That night had been long. The house did burn, and Dean did not return to the fire. They watched it while waiting for an ambulance to come take them away. Dean and Cas got a few stitches a piece. Sam got quite a few more. His face was a mottled palette of blues, yellows, and purples, and now he had a lengthy row of stitches rolling up his forehead to complement the picture.

Lil was another story. Cas had been glued to her bedside. The knife wound that A had inflicted would not have been so bad had the victim been an adult. Lil was so small though. She had lost a lot of blood and ended up with an infection on top of it. Her body was struggling to survive. It was all too similar in Cas' mind to when M was injured. He cooed over her and held her hand. When he couldn't stay conscious anymore, Dean took over. The doctors had her hooked up to IVs. Wires ran to her chest and hand from monitors cataloging everything from her blood oxygen levels to her heart rate, and her temperature. They had spoken with Jorge. Dean did most of the talking. Jorge had been concerned because, A's brother had not been found yet. They had assumed that it was A that had been in the house, but they had no solid proof. He spoke to them with a familiarity that seemed to be A, but Jorge wondered if it was possible that both of the brothers had both been involved with Niveus.

Jorge decided that, instead of wondering, he would just question Lucky again, but Lucky had an attorney present this time. Jorge did get to ask about the brother though. Lucky said that he knew him, and he verified that the brother had worked with Niveus too. He had minimized the connection though, called it employment as a favor to A. He also gave a name, Al. Jorge had tried to joke, "Well, I guess he got the bonus letter in the family."

On the night that they were attacked, Jorge had tried to find the two officers that had been stationed in the lobby. It wasn't until after the fire that their bodies were discovered. Jorge had stationed an officer in the hospital because of this. A and his brother had done more than just kill the two men, they had mutilated the bodies and left them in a closet. There was something about that. The fact that they took extra time to do this showed a level of psychosis and cruelty that made Jorge worry all the more about the one that got away.

It did not matter that there was an officer watching their room. Neither Dean or Cas would leave Lil alone. Sometimes they would split the watchful duty so that one of them could go downstairs for food or to get coffee. A few days into their vigil and Cas needed to meet with Gabe. Dean was on Lil duty while Cas took a walk down to the cafeteria. He saw Gabe across the rows of tables. He grabbed a pre-packaged sandwich, paid and made his way over to join him. "Hey, Cas. How's Lil doing?"

"Same. I keep clinging to every little thing the doctor says, like it will convince me that she is getting better." Gabe reached over and pressed his hand to Cas' arm.

"I'm so sorry. I wish that I knew what to say." They lingered in silence for a few minutes. Cas decided to eat his sandwich. It was largely unappealing, but he powered through.

"Do I need to redo the paperwork that I gave you the other night?" Cas was ready to dive into the subject at hand.

"No, I still have the envelope. I was even able to go back in and get your bag. You left it in your storage locker. The building is a mess, but the garage didn't burn, so we were allowed to claim our vehicles."

"I guess that means that you will still be driving a Mini huh?" Cas made an attempt at humor with his tone.

"Yeah, guess so. Do you really want me to sell off everything? And what should I tell Zach?"

"Yeah, sell it all. I need to do a power of attorney that will allow you to take care of my insurance for the condo. As far as Zach goes, you can tell him whatever you want. I'm done there. I know that I am asking for a lot, but I honestly don't know who else could do this like you." Cas pressed his head into his hands. "I am going to need the funds to start over."

Gabe reached over again and took Cas' hands. "Look, I'll do whatever you need. You have to take care of yourself though. You look like you are about to pass out. You have to stay well."

Cas looked back and said, "I'm trying, Gabe. I really am." He paused and then continued, "The money that you are able to gather from the sales of my assets, should go into the account that I have given to you. We'll be living off of that for a month or two, before I get a job."

"Cas, you have a lot of assets. I don't think that you'll exhaust them in just a month or two. You could live pretty well for quite some time." He paused a moment then continued. "Consider it done, though. I'll be quick and efficient." They both stood together, and Gabe handed Cas the duffle bag that he had recovered.

"I want you to keep a cut of the money too. It will make me feel less of a jerk."

"We'll see. I wouldn't feel like much of a friend if you paid me." They started walking out of the cafeteria when Cas' phone buzzed.

He checked it; it was Dean. Come back up. Lil's awake.

He was walking at a fast clip down the hall to the room. He spotted Sam and Jess in the hall just outside of Lil's room. Jess was never far from Sam these days. She seemed to always maintain some sort of physical contact with him, a hand on his shoulder, an arm pressed to his side as he sat in the waiting room. She had given them her perspective from the night at the house. She had been in the back of the house when A showed up. Luckily, she had had enough sense of the situation to hide. A had not known that she was there. She had struggled through hearing A beating Sam. She had been looking for a weapon, but had not found anything suitable. She had told them that it had been the longest hour of her life.

A had taken his time with Sam. Jess had shown tremendous strength by not rushing out to him. She planned and plotted with each punch that was landed. Sam had pushed down all responsive noises until A had turned his attention to Lil. She had been largely ignored by the monster until Sam had become boring to him. Jess was going to make her move then. Dean and Cas had shown up though, and that changed things. She had found a wooden beam from the construction that Sam had been doing on the back of the house. She had crept up on A and hit him over the head while he was distracted by Cas.

Cas told her that he thought that she was a ghost. Now, as he looked at her, Sam at her side, he still couldn't shake the feeling that she was something more than just this flesh and blood woman. She was their angel. She had saved them that night, from the Hell that A had planned for them all. He saw her smile at him as he made his way into the room. His eyes fell on Lil. She was looking back at him. This was what mattered. This was what Jess had truly saved.

Cas rushed over to Lil and threw his arms around her. "Munchkin. You finally woke up." He was crying and kissing her head. She was small in his arms.

"Careful with her, Cas." Cas looked up at Dean. His eyes were misty too. He had his hand on the bed railing. He reached out though and ran it along Cas' arm. Cas eased back.

"Sorry, Lil. Did I hurt you." Cas looked down at her.

"No, Cas. I feel funny." She looked at her hands a little.

"The doctors are giving you lots of medicine right now. They don't want you to hurt while you heal." Cas was watching her carefully for signs of other traumas.

"What happened to me?"

Dean interrupted, "We can talk about that later. No sense in dwelling on that." Dean threw a pointed look at Sam in the doorway. Sam and Jess subtly moved out of view. Cas guessed that Dean was trying to minimize the things that Lil was being exposed to. Maybe she wouldn't remember that night. Seeing too much of Sam's face, would not help the situation. Cas held her hand and sat at her side.

"Maybe we can get out of this stuffy hospital soon, now that you are awake." Cas was worried and happy at the same time. Lil looked at him and smiled. In that moment, Cas felt his resolve deepen. He had been planning to leave, but there was always one sticking point, Dean. He couldn't completely accept the idea of leaving without him. No matter how much he planned, or how much he told himself that it was happening, he still kept thinking that maybe Dean would change his mind. Maybe he would go too.

That smile though. That smile was it for Cas. Lil trusted him, despite his never truly earning it. She smiled at him through all of the things that had happened to her in the short time that he had known her. She smiled at him, and it was everything. He would give them a redo. He would give her a world apart from all of this mess that they were in. He would never regret leaving. He would never look back.

That's what he told himself while he sat at her side holding her hand. That's what he told himself when Dean reached over and placed his hand over theirs. That's what he told himself again when he looked over into Dean's eyes memorizing every small detail of his face as if the opportunity might not present itself again. He did all of this because that is what you do when you love someone so innocent and pure. You let your dreams go so that they can have a chance.

Review, Fav., Follow, Rec.

Thank you Mummabro for the feedback. I took your advice. Thanks Valarie-Lynn for the comments on Jess. I am glad that she came across as a bit supernatural:) Thanks for letting me know that the chapter had cringe-worthy tension Winchestersliveon; it took some effort to accomplish. Andi800 thanks for the feedback. I can't believe that you read it all in one go, impressive. Lastly, YoungHopeful thanks for the feedback. I am starting to think that we read all of the same fics. My reviews keep showing up alongside yours:)

This chapter was going to be the last chapter, but I decided to split it instead, because the narrative wasn't flowing together right. So, you will get the last chapter either tomorrow or on Wednesday with a possible epilogue of sorts. Thanks again for the feels. 'Till next time.