Breathe Life Into Me

Dean’s POV

Our next stop was the town’s local Retirement Home. “Hey Dean…can we talk for a second?” Mel voiced.

I froze in my spot. “Can it wait? We’re in the middle of a…”

“You don’t think Sam and Brit can take care of interrogating the elderly?”

“Between interrogating and babysitting…?” I gestured to Cas. “I really don’t think they can do it all. Come on” I grabbed her hand to pull her along.

“But Dean…” She just sighed and reluctantly followed.

I guess I was kind of afraid that if she were to bring it all up…then it would feel to real…and I would break down in front of her when I need to stay strong for her. I know she’s struggling right now so she needs someone to lean on so I can’t be the one to crumble…but I also know if she starts talking about how we were separated for all this time and about what we both went through…I wouldn’t be able to keep it together. It would all feel much more real than it already is and I don’t need to think about what she had to go through. I don’t need that on my mind all the time….

“You are so pretty, Charles” the old woman said to Cas. Him, Mel and I were questioning her while Brit and Sam were doing their own thing.

“That's not my name”

“Oh! You look so much like my third husband” “

We're here to talk about the robbery, ma'am” I told her.

“Robbery?”

“The one the police talked to you about a few days ago. Someone broke into your old house and stole a stack of bearer bonds and some jewelry that you stashed under your floorboards” Mel continued smoothly.

“Oh, my diamonds, yes. I hid them there. I'm sorry, Charles. I didn't trust you. You were quite the bounder” she said to Cas. Mel and I both smiled, amused.

“Did you tell anyone where your valuables were, Mrs. Tate?” I asked her.

“I don't think so. But then I get a little fuzzy sometimes”

“Have you noticed anything strange lately…cold spots, smells?”

“Well…there's the cat” she pointed to the cat laying sitting on the arm of the couch.

“The cat?” Mel and I inquired.

“He talks sometimes. Really hates that mouse”

“I'll interrogate the cat” Cas established and walked over to it.

I shook my head at him…and then saw Mel checking out one of the orderlies walking by. I nudged her and gave her a look. “What?”

“What? What was that?” She rolled her eyes at me and went back to the old woman. “No, don’t just push me away”

“Oh like you’ve been doing to me?”

My mind went blank. “Excuse us” I said to the woman, grabbed Mel by the arm and pulled her over to an indent in the wall so we were out of the way.

“So I can’t look at other people anymore even though you wont even look at me, right? This is what I have to do now just to get your attention? I don’t understand, Dean” she sighed.

“No. You don’t”

“So explain it to me” she pleaded.

“I…I can’t”

“Why not? Just say it!” she hissed.

“It doesn’t feel real!” I finally admitted. She leaned back against the wall. “You don’t feel real. I’m afraid of that one wrong move and you’ll be gone again…”

“Don’t you think that’s how I felt when you went to Hell…?”

“It’s different…”

“How?”

“It really felt like you weren’t coming back this time…I almost gave up, Melissa…it came that close…and now…”

“What can I do to convince you that I’m here and this is real?”

I just stared into her eyes of desperation. She wanted to help me so badly…and I hated myself because I was supposed to be the one to help her.

“I don’t know…just stop rushing into the hunting…not until you’re sure that you’re ready. Because this whole Purgatory thing made me realize…I really can’t protect you from everything”

I walked back over to Sam and Brit. They didn’t have anything either. “Hey, Dean, do you remember a guy named Fred Jones? I think he was a contact of Dad's, lived outside of Salt Lake” Sammy mentioned.

“Yeah, that guy gave me my first beer. I don't even think I was double digits”

“Right, yeah. Me, too. He was psychic, right?”

“Psychokinetic. Why?”

“'Cause he's in room 114”

“Cas. Let's go”

“I've almost cracked him”

“Now, Cas” Brit ordered.

We all got to the room and found a decrepit old man just staring blankly up at a TV which was playing old school cartoons. “Mr. Jones? Hey, it's, uh, Sam Winchester” Sam tried. No response.

I reached up to shut the TV off. “Fred! Hey!” I clapped in front of his face but he still just stared up at the black screen.

“So, you really think this one man is causing all of these…Shenanigans?” Cas asked.

“Well, if he is, he'd be surrounded by a circle of crazy, right?” Brit said.

“Well lets test it” Mel voiced. Before I could even react her fist collided with my face.

I went flying back into the wall and I could literally hear and see birds chirping as they circled around me. When I got to my feet I turned to see the shape of my body had imprinted on the wall behind me.

“Well it definitely works” I grunted.

“But how?” Cas wondered.

“Fred's got juice. I mean, an average psychokinetic can move things with his mind, but a guy like Fred-you get him worked up, he can reshape reality” Sam explained.

“All right, so where's his "off" switch?” Brit said.

“I don't know. I'm not even certain if he knows we're here”

“Do we…kill him?” Cas asked.

“Excuse me, Agents” the doctor came walking in. “Did he just threaten to murder one of my patients?” Well…there goes that….

~

“Real freaking smooth” I shook my head at him.

“Well, we don't have to leave him. I could teleport him”

“Fred's radioactive, Cas. You zap him, no telling what will happen” Mel said monotonously.

“We’ll circle back tonight, get Fred nice and clean. You go “Invisible Girl” and keep an eye on him. You hear me?” I instructed…and when I turned to look at him. He was gone. Good.

Brit’s POV

The car ride was so tense I was afraid to breathe. “So uhh…is something…going on…you know…between you and…?” I tried to whisper to Mel.

“Oh no. Apparently I can only speak when spoken to. Look when looked at. Do what I’m told” she shrugged.

“That is not what I said” Dean interrupted.

“No but it’s pretty much what you said”

“Why do you have to throw everything out of proportion?”

“Why can’t you just tell me what you really mean then?!”

I tried so hard to hold it in but I couldn’t anymore…I just burst out laughing. “What are you laughing at?” they both snapped at me. Sam looked back at me grinning. He knew why.

“Nothing. Please continue” I coughed a little to cover it up.

“There’s no time. Cas sent me a message. Something happened at the Retirement Home” she said and Dean did a quick U-turn and we were on our way back.

When we got there we found cake all over the walls and Fred wasn’t in his room anymore. But we did happen to get our first clue. One of the woman there was wearing very valuable jewelry that Cas seemed to have had a connection to. So he led us to a house where we found a wounded orderly. Cas worked his magic on him so he was healed and managed to tell us that the Doctor had kidnapped Fred to use him for his “magic”. He’s been using Fred to rob and steal and now he was on his way to the bank for one last go.

“All right. Jones has got to be close. I'll hit the bank. You see if you can find him” Dean established.

“You should have one of us go with you” I said, obviously gesturing to Mel, shoving her forward.

“Just don’t kill each other with so much love okay?” Sam grinned and the three of us walked away.

I giggled as I watched them become amused with walking through the giant black hole that was on the wall. “They’re so close!” I said excitedly.

Sam smiled down at me. Seeing them fight so much…it really made me happy. It was just like…how it used to be…. But Sam was still out of it…he was still somewhere else. He was still with Amielia.

Dean’s POV

“Are you really that angry with me?” I asked her.

“No, Dean. Just annoyed”

“Yea, I can see that” I chuckled.

She spun quickly to look at me but then looked up to see the steam that was coming right out of her ears. Her jaw dropped and she tried to quickly pat it away. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, are you really that nervous to be around me?” she smirked and I stopped laughing.

“No. Why?”

“Because you’re sweating puddles”

I looked down to see I was standing a literal puddle of my own sweat. “Shut up” I glared at her as I had to unbutton the top button of my shirt because I was feeling the heat. It wasn’t just nerves….

We continued to walk down the hallway. “You know that’s not what I really meant, right. I would never tell you that you can’t talk unless you’re spoken to…it’s not like you would take that kind of shit from anyone anyway…I’m just…”

“I know. You’re scared that I’m not real. But I am real, Dean. And I’m not going anywhere. If friggin Purgatory can’t keep me down then I’d think you would at least think twice about worrying about me. You don’t need to protect me from everything. I know better than anyone that it’s impossible…” she stopped in her tracks and then turned to face me.

“I just need Dean back. Not this guy who thinks I’ll break whenever he just looks at me”

There were some footsteps. We raced into the vault and found the Dr. Mahoney stuffing money and jewels into a black hole. “What's up, Doc?” we interrupted his process, revealing our guns.

“You let me walk, and half of this is yours”

I looked over at the bag that was overfilled on the table. Mel nudged me. “I think we’re gonna pass”

“Yea. Not really into stealing from sweet old ladies”

“I'm not stealing from them. I'm stealing from their children. Little bastards think they can drop their folks off at a home and visit twice a year, maybe. I took care of all these old geezers. I think I deserve…”

“I don't care!” I snapped, annoyed.

“Fine. Have it your way”

I lowered my gun slightly but then he flew papers at us, pushed us up against the wall, into the glass case and we both fell to the ground. I fired my gun first…but instead of a bullet pop…a red flag with big black letters on it that read BANG popped out instead.

“Welcome to the fun house” he laughed and raced out. We chased after him.

I got the upper hand as I jumped off a ledge and onto his back, bringing us both crashing onto the floor. But out of no where he whipped out a friggin frying pan and hit me in the face three times with it. There went the birds again.

“Give up! I've been dealing with this crazy for months! And you idiot bring a gun to a gag fight” he laughed as he got to his feet and stalked away from me.

“Yea well that idiot brought me and I brought this” Mel voiced. We both looked over at her as she held up a can of spray paint. “X marks the spot sweet cheeks” she winked.

We both looked down to see a black X where Mahoney was standing. Man, I love that woman….

He looked up and then dove out of the way right as an anvil came crashing down in his spot. I got to my feet as Mahoney grabbed his bag and made a run for the hole. Mel stuck her foot out so he tripped and went face first. He should’ve went right through but it was all solid wall.

“Well would you look at that” she smiled.

“Looks like somebody turned off the boob tube” I smiled back.

“Good. Means I can use this” he said, pulling a gun out on Mel. Everything in me tensed up and I could feel the adrenalin flowing through my veins. If he even tried…

“No!” We turned to see Fred, Sam and Cas standing behind us. “You are never going to hurt anyone again!” Fred established.

All we could do was watch as Fred had complete control over Mahoney’s arm and he forced the gun up to his head. A fire went off as we all flinched and Mahoney’s body fell to the floor. “Now that's all, folks”

~~

Well…Cas did some of his angel-mojo stuff on Fred to make him an official senile old person. It was Fred’s choice. He didn’t want to risk losing it again and hurting somebody. And on top of it Cas wasn’t tagging along anymore. He was coupling it up with Fred to make sure everything would go smoothly. And so…it was back to just the four of us.

Night fell and Brit and Sam were completely knocked out in the back seat. Mel looked back at them and laughed. “Pull over” she whispered.

“Why? We’re making good time”

“To where? Do you have a date?” she joked. “We don’t have anywhere we have to be, do we? Just pull over”

So I pulled over into a small field and she got out of the car. I got out too and then she got on the hood and laid across it, putting her head on the windshield. “Well? Are you going to join me or not?” I looked around first and then I looked back at Sam and Brit…then I slid up onto the hood beside her.

I just watched her as she stared up at the stars and showed no sign of being cold or discomfort. She just smiled in content. "Why don’t you just ask me?"

"Ask you what?"

"If I remember"

"You already said you didn't..."

"And your gonna take that for an answer?" she cocked an eyebrow at me and then looked back up to the stars. I stared at her bewildered and waited for her to continue.

"I do remember...it comes in bits and pieces but I still remember. I remember monsters trying to literally tear my body apart so they could get at my demon essence. I remember when my spirit had left me completely and I had fallen into a deep sleep...it had the aura of a nice dream and yet it felt like child birth..." I couldn't hear anymore....

"But...I think that I lasted as long as I did because...I knew you were coming for me" she turned her head to look at me. "No matter where I go...or what I've done...or who I am...I know you’ll be there. And it doesn't really matter to me if your my boyfriend or my husband or just some hobo I found off the streets...knowing you’ll always be there...is good enough"

I searched her eyes for some indication of...I don't even know what. But all I saw was honesty...and love. "Well your not dumping me already, are you? It hasn’t even been a full 72 hours yet" I carefully slid my arm around her shoulders and she leaned more into me so she was now laying into the crease of my body.

"Only if your not dumping me"

"Oh I would never dream of it" I laughed.

"And why's that? Because I'd break your arm before you can even get the words out?" she teased.

"Exactly. Ladies and gentlemen, my psycho ex-girlfriend, Melissa Stern" I joked. She giggled.

"So...are you going to stop being so overprotective now?"

"Probably not...I just won't make it as noticeable"

"Okay ill take it...will you at least kiss me more?"

"That I can definitely do"

I looked down at her and saw her face was already so close to mine...and suddenly I was nervous. I refused to show it though. I cupped her cheek and kissed her. Our first real kiss since she's been back...and it was real. She was real....