Louder Than Words

Bayleigh felt she was a chronic over-thinker. She over-thought everything. She over-thought names, lyrics, origins of things (like artichokes), and even words. Like 'upset'. 'Upset' always stumped her. Why does upset mean what it means? Why is it only thought that upset meant figuratively, emotionally upset? Why not literally? Why does to upset someone not mean to literally upset someone? Pick them up and put them in a different place, or turn them over, or set them askew. What does it all mean? And love. Why do people have to fall into it? Why can't the float down gracefully? Why does it have to hurt? And who decides who you fall in love with? How can someone walk into a room and see that one person they were destined to be with? How did they end up there, at the same place at the same time? Was it fate? Destiny? Divine will? Or just dumb luck? What went into the creation of these two people that made them so damn perfect for each other? And how, out of the billions upon billions of people currently inhabiting this sad excuse for a world, how did these people find each other? It was so frustrating having to think about it like this. But Bayleigh just couldn't stop.

Another thing that confused her when she thought about it too much was facial expressions. She wondered if they were natural. Okay, that sounds weird, but honestly think about it like that. Like, what if back in the day, the cavemen didn't have the brain power to form a legitimate verbal language so they had to improvise and use facial expressions to communicate and then it sorta just became ingrained into our beings, like swallowing or laughing at something funny or blinking. This is what she thought about as she watched Syd's face in the rearview mirror from the backseat. He was trying to hide his obvious sadness with a smile and some light conversation. It wasn't fooling either passenger.

"Oh, hey drop me off at Xavier's please," Ally smiled, pointing to a large apartment building coming up. Bayleigh envied her as she (unknowingly) took off towards a vampire's nest and Bayleigh took the front seat next to Syd's painfully phony good mood.

Her mood lightened when they arrived at the mechanic's a few minutes later, though. She had to force down the hint of a smile playing at her lips as she payed the greasy, yet attractive man for the discounted service. He briefly embraced Syd and then they left, Zeke riding shotgun in the Dodge. When she got to the house, she put the puppy in the living room, walked up the stairs and took a few minutes to look at the pre-packed duffels sitting in the small closet. She picked them up and set them on the edge of the bed, and as they touched down, she couldn't help but smile. Freedom was within viewing distance and she was waiting with the calmest anticipation she could muster. After a few more moments of staring giddily at her packed bags, she shouldered them and went downstairs. She set the bags in the hallway and stood at the entryway to the kitchen.

Syd leaned against the counter on his hands, glaring at the ingredients for a PB&J sandwich splayed out on the fake wood before him. He looked up when she leaned against the arch-frame from the hallway.

“Do you really have to go?” he asked, looking at the bags on the floor behind her.

“Would you rather the alternative?”

“I guess it depends. What is it?”

“Well, either I stay and be miserable and maybe even throw a temper tantrum, or I just leave in the middle of the night without saying anything…” She trailed off at the last part and they kinda just looked at each other sadly. In their heads, they both finished with a variation of ‘Like you did to Sam’.

“Oh,” Syd said.

“Yea.” She bumped herself off the arch-frame and went to lean against the counter next to him, crossing her arms. “I’ll be back, though. I won’t just leave you with a vampire. Not until I know you’re safe.”

“Oh but you can’t leave!” he said suddenly, grinning, pushing himself off the counter and putting his hands on her face. “He’s ravenous. You have to stay or he’ll eat us! Oh, Please, Bayleigh!”

She smiled and shook her head. “Syd…” But he was leaning towards her. His hands fell off her face and sought her hands and she lost her smile and shook her head again. She opened her mouth to say his name but all that came out was, “Cas?” Bayleigh frowned at the figure that had appeared behind Syd, who was completing the process of turning around.

“What the—who the hell—How did you get in here?”

“What are you doing here, Castiel?"

“You know this guy?” Syd demanded.

She ignored him. “Cas. What is it?” she asked with more emotion than she had intended. What was happening that required Cas to come here? Was Sam hurt? Was Dean hurt? Was Sam dead? Was something happening with Garth? If Garth was dead… The kid was like family. But if not that then what? Her heart sunk. Was this his plea for her return? Was this his ‘You’ve had your fun, now come home’ summons? Did he know where she was? If Cas knew she was here then did Sam? Did Dean? Dean had told her to never come back. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to know why the hell was Castiel standing in Syd’s house?

“Uhm," he cleared his gravelly throat, even though she didn't think angels could be plagued by phlegm, "Garth has called for the aide of all hunters in order to end a new threat.”

"And what is that?" The angel didn't respond, just looked between her and Syd. "Syd can handle it. He's a big kid now," she said, frustrated.

"Vampires."

A cold blossomed up from her toes; she knew exactly what was going on. The hunters had finally figured it out. She quickly hid the fact that she knew anything and replied, "Since when does an Angel care about the affairs of monsters?" She saw Syd's eyes widen out of the corner of her eye and began to brace herself for the momentous amount of explaining she would have to do when Cas left.

"I cam upon request from Sam." She swallowed and gave herself a mental slap. Should have known the Winchesters would be meddling in it.

"Oh? And what did he say?"

"He knows that you did not tell him the whole truth when you told him about your past. But all he knows is they you are connected with this."

Her heart stopped and she looked at the ground. "Is that it?" Than angel gave a short not and disappeared.

They were silent for a few seconds and then Syd said, "What the fuck was that?" Bayleigh sighed.

<><><><><>

They slunk in single file around the house, looking for an entrance with the most cover. Once they found it, located on the side of the house, Hayden pulled out a set of lock picks and unlocked the door faster than Dean had ever seen anyone do it. He wondered where Hayden had gotten that practice. When the door clicked open, they split up. Sam and Dean took the stairs while the Vasco siblings searched the bottom floor. Each group was supposed to take one hostage each for questioning. The upstairs was centered around the great sweeping staircase with two doors on each wall. They were met by a balcony circling the foyer.

Sam and Dean split at the top of the staircase. At the count of three they each opened a door. It was empty. The next ones were, too. Finally, the third try, Sam was met with three vampires at once. Seeing his brother, Dean dashed to the room, getting there in time to inject the third with dead man's blood while Sammy wrestled and beheaded the second. Sam nodded at Dean and they silently set off again, each taking separate doors. The rest of the rooms and the third floor were empty, but during their search, they heard the quiet scuffles of a fight down below. When they were done, Sam hefted their hostage over his shoulder and they went downstairs to meet Reagan, Foster, and Hayden. Fozzy had a split lip, but was grinning nonetheless, walking next to Reagan with Hayden trailing behind, carrying a blonde female vampire. Sam and Hayden put the vampires in the center of the room and bound them for kicks and giggles, seeing as the blood would probably keep them motionless for a while.

"I'd be willing to bet the girls are in the basement," Fozzy whispered. "There was a door in the kitchen that we didn't open."

They tiptoed down the hallway and then through the door in question. It led them down some concrete steps into a dimly lit room. One dull naked light bulb was hung in the middle of the room. It shone on a wall, lined with four chain-link cages. There were girls in three of them. A man knelt on the floor in front of one of the cages, murmuring to one of the girls. She was looking at the ground, her head barely moving as the five entered the basement. The man, however, said one final word as both Hayden and Sam stepped forward, machetes raised. But the vampire took off, dodging both swings and shooting up the stairs and out the door. Dean, Reagan, and Fozzy all started after it, but stopped when they realized that chasing it would probably get them nowhere. Meanwhile, Sam couldn't take his eyes off of the girl the vampire had been taking to.

It was Bayleigh.

He took a step towards her, but stopped as the girl pushed her hair out of her face and looked up into the light. The differences were tiny, but they were there and they shone like neon lights in Sam's eyes. Dean approached his brother, also staring at the girl, but only seeing Bayleigh. He looked between Sammy and the girl, brows furrowed and perfect lips parted slightly.

"Who are you?" Sam choked out. The girl sat straighter, glaring defensively. She was strangely cleaner than the other two girls, now being let out of their cages by Reagan and Foster, who didn't keep their eyes off the situation with the brothers for very long.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Is that-?" Dean turned to Sam.

"No. What's your name?"

"Perenna." Sam, despite his gut feeling that it wasn't in fact her, fought a sigh of despair.

Without another word, Sam turned and left. The four remaining hunters stared after him, then Reagan, Foster, and Hayden turned to look at Dean. Dean just shook his head and said, "Let's get these girls out of here."