A/N: There is precious little time to save Reaper, and its outlook is not good - not good at all. May upfronts are only a week or two away. Just remember, Reaper was declared dead early on last year too, but came back with a renewal at the last minute. If we gather together, maybe we can get the CW to change its mind. Stare reality in the face and say NO.

If you want to help try and save the show, please click on my profile page. I have all the snail and email addresses, petitions, voting opportunities, etc. listed there.

A/N 2: There is one more chapter left.

In his life, Sam understood two things: one, he was destined to always have pricks for bosses; and two, his girlfriend was placed on Earth to save his ass. She'd already done so twice since the soul had come after them, not including when she'd grabbed the vessel and shoved it at him as they'd made their escape out of the stockroom and into the main store.

Unfortunately, running and aiming were not his strong suits. The one time he'd tried to turn around to aim the vessel at Fletcher, he'd banged straight into a pole. Andi had saved him again then too, when she ran back, pulled him off the ground, and dragged him behind the cover of the nearest major appliance.

One day, Sam knew he was going to marry her. That is, if she ever stopped throwing him looks of pure exasperation.

“Sam!”

“What?!”

“We need a plan.”

At a loss, he stared at her blankly. “Uh, yeah. A plan. Good idea.” The scowl his girlfriend was leveling at him almost made him feel he'd be safer with Fletcher. Somehow he didn't think Andi would like that plan.

Frantic voices suddenly came from the direction of the Garden Center. “Sam!” “Over here, Sam!”

Seizing the opportunity, he gestured towards the Center. “My plan is to join them.” Checking to see the coast was clear, he saw Fletcher with his back to them. They took off towards their friends. Spotting Ben peeking out from behind a large potting cart, Sam steered her towards the hideout.

But Fletcher had seen them. Diving behind the cart just in time, Andi made it to safety. Sam wasn't so lucky. Suddenly his arm exploded in pain as a rapidly melting dagger finally found its target. He fell, and worse, the vessel skidded out of his grasp into parts unknown. Sam made a futile attempt to scramble in the direction it went, only to shudder at the sound of a frosty voice. He rolled over to see Fletcher's cold smile widen mockingly, as the butcher stood blocking the entrance.

“Did the poor Reaper lose his weapon? Pity. The meat is always more tender when you know the game put up a fight.”

Taking advantage of the invitation to fight back, Sam got up to stand in front of the cart shielding his friends. As he moved, he slightly tripped and looked down in confusion. It was the garden hose Sock and Ben had punctured earlier with their flooding prank. Looking back up, Sam noticed Fletcher eyeing the hose curiously too. Tracking the direction of the butcher's gaze as he followed the hose from Sam's feet to the wall where it connected, Sam panicked. The connection was right under a large red button painted with the word ON.

Seeing the look of realization dawn upon the boy, Fletcher grinned as horror appeared on Sam's face when he sculpted a dagger and threw it, hitting the button. Everywhere, water immediately started streaming upward out of the punctured hoses, in a weird version of an inside rainstorm. Fletcher laughed coldly as he motioned the water towards him, and froze it into tiny, razor-sharp ice needles – then shot them back towards Sam at a deadly velocity. He shook his head in disappointment of the ease of this catch, as the boy pathetically put his hands up in a weak attempt to protect him and his friends from the onslaught.

Only to feel the heat as he discovered his prey refused to be a victim.

The three heads peeping above the plant cart stared in shock, the sight before them leaving them speechless.

Sam was melting the ice. Hands held determinedly in front of him, he was focusing his heat power into a protective shield the ice could not solidly pass through. It melted the second it hit the heat barrier, assaulting them with gusts of water. Through the storm now assailing them, his friends watched in awe as Sam strained forcibly to create a shield large enough to cover all of them.

Fletcher, on the other hand, looked on in fear – especially as Sam increased the heat barrier to move closer and closer to him. Fletcher increased the sheets of ice now coming towards Sam, in waves that should have pummeled the boy. But still, Sam and his shield held strong.

“Oh my God,” Andi whispered, as the three slid down behind the cart in order to protect themselves from the deluge of warm water aimed at them.

“Whoa,” Sock echoed. Ben nodded his head in agreement.

Able to see clearer now that she didn't have torrents of water in her eyes, Andi started to search around. “We've got to find the vessel for Sam.”

All three inched as far as they dared towards the end of Sam's protective shield and scanned the Garden Center trying to spot the missing hairdryer.

“Look!” Andi suddenly shouted, “I see the vessel! It’s right there!”

Sock and Ben turned to where she was frantically pointing. Seeing the hairdryer lying on the ground several feet in front of them, Sock groaned. It was outside of Sam’s protective heat shield, and battered by the needle-sharp ice pummeling down upon it. Oddly, the ice was bouncing off the vessel instead of impaling it, but Sock was pretty sure the same wouldn’t happen to his hand – or any other part of his body - if he tried to reach out to grab it.

Ben panicked when he realized the situation as well. “How are we going to get it?”

Inspiration suddenly struck Sock. "I got it!" He sat down and started struggling to take off his shoes.

Ben looked at him in shock. "What are you planning to do? Stink him back to Hell?"

"No, Simple Ben!” Finally pulling one shoe off, he held it up by one of its long laces. “I’m going to use it to get the vessel!"

Andi quickly grabbed the shoe away from him. "Sock, this may be the only time I ever say this, but you are a genius. Ben, get the laces out of your shoes too, so we can make this thing longer."

Ben quickly complied, taking the laces out of his shoes and handing them to Andi. She took them and tied them to Sock's shoe. Then moving back, she swung the shoe in a circle until letting it go to fly in a gentle arc over towards the vessel.

It missed.

Groaning, she quickly pulled the shoe back to try again. With a nervous look over at the rapidly draining Sam, Sock urged, “Hurry up!”

“Shut up, Sock!” she barked back. Swinging the shoe over again, this time she managed to hit the hairdryer. Carefully pulling the shoe back, she dragged the vessel towards them. When it reached the heat barrier, and Andi could safely retrieve it, she grabbed it, turned towards the soul, and hit the switch for the vessel.

But the vessel remained still.

"Sam!" she yelled, "it's not working! I can't get it to go!"

Struggling against the increasing waves of ice, Sam barely managed to respond. "It's…heat…activated."

Without removing his concentration from the soul, he pointed one arm towards her. The vessel flew out of Andi's hands and directly to him. With one fluid motion, he caught it one-handed and swept it like a gun towards the soul. Focusing all his power through it, a blast of heat emanated from the nozzle, hitting Fletcher full force. Screaming in agony, he melted. The blast of heat then returned to the vessel - pulling Fletcher along with it.

Sam dropped the vessel in exhaustion. Waves of steam drifted off him, and he fell to the flooded concrete floor. Andi rushed over to him as Ben ran to turn off the water, but Sock stayed still, staring in awe between his best friend and the hair dryer lying a few feet away.

Drenched from head to toe, he shook his head sending water flying in all directions. Finally letting out a loud whoop, he jammed both hands in the air and danced. "That, Sammy? Was smokin'."