CHAPTER 27

Dean had a feeling he knew what Sam was about to confess. Dean also had a feeling he knew why. He saw the looks exchanged by his brother and Leigh. He saw the helplessness on her face and the look of passion in Sam's eyes. He knew he couldn't stop this confession, but he could try.

"Sam, don't." Dean said sternly.

"I have to." Sam replied only briefly looking at Dean.

"Why? For her?" he asked, pointing to Leigh.

"No – well yes – but no, not completely." Sam tried to reason.

"Then why do you have to?"

"Because it's the right thing to do." Sam said with finality and then took a deep breath. "I know something about the prophecy."

"What?" Leo asked seriously, stepping forward.

"The, uh, the hunter cursed by the demon with the yellow eyes…it's me."

Sam looked around at the shocked look on everyone's faces. Dean looked like he just wanted to slap Sam. The sisters looked completely stunned. Leo and Coop looked kind of confused. Leigh, though, she looked grateful.

She smiled at him in a silent 'thank you'. He let go of a breath he didn't realise he was holding. He smiled back and Leigh felt herself melting.

"What!" Piper screeched, pulling Leigh and Sam out of their moment.

"When I was six months old, a demon snuck into my nursery and fed me its blood then killed my mom. The yellow-eyed demon, Azazel. We killed him, but I did get visions until then. I accidentally…" Sam choked and looked at Leigh for assurance. "I started the apocalypse."

"You killed Lilith." Leo deduced.

"You touched the book though, you're not evil." Paige said.

"I know I'm not, but I still started the end of the world and I'm Lucifer's vessel. I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner, I know it would've helped Leigh, but I was scared." He confessed. Leigh walked beside him and slipped her hand into his. Her soft hand locked in perfectly with his calloused one.

"You know we'll help you right?" Phoebe said.

"Yeah, we aren't going to kill you or anything." Piper said "You're still human."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure if that's really going to help. Prophecies aren't usually wrong." Sam huffed.

"True, but it also said I'll stop you before you destroy the world." Leigh said.

"Thank you." He said quietly to her and traced comforting circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Well, I better get back to the Elders and tell them about this. Don't worry though Sam, we'll make sure you aren't harmed." Leo added a pointed look at Sam and Leigh's intertwined hands before orbing up. Piper went to check on the boys at day-care and Dean and Paige went up to Paige's room to 'talk'.

Phoebe and Coop were about to leave, before Sam stopped them.

"Wait!" Sam called. Coop's ring stopped glowing and the married couple looked at them.

"Yeah Sam?" Coop asked.

"You marked us, right?" Sam asked.

Coop smiled slyly. "Yes."

"Why?" Sam asked, to Leigh, Phoebe and Coop's surprise. Leigh's hand loosened around Sam's at the question.

"I kinda thought it was obvious." Coop said gesturing to their laced hands. Coop sighed when Leigh stayed silent and Sam looked vacuous. "You liked her before, am I right?"

"Well yeah." Sam replied as if it should've been obvious.

"So I just made it official." Coop shrugged.

"Official?" Leigh finally spoke.

"Yeah, it's in the Elder's records. If I didn't mark you, then you two would have never acted on your feelings. All I did was make them known." Coop smiled once again before grabbing Phoebe's hand and teleporting away in a faded pink heart.

Sam turned to Leigh when they were gone. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Thank you for telling them." Leigh said with a small blush creeping onto her features.

Sam leaned down and placed another barely-there kiss on her gloss-coated lips. Her lips tingled from the touch. He placed his free hand on her hip and looked straight into her brown eyes.

"I told you I would, for you." He whispered.

"So, what now? What should we do?" Leigh asked in a breath.

"I don't know what we should do, but I know what I want to do."

"What's that?" she asked, almost anxiously.

Sam's hand slid from her waist around to her waist as he scooped her into his arms and pulled her closer. He let go of her hand and cupped her face. One hand was on her lower back, holding her tightly to him and the other was on her cheek as he pulled her head up to meet his lips in a slow, soft kiss.