Breathe Life Into Me

Dean’s POV

“Listen, I know this is gonna sound crazy to you. I don't even necessarily need you to understand. But...you need to know. I didn't just drop out, Dean. I found something. Something I've... never had all my life” he explained to me.

“What? Love? Because you also had that with Brit but I guess it just wasn’t enough” I paced away from him. It almost hurt to look at him…and I hated feeling that way toward my brother.

“What was her name?” I asked without giving him time to think about.

“Amelia"

“So what, you dropped your peanut butter in her chocolate? How'd it happen?”

“I hit a dog” he admitted.

I felt heated now. “I knew I smelled dog!” I accused.

“And I knew you'd throw a bitch fit”

“Hey, the rules are simple, Sam. You don't take a joint from a guy named Don, and there's no dogs in the car!”

“All right, what about you?”

“Hey, we’re still on you here”

“Not anymore”

“Well what about me?”

“Look at you. You've still got that look. You're shaky. You're on edge. What was it like?”

I froze. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you” I told him.

“Try me”

I hesitated. “It was bloody. Messy. 31 flavors of bottom-dwelling nasties. Hell, most days felt like 360-degree combat. But there was something about being there…it felt pure…”

Flashback

I raced to Brit's side and pushed the third vampire back, away from her. “What, no thanks for saving your hide?” he asked us.

“Sure. I won't shove this up your ass” I gestured to the weapon in my hands.

“Mm. Awful strange way to punch your meal ticket, friend. I got something you need”

“Yeah, what's that?” Brit asked.

“A way out”

"Even a dental apocalypse like you knows there's no such thing” I laughed mockingly.

“There is if you're human. God has made it so. At least, that's the rumor”

“Bull” we both called him out.

“Suit yourselves. Maybe you've gone native. Maybe you like being man meat for every Tom, Dick, and Harry”

I could feel Brit contemplating it. My eyes flashed to her quickly and then stayed on our new friend. “Prove it” I challenged.

“Nah. You're either in or you're out”

“So you just want to guide me out of Purgatory out of the goodness of your undead heart?”

“More or less”

“What's in it for you?” she asked.

“I'm hopping a ride”

“What?” I asked.

“It's a human portal, jackass. Only humans can pass through. I show you the door, you hump my soul to the other side”

“So you're looking for a soul train”

“Sure. If that's what you're into”

“And how do we know this isn't a set-up? How do we know we ain't gonna end up like your friend over there?”

“He was my friend. Now you are. First rule of Purgatory, kids. You can't trust nobody"

“You just asked us to trust you!” Brit reminded him.

“You see? You're getting it now”

We were both silent…thinking…battling…wondering…and hoping…. “First we find the angel and our friend” Brit finally agreed.

“Mmmm five’s a serious crowd, chief”

“Well, hey. Either you're in or you're out” I told him. He grinned.

End Flashback

“Dean…? Dean…?” Sam snapped me back.

“Yea?”

“Is it true…that you really couldn’t find Mel over there?” he asked.

I shifted in my spot and looked toward the door just to make sure Brit wouldn’t come walking in. I’ve been putting on this game face for her but in reality…I can’t do it anymore.

“No, Sammy…we really couldn’t find her. And no one we talked to knew where she was either…” I sighed and stood to my feet.

I could just picture Mel staring out the window waiting for something to happen…and I realized that I never got the chance to ask her what it was that she was waiting for. Was she waiting for it to snow in the summer? Or for rain to turn into nerds? Or maybe she was waiting to see actual flying pigs. I don’t know…and the question is…will I ever?

“We’ll get her back, Dean” he assured me.

“Says the guy who gave up on getting his brother and his girlfriend the moment they left” I countered. I saw it stung him a little but hey, he deserved it…a little.

Brit’s POV

The next stop was college. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen a campus let alone stood on one. We stopped in on Kevin’s ex. She was a real bitch though and totally did not deserve a nice guy like Kevin. All she told us was that she hasn’t seen Kevin in a year when he went missing and stole his mom’s car because he was on a mission from God…. Then she told us she was only with him because he was going to Princeton. So in my book…that means you’re a bitch.

We decided to split up to try and cover more ground to find out information. I went to go with Dean…it was just a natural reaction. “Umm can we talk?” Sam voiced.

He thought I would choose to go with him…like old times. My eyes went up to Dean as he left the decision up to me. I nodded back at Sam and I could feel the pull between Dean and I as we got farther and farther from each other. It’s not like we were going to be in two different states, just in different parts of the campus but I had gotten so accustom to being at his side…protecting him and having him protect me…it was weird having this distance. I could sense that he felt it too because he was a bit resistant to walk away but we couldn’t just be attached at the hip all the time. We would have to eventually get back on our feet…baby steps though, right?

Sam and I grabbed a table and he pulled out his laptop as he ordered some food from the waitress. He watched me carefully as I sat across from him instead of right next to him. We were silent for what felt like eternity as he dabbled on the computer.

“So…do I really need to ask?” he wondered.

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes…maybe…I don’t know…” he ran a hand down his face.

“Sam…being there…it wasn’t as bad as Dean must have made it seem to you” I avoided his eyes.

“You’re kidding right?” Did we really need to talk about this right now?

I gripped onto my seat tightly. “Okay…so maybe it was worse…but I really can’t think about it right now. Knowing we left Mel behind…I just can’t…” I tried to hold back tears as the images continued to play through my head. I was still scared to sleep at night…to be alone….

He reached over to me to rub my arm and he brought my hand up so he could hold it. “It’s okay…you’re safe now” he assured me.

I stared into those eyes that always got to me…that always made me feel so sure of myself…so secure…so safe. He took his hand back…the feeling was gone. “You need to know…the girl…”

“I really don’t need to…”

“But you should…it wasn’t anything really…it just helped me fill a void that I needed to fill because I was hurting too much without you”

It was nice to hear but I could tell things were different now. I mean…it’s been a whole year…has he moved on? Have I moved on?

Dean came back and pulled up a chair beside me. “Don't judge me. I got bubkis” he informed us. The waitress came back and laid out some food in front of us. Sam pushed it toward Dean. “Sweet mother of God. It's for me? Seriously?" he said excitedly. Sam nodded and he started digging in.

I could hear Sam saying words but I really couldn’t focus on them. All my attention was on Dean’s burger and fries. I was starving and I couldn’t remember the last time I had a decent meal. “Are you two even listening?” he shook the table slightly to grab out attention back since he was pretty much having an orgasm from the burger.

Dean’s eyes went to me and noticed I was pretty much drooling. So he reluctantly split his burger in half and gave me part. I took a huge bite. Sam’s face was pure shock. I could only imagine his thoughts: Dean’s sharing his food and Brittney is eating meat? Is this another dimension?

“Alright so…Kevin comes all the way to campus and doesn't see his girlfriend?” I moved on from the awkward tension as my eyes landed on Sam’s computer screen to see a video camera catching a screen shot of the runaway.

“I don't know…but I also managed to get into the computer lab system to find what computer he was on” He did all of this in a matter of, what? 45 minutes? He doesn’t cease to amaze me.

“And?”

“And we found the website he was visiting, found his account username, hacked in to the website, found when else this username logged in, and then I reverse-tracked the IP address back to the original user, Kevin, who has apparently been using the same wireless router for the past two months”

“That is spectacular work. Any chance I can get that in English?”

“Yeah. I think he's in Iowa, at a coffee shop” he showed us his pinpoint location.

So we finished up and then headed to Iowa. After stopping by the coffee shop and talking to the girl behind the counter she gave us directions to the town church where Kevin has been ducking in to for the past few months. We walked up to the doors and they were locked so Dean picked them open.

“Kevin?” Sam called out. I really wish we had Melissa with us right now. She would be able to sense if anyone else was in the room instead of us needing to go in blind like this….

Out of no where some kind of liquid began to splash in my face and it was definitely not water. “Hey! Cut it out!” I yelled.

“Kevin, not leviathans! It’s us!” Dean grunted.

I wiped the stuff off my face and met eyes with the scared kid. He seemed to relax when he realized his mistake. “What the hell happened to you guys?”

“Cliff Notes? We went to Purgatory. Sam hit a dog”

“For real? You want some towels?” he asked and we followed him through the church. There were all kinds of symbols in the room. “Who taught you all this?” I asked.

“I guess…God. “God taught you how to trap demons?” Sam inquired.

“Technically, yeah”

“Wait, wait, hold on. Crowley kidnapped you. I saw that. But then you left a message saying you escaped. How?”

“Well…first, he took me to a warehouse. He called me his young prince and he had plans for the two of us. Then he showed it to me. Another tablet, just like the last one…he asked me to interpret it…”

“Wait, there's another tablet? So another Word of God” Dean wondered.

“Yes”

“How many Words of God are there?”

“Umm I just became a Prophet, like, a year ago” he shrugged.

“Well, did this tablet have a name?” Sam asked.

“Demons”

“Well…what about demons?” I urged.

“As far as I could tell…everything”

I could almost picture Mel’s skin begin to crawl just at the thought….

“At first I managed to pick out just bits and pieces and then I saw something about Hells Gates” “What about Hells Gates?” Sam asked.

“There's one in Wisconsin. The tablet told me how to open it. There were ingredients for a spell…so I had everything together, Crowley was in Wisconsin and…”

“Wait…you showed the King of Hell how to open a Hell Gate? So that all the demons in Hell could come out all at the same time?” Dean questioned.

“Would you let him finish?” I snapped.

“Thank you…no that’s not what I did. I told Crowley I was opening a Hell Gate, but I was reading from another chapter…how to destroy demons”

I felt relief wash over me. “You son of a bitch” Dean grinned.

“Kevin? Where's the tablet now?” Sam asked.

“Safe”

“Safe where?”

“As long as it’s safe” I jumped in. “Were you able to read anything else off the tablet before you stashed it?” I asked him.

“Only the stuff about closing the gates of Hell. Forever” he smiled. I could feel us all freeze as his words flew right over our heads.

“I‘m sorry?”

“Banish all demons off the face of the Earth, lock them away forever. That could be important, right?”

We all exchanged a look and then looked back at Kevin. Closing the gates of Hell forever? Yeah. Yeah, that could be important” Dean told him. There had to be a catch…this couldn’t be so easy…to just close the gates forever? No more demons? Forever?

Dean’s POV

“Okay, if this kid is right, he's sitting on a bombshell. Hell, he is the bombshell” I said as we walked outside onto the back deck of the church to grab some air. Sam shifted on his feet and looked away.

“What?” Brit asked.

“That. I mean, there's no way that Kevin's getting out of this intact, is there?”

“Well…he’s been doing pretty well for himself so far” she tried to make him feel better. I could read it all over her face though. She was disappointed in herself that she didn’t think about that fact either…Purgatory had really gotten to her.

“Yeah, he got out”

“And now he's in it…whether he likes it or not” I said.

“So…free will, that's only for you?” he gave me some attitude.

“I can't believe what I'm hearing. Sam, we have an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. We take Kevin to the tablet, he tells us the spell, we send every demon back to hell. Forever. Every single bastard that destroyed our lives, killed our mother, killed Jessica. And you're not sure?”

“Have you forgotten that you’re girlfriend would be considered to be part of that category?”

I felt everything inside me churn and tear. It was taking everything I had inside me not to slug my brother…and so I walked away.

Not having Melissa here…it was killing me. Knowing I was right there…and I was so close to saving her…but I couldn’t…knowing I couldn’t protect her…it’s killing me. Slowly but surely I’m deteriorating…just like Mel. I’m running out of time….

Brit’s POV

“What the hell is the matter with you?” I snapped at him and shoved him back. “Do you think you could have a little compassion and empathy? Especially for your brother? You don’t understand Sam…”

“Then explain to me…”

“You wouldn’t understand”

“Then help me” he pleaded.

“Seeing him like this…I can’t take it…seeing you like this…”

I didn’t realize our game faces were so flawed. “Sammy…” I sighed. But he wasn’t going to stop pushing. I hesitated for a moment. “Dean swore to himself that he would find a way to bring Melissa back…he can’t explain how he knows but he just knows there’s a way to bring her back”

“But that doesn’t even make any sense, Brit…and I thought you said you couldn’t find her…”

“We couldn’t…but you know Dean and Mel. They have this bond that’s just unexplainable…” I mocked a little because really I was just jealous.

“But…okay so lets say if he can get her back…what about the demon gates…?”

I shook my head. “He believes he can get her back human”

He just stared at me incredulous. So I left out some bits and pieces as to how Dean has this information…Sam doesn’t have to know and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him…too bad.

“I’ll go check on Dean” I told him and walked around to the front to wear Dean was beating up a tree…but the tree was winning.

I waited patiently behind him until he calmed down and then I placed a hand on his back so he would acknowledge me. He laughed at himself and shook his head. He tried to explain himself but no words came out. “I know” I nodded.

He stared blankly and emotionlessly at the ground for a moment. “Do you think Benny’s telling the truth…about Melissa?” he asked, clearly ready to just break down in front of me.

“I think…he knows better than to lie to us about Melissa” I smiled and he tried to smile back but he just looked like he was in pain.

When he cleaned himself up we walked back inside to Sam and Kevin…and it was great timing because we had company. We all exchanged a look as we took out our weapons.

“What the hell is that?” Sam gestured to mine and Dean’s new artillery. “It's Purgatory” we both answered. And then the doors flew open as three men in suits came walking in.

“Dean Winchester and Brittney Hails. Back from Purgatory” one spoke.

I narrowed my eyes at them “Spanky the demon” Dean laughed. “Yeah, I heard about you. You’re the one who uses too much teeth, right?” I smirked.

So then they all rushed us and one went for Sam as two went for Dean while I protected Kevin. But I couldn’t just stand here anymore. I ran to Dean’s aid, jumped and kicked one of the demons to the side, while cutting into the other one to get him off Dean. I wasn’t the same helpless hunter I used to be…. I went to help Dean up and then noticed the other one came running at me but Dean pulled me back as Sam threw him the demon knife and stabbed him. He fell to the ground. I looked down at him and then up at Dean. This is pretty much what it was like in Purgatory: the two of us having each other’s back always.

“Hello, kiddies” another voice sang. We turned to see Crowley standing there with Kevin’s ex girlfriend. “Dean. Brittney. You're looking…well, let's just say Purgatory didn't do you any favors. I see you got no beauty sleep, darling. Where's your angel?”

“Ask your mother” Dean snapped.

“There's that grade-school zip. Missed it. I really did. I guess I shouldn’t even bother to ask where our sweet Melissa is, right? You just couldn’t get her out of this one, Deany-boy, could ya. You seem to move on fast though” he gestured to me.

“Why don’t you just shove it” I hissed.

“Oh don’t be so bitter, Brittney. Although, I was rooting for you and Moose to end up together in the end. Oh well. Not every story can have a happy ever after” I was really getting irritated….

“Let Channing go!” Kevin voiced.

“That's not Channing, Kevin. Not anymore” Dean told him.

“What an awful thing to say to the boy. Of course it's Channing. Kev. Last time we danced, you stole my tablet and killed my men. Tell you what. Come with me now, bygones. And I'll let the girl go back to…What's-the-Point U”

“He's lying. You won't get Channing back. She's probably dead already” Dean tried to reason with him. “Will you please stop saying that? Let the girl speak” he snapped his fingers.

“Kevin?” she spoke obviously confused and scared.

“Channing?”

“What's going on?”

“There's a demon in you, and you're going to your safety school”

What?!”

“But it's gonna be okay”

“Come on, I-I just can’t” Crowley complained and snapped again, bringing the demon back into her. “Wait!” I watched Kevin carefully as he looked into the demon’s black eyes.

“Okay. I'll do it” he agreed.

“Kevin” Sam warned.

“Myself for the girl. But this ends. All right? No fighting, no nothing. It ends”

“Can't let you do that, buddy” Dean said.

“Or what? You'll kill me?” He had us there. “I'll grab my stuff” he walked back.

“Chin up, kids. I'm a professional”

“This ain't over by a long shot, Crowley” Dean growled.

“Really, Dean, who writes your stuff? A marshmallow?” he rolled his eyes. “Come on, Kevin. Chop, chop” he called out. There was no answer. “Kevin?” Crowley tried to step forward but Dean raised the knife up at him. Crowley simply snapped his fingers and I saw the knife begin to glow red causing Dean to drop it because it burned his hand. Crowley walked right passed us.

Next thing we know Crowley and his demon are yelling out in agony. “Sam, Dean, Brittney, run!” Kevin yelled to us as his voice became more distant. We didn’t wait another second and dashed out of the church, racing for the Impala. We all got in and Dean sped off. But I saw Kevin watching Crowley easily snap Channing’s neck and fall to the ground, dead. No turning back for him now….

~

It was day now and we were finally making a pit stop. The car needed some fuel and I needed to stretch my legs. “All right, anybody want anything?” Dean asked. “I'm good” Sam replied. My eyes just went to Kevin who was staring out the window with this depressing look on his face.

“Kevin? How you holding up?” Sam wondered.

“Awesome. The king of Hell just snapped my girlfriend's neck. How about you?” The boys looked at each other.

“Hey…look, I’m seriously sorry about your girlfriend…really, I am. It sucks, believe me. But the sooner you get this, the better. You're in it now, whether you like it or not. That means you do what you got to do. I'm hitting the head” Dean told him bluntly and then stepped out.

I took Kevin’s hand and he looked at me. “He’s just going through some stuff…but he’s right. The sooner you get the hang of this the better. You’ll be just fine” I promised with a smile. He just nodded.

I told them both I needed to pee and headed inside. I found Dean getting off the phone while standing in the hallway splitting the two restrooms. “Was that Benny? How is he?” I asked.

“He’s…adjusting” he told me. I nodded. “I told him it might be best if we don’t talk for a while…” I nodded again.

“Yea…that might be best…” He looked down. “We’ll get her back, Dean…” I positioned my face under his so he would look at me.

“How do you know?”

“Because you believe we will. So I’m on board 110 percent”

He ran a hand down his face and tried to keep himself composed so I hugged him and he wrapped his arms around me tightly. I wanted to believe my own words so badly but it was hard. Nothing seemed possible at this point…everything seemed to be falling apart and yet coming together…it could go either way. And with our luck? You never know….