Dean didn't stop running until he reached the motel, at least he hoped that's where he would find Hermione. He had seen her teleport a few times, most notably when she had to go home for a weekend to sign the papers officially ending her marriage. So, he knew she could have just vanished off the face of the earth, but he was really hoping she hadn't. He had questions. So many questions, and he was sure that she had the answers that he wanted.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he found her sitting on the ground next to the Impala, her knees drawn up to her chest, her face buried in them, her shoulders shaking with her sobs. Deciding she wasn't going anywhere, he quickly went into the office, got them a room, and then went back outside.

"Hey," he said, kneeling next to her. "Let's get inside, okay?"

She looked up at him, her face red, tears streaking tracks down her cheeks. She nodded, and Dean helped her up off the ground, and led her to their room. He unlocked the door, and let them inside. As soon as he shut the door, he was startled at the loud noise of a spell making contact with one of the pillows on the bed. He turned around in time to see the feathers making their way back down to the ground, and to see the destruction of another of the pillows.

"Fuck," Dean said.

"He was supposed to be different!" Hermione cried, as she punished another pillow. "I thought he loved me!"

"He does," Dean said. "He loves you so much. I can see it when he looks at you."

She turned toward Dean. "Then why is he cheating on me with a fucking demon?" she yelled, before turning around and blowing up the last of the pillows.

"Demon?" Dean muttered, and then he realized who that must be in the alley. Ruby. "Hey," he said louder, moving toward Hermione, wrapping her in his arms. He felt her tense, before dropping her wand to the ground, and dissolving into sobs.

"What's wrong with me?" she cried into his shoulder, as he held her tightly against him, trying to support her.

"Nothing. There is abso-fucking-lutely nothing wrong with you."

"Then why does everyone I love cheat on me?" she sobbed.

"Well, I can't speak for your asshole ex-husband, but I can speak for my brother and say that something is fucked up with him. Whatever he's doing with Ruby has fucked him up. and he's not acting like himself."

Hermione pulled back from him slightly and looked up at him. "It's the blood. He's taking demon blood. Ruby told him back at the beginning of summer that he needed the blood to make himself stronger to defeat Lilith. We realized that demon blood was addicting, and it would essentially erode his humanity. We made the decision to avoid it, and I developed that potion he takes."

Dean frowned. "If you decided for him to not take the demon blood, why the fuck is he taking it now?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "I honestly don't know. Maybe with the seals breaking so rapidly now, he panicked and thought he needed to do more? That what we're doing isn't good enough?"

"But why would he—" Dean broke off as an idea came to him. "Fuck."

Hermione took a step back from him and looked at him. "What?"

"The fucking angels," Dean said. "Zachariah. They've been coming to me, mostly Castiel, trying to pressure me to take extreme measures to make sure we end this. That we needed Sam to be able to kill Lilith, and we needed to do it by any means necessary. I've sort of just brushed them off, because I've found the angels to be mostly assholes, especially Zachariah after that bullshit he pulled with putting us in that alternative universe. However, what if they've been approaching Sam, too? And they've been planting these seeds of doubt?"

Hermione looked down at the ground, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, a look Dean had come to recognize as her deep in thought look.

"They wanted him to take Ruby's blood," she said. "Do you think Zachariah started planting the idea that we're sleeping together into Sam?"

"I'm sure of it," Dean said, not hesitating. "Remember the alternate world, where we were married? Zachariah set that shit up. And I'm sure that wasn't by accident."

"Oh my god, and Sam walking in on us making out?" Hermione said.

"All designed by that fucking angel," Dean said.

Hermione held her hands up to her mouth, and exhaled. "What are we going to do? The more blood Sam takes, the more his humanity will disappear."

Dean ran his hands through his hair, and looked up at the ceiling. Fucking angels. They had to keep meddling in their business. They had this under control. Why didn't the angels fucking trust them?

"Bobby has a room in his basement. It's a fucking fort. We need to get Sam down there, and detox him. You said this is like a drug, right?"

Hermione nodded. "That's what the books say."

"Then we treat it like a drug addiction. We detox him and when he's in his right mind, we lay into him for being a fucking idiot."

"Do you think it will work?" Hermione asked.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know, but we have to try."

SUPERPOTTER

Hermione sat at the top of the basement stairs listening to Sam screaming behind the door of the safe room. She could feel the tears making their way down her cheeks. Dean was in the room with him right now, so she knew he was safe, but it still hurt her heart to hear Sam in so much pain.

"Hey, Freckles," she heard from behind her. "Let's go get something to eat."

She shook her head and was about to refuse him, but he spoke up again.

"That's not a request," Bobby said.

Hermione stood from the stairs, and followed Bobby into the kitchen where he had made some sandwiches and he set out some beers. She took a seat at the table, and Bobby took the seat next to her.

"He's going to be okay," Bobby said. "He's been through worse, and he made it through in one piece. He's a fighter."

Hermione looked at her sandwich. "What if he doesn't? What if this is the thing that takes him down?"

Bobby reached over and lay his hand over hers. "He will. He's a fighter, and he has something to fight for. He wants to come back to you."

Hermione looked up at Bobby, tears pooling in her eyes. "Does he, though?"

"Of course he does. He loves you. He loves you more than life itself. Just because he was an idjit and believed what those fucking angels said, doesn't take that away. He made some bad choices, and I wouldn't put it past those winged fuckers to have done something to him to make him believe the nonsense they fed him. If he were in his right mind, he wouldn't have done any of this shit."

Hermione nodded. "I want to believe that so bad, but after Ron—"

"You're apprehensive. I get that. Boy do I get that. But in this life you need to be prepared for things like this. The boys have these targets on their backs. They are fucked over more times than not.

"When you showed up on my doorstep almost a year ago, I wasn't sure if you would be able to keep up with the lifestyle of a hunter, and you've proven me wrong, time and time again. You can hold your own in this life. And now you need to be strong for the boys. We need your support more than ever. Because shit is going to hit the fan soon, I just know it."

Hermione nodded.

"Good, because you're one of the strongest people I know, Freckles, and I've come to see you as one of my own, and I don't want to lose you because my boys have been idjits. Let's get through this Lilith shit, and then you can hand Sam's ass to him for being an idiot."

Hermione couldn't help laugh at that. "Okay" She looked down at her sandwich before looking back up at Bobby. "Did I ever tell you what happened to my parents, Bobby?"

Bobby shook his head.

"During the war, I was a target because I was Harry's friend. And just before we went on the run to end the war, I was worried my parents would be targeted by the Death Eaters. So, before I left, I modified their memories," she paused, swallowing the lump that was forming in her throat. "I erased all their memories of me and replaced them with memories of a different life, and gave them new identities before shipping them off to Australia. They had no idea I even existed. After the war, I tried to reverse it, but I couldn't.

"When I married Ron, I had his parents, but it just wasn't the same. And then I come here. And I met you. And this last year, you have really filled this void in my life. And I've really come to think of you as a father."

Bobby stood up from his seat, and pulled Hermione up with him, wrapping her in a tight embrace, she returned it, burying her face in his flannel covered shoulder. "We're going to fix this, Freckles. Everything is going to work out."

SUPERPOTTER

Hermione sat up from where she had been sleeping on the couch. It took her a minute to break through the sleep induced fog of her brain, but she could hear Dean and Bobby yelling. She swung her feet off the side of the couch, it took her a minute before she was able to stand, and make her way to the basement stairs. Light was shining up and she could see that the door to the safe room was wide open. Jolted awake by the sight, she ran down the stairs into the room, and only found Dean and Bobby inside.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"I don't know," Dean bit out as he paced around the room, agitated.

"What do you mean you don't know? How did he get out? I thought the room was locked and warded?"

"It was," Bobby answered. "We don't know how he got out. But he did, and now he's gone."

"His phone," Dean said. "We can get a location from his phone."

"What if he ditched it?" Bobby said. "Your brother isn't stupid. He would make it so that he couldn't be found."

"I can find him. I can put a tracer on him, and we can follow him."

"Not we, Glinda," Dean said. "Shit is about to get real, and I don't know what the angels have planned, but I don't want you caught in the crosshairs."

"Fuck that, Dean," Hermione said. "I have proven time and again that I can hold my own, you are not benching me."

"I know you can hold your own. I've seen you in action. But, we're heading into the final showdown with Lilith, I can feel it. And all year the angels have been saying how Sam and I are important, fuck, they dragged me out of hell, but not once have they said anything about you. I'm worried the angels are going to use you as leverage, and I can't have that on my conscience. You need to stay here, and watch Bobby's back in case those fuckers come here and try to start something. You let me go get Sam, you watch out for Bobby. I'm not benching you. I'm using you strategically."

Hermione let out a breath, and nodded. He had a point. Fuck him for always being right. "Fine. You bring Sam back to me, okay?"

"I will."

Hermione closed the gap between them, wrapping him into a hug, which he didn't hesitate in returning. "You come back safe, too."

"I will."

The two broke apart, and Hermione moved back to stand next to Bobby, and the two of them watched as Dean left to face the unknown and bring back someone they all loved.

SUPERPOTTER

Sam sat at the edge of the bed in his and Hermione's room at Bobby's. He had caused the apocalypse. Because he was an idiot, and believed the lies Zachariah and Ruby had been feeding him for months. He had broken everyone's trust. And he didn't know how he was going to fix everything.

He looked at Hermione who was currently throwing the clothes she had unpacked in the drawers in the room into her backpack, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He had returned to her, and took full responsibility for his actions. While she was understanding that the angels had fucked with his mind, causing him to make the choices he had made, it didn't make it any better. When he admitted that he had fucked Ruby in one of his drug induced encounters, Hermione just nodded her head, and started packing.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked, his throat tight.

"Home," she said.

"Are we," he swallowed. "Are we finished?"

"I don't know," Hermione said. "I need some time."

Sam nodded. "How much time?"

"I don't know," Hermione said. "All I know is I can't be here in the same room as you right now. I need to put some space between us. Because right now I want to hex you so bad."

"I know," Sam said. "And I can't say how sorry I am. I fucked up. But I'm sorry. I love you."

"And you still fucked another woman," Hermione bit out. "You sat their accusing me and Dean of screwing around behind your back, and yet you're the one who was doing that exact thing!"

"I know," Sam said. "What can I do to make this better?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know."

Sam looked down at his hands and nodded. "Well, I'm willing to do anything to move past this."

"You know what, Sam? When I found out everything that Ron did behind my back, I decided to never let that happen again. That I would never allow a man to make a fool of me again. I met you, and you were supposed to be different. But you're not. You're the same, and here I am, my heart broken all over again."

"You know I was under the influence of the demon blood. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have done any of that. I love you. You're the most important person in my world."

Hermione stopped what she was doing, and stared at him. "I know. I feel the same way, but right now, I can't stand to look at you."

Sam nodded, feeling a tightness in his chest. "I understand."

Hermione zipped up her bag, and put in on her shoulder. "I'll see you soon," she said. And then with a pop, she was gone, and Sam was alone.