Missing a Heart

“You hunt demons?” Sherlock asked again, completely astonished. He had asked this question several times, just to make sure he had heard the Winchesters correctly.
“Again, yes,” Dean sighed exasperatedly. For a genius, he was kind of slow with this subject. He took another swig of his beer, looking over at Lana, who was avoiding his gaze.
“You said it yourself Sherlock. You said it was something that wasn’t human that’s doing this, and I think that it’s a ghost. Why don’t we have these guys take care of it, then we can make up something to the police about how the murders stopped?”
“He was a human before,” Lana muttered, barely audible to the rest of the men at the table.
“Well, how do you even do this?” Sherlock asked, extremely intrigued.
“First thing is you have to dig up stuff on the person who murdered and how they died. Usually ghosts are vengeful spirits because they were brutally murdered, or feel that they were wronged in their life. Once you figure that out, you can usually figure out where the person was buried, and how to stop it. The best way to get rid of ghosts is to salt and burn the remains,” Sam explained. “The thing is, we can’t figure out why Toni’s sticking around, and especially killing these girls.”
“He wants her,” Sherlock said simply, nodding toward Lana. “I thought that was obvious. He’s killing girls that look like her and are about to be married, hoping that they’re her when he sees them. When it’s not her, he discards them and takes the heart. That’s just one theory.”
“Well then what’s the plan? We aren’t going to use her as bait, if that’s what you’re thinking we’re going to do,” Dean said, a warning look in his eyes.
“Actually, that’s a great idea Dean. We can use her to lure him out, then she can distract him while we, uh, you know...” Sam trailed off, figuring that mentioning burning Toni’s body in front of Lana wasn’t the best idea at the moment.
“I’ll do it,” Lana nodded.
“No you’re not,” Dean countered.
“Well how else do you suggest we do this Dean?”
“Sam, you know we don’t need to the ghost again to get rid of him!”
 “I wanna see him again,” Lana piped up. “It’ll be just for me.”
 “Fine,” Dean sighed, knowing he couldn’t say no to her. “We’ll go tonight.”

Dean had a knot in his stomach, which had been there ever since he told Lana that she could see Toni again. It had progressively gotten worse as the day had dragged on, and he didn’t even eat dinner because of it. It made him feel even worse that Lana was getting ready for Toni. She had gone through her things to find “the prettiest dress she had” and was currently fixing her hair as he and Sam were getting their things together. “Why’s she getting all pretty for a dead guy anyway?” he muttered bitterly to himself.
“Dean! She was going to be married to this guy. If I had a chance to see Jess I’d want to look my best too,” Sam said, slamming the trunk shut. “You’ve been acting weird all day man. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.”
Sam rolled his eyes, knowing he wasn’t going to get Dean to say anything.
“How do I look?” Lana asked as she bounded out of the room, wearing a light blue lace dress that went to the top of her knees. Her hair was in a loose braid with perfect little curls to frame her face, and a daisy stuck behind her ear.
Dean couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She looked perfect to him. Her smile glowed in the dim lighting, and her eyes shone with delight. She knew she looked beautiful, and Dean wanted to run up and kiss her.
“You look great,” Sam smiled encouragingly.
“Dean?” She asked. “What about you? What do you think?”
“Perfect,” he sputtered.

The plan was to have Sam and Sherlock go to Toni’s grave and burn the corpse, while John and Dean stayed with Lana in case she tried to do something stupid, or if Toni was going to take her.
Dean dropped Sam off with Sherlock, and John sat in the backseat of the Impala with Lana in the passenger seat. The three of them were quiet as they drove the highway and then down a lonely road down to where Toni would be.
“Just be careful, okay?” Dean reminded Lana as they got out of the car.
“I’ll be just fine.” She gave his hand a squeeze and skipped out over to where Toni was waiting. He was barely a shadow, but Lana was ecstatic to see him.
“So she’s going to talk to a dead guy, and you’re totally fine with this?” John asked, leaning against the hood of the Impala next to Dean.
“Not fine with it, but I can’t force her to not do it. She’s a free spirit, so I’m not gonna tell her no. Besides, she really loved this guy.” Dean sighed, keeping a tight grip on the revolver that was under his jacket. “I just don’t like the look of this.”
Dean and John continued to talk, and for a few seconds Dean decided to take his eyes off of Lana, when-
“DEAN!”
Dean whipped around and shot at Toni’s ghost, making him blast to pieces. Once he was gone, Dean dashed over to Lana’s side, grabbing her hand. “You alright?”
“Why did he do that? Why... Why would he do that to me once you looked away? He said you were the one who was gonna get me killed, so he had to do it before you did...” Lana looked at Dean with a confused expression.
“Come on. We need to get out of here before he comes back.” Dean steered her toward the Impala, where John was already on the phone with Sam. As Dean started up the car, Toni appeared in front of the car, covered in flames and screaming in agony. He was there for a split second before disappearing again.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Lana screamed.
“That means he’s being taken care of. It’s fine Lana. Just try to calm down a little.”
“That didn’t explain anything, and I for one would like to know what happened too-”
“Shut up John. Just let me drive.”
John sighed and slumped back, staring grumpily outside as the English countryside sped past them and bled into a large graveyard. Dean slowed the Impala as they got closer to the entrance, getting out and walking in the direction where Sam had told him earlier where the grave was.
Sam ran up to them as he heard them coming up the hill. “Hey,” he nodded at them. “What happened back there?”
“Toni here tried to choke Lana.”
Sam’s expression softened. “I’m sorry.”
Lana shrugged. “I can’t change it. So, where’s Toni?”
“His corpse is burning over there,” Sherlock answered, finally stepping forward. “John and I will order a cab to take us back home. You’ll leave in the Impala I assume?”
“Yeah. Thanks for your help,” Dean said, waving to them as they walked down the hill.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright to see this?” Sam asked gently, setting down the salt and gasoline.
Lana nodded silently, taking a deep breath.
“Honey, I don’t think you should...” Dean started, but he trailed off.
Lana started to cry silently, mesmerized by the flames. That was the last she’d ever see of Toni and she felt like she could just fling herself off a bridge rather than feel the searing pain she was experiencing. She sat down in front of the burning corpse, just watching him wither away to nothing.
“Hey Lana, maybe we should go,” Sam suggested, lightly putting a hand on her shoulder.
“That was my babe,” she whimpered. “He was gonna be my husband!” Lana buried her face in her hands and broke down.
Dean scrambled over to her and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her. Sam rubbed her shoulder supportively, trying to look anywhere but the burning body in front of them.
After what felt like forever of sitting there, Dean moved his hand to brush away some of her tears. “We should go Lana.”
“No,” she muttered.
“Come on,” Dean sighed, picking her up.
“NO!” She screamed. “I WANNA STAY WITH HIM! LEMME GO!” Lana started to viciously punch and hit Dean, but he just kept a firm grip on her and walked her to the car. Sam opened the back door of the Impala and Dean set her in gently, and Lana stopped fighting. She slumped down, tears streaming down her face.
“I’ll stay in the back with her; you drive,” Sam said to Dean as he buckled himself in next to Lana.
“Alright.” Dean swung into the driver’s seat and sped away from the body as quickly as he could. He checked the review mirror every few minutes to see how Lana was doing. She was sitting still with her arms crossed over her chest. Tears occasionally dripped down her face, and she didn’t talk the whole way back to the motel.

“I’m going to get ready for bed,” Lana said once both the boys had changed and settled down to go to sleep.
“Alright. I’ll be waiting here for you,” Dean smiled.
Lana went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, finding the pain pills Dean had in his shave kit bag. She smiled sadly and sat down on the ground as she opened up the bottle.

“Hey, she’s been in there a while,” Sam said while shutting off his computer. “Do you think we should check on her?”
“Yeah,” Dean agreed. “I’ll go see what’s going on.” He stood up and knocked lightly on the door. “Lana? You alright?”
There was no response.
“Lana?” Dean asked again, starting to panic a little. He opened the door to find her on the ground, not moving. “Shit!” He checked her pulse, which was scarily slow. “SAM! GET THE KEYS AND GET BABY STARTED! LANA TRIED TO KILL HERSELF!”
Sam jumped off the bed immediately and ran outside to start up the Chevy while Dean carefully picked up Lana and ran to the car. He sat her in his lap in the passenger seat.

Once she was admitted in the hospital, Sam and Dean sat down, wondering when she was going to wake up.
“I wonder why she did it,” Dean sighed, watching one of the machines breathe for her.
“Well, you know how much it hurt when Dad died. Add that pain to the fact that she was going to have a life with this guy, and he was murdered and no one is being prosecuted for that. Can’t say I blame her.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll go get us some coffees,” Sam said, standing up and walking out of the room.

*Meanwhile*
“Hey! Hello?! Can’t anyone hear me?” Lana ran up and down the halls, waving her hand in front of people who didn’t respond at all to her. “Oh come on!” She looked around, trying to figure out where to go when she spotted Castiel. “Cas!” She yelled, running toward him.
Cas wasn’t as happy to see her as she was to see him. “Are you stupid?!” Castiel shook her a little. “You’re going to ruin Dean’s chance at actually loving someone! There’s only one person he can open up to, and it’s you!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Dean Winchester and you are destined to be together. He needs you.”
“But, but if you love him so much then why can’t you be that person for him?” Lana asked, clearly confused. “All I want is to be with Toni.”
“You don’t think I don’t want to do that? That I want to be the person Dean can rely on, and tell all of his problems to? I want to be that person for him so badly you don’t even know Lana,” Castiel sighed, rubbing his temples. “But that’s not God’s will. You are. You’re the only one that can save him, and if you die now then no one else will be able to.”
“What do you mean ‘save him’?”
“You need to save him from himself. Dean carries a lot of suffering inside of him. It was bad enough with seeing his mother die, but then his father sold his soul.... Losing his father made it even worse. And he doesn’t have anyone he can tell this to. He doesn’t tell Sam because he thinks it’s his job to protect Sam and make everything seem like it’s alright, even if it isn’t. He couldn’t even tell his old girlfriend Cassie about what his family does until months later, and even then he did it because she was wondering where he was going, not because he wanted to. Didn’t you notice that the first night he met you, he told you everything? Or at least as close to everything as Dean could say. That’s because you have a spark about you that makes Dean trust you more than anyone else. And if you leave now, he’s going to burst out with emotion, and it won’t be good.”
“Are you saying Dean and I are going to fall in love?”
“He’s already in love with you. Now go wake up, and be there for him, you hear me?”
“Okay.” Lana ran back down the hospital halls with Castiel at her heels. When she got to her room, Dean was there sitting next to her, holding her hand and talking to her softly.
“Come on baby. Wake up for me, please? If you do I’ll never complain when you want to listen to those Mumford & Sons guys you like so much, and we can go somewhere nice.... We could go to some real expensive-ass place and pretend to be rich, or go wherever you want, do whatever you want,” he laughed. His smile fell a little as he watched her not moving. “You just gotta wake up first, okay?”
Castiel touched Lana’s arm, and she was instantly transported back to her body. She gasped, choking slightly on the breathing tube that was stuck down her throat.
“Lana!” Dean grinned before yelling for a doctor or someone to come help.
A guy with sandy blonde hair and a large nose came running in and started working on her, taking her breathing tube out and checking her vitals. “There. All good,” the guy smiled once he was done.
Lana grinned in return. “Thanks, Doctor....?”
“Actually I’m a nurse. My name’s Rory. Rory Williams.”
“Well thank you, Rory Williams,” Lana nodded.
“No problem. Just don’t stress yourself out or anything and you’ll be better in no time.” Rory gave her a small wave before walking out.
Dean leaned over her, kissing her forehead. “Oh, thank God you woke up!” He laughed, feeling the weight of anxiety leave him. “Did you hear me talking to you?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, holding his hand. “Something about going wherever I want?”