A/N: This takes place directly after What Could I Say, and will make much more sense if you read that story first. I've had this story in my head for a long time now, and between being stuck recuperating from a painful dental surgery, and watching the incredibly angsty Supernatural season finale, I finally got down to writing this.

They spend two full days in bed, not moving, same clothes, same tears, and on the third day Aurora begins to pull away, inch by inch until she shoves hard and stands. "I can't do this," she chokes out, arms tight around herself replacing Sam's embrace. "You lied to me. You lied about something so important, something…I need some time, I need…"

She trails off, sobs replacing words. Sam is on his feet, shaky from not having stood on his own two feet for so very long, but as he moves toward her, she moves back. Two steps forward, one step back. Two, one. Until she is at the door, and even though he is frozen, she still takes that one step out.

Sam is overwhelmed with absence, with missing, can barely breathe for loneliness. He makes phone calls, alternates between calling Dean's cell just to hear his tones over the voicemail, and Aurora's to leave messages that beg and adore and love and apologize. Until one day his phone battery dies and Ruby appears, her hair dark now like Aurora's, her blood promising distraction and the power not to ache anymore. Her blood offers deep breaths, and a presence in the room.

Exactly four days after Aurora leaves, she returns. The door opens before Sam can move, Ruby's hand pushing his head down onto her sliced arm greeting Aurora's open arms. Aurora's arms swing closed and so does the door.

Sam is up, running, blood still dripping from his lips. He calls for Aurora and she turns, one hand already gripping her car keys. "I was coming back to you!" she yells, drawing stares from the other guests at the cheap roadside motel. "I told you I needed time, and I got it, and I was coming back to…to hold you and tell you everything would be okay. To research and search and get Dean back and be a family again, but you…I don't know you anymore."

She doubles over with sobs. Sam must lean on the car just to stay upright. He reaches for her, but she is closed off now, her arms tight around her body like a cage, and he has no key anymore.