Chapter 1

Grace

"An hour with number 306," Grace looked up from her journal and frowned at the man, leaning on the counter. "The lady has a name," she seethed through gritted teeth. The man leaned in closer to me. "Chick number 306, you whore," he said quietly. Grace got off the chair and slammed her hand onto the marble counter, cursing in her mind from the impact. "How about you show some respect?" Grace was a lot shorter than the guy but still came off as menacing. At least until her boss came walking towards them.

"Is there a problem, Brody?" he asked the man. Brody started grinning like the idiot he is, in Grace's opinion.

"Yes, I believe there is. See, your girl here," Grace shuddered at the words 'your girl'. "…disrespected me. Do you really think this position suits her?" Brody looked her up and down.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Chad asked his employee. Grace followed him into the back room. When Chad closed the door, he turned around and grabbed her arm, yanking her towards him. Grace yelped in pain by the sudden action. "You listen to me! Whatever costumers say, you do what they want, do you understand? Your childish behavior is taking us nowhere!" he hissed, digging his fingers into her skin.

"Chad, let go," Grace whispered, avoiding eye contact. "Just do what you're told to," he said, pushing her away and leaving.

Grace sat down on a chair and tried to calm herself down. How many times had she told herself not to listen to the douchebags approaching her but she always felt like she needed to defend the girls.

When she thought she was okay, she left the room and walked back behind the counter, Chad and the customer long gone. She closed her journal and leaned back on the fluffy chair, trying to drown out the noises behind closed doors.

People walked in and out of The Boiling Stream as Grace watched every single one of them. She has been working in the brothel for years now, but you couldn't say she ever got used to it. Grace still hoped to get out of there one day. That day, however, seemed to lay too far in the future. Or so she thought.

The two men who walked in next caught Grace's attention. There were dressed in suits, not as if other costumers weren't but there was something about the way they stepped into that place that made her want to approach them. She just pushed herself off the chair when Chad came walking out of his office, which was on the other side of the big hall, opposite of where Grace was. He held a hand up to her, signalling for her to sit back down and made his way over to the gentlemen himself.

Grace tried to listen in on their conversation but was too far away hear anything. Minding her own business, Grace scribbled down notes into her journal, when she got the feeling of being watched. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the three men look at her. Clearly getting nervous, she tried to fix her attention back on the notes but started fidgeting around in her chair, making it impossible to ignore the staring.

Grace stood up and walked toward the restroom when she was called back. "Grace, darling?" Grace sighed and turned around, flashing Chad a fake smile. "Yes?" she asked in the sweetest voice she could muster and walked over to her boss.

"These two gentlemen want to ask you a few question, is that alright?" he asked her. To the strangers he probably sounded friendly when he'd said that, the look he shot Grace on the other hand was a warning not to say more than I had to.

"Sure, go on," Grace looked at the two guys. "I'm special agent Winters and this is special agent Chester," the one with green eyes said, both of them showing her their badges. "May we talk to her alone?" special agent Chester asked. Grace could tell Chad was uncomfortable with Grace talking to them without being there to make sure she didn't say anything he didn't want her to. Nevertheless, he agreed and left them alone.

Grace watched him go and turned back to the agents. "I'm all ears," she told them with a slight smile.

The agents Winters and Chester, Dean and Sam looked at each other when Sam nodded. "We're looking for someone, a girl and we were given the clue that she might be here. Your boss said you know every single girl here?" Sam cleared his throat. Grace looked at them, sadly and nodded. "I do. Is there anything else you know about this girl? It's hard to find out who you're looking for, mostly, we were all just…drifters you could say," Grace bit down on her lip and ran a hand through her hair.

"What's this?" Dean asked her, referring to her arm. Grace realized what he was talking about and put her arm back down, a little too quickly.

"Nothing, I just- uh," she stopped talking when Dean gently gripped her arm and lifted it, revealing the cuts where Chad dug his fingers into her skin. "Did he do that to you? I mean he did look like a douche," Dean said. Grace chuckled at his comment but switched back to being serious in a matter of seconds. "He did, but it's alright, so this girl you're looking for… you got a name or not?" Grace asked, changing the topic.

"After some research, we found out the girl was put into an orphanage and that she lived with several families," Sam started.

"Okay, what else do you got? There are plenty of us who came from an orphanage, found families and were sent back due to certain reasons," Grace said.

"It's good we got a name then," Dean said, pulling out a folded sheet of paper, giving it to Grace.

"That's one of the clues we got," Sam told her. Grace unfolded the piece of paper and read what it said.

Ella G.

Grace took a deep breath and looked back up at Sam and Dean. Sam noticed immediately and asked her, "You know her?"

"Y-yeah," Grace stuttered. "Even better, I am her," she finished. Sam's jaw dropped at Grace's words and looked over at Dean who was just as baffled as he was. Finding her was easier than they thought. "Are you serious?" Dean asked. "Didn't your boss call you Grace?"

"Yeah, the G. on this sheet stands for Grace. My name's actually Ella, I just prefer Grace," she explained. "I see. So what now, Dean? I didn't think we'd find her that quickly," Sam said.

"My name's Sam, by the way," Sam told Grace before looking back at Dean.

"I don't know, should we call Cas?" Dean questioned. Sam shrugged, "I don't know, we could but what do we tell her?" he asked.

Grace shot them a confused look. "I'm still here," Grace said, balancing on the heels of her feet.

"Right," Sam said.

"Grace, do you live somewhere near by any chance?" Sam focused his attention back on her. "Yes, I live right here," she said. Sam and Dean looked at her.

"You live in a brothel?" Sam shot his brother a look, who just shrugged in response. "Yeah, I also work in a brothel…" Grace looked down, ashamed. Sam looked at Dean accusingly and nudged him in the side.

"And that's okay, not judging here," he offered her smile. Grace shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. Why are you looking for me?"

"Someone sent us to find you," Sam explained to her. "Did they send you?" Grace asked, alert.

"Who do you mean by 'they'?" Sam furrowed his eyebrows.

"I guess that means no," Grace ignored his question.

Just when Sam was about to ask another question, Chad came walking out of his office and called out to them. "Gentlemen, if you don't mind, I need Grace to take care of a customer."

Chad nodded to a man who was leaning against a counter.

"I'll be right back," Grace excused herself from the agents and did as she was told to.

Walking behind the counter, she forcefully smiled at the broad-shouldered man. "Good evening, sir."

She recognized the man when she gave him a second glance and opened the locker that held the keys to the rooms.

"Amber, room #102?" she asked, holding up the key. "Amber called in sick today," Chad explained, gaining Grace's whole attention. "No, I talked to her this morning-"

"Do. Not…interrupt me."

Grace faced Chad, trying to read his expression. "I…I-" she stuttered. Chad stood next to his costumer and put a hand on his shoulder. "Mr. Berger, how about you take the girl from room #01?" Grace's face fell at Chad's words and she looked between the two of them and then at Dean and Sam who stood a few feet away, watching the scene.

"Wha- No!" Grace shrieked, gripping the edge of the counter tightly, until her knuckles turned white.

"Why not?" asked their guest.

"Th-that's my room," Grace said just above a whisper, staring down.

"Grace," Chad said, threateningly.

Dean nudged Sam, making him turn to him. "Do something, Sammy," he whispered. "What do you want me to do?" Sam asked back. "I don't know! Look at her, she doesn't want to…"

"It's a brothel, isn't that what they do?" Sam asked. Dean glared at him. "I'm sorry, I just don't think I could make a difference," Sam stated.

Dean sighed and turned his attention back on Grace and the two men. They were still arguing, Grace losing apparently. Dean cleared his throat. "My partner here, uh… wants to say something."

"What?" Sam said, surprised. Dean raised his eyebrows, gesturing to Grace with a nod. "Right, is this really necessary? The lady clearly doesn't want to go with this man," Sam pressed his lips together, waiting for a response.

"Excuse me, why are you sticking your nose into my business? This costumer is willing to pay and as long as no one else bids more than Mr. Berger, he can do whatever he-"

"How much?" Dean interrupted him.

"What was that?" Chad asked. "How much did he offer?" Dean asked.

"200 dollars," Chad answered him with a roll of his eyes. Dean scoffed. "I give you four hundred if you let her be, Dean suggested, pulling out his wallet.

"You're willing to pay for nothing?" Chad mused.

"It ain't nothing if I get to save girl from having to sleep with a man she doesn't even know."

Grace couldn't describe how glad she was and she didn't understand why Dean was helping her. He didn't know her.

"You know what? I'll make it a thousand if Grace can walk out those doors with us, no turning back," Dean suddenly said, pointing at the entrance. Grace's head snapped up to meet his eyes. Dean smiled at her encouragingly.

"Boy, you'll need much more than that if you want to take my sweet Grace home with you," Chad laughed. "Yeah, I don't think so. How about I make a call to the station and tell them you laid hands on the girl because she didn't do what you wanted?" Dean threatened.

"You told him?" Chad shot Grace a glare. Before Grace could say something, Dean butted in, "No, you just did, actually. I just saw the marks on her arm, that's all," Dean said.

"How dare you-"

"We're leaving. Grace, get your stuff," Dean said. Grace pulled her bag out of the drawer beneath her desk and slid her journal inside.

"Grace, I took you in. Don't you dare leave this place! You're not going in you room, forget it."

"I don't have to, this…this is all I need," Grace said, walking over to Sam and Dean's side.

"Let's go," Sam said, putting a hand on Grace's back, leading her outside.

"Don't think about coming here again, the girl you're looking for-"

"Oh, we already found her," Dean said with a smirk.

It was chilly outside and Grace shivered as they crossed the street to get to the Impala. "A 67 Chevy Impala," Grace whispered. "Yeah," Dean smiled at her. "Lucky you," Grace said, getting in the back of the car.

Grace remembered just now that she left what she'd called her home for years with two complete strangers. "Uh- Where are we going?"

"A motel," Dean said, smiling at her through the mirror. "That's quite strange for two agents, working on a case…" Grace stated.

"We're not agents or anything like that," Sam gave her an awkward look.

"What?" Grace screeched in shock. "Oh my god, I've been-"

"Grace, calm down, we just saved you from that guy. Believe me, we're just trying to help," Sam said.

"We've got a lot to-" Dean swerved to the left when Grace yelled all of a sudden.

"Damn it, Cas!"

"Is that her?" Cas asked after appearing next to Grace.

"You're an angel," Grace stated, after calming down.

Dean stopped the car and turned to her. "You know?"

"About the supernatural? Yeah, I've known since my mum died," Grace said. "Wait, is that why you're looking for me?"

Sam, Cas and Dean exchanged glances. "It is, huh? Did you ask them to find me?" Grace directed the second question to Castiel.

"No, how did you know I'm an angel? Angels are not the only one who can, how do you humans phrase it? I thing teleport is the word," Castiel tilted his head, lost in thoughts.

"I know an angel when I see one. It takes one to know one, right?" Grace chuckled nervously.

"Come again?" said Dean.