Author - ICantBelieveImNotButter
Category - Series
Rating - M
Setting - AU reality
Characters/Pairings - Dean, Sam, John, Bobby, 2 OFCs', Dean/OFC
Summary - Dean, John, Sam and Bobby are all tough demons hunter, but what happens when you throw a new born baby into the mix?
Notes - This is the forth in the 'Colored Lights' series.
1st story - How Life Should Be'
2nd story - Connection
3rd story - Expecting
Disclaimer - All things relating to the Supernatural series is the property of Eric Kripke. No copyright infringement is intended.

FOUR MEN AND A BABY

CHAPTER ONE - THERE'S STILL WORK TO DO

Ten minutes. Just ten minutes had passed since Mary Winchester was born and Dean had barely taken his eyes off her. It all felt a little bizarre to him but in the most amazing way. He was almost afraid to blink because he never wanted to miss a second of his baby girl, and that was something that Dean never imagined himself feeling but here he was. Of course, Dean was not the only one who was captivated by Mary. John, Sam and Bobby hadn't looked away from her since Dean had handed her over to Pepper.

Between the gentle rocking and closeness of her mother's heart, and the smooth caresses of her father's fingers through her hair, Mary had fallen asleep.

"How are you feeling, Pepper?" Bobby asked quietly.

"Wonderful." Pepper replied with a warm smile as she watched the baby. "I mean, aside from being tired and sore."

"You were very strong to go through child birth without any pain relief drugs." said Ellen proudly.

"Well if we ever have to do this again I will definitely do the drugs."

"We should probably do this in a hospital too." Dean smirked as he lightly touched his baby's tiny earlobes.

"Not going to argue with you there." Pepper agreed.

"Does it feel any different?" Sam asked. "You know, being parents."

Dean thought for a moment and continued to look at his daughter as she slept. He did feel different, yet he had the strangest feeling that the change he now felt had been there waiting ever since he had found out that Pepper was pregnant.

"Yeah, Sammy it does." Dean replied.

"In what way?"

"It's better."

John smiled inwardly at that. He couldn't believe that he had lived long enough to be a grandparent and he was so glad that he was able to be there and see his first grandchild. John knew that there would not be anything that he wouldn't do for this little girl. With that thought in his head, John knew that they needed to stop standing around and get ready for when the paramedics got there. As great as it was to watch baby Mary sleep, they needed to be ready in case the paramedics were possessed.

"We should get ready for when the ambulance gets here." John suggested and if it weren't something they had to do in order to protect Pepper and Mary then he would have kept his mouth shut and continued watching Mary like the others.

"Yeah, you're probably right." agreed Bobby. "Sam, you get a circle of salt around the Impala. If something does happen that should protect you, Pepper."

"Should?" Dean asked alarmed.

"Even if it doesn't son, you will still have the rest of us with weapons." said John.

Dean shrugged, "Yeah, I know."

Everyone, besides Pepper and Dean, began to move away from the couple. Sam and Bobby poured a huge line of salt around the entire Impala. Ellen grabbed as much holy water as she could find from both her own car and the boys and John made sure that all of their guns were fully loaded. None of them were going to be taking any chances with Mary's safety. As soon as they were done, they all made their way back to the baby.

It was another twenty minutes before the ambulance arrived and of course, that time was spent watching Mary sleep. The child wasn't even an hour old and she already had everyone mesmerized. Thankfully, neither of the paramedics was possessed though John and Bobby were still a little edgy just in case anything happened. A down side to having a brand new baby was the deep paranoia feeling that you get, especially when you know what can really be out in the world.

The paramedics quickly looked over both mother and baby. They asked Ellen some questions in regards to the actual labor and once she had answered all of them, they helped Pepper onto the gurney and placed her into the ambulance with Mary still safely in her arms. Dean of course climbed right into the ambulance beside her.

"We'll follow behind and meet you at the hospital." said Bobby, as he leaned against the ambulance door. He gave one last look to Pepper and the baby then nodded and stepped back.

Bobby and the others remained until the ambulance had taken off. They were all a little unnerved to have Dean and Pepper be alone but they didn't have any other choice.

"Right, let's get going." said Bobby. "Ellen, I'll go with you."

"Ok, Bobby." Ellen nodded then walked over to her own car.

John and Sam got into the Impala with John driving once more. As they followed behind the ambulance, Ellen, and Bobby, Sam let out a small laugh.

"What is it?" John asked, looking at Sam out of the corner of his eye.

"I just can't believe it." Sam replied.

"Believe what?"

"That Dean's a father." Sam said and smiled broadly.

John knew that the smile on his sons face was not from amusement but from unbelievable happiness. Mary was such a lucky girl to be loved by so many people.

It was extremely late by the time they reached the hospital, or it was early depending on what way you wanted to look at it. It was still dark outside but being that it was 2:30 AM it was technically morning. John and the others had been separated from Pepper and Dean straight away and were directed to the waiting room of the maternity ward. Some of the hospital staff were giving them disapproving looks for being there at such a late hour since visiting hours were long over, but someone high up must have taken pity on their circumstances (a woman giving birth on the side of the road) and was letting them stay until the Doctors were done checking over Pepper and Mary. After that, they would probably have to leave.

John and Ellen were seated opposite each other in the very uncomfortable plastic chairs that lined the walls of the waiting room. Bobby had disappeared to get everyone some coffee and Sam was busy walking up and down between the rows of seats.

"How much longer are they going to be?" Sam finally asked.

"Relax, Sam." said Ellen. "I'm sure they're just making sure that everything's okay."

Sam turned to her and frowned. "Why wouldn't everything be okay?"

"It's just routine checks because Mary was born premature, but that doesn't mean that there is anything wrong." Ellen explained calmly. "A lot of premature babies are just as healthy as other babies. Besides, Pepper did give birth on dirt road and I'm not an expert at delivering babies--"

"--I think you did pretty well then." John told her.

"Thanks, John." Ellen smiled before turning back to Sam. "What I was getting at was that they need to double check that everything went...smoothly for Pepper."

"Ok." Sam slowly nodded as that information sunk in. "But should it be taking this long?" He asked quickly.

"They're fine. Look someone would have told us if something was wrong."

"Sit down, Sam." John sighed. If his son did not stop worrying than he would get him going as well.

Sam took one last look down the hall where Dean, Pepper and Mary had been taken then he sighed in defeat and took a seat next to Ellen. Bobby came back shortly after that with a small tray of take-away coffees.

"Any news?" He asked as he handed the coffees out.

"Not yet." said John.

John took a long drink of his coffee and welcomed the warm liquid as it burned down his throat. Even if it did taste horrible.

They all sat in silence for a while as they drank their coffees. Each one tensing whenever a doctor or nurse came towards them, though so far none stopped to talk to them.

Sam held his cup between his hands and wondered if it would just be better to ask someone what was going on. Then he began thinking of Ellen and how lucky they had been that she had turned up when she had, not that they wouldn't have made do without her of course, but her being there worked out the best.

"We were lucky you turned up when you did, Ellen." Sam told her.

Ellen smiled slightly, "Thanks." She said before sipping her coffee.

"Ellen, were you at the RoadHouse when..." Bobby started to ask.

"When what?" Sam was confused.

"Yeah." Ellen nodded her eyes down cast. "Yeah I was."

"What happened at the RoadHouse?" Sam demanded. He looked from Ellen to Bobby and his father and knew that there was something big they weren't telling him. Something very big.

Ellen looked up at John and frowned. "You didn't tell him?"

John shrugged, "We kinda had other things on our minds at the time." He reminded her.

John knew that that sounded a little disrespectful to all those who had died in the fire but it was true. As soon as they knew that Pepper was in labor, none of them had been able to think of anything else besides Pepper's safety.

Ellen took in a breath then turned back to Sam. "There was a fire. It burnt everything...there's nothing left."

Sam stared at her wide-eyed in shock.

"Ellen...I'm sorry." Sam said sadness in his voice.

Ellen simply nodded.

"How did you get out anyway?" John asked gently.

"I wasn't supposed to. I was supposed to be in there with everybody else." She scoffed and shook her head slightly. "But we ran out of pretzels, of all things. It was just dumb luck."

Ellen finished off the rest of her coffee before she continued.

"Anyway, that's when Ash called. Panic in his voice." She sighed. "He told me to look in the safe. Then the call cut out. By the time I got back, the flames were sky-high. And everybody was dead. I couldn't have been gone more than fifteen minutes.

"So Ash is..." Sam started to ask but knew the answer from the look in Ellen's eyes. "Sorry, Ellen."

Ellen nodded again as tears built up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "A lot of good people died in there. And I got to live." She smiled sadly at the thought of those she had lost in the fire. "Lucky me."

"And then you found us." Bobby finished for her.

"I knew I had too." Ellen said with a small nod. "Though I didn't know that Pepper was giving birth at the time."

"None of us were expecting that." said John. "She still had over two weeks left before her due date."

"That was probably just the stress from what she'd been through." Ellen said thoughtfully. "Though Mary seemed fine for a premature baby. She's just a little small."

"Well with parents like Dean and Pepper at least we know that she's going to be strong." Bobby added.

It was then that Pepper's doctor finally came over to them. He offered them a smile as they stood up to meet him, all eager for any news he may have.

"You're all here with Miss Bassingthwaite, right?" He asked them.

"That's right." Bobby nodded. "Is she okay? Is the baby okay?"

"They're both fine. But unfortunately, it's late and out visiting hours are long since over. I'm sorry but you'll have to leave." The doctor told them. "You can come back tomorrow at 9:00 AM that's when our visiting hours start."

"Couldn't we just see them for a minute?" Sam pleaded.

"Sorry, but we're already bending the rules to let her boyfriend stay the night, although why anyone would choose to sleep in these hospital chairs is beyond me."

John smirked. He was certain that the sleeping arrangements didn't matter to Dean as long as he got to be with his daughter.

"Thank you, Doctor." John said. "Would it be okay if I just saw my son for a second to let him know we'll be leaving?"

The Doctor thought for a second then nodded. "Alright but just you. You've got two minutes then I'm afraid you'll really have to leave."

John nodded and followed the Doctor down the hall towards the rooms.

"Guess the rest of us better find a place to stay the night." said Bobby. "We'll meet John downstairs."

As they made their way towards the exit, Sam took one last look around the hospital.

"I feel weird just leaving them here." He announced.

"I know." Bobby agreed. He wished they were back home because he knew enough people at the hospital near his place that he was sure he'd be able to convince the staff to let them all stay. However, here he had no option but to leave. "At least Dean's stayin'. He'll be able to look after Mary and Pepper."

Ellen glanced over at Bobby as they walked. She knew that it was probably killing him to leave Pepper and the baby at the hospital.

"Let's go." said Ellen. "There are things I need to tell you boys."

"Like what?" Sam paused, looking at her.

"I'll tell you once we're settled in a motel."

The Doctor led John to the outside of Pepper's room and then excused himself to go visit more patients, and reminded John of his time limit. John knocked on the door as softly as he could, not knowing if the baby was asleep or not. It only took a couple of seconds for Dean to step out. He gently closed the door behind him.

"Hey, Dad." He said softly.

John had to know the huge grin that was plastid on his sons face.

"Dean, we have to go." said John. "Visiting hours are over."

"Yeah, I figured that from the looks some of the nurses were giving me. Dean nodded. "But I got permission from the doc, which I think trumps the nurses."

"Do I even want to know how you managed that?" John asked, with one raised eyebrow.

"I think the dude's a father himself." Dean replied. "So he knows how much I don't want to leave Mary."

John placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Congratulations. You really made a beautiful daughter."

Dean nodded. "I did, didn't I. Um, look dad I should get back in there so I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you later. And give that baby a kiss from me."

"Yeah."

Dean turned and without waiting for his father to leave, he walked back into the private hospital room. John took in a deep breath and smiled as he slowly let it out again. Apart from Sam and Pepper being kidnapped by the Demon, this day had to be one of the best days the Winchester family had ever seen.

Dean walked across the room to the bed and sat down beside Pepper's outstretched legs, close enough that his knees pressed against her hip. Pepper was leaning against the pillows behind her as she rocked Mary lightly against her. Dean's eyes immediately went to his daughter. He leaned over and took the fingers of one of Mary's hands in his own. Her tiny fingers resting against his index finger, and he lightly rubbed the pad of his thumb back and forth over her skin. She had been cleaned up and was no longer wrapped up in his jacket but a soft white hospital blanket. She still looked gorgeous though. Mary was awake and had been looking up at her mother until Dean sat down then her focus went to him. Dean had to admit, he loved that.

"Everything okay?" Pepper asked after a few moments.

"Yeah," Dean sighed. "The others had to leave."

"Bet that went down well." said Pepper. She looked up and Dean and smiled. Even though he was talking to her, he hadn't taken his eyes off Mary.

Dean chuckled smiled, "I'm sure it did." He shrugged and added, "But rules are rules."

"Yes, because everyone out there is known for their rule abiding skills."

Dean chuckled lightly at that. He leaned down and brought Mary's fingers to his mouth, kissing them as if they were the most precious things in the world. And let's face it, to Dean they were.

"I can't believe how...amazing she is." He replied honestly. "She's just beautiful."

"She has your eyes." Pepper sighed with a smile.

Dean sat back up with a huge grin on his face. "I know."

Pepper laughed silently before Dean captured her lips with his own. As they pulled apart, Pepper yawned and Dean smiled at her. He moved back and carefully took Mary out of her arms and rocked her in his own arms.

He kissed her forehead and said, "I think mommy's tired."

"Of course mommy's tired." Pepper said with another yawn. "Mommy gave birth to night. That's not exactly easy you know."

Dean nodded in agreement. He was really impressed by the whole labor thing and knew that even with everything he had done in his life, he wouldn't be able to do it. He looked back down at Mary and saw her eyelids close. He smiled and walked over to the small hospital cradle in the corner of the room. He shifted Mary so the he could support her with one arm and with his free hand; he took hold of the cradle and wheeled it towards the bed. Once it was directly beside the bed, he gently placed the baby into it and kissed her cheek.

As he pulled back, he took a few minutes to simply watch her as she slept. She looked a little bit more like him than she did Pepper. Apart from having his eyes, she had his hair color though only time would tell if it would get lighter or darker. Dean was almost certain that her nose, mouth and lips were his too but maybe he was just biased. His heart swelled with pride and love as he watched her.

"I can't believe how much I love her." He admitted. "I mean, I kind of guess that I would but actually seeing her and being able to hold her...it's just all a little overwhelming. I had no idea that I could ever love someone the way that I love her." He sighed and lightly stroked Mary's hair. "My life was so dark and sure I had Sammy and Dad but even so I never thought that I could look at another person and not still feel all the terrors that I've felt my entire life. But looking at her, at our daughter...I look at her and all I feel is how much I love her and how much good there still is in this world."

He paused and waited for Pepper to chime in with a response. "Pepper?...Pep?"

Slowly Dean turned around and saw that Pepper was lying down, her eyes shut and her breathing leveled out. He pulled the blankets up to her shoulders and brushed her hair from her forehead. He leaned down and pressed his lips against her cheek. He whispered, "Thank you." Against her skin before he pulled back.

Dean wasn't feeling tired and maybe that was because of the adrenaline pumping through his body, or maybe it was simply the fact that he couldn't take his off his new baby daughter. It was most likely the last one. He carefully leaned against the edge of Pepper's bed, folded his arms and kept a watchful eye on Mary.

John and the others entered one of the motel rooms they had booked. Since the most beds in each room was only two, and none of them felt like struggling with the floor they had paid for two different rooms. One for Bobby and Ellen and the other for the Winchesters. In the room there was a small placed in front of the two beds, in the front of the bathroom door. The rooms were very small but they were cheap and at this late hour, none of them were very picky.

Bobby moved and leaned against the closed bathroom door. Sam sat down on the edge of one of the beds while Ellen and John sat opposite each other at the table. It had been a long day for all of them and even though they were all tired, they wanted to know what Ellen knew.

"Ellen, you mentioned a safe?" Bobby began.

"A hidden safe we keep in the basement." Ellen replied with a nod.

"Demons get what was in it?"

Ellen shook her head, "No."

Ellen reached inside of her jacket and pulled out a map from her pocket. She unfolded it and placed it down on the table. John, Bobby and Sam all moved from their spots to crowd around the table to get a better look at the map. At random spots on the map were small black X's.

"Wyoming." said John, eyeing the map. "What does that mean?"

"I've got some books in my trunk." said Ellen. "That physic friend of mine knew more than where you lot were."

She pushed her hair back but before she had a chance to stand, Bobby placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll get them." He offered.

Ellen nodded and tossed him her keys. It only took Bobby a minute or so before he returned with the books and some other maps. Several minutes after that, Bobby was going through one of the books while Ellen was explaining the contents of another map to Sam and John.

"Demonic omens." Ellen explained, gesturing to random spots on the second map, also of Wyoming. "Cattle deaths, lightening storms. They skyrocketed from out of nowhere. Except for Southern Wyoming."

"The marks on the other map." said Sam.

"Yeah. That area is completely clean. It's almost as if..."

"What?" asked John.

"Like the Demons are surrounding it." replied Ellen.

"Did you happen to find out why?"

"No, I didn't have time to check this all out. I just wanted to find you boys first."

"I don't believe it." Bobby said suddenly. He moved towards them and placed the book he was reading right on top of the map.

"You got something?" Sam asked, leaning over slightly.

"A lot more than that." Bobby replied. "Each of those X's," He said, gesturing to the corner of the first map. "Is an abandoned frontier church - all mid nineteenth century. And all of them built by Samuel Colt."

"Samuel Colt?" John repeated.

"The demon-killing, gun making Samuel Colt?" asked Sam.

"Yep. And there's more." Bobby continued. He grabbed the first map and laid it out. "He built private railway lines connecting church to church." He paused and ran a finger from X to X. Then he grabbed a pen and connected each X, creating a pentagram. "It just happens to lay out like this."

"Tell me that's not what I think it is." John demanded, staring at the map.

"It's a Devil's Trap." said Sam. "A 100-square mile Devil's Trap."

"Made from iron lines the Demons can't cross." said Bobby.

"I've never heard of anything that massive." said Ellen.

"No one has."

"And after all these years none of the lines are broken?" Sam asked. "I mean, it still works?"

Bobby nodded.

"Of course, all those omens." Ellen shook her head slightly as it all came together. "The Demons must be circling and they can't get in."

"But they are trying." added Bobby.

"So what's inside?" asked John.

"I'm not sure." said Bobby. "The only thing I can find that may be it is an old cowboy cemetery right in the middle of everything."

"Well, what's so important about a cemetery or...what's Colt trying to protect?"

"Well, unless..." John began but trailed off as he gathered his thoughts.

"Unless what?" Bobby asked.

"What if Colt wasn't trying to keep the Demons out? What if he was trying to keep something in?"

Ellen looked at John and sighed, "Well that's a comforting thought."

"Yeah." John agreed.

"Could they do it, Bobby?" Sam asked. "Could they get inside?"

"This things so powerful, you'd practically need an A-bomb to destroy it. No way a full-blood Demon gets across."

"No." Sam paused, his eyes down cast. His mind raced back to what he had learnt from the Demon and then he remembered Jake and how he nearly killed them. "But I know who could." He finished, bringing his eyes up to lock with his father's.

"Who?" John asked.

"Jake." Sam answered. "I mean, he ran off and for all we know he could be working with the Demon now."

"So what do we do now?" Ellen asked them.

"First we have to find out when all this is going to take place." Bobby suggested. "But I'm thinking it's going to be soon. We'll get our stuff together and in the morning we'll head to Wyoming--"

"--And do what?" Sam demanded. "We don't even know what's going to take place."

"Yeah, but we have to at least try to stop whatever the Demon is planning." said John.

"I think we should all try to get some sleep for now." said Ellen, looking at each man in turn. "It's been a long, long day."

Even though they had all taken in a lot of information they all agreed that they needed their rest.

When Sam woke up the next morning it was a little after 7:00 AM, and his father was already up and drinking coffee at the table, looking over the maps again. He looked a little more rested than yesterday but not by much. Sam knew that his father had gotten less sleep than he had, and since he did not get much himself that was saying a lot. Sam stretched and sat up before slowly swinging his legs onto the floor.

"Morning, Dad." Sam muttered as he stumbled towards the table. "What are you up too?"

John looked up at him briefly, "Just going over a few things." He looked back down at the map and added. "It should take us the whole day to just get to this place."

"Then shouldn't we leave now?"

"I'd rather give Bobby and Ellen at least another hour of sleep. This is going to be a big battle we're going in to, Son." John replied, shaking his head slightly. "I don't want anyone to be off their game when we get there."

"I doubt they're still sleeping, dad." Sam replied thoughtfully. "I don't think any of us got a lot of sleep last night."

"No, I suppose you're right." John nodded. He placed his mug down on the table and stood up. "Come on then, let's go and see if they're up."

Ellen and Bobby were of course up and ready to go when John and Sam went to see them. The four of them quickly gathered their things, showered, and grabbed whatever weapons they had and placed them in the Impala. By the time they were pulling away from the motel it was close to 8:45 AM. John was driving once again and turned the car down the road towards the hospital. It took Sam a few minutes to realize that his father was driving to the hospital and not in the direction that would take them to Wyoming.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

"Going to see your brother." John replied, as if this should have been obvious.

"What!" Sam nearly shouted. "Dad, you can't do that. He just had a baby. You can't force him to go on a hunt now."

"I'm not going to force him to do anything." John snapped back. "He can stay here if he wants; no one is going to hold it against him. I am just giving him the option to come if he wants to. Think about it, Sam, this is something you and your brother have been dealing with most of your lives. Don't you think Dean might want to see it finished?"

Sam looked down and nodded. He knew his father had a point. Even if Dean decided to stay here, he still had a right to know what was going on. Silenced filled the car after that until they pulled up in the hospital's underground car park.

"Sam, go and let your brother know what's going on." Bobby said, leaning in from the backseat slightly.

"Why me?" Sam asked as he looked back at him.

"'Cause I asked ya too." replied Bobby. "The rest of us will wait here."

Sam hesitated for a brief moment then finally gave in and slid out of the car. What Sam hadn't realized was the reason for why he was the one to be sent up. Bobby and John were both scared that if they went upstairs and held that little baby in their arms neither of them would be able to let her go, and then they'd never be able to go on this hunt. The idea of sending Ellen also went through Bobby's mind but he thought that Dean would appreciate hearing about the Demon from his brother more.

Dean sat on the edge of Pepper's bed and rocked Mary in his arms as he looked down keeping eye contact with her. She seemed to be watching him with great interest and that kept a smile on his face. He began making popping noises with his mouth, all the while still smiling. Pepper watched him from her bed as she finished off an apple one of the nurse's had given her. She started laughing when he made popping sounds. Dean paused mid 'pop' and looked up at her.

"What?" He asked seriously, as he frowned.

"I just never thought I'd see Dean Winchester doing this." She replied, waving a hand towards him and Mary. "It's a good sight."

Dean paused for a moment, still frowning then he shrugged one shoulder slightly so he wouldn't disturb Mary, then he went right back to rocking her and making more noises. Pepper burst out laughing but stopped when something outside her room caught her eye. As she took a closer look, she noticed Sam nervously coming towards them.

"Sammy's here."She announced gesturing over Dean's shoulder to the door.

Dean looked behind him and grinned. He'd been waiting all morning for his family to arrive so that he could show off his daughter. He was actually excited about it even if it did mean letting someone other than himself and Pepper hold her.

"Hi." Sam said and walked slowly over to the bed.

"Hey, Sammy." Pepper smiled at him. "Did you guys have a good night?"

"A yeah," Sam shrugged. "Kind of. What about you?"

"The best." Dean grinned.

Sam nodded and looked at the baby in his brother's arms. Last night, Sam couldn't get the image of her out of his head, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it did feel strange. As he watched her, he almost forgot why he was actually there and not with the others.

"Sammy, do you want to hold her?" Pepper asked gently.

"Really?" Sam looked up from Mary for a moment. His tone had a trace of excite meant through it but when he looked back at Mary he tensed slightly.

Dean stood up and moved towards Sam. Sam held out his hands, ready to have Mary placed in them. Pepper noticed how nervous Sam seemed.

"Relax, Sammy." Pepper smiled. "She's not going to bite. You'll be fine."

"I know." Sam replied, still watching his niece as she lay in her father's arms. "It's just that she's so tiny. I'm kind of scared that I might drop her--"

He was cut off because suddenly Mary was getting further away. He looked up at his brother who was sitting back on the bed, glaring at him.

"Dean...Wha-" Sam asked, confused as he frowned.

"You are not holding my daughter with that attitude." Dean replied, but it was more of a warning.

"But, I..."

"Dean," Pepper sighed. "Just let him have a hold for a second."

"No," Dean said, turning slightly to look at her. "When he's more confident and doesn't make comments about dropping her, then he can hold her."

Pepper rolled her eyes but didn't argue further. She knew that Sam would never actually drop their daughter but Dean was just being over protective and there wasn't anything wrong with that either. She knew that eventually Dean would calm down.

Sam frowned sadly. He hadn't really known how much he had wanted to hold the baby until right now when he wasn't allowed to.

"Sammy, where are John and Granddad?" Pepper asked.

"Oh, ah yeah that's why I'm here. Dean, we kind of know what the Demon is planning." Sam said quickly.

"What?" Dean asked, a little louder than he intended causing her to squirm. He leaned down and cooed at her until she settled down and then he handed her over to Pepper. "When you say 'Demon' you do mean--?" Dean started to ask when he turned back to Sam.

"The one that killed mom." Sam nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked, folding his arms.

"Ellen, had maps and books - look we're not sure exactly what's going to happen but we do know where it will happen." Sam explained. "And we've checked, so we think that whatever it going to happen is gonna happen soon."

"Okay," Dean slowly nodded.

Sam took in a breath then let it out slowly. "Dad wanted to know if you wanted to come and, you know, finish it."

"You think we could really finish it. For good?"

"I don't know." Sam shrugged. "Like I said, we're not completely sure what's going to happen."

Dean shook his head, "Sam, I can't just leave. I won't leave. I mean I want to see this through more than anyone but I'm not--"

"--I know, Dean." Sam quickly assured him. "No one wants you to go if you don't want to. Dad just wanted to give you the option if you decide you do want to come."

Dean closed his eyes and turned his head upward. This decision shouldn't be this hard to make. It should be simple, stay here with Mary. That should always be his choice, and yet...Dean needed to be there when they ended this. He needed to be there to help his brother and father because he knew that they would need him. He felt so guilty for even having to think about this. How could he even think about abandoning his daughter.

Sam swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched the obvious emotions his brother felt come across his face. Sam felt bad for putting this on Dean's shoulders and wondered if this was the reason why Bobby and the others hadn't come up.

"Dean." Pepper said softly.

Dean sighed and slowly turned to face her. He didn't want her to know that he was struggling with an answer, thinking that she would find that disturbing. She probably thought that Mary should come first above all hunts even this one.

"You should go."

"What?" Dean asked, thinking he'd heard her wrong. "Pepper, I can't..."

Pepper shifted Mary to rest against one arm then reached her other arm out to take hold of Dean's hand.

"I know you, Dean." She began. "I know how long you've had to deal with this. I know how much of your life it's ruined, and I know how much you want to see it be over."

She let go of his hand and moved to cup his cheek. Dean leaned into her touch and closed his eyes once more.

"Having Sammy, John, Granddad and Ellen out there without you isn't going to be the same as being there yourself. I get that. And if you stay here all you'll do is worry about what's happening to the others."

"But aren't you going to worry if I go?" He asked, slowly opening his eyes to catch hers.

"Of course I will, but I'd rather you go then have you stay here with a decision that you might regret later. I don't want you to go through that."

"I'm gonna regret my decision either way, Pepper. If I stay I'm gonna be wishing I went and If I go...I don't think I can leave you two." Dean paused and reached over to hold his daughter's hand as she waved it around.

"I know it's hard for you and believe me if it were up to me you'd all stay. But..." Pepper took a deep breath. "This is something you need to do. Just make sure that you are one thousand times more careful than you would normally be. And we'll be fine here. I promise."

Dean closed his eyes again and tried to decide which side of his inner battle he should let win. On the one hand his entire life had been leading up to this final showdown between his family and the Yellow-eyed demon, and on the other hand the very thought of leaving his daughter to go do something that may kill him ripped his insides to shreds. He weighed up everything that Pepper had said and knew that she was right. He did need to do this. More than anything he needed to see with his own eyes that the demon was dead and gone otherwise, he would be constantly worried that it would come after Mary. Of course, he would always be worried that something was after her but he did not want that fear to consume either his life or hers.

Finally, with a lot of difficulty Dean made his decision.

"Ok, Sam." He sighed, "I'll go." Dean let go of Mary's hand and turned around to face his brother. "But you need to help me with something first."

That thing that Dean needed help with was protecting Pepper's hospital room. Over protecting the room, actually. Sam and gotten Ellen to come up and help while John and Bobby remained outside trying their best to stop Demons from actually going into the hospital by placing salt lines and devil's traps near every entrance. Dean was disappointed that neither of them had come up to see Mary, but he understood their reason for not being there once Ellen explained it to him.

Pepper was sitting on the edge of the bed, rocking Mary in her arms as Dean, Sam and Ellen moved around the room doing everything they could think of to keep it safe. They kept the door closed and the blinds shut. Last thing they needed was to get kicked out for doing bizarre rituals. Everything they did needed to be out of the way so that none of the hospital staff noticed. It was a good thing that Pepper was in a private room.

Sam was standing on a stack of chairs and spray painted a devil's trap on the ceiling just in front of the door. Dean walked around and poured salt on the windowsill and around the bed. Ellen placed a few protection hex bags around the room. One under Pepper's pillow and one hidden in the cradle.

"There." said Ellen, wiping her hands together as she finished setting the last hex bag. "I think we're done. Boys?"

"Almost." Sam called out, joining up the last lines of his devil's trap.

"Thanks for helping, Ellen." said Dean. "Do you think this will be enough?"

Ellen nodded, "I think we've done more than enough." She smiled and walked over to Pepper. Leaning down towards Mary, Ellen cooed, "Hello, there beautiful."

"You can hold her if you want, Ellen." Dean grinned at her.

Ellen grinned back and carefully took Mary from Pepper's arms, while behind them Sam stepped down from the chairs and looked annoyingly at his brother.

"Why is she allowed to hold her?" Sam almost whined.

Dean turned and glared at his brother before snapping, "Because she didn't say anything about dropping her."

Sam let out a long sigh. "I said I was sorry, Dean. What more do you want?"

Pepper laughed then sobered up when she noticed the time. It was almost 11:00 AM and from what Ellen had told them, she knew that the quicker they left the better.

"You should probably get going." She told them.

Ellen looked up from Mary and smiled sadly at Pepper. She could see the regret in her eyes from having to send Dean on this hunt. Ellen carefully placed Mary in the cradle and kissed her before turning to hug Pepper tightly.

"I'll look after him." Ellen quietly promised. Ellen suspected that making sure Dean survived this would be high on everyone's list especially herself, John and Bobby. The three of them knew what it was like to raise a child alone and none of them wanted that to happen with Dean, Pepper and Mary. That baby deserved to have both of her parents with her while she grew up.

"Thank you." Pepper nodded.

Ellen pulled back and walked over to Sam, gently tugging on his arm to lead him out of the room. Sam paused for a moment but eventually followed. He could tell that Dean and Pepper needed some time alone.

"Dean, we'll get Bobby and John then we'll meet you downstairs."

Dean nodded, grateful that Ellen new that he needed to be with Pepper alone. Once Sam and Ellen had left the room Dean walked over to Pepper and took her in to his arms. Her own arms wrapped around his shoulders as he pressed his face against the side of her neck. Dean took a deep breath and held her a little tighter. After a moment, Dean pulled back and kissed Pepper as passionately as he could. With their lips still touching their foreheads rested against one another.

Pepper sighed, "I love you."

Dean smiled, but instead of answering her, he just kissed her again. He hardly ever said the words, even now that they'd had a baby together but that didn't matter to Pepper. Just because he couldn't say the words didn't mean he never showed her how he felt about her, in his own way of course. And while he couldn't say the words to her it seemed like he had no problem saying it to Mary. Pepper had lost count on how many times he had said it since she was born.

Dean moved away from her and stepped towards the cradle. Mary looked up at him with her round eyes so fill of innocence and wonder. He smiled and ran his fingers over any bit skin he could reach. Her skin was soft and smooth against the roughness of his fingers. Dean wanted to commit every bit of her to his memory. He leaned down and placed his lips against her cheek.

"I love you, Mary." He told her.

Pepper was behind him now. She placed a hand on his shoulder causing Dean to step back and turned to her. She cupped one hand against his cheek and ran her thumb over his bottom lip, forcing his eyes which had still been on Mary to meet hers.

"Be safe. Look out for the others." Pepper told him. "And God help you if you don't come back to us."

Dean kissed her one more time and then reluctantly walked towards the door.

TBC

Next Chapter - The Gates Of Hell