Sam and Bobby sat across the kitchen table and stared blankly at Sophie. They had to tell her. They had to.
But how?
"Where's Dean?" She asked for the tenth time, "What aren't you telling me?"
"Sophie do you remember when I went missing for a bit? And Dean and Bobby found me in that ghost town?" Sam asked.
"Yes," Sophie replied, "How is that relevant? Where is my husband?"
"I died," Sam said.
"Excuse me?" Sophie asked.
"I died," Sam took a deep breath, "And Dean made a deal with a crossroads demon to get me back."
"He did what?" Sophie was angry now, Sam watched as tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks.
"And last night that deal came due," Bobby said, "He's gone honey."
"No," Sophie stood up, started pacing, shaking her head, "That cannot possibly be. He's not in hell. He's not. He just…"
And that's when she passed out and began convulsing.
She came to far faster than normal. One minute Sam was sitting on the ground, wiping blood out of her mouth and the next she had a death-grip on his wrist and was staring at him with eyes that seemed far too focused and clear.
"We have to get him back," she said, trying to push Sam away and sit up. He gripped the back of her shirt to keep her from falling. He wasn't surprised she wouldn't take comfort. He wasn't surprised she was reacting this way. It only made sense.
"Sophie how?" Sam asked, "We tried everything."
"Yeah, well you didn't tell me," Sophie spat blood on the floor and rubbed the back of her head, "Shit these are worse without him."
"Sophie why don't you go rest and we'll try to…" Bobby began, his tone placating.
"Shut up and get your keys," Sophie said.
"Where are we going?" Sam asked.
"I said shut up and get your keys. And get me my computer."
They visited 27 monasteries and churches that night - Orthodox, Coptic, Catholic, didn't matter - the list spread across four states. And at each one Sophie said the same thing, "Pray for my husband, he has been taken from me and is in grave danger." And at each one some wonderful, gentle soul put an arm around her and promised that they would. And by the time they got back to Bobby's Sam almost believed that it would work.
But for months, nothing happened. They each retreated into themselves. Sophie took to sleeping in the pasture with her sheep, seeking the warmth.
She was having seizures too often. She knew it was dangerous. She knew she should go to her neurologist. She didn't.
And then one night in September, as she slept with her head on the fluffiest of her ewes, something happened. A ringing in her ears so loud it woke her. And then a flash of blinding white light and suddenly a man in a trench coat was standing in front of her.
"We listened," was all he said. And then he vanished.