Sweet Child Of Mine part 3

by Emma Winchester 424

Hello! Welcome to the final chapter of Sweet Child of Mine! Thank you soooooooooooo much for all the follows, favorites, and reviews- you all make my little hunter's heart happy.

Much thanks to Jenmm31. I can't tell you how wonderful it's been to have such a great friend to help me along this new journey. I am forever grateful. Please go check out her amazing stories- One Day at a Time, and Growing Up, Winchester Style. She is a brilliant and gifted writer, and a major inspiration to me.

Well, here we go! Enjoy! xoxoxo

A/N- If you haven't already, please read the first two chapters, because this dives right in to the story with no exposition. Rated T for language, because Dean.

Half-empty, warm beer bottles, crumpled bits of paper, an empty pizza box. Dean's eyes scanned the table that he was sitting at again, looking for something- anything- new to look at. When he made the circuit two more times and came up with nothing, he resignedly looked back at the thick book on demonic lore he had been staring at for over 2 hours. He restlessly flipped a couple more pages. Nada. He tried randomly opening the book to a different chapter. Nope, still nothing new there either. He slammed it shut, and ran a hand over his tired face, scratching the stubble on his right cheek. All three of them had started in on the research the second they had woken up in their motel room. It was now pressing on to the afternoon, and still, they were empty handed.

Dean's eyes fell towards his brother, who, like him, had been diving into everything they could find on how to kill this demon. Sam seemed deeply engrossed by whatever website he was browsing while leaning up against the headboard of his bed with his laptop on his lap. Dean's gaze swung to Natalie instead. She was sitting cross legged on the couch, with an old battered copy of the Bible they had borrowed from the library on her lap, concentrating so hard she looked like she was going to start sweating. She was absent mindedly braiding her long dark hair, almost like her hands absolutely had to be doing something even when her brain was otherwise occupied. Dean noticed little frizzy bits popping out the plait, like the slight curl in her hair just couldn't be contained by an ordinary braid. Dean found himself fascinated by it, and begrudgingly allowed himself one brief moment to actually think about this whole situation. Natalie. His daughter. He mentally shook his head, still trying to completely wrap his mind around that one. She had dropped into his life, out of the blue- quite literally- and, without entirely meaning to, forced him to think about several things he had never really let himself actively think of before- a family, parental duties, a solid, steady home. Well, to be honest, he had thought about it briefly, when he thought that he may have had another life with a certain dark haired yoga instructor, but had never thought this deeply about it before. Having a kid suddenly intensified everything, threw everything into a new light. Seeing his very own flesh and blood living, breathing, and moving was bewildering, not to mention terrifying. And he already knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn't trade that terror for the world. This girl, without trying to, had somehow wormed her way into his stubborn hunter's heart. She really didn't have to try, he thought to himself. She always belonged there. She's mine. My baby girl. The shock of that truth hit him right between the eyes. Whoa. Holy shit, now I'm having chick flick moments with myself?! Ugh. He shook his head again and cleared his throat. Natalie's eyes swung up to catch her dad looking at her.

"Did you find anything yet?" he asked, trying to sound robustly masculine and not so much Oprah.

She shook her head. "Not really," she said, flipping another page. "The only thing I can find about cursed children is the story of Abraham and Isaac."

"Isn't that the one where God told the one dude to kill his son?" Dean asked. Natalie nodded.

"Yeah, that's it. God had promised Abraham a son, but then, as an act of obedience, God demanded that he sacrifice the son to Him."

"Wow. Talk about your Indian giver," Dean commented wryly. Natalie snickered, which made Dean smile.

"Anyways, just as Abraham was about to kill Isaac, an angel stopped him, saying that it was only the act of obedience that God required."

"So how does that help us?" he inquired, to which Natalie shrugged.

"I don't think it does- but it's the only thing I've found so far," she said dejectedly. Dean looked back at Sam.

"What about you? Got anything?" he said.

"Well, there's a lot of biblical websites that talk about how to break generational curses-" he began. Dean jumped up and rushed over, interrupting him. He bent down to look at the web page himself.

"Really? Kick ass!" he said. Sam just rolled his eyes at Dean's impetuative nature.

"But it's all about asking forgiveness for the original offense of the first generation," Sam finished, the annoyance clear in his voice.

"The original offense wasn't a sin- I was just giving that Yellow-Eyed bastard what he deserved," Dean said.

"Well, to you, yes. Unfortunately, the demon probably won't see it exactly like that, seeing as how it was his brother and all. And even if it somehow did see that, it won't forgive you. Which is why..."

"It won't work either." Dean stood up, and angrily looked around for which motel room wall could take a punch without collapsing.

"Okay- let's think logically here," Natalie piped up, breaking back into the conversation. "We know that being around me more than likely makes it somewhat vulnerable, and that it acts compulsively when I'm near..." she said. Sam focused his gaze on her, encouraging her to keep going. She furrowed her brow for a second, thinking.

"What if we set up some sort of trap?" she asked.

"A trap?" Dean said gruffly, turning his stare back to her. She chose her next words carefully, knowing her idea had the potential to create a massive bitchy explosion from the both of them.

"We find a warehouse or something- a place far away from people- and we set out bait. When the demon shows up, we ambush it, and send it back to Hell without so much as a how-do-you-do," she offered.

"Nat, we already tried that," Sam said patiently. Just that morning, they had filled her in on all their attempts to gank the demon before she came along, including the ambush that had almost worked before the demon turned tail.

She bit her lip at him calling her "Nat"- oh boy, if he only knew about that little annoying habit he's going to pick up. At least he hasn't started in with the nickname yet, she thought- and gave him her patented smug grin in response to his statement.

"But you didn't have the right bait before," she quipped. Sam's eyes widened as her plan sunk in.

"You want to be the bait," he said flatly. She gave the classic Winchester shrug, indicating that in her mind, it was all in a day's work.

"Nope." Dean's voice cut through the conversation, causing both of them to look at him. "Not gonna happen." He stood glaring at her, his hands on his hips like he meant business. Natalie gave him an exasperated look.

"Dad-" she began.

"I said, No."

"Think about it. The ambush almost worked before-"

"What part of "no" aren't you getting?"

"And we know that the demon can't help but try to attack me-"

"You're really not helping your case, you know that?"

"But if we just-"

"Natalie," he said, raising his voice and looking her dead in the eye. She instantly fell silent, clamping her lips together over the words that were threatening to spill out of her mouth. Hmmm, Dean thought to himself. Remember this look for the future. It makes her shut her trap. And he was right- she knew that look way too well. Another word out of her and she knew she could kiss her sorry ass goodbye. She lowered her head, defeated. But before Dean could say anything else, Sam spoke up.

"Dean," he began quietly. He pushed his laptop to the side, stood up, and walked over to his brother, trying to make him to look up. Dean silently refused to move. Sam sighed, and plunged ahead anyways.

"You know she's right," he said gently.

"Sammy," Dean growled in his low tones, the threat clear in his voice, his narrowed eyes not moving.

"C'mon, dude. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's the wrong choice," Sam said. Dean finally turned his head to look Sam in the eye. His icy glare didn't stop Sam the way it stopped Natalie, which made Dean even more frustrated. "She's right- if we can lure the demon back with her, we set up the trap and attack it from both sides."

"We still don't know how to make it vulnerable enough to blow it away," Dean argued hotly. Sam searched for the right retort, but eventually just threw up his hands.

"Then we just trap it for now. Make sure it can't come after us until we do figure out how to kill it," he said. Natalie lifted her head, her eyes roving back to them, seeing a light at the end of this tunnel. Her uncle had always been a miracle worker when it came to talking Dean into something he didn't really want to do.

"We can create a devil's trap, salt around the perimeter, holy water puddles, I mean, the works," Sam continued. A muscle twitched in Dean's jaw. "She'll be perfectly safe-"

"By giving the demon the chance to use her as a CHEW TOY?!" Dean thundered back. Sam put his hands up to calm his big brother down.

"We'll be right there watching its every move, and Natalie's been training as a hunter her whole life." At that, Dean broke away and turned his back to both of them, but didn't walk out of the room. Sam took at as a sign that he was listening, even if it was reluctantly. "If we don't at least try this- stop this thing in its tracks, right here, right now- she'll never be safe." Sam let those words hang in the air. He knew that Dean was beefing out into his overprotective He-Man mode, and the only way to get him to come to reason was to lay all the cards out on the table and tell it like it was. Sam held his breath- either Dean was going to agree or he wasn't- there was no more argument he could make. A few tense moments of silence later, and Dean let out an angry sigh. Sam and Natalie locked eyes triumphantly- in that second, they both knew they got him. Dean spun around on his heel, facing them.

"Fine. We try this once- my way. And if it doesn't work, this whole booby trap idea is done, end of discussion. You both got me?" he asked forcefully, pointing his finger at his brother first, then his daughter. Sam nodded his acquiescence. Natalie twisted her mouth, as usual, to hide her delighted grin.

"Yes, sir," she said, jumping up off the couch. Finally, some action.

"Good," Dean said, shaking his arms like he was trying to get rid of the unpleasantness of the plan. He started calming down. He was ready to get his head in the game.

"I think there were some old buildings close to the interstate when we pulled in here. We could probably set up something there," Sam commented, pulling on his worn brown jacket. "They were located near the downtown area."

"Well, then I'll just have to bring the uptown funk," Dean said smarmily, the boastful twinkle returning to his eye. Natalie looked at him in disbelief.

"Seriously?" she said. "The Uptown Funk?"

Dean shrugged. "Don't believe me? Just watch."

Natalie snorted again. "You have got to be kidding me!"

"What?" Dean asked.

"The song?"

"What song?"

Natalie thought for a minute, then slapped herself in the forehead. "Oh that's right. That song hasn't come out yet." She looked at Dean and just shook her head, chuckling. "Man, when you know the future, there's irony everywhere."

About a half hour later, the Impala pulled up in front of an old crumbling textile factory on the outskirts of the dull, beige town. They stopped at the chain link gates attached to the fence, which seemed to be surrounding the entire property. The rusting gates were fastened by a single padlock. The whole fence had chunks of the linking wires missing or torn down, so it seemed like overkill to have a padlock on the gate, but it was probably for the insurance or something, Natalie reasoned to herself. She looked around from the backseat of the car. There seemed to be a guard station, but it was a good 200 feet from the locked entrance to the left. This just kept getting better and better.

"Hey," she said, tapping Dean on the shoulder and pointing. "Check it out. Should we go over and see if there's actually a guard for this crap hole?"

In response, he opened the car door and stood up, moving over to let Natalie open her side and scramble out. Sam followed suit, shutting his door carefully. Dean was already tense over this whole plan, and he didn't want to rattle his brother's cage further by slamming the door shut on Baby. He walked around the car to the other two, and the three of them began trudging towards the guard station, which, upon further inspection, looked similar to a rundown shack from the 1800s with a window clumsily built into the door.

"What freaking good does it do to have a guard station so far away from the stupid entrance?" Dean grumbled. He narrowed his eyes. He could make out someone sitting at the window, but couldn't really distinguish any facial features. However, the closer they got, the faster he walked. It was a young woman sitting behind the window. As they got closer, he noticed there wasn't actually a window. It seemed the genius who built the falling apart lean-to forgot to put the glass in the hole in the door. That was just a speck in Dean's train of thought at the moment, though. The rather attractive woman sitting behind the hole in the door was probably mid twenties, with black hair trimmed into a pixie cut. And she was cute. Really cute. And her shirt front was cut really deep. Dean's I'm sexy and I know it grin automatically spread across his face, and he picked up a little bounce in his step as Sam and Natalie tried to keep up. Sam actually had to lengthen his strides, and poor Natalie was almost speed walking.

"Seriously?!" she hissed, as they were close enough for the female guard to hear. Dean ignored her, and sauntered up to the window. He casually pulled out his fake ID badge, and flashed it at the woman. Her dark blue eyes scanned the badge, and then the face that went with it. She sat up a little straighter in her dilapidated chair. She clearly liked what she saw.

"Can I help you?" she practically purred. Natalie rolled her eyes in disgust. Sam subtlety elbowed her- she knew that they all had to play their roles when they were on a case. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

"You sure can," Dean drawled back, and scanned her bulging chest for a name badge. "Marielle," he said, tearing his gaze away from her twin peaks and flashing his pearly whites. Natalie made an enormous effort to keep her lunch down. "We're the county fire marshals, supposed to be checking out the old textile factory."

"Really? Is someone interested in buying it or something?" Miss Blue Eyes asked innocently. What an idiot, Natalie thought. One look at this place and all it's good for is a demon graveyard. Sick of her dad's goo-goo eyes, Natalie jumped in.

"Yes, actually. We're just inspecting it to make sure that not everything here is condemnable," she said, straight-forward, hoping this bimbo would catch the subtle dig. Which, of course, she didn't. Instead, she looked inquisitively around Dean and saw Natalie.

"Aren't you a little young to be a fire marshal?" she asked, confusion in her bubble gum voice. Before Natalie could speak, however, Dean stepped back in front of her.

"Yeah, she's an intern, first day," he said, then turned around and leaned down into Natalie's face. "I got this, kiddo, don't worry," he said patronizingly, scrubbing his hand on the top of her head like she was five, and turned back around to Marielle. Natalie's eyes went wide. She hated being made to look like a stupid, know-nothing kid. She knew he was just showing off for Tits & Ass here, but that didn't quell the tide of rage rising in her. A split second before she lunged forward to knock Miss Blue Eyes into next year, Sam cleared his throat knowingly, shooting her a sideways glance. Natalie managed to stop her feet from charging. She bunched up her fists so tight she thought her knuckles might split out of their skin, but kept her face impassive. She even managed to give Old Blue an apologetic smile, which was immediately returned with a display of unnaturally white teeth. She's probably been drinking bleach. Accounts for the lack of brains, Natalie thought nastily.

Sam stepped up towards the window, wanting to move things along before someone ended up on the floor. Dean seemed completely oblivious to the hurricane he had just started, so as usual, it was up to Sam to keep things running smoothly.

"Is there any way you can let us in? We should be done with the inspection and out of your hair in a couple hours," he said. Marielle managed to tear her gaze away from Dean just long enough to see Sam. She nodded furiously, eager to please.

"Oh, yeah! Absolutely!" she said, gathering up a tiny ring of keys, and pushing the door open. "Follow me," she said seductively to only Dean, as if Sam and Natalie had suddenly disappeared. She brushed past them both, Dean right on her heels.

"With pleasure," he said jauntingly, staring at the tight black pants she was sporting. Sam looked down at Natalie, who was still about to blow. Since Marielle clearly didn't have eyes for anything but Dean, Sam wrapped his arm around his niece and squeezed her shoulder. He felt a little of the fight drain out of her at the gesture, and she looked up at him, gratefulness in her eyes. He squeezed again, giving her a smile. They fell in behind TweedleDean and TweedleDumbo.

When they reached the gate, Marielle had unlocked the single padlock and pushed the gate open. She then turned around and flashed her over white smile at Dean again, who lapped up the attention like a kitten with a bowl of milk.

"Let me know if I can do anything else for you, m'kay?" she said, arching her back to accentuate her features.

"Most definitely," Dean said, bobbing his eyebrows at her. Marielle turned away then, and began walking back towards the guard station. Dean leaned up against Baby and watched that tight little butt walk away in those skinny pants. He was practically drooling. When Natalie was sure that the bimbo was out of earshot, she marched over to Dean and decked him in the arm. For being so little, she was surprisingly strong.

"Ouch! What the hell?" he complained, snapping out of his bimbo trance, and rubbing his arm where she had landed the solid blow. Damn, that hurt a lot more than it should have, he thought. Natalie narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's not Mom," she growled.

"Are you sure?" he asked longingly, his gaze wandering back to the guard. Natalie cocked her fist back again, and he capitulated.

"Okay, okay! Geez."

Dean opened her door and let her crawl in the back seat. She plopped down, and crossed her arms, fury still etched on her face. When he turned to shut the car door, he surreptitiously tried to catch one more glimpse of Marielle, but she was too far away. He sighed, and climbed back in behind the wheel.

Much, much later that night, they returned to the warehouse. Natalie made short work of the padlock. Much to her delight, and Dean's disappointment, Marielle wasn't at the guard station. In fact, no one was. She couldn't help but comment on it as they all made their way into the warehouse.

"Just goes to show the level of genius around here. Full time guard during daylight, no one watching it at night. Not that Old Blue Eyes could have done much more than flash her...teeth...at any intruders," she commented dryly. Dean threw her a look, which she returned with his own faux-charming smile before flouncing off into the open room littered with old crates that had once held skeins of fabric. Note to self. In the future, do not let Natalie get away with that smug little grin, he thought blackly. Hell, after that punch earlier, he wasn't going to let her get away with it now.

"Let me ask you something," he said casually. She raised her eyebrows in response. "Do I really let you get away with this smart-aleck crap in your time?"

Natalie paused for a second, and the fakey smile faltered. "Well...sometimes...but...not really, no."

"Uh-huh. So what makes you think I'm going to forget this little exchange in the future when you're back on my turf, kid?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow at her. That took her by surprise. She didn't move a muscle, but eventually responded to his query with one of her own.

"Say- have I told you how good you look today? And your hair. Wow. So on-point." God bless him, he tried not to, but couldn't help it. She was just too damn cute. He chuckled under his breath at his daughter's shallow attempt to get out of the hot water, to which she giggled back. The awkward moment dissipated, and they were back to normal.

"Alright, you two," Sam said, pulling them both into the present. It was getting late- the moon was throwing pale blue light into the room through the busted out windows. "Let's go over this again. Natalie," he said, pointing to her. "You will be in the middle of the room, right under the Devil's Trap." Natalie looked up at the 15 foot tall ceiling where they had carefully drawn the charmed circle earlier that day. She nodded to show she was following along.

"Sam and I are going to be behind those crates, there-" Dean took over, pointing to a stack of boxes in the northeast corner of the room, "And there," he said again, swinging his finger around to the southwest corner. "When the demon shows up-"

"I let it get close enough to get inside the circle, and then get my ass out of there," Natalie finished up. Dean nodded once in approval.

"Okay, you two, double check all the salt lines around the windows and walls. I want the only way into this room to be that door," Dean ordered, gesturing to the door they had entered from. "I'm going to make sure the circle is still intact."

He began climbing on the crates they had left stacked up earlier to get to the ceiling. Sam and Natalie quickly checked all the windows and walls in the room, scanning for any breaks in the lines they had put down earlier that day. When they were both satisfied, they turned to watch Dean finish up outlining the Devil's Circle one more time with chalk. He carefully climbed down, and the three of them quickly began disassembling the tower of crates, so the demon's eye wouldn't be drawn to it, and therefore, drawn to the ceiling. Just as they finished moving the last box, a crash resounded outside of the room. All three of them immediately slipped into full-on hunter mode. Dean nodded to Natalie, who silently moved to her position underneath the circle. He pointed two fingers at Sam, then to the crates behind him. Sam slipped off to hide in his assigned spot, and Dean moved to do the same. He had barely made it to his location when he heard the footsteps drawing nearer. He quietly drew his favorite silver .45 and held it at the ready. He had to resist the crazy urge to check to see if Natalie was alright. He stayed silent as the grave, not daring to move.

Natalie had thrust her hands into her pockets, striking a casual stance, even though every instinct inside her was buzzing, projecting every sound and shadow that could mean potential danger. She kept her face stoic, and didn't let her emotions even come close to penetrating the surface. She had been trained way too well to let something like a stupid demon get the best of her.

The demon strode into the room, his gigantic feet smacking loudly on the cement floor. When she got a good look at him, Natalie prayed that the color wasn't draining out of her face. The demon was even larger than she remembered. It was easily as tall as her uncle, which was saying something. His thick neck and bulging forearms were formidable, to say the least. His gigantic black combat boots had to be sized 18 plus. But it was the face which was threatening the grip she had on herself. Those damned yellow eyes seemed to glow like spot lights in the pale blue night, which had suddenly turned icy and dangerous. And he was wearing that ghoulish, horrific smile.

"It's you," he said, stepping a few feet into the room, stopping as his eyes zeroed in on Natalie. "What are you doing here?"

"Did you miss me, kitten?" she said blithely.

"I don't understand. You're not supposed to be here yet. It's not your time."

"Aw, you know me. Can't resist a good fight. Not going to let a little thing like the space time continuum stop me," she said smarmily.

The demon narrowed his eyes at her flippant attitude. He had felt the immense pull that had accompanied all his dealings with the Winchester boys, but this explained why, tonight, the compulsion to find them had nearly driven him insane. His smile grew wider. It was exactly what he wanted all along- punish the father by taking the daughter. He had already waited what seemed like an eternity for this opportunity, and he was not going to look this gift whore in the mouth. His lips split, and he showed his teeth in a smile that came straight from hell's bowels.

For a moment, Natalie thought her knees were going to buckle at the sight of that grin made out of nightmares. Come on, girl, pull it together, she scolded herself. She just shifted her weight instead. The demon paused, and then let out a screaming laugh that shocked her so much, it knocked the wind out of her. He pointed to the Devil's Trap drawn on the ceiling over her head.

"Did you really think that I would be fooled into walking right into your devil's trap, you little brat? The worthless meat bags you call your family already tried that one on me," he hissed at her. She just smirked back.

"Nope. But I figured you'd be stupid enough to walk..." she pointed directly over his head. "...into THAT one." The demon looked up, disbelieving. Sure enough, there was a second Devil's Trap, right over his head, just a few feet into the door. And he was standing in the middle of it. He roared in rage. Dean took that as his cue to come out from his hiding spot, his gun already trained on the evil creature. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Sam copy his actions. They both closed in on the demon, whose furious gaze was sinking to the floor.

"Well, look at what the hell hound dragged in," Dean said, mockingly. The demon tensed his body at the sound of Dean's voice, but didn't look up. "Got yourself caught up this time, didn't you, you freaky son of a bitch?" he continued, unable to stop himself. This thing had been determined to tear apart his family, and he was already set to explode with the cesspool of emotions he'd been dealing with in the last 48 hours. It felt good to release some of the angst by aggravating the crap out of this beast. The demon began shaking uncontrollably.

"No, no..." it moaned. "I've waited too long..."

"Well, you're going to have to wait a while longer, huh, hell boy?" Dean said, tauntingly.

"You took my brother from me," the demon raged.

"Yeah? He took our mom from us, ass wipe."

"I've been waiting too long for the chance to get to the Winchesters!" the demon screamed. "And to be reunited with my brother!"

"Well, then let's get you out of here and onto that happy little family reunion, shall we? Sammy?" Dean called out. Sam put his gun up, and reached for the journal tucked into his jacket. He flipped to the page that had always been earmarked in the book, and began to read.

"Exorcizo te, omnis spiritus immude..." Sam cut off suddenly. The cement foundation of the building had begun to shake. Sam knew that wasn't his doing- it was way too early in the exorcism for that kind of thing to be happening. His eyes swung to the demon, whose own tremors had grown more and more pronounced. In fact, the more the demon shook, the wilder the ground rocked, as if he was drawing power from the earth itself. A great bolt of black lighting suddenly cracked the cement under the demon's feet, shooting up from the floor. It seemed to draw itself into the demon's left fist with a deafening sizzle of electricity. A second one followed, making a horrendous screech as the cement was once again ripped apart as if it were no more than play-dough. The demon stood up straight. Snaps and cracks of dark energy radiated directly from the earth into both of its massive arms.

"Sam! What the hell is happening?" Dean yelled, not daring to take his eyes off the lightning rod from Hades.

"I don't know!" Sam hollered back at him, completely at a loss. He had never seen anything like this before.

"It's drawing up hellfire!" Natalie shrieked. Sam broke his gaze from the streaming black energy radiating from the ground to look at her. Just as he was opening his mouth to say "What?", the crackling bolts of light suddenly became more fluid, as if they were made out of lava. They gave off a pulse of power that silenced everything for a heartbeat. "Hit the deck!" Natalie screamed in the sudden quiet. Sam saw Dean throw himself sideways behind the stack of crates, just as Natalie slammed into the floor and covered her head. He was just a split second too late, however. The demon suddenly thrust his glowing fists upwards, and the ceiling above them began to splinter and snap, as if it was made of wood rather than a solid slab of cement. It rapidly began breaking apart, huge chunks of rock falling all around them. Sam dodged out of the way as a metal girder snapped like a twig and began plummeting down, bringing a rain of dust and dirt down with it. Sam coughed and spluttered, trying to breath in the sudden cloud of pollutants. His watering eyes looked up to see that both Devil's traps had been broken, cracked in half, when suddenly, he was slammed up against the wall. The violent slam knocked out every bit of air from his lungs. He gasped, trying just to breathe, let alone call for help. Natalie suddenly broke through the cloud of dust, coughing herself. She saw her uncle pinned up against the wall, then spun around to face the demon.

"Let him go, you son of a bitch!" she screamed, but by the time the cloud of dust died down, the demon had disappeared. There was a large black steaming crater where he had been standing just a moment ago. Natalie's mind spun out- did the demon just blow himself up? A strangling breath from Sam reminded her that no, the demon was still somewhere in this room. Her eyes darted wildly, searching for it. She caught sight of Dean picking himself up off the floor, but he was the only thing she could see moving that wasn't rubble.

"Dad! It's still in the room!" she yelled to him. Dean immediately began the same scan of the room that she was doing. His eyes suddenly trained on a spot right behind her.

"Down!" he bellowed. For the second time in less than 20 seconds, Natalie hit the deck, and felt her lower lip split as she connected with the floor. Dean aimed and fired, his eyes steely, entirely focused on the kill. Natalie listened to the shots ricocheting off the walls, but she didn't hear them hit anything else. She flipped over onto her back, just in time to see a large black boot about 2 feet from her face. She rolled out of the way, as fast as she could, chunks of stone and metal crushing into her skin. She winced as she heard the large foot slam into the concrete, where her head had been not a moment before. She picked herself up as quickly as she could, brushing away the pebbles of granite that had lodged themselves into her arms, and began sprinting towards her father, who was covering her escape with a volley of gunshots. Three of the bullets hit the demon squarely in the chest, but it didn't seem to make a dent. The demon began stalking towards them, death in its sickeningly yellow eyes.

"Dad, it's still not vulnerable!" Natalie shrieked, reaching Dean's side, brushing the back of her hand across her bleeding lip.

"Yeah, I noticed!" Dean emptied his clip into the creature, but it just kept stalking forward. He threw the gun to the side and drew out his backup. He didn't fire however- what was the point? The two of them gazed in horror as the demon not only kept sanguinely walking towards them, but started laughing. Natalie felt her skin turn to ice. How the hell were they going to kill this damn thing?

The demon suddenly stopped next to a large pile of crates. It flicked its finger at one of the wooden boxes, and it suddenly hurled through the air at Dean. He barely dodged in time, causing the crate to explode on the wall behind him with all the force of the power behind the throw. The demon continued to laugh maddingly, and sent another crate flying towards Dean, which he, once again, was miraculously able to avoid.

"Don't you understand, boy? You can't beat me! The only thing that can take me down IS the girl!" he roared triumphantly. In response, Natalie drew her gun as fast as lighting, and shot the demon right in the eye. He looked stunned for a minute, but then simply reached up and plucked the bullet from his eye socket. He flicked it away as casually as a fly.

"Right location, wrong ingredients, you little bitch," he snarled at her.

Natalie's brain spun into overdrive. What the hell did that mean? A sudden synapse in her brain fired, triggering her think tank, and she froze.

"Natalie, get behind me," Dean growled, picking himself up off the floor, his eyes still focused on the demon. "Natalie!" he barked again when he didn't hear her move, but she wasn't paying attention to him. All of the sudden, the pieces clicked into place.

They knew that the demon was vulnerable to Natalie- the stupid piece of crap had just confirmed it. But it wasn't her presence it was vulnerable to- it was actually her, her physical body. Just as God asked Abraham to give Isaac's physical body to Him, the demon wanted her physical body too. No, no- there had to be another way- God didn't actually make Abraham give up his son. Natalie's mind wildly flipped through its catalogues of information, desperately looking for the final piece of the puzzle. An image of the Colt surfaced in her mind, and she understood immediately. It wasn't the actual GUN that killed the demon- it was the BULLETS inside the gun, and then, inside the demon, that had finished him off. She thought about what her dad had said earlier- about the demon using her for a chew toy. She knew what she had to do.

In the span of the 2.8 seconds it took her to put the final pieces together, Dean nearly lost his shit. "NATALIE!" he shouted at her. "I SAID GET BEHIND ME!"

She reached up, and pulled a few stray hairs from her head, clutching them tightly in her right hand. She looked at her father and said something she had never said in her entire life. "No, sir."

Before Dean could react, she took off, running full tilt towards the demon. "No!" Dean cried, reaching out his hand to grab her, but she was too fast. She picked up speed, and the demon barked a laugh in disbelief. This tiny little insignificant human thought she could- what- tackle him? He threw his head back, delighting in the absurdity of the moment, and gave himself over to his evil laughter, which was his fatal mistake. At that moment, Natalie's agility came to a full head. She jumped onto the crate nearest to the demon, and launched herself high into the air, directly at the psychotic beast. With a warrior's cry, she pulled her powerful right fist back, and shoved it down his throat as far as she could.

The demon was caught completely by surprise at the arm suddenly lodged in his windpipe. Its laughter cut off. The human body that the creature inhabited was not built to withstand such a violent invasion. It began choking and coughing, finally spewing up a fountain of blood that covered the girl, who was still hanging out of his mouth. Natalie managed to release her hand inside the creature, despite the fact that she was being swung around like a lasso, and the completely disgusting feeling of having her arm lodged in someone's insides. But that moment when she opened her hand into the body of the creature, it began flickering, freezing and jumping, like a scratched DVD. She knew instinctively what that meant.

"Dad! It's vulnerable! Shoot it in the eye!" she screamed as the demon wildly flailed her around. Dean pulled the gun back into position, but the demon was still thrashing around too much.

"I can't get a bead on it!" he shouted. Natalie summoned all her strength, and, grasping a handful of the demon's insides, twisted. The creature screamed in pain- at least, it would have if Natalie's arm hadn't ripped through its vocal cords. It was enough, however, to get the demon to stop moving.

"Now, Dad! Get it now!" she yelled as she felt the demon freeze in her fist. She squeezed tighter, intensifying the torture. Dean brought the gun up, but Natalie was way too close to its eye for Dean to try. If the demon began flailing again, one poorly timed shot and he would kill her.

"I can't! I might hit you!"

"You're not going to hit me, just take the sho-"

Natalie's voice was drowned out by a scream. A scream that came from her. In horror, Dean watched as Natalie threw her head back in excruciating pain. Her screaming intensified. She rolled her head around on her neck, when suddenly, it snapped back into place, and stared directly into Dean's wide eyes. To his absolute horror, he saw that her eyes had a sickening yellow glow. His insides turned into molten lead.

For a life shattering moment, Dean knew the demon had won. Of course, he could end it, right now. One squeeze of the trigger, and the demon would be history. But that would mean Natalie was history too. The very reason he was fighting so hard in the first place. What was left of his tattered heart dropped through his feet. He just couldn't do it. "Natalie-" he said in a mangled whisper, choking on emotion. His gun hand dropped to his side. He wanted to reach out to her, but he found he simply couldn't move. The idea of losing her- especially like this- paralyzed him. He couldn't stop this demon. He couldn't save his daughter. He had never felt so worthless in his entire life. The demon sneered at him.

"Brave little girl you've got here, you piece of filth. I'm going to have so much fun taking her," it hissed at Dean, in what was Natalie's voice, but so horribly not Natalie's voice. Adrenaline rushed into his body at the demon's taunting words, and he saw red. Still unable to move, the veil of fury that slipped over his eyes caused him to start looking for his opening- for the moment when he could end this whole thing without destroying his child. He didn't know where the hell it was going to come from, but now he was fired up.

The demon saw the new determination in Dean's eyes, and began laughing again. Trust a Winchester to fight to the death and beyond. But there was no way out. The demon knew as well as Dean did that he could never kill Natalie. He had won. He had finally triumphed. But in its ecstasy of finally having revenge on the Winchesters, it had forgotten the fiery heart of the being it now possessed.

From inside of her own trapped mind, Natalie started to come around. Just as she had gained control over the demon's movements before it invaded her, she seized onto the nearest part of herself that she could grasp and held on for dear life. She forced the demon to move her eyes towards Dean, to make sure he wasn't hurt. When she saw him, she understood immediately. She knew exactly what was going through his head, and she knew that, even if the rest of the world's existence depended on him shooting her, he wouldn't. Well, he wasn't going to have to make that choice. Not on her damn watch.

With sheer will power, Natalie forced the demon out of her body and back into the muscled disaster at the end of her arm, heaving as she did so. The demon resisted violently, but hell hath no fury like a woman possessed. She threw the remnants of the despicable hell beast back into the hulking chunk of doomed flesh that she was still elbow deep in. The demon began assaulting her like a battering ram, trying to get back inside her head. Even though she had already bested him once. Natalie knew she couldn't keep the demon at bay for longer than a few seconds. She looked at Dean desperately. He saw that her eyes had lost the glassy yellow glare. Her eyes- his eyes- were their beautiful, whole green again. The demon was out of her.

"Daddy!" she screamed.

That was all it took.

Dean's world completely melded into focus on this singular moment. The adrenaline rushing through his veins now flowed through him in a whole new and deadly wave. All else ceased to exist except the sound of his baby girl's cry. She needed him. Nothing else mattered. He raised his gun, and with one single shot, hit the demon right in the eye, shattering half of its face. What was left of the creature began sparking all over, flashing golden light that burned through its skin. As the light began taking over the demon's body, it arched its back, wailing. He suddenly fell backwards with a loud thud, taking Natalie straight down to the floor with him. Once the demon hit the ground, the rest of the world rushed back in to Dean's conscious. He saw Sam slide down the wall, gasping for air, but alive.

"Sam? Are you alright?" Dean hollered.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Sam shouted back. He picked himself up off the ground, still heaving, but began running towards them immediately. "Is Natalie okay?" he yelled, reaching them within seconds. Dean looked at Natalie, crumpled on the ground, her arm still deep in the dead man's throat. He immediately went to her, checking to see that she was still breathing. She was, but just barely.

"Help me!" Dean cried to his brother. He grabbed Natalie under the arms, and Sam took the mangled corpse by the shoulders. With a great heaving tug, they managed to pull her out of the shattered face. The glassy eyes, or at least the one that was still remaining, was no longer yellow. Dean dragged her as far away from the body as he could before he collapsed from the overexertion. Sam kept up pace with them, reaching for Natalie's wrist to check for a pulse as Dean cradled her in his arms.

"Come on, come on," Dean muttered, gently patting her face, trying to get her to come to. "C'mon kiddo, wake up." With a sudden gasp, she opened her eyes. Both Sam and Dean heaved a sigh of relief. Dean propped her head up a bit higher so she could breathe easier. She blinked for a second, squeezing her eyes together as all the pain that accompanied consciousness flooded back into her system. She reached out and grabbed Sam's wrist, holding on for dear life, and looked into Dean's face.

"We got him?" she asked, still breathing heavily.

"Yeah, kiddo, we got him," Dean answered, his arms tightening around her. She nodded once in relief, her eyes closing for a moment, then they popped open and sought his face again.

"Sorry for disobeying you," she said breathlessly. Dean just stared incredulously at her. She grinned that familiar cocky grin, and once again, he couldn't help himself. He chuckled under his breath at the ridiculousness of her statement.

"You know, you nearly gave me a heart attack when you did that," he said, half scolding her.

"My bad."

"Yeah, your bad." He and Sam both helped her to get up off the dirty, broken, and blood soaked floor. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

The next morning, they were heading back to the park where Cas had produced Natalie. She had explained to them that the deal with Castiel had lasted only 3 days, and that he was expecting her right back promptly where he dropped her off.

"Although I should have known that he literally meant, DROP me off. I mean, it is Cas, after all," she said dryly. Sam and Dean had just snickered at that comment, knowing it to be all too true, when a rush of wind blew the leaves up around them. Natalie looked off in the distance- and sure enough, there he was, his hands thrust into the pockets of his tan trench coat, waiting for her. She gave him her usual half smile, which he actually returned. She loved it when Cas smiled, which was way too rare in her opinion, and she made it a point to notice things like that. She turned back to face the two men standing beside her.

"Well, I guess this is it," she said. Sam shuffled his feet. Even though he knew she needed to return to her own time, that she didn't belong here, it was still difficult to see her go. He had really grown to love her, even in just 3 days. She noticed his sad eyes, and reached out to him. "Hey," she said, taking his hands. "It's not like we're not going to see each other again. Before you know it, you'll be so sick of me that you'll wish sending me back with Cas is an option," she joked. Sam laughed at that one, and pulled her into a hug. She returned it warmly, and looked up into her uncle's face.

"You watch that lying, missy," he said in a mock stern voice, then smiled. She snorted in response.

"Yeah, yeah," she said dismissively, before squeezing him once more. He stepped away to give father and daughter some privacy for their goodbyes. He knew his brother wouldn't appreciate being watched during such a vulnerable moment. He wandered away, tucking his hands into his pockets as he walked.

Dean looked off towards the horizon, and, squinting in the sunlight, turned his face back to her. "You know, I'm probably not going to be too happy with you when you get home," he commented stoically. She twisted her mouth in amusement, and nodded in agreement.

"You are going to bust my ass seven ways to Sunday for this one," she said with a sigh. He shrugged.

"Well, you should have listened to what I will be telling you to do," he said, completely straight faced. She snorted a laugh again, making his stoic veneer crack. He smiled warmly at her. She took that as a good sign for the future, and stepped closer to him, reaching up to put her palms flat on his chest.

"Well, when I DO get home, you need to remember a couple things," she said. She held up one finger. "I did it to save our family." She held up two fingers. "I did NOT get hurt."

He gave her a look that said Seriously? She sighed and flexed her sore arm, but stuck to her guns. "At least, not permanently." She held up three fingers. "And- and this is the most important- that you loooooooooooooooooove me," she said, rolling her head around and making a funny face as she held out the word 'love', which made Dean chortle. "So please don't take away my Fireflight," she said, putting on her best puppy dog eyes and begging. Dean's face furrowed with confusion.

"What's a Fireflight?" he asked. Natalie's eyes grew wide.

"Oh my god. I cannot BELIEVE I didn't tell you!" she squealed. But as she took another breath, a loud crack of thunder resounded. She turned, annoyed, to look at Cas. "Oh, come on!" she hollered at him. Castiel simply continued staring at her. She sighed, and turned back to Dean.

"Well, I can't tell you, but just trust me Dad, your future is going to ROCK," she said. He laughed at that one, and then grew calm as he watched her struggle with an emotion that she was obviously trying to keep in check. She finally looked straight into his eyes.

"I love you, Daddy," she said, simply.

"I love you too, Baby Girl," he said back. Natalie's eyes widened in disbelief. She hadn't told him that that was his nickname for her- for as long as she could remember. He just called her that, out of pure instinct. She knew her dad hated chick flick moments, but she couldn't hold it back this time. She gave him a full fledged smile.

And for a split second, Dean's world stopped for all eternity.

It would take years for him to accurately put into words the sanctity of that moment. He even had a hard time explaining it to himself. When he looked at his daughter's real, unbridled and unapologetic smile for the first time ever, it was like everything good and wonderful that was to be had in the entire universe rushed through him in a singular moment. He recalled every blue sky, every cloudless day, every fantastic feeling that could ever be felt. It was like bathing in sunshine that was made of pie, like roaring down the highway in his Impala with the windows down and AC/DC playing live on a flatbed behind him, like the fleeting moments of family and peace that always seemed to slip through his grasp. But, looking at her smile, for the first time, Dean believed that maybe, just maybe, he could still find that peace, someday.

Natalie threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, hard. He hugged her back, picking her up off the ground. He had to keep reminding himself that he would be seeing her again, because he would be double dog damned if he was going to let his eyeballs start leaking right now. He finally set her down on the ground, and she placed a kiss on his cheek before she untangled her arms from his neck. One more brief flash of her smile, and it was over. She knew it was time. Natalie turned and began walking towards Cas without looking back. Sam slowly crossed next to his big brother, as they both watched this little girl, who had rocked their world completely, walk away.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern. Dean smiled.

"Yeah. I'm great," he said, and he meant it.

Natalie walked up to Castiel, eyeing him carefully. "Okay," she finally said. "So on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst- how much trouble am I in for when I get home?" she asked, a bit of nervousness creeping into her voice. Cas thought for a moment, then nodded to himself as if he were weighing his words.

"On a scale of one to ten, I'd say you're about at an eighty-two."

Natalie sighed- she was afraid of that. Trust Cas to get the hang of sarcasm NOW. She turned back to Dean and yelled, "Just remember that you loooooooooooove me!"

Dean just shook his head, laughing. He watched Cas wrap his arms around his Baby Girl, and then they both disappeared.

Natalie landed with a thump back on the front lawn of her house. Cas had apparently had pity on her after all, giving her a chance to collect herself before she faced her father. Dean may have been perfectly fine when she'd left the past, but he had had several years to burn through all the touchy feely feels, so she wasn't entirely sure that he would still be feeling as magnanimous when she returned. Before she really had a chance to compose herself though, the front door flung open. Her uncle was standing there- completely whole and undamaged, and looking just a bit more gray than the uncle she had left in the past. "Uncle Sam," she exclaimed, her voice breaking with emotion.

"Natalie!" Sam breathed, and bounded down the steps towards her. He swept her up into a bear hug, which she gladly returned.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said, the relief in her voice palpable.

"I'm glad you're okay too, Bug," he said. She pushed away from him, half playful, half annoyed.

"You know, you didn't call me that stupid nickname in the past."

He shrugged and smiled. "That was then, this is now."

She just rolled her eyes. Then she asked a question that had been nagging her for a day or so.

"Okay, so if I went back in time, why didn't you guys ever tell me? Why did Dad argue with me on fighting the demon if he knew that we were going to win?"

Sam laughed and squeezed her shoulders. "That's because we DIDN'T know."

"What do you mean?" she asked, her forehead furrowing in confusion.

"It was a part of the deal Cas never told you about it," he explained. "He explained it to us after he took you to the past. We wouldn't remember you in our past if you didn't succeed."

"So it would have been like I was never there at all?" she asked.

"Pretty much. It was his way of protecting you. However, it could have potentially had side effects, which he declined to tell you about."

"Like what?"

"Well, in spite of the fact that we wouldn't remember you being there, you still would have altered the space time continuum. And there was no way of telling what you would have altered in the past to come back to in our time." Sam chuckled. "You should have seen your Dad when Cas told him that. His face turned bright purple."

"Aw, crap," she whimpered, not finding it nearly as funny as Sam did. Just at that moment, the front door flung open again, and there was her father, also looking a bit grayer than she had just left him. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her. Sheepishly, she turned towards him, plunging her hands into her pockets and put on her best puppy dog eyes.

"Hi, Daddy," she said in her best little girl voice. He didn't speak. Her heart stopped. Silent Dean was not good.

"Well, Natalie, you were right," he said finally, in his low, growling way. She was taken aback. That was the LAST thing she expected to hear out of his mouth.

"I was?" she said, looking utterly bewildered.

"Uh-huh. If I remember correctly," Dean said, pretending to think about it, "I am going to bust your ass seven ways to Sunday." He jerked his thumb behind him, indicating that she should get into the house, post-haste. She sighed heavily.

"Yes, sir." She began slowly climbing the steps, keeping her eyes training down so he wouldn't see the smirk on her face. If he was actually talking to her, she knew there was a pretty good chance that she would at least see the light of day again before she hit 40. As she was passing by him in the doorway, she took a chance and looked up at him.

"Just remember that you looooooooooooooooooove me," she said, the charm still in her voice, her smile threatening to break through. She made her way to the living room sofa and plopped down. Dean watched her go with a twinkle in his eye.

"You're damn right I do," he whispered back.

The End

Thank you so much for sticking with me to the end! If you like Natalie, and want to read more about her, check out my new series entitled "Where Do We Go Now". Thank you so much to my SPN family!