WARNING: Spoilers for season 11x02 "Form and Void" onward, but especially for 12x09 "First Blood".

Author's Note: After watching the midseason premier (12x09 "First Blood") this past Thursday, I found myself REALLY curious as to how the brothers ended up making the deal they did, and why Billie left the big choice up to them. Here's my take on the entire process and what it led to. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.

There are three Winchesters in this world, and I'm going to be the one to reap them.

The thought was her working mantra as she started her latest attempt to finish the job, beginning with the biggest fish: Sam and Dean.

Billie knew exactly where they were being held and she allowed herself to hope that solitary confinement would break one of them. If both cracked, it would be her lucky day. But the reaper didn't actually believe that luck and the Winchesters could coexist for her benefit, so she didn't get carried away with dreaming. Instead she waited and watched and held out for the chance that just one of the two men would realize she was their only possibility of escaping the USA's officially nonexistent Colorado internment facility.

"Billie?"

With that single word – a quiet, hesitant, desperate prayer - she knew her wish had come true.

She appeared before Dean Winchester, taking in the air of conflict radiating from him. It was obvious he was torn between shame over whatever request he was about to make, resignation, and grudging excitement because she was the first face besides his own reflection he'd seen in over six weeks of pure aloneness.

"What'll it take to convince you to get us out of here?" the man asked, cutting right to the point.

She had to give him credit for recognizing no favor of hers would come free. He wasn't stupid, just spoiled from all his past resurrections.

"I can't get you two out," she replied calmly.

Unfazed, Dean tried again. "Are you saying two is too many? If you can only take one of us, that's fine. Get Sam out of here and leave me behind. Or kill me. I'd even prefer the 'killing me' thing."

Billie listened to the sweet 'knock knock knock' of long-awaited opportunity on her door.

"I'm saying I can't physically remove either of you from this place," she stated with a hint of a smile.

"You're smirking at me, so I'm waiting for the 'but'," Dean retorted.

The reaper conceded, "But… I can make those soldiers out there take you out of these little boxes. I can kill you, both of you. You'll drop dead in your cells and wake up in the morgue. From there you'll be free, relatively speaking. Free enough to break out of here if you play your cards right."

Dean's eyes flashed with energy she hadn't seen in them yet as the little gears clicked away in his head. He was clearly processing the plan and his options, and realizing her offer was better than anything else he was going to get.

Again, Billie had to credit his intellect because his next move was to point out, "You still haven't put a price tag on this whole arrangement."

"It'll cost a Winchester," she declared firmly.

Dean didn't hesitate to respond, "Me. Kill me, get Sam out."

She chuckled at his eagerness to accept the condition. Clearly solitary had loosened his restraint.

"Just like that, really? You'd force Sam to take on the job of escaping this place all by himself?" Billie inquired in an amused tone.

More of those gears turned in Dean's brain until he asked the key question, "Do I have a choice?"

She shrugged. "I could hold off on any reaping until midnight, give you both enough time to get out together before I claim my prize," the reaper supplied, amused by the way the man's demeanor shifted from defeated to almost delighted. She was reminded again that Dean Winchester wasn't stupid, but for a guy who'd been miraculously brought back to life so many times he could be awfully pessimistic about things. It was obvious he'd never anticipated the charitable extent of this offer.

Which was exactly why Billie was granting him such a lenient deal. She needed him to think it was a better suggestion than he'd been expecting, but still costly enough to not fall into the category of 'too good to be true'.

"What do you say, Dean?" Billie pressed.

Dean held eye contact as he clarified, "If I make this deal with you, you'll give Sam and I the chance to get out. Then before midnight you'll kill me and that's that? Sam's safe?"

Billie reiterated, "I kill you both and leave you dead until you both wake up alone in the morgue. You have until 12am. Then I reap you, and Sam is free to do whatever he pleases. Though I'll need to talk with him before I do any of this, make sure he knows what's going to happen."

"Why do you need to clue him in?" Dean prodded, distrust rearing its head.

"You think he'll play along if he doesn't know what's coming, or do you think he'll start grilling you the second he wakes up on a slab? I think you'll save time if he doesn't have anything to be surprised about," Billie commented dryly.

Dean frowned and implored, "Please don't tell him I'm going to die. I'll let you kill me, I swear it. But just… Let him think it's not set in stone. You said 'a Winchester', right? Let him believe that's the whole deal, that maybe it could be him you take. I know him, and that's the only way he'll go for this."

Billie pretended to contemplate his suggestion for a few seconds before finally budging. "I can keep the exact terms you've agreed to under wraps, sure."

The man stood from his seat on his prison cot and adopted a simultaneously relieved and serious expression to say, "Then you've got a deal."

Billie held up a hand to halt him.

"Ah ah ah! I'm no fool, Winchester. I'm not giving you the chance to weasel out of this one. We're making this deal iron clad," the reaper warned, and for his part Dean only looked offended that she didn't believe he was serious about their terms when Sam's freedom was on the line. In actuality she trusted him to uphold his end of the bargain he thought they were striking. The problem would come when he figured out the rest of her plan, if said plan worked. She continued to explain, "We're doing this with a blood pact. Your blood signs the deal, and the terms are inescapable so long as I say they're still intact. And I will say they're intact. Don't think you can debate me on it or sway me."

Dean shook his head dismissively. "Yeah, I get it. Your say is final," he said before picking up a metal screw and slicing open his palm, watching the blood seep from the fresh wound.

"Let's do this," he asserted determinedly.

"Yes, let's," Billie agreed readily, and they made a pact with two very different interpretations, hers being the only one that would matter.

OoO

Billie materialized in Sam Winchester's cell next, a mere handful of feet and a concrete barrier from where she'd met with his brother.

The tall man who was resting on his own tiny prison cot actually flinched upon her abrupt arrival, but recovered from the surprise in less than a second.

"What do you want?" he asked as he sat up, skeptical without hesitation.

Billie held both hands in front of herself in a placating gesture.

"It's about what your brother wants, actually," she retorted coolly.

Sam's brow furrowed as he realized what that must mean. "He contacted you," the hunter registered, his tone half accusatory and the other half disappointed Dean had beaten him to the punch.

"He figured out that I'm the last resort you two have got, and he decided to explore his limited options," she corrected.

"And what are they, these 'limited options'?" Sam shot back.

Billie chose not to beat around the bush, instead confiding, "I kill you both temporarily, long enough to land you each in this place's morgue, and then let you both live again once you're alone there. You can handle the break-out from that point, I'm sure, and you won't have anything else to worry about until the bill comes due. The price of this little escape strategy is straightforward: By midnight, I get to reap a Winchester. Or you can stay here in isolation until insanity sets in. Those are the options. Dean's ready to go all in on escaping, but I told him I needed to explain everything to you first. To be fair."

Sam's expression shifted from aggressive to contemplative before settling on wary again. He queried, "Is Dean the 'Winchester' you get to reap?"

He was quick to peg the possible flaw in the deal's design, the one she'd purposely allowed. Billie chose her next words carefully, knowing she had to play this sell just right. "Dean wants it to be him, I'm not gonna lie. But you'll have until midnight to try and change his mind about that. You'll get to argue your case for it to be you," she informed.

"What if I make a deal with you right now for it to absolutely be me, and Dean gets to walk away without a scratch? Is that on the table?" came Sam's next question.

"You really don't want to wait until the time is up to be sure? I always saw you as the one to weigh your options as you go," she declared, feigning surprise. Banking on the fact that the Winchesters hadn't known her for very long, and definitely didn't know her very well. Maybe Sam would believe she suspected him to be capable of changing his mind once he was out, of allowing his precious brother to die in his place. More importantly, if she got him worked up enough he might forget to ask if that brother had already struck a similar deal.

Right on cue Sam glowered at her and deadpanned, "What options? The way I see it there's just one. Because my brother dying for me is not an option. It never has been, not to me."

Billie quirked and eyebrow and remarked, "Looks like I touched a nerve."

"Are you willing to make the deal with me or not?" the man brushed her taunting aside. Rushing onward to prove his dedication to Dean, just as the reaper had intended him to.

"Am I willing to agree to kill you and leave Dean free to do whatever he pleases?" she asked, and from his expression she knew that was precisely what he meant, that he hadn't caught the pitfall in his plan which she could exploit. "Yes, I'd be willing to do that. But I want something that makes me sure you're not getting out of our agreement."

Now appearing less defensive since the reaper had not fought him on his request, Sam stated with conviction, "You have my word I'll die for him," as a way of reminding Billie that his motivation was strong enough to guarantee he wouldn't fight her when the time came.

Billie looked him in the eye to state, "Touching, but you're a Winchester. Your 'word' isn't good enough. I want your blood."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam spat, clearly more irritated by the fact that she wasn't moving things along than by her claim that his word wasn't reliable.

"It means that if you really want to make these arrangements, then you're gonna have to make a blood pact with me. That way I don't have to worry you can wiggle out of our plans," the woman laid out the stipulations.

Sam paused, and for a split second Billie feared he might be having second thoughts. If he figured out her ploy now, she'd lose him. She'd still get to reap Dean, of course. The elder Winchester had already seen to that. But if she didn't have Sam, there was a risk he'd find a way to bring his brother back yet again. Sure, she planned on tossing both of their souls into The Empty, a place no one had ever returned from. But if there were ever to be a first, she'd bet good money it would be a Winchester being respawned by another Winchester. To truly rest easy she needed to ensure both of them were taken out of the picture.

Her concerns were abated when Sam announced, "Let's do this."

The reaper tried not to reveal her amusement at how similarly the two Winchester boys operated as she stepped forward to pass to Sam the screw Dean had given her so he could slice open his palm like his brother had.

Their pact was made, and the Winchesters' fates were at last settled.

OoO

While the two men hiked through the Colorado wilderness, evading and later confronting the soldiers that dogged them, Billie reveled in the knowledge that she had achieved two thirds of her goal.

After over a year of keeping eyes on the Winchesters, trying to find their weak spots and plan ways to eliminate them as a threat to order in the universe, she had ultimately only needed to apply the barest of trickery to ensnare the boys.

Her plan of action could be compared to a common riddle, actually. A silly, American mind puzzle with an obvious answer masquerading as elusive:

There are two coins which add up to 30 cents in value. One of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins?

The answer, of course, being that the two coins are a quarter and a nickel. One is not a nickel, yes. But the other is. That information is left out of the description to confound, but with minimal thought it becomes obvious.

Billie had applied similar logic to her negotiations with the Winchesters:

There are two Winchesters working to escape captivity. To do so they strike a deal which will cost a Winchester. Who will die?

The omitted detail? Just because it costs a Winchester doesn't mean it can't cost another Winchester, too.

All Billie had needed to do was tell the men that "a Winchester" was going to be reaped. She allowed them to fret over which it would be, sell themselves off to feel they had made certain it was to be them as opposed to their brother, when in reality it was never explicitly stated that killing one Winchester would mean the other couldn't die. In fact, she'd been exceedingly careful to only ever claim the other Winchester would be "left to do whatever he pleases". Which, in Dean's case and Sam's, would be to uphold a deal to sacrifice his life made in blood and under the assumption that it somehow assured his brother's survival. Billie had never lied to either man. She let them lie to themselves, let them make flawed inferences all their own.

She permitted them talk themselves into signing up to die, all under the banner of the only cause they ever completely believed in, and now she would literally reap the rewards of their fallacious reasoning before the end of the day.

Eventually Mary Winchester entered the fray and for the first time ever, Billie felt a spark of belief that maybe she really could get lucky with the Winchester family.

Mary was the last loose end, one which the reaper had suspected would tie itself off once her sons perished. If not then further manipulation would have been necessary, but it didn't seem like it would come to that. Right now the mother was holding a pistol to her temple and claiming that she was "a Winchester" - that she could fulfill the terms of her childrens agreements by taking her own life - and Billie guessed she wouldn't have to wait for the remaining third of her work to be completed after all.

The reaper refused to intervene, not saying a word that might reveal Mary's sons were both already bound by blood to die whether she pulled that trigger or not, and for just one glorious moment, Billie was about to successfully eradicate the universe of the Winchester family's unnatural ability to defy death's law. All she could think was:

I'm finally going to reap all three Winchesters!

Then a searing pain erupted in her core, light spewed from her chest as her grace leaked through the gaping wound an angel's blade had ripped in it, and Billie entertained one fleeting thought before death turned against her.

I forgot about the fourth one.

Secondary Author's Note: Thanks for reading! If you have a moment, please do leave feedback. It's always greatly appreciated. :D