Love Lost

"Dean, wait up!" calls Sam, his long legs allowing him to easily catch up to Dean's angry strides. Dean continues to ignore his younger brother, however Sam's constant attempts to comfort his spiked nerves is making it extremely hard for him to not turn around and clock him in the jaw. Sam exhales heavily and hastily grabs the stubborn man, spinning him around to finally face him.

"What!?" Dean yells as his usually brilliant green eyes dim considerably. His eyebrows are knitted tightly together and a deep frown has pulled his entire demeanor down to a darkened state. Sam knows he has to be cautious around Dean when he's pissed but an innocent girl they basically kidnapped is waiting for their return- he's got to be forceful.

"Just talk to me. We're not gonna solve anything with you running off, Dean."

"Solve what, Sam? Solve what? There ain't a damn thing to solve so lay off."

"No, I won't! You've been hiding a lot of crap ever since you popped from the ground so the least you could do is talk to me about this."

Dean clenches his chiseled jaw and hardens his glare, biting back the oncoming retaliation he has. He can't fight with Sam, at least not now of all situations. They need to take care of this girl and find out what's going on.

"Listen, I'm just really tired, Sammy. I'm tired of this goddamn job. We think we've ended things but once we turn around, oh, what do you know, there's somethin' else!" Dean exclaims, venting his feelings before stopping to pinch the bridge of his nose. Here come the crappy headaches. "I really don't wanna talk about it right now. Let's get back to the girl and figure things out."

"Alright, but we're gonna talk about this later, right?" asks Sam as he gives Dean a hard pat on the shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever. You really should learn to take your own advice, though," Dean replies before stalking towards the hotel room door. Sam opens his mouth to reply, a look of confusion creasing his visage, but by the time he can get anything out, Dean is already out of earshot.

-

"Hey."

Tilting my head up, I move my eyes from my phone to see Dean walking through the door. He leaves it open for Sam, who soon enters behind him with a swirling look of worry and contemplation. I turn my phone off and cross my arms, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Well?" I begin, glancing between the two. Dean quickly looks over to Sam as if asking for confirmation, to which Sam nods his head in agreement. They then nearly simultaneously take their previous seats in front of me and stare at me with strange expressions masking their faces.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I ask consciously, gently patting my cheeks with my fingers.

"No, no, we just... we're trying to figure out what these nightmares could be about," Sam says in response.

I snort. "Well I'm pretty sure the answer isn't on my face so if you'll be as kind as to avert your eyes and not creepily stare at me, thanks."

"What's your name?" Dean cuts in, ignoring my last comment.

"Elena Mae Rowland but you can call me Elena or El. I never got your last names, by the way."

"Winchester. Now, tell us about yourself. Give us a glimpse at the wonderful life of Elena Rowland."

I give Dean a suggestive eyebrow. "Alrighty then. I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas but I moved here in Denton almost 4 years ago for college. I'm 21, turning 22 February 3rd... Let's see... my parents are Beth and Joseph Rowland and I got 2 little brothers named Alex and Nathan. Alex is 10 while Nathan is 15, they're both a pain in my ass but I love 'em. I live in an apartment about 10 minutes from here with my best friend I met freshmen year of college, Lydia Summers. I'm studying to get my degree as an English teacher but I also got a minor in nursing if anything goes wrong. Hm, what else...?" I pause to think before adding with an impish grin, "I'm also a Gemini, I love sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky men. What more do you want to know?"

I attempt to stare them down with a serious expression but fail to do so and start snickering. Dean leans over and flicks my nose, resulting with a crap load of pain on my behalf, much to his enjoyment.

"Huh... so nothing out of the ordinary ever happen in your life? Weird things you've seen or heard that you can't explain?" Sam questions, puzzled.

"Nope, nothing that I can think of. At least nothing too freaky like my nightmares," I respond as I gingerly rub my reddened nose. "What about y'all? I need to know the situation at hand and what I'm dealing with here. It's only fair."

Dean looks over to Sam once again. Lovely, more silent discussions.

"Okay, I'm Sam and that's Dean, as you may already know, and we're brothers, me being the younger one by 4 years. We-"

"I'm 29, he's 24, we're from Lawrence, Kansas but we grew up travelin' around with our Dad blah, blah, blah. Let's get to the important crap," Dean interjects impatiently. Sam shoots him a glare and rolls his eyes before Dean continues.

"Elena, you listen to me and you listen closely," he starts seriously, looking me dead in the eye. "I need you to sit tight and save any questions that might pop up in that pretty little head of yours till I'm done, capiche?"

I nod in agreement and give him the stink-eye.

"Awesome. Well, what you've been dreamin' about these past 4 months... I'm gonna tell you straight up- they're real. They really did happen. But before we get into that, lemme start from the beginning, where it all started."

And that he did. Dean and Sam explain to me about their lives as hunters of the supernatural realm, discussing everything from the demon that killed their mom from when they were little to Castiel, the angel who apparently saved Dean from Hell and everything in between. The whole time I cannot believe what I am hearing and certainly don't want to believe that all of this horror is truly going on around me, but I have to accept it for all of this... this shit... I am now apart of it and there is nothing I can do about it.

"Well... what now?" I ask, still slightly shaken up at the new information placed inside my head.

"That's the billion dollar question, honey, and we don't have the answer just yet-"

"But we'll find out soon enough. However right now we got a case to finish so if we could please just go finish this thing?" Sam interrupts, his comment pointed more towards Dean.

"Right, yeah, the case. I almost forgot about that," Dean replies sarcastically before standing up and stretching his arms. Sam follows suit and goes to the small table to grab the keys to the Impala.

"Um... hello? Kidnapping victim, here. You wanna drop me off at the corner store so I can get home or something?" I ask with a intentional sassy attitude. Who did they think they were?

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. C'mon," Dean sighs as he shoos me to the door. I swat at his forceful hands and thank Sam for holding the door open for me.

Once Dean unlocks the car, I crawl into the backseat, buckle in, and lean my head against the cool window to think about everything that has transpired within the past few days. Usually a normal person would be like, 'Oh, I found 20 bucks!' or, 'I rescued a lost puppy!' but me? No, I found out that pretty much most of what you hear and see in horror stories are real and I've become apart of it. There's my Saturday night for you.

-

When we arrive at the corner store, I thank the two of them for the ride and exchange numbers with them to keep in contact. They both appear slightly hesitant to leave me alone but I wave them off and reassure them that I would be fine.

"Just call us if anything happens, alright?" Sam says with a smile before Dean backs out of the parking lot and disappears down the street.

I let out a sigh and grab my keys from my jacket pocket, using the mobile clicker to unlock it. I get inside and the familiar scent hits me like a tidal wave. I can't wait to get home and finally have my damn cup of coffee.

Once I return to the apartment, I see that Lydia is already finishing up on dinner. Luckily Dean and Sam hadn't been crazy enough to tie me up so she has a brief summary of what happened.

"Alright, girl. Spill," she says excitedly as she takes the grilled cheeses off the stove and places them on 2 separate plates. I think about whether or not I should tell her everything. Telling her about my nightmares was enough of a risk, how will she react with finding out that monsters are real? I clear my throat, feeling a sudden uncomfortable thickness hinder my breathing.

"Um... you might want to sit down for this," I start with an uneasy smile.

For the next hour I explain everything from the corner store to when Sam and Dean dropped me off at my car. I cannot decipher Lydia's emotions the entire time for she keeps a blank expression the whole duration, periodically scrunching her eyebrows or twitching her mouth. By the time I finish, our food is past cold though still edible. I stay quiet and fiddle with my fingers as I wait for her to say something, anything. Finally after about 5 minutes of silence, I look up to see her staring straight at me.

"Holy shit, dude," I gasp, jumping slightly in surprise.

"You're not kidding..." she whispers shakily.

"Please, Lyd... you gotta believe me. I know this is crazy but I need someone I can trust. I can't deal with this alone," I lower my voice, "I'm scared."

Next thing before I know it, Lydia stands from her chair across from mine and moves over to the one beside me, wrapping her trembling arms around my neck. I return the gesture without hesitation, a sigh of relief escaping my lips. I am so grateful to have someone other than those Winchester boys to be in this with.

-

"Sweet dreams, you son of a bitch."

Dean and Sam stand by in satisfaction as they watch the blazing fire they just lit engulf the grave of a vengeful spirit named Daniel Stephens. The lively orange and red flames lick the decayed limbs with such energy as a sharp and unpleasant stench arises rather quickly into the breezy October night. Light from the fire illuminates the two hunters faces, displaying their hardened, though appeased, expressions. However right as they turn to smoke out the fire, a figure appears to their left, startling them to pull out their guns- Their hunter instincts have kicked in.

"Sam, Dean," the figure says, politely acknowledging the brothers.

Castiel.

"Seriously, dude, you need to quit doin' that," Dean snaps as he shoves his gun back into his jacket with annoyance.

"I apologize for frightening you two, but I have come with reason. Where is the girl?"

"The girl? Wh-... oh, you mean Elena?" Sam asks, his face twisted in question.

"Yes, Elena Rowland, now where is she?" Castiel repeats with urgency.

The boys glance at each other. "I'm pretty sure she's at her apartment. Why, is she in danger?" Dean inquires, alarmed.

"No, she is safe... for now."

"What do you mean?" Sam asks hurriedly. The hunters are increasingly becoming annoyed with the angel's short responses.

"I mean if that girl becomes recognized by any of your enemies then she will be put in mortal danger. This cannot happen for her survival is crucial. Especially for you, Dean," Castiel explains as he surveys the area briefly with knit eyebrows.

"Would you quit bein' so damn vague? Why do we need to protect her? What is she to me?" demands Dean furiously.

"I, currently, do not have all of the answers, Dean. I will continue my investigation and return when I discover further information. However for now, you must watch over her. Do your job."

And with that being said, Castiel is gone. Dean groans and kicks the tree nearest him. What the hell is going on? He already has way too much crap on his plate to babysit this random girl from Texas.

"Do your job," Dean mutters, imitating the angel childishly before continuing, "I am doing my damn job! But no, apparently that's not enough. How about we add some psychic kid into the mix just for kicks and see what happens!"

Sam sighs but says nothing, allowing Dean to vent his enraged emotions. He, as well, does not understand the current situation either but all they can do at this point is suck it up and, as Castiel said, do their job.