Breathe Life Into Me

“You guys did what?!” I yelled at him as we were on the road, making our way to Texas.

“You heard me. Please don’t make me say it again” he sighed. I was so at a loss for words I didn’t even know what to say to him.

“I…I just can’t believe…”

“Spare me the lecture okay, Mel”

“No, Dean. I’d say it’s passed due for one of my lectures. What were you thinking?! Are you a child? Sam’s feelings are something you can just mess with…”

“That isn’t why we sent the text…”

“No. I know. You did it to save Benny”

“He was going to kill him, Melissa”

I eyed him carefully. Was he choosing a vamp over his own brother? I think I was gone longer than I realize…. “Dean…this is Sam we’re talking about…”

“Yea. And don’t tell me he wouldn’t have sliced Benny to pieces given the chance”

“But Dean…you need to look at the bigger picture…your brother…”

“Was off playing house while we were stuck fighting for our lives, Mel. That’s the bigger picture. End of discussion” I just sighed and faced forward as we were coming to a town.

We found the hotel and got to the room. I knocked first and the door opened slowly at first. Sam poked his head out at us and then opened the door all the way. “Expecting someone?” I offered a smile as we let ourselves in. My eyes wondered the room. Nothing out of the ordinary…except for the fact that Brit wasn’t here.

“Long drive” Sam commented monotonously.

“Well, I wouldn't have had to make it if you hadn't have hung up on me” Dean replied.

“Yeah, well, I heard all I needed to hear”

The air was so tense and uncomfortable that I was afraid my breath would shatter glass. “Where’s Brit?” I demanded. “Car” Sam answered quietly.

“Good…while you two figure out what to do next and what your relationship status will be, I’m going to go wait with her” I established and then walked out.

I found her sitting in some car I didn’t even recognize. I looked around first and then quickly got in on the passenger side. “Thinking of hightailing it out of here? I wouldn’t blame you. They’re worse than any other couple out there. Might as well just change their status to it’s complicated” I tried to get a crack out of her but she didn’t budge. I nudged her. “Wanna pull a Thelma and Louise and just ditch? We can go do whatever you’d like…except cliff jumping. Kind of already crossed that off my bucket list” She was still unresponsive.

I lightened up. “Hey…what’s wrong, hon?” I spoke more softly.

“Nothing” Her voice was audible I almost didn’t hear her and she was just staring at nothing.

“Britney…you know you can tell me…”

“Nothing! Nothing is wrong, Melissa! Damn it!” she suddenly snapped. I jumped slightly at the increase of sound that came out of her voice. She looked over at me and her expression saddened.
“I’m sorry…I’m just…a little stressed right now. I don’t know. Sam still loves Amelia for sure. But he doesn’t know what he wants to do about it…what if she asks him to stay behind with her?”

“You think he would?”

She shrugged. “I really don’t know. I don’t know where his head is at…where his heart is at…and…”

“And…you miss Dean…” She didn’t reply. “It’s okay to tell me, Brittney…Dean isn’t mine” I reminded her. “Ya know…he told me about you two in Purgatory…he told me about how dependent you became on one another…it’s okay to need him just as much as I do…”

“But I shouldn’t have to…” she almost raised her voice at me again but stopped herself.

Brittney had changed. She wasn’t the same timid, self conscience, little Brit I used to have to watch out for anymore. She was able to stand up on her own…fall down and get back up again on her own…she was able to pick apart the little things and know what was real, what was for her and what needed to be done. She was stronger. It was obvious.

“I don’t want to have to…depend on him…you need him more than I do…”

I laughed a little and took her hand so she would look at me. “I do not! Everyone needs someone to depend on. If you can’t depend on Sam right now and if you can’t depend on me for whatever reason it may be…then you’ll always have Dean, I know that for a fact. You’ll always have me too of course but I just might be in bitch-mode that day” That one got a laugh out of her. I should’ve probably been insulted but I was too busy trying to make her feel better.

Next thing we knew, Dean was storming out of the hotel room like an angry teenage girl. “Well…looks like duty is calling for the maidens” I winked at her. “Go on. You got Dean on this one. You obviously know more about what he’s going through when it comes to this stuff and the whole Benny thing…maybe you can help him out and get his shit together”

“And you’re gonna stay and play cupid?” she inquired.

“More like anti-cupid” I wiggled my eyebrows and she gave me a look. “Okay would you just go already before he takes off without you” She just smiled and nodded, getting out of the car and rushing over in his direction.

I took a deep breath and then walked inside. Sam looked up at me from the bed and shook his head. “Looks like you’re stuck with me” I walked over and plopped beside him. “Ya know…I think we were ditched” He let out a heavy, airy chuckle. “You too?” I just gave him a sad look.

Brit’s POV

I sat through a good couple hours of Dean just ranting on and on about how Sam was being childish and a little about how Mel was “choosing to be on his side”. At first I was trying to defend Mel…even Sam…but I just gave up when I realized there was no point. At the moment he was passed out on Rufus’ couch and I was incredibly bored. I sighed, looking around for something to do.

So I went around to the edge of the couch where his head was and started dangling my hair in his face. He twitched a little and swat at me so I tried to contain my snickers. He ran a hand down his face and his eyes began to twitch open so I shot away from the couch and there was a flutter in the air. I looked up to see Cas standing there, looking over Dean.

“Damn it, Cas! How many times I got to tell you. It's just creepy!” He grunted and rubbed his hands all over his face some more. “Why is my face so itchy?” he huffed and sent Cas a weird look which caused Cas to just stare back at him blankly.

“So…why are you here, Cas?” I moved on.

“I need your help. The angel Samandiriel has been taken”

“Sam-who?”

“You mean Alfie. The wiener-on-a-stick kid?” Dean asked, referring to the angel we met when we had a run in with Crowley and all the monsters who were at the stupid auction for the word of the lord….

“Yes. I uhh I heard his distress call this morning”

“On what, angel radio? I thought you shut that down”

“Well, my penance…it's going well, and I thought it was time to turn it back on. I've uh…been helping people, Dean”

“Well, good for you” he replied smugly. I smacked him upside the head. “Alright, alright. So, who snatched Heaven's most adorable angel?”

“Crowley” was all he said.

“Okay…we’re listening” I urged him.

“Samandiriel is being held in the general vicinity of Hastings, Nebraska”

“The general vicinity? That's all you got?”

“Yes, which is why I need your help. It seems this is gonna involve…talking to people”

“Come on, Cas, I thought you were a hunter now” I teased. “Well…I thought so, too, but…it seems I-I lack a certain…”

“Skill?” Dean inquired as he opened up his laptop and the front page popped up with Busty Asian Beauties making all kinds of noises. He quickly shut it again.

“You two saw nothing” he ordered and I just rolled my eyes at him and I collapsed onto the couch beside him, laying my legs across his lap as he set the computer on top of my shins. He opened it again and quickly exited out of his browser.

“All right. What am I looking for?”

“Well, when you torture an angel, it screams…and that kind of pain, it creates a ripple effect of strange incidents…” he stopped and then looked around.
“Where's Sam…and Melissa?” “Sam’s gone and Melissa’s babysitting him. It's all right though. We'll find Alfie ourselves”

Mel’s POV

I thought I was going to see some fireworks, maybe a little action...I didn't think I would be here wasting my day away watching Sam as he had his eyes glued to a nature program on the TV. I sighed once, rolling onto my stomach. He didn’t acknowledge me. I sighed again, lifted my foot on top of his head and started playing with his hair.

"Mel" he sighed back at me, swatting away my foot.

"Come on, Sammy! I'm bored!" I complained.

"Well right now I don't really feel up to doing anything"

I crawled forward and sat beside him. "Sam...you can't keep living in the past. I can tell u really cared for her but if you went to go see her last night and she hasn't even tried to contact you since...maybe she’s moved on...so doesn't that mean you’re aloud to move on too?"

"What if I don't want to?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if...I'm just done with all of this...with all that we do..." He averted his eyes from mine. "Look. We've all been there. We've all questioned the same thing..." I could see that it was no point. Nothing I said was going to get through to him. "I'll go get us something to eat" He just nodded.

I walked out and locked the door on my way. I walked across the door to the deli to just grab some quick snacks-the ones Sam particularly Sam always picked out-by the time I got back I noticed I car parked in front of the room that wasn't there before. I put my ear up against the window and struggled to hear what was going on inside. I didn't hear Sam’s nature station anymore...but I did hear voices...and one was female. I just couldn't tell what they were saying exactly. I looked around for some kind of second entrance and I saw a broken vent right next to me. It had to be my lucky day....
I looked around first to make sure no one was watching and then I set down the bag and started to unscrew one of the screws and cutting my hand in the process. The things I did just to find out information on my best friends boyfriend.... Once it was open I crawled in and tried not to think about how dirty and grimy it was inside. There were spider webs and dead mice and I just kept pushing forward.

"It's not what it looks like. I-I thought you were in trouble...that you had...Ya know It doesn't matter. You're okay" That was Sam’s voice. I followed it until I came to a dead end and I could vaguely make out two shadows on the other side.

"I was okay. You know, settled in...content. But here you are. What am I supposed to do with that?"

“Give me five seconds, and I'll be gone. I didn't come here to make trouble for you. I...I came because..."

"You cared? See that? I just did it again-finished your sentence" Come on, Sammy. Stay strong.

"Yeah, I care"

"I care, too" I think I heard them kiss.

"But...Amelia…” I kind of shut my eyes and covered my ears to block out what came next….

[b[Sam’s POV

I averted my windows over to the window just as a bird flew up into the air and landed on a power line. [IiBrittney hated birds…. I could hear Amelia washing her hands. No. Birds were okay. It was just crows that she hated…. “It’s official. I hate motels” I heard her voice in the background. A murder of crows….

“Say something” she pleaded.

I forced myself to look at her but then I felt sick again so I just stared up at the ceiling. “What would you like me to say? That was great? That was…a mistake?”

“I don't know. Both, I guess”

“I understand” I sighed.

“Do you? Do you understand I have a life here? A good man that loves me…a man I don't want to hurt?” she sat on my feet on the bed. I had Brittney…someone I would give anything to keep safe and never hurt again…I would do anything for her…I loved her…but Amelia…was it real love or something else…?

“I know”

“And do you know you're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing before I go to sleep? It's tough to let something like that go”

“Yeah”

“Especially if you keep showing up here”

“Are you saying you want me to leave?”

“I'm telling you that if you stay, against everything I believe in, I would be with you. But if you leave…don't come back. I can't have you with one foot in my life and one foot out there doing…whatever it is you do. That life of yours I have no idea about”

“You don't want to know about it. Believe me. It's a big step” Was I trying to work my way out of this one? Or was I just being honest? “For me or you?”

“Both. I…need to think about this. You need to think about this. Words will never cover what you mean to me…what you'll always mean to me, but we should…”

“Think about this. Okay. How about two days from now, around 7:30? I'll be off work then. One of us will be here, and we'll know. Neither of us will be here…and we'll know. Or both of us will be here…and we'll know”

With that…she walked out. So now I had an ultimatum. I had to choose between someone I spent a whole year with…or someone I spent my whole life with.

Suddenly, Mel came rushing in. She locked the door and turned to glare at me. She opened her mouth to yell…and then clamped it shut…she did that a few times as she paced around the room quickly.

“Melissa…” I sighed but it only took a second for her to be next to me punching me so hard I almost fell off the bed.

“What the hell are you doing, Sam?” she sounded stressed.

“I don’t know!” I was stressed myself…and now my arm hurt.

“What did you want me to say? I couldn’t just hurt her again, Mel…”

“So, what? You just know Brit can take it? She’s strong enough? She can only put up with your bullshit for so long. She’s not a human punching bag, Sam. You can’t keep taking hits at her. Eventually she’s going to just stop caring all together” Maybe that would be a good thing….
I didn’t answer her so she lightened up a little. “So?” she asked and sat beside me making the sheets slide a little.

“So what? Where were you anyway? And why are you all dirty?”

“I’ll be asking the questions here…so what are you going to do? About Amelia. Are you really thinking about staying? Leaving the life forever? You know Dean and I tried that once, Sam and you see how well that ended…”

“Mel!” I made her shut up. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet” I put an arm behind my head and let out a really distressed sigh. She backed off a little.

“You smell like sex…” I just gave her a look. “Breakup sex, maybe?” She had hope in her voice.

“Yea, well you just smell” I countered, getting up to head into the bathroom for a shower. She threw a pillow at me but I shut the door before it could hit me. I wasn’t lying to her…I really didn’t know what I was going to do…what I should do….

Brit’s POV

We got wind of something definitely weird…some bush exploded into a wild fire giving a bystander a serious sun burn as he was walking by. So we went to talk to him. All he could give us was that he heard a voice saying some kind of Enochian which translated to obey…according to Cas of course. So now we were looking for some shady place only Crowley would hang out in and torture an angel. The whole time though Dean was smiling down at his phone and I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. I never encourage texting and driving but I haven’t seen Dean this happy in a while. So whenever he’s with Mel or even talking about her I just let him have his moment.

“Wow, will you look at that? Our ninth abandoned factory. Ain't that America? Hey, what do you say, this doesn't pan out, we head back to that beer-and-bacon happy hour about a mile back, huh?” Dean grinned as we came to another stop.

“Wait a minute, Dean. Those derelicts, they're demons. I can see their true faces’ Cas said from the back seat. I took out the binoculars.

“Crowley's got that many hell monkeys outside, he's got to have at least double inside”

“And angel warding. I can feel it”

“Well, you, Brit, me, and a demon knife ain't gonna cut it” Dean said.

“Okay. I'll get Sam and Melissa” Cas established.

“No. We don't need Sam” Dean said sternly.

“But you just said…”

“Look, if Sam wanted in, he'd be here and not in a hotel room with…”

“A woman who’s not your wife” I smirked, finishing the sentence. He glared so hard at me I felt chills go up my spine. “I got a better idea” he said suddenly.