A/N: You didn't really think I'd end it like that, did you?

Disclaimer: Buffyverse created by Joss Whedon. Supernatural created by Eric Kripke.

SNEAK PEEK

Dean peeled the label off his empty beer bottle, wishing he could peel back time just as easily. Maybe he could have stopped the words from pouring out, could have stopped the argument that followed. Or maybe he would have just stopped himself from letting Cassie in. Stopped himself from falling for her.

He sucked in his breath. The pain of her rejection was still so raw, a wrenching twist in his stomach. He'd been honest with her, honest about why he needed to leave even though he wanted to stay.

And she'd called him a lunatic.

What did he expect, though? She was just a normal girl, going to college, letting herself get picked up by a random guy in a dive bar. Despite being a journalist, despite her instinctive nature to dig for the truth, this little bit of honesty was something she simply couldn't handle. The supernatural world didn't exist for her.

But it existed for him. It was his day-to-day reality. His normal. And maybe she'd be better off not knowing about it.

He didn't even know why he'd told her. They'd only been dating for a few weeks, which, in Dean-time, translated to a few years. It didn't feel like years, though. It felt like moments, and it had been the first time since Sam left for Stanford that he hadn't marked the passing days and the long hours. Being with Cassie had let him forget, like he finally remembered how to breath again.

Dean signaled to the bartender for another beer.

"Make it two," said a voice behind him.

"Did you get it?" Dean asked as his father settled onto the stool next to him.

"Pulled out the old Vietnam card." He laid a thick manila folder onto the bar and grabbed one of the beers that the bartender had just set down. "Let's see if there's anything useful in there. The guy was para—"

Dean's cell phone started ringing. He checked the number, and a little smile tugged at his lips for the first time since they'd left Ohio.

"Be right back, Dad."

His father gave him a curt nod and turned back to his beer.

Dean stepped outside, squinting at the brightness of the day as he raised the phone to his ear. "Dawnie, how'd you know I needed a little Summers' lovin'?"

"Dean." It was a girl's voice on the other end, but not Dawn's. Definitely not Dawn. But it couldn't be her. He'd stood by her grave as they buried her two years ago. "It's Buffy."

"Buffy?" he whispered. His world started spinning. It wasn't possible. Dawn would have told him that her sister was alive. Or Xander. God, Xander was the closest thing Dean had to a best friend since Sam left. They wouldn't – couldn't – have kept this a secret. They knew how he felt about her.

"I'm alive and I don't really have a lot of time to explain everything, so I need you to listen closely," she said. "We're up against something big. Xander's been injured. And I… I can't concentrate on the fight until I know Dawn's safe."

Keep Dawn safe. That's why she'd died in the first place. She'd jumped into a portal to a hell dimension. To stop the Apocalype. Another one. To save her sister.

"I can't know where she is. It's too dangerous," continued the voice. Buffy's voice. As if he could ever forget it. Even though he'd tried. "They need to hide, fly under the radar. I need you to show them how. I need your help, Dean."

CASUALTY, coming soonish

Sequel to Vulnerability. Chronicles the lives of Buffy, Dean, Faith, and Dawn through the two years between the final episode of BtVS and the first season of SPN.