24

I felt lips press against mine and a burst of energy flowed freely through me. Reigniting the pain and making me gasp, wince and yelp.

"You're not leaving us!" Sam whispered against my forehead.

"Good work, Sam." Dean said softly. "Hang in there, babe." he added to me.

"Easier said than done…" I said wincing.

A few minutes later the car stopped. John got out and moved the seat. "Here, let me help." He said.

Dean gently handed me off to John. I tried to hold the bloody and soaking shirt against my side, but I didn't have the strength to press it against me. John carried me inside as Mary led the way to a bedroom with a bathroom attached. John laid me gently down and Dean sat on the bed beside me, pressing the shirt to my wound harder and making me whimper.

"Sorry, love." Dean said softly.

"I'll get you some towels." Mary said, hurrying away.

"Help get this place secure right now." Dean said to Sam. "I'm not letting her leave us, but I need you to secure this place so that we have to time to heal her properly."

Sam hesitated and looked down at me. "Dean-"

"Sam, do it!" I said. "I'm not going anywhere so long as I can help it."

Sam leaned down over me on the bed and kissed me gently, a small rush of energy making it slightly easier to breath. "I love you." He whispered.

"I love you, too…." I managed to say before coughing again.

He pressed his forehead against mine, his hand brushing my cheek lovingly.

"Now, Sam." Dean said and he moved away and hurried out the door.

Mary returned with towels and laid them on the bed. "She really doesn't look good, Dean."

"Don't you think I know that! Now help Sam get this place secure, please." Dean said.

Sam ushered Mary and John out and closed the door behind them.

Dean looked down at me, "Baby, hold on, please."

"Dean…" I tried to tell him that if he couldn't save me it was alright and that it wasn't he or Sam's fault.

Dean hurried to rip my shirt open and get a better view of the wound, he winced as he saw it. He held a clean towel to the wound and leaned down to kiss me. He kissed me deeply, letting the kiss linger and giving me as much of him as he knew how to. Breathing became a bit easier with each passing moment as his lips touched mine.

I was able to bring my hand to his cheek as he pulled away slightly, "It's alright, Dean…."

"No it is not alright, Dee." He wrapped one hand around my neck. "I need you, baby. I can't do any of this without you. Neither of us can. I don't think Sam and I can manage fighting without you. I'm not saying that because you're out warrior, hun. I'm saying it because you mean too much to us."

"If you work together you can do this. I've seen you two do amazing things…" I swallowed hard. "It's alright."

"I'm not letting you go, not now, not ever!" He kissed me again, harder and deeper, the energy flowing stronger than before with his determination and love.

I clung to his lips as I willed the energy to flow freely between us and I felt it compound with each cycle. I felt tidbits of my strength returning and the pain was very slowly receding.

He gently lifted me up and helped me out of the jacket and ripped clothes. Thankfully I had thought ahead and packed a change of clothes into the bag of supplies.

He tossed the bloody and ruined clothes aside and returned me to my back, now only a bra on my torso.

He grabbed a second towel, as the first was soaked. When he pressed it to the wound my whole body spasmed with the pain.

He brought his lips to mine again, tenderly and sweet, full of the energy I desperately needed. A small part of me, being selfish, just wanted to be let go…. I would be with Arria again… But I knew that they needed me more right now, so I fought. I fought off death and clung to every bit of the passion and love filled energy that he gave me, flowing it freely between us.

He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside and brought his lips to mine again, more eager this time. He trailed his lips down my neck and back up to my lips. Then he pulled away slightly and turned around on the bed as he took my boots off and let them hit the floor. Then he very gently, pulled my jeans down.

I could feel my wounds very very slowly beginning to heal. The cut on my cheek, no longer hurt and I knew it was already healed. The slice on my shoulder was beginning to tingle and the pain fading, it too was almost healed.

Dean was as gentle as he could be and when he did what he could he went into the bathroom and cleaned off the blood on himself as I started to drift off, feeling my side, no longer seeping blood out and beginning to heal. I could breath easily, the pain was still literally everywhere, but felt more like that of exhaustion than wounds.

He returned and kissed my forehead and then left quietly.

I fell asleep, hoping to dream of Arria, but all that there was, was darkness. Then I bolted upright, wincing as my side was still very sore and the wound still there, though not bleeding and beginning to close. I was feeling the presence of angels nearing. I slipped my jeans on and my boots and put on the overshirt that while bloody was at least in one piece, I didn't bother to button it, modesty was not important at the moment.

I headed out, grabbing the daggers that Sam had left in the room. I headed down the hall. I had enough energy flowing through me to fight, even if my wound wasn't yet fully healed. I had to manage.

"Dee!" Dean said standing up.

"Hey, we got a problem. Those blood things, the sigils- they're gone." John said, entering the room and then glancing at me with curiosity.

"Gone as in…" Sam stood up.

"That's because they're here." I said, taking a dagger in each hand.

"Wait, they? As in…" Sam said just before a loud high-pitched noise filled the house, breaking windows and light bulbs and plunging the room into darkness.

My pendant began to glow offering us a little light. I spun my daggers as I faced the presence that I knew was coming through the front door.

"Dee, you can't fight." Dean said.

"I can and I will."

"Your wound isn't healed yet." Sam said.

"There's no running from this fight." I said. "This is do or die."

An angel burst through the front door, a guy.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean asked.

"I'm Uriel." He said and he looked familiar to me, which was validated when he saw me. "What are you doing here?"

"I take it we've met before? Excuse me if I don't search through my memories at the moment for who you are." I said.

"You shouldn't be here." He said.

"Yeah, well, I could say the same about you."

I heard the other door burst open and knew that it was Anna without needing to look over. For some reason I knew the greater threat was Uriel.

Uriel lunged and Dean went forward getting knocked aside. Sam was knocked aside by Anna and then she threw John threw the wall. Sam picked up the angel killing blade and tried to stand, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Anna stab Sam with something.

"Sammy!" Dean yelled.

"Sam!" I yelled turning long enough toward Anna as I threw a dagger at her and it hit her in the chest, it didn't kill her, but it significantly wounded her, she fell to her knees. I faced Uriel. "Dean go to Sam." I said.

Uriel punched me where my wound was beginning to bleed slightly as my movement opened the wound again and knocked me down hard, then he wrapped his hand around my neck and lifted me up. I tried to swipe at him with my dagger but he knocked the blade from my hand. Then he froze and let me go as I slumped to the floor as the room spun.

I watched as Anna and Uriel were incinerated. I heard voices, but was barely conscious. I felt a stronger angel presence and then John was leaning over me, but it wasn't John.

"You are a warrior, you have fought well to protect them."

I coughed, the wound seeming to be worse than before, and blood was in my mouth. "Sam…"

"Will be fine, I promise you. You can rest now, you don't have to fight anymore." He stroked my cheek gently, filling me with a warmth, but I fought it. "You don't wish to rest?"

"I will fight for them to my last breath!" I said.

"Then you will take your last breath against this wall without them."

"Where are they?"

"Home where they belong."

"And you won't take me back to them?"

"You are an unexpected encounter in their lives. Something no one thought to expect. You're a wild card we can't afford to play with. You will stay here and die."

He walked over to Mary and lifted her up and carried her out the door. A moment later I heard the impala driving away.

I sat up and took out the business card from the hotel out of my pocket and climbed to my feet looking for a phone. I found a land line and dialed the number as I slumped down to the floor holding the receiver to my ear. One hand pressed my shirt over my wound.

When I got the operator on the phone I asked for the honeymoon suite and prayed that Castiel was still there.

It rang and rang and… "Hello?"

I cried in relief, "Castiel! I need you!" I yelled.

In a flash, Castiel was in front of me and I kneeling beside me.

"What happened?"

I shook my head, "I don't really know."

"You're weak… and wounded." Castiel said.

"Yeah, thanks for that, Captain Obvious."

"You need to be healed. Where are Sam and Dean?"

I summoned my daggers and sheathed them, absorbing the little bit of energy they still held and feeling slightly better, but still bleeding too much.

"Sam and Dean are fine… back home."

"Then that's where we're going." He lifted me up into his arms and let my little bit of energy flow into and mingle with his light.

"Wait, Castiel… Can we make it? Are you strong enough?"

"We will see. It should be easier without passengers. You might be weak, but you still have your own power to help in this. You just need to stay conscious long enough to get back to them."

I nodded and let what energy I had merge with his light, it strangely made me feel better.

Then I felt the push into my chest, but it wasn't that bad this time. I closed my eyes and we landed in a familiar hotel room and crumpled to the floor, both of us bleeding from our noses.

Castiel was slumped against the wall, with me sprawled on his lap too weak to move.

"Castiel! Dee!" Sam and Dean both said, running to our sides.

Dean took me off of Castiel as Sam helped Castiel to the bed, as he was passed out. I wrapped my arms around Dean, finding enough strength to do that and he hugged me close as he laid me on the other bed. Sam joined us. I wasn't as weak as before, but I still had the bleeding wound that Uriel had opened even further.

"You are the most beautiful sight ever! I thought we lost you forever." Dean said, with a hand on my cheek. "I thought Michael was going to kill you."

"He couldn't unless I accepted my death, I refused, so he left me there to die. I had the card from the hotel and called Castiel. Thankfully he answered and got me." I striped my over shirt off, wincing, my hands shaking.

"Towels, Sam." Dean said and he got up and quickly went to the bathroom.

Dean cupped my cheek and kissed me desperately. The burst of energy flowed through me instantly and almost made me gasp. My pendant was hot against my chest.

Sam returned with towels and I laid down as Dean pressed one to the wound. Sam took one of my hands and held it in his and kissed the back of it.

"Micheal won't know I made it back. He'll think I died."

"I don't get it, why would he save us, but not you?" Sam asked.

"I'm a wild card, that's what he called me. Something no one on either side expected to have to face. He didn't want me interfering with anything. I refused to accept his offer of death. I couldn't leave you two unless I had no other option."

I was feeling the wound healing and moved Dean's hand with the towel over the wound. And a soft purple glow emanated from my wound as it healed. Above the wound was the beginning of a nasty and very large bruise over my lower ribs.

My pendant was growing hotter against my chest and I took a deep breath as a burning pain seared through my body. I knew, some how, that the pain was a good pain, but it didn't stop it from hurting.

I felt as though my pendant were lifting me up by my chest and then I felt it slam into me knocking the wind out of me as the light around my wound disappeared. I sat up gasping for breath as my wound was healed, although still extremely sore.

"Well, that was…" I was still catching my breath. "Interesting."

"How…?" Dean said, running his fingers along my side.

I giggled, "That tickles." I said grabbing his hand.

Sam and Dean chuckled in relief.

I smiled at them and then wrapped them both into a hug, one arm looped around each of their necks. They held me together for a while, I felt the energy flow between us and felt fully rejuvenated, my pendant calmingly warm against my chest.

Eventually, we all pulled apart. I was still covered in dried blood and desperately needed a shower. I headed to the bathroom, slowly.

Sam followed me into the bathroom. "Dean went to get us some food."

I was looking at my side in the mirror. The wound was healed, but the bruise was quickly darkening and was almost covering my left side completely, right where Uriel had hit me so hard. I had a feeling that if I had been a normal human I would've died from internal bleeding instantly from the strength of the hit.

"Uriel knew me, the way he hit me… there was a deeper reason behind that." I said softly.

Sam just looked at me, "I don't think it really matters anymore, does it?"

I shook my head, "No, not really, he's gone." I gently slipped onto the counter. "Will you help me with my boots. I can't seem to bend over. It hurts."

Sam smiled and walked over to me and took the boots off and tossed them out the door, then he stood between my legs. His hand brushed my cheek and I closed my eyes for a moment only to look up into his eyes filled with pain.

"Sam…" I brought a hand to his cheek.

"We almost lost you… twice, in one day. And the last time… we really believed we'd never see you again." He swallowed hard as he rested his forehead against mine.

"But you didn't. I'm right here."

"We've seen you do amazing things just to protect us. Do you know how hard it is to let you play the role of protector?" He said softly.

"Probably just as hard as it is to be the protector." I smiled weakly, seeing his pain. "Sam," I tilted his head so he would look at me. "My role is to fight with you and for you. But it's more than that. I would willingly give my life for you or Dean. Easily, no questions asked. Because I love you."

"I love you too, Dee. More than you know." His hands gently brushed down my bare arms. His lips met mine tenderly as his hands found the button on my jeans.

"Sam… I really need a shower first."

"That's why I'm helping you take off the jeans." He smiled. "Not that it didn't cross my mind. If only to help with the bruise."

I kissed him as I used my hands and arms to lift off the sink so that he could pull the jeans down for me.

"I'll get you some clean clothes to change into." He said softly.

Before he could pull away I wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled him to me for a kiss before he left.

I got off the counter and got the underwear and bra off as I started the hot water, wincing as I had to bend over to start the water, the pain knocking the wind out of me for a moment. At that moment I was beyond happy that something I had done in Montana was invest in laser hair removal on my legs, and other areas, I wouldn't be needing to bend over to shave.

I got in and basked in the warmth of the water. I heard Sam come in and put clothes on the counter and stay in the room with me.

"You don't have to stay in here, Sam."

"I know I don't have to, but forgive me if I'm reluctant to let you out of my sight for a while." He replied softly.

I smiled to myself as I finished washing my hair, having to take it slow as reaching over my head caused me pain. I had a feeling that there would be no amount of their energy that would heal this. It would have to heal on it's own, but I also knew that it would still heal faster than if I were normal.

"Hey, you both in here? Just tell me if you're doing anything…"

"She's showering, Dean." Sam said.

"Hey, just checking. Standing guard, or something?" Dean asked as he entered the bathroom.

"No, just…"

"It's alright. I get it." Dean said softly. "Dee, I got you a french dip sandwich. Food and booze out here when you're done."

"Good. I need a drink."

"Babe, we all need a drink… or twenty." I heard his boots on the tile as he walked out.

I finished washing my very sore body and rinsed. I used my foot to turn of the water and Sam handed me a towel around the curtain and I gently used it to towel dry my hair as best as I could before I wrapped it around me and got out.

He had a tank top, underwear and jeans out for me. I asked him if he could get me a different shirt because it really hurt to lift my arms and he nodded, returning with one of Dean's clean button up flannel shirts, which was fine by me.

I sipped it on and buttoned a few buttons. I already had the underwear on, painfully, by the time he returned with the shirt.

Dean was stuffing his face and he swallowed his bite of food as we came out. "Why didn't you just heal up the bruise while I was gone?" He asked Sam.

"It's not gonna heal like that, Dean. It'll take some time this time." I said as I sat down on the small sofa, which really felt like an afterthought as an added amenity to the room.

Sam sat down beside me as he grabbed my food and handed it to me. Dean got up and got me a plastic cup of whiskey and set it on the nightstand between one of the beds and the sofa. He leaned down and kissed my cheek softly before sitting down to eat his food again.

I opened the to go box and picked at the fries that came with it as I sipped the whiskey.

Sam ate some of his food, then set his box on the table and put a hand on my thigh, his arm resting gently over my legs.

"So, I take it that next time I offer you a quickie you're gonna take it?" Dean asked playfully.

"Yeah, you know, we'll just get it on in the backseat while Sam drives!" I said rolling my eyes.

"If it keeps you from almost dying, then yeah, fine by me." Sam said, stroking my thigh tenderly.

I felt my heart swell and wrapped a hand around his neck and he moved closer toward me.

"Gotta admit, I'm kind of with Sam on that one.. No more running off like that when you're that weak. We get you the strength you need first. Especially, when we know we're going to be fighting. Got it?" Dean said eyeing me with sad eyes.

"Got it." I said softly, smiling lovingly at him.

I downed the whiskey that was in the cup, which was about half a cup, and Dean got up to refill it.

"How long you think Cas will be out this time?" Dean asked me.

"Considering his power was significantly weaker than it was when we had all left together… it'll take him some time." I glanced over at him, sleeping on the bed. "I owe him my life, if he hadn't come to get me…"

Sam took the hand that was wrapped around his neck and wrapped his hand around it.

"What about your daggers?" Dean asked.

I willed the dagger to appear beside him and it quickly materialized by him. "I made sure to grab it."

"Yeah, I see that. Could you have grabbed it from here?" Dean asked.

I shrugged, "I didn't know and I wasn't willing to risk it. Besides I absorbed the energy that I used to form it, so it helped us get back here."

I sheathed the dagger and sipped on the whiskey, hoping that the liquor would kick in and help with some of the radiating pain on my side.

"We'll stay here for awhile. At least until your side is healed and Castiel is awake." Dean said.

"That's fine. They have my card on file, we can stay here as long as we need. Might want to think about getting another room though, since he's taking one of the beds."

"We can take care of that tomorrow. We'll all stay in here tonight." Dean said.

"That's because neither of you want me out of your sight." I said softly. "Not that I have any complaints."

"Yeah, just let us be overprotective for a while, Dee. I know it's not your thing, but just let us." Dean said.

I nodded. "Fine, but I expect to be cuddled!" I smiled. "Forgive me, if my womanly needs to be cuddled come out."

Dean and Sam chuckled. Sam sat up and held his arm up. Before I could move Dean motioned for Sam to move down.

Sam moved to the other end of the sofa and I got up slowly and carefully and leaned against Sam, his arm wrapping gently around me as Dean sat under my legs, his hands gently caressing and rubbing my bare legs.

"Better?" Dean asked.

"Much." I said as he handed me my cup of whiskey. I smiled feeling the energy flowing pleasantly between the three of us.

I sighed as I realized I would have to buy another jacket and I was beginning to think it would be a good idea to buy more than one. I gently tugged Sam's arm tighter around me and he obliged willingly as he kissed my head, his other hand running through my almost fully dried hair.

"You know something, your hair is really soft." Sam said with a chuckle.

"She's a woman, Sam, not a cat." Dean said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but just like cats most women enjoy having their hair played with." I replied.

"Good to know, hun." Dean said with a smile, his hands still tenderly running up and down my legs.

I finished the whiskey and Dean offered to get me more and I let him up to grab the bottle and come back under my legs. He filled up my cup and handed it back to me, refilling Sam's as well.

"You two have got to be exhausted." I said softly.

"Compared to the woman who was wounded twice, fighting two angels, almost died twice, time traveled twice… need I go on?" Dean said.

"I think that about summed it up." I replied. "But still you two have got to be tired. You can get some sleep. I'm not going anywhere."

"I don't think either of us are moving anytime soon, babe." Dean said.

"Nope." Sam added kissing the top of my head, his hand still stroking my hair.

I smiled, "Fine, then at least talk about something."

"Fine, tell us about your first real boyfriend." Dean said with a smirk. "And middle school doesn't count."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why not." Sam added.

I rolled my eyes, "Fine. He was a jerk. Next question."

"A jerk, seriously? Now I'm even more curious." Sam said.

"He was someone I had gone to school with since elementary school. I had never really liked him, but once someone had pointed out that he like me… I figured why not, he was a decent guy… or so I thought. After hearing that he liked me and was going to ask me to homecoming, which would've been my first formal dance I was attending… oh and this was my Junior year by the way. Anyway, my mom took me dress shopping, but thankfully before we bought a dress I found out he had asked someone else.

"When that relationship failed he came running to me. We didn't really date. He just kind of hung out at my house after school for a few days a week. Then I got really sick. Found out my kidneys were shutting down and missed a ton of school."

"Wait, seriously?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, apparently Advil affects your kidneys. I had to stop taking Advil as often as I was, they healed… obviously. At the time I was functioning at less than a total of 25%, pretty close to being put on dialysis. But, anyway, he came by most days just to spend time with me. I thought things were getting pretty serious between us and almost… very close to giving him my virginity, but I didn't. When it came down to Junior Prom, we were technically together, but he refused to take me. Said he was going to take an under classman because they would put out."

"Damn, seriously?" Dean said in disbelief.

"Yeah, then added that if neither of us had dates for our Senior prom he would take me then. I dumped his ass and never looked back."

"How about the guy after that?" Sam asked.

"Um, I got my first job at a local retail store and he worked there. He was sweet… and clingy… very clingy. Our first and only date, we went to a local movie theater. And you know they play advertisements.. well, at this one it was all local businesses advertising and he kept seeing pictures of houses and cars and talking about our future and marriage and kids. That ended quickly and I pretty much stayed single until I graduated."

"And that's when you met that guy with a kid, right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, he's the one that got my virginity." I said.

"So, wait, you… no offense here, but literally a sex goddess, didn't even lose your virginity until after high school?" Sam asked with a chuckled.

"Um, none taken, and yes." I said.

"So, what, you were just naturally good at sex?" Dean asked with a smirk.

"I guess. I've been told I'm a great kisser and once I became sexually active… well, you both know. So, yeah I guess." I said with an awkward shrug.

"What were you like in high school? I kind of picture you being the wild child and the partier." Sam asked.

"Not at all actually. I was quite, shy, friendly… I was in band, marching band… Don't laugh." I added as Dean and Sam chuckled. "I wanted to be in choir, but my mom said I couldn't sing, so she took me out. I was good at English. Terrible at Science. I hated gym. I hated myself most of the time. I never felt pretty. I never felt good enough. I felt like a nobody. Anything else you wanna know?"

"I find most of that hard to believe." Dean said.

"Like what?"

"Not being pretty. Hating yourself. Feeling like a nobody. That seems like the polar opposite of who you are now." Sam added.

"That's because I changed myself for myself. I got tired of feeling depressed. Plus it helped when I started feeling prettier as I took better care of myself. I started getting attention and I liked." I smiled as I sipped my whiskey.

"That sounds more like you." Dean said.

"I think that's you calling me an attention whore…"

"You said it! Not me!" Dean said with a chuckle.

I extended my foot up to his shoulder and tapped his cheek. "Not nice." I said.

He trailed his fingers from my ankle up my leg as he gently kissed the top of my foot, sending shivers through my body. He smirked at me devilishly. I left my foot there relishing in his sweet fingers trailing teasingly up and down my leg along with Sam's hand combing through my hair.

I finished my whiskey and Dean offered to refill it but I said no and he took my empty up and set it on the night stand. "Anything else you two wanna ask me?" I said as I snuggled into Sam's arm around me more and he tightened his arm a little.

"How about brothers and sisters? You got more than that little brother?" Dean asked.

"I actually have 6 or 7 sisters, but I've only met one. Her name is Krista, she's clinging… and complete opposite of me. I don't really know her all that well. But I've never met the others, let alone know their names."

"Seriously? Why not?" Sam asked.

"Their from my dad, I doubt he even really knew them if at all. I only knew because of my grandma on my dad's side."

"So, you never got to know your dad, but you spent time with his parents?" Dean asked.

"His dad and his step-mom, yes. His real mom, she never liked me." I shrugged. "His step-mom became my only grandma." It was quiet for a few moments.

"So, how many career choices did you go through before settling on Psychology?" Sam asked.

"Um, let's see. I wanted to be a lawyer for the longest time. Then it was forensic science, and then forensic psychology. That's what I was originally going for with my psychology degree."

"Why didn't you go through with the law degree?" Sam asked intrigued.

"Let's see… um, there aren't very many branches of law. Business… no thank you. Family, hell no. Criminal… I didn't want to take the chance of either putting an innocent person in jail or keeping a guilty person from jail. Plus there was all the political stuff and I just didn't think I would be happy in a job where most of my work was literally paperwork." I stifled a yawn as I leaned against Sam and closed my eyes.

"I think it's time to put sleeping beauty to bed, Sam." Dean said softly after a while.

"I don't want to move though." I said. "I'm comfortable here with both of you."

"You realize there's a perfectly good bed right there not getting used, right?" Dean said.

"I'll stay here with her. You can sleep on the bed if you want." Sam said softly as he slipped down a little in the sofa to rest his head back.

Dean sighed and moved my legs gently, but returned a few moments later with a pillow for Sam's head, a blanket for me and another pillow for himself as he got back under my legs after taking his boots off. He draped the blanket over me and himself so my legs would be covered and got himself comfortable.

Dean turned off the light on the nightstand behind him.

I fell asleep quickly and was blessed by Arria in my dreams. She had told me that she had helped send an extra blessing when I had returned with Castiel simply for having made the choice to fight death and get back to Sam and Dean. She told me I was brave and strong and while I was on earth fighting angels and demons she was watching me, feeling proud of what I was doing for love. She also told me that my bruise would heal within a few days, but would be extremely sore until then and I needed to let her papa's take care of me and get plenty of rest.

By the time the dream faded, I felt full of love and comfort and was happy.