Author's Note: Super long chapter! Here it is. Thank you to ALL who reviewed the last chapter. Please, please, PLEASE let me know what you thought about this one. Please listen to Come Away to the Water by Maroon 5 and Rozzi Crane.

Meredith bit her lip nervously, thinking the plan over. She came and joined her husband in the living room, just them two, and sat down next to him, admitting, "I don't know about this."

"Wh- what do you mean?" Dean asked. He had to admit that he himself was worried as well, but thought that Meredith would be sure. Now that she seemed hesitant, it only made him rethink it all over again.

"I mean… we don't even have weapons! What if the First isn't killed easily? What if he can't die like normal demons? I- I just don't know, Dean," Meredith confessed, worriedly. This is what they had been waiting for. She swore under her breath. "We put so much work into preparing for this and we don't even have the frickin' weapons!"

"Death said we'd get the scythe when the time was right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, and the time is pretty freaking right. Damn it. Serves me right to trust Death… Who was I kidding?!" Meredith exclaimed, her anxiety rising within her.

"Babe, you've got to calm down. For you and me both. Look, it's going to work out. I don't know how but it will, okay?" Dean comforted. He hoped that if he would also believe the lies that he was telling her. Somehow, if he did, it'd make going into this so much easier.

"What if we just waited? You know, until we were more prepared and-," Meredith started.

"We can't. What if the First keeps moving?" Dean asked.

Meredith nodded slowly, "Well, we have the spell…"

"Actually, we don't," Dean started, nervously. He was afraid she'd freak out even more now.

"What?" She asked, her eyes widening.

"Cas said it was one of those 'use once' kinda things," Dean admitted.

She sighed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't seem relevant," Dean shrugged.

Meredith opened her mouth to say something but the doorbell rang before she could. "You expecting someone?"

"No," Dean replied.

"Huh," Meredith sounded, suspicious.

"I'll go," Dean said. She frowned but let him go anyways. Dean got up, going over to the window in the living room – the closest one to the door – to see if anyone was there. No one stood at the front door so Dean cautiously went to the door, opening it and checking his surroundings. Nothing but a long, brown package sat on the doorstep. Dean picked up the package quickly, before slamming the door shut and locking it.

As soon as Meredith heard the door slam, she asked, "Babe, everything okay?"

"Do you have a secret admirer?" Dean joked.

"What?" Meredith asked, having no idea what Dean was talking about.

"Happy belated birthday, baby," he said, holding up the brown package.

"Is that what I think it is?" Meredith asked, her eyes widening.

"Let's find out," Dean replied, a mischievous grin on his face. He and Meredith tore through the long, brown package to reveal the colt sitting in a bunch of mailroom confetti. The two gawked at the beautiful gun. In the box lay a card as well. Meredith took out the car and read it aloud, chuckling.

"Winchesters, one day it'll be me against you but for now, let's make sure I've still got my place in hell. XO, Crowley," Meredith read.

"He's something," Dean chuckled.

She nodded, "And now it actually feels like we can go after the First. God, I can't believe we're doing this. After all this time of being retired…"

"At least we still now what we're doing," Dean added.

"Let's hope," she murmured.

Jude kept his right foot on the gas pedal, going a steady 80. Okay, so the speed limit was 50 but it was one of those lousy, one lane back roads that cops never patrolled. He blinked a couple of times, rubbing his sore eyes. He had been driving for 287 miles to be exact with only two more to go. His siblings were all fast asleep – to his knowledge.

"How much longer?" John mumbled from the passenger seat.

"Two miles. I thought you were asleep, Jude said, looking over at his brother.

"I was, but I had a weird dream," John said.

"Oh yeah? Clowns or midgets?" Jude teased.

"Shut up," John scoffed. He straightened up in the seat, taking a sip from his half full water bottle. "We're getting close to it… So Nate found out where specifically the First was hiding out at?"

"Yeah. Guess he's not so bad after all," Jude answered.

"Yeah. You ever think this'd happen?" John asked, changing the subject.

"Nah, when this whole thing started, I didn't think it'd come to this – some big, epic battle and everything," Jude admitted.

"Yeah, me either. I didn't even we'd have to worry about the prophecy but apparently we do. It's weird, you know? The fact that we were just born into being hunters. Not like Mom and Dad were but at least with this, it feels like we don't have a choice," John replied.

"You don't have to convince me," Jude replied. John felt bad. He knew that hunting had interfered a lot with Jude's normal life.

"If you could go back, you still wouldn't make a different choice, would you?" John asked, looking over at his big brother.

"'Course not. Would you?" Jude asked.

"Never," John replied. It's true. Even though they both were born into it, there's no way they'd choose normal over their family. Both brothers didn't say anything next.

"Do you think we'd be hunters if it weren't for the prophecy?" Jude asked, interrupting the silence.

"I mean, probably not," John replied. "We wouldn't have to train or anything."

"Yeah, but Mom and Dad would've told us. There's no way they'd be like the Gallaghers," Jude said.

John nodded, "Yeah, I think we still would've been hunters though. Even if we hadn't had to train for it."

Jude chuckled, "Me too."

"It's in our blood, my man," John joked.

"And who doesn't want to be able to kill things that go bump in the night?" Jude asked back.

"Yeah," John said. "Hey, how about we turn up the music for the rest of the two miles we have. You still got Led Zeppelin II in here?"

"You know it," Jude smiled over at his brother, before turning the music on.

"Hm," Victoria mumbled, as the music came blaring through the speakers.

"What the hell?!" Flynn exclaimed, stirring. He squinted before fully opening his eyes to see his brother's laughing at the twins' reaction. "Not cool, dude."

"Hey, we've got two miles left and some serious lifting of the spirits to do. There's no way we can gank this son of a bitch half asleep, now can we?" Jude asked, looking over at John.

"Of course not," John said, turning the music up even louder. And then Jude began to sing along to the music. "Ohhh, want a whole lotta love!" Jude joined in next and soon all three of them were jamming out to the Zep song for the next two miles.

"Hey!" Flynn protested as soon as the music cut off.

"We're here," Jude said back. The four got out of the comet, stretching their legs. They were all now more alert than they had been all day. The sun was beginning to set already as four other cars pulled into the abandoned gravely parking lot. He watched as Uncle Sam and his parents got out of the Impala, Nate and another woman got out of the second car, the third car was occupied by people he didn't recognize, and the last car contained Cole and his girlfriend. He could barely believe that Cole was hunting today, but then he reminded himself that he had been hunting at sixteen as well. He figured it had something to do with the fact that Cole had never appeared to be anything like a hunter, but maybe it had something to do with the girlfriend. According to John, Cole was pretty good as well. Jude checked to see if the colt was still tucked safely into his leather jacket and realized it was. He smiled a little, before joining the rest.

"Meredith, Dean, this is Tom and Dana. They're another ex-hunter family. You said you needed all the hands you could get," Nate introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Meredith said, shaking both of their hands. Dean, in turn, mumbled some greeting, shaking their hands.

"You ready, Death?" Sadie asked, draping an arm around Meredith's shoulders. Dean and Nate both attempted not to stare at the two since they had heard all about the adventures of Death and Die. It was hard not to think back to that…

"Ready as ever," Meredith answered.

Jude and the twins joined the adults while John went over to check on Cole and Greer.

"Be careful, okay?" Cole reminded.

"I know," Greer said. "You too."

"I'll be right behind you," Cole reassured.

Once everyone was together, Dean, Sam, and Meredith went over the plans as everyone stared at the rundown concrete building.

"Alright, me, Mer, and Sam are going to start right at the front while Sadie and Nate takes the back door," Dean introduced.

"The rest of you will go with Nate and Sadie to the backdoor but you wait. Once Nate and Sadie have okayed it, go ahead. Cole, Greer, take the middle levels while John and Jude, you guys fight your way to the top," Sam continued.

"Victoria and Flynn, you two will stick with Tom and Dana. You'll cover the levels right between Cole and Greer, and John and Jude," Meredith instructed, firmly.

"Why do we have to be chaperoned?" Victoria protested.

"Because it's your first hunt," she responded, quickly and sharply. "I'll send you right back home if you keep that up, Victoria Mary Winchester."

"Fine," Victoria muttered, scowling.

"Hey, at least we're here," Flynn said quietly, nudging his sister.

"Everyone ready?" Dean asked. There were responses of yes along with nods before they were all splitting up and preparing for attack. They knew that the place would be swarming with demons and croats and that the First was on the top floor – farthest and safest from everyone else.

As they split up, Nate chuckled, elbowing Meredith and referring to Victoria's reaction earlier, "The family that slays together, really does stay together. She's stubborn like you."

"Yeah," she sighed, chuckling a little.

"Mer, come on," Dean urged, trying not to glare at Nate.

"Good luck," Meredith said to Nate.

"You too," he said back, before she returned to Dean and Sam.

Now that it was just them three, they took a moment to say a few things.

"Here we go," Sam said.

"Yeah," Dean mumbled.

"You two be safe, okay?" Meredith asked. It had been a while since the three of them had hunted together and honestly, she had kind of missed it all.

"You too," Sam said.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Dean said, light heartedly. The two exchanged a short but passionate kiss before Meredith reached her hand out to the front door of the concrete building.

She looked from Sam to Dean before, saying, "Let's do this."

"Cole, watch out!" Greer yelled, seeing a demon attempting to creep up behind Cole. Cole, on the other hand, was preoccupied with another demon and hadn't had much time to move out of the way.

"Wh-" he started.

"Duck!" she yelled, pushing the demon that Cole was fighting out of the way and charging at the demon behind Cole, accidentally shoving him, and driving her demon killing knife through the demon. "Sorry, honey."

"It's okay," Cole said, grinning at the site of his girlfriend kicking some major demon ass.

"Cole!" she chuckled, turning around as soon as she sensed the demon that Cole had been fighting before. She drove the knife right through its heart and watched it fall to the floor.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Uh uh. I know that look," she said.

"What?" he asked again. She shot him a look and he laughed. "So what if I think it's hot that my girlfriend's fighting demons?"

"So not the right time," she said, rolling her eyes playfully, although she had to admit, she was flattered.

"You two alright?" they heard a voice ask, causing both to start.

"Sorry," the woman's voice said.

"Yeah, we're fine, Aunt Meredith," Cole said, feeling his heart beating out of his chest.

"Good. Your dad and your uncle are on the first floor, making sure that no more demons get up here," Meredith said. "I'm going to go check on the rest."

"Okay," Cole said, nodding. "Need any help?"

"They could always use some help downstairs. The place is swarming with croats so you can even use a gun," Meredith replied. Cole and Greer exchanged glances before racing off to the first floor of the concrete building. Meredith, on the other hand, hurried up flights and flights of stairs, checking on the twins and the other hunters, before being stopped, just above the floor that the twins had been working on. Just as she entered the hall, she was immediately faced with three croats and a couple of demons.

She shot at them, watching them fall to the floor but knew that it would be no use to waste bullets on the demon. The demon narrowed his eyes at her, focusing in, and suddenly, they were engaged in an all out hand to hand combat fight. The demon grabbed her, but she quickly spun out of his grip. He threw a punch and although she blocked it, it caused her to drop her gun. The gun dropped, firing off and hitting the demon right in the calf, causing him to yelp out in pain.

The gun slid further away from the two and she raced after it, tripping over one of the croat's bodies. There was no way that she was going to let the demon use it against her. She looked back at the demon that seemed to be gaining on her, despite the injury and blood leaving a trail behind him. She grabbed the gun, firing it again at the demon. He stumbled back but then laughed coolly.

"It's going to take a lot more than that, sweetheart," he cackled. She fired the gun once more, causing the demon to stagger.

"Don't call me sweetheart," she growled.

He shook his head, glaring, "You think you'll get to your boys in time, but it's too late. They're already dead."

"You're lying!" she shouted at him, but he only began to laugh.

"You don't have to get defensive, sweetheart. You're only mad because you know it's true," he said. Meredith, paralyzed with fear, thought back to the first dream she had. The nightmare about losing John, Jude, and Dean. No. Demons lied all the time. He wasn't telling the truth.

She realized that, only too late, for it dawned on her that the demon had her cornered as she sat on the ground. She fired one shot, hoping to distract the demon as he staggered backwards once more. Meredith shot up, bolting but the demon was too quick. He grabbed her, slamming her back against the hard cement wall and causing her to cry out in pain. He did it once more, earning the same effect.

Meredith struggled against him, trying to push him off of her but it was no use. So this time, she raised her knee, kicking him right where it hurt. The demon bent over in pain and she shoved him off of her, running down the hall, gun in hand. She began to chant the exorcism as she ran from the demon, shouting it. The demon, although coughing up black smoke, chased after Meredith, grabbing her by the ankle and pulling her down to the ground. Her head hit the floor with a loud thud and she could tell by the way her head was throbbing and the impact of the fall, that she probably had a concussion or two. She blinked, hoping that her vision would clear up and she would feel as groggy but it was only getting worse. Her head had started bleeding as she felt a punch to her face.

She groaned as she felt a sharp pinch on her left wrist before hearing someone screaming. And after that, it was all black.

"Mom!" Jude yelled as she saw the demon digging a knife into his mother's wrist. Before the demon could cut too much, Jude was charging at him with the demon killing knife in his hands. He had given John the colt because Jude could hear screaming from the floor below them, leaving Jude with the demon killing knife. They both agreed that Jude would go and there was no way they'd waste a bullet on a demon that wasn't the First. The demon looked up at Jude and it was just enough time for Jude to run at him, pushing him to the ground.

He sunk the knife into the demon, watch the life flash from him.

"Mom. Mom," Jude whimpered, kneeling over his mother as he tried to wake her. "Come on, Mom. You've got to wake up. Help! Somebody help!" There were at least ten other hunters in the building. Someone had to come and take her to the hospital. He scrambled to wrap up her wounds, taking off his jacket and pressing it into the cut on her wrist. He could tell the she had some sort of head trauma but he was most worried about her bleeding out.

"Jude, what's wrong?" Dean asked, bursting through the door. His eyes widened and his heart stopped as soon as he saw his wife unconscious and bleeding on the floor.

"No. No!" Dean yelled, seeing the demon the floor next to her. He ran over, punching his face over and over again.

"Dad, he's dead," Jude yelled. "You've got to go now. You've got to take her."

"We can't leave you!" Dean demanded. That's when Dean started to lose it. He was panicking now. "No. No, no, no. Baby, you can't. You've got to wake up on me, okay? You've got to… please, baby."

"Dad. Dad!" Jude said, stopping Dean and getting him to look up for once. "You've got to take her now. We'll be fine here."

Dean stared at his son for a moment. This wasn't the little boy who ate brownie batter off the spatula and gave shoe laces to girls anymore. Jude was a grown man and damn good hunter. He knew they'd be alright so he said: "Okay. Yeah, okay. I'll-, I'll take her."

"Hurry, Dad," Jude said back. Dad scooped Meredith up into his arms, carrying her bridal style, and started towards the staircase. There was no way he trusted an elevator here. Once Dean and Meredith were gone, a figure appeared. Jude prepared himself for fight, until the person turned around. Jude's eyes widened, recognizing the man.

"No. No! You can't have her. You can't take her," Jude demanded, desperately.

"Your desperation is pathetic," Death replied. "But I'm not here for her."

"Oh… well, what're you-," Jude began, until he realized what had happened.

"If you'd calm down and stop yelling, I'd tell you," Death answered.

Jude closed his mouth, just standing there. The two stood there in silence for several moments before Jude snapped, "Well, I don't have all day."

"Don't snap, Jude. It's rude," Death reminded. He sighed, handing him the scythe. "I'll come to collect it when it's all over." Jude took the scythe, examining.

"What're you waiting for you? It was you who said you didn't have all day, correct?" Death asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Right," Jude murmured, uncomfortably.

"Hurry. You're needed," Death warned, before disappearing.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" he heard someone scream above him.

"John," he whispered under his breath. Jude bolted for staircase, running up three flights of stairs before bursting through the room. The top floor. This was it. The floor consisted of only one large room. There were pieces of bad furniture with a large window overlooking the dead farmland of Minnesota.

"Jude!" John sighed out in relief, seeing his brother. As Jude got to the room, John was writhing on the floor in pain while he crawled towards the colt that had been dropped. A man stood over him, his hand clenched. The presence of Jude seemed to distract him for a second though. The man wasn't at all what Jude had expected. He was tall and looked barely thirty. He had dirty blonde, wavy hair just above his shoulders with a beard.

"John!" Jude yelled, but with the flick of the First's hand, Jude was pressed up against the wall, dropping Death's scythe. The moment was enough for John to grab the colt that had been lying on the floor and immediately, he shot at the First.

The bullet struck him, the skin on his face beginning to crack. It was working. The First reeled from the pain, staggering backwards and yelling out. It almost seemed as if he was beginning to disintegrate when he began to collect himself. He stood up straight again and then began laughing.

"The best part about that damn gun is that they don't say what the five things are that that thing can't kill," the First began to laugh. He began to speak in an over the top, dramatic voice. "But the effort was valiant. You Winchesters never disappoint. And once I'm done with you, I'll move onto the others. It's really fortunate for me that you brought so many along."

"But which one to pick first. John, you really have spunk but Jude such… anger I'm sensing right now. It's delicious."

John and Jude exchanged glances and it was as if they read each other's minds.

"Or you could join me. You both'd make great soldiers," the First said.

"Go to hell," Jude spat. The First tightened his grip on Jude, causing him to gasp for air. Jude made eye contact with John and John knew it was the signal. John shot the first again, firing two shots this time in hopes of buying extra time. Jude fell to the floor, grabbing the scythe.

"I thought I told you that that won't work on me," the First growled.

"Yeah, but this might," Jude said, stabbing the scythe into the First. John fired yet another shot, hoping to weaken the demon and they watched its eyes go wide. The blood dripped from the scythe and the First began to crumble. He fell to the floor, gasping and coughing. Instead of black smoke, they watched as the life went right out of the demon. Jude neared it, checking to see if it was really dead. He took the scythe from the demon and held up.

"So Death came through, huh?" John asked.

"Yeah," Jude replied.

"So... does this mean it's over? Like… really over?" John asked, in shock that they had killed the First.

"I think-, oh my God. Mom," Jude said, his eyes widening.

"What about Mom?" John asked.

"I'll explain in the car. We've got to go," Jude said, practically sprinting from the room.

LINEBREAK

"Baby, you've got to stay with me, okay? You've got to. It's okay," Dean begged.

"Mm," Meredith sounded. She had awakened slightly, but felt like she'd fall asleep any moment now. "I'm tired, Dean. Maybe tomorrow."

"Yeah, but we don't-, why waste time, you know?" Dean asked, not wanting to scare her. Not wanting to believe that there could possibly be no tomorrow for them.

"Dean, I'm cold. Hold me," she pleaded, softly.

"I want to. I do. We've just go to get somewhere first okay?" Dean asked. His heart was about to rip from his chest and felt like there were a thousand daggers in his gut. He couldn't lose his wife. Not after all they had been through. This couldn't be the thing that took him away from her. He had no idea how he was supposed to do it all without her and- no. He wouldn't think of that.

"Dean?" she asked.

"Yes?" he asked back, quickly.

But there was no response.

"No, it's okay, Mer. You can ask me," he encouraged.

"Mm," she mumbled.

"Uh… how about you tell me a story, Mer? You and I can reminisce about it all. How about how we met?" he suggested. Anything to keep her awake.

"I'm too tired," he murmured.

"Okay, we'll both tell it," he suggested, fighting the sobs building up in his throat. He glanced in his rearview mirror, noticing the same car that had been following him for a while now. It was a one lane road but this car was way too close for comfort. "What the hell?"

"Something wrong?" Meredith asked, 'something' being barely audible.

"No, nothing's wrong," Dean replied, anxiously glancing at the car again. This time, it was even closer. Dean sped up, swearing under his breath. The car only sped up faster, right on the bumper of the Impala. "Tell me about that day, Mer. You said you would."

"Overalls," Meredith said.

"What?" Dean asked, speeding up even more as the car got closer. "Shit!" It was almost as if the car was trying to drive him off the road.

"I wore overalls," Meredith said.

"Okay, what else?" Dean asked, desperate for a distraction. His heart was pounding in his chest. It dawned on him at the moment that the car was no coincidence. It was sent after them.

"And you-, you… leather jacket. Yes," she smiled, groggily.

"Meredith. Mer. no!" he yelled as soon as the car finally hit his, driving him right off the road.