Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter Fifty-Three - Apologies and Nerds

"Hey." Sam jogged up behind Elizabeth as she walked towards their bedroom, grabbing her arm to stop her. "Can we talk for a second, please?"
She knew this was coming. She was just glad that it was sooner rather than later.
"Sure." She sighed, motioning to their bedroom.
As soon as Sam closed the door, the room flooded with thick tension.
"We need to talk about what you did back there."
"I killed a monster - same thing I've been doing for centuries." She shrugged.
"Is that how you've rationalised it?" Sam asked, sitting in front of her on the bed. "Because, no matter what he did, he wasn't one of the things we hunt."
"You didn't see it, Sam. He was on top of Claire. He was going to do something I don't even want to think about. He was worse than the things we hunt. If I'd have let him live, you and I both know that he was just going to do it to some other poor girl. Think of the lives I saved from being ruined."
Sam sighed, looking down at his hand in his lap.
"Elizabeth, that's a job for the police. That's not what we do - killing Humans isn't what you do."
Elizabeth scoffed, looking everywhere in the room but at him.
"I don't regret what I did. I'd do it again and a thousand times more if I had the chance." She said.
"Claire told me what you did. It was sadistic, Elizabeth. Cas even said you didn't bother to stop her when she kicked the crap out of him." Sam replied. "What did you do when you killed him?"
Elizabeth smirked at the memory, which only unnerved the Winchester more.
"I showed him how much stronger than him I was - reminded him of how much of a disgusting animal he is... I held him as far up the wall as I could and then..." She mimicked the action of her wrist when she'd snapped his neck, her gaze zoning out as she relived it.
"Is that what all this is about?" Sam asked, gesturing to the bloody claw marks on her forearms and hands.
"He struggled almost as much as Claire did when he was on top of her." She gave a small smile.
"The fact that you seem to be enjoying thinking about this is... I don't know... It's not exactly making me feel good. You're reminding me of Dean when he was fighting Cole as a Demon." Sam shuffled uncomfortably, subconsciously adjusting his position a little further away from her. "I feel like... Maybe Eden is having more control over you now that you're remembering her."
Elizabeth frowned. She rose to her feet, making him look up at her.
"What would you have done in my stead, huh, Sam? Would you have let him live? Would you have been able to live with yourself if you'd heard he'd done it and actually succeeded with another girl? I don't think you would. So, excuse me if I saw a problem and had the balls to take care of it." She snapped, walking over to the door. "And for the record, Eden is me, whether either of us like it or not. Elizabeth may not have taken a Human life, but at least this version of me made it someone who deserved it and not some innocent like Eden did. I can't believe you'd even think that, let alone say it to my face."
With that, she stormed out, slamming the door so hard that the furniture in the room shook; the hinges in the doorframe almost giving way.

Sam had had to explain to Castiel and Dean why Elizabeth had stormed out of their room and gone for a drive.
To be fair, he had been completely honest about what he'd said and didn't protest or fight back when Dean reared back and punched him.
Cas had watched Dean walk off towards the kitchen and then given Sam a reprimanding of his own, expressing his non-defence of Elizabeth's actions, but that her motives were sound. He then proceeded to scold the younger Winchester on his comparison of Dean's previously demonic state and for bringing up Eden and her actions at all.

Elizabeth hadn't come back for a solid week.
She'd kept in touch with Dean so that he knew she was still alive, but she'd driven out of state and simply kept going. He'd told her that Claire had gone to do her own thing and that he'd given the teen Elizabeth's number should she need to chat with anyone. He'd also mentioned that they'd had Metatron imprisoned in the Bunker for a while. It was then, when it seemed to be getting serious, that she started making her way back.
Elizabeth had had time to clear her head - just her and the road once again, but she knew she needed to return at some point. Especially with Dean and the Mark of Cain how they were. He'd even opened up, telling her about nightmares he'd woken up from and how the urge to kill was sometimes too great. He'd almost killed Metatron. Elizabeth had joked that that wasn't the Mark of Cain and that it was just the fact that Metatron was an asshole who probably needed to stop breathing, but the underlying worry was still there.