AN:- Okay here it is the final chapter...sooooo sorry it's been so long, been really busy...

Right...I'm gona take this time to WARN you again that there will be CHARACTER DEATH...IF FOR ANY REASONS YOU THINK YOU WILL BE UPSET BY THE CHARACTER DEATH PLEASE SKIP TO THE END AUTHOR'S NOTE where I will reveal who it is that dies so that you know whether you want to read the chapter or not...I'm hoping most of you won't need to be spoiled...I know most people won't...but I don't want complaints or anthing saying I didn't warn you...

Chapter 7

The more you have, the more I can take away from you…

"Sammy?"

Sam tried to open his eyes, bring his head up; he heard a skid and then felt something come close to him.

"Sam?! Sammy?!" Dean shouted.

Sam suddenly came round, all too far into reality. "Dean?" he asked as Dean flipped his knife open and cut him loose.

"You okay?" Dean said pulling back to look at him.

"Yeah." Sam said rubbing his wrists.

"Where's Ashley?"

"Upstairs."

Dean started towards the stairs, but then a demon walked down.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean grumbled out.

"Seems Meg isn't alone in this." Sam said standing up behind him.

"How many?" was all Dean asked, not even turning to him.

"More than you expected it seems." the demon chuckled back.

"Is that right?" Dean sniggered. "Cause this ain't just a pretty face, you know?" he paused for a moment then shouted. "Now, Jo!" and he punched the demon. Then as it was trying to regain its balance he caught it off-guard and managed to grab it and throw it behind him.

As the demon scuttled forward unable to stop, Jo rolled a sheet out underneath it's inevitable path. It recognised the markings on it, just a little too late.

"A devil's trap…?" it laughed, "On a blanket?…You really think that's gonna stop me?"

"No." Jo said honestly whilst reaching into her jacket for the book. "Not forever." She opened it up and found the right page. "But long enough for me to do this." And then she began to read from the book, "Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino qui fertis super caelum caeli ad Orientem Ecce dabit voci Suae vocem virtutis…"

"Nice." Dean said as Jo continued. He turned to Sam again to make sure he was okay. Sam was slumped against the wall, obviously not okay, but getting there as fast as he could.

"I told you I knew it inside out." Jo smiled proudly at Dean a few minutes later when she was done and the demon was exorcised.

"Never doubted it for a minute." He returned with a smirk.

Jo rolled her eyes, not falling for his charming lie and snapped the book shut.

As they turned they saw another 2 demons coming down to them.

"I'd keep your finger on that page if I were you, sweetheart." Dean said to Jo. But Jo shoved the book back into her pocket, something telling her she wouldn't get anywhere near exorcising these demons if she didn't help get them into the damn trap in the first place. When she did this Dean understood.

Sensing one of the demons was close he threw a punch behind him and managed to hit it. Jo and him swung into a fight pattern pretty quickly. It just made sense, 2 of them in the rescue party, 2 demons. Each in a different corner of the room using pretty much the same moves. After all it had been Dean who'd taught Jo how to fight properly. She may have been blessed at birth with a mother of a right-hook, but Dean taught her how best to use it and also some other tricks.

Dean had always been better at fighting than Sam. He was just built different, built for this. It wasn't just that'd he done it longer than Sam, but something in him loved this shit and although he'd never choose it over his life with Jo, something in him always thought he was meant to fight, meant to hunt and he relaxed into the fight like all those years in between then and now didn't exist. When he got a free second he shouted Sam and threw him something.

Sam looked confused for a second at what he'd caught. It was a piece of chalk. He twigged just before Dean said, "Why don't you make us a better one; yeah?" That's when the demon socked Dean right in the jaw. Dean rubbed at it and the demon just smiled.

"You okay, honey?" Jo called out calmly as she backhanded the demon holding her.

Dean hit the one he was fighting, knocking him down temporarily with one punch. After he saw Jo kicking the crap out of the demon with her he replied cockily. "Just like riding a bike."

Jo would have said something just as cocky back if the demon on the floor hadn't kicked the back of Dean's ankles making him fall on his ass. Then the demon Jo had been kicking got it's second wind – literally – and sent her flying across the room.

Dean looked over and remembered all those years ago when Jo had almost lost Ashley because of some demon doing exactly the same thing to her. He couldn't bare it, but he couldn't help her because the demon that tripped him up was now straddling him, punching him repeatedly. Dean managed to block one of the punches and was trying to push the fist away from his face.

"Sam?!" Dean bellowed desperately as he saw the other demon heading towards where Jo was on all fours, trying to crawl away or stand up, but failing to do either. "You done yet?"

Sam didn't answer. He was nearly done, but rushing the last symbol.

"Sam!"

"Yeah!" He said standing up and moving away from the trap.

When the demon tried to look behind him to see what Sam had 'done', and when Dean saw that his brother was clear out of the way he raised his knees up under the demon and then snapped his legs out straight again, causing the demon to fly against the wall and land in the devil's trap Sam had drawn.

"Bull's-eye!" Dean said scrambling to his feet and running to the demon standing over Jo. He grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him into the trap as well.

He helped Jo to her feet and then turned around, so did Sam. Meg was coming down the stairs behind another demon.

"For God's sakes!" Dean huffed exhausted. He looked at Sam, "Seriously? How many of them are there?"

"That's the last one." Sam said, "The one behind her is Meg."

With that the 'minion' demon launched herself at Sam, grabbing his jacket to hold him while she hit him.

Meg walked past them unaffected, and her and Dean started circling each other as Jo tried to stand on her own, leaning against the wall for help now Dean had left her.

"Hey, Dean."

"Hey, Meg. Long time no see." Dean smiled.

"You look good."

"You too…Well, at least you're going for the girl-look again."

"Yeah." she smirked, "I don't really like the boy-look to be honest. I pretended I did, when I was in Sam." She shuddered, and whatever it was seemed to spread to Dean too as his stomach flipped, "but I can't really deny who I am…" she continued, "unlike some."

"I think the catch-up's over Meg." he said not rising to the bait.

"It hasn't even begun." she said, "You see; I wanted to catch-up with Dean, the hunter that sent me to hell. Not Dean, the friendly neighbourhood guy who'd change my tyre."

"Oh don't worry, sweetheart. I'd never change your tyre."

"That hurts Dean, we're old friends…but I gotta say I'm surprised. Never figured you for the white picket fence job; even if you secretly thought about it now and again, I never thought you'd actually be pathetic enough to settle for it."

Dean looked angry, but then Meg shot him against the wall and his eyes closed.

"Don't worry sweetheart," she mocked his unconscious form. "Its better this way. This way I've got more ways to hurt you...The more you have, the more I can take away from you." and with that she turned to Jo.

Dean woke seconds later – thank God – just in time. Sam was still busy beating up/getting beaten up and he was the only one who could stop Meg before she killed Jo.

He struggled up and ran at her clumsily. It didn't matter though in the end, because it got her away from Jo and that was his goal. Dean tended not to think too far ahead anyway, which wasn't always the best thing to do, such as at times like this. Meg was a demon, obviously stronger than him and she managed to roll them both over and straddle him, keeping him down and hitting him, much like the other demon had earlier.

That's when Jo managed to get up, Sam too won his fight and both were heading to help Dean.

"Sam!" Jo shouted as she reached Meg first, throwing the book to him. He went back to the trap.

Meg may have been a demon, but she was in a girl's body, and Jo had been in high school long enough to master in girl-fighting. She grabbed hold of Meg's hair and yanked her. Surprised, Meg shrieked and was successfully hauled off Dean onto her back.

Jo looked behind her quickly to check how far away the trap was, and it wasn't far. She made it, pulling Meg in with her and nearly tripping over a lifeless body in the process. Seeing her stumble Dean jumped up and grabbed the book from Sam. "Go get Ashley." He said as he started reading and as Jo clambered away from the demons to join him.

Sam ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. Lucky he had such long legs. Dean read quickly then paused before reaching the end of his speech. Jo looked at him confused.

"Sorry." he said, smirking to himself, "I was just, embracing the moment." He winked at Meg. "This time…is the last time I do this."

"You son of a b…"

"Deus Israhel ipse truderit virtutem et fortitudinem plebi Suae. Benedictus Deus. Gloria Patri."

Meg's body went limp and fell to the floor. Dean smiled, but there was a hint of something other than happiness in what he felt at finally getting rid of Meg, and it troubled him that he didn't know what it was. He shrugged it off and looked up at Jo, he strode towards her and pulled her into his arms, swaying her slightly so she could find her feet after he unbalanced her. Then he looked at her lips as she gazed up into his eyes for a minute before he kissed her.

"What was that for?" Jo asked staring at him.

"Just 'cause." He replied.

They both turned when they heard Sam clunk down the stairs, very, very slowly. "Sam?" Dean asked still smiling at first, then letting go of Jo absentmindedly.

Sam kept walking down to them, but didn't say anything, even when he got to the bottom of the stairs and they could see him fully as he ducked under the doorway.

"Sam?" Jo echoed.

"Sam…Where's Ashl…?" Dean began to ask seriously.

"Dean." Sam said flatly to stop him, but as soon as he had said it Dean began walking towards him swiftly. "Dean; don't." Sam whispered under his breath. He held his arm out to halt him, but Dean desperately and without thought shoved it aside and passed his brother to run up the stairs.

Jo hadn't heard Sam's protest, but when she saw Dean move Sam's arm roughly to get away from him she started running that way too.

When she got to the attic Dean was just stood there. His shoulders were arched and his head was bent away from the small room.

"Dean? What is it…" she started to ask, but he spun around saying "No, Jo. Don't look!" and at the exact same time she saw what he hadn't wanted her to see, and she screamed.

She ran forwards, but he caught her. She had her hand over her mouth for a moment, but he could still hear her screaming. The screams came from deep inside and ripped up through her throat until they became so painful she could only sob. She was trying so hard to get to the sight of her distress that she was almost fully bent over and resting all her weight on the arms that were encircling her. The more she struggled, the more Dean clung to her. Now he was stood the same way as her, pulling her back against his chest, but what she couldn't look away from, he couldn't look at. He tried his best to hold her, whilst his head was turned away.

Eventually he couldn't pull her to him any longer, but it didn't matter, because she had given up fighting and was slumped like a rag doll in his arms. Her legs were bent and Dean just let her drop the rest of the way and at the same time he dropped down too. He fell hard on his knees and she fell onto him. She was draped over him, crying into his jacket as they rocked together backwards and forwards.

Sam hadn't wanted them to see…But now they had…An image burned into their eyes. Their little girl, laying lifeless on the floor. Blood soaked hair and blue lips. A mother's cries and a father's tears. And nothing more than that. Not ever.

AN:- Hope you guys thought this chapter was okay...I didn't want to say "good" because obviously it wasn't a "good" chapter...I know its a propa awful way to end this particular story, but Ive never been one for smooth sailing, and if they rescued Ashley and everything was fine, then the third story Ive planned wouldn't be half as exciting...it would have had to have basically been this same story with a different baddie, who disrupted their happy family life, a nice story at first, becoming a little dangerous...

Whereas now I can start the next story with HUGE tension and angst and get right into the juicy storyline...so the next story will be the last story in this Universe Ive created...and its going to be very ANGSTY, well at least for the majority of it...hope you're as excited to read it as I am to write it (I'm about half way through it)...and hope I haven't lost you all with my late posting on this...

I finish Uni in about 5 weeks, so I'll start posting it then and hopefully I'll have written most of it so I'll be able to post chapters quicker than I have this time around...

Below is just the note for those who decided they needed to know who was going to die before they read the chapter...

SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO MAY BE SENSITIVE TO CHARACTER DEATH :- Ashley, Dean and Jo's little girl is killed...there is no detail of how she is killed...because this happens "off-camera" I suppose...but there is a brief desciption of her after she has died and detailed description of Dean and Jo's reactions upon finding her...