CHAPTER FORTY:
SUPERNATURAL.

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THE FEW HOURS of sleep that Birdie managed to get had been filled with both dreams and nightmares of Kaiya, her father, the boys, some of Kaiya's family, and unfortunately, her wretched mother. She woke up just as the sun was beginning to rise while Sam and Dean remained fast asleep, occasional snores slipping past their lips. She opted not to try and fall back asleep, afraid that she might have to face her mother again and feel her hands collide with her face or hear her verbal abuse echo in her ears. So, she climbed out of her shared bed with Sam and quietly slipped out of their motel. Dressed in some gray sweats, sneakers, and Sam's purple dog shirt she'd stolen from him a few years ago, she walked around the corner to a small breakfast joint she and the boys had seen on their way into town.

She noticed there weren't too many people inside, a small smile appearing on Birdie's lips when the scent of waffles and bacon filled her nose. There was an elderly couple in a booth near the front door with pancakes drenched in butter and syrup, a lonesome woman with bright pink hair in the far corner with a laptop open in front of her and a steaming cup of coffee beside it, and a middle aged seated at the counter with an empty plate in front of him as he removed his wallet from his pocket. Birdie let out a quiet sigh and walked up to the counter, taking a spot near the middle so she wasn't around anyone. She leaned her elbows on the counter and looked up at the menu in front of her that was plastered above a window that gave her a slight view of the bustling kitchen. She rested her head on her hand, narrowing her eyes slightly as she scanned over their breakfast menu to see what might've sounded good to her.

"Birdie?"

Birdie slowly turned her head, eyes slightly widened when she heard an unfamiliar voice say her name. Her eyes fell on a woman with black hair and dark brown eyes peering at her. She wore a plain gray shirt that was tucked into some jean shorts, the ends torn and frayed. A set of car keys was clutched in her hand along with a flip phone, a stunned expression adorning her features as she gazed back at Birdie in utter surprise. Birdie shifted in her chair, scanning the woman's features to see if she recognized her.

Seeing the confusion swirling around in Birdie's eyes, the woman softly laughed. "Oh, sorry," she apologized, taking a few steps towards the counter. "You probably don't remember me. You were. . .pretty tipsy the last time I saw you."

Do you know her, Birdie?

Birdie tilted her head, thinking hard as she tried to figure out how the woman knew her. But as she thought, she suddenly realized where she knew the woman from. She quietly gasped, sitting up straight. "Oh, uh. . .T. . .Tatum, right?" she asked, desperately hoping that that was the right name. That was the name of the bartender Birdie met when she went to a bar and Dean found her slightly drunk inside.

The woman's smile brightened and she nodded her head; relief that Birdie remembered her, too. "Maybe you weren't that drunk," she chuckled.

"I can handle my liquor better than most, I think," Birdie softly chuckled, shrugging her shoulders. "What-what're you doing here?"

Tatum sat down on the stool two spots away from Birdie, leaning her arms on the counter with a small smile. "For breakfast. I guess you could say I'm sort of a regular."

"You are?"

"Ah, there you are, Tatum!" an excited voice shouted. Birdie turned her head, watching a man with shaggy green hair walk out from the kitchen to happily stand in front of Tatum. There was a silver piercing in his right eyebrow, one in his septum, and one more on the bottom left part of his lip. There was the faintest hint of black eyeliner smudged on his eyes, making his green eyes pop even more. And, it looked amazing. "I was startin' to think you forgot about us."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Ollie," Tatum cheekily said. Ollie's eyes flickered over to Birdie, his smile widening. Tatum followed his gaze, looking at Ollie. "This is Birdie."

"Oooh, I like that name. It's got a lotta pizaz to it," Ollie said, his genuine smile unwavering. He casually leaned against the counter and Birdie noticed some bulky rings on his fingers along with some shiny, black nail polish that was chipped on some of his nails. Birdie warmly smiled back, feeling a sense of ease inside that breakfast joint. Ollie's eyes scanned over Birdie's features, not missing the scar that was across her right eye. "That's a pretty gnarly scar you got there, too."

Birdie faintly nodded her head, letting out a faint sigh. "Yeah."

"What happened?" Tatum asked, furrowing her brows together. "If you don't mind me asking. . ."

"Oh, no, I don't mind," Birdie said, shaking her head as she quietly laughed. "I wish I could tell you a cool story, but I. . .I got it from a car accident."

"I'm-I'm so sorry, Birdie."

"It's okay," Birdie said, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders. "It happened a while ago. . .thankfully it's pretty much healed by now."

"It's pretty badass," Ollie grinned, a twinkle looming in his eyes.

"Thanks," Birdie breathed out with a laugh.

Ollie nodded his head and stood up straight, turning his attention back to Tatum with a content sigh. "The usual?" he asked her.

Tatum nodded. "Yeah, but I need it to go. My mother's in town."

Ollie sucked in a sharp breath, wincing slightly; he must know Tatum's mother. Birdie furrowed her brows together, but she didn't say anything. She wasn't exactly part of their conversation, anyways. "Good luck with that."

Tatum nonchalantly shrugged, forcing out a quiet laugh. "It's been okay so far. But, we'll see how the rest of the day goes," she said, giving Ollie a subtle look that he immediately understood. "I know better than to get my hopes up this early."

Birdie focused her gaze back on the menu, suddenly feeling like she was eavesdropping on Tatum and Ollie's conversation. She perfectly knew how it was having issues with mothers, but she had no idea what kind of issues Tatum could have had with her mother. Birdie didn't think it would be right to ask, so she tuned out Ollie and Tatum's voices as she tried to decide on what she wanted to eat.

How do you know her?

'She's a bartender,' Birdie thought in response, her eyes focusing on the breakfast specials. 'I met her a few months before Dean. . .'

I see.

Ollie walked over to Birdie with a smile a few moments later, now holding a pen and a little notepad. "You still decidin'?" he wondered.

"Uh. . .I'll just have, uh, the number one special with. . ." Birdie squinted, reading over the side options, "bacon and toast."

Ollie nodded and quickly jotted it down on the notepad. "And a drink?"

"Orange juice, please," Birdie softly smiled.

Ollie returned the smile, tucking his pen behind one of his ears. "That'll be out in a bit," he said. Birdie nodded in response, letting out a content sigh as Ollie turned away. He started to head back towards the kitchen to hang up Birdie's order for the kitchen staff to see, pausing in front of Tatum. "And I'll make sure yours gets put in a to-go box this time 'round."

"Thanks, Ollie. What would I ever do without you?"

"Crash and burn," he said, shooting Tatum a playful wink. Then he slipped into the kitchen, placing Birdie and Tatum's orders up for the cooks to see. Birdie puffed out her cheeks and folded her arms in front of her, turning her head back towards Tatum. "He might seem a little quirky, but he's a great guy," Tatum said, leaning her chin on her hand. "I've known him since we were freshmen in high school━━━which, if you can believe it, was when he was even weirder."

Birdie softly chuckled, her laughter growing louder when she heard Ollie shout that he overheard Tatum's comment. Tatum playfully rolled her eyes with a small grin, the corner of her eyes crinkling. She adjusted her posture and turned in the chair to fully face Birdie, resting her head on her propped up hand. "What brings you back here?" she curiously wondered.

"Just on a little road trip. Do you remember the guy I left the bar with?" Birdie wondered, slightly turning in her chair so she was facing Tatum as well. She glanced aside when she saw movement out of the corner of her, spotting Ollie walking towards her with a cup of orange juice. She softly smiled as he placed it in front of her along with a straw. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome."

He walked off again to tend to another table and Birdie returned her attention to Tatum. "Yeah, I remember that guy," Tatum nodded. "He was your boyfriend, right?"

"Ew, no, gross," Birdie chuckled with her nose scrunched up in disgust at the mere suggestion. "He-he's just a friend. I've known him since we were kids━━━him and his brother, actually."

"Oh, my bad," Tatum laughed, tucking some hair behind her ears.

"It's alright," Birdie said, softly chuckling. She wasn't used to people thinking Dean was her boyfriend. She put her straw in her drink, taking a small sip before she continued. "Usually people assume I'm dating his brother."

"Really? Why is that?"

"I'm not really sure," Birdie said, breathing out a soft laugh. "But, there must've been something there that we just didn't see. . .until recently."

"Wait. Does that mean. . ." Birdie nodded in response, knowing what Tatum was going to ask her. Tatum softly chuckled, sitting up straight in her seat. "Well, good for you, Birdie."

"Thanks."

"One large chocolate pancake, two waffles, a side of cheesy hashbrowns, and. . .a complimentary. . ." Ollie started, stepping out of the kitchen with a large to-go box that he placed in front of Tatum, sliding it towards her with a growing grin as he looked at the woman, "lemon cookie."

"A lemon cookie?" Tatum repeated, furrowing her brows together in confusion; that wasn't one of the things they sold. "Um. . .why?"

"Um. . .because no one else who works here likes them besides me and today is the expiration date on the box and I've eaten over half the box, so. . ."

Tatum scoffed out a laugh and reached into her back pocket, pulling out a folded wad of cash. She slid it towards Ollie and stood up, grabbing the box with both hands. "Thank you, I think," she said. "Keep the change, Ollie."

"A pleasure as always, Ms. Bradley."

Tatum groaned, scrunching up her nose. "Please, stop calling me that."

"Fine, fine, you big baby."

Birdie chuckled under her breath, listening to the two of them bicker as she sipped on more of her orange juice. She set her drink down, her smile faltering ever so slightly as Ollie and Tatum carried on. The way they bickered back and forth━━━the way they interacted with each other. . .it reminded Birdie of herself and Kaiya.

You know, it's not a bad thing to think about her, Birdie.

'Stop.'

You can't keep ignoring your f━━━

"It was good to see you again, Birdie."

Birdie sharply turned her head when she heard her name, giving Tatum a forced smile as she nodded. She hoped Tatum hadn't been trying to get her attention before that. "Yeah, you too," she warmly smiled.

"See ya," Tatum softly said, giving Birdie a wave. Birdie waved back, her eyes following the woman as she slipped out of the main door. She faced forward again, reaching into her pocket when she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out with a quiet sigh, flipping it open. She clicked on her texts, seeing it was a message from an unknown number.

I NEED TO TALK TO YOU.

Birdie raised her brow, shaking her head. There was no way she was going to call someone she didn't know. It was probably a wrong number, anyways.

She slipped her phone back in her pocket, smiling when she spotted Ollie walking over to her with her plate of appetizing food in hand. He brightly grinned and slid it in front of her, setting some napkins off to the side. "Do you want some syrup for those waffles?" Ollie asked.

"Uh, yes please."

"Comin' right up."

Birdie took another sip of her drink and pulled her plate closer, hearing her stomach suddenly rumble as it begged for food. She unwrapped the silverware Ollie had brought over along with her food and picked up her fork. Her phone vibrated in her pocket again and she huffed, setting her fork down. She pulled her phone out once again, knitting her brows together when she saw another text from the same number.

IT'S URGENT.

Birdie rolled her eyes and set her phone off to the side; whoever it was could wait, or they would realize they're texting the wrong person. She looked up when she saw Ollie return, giving him another smile when he sat some syrup down. "Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome."

Birdie picked up the bottle and poured some syrup onto her food, beginning to dig into her delicious smelling breakfast. But, her phone vibrated again. She quickly swallowed her bite of food and picked up her phone with her brows furrowed together in frustration. But, instead of seeing another text from the unknown number, it was a text from Sam.

Where are you?

Birdie instantly relaxed, softly smiling as she typed a reply.

I thought you guys would be asleep for a couple more hours so I went to get breakfast. I'm at the place around the corner.

Not even a minute later did she get a response.

I'll be there in a few minutes :)

Birdie softly chuckled to herself, opting not to respond since she'd be seeing him in just a couple of minutes, anyways. She sat her phone down again and picked up her fork, happily digging back into her breakfast.

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Thankfully, Birdie hadn't received any more text messages from the unknown number. It was just a couple of hours later and she and the boys were a few towns over for a possible vengeful spirit Dean had found. Sam and Dean had gone down to inspect the building, checking out the connected buildings as well to see if the spirit might've been managing to move from building to building somehow. Birdie didn't go with them, instead staying back at the motel after she started to feel slightly sick on the way there. Sam wondered if that's all it was or if there was something more to it, but he decided not to ask her with Dean in the car.

They stopped at a nearby motel before the boys headed off, getting a shared room and changed into their fed suits. Birdie opted to stay in Sam's dog shirt and a pair of sweatpants, giving them a small smile and a goodbye when they headed out. The TV was on and playing reruns of Scooby Doo, Where Are You! and had been since they left, but it was merely background noise to Birdie. She was laying on one of the beds, her laptop open and placed in her lap. Her phone was sitting on the bedside table next to her, unaware that it had buzzed again with another text. She hadn't put much more thought into the texts from earlier, figuring that they left her alone because they finally got ahold of the right person. She messed around on her computer, bouncing back and forth from reading about the peculiar death in town to searching for signs of demons in nearby states to see if just maybe Lilith had made a slip up.

When she heard the sound of the door opening, she quickly turned her head. A smile spread on her lips when she saw the boys, watching them step inside. "How'd it. . ." Birdie's expression faltered, noticing that neither of them returned her smile. She slowly sat up, placing her laptop off to the side. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, catching sight of a plastic bag in Dean's hand.

Dean breathed out a scoff, raising his brows as he set the bag in front of Birdie. "This."

"What is it?" she wondered.

"Something you really need to see," Sam said, shrugging off his jacket.

Birdie furrowed her brows together, curiously glancing between Sam and Dean. She skeptically picked up the bag, peering inside to see a bunch of paperback books. She lifted her head, cocking a brow. "Books?"

"Take one out and read the back of it."

Birdie quietly sighed, but did as asked. She grabbed a random book from the bag, her eyes skimming over the cover page. The cover reminded Birdie of one that a romance novel would have. A shirtless man with long hair flowing in the wind stood beside a shorter woman who had blonde hair, her head turned towards the man with an unreadable expression on her features. On the other side of them was another man with short dark hair in a muscle tee, a rundown motel in the background. . .and she could've sworn the Impala was partially visible, too. "Supernatural: Something Wicked," she read aloud, flipping it over to read the back. "'A monster from Dean's past reemerges when he and Sam━━━'" Birdie blinked, looking up at the boys with wide eyes, "What the fuck?"

"Keep reading," Dean said. "It gets even better."

Birdie shook her head in disbelief, looking back down at the book. "'━━━find a case with a monster that sucks the lives out of children just in time for an old friend by the name of Birdie. . .to bring herself back into Sam and Dean's lives?!'" Birdie finished, her expression of bewilderment clear as day on her features. "Okay, what the actual fuck is this?"

"It's a book series about our entire lives," Sam said, gesturing to the rest of the books in the bag. There was no way that all of those books were about them. "Every single one of them."

Birdie shook her head in denial and hastily grabbed another book. Again, the two men were on the cover along with the blonde woman━━━who she now realized was maybe meant to portray her. "'Supernatural: Dream A Little Dream of Me. . .'" she read, looking at the boys again with her eyes wide open. "Where-uh, why━━━"

"There's no spirit━━━just the building owner trying to get the stores to close so he can tear it all down, and. . .we found these. Got them from the owner at the comic book store," Sam said, sinking into a chair at the table with a sigh. Dean moved towards the opposite bed, removing his jacket and blazer. "And apparently, these books have fans."

"You guys are serious?"

"Yeah, but there's not a lot," Dean said, scoffing under his breath. "I can see why. Who the hell would wanna read about our lives?"

"So. . .someone actually wrote these?" Birdie questioned, noticing the name Carver Edlund displayed on all of the books.

"Yeah, and we need to see how much he knows," Dean said.

"Holy shit. . ." Birdie breathed out, shaking her head.

"Get to it, Bird," Dean instructed, grabbing some of the books out of the bag. He handed some to Sam, keeping the others for himself.

Birdie let out a quiet sigh, giving the boys a small smile. "Well, at least this research shouldn't be too bad," she said, scooting back on the bed so her back was pressed against the headboard. "They're about us. How bad can it be?"

Truthfully, the books weren't that bad━━━in Birdie's opinion, at least.

It amazed her to read about the boys as well as herself, seeing it from an outside perspective that told her the whole story. She learned things she didn't even know had happened to the boys and their family, and she realized that she as well as the boys had told each other a few lies that weren't admitted until then. They each shared bits and pieces of all of the books they read just to prove that there was some truth to the stories, and also how some of the things they weren't around for were quite amusing━━━and Birdie couldn't resist sharing one interesting part in one of the books she had chosen to read.

"Here boys, listen to this," Birdie said, capturing Sam and Dean's attention. She shifted on the bed, making sure the boys were looking at her before she started to read. "'Sam smirked and swiftly picked Birdie up in his arms, laughing when she let out a surprised shriek at the sudden movement. He laid her down on the bed, passionately connecting their lips once again as he leaned over her. Birdie smiled into the kiss as Sam settled himself over her, trailing his lips down her neck.

Birdie let out a breathless moan, hands carding in Sam's hair as he scooted further down her body. 'Sam. . .' she whispered, biting her lips as she lifted her hips, helping him to tug her jeans down. She picked her head up and met his lustful gaze, giddily grinning before he continued━━━'" Birdie paused for a dramatic pause, shaking her hand out at Sam when he started to speak in objection. Dean smiled in amusement, chuckling as Birdie continued. "'Sam! Wake up,' Dean said."

Aw, and just as it was getting to the good part.

Sam hastily shot up from the table, quickly snatching the book out of Birdie's hand before she could continue reading any further. Dean raised his brows at his brother's actions, his smile widening. "You lying son of a bitch," Dean said. "I knew you were dreaming about Bird."

"Aw, Sammy," Birdie chuckled, giggling when Sam rolled his eyes in frustration. "You don't have to be embarrassed."

He walked back over to the table, placing the book beside his open laptop so it was far out of Birdie's reach. "Either of you find anything useful yet?" Sam asked, hoping to divert the subject.

"No," Dean answered, flipping another page in the book he was reading━━━Route 666. "This is fuckin' insane. How's this guy know all this shit?"

"You got me," Sam sighed.

"Everything is in here━━━I mean everything. From the racist truck to-to me having sex. I'm full-frontal in here," Dean said, sitting up from the bed.

Birdie raised her brows, watching Dean stand up from the bed. "With Isla?" she wondered.

"What? I━━━no, uh. . .Cassie," Dean answered, shaking his head. "But who knows? Maybe there's some more action in another book."

Birdie scrunched up her nose, shuddering in response. She didn't want to picture Dena being intimate with anyone. Dean rolled his eyes and set the book on the bedside table. "How come we haven't heard of them before?" Dean asked.

"They're pretty obscure. I mean, almost zero circulation. Uh, started in '05. The publisher put out a couple dozen before going bankrupt." Dean sat down in the chair next to Sam, stretching his legs out in front of him. Birdie stood up and walked over as well, sinking into the other chair beside Dean; she didn't miss Sam trying to subtly move the book she'd previously been reading out of her reach, but she just smiled to herself instead of pointing it out. "And, uh, the last one, No Rest For The Wicked━━━" he turned the laptop towards Dean and Birdie, displaying a website that listed all of the Supernatural books in chronological order, "━━━Ends with you going to Hell."

"I reiterate━━━fucking insane."

"I still can't believe these are real," Birdie said, glancing across the table at Sam. Dean pulled Sam's computer closer, browsing through the website.

Sam nodded in agreement, letting out a faint sigh. "Me either."

"Check it out. That comic store owner was right. There's actually fans," Dean said. "There's not many of them, but still. Did you read this?"

"Yeah."

"Although for fans, they sure do complain a lot," Dean said. He browsed through a discussion post, catching a few posts that were a little more critical than the others. "Listen to this━━━Simpatico says 'the demon storyline is trite, clichéd, and overall craptastic,'" Dean read, scoffing. "Yeah, well, fuck you, Simpatico. We lived it."

Sam chuckled. "Yeah. Well, keep on reading. It gets better."

"There are 'Sam girls', 'Dean girls', 'Birdie girls', 'Birdie. . .boys', and━━━what's a 'slash fan'?" Dean asked, furrowing his brows together in confusion. Birdie didn't recognize the term either.

"As in. . .Sam-slash-Dean," Sam slowly answered, sourly twisting his lips. Birdie leaned her elbows on the table, catching the uncomfortable expression on Sam's face. "Together."

Dean blinked, turning his head towards Sam. Birdie's eyes tripled in size, her jaw dropping.

I'm sorry. What the hell did he just say?

"Like, together together?" Dean asked, hoping that Sam would say no and that it meant something completely innocent. Birdie's eyes darted back to Sam, waiting for his answer.

"Yeah."

Birdie scrunched up her face, gagging as she leaned back in her chair. That was absolutely disgusting. How, and why, would that idea ever cross anyones mind? "What the actual fuck?"

What the fuck is wrong with humans?

'Fuck, I have no idea.'

"They do know we're brothers, right?" Dean said.

"Doesn't. . .seem to matter," Sam said, his expression matching Birdie's.

"Oh, come on. That. . .that's just fuckin' sick," Dean said, shutting the laptop in absolute disgust. He pushed it away, shaking his head as he glanced between Sam and Birdie. "We gotta find this Carver Edlund."

Birdie folded her arms over her chest, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, that might not be so easy," Sam said.

"Why not?"

"No tax records, no known address," Sam said, leaning his arms on the table. "Looks like 'Carver Edlund' is a pen name."

"Somebody's gotta know who he is," Dean said.

"Maybe the publisher does," Birdie suggested, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders. "They'd know everything about the author, right?"

Sam grabbed his computer and opened it up. He clicked on a few tabs and typed something into the search bar. He found a few websites and clicked on one of the top searches. His eyes skimmed over the screen, glancing across his computer at Birdie after a few seconds. "The publisher's name is Sera Siege. And get this━━━she just happens to lives in the area."

"I say we go pay her a visit," Dean said.

Birdie shifted in her seat, glancing over at the oldest Winchester. "Yeah, but what're we gonna say?" she asked. "'Hi, we're the characters Carver Edlund has been writing about in his books and we'd just like to talk to him to see how he knows everything about our lives?"

Dean pursed his lips together, thinking for a few seconds. "No, we. . .we're journalists writing a piece on the books," he said, making a face as he threw his hand out to the side. He glanced between Sam and Birdie, raising his brows at Sam when he saw an uncertain look on his face. "Me and you'll be the journalists and Birdie can be the photographer."

"Why do I have to be the photographer?" Birdie demanded to know.

"Because you're the artistic one," Dean replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Birdie gave him an incredulous look. "Drawing is not the same as photography, Dean! That requires a whole different set of skills that I am 100% certain I do not have━━━"

"Guys━━━"

"You take pictures all the time with your polaroid━━━"

"I'm not Diane Arbus, Dean!"

Dean blinked, him and Sam sharing a look of surprise. "You━━━"

Birdie's lips remained parted, slowly leaning back in her chair when she saw their expressions. "Know what? Fine," she huffed a couple of seconds later, throwing her hands out in defeat. "I'll be the photographer, but next time I get to pick what you two dinguses are."

Dean furrowed his brows, curiously turning his head towards Sam as Birdie stood up from the table. She picked up her duffle bag from off the dresser and slipped into the bathroom, but not before she gave the boys a stern look that said she was completely serious.

Sam raised a brow in Dean's direction, quickly realizing Dean's attention already on him. "What's goin' on with her?" Dean asked.

"What're you talking about?" Sam asked, closing his laptop.

"Ever since I got back. . .she's been different," Dean said, keeping his voice low so Birdie couldn't hear him.

"Dean, she's always like that," Sam said, breathing out a chuckle. "Especially when it comes to you."

Dean shook his head. He stole a glance towards the bathroom door, making sure Birdie was still inside the bathroom. "No, it's not just that. . .there's something different about her, Sam," he said. "She's more. . .I don't even know. But something's not right."

"We're all different," Sam said, his expression softening. "Your death hit her pretty hard, Dean. The things she-we had to do━━━"

"The things she did?" Dean asked, having caught that.

Sam quietly sighed, looking down at the table. He hoped Dean wouldn't catch that blunder. "It wasn't easy without you. And with everything else that's going on. . .can you really blame her?"

Dean's gaze remained locked on Sam's for a few seconds, eventually nodding his head. His mind still wondered about what was going on with Birdie as Alastair's words echoed in his head once more. He didn't want to believe the demon, but maybe he was right.

There was something different about Birdie.

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BIRDIE, CALL ME.

Now that text. . .Birdie found it harder to ignore.

The other text messages hadn't said her name, leaving her to believe someone just had the wrong number. It didn't happen too often, but there was the occasional text or call that was meant for someone else. The person usually figured it out not long after, or unless Birdie actually replied or answered and said she wasn't who they were trying to contact.

But, it was clear now they were trying to talk to her.

You might wanna call them. It could be important.

'Are you fuckin' nuts, Felicity?' Birdie thought in disbelief. 'No fuckin' way.'

Maybe it's someone you know.

'Or maybe it's someone who's working with Lilith.'

Okay, fair enough.

Birdie hummed to herself, rolling her eyes as she pushed some hair out of her face. She stepped out of the Impala, letting out a content sigh after they finally arrived at the publisher's house. It took some time to find her exact address, but as soon as they had it, they were out the door.

Sera Siege's house was a brick three-story home in a small but cozy little neighborhood. Most of the houses looked like they were built during the Victorian Era, all seemingly constructed of stone, brick, and wood with ornate exteriors that consisted of steep, gabled roofs, towers, turrets, and highly decorative woodwork. The colors ranged from vibrant shades that could've rivaled the brightness of the sun to the darkest shades Birdie had ever seen in her entire life. Some houses were better taken care of than others, pretty flowers of all varieties flourishing along sidewalks and the intricate edges of the houses. Sera's house was smackdab in the middle, a row of bushes in front of her wrap-around porch with a couple dying flowers that were in desperate need of some rain. There was a tall fence that blocked off her backyard, but they could see an above ground pool through the gaps.

Dean closed his door, a smirk appearing on his lips. "Hey, Bird, maybe she'll let you take a dip if you ask nicely," Dean snickered.

Birdie feigned a laugh, shooting Dean a glare as he rounded the front of his car. "Ha ha, sooo funny."

"You know, that's gonna come back to bite you in the ass someday," Dean said, giving her a pointed look.

Birdie just shrugged, offering him a smile while Sam chuckled beside her. "Well I'll always have two to come and save my ass," she replied.

Sam snorted out a laugh, shaking his head. "Come on," he said, nudging his head towards the publisher's house.

Birdie quietly laughed and started to walk up the sidewalk with the Winchesters, coming face to face with Sera Siege after Dean knocked on her front door. She had short hair that was swept to one side, most of her hair a dark shade a brown while her bangs were dyed blonde. She wore a long, teal sweater over a dark dress, a pretty necklace dangling around her neck. She seemed weary of Birdie and the boys at first, but she seemed to believe them enough to let them into her home to ask her some questions; thankfully she didn't question why the "photographer" didn't have a camera with her. She appeared a little excited about someone wanting to write an article about the Supernatural books, but also a little skeptical as if those were their true intentions.

Birdie's eyes curiously examined the interior of Sera's house as they walked inside, noticing a lot of Supernatural related knick-knacks spread throughout her home. She had framed posters of the book covers on each of the walls in her living room, more posters inside of an office that they were walking towards. There were some plush couches in front of a coffee table, some of the books placed on the table by her unopened mail. Her flat screen TV was hung above an unlit fireplace, some wood inside that had yet to be used.

"So you published the Supernatural books?" Sam asked Sera, standing beside Dean with Birdie on the other side of the oldest Winchester.

Sera nodded. "Yep. Yeah. Gosh. These books. . ." she said, walking past them to enter her office. She stopped in front of a bookshelf against one of the walls, her eyes looking over her personal collection of the Supernatural series. "You know, they never really got the attention they deserved. All anybody wants to read anymore is that romance shit. You know━━━Doctor Sexy, M.D.?" she forced out a laugh, rolling her eyes. "Please."

"Right," Sam said, sharing a glance with Dean and Birdie. Birdie's eyes lingered on Dean, holding back a small smile as she remembered a few times she'd caught Dean watching Doctor Sexy, M.D. when he didn't think she was still awake. "Well, we're hoping that our article can. . .shine a light on an underappreciated series."

Sera nodded, a genuine smile appearing on her face. "Yeah, yeah, because, you know, if we got a little bit of good press, then m-maybe we could start publishing again."

"No, no, no, no. God, no," Dean quickly said. Sera frowned, looking at him with confusion. Birdie subtly nudged him with her elbow, giving him a stern glare. "I mean, why-why would you want to do that? You know, it's, uh, such a complete series, what with Dean going to Hell and all."

"Oh, my god! That was one of my favorite ones, because Dean was so. . .strong. . .and sad and brave," Sera gushed, getting rather emotional as she spoke. Birdie furrowed her brows together, slightly tilting her head. Did the woman really care about the characters that much? "And Sam. . .I mean, the best parts are when they'd cry. You know, like in-in Heart, when Sam had to kill Madison, the first woman since Jessica he really liked." Birdie stole a silent glance over at Sam, twisting her lips. She'd heard bits and pieces about Madison from Sam and Dean, but it'd been a while since then. Dean looked over at Sam as well, seeing Sam shift with an uncomfortable expression on his features. "And in Home, when Dean had to call John and ask him for help," Sera said, her voice turning into a whisper near the end of her sentence. She sniffled, taking a few steps towards her desk with her back to Birdie and the brothers. Birdie stole a quick look at Sam and Dean, noticing they wore similar expressions. "And Birdie. . .her bond with the boys━━━her chemistry with Sam and-and the way she gets them to open up━━━gosh. . .if only real men were so open and in-in touch with their feelings."

Birdie smiled to herself, standing up a little straighter as she glanced at Sam and Dean.

Dean rolled his eyes, looking at Sera again. "Real men?" he repeated.

Sera turned around on her heel, realizing that might've sounded like an insult to the boys. "I-I mean, no offense," she stammered. "How often do you cry like that?"

Birdie snorted out a laugh, quickly covering it up by clearing her throat when Sam and Dean looked in her direction. Sera's eyes flickered over to her as well, but Birdie just plastered a quick smile on her lips in hopes it wouldn't raise Sera's suspicions.

"Well, right now, I'm crying on the inside," Dean said.

Sera tilted her head at Dean, expression shifting into one of slight anger. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Lady, this whole thing is funny," Dean replied, breathing out a forced laugh.

"How do I know you three are legit?" Sera asked, walking around her desk. Her eyes  suspiciously narrowed on the three as she sat down in her seat. She still had a bit of hope that they were actually interested in writing an article about the books, but she still wasn't entirely sure. She needed to be certain.

"Oh, trust me. We, uh. . .we're legit."

Birdie and the boys took a few steps further into the room, coming to a stop in front of Sera's desk. She adjusted her sweater, wrapping it more around her body. "Well, I don't want any smart-ass article makin' fun of my boys or Birdie," Sera said.

"No! No, no, no. Never," Sam stammered, sharing glances with Dean and Birdie as they all denied that they would make such an article.

"No, that's. . ."

"We wouldn't dream of it," Birdie said, flashing a bright and perky smile at Sera.

"We-we are actually, um. . .big fans," Sam said, forcing the words out.

Sera hummed. "You've read the books?"

Dean nodded. "Cover to cover."

Birdie nodded as well, tucking her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "I've read them so much it's almost like I've lived it," she added. Sam gave Birdie a subtle look and she just innocently shrugged her shoulders.

"What's the year and model of the car?" Sera questioned.

"It's a 1967 Chevy Impala," Dean instantly answered, a smug smile on his lips.

That was almost too easy of a question.

"What's May 2nd?"

"That's my uh. . .that's Sam's birthday," Sam said, quickly trying to cover up his blunder.

"January 24th is Dean's."

"And Birdies?" Sera asked.

"July 7th," Birdie answered.

"Sam's score on the LSAT?"

Dean and Birdie both turned to Sam, eyes slightly widening at the hesitation on Sam's face. Surely he knew the answer. "One. . .Seventy-four?" Sera nodded in approval and Sam let out a quiet sigh of relief. That was a close one.

"Birdie's biggest fear?"

"Uh, I don't really think she has━━━"

"Puppets, and she's pretty afraid of mannequins and dolls, too," Dean answered. He could feel Birdie's dark eyes glaring into him, but he didn't let it deter him as he kept his eyes focused on Sera. Sam bit back an amused smile, doing his best to hide it from Birdie when she looked at him.

Sera nodded, asking one more question. "Dean's favorite song?"

Dean instantly smirked. "It's a tie," he said. "Between Zep's Ramble On and Traveling Riverside Blues."

Sera softly chuckled, a genuine smile spreading across her lips. She believed them. Thank god. "Okay. Okay," she said, readjusting in her chair so she was more relaxed. "What do you want to know?"

"What's Carver Edlund's real name?" Sam asked, not wasting any more time.

"Oh, no. I━━━no," Sera denied, her smile falling. "Sorry, I can't do that."

"We just wanna talk to him. You know, get the Supernatural story in his own words."

"He's very private. It's like Salinger."

"Please. Like I said we are, um. . ." Sam started to unbutton his shirt with a slight cringe, revealing his anti-possession tattoo, "big. . .big fans."

Sera's eyes flickered over to Dean, giving him a look. Dean rolled his eyes, reluctantly moving his shirt to show his own tattoo. Birdie pursed her lips when Sera looked at her next, breathing out a nervous laugh. "Um, I have one, too, I promise, but. . .it's somewhere I'd rather these two not see," she said. It was a lie, but Sera didn't need to know that; it certainly wasn't the first lie Birdie told the woman.

Sera giggled, looking at Sam and Dean's tattoos one more time before they moved their shirts back into place. "Awesome. You know what?" She stood up from her chair, hiking up her skirt to show them her own tattoo. Birdie gasped and quickly averted her eyes, looking towards Sam. "I got one, too."

Sam's eyes widened, turning his head towards Birdie━━━that was when he saw the look she was giving him. He tilted his head slightly, doing a double take at the younger woman.

You claim you don't have feelings for him, and yet here you are getting jealous over him looking at another woman's tattoo.

'Shut up, Felicity.'

"Whoa," Dean breathed out. "You are a fan."

Sera chuckled and lowered her dress back down, a giddy grin still displayed on her lips. Birdie looked at the woman again, folding her arms over her chest. Sam's eyes lingered on Birdie for a few seconds longer, focusing back on Sera. "Okay. Wow." Sera grabbed a pen and a notepad from her desk, scribbling something down. "His name's Chuck Shurley. And he's a genius, so, don't piss him off."

"I'll take that. Thank you," Birdie said, grabbing the piece of paper when Sera went to hand it to Dean. She flashed the woman a smile and took a few steps backwards, forcing her smile to remain. Sera nodded, breathing out a soft chuckle. Birdie raised her brows, glancing between Sam and Dean. "Shall we?"

"Uh, we━━━yeah," Sam said, nodding along. He turned towards Sera, giving her a smile. "Thank you for your time."

"Oh, you're very welcome," she said, following the three to the door. "Come back anytime."

Birdie just nodded, giving Sera one last wave. She stepped down the steps of the porch, waiting for Sam and Dean as they bid Sera goodbye and thanked her again. Sera closed the door and Birdie let out a sigh of relief, beginning to make her way towards the Impala.

"Birdie." Birdie slowed to a stop, furrowing her brows together when she saw Dean looking at her oddly. "What the hell was that all about?"

"What was what about?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"The way you acted just now," Dean said, briefly glancing over at Sam.

"That was nothing," Birdie said in her defense. "You wanna find the author? We got his name and his address. What're we waiting for?"

Sam let out a quiet sigh, looking over at Dean. "Dean, she's right━━━"

Birdie felt a hint of panic in her heart when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out, not catching what Sam and Dean were saying as she clicked on her texts.

I REALLY NEED TO TALK TO YOU. IT'S DARIUS.

Birdie's eyes just about tripled in size, reading over the message again to make sure she didn't somehow imagine the name.

Why was Darius texting her, and more importantly, how the hell did he get her number?

There was no way Hiro would give him her number. If he━━━

A gentle hand on Birdie's shoulder snapped her back to reality. She quickly lifted her head, locking eyes with Sam. He had a concerned expression on his face, a similar one on Dean's. "What's wrong?" Sam asked, stealing a glance down at Birdie's phone. Birdie lowered her phone, faintly shaking her head. She cleared her throat, forcing a smile onto her lips. "Uh, it-it's nothing," she lied.

Sam lowered his hand, letting out a sigh. "What is it?"

"It's nothing, Sam," Birdie said. "Can we just go?"

"Who texted you?" Dean wondered.

"It's nothing!" Birdie snapped, her expression falling when she realized she'd snapped at Dean. "I'm-I'm sorry. Can we, uh━━━you know what? Can you just drop me off at the motel? You-you guys should go see the writer without me."

"Birdie━━━"

"What━━━"

"Please," Birdie asked, deeply frowning as she glanced between Sam and Dean. "I can meet you after or something. I'm not–I'm actually starting to not feel so good."

Dean removed his keys from his pocket, sharing a subtle look with Sam. Birdie didn't miss the tense exchange. She opened her mouth to speak but Dean scoffed, walking past Birdie and Sam. "Yeah, fine. Whatever."

Birdie softly sighed, pursing her lips together as she watched him head towards the Impala, Sam following suit. She had completely lied to their faces, and they knew it, too.

⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅

The car ride to the motel was maybe one of the most awkward car rides Birdie ever had with the boys, and that was certainly saying something. Sam and Dean knew something was wrong after she got a text, but for some reason, she was refusing to tell them. One of Dean's mixtapes just barely filled the uncomfortable silence, all of their minds working overtime so much that no one really paid any attention to the music. When they finally arrived at the motel, Birdie just thanked Dean and offered the boys a small wave and a goodbye before she headed inside without them. There was a gnawing feeling inside her as she wondered what they would talk about without her to overhear, but that was the least of her concerns at the moment.

First thing first: she needed to deal with Darius━━━if it even was him.

This could be a trap, Bird.

"Yeah, I know, Lis," Birdie quietly sighed. "But I can't just keep ignoring it. If it is him. . .I just want it done and over."

She pulled out her phone and clicked on the texts. She twisted her lips, her finger hovering over the call button.

If it's not him. . .

Birdie firmly hit the dial, letting out a shaky breath as she pressed the phone to her ear. It rang for a few seconds, those few moments making her heart beat faster and faster as she anxiously waited. She anxiously tapped her fingers along the table, biting the inside of her cheek as her eyes scanned the quiet motel room.

"Birdie?" Birdie sucked in a sharp breath, sitting up straight at the sound of her name. It was certainly a man's voice, and a British one at that. "Hello? Birdie?"

Say something!

"Darius?" Birdie asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"Yeah," he said. It did sound a lot like Darius, but Birdie wasn't entirely sure yet. Darius despised Birdie. Why would he choose to call her of all people? "Can. . .can you meet me?"

"Why?" Birdie asked, furrowing her brows together.

"I need to talk to you in person."

Birdie faintly shook her head, her confusion remaining on her features. "But why?"

"I-I just need to, okay?" he firmly replied. "You think I want to see you again?"

Birdie couldn't help but scoff, her anger bubbling in her chest. "You know what? No, Darius. And lose my number."

"Birdie, don't━━━"

"No, Darius, whatever you need to say to me, I'm pretty sure you already covered it at Kaiya's funeral."

"This isn't about that. Now would you quit being a bitch and just listen to me?"

Birdie gaped, abruptly standing up. "Fuck you, Darius. Lose my fucking number, and don't you ever text or call me again. I fuckin' mean it."

"Wait━━━"

Birdie hung up with a huff, tightly gripping her phone. She let out a groan and threw her phone, hearing it collide the wall. She heavily panted a few seconds, feeling herself start to calm down. Her eyes slowly began to widen as she stared at her phone, realizing what she'd done.

"Oh, fuck." She hurried over to her phone, sinking to her knees as she picked it up. She clicked a few buttons, letting out a sigh of relief that it wasn't broken. She could only see a few scratches on the outside part, some of which had been there as long as Birdie could remember. That could've gone a lot worse. She stood back up, momentarily closing her eyes. "Felicity, this has gotta stop. It's getting worse."

I know. Just a little bit longer, Birdie. We're so close.

"Yeah, you keep saying that," Birdie heavily sighed, sinking onto the edge of one of the beds. She set her phone beside her, resting her elbows on her knees and pushing her face into her hands. "I'm not sure how much longer I can last. Dean knows somethin's different, and I think he's on to me, to us, Felicity. I can't━━━I won't━━━keep lying to him. I told him I wouldn't. If I don't tell him. . .I don't think we'll be able to come back from it if he finds out on his own."

⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅

Sam and Dean turned their heads when they saw a familiar motorcycle approaching from around the corner, watching Birdie slowly come to a stop behind the Impala. Sam had texted her Chuck's address earlier in case she decided to meet them there, but he wasn't entirely sure if she would actually come after the way she acted earlier.

Birdie carefully removed her helmet from her head, suspiciously eyeing the man standing off to the side of the Winchesters. His blue eyes bored into Birdie, shifting uncomfortably as she walked over after setting her helmet on her bike. Birdie noticed the man was shorter than herself and the boys, wearing a striped robe that slightly covered a white T-shirt and a pair of boxers. Oh, he had to be the author, Chuck Shurley.

Birdie glanced between Sam and Dean, cocking a brow. "This him?"

Chuck shifted under the woman's gaze, looking rather weary as Dean closed the trunk of the Impala. "Oh, great. More of you," he said, taking a few steps towards the sidewalk. "I-I think I got some posters in the house━━━"

"Chuck, stop," Dean said.

"Please. Wait," Chuck begged, holding his hands out in front of him as he backed away like he thought they were going to suddenly grab or attack him. Sam and Dean walked closer, Birdie coming up on the other side of Sam with her brows still knitted together. "Please, don't hurt me."

"How much do you know? Do you know about the angels? Or Lilith breaking the seals?" Sam wondered.

Chuck lowered his hands, glancing between the trio. "Wait a minute. How do you know about that?"

"The question is, how do you?" Dean retorted.

"Cause I wrote it?"

"You kept writing?" Sam firmly asked.

"Yeah, even after the publisher went bankrupt, but those books never came out," Chuck explained. Birdie and the boys shared looks, facing Chuck again. After a few seconds, Chuck breathed out a laugh, folding his arms over his chest. "Okay, wait a minute. This is some kind of joke, right? Did that-did Phil put you up to this?" Chuck asked, jerking his thumb in the direction of the house next door.

Dean shifted, raising his brows as he spoke. "Well, nice to meet you. I'm Dean Winchester, this is my brother, Sam, and his girlfriend, Birdie Fowler. "

Chuck dropped his arms down at his sides, lips parting in complete and total disbelief. "The last names were never in the books," he softly said. "I never told anybody about that. I never even wrote that down."

Finding out that his "characters" were real was incredibly difficult for Chuck to process. Considering Birdie and the boys knew all the things that weren't in the books along with events that weren't even included yet, it was nearly impossible for them not to be the real Sam, Dean, and Birdie. Chuck had rushed into his house when it dawned on him, Birdie and the boys closely following him into his house.

Birdie's eyes examined the interior, catching sight of some dirty clothes stacked on the stairs to the second story that hadn't quite made it to the laundry room yet. Some sneakers and boots were kicked to the side of a tiny closet, a few jackets hanging on the wall. Through the hall there was a doorway that led into the living room. There was a striped couch in front of the window, two arm chairs offset on both sides. There was a fireplace on the far wall, a few knick knacks placed on the mantle. There was a closed pizza box on the coffee table next to some empty beer bottles, and balled up napkins on the floor. Birdie raised a brow, continuing to follow the boys and Chuck through another doorway from the living room that led into the kitchen.

There was a dining table, but Chuck appeared to be using it as a desk. He had a computer on the table, a printer to the left of it. An opened pizza box was on the other side, showing a half eaten, sausage and pepperoni pizza that looked a little questionable. A notebook was by the keyboard with a pair of glasses and a pen on top of it. Birdie tilted her head, glancing down at a black and white comic that was on top of the printer. She turned her head, noticing he had the same posters as Sera hanging up in his kitchen.

Sam placed his hands on the chair in front of Chuck's desk, glancing over at Birdie as she stood beside him. Dean stood near the doorway, his eyes fixated on Chuck. Birdie looked up, furrowing her brows when she saw Chuck pour the rest of a beer into a glass and gulp it down. He set the glass down on the messy countertop, slowly turning around. He let out a sharp exhale, his eyes falling Birdie and the boys again.

Chuck scrunched up his face, loudly groaning. "Oh! Oh, you're still there."

"Yup," Dean said, tucking his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he leaned against the wall.

"You're not a hallucination."

"Nope."

"Well, there's only one explanation," Chuck said, walking closer to his desk. Sam raised his brows, wondering what Chuck could believe was the reason Birdie and the boys were real. "Obviously, I'm a god."

Birdie scoffed out a laugh, rolling her eyes at the mere suggestion. Dean and Sam both shook their heads. That certainly wasn't the right answer.

"You're not a god," Sam said.

"How else do you explain it? I write things and then they come to life. Yeah, no, I'm definitely a god." Birdie rolled her eyes again, casting a look towards Sam. "A cruel, cruel, capricious god. The things I put you all through━━━the physical beatings alone."

"Yeah, we're still in one piece," Dean said.

"I killed your fathers. I burned your mother alive." Birdie narrowed her eyes at Chuck, but her face faltered slightly when she saw Sam clench his jaw. Chuck faintly shook his head, focusing his gaze on Sam. "And then you had to go through the whole horrific deal again with Jessica."

"Chuck. . ." Sam started, but Chuck continued.

"All for what? All for the sake of literary symmetry." Chuck heavily sighed, walking back into his kitchen with his back turned to Birdie and the boys. "I toyed with your lives, your emotions, for. . .entertainment."

"You didn't toy with us, Chuck, okay?" Dean said, stepping up to the other side of Sam. "You didn't create us."

Chuck sharply turned around, arms folded over his chest. "Did you really have to live through the bugs?" he wondered.

Sam and Dean shared a look and Birdie scrunched up her nose. She wasn't there for that, but she had heard about that case. "Yeah," Dean answered.

"What about the ghost ship?"

"Yes, that too."

Chuck shook his head, his eyes landing on Birdie. "And Kaiya?"

Birdie's expression faltered ever so slightly, but she quickly narrowed her eyes again━━━not before Sam and Dean noticed, though. "Yes," Birdie sharply said. "She's dead, Chuck."

"Chuck━━━"

"I am so sorry. I mean, horror is one thing, but to be forced to live bad writing. . ." Chuck heavily sighed, shaking his head as he looked at the three. "If I would have known it was real, I would have done another pass."

"Chuck, you're not fuckin' a god!" Dean said, growing annoyed at Chuck's persistence that he was a god.

Sam stood up straight, shrugging as he spoke. "We think you're probably just psychic."

"No," Chuck immediately denied, shaking his head in denial as he sat down at his desk. "If I were psychic, you think I'd be writing? Writing is freaking hard."

"It seems that somehow, you're just. . .focused on our lives," Sam said.

"Yeah, like laser-focused," Dean added. Birdie nodded in agreement. Chuck quietly burped, his eyes lingering on his computer screen in front of him. Birdie scrunched up her nose, taking a small step back. "Are you workin' on anything right now?"

Chuck slowly lifted head, realization dawning on him. "Holy shit."

"What?"

Chuck picked up the papers that were underneath his glasses, his eyes skimming over the first few lines. "The, uh, latest book? It's, uh, it's kind of weird."

"Weird how?" Sam asked, suspiciously narrowing his eyes.

"It's very Vonnegut."

Dean leaned in close, planting his hands on the desk. "Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut or Cat's Cradle Vonnegut?"

"What?" Sam asked, turning his head towards Dean in surprise.

"What?" Dean replied, sounding a little defensive.

"It's, uh, 'Kilgore Trout' Vonnegut. I wrote myself into it." Birdie's eyes noticeably widened, dropping her hands down at her sides. "I wrote myself, at my house. . .confronted by my characters."

Birdie bit the inside of her cheek, shaking her head. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, but she completely ignored it as her gaze lingered on Chuck.

If he wasn't a god, and if he wasn't psychic. . .then how the hell did he know that Birdie and the boys would confront him at his house?

Truly realizing that they were in fact real, and needing some time themselves to digest everything, Birdie and the boys left Chuck's house, but not before Dean made Chuck give him the newest pages he'd written so far. Chuck was more than willing to hand them over when it meant they would leave his house, finally giving him a moment alone to process everything. Birdie was very curious to see what else Chuck had written. Would it all come true, or were the chapters only pieces of the truth?

Birdie had followed the boys to the motel on her motorcycle, but they left again just a couple of minutes later after they realized how smelly their clothes in their bags were when they decided to change. There was a mostly empty laundromat about four blocks away, more than enough machines open for them to get some of their laundry done.

Dean and Birdie sat on the edge of a table, Sam a few feet in front of them as he grabbed his dirty clothes out of his duffel bag. There was an older man and a middle aged woman near the front of the building, but they didn't pay any attention to the trio. Dean held Chuck's latest manuscript in his hands, the pages still in order, thankfully. He skimmed through the first few pages that included them confronting Chuck, stopping when he found one that mentioned them being at a laundromat. Birdie tilted her head as she read over the pages as well, raising her brows at how accurate it was.

"I'm sitting in a laundromat, reading about myself sitting in a laundromat reading about myself━━━my head fuckin' hurts," Dean said, scrunching his brows together.

"There's gotta be something this guy's not telling us," Sam said, briefly looking at Dean and Birdie as he balled the clothes up in his arms. Then he walked back over to the machines, tossing the clothes in the washer with a quiet sigh.

"'Sam tossed his gigantic darks into the machine. He was starting to have doubts about Chuck, about whether he was telling the whole truth,'" Dean read, looking up when Sam turned around to face him.

"Stop it," Sam firmly said.

"'Stop it,' Sam said,'" Dean read. Sam clenched his jaw, glaring at Dean. "Guess what you do next." Sam scowled, turning away to continue putting the rest of the clothes in a few more machines. Birdie snickered under her breath, leaning closer to Dean to read more of the manuscript. "'Sam turned his back on Dean and Birdie, his face brooding and pensive.'"

"Brooding and pensive?" Birdie repeated.

"I mean, I don't know how he's doing it, but this guy is doing it," Dean said, throwing one of his hands out. "I can't see your face, but those are definitely your 'brooding and pensive' shoulders."

Sam sighed in exasperation, shaking his head. Dean and Birdie both looked down at the manuscript, reading the next part. Birdie chuckled, shaking her head. "Did you really just think Dean was a dick?" Birdie asked.

Sam turned around again, making a face as he looked impressed. "The guy's good."

Birdie giggled, her eyes flickering to Sam as he bent down to pick up some clothes he'd dropped on the floor. Dean shifted on the table, smirking when he read the next part. "Birdie thinks your ass looks great," Dean said.

Birdie's smile immediately dropped from her face, angrily turning to look at Dean. She leaned over, her eyes widening when she saw the manuscript did in fact say something similar. Sam adjusted the clothes in his arm as he stood up, a cheeky smirk spreading across his lips as he faced Dean and Birdie.

Birdie pursed her lips, shrugging her shoulders after a few seconds. "Well, he's my boyfriend," she said. "I'm allowed to think that."

Sam raised a brow in Birdie's direction and she playfully rolled her eyes. He chuckled, turning back around to continue putting the rest of the clothes in the machines. Birdie leaned her hands on the table behind her, feeling her heart momentarily stop when she felt her phone vibrate again. She slipped off the table with a sigh, pushing some hair out of her face. "I'll be right back," she said.

"Where you goin?" Sam asked at the same time as Dean. Sam rolled his eyes, shooting a glare at Dean. Dean just cheekily smiled in response.

Birdie glanced over at Dean, raising a brow. "Are you gonna answer or do I get to say?" she questioned.

Dean grumbled under his breath and Birdie snickered, looking at Sam. "The bathroom, if you don't mind."

"Oh," Sam said, nodding his head.

Birdie softly chuckled, shaking her head as she turned on her heel. She headed towards the hall, glancing at the doors until she saw one that said restroom. She pushed it open, quietly shutting the door behind her. She walked forward, peeking under the stalls to see if anyone else was inside. Thankfully, she was alone, or as alone as she could be.

She let out a shaky breath, pulling out her phone as she stood in front of the sink. A small mirror was above it, a few water spots splattered near the bottom. Birdie didn't bother to glance at her reflection, keeping her focus on her phone. She clicked on her text messages, heavily sighing when she saw four more texts from Darius; each one saying that he still needed to talk to her in person.

What are you gonna do?

"I don't know," Birdie mumbled, twisting her lips as she thought for a few moments. "There's━━━he has no reason to need to talk to me, let alone in person. It feels. . ."

Wrong?

"Yeah, exactly."

Maybe that's why you should meet him then.

"What?" Birdie asked in disbelief. "He hates my guts, Felicity. He━━━"

I know. I remember perfectly what he said to you at Kaiya's funeral. It was completely uncalled for and untrue, too. He's a dick, but maybe there's something seriously wrong if he's coming to you.

"Oh, wow," Birdie sarcastically scoffed, "Thanks."

You know I didn't mean it like that.

Birdie just shook her head, fiddling with her phone in her hand.

If you think about it, if worse comes to worse, you can finally kick his ass and leave him behind forever.

Birdie perked up at that, slightly tilting her head at the thought. "He does deserve it after all the shit he's done and put Kaiya through."

Hell yeah, he does.

"Okay, but if it all goes to shit, I'm blaming you."

It wouldn't be the first time you've done it.

Birdie just scoffed, clicking on Darius's number again. She thought for a couple of seconds on what to say, hoping she wouldn't sound too nice or like she was meeting him for his sake; if anything it would be for Kaiya. She kept her reply short and sweet, saying that she could meet him in a few days and no sooner. She didn't wait for his response and tucked her phone away. She stole a brief glance in the mirror above the sink, catching Felicity's quick wink. Birdie playfully rolled her eyes, heading for the door.

Come on, just admit it. I've finally grown on you, haven't I?

Birdie just chuckled, shaking her head as she exited the bathroom to return to the boys.

You didn't deny it.

⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅

Getting a call in the early hours of the morning from Chuck wasn't how Birdie thought the next day would start. She was barely awake as she and the boys got dressed to meet Chuck at his house, only grumbling out responses whenever Sam or Dean tried to talk to her. After making Dean stop for coffee on the way, Birdie was feeling just a little bit more energized, but not by much. She still had half of her cup to drink, so hopefully that would do the trick━━━so long as Sam stopped stealing sips of it when Birdie wasn't paying attention.

The inside of Chuck's house looked just about the same as the day before, but this time they were in the living room. Dean was sitting on the armrest of one of the chairs, his arms folded over his chest. Sam casually leaned against the fireplace, his arm placed on the mantle with his eyes focused on Chuck as he entered the room. Birdie shifted in her chair, furrowing her brows as she glanced at the papers Chuck was now holding in his hands. He let out a quiet sigh, seemingly nervous as he came to stop in front of the couch.

"So. . .you wrote another chapter?" Sam asked, raising his brows.

Chuck let out a heavy breath. "This was all so much easier before you were real."

"We can take it," Dean said. "Just spit it out."

"You are not gonna like this━━━"

"I didn't like Hell," Dean interjected.

Chuck's gaze fell on Birdie, causing her to knit her brows at the way he was looking at her. "But you are especially not gonna like this," he told her.

"What? Why?" Birdie asked.

Chuck sighed, momentarily closing his eyes. "It's Lilith," he said. Birdie blinked, feeling her heart stutter in her chest. "She's coming for Sam."

"What?" Birdie sharply asked, shooting up from the chair.

Oh, fucking hell.

"Coming to kill him?" Dean demanded to know.

"When?" Sam asked, taking a step closer to Chuck.

"Tonight."

Dean held his hand out, watching Chuck move towards the couch. "She's just gonna show up? Here?"

Chuck sat on the couch, slipping his glasses on. "Uh... let's see, uh. . ." he stammered, his eyes skimming over the manuscript to find the right page. Birdie folded her arms over her chest, anxiously waiting for Chuck to give them more details. "'Lilith patted the bed seductively.'" Dean tilted his head, furrowing his brows together as he glanced over at Birdie to see her blink in surprise. "Unable to deny his desire, Sam succumbed, and they sank into the throes of fiery demonic passion.'"

He what?!

Birdie's eyes noticeably tripled in size, feeling a sudden anger rush through her veins. "What the fuck did you just say happens?" she demanded. Chuck held his hands up, stammering as he tried to respond.

This has to be a joke.

Sam's laugh cut Chuck off, his eyes glancing between Dean and Birdie. "You're kidding me, right?" he asked.

Birdie raised her brows, turning to fully face him with a sharp look.

"You think this is funny?" Dean asked, not finding it amusing.

"You guys don't?" Sam asked, looking at Birdie. "I mean, come on. 'Fiery demonic passion'?"

"It's just a first draft," Chuck meekly defended.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Dean interrupted. "Lilith is a little girl."

Chuck looked up at Dean, faintly shaking his head. "No, uh, this time she's a━━━'comely dental hygienist from Bloomington, Indiana.'"

"Great. Fucking perfect," Dean said. "So what happens after the. . . 'fiery demonic' whatever?"

"I don't know. It hasn't come to me yet."

Birdie scoffed in disbelief, placing her hands on her hips. "You mean you don't know if my boyfriend's gonna fuckin' cheat on me with fucking Lilith?"

"Bird, look, there's nothing to worry about," Sam said, giving Birdie a subtle look. "Lilith and me? In bed? That's never gonna fuckin' happen."

Birdie clenched her jaw, sinking back into the chair with a heavy breath. Sam glanced over at Dean, letting out a sigh. Dean just glared at Sam, turning his gaze back to Chuck. "How does this whole psychic thing of yours work?" he wondered.

"You mean my process?"

"Yes, your 'process,'" Dean said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, it usually starts with a headache. A really bad headache. Aspirin is useless, so. . .I drink. Until I fall asleep," Chuck explained. "The first time it happened, I thought it was just a crazy dream."

"The first time you dreamt about us?"

"It flowed. It just-it kept flowing," Chuck said, running his hands over his face. Sam folded his arms, smiling in disbelief at the whole thing. The idea of him and Lilith being intimate━━━it was simply impossible. "It still does. I-I can't stop it, really."

"You can't seriously believe━━━"

"Humor us," Dean interrupted Sam, gesturing towards him and Birdie. He was relieved to see that Birdie was taking it just as seriously as he was.

Sam slightly tilted his head, looking at Birdie. She purposely avoided his gaze, keeping her entire focus on Chuck. Dean stood up from his chair and Chuck silently held up the manuscript for him to take. "Look, why don't we-we just. . ." Dean paused, slowly taking the manuscript from Chuck, "Take a look at these and see what's what." He turned his head towards Chuck, a thought occurring to him. "You━━━"

"Knew you were gonna ask for that? Yeah."

Birdie leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes. "Bird, can I talk to you?" Sam asked. She opened one of her eyes, catching Sam's gaze. She let out a reluctant sigh and pushed herself onto her feet, giving Dean a look as she headed towards the front door. Sam closely followed behind her, closing the door behind him.

Birdie walked down the porch steps, heavily sighing as a gust of wind fluttered past. "Birdie, what aren't you telling me?" Sam asked.

"What're you talking about?" Birdie wondered, turning around to face Sam.

He tilted his head, giving her a pointed look. "You know."

"There's nothing going on, Sam," Birdie said, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders.

"Birdie, come on. Don't lie to me."

"Sam━━━"

"I'm your best friend. You think I can't tell when there's something goin' on with you?" Birdie smacked her lips shut, a frown appearing on her lips as Sam stared back at her. "Birdie, you don't have to keep it all bottled inside all the time. Just talk to me, please. I'm right here."

Birdie softly sighed, biting the inside of her cheek. She tucked her hands in the pockets of her jean jacket, licking at her lips. "I think I'm pushing my luck with Felicity, and. . .I think the effects are getting a little worse," she said.

It's not that bad.

"Like your outburst inside?" Sam suggested, raising his brows. There was a hint of amusement in his tone, but also genuine concern.

Birdie faintly nodded her head. "It-it's like I'm starting to feel every single one of my emotions all at once, and it's only getting worse."

"Maybe it's time━━━"

"No, not yet," Birdie said, shaking her head. Sam shifted, faintly nodding his head. "Almost, but. . .she only needs a few more weeks."

"Birdie, I don't know," Sam softly said. "If it's getting worse, it might be time she finds someone else. It might actually be easier that way."

Birdie shook her head, giving Sam a small smile. "I can handle a few more weeks. I've lasted this long, haven't I?"

Sam's eyes examined Birdie for a few seconds, eventually nodding his head. Birdie folded her arms over her chest, tilting her head inside. "What happened inside. . .that was just me playing the part of a protective girlfriend. I had to say something when Chuck said that you're gonna sleep with Lilith with Dean sittin' right there."

Sam breathed out a faint laugh. "Yeah."

"And. . .there's something else," Birdie confessed, twisting her lips as her eyes watched Sam's expression shift. Sam knitted his brows together, patiently waiting for Birdie to continue. "I've been getting some. . .texts lately."

"From who?"

"Darius."

"Darius? Isn't that━━━" Birdie sighed, her expression confirming Sam's suspicion. "What the hell does he want?"

"He wants to talk in person, but he won't tell me why."

"What'd you tell him?"

"Well, after yelling at him over the phone earlier━━━"

"Wait, is that why you wanted to go back to the room?" Birdie nodded, sheepishly smiling as Sam realized that was why she acted so strange when they left the publishers house. Sam quietly sighed, a faint frown spreading across his lips. "You could've just told me, and Dean."

"I know," Birdie softly said, fidgeting with her fingers. "I texted him that I could meet him in a few days."

Sam raised his brows in surprise. "You did?"

Birdie shrugged, quietly sighing. "I don't want to, but what if something's actually wrong? I doubt I'm his first option for anything, or even his last, but if something is wrong, I don't think I could forgive myself if something happened to him━━━dick or not."

Sam nodded, offering Birdie a small smile. "I'll go with you."

"That's okay. You don't have to━━━"

"Birdie, you're my girlfriend," he said, putting a playful emphasis on the word girlfriend, "I'm not gonna let you go and meet that douchebag by yourself."

A smug smile appeared on Birdie's lips, ignoring the warm feeling that fluttered inside her heart. "You're not gonna let me?"

Sam breathed out a scoff, shaking his head with a smile on his lips. Birdie's own smile widened, noticing Sam's dimples poking out now. "Come on."

Sam led the way back up the porch and Birdie followed suit, but there was still something lingering in the back of her mind.

If everything Chuck wrote had been true so far, who was to say he was wrong about Lilith, too?

While Sam and Birdie talked outside, Dean had read through some more of Chuck's manuscript. There were a few questionable parts throughout, but it was enough for Dean to decide they would do everything in their power to prevent any of it from actually happening. Sam didn't see how it was necessary, but Dean didn't exactly leave room for argument. With Chuck's manuscript in hand, they left Chuck's and headed back to the motel to collect their things. Birdie put her stuff in the Impala and drove her motorcycle by herself, thankful she didn't have to sit in the Impala and listen to Sam and Dean's bickering that she was sure would ensue on their trip out of town. However, their first attempt at changing what Chuck wrote was completely derailed when they found out the only way in and out of town was across a bridge that was currently flooded. And, unless they were okay with swimming, they had no other choice but to stay.

Birdie wasn't exactly happy they couldn't leave town, but she tried her best not to let it show. As much as she desired to get her revenge for Kaiya, she knew they weren't ready to face Lilith just yet.

Shortly after turning around, they stopped at a diner called Kripke's Hollow Diner. It was small, six people seated at the counter seats with a couple more tables filled with couples and small families. Country music played from some crackly speakers in the corners, but Birdie couldn't really make out any of the words. The food smelled incredible, the scent causing Birdie to realize just how hungry she was when her stomach rumbled.

She took a seat in between Sam and Dean, automatically picking up one of the menus after she sat down. Dean had the manuscript in front of him, a pen in hand while Sam and Birdie looked over the menus.

"Hey, this could be a good thing," Dean said, looking up from the papers. Sam raised a brow. "I mean, if this is what puts us on the path to Lilith, then all we gotta do is get off the path."

"How do you mean?" Sam asked.

"It's a blueprint of what not to do. I mean, if the pages say that we go left━━━"

"Then we go right."

"Exactly. We get off-book. We never make it to the end. It's opposite day." Sam silently nodded in agreement. Birdie did the same, resting one of her elbows on the table in front of her. "It says that we, uh, we get into a fight. So, no fighting." Sam threw his hand out, shrugging. That seemed doable enough. Birdie raised her brow at that, but she chose not to comment. "No research for you. . ."

"No bacon cheeseburger for you," Sam told Dean.

Dean looked up at that, his expression slightly faltering. "Yeah, no problem. I'll just order something else," he said.

Birdie snickered, reaching into her pocket for her phone. She pulled something else out instead, smiling when she saw it was a snack sized packet of Oreos; it was her last one out of her bag. "Oh, sweet━━━"

"And no Oreos for you," Dean said, snatching them out of Birdie's hand before she had time to process what he was doing.

Birdie gaped, holding her hands out at her sides. "What the hell, Dean?"

"We're going off script, Bird," Dean said, smugly pocketing the Oreos. "That means you, too." Birdie opened her mouth to protest, but Dean pointed his finger at her. "And the no fighting includes you. So, suck it up, buttercup."

Birdie sucked in a sharp breath, biting her tongue. Sam twisted his lips as he tried to hide his smile, shaking his head. An older waitress came up to their table, smiling as she pulled out a pen and notepad. "Hi, uh, what's good?" Dean asked, picking up one of the menus.

Birdie stole a quick glance at Sam, but he just silently shook his head. Birdie quietly sighed, rolling her eyes as she picked up her menu again.

"Well, if you like burgers, Oprah's girlfriend said we have the best bacon cheeseburgers in the country," the waitress answered.

Sam and Birdie quietly laughed, looking towards Dean.

Aww, it's just too bad he can't have that.

"Really?" Dean asked.

"I'll just have the cobb salad, please," Sam said, giving the waitress a small smile.

Dean looked across the table at Sam, the corner of his lip tweaked upwards in disgust. "I'll have the. . ." he hesitated, a feeling of dread washing over him as Sam encouragingly nodded. "Veggie tofu burger," he said, handing the waitress his menu.

Birdie quietly snickered along with Sam, her eyes skimming over the menu. "I'll have. . .just an order of fries."

The waitress nodded, smiling when Birdie handed her the menu. "Those'll be out in a few minutes, okay?" the waitress said.

"Thanks," Sam softly told the waitress.

She nodded with a smile and walked off, slipping into the kitchen to place their order. Birdie let out a quiet sigh, leaning back in her chair as she folded her arms over her chest.

"This whole thing's ridiculous," Sam said.

Dean raised his brows. "Lilith is ridiculous?"

"The idea of me hooking up with her is," Sam said.

"Right. 'Cause something like that could never happen," Dean said, pushing his drink aside.

Sam scowled, holding back his tongue. "I would never do that to Birdie," he said, casting a glance at Birdie. "You know that."

"I know," she murmured, taking a small sip of her soda.

Sam's eyes scanned her expression for a few seconds, looking back at Dean. "Dean, for the first time, we have warning that Lilith is close."

"So?"

"So. . .we've got the jump on her. If we know when she's coming, we know where━━━this is an opportunity."

"Are you━━━" Dean angrily started, pausing for a second as he tried to keep his cool. Birdie cocked a brow, seeing Dean fake a smile in his brother's direction. "It frustrates me when you say such reckless things."

Sam rolled his eyes, his gaze burning into Dean. "Well, it frustrates me when you'd rather hide that fight."

Dean stared right back at Sam, angrily clenching his jaw. Birdie heavily sighed, throwing her head back.

It frustrates me when I have to listen to them through you.

"You know, I think this still counts as fighting," Birdie said, glancing between Sam and Dean. Sam shook his head, taking a drink of his water. Dean scoffed under his breath and folded his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair. "Sam, Dean━━━"

Thankfully, the waitress walked over with their food in hand and Birdie smacked her lips shut. "Cobb salad for you," the waitress said, placing the salad in front of Sam. Then she set Dean's burger in front of him, setting Birdie's plate of fries down last. "The tofu veggie burger for you and an order of fries for you."

"Thank you," Dean said. The waitress smiled in response and walked away, tending to another table near the front. Dean picked up his tofu burger, making sure the waitress was out of earshot as he leaned in closer so only Sam and Birdie could hear him. "It's not hiding. It's being smart. It's picking your battles. This is a battle that we are not ready to fight."

Sam was silent, clenching and unclenching his jaw as he tightly gripped his fork. Then he started to eat, most likely so he and Dean wouldn't actually fight anymore than they already had. Birdie poured some ketchup on the corner of her plate, dipping a few fries into it before she shoveled them into her mouth. Dean took a huge bite of his burger, eyes widening in surprise moments later. "Oh, my god," he said, capturing Sam and Birdie's attention. "This is fuckin' delicious. Tofu is amazing!"

Birdie furrowed her brows when she saw the waitress hurry back over looking rather flustered as she looked at Dean. "I am so sorry. I gave you the bacon cheeseburger by mistake," she said, picking up Dean's food and taking it away to get him the tofu burger.

Sam scowled, sharing a silent look with Dean and Birdie.

Despite their efforts, they did almost everything that Chuck wrote so far.

⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅

"Really? This place?" Birdie asked Dean with a frown, her helmet tucked under her arm. She stared at the skeptical motel in front of her, noticing a woman in a tank top and short, jean skirt with an older man following close behind. The younger woman smirked, leading him towards one of the rooms at the end of the building. There were only a couple more cars parked in the parking lot, most of them reminding Birdie of cars that much older men would drive. There was a lit up sign out front, a few of the letters flickering every now and then as if the bulbs were beginning to go out.

"The book says Lilith finds Sam at the Red Motel," Dean said, rounding the front of the Impala. Birdie shifted on her motorcycle, standing up with a quiet sigh. "Hence, the, uh, hooker inn. It's opposite day, remember?"

Birdie just nodded, pursing her lips together. A small frown appeared on Sam's lips when he noticed the hesitation on Birdie's face. "I'll get us a room━━━hopefully they have some with more than one bed," Dean said, grabbing his bag from the backseat.

"Okay," Sam nodded. "We'll catch up with you in sec."

Dean glanced between Sam and Birdie, giving Sam a small nod before he headed towards the main lobby. Birdie's eyes followed him for a few seconds, eventually turning to face Sam. "What's up?" she wondered.

"You don't like that we're stuck here, do you?" Sam asked.

Birdie heavily sighed, slouching against her motorcycle. She readjusted her helmet, placing it in her lap. "I mean. . .I wanna kill Lilith━━━she deserves it, and worse," she replied, shifting her feet. "But I don't think we're ready."

Sam sighed, shaking his head. "Come on, not you too, Bird."

"I get it, Sam, I do, but. . .maybe Dean's right. We should try to go off-script."

"It doesn't seem to be working so far."

"Maybe that's because some of us aren't trying as hard."

Sam shifted, folding his arms over his chest. "You think I'm purposely going out of my way to make sure everything goes the way Chuck saw?"

"No," Birdie truthfully answered. "I think you're purposely not going out of your way to prevent it all from happening."

"Earlier today you━━━"

"I want Lilith dead, too, Sam, but. . .Chuck doesn't know what happens yet. What if she actually kills you?"

"I won't let that happen━━━"

Neither will I.

Birdie sucked in a sharp breath, glancing down at her helmet for a few seconds. "I know I should be jumping at the chance to get my hands on Lilith, but Sam, I'm. . .I'm worried about you."

"About me?"

"Well, yeah," Birdie softly replied, nonchalantly shrugging. "I don't━━━there's a lot that could go wrong, and if something were to happen to you. . .I can't lose another friend. Sam, I can't━━━I-I won't━━━"

"Hey, hey, Bird, it's gonna be fine," Sam said, face contorting into concern when he saw the genuine fear swirling around in Birdie's eyes. He took a few steps closer, offering Birdie a small smile. He reached forward, placing his hands on her shoulders to make her look at him. "We're gonna stop Lilith for good━━━one way or another. Maybe not here, but. . .soon. I can feel it."

Birdie twisted her lips, giving Sam a small smile after a few seconds.

"You two love birds ready to check out our room?" Sam and Birdie simultaneously turned their heads, spotting Dean. He stood on the cracked sidewalk, holding home some room keys with a cheeky smile spread across his lips.

"Yeah," Birdie said. She walked towards Dean, pausing when Sam opened the back door of the Impala. He grabbed his and Birdie's duffel bags, quietly sighing as he followed Dean and Birdie.

Birdie's eyes curiously scanned the room as she walked in, noticing the dark purple walls. There were two queen-sized beds on the far side of the room that were pushed against the walls, some scenic paintings hung above them to add some extra flair to the room. A long dresser was up against one of the walls, a TV placed on top of it with the remote and a list of the few provided channels under it. There was a small coffee pot on the counter by the stove, some missed spills sticking to the countertop and spilling into the sink. A wooden table was pressed up against the wall near the door, a window next to it that gave them a magnificent view of the parking lot.

Dean walked over to one of the beds and unzipped his bag, tossing some of his clothes on the bed as he searched for something. Birdie raised a questionable brow, sharing a look with Sam. They watched Dean take a few small, string-tied bags━━━hex bags to be exact━━━and begin to place them around the room.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Couple of hex bags ought to Lilith-proof the room," Dean replied.

"So, what? I'm-I'm supposed to just hole up here all night with-with Bird babysitting me?"

"Again?" Birdie added, innocently shrugging when Sam shot her a glare.

"That's exactly what you're gonna do, okay?" Dean said, pointing a finger at Sam as he walked towards the dresser, placing a hex bag there as well. Birdie folded her arms over her chest, tilting her head to one side. "And no research. I don't care what you do━━━use the Magic Fingers or watch Casa Erotica on Pay-Per-View."

Birdie raised a questionable brow, sharing a glance with Sam. Her eyes then fell back on Dean, seeing him place another hex bag near the window. Dean's eyes fell on Sam's bag on the table and he reached inside, pulling out Sam's laptop with a smug smile.

"Oh, dude, come on━━━"

"Just call it a little insurance," Dean said.

Birdie snickered, but her amused smile fell when Dean took Birdie's laptop and her keys, too. Her eyes widened and she gaped at the older man, throwing her arms out. "Not mine, too!"

"Hey, if you're gonna stay with him, I can't risk you giving in and lettin' him do something he's not supposed to do," Dean said, giving Birdie a firm look. Then he let out a quiet sigh, shaking his head when Birdie started to speak. "You know, maybe you should just come with me and━━━"

Birdie folded her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes on the oldest Winchester. "Birdie, you don't have to stay," Sam said, turning his head to look at her. "I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."

Birdie blinked, giving Sam an incredulous look. "Sam, Lilith is after you. I'm not just gonna leave you all alone like a sitting duck," she firmly said.

Sam let out a heavy sigh, turning to look at Dean. "What are you gonna do?"

"Well, the pages say that I spend all day riding around in the Impala. So, I'm gonna go park her." Dean walked to the door, placing his hand on the handle as he glanced back at Sam and Birdie. Their laptops were tucked under his arm and Birdie frowned. "Behave yourselves, would you? No homework. Watch some porn━━━I doubt that's a normal part of your relationship. Time to go off script."

Birdie gaped at the oldest Winchester, watching him smile with amusement and walk out of the room, closing the door behind him. "What a dick," she huffed, shaking her head.

Sam scoffed under his breath, nodding in agreement. He dropped his hands down at his sides, taking a few steps towards the table near the window. Birdie shrugged off her jacket with a heavy sigh, hanging it on the coat rack by the door. "Does he really expect us to just stay here?" she asked, walking around the table to sit on the opposite side of Sam.

Sam shifted in the seat, shrugging. "Probably. It's not like we have a ride."

"You think I don't know how to hotwire my own bike?" Birdie asked, cocking a playful brow at Sam.

Sam breathed out a quiet laugh, letting out a sigh a few seconds later. He leaned his elbows on the table, furrowing his brows as he looked at Birdie. "You think Chuck has seen anything else?" he asked. "Maybe he knows when Lilith is coming now."

Birdie tilted her head, mimicking Sam's posture. "I don't know. But, even if he has seen something else, what makes you think he'll tell us?" she wondered.

Sam made a face at that. "Why wouldn't he? He's told us everything so far."

Birdie quietly sighed, stealing a glance out of the window. "I don't know if I really trust him. I mean. . ."

"Earlier you believed him," Sam said, staring straight at Birdie. "And, I think you were. . ."

"I was what?"

Sam sucked in a sharp breath, hesitating as he slightly raised his brows. "Jealous."

Birdie scoffed, scrunching up her face as she leaned back in her chair. "You think I'm jealous? Sam, we're not actually together━━━we both know that. It's not-it's not jealousy."

Sam slowly nodded his head. "Okay, fine. But, I still think we should talk to Chuck."

"Alright," Birdie sighed, folding her arms over her chest. "But Sammy. . .what if he's seen the rest. . .and we don't like it?"

Sam licked at his lips, thinking for a few moments. "Hopefully it goes our way."

Truthfully, Birdie didn't think Chuck would be willing to drive to the motel to meet with two of the people he had been writing about before he knew they were real. It wasn't too far away from his house, but considering how stressed he appeared to be whenever he was around Birdie and the boys, she didn't think he would want to see them so soon again. But, she was proven wrong when he agreed to meet them at their motel room.

Birdie wasn't sure how long it would take Chuck to arrive, her heart racing as she anxiously waited for him to get there. She wanted━━━no, needed━━━to know what would come next with Lilith.

But if Chuck saw their worst fears come true. . .

Birdie's head sharply turned towards the door when she heard a knock. Sam stood up from the table, grabbing the handle and opening it. Birdie tilted her head as she shifted on one of the beds to sit upright, spotting Chuck standing in the doorway. He was now dressed in dark jeans, a plain t-shirt, and a jacket.

"You guys wanted to see me?" Chuck said.

"Yeah." Sam's eyes scanned the area outside and then opened the door wider for Chuck to enter. Birdie stood up and walked forward, catching Chuck's eye as Sam shut the door.

"Thanks for coming," Sam said.

"Ah, sure," Chuck said, turning around to face Sam. Birdie leaned against one of the posts that partially separated the beds from the rest of the room, twisting her lips.

Sam folded his arms over his chest, letting out a faint sigh. Birdie caught Sam's eye and gave him a silent nod. "Um. . .I was just wondering how much you know," Sam said. "About me."

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked.

"Have you seen visions of me when I'm not with Dean. . .?" Sam asked, purposely not mentioning Felicity. Chuck hadn't mentioned Felicity, and he nor Birdie saw her name in the manuscript. So, maybe there was a chance he didn't know of her existence just like the angels.

"Oh," Chuck said, realization dawning on him as he glanced between Sam and Birdie. "You want to know if I know about the demon blood."

Sam shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable as he stole a glance at Birdie. Chuck did know about that, but that still didn't mean he knew about Felicity, too. "You didn't tell Dean," Sam said.

"I didn't even write it into the books," Chuck confessed, glancing over at Birdie. "I didn't write about Felicity either."

Oh shit. . .

Birdie's eyes noticeably widened, catching Sam's eye. "How do you know about her?" she asked, taking a few steps closer to Chuck.

"I-I just do," Chuck answered, nervously glancing between Sam and Birdie. He took a few steps to the side and Birdie sighed, giving him a timid smile as she slightly backed away.

"Why didn't you include the blood, or Felicity?" Sam wondered.

"I was afraid it would make both of you look unsympathetic."

"Unsympathetic?" Sam and Birdie both repeated in unison, the word repeating inside Birdie's mind as Felicity said it, too.

"Yeah, come on, guys," Chuck said, feeling a little defensive as Birdie walked over to stand next to Sam. "I mean, sucking blood? You guys gotta know that's wrong."

It's for the greater good. Surely he can see that.

Birdie furrowed her brows together, stealing a weary look at Sam. He looked off to the side, shaking his head as he rolled his eyes at himself. Then he moved towards the table, sitting down in one of the chairs. "It scares the shit out of me," he confessed, looking out of the window. "I mean, I feel it inside of me. I. . .I wish to god I could stop."

"But you keep going back," Chuck said. He turned his head towards Birdie, not missing the weary expression on her face. "And you keep giving it to him."

Birdie knitted her brows together, opening her mouth to speak, but Sam beat her to it. "What choice have I got? What we got?" Sam asked, gesturing towards himself and Birdie. Birdie smacked her lips together, a sense of guilt washing over her. "If it helps me kill Lilith and stop the apocalypse━━━"

"I thought that was Dean's job." Birdie heavily sighed, pursing her lips as Chuck looked at her and then back over at Sam. "That's what the angels say, right?"

"Dean's not. . ." Sam sighed, shaking his head as he faintly shrugged his shoulder.s "He's not Dean lately. Ever since he got out of Hell. He needs help."

"So you gotta carry the weight?"

"Well, he's looked out for me my whole life. I can't return the favor?"

"Yeah, sure you can," Chuck replied, clearing his throat as he walked towards the table to take a seat across from Sam. Birdie closely watched him, slightly narrowing her eyes. "I mean, if that's what this is."

"What else would it be?"

Chuck shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe the demon blood makes you feel stronger? More in control?"

Birdie blinked at that, giving Chuck an incredulous look. "You're joking, right?"

Chuck stammered, his eyes flickering between Sam and Birdie. "I-I wasn't━━━"

"No," Sam firmly denied, cutting off Chuck. He shifted in the chair, shaking his head as he twisted his lips. "That's not true."

Chuck quietly sighed, leaning one of his arms on the table. "I'm sorry, Sam. I know it's a terrible burden━━━feeling that it all rests on your shoulders."

"Does it?" Sam asked. "All rest on my shoulders?"

"That seems to be where the story's headed."

Sam let out a shaky sigh, momentarily looking at Birdie. She quickly looked down at her feet, fiddling with her necklace. Sam softly frowned, facing Chuck again. "Am I strong enough to stop Lilith tonight?"

"I don't know," Chuck truthfully answered. "I haven't seen that far yet."

Birdie shook her head, pushing some hair out of her face when she straightened her posture.

Well, so much for that.

❃°•°❀°•°❃

Night was upon them when Dean returned to the motel. Chuck was long gone, having left a few hours ago while he left behind a sense of uneasiness that loomed over Sam and Birdie. Birdie wasn't sure what to think━━━they'd hoped Chuck knew what exactly would happen with Lilith when she came for Sam, but sadly, he didn't know yet. Sam and Birdie were both well aware of the lingering tension that floated over their heads and clouded their racing minds. Birdie wondered if maybe they should try to leave town again while Sam wondered if it would be best to prepare for Lilith's arrival as best as they could.

It appeared Birdie could tell what Sam was thinking without him even having to say it outloud, and when she suggested maybe they should just try and face Lilith, Sam couldn't hide his surprise.

"What made you change your mind?" Sam had asked, his brows furrowed together as he stared across at Birdie.

Birdie shifted on the bed, pushing herself onto her feet. She took a few steps forward, folding her arms over her chest as a small smile appeared on her lips. "You," she answered. "I'm still scared as shit, but. . .I trust you, Sammy. If we're gonna have to face her no matter what we do, we might as well just go along with it instead of tryin' to stop it."

So, that's exactly what they did.

They burned the hex bags and tossed them in the trash, drew a Devil's Trap in the middle of the floor and covered it with the rug, and made sure they had plenty of salt and loaded guns with shotgun shells packed to the max. Birdie highly doubted that any of that would even deter Lilith, but who knew if she would bring other demons along with her.

As the minutes ticked by and Lilith still hadn't shown, Birdie was starting to feel more anxious than ever. Would Lilith actually come that night? Would it be the next day? Was it going to be when they started to doubt it and then she would strike━━━

Birdie sharply turned her head towards the door when it opened, fully expecting it to be Lilith. Instead, it was Dean.

"Dean, hey," Birdie said.

Dean quickly walked into the room, walking right past Sam and Birdie and towards his bag. "Come on," Dean said. "We're gettin' the fuck out of here."

"What?" Sam asked. "Where?"

"Anywhere, okay? Out of this motel, out of this town. I don't care if we gotta fuckin' swim, we are gettin' out." Dean looked around in confusion, walking towards the door as his eyes noticed all of the hex bags were no longer in sight. He turned on his heel to face Sam and Birdie, catching the expression on Birdie's face like she knew what he was searching for. "Where are all the hex bags?"

"I burned 'em," Sam said.

"You what?"

"Look, if Lilith is coming, which is a big 'if'━━━"

"No, no, no. It's more than an 'if,'" Dean said, walking forward. Sam rolled his eyes, clenching his jaw. "Chuck is not a psychic. He's a prophet."

Birdie knitted her brows together. "He's a what?"

"Cas showed up, and apparently Chuck is writing the gospel of us."

Sam blinked in surprise. "Okay."

Dean nodded, his eyes flickering between Sam and Birdie. "Okay. Let's get the fuck out of here then," Dean said. He walked past Sam and Birdie again, returning to his bag to continue packing up their things. Birdie shifted her weight on her feet, getting the sense that some fighting was going to commence in just a few moments.

Sam sighed, shaking his head. "No."

Dean angrily dropped a shirt on his bag, turning around to face Sam and Birdie in annoyance. "Lilith is gonna slaughter you."

"Maybe she will, maybe she won't," Sam said, tilting his head.

"So what? You think you can take her?"

"Only one way to find out, Dean, and I say bring her on."

"Sam. . ."

"You think I'll do it, don't you?" Sam asked. "You think I'll go dark side."

"Yes! Okay? Yes," Dean angrily answered, his eyes angrily burning into his little brother. "The way you've been acting lately? The things you've been doing?" Sam and Birdie both looked up when they heard that, startled. There was no way he knew what Sam had actually been doing. Dean didn't miss their expressions, giving both of them stern looks. "Oh, I know. How you ripped Alastair apart like it was nothing, like you were swattin' a fuckin' fly━━━something Birdie forgot to include when she told me, but Cas told me everything, okay?"

"What else did he tell you?" Sam asked, his voice low.

"Nothing I don't already know," Dean answered. "That you've been using your psychic shit, and you've been getting stronger. We just don't know why, and we don't know how."

"It's not what you think."

"Then what is it, Sam? 'Cause I'm at a total loss," Dean snapped, tossing his arms out at his sides. He turned his head towards Birdie, shaking his head. "Birdie, anything you wanna share?"

Birdie narrowed her eyes. "What are you trying to say, Dean?"

"Don't play dumb. You know exactly what he's doing, and I think you━━━"

"Dean━━━"

"Dean, it's not her━━━"

"Know what? keep your secrets for all I care," Dean snapped, shaking her head. Birdie heavily sighed, watching Dean grab his bag off the bed. He swiftly slung it over his shoulder and headed for the door, pausing to look back at Sam and Birdie over his shoulder. "Are you two comin' or not?"

Sam and Birdie shared a silent look; they knew what they were going to do.

"No," Sam answered.

Dean turned back to face the door, paused again, and then forcefully dropped the bag on a chair by the door before leaving without uttering another word.

Birdie pursed her lips, slowly turning her head towards Sam. "I guess he's staying, too?"

Sam breathed out a scoff, clenching his jaw as he slightly turned. He walked towards the bathroom and Birdie deeply frowned, watching him close the door behind him.

I don't know how you still put up with them.

"Not now," Birdie mumbled.

Fine.

She walked over to the window, peeking out of the blinds to see if she could still see Dean. She turned her head, spotting him standing near a soda machine. She tilted her head, her eyes slightly widening when she saw a figure suddenly appear behind Dean.

She hurried towards the door and opened it, poking her head out. She couldn't hear what was being said and stepped out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. She walked closer, halting in her steps when she heard a familiar voice.

"You must understand why I can't intercede. Prophets are very special. They're protected."

"I get that━━━" Dean's voice dragged off, looking over Castiel's shoulder. Castiel frowned in confusion, turning his head to see who or what had suddenly captured Dean's attention.

Birdie walked forward, suspiciously narrowing her eyes on the angel in front of her before she turned her gaze on Dean. "Dean, what're you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing," Dean replied, rolling his eyes. "I'll figure it out on my own."

Dean started to walk off away from Birdie and the angel, but Castiel turned to face Dean. "If anything threatens a prophet, anything at all, an archangel will appear to destroy that threat," Castiel stated. His voice caused Dean to stop. He slowly turned, furrowing his brows together along with Birdie. "Archangels are fierce. They're absolute."  Birdie tilted her head as she listened, wondering what Castiel was trying to get at. "They're heaven's most terrifying weapon."

"And these archangels, they're tied to prophets?" Dean asked. Birdie shifted her feet, stealing a glance at Dean.

Wait. . .

"Yes."

Dean took a few steps closer to the angel. "So if a prophet was in the same room as a demon━━━"

"Then the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon." Birdie's eyes widened, her lips parting in shock. Castiel was helping them━━━as much as he could, anyways. "Just so you understand. . .why I can't help."

"Thanks, Cas."

"Good luck."

Castiel disappeared just like and Birdie immediately turned towards Dean. "Dean━━━" Dean simply ignored her, walking in the direction of their shared room. Birdie huffed under her breath, jogging after him. "Dean, please, wait."

"What Birdie?" Dean sharply asked, angrily facing the younger woman. "Wanna lie to me some more?"

"I wanna go with you," she said.

"What? A minute ago you were ready to━━━"

"Yeah, but that was before," Birdie said, dismissively waving her hand. Dean rolled his eyes, clearly not believing her. Birdie sucked in a deep breath, a frown on her lips as she looked at Dean. "Dean, please. If this'll stop Lilith━━━maybe even for good━━━we need to at least try. If we can actually stop her from getting near Sam, we need to take that chance. She's probably still coming tonight, but this might just help us."

Dean slightly narrowed his eyes, staring at Birdie for a few seconds. Then he reluctantly nodded, removing his keys from his pocket. "Fine."

Birdie gave him a small smile and followed him to the Impala. She paused, stealing a glance at the door to their room. "I'll be right back," she told Dean.

"Bird, we don't have time for kisses goodbye━━━"

Birdie rushed up to their room and opened the door. Sam turned his head towards her in confusion, having noticed she was gone. "Bird━━━"

"I. . .I'll be right back. It's. . .just a backup plan, okay?" she said. Sam's confusion became more apparent, fully turning to face her with his brows knitted together. "Please, just. . .be careful, Sam, until we get back."

"Wait, what? Birdie, don't━━━"

"If Lilith comes before we're back. . .give her Hell."

Birdie didn't wait for Sam's response and slipped back out of the door, hurrying towards the Impala. Dean was already inside, the engine rumbling to life as Birdie clambered into the passenger seat. Dean quickly backed out of the parking spot and sped out onto the streets just as Sam stepped out of their room. He watched the Impala speed away, letting out a shaky breath.

Dean drove well over the speed limit in order to get to Chuck's, hoping it was fast enough to beat Lilith to the motel. Music filled the awkward silence between Dean and Birdie, only a few conversations happening throughout the car ride. The tarp that covered the back window fluttered in the wind━━━something that Chuck wrote would happen but Dean didn't think it actually would. There were some pink band aids on the floor by Birdie's feet, but Dean wouldn't give Birdie a direct answer on whether or not he'd had them on him at some point; another thing Chuck had seen but Dean wasn't too sure on that detail.

Soon enough, they pulled onto Chuck's street. They hastily opened the doors when Dean parked in front of the house, hurrying up the steps of the front porch. Dean pushed open the door, Birdie right behind him. They headed towards the living room, their eyes automatically falling on Chuck. He was bundled up in a fuzzy blanket on his couch, a glass in hand with his glasses perched on his nose. The TV in the corner was on, playing a show that Birdie thought looked like it might've been a soup opera of sorts.

"What are you guys doing here?" Chuck asked, a hint of fear etched in his voice. "I didn't write this."

Dean bent down, pulling Chuck to his feet as Chuck removed his glasses. "Come on," Dean said, tugging him towards the door. "I need you to come with us."

"What? Where?"

"To the motel where Sam is."

Chuck yanked his arm out of Dean's grasp, looking at Dean and Birdie in completely disbelief. "That's where Lilith is," he said.

"Yeah, exactly. We need you to stop her."

When Dean went to grab Chuck again, Chuck pulled away with an unpleasant expression. "Are you guys insane? Lilith? I know what she's capable of━━━I wrote her."

"All right, listen to me," Dean said, walking closer to Chuck as the shorter man backed away in pure fear. Birdie rolled her eyes, folding her arms over her chest as she walked to stand behind Dean. Chuck nervously gulped, his eyes frantically looking between Dean and Birdie as he backed away while Dean just got closer. "You have an archangel tethered to you, okay? All you gotta do is show up and boom!" Chuck flinched, bumping into the wall behind him. "Lilith gets smoked."

"But I-I-I-I-I haven't seen that yet," Chuck stammered. "Th-the story━━━"

"Chuck, you're the only shot that we've got left."

"But. . .I'm just a writer."

"This isn't a fucking story anymore, man. This is real! And you're in it!" Chuck nervously gulped, his eyes wide open.

"Please, Chuck," Birdie said, frowning as she stepped up beside Dean. "We need your help."

Dean reached forward when he saw Chuck's hesitance, placing a hand on his shoulder as he spoke again. "Now, we need you to get off your ass and fight," Dean firmly said. Chuck let out a shaky breath, slowly walking around Dean and Birdie as if he was thinking it over. "Come on, Chuck."

Chuck took a few steps forward, sighing as he turned around to face Dean. "No fuckin' way."

Dean smacked his lips together as Chuck picked up his drink, holding it close to his body like it was some sort of tether that kept him tied to reality. Dean shared a look with Birdie and she raised her brows. Dean faintly shook his head, walking closer to Chuck with a dark look looming in his eyes. "Okay, well, then, how about this━━━I've got a gun in my pocket, and I know for a fact that Bird does, too, and if you don't come with us, one of us will blow your brains out."

"I thought you said I was protected by an archangel," Chuck smugly replied, raising a brow.

He's got some fucking nerve.

Birdie scoffed under her breath, dropping her hands down to place them on her hips. "Well, interesting exercise," Dean said. "Let's see who the quicker draw is."

A gun cocked behind Chuck and his face immediately paled when he heard the deafening sound. He gulped, slowly turning around as the corner of Dean's lips tweaked upwards into a sly grin.

Birdie smirked, holding her loaded gun directly at Chuck's head. "Wanna reconsider now, Chuck?"

⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅

Shooting Chuck was a very tempting thought. The entire ride to the motel he hadn't stopped talking, rambling on and on about how him going to the motel wasn't part of the story and how he didn't need to be there. Dean and Birdie did their best to tune him out, only occasionally responding to a question or cutting off one of Chuck's incomprehensible tangents only for the sake of their own sanity.

When they finally arrived at the motel, Chuck did his best to stay in the car. But, Dean and Birdie were stronger than he gave them credit for. They grabbed hold of his arms and yanked him out of the car, Dean guiding him to the motel room with Birdie right in front of them. Birdie barged into the room, her eyes widening at the sight before her.

Lilith━━━now an older blonde woman with curly hair and dressed in a black outfit━━━was on top of Sam on one of the beds, holding him down with one hand while the other one held Ruby's knife. Dean pushed Chuck into the room, giving him a nudge forward. Dean quickly shut the door behind them, his eyes noticeably widening as his eyes fell on Lilith and Sam.

Lilith furrowed her brows together, narrowing her eyes on Chuck when he took a small, cautious step forward. "I am the prophet Chuck!" Chuck announced, holding his shaky hands out in front of him as if showing he didn't mean any harm.

"You've got to be fucking joking," Lilith said, standing up from the bed with the knife still in her hand. She started to walk closer, but she stopped when the room suddenly began to shake.

Birdie's eyes noticeably widened, glancing over at Sam. He wore a similar expression, anxiously turning his head towards the others. The framed pictures throughout the room rattled against the walls, cups and plates clinked together in the cabinets, and dust trickled down from some growing cracks in the ceiling.

"Oh, this is no joke," Dean loudly said, narrowing his eyes on Lilith. "You see, Chuck here's got an archangel on his shoulder." The picture above the bed Sam was on fell onto the pillows, causing Sam to scoot towards the edge of the bed. A bright light started to filter in from the windows, the shaking growing more intense as the second passed by. Birdie flinched when some cups fell from above the counters, shattering into tiny pieces near her feet. Lilith took a few steps closer, her hateful eyes burning straight into Dean. "You've got about ten seconds before this room is full of wrath and you're a piece of charcoal. You sure you want to tangle with that?"

Larger pieces of the ceiling fell down, causing Chuck to step back to avoid them falling on him. More pictures tumbled down from the walls, the frames cracking and breaking. Birdie gulped, looking over at Sam again as her heart started to beat faster. He met her gaze, his chest quickly rising and falling.

If only I was stronger, I could━━━

Lilith glanced around the room and then turned her head, giving Sam one last look. His eyes slightly widened as if he expected her to do something, but she faced forward. She shot Birdie a dark look that made her eyes widen even more, but then a scream erupted from Lilith's opened mouth, black smoke pouring out in a haste. It flew out of the window behind her, shattering the glass as Lilith made her escape. Her vessel fell to the floor unconscious, eyes shut and head leaned to one side. The rattling subsided and the light dimmed moments later, everything finally coming to a halt.

Sam heavily panted on the bed as he leaned against the wall in relief, turning his head to look at the others. Dean took a few steps closer to the body, and Chuck peered over his shoulder like he didn't want to get too close. Birdie came up next to Dean, looking down at the body to make sure that the demon was actually gone.

And, she was. . .for now.

But, while one problem was shelved for now, another was right around the corner━━━Birdie knew it when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

She knew exactly who it was.

Darius.

⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅

THIS TOOK WAY TOO LONG TO POST IM SO SORRY. IVE BEEN STUCK ON A CHAPTER IM PRE-WRITING AND I FINALLY FINISHED IT. So, that meant it was time to post a chapter for y'all, especially when some of you have been waiting for a while now 😅

This is technically a spoiler (and a spoiler for the ending of season 11 + the ending if you haven't made it that far/finished the series), but I wanna say it now: I haven't decided if I'm gonna have chuck still be god in this, or if he will turn out to be an evil god. For now, I think I'm gonna try and change how things go so he's not god (but chuck is still kinda a part of the show/shows up from time to time to help or something and he's actually a prophet or something), but I'm gonna try and keep writing just to see if the decision will come to me as the story progresses!

I also wanna say that we're getting close to the end of this act!!! I think these 5 chapters left??? I honestly don't remember for sure tho lmao. But there are some exciting things coming up (and the next chapter is already done and is one of my favorite chapters I've written for this fic so far hehe 🤭) and I hope y'all will like it!

Anyways, please don't forget to leave your feedback in the comments and I hope y'all enjoyed! 💕