"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked Dean as the two of us entered a grocery store. "I can always be the one to go under."
"There's no way that gonna happen. You've had close calls with death way too often these last few weeks in my opinion." Dean answered, and we walked up to a guy behind a butcher counter. "Hi, I'm, uh, looking for..."
"Follow all the way back. All the way back." he said.
We walked to the back of the store and walked up a flight of steps, meeting with Dr. Roberts in an old-looking apartment.
"Dean Winchester?"
He nodded. "You must be Dr. Robert?"
Dr. Roberts nodded. "Son, I stitched up your daddy more times than I can count, let me tell you. Oh, it's good to see you. 'Course, that was ages ago, back when, uh, I still had my medical license. Right this way."
Dean looked at the apartment we were walking in. "Well, you know, I'm, uh, I'm no germ freak, but..."
Dr. Roberts shrugged. "Rent's cheap." we walked into to the 'office' and Dr. Roberts pointed to a woman. "Eva, my assistant."
"Hi." Dean said.
"Hop right up."
Dean hopped up onto a table, looking nervous. "Okay. Let's get the show on the road."
"Woah, wait. Dr. Roberts, you—you have, uh, done this a lot?" I asked him.
He nodded. "Oh, many, many times."
"And your...success rate?" I pressed.
"Oh, excellent—almost 75%. So, should we get the, uh, preliminaries out of the way?"
Dean nodded. "Yeah. Uh, yeah, right." he handed him an envelope of money.
Dr. Roberts smiled at me, then Dean. "You've got one very concerned and protective girlfriend of yours, Dean."
"Oh. She's not my girlfriend." Dean said, "just....a friend. Uh...So...listen, if, uh, something..."
"Goes wrong?" Dr. Roberts finished.
He nodded. "Yeah. Uh..would you mail this for me, please?" he handed him a letter addressed to Ben—Lisa's kid.
"Sure. Would've thought you had something for your brother, Sam."
Dean nodded and laid back on the table. "If I don't make it back, nothing I say is gonna mean a damn thing to him."
Eva walked over and inserted an IV into Dean's arm.
"Ahh!" Dean winced from shock.
"Don't be a baby." Eva said.
"You know, a little bedside manner would be nice." Dean muttered.
"Are we ready? Hmm?" Dr. Roberts asked. "You've got three minutes."
Dean nodded and closed his eyes.
Eva put her fingers to his wrist. "No pulse, no sinus rhythm."
"He's dead." Dr. Roberts said.
I looked at the doctor. "Um..you said an almost 75% success rate, correct?"
"Yes," he nodded.
"So there's a chance he could never wake up from this?"
"I...suppose so. Yes.."
I looked away from Dr. Roberts and looked down at Dean's body, reaching a hand out and placing my hand on his arm, instantly feeling a little less worried.
"He'll make it, Miss....?"
"Bellamy."
Dr. Roberts placed his hand on my shoulder, making me tense up from the sudden contact. "He'll make it, Miss Bellamy."
I nodded and watched as Eva and the doctor walked off into the next room; pulling up a chair and sitting down beside the table.
I was getting worried when the clock ticked closer the three minute mark—then went beyond. "Dr. Roberts!"
The doctor ran out. "What's wrong?"
"He's not awake. Is that normal? Should I be freaking out this much?" I asked in a panicky voice as I stood up.
The doctor walked to my side and looked downs this watch. "It's been one whole minute since the three minute mark." he grabbed a syringe and inserted it into Dean's arm, pushing down.
Dean's eyes suddenly snapped open and he gasped awake.
"Oh, thank Moses." Dr. Roberts said.
Dean groaned. "You couldn't have given me five more seconds?"
"Son, you were gone for five minutes."
"I was?" Dean asked.
"Mm-hmm. I thought for sure death had you by the twins." he said as he set the needle down.
I helped Dean sit up, the smacked his chest.
"Ow! What was that for?!" he asked as he hopped down.
"Don't you ever do something like that again. You almost gave me a fricking heart attack!" I said.
========
"You what??" Sam yelled at Dean as he explained everything that happened while he was dead.
I sat in one of Bobby's chairs as we watched the brothers fight.
"Just hear me out." Dean said.
Sam shook his head. "I heard Cas and Crowley when they said it would either kill me or turn me to jello, Dean! I heard enough!"
"Death said he can put up a wall."
"A wall?" Sam echoed.
He nodded. "Yes, yes, a wall—that—that, basically, you wouldn't remember hell."
"Really?" Sam asked.
"Really."
"For good? Like a cure?" Sam asked.
Dean shook his head "No, it's not a cure. It...he said it could last a lifetime."
"Great. So, playing pretty fast and loose with my life here, don't you think, Dean?"
"I'm trying to save your life!" Dean argued.
"Exactly, Dean! It's my life! It's my life, it's my soul. And it sure as hell ain't your head that's gonna explode when this whole scheme of yours goes sideways!"
Bobby finally spoke up. "Just curious. I presume Death's not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. So what's your half of the deal?"
Dean muttered something none of us could hear.
"I'm sorry. I didn't get that." Bobby said.
"I have to wear the ring for a day." Dean said, louder.
"What?!" I shrieked. "Why the hell would he want you to do that?"
"Get his rocks off. I don't know. But I'm doing it." Dean said. "Where you going?" he said when Sam started to leave.
"Look, I hear you, all right? I get it. I just need a minute to wrap my head around it, all right?" Sam said.
I stood up. "I'm going to head down to the panic room. Don't think you guys wanna be around me right now."
I walked down the stairs and into the basement, keeping the door opened as I walked into the panic room, sitting down on the sole bed in the middle of the room.
Dean came in a few minutes later. "Hey."
I didn't even looked at him as he sat beside me. "Hey.."
"What's you with you?"
"I don't like this." I said simply.
"Well, I dont particular like being Death for a day—"
"No, that's not what I mean!" I said, finally looking at him. "I barely survived five minutes without you. You really want to go for 24 hours?"
"It's to get Sam's soul back."
"I know. And I'm glad that he might get it back." I said, "and I know I sound super selfish right now, but I don't want you to go."
Dean looked at me in silence for a long time, then nodded. "Can I guess why?"
"Go ahead." I answered, looking down.
"..it's because you finally can't resist my charm, isn't it? Are are you still impervious to it?" he lightly bumped his shoulder into mine.
I chuckled lightly, looking at him. "It's on and off."
"Hey," he lightly touched my shoulder. "I'll come back. Promise."
"You better. Because I know I can't handle Sam all on my own." I said.
He gently moved my chin towards him and brushed his thumb along my bottom lip, leaning his forehead down against mine.
"This is nice." I said in a whisper, and I heard his soft chuckle.
He pulled back after a few minutes of us sitting in silence, then stood up and placed his hand on my elbow the two of us walked out of the room, staying in the basement.
"So...what should we do when your out playing Death?" I asked him.
"Find other cases, I guess?" he shrugged. "I don't know. But after I get back, I expect either a message, or a beer."
That got a smile to my face. I gently pushed him as he bumped into me. "I'll get you a beer, okay?"
"That works." Dean said with a smile, hooking his pinkie around mine and the two of us walked up the steps.
Bobby looked at the two of us, then Sam as he entered the house.
"Okay. Fine." Sam said.
"You're good with this?" Dean asked.
"Yeah. Might not be happy with it, but I'm good." Sam said with a nod.
"Okay. Um...take care of Bellamy, okay? Don't let her freak out and destroy half of Kansas." Dean said, looking at me for a second before he unhooked his pinkie from mine and walked out of the door, closing it behind him.
"So, is this the part where you pull a gun on me and lock me in the panic room?" Sam asked Bobby.
"Do I have to?" Bobby asked.
"No. I guess Dean's got to do what he's got to do."
Bobby nodded. "Guess we all do, kid."
========
"Pair of aces." Sam said as he put down his cards, smiling at me from across the table.
Bobby finished his beer and held out the empty bottle. "You two want another one?"
"Yeah, sure." Sam nodded.
"I'm good." I answered.
Sam suddenly grabbed a wrench and slammed it into the side of my head, making my vision go blurry for a second before a loud THWUNK! was heard and I stood up to see Sam lying on the floor.
"May have been born at night, boy, but it wasn't last night. Bianca. Come here." Bobby kept me at his side and we went to get rope, grabbing the rope and turning back to Sam gone. "Not good."
"Where should we hide?" I asked softly.
"Come with me." Bobby gestured for me to follow him and we went down a hallway, opening a closet door and getting in, having it close behind us.
An ax swung into the door and we saw Sam's face staring back at us—a dark look and slightly psychotic on his face.
"Don't say, "here's Johnny." Bobby said.
"I got to do this, guys. I'm sorry. You two shouldn't have cornered yourselves." Sam apologized.
"We didn't!" Bobby pushed a button and a trap door opens directly under Sam, and he fell through into the basement.
Bobby opened the door and let me go out first, the two of us walking to the locked door of the basement as Sam took something metal to the door.
"Reinforced steel core, titanium kick plate. Get comfy. You want to explain what this is about?" Bobby said.
"I just, uh...I have to do this." Sam said.
"Says who?" I asked.
"If Dean shoves that soul back in me, think how bad that could really be. I can't let it happen. I mean, it's not like I want to kill you two. You've been nothing but good to me, Bobby, and I actually like Bianca."
"Thank you?" I said.
"So..what, demon deal or something?" Bobby asked.
"Spell." Sam corrected.
"You're making a mistake, Sam." I said
"I'm trying to survive."
"Dean's got a way to make it safe." Bobby said.
"Oh, yeah, what, some wall inside my head that maybe stays up? Come on."
"If it works—"
"Yeah, what if it doesn't? Dean doesn't care about me. He—he just cares about his little brother, Sammy, burning in hell. He'll kill me to get that other guy back."
Bobby sighed. "Look, I...I know how scary it is. But you know what's scarier? You right now. You're not in your right head, Sam. You're not giving us much choice here." he waited for a response for a minute before speaking again. "Sam?" again, another minute of waiting. "Balls!"
Bobby opened the door and we walked downstairs, surveying the basement. "Ain't nobody killing me in my house but me. I don't want to blow your legs out, boy, but I will."
"Uh. Bobby? Is they supposed to look like that?" I pointed to the vents in the panic room ceiling.
"No. definitely not." Bobby shook his head.
Something smacked me in the back of the head, and everything turned black.
========
"—on't want to do this. Sam. I've been like a father to you, boy. Somewhere inside, you've got to know that." Bobby's voice woke me up, and I looked to see we were in Bobby's shed, ropes tied around us.
Sam looked at Bobby. "Well, that's just it. Sorry."
"You're just gonna kill me?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah. But right now, I got a demon problem to get rid of." Sam grabbed a knife and walked over to me, the blade slicing down in an arc.
A hand suddenly appeared above my head and I leaned my head back to see Dean staring down his brother, grabbing the knife out of his hands.
"I told you to take care of Bianca, Sam." Dean said, his voice deathly calm. But that made it all the more terrifying. "And what do you do? You try and kill her."
"Dean—" Sam backed up.
Dean swung his fist into Sam's face, knocking him out.
"Are you two okay?" Dean asked, un trying the both of us.
"Sam's gone psycho." I said as I rubbed the nicely-forming bump on my head.
"Yeah. I figured that when he tried to kill you guys." Dean nodded, and grabbed Sam's legs. "Bobby? Mind helping me get him to the panic room?"
The three of us walked out of the shed carrying Sam's giant body, slowly making our way into the house and carefully walking down the basement steps; opening the panic room door and setting Sam on the bed, the three of us walking out and Bobby locking the door.
"I can't keep doing this, Bobby. I mean, what am I, gonna tie him up every time he tries to kill someone? And that's not gonna hold him. I mean, he's—" Dean looked at Bobby.
"—capable of anything." Bobby finished.
Dean threw up his hands. "What am I supposed to do here?"
Bobby shook his head, crossing his arms. "I don't know."
Dean looked at me, silently gesturing for me to follow him up the steps; closing the door and turning to me in the hallway. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Aside from a bump on my head the size of an egg." I answered.
"Seriously. You're okay? Nothing broken?"
"I'm fine. Really." I nodded, "...How was being Death for the day?"
Dean shrugged. "As glorious as seeing people dying left and right are."
"Hm. Well, at least you had a lot of practice." I said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Yeah..." he nodded, then smiled softly at me. "I'm glad you're okay. Both you and Bobby."
"Yeah. Um..I'm gonna go see Bobby. In case if Sam tries anything." I said, giving him a slight smile before heading back down the stairs.
"Hey. You good?" Bobby asked once he saw me.
"Yup. Everything's great." I nodded.
Dean suddenly came rushing down the stairs. "Open the door."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Now!" Dean shouted.
Bobby fumbled for the keys and unlocked the door, pulling it open so we could see Death hovering over Sam's conscious body.
"Get away from me! Don't. Don't!" Sam said to Death.
"Now, Sam, I'm gonna put up a barrier inside your mind." Death said.
"No, don't touch me."
"It might feel a little...itchy. Do me a favor—don't scratch the wall. trust me—you're not gonna like what happens."
"Please. Don't do this."
Death took Sam's soul out of his bag and went to put it back inside Sam.
"No, no! You don't know! You don't know what'll happen to me! Dean, Bianca, please! No. No. No!"
I turned away as Sam's scream started, and Dean quickly rushed the two of us away.