know how Dean would feel about the fact Caydence was a Shifter and that just hit a whole new level of nerves for Adam. Oh crap and then there was the fact that Bobby was back from the dead and Cas was a little nuttier than ever. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Dean's eyebrows worked into an expresion that clearly said "OO..KAY.. WHAT NOW?" and it was apparent on Dean's face that he was expecting even worse things than he was already dealing with. So Adam just spilled everything he'd been thinking right out into the open and Dean actually looked a little amused as he replied "Adam, dude calm down. That stuff's nowhere near as bad as it could be expecting all things considered." And then Dean did a double take saying "Especially you having a girlfriend, that's actually really nice to hear, I'm happy for you."

Adam looked relieved until a mischevious look spread on Dean's face and Dean leaned in and whispered "Does she ever... You know?"

"Does she ever what?" Adam asked looking suprised.

"Well she's a Shifter... She could be any woman you want, Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham... The list goes on." Said Dean with a quirk of his eyebrows.

"No I love her the way she is." Adam remarked sounding both annoyed and thinking "Man you're more messed up than I thought". Leave it to Dean to take all the progress he'd made towards healing and pour it out to be replaced by all of his old go to's such as using a cocky, un-civilized manner to hide his feelings and push people away when they got to close to the heart he wore on his sleeve.

Dean only shrugged and jokingly replied "Just curious."

Adam knew Dean was just trying not to show his anger and grief so he gave his big brother a comforting pat on the back that showed Dean he didn't have to suffer with the agony of the loss of his wife alone.

When Caydence came in with the clothes for Kaia, Dean gave her a once over. She was definately hot enough to want either Jolie or Beckham in her place and he felt a small tug of pride in Adam for snagging such a pretty girl. Shifter. Whatever.

Dean properly introduced himself and Kaia and soon he came to find that not only was Caydence pretty she was also both sweet and sassy which fit Adam perfectly. Dean allowed her to endear herself to him because she'd been someone for Adam and that meant a lot to Dean.

Dean picked out an outfit of clothes from the stuff that Caydence had brought for Kaia and then he took his daughter back to her room so she could get dressed.

After Kaia was fully clothed and finally had a pair of shoes on her feet Adam took Dean and his daughter around the camp introducing them or reaquanting Dean with everyone there. Dean liked Gary almost immediately because of Gary's compassion and acceptance and he held contempt and animosity for Sorin and those like him who still had prejudices against ALL supernatural beings even those who weren't violent to humans.

Dean felt people like Sorin were the cause for the mess that had gotten his wife murdered and so now he had a few prejudices against a lot of humans of his own now as he was actually catching a glimpse of what living life on the other side was like for all the "things" he'd ever had to hunt and he was actually understanding how easy it could be for those "things" to turn against humanity after the last staw that would break the camel's back had been delivered by the prejudices and wrong doings of a few imbecilic members of the human race. But he held his tongue and agreed to play nice with everyone as long as everyone played nice with him...

Dean broke his agreement to play nice only moments later when he punched Chuck in the face for losing Nicholas. Then he punched Chuck again when someone had so stupidly left the already written and drawn out issue of the happy ending that wasn't going to happen now just laying out on Chuck's desk open to the page of Laney carrying Kaia and Dean clasping a hand on Sam's sholder while a little boy that looked like a young version of Dean stood between Laney and Dean holding both of their free hands and Adam stood on Sam's other side. All of the people in this coveted ending were smiling like all the problems of the world had simply vanished and this blessedly perfect closure had made it look like all the people in this picture could go on to live the rest of their lives in happiness and safety. He wanted to hit Cas to but the blood pact wouldn't allow it so he settled for ignoring the broken angel that he didn't know whether to consider friend or foe, asset or liability.

Bobby was the only one staying at Chuck's cabin that Dean was actually happy to see and the old man greeted Dean with a warm hug while mummbling something about Chuck being an "Idjit" for not putting that damn comic book away.

Then Dean discovered the state of the Impala, which made him feel pain of all the loses he'd taken even more. That car held so many memories and just like Adam he now viewed this place as the graves of his lost loved ones, but unlike Adam he planned never to come back to visit. Then Dean remembered how past him had discovered his "BABY " in a future he'd thought Zachariah had only conjured for the pupose of manipulating him. Now that future was looking all to real and he realized there really hadn't been anything he could have done to alter it. Just like Lucifer had taunted. Well at least now the reason future him had seamed like such an asshole made a little more sense but he still wasn't such a dick that he'd willingly put other people in harms way. Yet.

Then Adam brought up even more sensitive issues such as the fact that since Laney's home was being used as a secondary headquarters that Dean by rights of ownership was now third in comand of the camp here. It was a position and a responsibility that Dean wanted no part of, but he knew that he was one of only a handful of people that was experienced with things of a supernatural nature and he was one of an even smaller handful of people that would at least try to be civil with creatures that were not only in camp but that also may be encountered in the field. So he grudgingly accepted his duty and took a step further down the path that Destiny had set for him...

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Sorry another short "Episode" but I hope it speaks volumes about where the story is going and I promise resolution... Lots and lots of resolution. PLEASE REVIEW!