In which Bela is tracked down.

[enjoythe_ride]

[Cowritten with silvr_moonbeams. Sam = imnot_likeyou. Set not long after 410: Heaven and Hell.]

It took Dean ten minutes to pack and get in the car, waiting on Sam, once they figured out where Bela was. He hardly said a word on the long drive from Bobby's place to New York, and he kept an intense watch on the highway in front of himself. In his head he was thinking over all the ways he could kill her. He tried to not think about the things he learned in Hell, and they were things he probably wouldn't even do to Bela, but he was still thinking about them.

In his mind, it was all the bitch's fault that he had been there. Her fault that he did the things he did, and her fault that he'd had to leave Sammy on his own that whole time. He glanced over at his brother in the darkened car and shook his head before looking forward again. He had only thought he hated Bela before, now he could feel it burning in the pit of his stomach.

Bela was completely unaware of Dean's impending arrival, and was just enjoying a quiet night to herself with a good book. She had held up her end of the bargain. She'd stayed out of Lilith's way and considering she didn't have a death wish, she continued to do so. In fact, she was quite content never thinking of the Winchesters again. They had only brought them more trouble than she was willing to make amends for, and she was happier just keeping to herself and staying there.

Dean had finally pulled across the bridge and into the city. As they got caught up in the evening traffic, he shoved an elbow at Sam to wake him up. "Hey. Sammy."

"Huh?" Sam said as he jerked awake. "What?"

"We're here. If ya couldn't tell." Dean maneuvered through the city, following the directions to Bela's place, and looking for somewhere safe to park the car.

"Oh," Sam sighed, running a hand over his face as he woke himself up. "Awesome."

Dean just nodded. Once he found somewhere to park, he hopped out of the car and went to the trunk to grab his duffel bag. It had already been packed with everything he might need, so he didn't have to dig out weapons on the side of the street in the city. He stepped onto the sidewalk. "You comin'?" He was just a bit impatient.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Sam stretched as he went to join his brother. He looked up at Bela's building before sighing slightly. "Dean, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, she's actually been pretty good and stayed away from everything."

"You kiddin' me?" He sent a confused look Sam's way and pointed up to the building. "She was supposed to die, too, remember? And after doin' anything she could to kill us and save herself, she gets outta it? Did you get a single 'I'm sorry' while I was gone? Think she just laid low out of the kindness of her heart?"

"Yeah, Dean, I remember. I'm just -- making sure. Because once you go up there -- you can't go back." Because once they got to Bela, she was involved and therefore at risk.

"I don't wanna go back. I want her dead." And he started walking towards the front door. Sam sighed slightly before following his brother's lead, heading in the door and up to Bela's apartment. When Dean found the door he stopped and knocked, one hand drawing his gun and the other sliding over the peephole.

Bela frowned slightly at the knock on the door, before pushing herself up from the couch and making her way over. "Who is it?" Dean said nothing and gave Sam a look to do the same.

Well, that wasn't at all comforting. Bela moved to the side, picking up her gun off the counter before moving towards the door and looking in the peephole. The hand covering it wasn't making her breathe any easier. She stayed at the end of the entryway, before deciding not to answer at all. If they really wanted to get to her, they would break the door down, and if not, it was just a fluke. She moved to the wall on the side, resting her back against it, and keeping her eyes on the mirror reflecting into the hallway, hoping they would just go away.

His jaw set and he pounded on the door, leaning an ear to it to hear what he could hear. And he wouldn't hear much. Bela wasn't moving and she was still hoping that they would just leave. She didn't want any trouble -- she didn't need any trouble, and this had trouble written all over it.

This was a pain in his ass. He let go of the peephole and tried the knob. When it wouldn't budge he dug through his bag until he found a tool to pick the lock. He handed his gun to Sam, giving him a look to keep it out. Then he gently started working on the lock. Bela heard the sound of the tumblers being pushed in the lock and started to back further into the apartment, away from the door. She knew the safest place for her to be was her own bedroom, and she was heading that way, heading up the stairs, giving her the higher ground.

When Dean got the door open, he took his gun back and slipped inside. Screw the inconspicuous shit. He could feel she was there somewhere, best way to bring her out of hiding was to piss her off. "What's wrong, Bela? You never write, you never call.." his voice rose through the apartment.

The minute she heard Dean's voice she froze on the stairs. She turned around and the gun was still in her hand, and she looked back at Dean with wide eyes. It took her a moment to compose herself, before she spoke. "Well -- I wasn't aware they had the postal service in Hell."

His eyes set into a glare just looking at her. "And here I thought we'd run into each other down there."

"Well, I suppose some of us are just luckier than others," she smirked. "How was it down there, Dean? Nice and toasty?"

He returned the smirk. "Well if I'd known I only had to slut myself out to get outta it, I would have."

"Mmmmm, not that simple for you, Dean. Lilith wanted you bad. I don't think it would have been quite that easy." She glanced between the two of them. "Now what could you possibly want? I've been staying out of your way. What do you want with me?"

"I want you to go to Hell like you were supposed to," Dean snarled. He took a couple steps closer. "I wanna see how you turn out. I wanna know why you're so fuckin' special that you got a hand out."

"Ruby liked me more than she liked you. Guess you shouldn't have threatened to kill her so many times, yeah?" She shook her head, before staring down the barrel of the gun at him. "You want to kill me then? Fine, kill me. I'm sure taking a human life won't weigh all that heavily on your conscience, now will it? Or are you more demon than human now? -- I can't tell."

His jaw ached at how tight he was clenching his teeth. He fired a shot past her ear. "Oh trust me, I'm goin' after her next." He was ignoring the other comments. He didn't want to talk about it, much less in front of Sam.

Bela didn't even flinch at the gun shot, staring back at him with an unwavering look. "I'm not the enemy here, Dean. I just took the opportunity where I had it. You would have done the same thing if it was presented to you."

He knew she was right, but he was still pissed as hell and not about to admit it. His gun lowered slightly and he shook his head. "You're only delaying your trip down, Bela. And no one will give a fuck about gettin' you out."

"So long as I'm old and gray when I go, I can't really find the energy to give a damn. I didn't deserve to die at twenty-four for that bastard. Not if I could help it." And that was about all she was going to say on that subject.

"Think you're really gonna live that long? I wouldn't even give you a year."

"I can take care of myself. I know how to keep myself out of the line of fire. And in fact, the only time I really managed to have myself in danger of dying before was when I ran into you, so really, Dean -- so long as you two stay the hell away, I can feel my luck turning."

Dean glanced at Sam. "Wait outside a minute."

"You sure?" Sam asked, watching his brother carefully for a moment.

"Yeah. I'm not gonna shoot her. Today at least."

Sam nodded slightly, before turning and heading out to the door to wait for his brother. Bela just raised an eyebrow expectantly at him, waiting for him to continue. Dean put his gun away and held his hands up, then moved closer to her, not stopping until he was close enough to hit her. He stopped before her and just stared blankly for a moment. Bela looked back at him, waiting for him to make whatever move he was going to make. She wasn't going to speak, but she was looking rather expectant.

His voice came out cold and even when he did speak. "I'm not playin' around with you anymore. You stay the hell away from any of our business. You hear about us and you run the other way. Cause hurting you...killing you? Wouldn't be a blip on my conscience."

"Don't worry about me," she replied. "I don't like being anywhere near you if I can help it."

His narrowed a bit and he watched her quietly before speaking again. "You honestly think Lilith will keep any word to you?"

"The deal wasn't with Lilith. She already screwed me over, so I know better. My deal was with Ruby, against Lilith's wishes. I trust her. And between me staying off the radar and her being too busy to worry about me, I'm in the clear."

"That statement was littered with stupid," he said shaking his head. He snorted. "Good luck with that."

"You don't know Ruby the way I do," Bela said quietly. "And you don't know the things I do. So Dean, don't do me any favors. I don't see why you care anyway."

"I don't. And I'm not doin' you any favors. I just think it's funny you're so convinced you'll live through this thing."

"Well, see, there's the difference between you and me, Dean. I have a little bit of faith." In him, but she wasn't going to give him that acknowledgment. She knew the prophecies that came with the Apocalypse. That the person to start it would be the one to end it. And she knew that Dean could step up and do that.

He glanced down at that with a slight shrug. "Yeah, well...excuse me for not havin' much faith in the word of demons." Or anyone for that matter. He stepped away and turned from her.

"I never said demons were the ones I had faith in, Dean," she said quietly, wrapping her arms around herself.

Dean had already stepped away a bit, so he turned back at her, his brows up. "What? Angels? You too? They don't know a damn thing more than the rest of us, Bela."

"God, no," she said, shaking her head. "The angels never did a damn thing for me, why should I have faith in them?" She paused for a moment, before her eyes dropped to the ground. "I have faith in people, Dean." She then was quiet again. "Besides, I wouldn't buy the angels playing dumb. They know more than you think."

"They want us to think they know. That way they can sit there and tell us all the shit we gotta do in the name of God. They're just bastards like the rest of us. And you want me to have faith in people?" He shook his head.

"People are capable of stepping up to the plate, Dean. When the chips are down, they pull through. Some of them are -- the worst of the worst, but there are people out there who do what they need to do. They're the kind of people I have faith in."

He watched her, a little surprised in what she had to say. "Look at that, our very own Dr. Phil. If he was a somewhat attractive cold-hearted bitch." He shrugged. He really didn't want that conversation anymore, and he needed a way out of it.

And at that, the switch flipped and her shoulders straightened, her eyes narrowing at him with a glare. "Well, you know me -- I'm just full of surprises."

That got a slightly dark grin from him. "Tell me about it. Never woulda taken you for the girl on girl action. I mean..yeah, two of the women I hate most in this world...but still..."

She snorted at that, before shaking her head. "I wouldn't get all worked up about it, sweetie. There wasn't a repeat performance."

He started for the door again. "Not so memorable?" He shrugged. "Can't say I blame Ruby for lookin' elsewhere then."

"Well, I wouldn't say it wasn't memorable. Just -- more of a heat of the moment kind of situation."

He paused to grin over his shoulder. "Don't make me break out into song."

She made a bit of a face at that. "Please don't."

He turned back to the door and grabbed the knob, but stopped and just stood there a moment. He watched his feet. Why the hell was he having a good ol' banter with the woman when up until ten minutes before he was hellbent on killng her? The wave of anger that had struck him, first after the nightmare, then as they left Bobby's...it hadn't been about her. He knew that. He was just angry. Jealous. Jealous of Bela Talbot, what was the world coming to? He didn't understand why he had to go and she didn't. Wasn't there a larger answer for everything? So why couldn't he figure it out for this?

He let out a sigh, exhaling everything he'd pent up on the entire drive. As much as he disliked Bela, wanted to hate her, and wanted to have been saved like she had...he wasn't going to curse what he had gone through on her. She was right. She didn't deserve it.

And the answer troubling him yet again, on repeat since the moment he was pulled out of Hell, was...why me?

Bela crossed her arms in front of her chest as she watched him, wondering if he had something else to say or was just waiting for some kind of answer she wasn't giving. She didn't push him though -- just waited for him to make his move.

He cleared his throat and set his shoulders back and turned to her once more. "If you really wanna stay underground...don't get caught anywhere near us. Only makes you a bigger target." He said this all gently, but detached.

She sighed slightly before nodding. "Don't worry. I wasn't planning on it."

"Good," he nodded. He swung the door open. "Have a nice life, Bela."

"You too, Dean," she said halfheartedly, having a feeling that the sentiment might be a bit wasted on her.

He closed the door behind himself and looked for Sam. Sam was standing against the wall next to Bela's door, and looked over at his brother as he came out.

"Everything okay?"

Dean nodded and glanced down the hallway towards the elevator, before looking back at his brother. "Let's go get some sandwiches as big as our heads." Then he started off down the hallway.

Sam smirked slightly, and just followed his brother's lead, heading towards the elevator. He was quiet for a moment, before speaking as he hit the button. "Glad you came?"

Dean shrugged and hoisted his duffel bag over his shoulder, then shoved his hands in his pockets. "'least we know she really is alive. And she knows not to come anywhere near us."

Sam nodded slowly. "Yeah. At least there's that."

Dean nodded and wordlessly stepped onto the elevator when it arrived. He still had a lot going on in his head, and he wasn't so keen on sharing. Which Sam was used to. He just got into the elevator with him and hoped, one day, Dean would be able to open up to him on some level. Until then -- he would just have to wait it out.