Ellen was furious. Trading you first born?! What kind of fairytale bullshit was that? Who knew what that guy was going to do to their son? And now she was stuck going back to Earth.

She was upset, but she couldn't help but feel understanding. She never thought she was going to have a kid. Seemed like a pretty good deal if kids weren't in your future plans. She had no idea what WWL was but it didn't really matter. All she knew was that her son had been traded away and she couldn't stay mad at it.

"Time for your return. I do believe you have been out of body long enough. I don't like doing these often." Death waved her over.

"Why did you show me that? Why didn't you just send me back right away? I can't just pretend none of that mattered! I got married, I had a kid and now I'm just supposed to go back like nothings wrong?!"

"Not at all. It all had a purpose."

"That guy needed my kid? What you guys playing the odds, you keep him alive and he what? Keeps things entertaining for you?"

"I can't tell you too much, it would change the outcome."

"What!?"

"He's cheating, It needs to be fixed."

"And what am I supposed to do about it?"

"What can you do about it?"

"I-" She stopped turning to look at Death confused. He had some sort of plan made, which meant he was changing things behind the scenes. This went against the idea of freewill didn't it? No wonder Lucifer wasn't too happy about it. Was this something an otherworldly entity allowed to do?

"Aren't you supposed to be indifferent?"

"No one is entirely indifferent. There are rules even I must follow. I can not take lives as I see fit, mortals have a time and a place picked for them and I can not interfere with it until then."

"Isn't this interfering? Keeping me alive to figure this out?"

"No, you have yet to die, and even I can't alter the sands of time. You aren't invincible, don't be mistaken thinking you are. I've just moved your consciousness around a bit. Not preferred but not forbidden. Your time and place has not changed since your birth."

"So why did I need to see Tucker?"

Death approached, stopping a foot in front of her. "Perhaps for no reason. Perhaps for a reason of your own. That is for you to decide." He pressed a shadowy finger to her forehead and everything fell away again leaving her to fade to black.

She had to squint, the light making it impossible to see. Shit. Did she get sent to heaven again? She didn't want to have to find a way back down again. What would she tell the seraphims?

There was something beeping in the room, mumbled voices in the distance. Her head hurt, throbbing at the back of her skull. She tried pulling her memories back, the pieces seeming a bit fuzzy. She was in Hell…she was with child…She died. Now she was in this bright ass room. Slowly her eyes started to adjust.

She didn't recognize the room at all. It looked almost like a…hospital room? Hell didn't have hospitals. Why was she in…? Her stomach twisted. She was back. She made it back to her body. She had made it home. She bolted up, her eyes wide.

"Ellen!"

Her head whipped to the side to find her parents on their feet beside her. Her mind froze. As her parents threw their arms around her uttering words she wasn't listening to, her head was spinning the throbbing still present at the back of her head trying to figure out what she was feeling.

She was glad to be back. How could she not be? Although she wasn't too sure what that really meant. She still remembered everything. Shouldn't it all have been wiped from her memory? Wasn't it a problem she knew about the afterlife? The fact that Death had essentially pulled her from her life to be a piece in a game of chess she knew nothing about? And what about all of her memories in Hell? Alastor and the gang? Her chest fell. She wasn't glad to be back.

No. She didn't really think that, did she?

She shook her head trying to get her thoughts together. So much had happened in the last few hours it seemed overwhelming trying to set it all straight. Everyone thought she was dead. And now she had to find her Xander, without anyone knowing? Was she stuck having to play a double life now? How on earth was she supposed to do this?

Was it really a problem for her to solve? Surely a half demon child on earth wasn't a good thing, so was this what she was supposed to do?

Her parents and visiting friends all seemed eager to see her and were glad she was back. She found out from her parents that her boyfriend had never visited once. Not that she was surprised. He no doubt had 'better' things to do. She pushed that thought aside. She needed to get out of the hospital first, then she could start trying to put her life back together.

Apparently she had been found out in the middle of a field the morning after that car accident she found. A quick internet search found that no one had survived, though she already knew that, but it didn't make her feel any better. She found it odd there was no proof of her being there or at least no mention of it. They likely fingerprinted and she had for sure climbed into the last car to help the little girl, but there was no mention of it. Could death interfere with that kind of stuff since it didn't affect anyone's 'clock'? It didn't really matter now.

The next few days were at the hospital, they wanted to make sure she was good before letting her go. They didn't have an explanation for what had happened to her, but all the tests they did came back clear so it was written off as she was simply lucky. She knew better, but she wasn't going to correct them.

A lot of doctors cycled through trying to find out what had happened, why there were a few occasions where she had nearly slipped without a noticeable reason. They mentioned internal injuries that seemed to appear suddenly. The one that really stumped them was a broken rib that showed no possible trauma to cause it. It had been pushed inward, not something that can happen if it had been done by sneezing too hard. She had been a medical anomaly that they couldn't figure out. If only they knew.

She wished she could be excited to be back. This was what she wanted all those months ago, she knew she would never have stayed in Hell, she was bound to return sometime she only wished she had the chance to say goodbye, it all happened so quick.

Aside from the constant company of friends and family stopping by, she also needed to make time to see her mandated therapist once a week. She really didn't need one, not for her 'near death' experience at least, but it was something the hospital made her do. So until she could convince her therapist she was fine, she was going to have to go. Her inability to lie was likely going to be a problem.

Adjusting back to her home life was probably the easiest part, aside from the looks her parents gave her everytime she walked by. They were a little more affectionate but she didn't mind. Otherwise everything almost felt normal, only it couldn't be. She had to find her son, and without letting anyone know. Not an easy thing to do when you had people constantly looking over your shoulder. It was almost like they were afraid she was going to just drop dead suddenly, almost every hour someone would check up on her. She hoped that wouldn't last too long.

She sat in her room, laptop open trying to search for this Dolion guy. Surely he had an online presence somewhere she just needed to spend a few hours looking and then she could work out from there. If only it were that easy.

After a few hours of nothing she leaned back with a defeated sigh, closing her laptop. How could this guy not exist? He existed for at least a hundred or so years, and if he was still using the same name surely someone would have started asking questions. Could she trust the name? Was she going to be stuck trying to find him by his image only? God she hoped not, there was no way she would be able to pick him out in a line of photos. She had only seen the guy briefly once.

She sighed, welcoming the distraction as one of her cats hopped up onto her desk rubbing up along her face. She smiled giving him a hug and swift kiss on the head before conceding to his demands; scritches.

"This is going to be a lot harder than I thought," she told the orange cat that had flopped over in front of her, purring loudly.

"So Catcat, where do I go from here?"

"Oh come on, you had to have seen something. It's been like two months and you're still all bent out of shape." Julie threw a piece of candy in her mouth as the two continued their walk around the mall.

"You can't fool me, I'm basically your other half."

Julie was Ellen's best friend. The two got along like a house on fire. They used to hang out with Katie lots, but something happened while she was in Hell and Julie stopped hanging out with her. She had asked about it, but Julie insisted it was not worth all the drama and no matter how much she pushed, Julie wouldn't budge. A master of keeping secrets until they weren't needed anymore.

Ellen sighed. "Maybe I'm out of sorts cause I kinda died? That kinda stuff messes people up, ya know."

She laughed, holding her bag of candy out, silently offering her some. "Ellen, you can't lie for shit."

Ellen grabbed a few, throwing them in her mouth as an excuse to hold off from answering. It seemed to work, Julie pressing on with her thoughts.

"Your mom seems to think you're hiding away from everyone cause there's some trauma about being out and about again. That's not the case." Julie threw a few more pieces of candy in her mouth talking through the crunching to continue her point.

"You're fine wandering around with me so I thought maybe it's cause you're still readjusting, but it's not that either. You've been hiding away in your room more than normal looking up some weird stuff. Deny all you want girl, but you're hiding something." She was fixed with a disapproving glare.

"I'm not-"

"-you definitely are. And we both know I'm going to find out eventually, might as well just spill."

She didn't want to lie to Julie, but how was she supposed to be honest? It was her therapist all over again. Would she even believe her? Her shoulder slumped and a deep sigh escaped her. She could probably tell her a little bit right?

Ellen slowed her pace taking a quick look around before pulling her friend off to the side, leaning against one of the walls. Before she could even open her mouth Julie's face lit up. "I knew it! Something happened."

Ellen shushed her before pulling her toward an exit. "Not here okay. I don't even know what I can tell you without causing problems."

"Oh my gosh, this is something big." She squealed excitedly. Ellen couldn't hide the smirk pulling on her face. She couldn't tell her everything, but maybe she could get Julie to help her; it's not like she's had any luck on her own.

She had spent over a month trying to find anything on Dolion. The man didn't exist. Not anywhere online anyway and she even went looking in old phone books hoping maybe the name would turn up there. No luck and she didn't want to think about the idea of having to look at other countries. There was a whole world out there and no real way of searching it. It was a needle in a haystack. She had no idea how she was supposed to find this guy, not to mention what to do when she did. Could she simply take her son back? And how would she explain that to her family? She couldn't just come home with a kid. This was all a big mess.

Julie continued chatting excitedly, but Ellen had tuned her out, her mind reeling about whether or not it was a good idea actually talking about any of this. Julie would surely think she had gone mad.

Ellen took them to her car and took a steading breath. Julie was staring at her excitedly waiting for her to start.

"I'm looking for someone."

The smile fell from Julie's face. "That's it? Oh come on, Ellen. I know you have something better than that."

Ellen bit her lip. "I can't Julie." She whispered her eyes darting around her. Surely death was keeping an eye on her right? Making sure she was headed in the right direction? And could she really tell people that heaven and Hell did indeed exist? That demons and angels existed. Her gaze moved to her hand, the absence of her ring feeling uncomfortable.

"It messed you up that bad?"

Ellen's face soured. "It wasn't messed up. I just miss…" She bit her tongue. She missed Hell. She missed her mixed-matched family and she missed Alastor.

"I need to find a guy."

Julie laughed. "You know there are lots of guys out there. Take your pick."

She gave Julie a look. "You undermeant what I stood."

"Why do you need to find this guy?"

"He took something that doesn't belong here, in this realm."

"So you left this realm?! What does that even mean? Where did you go?" Julie's excitement rekindled.

She grabbed her friend's shoulders. "Julie, focus. If this guy keeps what he took it could be problematic. I don't know how to find him or how long I have."

"So you were sent on a mission from God?"

"What? No, I never met God."

"So he does exist?"

Ellen groaned, her head falling into her hands. There was no way she could explain without going into details and even if she could Julie wouldn't let her skimp. She would want to know everything.

"FINE! You want to know everything? Fine. Don't you dare laugh I swear to God Julie this is insanely messed up."

Julie's face lit up again, nodding eagerly.

"I went to Hell and unintentionally fell in love with a demon overlord. Things kinda got a little crazy, I needed to get married, and I don't even know how it happened but we had a kid."

Julie opened her mouth no doubt to ask a question but she pushed on before she could start. "Marriage is a near impossible thing in the afterlife and having kids in Hell is supposed to be impossible, so yeah I'm hitting odds so insane I should be buying lottery tickets. Anyway, as it turns out, my husband made a deal for his first born with some guy back when he was alive and now this guy, who apparently hasn't died yet has a half demon child. My child. I need to get him back to Hell because a half demon child can't stay here."

Julie stared at her for a few minutes staring blankly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Ellen groaned.

"Look I know the past few months have been rough but like, thats…" Jullie scoffed. "That's far-fetched. You hate kids. And what could you have done to wind up in Hell? Cause shit I'm headed there for sure if that's where you were sent."

"It's kinda complicated Julie. We would be here for hours if I went into the amount of details you want."

Julie shrugged and pulled her phone out, fingers flying over it. "I got time."

"What do you want to know?"

"When you say demon is it like red skinned pointy horns and a tail kinda thing or…?"

The image brought a small chuckle from Ellen. While Alastor did have horns and a tail it was nothing like she knew Julie was thinking.

"No, and honestly I don't think I could explain it well. Everyone has their own look."

Her gaze returned to Julie to find she wasn't even remotely paying attention, eyes and fingers flying over her phone still.

"What are you doing?"

"Well if you married a demon why can't he just go get the kid? That seems easier than sending you to go get it. He'd be stronger and better equipped for this right?"

If only she knew.

"Cause you see demons wandering the streets all the time right?" she deadpanned in response.

"Well cultists believe they summon demons, why not try to summon your…husband?" Julie couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry you married a demon? Like dark horns and serpent tongues?" Her voice hushed. "What are their dicks like?"

"Julie!" Ellen's face heated.

"Are they like human dicks? OH! Do they have human looking forms to trick girls into having sex with them?"

"Julie stop! I am NOT talking about that."

"Is that why you died? Did you find this guy here and he sucked you down into Hell to be his wife?"

"What? No! Julie, I need to find this guy. Please."

"Well I NEED to know details." She turned so she was sitting facing Ellen.

"He's…not what you'd expect I guess."

"Okay look I am going to want details. ALL the details. Was he hot? I bet he was tall. Does he have friends? Cause the guys here suck."

Ellen gave Julie a 'seriously?' look.

She responded by gesturing for her to continue.

"He is a complete gentleman and yes tall. Very respectable and kept a close eye on me the entire time I was there. We didn't really plan on getting hitched, kinda worked in his favour more than mine I guess." She tossed her head side to side thinking. "I suppose we both benefited, though I didn't fully understand the soul ownership."

Julie continued asking questions in rapid fire, not giving her a chance to even respond. Ellen stopped listening after the first six or seven, her thoughts reeling. Could you summon a demon to the human plane? Wasn't that a movie thing? She didn't know if it would be best to summon Alastor. He thought she was dead, pulling him here to find out she was still alive may not go over well. If this was a timed thing she wasn't sure if she'd have time to answer all those questions let alone have all of hers answered. She would have to make a list to make sure she had them written down.

A thought struck her. Lucifer knew. Lucifer knew she was sent back, would he have told Alastor and everyone that she was still alive? If she could indeed summon someone from Hell, would it be better to summon Lucifer? The devil himself seemed like it should be a more difficult thing to summon, not that she would know. That would require a lot of research. She let out a frustrated breath. It wouldn't get her any closer to finding Dolion either so what real reason would she really have in doing it? Disrupting them without any reason?

"Hey, you good?"

Ellen shook her head. "I don't know what any of that would do."

"Well wouldn't he be trying to get here to see you?"

Ellen shook her head again. "He thinks I'm dead."

"And you don't want to correct that? You're going to let this guy continue to think you're dead?"

"It's probably for the best and he can't help anyway Julie. Demons can't wander this plane so even if we could summon him, it wouldn't be permanent and it wouldn't do anything." She started gnawing on her bottom lip. She would admit she would do it if only to get the chance to see him again, touch base, make sure he was okay. Let him know she was okay. Though it wouldn't make the situation any easier.

Julie sat up taller in her seat. "Well. If you're not going to, then I will."

"What?"

Julie gave her a smug look. "You're telling me there is a guy that not only convinced you to have a kid, but also has left you absolutely smitten by him? Yeah as you're best friend I believe I have the right to see this guy and judge for myself." Her smile widened. "According to the internet, summoning a demon shouldn't be too hard. We will need to go shopping though."

"You can't be serious."

Julie raised an amused eyebrow. "Either you have suddenly learned how to lie, or you're being honest and I get to see a demon. Either would be a sight to behold so heck yeah we're doing this. Besides, I have nothing better to do today. You?"

Ellen smiled. Maybe this would be a good thing. She had someone that at least believed her and if she could indeed get a hold of Alastor and/or Lucifer she could bounce some ideas off of them. She wouldn't take Julie with her when she confronted Dolion, but the extra help would surely make things move faster. Not like she had a real plan anyway.

"Okay but we're going to go twice, there's someone else I need to talk to as well."

"Yes!" Julie turned back to her phone. "We'll have to wait until a full moon but we can gather everything else today. We need something that we can use as an offering. Something that would be linked to the specific demon you're looking to summon. I don't suppose you still have your wedding ring?"

Ellen shook her head. She wished she did. "No, but I have something else in mind that should work."

"What are you thinking?"

"I'll need a few old radios, preferably from the 1920's and some rubber ducks."

"Rubber ducks?" Julie's face scrunched up confused. "What kind of demon are we summoning with rubber ducks?"

Ellen laughed as she turned on her car. "Not a demon, a fallen Angel."

AN: Hey All! I could really use some assistance in motivation! If you have the chance and time, leave me a review or pm that would help greatly. It doesn't have to be about the story at all. I'm open to idea pitches (as I'm still working on story boarding) and I enjoying reading thoughts or questions you guys have.

Cheers!