Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dark Angel or Supernatural characters. For this fic I changed the DA time line. The pulse has already hit and Alec is out of Manticore in 2009. The characters of Lexi, Jake and Jackie are from a Supernatural AU Verse that I write. This is my first DA fic so please be kind. Sorry it has taken me so long to update but my laptop crashed and I had to start this chapter from scratch. I hope you like it. Thanks to everyone that has been reading this story. Reviews would be great.

January 3rd

Riverdale, NY

Dean leaned against the wall of the barn while watching Sam secure Lydecker to the chair. He could feel his temper rise at the sight of the older man and had to remind himself that he needed to keep his feelings in check. He closed his eyes in an attempt to calm himself but all he could think about was how this man was responsible for the pain and torture of his boys. Dean caught Sam's eye gesturing that he was going outside, he needed to clear his head before he tore this guy limb from limb.

After a call to Lexi and three cigarettes later, Dean walked back into the barn much calmer than he was a half an hour ago. He still wanted to rip Lydecker's head off but that wasn't going to happen until he got the answers he needed. Dean lurked in the shadows watching Sam question their prisoner. He thought it was better to let his brother take point on this one, cooler heads and all that but Lydecker had a different plan. Lydecker leaned as far forward as his bounds would allow him and asked, "Tell me Dean, how'd you manage to fake your death?"

"That wasn't me, that was a shape shifter that stole my face and went on a murder spree."

"I knew John didn't raise a serial killer."

"Ah, I don't know about that." Dean stated stepping out of the shadows, "Last time I checked I've killed all sorts of things."

"How did you find X5-493 and 494?"

Dean scrunched up his face feigning confusion to the question, "How'd I find what?"

"I think you call them..."Lydecker tilted his head with a sneer on his face, "Ben and Alec."

Dean grabbed the empty chair swinging it around so he could straddle it and rest his arms on the back. He glared at the man that was bound to the chair across from him. Dean tightened his grip on his gun, it was taking all he had not to blow this guy away. He knew Sam was right, they needed information. Information on Manticore and who else knew where Ben and Alec were. He also knew that he had to be smart for Lexi and their boys, he needed to keep his temper in check to be able to ensure their safety. He was gonna waste the son of a bitch but he was going to wring out as much info as he could first, "Listen up, Deck. I'm gonna call you Deck. We can do this the easy way and you start talking," Dean stated as he reached into the duffle by his feet pulling out his Bowie knife giving it a little wave, "or I can just carve it out of you."

"You aren't going to do anything to me, boy."

Dean pushed himself off the chair causing it to crash to the floor. He grabbed the older man's left hand as he swung his knife in an ark chopping off his left pinkie finger. Lydecker howled in pain while Dean glared at him with hard eyes, "One down, nine to go or you can start talking."

"Dean!"

"Not now Sammy!"

"I need to talk to you OUTSIDE!"

Dean threw Lydecker a final glare before reluctantly following his younger brother outside. He leaned against the dilapidated barn while digging out his pack of Camels. He was well aware of Sam shooting him dirty looks as he lit up. He took a deep drag before looking at his younger brother, "Well, spit it out Sammy."

"What the hell was that in there, Dean? We didn't agree on torturing the man."

"I did what I felt like needed to be done. So, don't give me this holier than thou bullshit. You're on board for ganking the SOB but I can't take a finger? C'mon Sammy! He tortured my boys and God knows how many others."

"Would Lexi want you torturing this guy?"

Dean took a drag off his cigarette while he mulled over Sammy's question. He supposed the answer would be no but not because she wouldn't want Lydecker hurt. No, it would be because she wouldn't want him to have to stoop to this guy's level. Lexi always told him that he was a better man than he ever considered himself to be. She saw past his anger and his need for revenge for what happened to his mother. She saw the part of him that wanted to save people and he really wanted to be that man for her. He wanted to be that white hat protector that she saw him as and that meant he had to walk a very thin line here. He flicked the butt of his cigarette to the ground avoiding his brother's eyes, "Fine. I'll take care of his truck and you go interrogate that douchebag."

Dean headed over to the car he swiped opening the trunk to get the gas cans. He blinked and then turned to Sam, "Hey, Sammy. Where's the gas cans?"

"Ah shit!" Dean stared at him, his eyebrows inching up into his hairline, "I left them in the Impala."

"SAMMY, I gave you ONE job!"

"I'm sorry but if it was so important you should've checked instead of talking to Lexi again."

"Don't go there Sammy. Excuse me for worrying about my pregnant wife. You go in there and get as much info as you can and I'll go get the gas cans."

Dean returned to the abandoned farm forty minutes later and immediately knew something was wrong. The barn door was ajar which led Dean to expect the worse. He drew his gun making his way slowly inside to find Sam unconscious on the floor and no Lydecker. He knelt down next to his brother searching for a pulse before shaking him, "Sammy. Sammy, wake up."

"Dean?"

"What happened?"

"He got loose, we fought, he hit me with something."

"C'mon, we gotta find him." Dean got his hands under Sam's arms and lifted, "You okay to walk little brother?"

"Yeah."

January 10th

Dean sat at the Formica table with a glass of Johnny Walker in one hand and a map in front of him. He was marking off the towns they had already searched while Sam spoke to Victor. He chewed on his pen as he pretended to be absorbed in the map and not eavesdropping on his brother. From what Dean gathered from the one side of the conversation he could hear was that Victor had placed an ABP out on Lydecker but he hadn't shown up yet. Victor and Sam had to know there was no way that slippery fuck was going to be caught by an APB. The man was too well trained. If it was Dean, he would go deep and only be found when he wanted to be found. He knew Lydecker would do the same thing which meant they were already too late.

Sam hung up the phone and took the seat across from Dean. He poured himself a drink, then took a sip before turning his attention to his brother, "Well, Victor has nothing."

"That's no surprise there Sammy, Lydecker works for a secret military operation."

"Yeah, I know. So, what's the plan?"

"The plan is we dig around for a bit longer and hope we hit pay dirt. Other than asking Lexi to stick her hand on a map and see if she can get a fix on him..."

"So, why aren't we doing that?"

Dean blinked at his brother before running a hand through his hair, "Cuz she's supposed to be resting and those powers take a lot outta her man that's why. We'll find him."

Sam pulled a face and finished off his drink. He refilled his glass, lifted it to his lips and studied his brother over the rim, "You're really stressed out over this whole thing with Lexi, aren't you?"

"Dude, I'm not drunk enough to share and care with you."

"Dean..."

Dean avoided his brother's eyes as he finished the whiskey in his glass. He poured himself a double shot, raised his glass in a silent toast and then tipped the contents into his mouth. He refilled his glass before rubbing his face, "Yeah Sammy, I'm stressed out. I'm so fucking stressed out but I gotta keep my game face on. If she sees how worried I really am..."

"Dean, you do realize Lexi's psychic, right?"

"Thank you Captain Obvious. She doesn't go digging around in my head, we agreed on that years ago. I know she doesn't consciously try to read me like that. When she does get something from me it's cuz my guard's down so to speak or I'm all keyed up about something and it just hits her. I don't want her to know how worried I am, that's just gonna make her upset. We both know she doesn't need to be upset right now."

"But Dean you shouldn't be..."

"No, man, don't say I shouldn't be hiding shit from her. You don't get don't have kids with Jackie. I'm trying to keep her safe and healthy. She went through too much to get...we went through too much."

"Dean," Sam whispered as he laid his hand over his brother's, "why don't you just tell me? You can't keep stuff like that bottled up."

Dean jerked his hand out from under his brother's before standing up and pacing the length of the motel room. He turned to look at Sam opening his mouth to speak but then shook his head and said nothing. He walked to the dresser taking a cigarette out of the pack that was lying there and lit it. He took a few drags before turning his attention back to Sam, "What do you want me to say, Sammy? That after the miscarriage every month she take a pregnancy test and every time it was negative she'd get so depressed I was worried she might do something to herself. Is that what you want to hear? Or I dunno she got so desperate that she dragged me to a fertility specialist and I jacked off into a plastic cup or how after the fertility specialist told her we were both fine and it was all due to her stressing out that she went to talk to some Hoodoo Priestess for a fertility spell."

"She what?"

"Oh, yeah. I nearly lost my shit over that." Dean took the last drag off of his cigarette and dropped it in the ashtray before sitting back down across from Sam, "I sat her down then and told her we were done trying. No more charts and ovulation kits, no more specialists and especially no hoodoo. She got knocked up with Jake without us trying, it would happen again. And ya know what? Three months later I come home after going to the bar with you and there's a positive pregnancy test sitting on the bathroom counter. Then two days later the pulse hit."

"Dean, I'm..."

"No, Sammy, don't say it, I don't wanna hear that you're sorry. I told you what you wanted to hear and now I'm gonna go to bed and pretend we never had this conversation."

January 15th

Sam shifted in his seat as he stared out the window. He felt like shit. They had been driving around the Northeast for almost two weeks trying to find Lydecker but the trail had gone cold. It was his fault, he couldn't forget that. If he had remembered the gas cans Dean wouldn't have left the barn and Lydecker wouldn't have been able to escape. Even though Dean had told him repeatedly it wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but feel responsible.

"Sammy, stop moping. We'll find the fucker."

"But Dean, we tipped our hand."

"Doesn't make a lick of difference. He already knew that the twins were with us." Dean took his eyes off the road momentarily to glance at his brother, "Henricksen's on it, we'll find him again. Besides he doesn't have anything to tie us to Bobby. We'll be okay there and once Lex has the baby we'll go to the safe house."

Sam nodded, the rationale part of his brain knew his older brother was right. They would find him again, he knew that but he couldn't shake the nagging feeling in his stomach. Sam just felt that they were going to end up paying for his mistake in a big way. He didn't know what that would entail but he had a feeling it would be bloody.

January 20th

Lexi watched her three year old son march in time with the song around her bedroom for what felt like the hundredth time this morning. Jake had a new obsession, 'Yellow Submarine'. Two days ago she had been sitting in bed crocheting baby hats for Stella and listening to The Beatles when Jake took notice of the classic song. Since then, he had demanded it to be played from the time he got up till the time he fell asleep. Lexi hit the play button again shaking her head, hopefully this obsession would end once Dean returned home.

Jackie entered the bedroom with Lexi's lunch her eyebrow raised, "He's still on the yellow submarine kick, uh."

"Yeah. I'm still hoping he tires of it." Lexi looked down at her plate then back up at Jackie smirking, "Gummi Bears? Where did you get Gummi Bears?"

"Those are courtesy of your son Alec. He took a five finger discount at the supermarket this morning."

"Seriously? Jackie you let him steal?"

Jackie laughed, "I didn't let Alec. I had no clue he was lifting shit. We got into the truck and he starts pulling bags of candy and chips out of every pocket in that army jacket you and Dean got for him."

Lexi popped a Gummi Bear into her mouth chewing it slowly. She had been craving these things for awhile now and even though she knew she shouldn't be enjoying the candy, she couldn't help herself. She knew she would have to sit Alec down and scold him on stealing but his thoughtfulness was enough to earn him a pass this time.

"Again Mommy! AGAIN!"

"What, Jake?"

"AGAIN. PLAY SONG AGAIN."

"No, Jake." Jackie stated firmly while picking up the laundry basket, "That's enough for today. Your mom needs her rest and you need to eat lunch."

Jake stuck his bottom lip out giving his Aunt his best puppy dog look. When that didn't work, he turned saucer sized green eyes to his mom. Lexi shook her head no telling Jake to go downstairs to eat his lunch. Jake sized dramatically causing Lexi and Jackie to exchange amused glances before he headed out of the bedroom.

"Jackie, leave the laundry. Dean can take care of it when he comes back."

"It's not a big deal, I gotta do mine too. Besides, do you really want Dean doing it? He'll just throw eveything in at once."

"Very true. Thanks. Hey, did you get those books for me and the stuff for the pie?"

"Yup, got everything on you list. I'll bring the books up after I feed the kids."

After Lunch

Ben was worried. He was worried about his dad and his mom. He was especially worried about his twin brother since he didn't appear to be worried that their dad hadn't returned from his mission yet. When Ben brought up the fact that their dad was supposed to be back twelve days ago, Alec would shrug and say, 'Dad's Batman. He'll be back.' Ben wished he could be so sure of this fact but he knew there was always a chance of a mission going sideways. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen to them if dad never came back.

Ben was getting more anxious as the days passed. He couldn't help it, he knew all too well what Lydecker was capable of. The only thing that did make him feel somewhat better was sitting with his mom. He was able to relax due to her reassurances that his dad was fine and would be home soon. Plus, he liked sitting on their big comfortable bed.

Lexi looked over at Ben and said softly, "Stop worrying, Benny. I talked to your dad this morning, he's okay. He'll be back late tonight or early tomorrow morning."

Ben nodded as he inched closer to his mom. He snuggled against her side and handed her the book he was reading. He wanted her to read it to him like he had seen her read to Jake numerous times. She looked down at him her brows raised but she didn't ask him why he wanted her to read to him. She put her arm around him before she opened the book and began to read. Ben didn't understand why but he suddenly felt warm and secure, like nothing bad could get him. He liked that feeling, a lot.