Searching Purgatory [COMPLETED]

Chapter Seventeen

Dean held his angel blade out to Zoe. "You've gotta cut your arm so we can get outta here," he explained. Zoe stared at the knife and it didn't take very long for Dean to sense her hesitation. He smiled softly. "Sorry, I forget you're new to this whole thing." Pulling the knife back to him, he dragged it across the skin of his forearm. "Just like that."

He handed it back to her and she repeated his motion. Dean began to chant words that Zoe didn't understand and then gripped her arm in his hand. In a matter of seconds, Zoe could feel herself slipping away. Looking down, she saw that she was melting away into the wound in Dean's arm. She looked back up at Dean and he gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'll see you on the other side."

* * * * * * * * * *

Lauren had finally convinced Sam to let her come out of her bedroom. He kept insisting that she needed rest and that she shouldn't push herself like she was. But she'd finally convinced him that she was fine and that he shouldn't be worrying like he was. So he'd helped her to her feet and then hovered around her as she made her way out of her bedroom and to the kitchen where she plopped down at the table and waited patiently for Sam to bring her some coffee (even though she told him a million times she could do it herself).

Sam set a mug of steaming coffee in front of her and then made himself comfortable in the chair next to her, pressing the back of his hand against Lauren's forehead.

"Are you still feeling okay?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed together in worry.

Lauren grabbed his hand and pulled it off of her forehead, pressing her lips to his knuckles. "I'm fine, Sammy. Stop worrying."

Sam smiled gently at her and shook his head. He seemed like he was about to say something else when they heard the door to the Bunker creak open. Lauren made a move to get up but Sam pressed a hand on her shoulder to keep her in her seat. "I'll go check it out; you stay put."

Lauren frowned. "I'm not an invalid, Sam." She pushed herself out of her chair despite Sam's protests and left the kitchen.

Dean, Gabriel, and Sage all walked into the Bunker. Dean was clutching his left arm to his chest and his face was twisted in pain.

"Where's the body?" Dean demanded through clenched teeth. They stumbled down the stairs while Dean let out a string of colorful words as he threw himself into a chair at the round table in the center of the room.

Lauren frowned. "What body?"

Dean blinked at her, frowning through whatever pain he was experiencing. "Sam didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Lauren demanded, her gaze turning on Sam.

Sam looked guilty, but only shook his head, saying nothing.

"What do I not know?" Lauren insisted.

"You'll find out soon enough," Gabriel practically sang. He snapped his fingers as dramatically as he possibly could and a body appeared in the center of the table.

The smell hit them all first. It was the smell of...well, of dead body. It took Lauren a minute before she recognized the body as Zoe's.

Lauren was immediately on her feet, her palms slapping the table, the sound echoing through the quiet room. "What is this? What is this?"

Sam placed a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off angrily, glaring at him over his shoulder. He still looked apologetic, but he stayed a good distance away. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Lauren. I didn't want you to worry too much but to get better."

Lauren was glaring daggers at him. "Let me worry about me and you can worry about telling me the truth. What happened?" She hissed out the last words, spitting them through clenched teeth and a tight jaw.

Sam hung his head. "She was killed. By Crowley."

Lauren sank back into her chair, her anger burnt out entirely. She was more exhausted than she had previously let on and the standing and the shouting had actually drained her more than she wanted to admit.

"Oh, don't worry," Dean said, sliding a knife along his forearm. His arm started glowing a silvery blue and Dean brought his arm closer to the decaying body formerly known as Zoe, allowing the blue stuff in his arm to leak out of him and into the zombie-fied version of Lauren's friend.

In a matter of seconds, Zoe's body wasn't a rotting corpse anymore but shot up into a sitting position, gasping for breath with a hand pressed to her chest as she tried to get air in her lungs. She looked around the room at all of the people staring up at her. Dean and Sam didn't seem all that confused or surprised by the fact that the once rotting corpse was now alive and breathing. The angels weren't surprised either but Lauren's eyes were bugging out of her head.

Lauren was searching for the words to describe exactly what she was feeling at the moment but she couldn't figure out what she wanted to say.

Luckily Zoe took the words right out of Lauren's mouth. "What just happened?"

Lauren shook her head, running her hands down her face. "I need to go lie down. This is a little...much." Lauren got to her feet and Sam immediately wrapped an arm around her to keep her on her feet. She wanted to push him away--still angry about the fact that he didn't tell her about Zoe's death--but she was tired and it actually felt nice to have him this close to her.

Zoe continued to sit on top of the table, looking behind her to stare at Dean. "Did you get me out? You got me out, right?"

Dean grinned and got to his feet, holding out a hand to help Zoe down off of the table.  "Yes I sure did, Princess."

Zoe pulled a face at the nickname. "Well, thanks, Boo," she said sarcastically.

Dean frowned. "Don't call me 'Boo.'"

"Hey, you started the nicknames," Zoe argued.

"And now I'm ending them."

"Well, I am so glad to see us all alive and well," Gabriel interrupted, "but I think that, after the very eventful few days we've just had, I deserve a good break." He turned to Sage now. "Would you like to join me?"

Sage grinned. "It would be my pleasure." She took his hand and disappeared, leaving Dean and Zoe to stand in silence in the war room.