CHAPTER FIVE

Nyx sighs as she looks around the basement of her dad's old medical practice. So much has changed since that night... And she thought that things were bad back then.

"The device is done." John says, and Nyx peeks around the thing that she's hiding behind. "The only thing keeping them down is the vervain."

The young huntress is thinking that it's good to know what she was injected with when she suddenly sees Damon on the ground, and he rolls over. "No." She breathes.

"We don't have much time. Let's finish this." John starts to walk, but then he stops and looks down. "Anna." He says suddenly. "You can head up, I'll take it from here." He tells the cops who are pouring gasoline all over the place.

The ghost kneels down at the spot where John staked Anna — Jeremy's second girlfriend to die on him. He's had three girlfriends over the course of his short life, and every single one of them has ended up dead and then come back as a ghost to haunt him.

Nyx can see the flames in her mind's eye as she looks around the deserted basement. There's some stuff left over from Professor Psycho, but it's mostly just charred remains.

"Come on, I need you to get up." She says, and Damon looks at her.

"What the hell are you doing down here?" He questions.

"I'm an idiot who can act. Get up." She tells him. "We don't have much time."

"How did this even happen?" He asks as pushes himself onto his knees.

"Now's not the time for explanations." She mutters. "I'll tell you later."

She's standing now, looking to the spot where Mayor Lockwood had his neck snapped by a vengeful tomb vampire. He was the first of any of their parents to die of supernatural causes. Next to Sheila — though she wasn't technically Bonnie's parent, she did help raise her.

Sheila Bennett. Richard Lockwood. Isobel Flemming. Jenna Sommers. John Gilbert. John Winchester. Abby Bennett Wilson. Bill Forbes. Alaric Saltzman. Carol Lockwood. Ruddy Hopkins.

"Damon, get up." Nyx says as she pulls him to his feet. "Come​ on."

The flames start to die down on the staircase, and he wraps his arm around her shoulders. The two of them make it up the stairs, but she can't get the door open. The knob is too hot to touch, and she's not strong enough to break it down.

She can almost feel the heat on her skin as she stands at the top of the stairs.

"Damn it!" She yells between coughs and slams the palm of her hand against the door in frustration. Damon and Nyx have both been breathing in the smoke, and it's getting hard to breathe properly.

"Nycole!" Dean yells from the other side of the door.

"Dean!" She calls.

"Get away from the door!" He tells her, and she moves back to where Damon's leaning against the wall.

The door suddenly flies open, and she shields her face from the wood that splinters off. She looks back and sees Dean standing there. She quickly wraps Damon's arm around her shoulders and pulls him through the open door. Dean helps her carry him out, and they leave the building through the utility entrance.

"Dean." Her voice is a whisper and she sighs as she closes her eyes, wanting to forget this night so much.

But there's one thing about this night that she wouldn't trade for the world. This is the night that Alex and Everly were conceived.

After Dean got them out of the basement, he took her back to his motel room to make sure that she was okay. It was the first time that she let herself fully accept the way that she felt about him.

Their food fight at the lake house was the first time she realized that she had feelings for him, but this is the night that she knew she was in love with him. He ran into a burning basement to save her. He even helped save Damon — who she knew he hated almost as much as Yellow-Eyes.

She was just too afraid to let herself feel those kinds of things. So, she momentarily ruined the friendship between them. But now she'd give anything for those few months between this night and the night he finally made her his girlfriend.

—

Sam picks the lock on his brother's motel room and lets himself in. He sees Dean in bed with a redhead and sighs before clearing his throat.

"Hey!" Sam yells, and the unconscious pair start to stir. "Get up!"

"Who the hell are you?!" The girl questions as she pulls the blanket over herself.

"Get dressed and get out."

"What are you doing here, Sammy?" Dean groans as he sits up.

"You too. Get dressed." He says and then walks out of the room, back over to Carter, who's distracting the twins in the car.

The girl leaves in a flustered huff, and Sam makes his way back into the room to talk to his brother. "Finally found me, huh, Sammy?" Dean glances at him as he looks for a shirt to pair with the jeans he found on the floor.

"Do you have any idea what today is?"

"So, she finally told Jeremy where to find me, huh?"

"Who? Nycole?" He purposely emphasizes her name, and Dean's jaw tightens. "No. Neither Bonnie or Jeremy have seen her in about a week. Which is really unlike her."

"Bonnie?" He asks, confused.

"Do you know today's date?" Sam asks.

"Nope." He starts to walk past him, but then Sam grabs his arm, forces him to turn back around, and he punches him.

"It's October 10." He says as Dean looks up at his younger brother from the floor. "The twins' birthday, you jackass."

He rubs his jaw as he pushes himself to his feet. Dean looks at Sam and then just turns away from him.

"You wanna hunt? We'll hunt." Sam tells him. "Carter will stay in the motels with the twins, and me and you will kill some monsters. But when we're with the twins, you will be a father. They deserve that much out of you, Dean. After everything, you owe​ that to Nycole."

"You don't—"

"What? I don't get it? I don't understand what you're going through? Are you kidding me?" He questions. "I lost Jess — the woman I loved, who I wanted to marry and spend my life with. So, yes, Dean, I get it."

"We killed Jess' killer." He says as he looks at him. "I can't do that for Nyx because he's already dead."

"Killing Kol wouldn't honor her memory anyway." He tells him. "You want to honor the woman you love? Then give her what she died to give you. Be a better father to your kids. Be a better father than hers was to her — than ours was to us."

Dean sighs as he looks down. "Are they here?" He asks, and Sam nods.

"They're in the car. I'll go get them." He says and then starts for the door. He stops just short of opening it. "I may not have been in love with Nyx, but I did love her. She was my best friend, and I miss her too. Every day." He tells him.