Chapter 18

A week later…

"Hey, Sarah, have you heard from the boys in the last few days?" Bobby asked as he rolled into the living room, were Sarah was reading.

"Um… no… why?" she asked putting her book down.

Bobby gave a worried look, "Their not answering. Haven't for a couple a days."

"Have you asked Cas?" Sarah asked pulling out her own phone. Bobby shook his head, so Sarah dialed Cas' number. "Hey, Cas. It's Sarah. Bobby and I are worried about Sam and Dean and wanted to know if you have heard from them. Call me or pop in to Bobby's."

A few minutes later, Cas appeared in the middle of the living room.

"What's the situation?' He asked abruptly, startling Sarah.

"Cas! I swear I'm gonna make you a little bell to wear!" Sarah shouted at him.

Cas gave her a curious look then said, "You called about Dean and Sam."

Sarah rolled her eyes then said, "Bobby and I haven't heard from them in a few days and we can't reach them. Have you heard from them? I'm getting worried."

"No." Cas said with a furrowed brow. "Are you sure they're just not busy?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes at Cas. Dean had obviously been talking to him. "They wouldn't have ignored Bobby this much. Now are you going to help me find them or are you going to stand there looking stupid?" She asked picking up her bag.

Cas sighed, "Where too?"

"Wellington, Ohio." She said.

Once in Wellington, Cas and Sarah set about finding the boys. Sarah immediately started looking through the boys research and Cas started searching the town for any clues.

"A trickster! Oh come on!" Sarah yelled once she realized. Her phone started buzzing right then. "Hey, Cas. You find anything?"

"I found the impala. It's outside an abandoned warehouse a couple miles east of town." Cas said.

"Do you see any sign of them?"

"No, but there is something here that doesn't seem right."

"That'll be the Trickster. That's what Sam and Dean were hunting. Continue scouting around the warehouse and I'll be there soon. Don't go in without me." She said before hanging up and running for the door. She got outside and realized she didn't have a way to get there and tried calling Cas back but only got his voicemail.

"That stupid idjit!", she muttered running in the direction of the warehouse. She found a car on her way and 'borrowed' it to get to the warehouse faster. Once there she found the impala but Cas wasn't there. She unlocked the trunk of the impala and grabbed a wooden stake then cautiously walked inside.

She searched the wide open room that was over grown and falling apart. She slowly made her way to the back where a couple of rooms still stood. The first room was empty. As she neared the next room she heard slight of movement. She edged the door open slowly to reveal a pile of broken office furniture. She stepped slowly inside and heard the sound again. She rounded the pile and found Dean bound, slowly regaining consciousness.

"Dean?" Sarah said rushing to his side. "Dean?"

"…Sarah?... Is it you?" he asked as she worked to untie his restraints.

"Yeah it's me, ya big oaf. Now what happened? Where's Sam?"

"I don't know, I was hit from behind. Thank God you found me. I've been here for days." He said pulling her into a strong hug.

"Dean… Dean…" she said trying to pull away. "What has gotten into you? You know the rule." She said finally pulling back enough to look at his face.

"Oh, forget the stupid rules, baby." He said before pulling her in for a passionate kiss. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her startled frame close then pushed them down to the floor.

She pushed him away enough to say, "What is going on with you?" he moved to kiss down her neck and started to unbutton her shirt. "Dean, stop. Dean." She said strongly before he reclaimed her lips.

Sarah felt around the floor until she found her stake and slowly brought it up until the point was against his chest. He pulled away a little.

"What's going on, Baby?" he asked.

"Get off me." Sarah said gruffly.

He smirked a little and said, "I thought this was what you wanted. Now come here. I know you like it dirty." He then moved to kiss her again while pushing the stake away.

She quickly head butted him, pushing him off of her and scooted away.

"What have you done with Sam and Dean?" she asked holding up the stake defensively.

"What are you talking about? I am Dean." He said standing up.

"No. You're the Trickster. Now where are they? Tell me… or…"

"Or what? You'll stake me?" he asked then morphed into his true form. Sarah readied herself for a fight. He laughed at her, "Oh sweetheart, that's so cute. You think you can actually fight me?"

"You shouldn't under estimate me." She warned.

"I like you, Sarah. You're a fighter. Too bad, I can't stay and see more of that fire in you. And trust me I do…" he said, running his gaze over her body. "but I'm needed elsewhere. And I can't have you go running off…" he swiped his hand in the air and the stake flew out of her hand. He gestured with his other hand and she flew back against the wall hard. "I'll be back for you, later." He said raising his eyebrows a few times. Then he vanished, leaving her pinned to the wall.

"Get back her you spineless, Dick!" she yelled but he didn't reappear.

A few hours later, she was still pinned to the wall when she heard voices coming from the main room of the warehouse. She must have blacked out because it sounded like the voices had been there a while.

"Why do you think I've always taken such an interest in you? Because from the moment Dead flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all gonna end with you. Always." The trickster said.

"No. That's not gonna happen." Dean growled.

"I'm sorry. But it is." The trickster said. "Guys. I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow… but this is real, and it's gonna end bloody for all of us. That's just how it's gotta be." Pause. "So. Boys. Now what? We stare at each other for the rest of eternity?"

"Well, first of all, you're gonna bring Sarah and Cas back from wherever you stashed them." Dean growled.

"Oh am I."

"Yeah. Or we're going to dunk you in some holy oil and deep-fry ourselves an archangel." Dean threatened.

There was a pause then Sarah was ported from her invisible restraints to next to Sam, falling into him. Cas appeared behind Dean. Sam quickly put his arm around her and kept her from falling.

"Sarah, you okay?" Dean asked over his shoulder.

She nodded saying a hoarse, "Yeah." While zipping up her jacket, concealing her unbuttoned shirt.

"Cas, you okay?" he asked looking back at Cas.

"I'm fine." Cas said gruffly, "Hello, Gabriel."

"Hey, bro. How's the search for Daddy going? Let me guess. Awful." Gabriel said. Cas glared at him. Gabe then looked over at Sarah, "Hey, there sweetie. Miss me?" then he winked.

"Okay, we're out of here. Come on, Sam." Dean said, turning and walking toward the door.

"Uh, Okay. Guys?" Gabriel said.

Sam turned and followed Dean, still holding onto Sarah.

"So, so what? Huh?" Gabriel tried again. Cas turned and followed the others. "You're just gonna, you're just gonna leave me here forever?" Gabriel yelled.

Dean stopped and looked back at Gabriel. "No. We're not, cause we don't screw with people the way you do. And for the record? This isn't about some prize fight between your brothers or some destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your family." Dean then pulled the fire alarm causing the sprinklers to go off. "Don't say I never did anything for you." Then he walked out the door. Sam and Sarah not too far behind him.

"All that stuff he was spouting in there, you think it was the truth?" Dean asked as Sam helped Sarah into the backseat of the impala.

"I think he believes it." Sam answered.

"So what do we do?" Dean asked.

"I don't know."

"Well I'll tell you one thing. Right now I wish I was back in a TV show." Dean admitted.

"Yeah, me too." Sam said before they both got in the impala.

After a few minutes of driving, Dean looked Sarah in the rearview mirror. He saw her rubbing her legs. "You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just desperately need a shower but I'm fine."

"Why? You were only there a little while." Dean questioned.

"What did the Trickster… I mean… Gabriel. What did Gabriel do to you guys? Did he say something about T.V.?" she asked.

"He made us be in different TV shows. It was very annoying." Sam answered.

"Really? Like what?"

"Game show, commercial, sitcom. You name it we probably were in it." Dean answered. "Oh, and uh, Sam had to do a herpes commercial." He added laughing.

"Wow. Really?" Sarah said laughing a little.

"What did he do to you?" Sam asked switching the subject.

Sarah stopped laughing and stuttered, "He, uh, he tried to trick me, but it didn't work out. So he tied me up and I guess went back to messing with you two."

"How'd he try and trick you?" Dean asked.

"What is this 20 questions?" She snapped.

Dean and Sam gave her wide eyed, shocked expressions. Dean pulled the car over and turned to face her.

"Oh, you now have our undivided attention." Dean said sarcastically.

"Dean…" Sam said trying to intervene.

"No, I want to hear this." Dean replied.

"I don't want to talk about it." She muttered.

"Not good enough. What did he do to you?"

"Dean…" Sam tried again.

"No, Sam." Dean said to quiet Sam then looked at Sarah, "I'm all ears."

"Dammit Dean! He pretended to be you!" she yelled with tears glistening her eyes.

"He what?"

"I walked into the room and found you tied up barely conscious. I untied you and tried to assess the situation but then you were on me. Kissing me and holding me. I knew deep down it wasn't really you but there was a brief moment when I didn't care." She said, staring at the floor, tears streaming down her face.

"He kissed you?" Dean growled.

"Yeah. And he nearly got my shirt off too." She spat, unzipping her jacket to reveal her unbuttoned shirt.

"He what?" Dean growled again, as veins started popping out on his neck.

"Oh, like you care." She muttered, glaring at him.

Dean almost climbed over his seat to get at her, his anger about to boil over. Sam grabbed him and helped to calm Dean some.

"Sarah… you said that you knew he wasn't Dean. How did you know that?" Sam asked.

Sarah looked over at Sam then back down at the floor, more tears flowing down her face. "He didn't kiss me like Dean did. And trust me after kissing future Dean, I now know exactly what his kisses are like and that was not it… Plus, he called me baby." She admitted. Dean looked back at her with a curious look. "You only call the car Baby." She said then added impatiently, "Could we get back to the motel? I'm ready to go back to Bobby's."

"Did you bring a car?" Dean asked.

"No…" Sarah said, thinking, "Cas brought me. Just drop me off there."

"How do you plan on getting to Bobby's?" Dean asked.

"I'll steal a car or take the bus. Don't worry about me. I'll manage."

Just then Sam's phone buzzed.

"What's up?" Dean asked.

"It's a text from Chuck. It's an address and says that it's a life or death situation." Sam said.

"Oh, great." Dean said, "Looks like you're stuck with us a little longer, Buttercup." Then he floored it.