chapter fifteen, act one
weak spot

While Sam and Dean pulled off their little plan to summon Ruby in order to lock her up and steal her demon-killing knife, Freya continued to try and improve with her magic. Now working against the clock so she could fight Lilith.

Her weapons and clothes were already set up and packed in her duffle bag, ready to travel to Indiana. She hadn't even thought about staying at Bobby's house and letting Sam and Dean go alone. Especially now that Maddie had finally confirmed what Dean had told her, that she and Peter were safe.

"Dad." Freya sighed with relief as she answered that sudden call. "Thank God."

"Actually, thank me." A female voice answered. A shiver ran down Freya's spine at the coldness in her voice.

"Ophelia."

"That's right, Freya, it's me. In the flesh." The demon on the other end of the line smiled. "Listen to me very carefully 'cause you're going to do as I say if you want to see your father alive again."

Freya gulped as she nodded, even though Ophelia couldn't see her. Still the smile on the demon's face grew, knowing she had her undivided attention.

"I know you know where Lilith is now. So do I. So if you want me to let your father go while he's still breathing, you'll go there."

"Why? What for?" Freya frowned.

"I want her to see you die in front of her eyes, to see her plans shatter before her face. You die, your father lives. Just like that." Ophelia's request left Freya breathless. Her lips went completely dry and her hands began to tremble.

Biting her lower lip nervously, Freya ran a hand over her face before speaking. "I need proof that you have him and that he's still alive." She demanded, trying to remain calm, but still her voice came out slightly shaky.

"I figured you'd say that." Ophelia replied, turning around to look at the man who was tied and gagged in a chair. "I'll send you a video as soon as this call is over. Oh, and Freya, I really hope you know that this is not personal."

Before Freya could say anything, Ophelia ended the call, leaving her in stony silence.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Trapped inside a devil's trap with a demonic binding link drawn on his right arm, Dorian watched as Carter paced back and forth inside the basement of Maddie Lockhart's house. He had been sent there by Ophelia under orders to kill Peter.

The truth was that Dorian had not imagined ending up trapped by the very boy he had possessed years before. When Dorian had arrived at the house, he had found it strangely empty. He knew for sure that Maddie and Peter were in town, so it was especially strange to him that at that early hour of the morning neither would be in bed. Instead, Carter caught him completely off guard with his knowledge of magic, the devil trap, and his demon-killing knife.

"I hope you have a plan."

"Shut up." The eldest of the Holloway siblings ordered him.

Carter had been fighting for hours against his impulses to finish the demon in front of him once and for all. He'd been looking forward to this moment for 14 years. To have him in front of him and be able to kill him once and for all. Not exorcise him and send him back to hell. No. Kill him. And now that he could, he had to think coldly and focus on helping his sister.

"Why are you waiting so long to kill me, Carter?" Dorian raised his eyebrows. "I know you're looking forward to it."

"I said shut up." Carter insisted, pointing the knife at him. Dorian formed an o with his lips and smiled.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Carter looked at the contacts on his phone once again. He had only three numbers on it, his father, his sister and Dean Winchester's. The latter he had called hours earlier, assuring him that Peter and Maddie were safe, though in reality Carter had no idea if that was even true, as he hadn't found them there either.

Almost as if they were connected, Dean was also checking his latest calls as doubts swirled around in his head. Freya was on the second floor of Bobby's house, preparing to accompany him and his brother on their mission to take down Lilith. But Dean was hesitant as to whether that was what he wanted. I mean, sure, he'd love to work things out with Freya, take down Lilith and be spared from ending up in hell, but deep down, Dean knew this was his last mission and it could only end one way, with him dead. If Freya was as scared of the idea of seeing him die as he was scared of the idea of her dying, then he didn't want her in New Harmony. But he also didn't know what he could do to keep her away other than lie to her and tell her that Peter was in danger back in Salem.

Freya would give up everything, including him, for her little brother.

"We're just gonna let Ruby rot down there?" Sam asked while he loaded their weapons.

Letting out a sigh, Dean turned off his phone.

"That's the idea." He answered.

"Dean, what if, uh... What if Ruby's right? What if I can take out Lilith?" Sam insisted causing Dean to look up at him with an angry, doubting look. "Quit looking at me like that."

"What, are you gonna give her the Carrie-stare and Lilith goes "poof"?" Dean asked in disbelief. Sam rolled his eyes.

"I don't know what Ruby meant. You know, maybe we should just go ask her." Sam suggested.

"Sam, you wanted the knife – I got you the knife." Dean said, getting up to walk over to the table where his gun was placed.

"Dean, just listen to me for a second." Sam insisted, following him with his gaze. "Last time Lilith snapped her fingers and put thirty demons on our ass, and all we got's one little knife? I mean, like you said, we go in smart or we don't go in at all."

"Well, this ain't smart." Dean assured his brother as he loaded his gun.

"We got one shot at this, Dean. Just one. So if there's a sure-fire way then maybe we should just talk about it."

"Sam." Dean walked up to him as he spoke. "We are not gonna make the same mistake all over again."

"You said that but what does it even mean?" Sam frowned.

"Don't you see a pattern here? Dad's deal, my deal, now this? I mean every time one of us is – is – is up the creek the other is begging to sell their soul. That's all this is, man. Ruby's just jerking your chain down the road. You know what it's paved with and you know where it's going." Dean turned around, walking back to te table to sit against it and pick up the weapons again.

"Dean." Sam said, taking a sit next to his brother as Dean continued to assemble the weapon. "What do you think is gonna happen? This is me, I can handle it." Dean stayed silent, staring at the ground as he stopped what he was doing and shook his head. "And if it'll save you..."

"Why even risk it?" Dean cut him off, looking up at him. Sam signed and looked away for a beat before looking back at him.

"Because you're my brother. Because you did the same thing for me."

"I know, and look how that turned out." Dean scoffed. "All I'm saying... Sammy, all I'm saying is that you're my weak spot." Sam frowned at his words. "You are. And I'm yours."

"You don't mean that. We're... we're family." Sam said, getting choked up.

"I know. And those evil sons of bitches know it too. I mean, what we'll do for each other, you know, how far we'll go? They're using it against us."

"So what? We just stop looking out for each other?"

"No, we stop being martyrs, man. We – we – we stop spreading it for these demons." Dean answered, picking up Ruby's knife. "We take this knife, and we go after Lilith our way. The way Dad taught us to. And if we go down, then, uh... then we go down swinging." Sam stayed silent for a few seconds, just looking at him. "What do you think?"

"I think you totally should have been jamming 'Eye of the Tiger' right there." Sam finally answered with a crack of a smile.

"Oh, bite me. I totally rehearsed that speech, too." Dean said, rising up to his feet.

"So, Indiana, huh?" Sam asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, where Lilith's on shore-leave." Dean sighed.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Tell me something." Dean looked back to his brother. "The hell's a demon do for fun?"

"Making deals, go around killing families... you name it." Freya answered walking down the stairs. Sam and Dean looked back at her.

"Christine was your moms weak spot." Dean assumed then, thoughtfully.

Freya let out a sigh and nodded, letting her bag slide off her shoulder, into her hand and onto the ground.

"And the deal she make to save her, got her killed." She added. "My father's weak spot was my mother, and his deal for them to start a family and have children led to Carter, Peter and I ending up in the eye of Lilith's plan. Not to mention that Ophelia's weak spot caused us to have witch powers."

"Are you trying to say that you agree with Dean?" Sam frowned. "That talking to Ruby, listen to her, will only make things worse."

"I'm just stating facts, Sam." Freya answered. "You do whatever you want with them. I'm going to Indiana with or without you two. I'm gonna kill Lilith and Ophelia."

"Ophelia is there?" Dean looked back at her, surprised. Freya nodded.

"She has my father." She explained. "Guess my family is also my weak spot."

Sam nodded as he looked back and forth between his brother and Freya. Maybe they were both right and their weak spots were their respective families, but it was more than obvious that they were also each other's weak spots.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Prepared for the battle against Lilith with all the necessary weapons and determined to end it once and for all and save Dean's fate, the two Winchester brothers and Freya settled inside the Impala, ready to begin their journey to New Harmony.

However, when Dean tried to start the car, it wouldn't start. That's when, suddenly, Bobby showed up outside Dean's door, scaring the them with his sudden appearance.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

Freya let out the air she had been holding, looking at Bobby and the distributor cap he was holding in his hand. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Dean got out of the impala, soon followed by her and Sam. As he looked at them, it was clear that Bobby was not happy. But then again, neither was Dean.

"We got the knife." Dean explained.

"And you intend to use it without me." He noted. "Do I look like a ditchable prom-date to you?"

Freya almost chuckled at his words, but before she could, Sam stood in the middle next to Dean and Bobby.

"No, Bobby. Of course not." Sam replied.

"This is about me... and Sam. Ok?" Dean said, looking back at Bobby. "This isn't your fight."

Bobby walked up to Dean, furious by those words.

"The hell it isn't!"

Taken aback by his response, Dean looked at him an then at Freya.

"Family don't end with blood, boy." Bobby said, gaining back his full attention. "Besides, you need me."

"Bobby." Dean tried.

"You're playing wounded." He noted. "Tell me, how many hallucinations have you had so far?"

Confused by his words, Sam and Freya turned to look at Dean. He looked back at them for a few short seconds, tilting his head one time before turning back to Bobby.

"How'd you know?" Dean asked.

"Because that's what happens when you've got hellhounds on your butt." Bobby replied like it was obvious. "And because I'm smart."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Freya asked.

"What did you want me to say, Freya? That every time I looked at you and Sam, what looked back at me was a strange hallucination that made you look like monsters?" Dean looked back at her.

"Well, not with those words. But..."

"We don't have time to argue." Bobby cut her off. "I'm going with you. Like it or not, you're stuck with me. I'll follow."

With nothing else to say, Bobby walked away from the them, over to his own car. After shooting a quick glance at the Winchester brothers, especially Dean, Freya took her things out of the Impala and walked after the man to climb into the passenger seat of his car. Dean decided not to ask or say anything and let her go with Bobby before walking over to the hood of his car, ready to put back the part.

"Don't be stopping to pee every ten minutes either." Bobby exclaimed before climbing to his car.

Dean stopped in his tracks at this and shook his head a bit with a raised brow.

"I mean it." Bobby added, now in a normal volume as he looked back at the girl sitting next to him.

"Oh, I know." Freya sighed with a glare of amusement in her eyes.

"Why don't you go with them?" Bobby asked as he started the car.

"And deal with the tension between Dean and me? No, thanks. He thinks I left him in that motel to get back at him because he did the same thing to me. And that's fine, I don't care, but I'd rather ride with you." She sighed, resting her elbow against the window. "Besides, they're brothers, and if this doesn't end the way we want it to... they deserve that time alone."

"What about you?" Bobby turned to look at her.

"I'll survive." She assured him, looking back at him.

Bobby studied her with his gaze, taking in every little gesture, not believing her words. Since meeting her, Bobby couldn't help but notice her resemblance to both her parents. And over the years he couldn't help but notice her similarities to John Winchester as well, even if they weren't related. And if that told him anything, it was that Freya wouldn't survive if Dean ended up dead. Mourning his death would consume her, as it had consumed Henry and John. Freya would end up drowning on her own tears. Or into something far more harmful.

They had a long trip ahead of them, so Freya took the opportunity to continue reading about magic from all the books Bobby had given her. Occasionally, he would turn on the radio to fill the silence in the vehicle, other times the two of them would engage in small talk. They talked mostly about different supernatural creatures and the stories they both had with Laurel. Also, for the first time in years, Freya allowed herself to reminisce and talk about the years she had shared with her older brother and how Peter's birth had been one of the happiest for Carter. The nostalgia hurt, but it also gave her the strength she needed to face Ophelia.

With barely 20 minutes left in the trip, Bobby and Freya witnessed from the car as Dean had pulled over on the side of the road under the orders of a policeman and was now getting out of the Impala to beat him up and stab him with the demon-killing knife.

"What the hell happened?" Bobby rushed out of the car and ran towards them, confused and worried.

"Dean just killed a demon." Sam replied as Freya reached their side. "How'd you know?"

Dean, still breathing heavily, looked around on the ground and then turned to Sam who was still looking shocked.

"I just knew." He answered, looking down to the officer.

"What do you mean?" Freya frowned.

"I could see its face. Its real face under that one." Dean looked up at her.

"That's new." Freya sighed, sharing a quick look with Bobby.

Not wanting to get caught by some human police or other demons, Bobby, Freya and the Winchester brothers made sure to hide the body and the police car under several tree branches on the side of the road. The darkness of the night gave them an advantage in being unnoticed too, but they had to move fast. Ophelia had set a time to Freya for their meeting and Dean's time was running out by the minute.

"So what, now you're seeing demons?" Sam turned to his brother.

"I've seen all kinds of things lately but... nothing like this." Dean said.

"Actually it's not all that crazy." Bobby spoke.

"How's it not that crazy?"

"Well you've got, just over five hours to go? You're piercing the veil, Dean. You're glimpsing the B side."

"A little less new age-y please." Dean frowned,

"You're almost hell's bitch. So, you can see hell's other bitches." Dean looked at Freya with surprise as she answered for Bobby, but his expression soon turned into a mock-face.

"Thank you."

Freya smiled back at him.

"Well, actually it could come in pretty handy." Sam commented.

"Oh, well, I'm glad my doomed soul is good for something." Dean scoffed.

"Damn right it is." Bobby nodded. "Lilith's probably got demons stashed all over town. We can't let them sound the alarm. She knows we're here, we're dead before we're started."

"Well, this is a terrific plan. I'm excited to be a part of it." He sighed. "Can we go, please?" He asked as he began walking back to his car with Bobby, Sam and Freya following.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Freya hadn't yet fully taken in the situation they were in, but she certainly did when they arrived at the place where not only Lilith was hiding, but Ophelia was waiting for her. As soon as she got out of Bobby's car the anticipation of her and Dean's inevitable goodbye clouded her vision and made her feel sick.

Knowing they would need time alone, Sam joined Bobby by his car, leaving Freya to approach Dean next to the Impala.

Dean wasn't good with words. He never had been. And when he saw Freya walking towards him with that sad, pain-filled look on her face, something broke inside of him knowing he couldn't say anything to make it better. Even if he was good with words, things didn't look like they were going to go well that night. Dean wanted to die swinging and Freya respected that.

"Listen, Dean, I... I don't know what to say." Freya began as she tried to shallow her tears. "I'm sorry I left the way I did and I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help you. And I'm sorry I can't fight by your side tonight and..."

"Hey." Dean interrupted her. "You don't have to apologize to me for anything, okay? You have to save your dad."

"And you have to have some hope that this is gonna work."

"We both know it won't. I'm going to hell. But I'm gonna die fighting. For Sammy." He pointed towards his brother.

Freya turned to looked back at Sam as she nodded.

Feeling her heart ache as she met his greenish gaze once again, Freya couldn't fight her need to pull Dean close and wrap him in a hug any longer. Though surprised by the gesture at first, Dean soon wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting his chin on her head and closing his eyes as glimpse of peace washed over him.

Freya closed her eyes too, nuzzling against him and tucking her head into his chest, taking in his scent as she tightened her hold. The shadow of a sad smile peeked over Dean's lips as he left a kiss on top of her hair. Unable to help it, in that instant a tear slipped down Freya's cheek, wetting Dean's shirt, but he didn't care.

"Does this mean you forgive me for abandoning you in that motel room?" Dean asked, breaking the silence.

Freya couldn't help but smile in amusement at his words. She pulled away a little and looked into his eyes.

"I think we're even." She answered. Dean nodded, looking back at her.

After a few more seconds in each other's arms, Dean cleared his throat awkwardly, taking a step back. Saddened by having to part from him, Freya ran her hand over her face to wipe away any traces of tears as Sam and Bobby approached them. The latter handed her a gun.

Freya took it, thanking him in a whisper as she placed it on the back of her belt.

"Good luck." Bobby told her.

"Likewise." She replied, giving the three of them a look and a faint smile that didn't quite reach her eyes before separating from them to continue on her way to where she was supposed to meet Ophelia.

Her walk to the street where Ophelia was waiting for her wasn't very long, but it was long enough to put her in situation and leave behind her goodbye with Dean. At least for now.

The moment Freya's eyes met the figures of Ophelia and her father on the other side of that empty residential street a wave of feelings washed over her. Fear, determination and a searing anguish filled with anticipation. Freya knew what Ophelia wanted to happen that night, and she knew she had no weapon to stop her, but somehow, she also knew that was it. Every second of doubt and pain since her mother's death was coming to an end that night.

"I'm glad you could make it, Freya." Ophelia smiled at her from a distance, as she held Henry against her and placed the blade of a sharp knife over his neck. "I know you want to go back to your boyfriend to try to save his life. But let me tell you something, Freya, you can't. Dean Winchester is going to die tonight. But... maybe you can do something for your father."

"I get it, you're evil. Are we going to keep talking or are you going to kill me?" Freya complained, rolling her eyes.

Ophelia smiled back at her, unamused.

"Actually... no. I won't be the one to kill you tonight, Freya. That's up to you. Wrists, neck, the hara-kiri even. I don't really care how. You die and I let your father go."

"I don't trust you. Do you really think I'm gonna kill myself without seeing him go first?"

"You'll have to trust me because..."

"I have another plan." A third voice interrupted her.

Recognizing him instantly, Freya quickly turned around to find her older brother standing several feet behind her along with the man she quickly recognized as Dorian. Especially when she saw the symbol on his arm that bound the demon to the body he currently possessed, keeping him from escaping.

"You free my father and I'll let Dorian go." Carter offered, showing the demon-killing knife created by his mother. The knife he had stolen from Freya herself in the hospital after their car accident.

Hope.

A faint, fleeting glimmer of hope flashed through Freya's mind like a shooting star in the sky. Fast, so fast that if she blinked she would have missed it. And just as that hope came to her, so did a realization. Someone like Ophelia wouldn't care enough for anyone to mess up her plan. Carter didn't have the advantage he thought he had over her. His threat meant nothing to Ophelia.

"What do you think you're doing?" Maddie's hand clutched at Peter's wrist as she noticed how the boy took a step forward, threatening to come out of the little hiding place Harper had led them to.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to save my sister." Peter answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"If you go in there, Ophelia will kill you. That's why she sent Dorian after you."

A few days earlier Dorian had appeared in Salem, on a mission to kill the young Holloway. It was the sudden appearance of Harper that had kept the demon from finding him. It had been a very bizarre situation, especially for Peter, who despite knowing a lot about supernatural beings, couldn't remember any with the power of teleportation. And that's what Harper had used to get them out of Salem and now to get them to that street in New Harmony, Indiana.

Carter found Dorian a few moments later. The demon was still looking for Peter around Maddie's empty house, so Carter had assumed that by catching him, his little brother and the girl were safe. And so he'd let Dean know when he called him.

"I don't mind. At least this way, Freya will be okay." Peter declared firmly.

"Do you think your sister will be okay if you die in front of her? If you die in general?" Maddie looked at him in disbelief.

"At least she'll be alive."

"Very different things." Harper muttered to herself, but Peter was still able to hear her.

"Oh, really?" He looked back at her. "I have a better idea. Why don't you use your wonderful powers and save her?" Clenching his fists until his knuckles were completely white, Peter approaches the young redhead. "What are you by the way? If you don't mind sharing. I think after those two little trips Maddie and I deserve to at least know that much."

"I..." Harper began in a shaky voice. "I was sent to save your sister and protect you."

"Sent by whom?"

Harper opened her mouth to answer, but before her voice could leave her throat the echo of a body falling to the ground caught the attention of the three of them.

At one of the ends of the street Carter stood over Dorian's body. The demon-killing knife stuck in the demon's abdomen, the inside of which flickered several times until its life came to an end.

Ophelia seemed unaffected by this, but she did seem to be struck by the strong burst of light coming from inside one of the houses to her right. Carter and Freya also looked in its direction, the latter one with tears in her eyes.

"Dean." She whispered with a thread of a voice full of pain and sadness.

That beam of light was the same thing that had hit the Colorado police station after they left. It was the exact same beam that had killed Agent Henriksen and Nancy.

Then, suddenly, before the tears left her eyes and descended down her cheeks, Freya closed her eyes for a few moments and when she opened them, something had changed in them. Peter and Maddie could barely notice it, but because of their proximity, Henry, Carter and Ophelia witnessed it perfectly.

It was as if Freya was no longer human. All sparkle of life had disappeared from her eyes and turned to complete darkness. In the blink of an eye her eyes turned completely and utterly white.

"Lilith." Ophelia recognized her instantly, drawing the complete and total attention of the demon that now possessed Freya's body.

"Ophelia." Lilith replied, tilting her head. "It's good to see you."

A shiver ran down Henry, Peter and Carter's spine at how cold Freya's voice sounded.

Swallowing hard, Ophelia didn't waste any time before running the knife blade across Henry's neck, dropping his body as she began to run away from who was the first demon of them all. No one had ever had seen Ophelia as scared as she was now.

Carter could barely process what was happening in front of him. How had Lilith possessed his sister when she had an anti-possession tattoo on her? That question couldn't be answered, for as quickly as she had entered Freya's body, Lilith left it, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

"Dad!" Peter ran past him. His knees hit the road as he reached his father's side. Tears covered his bright blue eyes as his trembling hands tried to stop the blood pouring from his neck.

Emerging from their hiding place, Harper ran over to Dorian's body at Carter's feet with a mixture of emotions reflecting in her eyes. Maddie had noticed that change almost instantly. As soon as Lilith had left Freya's body, something had changed in the young redhead.

With different questions and thoughts swirling in her head, Freya shared a quick look with Carter and Maddie before shooting a glance at Harper and then turning to her father and little brother. However, the one she was really worried about at the moment was not them, but Dean.

With her body and mind still dazed from Lillith's possession and the tattoo burning on the back of her neck, Freya ran towards the house where the explosion of light had come from. She wasn't even able to hear Maddie and Bobby's voice calling her name. It all sounded so far away, as if from another world. And when her eyes fell on the figure of Sam holding the lifeless body of his older brother, everything went silent. Her heart stopped in her chest, her tears began to wet her cheeks and her legs lost what little strength they had left, causing her to fall to her knees on the floor of that house.

As Freya stared at Dean's lifeless body in the arms of his younger brother, a chill ran down her spine. Her mind and heart were filled with a mixture of shock, horror, and sadness. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, yet it was happening right in front of her eyes. She felt powerless, the weight of the world upon her shoulders, and all the energy and hope drained out of her. It was as if everything she had been fighting for, everything that had kept her going, was gone in an instant. Her body trembled, her eyes stung with tears, and she couldn't help but let out a choked sob.

But as seconds passed it was as if a switch flipped in her mind, and a sense of numbness washed over her in the face of such a profound trauma. The sight was too much to bear. Her mind and body seemed to function on autopilot, as if she was watching the scene from a glass wall. Her eyes registered the pain, grief, and utter despair on Sam's face, but her own heart seemed strangely numb. It was as if her mind had shut down, unable to process the magnitude of the loss and resorting to a kind of disconnection as a defense mechanism.

She almost didn't even notice Bobby coming to her side, his grip firm on her shoulders as he helped her to her feet. She allowed herself to be led outside, her mind and body feeling heavy and unresponsive.

Once seated in the passenger seat of Bobby's car, Freya's tears dried on her cheeks, and she stared ahead vacantly. The silence in the car was deafening, and the only sounds were the distant sirens of the approaching ambulance and the murmur of voices outside. Freya could hear Bobby speaking to Sam in low tones, and the occasional murmur of Sam's response, but she couldn't make out the words.

The ride to the hospital seemed interminable, and when they finally arrived, Freya allowed Maddie and Bobby to lead her inside.

The waiting room felt cold, almost like a purgatory, as Freya took a seat on one of the uncomfortable chairs, her gaze dropping to the floor. Because it was so late at night, the room was practically empty, far from the shouts of doctors and nurses, the crying of patients and their families, which normally filled it during the day. Freya was grateful for that.

As time passed, Freya found herself lost in thought, alternating between replaying the events over and over and wondering about her father's condition.

Freya sat there in silence, her mind unable to grasp the reality of what had happened. The sight of Sam and Bobby carrying Dean's lifeless body into the Impala replayed in her mind, each time bringing with it a fresh wave of grief and despair. It was as if her mind and heart were struggling to process the loss, and were instead fixating on mundane details, desperate for some kind of relief.

Eventually, a doctor entered the waiting room, his scrubs stained with blood and his face expression serious. Freya looked up, her eyes meeting the doctor's, and she braced herself for the worst. The doctor looked around the room, his eyes settling on Freya, Peter and Maddie.

"Are you Henry Holloway's family?"

Freya nodded, unable to speak.

"Yeah. That's us." Maddie answered for her.

The doctor approached them, his expression neutral but not giving anything away.

"I'm Dr. Moore." The doctor said, his voice soft but firm. "I'm the doctor who treated him."

Freya swallowed, her throat dry as she managed to speak.

"How is he?"

Dr. Moore sat down next to Freya, his expression becoming more sympathetic. "He is stable, but he's lost a lot of blood, and he's still unconscious. We were able to stop the bleeding and repair the damage on his neck." He explained. "We're going to keep him sedated for now, to give his body a chance to heal."

Freya let out a shaky breath, a mix of relief and anxiety coursing through her. She had been dreading the worst, and the fact that her father was alive was a small light in the darkness.

"Can we see him?" Peter asked with a hopeful tone.

The doctor nodded, before guiding Maddie and him towards the room. Freya, however, just stood there, trying to process everything and waiting for Bobby to come back. Yet it wasn't Bobby who walked through the emergency room door, but Sam.

He knew that he had to see Freya. The sight of her tears and the look of devastation on her face had stayed with him, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he had to do something.

He found her standing in the waiting room. Her face pale and her eyes red from the tears.

"Freya." Sam said softly, his voice barely above a whisper. Freya turned to look at him, her eyes widening as if she didn't expect to see him.

Sam took a step forward, closing the distance between them. He held out is hand, opening it to show Dean's amulet clutched tightly in his fist.

"I thought you should have this." He said quietly. "He would want you to have it."

Freya took the amulet gently, her fingers trembling slightly. She looked down at it, tracing the intricate carving with her fingertips.

She knew how special that amulet was to Dean. A young Sam had given it to him one Christmas where John had left them alone in a motel room. She could still remember Dean's voice as he told her the story a few months ago during the one and only Christmas they had spent together.

Tears welled in her eyes once again, but she tried to hold them back. A part of her wanted to refuse to accept it, knowing that it was important to Sam too, but the other part, the bigger part, was telling her to cling to it like a lifeline, knowing that was the only thing she had left form Dean.

"Thank you." She said, her voice choked with emotion.

Sam could tell she was struggling to hold herself together, her grief and shock starting to catch up to her. He reached out, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at him.

"I'm so sorry, Sammy. I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around."

"It's okay." He reassured her.

"No, it's not. None of this is okay." She said, sitting back in that uncomfortable chair.

Sam let out a sigh. He didn't know what to say or do. He had truly believed he was going to save his brother and now that he was on his own all he could do was hold Freya's hand and stay by her side.