CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

"Everything's gonna be okay." Stefan says as he wraps his arm around Nyx.

"No." The brunette shakes her head, looking down at her sister in her hospital bed. "Stefan, none of this is okay. Nothing is okay. We are so royally screwed to hell, and..."

"You can't think like that." Ric says from where he's sitting in the chair beside Elena's bed. "They are both gonna be fine."

"They—" She stops when she hears Sam and Cas in the hallway.

"Nyx?" Stefan watches as she walks out of the room.

"This is all your fault." She grabs Cas and pins him against the wall; he looks down at her. "You said that we were safe. He's bound completely — that's what you told us."

"I don't know what happened. That trap — it shouldn't have broken." He tells her. "I am sorry."

"I don't care that you're sorry. Saying you're sorry doesn't just fix it after you screw up. It doesn't mean anything, especially if you keep doing it." She says. "And the whole thing was pointless anyway. Alistair didn't know anything, we risked our lives for nothing. Dean didn't even want to go in there, but you forced us to help you."

"Perhaps Alistair was lying." Cas says, and she shakes her head as she lets go of him.

"No. He wasn't." She looks at him. "You screwed up, and it nearly cost Dean and Elena their lives. Do you get that? Oh, wait, I forgot. You're not allowed to care."

"Nycole—"

"Either heal them, or get lost." She tells him as she turns away from him. "I am so sick of you self-righteous sons of bitches." She says, and he disappears.

"I'm being attacked." Damon comes running down the hallway slowly, and he has the two toddlers chasing after him. "Your children are evil."

Nyx takes a deep breath, forcing a smile. "They learned it from their mama." She says as she leans down and picks up Ever.

"Hi, Mommy." She smiles.

"Hi, my beautiful baby." She kisses her cheek as Damon picks up Alex and walks over to her.

"I kiss." Alex says, and Nyx leans over and gives him a quick kiss.

"Me too?" Damon smirks, and she narrows her eyes at him. He starts laughing when his brother shakes his head at him.

"Ganpa!" Everly yells, and Ric walks over to them from Elena's doorway. She reaches for him, and he takes her from Nyx's arms.

"Mommy, me?" Alex asks, and she takes him from Damon.

"Mommy, see Daddy?" Ever asks, and Nyx sighs as she looks at her.

"Later, baby, I promise." She tells her. "We'll go with Uncle Sam." She says as she looks at Sam, and he nods.

She doesn't want them to see Dean the way that he looks now, but she knows she can't keep them from going in there forever. He took a really bad beating from Alistair. His eye's bruised and his face is covered in cuts. Right now he's connected to a bunch of different machines, and he has a tube in his mouth.

"Jere-me." Ever points when she sees her uncle round the corner.

"Hey, princess." Jeremy smiles at her and then looks at Alex. "What's up, little man?"

"You guys get everything situated?" Nyx asks, and he nods.

"Yeah. The twins' stuff is all set up in Dean's car." He tells her. "Vicki and Jess said they're gonna find a motel nearby, but they'll be back later." He says, and she nods. "How are they doing?"

"Elena's in and out. Dean still hasn't woken up, but the doctors said he'll recover." She tells him, and he nods.

"Are you alright?" He asks, and she smiles.

"She'll be fine." Ric says as he adjusts Everly in his arms and then wraps one around Nyx, pulling her to him. She leans against him, and he kisses the top of her head. "They'll be fine, you don't have to worry." He says, his voice lower than before.

"It's not their recovery that I'm worried about." She tells him. "It's what comes after they're better, and the angels show up again. They've made it pretty clear that we don't have a choice here."

—

Dean's eyes are on Nyx and the twins in the dim hospital room. She's in a big chair with both of the toddlers in her lap. She pulled the chair over so that it's next to the bed, so that they can be closer to him.

The leg rest is up, so Alex's legs are sprawled across it with hers, his tiny body fitting to lay beside her. His head is resting in her lap with his stomach facing her — he's almost laying on her legs. Everly's facing her mom, leaning against her, her head on Nyx's chest as she sleeps. And then there's Nyx.

One hand is resting on Alex's back, and she subconsciously rubs it every time he starts to stir. He settles again, and she stops. Her head is resting on her fist on her other hand, and she's leaning toward Dean's bed. Her eyes are closed and as far as can tell, she's asleep as well.

"Are you alright?" Cas asks, and Dean turns his head to look at him. He's sitting in a smaller chair on the opposite side of Dean's bed.

"No thanks to you." His voice is hoarse.

"You need to be more careful."

"You need to learn how to manage a damn devil's trap." Dean tells him.

"That's not what I mean." He says. "Uriel is dead."

"Good." Nyx says, and Dean glances back at her.

"Was it demons?" Dean asks.

"It was disobedience." Cas tells them. "He was working against us."

"Is it true?" He asks, and Cas looks back at him. "Did I break the first seal? Did I start all this?"

"Yes." He nods. "When we discovered Lilith's plan for you...we laid siege to hell, and we fought our way to get to you before you—"

"Jump-started the apocalypse."

"But we were too late."

"Why didn't you just leave me there, then?" He asks, and Nyx sighs.

"It's not...blame that falls on you, Dean. It's fate." He tells him. "And the righteous man who begins it is the only one who can finish it. You have to stop it."

"Lucifer? The apocalypse?" He questions as he looks at him. "What does that mean?" He asks, and Cas turns his head away from him. "Hey!" He croaks. "Don't you go disappearing on me, you son of a bitch. What does that mean?"

"I don't know."

"Bull!"

"I don't." He looks at him. "Dean, they don't tell me much. I know...how our fate rests with you."

"Well, then, you guys are screwed. I can't do it, Cas. It's too big. Alistair was right. I'm not all here. I'm not— I'm not strong enough." He tells him. "Well, I guess I'm not the man either of our dads wanted me to be. Find someone else. It's not me."

"Yes, it is." Nyx says as she opens her eyes and looks at him. "Maybe you were the first seal, but the rest of what Alistair said... It was all crap, Dean. Maybe you didn't last a hundred years against torture, so what? You are still a better man than your father ever was." She tells him, and a tear rolls down his cheek. "You know the last thing John ever said to me?"

"No."

"He said that you deserved the best." She says. "Yeah, Dean, he wanted you to be strong, but that's not the kind of strength that he meant. No father ever imagines their son going through that kind of pain. Don't believe me? Ask Sam what John said about when he left for college — why he was angry. It's not for the reason that Sam thought."

Everly stirs, and Nyx moves her hand from her son's back to Ever's. They're quiet for a minute as she coaxes the toddler back into a deeper sleep. She takes a deep breath as she cuddles into her mom.

Nyx looks at Cas. "But you need to leave us alone for a while. They need to heal, and we have someone back home who needs us. So, stop showing up and dragging us all over the place." She tells him. "Elena and I will do whatever you need. Just give them time to recover, and let us be people for a while."

"I never wanted this for you and Elena." Cas tells her. "I've been watching over you your whole lives. So, yes, Nycole, I am sorry that we threatened your brother. And I am sorry that Elena's in the hospital as well. But we do need you, all three of you." He looks at Dean.

"I trust you. I don't want to, but I do." She says, and he looks at her. "The first time you showed up, I could feel it. It was this force, this presence that I've felt off and on my whole life. Every time something actually went right for us." She says, and he nods.

"I've helped on occasion."

"On occasion." She scoffs. "The night that Stefan saved Elena and I from drowning. The night that Dean and I met. The sacrifice — it was you who brought the twins back with me, not Bonnie's spell. Wasn't it?"

"The witch's spell allowed your father to sacrifice himself for you, but it was not enough to raise you all. So, yes, I...aided the spell." He nods.

"The twins were in the hospital after they were born. I'd completely lost all faith in any form of a higher power, but Damon told me to pray, to take a leap of faith. Ric had just died — or we thought he had — and I was terrified of losing the twins as well. So, I took his advice, and I asked for help. You heard me, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Would they have survived had you not helped them?"

"I don't know." He answers honestly.

She nods. "The night that Vicki and I almost died in Mystic Falls, when I saved us... There was this voice in my head. It told me to take her hand, and then we were both alive and human again." She says. "How did I hear you?"

"Some humans are able to hear angels if we speak to them that way. You and Elena both can." He explains. "I don't know if it's because your heaven's creation, or simply a fact that some can while others can't."

"Well, do me a favor... Don't make me regret trusting you." She says, and he looks at her for a few seconds before he disappears.

"Why didn't I know?" Dean asks, and she looks back at him. "That Uriel threatened to kill Jeremy if you didn't hand Anna over to them?"

"Because you chose to believe the worst in me. And I didn't think I should have to tell you that you were wrong...not you." She says, and he sighs.

"I deserved that." He nods.

"You believed what Uriel wanted you to." She says, and then a puzzled look crosses her face.

"What?"

"Cas said Uriel was working against us." She says, and he nods. "You thinking so little of me is half the reason that I left."

"You think he was trying to drive us apart?"

"They need the three of us to stop the apocalypse, but they can't have all three if you and I are at odds." She says, and he nods.

"You feel like getting the band back together?" He asks, and she sighs.

"Jeremy and the girls put the twins' stuff in the Impala. You said before that you were coming back to Mystic Falls. Still the plan?"

"Yeah." He says, and she nods. "Why do you seem so hesitant?"

"Even if you and I are on good terms again, there's still a lot going on. Not to mention that fight with Sam."

"I already kicked his ass for that." He says, and she shakes her head.

"Look, even if he's not mad anymore... What he said still hurt like hell. I mean, he blamed me for what was—"

"I think that might've been Uriel's doing too." He cuts her off.

"What?" She asks, confused.

"Sam was pushing me so hard because Uriel told him that I remembered hell and I wasn't fessing up. That's when everything spiraled." He says, and she nods.

"What better to drive a wedge than to make it so Sam and I can hardly stand to be in the same room." She sighs. "Have I mentioned that I really hate angels?"

"Hey, uh... Can I ask what you were so freaked out about before?" He asks. "When you first got to the motel?"

"Um... Liz, Caroline's mom..." She starts, and he nods.

"I remember her. I like her. You know, when she isn't threatening to arrest me."

"Well, she's, um..." She clenches her teeth as tears well up in her eyes.

"Nyx?"

"She has stage four glioblastoma." She tells him. "She has a brain tumor, and it's inoperable. All we can do is...wait. Spend time with her, say our goodbyes. Caroline's human again, and her mom...is dying."

"Are you alright?" He asks, and she nods.

"I'll be okay, I'm just worried about Care. I just... I forgot, you know? We spend so much time hunting monsters, and facing demons and vampires... I forgot how much regular life can really suck too." She says. "There's nothing supernatural about this. It's a completely human thing and... And it sucks so much." She lifts her head and wipes tears from her eyes.

"Nyx..." He tries to get up, and she shakes her head.

"No, hey. Stop." She leans forward slightly, and grabs his hand. "I'm fine. You need to rest. Lay down." She tells him, and he sighs as he settles back into the bed.

"I hate this."

"I'll be alright." She chuckles. "Unless you hurt yourself trying to get up to come and comfort me." She tells him, and he smirks.

"Hey, how's Elena?" He asks, and she smiles.

"Bossing the nurses around." She says, and he laughs, before groaning. "I think this mind link is passing off traits between the two of us. She's becoming a little like me."

"I noticed." He nods. "The slightly inappropriate commentary."

"Yeah." She sighs. "Not that that was the only inappropriate part."

"You mean you cutting into him?" He asks, and she nods.

"Yeah, that was..." She looks down. "I don't know what that was."

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asks, and she nods.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm a little scared, but... I'm okay." She says as she looks at him. "And according to these two little rugrats, I'm mean Mommy."

"Oh, yeah?" He smirks. "Why, what'd you do?"

"I wouldn't let them climb on Daddy." She says, and he smiles as he looks at the twins.

"They missed you, you know?"

"I missed them." She closes her eyes as she rests her head on Everly's.