CHAPTER 3

A week later…

Monday
Men of Letters Bunker
Lebanon, KS

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Casey asked in exasperation, watching Dean pack a bag. "Where are you going?"

"Sam caught wind of a demon thing in the next town over. We're gonna go clean up and be back by dinner." Dean said as he zipped his duffel. He avoided Casey's eyes because he knew exactly what he was going to see.

Stubbornness and determination. Exactly what had attracted him to her in the first place, back in purgatory. Right now, though, it was only frustrating him. Because she simply wouldn't let him take care of her. He held his breath and kept packing.

"Ok great, let me grab my stuff."

Just like I expected… Dean shook his head. "No. I think you should stay here."

"Why do you think I should stay here?" Casey challenged, already sensing where this

was going. They'd been holed up for just over a week now and she was going stir crazy. She needed to get out and do something, but she could see it in his eyes. That overprotective streak a mile wide.

Dean looked up at her and said irritably, "Wouldn't want to take you away from your work, Echo."

Casey narrowed her eyes, anger bristling and tightening the muscles of her shoulders. She said, "That isn't fair. Like it or not, I did have a job; do have a job. A legitimate job."

He slammed a knife down on the table and Casey flinched. Dean didn't seem to notice and asked, "What's that supposed to mean? Hunting monsters not legitimate enough for you?"

"You know it is. Don't you dare act like I'm not invested in this, Dean Winchester." Casey snapped, "You don't have the corner on the market of being raised a hunter, you know that? Just because I got an education and have a job that I'm good at and enjoy…"

"Yeah, you enjoy it alright." Dean nodded, turning back to his packing. He grinned, but it was a sarcastic grin, "Trust me, I get that. I thought Sam was bad with the research and paperwork; every time I turn around you're working on something for the University or having long conversations with Ygritte…"

"Yvette."

"Whatever. You have made it very plain that you love your job…"

Casey put her hands on her hips and asked, "So what? You're ticked because I've been trying to clean up a mess, our mess, from Chicago? You want me to give that job, that life up completely? You want me to be into the hunt more? You haven't let me! You've had me on lockdown ever since we got here..and now you're sneaking out without me and trying to make this all my fault?"

"You almost died a few days ago. You need to rest," Dean said, shoving extra ammo into the bag and avoiding her eyes.

Casey sighed, realizing that her job was only part of the problem. She said softly, "A few days ago? It's been over a week. I told you I am fine. If I wasn't fine, I would tell you. You would know."

"Echo…" Dean sighed, looking up at her briefly.

Casey stepped closer to him, feeling a bit of her anger dissipate at the concern in his eyes. She asked, "What is this really about?"

"I just don't want you to get hurt. That's all," Dean said, averting his eyes again.

"I can take care of myself, Deano." She touched his arm and smiled, "You know that; probably better than most."

"I know you can, but…" Dean started.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Sam interrupted, rushing into the room and grabbing the other bag. He glanced from Dean to Casey and sensed that he'd interrupted something that he really didn't want to be a part of. He started backing out of the room.

"Yeah, I'll meet you at the car," Dean said over his shoulder. He zipped up the bag and looked at Casey. "Echo, I gotta go. Just stay here ok? Keep an eye on Bennett."

"She doesn't need a babysitter, Dean. And neither do I."

"I'll be back in a couple of hours." He moved to kiss her cheek but she backed away.

"This isn't over." She glared at him.

"I know." He grinned, "You wouldn't be you if it was. I love you."

"Yeah, love you too. Don't die cuz when you get back I'm gonna kill you." Casey shook her head at him as he smirked at her and followed Sam out the door.

Twenty minutes later…

"We gonna talk about it?"

Dean shot his brother a glare. No they weren't going to talk about it. He did not want to talk about it. Wasn't going to talk about it. He turned the radio up obnoxiously loud; grateful it was Def Leppard and not a sappy REO song. Dean stared straight ahead and pretended not to hear Sam's heavy sigh over the beat of the music. There wasn't any traffic on the road and he was glad because that meant he could drive fifteen over the limit.

The music, the open road, it was all just about perfect. He couldn't hear Sam muttering and he could let his mind focus on the job ahead and not on the very unhappy woman he'd left behind. Yeah, that's working well. His stomach twisted as he thought back to their parting. He probably should have just let her come. But all he could think about, all he could see was her lying pale and cold and bloody on that warehouse floor in Chicago.

Hands sweaty, they tightened on the wheel and he tried to focus on the road ahead. No matter how hard he tried, though, his mind only continued to wander back to Chicago. Or even further back. To Purgatory. Dean remembered everything about that place. The fear, pain, endless hypervigilance. He remembered fighting alongside Casey. He remembered her power, her confidence. Even remembered that he'd never had a problem trusting her to take care of herself. So why was it different now? It was obvious she didn't appreciate his overprotectiveness, and even though he knew she could take care of herself, he couldn't help himself.

Blowing out a breath, he glanced at Sam out of the corner of his eye. But his brother had apparently decided not to fuss at him about his argument with Casey anymore. Sam was frowning down at his cellphone and not paying attention to him.

Grateful for the reprieve, Dean refocused on the job at hand. A demon thing. That's what he'd told Casey. Of course he hadn't told her that Bennett had confided to Sam yesterday that she had sensed a lot of demons in the area. Bad enough that Casey wanted to run right back out into danger every time he turned around. He wasn't going to chance her with a bunch of demons. She'd be mad for awhile, but she'd get over it.

And she'd be alive.

MOL bunker

Bennett wandered through the deserted hallway, her third beer in her hand, and tried to ignore the what she'd been trying to ignore ever since they'd arrived at the Bunker. Reality. Pausing at Sam's bedroom door, she debated just crashing in bed again. Not that resting helped. Nothing did. She spent more time in bed than she should have and all she did in bed was think. And that left her with a growing case of anxiety that was going to need medicinal intervention before much longer at the rate she was going.

The beer didn't help.

Neither did the whiskey she'd been sneaking from the Bunker's rather copious supply.

Neither did the smoking. Mostly because she'd all but given that vice up because she was flat out too scared to leave the Bunker and heaven help her if Dean caught her smoking in the garage again. They all thought she wasn't smoking because she was trying harder to give it up, not that giving it up was merely a sign of the larger problem.

She was terrified to leave the Bunker, terrified just remembering everything that had happened since she'd been brought back from hell. Terrified of the fact she'd been brought back from hell.

Not even her paintings were helping that much. She'd hoped, after everything that had happened with Pestis, that being in the Bunker would mean she was safe, would mean she could stop painting pictures to keep her mind from going places she didn't want it to go. But it hadn't helped. In the stillness of the Bunker, she'd had to work even harder to paint pictures to block out the memories that were constantly threatening to overwhelm her. It was easier than it had been before Crowley had taught her a few things, but it was exhausting.

Her phone buzzed and she grabbed it like the lifeline it was. Texting Sam helped get her mind off of the nightmares. But she knew it wouldn't last because he and Dean were off hunting demons and he was going to be too busy to write to her. Responding to his text took more concentration than it even had earlier and she was faintly nauseous at the thought that it probably meant she was getting worse.

Part of her felt guilty knowing that she could have gone with them and shredded the demons from a safe distance. She had this power, this ability and she should have gone with them to protect them, to do her part. But she was terrified at the mere thought of leaving the bunker. She'd only left once since their arrival. It had been the first day, when she'd gone with Sam to get groceries. A simple trip to pick up food and she'd almost had a panic attack. It had taken every ounce of concentration that she'd been able to muster to keep from screaming out loud as she'd stood there and stared at the red meat in the display cases; red meat that reminded her so much of hell. Painting a picture to keep herself together, Bennett had realized then that she wasn't going to get better. Hiding in the bunker wasn't the answer, painting pictures wasn't the answer.

There was no escaping, or forgetting, her past. Of who she was; what she was.

Sighing, Bennett rubbed her eyes and took the last sip of her beer. Time to go back to the refrigerator and grab another one. Casey'd been ticked when the guys had left and, after checking on Bennett, had stated she was going to be spending some time in the shooting range. Which meant that Bennett could see if actually getting drunk would help.

Sam had been sitting there, texting for the past twenty minutes and Dean finally couldn't take it any more. He twisted the volume down on Styx and said, "Dude. What are you? A high-school girl?"

"What?" Sam barely glanced up at him, before returning his attention yet again to his phone.

"Are you texting your girlfriend?" Dean teased, heart only half in it. Much as he loved to give Sam a hard time, he was having trouble working up the energy to tease him. "More to the point, will you ever stop texting her?"

"Shut up, Dean."

Apparently he and Casey weren't the only ones in a bad mood today, Dean mused. His irritation spiking, he frowned at Sam. "What's your problem?"

"My problem?" Sam finally looked up and gave Dean his full attention. He sat up in the seat in that way he always did when he was seriously annoyed. "My problem? You're the one who acted like a jerk to Casey and made it clear you didn't want to talk about it. And now you want to know what my problem is?"

"Well. Yeah." Dean glared because he had no defense. He expected Sam to continue to gripe at him, but instead, his brother just sighed and stared ahead for a moment before speaking up.

"I'm worried about Bennett."

Dean felt even more like a jerk. He turned the radio all the way off and gave Sam his full attention. Because this wasn't a joking matter any more than his issues with Casey were. Mind already racing with possibilities, he asked, "What? Why? What's going on?"

"She's scared." Sam said, looking down at the phone, then back at Dean. "She's let a few things slip here and there. Things are coming back to her, Dean. From when she was a kid; her family. Hell."

"Crap." Dean blew out a slow breath. That was something both of them were well acquainted with and he'd really been hoping the kid was going to luck out and not remember hell. "Is she still painting her pictures?"

"Yeah. She doesn't want to admit it, but I can tell." Sam paused, then said, "I think she would have completely lost it in the grocery store if she hadn't been doing it. You should have seen her...she didn't stop shaking until we got back to the bunker."

Dean frowned, remembering exactly how terrified Bennett had looked after that shopping trip. It had taken all his effort to distract her by clowning around in the kitchen while making burgers that night before she'd finally lost the petrified expression and relaxed a little. Sam hadn't told him until later what had happened, but the skittish way she'd been jumping at everything ever since had told him everything he'd needed to know. Dean asked, "You think she's afraid to leave the bunker?"

Sam nodded, "She hasn't left since that day. No matter what I suggest doing, she doesn't want to leave. And she hasn't been complaining about it like Casey."

Ignoring the implication, Dean said, "She wasn't this scared when we were in Chicago. What's different now?"

"How much have you been paying attention to anything except your fanatical concern for Casey?" Sam asked without heat. "I think it's just catching up with her. Not like she had a lot of time to really deal with any of this while we were dealing with Pestis."

Sam's words stung, but Dean tamped down on any irritation. Because Sam was right. He realized he had been driving everyone crazy with his overprotectiveness. Not just Casey. And he hadn't been paying that much attention to Bennett.

Sam went on, "You and Casey have been storming around either shouting at each other or acting like sappy teenagers. Bennett's been keeping out of your way because I think she's freaked out by your arguing. But she's also not feeling good and she's not sleeping at all. It's only gotten worse the past day or so."

"Since she first sensed the demons?"

Sam nodded.

"What's up with her? I mean, I thought Crowley, you know, did the whole Obi Wan Jedi mentor crap with her." Dean said, tapping the steering wheel in frustration. "I thought she was all scary demon slaying ninja chick now. What's going on?"

"I don't know." Sam sighed, leaning his arm against the window. He said, "I've actually been thinking we may need to contact Crowley."

"See if he knows what's going on." Dean nodded, not exactly liking the idea, but understanding. "You're probably right. When we get this sorted out, we should get ahold of him. Unless he's not picking up like Cas."

Sam frowned, "What's up with that, do you think? I know he's busy and all, but he's not answering you or Casey."

"I don't know." Dean shook his head, realizing they had arrived in the general vicinity that Bennett had said she'd sensed the demons. He pulled the car off the road at the outskirts of the condemned apartment complex. For a moment, they stared at the building together, then Dean shook his head and laughed.

Sam looked over at him like he was insane. He asked, "What in the world is so funny?"

"I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again." Dean said, looking at his brother with a smile. "Our lives are weird, man."

"Yeah. This occurs to you now, why?"

"We're hunting a demon."

"That's not exactly anything new."

Dean snorted and said, "We're hunting a demon based on a lead from your telepathic or whatever, girlfriend and, because I'm an idiot, my girlfriend is probably going to try to kill me when we get back."

Sam's curious expression lightened and he laughed too. "Ok, you're right. This is a new level of weird for us."

"Tell me about it." Dean said, getting out of the car. Sam joined him at the trunk as they gathered their gear. "It hasn't been since high school that we both had a girlfriend at the same time… and that was only for like, what? A week? Cuz I..."

"She's not my girlfriend, Dean."

"What?" Dean frowned up at him. "You have got to be kidding me. You got another name for it?" Dean held up a finger as Sam's mouth opened. He interjected, "Do not say it's complicated."

Sam's mouth snapped shut and he grabbed Ruby's knife, turning away quickly.

Dean sighed, grabbing the shotgun and slamming the trunk, considering that maybe he really did need to learn to be a bit more sensitive. He caught up with Sam and asked, "Sam?"

"What?"

"It is complicated. I get it. I mean, clearly Casey and I haven't got it all figured out."

Sam nodded, "I noticed." He stared at Dean for a long moment, then sighed, "I don't want to rush into anything with Bennett. She's only been back from hell for what, a few weeks? She was a kid when she ended up there and she came back to this? She's stuck with us for a lot of reasons, but I don't want her to feel like she's trapped. I want her to be able to make her own decisions for once and choose her own life. I don't want her to feel like she has to stay with us if she doesn't want to."

Dean crouched next to Sam behind a dumpster and looked up at the complex. It seemed quiet and it looked empty. But they had a long history of good reasons to suspect that appearances were deceiving. In the silence, Dean considered Sam's words. He had a feeling there might be a little more to it than just his brother being a gentleman about Bennett's feelings. Sam wasn't one to talk about it much, but Dean didn't need to be any kind of genius to know that Sam was a bit skittish when it came to relationships.

Trying his best to not make things worse, Dean said, "Ok. That's fair."

"Good. Can we focus on this job?" Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah. Sure. Just one more question, then you go left and I take right." Dean directed.

Sam's expression was wary as he asked, "What's the question?"

"Terminology aside," Dean said, throwing caution to the wind, "you're in love with that girl, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Knew it." Dean nodded, gratified to hear the absolute conviction in his brother's voice. Of course, he just couldn't leave it alone. Because Sam was his little brother and that meant it was his sworn duty to do everything he could to drive him crazy. Dean considered that for a minute, then grinned, "So when you gonna tell Bennett about Becky?"

"I don't know Dean. Probably when you tell Casey about that bendiest weekend of your life," Sam said, then dodged to the left.

Dean choked on his next words, glaring instead at his brother's back as he took off to the right.

MOL bunker

It was amazing what putting a few hundred rounds into a paper target could do for a girl's mood. Casey had taken a quick shower and felt a little less homicidal after her own form of therapy. Pulling her damp hair up into a bun, she heard the TV on in the living area and decided to grab a beer and join Bennett. Maybe it would help keep her mind off of how seriously ticked she was with Dean.

Heading down the hallway, she considered their conversation from earlier and the way they'd been fighting recently. She didn't like it. At all. Everything was supposed to better now, now that they were out of purgatory and had their memories back. But ever since arriving at the bunker, things seemed to have gotten worse, not better. Casey frowned as her phone buzzed. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw she had yet another email from Yvette about the museum.

Before Dean had lost it about her job, Casey hadn't been terribly bothered by the phone calls and emails from her co-worker. Now, she was frustrated with Dean and with Yvette. He seemed to think she should give everything up. Hunting and her job in Chicago. What exactly did he think she was going to do if he wouldn't let her do the two things she was trained to do and fully capable of doing?

Shaking her head, Casey shoved her phone back into her pocket and walked into the kitchen. They needed to have a serious talk about the situation before it got any more out of control than it already was. Heaven knew she loved him and she was grateful for his heartfelt, if stifling, desire to protect her. But she couldn't live like a mouse in a hole forever.

Tossing the cap into the trash, Casey took a drink then headed into the living room. She wasn't exactly surprised when she found Bennett curled up asleep in a corner of the couch. Heading to the couch, Casey pulled a blanket over her, then frowned. She realized Bennett had a half empty bottle of beer cradled in her arms and there was an empty bottle on the floor next to her.

"Huh." Casey pulled the bottle out of Bennett's hands and set it on the table. Bennett pressed her face into the pillow, then settled. Casey sat down next to her, curling her legs up on the couch and grabbing the remote. She clicked around the channels at least four times, finally settling on an old episode of Mythbusters. Drinking her beer, she tapped her fingers on her leg and tried not to think about Dean.

It actually worked for all of twenty minutes.

"I don't understand the point of this show," Bennett's sleepy voice drew Casey's attention from the screen.

"These guys take urban legends or random stunts from TV and movies and recreate them to see if they can actually happen in real life. And if they don't, things get blown up for no reason," Casey explained, shifting and giving Bennett an assessing glance. She looked bleary eyed and miserable. It had been worrying Casey that nothing she tried was helping her friend's headaches. And the rather unexpected evidence that Bennett had decided to start drinking was also concerning. Casey asked, "What's up with the day drinking, Bennett?"

Bennett raised an eyebrow and said, "You're drinking."

"Yeah. Well…"

"You think I've never had a beer before?"

Casey hadn't really given it much thought. She shrugged, "I guess not."

"I was fifteen when my dad made a deal to send me to hell." Bennett muttered, shifting so she was sitting up a bit more. "I wasn't five, Casey."

"Meaning?"

"I've had more than a couple of beers before. A lot more."

Casey nodded slowly, sensing that the typically bubbly girl wasn't feeling so bubbly this afternoon. It was extremely rare for her to be so snippy. So Casey tried to ease into the conversation, "Ok. I get it. This isn't your first time. But you haven't had anything for the entire time I've known you. Granted, we haven't known each other very long, but I can't help but wonder why all of a sudden you're downing two beers in an hour."

"It was more than two." Bennett admitted, staring at the TV. "I just wanted to see if it would help."

"Help what?" Casey asked, eyes narrowing when Bennett didn't answer, just stared into space. Giving her a gentle shake, Casey prompted, "Bennett? What's wrong?"

"It's…" Bennett didn't get to finish her a moan, she grabbed her head and doubled over in pain.

"What's wrong?" Casey asked, putting her hand on Bennett's shoulder. She had hoped that things would be better, be safer in the bunker. Shouldn't she be protected from this? "Bennett?"

"Demon," Bennett whispered, jumping off the couch and hurrying to the far side of the room; as far from the door as she could get.

No sooner than she had gotten the word out, Dean came bursting through the front door. Casey's surprised gaze went from Bennett over to Dean and she gasped. He had Ruby's knife in his hand, his gear slung over his shoulder and he looked angry. A man, with a warded burlap sack over his head, was being shoved through the door by Sam. The demon, Casey guessed with no small sense of frustration. Dean had said they were going to deal with the situation, not bring it home for dinner! She caught Dean's eye.

"Some warning would've been nice, Dean!" She shouted, gesturing at Bennett.

"Sorry. Little busy." Dean shot back at her, a brief twist of guilt in his eyes, quickly replaced with focus.

"Dean we need to take care of this. Now," Sam snapped and continued to shove the demon towards the dungeon.

"Dean!" Casey yelled, wanting to chase after them, but deciding instead that she should probably go find Bennett. "What is going on!"

"Is that her?" The demon spoke up from under his blindfold. "Is that her? Can she come out and play?"

"Shut up!" Sam smacked the demon in the back of the head shoved him further down the hall.

"Casey, not now." Dean called over his shoulder, "I need to go take care of something."

"Dean…" Casey started again, chills running down her spine at what the demon had said.

"Seriously, Echo. Not now." He walked down the hall quickly to catch up with Sam, leaving a furious Casey behind.

Anger and curiosity burning in her gut, she turned away and ran down the other hallway. It took her a minute to find Bennett in the kitchen, fumbling for another beer. Taking a breath to calm herself, she stepped forward, grabbed the beer out of Bennett's hand and asked, "Hey, how you doing?"

Bennett shivered, relinquishing the beer without a fight as she sat down heavily in a chair and whispered, "Why...why is it here?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Casey said firmly. What were they thinking, bringing that thing here without giving us the heads up? She handed Bennett a bottle of water and replaced the beer in the fridge. "You stay right here. No matter what, ok? I don't want you using your powers on this thing. You sit tight and I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Ok." Bennett nodded, eyes bright with fear. She asked, "What are you going to do?"

Casey rolled her shoulders and said, "I'm gonna go tear my boyfriend a new one."

Casey still wasn't exactly sure where the dungeon was without Dean to guide her. But she was able to follow the screams well enough to find it with no trouble. She waited outside the bookshelf doors, peering through a crack, and listened to what the demon was saying.

"Why do you want her?" Dean asked again, his voice eerily calm.

Her? Who was the demon after? she silently asked herself, her concern growing as she watched Dean and Sam circle the demon.

"She's a prize," the demon replied, sounding breathless. "She's the angel's blood and Abbadon wants the complete collection."

With a chill that went straight to her heart, Casey realized the demon was talking about her. She opened the door to the dungeon and marched straight up to the demon. Ignoring Dean's protest, she demanded, "What is going on here?"

"Look who has come to play," the demon purred, tarry eyes shining and evil.

"Casey you need to leave. Now," Dean said, voice tight. Despite his obvious tension, he had a surprisingly gentle hand on her arm.

"Don't tell me what to do. This is about me, isn't it? I have a right to know," she challenged, shaking his hand away and looking up at him defiantly. She wasn't used to having anyone question her or boss her around. Dean looked hurt at her outburst, but she felt too irritated to worry about whether she'd hurt his feelings.

"Casey…"

"Back off Dean!" She shot him a glare and saw Dean's surprise. She knew he could see the unearthly grey set to her eyes. The power that had slowly been coming back seemed to flood through her system as she turned to ask Sam, "Do you have that demon blade of yours?"

"Yeah. Here," Sam answered handing her the blade. He knew better than to ask what she was going to do. He had seen her do this before. He didn't like thinking about it and knew Dean wasn't going to like what he was about to see. Sam grabbed Dean's arm and, ignoring the mild protest, tugged his brother back a few feet to give Casey space.

Casey twirled the knife in her hands as she circled the demon. She said, "Now, you have two options here. Option one, you can answer my questions and I will let you die. Option two, you can fight my questions, endure quite a lot of pain, and then answer my questions anyway. Then I will turn you over to Crowley and let him deal with you. Your choice."

"Like he could do anything." The demon laughed, "I'm not going to answer your questions, sweetcheeks."

"We'll see," Casey smiled as she began to slowly push the blade into the demon's shoulder. The demon screamed and tried to move but he was chained to the chair and wasn't getting anywhere. She asked calmly, "Why were you after me?"

"Bite me!" the demon spat again, but the sneer was absent, replaced by a grimace of pain.

"Um no." Casey wrinkled her nose in distaste as she pulled the blade out of the demon's shoulder and brought it down into his left thigh. "Why were you after me?" she asked again, leaning into the knife.

"Abbadon wants you," the demon screamed, twisting and squirming in pain.

"Good." Casey nodded, "See that's an answer I can work with. What does that cranky ginger want with me?"

"They'll kill me if I tell you."

"I'll kill you either way; how you die is entirely up to you though," Casey said sweetly, patting his cheek.

"No," the demon decided, after a moment of consideration.

"Wrong answer," Casey rolled her eyes and pulled the knife down the demon's thigh, creating a large gash that went down to the bone.

"Casey!" Dean's voice broke through the screams of the demon. "What are you…"

She spun and raised a hand to quiet him. She felt the heat of her power pulsing through her body as she said, "Back off, Dean. I'm handling this."

"I can see that." He replied, voice surprisingly calm. Trying to placate her.

"I've done this sort of thing before, you know." She said, trying to make him understand. "Just...please, let me handle this."

Dean didn't like it. Not at all, but he nodded slowly and backed up.

Casey let the knife twist just a little as she looked at the demon.

The demon screamed, "She wants to destroy you...all of you."

"Does she now?" Casey asked, feeling burning anger. There was a ringing in her ears and she knew she needed to calm down. The stress of this situation, of trying to adapt to Dean questioning her every move, of just having recovered from being a meatsuit for a monster all was contributing to her near incandescent fury.

"Yes yes! Please, stop, stop I don't know anything else..." the demon said, writhing and sweating in agony. Blood was pooling on the floor beneath him and his eyes were drifting closed.

Casey felt a hand on her arm and she was pulled from the room before she even realized what was happening. Starting to speak, she looked up at Dean for an explanation, but it was Sam who had dragged her out of the room. He pulled the blade out of her hand as Dean brushed past them; shoulders tight and expression unreadable. Casey was almost too shocked to speak as she watched Dean go and saw Sam close the door to the dungeon.

"What was that for?" She sputtered at Sam.

He looked a whole lot calmer than she expected. He said quietly, "You need to step back, Casey. You're out of control."

"I'm in perfect control. This isn't the first time..."

Sam shook his head, "No. It's not. But when we were at the museum, you were calm. You were in control then. Now, though... now you're angry and you're going to kill that demon before we get the answers we need."

Fixing her most intimidating glare on him Casey said, "I will get us the answers…"

"You will. But right now, you're going to walk away." Sam said and his complete calm was just as intimidating as her glare and her words. He stood there like a rock and waited.

Casey took a deep breath and spun on her heel and left.

Thanks for reading! Hope you're enjoying! We totally started this story waaay back when Abbadon was still a threat lol. So the story is a bit behind haha. oh well, we just wanted to get it posted since we'd written it lol. it's in it's own little "AU" corner of the SPN world now. :)