Chapter 5- Crawling

(Linkin Park)

Zoey was now six months into her pregnancy and getting bigger each day. Herself and Sam were excited for their bundle of joy, and recently found out they were expecting a little girl. Her name would be Mary-Jo Winchester. Castiel was happy that he was the one to tell them the gender of their child (angel juju and all), but he was still worried about Zoey's mental state. In fact there were several occasions were he, Sam, and Dean got into heated discussions about her health. The boys where convinced that she was fine. However, Castiel wasn't buying it. Granted he didn't expect her to be so mentally sound for so long, but he knew better than to brush it off. Despite Castiel's warnings the boys carried on with their regular routine. Research, leave, hunt, and come home. They never were far from home though. The two of them always stayed in state for hunts. Just in case something did happen they were only a few hours away, as opposed to a few days. It turned out though, that the peace they had been experiencing was merely the calm before the storm, and one breezy day in September the shit hit the fan.

Zoey was seeing the boys out as they were getting ready to leave for another hunt. She walked with them into the warm sun as a cool wind whipped through the air. "Oh it's chilly." Zoey said as she rubbed her bare arms. "You get inside alright. We should be back by mid-night, hopefully sooner. It's just a ghost kill, so it shouldn't take us too long." Sam kissed Zoey on her head before leaning down and kissing her baby belly. An anxious Dean who was already in the Impala tapped the driver side door twice. "Come on Casanova. We go through this Romeo and Juliet crap every week. Let's go!" Sam rolled his eyes and took his spot in "baby". Zoey watched as the boys rolled away and off into the distance before going back inside. She rubbed her belly as she walked down the stairs. "So what do we do now M.J.?" Zoey waited a moment and watched her belly, but there was no movement. "Kid I swear you just don't like me at all." Mary-Jo had started moving and kicking a little while ago, but she only ever went crazy when Dean talked to her. At first he thought it was dumb to talk to the baby, but one day he was belting out "Welcome to the Jungle" and Zoey's belly went full blown Alien. Mary-Jo started kicking up a storm. Sam and Zoey were surprised and amused. The once reluctant Dean was so proud of himself he went on to tell them, "You guys are terrible parents. Your kid doesn't want to be read Dr. Seuss. She wants to rock out like Uncle Dean. Try playing the ankle biter some Van Halen. After all she is a Winchester." Zoey made her way to Sam's room which they now shared. She scanned through their small assortment of DVDs before settling on "The Boondock Saints". Zoey popped it in and got cozy on the bed.

She didn't recall feeling tired, but she must have been because Zoey conked out. As she slowly started to wake she was startled by a familiar voice. In his usual raspy tone Crowley greeted her. "Hello doll." Zoey's eyes shot open as she sat straight up in the bed. "Crowley! How the hell did you get in here?!" Crowley crossed the room and took a seat at the foot of the bed. "Come now sweetie is that any way to talk to an old friend?" Zoey eyed the door and tried to judge if she would be able to move quick enough to escape him, but Crowley was cunning. He snapped his fingers and the door slammed shut. Crowley scooted closer to Zoey and she backed herself as far into the head board as possible. "You see love I'm here, but I'm not really here." Again he scooted closer. He reached out his hand and rubbed the back of it gently down her cheek. Zoey turned her face to the side and squeezed her eyes shut. "Love, this is all you. You have given me the strength to live on in your mind." Crowley snapped his fingers, and Zoey was back in the room where she had been kept for that long agonizing month. She was chained to a cold metal chair in the middle of the room as Crowley circled her. "I've missed you terribly darling. I've missed your soft skin. I've missed your long locks. I've missed the sound of your voice." Crowley stopped circling and pulled out a knife from inside his suit jacket. "Come now kitten…purr for daddy." Crowley slashed Zoey's arm and she let out an ear piercing scream. Zoey was trembling with fear. Through clenched teeth and tears she started, "I HATE YOU! Why are you doing this to me?! Just let me go!" Crowley slashed at her other arm, which was followed by another scream. "I don't want to hurt you. You want to hurt you. If only you would have talked to Sam. All those times he wanted you to get all sappy you probably should have." Crowley ran the tip of the blade from above her right eyebrow down to her chin leaving a crescent moon of blood in its trail. Zoey whimpered, "I don't understand." "Zoey you precious lamb, I see why you're with moose. Both of you have a little trouble keeping up. So try and pay attention will you?" Crowley took another swipe at Zoey with the knife and cut into her collar bone. Another scream…

Crowley cut Zoey twice more, once on her shoulder and then on her thigh just above the knee. "Since we have a hard time listening I'll break it down slowly. I'm here in your mind, because you allowed me here. All the time you spent in this room in real life was more than enough to destroy your subconscious. All the things I said, all the things I allowed to happen to you have eaten away. Slowly I've taken over your mind, and at this point there's not a whole lot you can do to fix this. You created your own nightmare!" Crowley cut her belly. Zoey screamed out, but not in pain. She screamed for fear of her child. He hadn't cut deep, but it still scared her more than anything. "PLEEEASE!" Zoey pleaded with Crowley to stop, but he kept going. He cut an "X" in the top of her hands, and then sliced horizontal lines in her shins, finally when she couldn't stand it any longer he put the bloody knife in her hands. "Darling you want me to stop this then you have to stop it yourself. I told you already this is your nightmare. You're doing this love. Not me." Crowley unchained the hand that held the blade. He merely watched and played puppet master as he used his powers to lift Zoey's hand and slowly ease it closer and closer to her stomach. Zoey fought with all her strength to slow the movement even further, but Crowley was a tough adversary.

It was in those last moments before Zoey was about to kill her baby that Dean and Sam had made it to the bunker. Sam was headed for their room to look for her, while Dean was ready to raid the fridge, and it was there in the kitchen that he walked into what can only be described as a slasher film. Zoey stood in the middle of the room soaked in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes were glazed over, and she was on the verge of stabbing herself with a butcher knife. "SAMMY!" Dean shouted, as he tackled Zoey. The two of them fell to the ground, and Zoey was knocked unconscious as her temple slammed hard into the tile floor. Dean bumped his head as well, but was out just long enough for Sam to make it down the hall and to the kitchen. He ran in, but stopped short to take in all the terror. "Here help me get her." Dean said as he sat up, and leaned Zoey's back against his chest. Sam knelt down next to his brother and took Zoey's face in his hands. "Zoey…..Zoey…wake up." Sam's voice was cracking as he pushed back the lump in his throat. "OK…"he said. "Let's get Cas."

A second later Castiel appeared behind them. "What's happened here? What did she do?" Cas immediately rushed over to her and placed his fingers on her forehead; healing her instantly. Zoey was still unconscious, so Cas cradled her in his arms and took her to the infirmary with Sam and Dean close behind. Once there he gently laid her on an exam table, and shot the boys a concerning look. "I told you this would happen. I've been telling you since the day you left that she is not stable. Now look where it has led us. WHAT….HAPPENED?" Dean was the first to answer. "We don't know alright. We just got back from a hunt, and I found her in there with a butcher knife. She was about to stab herself so I took her out." Castiel's face filled with frustration. "You could have done even more damage to her with the blow to the head Dean! Not to mention the harm this could have caused Mary. Zoey's body cannot handle this kind of stress." Dean was growing impatient and looked to Sam for support. "This is entirely my fault. I should have listened to you….I should have tried harder…" Sam trailed off. "Oh come on Sam! Quit with the pity party. None of us could have predicted this." "I…" Castiel tried to get a word in, but Dean shut him down. "You shut up. We've heard from you. We get your point. I'm trying to make him feel better not worse." Something inside Castiel snapped. "Well you should feel worse. Both of you should feel worse. I did tell you and I did predict this, and because of your stubbornness she almost lost her life…again!" Dean sneered at Castiel, "Yea thanks dad. We got it." "Dean this is no time to be silly. This is serious and…" Before he could finish, Zoey started to stir. Sam went to hold her hand and leaned over as she opened her eyes. Softly he whispered her name, "Zoey." But how ever sweet he meant to be came off entirely different to her, because when Zoey opened her eyes she saw that Sam's were black. Zoey began to scream and shove away from him. Cas and Dean approached her, and she saw their eyes were black as well. "NO….NO! GET AWAY FROM ME GET AWAY!" "Sam, Dean hold her!" Cas shouted. The boys were quick to restrain Zoey, and Castiel ran his hand down her face. Still struggling, she watched as their eyes went back to normal. Zoey blinked several times and squinted at them before finally calming down. "What happen? What am I doing in here?" Dean, Sam, and Castiel eyed one another. They were just as confused as she was. "We were hoping you could tell us." Dean replied. Zoey pushed herself up to a sitting position and stared around the room. "I….I don't remember." Suddenly pain in Zoey's head hit her like a Mac truck. She sucked air in through her teeth and pressed her fist to her temple. Castiel reacted and placed his fingers to her head to relieve the pain she was experiencing. Slowly she took a deep breath and thanked him for that.

"You don't remember any of it? Not even a little?" Dean asked still with a hint of confusion. Zoey just shook her head. "I found you in the kitchen. You were all cut up and bleeding. You almost stabbed yourself and well….here we are. We came home just in time." Zoey couldn't believe what she was hearing. She searched her memory in the hopes of finding something buried deep within herself to confirm what Dean was saying, but she was coming up blank. Sam who had been standing quietly in deep thought was now rushing out of the room as fast as he came in. "Sam….Sam where are.." Zoey called to him, but he was out the door.