A/N: Sorry that it took so long for me to get this part up. I've been very busy and my muse fled the building for awhile. My goal is to post weekly! Please read and review. Thanks.

Chapter 1

Sam flipped the pages of one of the many books he'd pulled from Bobby's library just a week earlier. They'd stopped on their way down from Dr. Mason's clinic to grab as much stuff as they could and head back out on the road. Bobby had been tolerant and allowed Sam and Laney to take whatever they wanted in their search to save Dean from his deal, for all the good he thought it would do.

"I'm not finding anything helpful here," said Sam in frustration. "You?" he asked, turning to look over the backseat of the Impala at his little sister. She'd been studying an ancient Latin text on crossroads demons for the past couple of days.

"Not so far," she muttered, without looking up.

Sam sighed heavily. She'd been light on words, withdrawn, not doing much but reading and making phone calls and scouring every resource she could. Not much different from himself actually, except for the nightly crying herself to sleep. Sometimes she outwardly cried when it was just the two of them and she couldn't be bothered to hide how she was feeling from him. Sam felt helpless most times. He couldn't guarantee her they'd save Dean, even if they planned on moving Heaven and Hell to do it. Dean on the other hand was oblivious; or at least pretending to be. And if he was pretending, he was doing a pretty damn good job of it. He was on a mission to do anything and everything he could during his last year on Earth, including getting it on with the some hot twins he'd picked up at a local bar earlier in the day. Sam had been very indulgent when it came to his brother's desires. The man had given up his life for him after all, he kind of owed him.

Laney did not share her brother's tolerance for Dean's shenanigans. It felt like a punch in the face, every time he felt the need to remind them of his deal.

Sam's phone broke the silence. Laney looked up from her book, always hoping every call might be the breakthrough they were looking for.

"Hello."

"Hey Sam."

"Oh, hey Bobby."

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing."

There was a long sigh before Bobby spoke again. "You and your sister still have your nose buried in those books. You know they're not going to help right? You want to break Dean out of that deal, you ain't going to find the answer in no book."

"Then where Bobby?"

"Kid, I wish I knew."

Sam sighed and shared a look with Laney in the rearview mirror.

"Where's your brother?"

"Busy," said Sam, looking up at the motel window and seeing his brother's silhouette.

"Well get him unbusy 'cause I found something."

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"Seriously, give me your knife 'cause I need to gouge my eyes out!"

"It was a beautiful natural act Sammy," said Dean, slapping his brother's knee.

"It was a part of you I never wanted to see Dean. I mean what if Laney had gone to get you. She would have been traumatized for life."

"Funny," said Dean. Although Sam did have a point. "Anyway, I really do appreciate you letting me have a little quality time with those fine young ladies."

"Sure, no problem," said Sam.

"Really, no problem?"

"Sure, you deserve to have a little fun."

"Well, I'm in violent agreement with you there."

Laney cleared her throat from the backseat. "Can we talk about business now?"

Dean raised a weary brow and sighed. Laney was all business lately.

"Yeah sure," said Dean. "So what's Bobby got?"

"Demonic omens outside Lincoln, Nebraska," said Sam.

"That's all?"

"Yeah."

"Doesn't make sense, crazy storms show up outside how many cities?" asked Dean.

"Seventeen," said Laney, leaning over the front seat, head poking between her brothers.

"Seventeen and it's been two weeks and we've got nothing. If there's going to be a war, I wish it would just start already."

"I'll second that," said Laney. She was more than a little eager to meet some demons.

Sam frowned. He worried about this new bloodlust his sister seemed to have developed. While she was busy working on saving Dean she also insisted on getting revenge on anything in the way.

"How far to Lincoln?" asked Sam.

"I'd say about five or six hours. We'll be driving all night," said Dean.

Laney scooted back in her seat and broke open a book, using a penlight to read in the dark.

Dean frowned. Like Sam, she was hardly sleeping. The marks around her wrist were still not all the way healed. He didn't really know how to interact with her anymore. Yeah, he'd dropped a bomb on her and there was going to be fallout, but...

"Hey Laney," he said, softly.

Laney didn't look up from her book. "Hmm?"

"You wanna' drive for awhile?"

Sam's head snapped over to Dean in surprise. Not only did Dean rarely let Sam drive, he never ever let Laney drive. Not even when she'd begged him.

If Laney was shocked by the proposal she didn't show it. She simply shrugged. "That's okay, I've got some reading to do."

"Suit yourself," Dean said with a heavy sigh. Whenever he pulled himself away from his quest to live it up, he managed to remember his sister was suffering and hurting. Not that he had any idea how to help her.

They drove on in silence for the rest of the night.

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It was a couple hours after dawn when they arrived at their meeting place with Bobby, a small farm just outside Lincoln that Bobby had pinpointed as ground zero for the demonic activity he'd been tracking.

Laney climbed out of the Impala and stretched her stiff muscles. She'd managed only an hour or two of disjointed sleep, pretty much par for the course since her time at Cold Oak. She hadn't shared with either brother, but she'd been having nightmares of the yellow-eyed demon. Even though he was dead now, he still haunted her sleep. The strength of her powers had scared her. There were other lingering after effects too. Headaches that were low-intensity but unrelenting and what could only be described as aching in her bones. But all of that was still at the bottom of the list of things she was worried about. She wasn't about to share any of it. Dean was the priority now.

"Hey Bobby," she said, walking over to him and giving him a quick hug and peck on the check.

"Hi sweetheart," he said, studying her momentarily. Poor kid had the eyes of a much older soul; seen too much, had too much happen. Once upon a time those eyes had been innocent, joyful, inquisitive. She was everything sweet. Now they were just flat and pained. It made his heart break.

"Hey Bobby," greeted Sam and Dean.

"Bacon cheeseburger for breakfast there Dean?"

"Well, I sold my soul, I've only got a year to live, not sweatin' the cholesterol."

If Laney had any tears left, she might have managed one. But Dean had her all cried out. She quickly got herself under control, softly sighed and headed for the porch. "Let's just check this out. If it's a bust I want to get moving on to the next lead."

Dean shook his head and tossed his cheeseburger into the bushes. Killjoy.

Sam walked ahead of his sister and pulled her behind him, Dean then pushed her behind him, then Bobby pushed her behind him. Laney shook her head in frustration. Why did they bother? In a year, Dean would be gone. She was going to have to learn to do it all on her own anyway.

They walked into the house after not getting any answer at the door and were immediately assaulted with an ungodly smell. Laney coughed and gagged for a moment. It was the stench of death.

They did a methodical sweep of the first floor.

"Hey, you hear that?" asked Sam.

"What?" asked Laney.

"Sounds like screaming?"

Laney listened close. She didn't sense anyone in the house. But she'd been wrong before.

They approached the sound. Dean slid the door open. The stench they'd smelled before ratcheted up by about a million. Laney had to swallow convulsively to keep from puking. She walked around the couch to see three people – corpses – that were shriveled up and dead, just sitting on the couch like they'd been watching television. Swarms of flies hovered around them.

Bobby came into the room suddenly and took a step back. "Good lord."

"Bobby, what happened here?" asked Dean.

"I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine."

"Let's check for sulfur," said Dean.

Bobby went to the window sills while Sam took a closer look at the corpses on the couch. Laney just stood in the middle of the room, looking bewildered and wondering what the hell was going on. She went through her mind trying to think of anything similar she'd ever heard about or read about, but came up empty.

Dean whistled a low warning. Everyone immediately went on guard.

Dean pointed towards the outside. Someone was coming. Sam headed for the back door of the house, Dean for the front towards the porch and Laney took up position near him.

Dean stepped out on the porch looking around. Laney hung back just inside the door waiting for the signal to come out. She watched as Dean walked to the stairs, looked around, and then turned back. Then out of the corner of her eye a black man with a shotgun took a swing at Dean sending him to the ground. A woman followed closely behind him.

Laney came out of her cover, cocked her gun and shoved it against the head of the man that had taken Dean down.

"Drop it," said Laney, "Or I will drop you."

"Hey, hey," he said, slowly raising one of his hands up.

Laney looked to the woman. "I'll shoot him. I'll do it, if you even take one step."

Dean was regaining his bearings when he looked up and saw the ferocious sight of his sister. She was all business and she met every word she said. He carefully got to his knees and was rising to his feet when heard Bobby.

"Isaac? Tamara?"

"Bobby? Please tell me you know these guys well enough to convince her not to shoot me."

"Laney, stand down," said Bobby.

Laney didn't move. Dean got to his feet up and brushed himself off. He stepped next to his sister.

"Laney, it's good."

Laney hesitated a moment before she seemed to hear him. She lowered her weapon.

Dean was grateful, but more than that, he was worried. He saw the serious glint in her eyes, hard set of her jaw. It was cold.

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After the situation had cooled down and Bobby's acquaintance with Tamara and Isaac had been explained, the couple invited them back to their current headquarters closer to the city, an old abandoned home they were squatting in.

Laney studied their maps and texts that they had in the main room, looking for anything useful that she didn't already know. She didn't have her photographic memory anymore, but she had discovered that her memorization skills had been continuously improving. She was still technically a genius too. Although, most days that life seemed very far away.

Dean was on a phone call in the other room, supposedly talking to the morgue technician regarding the corpses they'd recovered from the farmhouse, but it sounded more like he was picking up a girl at a bar than doing business. But then again Dean had always been the master of mixing business with pleasure.

Sam eyed his sister closely. He'd heard about what happened on the porch earlier. He wasn't surprised. He would have done the same himself. But he was concerned. Laney had lost something after killing Yellow-Eyes. It wasn't just watching Sam die or losing Dean in a year, it was something else too. There was something lost about her. He really wanted to figure it out. He wanted to help her even though he was feeling pretty lost himself. If they couldn't help Dean out of his deal, pretty soon it was just be the two of them having to rely on each other.

"How long have you two been married?" Sam asked, as he put aside thoughts of his sister and joined the conversation. It wasn't everyday that he met a hunting couple. He was curious.

"Eight years now."

"Wow."

"Yeah, you know the family that slays together – "

"I know what you mean," Sam said with a fond look towards Laney.

Laney looked up at her brother, sensing his attention, and gave him a half-smile. Not for the first time since meeting Tamara and Isaac did a pang of regret shoot through her. She was missing Gavin. She needed someone to talk to outside of her family and he would have been the one in the past she would have gone to. But she hadn't talked to him since Boston, even though he still hadn't stopped trying to reach out to her; even though she wasn't even mad at him anymore. She just couldn't bring herself to grab that lifeline. With a deep sigh, she pushed all thoughts of him aside. There were more important matters to deal with.

Dean walked into the room as he finished up his phone call. "So that was the coroner's tech. Get this, that family's cause of death, dehydration and starvation. No signs of restraint, no violence, no struggle. It's like they just sat down and never got up."

"But there was a fully stocked kitchen just yards away," said Bobby.

"What is this then? A demon attack?" asked Sam.

"If it is, it's not like anything I ever saw," said Bobby.

"So what do we do know?" asked Dean.

"Uh, we're not going to do anything," said Isaac.

"What do you mean?" demanded Laney, slamming a book down.

"You guys seem nice enough but this ain't Scooby Doo and we don't play well with others."

"Well, I think we'd cover a lot more ground if we all worked together," said Sam.

"No offense, but we're not teaming up with the damn fools who let the Devil's Gate open in the first place."

Laney walked towards Isaac. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Dean moved forward and put a hand on his sister's shoulder to calm her and support her. "No offense? Really?"

"Isaac, like you've never made a mistake," said Tamara

"Oh yeah sure, but I've never brought on the end of the world."

"That's enough," snapped Laney.

"She's right," said Dean. "That is enough."

"Guys, this isn't helping," said Sam, with a huff.

"Listen there are a couple hundred more demons out there and there ain't enough hunters in the world to handle it all. You've brought war down on us," said Isaac. "On all of us."

Laney's spine stiffened. "You really might want to rethink this. Anywhere demons are going to be, you'd find my skills more than a little helpful."

"Laney, enough," said Dean.

"What does that mean?" asked Isaac. "What are you anyway 12? 13?"

Laney took a step towards him. "Old enough to handle a gun," she said in a low threatening tone, that made Dean raise an eyebrow.

Tamara grabbed Isaac's hand and pulled him into the other room. "Okay, I think that's enough for now."

Laney kicked the legs of a chair with a curse.

"Hey, cool it now," said Dean. "Sticks and stones and all that."

"Whatever Dean. We don't need to deal with this crap. Let's just go out there ourselves and do what we do."

Sam sighed. "Maybe she's right."

"Yeah, maybe," said Dean, rubbing his hand over his face.

"I still think we can use all the extra hands," said Bobby.

Laney muttered something unintelligible but certainly angry under her breath and walked towards one of the windows and froze.

A demon. Then the sensation was gone so quickly, she wasn't sure that she even felt it.

"You okay?" asked Sam, when he thought he noticed her tensing up.

"I'm fine," Laney said, without missing a beat. "Tired."

"You haven't slept much," he said.

"Neither have you, but we've got bigger things to worry about," said Laney.

"True," said Dean, interrupting his siblings. "But tonight we're getting some sleep. We need to be rested before we face whatever it is we're facing."

"I don't want to stay here," said Laney blurted.

Sam narrowed his eyes. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I just, I'd rather get our own place you know."

"I know exactly what you mean," said Dean. "Let's go."

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Laney came out of the bathroom running a towel through her long, dark hair. Sam was sitting on his bed, back against the headboard, flipping through one of the texts they'd borrowed from Isaac and Tamara.

"Anything interesting?" Laney asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose, trying to ease the ever present headache.

Sam looked up, took in the red rimmed eyes of his sister and knew she'd been crying in the shower. He opted to ignore it, since that seemed to be what they were all doing instead of talking about how they were feeling.

"Not really," said Sam.

"Maybe Bobby's right," said Laney, with a heavy sigh. "We're not going to find the answer in a book."

"Yeah, maybe," said Sam, slamming the book shut. "I just wish I knew where to look."

Laney sat down on the bed next to Sam, and leaned her head against his shoulder. Sam leaned his head down on hers, trying to offer all the comfort he could in the gesture, knowing it wouldn't be enough to ease her pain, or his.

"Where's Dean?" she asked, softly.

"Where do you think?"

Laney sighed. "Out on the town?"

"Yup. But you know, whatever it's okay. Let him have his fun, you know."

Laney clenched her jaw. "Sure."

Laney got up from the bed abruptly and crawled into Dean's. "I'm sure he won't be back tonight, I'm going to crash here."

"Yeah, okay," said Sam, wanting desperately to say something that could comfort his sister, but not finding the words.

Instead of resting, Laney grabbed her laptop and began researching. Sam sighed even though he really wanted to continue working too.

"Laney?"

"Yeah?" she asked distractedly. Finally looking up at him when he didn't speak.

A few moments passed by before Sam finally just smiled. "Nothing, I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she said.

Sam turned off the light and the room was engulfed in darkness, only the soft glow of Laney's laptop illuminated her face.

Sam went to sleep worried he was going to lose more than just his brother.

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Dean stumbled back into the motel room around four in the morning. He'd had a good night, but sobered up quickly when it was over. One night stands could be fun, but they often left him feeling a bit hollow and unfulfilled. Sex could only do so much. Still, it had been a pretty damn good night, he thought, as he smiled over the memory of a gorgeous brunette he'd spent some quality time with.

He stubbed his toe in the darkness before he managed to make it to the bathroom and turn on the light to help him see around the room without waking everyone up. Sam was softly snoring. Laney was in his bed, half sitting up, her laptop open and next to her. It looked liked she'd fallen asleep in the middle of something. Dean noticed how pinched her face was, in pain or distress, who knew which one. She certainly wasn't getting restful sleep.

With a sigh, he changed his clothes and washed his face before he shuffled over to the bed and pulled the laptop away from her. To Dean's disappointment she snapped awake instantly.

"Hey kiddo."

"Dean? What time is it?" she asked groggily.

"Almost five."

Laney nodded and reached to grab her laptop from him. "Oh no, time to sleep. This isn't going anywhere."

No, but you are, thought Laney.

She gave up on it, because she was abosultely exhausted. She stood up from the bed and stumbled over to the couch.

"Where you going?" asked Dean.

"To sleep."

"You can sleep in the bed. Plenty of room."

"No, it's okay, you take it."

Dean frowned. In what world was it okay for him to take the bed while his sister slept on a crappy motel couch that had God only knew what growing in between the cushions.

"Aw, come on Laney, don't be stubborn."

"I'm too old to be sharing a bed with you. We've already been through this."

Dean rolled his eyes, but he was too tired to argue. Besides he knew it had less to do with her age and more to do with the fact that she'd been avoiding being close to him since Cold Oak. He understood that on a rational level, but he didn't have to like it.

He ran a weary hand through his hair as he watched her settle in on the couch.

"Goodnight Dean," she said softly.

He sighed. "Goodnight."

Suddenly Dean couldn't remember what had been so good about.

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"Wake up," said Laney, smacking Dean's bare foot.

Dean moaned and bit out a few muffled curse words against his pillow. "Let me sleep."

"Come on," she said, this time smacking his leg. "Good lead came over the police scanner, think it's our gig."

Dean slowly lifted himself up on his elbow. "Time is it?"

"Time to get up," she said loudly, making Dean's ears ring.

He cast a glance around the room. "Where's Sam?"

"Getting coffee for you."

"At least some one cares about my needs," he said with a smirk.

The corner of Laney's mouth turned twitched and Dean could've just slapped himself because it was a joke in poor taste. Laney obviously hadn't slept much after he'd gotten back and he had no idea how much sleep she'd gotten before that, but she didn't look good. Her eyes were bright with anticipation over the lead, but otherwise she just looked spent.

Dean decided a sorry might be too little too late so he got out the bed and stumbled over to his bag and into the bathroom for a shower.

Laney was cleaning up the room when Sam came in with coffee for everyone. She reached over and grabbed a cup.

"I see you got him out of bed."

"He bitched about it," said Laney. Sam heard the fondness in her tone.

Dean came out of the shower, mostly dressed and walked over to the table. "Yes, coffee, thank you." He took a sip, then pulled on his socks and boots. "So, tell me about this lead."

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They arrived at the store in downtown Lincoln just as the crime scene technicians were photographing evidence. The body had already been transported to the coroner's office. Amazingly the store was still open for business despite the gruesome scene just out front.

Sam decided to ask a few bystanders some questions, while Laney wandered around outside studying the crime scene and trying to pick up on conversations, hoping to catch something useful. Dean went into the store to question some shoppers. Laney rolled her eyes. It was a women's clothing store with lots of attractive young female shoppers. Dean was like a kid in a candy store.

Laney quickly realized she wasn't going to get anywhere outside. People weren't apt to take an 18 year old girl too seriously. They just thought she was nosy. She met up with Sam and followed him into the store.

Dean was talking to a woman and going on about making every second count. Sam rolled his eyes and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me a moment," Dean said to the woman.

"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam aksed.

"I'm comforting the bereaved," he said. "What are you doing?"

"Working. You know dead body, possible demon attack."

Dean began fake coughing and gagging. "You know, I'm sorry, I just don't have that much time left and gotta make every second count."

Sam looked down. "Yeah, yeah, man sorry."

Laney who'd been watching the exchange quietly bit her lip in anger. Dean's schtick was getting old already. As far as she was concerned it was a slap in the face to her and Sam.

"I'll be outside," she snapped and stomped off, passing a sharply dressed and confused Bobby on the way out.

Sam gave Dean a sharp look and Dean managed to look contrite – for about thirty seconds anyway.

Laney lingered around the crime scene some more. It was hard to block out the feelings of horror and morbid curiosity coming from the bystanders in the area. She concentrated hard on weeding them out until she was able to get a sense of what she'd been looking for. Demon activity. There wasn't a demon present now, but there had been. Much like the way she felt Dean's mark on him, faint, but it was definitely there.

She was reaching for her phone when it rang. Sam.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Come on back in, we've got video surveillance."

Laney raised an eyebrow. That was a good break. "Coming."

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Laney, Sam, Dean and Bobby all sat around the manager's office watching the video surveillance recorded earlier in the day. Laney wasn't sure how they'd managed to get access, but Dean could be very persuasive and not just with women.

"Look," said Sam. They watched as the perpetrator was touched by a man as he looked towards the victim.

They all raised an eyebrow. "Interesting," said Dean.

"That's our guy," said Laney.

"What makes you say that?" asked Dean.

"You mean beside it looking pretty obvious?" she asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, besides that."

"Just a feeling."

Dean opened his mouth and shut it again. He wasn't going to ask.

"Okay," said Bobby. "So what's the plan?"

"We figure out who he is," said Dean. "Laney, you should head back to the motel and do your geek thing. Let me know what you find. We'll show his mug around town, see if anyone recognizes him."

Laney sighed and rubbed at her temples. "Okay."

Bobby watched as Laney left the room. When the door shut he turned to Dean. "Is she okay?"

Dean shrugged. He had no idea.

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Bobby, Dean, and Sam sat in Bobby's car in the parking lot of a run down bar called the Old Terminal Pub, just outside Lincoln city limits.

"You sure this is the place?" asked Bobby, tiredly.

"I'm sure. I went all over this stupid town showing this guy's stupid face and they all say he comes to this stupid bar," Dean said crankily.

"It's after midnight already," said Bobby.

"Night is young," smirked Dean.

Sam's phone vibrated in his pocket. "It's Laney."

"Put her on speaker," said Dean.

"Hey baby, what do you got?" Sam asked.

"So, our John Doe's name is Walter Rosen. He's from Oak Park just outside of Chicago. He disappeared about two weeks ago."

"The night the Devil's Gate opened," said Dean.

"Yup."

"You think he's possessed?" asked Bobby

"Pretty good bet," said Dean.

"So what, he touches someone and they go stark raving mad?" asked Sam.

"These demons that got out, they're going to be able to do all sorts of things we've never seen before," said Bobby.

"You mean the demons we let out," said Sam.

"Yeah, whatever," said Dean.

"Laney, you still there?" asked Sam.

There was a sudden knock on the glass next to Dean's face and everyone in the car jumped.

Dean rolled down his window angrily. "Laney, what they hell are you doing here?"

"The more the merrier right?"

"How did you even know where we are?"

"I've got a few tricks up my sleeve," she said with a shrug.

Dean rolled his eyes and opened his door so she could scoot in next to Sam.

"You shouldn't have come," said Dean.

"And miss all the fun? No way. We finally get our first real demon lead and you want me to sit it out? I don't think so."

"How did you get here?" he asked.

"Like I said –"

Laney paused.

"What, what is it?" asked Dean, suddenly on alert.

"Demons," said Laney. "And not just our guy."

"What do you mean?" asked Sam

"I mean, like a bar full of them."

"How many?" asked Dean

"I don't know."

"And you just felt this now."

"Dean, I have other things on my mind."

"Guys," said Sam. "Can we do this later?"

"Right," said Laney, "Come on, it's showtime."

Bobby grabbed her sleeve. "We don't know what these guys are capable of. Let's just wait a minute."

"That's going to be a problem," said Sam.

"What? Why?"

"Look who just showed up."

They all looked to see Isaac and Tamara walking into the bar.

Bobby slapped the steering wheel. "Damn it!"