Within Me

eelectric_diva: Thanks! I hope to keep updating as soon as possible.


Pairing: Sam/Dean
Rating: R
Warnings: Rape aftermath, angst, hurt/comfort.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Supernatural


Dean stayed up most of the night and talked to either Mae or Ella while the other woman cleaned up the mess in the other room. Nobody wanted to sit in that house with the evidence of what had transpired only a few feet away.

When Dean did fall asleep, he was haunted with nightmares. Whichever lady was present at the time would stroke his forehead and talk gently to him to tell him he was okay. It worked every time and they never realized they weren't the only person comforting him at the moment.

Anna's strength had been refueled and she was drifting in and out of his dreams, chasing away demons and soothing his emotional wounds.

Anna had been thrilled to find a resolution to everything. Sam and Dean had come to them to save her and instead they'd gotten caught up in her living nightmare. She felt she owed it to them to stay around and she was also acting as quite the pit bull against the spirit of Barnabas. He'd tried to slink into Sam's mind once and had been rudely shoved out. When he had attempted to enter Dean's mind, he'd found a very irate Anna standing guard and she had nearly destroyed his link to the spiritual world before he was forced to retreat.

She was pained to find it had taken these two men to give her the strength she needed. She began to wonder if she was just as responsible for all the deaths as Barnabas had been. Maybe if she had let the women feel anything and be aware of what was happening, they would have been able to reach their husbands and their son. Maybe Anna was the person who was preventing this all from ending by being overprotective.

Her sadness was chased away when Sam woke up. The love pouring out of him as soon as he turned to see Dean was enough to sustain her.

Sam frowned at Mae, who was currently sitting by Dean's side. "What happened?"

Mae looked up at him and smiled. "Ella hit you over the head with a vase, Sam."

"I thought Bess did that."

"She did, too. You're a popular fella." She smiled.

"So are you some evil scary creature who's going to kill us both now?"

Mae rolled her eyes. "You watch too much television. That's why the bad guys never win. They wait around to do the deed. Me? I would have just slit your throats while you were sleeping. Like when people have a gun on someone...why do they always have to talk about it first? I mean just shoot the son of a bitch in the head and be done with it. Evil would win over good a whole hell of a lot more if people would stop taking their cues from late night TV."

Sam wasn't sure his head could handle Mae at the moment so he closed his eyes, thinking that sleep would be better than listening to this.

"Don't you go playing possum on me. Dean needs you. I'll go help Ella finish up with the cleaning and you sit with him."

"I'm tied to the bed."

"That's what happens when you try to escape before your sentence is up." She stood and walked out of the room, ignoring the muttered cursing behind her.

Sam continued to bitch to himself for awhile, hoping he could figure out a way to convince the women he shouldn't be here.

"You know...I knew you were a pussy, but I didn't know you were such a whiner."

Sam startled at the voice. "Dean? Dean, you're awake."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Dean opened his eyes and looked over at Sam. He smirked. "You look good tied to the bed."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Don't get any ideas, dumbass." He frowned suddenly, thinking how Dean wouldn't be getting any sexual ideas like that for awhile. The thought flew to the backburner as he felt a solid thwack on his forehead. "Fuck! What the hell was that for?"

Dean shrugged. "I could tell you were thinking and when you think and frown it usually means you don't need to be thinking about what you're thinking about."

Sam blinked. "I'm a bit concerned that I understood that."

"You're not the only intelligent Winchester, you know. I've got a few things I can pull out when I need to look smart."

Sam was about to make a comment, but realized he'd just go back to thinking about sex and neither one of them could handle that yet. He was about to just compliment Dean on his intution when he was smacked again. "Dammit!"

Dean shrugged once more. "You're gonna get brain damage if you don't stop thinking."

"That's got to be one of the stupidest things you've ever said..."

"I can think of a few more. Something along the lines of, 'It's your life, Sammy. If you want to go to college then just go.' Remember that?"

Sam smiled at the memory. "That's not exactly what you said. I think there were a few swear words thrown in there."

"I didn't want to swear in front of the lady."

Sam frowned. "What lady?" He followed Dean's gaze behind him and gasped when he saw an outline of Anna there. "Shit...ghost..."

Anna didn't speak. She'd enjoyed watching the boys talk and leaned in close to Sam, amused at his frightened look. With everything he'd experienced she would think he would be used to seeing spirits. She caressed his face and then moved to float over Dean. She lowered herself as if embracing him and then simply wafted through him to stand next to his side of the bed. She spoke with her eyes and her soul and implored him to do the right thing before fading away to find her body.

Dean sighed. "We have to get up."

"What? No...you aren't going anywhere."

"Mae!"

Sam smiled. "She's not going to come in here. She wants us to have some time alone."

Dean glared at Sam and let out a yell. "Mae! Ella! Sam's escaping!"

Both women were there in less than a second, ready to do battle. Mae was clutching a spray bottle full of some sort of cleaner and Ella was wielding a mop.

Sam's mouth dropped open. "What the hell were you going to do to me if I was escaping?"

The women blushed and Mae stepped forward. "You don't want to know..." She knelt next to Dean. "Alright, do I need to tell you about the boy who cried wolf?"

Dean smiled sweetly.

"That doesn't work on me. I've seen it."

Mae was interrupted by Ella, who had not seen the classic Dean Winchester smile.

"Oh now, Mae, leave the boy alone. I'm sure he had a reason. Didn't you?" She smiled at him as Mae rolled her eyes heavenward.

"I need you to untie Sam and I need to get up."

"No!" Sam struggled against his bonds. "You're not getting up."

Ella nodded. "I'd have to agree. You're not ready to move around a lot."

"I don't need to. Sam will be doing most everything. You two can help. But we need to get rid of Barnabas and we need to do it now. He's just getting stronger as he rests."

Mae shook her head. "I don't like it."

Dean took a deep breath. "I can't handle being here knowing he can watch me. Please..."

Sam and Mae exchanged a look. They knew there was no way they could deny him, but it hurt them both to see him in any pain. They realized he'd either be in physical pain or emotional pain and they could only cure one by fostering the other at the moment.

Sam nodded. "Okay, let's do this."

Mae untied Sam while Ella helped Dean get up and get into a change of clothes. She carefully fitted him into everything, worried mostly about the worst wound, but pleased to see the bleeding had stopped. "Just take it easy."

Dean smiled. "Always."

The foursome managed to get down the stairs, helping Dean the whole way. A few times they stopped, but Dean was determined to get the job done.

By the time they got to the basement, Dean was exhausted. He knew he shouldn't go on right then, but he could feel Anna calling to him. He insisted Mae and Ella stay behind. "I don't trust this door. Just stay here in case it closes behind us."

The women agreed and stood guard as Sam helped Dean maneuver down the stairs.

After only three steps, Dean stopped and leaned against the cool stone wall.

"Dean? You okay?"

"I was just thinking...this is where it happened."

"What happened?"

"He just dragged her down here like a piece of trash. Her baby dead inside of her and he just...." He choked up and turned his face away.

Sam nodded. "It's okay. I feel it, too. The emotion is stronger down here and with your connection to Anna it's going to hit you harder."

"Are you feeling anything from Barnabas?"

Sam nodded again. "Just a little. No anger, just fear and hopelessness. This cellar must hold a lot of emotion for him."

"I'm glad it's all bad."

Sam wrapped his arm around Dean and re-adjusted the equipment he carried in his other hand to get more comfortable. He had nearly laughed when he saw their things were arranged so neatly at the foot of the stairs. Obviously courtesy of the ladies. He'd never seen salt tanks so pristine.

By the time they got to the bottom, the flashlight Dean had been carrying barely cut through the darkness. Sam felt around and discovered an old oil lamp. He was shocked when it lit. "I can't believe this isn't gone."

Dean shook his head. "Makes sense. He was trapped down here with her. He didn't want to have to watch her rot."

Sam shivered. "Good point."

He put the lamp back on the hook and looked around. It didn't take the boys long to see the skeletons.

Anna was just thrown into a corner. Barnabas was lying in the middle of the floor. It looked like he had simply dropped dead. Dean sighed. "I'm thinking he didn't stop pacing and ranting until he was dead."

"Probably." Sam walked over to Anna and opened the container of salt.

"No...not her first. We get rid of him...together."

Anna's spirit slowly faded into existence in front of them. She finally spoke. "I'm sorry."

Sam frowned. "You didn't do anything wrong, Anna."

Anna smiled sadly. "I allowed this. I kept them all separated. You'll see..."

Dean just held her gaze while Sam poured salt over the bones of Barnabas. "You know this is going to really piss him off."

Anna laughed lightly. "I'm counting on it."

Sam backed away and allowed Dean to do the rest. Dean and Anna shared a smile and Dean dropped the match onto the bones Sam had also sprayed down with lighter fluid.

Barnabas appeared then and raged at the pain. He reached for Sam's mind to use him as a protector, but Sam's love for Dean was too strong. He pulled at the memories in Dean's mind and caused the man to tremble, but Anna gave Dean her strength since she no longer needed to fight Barnabas.

A chasm opened up beneath Barnabas and screams and wails could be heard. Barnabas reached for Anna, but she just smiled as he was pulled away from her, screaming as well until his pleading mingled with the other sounds of horror. Then it was gone. The silence was deafening and the room was slightly smoky. The bones had burned hot and fast and Dean waved his hand in front of his face to clear the thick air away.

Sam's gasp made him snap to attention. What he saw terrified him and confused him.

The room was full of men. Or their spirits at least. They looked lost and terrified and they all seemed to be looking pitifully at Dean.

Sam felt a chill and knew he would have been one of them if he had succeeded. Barnabas was using them for strength. He'd never released them really and they'd all been present to witness Dean's humiliation.

Dean seemed to come to the same conclusion and shivered. Anna's look of compassion warmed him and he nodded, knowing it was time.

He told Sam to prepare Anna's bones and then he lit the match. He smiled again at Anna and dropped the flame.

Her bones smoldered and glowed as they burned. Dean and Sam weren't watching it, though. They were too mesmerized by what was happening in front of them with the spirits.

Anna's eyes filled with love as her arms were filled with the spirit of her precious baby. Bess appeared then. "We can go now, missus?"

Anna nodded. "Yes, we can go now. All of us can go." She looked at the men who only seemed to be grieving.

That's when Anna released what she'd been holding for so long. Women appeared and Sam and Dean recognized them instantly. They had been with Dean during his fight and they'd forgiven the men who killed them as he'd forgiven Sam. His good heart had saved them all.

Slowly, each woman beckoned her husband to her with love and understanding. Their reunions caused them to fade, leaving a bright light behind. Cyrus and his mother reuniting and leaving added warmth to the glow caused by so much love.

The light was bright enough, Dean and Sam were forced to shield their eyes as Anna bid them farewell. As she followed Bess into the brightness, they both heard her soft voice one last time. "Hold on to it..."

And then there was nothing.

Dean and Sam made their way to the stairs after snuffing out the lamp. Neither said a word as they walked upstairs.

Mae and Ella had felt the joy and love spread throughout them when Anna had left and had also felt the darkness leave the house when Barnabas had been destroyed. For the first time it looked and felt like any other house.

Dean and Sam were greeted by the women hugging them and fussing over them and insisting they get cleaned up. Mae and Ella helped Dean and Sam get their things and then took them away from the Hamilton House because, even though the spirits were gone, it would always be a haunted place for the Winchesters.

TBC...