Roswell Fanatics

HypnotiqBlueEyes,AvalonRose ,Queen Fee:


Chapter Forty Two

Dean had heard more than his fair share of screams throughout his life but in his line of work that was to be expected. People scared for their lives or just out of their mind facing a fear or nightmare right in front of their eyes. He'd gotten so used to hearing them that he wasn't really fazed by them by the time he was really hunting on his own. Sometimes they fueled his determination that saving people was his job, his responsibility and sometimes it just made him feel like he actually had a purpose in this screwed up world that he seemed to barely be a part of.

The screams he'd been hearing recently though, those weighed so heavily on his soul. The screams that have been waking him up at night have played into his own nightmares and struck fear in him every time they ripped through the night. A fear that plagued him since he first realized he loved her, a fear that had twisted deep into his bones even after he told himself he could never lose her but the blood curdling screams made it seem like he was on the brink of just that every time.

The piercing scream that woke him tonight was no different. He was over the paralyzing fear it sometimes caused and was trying to calm her, trying to get through the nightmare that held her in a vice like grip to things unseen. Sometimes when he'd successfully bring her up from her nightmare, she'd quietly cry into his chest until she was able to fall back to sleep. What terrified him the most were the times she would sit silently staring straight into the darkness. He just prayed that tonight wouldn't be one of those times.

He held her tightly to his chest softly brushing her hair as he slowly rocked her. "It's okay. We're both safe." He felt her shutter in his arms, her deep breaths against his chest.

There was no point in talking about it or asking her if she wanted to. He already knew what they were about, what they always seemed to be or involve. In the visions she got from Cas he had gone to hell and in her nightmares she was reliving those memories, sometimes she was there with him and sometimes she was him. She had pulled him into her nightmares a few times without even realizing it and those nights seemed to be the hardest to break her from the dream. The first night, Michael or Max had called Isabel and she had intervened which he had no doubt gave her nightmares of her own.

He knew the best way to calm her down was to tell her they were both okay sometimes even having to talk to her about everything they had done that day or the day before just to get her thinking about better memories, more recent and real memories to push away the blood soaked images that haunted her and tried to tear her apart. He felt her concentration on his heartbeat and the feel of his warm arms, reminding herself that it wasn’t real. He worried about how long she had been having the nightmares but tried not to think about it or let it seep through to her. She still had a small filter on the connection so that when her mind went on overdrive he wouldn’t have a ton of images crashing in on him and he was hoping between that and her concentration she wouldn’t notice his scattered thoughts just the soothing calm he was sending.

"I can't keep doing this.. I can't. It's too much. I'm terrified what this could do to the baby." He felt her warm breath against his chest.

He kissed the top of her head, "we'll talk to cas in the morning and see what he can do, see if maybe there's something you can do."

He felt her shake her head in confirmation and just continued to hold her tight as he laid them slowly back down on the bed. “It’s okay.” He heard the click of the radio turning on and soft music came from the speakers. He didn’t mind whatever she played, as long as it could calm her fears and help her get back to sleep.

He lay quietly in the dark listening to her breathing, waiting for it to even out. After thirty minutes had passed, her music still played and her breathing had evened out but he knew she wasn’t asleep. Her brain was still too active. He whispered into her hair, “do you want to talk to cas tonight?”

She lifted her head from of his chest and tilted it towards his face, “I think so. I just can’t get back to sleep tonight.”

“Yea and I know you’re exhausted.”

Liz closed her eyes and placed her head against his chest again. He felt her lips move as she prayed to her own personal angel. The thought alone sounded so odd but he couldn’t really doubt him anymore. He saw some of the memories from Liz that were once.. or were his in another universe. Like that didn’t sound completely crazy on its own. The supernatural life of Dean Winchester. Ridiculous.

“Liz.”

They both turned their heads to the voice that came from the other side of their room.

“We need your help. Hopefully you can help.”

He walked over to the bed as Liz sat up, straightening her tank top. “What is it?”

Liz’s voice came out shaky. “The visions.. from the other timeline. I can’t get them to stop.”

Cas watched her confused so Dean clarified. “She’s been having nightmares for two weeks of my.. of the other Dean’s time in Hell. Can you do something to push the memories back or better yet get rid of them?”

He frowned, “I’m sorry that’s not something I can do. But you can suppress them, your strong enough mentally.”

Liz shook her head, “don’t you think I’ve tried that? I can’t. It doesn’t work.”

“Yes, you can. Humans don’t remember all of their memories all of the time. They’re filed away, some easily recalled and others become hazy overtime and some are completely forgotten. What you need to do is visualize putting those memories away. Maybe even with your ability you can lock them away until you’re ready to deal with them.”

“I’ve never done anything like that before.”

Cas placed his hand on her arm and closed his eyes. “Close your eyes.”

Liz did as she was told and Dean followed suit. After a few seconds of not feeling anything Liz opened her eyes, “I don’t feel.. oh wow.”

When Liz opened her eyes she found herself in a library. She thought it looked familiar as she looked around and then it clicked. The Roswell public library. “Why are we in Roswell?” She looked to her side and saw Dean wearing only his boxers that he wore that night to bed then saw Cas standing behind him. She briefly thought how odd Dean looked in such a setting with only his boxers on and a t- shirt and jeans materialized on him. Her brow scrunched together.

“We’re not in Roswell Liz. This is your mind. Well, your version of your mind.”

Dean looked at Cas, “I’m sorry what?”

“I brought you into your head to see if I could help you file them away. All your memories are here, we just have to find the ones we need to put away further if possible.”

Liz continued to look around and noticed the titles and then the sections. Instead of normal library sections there were names and places. She pulled a book from the shelf closest to her and read the title, “The Three Musketeers”. She opened the book to the first page where she saw an old picture of herself, Alex with a black eye, and Maria. “I remember this.” The picture suddenly came to life and she watched her younger self cleaning the blood from around Alex’s eye, checking that the cut wasn’t anything more than superficial while Maria was yelling at the two disappearing figures. Liz glanced up from the book to see Cas looking at the picture in motion. “This was the beginning.” She smiled, “those two boys were picking on Alex and when I came over to stop them they started in on me and Alex pushed them away from me. We barely knew each other. The taller of the two boys hit Alex right before Maria came over and busted his nose.” She chuckled softly, “she told them the next time they tried messing with us they wouldn’t be able to go to the bathroom without the nurses’ help.”

Cas looked up from the memory in the book, “That’s not what she said.”

Liz smiled, “I was censoring for you.”

“That’s not necessary.”

She laughed, “yes, you spent years with Dean and Sam why should I censor anything?” She noticed Dean wasn’t next to her anymore. “Speaking of Dean..” She scanned the room and saw Dean walking towards the left corner, “Where are you going?”

Dean glanced back at her with a smirk but didn’t say anything. She looked up towards the names of the sections he was heading towards, seeing two that he would definitely be interested in.

Dean. Fantasies.

She rolled her eyes, “damnit Dean, focus!”

He continued walking, “I am!”

Before she could say anything else she heard Cas call her name from the right side of the room. She closed the book in her hands and returned it carefully to its place on the shelf then turned and walked towards him. She caught up with him standing in front of a section she didn’t recognize.

“This is new. Correct?”

She nodded at his question and scanned the book titles. Some confused her but she tried focusing on looking for the one that she needed. Hell. It stood out among the others around it because of its size and deep red color. She grabbed it and almost dropped it because of the weight. “Now what?”

Cas turned and started towards the front, “now we find a lockbox.”

She followed him towards the front of the library where he went into what looked like the owner or librarian’s office. She went into the room and saw the safe in the corner. “What library has a safe?”

Cas shrugged, “apparently yours.”

She opened the safe and saw a few things already in there but she wasn’t going to stir up any dust. Not in there. She placed the book carefully inside and shut the door. “So, that’s it?”

“Should be. If not you could try something else.”

She nodded then looked around, “okay so are you getting us out of here?”

“You can. Just wake up. Like your dreamwalking ability. How do you exit?”

She raised an eyebrow then focused on what he said. It would be helpful if she could do this without him. She closed her eyes and focused on waking up. She thought about the room, the bed, Dean next to her with his arms still holding her. She opened her eyes and heard Dean’s groan.

“I was just getting to the good stuff.”

She rolled her eyes and looked towards Cas who was exactly where he stood before she closed her eyes. “Thank you.”

He smiled, “let’s hope that works.”

Liz’s eyes snapped open, “wait I’ve been meaning to ask you.. Do you know how far along I am? The baby.. I can’t just go to a doctor to find out..”

Cas nodded, “Six weeks, give or take a couple of days. I don’t know how you will progress though.”

Liz’s brow furrowed, “Wait.. four weeks before his deal was up? We weren’t..” Her eyes fell to the bed as she tried counting the weeks.

Cas clarified, “You were both at Bobby’s. Apparently, you weren’t as careful as you normally are because you had just fought or because you were in dean’s car. I’m not exactly sure which.”

Dean leaned up, “wait.. Cas how do you..”

Cas tilted his head and then something seemed to dawn on him. “It would not have been the first time I had witnessed that act Dean but no, I did not witness yours. I was watching over Liz until you both became.. heated.”

Dean laid back down, “wow. Just.. wow.”

Liz blushed as she gave Cas a small smile. “Thanks Cas.”

The angel nodded then disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared.

Liz laid down with a yawn and Dean pulled her to him then rested his hand on her stomach. She settled into him as another yawn broke, “goodnight.”

“So, we’re just going to ignore that right?” She nodded and he kissed the top of her head, “yea, me too. Sweet dreams love.”

Has it really only been a week? I seriously thought it had been longer and kinda felt awful for not posting on time! Well I think I'm actually like half a day late.. but that's better than what I thought! Getting things in line for the drive back to Texas, got a lot done though which is probably why it felt so long. Okay I'm going to stop rambling now!

HypnotiqBlueEyes,Queen Fee,AvalonRose:


Chapter Forty Three

Liz sat in the kitchen in front of the bay window looking out onto the back lawn. It was becoming her favorite spot in the house. A beautiful breakfast bar was set up in front of the window giving a great place to sit with a cup of coffee or tea and just be at peace. There wasn’t really much to see but she wasn’t looking at anything in particular, just letting her mind wander. For the first time in two weeks she was able to relax, no phantom pain or shadow in her mind making her jump. Thanks to Castiel’s advice it reminded her of her own tried and true motto, compartmentalizing was key.

Now that the visions of hell weren’t bombarding her mind it had been easier to look at the rest of the story that the other timeline had to tell. Once again she was able to go through the other timeline piece by piece, pushing memories to the side or the back depending on what she could handle. The only difference this time was the ability to actually concentrate on the other memories without having images of hell lance through her head along with the accompanying pain.

What caught her attention most was why Lilith had wanted Sam and Dean so badly or more importantly why Azazel, the yellow eyed demon, had wanted Sam. She kept searching through the fuzzy memories trying to focus on any piece that went along with that information, continuing what seemed to be an ongoing story.

Dean walked into the room and visibly relaxed once he spotted her. She had taken to disappearing more often now but at least he could feel her again and find her if he really wanted to. “What are you doing?” He took a seat next to her.

“Just thinking.”

He read her relaxed body language but felt her mind on overdrive. A small smile appeared on his face, “I knew that much.”

She glanced at him with a smirk. “Thinking about you and your brother.”

He leaned in giving her a quick kiss. “Thinking about just me would be better.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Winchester. I was thinking about why the yellow eyed demon chose you, well your brother.”

His eyebrows rose as he settled back on his seat, “why?”

“It was your bloodline he wanted. Sam was just the right age. He would have gone for you when you were a baby if you were born in the right timeframe. The second child was imperative.”

“That wasn’t what I was asking.. wait what are you talking about?”

“Sam’s ability didn’t come from Azazel’s blood. Now that we cleared it from his system, he’ll still have it and with the way things go with an alien healing.. his ability might be a little stronger but Sam isn’t the only one with a psychic ability.” She turned in her seat to face him.

“How do you know it wasn’t the blood? And how would I have anything, I can’t do anything.”

She watched his face twitch. She didn’t need to feel it to know he wasn’t comfortable with the thought. “I can tell from being around him, add in the visions from Cas and Lilith that just confirmed my suspicions. Ruby knew too but she was trying to exploit it because she needed Sam to.. become a more worthy vessel for Lucifer. I don’t know exactly why he gave Sam the demon blood as a baby although I have my theories but I do know that both you and Sam had the potential. Sam spent a lot of time wondering why he had it and maybe Azazel was pulling strings for Sam to see certain things.. I don’t know but you did have some ability and you repressed it.”

“I’m trying to keep up with you here but..”

She rested her hand on his arm, “what do you remember from the night your mother died?”

Dean didn’t answer he just watched her carefully, wondering where she was going with this and why she wanted him to think about that night.

“I don't know if it’s the pregnancy or not but I've been dreaming a lot, and most of the dreams are from you..” She shook her head, her brow furrowing. “Or of you.. sometimes as a kid. Dean I dreamt of the night Mary died. You thought something was wrong, something was off. You were scared, you didn't want to go to bed and your mom had to sing you to sleep. Something she hadn’t really done for a while. Do you remember what you told yourself when you swore you'd never go home again?”

His eyes fell to the counter in front of him not knowing what to say. She was having dreams of his worst night. He didn’t remember much, hell he didn’t want to remember anything. The smell of melting plastic, of fire and ash, the baby powder smell of Sam’s baby clothes mixed with his father’s aftershave. The look of sheer terror on his dad’s face as he placed Sam in his arms and yelled for him to get out of the house. So much that he didn’t want to remember and yet that seemed to be the hardest things to forget.

Liz’s voice came softly, “you knew something bad would happen and the worst thing that could happen to you.. did. It terrified you. You never wanted to think about it again. You promised yourself you'd never go back and you'd never experience that again. It wasn’t just something your childhood memory created in your mind.”

Dean stared blankly at her. It wasn’t possible. If he knew it would happen, he would have stopped it. He would have stopped her from entering Sam’s room that night.

“There was nothing you could do, you were just a child. I’m not telling you this to scare you or let you torture yourself. I.. I’m piecing things together from what I see and I knew you would end up picking it up off me one day. Intuition like that is actually fairly common, a lot of people have it and think nothing of it because it’s easy to pass off as just luck or they call it gut feelings or woman’s intuition. It runs in your family. I’m actually kind of surprised your brother didn’t figure it out.”

“Figure what out?” Sam walked into the room with Serena trailing behind him.

Dean didn’t move but Liz smiled to greet him, “hey. We were just talking about your family’s bloodline and the psychic ability that runs through it.”

Sam stopped suddenly and Serena almost bumped into him. “What?” Sam looked at Dean who had yet to turn and acknowledge him.

Liz glanced at dean then looked back to Sam, “I was just saying I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out since I got my first theory off of you. It was a flash from the woman you saved what.. two years ago? The woman and her baby girl Rosie.. the one Azazel was after? Do you remember what she said to you?”

Sam stared at her as she spoke, his mind spinning trying to think back to that time. He shook his head. All he remembered about that night was that he had failed to kill the yellow eyed demon. They had saved the baby but dean wouldn’t let him go back in the house to finish what they had gone there to do.

“She told you her baby never cried and just looked at people almost like she could read their minds. Why that never pierced that overachiever brain of yours I’ll never know but it's what gave me my theory that the yellow eyed demon was hunting gifted family blood lines. Of course I never had anything to go off of at the time so I kept quiet but the visions from Cas gave me more than enough information. The demon blood that Azazel gave you.. I'm not sure if it was to try to control you, maybe make sure you didn’t repress the ability or maybe have a connection to be able to trace you but it didn’t give you your ability. It didn’t give any of the special children their abilities but enhanced them.”

Serena went to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup. She glanced between the three, both brothers obviously dealing with Liz’s recent musings and theories. Just another day in the Alien abyss, they probably needed a new name for that now.
~~

Sam walked into the living room as Liz was storming out, slamming into him. He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling as she glanced up at him, he noticed the anger written all over her face.
“Don’t even get me started on your destiny bullshit hang-ups! Why can’t you Winchesters ever believe in yourselves?! Unbelievable!” She pulled out of his grasp and stormed away.

Sam turned towards the soft chuckle to see Dean sitting on the couch. Sam raised his eyebrow in question and Dean waved him off. Sam walked over and sat next to his brother. “What was that all about?”

Dean shook his head, “don’t worry about it. I’ve been getting that type of reaction all morning for shit I did years ago. It’s been happening more frequently since that Azazel talk a few days ago in the kitchen, I think it’s something with the timelines or whatever. The next time you see her it’ll be like it happened years ago again and she won’t even mention it until something snaps like that.” Dean glanced towards the door way, “her mind seems to be a mess of land mines, hopefully it passes soon.”

Sam’s eyes grew as he looked at his brother, “and you don’t think this could be a problem? What if this is a sign of something going wrong? Why is she in the past.. specifically our past?”

Dean picked up his coffee from the floor and took a sip. “Apparently the timeline she picked up from cas was mine. Mainly my memories although some of them are from Cas’ viewpoint in the future stuff. I don’t know it still confuses the hell out of me. It doesn’t seem to be hurting her but its killing me.” He lifted his cup again.

Sam’s brow furrowed, “your memories? You’ve been getting in trouble..” Some of the color drained from his face, “oh god. She’s seeing all that?”

Dean gave a subtle nod, “yes. Thankfully she doesn’t see much.. she sees enough to know what happened but yes, the mother of my child has my greatest past hits playing in her head.”

Sam just stared as his jaw dropped open slightly.

“Yea, I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve gotten enough shit this morning, thank you.”

Sam closed his mouth and looked towards the door. “I always knew that would bite you in the ass one day. I just thought it would be more like a disease of some kind.”

“Shut up.”

Sam looked back to his brother, “did you ask Cas if he knew what was going on?”

Dean looked at Sam out of the corner of his eye, “the last time I saw the guy it was a little awkward so no I haven’t called on our resident angel in the outfield.”

Sam watched Dean confused but he wouldn’t expand on the comment. “Damnit Dean.. no one knows how this is really effecting her. She touched me and brings up something I was dealing with two years ago? That’s weird for her.”

Dean glanced at Sam from the corner of his eye, “she’s been bringing up things from further back than two years for a few days now, I told you.” Sam just looked at him and Dean sighed. “Fine. Dear Castiel, great angel on Sam’s shoulder..”

Castiel appeared in the living room, “I don’t have anything of use yet.”

Dean leaned back on the couch, “do you know what’s going on with Liz?”

The angel looked at him in confusion, “to what are you referring?”

Dean turned towards Sam, “our very own yoda.”

Sam rolled his eyes and leaned forward, “she’s been bringing up things from two years ago sometimes earlier. She was talking about Azazel a few days ago and he’s been dead a year, just now she touched me and then flipped out. Do you know what’s happening to her?”

"If I'm understanding you correctly then her brain is trying to fill the holes.."

Dean and Sam look at him confused. Dean spoke up, “I’m sorry the holes?”

"How do I explain this? The vision she received from me and the vision from Lilith, they are not exactly complete. They’re from one person’s view. It's like only hearing one side of a conversation.. the human brain will try to fill in the holes to finish the line of information. It will try so hard to do this that it will overtax the brain and one would have a hard time functioning on a normal task. Anyone else would get frustrated, get a headache, and most likely give up but Liz's brain uses more brain power and also has the power to get the answers from the people involved so it's going to finish the train of thought. Does this make sense?"

Dean rubbed his temples. “So her brain is reaching out through the connection to get the answers?”

Cas nodded, “or going through the other information she already has in her mind and if that doesn’t have the answer when she’s near someone it involves, Sam for instance, she may touch him and her brain seeped the information it needs.”

Sam thought about it for a moment then asked, "so when it's a finished line of thought, will it just be a memory to her? Once her brain has all the answers she'll be back to normal?"

Castiel watched Sam seriously, "Liz Parker is anything but normal." Castiel almost smiled at the look on Sam’s face, one he knew meant he was not amused. Cas nodded with a small smile, "yes she will be back to the person you know."

Dean drained his coffee, "great so I only have a few more hits coming."

Sam looked at him a little horrified, “how many has she already seen?"

Dean shook his head, "I don't know, I lost count."

Castiel glanced between the brothers. "She may not need everything just what her brain deems important, what information it collects besides that would just be secondary and not as clear."

Dean gave Cas a tight smile, "doesn't have to be all that clear for her to know what’s happening or going to happen."

Cas looked at him for a moment then nodded, "yes, female jealousy can be quite volatile but it is usually more forgiving. I'm sure you wouldn't be as calm if you saw images of Liz's past.."

Dean interrupted as he stood from the couch, "I'm gonna stop you right there cas. Thanks." He gave him a tight smile and rolled his eyes.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Again."

Sam looked at the angel, "what are you talking about?"

Castiel looked to dean as dean walked out of the room answering him, "you don't want to know Sam. Believe me."

Castiel nodded at Sam, "I'll get back to you when I have anything on the demons."

Sam stood from the couch about to ask what dean was dodging but the angel was gone. Frustrated, he yelled to the now empty room, "What the hell happened?"

roswellian love: poor dean and liz.. and everyone who has to witness it! and I completely hear you my husband's past indiscretions better stay in the past!
HypnotiqBlueEyes: Luckily for her it isn't completely clear.. lol and things are definitely going down in this chapter.
AvalonRose: Once her brain finishes putting all the broken pieces of the puzzle together, she will hopefully be back to her normal self. Liz's normal anyway.

Chapter Forty Four

Liz sat quietly at the breakfast bar in the kitchen with her hands wrapped around a steaming cup of tea. Kyle walked into the room grabbing a cup and pouring some coffee from what looked like a fresh pot. He sat next to Liz at the bar and looked out the window seeing the show Liz was watching. "What the hell are they fighting about?"

Kyle never had a brother so he didn't exactly understand the whole brother fighting thing but he knew how it was between him and his dad. Sometimes being stuck in the same house, every now and then your pet peeves about the other person's actions made you lash out. Now that he thought about it, a lot of times his dad was just like a brother.

Liz broke him from his thoughts, "they're not fighting fighting.. They're.. sparring."

Kyle watched dean throw a hard right punch to Sam's jaw that he blocked and returned a left uppercut. Dean blocked then kicked Sam's legs out from underneath him but he didn't go down without hooking dean's neck bringing him down to the ground with him. "They look like they're trying to beat the shit out of each other."

Michael walked in and came up behind the two then laughed when he saw their view. "What did dean say this time?"

Liz gave Michael a look that screamed what the hell. Michael quirked his eyebrow, "what? He has the same foot in mouth syndrome as I do.” He raised his hands in surrender as her eyes narrowed, “according to Maria."

Kyle smiled at Liz, "told you."

Liz turned back to the window. "I'll have you know dean is just a little stressed and Sam was bored. So they decided to spar to keep up their reflexes for hunts. Asses."

Kyle and Michael looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“What are you guys coming over here for anyway? You have your own kitchen.” Liz threw out without taking her eyes off the fight club in the backyard.

Max walked into the kitchen going straight for the coffee, "because you make better coffee then Maria. It’s just a fact. What are you guys laughing.." His voice dropped out as he turned and saw Dean and Sam up on their feet throwing punches once again. "What is that all about?"

Michael and Kyle laughed harder as Liz dropped her head into her hands with a loud sigh.

Castiel appeared behind Max. “I have..”

Max jumped at the voice and spun around with his shield in place, “Jesus!”

Cas looked at him curiously, “no. I’ve told you before..”

Liz interrupted him as she stood from her seat, “that’s not what he was calling you, Cas. What were you saying?”

The angel’s gaze slid from Max to Liz as he continued, “I have news about a group trying to find you. They’re here in the state but we don’t believe they know you’re here.”

Michael interjected, “so we go and take them out before they get close.”

Cas looked to Michael, “maybe Dean and Sam should be in here.”

Cas disappeared and Liz turned towards the window, spotting him in front of the boys who must have just noticed him and jumped apart. She saw Cas’ lips moving and then Dean turned towards her, his gaze connecting with hers immediately. She felt his fear spike for a second before it calmed as their connection strengthened. Dean and Sam moved towards the house as Liz turned back towards the guys in the kitchen. “We should probably get the girls in here. I don’t want to hear that we didn’t have them included.”

Michael nodded agreeing with her sentiment, knowing she was thinking of Maria as well and left the room. As Dean and Sam came in the back door, Michael and the three girls were trailing into the kitchen from the front of the house. Serena stopped before entering the kitchen as she caught the sight of Dean and Sam, “what the hell happened?”

Sam shook his head, “just keeping sharp.”

Dean grinned, “trying to keep him from getting slow.”

Cas walked into the kitchen and they followed as the angel filled everyone in. Serena looked towards Michael, “I agree with Michael, we take them out before they get the chance to even come close to us. We just got here and this place is perfect for all of us. I really don’t feel like giving it up.”

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. Liz nodded, “okay so we go.”

Dean eyed her carefully, “some of us go.” Liz turned to him and raised her eyebrow.

Cas glanced between the two, “I’m afraid Dean’s protective side is right. Having you there would be problematic. Should any of them get a hint of your child and have even the slimmest chance of getting away with that information..”

Liz listened to Cas but didn’t like it. She understood but was afraid this was just how they would try to keep her out of everything. Dean walked to her and looked her in the eye, “this is not just you Liz, you know that. If there was something you could really do without putting him in danger you know I would be all for it but we have to think of him first now.”

Liz looked into his gaze and nodded. He was right she knew it, felt it but it still didn’t help ease her helpless feeling.

Sam looked at Cas, “how many are there?”

“At least six that we know of.”

Michael looked towards Sam, “so how do we kill these sons of bitches? It’s not like we can pull a mass exorcism over loud speakers like you did at that police department.”

They spent twenty minutes refreshing their memories on tactics of slowing down and stopping demons and then started working on a plan with who would go and who would stay. Dean felt a tug on his hand and looked to his side seeing Liz pulling out of the room. He gave her a smile and followed her into the next room. Once she was sure they were alone she turned to him cupping his cheek with her right hand while pulling him against her by his jacket with her left. “Be careful. I know things have been crazy lately.. and I haven’t been the easiest person to live with the past couple days.”

His eyes touched on every worried tick that appeared on her face as his hands slid around her and rested gently on the small of her back, "did you see something?"

She shook her head gently, "no. I just.. I don't know. It's all memories and everything but this is different and the intuition or whatever it's.. I've got nothing. I just wanted you to know before you leave, I remember everything from the past couple days and I know it hasn't been easy.." She watched his face and the second she noticed him about to interrupt her hand slid over his mouth. "Let me finish." He nodded once as she felt him smile under her hand. She moved her hand down his neck to rest on his shoulder, "I just want you to know that I love you. No matter what has been happening and what's going on in my head.. I still know you dean and I love you. Nothing is going to change that and I want you to know that before you leave. I needed you to know that."

His arms tightened, bringing her body flush against his as his smirk turned into a full-fledged grin. "I know. Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. Sammy and I have done this alone for years and now we've got alien fire power and an angel for back up. I don't think you can get safer than that. You be careful, take care of our boy. Don't forget to eat, you’ve got a growing boy in there."

She leaned up as his head came down sealing their lips together. The kiss was sweet, tender, almost innocent as they said goodbye and at the same time she left an impression of what was in store for his return. He broke first leaning his forehead against hers, his eyes still closed while the image she placed in his mind faded. "You seriously cannot do that to me."

Liz smiled, "just needed to give you that extra boost to hurry this whole thing up. I promise to feed him but I have needs too."

Kyle’s voice came from the kitchen, “we’re ready and I don’t want to come in there!”

Dean gave Liz a quick kiss, “I’ll be right back.” Then he walked into the hallway to catch up with the guys hearing Liz’s laughter travel down the hallway with him.

The guys started outside towards the cars and Dean walked with Kyle, “how did you get Ava to stay?”

Kyle looked up, “I just said how would you feel if you come with us and we come back to find someone hurt or missing. Just a hypothetical reality that I know would make her rethink her stance.”

A small smirk graced Dean’s face, “so you used the connection to your advantage.”

Kyle glanced at him, “I don’t need to use our bond to know she’d feel guilty if we came back and Liz was gone.”

The smirk fell from Dean’s face as he continued towards the impala quietly. He wasn’t expecting that from him but he knew that’s what everyone was worried about. The unspoken truth that Liz would be the one missing or hurt because she was the one both their enemies seemed to want for different reasons.

Cas glanced between the two overhearing them, “I wouldn’t worry about Liz, not here. She has many looking out for her.”

They all stopped and looked at the angel. Dean spoke, “what do you mean?”

Cas’ brow furrowed, “besides the angels I have watching the area, there are more like them around watching as well.” Cas looked to Michael and Max.

Michael spoke up, “I’m sorry what?”

Cas’ brow deepened, “you were not aware of the people guarding you?”

Dean’s face cleared, “Kal.” He looked towards the others, “Liz said something before about Kal having loyalists watch out for you guys but she thought that was just in Roswell and Albuquerque. I’ll call her from the road and let her know. Let Kal deal with her.”

Dean continued to the cars and everyone followed until Cas stopped them when Dean went to open the door of the impala, “it would be faster if I took you there. Just get the weapons you need.” Michael, Kyle, and Max looked at each other as Sam and Dean did the same then looked back at the angel. Cas’ brow furrowed, “what? It would be faster than driving.”

Kyle looked back towards his mustang, “yea I’m all for beaming up except I know exactly how I’m getting there in a car.”

Dean pulled his door open, “we drive. It’s only a couple of hours, save the angel ride for some other time.”

A couple hours later the impala and mustang pulled over a block down from the address that Castiel gave them. Dean, Sam and Castiel climb out of the impala as Kyle, Michael, and Max got out of the mustang. Dean opened the trunk and then lifted the false bottom revealing their arsenal. Michael looked at him in question as Dean picked up Ruby’s knife. “This kills demons, like I said we’ve picked up a few things the past couple of years.”

Sam handed Max and Kyle each a jug of Holy Water then Dean handed the spray paint to Michael, “fast painting Michelangelo.” Michael eyed him as Dean shook his head, “yea.. I’m not feeling it either.”

Michael took the can and threw it back in the trunk, “won’t need it.”

Sam turned towards the house, “we ready?” Everyone nodded and started towards the house.

As they got close, Cas disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing directly in front of the front door, facing them. Kyle took a step forward, “what the hell is he doing? Is he waving at us?”

Dean started towards Cas, “yea. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

As they approached, Cas opened the door. “I’m afraid we have a problem.”

Everyone watched the angel and Cas waved them inside. They all went into the house hands and guns raised and immediately noticed the Devil’s trap on the floor in the entryway.

“Well, that’s a first.” Sam walked into the circle for a closer look at the paint. “It’s complete.”

They fanned out checking the rest of the house, Michael followed Dean into what looked like a living room. There were signs of a struggle but little else. Dean looked at Michael, “what happened here?”

Michael walked towards the over turned couch as Dean walked towards the window. Dean looked down and saw the pile, “Michael, is that what I think it is?”

Michael turned towards Dean and saw him crouched down looking at a pile of what looked like flakes on the floor. He walked towards him as Max and Kyle came in the room. “They were exorcised, at least some of them. I saw it in two rooms.” Max watched Michael crouch down next to dean.

Michael looked closer and still couldn’t believe it, “what the hell?” He lifted a long flake that disintegrated almost immediately.

Castiel walked into the room, “the house is completely clear. No sign of the demons that were here.” Cas noticed them all looking at each other, “what is it?”

Michael stood and looked towards Cas. “What the hell were skins and demons doing together?”

Sam corrected, “more like why did skins take out a house full of demons?”

Kyle looked to Michael. “The special unit maybe? Liz said Nicholas had a contact in the FBI maybe it was a skin. That could explain no bodies.”

Dean shook his head as he stood. “How would the special unit or skins know how to take out demons?”

Max glanced between Sam and Dean. “Could a demon have possessed a skin?”

They all looked at each other before all eyes landed on Cas. “I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to that.”

Dean ran a hand down his face, “things just got ten times more complicated.”

Wanted to get this up before all the craziness ensues. Getting everything together and packed up and then hitting the road on Wednesday.. should get home by Saturday. I wanted to make sure I got this up before I was so in my head with everything that I forgot.. specially since I really love this chapter! Anyway, once I'm on the road I should be able to get more work done and have a bunch of chapters ready to jump into when I'm home. I'll hopefully have Chapter 46 up by next Sunday. I promise not to be too late but if I do look like I may be later than Sunday I'll give you a quick note as heads up! I know I'm a bit of a nerd but I really appreciate you guys reading and feedbacking! You fuel my writing and keep me from procrastinating and not finishing something and I like to return the appreciation.


HypnotiqBlueEyes: the protective ring.. you could definitely call it that. The possibility of breaching it.. now or in the future.. I guess nothing is impossible. lol
AvalonRose : Skins and demons alone can be a handful but together.. definitely complicated!
Queen Fee: A trap very possible.. but who the trap was for may surprise you.
barbara87413 : THANK YOU for such an amazing compliment!!


Chapter Forty Five

(4 months ago)
Annapolis, Maryland.

It was a cool, sunny February day as Special Agent Nick Santini pulled into his usual parking spot outside the FBI field office. He admired his reflection in the rearview mirror, ran his fingers through his dark brown hair, tweaking a few pieces until he was satisfied. He smiled, blue eyes piercing and teeth a brilliant white, anyone could see he took great care in his appearance. He loved to see the appreciation in women's eyes although not as much as the envy in the men's.

Grabbing his briefcase from the passenger seat, he got out of the car taking a deep breath of the fresh sea air. Something about it just made him smile. He would never last out at sea but living on the land at the edge was just perfect.

He flashed his badge at the security guard and placed his brief case on the X-ray table then threw a grin at the camera before being waved through. He collected his briefcase and forced a smile for the short, sandy haired male agent coming towards him.

"Hey nick."

Nick nodded, "Osborne."

"Always so official." Agent Osborne laughed as he passed, slapping him on the shoulder.

Nick kept his false smile in place then turned towards the long hallway that led to his office, smile immediately fading as he muttered under his breath. "Dick."

He strode down the hallway checking his watch. Still a few minutes early, exactly as he liked it. His crisp footsteps echoed off the walls and his grin returned. A very nice pair of shoes not only looked great but also gave the very important impression of a powerful man on the move. That sharp dressed man accomplished things, built empires, and most importantly, always got his man or woman. Whatever the current case may be.

“Santini.”

Nick heard the hurried footsteps after the voice and glanced back to see one of his agents catching up with him. A young man the unit had picked up in Roswell a few years ago before Santini was placed as Head of the unit. “We may have a lead, sir.”

Nick took the file the young agent held out, “a lead on what?”

The agent was excited and Nick wanted to roll his eyes but held himself in check. This wasn’t the first time this agent had thought he had something worthwhile. “It’s the Parker girl, sir.”

Nick glanced up at him and opened the file, quickly skimming to the important parts of the reports. “Apparently she tried helping two men escape jail a few nights ago. This is a lead?” Nick continued walking towards his office, “talk Agent Foring.”

The agent trailed just a step behind him. “She didn’t just try, the official report says the men died in the fire but that’s not what happened. There were so many bodies they just figured the two men were among them but we had an agent there that had been following the men for over a year. He got out and he says they were not in there when the place blew.”

Nick stopped. “How did our agent make it out of the blast?”

“He was taking the secretary home when he heard of the blast and came to us. Agent Groves told him about the special unit when he recognized the Parker girl. She got the men out before the whole town went crazy and charged in there. He says he wants to help find them, he knows them better than anyone and the Parker girl is with them. We’re positive of that sir.”

Nick smiled at the agent. “Thank you Agent Foring, you’re dismissed.”

The agent stood there, “what about the agent sir? He wants in. I think he would be a valuable asset.”

Nick sighed and looked at the report again, “Henriksen?” He looked at the man’s history with the bureau. “Probationary status only. He needs to prove his worth and ability before he is completely sworn in. Do you understand?”

The agent smiled, “understood sir.”

Nick nodded and watched the agent finally walk away. Why did he have to deal with children? Young agents were so annoying.

He opened his office door just as his phone chirped. He pulled out the small black cell phone and checked the screen. A text from one of his men in the field who had an incoming report, a clean line was needed.
Nick shut the door, turning the lock then walked to his desk and placed his briefcase down along with his cell phone. His office was clean and efficient with a desk and two chairs, one on each side. The rest of the office was bare except for a single photo of himself with his arm around a good looking blonde woman that sat on the desk.

He took his jacket off throwing it over the back of his chair then sat down, lifting his desk phone and hitting the small red button underneath before returning the phone back to its proper place. He picked up his cell and sent a short all clear text.

A moment later it rang and he answered as he leaned back in his chair, "do you have it?"

"No. But I.."

"Telvan, I have no patience for your failure."

"Nicholas, we may not have the Granolith but we have an opportunity that I didn't think you'd want to pass up."

"For what?"

"It appears we may have a possible merger that would be beneficial to our agenda."

"I'm listening."

"Do you remember Agent Groves? The lead agent of the special unit that you sent after Elizabeth Parker?"

"My patience, Telvan. Of course I know Groves." Was it just coincidence that he was hearing about Groves twice in the same day let alone within ten minutes?

"Yes well, after the special unit was disassembled after that disaster, he was tasked with capturing the Winchesters."

Nicholas knew Telvan just had to get that dig in but he reeled in his anger. Slightly. "Are you trying to deliberately piss me off?"

"The two men that you had us look into, Elizabeth Parker's friends."

Annoyance and anger contorted his face, "yes I remember them but what does this have to do with the Granolith and Liz Parker?"

"The Winchesters have enemies.. a legion of them actually and they know about us. Well, they know the special unit wants the aliens and they would like to make a deal."

"And what the hell would make us partner.."

"Nicholas, I presume?"

Nick looked up at a medium height, dark haired man standing in front of his desk. He glanced at his still closed office door. "Who the hell are.."

A crooked smirk appeared on the man's face, "Crowley. I've been told we have similar.. interests. Same enemy and all that."

Nicholas stared at the man and heard Telvan's voice come through the phone, "talk to the man. He has a very high success rate. Unlike yours." The line clicked signaling Telvan had ended the call.

Nicholas put his cell down on the desk and motioned to the chair on the other side of his desk. The man named Crowley glanced at the chair then snapped his fingers and a very elegant, comfortable looking black leather armchair appeared in its place. Crowley smiled as he took his seat. "Now maybe we should discuss the details of what could be a very successful partnership."

Nicholas watched the man impressed, "yes. It seems we could."

Crowley snapped his fingers again and a glass with an amber colored liquid appeared in his hand. "No need to pretend, I know what you are. An alien in an agency that likes to capture and torture aliens." Crowley grinned, "my kind of man."

A smile bloomed on Nicholas' face, "and do I get the pleasure of knowing who I'm dealing with?"

Crowley blinked and blood red eyes appeared, "king of the crossroads. Pleasure. Although, I have my sights set on a higher position. I believe you know about demons?"

Nicholas gazed at the demon’s eyes as they flicked back to their human appearance, "yes, I've heard stories about this world's mythology. Interesting. Maybe my men aren't completely incompetent."

Crowley swirled the liquid in his glass. "So, what is it that you want exactly?"

Nicholas smiled.
~~

(One month ago)

Nicholas walked in the front door of his house and immediately heard something from the middle of the house. He followed the noise into the kitchen and found a familiar face. “Crowley, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Crowley offered him a glass which Nicholas turned down. “My offer has changed.”

Nicholas stopped mid step towards the fridge and turned towards the demon, “excuse me?”

“Something has come to my attention and originally I was okay with our deal being a little one sided because I was getting what I wanted but things change.”

Nicholas eyed the demon. “Things change? Like what?”

Crowley smiled, “you wanted three things. Elizabeth Parker, Michael Guerin, and what you call the Granolith.”

Nicholas nodded, “and you wanted the Winchesters along with helping to ensure your maker does not rise. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want me to just take the Winchesters out so they are not a problem, it would be easier.”

Crowley’s calm façade broke as he yelled, “because I want the Winchesters exactly where I put them so I can make sure they stay dead! I don’t need those Lucifer loyalist idiots thinking they can get Sam Winchester to raise their father. He’d kill the lot of us but I never said all demons had brains.” Crowley took a deep breath, calming his anger. He straightened his black suit jacket as he continued, “and you had nothing to do with Lucifer’s key being destroyed, now did you? Your Elizabeth Parker came to me for information and then destroyed Lilith on her own. Smarter than she seems, that one.”

Nicholas’ anger spiked, “you had her in your presence and neglected to bring her to me?!”

Crowley chuckled, “calm down ET, she had me in a trap and well.. she wanted to help me even though she didn’t know it. But the fact remains that you want three things and now so do I.”

Nicholas reeled himself in, knowing that Khivar wouldn’t be happy with him making an enemy out of a very helpful ally on this planet. “What is it?”

Crowley grinned, “that’s using your smarts. I want the Winchesters AND Dean Winchester’s child.”

Nicholas raised an eyebrow, “Liz Parker is with child?”

“Funny, I didn’t know you were the sentimental type.”

Nicholas shook his head, “doesn’t matter as long as Liz Parker is still ours. Nothing has changed with our deal.”

Crowley nodded, “just a little amendment.”

Nicholas turned to his fridge, “you can have the child, it’s of no use to me.”

“Excellent. Now onto other business, a problem has been brought to my attention that could get in the way of our deal.”

Nicholas grabbed a bottle of expensive water from his fridge and turned back to him. “And what would that be?”

Crowley glanced at the bottle with a disgusted face then shrugged. “There are some demons that are not under me, Lucifer twits that would love to see your pets with their heads on a stake. They can really hold a grudge. I have their names on a hit list but I can’t say they won’t make a move on your friends from mars before my boys find them.”

Nicholas opened his cell, “give me all the information you have on their last whereabouts and their.. what do you call them? Meatsuits?” He ignored the demon’s eye roll but continued at his nod. “I’ll send whatever you have to my men and hopefully with both teams on this, we won’t have any more problems.”

Crowley grinned, “don’t you just love synergy?”

Couple hours late but I'm here! lol

HypnotiqBlueEyes: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!! Things are just getting started.. They have time, Liz's crew and Dean and Sam know how to do low profile.
Twilighteyes,AvalonRose:
Lyrallya: Thank you for your kind words!


Chapter Forty Six

Liz stretched in the back seat of the impala as she started to wake. She turned her head towards the front seeing Dean’s head and shoulders behind the wheel. Her eyes connected with his in the rearview mirror as a sleepy smile spread across her face. “How long was I asleep?”

Turning his eyes back to the road he answered, “a good five hours. We’re going to stop soon for food and gas.”

She sat up then climbed over the back of the seat to settle on the passenger seat. “Good, I’m starving.” Popping open the glove box she grabbed the pack of gum and threw a piece in her mouth.

Dean smiled, “still worrying about morning breath?”

Liz turned towards him, “are you crazy? I’m sparing you, believe me. I swear it’s gotten so much worse with the pregnancy.”

Dean chuckled softly.

“Laugh it up, chuckles.” She smiled, “did you give anymore thought to taking a short trip to Roswell while we’re all unnecessarily in Albuquerque?”

His eyes slid to hers quickly before returning to the road, “nice little toss in there. We don’t know what went down and they were too close for comfort. The sensors and wired perimeter you, Sam, and Serena put together will tell us if they had any real idea of where we were. It’s the best plan we have right now because we’re in the dark and I like to have more to go on before waiting for them to come to us.” Liz watched him quietly then raised her eyebrows. Dean threw another quick glance her way and continued, “and yes we should go. I’m not too excited about meeting your parents for the first time while you’re pregnant but I can’t say no.”

“Don’t worry they’ll love you.”

Dean rolled his eyes, “oh I bet. Hey mom, dad, here’s the guy that knocked me up. Oh what does he do for a living? Kill demons? Wonderful.”

Liz chuckled, “don’t worry. I promise they will love you. Just throw in that your dad was a marine and my dad won’t be able to hate you.”

He rolled his head stretching his neck and decided to change the subject. “So what happened on that phone call to Kal?”

Some of the mirth melted from her face. “I told him to keep his people on our parents and Isabel but I didn’t want them on us not with demons involved. They don’t need to be going up against an enemy they don’t know. They have enough to deal with and I will not have more casualties.”

“And how did you get him to go along with that? Serena told me his extremely protective and really hard headed.”

Liz looked out the windshield to the road in front of them. The scenery flying by as the car sped along the rise and fall of the interstate through the ever changing elevation of Texas. She could tell they were getting closer to New Mexico as the groupings of green trees were starting to get further apart and open plains and bare trees were becoming more dominant. She noticed the mustang in front of them and with a glance in the rearview, her own midnight blue civic behind them. At her lengthy silence Dean brought his hand to her thigh and squeezed. Her head turned towards him, “I may have tried something to see if it would work, something that happened between Max and Nasedo a long time ago. I made it sound like a command and I could tell he wasn’t happy about it but he said okay. Only time will tell if it actually worked or if he was just saying what I wanted to hear.”

Dean raised his brow as he glanced at her but her eyes were on his hand. “Well, okay if that’s what you want. I don’t really see what’s so bad about having more protection around you. It’s still weird really thinking about it. Aliens and royal hierarchy.”

Liz laughed softly as she let his protection comment slide, “yea me too.”

Dean glanced at her, “liar. You’re thinking about Isabel. Why are you worried?”

Her eyes moved up to his face and she intertwined her fingers with Dean’s on her thigh. He had gotten better at judging her emotions and maybe his brain was learning to filter her thoughts. “I know it’s stupid but I just feel a little bad.. like I’ll be shoving this in her face when she’s wanted this for so long and was just so afraid to take the jump.. so worried about what she was bringing the child into.”

“From what Maria tells me, she’s going to be too excited for you and planning a shower to even think about that. I understand what you’re saying but like you said it’s stupid. We can just blame it on your pregnancy hormones or whatever you women blame it on.”

Liz eyed him, “you read that book.”

Dean furrowed his brow, “what? What are you talking about?”

She smiled, “you totally did! You read that baby book!”

“Shut up..” His eyes slid to hers quickly before moving back to the road, already knowing she wasn’t buying it. “I just skimmed through it. I had to make sure I knew what was coming at me. What I was in for.”

Liz laughed, “okay.”

He grinned, “you know it’s not all bad.. some of the pregnancy hormones.. they can make things a lot of fun.”

Liz’s brow scrunched together, “what are you talking about?”

He turned his head to her with a smirk, “I guess you’ll just have to read the book.”

Liz couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out as a contented smile spread across his face.
~~

It hadn’t taken much at all for Kyle to talk them into stopping in Roswell on their way to Albuquerque. Kyle had said he and Ava were planning on visiting his dad and thought it would be a perfect time for Liz to do the same instead of driving back and forth. At the time when they were at the restaurant and Dean was eating one hell of a burger he couldn’t care less but when they had pulled up in front of the alien themed restaurant that her parent’s owned, his nerves sky rocketed. He couldn’t really remember ever being terrified of someone’s parents and he knew that the fear was irrational, it’s not like they could forbid Liz from seeing him but irrational or not he sat in the car like a girl until Liz talked him out. As Kyle and Ava pulled up, he got out of the car with Liz and swore her to secrecy about what just transpired in the car.

Ava got out of the car and walked up to Liz, “what’s up with you? You look like you just got laid but we weren’t that far behind you.”

Liz looked to Dean as her smile grew wider and he chuckled a little nervously. Liz looked back to Ava, “even better.”

Ava laughed as she grabbed Liz’s arm walking towards the front door of the Crashdown, “oooh do tell.”

Kyle clapped Dean on the back as they walked inside trailing a few steps behind Liz and Ava who went straight for the back of the restaurant. “Don’t worry, they share everything but they usually keep it discreet enough not to affect us.”

Before Dean could comment further a man he suspected was Liz’s father wrapped his arms around her with a smile that Dean had only ever seen on his own father’s face once before, when he had hugged Sam after they had spent almost a year on the road looking for him. A woman stood behind them smiling and approached him as her eyes met his. He felt the nervous smile play at the edges of his mouth, “hello Mrs. Parker.” He put out his hand only to have her wrap her arms around him hugging him tightly.

“Thank you.” She whispered then pulled back giving him a smile.

He raised his eyebrow questioning her but she just smiled then said hello to Kyle and moved to her daughter. Dean didn’t have much time to think about it as Mr. Parker approached him with a serious face grabbing his hand that he still had out, “so I hear your father was a marine?”

Dean quickly pulled himself together returning the handshake, “yes. Echo 2-1. Sir. Ahh, Mr. Parker.”

A small smile grew on Mr. Parker’s face then he chuckled, “you can call me Jeff, Dean. I was just messing with you.” Jeff let go of his hand and clapped him on the back, “nice to final meet you.” He turned to Kyle, “glad you talked them into coming. Your dad is on his way.” Jeff stepped in between the two boys and turned to the women in front of them, “shall we move this into the back or do you kids want something to eat?”
~~

Dean was surprised at how well the night had gone. He met Mr. Valenti and his wife who just happened to be Maria’s mother. All the guys had beers and talked movies and football and he even got to hear some interesting stories about Liz and Kyle and the others. Seeing Liz relaxed and having a good time, laughing at the stories the parents shared, Kyle adding in little pieces that the parents hadn’t even known. A part of him laughed along at the stories, at the blush on Liz’s cheeks, at how much Maria was so much like her mother Amy. But another part of him only saw families torn apart by chaos that they had no control over and it hit a little too close to home but the fact that Liz could still have that time, that she could still talk with her parents and laugh, it was something he was grateful for. It was something that he hoped he could have for his own child.

As he lay next to Liz, his mind recalling the events from that day, he realized he wasn’t going to get to sleep anytime soon. He was afraid he’d wake Liz if he didn’t leave the bed so he carefully slid off the bed and threw on his sweats. He took a look around the room, grabbed his cell from the dresser shoving it in his pocket as he checked the window’s lock and the line of salt on the sill before finally leaving the room and heading into the kitchen. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed into the living room taking a seat on the couch. He didn’t know how well the sound carried in the apartment so he decided not to turn on the television as he originally planned. He pulled out his cell and sent a quick message to Maria for her to call him when she got his text with no emergency, just something he needed her and Isabel to do for him before he and Liz got to Albuquerque.

He heard a noise and saw Mrs. Parker enter the kitchen, she placed something on the stove and he heard the ticking of stove trying to light. She looked at him from the kitchen, “you want some tea?”

He smiled thinking of Liz and her tea in front of the bay window in their kitchen. The thought seemed crazy, him having a house with her, him having a house at all.

“Don’t like tea?”

He turned towards her and held up his beer, “sorry. No, I’m good. It just reminded me of Liz. She’s always drinking tea at the safe house. I guess she gets it from you.”

She smiled as she turned back to the stove, grabbing a cup from one of the cabinets and then pouring the hot liquid after a few minutes. “Care if I join you?”

Dean chuckled, “not at all.”

She walked into the living room carefully holding her cup of steaming tea. She sat in an armchair by the window on the other side of the room and placed the cup on the sill. The quiet settled over the relatively dark room once again. The only light filtered through the windows in the room from the yellowish street light casting an eerie appearance around the steam rising from the cup.

“Where’s Mr. Parker?” The sentence left his mouth and he felt awkward by the time it hit his ears. Who says that?

“You can call him Jeff.” She said with a small smile.

Dean took a deep breath with his eyes on the floor and asked what was really sitting on his tongue, “why did you thank me earlier?”

He heard her soft laughter and his eyes came up to her face bathed in the light from the window. “I wondered how long you would sit with that.” Her eyes went to her tea as she picked it up from the sill, “there’s two kinds of living dean. Just going through the motions and truly living your life. My daughter had been knocked down so many times it only made sense, after a while it’s hard to get up and keep going. A piece of my daughter died with Alex.. and then after everything she’s been through I was worried she may never find enough to really help her live again.”

Dean eyed her and remembered Liz telling him they decided not to tell the parents everything that happened after how badly they took the news of Max’s capture.

Nancy noticed the small hint of confusion on his face and chuckled quietly causing Dean to raise an eyebrow in question. She answered, “mothers always know more than their children think. I’d call it woman’s intuition but in some families that isn’t just a good guess after careful observation.”

Dean wasn’t sure how to take that, was she referring to Liz’s ability or something more? “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know if Liz told you about her grandmother Claudia but she wasn’t just a lucky archeologist. She had intuition that helped her make the great finds, intuition that never failed. It runs in the Parker blood line so it’s not surprising that when Liz’s DNA changed, her natural abilities were enhanced.”

"Does Liz know about that?"

Nancy nodded, "yes she suspected when she delved into the science of her DNA and looked into her own genealogy. We didn’t have to tell her and of course she found her grandmother’s journal. It was one of the things that I think gave her a motivation again and gave her a spark of life but then something else happened and we know it wasn’t just her final breakup with max. She wouldn’t tell us what really happened but I was afraid it was the last crack in her armor.. that she would never be able to build back up and get her feet under her again. But then something changed and Liz mentioned you and Sam quite a few times. It didn’t take much for me to put two and two together. Whatever you two did or were to her, it woke her up. She was going through the motions and thinking no one knew the difference but she wasn’t fooling everyone. You brought my daughter back to life Dean and I will never be able to thank you enough for that."

Dean was speechless. He knew about Liz thinking the alien change in her DNA had enhanced her own abilities, she had talked about it while talking about Sam’s ability but having all this information thrown his way along with his pregnant girlfriend’s mother thanking him for something he felt he had no part in. He was completely out of his element for a guy who normally had no problem taking the credit but this just didn’t feel the same. He was trying to think of what to say to her but he didn’t know just what to say to that.

“Jeff was wary about you at first because he felt he was completely right about max so when you were brought into the picture.. let’s just say he wasn’t exactly trusting his daughter’s choices in men. But then he heard that you were raised by a fellow marine, it gave you major points and he couldn't deny the change in Liz after you and your brother came into her life, that helped you too. I can understand why you were so worried to meet my husband but what I still don’t understand is why you were so worried about meeting me?”

Dean smirked finally having something he actually had the answer for. “Any smart man knows it’s not the strong woman's father to truly worry about, it's her mother. I’ve bumped into a few in my time.”

Nancy smiled, “smart and good looking. I knew my daughter had good taste.”

Dean chuckled then looked down at his phone, “you know I do have something important to ask Mr.. I mean Jeff. How early does he get up?”

Her eyebrows rose, “He opens the restaurant in the morning.” At his nod her brow rose, “you’re not going to stay up all night are you?”

Dean shrugged, “I’d like to talk to him without Liz around if possible.”

She smiled, “don’t worry unless there’s an alarm set Liz will sleep til noon. At least she used to.”

Dean grinned, “she still does and so do I.”

Queen Fee : Humming the wedding song.. LOL Because of Dean's nervousness they hadn't told her parents yet but they did during their stay.
HypnotiqBlueEyes: Don't worry I won't make you wait too long to find out what Dean had to talk with Jeff about.
AvalonRose : Hmm engagement.. humming wedding song.
Twilighteyes : Thanks!


Chapter Forty Seven
*Lyric of music in Italics is not mine, it's Rhianna's.*

Liz got in the passenger seat as dean threw their bag in the trunk then slid into the driver’s seat throwing a wave to Liz's parents standing at the front door of the Crashdown. He started the car and eyed Liz putting a cassette into the player. The cassette had a black wire attached that lead to something in her hand. "What the hell is that?"

She smiled as she grabbed another part and plugged it into the lighter jack, "isn't this awesome? I'm shocked I could find it because they don't really make hook ups like this anymore. See I just need the cassette and the lighter jack for power and I can play music from my iPod. Nothing installed just pop the cassette in. Awesome." Liz noticed the panic and frustration on his face as his eyes focused on the contraption connected to his car and forced herself to swallow the building laugh.

"What? No not awesome.. No douching up my car! What's wrong with my tape collection? Perfectly fine road music. No.. you know what? Driver picks the music and shotgun shuts his.." His stuttering voice dropped out and his eyes snapped up to hers almost as if he just realized who he was talking to.

Liz simply lifted an eyebrow as she watched him carefully. He seemed to wrestle with his argument in his head trying to judge exactly how he should continue. Liz connected the jack into her iPod and music spilled from the impala’s speakers.

"Cuz I’m 0 to 60 in three point five. Baby you got the keys, Now shut up and drive, drive, drive, drive.”

Dean’s eyes fell to the iPod and for a second she thought he might rip it from the connection and chuck it out the window. Instead he looked at her with a straight face, "you owe me."

Liz glanced down at the iPod then her eyes slowly came back up to his, the right corner of her lips quirking up. "Right because I didn't listen to your music the entire way here?"

"Hey it's not just my music! I wasn't the only one singing along on more than a few albums."

"Yea and I like to listen to different types of music and not all from the same decade. Thank you very much."

Dean pulled out onto the main road as Liz waved to her parents. "Well just because you have the most eclectic collection of music than anyone I've ever known.."

Liz rolled her eyes, "yes because you know so many people with different music tastes than your own. Besides.. have you met our friends?"

He quirked his eyebrow as he quickly threw her a glance, "our friends?"

She chuckled, "oh are they not your friends because some of them are female?"

He scoffed, "no." As Liz's laughter filled the car he smiled, "you also have the oddest collection of friends."

Liz laughed, "that's partly what influenced my music collection." She looked at him with a smile, "they’re your family now too dean."

Dean grabbed her hand and squeezed, "I know."
~~

A few hours later, Dean and Liz walked into Pam's bar where everyone else was gathered. Isabel walked straight over to Liz hugging her and gushing as dean moved to the bar to get a bottle of water and a root beer for Liz and ordered a beer for himself. He leaned back against the bar as he scanned the room finding his brother playing pool with Kyle, Michael and Serena while Max, Jesse, Ava and Maria sat at a nearby table. Isabel and Liz made their way over to the bar and dean handed Liz the bottle of water. At her look he lifted the root beer, "drink some water first."

Liz rolled her eyes, "yes mother."

Isabel laughed, "aw you’re going to be such a good father."

Dean smiled, "if Liz lets me live long enough."

Liz laughed and Isabel smiled as she watched their small interactions. Ava spotted them at the bar and waved catching Liz's attention. They moved to the table joining everyone else. Ava smiled at Liz, "so How did they take the baby news?" Then threw a glance at Dean, "and how did dean do spending four days with your parents?"

Liz smiled, "they were excited! I could tell after it sank in they seem a little nervous for us but I think their excitement tops it."

Dean smirked at Ava, "how was your two night stay at the Valenti household?"

Ava gave him a tight lipped smile then laughed, "I'll take Maria's mothering over her own mother any day. That woman is way too nosy about everything."

Maria laughed, "she’s gotten better. You should’ve tried living with her as a teenager!"

Kyle and Sam walked over to the table and grabbed their beers. Kyle glanced at Maria, "whining about your mother again?"

Maria scoffed with a small smile, "shut up.. oh sweet brother of mine. Just because you love to be mothered just to get her pies.."

Dean’s brow rose, "wait there's pie involved?"

Liz laughed, "those pies you were devouring at the Crash were Amy's."

Dean eyed Ava, "you are no longer allowed to complain.."

Sam rolled his eyes and put his beer down, a smile spreading across his face. "Here we go."

Michael and Serena walked over to the table. Michael rubbed his hands together, "alright, who's next in line to get creamed?"

Serena smirked at Sam who laughed. Her eyes went to his brother, "Dean I thought you said you AND your brother hustled pool to make money?"

Dean smiled, "Sammy was more the innocent face to reel them in. He always wanted to do honest labor."

"Innocent faces don’t fool me." Michael chuckled as he slapped Sam on the back.

Kyle threw in, “neither does honest labor.” At Michael’s sideways glance Kyle added, “sometimes.” Michael nodded making Kyle laugh.

Maria rolled her eyes and looked to Liz, "can you please shut him up honey?"

Liz smirked at Michael, "did you see me here when you said that?"

Michael placed his hands on the table and leaned forward, "I'm not afraid of you Parker."

Liz quirked an eyebrow, "that's not what you said last time."

Michael scoffed, "please that was so long ago."

Liz grabbed Dean's arm pulling him towards the table, "let's kick their ass!"

Dean chuckled as he walked with her to the table, "whatever you say."

"This I gotta see." Kyle smirked and volunteered to rack the balls as the two pairs got their sticks. Michael and Dean played rock, paper, scissor for the break and dean won. Dean nodded to Liz to break.

"No, you won the right."

Dean threw a glance back at Michael then lowered his voice, "you break, you're better."

Liz shook her head, "no I'm not. Not when you are on your game."

Dean put his stick down, "I'm not breaking because I won't hear the end of it if we lose."

Serena laughed from the other side of the table, "trouble in paradise already kids?"

Kyle chuckled, "I think they were in the car too long together."

Liz picked up her stick, "fine.. You big baby."

Dean smiled, "we're supposed to be on the same team."

Liz smirked, "it's not really a team if I do everything."

Dean smacked her ass as she got in her stance. "That's the spirit, go get ‘em tiger!"

Liz rolled her eyes as she lined up the shot. She hit her mark perfectly, enjoying the crack of the balls but frowned when they didn't split like they should. She stood and noticed the middle ball had actually cracked.

Dean stared at the pool table. "Wow I didn't think I really pissed you off."

Liz turned to him, "really? You think I did that?"

He held up his hands, "hey I'm not the one with the juice.. You just broke a ball. Beautiful.. woman.. that I love..”

Liz rolled her eyes, “stop sucking up.” She walked over to the side of the table then leaned in to get a closer look. The ball had actually cracked open a bit and she could see something inside. She reached over grabbing the broken ball and felt that it was lighter than it should be. "What the hell?" She glanced up to dean.

He glanced between her and the broken ball from the other side of the table, "what is it?"
She looked back down at the ball in her hand as she pulled the pieces apart finding soft fabric inside with white gold peeking out at the side. She pushed the fabric aside with her thumb and her jaw dropped as the fabric fell away. Her eyes snapped up to where dean had stood but he was gone then she felt his hands slide around her waist and his warm chest press against her back. She felt his lips brush against her ear sending a shiver down her spine and fire through her veins. Her eyes still stuck on the simple white gold ring with a small square diamond.

"Elizabeth Parker, I Dean fucking Winchester would be nothing without you.. Seriously I'd be dead." Liz giggled and briefly thought about how wrong that was but then his warm breath against her ear brought her attention back to him. "You are the most amazing woman I've ever met. Not only can you kick my ass.. sometimes.. but you make me say things I would never say. You have somehow gotten under my skin and I will never regret the day you literally kicked my legs out from under me and stormed into my life. And now I'm the luckiest bastard in the world because you are carrying my son. The only thing left that could make me the happiest asshat demon hunter in the world is if you would be my highly evolved, terminator wife."
She felt his arm move then his right hand lifted the ring from the broken ball and moved the ring to her left ring finger but didn’t put it on.

Her breathe caught as she watched his hand hover with the ring at the end of her finger. "What are you waiting for?"

His voice came out as a whisper against her ear, "your answer."

She shoved her finger through the ring then felt his laugh rumble through his chest. She turned in his arms and kissed him softly then pulled back and looked into his eyes, "yes."

He brushed the lone tear off her cheek, "sorry about the language that was just.."

She laughed softly, "I know. You’re awkward with the chick flick stuff."

He chuckled, "I love you Liz. I don't ever want you to forget that.. because I know I'm going to screw up."

She kissed him, quickly cutting him off. "We both will. We're only human."

Dean raised an eyebrow and she giggled softly, "shut up." She gave him another quick kiss, "I love you." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him as he lifted her off the floor.

Clapping and hollering from behind her finally seeped into her brain and she realized everyone just saw what happened and we're most definitely in on the whole thing. She looked into his eyes and saw true happiness there. "How did you hide this from me?"

Dean smirked, "I've learned a few tricks along the way."

Liz's smile slowly spread across her face. She didn't care that her friends were hooting and hollering, creating a huge scene in the bar. It was her scene. This man holding her tightly had so much love to give and he chose her. Even though she was different, even though she came with more baggage than anyone could imagine, he still chose her. She didn’t think a ring was really necessary, not after everything they’d been through. The bond seemed to represent so much more anyway and yet she couldn't really remember ever feeling as happy and content as she was in this one moment with his arms around her, his ring on her finger, and their child growing inside her. In this one moment nothing else mattered. She leaned in to kiss him and whispered against his lips, "thank you."

"Quit teasing."

Liz laughed then kissed him quickly deepening the kiss as her hands went into his hair, not caring that all attention was on them, not caring about anything but him.

barbara87413, HypnotiqBlueEyes, Queen Fee, Twilighteyes, AvalonRose: Thanks for all your amazing comments!!

Chapter 48
Three weeks later.

Liz moved around the living room picking up random items and putting them back in their place before pulling the vacuum into the room. They had just returned to the safe houses and Liz couldn’t stand the dust that she swore was everywhere. She had already cleaned her room and Serena’s before moving to the kitchen and then the living room. She didn’t know where all the energy came from but she wasn’t complaining because for the first time in a while she felt like she was being more productive than lazy and tired. She was trying to move the couch to vacuum underneath it when she heard the footsteps climb the three small steps to the front porch along with Dean’s voice.

“It’s hot as hell out here, why do people live here? I know Michael cheated when he bet lawn work last night.” Dean stripped off his shirt with one hand as he saw the glass of water Liz left him on the table next to her rocking chair on the porch. He grabbed the glass and dumped it over his head, sighing at the few moments of reprieve from the heat. The music wafting through the screen door caught his attention. A smile came to his face, “what the hell is this crap you are forcing my child to listen to?”

Without turning from her task of moving the couch she responded, “touch my music dean and I swear to God I will use your rocksalt shotgun on you. I’m not even kidding.”

Dean chuckled as he bent down to take his boots off before entering the house remembering her complaints earlier about how much of a mess the clean house was. At least from his perspective, the house looked perfectly fine. “That might be the hottest thing you've ever said to me..”

“Shut up and help me..”

He stood up straight and squinted as he looked through the screen door towards the living room, “help you what? Hey!” He pulled open the door and ran towards her, “I know you can do a lot but let me do the heavy stuff for now, okay?”

Liz stepped away from the couch throwing her arms across her chest, “fine.” He bent over to get a good grasp on the bottom of the couch and a small appreciative smile came to her face. Her eyes drank in the muscles bulging as he lifted the couch slightly to push it across the carpet. Her eyes followed the water that dripped from his hair and ran down his back bending and curving over the muscle outline. Dean turned around, his face in question and she realized he had asked her something. Her darkened eyes rose to his and she licked her lips.

Dean's eyebrows rose as his smile stretched across his face. "See something you like?"

"Pants off now Winchester.." Her eyes drifted over his chest and down to his pants.

He quirked an eyebrow but her eyes didn’t leave his pants. He chuckled, "I thought I was supposed to help you clean?"

Her eyes finally came up to his, darker than before making him suck in a breath. "Oh you’re going to help me alright." She flicked her hand and his pants dropped to the floor. His jaw followed.

He glanced down, "when did you learn that?" When she didn’t answer his eyes came up to find her stalking towards him. His eyes raked over her face down to her small extended belly that just started to show. He stepped out of his pants and knelt in front of her, raising her shirt and kissing her belly which sent a shiver up her spine. Dean could tell that only excited her more.

She looked down at him and smiled, "if you don't take me to bed right now and touch me everywhere I want, I will find my own way to satisfy these pregnancy cravings and cut you out completely."

He looked up at her face and smiled at her empty threat, "you know I love it when you talk dirty." He stood up and swept her into his arms heading for their room as she wrapped her legs around his waist and crashed her lips to his hungrily taking what her body was screaming out for.
~~

As promised, Serena, Ava, and Kyle stood with Sam out in the field behind the two houses trying to help him with his telekinesis that started to show itself in Albuquerque. Although some of them laughed it off when Sam started moving things without touching them, Serena noticed that Sam’s laughter seemed to be more on the fake side. When she approached him about it he brushed her off, apparently forgetting that she knew him better than that. She figured he was closing off because he was worried about these new abilities but she didn’t know what to say to help him. Every time she tried bringing it up he’d laugh or tell her it was nothing. He didn’t want to talk about why he was worried and that bothered her when it came from someone who was always so open. At least with her.

She thought it could be the stress of knowing they were being hunted by their enemies which included the law and if he started moving things at the wrong place he could put them all in more danger but part of her worried that it went deeper than that. Even though Liz had talked to him about his psychic abilities being hereditary, he still seemed to shy away from the topic. And if he wouldn’t talk much about his premonition ability that he’d dealt with for years then it would explain why it wasn’t going well with this new one. Even with the smallest task of simply moving a small rock, Sam kept blowing it up or not doing much of anything at all. It was the first time that Serena couldn’t read what was really going on and that worried her for a completely different reason. Was she too close to him that her own judgment was clouded? Was Sam becoming something more to her without her even realizing it?

Sam’s curse pulled her from her thoughts. She gave him a sideways glance to see him running his hands through his hair. He was obviously frustrated but she couldn’t pinpoint why.

Kyle eyed the pieces of rock scattered around the field. "Sam you have to control your frustration. You can't let it control you."

Ava rolled her eyes at Kyle’s obvious but unhelpful comment then looked to Sam. "Just focus on what you want to do. Don't think about anything else."

Sam took a few deep breathes and tried to calm down. He didn’t understand how he was just supposed to push everything else back and use powers that he had been avoiding and trying to forget. But Kyle understood that, after all he had stood in his position before. He knew Serena and Ava did too but they were born with an alien side and they were taught not to fear it. He was brought up thinking stuff like this could only be done by monsters and Kyle, well the alien stuff just scared the shit out of him. Now it was a part of him and he had fun with it but Sam just wasn't there yet. He'd just spent the past two years trying to fight it and now he was supposed to just embrace and control it? It didn’t seem to matter that Liz told him he always had this ability even before yellow eyes or maybe that just made it worse. He lifted his hand again trying to focus on moving the rock but instead nothing happened then his frustration kicked in and it exploded. He dropped his hand.

He heard Ava sigh, saw Kyle drop his head out of the corner of his eye and as usual Serena stayed silent just watching seemingly without judgment. He watched the pieces of rock fall and settle on the ground.

He heard footsteps coming from behind them and heard Liz's voice, "having fun decorating Sam?" He heard the humor there but didn't feel up for it.

She stopped next to him and looked at the mess from his forty minutes of failed attempts. "Not bad for your first time." She knew her statement wasn’t exactly correct. Sam had come to her and admitted that he had moved something before but it was under distress, if he didn’t move the thing blocking his way Dean would die. She had been happy that he still felt comfortable coming to her but she worried about the fear still attached to his ability.

He looked at her like she had grown another head. "Not bad?"

She smirked, "hey you actually did something. How is that not bad?"

Sam snorted, "yea.. Right."

"Try it again. Only this time, don't think about anything. At all."

He watched her as she looked back to the field and waited. She seemed to radiate calm confidence, in her ability to judge him or just her belief in him being able to do this. While her support was appreciated, he wasn’t sure he could live up to that belief she had in him. He took another deep breath and followed her gaze. He lifted his hand and just watched for a full minute. Nothing. A whole lot of nothing. The small rock exploded. "Damn it!"

Liz glanced at him, "it's your frustration.” She touched his arm gently and gave him a small smile, “I know exactly who should work with you." She patted his arm and walked back towards the house without another word.

Sam watched her walk for a few moments waiting for more information but when none came, he turned toward the others to see Ava and Serena looking at each other with a small smile. They noticed Sam’s attention and gave him a shrug. His brow scrunched together as he looked to Kyle to see if he knew what was going on. Kyle turned to Sam shaking his head then Kyle’s eyes went wide and he started laughing. Sam’s confusion grew deeper.

Kyle smiled, "you’re not the first to have anger issues that screwed up your focus. Of course it was before my time but man the stories I’ve heard! It got him every now and then around me, mainly because of Maria." Then he burst out laughing again.

Serena rolled her eyes and tilted her head towards the house, "come on. You need a break."

Sam turned to Serena, “what was that about.. you and ava.. what was that look?”

Ava smirked, “believe me, you don’t want to know kiddo.”

Thirty minutes later, Michael and Sam walked back out to the field. Sam was watching him the whole time a little hesitant since Michael insisted on them going alone. When they got out far enough Michael nodded for Sam to try something.

Sam shook out his arms trying to alleviate his nerves. Even though he knew he had a couple inches on Michael he was still intimidated by him especially when they were alone. He took a deep breath as he lifted his hand and focused on a small rock not too far from them and told it to move towards him then waited. He tried clearing his mind like Ava and Liz had said but still nothing. A full five minutes and nothing had happened but at least nothing exploded either. He felt Michael’s eyes on him and tried harder. Yelling in his head for the stupid piece of earth to move then the small rock split in two.

Michael turned towards him, “what the hell do you have against it?”

Sam tried not to flinch at Michael’s harsh tone, “what?”

Michael took a step closer, “you don't want the powers.. so much so that it makes you mad, so I ask again what do you have against it?”

Sam shook his head as he leaned slightly back, “I don't know what you’re talking about.”

Michael narrowed his eyes, “yes you do.”

Sam just stared at him.

“Did you have a hard time coming to grips because you were different? Cuz you moved around alot and every time everyone looked at you like the new freak in town? Yea I bet that was hard. But guess what you weren't the only one dealt a bad set. Did you not only KNOW you were a freak, have everyone look at you like a freak and also get pushed around home to home because no one wanted you? Only to finally get stuck with a dickhead that used you as a punching bag whenever he felt like it and just kept you around for the paycheck he got? Yea, you must’ve had it really hard to hate what was inside you. To hate what pulsed through your veins to the point that using it only made you what everyone thought when they looked at you. Nothing but a freak.”

Sam stood transfixed as Michael ripped his fear apart in front of him like it was nothing more than a thin sheet of paper. He saw Michael’s muscles tense and while his eyes stayed connected with Sam’s, Michael lifted his arm to the side and ten small rocks exploded. Sam threw his arms up to cover his face then brought them down a few seconds later to find Michael still watching him.

"That hatred and fear you attached to being different will not help you, it will not help those you love. Your brother, Liz, Serena, they will only be in more danger if you don’t take control. You were given a gift that some asshole tried to use for his own purpose and you need to get over it. The only way you can protect yourself and your family is if you man up and realize this power is yours and no one else's. Only you decide how it will be used."

Sam saw all traces of his frustration disappear and the man that stood before him was calm and collected with hints of the soldier he'd seen come to life on a few occasions but still the man he called friend. Serena had said he was a general on Antar and he could clearly see that now. Michael was a natural born leader yet he worked well with Liz who also was a natural leader, it seemed odd before with just the different personalities but having almost natural clashing personalities working together so easily made the group seem that much more unbelievable. He was sure Serena would have some psychological term for it.

Michael’s arm rose again but this time the pieces of rock came together, molding back into bigger solid pieces of earth almost the same as before they were demolished. His control was amazing without even looking. Sam finally tore his gaze away from the rocks to meet Michael’s, "I'm sorry.."

A small smile played at the corner of Michael’s lips. "No need to be sorry Sammy boy, just get your shit together and let's do this." He smirked and turned back towards the field crossing his arms.

Sam smiled and lifted his hand, "okay give me those pointers again. And the Sammy thing.."

"Yea yea pretty boy, quit stalling."

roswellian love,Twilighteyes,HypnotiqBlueEyes,AvalonRose,Queen Fee: I'm a big fan of Michael.. and when I started thinking about Sam dealing with powers Michael was my first thought of a understanding teacher on a few different levels. Love that you guys agree!
ZansLove: I know what you mean! Of course I was just a lurker when I came here to get my fill of roswell fics for years and decided to join when I started writing again and saw the site still running. Thanks! I try my best!

Got some time to edit and write yesterday.. so I decided to go ahead and post this early.. and maybe so I wouldn't mess with it anymore..


CHAPTER 49

Dean walked down the stairs his tense muscles and jerky movements screaming controlled anger with Sam on his heels with papers in his hand. "I said it was out of the question Sam."

"Dean this could get us answers that sitting around here won’t. We snag one of the demons causing these signs and we get our answers."

"And just leave Liz here? No I'm not going to chance it. I won't leave her."

Sam followed Dean into the living room. “It's not like she’s defenseless or alone. We do this and if we find out even the slightest hint it'd be more than we have now.."

“DAMNIT SAM I SAID NO. Out of the question..”

Sam interrupted him, “You think I don't want to keep her safe? She's my family too de..”

Dean turned to face him. “Don't. Don't even.”

Sam stood his ground in front of his brother. “Don't what? You think I don't understand? You think I don't know what it feels like? That feeling when you first realized this woman might be the one. The one thing you thought you'd never get, that you weren't good enough for? The one person that for the first time in your life you'd give it all up for? That for the first time in your life you found someone who'd be able to make life actually worth living instead of just living job to job?” His voice dropped almost to a whisper, “you think I want to see Liz on that ceiling? I know what it’s like Dean, I’m not saying we leave her here all alone..”

Dean’s eyes widened as the blood drained from his face, his hands balled into fists. “If you understand then you know why I can't go. Why I have stay.”

“Dean..”

“If you understand so well then you know why she needs me here..”

“She's fine here, she has protection, people watching her back.”

“Not enough!”

Sam let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine I’ll just go on my own then”

Dean eyed him and Sam watched the struggle on his face and wondered what he was going to say, wondered if he’d tell him he wasn’t allowed to go. “You can't go out by yourself, be reasonable you need backup..”

“I’ll take Serena then.”

Dean yelled as he turned and stormed out of the room. “Fine do it your way Sam!”

Sam pushed his hair back as he palmed his head putting a little pressure on the growing headache and tried to calm himself down. He was so frustrated he wanted to punch a wall. Why wasn’t Dean more irritated about not knowing what was going on? He was always the one who wanted to jump at the bad guy, to get moving and find the way to take the damned thing out specially when they felt they were in the dark but this time he was just being.. so paranoid. Liz had more than enough protection here.

He heard a noise and looked out of the living room down the hallway towards the back of the house. He heard the noise again and dropped his hands as he moved into the hallway. He saw Liz peek out from the kitchen doorway and swore under his breath. “Sorry, you didn’t need to hear that.”

Liz laughed softly, “you both got pretty loud a few times, they might’ve heard you next door.” Sam’s brow rose and she chuckled again as she waved him off. “It's fine.” She followed him into the living room and sat beside him on the couch. “I know you think he's just being overprotective or thinking that if he leaves something will happen to me. Believe me I've said it to him too but I also know it’s more of a battle for him to stay than you know. He's not used to staying in one place, he's never had a home base before. It’s not as easy for him to play house as it is for you, you’ve always wanted this where Dean never thought he’d have the luxury. He fought the itch to leave almost every day in the beginning, he still gets it sometimes when his fear spikes and he thinks I’ll be safer away from him.. it’s not as bad as before but that’s not what this is all about either. Yes he's terrified for me but he’s also terrified of you going off on your own. Despite popular belief your brother has a lot going on in that mind of his. ”

Sam turned his head, looking at her in question. “What? He's let me go off on my own before.”

She nodded, “yea but now there's so much more at stake. Demons, aliens.. The baby.”

“The baby?”

She smiled at the lost look on his face. “Sam, you’re this little guy’s uncle, his dad’s baby brother. You know how much you mean to him, he’d give his life for yours. He’s been watching out for you since you were a baby, you think he’d just stop now? He wants his son to know you and not just because you’re the only remaining blood he has left. If anything happened to you.. It'd kill him. It's always been that way but there's more at stake now. I may be at the top of his list.. but you’re still up there too. You should give him a chance to cool down and think it through.”

She watched him look at his hands and she gently placed her hand on his. “I’m going to tell you something that you probably should have been told a long time ago but you know you’re brother doesn’t like to talk about anything that he considers chick lit.” She giggled when she heard Sam’s soft laugher then met his eyes, “you know how you wished you had a normal childhood with a normal family? Look at it from your brother’s eyes. He didn't get the normal childhood he'd thought he get either.” Her eyes fell to her hands. “After your mom died and your dad took you guys out on the road.. Dean was no longer able to be the kid. He had to raise you and help your dad as much as he could. I get flashes sometimes when he worries about being a father. Flashes of your dad coming home from a hunt looking awful, sometimes he's trying to drink away memories I guess. It's your brother that gets him up and into bed or at least to lie down on the couch. Dean was the one to tell your dad everything's going to be okay. Dean believed it of course.. even though he saw all the cracks in the armor, he still believed in superman. Then when you guys were older, He just tried to stop you both from fighting because he was trying with everything he had to keep the small amount of family he had left.” She glanced up at Sam to see him staring forward, his jaw tight. “You and your dad never made it easy because you were so much alike. Dean not only looked like your mom but it seems he took on more of her role than he’d care to admit. He raised you and was the crutch your father leaned on and yet he still worries he’ll fail his son. It’s maddening.”

Sam felt the knot in his stomach, so many times he was such a selfish asshole and this was just another one. He was focusing so much on what he was struggling with that he didn’t stop to think that maybe Dean was struggling with all the new things in his life as well. He looked back to her, "Liz.. I .. I'm sorry. I never realized.."

Liz smiled softly at him, "Sam it's okay. You were just a kid for most of it too. You had a right to feel the way you did but now that you’re an adult, you should try to see it from his side too. He feels like he's always been fighting to keep his family together and he doesn't have much left.” She looked towards the doorway shaking her head, “He’s a hunter.. it’s just what he feels he was built for and really he’s never had anything that told him otherwise but somewhere in that crazy brain of his, I think he has this idea that if he keeps hunting he’ll become your father. He just.. He’s going to the extreme instead of finding a balance between what he’s good at and what he wants.”

“That’s where you come in.”

She turned her head back to him. “You too Sam. If this is what you want, you can show him that he doesn’t have to choose either or. You need to help me because he’s so far in his head that I don’t know if he’d really listen to either of us alone but if we both talk with him. I don’t know.. it’s just the only thing I can think of.. but you should probably talk to him about everything that is still between you before trying to get him out of this house.” Liz laughed softly, “honestly, I’d like to shove him out of here because he’s starting to drive me crazy with the hovering.. and you both need to go on some hunts so you feel like you’re actually accomplishing something. You’re both getting a little crazy and kind of annoying.” A soft smile appeared on her face at his soft chuckle, “I need to keep my sanity but I will not let you two leave while you still have shit to work out you hear me Samuel Winchester?"

Sam’s eyes widened, “Wow.. you just used the scary mom voice.”

She smirked, “easy to get my practice with you two.”
~~

Liz sat up in bed reading a book she had picked up the last time her and Maria had gone into town. She had been reading the same page for the last fifteen minutes because her mind kept wandering, drifting to Dean pacing somewhere just outside of the house. She knew he was debating the information Sam had brought him earlier that day but she didn’t know why he was fighting it so hard. She knew he kept changing his decision on going and she also knew that he had felt her support but that didn’t seem to penetrate his overwhelming sense of full responsibility over her protection. She had picked up the book on the bedside table to distract her but she’d only get a few lines in when his fear would spike through the connection. She sighed and rolled her eyes again. She just wished he’d finally come in here and talk to her because she was not going to go looking for him this time.

She smiled as she slid down under the sheet and pictured the other night when they had gotten a little too carried away in the shower. She felt the fire start slowly then felt the desire spike through the connection. She smiled as she received the exact reaction she had hoped for. A few moments later Dean came through the bedroom door, his eyes connecting with hers immediately as he closed the door quietly behind him. “What are you trying to do to me?”

She smiled, “oh.. did I distract you? I’m sorry I’ve been distracted all evening by someone’s brooding so I figured it was my turn.. and my distraction is so much better.”

He climbed on the bed, “Maria was right, you’ve been around me too much but I’m not going to complain.” His mouth covered hers as he pulled back the sheet.

His lips traveled down her neck and she tried to stay focused. “So did you come in here to brood some more or are you going to talk about it?”

She felt him growl against her shoulder as he continued his assault seeking out her favorite spots. “Talking can wait.. I don’t think I’d make much sense with the images you put in my head.” His tongue shot out and caressed her collarbone making her suck in a breath.

“That’s not.. no.. talk first.” His hands moved expertly up her sides, calloused fingers knowing every inch of tease and torture that rendered her brain useless.

He hummed against her throat as his mouth trailed hot kisses back up to her sweet spot at the juncture of her jaw and ear, his hands engulfing her breasts. “How bout now?” He smiled in victory as her words turned into incoherent moans that only he could translate. She may have had other intentions but he knew he was in full control and there was no way they were going to do any talking tonight.
~~

Liz stretched as she slowly started to wake and smiled as Dean’s arm tightened around her, his hand splayed across her stomach. Images from the night before flooded her mind and although she was slightly annoyed with her own plan backfiring, she enjoyed it too much to really complain. She placed her hand over Dean’s on her stomach and wondered when they’d feel the baby move. She knew she was only around sixteen weeks along and had felt small flutters but nothing that she could definitely say was the baby or anything dean would be able to feel.

She felt Dean shift a bit and then heard his gruff voice, “quit brooding.”

She giggled softly. “I wasn’t, thinking and brooding are two different things.”

She turned from her side to her back and saw Dean’s eyes were still closed. “Even though you got your way last night, there are things that need to be resolved.” His eyes didn’t budge but his fingers started a slow circular motion on her stomach so she knew he was awake enough to listen. “You need to go with your brother.”

“Not this again.”

“I know you want to. I see how you perk up every time Sam talks about what he’s come across on his laptop. I think you going out on a hunt would be good for you. Just one and see how it is. Honestly you’re driving me crazy not having anything to do, it’s giving you cabin fever or something and you’re hovering around me all the time.” His eyes finally opened slightly. “I know how to take care of myself and while it’s sweet you want to help me.. too much can get really annoying.”

“I’m doing stuff around here.. and I’m protecting you.”

“From what? Paper cuts and airborne pathogens? Be honest, you don’t know what to do with yourself and there’s nothing wrong with going on hunts dean. As long as you come back home in between I’m fine. Just try one, that’s all I ask.”

“Liz..”

She turned towards him and gently ran her fingers along his jawline feeling the short stubble there. “Life isn't supposed to be stagnant, our roles are constantly changing but that doesn’t mean we need to lose who we are. When it's stagnant that's not really life.. If it's not creating or bending, flowing, changing then it's at the end of its life cycle and it’s at death’s door.”

“Um.. you lost me. I am changing.. to being here with you.”

Liz laughed softly as she looked into his hazy green eyes that amazed her. They always seemed so green in the morning and when he was emotional. She could almost judge his current state of mind by the green and brown ratio. “Yes you’re becoming a father but that doesn’t mean that you completely give up what you do. Admit it, you’re bouncing off the walls here because you don’t know what to do with yourself.”

He smirked, “if I’m stagnant then what are you, huh?”

She quirked an eyebrow, “are you kidding? I’m growing a human inside of me. I’m constantly doing something.”

Dean laughed softly, “true.” He flattened his hand on her stomach and leaned his face down, “don’t work her too hard little man.” He looked up at her and noticed her face, “what are you thinking about.”

“Making sure I remember what I just said to you.. Life isn’t supposed to be stagnant.. I need to write that down.. that’s good. Maybe in a journal for the baby.”

Dean laughed harder as Liz grabbed her phone from the nightstand and started tapping the buttons writing down her thought.

AvalonRose: It would definitely be wise for them to take her advice.. who knows what Liz and Serena could do together if they keep annoying them.. specially if they get Ava involved..
roswellian love: Seriously!! I'm like.. really? No one? No one's going to set him straight? I mean there are times when it seems like he really tries to understand but .. just doesn't quite get it. I'm embarrassed for you Sammy boy.. I'm a big fan!
HypnotiqBlueEyes: You got it right!



Chapter 50

Liz sat in the rocking chair on the front porch slowly rocking with one hand on her small extended belly and the other on her cell phone resting on the arm of the chair. Her mind was on Dean and Sam who were out on their second case in four weeks. Both of them had seemed more refreshed when they came home from the first case even though the demon hadn’t known anything about what was going on but they had saved a small family the demon had been tormenting. Their way of life may be hard but it also gave them a sense of accomplishment, of purpose. They were soldiers in a war that remained unseen to most and there was something to be said for the men that risked their lives for people they didn’t even know.

Sam and Dean had done it for different reasons in the beginning, Sam to help people that didn’t have the tools or knowledge to help themselves and Dean because it was a mixture of what he was taught and revenge for his mother. There was a small bit of revenge in Sam’s drive but it was more for what a demon did to his family, the normal life the demon took away from him where Dean even though he tried extremely hard to forget, he could vividly remember the night of his mother’s death and the life he had to say goodbye to. Now they were more or less on the same wavelength, Liz giggled as she visualized it as a pie graph. One part redemption for past mistakes, one part saving people, one part family business, one part for their father, and one part they were good at it, very good at it.

A soft flutter next to her signaled his arrival and she smiled, “hey cas.”

He sat next to her on the neighboring chair, “I wanted to check on you while Dean was gone.”

She turned her head to him, “he sent you.”

A small smile appeared on the angel’s face, “he may have asked if I could check on you while he was gone.”

She laughed, “he probably also asked for you to be stealthy about it.”

A rare chuckle broke from the angel, “you know him well.”

The quiet settled over them as she rocked and he sat watching her for a few moments before following her gaze to the front yard. Liz finally asked the question on her mind, “where do you go when you’re not here?”

“In heaven mostly, finding those who helped destroy my original timeline.. brothers that betrayed my father. Hoping they wouldn’t make the same decisions.”

She looked at him carefully, noting the clenching of his jaw. She searched the memories from his timeline, of his brothers that helped start the apocalypse, brothers that betrayed and failed him. She stopped on a memory she had thought about before but never said anything because of how much it seemed to still be affecting him. “It's kind of funny how much you and dean are alike.”

Cas looked at her curiously, “what do you mean?

“You don't think you’re worthy of all the times you've been brought back. You don't think you were worthy for one let alone being given the chance to go back and try to change it.”

Cas’ eyes went wide and he looked away. “I can see why dean says you frighten him.”

Liz laughed, “you do know what he really means when he says that right?”

He looked back at her confused, “I'm afraid I don't understand.”

She smiled, “why do you not believe in the faith your father places in you?” His head tilted to the side and his brow scrunched together. “Both you and dean, you don't believe you deserve the faith your fathers place in you.”

He argued, “I haven't done anything to show..”

She interrupted, “excuse the language but bullshit.”

He leaned back in the chair showing frustrated confusion in his jerky movements. Liz tried to hide her smile at the angel’s very human like response. “Cas you did everything you were told.. Everything you thought your father was telling you and when things didn't seem like him you changed.”

His voice was quiet but firm, “I disobeyed.”

“You disobeyed who?”

He looked at her flustered, “I.. You saw what I did when I tried to fix things, when I tried to make them right. I did more destruction on heaven and earth..”

Liz sat back and started to rock as she thought of the best way to get him to understand. She smiled adding another similarity to Dean to the list. She wondered if all the time Cas had spent around him in the other timeline had rubbed off on him. The thought gave her an idea. “Have you ever watched children play?”

He looked at her with his brow drawn together again. She turned her head to face him and raised her eyebrow.

Hesitantly he answered, “yes. I've watched children play.”

“Have you ever watched a boy pretend to be his father? Watched a child play house?”

Cas looked around the porch and back out to the yard. “I don't understand.”

“A boy will pretend to be driving a car, going to work, getting dinner with his family, maybe play house with a little girl.” She shrugged, “or little boy. But you know what the boy will never play?”

He watched her waiting, intently listening.

She looked out at the yard envisioning a small house maybe a swing set as well where her son could play. She imagined Dean playing with him, teaching him different things. “A boy will never play a father's real work. A boy doesn't understand all that goes into being a father, he doesn't know how his father really does his job, how his father really keeps the house over his head, he doesn’t know how to resolve fights with his wife with both parents feeling the issues have been addressed. He doesn’t know that his father does so many things so the boy can play.. So the boy can be his child for as long as possible until the day comes when he has to be a man. Then the father will teach the boy to be a good man so he can do the same for his own children. By then most of what the boy needs will be there from just looking back on his memories with new eyes but there will still be things, almost secrets to success so to speak that the father will be able to give his son.” She looked back to Cas, “Do you understand?”

Castiel looked back to her as she smiled softly. He saw some of the things she had envisioned in the grassy yard in front of them. Awareness seemed to slip over his features as if a secret had just been revealed to him. “You are the reason that Dean will be strong enough.”

Liz was taken aback and furrowed her brow, “what?”

A small smile came to the angel’s face. “This time whatever comes, Dean has a strong woman beside him helping him, guiding him. You, Liz Parker, are the reason that Dean Winchester will be able to win the war, whatever that war may be. I didn't foresee it when I placed you in Sam’s path but I'm glad that it happened.”

Liz smiled at him as she rubbed her belly feeling the small movements responding to her touch. “I'm glad you did too Cas, I'm really glad.”

~~

Dean sat at the bar with a beer while he waited for Sam. He couldn't really remember at what point he lost interest in whatever show was playing on the small television because really he lost time whenever his mind went to Liz. Wondering if she was sitting up reading or hanging out with anyone. Hopefully she wasn't by herself obsessing over some list of information she had scrounged up while she was supposed to be resting.

A smile came to his face when he remembered what happened the last time he tried telling her to take it easy and just relax instead of working so hard. She had thrown him into a chair and showed him just how much she enjoyed working hard and he couldn't say he didn't enjoy it at which point she threatened she wouldn't work him at all if he kept telling her that. He heard ‘Cherry Pie’ start playing from the jukebox and chuckled a little to himself, "that alien mojo just follows me." He picked up his beer and took another swig only to find it was empty. He pulled out his cell phone and realized he had been waiting almost thirty minutes for Sam to get the room and meet him there. He opened the phone to call him when another beer was placed in front of him.
He glanced up at the old bar tender who pointed to the other end of the bar, "on the lady."

Dean glanced down the bar only to see light brown hair with hints of red cascading down said lady's back. "I'm sorry, I can't accept this."

The bartender gave him a smirk, "you’re going to refuse a drink from a beautiful lady?"

Dean understood the man's confusion. He was sitting here alone, why shouldn't he accept the invitation for some company? Before he could reply the old man started to walk away, "you want to turn her down, tell her yourself when you give the drink to her."

Dean shook his head with a small smile, the old bastard was trying to set him up. The only problem was he didn't know Dean seriously wasn’t looking for company. He had more than just a beautiful woman to call his own. He glanced down the bar again and felt bad about just leaving it there. He swore under his breath as he picked the beer up and walked down to her end of the bar placing it next to her own glass. "Sorry but I can't accept this."

She turned towards him but her head was still down. She wore a pair of dark jeans and a black top that showed off a fair amount of cleavage for a relatively small woman.

"It's just that I have someone.."

She looked up at him with a small smile.

"Holy shit.." his eyes were as wide as saucers as he took in Liz's face then glanced down at her chest.

"I'm sorry you were saying?" The smile on her face slowly grew as her eyes danced with mischief.

His eyes were stuck on her chest. "You were hiding from me?"

"Didn't want to ruin the surprise."

He smirked as he glanced at the jukebox, "Cherry Pie? I should have known. You trying to seduce me?" His eyes came back to hers as he felt the connection flare open. His hands went into her hair as he felt the familiar warmth hum in his mind, "what did you do?"

She grinned as he ran her hair through his fingers, "I thought a little change would be nice."

His eyes fell back to her chest and she curled her fingers into his belt loops and pulled him closer. "Those are courtesy of your son."

Dean's eyes met hers again as the smirk bloomed on his face, "remind me to thank him."
Dean silenced her laugh with his lips. Even though he had only been gone four days he hadn't been able to get her out of his head. He drank her in as one arm pulled her body against his and his other hand dove back into her hair, cradling her head. The feel of her body with its small changes pressed against his, it was heady and too damn good to be true. He felt her hands slide around his waist dipping into the back of his jeans. He was lost to the world as she surrounded him and he had no problems drowning in her. Then he was pulled back to reality when he felt her lips pull away. Dazed, he stared at her in confusion.

She chuckled, "we're still in the bar. How about we go to the hotel?"

Dean looked at her red, puffy lips as her words pierced his fogged brain. "Right." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door then stopped and pulled a twenty from his wallet dropping it on the bar for their drinks as Liz giggled at his side. He continued on to the door and out to the street with her hand firmly in his as the old bartender shook his head with a smile.

Dean froze when he didn’t see the impala in the parking lot.

Liz laughed again, "I thought Sam was getting a room?"

He turned to her, "how did you know that?"

She quirked an eyebrow as he shifted his body against hers. "How do you think I knew where you were?"

Dean's hands were on her hips slowly gliding up her sides, "Touché." He pushed his body into hers and stole her breath with a searing kiss. He growled when she pulled away again.

"We'll take mine." She pulled him to her car and jumped in the passenger seat, throwing her keys at him. He caught them easily and slid into the driver’s seat. He started the car and gave her a questioning look. She smiled, "So, you'll behave until we get to the hotel."

He pulled out of the spot and placed his hand on her thigh with a smirk, "I can drive with one hand."

She laughed, "the hotel is just up the road."

"Too long."

Dean pulled the car into a parking spot where she directed him and then jumped out of the car. He ran around to her door and opened it then helped her out, pulling her against him. He shut the door with one hand and kissed her again.

She pulled him towards the door using her powers to open it and they stumbled in without disengaging from each other. Dean kicked the door shut as he pulled at her shirt and felt his belt being ripped from his jeans. He pulled away to yank her shirt over her head and drank in her freshly enhanced olive skin covered in a simple black silk bra. She pulled at his shirt and he helped it over his head then his hands went for her jeans discarding the soft denim fabric. He lifted her up and placed her on the bed, his lips going straight for the new territory created by the changes her body was undertaking because of the life growing inside her. The life he helped put there. Her hands went into his hair as his hands became familiar with every changed nuance of her body as his mouth attacked her lips. When he came up for air, he connected with her heated gaze. "Pregnant Liz may be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen."

She smiled and her eyes darkened, "and you’re wearing too many clothes."

He chuckled at her urgency. "Love, I am going to take my sweet, slow time with you and believe me you’re going to enjoy every minute of it."

AvalonRose: The bar scene was one of the scenes that really made me laugh as I wrote it.
HypnotiqBlueEyes: Oh Dean and the baby..



CHAPTER 51

Liz moved around her bedroom picking up the clothes that she had been way too lazy to actually make sure they landed in the hamper the past couple of days. Maria was laying on her bed filling her in on her latest phone conversation with Isabel about all the books she had been reading on childbirth. Isabel was determined to make sure Liz would be in very educated and well planned hands when it came time for the baby to come. They had talked about the pregnancy probably being more along the lines of a human one since she was already twenty two weeks along and Castiel confirmed for them that the baby was around that development stage. Liz already had a feeling she was in for a long haul and didn’t worry about it, Isabel and Maria on the other hand did all of that for her.

Liz nodded as Maria continued talking about medical jargon Isabel was starting to speak with as if everyone completely understood her. Liz opened her top drawer to pull out a fresh pair of socks while her mind wandered wishing she was pulling out an amazingly comfortable pair of slippers to cushion her feet. Her daydream bubble burst when she noticed a slight glow. She opened the drawer all the way and remembered the jewelry box that she had hidden in the false bottom. She pulled out the box and opened it, the whirlwind pendant necklace still sitting safely inside but not exactly as she left it. It was giving off a soft green pulsating glow. She lifted it from the box and placed the pendant in the palm of her hand, the heat of the metal shocked her. The glow seemed to originate from the swirls of the symbol, the phrase white hot sprang to mind since the swirls were closer to white than green like the rest of the pendant. She suddenly felt dizzy and before she could call out she felt her heavy eyes fall as she lost consciousness.

She felt something pulling at her in the darkness but then Maria’s voice shouting yanked her in the opposite direction. She couldn’t quite make out the words but the volume was killing her. “Maria.. please lower the volume..”

“Liz! Oh God.. is it the baby? Is he coming? How do you feel? Are you okay?”

Liz pried open her eyes as she rubbed her aching head. Maria’s worried face was directly in front of her. “I’m .. okay, ria. I think.”

“I’m seriously going to pad all the floors if this keeps happening or I swear I’ll put you in a bubble! What if I hadn’t been here to catch you? Dean is going to lose..”

Liz’s hand shot out grabbing the other girl’s extremely animate hand and gave her a pleading look. “You will not tell Dean.”

Maria watched her closely as she struggled with her options. “What happened?”

Liz rubbed her head as she thought about what she was doing before she felt the flash hit her. The flash! She sat up and searched the floor, spying the necklace she quickly grabbed for it. Maria watched cautiously. “It was the granolith.. a flash of the old granolith chamber.. the one in the rocks outside Roswell. It needs a more permanent structure. The necklace is only good enough for so long, the metal isn’t strong enough. It needs something more like that old one.”

Maria watched Liz not exactly comfortable with how hard that flash hit her with some small vision. “That was it?”

Liz looked back to Maria catching her worried glace to the necklace. “Maria.. I’m fine.”

Maria eyed her for a few seconds then sat heavily on the bed, rolling her eyes. “Well.. Where are we supposed to find something like the old chamber? If the old one was sent to Antar with the evil gerbil..”

Liz sat next to her, “I thought that the necklace was the last piece of metal from Antar here that we..” Her eyes grew round and her head snapped towards Maria then she jumped off the bed and grabbed her phone from the night stand, quickly dialing.

“Care to fill me in chika?”

Liz turned back to her as the phone rang and then she heard it pick up, “Max? Where exactly was that spaceship you tried to fly? Or Kal.. ah fake Kal.. nevermind. Where was it?”

Maria’s brow scrunched together as she listened to Liz talk.

“I don’t care about that Max, we just need to know where that spaceship is. Why? Does it really matter?” Liz took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Because it’s the only other material I know of from Antar and we need it for the Granolith.”
~~

The next day Max, Kyle, and Ava headed to California to meet with Kal and find out if the spaceship was still there. Maria didn’t want anyone going off and had suggested sending Castiel to check but Liz didn’t want to bother him with something they could easily take care of themselves. After arguing back and forth, Liz had told Ava that they could call on Cas if they needed help getting in and out. Ava had smiled, giving a small nod of agreement to Liz. She knew they would be fine without the angel’s power but played along with Liz. Ava understood Maria’s worry about them leaving while Dean and Sam were gone but Maria knew Liz better than that. Maria was starting to get over protective of Liz and they already had enough of that as it was. The Winchesters were extremely protective of their family. Well, Sam was extremely protective while Dean was sometimes downright prison guard protective but with their family history she couldn’t really blame them. She secretly found it entertaining to watch Dean try to find ways to keep her safe while making it seem like the idea was her own. He had yet to succeed.

It had been two days since they left and Serena had just gotten Maria to finally go to her own bed instead of staying with Liz. Serena rolled her eyes as she shut the front door and heard Liz moving around loudly in the kitchen. “She’s gone.” Serena announced as she reached the doorway of the kitchen and leaned against the frame.

Liz shut the cabinet and picked up her cup. “I love her I do.. but when she gets all crazy overprotective, I almost can’t handle it. I have to deal with that enough with..” Liz turned around to face Serena, “am I a horrible person?”

Serena laughed, “no honey. You’re a tough woman who has a hard time realizing that the baby bump makes people want to keep you safe even more than usual. I’m not going to say that it makes you fragile but let’s just say more things can go wrong when you.. I don’t know faint in the middle of a room and fall to the hard floor.”

Liz sat in her chair dejectedly at the breakfast bar in front of the bay window. Serena walked over and sat next to her quietly.
“I know why everyone is so worried. It’s not like they don’t have good reasons. It’s just..”

Serena hid the small curve of her lips. “You hate how every little thing can turn into the end of the world?”

She glanced at Serena with a small smile, “yeah.”

“Well, you are kind of a first for us, so I mean it was bound to happen to whoever was the lucky volunteer.”

Liz chuckled softly at that. “Thanks for that.” Liz threw another glance at her from the corner of her eye.

Serena raised her hands, “don’t look at me. We all know I was the last possible chance of being the first.”

Liz burst out laughing and Serena smiled. “You hear from Dean about the case they’re on?”

Liz nodded, “yea Rugaru?”

Serena shook her head, “yea I didn’t ask any further..”

“Me either.” They looked at each other and laughed. After a few stressful days, it felt wonderful to let loose even if it was something as simple as small conversation and laughter. “It’s funny I used to think there couldn’t be anyone out there with a crazier story than ours.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say crazier but maybe just as crazy.” Serena smiled, “but the universe has a way of proving us wrong.”

Liz smiled, “thank God for that. Well, I’m going to go to bed.”

Serena went to help her up and then chuckled, “just kidding. But seriously you want company?”

“Are you kidding? I finally get the whole thing to myself again. I’m taking proper advantage of that!”

Serena followed her to the stairs and watched her as she headed up to her room then went back to the kitchen to clean up the small mess Liz had created when she was banging things around to relieve frustration. Once she was done she knew she wouldn’t be getting to sleep anytime soon so she went into the living room and turned on the tv, sending a quick text to Sam that she was still awake if he wanted to call.

A few hours later Serena bolted awake. The blood curdling scream was still ringing in her ears as she ran for the stairs heading straight for Liz’s room. She reached the doorway as Liz ripped the door open. The look on her face was terrifying but she tried to stay calm. “What is it Liz?” Serena’s eyes scanned the room quickly not seeing anything really out of place.
“It’s Bobby.. I need to see Bobby.”

Liz tried moving out the door but Serena blocked her, grabbing her arms gently. “Wait.. What are you talking about?” Liz’s gaze finally met Serena’s and she felt the fear and devastation radiating off her.

“It’s Bobby.. he’s..” Her voice dropped out as she tried to say something else. Her eyes gazing out over Serena’s shoulder.

“Liz..”

Liz looked back to Serena’s face. “He’s dead.”

Serena’s eyes grew, “What? Liz.. Bobby’s fine.” Serena forced herself to stay calm as she pulled her phone from her pocket, “just tell me what happened..”

“I don’t know. I can’t see it all.. I.. thought I was dreaming but then.. Serena it felt too real. He was on a hunt.. he got shot. I need to get to him.”

Serena calmed, “Liz.. you were probably dreaming okay? You didn’t see everything? When do you not see everything? I mean forget a vision, yea that’s happened but just remember pieces.. that sounds like a dream.” Serena watched the wild look slowly disappear from her eyes. She walked her back to her bed, “come on it’s okay. I talked to him earlier today and he’s working the phones this weekend. I’ll call him and he’ll be pissed because we’re waking him up in the middle of the night.” Serena dialed his number and waited as she got Liz to sit down. Bobby’s voicemail message came over the speaker. Serena looked at Liz, “he’s sleeping. If he was out on a hunt, he would have answered the phone. Did it feel like an astral projection like it was happening right then?”

Liz thought about it and shook her head in the negative. “No.. but it felt so real Ser.”

Serena laid down with her. “If it was a premonition and Bobby was on a hunt he would have answered his phone. The only time that man doesn’t answer his personal line is when he’s dead to the world and we know he only sleeps like that at home because he has more booby traps then the devil.” She caught the poor choice of words too late but Liz didn’t seem to catch them or at least it didn’t faze her any more than whatever she just saw.

Liz nodded, “yeah.”

“It was just a dream Liz. He’s okay. I’ll call him in a few hours and we’ll talk to him about any hunts he’s looking into.”

Liz gave a forced smile as she nodded. “Okay.”

Serena watched her, not fooled for a second. “I know you wanted to sleep alone..”

“It’s alright, you can stay.”

Serena had a feeling that Liz was just humoring her and Liz knew Serena was only partly there for comfort and partly to make sure she didn’t freak out again. Liz closed her eyes and turned on her side.
Serena looked up at the ceiling as a thought crossed her mind. “Do you want to call Dean?”

“No.. it’s okay. I’m okay. It was just a dream.”

Serena turned off the light and lay quietly in the darkness listening to Liz’s breathing even out. She fought to stay awake but didn’t last much longer between her own tired body and the even breathing from Liz like a white sound machine dragging her down into sleep.
~~

The next morning Dean and Sam walked in the door to find Serena running down the stairs. Dean joked, “where’s the fire?” The mirth fell from his face the second he got a good look at the panic on hers. The bag in his hand fell to the floor. “What?”

Serena ran towards the back of the house calling Liz’s name as Dean and Sam followed closely behind her.

“What the hell is going on Serena?” Dean’s voice was tight but controlled.

Sam tried to calm his brother and lighten the mood, “maybe she’s next door with Maria. I mean really where else would she have gone?” Sam slammed into his brother who had slammed into Serena as she suddenly froze.

“Shit.”

Dean spun Serena to face him. “What is going on, Red?”

Serena looked him in the eye, noting the use of the nickname he gave her one drunken night because instead of one streak of red in her dark hair he had seen multiple and even after he sobered up the name just seemed to stick for him. She knew the use was a way for him to control emotion so she calmed herself down and filled him in on the night before. “I got her to calm down, to go back to sleep. I figured she’d sleep it off and it would be clear in the morning.”

Dean spun and went around Sam, moving quickly to the door, “you let her go off alone?! Are you insane? You had to know that after something like that she’d just be waiting for the first chance to slip out!”

“Dean calm down, she’s pregnant not an invalid.” Sam threw out as he tried to slow his brother down. “We’ll call Bobby and let him know and we can go after her.” Sam looked back to Serena, “she can’t be more than what? A couple of hours ahead of us, tops?”

Dean stopped at the door and turned around, “or we could just get Cas to bring her back.”

Sam argued, “oh yea and leave her car in the middle of who knows where? She’d love that.”

Serena added, “how about leaving her still freaking out that bobby’s dead? We need to let her see him. It’s the only thing that will help.” Serena eyed Dean, “don’t go acting like this is your fault because you weren’t here. It still would have happened, just you would have been the one she left in her bed.” For a second she saw a twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Really Dean? Right now?”

Sam looked at Serena confused, “what?”

Serena rolled her eyes as she moved towards the closet, “she’ll be fine. We can ask Cas to find her and stay with her until we get to Bobby’s if you want but until then since you already seem to be calming down, can you not spread your mind porn to your brother? Thanks.” She pulled out her small emergency bag and moved towards the door.

Sam’s head snapped to Dean, “seriously?”

Dean’s smirk fell from his face as he glanced at his brother. “Shut up, get back in the car.”