The Unforeseeable Life of Alexandra Winchester Chapter 1: One More Mile to Jericho, a supernatural fanfic

Hey, all! I originally had this story published last summer, but took it down because it was very bad and I began working on another story. This past week I was really inspired and I thought I would rewrite a chapter for this one. It is a Sis!fic and if you don't like those, then don't read it, but I've always been curious as to how the show would be if Dean had a younger sister instead of a brother. The character's name is Alex, curtesy from my own middle name. She is five years younger than Dean and probably isn't what you expect.

I tried to make this as original as I could, but I still wanted to follow the show since I've always wanted to write one to the end of Season Five. Maybe that will happen, maybe not; but I wanted to start this up again. I'm not going to guarantee regular updates, but I promise that I will be working on this, along with my other story Not Like This.

I hope you enjoy and please remember to review! Happy reading. x

All rights go to the owners of Supernatural, except for my original character.

The Unforeseeable Life of Alexandra Winchester

Chapter One: One More Mile to Jericho

When she was younger, Alexandra Winchester did not imagine herself living this life. Hopes and dreams seemed to fade as the years piled on, reality making itself more clear. At twenty-one-years old, she could've been considered a regular drifter. The stability factor was always missing from her life, whether it was with school, friends, or something as meaningful as a home. Alex had dropped out of high school, opting to get her GED at nineteen and college was just out of the question in her mind. The couple of friends she did have in her lifetime were long gone. She supposed it was her fault, promising them she would stay in touch when she knew she wouldn't. As for a home, the thought never really bothered her as much as it did when she was little. In her mind, a home was essential in growing up, a place where you could lay your head down at night and be safe. Whatever fantasy that was, she had let it go over the years. Her connections to people or places was always cut sort, thanks to her lifestyle. Although, she did have her immediate family. Her father, John Winchester, a man on a mission. Alex knew he was a good man, but sometimes she found herself becoming livid with his ways and his screwed-up logic. She had heard stories about her own Dad, hearing the twisted words come out of other hunter's mouths about how he had gone crazy and was hell-bent on revenge. All she could do was laugh, as she didn't want to admit that sometimes she agreed. This way of life was passed down to not only her, but her older brother as well. Dean Winchester was another story all on his own. Mischievous, considerate, and protective were only a few words that Alex would use to describe her brother. At times, of course he got under her skin like any other sibling. He was five years older than Alex, but he could be immature at times and his humor could be crude in the most inappropriate moments. They bickered and teased each other, they got angry with one another and gave each other the cold shoulder. Not that it really mattered, though. To Alex, he was the only thing, the only person that was a constant in her life. He was always there and not that she would out rightly let him know, but she wouldn't want it any other way.

…

She turned onto her stomach from her left side, sliding her arms underneath her pillow. She could draw out the slight stench of mildew from the pillow. Considering that the motel wasn't the fanciest establishment and the fact that she had practically begged her brother to not sleep in the impala for a night, she wasn't going to complain. Her eyes fluttered open softly as they adjusted to the beam of light shining in from the window. Inhaling deeply, she willed them open fully and stretched out underneath the covers.

"Morning, Sunshine." a deep voice said from across the room.

Alex turned towards the voice, seeing her brother, Dean, sitting at the small table. He was drinking coffee and looking at the newspaper. "Morning." she slightly mumbled. Turning over on her back, Alex rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. She fingers raked through her hair, attempting to tame her bed-head. She looked over at the clock on the wall, her eyebrows coming together in confusion. "Is that the right time?" she wondered.

Dean looked at the clock. It read ten-twenty-two A.M. "Yep. Thought I'd let you get more rest."

Alex swung her legs over the bed and stood up. "Thanks," she said, "I guess I needed it." She walked over to the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush, slabbing on some toothpaste. She brushed her teeth, splashed some water on her face to wake her up, her usual morning routine. Coming out of the bathroom, she sat down in the other chair at the table with Dean. She didn't say anything, just looking out the window. Her eyes covered the parking lot, seeing a few civilians packing up their cars and moving on with their lives. She found herself wondering where they were going and where they would end up. Other people's lives were always a mystery to her. She pondered over the fact that most of the people out there, innocent people with jobs and families, lived in complete oblivion to the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes she even thought that she was jealous of them and it made her question her existence. Where would she be without this job, without her Father's crusade, who would she be? Then again, she was glad to know where she stood in the world, even if it was tough at times. There was an important role to be played and she played it well.

"Yoo-hoo, earth to Alex." Dean sang, waving his hand in her face.

Alex came back into focus, flinching as her face came into contact with his hand. "Keep that thing away from me. Only God knows where it's been."

Dean looked at the inside of his hand and made a small frown, but wiped it on his pants. "Whatever, you hungry? I'm starving."

"Yeah, just let me get dressed." Alex replied, getting up from her seat.

Dean groaned, "You take forever to get dressed."

Alex laughed to herself as she dug through her duffle bag. "Give me like...thirty minutes. That's it, I promise."

"Thirty?"

"I'll buy you extra bacon if you keep your trap shut."

"Take thirty-one minutes if you want to."

Even with what she had told her brother, it only took Alex about twenty minutes to get changed and make herself look presentable for the public eye. Her usual wardrobe consisted of jeans, a plain t-shirt, some sort of jacket, and boots. John and Dean had always ripped into her, telling her she couldn't go hunting in them and not I jure herself; but it hasn't happened yet.

Dean had drove them to a small diner about a mile and a half down the road from the motel. They walked in, got seated, ordered coffee and were looking over the menu. Alex kept peering over her menu, her attention pulled away from the words and prices as she was trying to figure out what tune Dean had been tapping away to on the table top. Trying to ignore it, she went back to her menu. Reading everything the place offered, she knew she was just going to ask for her regular order. When she put it down, Dean was still tapping his fingers. "What song is stuck in your head?"

Dean looked up from his menu, grinning. "Don't think you'd know it."

Alex leaned forward, her face showing she was slightly amused. "Try me."

"Lord of This World."

Alex rolled her eyes and leaned back in the booth. Crossing her arms, she laughed at her brother. "Master of Reality, curtesy of Black Sabbath, nineteen-seventy-one."

Dean's face was stoic. He sighed, "Yeah, I should've known better."

The waitress came to take their order. Alex ordered toast and scrambled eggs with a side of bacon and Dean ordered pancakes with two sides of bacon.

"So, have you heard from Dad today?" Alex questioned, sipping from her coffee.

Dean shook his head, laying his arms on the table top. "Not yet. It's barely noon, though. Don't sweat it."

"If you say so." Alex shrugged. She watched Dean, trying to detect any lie coming from him. She trusted him, deciding to not push with the questions just yet. John had been away for a couple of weeks, going on three. He never told her where and Dean had claimed he didn't knew where he ran off to. Alex woke up one morning to her Dad gone, leaving her alone with her brother.

"What do you feel like doing today?"

"Huh?"

"What do you want to do?" Dean asked.

Alex was perplexed. She couldn't recall the last time she was asked a question like that. "Um...I mean, is there a case to do?" the question had taken her by surprise, causing her mind to fog up.

"Oh, come on, we just got done with a case yesterday. Let's take a day to ourselves."

"I'm sorry," Alex shook her head, trying to come to terms with what Dean was saying, "who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

"Very funny," Dean said sarcastically, "but I'm serious. We deserve it. One day of us not working won't end the world, kid."

"Maybe so, but I have no idea what to do."

Dean huffed a laugh, "Yeah, you and me both."

"I could take a nap." Alex said, nonchalant.

"A nap?" Dean asked, incredulous. "You have all kinds of options and you want to take a freaking nap?"

Alex shrugged, "Well, what's your big game plan?"

Dean looked like he knew what he wanted to say, but just couldn't find the words. He scratched the back of his neck and his eyes went about their surroundings. He was clearly just as clueless as Alex was. "I've got nothing."

"That's what I thought."

By the time their food arrived at their table, Alex swore she could eat everything from the menu. The first taste of bacon tasted like pure heaven. She knew it was okay to indulge every once in a while, but she realized she didn't pay that much attention to her eating habits. She figured she got enough exercise by running from supernatural beings that wanted her head on a spike. There wasn't a lot of down time when they were on the job. Seeing as they were either on the road, pretending to be law enforcement officials, or researching, the idea of doing nothing struck her as odd. She woke up every day, well, most days, ready to work and get the job done.

When they were finished, Alex pulled out her wallet and picked out one of her credit cards.

"No, don't worry about it. I got it." Dean tried to stop her.

"I told you I'd buy, so deal with it." She told him, flagging down the waitress for their check.

Alex handed the waitress, whose name was Janice, her credit card. Janice looked at the card before walking away with it. She raised one eyebrow, looking skeptical at Alex. "Ms. Journey Bonham?"

"Uh, yeah." Alex played it off like she was embarrassed. "Parents were big rock fans."

Janice nodded and left with the card.

Alex looked back at Dean, who was obviously trying not to laugh. "I think maybe I should get cards with more convincing names."

"You think?" Dean was smiling now, but still tried to stifle his laugh.

"Go ahead, laugh it up." Alex told him, as Janice came back with her card.

"Have a good day, Ms. Bonham."

"Thanks, you too." Alex replied, taking her card.

"All right, let's go John." Dean teased.

Alex glared at him, wanting to get out of the diner as quickly as they could. "Shut up." She mumbled, leading the way out.

Back at the motel, Alex and Dean were busy...doing a whole lot of nothing. A few hours had passed and they hadn't moved from their positions on their beds. Alex was on her stomach, watching some infomercial about kitchen gadgets. Dean, on the other hand, who had criticized her for wanting to take a nap, had fallen asleep on the bed next to hers.

Alex was bored, to say the least. She knew there was work to be done, but it never went over well when she tried to put a case together by herself. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she had two older family members looking out for her and they didn't want her to get hurt; but she wasn't a kid anymore. Her mind moved to her Dad and looped on the thought of where he might be. To be honest, Alex had no idea where her Dad was. She knew he was alright, though. He was tough as nails, he was John Winchester for crying out loud. "Nothing to be worried about." she told herself, clicking through channels on the television. There wasn't anything interesting on, not that Alex watched a lot of television. Sighing, she sat up on the bed and looked around. Dean was passed out on the bed, but she knew he had instincts that would spring into action the minute he felt off. What little belongings they did have were bunched together in a corner and they had a few papers scattered on the small table by the window. She got off the bed and stretched her limbs. Her head turned to Dean once more, but something else caught her attention. The keys to the impala were sitting pretty on the nightstand between the two beds. Alex stood there, silently listing reasons as to why she shouldn't do what she was thinking of doing. "One, Dean would kill you. Two, you'd never see the light of day again. Three, Dean would kill you."

It took a few moments for her to come to a conclusion. Nodding to herself, Alex grabbed a piece of paper from the table and a pen. She scribbled on the paper, making sure the pen worked first.

Went out. Don't worry. Be back soon.

Grabbing her jacket and putting her wallet in her back pocket, Alex tiptoed to the nightstand. With a delicate touch, she picked up the keys by its ring and clamped down her free hand over them so they wouldn't jingle. She replaced the keys with her note. "So far, so good." All she had to do now was make it out the door and pray the engine wouldn't wake Dean. She grabbed the door handle and turned it slowly till she could pull it open. To her surprise, there was no creak in the door, so she slipped out of the room and closed it quietly. Alex couldn't help but laugh to herself as she walked outside to the impala. She was crazy-no, more like insane for even thinking of taking Dean's car. When she got to the classic vehicle, Alex opened the door, got in and closed the door quickly. "Wow, we are really doing this." she said out loud. Gripping the steering wheel with her left hand, she used her right to ignite the unmistakable engine. She waited a moment, watching the door to the room to see if Dean would come barging out to stop her. Nothing of the sort happened, so the stick was moved to drive and Alex left the motel in the review mirror.

"How basic." Alex said, looking at the name of the bar she drove to. Dan's Dive Bar was the closest to the motel. Alex parked the impala away from other cars and hopped out. Walking into the place, eyes landed on her right away. There were mostly older men in the place, a few women scattered here and there. She wondered if these adults had nothing better to do in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon. That didn't stop her from walking up and taking a stool at the bar. There were a few guys on the other end of the counter who looked at her when she sat at the counter, but thankfully they minded their own business.

Alex grabbed the small wallet from her back pocket and grabbed a fake I.D. to have ready when the bartender tended to her. "Lexie Williams" it read for her fake name and apparently, she was twenty-four. When the bartender approached her, Alex found herself smiling as she already had the I.D. ready and handed it to the guy before he could even ask.

"I didn't even have to ask" the bartender said, examining the card.

"Been around the bend enough times to know the drill...and the law."

"Hm," the bartender handed her back the fake, "what can I get for you?"

"I'd love a cranberry vodka."

The bartender laughed a little. "I can do that," he told her, "just give me a minute." He was an older guy, older than her brother; but Alex found his laugh and his smile charming. "Here you go." He handed her the drink. "If you need anything else, just holler."

"Thanks."

He left to tend to other customers, leaving Alex alone at the counter. She didn't mind being by herself in a bar, even though she knew trouble could be easily caused. Holding the cold drink in her hand, Alex turned on the stool to face the open space. Resting her left elbow back against the counter, she soaked in the different people. There was one guy in the back-left corner who looked like he had one too many shots. There was a couple at a table in the middle who were trying to keep their voices level during their argument, but failing. Maybe none of them had jobs they needed to be at; but that was okay, since Alex didn't either. Her mood was relaxed. When Dean had asked earlier what she wanted to do for the day, she should've said this. It was way better and far more entertaining than watching infomercials. She sipped on her drink, enjoying its taste.

Dean would be so pissed if he knew where she was, if he didn't already know. She expected him to either be waiting for back at the motel or to charge in the door and drag her out. Yet, she wasn't worried about it. She just wanted to have a good time. Finishing her first drink, she turned back around to the bar and flagged down the bartender.

"Ready for another?" he asked.

"Definitely." Alex said, handing him her old glass. She watched him make her drink and curiosity washed over her. "I know you saw my I.D., but I'm Lexie, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Lexie." he said, handing her a fresh drink. "My name's Bradley."

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Bradley." She smiled at him, earning her one in return.

Bradley walked a couple of feet to a tray of glasses on the counter and moved them towards Alex. He grabbed one and began to dry it with a rag. "If you don't mind me asking, what brings you here to this place?"

Alex thought for a moment. She could tell him the truth, that she stole her brother's car and left him sleeping in a motel room; but that would come off weird. "You know, just passing through town." It wasn't too far from the truth.

"Yeah, we get a lot of those here."

"Not too many regulars then, I presume?" she asked, sipping on her drink.

Bradley shrugged, "We got a few, but mostly the 'passing through town' types."

Alex nodded with a smile. "Well, I thought I deserved a drink or two. Been working hard lately."

"Yeah?" Bradley wondered, drying his glasses. "What do you do?"

"Uh, it's a family business. Extermination."

"I don't believe that for a second."

Playing along with her own lie, Alex leaned onto the counter top. "And why's that?"

"You're way too cute to be working as an exterminator."

When she was about to respond, her phone buzzed. It was a text message from Dean.

Where the hell are you?! You took my car?!

She couldn't help but laugh at that. She looked up to Bradley, not forgetting about his statement. "Guilty as charged, but you'd be surprised at the things people don't knew are there."

"Hey man, can we get some refills?" one of the guys down the counter asked, raising his glass.

"Duty calls." Bradley said, leaving Alex with a small grin.

Alex smiled back and turned back to her phone when another message came through.

I'm going to kick your ass!

She could practically feel the rage through the phone. Her fingers moved, texting him back quickly.

Stop worrying. I left a note. Be back soon.

On the other side of the bar, a game of pool had caught Alex's attention. It wasn't just any normal game though. This game had a nice lump of cash being thrown in. Quickly grabbing a ten-dollar bill from her wallet and placing it on the counter by her drink, Alex made her way over to the game. Realizing it had just ended, Alex rushed up to the table. "I call winner!" she told the two men. They looked at her like she was out of place, which she probably was; but the girl knew her way around a game or two. "Come on, scared of being beat by a girl?"

One of the guys turned to the other and whispered something in his ear. "All right, we're game. Twenty dollars for buy in, though."

"Not a problem." Alex pulled a bill from her wallet, smacking it on the table. "How much is in already? she asked, her eyes moving to the stack of money sitting on the pool table.

"Two-sixty."

Alex smiled and rubbed her hands together. "So, we going to play or what?"

The guys smiled and one of them handed her a cue stick. "I'm Sean, this is Jack." Sean was the bigger of the two. He was brunet, had a bit of a beard growing and wore a torn-up trucker's hat. Jack was slimmer, blond and dressed like her brother.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lexie." Alex lied.

"Alright, Lexie, go ahead and break."

"Don't mind if I do." she whispered to herself. Alex lined up her stick with the cue ball. She inhaled and on her exhale, shot the stick to the ball. It broke the balls apart and she landed two solids. "Solids." she called out, knowing it would annoy Sean and Jack. She moved around the table, almost methodically, hitting a ball in every pocket up until her last two balls; the solid red and the eight-ball.

"Play this game often?" Jack questioned, eyeing her.

"No, not really." She told him, leaning a little bit on weight on her stick.

When Sean missed on his third turn, he cursed out, causing Jack to do the same. "Come on, man! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Keep your mouth shut, Jack!"

Alex laughed and moved back to the table. Lining up the cue ball with the solid red ball, Alex took her shot and the ball sunk into the right-side pocket. "Last one, boys." She walked around the table, allowing herself to get a better angle on the eight ball. It all seemed too easy, but to hell if she was about to complain. "Back left corner." she said, calling out her final play. In one swift motion, she had won two-hundred-and-seventy dollars.

"Son of a bitch!" Sean yelled. Jack was beside him, shaking his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry!" Alex told them, amused in every way possible for the moment. She swooped up the money, but before she could pocket it and run, Sean grabbed her wrist.

"Two out of three."

"Let go of me and we'll talk about it."

"Sorry."

"Sure, you are." Alex said. "Look, I'm willing to play again for the same buy in, but if I win again that's it."

"Guess that's fair." Jack agreed. "Sean?"

Sean looked annoyed, or angry. Either way, Alex knew this could go sideways at any moment. "Whatever."

Alex looked them over and agreed. 'Okay then. How about I buy you guys some beers for the new round? Yeah?"

"Sounds good." Jack said, speaking for him and Sean.

Alex walked back towards the bar, but looked back as she did. The two guys were in a heated discussion the moment she walked away.

Just as she thought they'd be.

Alex speed walked out the door of the bar and ran to the impala with the keys ready to go in her hand. She jumped in the car and started the engine. Putting the car in drive, she began to drive away when she noticed Sean and Jack coming out of the door. There wasn't time to waste, so Alex pushed the gas pedal, but kept control of the car. She peeled out of the parking lot and looked in the review mirror, seeing Jack yelling and Sean throwing his old hat into the dirt.

Before Alex even dared to go back to the motel room, she stopped by a liquor store and picked up a case of beer for Dean. She knew he was going to be angry, but maybe the beer would soften him up a bit. As she was driving back to the motel, the six pack on the floor tipped over and a couple of the bottles rolled under the seat. Not wanting them to clash together and break in the car, Alex pulled over slowly and put the car in park. She leaned down to the passenger's side and looked under the seat. It was surprisingly clean down there, except for the two bottles and manila folder stashed down there.

Interest peaked in Alex, so when she grabbed the bottles she grabbed the folder, too. Before opening the folder, Alex placed the beers back where they belonged. She eyes the folder in her lap and wondered if she should open it. It was obviously stashed down there for a reason. The devil on her shoulder won and she opened the folder. There were multiple articles and obituaries for a town in California named Jericho. According to the most recent article, a man had disappeared and only his car was found on a road called Centennial Highway. Alex narrowed her eyes and leafed through more of the papers. When she came across one of the papers on the bottom, she couldn't help but scoff. "Of course..." It was a note from John to Dean. The note came from her Dad, no doubt. She knew his handwriting.

Dean, take care of this. Be in contact soon. Watch out for your sister.

Alex read the short note multiple times. She should've known better than to think her had was off doing anything else than hunting. What she didn't understand was why they had kept this from her. She would get to the bottom of it, whether she had to pry it out of her brother or not. Alex slapped the file down onto the seat next to her and put the car back in drive. It wasn't too far to the motel now.

When she drove back into the motel parking lot, she parked in front of the room since there was an open space. Gathering the six pack of beer and ignoring the file on the front seat, Alex shut off the car and got out. There no use in using the key to open the door, it was already open before her feet even met the sidewalk to the entrance.

"Alex, what the hell?!" Dean yelled at her. "Do you know what time it is?!"

Alex stopped for a moment and took out her phone to look at the clock. "Dean, it's seven o'clock. Don't get your panties in a twist."

"Are you-are you kidding me right now?!" Dean pulled Alex in by her jacket and looked around the place, seeing if his voice had attracted any attention and shut the door. "You leave without saying a word, you don't tell me where you are, and on top of everything, you took my car!"

Alex had placed the beer down on the table and was taking off her jacket. "I left a note," she replied, nonchalant, "and I brought beer."

"Alexandra, do you think this is a joke?!" Dean shouted. "Because if you think it's funny, it sure ain't funny. Not by a landslide!"

"Oh, Alexandra. this won't be good." Her full name was only used when she was in trouble or something serious was happening.

"You can't do these kinds of things, Alex! You can't leave me in the dark about where you are or what you're doing."

"I'm not a child. And I think you know firsthand that I'm able to watch my own back."

Dean sighed and ran a hand over his mouth. Alex learned over the years that he only did that when he was stressed out or upset. "That's not the point. Okay? I know your old enough to go out, but you can't leave without telling me something." His voice had come down a bit, but there was still a bite to his words.

Alex had her arms crossed as she stood by the table still, looking at her brother. She couldn't deny that he was right. What she did was immature and it had made him worried. She shook her head and went to sit on the edge of her bed. Giving in, she said, "I know, I'm sorry."

"What if Dad had come back, huh? Or what if he had called and asked to talk to you? Am I just supposed to tell him that you ran off and I didn't know where you were? Cause that would go over real nice."

Alex looked at her brother with a stoic face, hoping her disbelief wasn't showing. She was going to ask him about the file and the note, and she would find out the truth one way or another. "Speaking of Dad, did you ever hear from him?"

"No." Dean was quick to answer. "He'll call when he calls."

"...right" Alex said, standing up from the bed. She walked over to the table and grabbed a beer, twisting off the top. She took a sip and looked at Dean. "Do you think he'll call from Jericho?"

"What?"

"I know you heard me."

"Why would he call from Jericho?"

"I don't know. You tell me, big brother." Alex drank her beer and waited for a response. When Dean didn't provide one, she began to get agitated. "Where is he?"

"Alex, I told you-"

"Yeah, you don't know." she interrupted him. "I don't believe you anymore."

"I really don't know where he is!"

"Then why the hell is he leaving you notes and folders full of obituaries and research?!"

Dean shrugged his shoulders, not knowing exactly how to go about the subject. "You weren't supposed to see that."

"Obviously!" Alex spat. She chugged the rest of her beer, placed the empty bottle on the table and cracked open another one.

"You're going to make yourself sick."

"I don't care." Alex sat down at the table and sighed loudly. The one thing she couldn't wrap her head around was the fact that they had wanted to keep this from her. There was a reason behind it and she needed to find out.

"It's not that big of a deal, Alex."

"Not a big deal? You just told me I wasn't supposed to know about what he left for you. Was it Dad's idea?"

Dean sat on the edge of her chosen bed. His silence provided the answer to her question.

"Of course, it was." Alex got up from the chair, not feeling like she could stay in one place for too long. Her Dad could be a bastard and she knew he had his own secrets, but when they made themselves evident, she couldn't drop it. John had left not only her, but Dean as well. As if he hadn't of done that enough when they were younger. A realization hit her just then. "Oh, and let me guess. He left you the burden of taking care of me and the grunt work so he could go off and find that damn demon! Am I right?!"

"Ding, ding, we have a winner." Dean joked, even though he knew she wouldn't find it funny.

"Wow. Seriously, I mean what is so different about this time that he had to abandon us?"

"Hey! He didn't abandon us."

"No? Then where is he, Dean?" Alex asked him. Her arms were wide at her sides, gesturing to the space around them. "I don't see him anywhere. He hasn't been back in weeks."

"It's a tough gig, Alex! You know that!"

"Yeah, I do. But at least I would have the decency to call my family! For all we know he could be dead! All because of some damn revenge that he's been set on for the past twenty years!"

"Don't talk about him like that!" Dean yelled back at her. He stepped up to her, face to face, trying to intimidate her. It didn't work.

"Oh, back down little solider. Maybe Daddy will call you tomorrow."

"Alright, Alex. You want to know the real reason he left without letting you know? It's because he didn't want you screwing it up! All you do is prance all over the place and act like you're so much better than the rest of us, but guess what? You're not! So, now I'm stuck here with you!"

Okay, that one hurt. Sure, Alex knew that from time to time, that she wasn't the most skilled hunter. She had only been doing the actual hunting for a couple of years. It was a deal that she had made with John. First, get the GED and then she would get to go on hunts; and she had done it. She thought she had made her Dad proud. One thing she knew for certain, was that she did not act like she was better than anyone...and she definitely didn't prance.

The words had the effect that Dean had wanted. He wanted her to shut the hell up. "Got nothing to say now, huh?"

Alex backed away from Dean, going to sit back down at the table with her beer. She picked it up and rank from the bottle, one long swig. He was right though, she didn't have words. She slipped off her boots and dug some pajamas out of her duffle bag. Alex made her way to the bathroom and shut the door. She dropped her clothes and hurried to turn on the facet. That way, if she cried, there was less of a chance that Dean would hear her.

After her shower, Alex came out of the bathroom to find the room empty. She walked to the middle of the room and when she turned back to the bathroom, she noticed a paper stuck to the door. Walking over to it, Alex grabbed it and peeled it off the door. It was the note she had let Dean earlier and he had stuck it to the door with one of the beer bottle labels. Figures, she probably deserved to be left alone. Sighing, Alex threw her dirty clothes into her duffle and crawled into bed. She didn't know where he was or what he was doing, but she had done the same to him earlier.

You get what you give, right?

Alex woke up the next morning around seven A.M. to an empty motel room. She thought that he would've come back during the middle of the night. Rubbing the sleep from her face, she got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to do her business. Even though she had no clue where Dean was, she still got ready for the day, ready to head out when he came back. Admittedly, her actions weren't always the brightest, but she did her best to be a good person. There hadn't been a time in her life where she felt like she completely let down her family, even in instances like this one. At only twenty-one, there was still a lot for her to learn; not only in hunting, but in regular life, too. One of the aspects of life that Alex always attached herself to, was the fact that she had room to grow, room to change. Petty mistakes like stealing a car wouldn't define her.

The words Dean said had her head spinning still. Did their Dad really think that she would screw up his plan? John was the one who told her to come along so she wouldn't have to be by herself all the time. Alex had agreed immediately, not thoroughly thinking it through at the time. John and Dean were always gone, sometimes for weeks at a time and she wanted to be in on the actions, too. She had been trained well enough and it wasn't like she couldn't pick up new tricks along the way. Either way, she didn't understand why her Dad left them behind. She wanted the truth and it was given to her.

As she was sitting on the bed, covered by her own thoughts, the door to the room opened. Her head snapped to the sound and she immediately relaxed as she saw Dean walk in. She hoped he didn't notice the sigh of relief she let out as he walked through the room. He walked to her and handed her a cup of coffee and a bag of food. He sat at the small table by the window and opened his own bag, eating the contents.

She gave quiet thanks and drank from the cup. The tension was still floating in the air, but it was dissipate sooner than later. "Did you come back last night?" she asked, not looking at Dean.

"Of course, I did." he replied. His tone suggested that it was ridiculous that she even asked the question. "Woke up before you did and got the food."

Alex only nodded and kept her head down, staring at her shoes. They were never mad at each other for too long. They argued like any other brother and sister, but neither one of them had done anything that was beyond forgiveness. The question was, who would be the first to bring up the previous night's discussion?

"Sorry about last night, what I said."

Question answered.

"Don't be." Alex was quick to say. She shrugged, "If that's how you guys feel than that's it. Nothing I can really do about it."

Dean shook his head and put down his food. "You're not a burden if that's what you think. And I'll be honest with you. Dad didn't want you going, but he didn't want me going either. So, I guess you're not alone here."

"Gee, I feel so much better." Alex looked at her brother, knowing he was serious with his words. The words that came out of his mouth had the power to knock her down so easily and they always had. She knew that Dean knew it, too.

"He left a message."

"What?"

"Yeah, come here." Dean told her, gesturing for her to sit at the table, too.

She sat down across from him and waited eagerly for the message.

"Listen closely." he told her, pressing play on his phone.

Dean, something is starting to happen. I think it's serious. I need to try to figure out what's going on. Be very careful, Dean and look out for Alex. We're all in danger.

"Play it again." Alex said right after it was finished.

Dean played it again and they listened once more.

"Why didn't you answer the phone when he called?" Alex questioned. Her voice sounding accusing.

"It was one of the phones in the car." he defended. "Be glad I check them as regularly as I do."

Throwing her head in her hands, Alex sighed. "I'm sorry. This is just so damn frustrating."

"I know it is."

She lifted her head and looked back down at the phone on the table. "Did you hear the EVP on that?"

"Yeah, I did. We should run it through the Goldwave on your computer."

Agreeing, Alex retrieved her laptop from one of her bags. She opened it and launched the software. Connecting the phone to the laptop, Alex found the voicemail in the archive and placed it into the Goldwave. They played it once, listening to the message as some of the static was stripped away.

"Maybe slow it down a bit." Dean suggested.

"Got it." Alex slowed down the message and played it through again. What they heard gave her chills.

A woman's voice came through, whispering. "I can never go home."

"You hear that?" she asked her brother.

"Clear as day."

Alex looked to Dean, "You think it has to do with that case in Jericho?"

"More than likely." Dean got up from the table and grabbed his duffle bag. He pulled out the folder filled with information that John had left for him. He gave it to Alex, who was reluctant to take it. "Might as well look at it in more depth now."

Taking the manila folder, Alex opened it up and examined the papers it held. "Two-lane blacktop outside of Jericho..."

"About a month ago this guy vanished." he said, pointing to a picture in the file over her shoulder. "They found his car, but there's no sign of the guy anywhere. Completely M.I.A."

"Maybe he was kidnapped." Alex challenged him while he walked to his seat.

"Yeah, well, here's another on for April. Another one in December. Another one in two thousand and four, three, nineteen ninety-eight, ninety-two. Ten of them over the past twenty years. All men, all the same five-mile stretch of road. It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around, but when he came back he left that and the note-"

"And that was almost three weeks ago..."

"Yeah, so now it's ours."

"Ours?"

"Well, I'm not going to leave you here by yourself."

Alex rolled her eyes and closed her laptop. "No, but dad seemed pretty adamant on doing that."

"Maybe he thinks you're afraid of the dark." Dean teased.

"I've never been afraid of the dark."

"You should be, you know what's out there."

Alex stood up from the table, "And I know how to kill what's out there." She cleaned up the papers and slid them neatly into the folder as they were. Grabbing her laptop next, she walked it back to her bag and shoved it in. "You know what I don't understand is why you waited to take up this case till now."

Dean shrugged, "We had other jobs to do." His justification wasn't going to go further than that; but Alex knew it was because he was waiting for their Dad to possibly return. "Look, we'll work the case together. Just like we always do and we'll find out where Dad is, too."

Alex thought for a moment. This was like any other case they would work. The only difference was her own personal circumstances surrounding it. "Sounds good to me," she smiled, "but I want to ask you one thing."

"Shoot."

She waited for a moment, considering the question she was about to ask. She crossed her arms, almost to defend herself. "Do I really prance around?" The was humor behind it, but at the same time, she was serious.

Dean chuckled and stood from his seat at the table. He began to shake his head, but in his own good nature, turned it around. "Yes, now get your crap packed so we can go."

"Alright," Alex agreed, "and it's probably a good thing we leave town anyway."

"What? Why?"

"I hustled two guys at a bar yesterday for a couple hundred. Then I told them I'd play them again to see if they could win it back, but I left when I told them I'd buy them beers." It was all said matter-of-factly.

"You-" Dean didn't know what to say to Alex. "Seriously, Alex?"

She shrugged innocently, "Would it make you feel better if I said it's almost three hundred?"

It was completely light outside as Alex and Dean pulled into a junky looking gas station. "Got to fill up and grab some snacks for the road. Want anything?"

"Only if it's covered in chocolate."

"Atta girl." Dean said, patting her on the shoulder before he got out."

Alex felt the need to stretch her legs, so she opened the passenger side door and swung her legs out the side. The outside air felt nice and she knew they had a bit of a drive before they got to Jericho. Alex got out of the vehicle and shut the door behind her. She looked around the space. There was only one other customer filling up on gas and she saw Dean inside the store in one of the aisles. Quickly, she grabbed her cellphone out of her pocket and dialed quickly. She used her free hand to run her scalp as she waited for an answer. Of course, nobody picked up on the other end. Sighing, Alex waited for the tone to leave a message. "Uh, hey Dad." she started, kicking up dirt with her boot as she thought of something important to say. If it was important enough, maybe he would call her back. "I'm just...calling to make sure that you're okay. It's been a few weeks now. You just got up and left, didn't really say anything about it." She didn't know what else to say. If she saw him in person, she knew she would be able to rip him a new one, but this felt different. Her eyes wandered back to the inside of the gas station and saw her brother. He was checking out at the counter. "But don't worry about me, Dad. I'm in good hands. Hope to hear from you soon, bye."

She ended the call as soon as Dean was walking back to the car. He tossed her a candy bar across the top of the car.

"Who was that?" he asked, watching her catch the candy.

Catching it, she replied, "Trying to see if Dad would pick up."

Dean put his snacks into the car and moved to the gas pump to fill up his tank. "He'll call when he can."

Alex's eyes squinted as the sun suddenly seemed brighter. "I hope so."

"Uh, how much longer?" Alex whined. She started to feel confined in the impala, tossing in her seat. Any position she sat in felt uncomfortable.

"About one more mile."

Alex turned her head to look at Dean. She was skeptical. "And you know this for a fact?"

Dean rolled his eyes, but kept facing forward. "Figured if I told you that, you'd quit complaining every fifteen minutes."

"Oh, bite me."

They drove for a little while longer, which Alex concluded was more than one mile. The complaints had died down at last. Alex even admitted to herself to she sounded annoying. Her head rested against the window of the impala and she could feel sleep creeping on; that was until Dean shook her shoulder.

"Hey, check this out." Dean said, motioning towards the commotion on the bridge in front of them. From the looks of it, there had been an accident of some sort. Dean pulled the car over to the side of the rode away from the others and put it in park. He then crossed over to Alex's side of the car into the glove compartment and pulled out the box. The box contained all the fake credentials they needed to (hopefully) pass as law enforcement.

"I call Seger." Alex told him. Her hand dipped into the box to grab the fake credential before Dean could.

Dean narrowed his eyebrows and tried to move the box out of her reach. "You're always Seger."

"Now who's the cry baby?" Alex got out of the impala and leaned down to look at Dean. "Let's go."

Alex knew she looked too young to be a law enforcement officer, but people always believed her. Her clothing probably wasn't up for the part at the moment, but her acting skills were ready to go. She was walking side by side with Dean when her head began to hurt. Squeezing her eyes shut, Alex used her left hand to run at her face. The pain got intense, like nothing she had left before. Alex stopped in her tracks, grunting and twisting her face.

"Hey, hey," Dean stopped beside her, "You okay?" He placed his hand on her back, trying to see her face under her hands.

In an instant the pain was gone, like it hadn't even been there in the first place. Alex straightened back up and moved her neck side to side, feeling it pop. "I'm good now. Just a crazy headache."

"We've got stuff in the duffels if you need it. Come on." Dean informed her, as they continued to the officers on the bridge.

She felt funny after that little episode, but continued since they had a job to do. They walked up to the officers together, Alex acting as confident and older as she could. Dean took the lead breaking the already thin ice. "You fellas had another one like this last month, didn't you?"

The older man, the police officer, stood up straighter at their arrival and gave the two siblings a look of bewilderment. "And exactly who are you?"

"Federal Marshals." Dean returned, flashing his badge in sync with Alex.

"You two are a little young to be Federal Marshals, aren't you?"

"Oh, if only I had a nickel for every time we heard that one." Alex sarcastically answered, but gave the officer a smile.

"There was another one like this, correct? A missing victim?" asked Dean, driving the attention away from their ages.

The officer looked reluctant, but answered anyway. "Yeah, about a mile up the road. There have been others before that, too."

"Okay and you knew this particular victim?" Alex asked.

"Well, a town like this, everybody knows everybody. This guy, Troy, his girlfriend is in town hanging flyers."

"Any connection between the victims besides the fact that they're all men?" Dean questioned

"No. Not as far as we can tell."

"So, what's the theory here then?"

"Honestly, we don't know. Serial murder, kidnapping ring, all have come up as possibilities." The officer replied, looking up and down at the crime scene.

Dean held a tight grin on his face. "Well, that's exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys."

Alex's head snapped towards her brother, eyes wide.

"Excuse me?" the officer asked, placing his hands on his belt.

"Okay, I believe we are done here. Thanks for your time." Alex interjected. "We'll be on our way now." She yanked Dean away from the scene as they walked away from the officer. Alex could feel the guy's eyes on them as they walked down the road back to the impala. When they were further away, she hurried to step in front of him. "You can't speak to them like that!" she sneered, but it was more of a whisper. "You could've gotten us caught!"

"Come on!" Dean raised his voice just to get his point across. "They don't really know what's going on here. We're all alone on this. We'll solve this case and we'll find Dad."

There wasn't a reply from Alex, she just moved out of his and kept walking to the car. They had done plenty of milk-run cases on their own before, but there was something weird about this time around.

"How's your head?" Dean asked as they got into the impala.

"It's good." Alex said. It was the whole truth.

When Alex and Dean arrived at the center of town, they walked the streets to see if they could find Amy, the victim's girlfriend. They went up and down the sidewalks, passing by local business and restaurants. Alex found them appealing in a way.

"I bet you that's her." Dean said to Alex, as they were walking down one of the streets.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Alex agreed. The pair made their way towards the blonde girl who was hanging flyers all over a wooden post.

"You must be Amy." Dean initiated conversation as the siblings approached her. "Troy told us about you. We're his cousins."

Amy looked unconvinced while continuing to hang the papers in her arm. "Yeah, that's me." she replied in a flat tone.

"I'm Dean. This here's Alexandra."

Amy met their faces again when she finished the last flyer. "Troy never told me about you." she said, walking away from the pair of strangers.

"Yeah, well that's Troy I guess. We're not around much. We're up in Modesto."

"Amy, wait just a minute." Alex said, using a pleading tone. It was successful in getting the girl's attention. "We're worried, too. We're looking for him and we've just been asking around. Figured it was time to track you down, maybe ask you some questions."

Just as Alex finished her sentence, another girl made her way over to the growing group. She placed her hand on Amy's shoulder, "You okay?" The girl looked from Amy to Alex and Dean, giving them the once over.

"I'm good."

"So, do you think we can sit and talk for a few minutes?" Dean asked, looking at both Amy and her friend.

The two girls looked at one another, having a silent conversation. "That's fine." Amy decided. "There's a diner across the street we can go sit down in."

Alex and Dean followed the two girls to the diner. It had a classic diner look with the white furniture and red booths. All four of them sat down in on each sides of a booth. A waitress came over, took the group's order who asked for nothing other than coffee.

When they had their beverages, Dean began asking questions. "When's the last time you heard from Troy?"

"A few nights ago," Amy started, "I was on the phone with him. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, but he never did."

"And he didn't sound different in any way? Didn't say anything out of the ordinary?" Alex asked.

"No, nothing I can remember anyway." Amy gave a side glance to her friend, who returned the look. Alex and Dean caught onto it right away and shared a look of their own.

"Here's the deal, ladies," began Dean, "the way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So, if you've heard anything…" He paused, watching them and waiting for any answer. The girls shared another knowing look. "What is it?"

"It's just-I mean, with all of these guys going missing...people talk." the friend replied.

"Talk about what?" Alex questioned.

"It's going to sound crazy, but it's kind of a local legend. This one girl got murdered out on Centennial like, decades ago. And supposedly she's still out there. She hitchhikes at night and whoever picks her up…they disappear forever."

Alex and Dean nodded, the story making sense in their own minds. Dean dug out his wallet and placed a ten-dollar bill on the table. "Thanks, coffee on us."

The two exited the diner and started walking back to the impala.

"What do you think?" Alex wondered, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets to keep from the cold.

"I think we need to do more of our own research. Let's hit up the library, see what we can find out."

The pair made it to the local library and began their search for more information. They were sitting in front of a computer, Dean in control. He wiggled his fingers over the keyboard before typing in the search engine: Female Murder Hitchhiking. When that showed no results, he changed his search to: Female Murder Centennial Highway. That search provided them with no results, either.

Alex sat patiently by his side, but when his searches were getting them nowhere, she took matters into her own hands. "Hey, look at the guy over there." Alex told him, well aware that there was nothing strange going on with anybody; but just as she thought, he fell for it. When Dean took his attention away from the computer, Alex used all her strength to push him away and he wheeled away on the chair.

"What the hell?"

"You're getting us nowhere." Alex told him, moving to the front of the computer.

"I had it." he argued, using his feet the wheel him back to the computer.

"Obviously, you didn't."

Alex thought about what they already knew and the new information they had been given. She was going over what was in the file her Dad had given Dean and what Amy's friend had let them know.

"How are you going to say that I wasn't getting anywhere when you're not even moving?" Dean asked her, unbelieving.

Alex turned to him to give him a sarcastic answer, but instead asked him a question. "Angry spirits are born out of violent deaths, right?"

Dean looked confused. "Yeah? What about it?"

"Think about it for a second. Other than murder, what's another kind of violent death?"

He took n his sister's words and picked up on what she was suggesting. "Suicide?"

Alex nodded and turned back to the computer screen. "Maybe it's not a murder." She took the mouse to click on Dean's search and deleted the word murder, only to replace it with suicide. Now the search read: Female Suicide Centennial Highway. With that, they got what they were looking for. Exactly one article popped up with the headline: Suicide on Centennial.

"Dates back to nineteen eighty-one Constance Welch, who was twenty-four years old jumped off Sylvania Bridge and drowned in the river." Alex read from the article.

"Does it say why she did it?"

Alex scrolled through and skimmed the article for an answer. She stopped when she found it. "An hour before they found her, she called the police. Her two kids were in the bathtub. She left them alone for a minute and when she went back they weren't breathing. Both of them died."

Alex was stuck on the words in the article, While Dean's attention was focus on something else. He pointed to the picture on the screen. "Does that bridge look familiar to you?"

Alex tore her eyes away from the writing and looked at the picture of the bridge. She nodded her head with acknowledgment. "Sure does. When should we go?"

"Later tonight, when it's dark."

Late that night, Alex and Dean drove back to Sylvania Bridge. There was nobody there and the only noise came from the running water below. They walked a good minute or two in silence until they came to the spot they were searching for.

"So, this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dean commented, looking over the edge of the bridge.

Alex stood next to him, leaning on the railing with her hands in her pockets. She looked around the darkness, sometimes watching her own breath since it was cold enough outside. She sniffled, the cold irritating her nose. "Do you think Dad was ever here?"

Dean turned to her, thinking about her question. "I don't know. He was chasing the same story we are."

"Maybe he was never in Jericho." she said, still facing forwards, hands in pockets.

He turned away at that. "...maybe." Dean began walking down the bridge, Alex not too far behind him.

"Now what do we do?" Alex questioned, jogging a bit to catch up to his side.

"We keep digging. We solve the case and we find Dad."

"Sure, we solve the case. I say that's a given, but what if we don't find Dad?"

Dean stopped walking and faced his sister. "Why do you always have to be so negative?" The tone of Dean's voice was growing on edgy. The way he threw his hands up in the air when speaking Alex told his patience was running a little low.

"I'm not being negative. I'm being realistic."

"No, you've been like that since we left the motel this morning. I'm getting sick of it."

Alex pulled her hands from the warm pockets of her jacket, mocking Dean as she threw her hands in the air, too. "Should've left me behind then. That's what he wanted, right?"

"Oh please, you couldn't survive a month on your own."

"And whose fault is that?!" Alex shouted at her brother. "I've never had to survive on my own! I've always had you and Dad breathing down my neck, dragging me by the hair wherever you went!"

"That's how you see it? You want to act ungrateful? Besides, you wanted to have this life!"

Alex dramatically rolled her eyes and huffed. "Clearly, I didn't know what I was getting myself into; and I'm not ungrateful, but that's my point. I know nothing about the real world! I don't even know what taxes are, not really! There's nothing in my own name, not a bank account or-or a phone bill. Nothing! It's like Alexandra Winchester doesn't really exist!"

"It comes with the responsibility, Alex. You have a responsibility."

"Oh, nice." she scoffed. "Picked out that line right from the A-plus parenting handbook of John Winchester, didn't you?"

"Alex-"

"No, Dean! My whole life has been dedicated to this damn life that Dad threw us into." She stopped talking to take a breath. She stood before her brother, chest rising up and down from her heavy breathing. "How does this not bother you?"

"It just doesn't." he said, playing it cool.

Alex scoffed, "I don't believe you for a second. He did the same thing to you, only you had me on top of everything else."

"I never once looked at it that way." His voice was calm, but there was anger behind it.

"Again, I don't believe you! Our lives are a nonstop road trip, because Dad has some insane idea in his head that he's actually going to nab the thing that killed mom! And it's too bad that he can't realize that she's gone and she's not going to come back!"

Den had heard enough. He stepped forward, forcefully and towered over Alex. "Don't talk about her like that." His eyes glared into Alex's and the muscles in his jaw were clenched.

Alex didn't back down when Dean pulled that move on her in the motel, and she wasn't going to back down now. "I'm telling you right now that you might want to back up." If he wanted to start something, she wouldn't be defeated.

Their stares challenged each other to say something else or dare to make a move, but after another moment, Dean backed away and Alex stayed put. He walked off down the bridge until he stopped dead in his tracks. "Alex..."

Alex looked over and immediately saw what Dean was seeing. It was a woman, dressed in what looked like a white night gown. It had to be Constance. She was standing on the ledge of the railing and looked right over at the two. In the blink of an eye, she was falling face first into the river below. Being so tied up in what they were witnessing, Alex and Dean snapped out of their trance a moment too late. After she had already fallen, they rushed over to the spot where she fell. They both peered over the ledge.

"Where the hell did she go?" Dean wondered.

"I have no clue."

The unmistakable sound of the impala's engine overtook the silence of the night. Alex and Dean looked down to the end of the bridge where they had left the car. The headlights were on and the engine was very much alive.

"Um, Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Who's driving your car?"

The sound of jingling keys pulled Alex's attention away from the car and her jaw dropped. She nearly jumped out of her skin as the tires started squealing, seeing the car headed right towards them.

Alex started to move, but when she realized that Dean was still in the same spot, she grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, Dean! Move!" They were running as fast as they physically could, but they were not going to be able to outrun a car. While they were running, Dean yelled at Alex, "Go over!"

She knew her brother was crazy, but that craziness saved their lives in the moment. Alex skid to a stop and ran towards the edge of the bridge, throwing herself over after Dean. The water felt like pin pricks on her skin as she submerged. When she managed to get to the surface, she swam for the rocks. The smell was awful and she was covered in mud, which was already hardening due to the cold temperature. She threw herself on the rocks and flipped onto her back, trying to catch her breath. Even with her heart beat rattling in her ears, she could her Dean crawl up beside her and onto the rocks. They laid there for a few minutes in silence, getting their heart rates back down to normal.

"We have to go." Alex said, standing up. She looked down at herself, covered in muck and grime. "Get up, Dean." She held out her hand for him, which he just looked at.

"We should've held onto the railing."

Alex took her hand away and shook her head. "Now you mention it."

"God, we smell so gross." Alex whined, hating the feel of the clothes on her body. "And Dad would be so pissed if he saw us sitting on the leather like this."

Dean gave her a side glare and kept driving. "We're almost there."

"Where are we supposed to go from here, genius?"

"Hell, if I know."

"That's a big help."

"Look, it's pretty obvious that Constance bitch doesn't want us digging around in her business."

Ignoring the statement, Alex leaned forward, seeing a red vacancy sing up ahead. "There's a place right there."

Dean speed up the car a bit, pulling into the motel parking lot. They both exited the car and walked into the main office.

"One room, please. Make it a double." Dean said with a fake smile on his face. He slapped down the credit card and despite her current state, Alex was loving the look on the receptionist's face. The older man was staring at them like they had just walked out of a horror movie, but he accepted the credit card anyway and looked down at the name on it.

"You guys having a reunion or something?" he asked them.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, genuinely confused.

"Another guy, Bert Aframian. came in and bought out a room for the whole month."

Alex and Dean exchanged a swift glance and Alex spoke again. "Could you tell us what room he's in?"

"Sure, room second to last. All the way down."

"Thank you." Dean nodded as he took the key from the receptionist. The two made their way down the row of doors and stopped at the one the receptionist mentioned.

"Um, should we knock?" Alex questioned.

"Give it a shot."

Alex raised her hand, put it into a fist and knocked lightly on the door, but not too lightly. They waited for a good minute and then Alex pulled out her lock-pick. "Watch my back."

"That's my girl." Dean said with a smirk. He kept watch until Alex could pick the door's lock, which didn't even take her a minute.

"Got it." she said quietly. She put the tools back in her pocket and motioned with her head for her brother to follow her inside.

Alex entered first, followed by Dean and what they saw surprised them equally. The room was in utter disarray. Papers were thrown everywhere like confetti and they were also numerous pieces tapped to the walls. Garbage made the room smell and littered it as well. Alex watched as Dean turned on the lamp and noticed the half-eaten burger sitting under it. He picked it up, sniffed it, and groaned with disgust.

"Why the hell would you do that?" she asked, partly sickened and partly serious.

"Well, at least we know he hasn't been here in a couple of days."

They let their eyes search the surroundings. Alex bent down to the ground and ran her fingers through the white salt that was laying in circle on the floor. "Yeah, look at this. Salt, cats-eye shells. Good to see he's still his old, paranoid self."

Dean was too busy studying the papers taped to the walls. He was only partially listening to his sister.

Noticing this, Alex walked over to him. "What is it?" she asked.

"Centennial Highway victims." he replied. "I don't get it. All these different men, different jobs, age, ethnicities. There's always a connection, right? So, what do these guys have in common?"

Now, Alex was the one who was transfixed on her own findings. She had moved to the opposite end of the room, but also studying the papers flooding the wall. Looking around, one specific caught her eyes. It read: Woman in White. Giving the wall one last look, Alex scoffed as she turned over to her brother. "Dad figured it out."

Dean turned to her and asked, "What do you mean?"

"He found the same article we did." she answered, pointing to the paper on the wall. "Constance Welch. She's a Woman in White."

Dean turned back around to the pictures of all the missing men on the wall. "Oh, you sly dogs." He looked around at the other walls, "Alright, if we're dealing with a Woman in White, Dad would have found the corpse and fried it, right?"

"Maybe," Alex shrugged, sitting on the edge of a table, "but maybe that's not her weakness."

"No, Dad would have made sure. He'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?"

Not that I can tell." Alex answered, searching through some of the papers beside her. "If I were Dad though, I'd go and talk to the husband next. Assuming he's still alive."

"Yeah, alright. Why don't you go see if you can find an address? I'm getting clean up."

Alex hopped off the table, "Sure."

Dean was ready to walk away, but Alex needed to get something off her chest. "Hey, I'm sorry for starting an argument on the bridge earlier...and for what I said about Mom." She took another look at her clothes and smirked. "Karma is a bitch."

"How about we don't do the chick flick moment?"

"But I'm in touch with my feelings, Dean."

Dean shook his head, but couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him. "Sounds like a personal problem."

Alex was sitting on top of her bed, legs crossed and hands in her lap. Even though she had apologized to Dean for the things she had said on the bridge the previous night, there was a part of her mind that wouldn't let it go. She liked her life...for the most part. As for her mini rant about not knowing the basics of a normal life or not being able to survive on her own, the girl couldn't shake the feeling that those words were true. She had been relatively sheltered for a majority of her life, thanks to the supernatural and her Dad being worried about her getting hurt beyond repair. Sure, there was always the chance it could happen, but he couldn't protect her from every obstacle in her way.

Moving from the bed, hoping it would clear her mind, Alex went to look out the window of their motel room. It was moderately sunny outside, no civilians out and about. Her head turned to the noise of the bathroom opening and saw Dean exit, gathering his jacket and car keys.

"Hey, I'm going to grab a little something to eat. You want anything?"

Alex looked moved back to the edge of her bed, sitting. "No, I'm okay."

"You alright, kiddo?"

She nodded, "Good as can be." Alex offered him a small smile, not quite reaching her ears. It was forced, but maybe he wouldn't notice.

Dean shrugged, "Suit yourself." He collected his car keys, tossing them in the air one as he walked and caught them, leaving out the door.

Alex threw herself back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. For the past couple of days, all her mind wanted to think about was where her dad could be. She wondered what he was doing (even though she knew what he was doing), how he was doing for himself, or if he had gotten into any kind of trouble. She knew he was smart and knew ow to get around inconveniences he came across, but he wasn't invincible. Alex got up from the bed once more and walked over to her duffel bag, searching for her cell phone. The screen lite up as she combed for her Dad's contact in the device. Dean had told her to not worry about him and that he would call when he was able to. "Screw it," she thought to herself, but just as she was about to click on John's number, an incoming call from Dean invaded her screen. He had just left, so she was a little confused.

"Hello?" she asked, slightly hesitant.

"Five-O. Hurry up and get out of here." Dean told her. His voice was hushed and quick.

She knew exactly what those words meant. They had used the term "Five-O" only a handful of times, but it was just as important each time. "Damn it, what about you?" The phone was held between her check and shoulder as she rushed to gather her belongings, shoving clothes into the duffel bags without much care.

"Yeah, no chance of me getting out of this. They're already coming for me."

"Got it, don't worry." she got out, line going dead a moment later. She threw the bags together in a pile with Dean's in record time and moved swiftly to the window in the room. Peeking through the thin curtain as subtly as she could, Alex noticed Dean speaking to the officer they had spoken to on Sylvania Bridge along with another officer, who was making his way towards the door to the room. She swooped up her bags on the floor, leaving Dean's just in case the officer made his way inside. Alex quietly ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Knocking sounded from the other side of the door. She held her breath, hoping for the best. The knocking sounded a few more times, then she heard some shouting and car doors being shut. A few minutes went by before she decided it was okay to come out of the bathroom. Slowly the door opened, allowing her to exit and look around the room. There was sign of anything abnormal, so she walked back to the window. Looking outside, the officers were gone, their cars were gone and so was Dean.

Alex sighed loudly and moved away from the window. "Well, this is just fantastic."

When Alex realized she didn't have keys for the impala, she grew more irritable. There were two options that came to her mind. One, she could steal a car and hope to not end up in her brother's shoes, and two, she could hotwire the impala. Of course, the latter was more preferable. It wasn't hard, either, thanks to Dean teaching her when she was sixteen. The sparks from the wires made her flinch a couple of times, but when she got it going, she was actually proud of herself. Dean would have a field day, but he'd get over it.

The bags were in the backseat, the motel room spotless of their belongings. While she was hiding from the law, Alex had decided to continue the case. She had found an address for Constance Welch's husband the night before and had it saved into her phone. "Okay..." Alex said, breathy. She was ready for this, right? The only thing she had done by herself since she began hunting was research in rooms with four walls and air conditioning. Now, it was up to her to get to work while Dean was momentarily unavailable. She gripped the wheel of the car with her left hand and moved the stick the Reverse, backing out of the parking space. She left the motel, heading for their next best clue in the case.

Down the dirt road, Alex could see a house in the distance. When she came to a stop at the end of the dirt, she turned off the car, making sure the wires would be fine while she was gone. Once she was sure, she stepped out of the vehicle, closing the door behind her. Her boots crunched on top of the ground and she could feel tiny rocks sticking themselves into the pattern on the bottom. Alex walked up to the front door and looked around herself for a moment. It never hurt to be aware of your surroundings, especially when you were alone. She knocked anyway, somewhat lightly on the screen door.

An older man answered the door within the minute and Alex tried to make herself look as nice as possible. "Yeah?" the man asked, seeming uninterested.

"Joseph Welch?"

"Who's asking?"

"My name is Lexie and I'm with the Daily News...newsletter in town and I was wondering if you were available to answer a few questions for us?" She mentally slapped herself for not having a more believable story.

"Didn't you already have one of your guys come through here asking questions?" Joseph questioned, stepping outside his door onto the porch.

Alex was taken aback. She wondered for a moment and lifted her wallet out of her back pocket. She dug through it, taking out a photo of John. "Did he look like this?"

Joseph reached for the photo, wanting to get a better look. He nodded his head and handed the picture back to Alex. "Yeah, that's him. Came by three, maybe four days ago. He told me he was a reporter." His face was skeptical as he watched Alex.

Alex needed to think fast. "Right, we're working on a story together. You know, hoping to get different information than the other."

"Well, I don't know what the hell kind of story you're working on. I mean, do you know the kind of questions he was asking me?"

"About your late wife, Constance, correct?"

The man nodded, "He asked me where she was buried."

"And where would that be, again?"

Joseph have her a hard glare. "What? I got to go through this shit twice?" he raised his hands in the air as he asked the question.

"I'm sorry," Alex said, "just checking the facts. My partner isn't always...around to give me the information I need."

The two remained on the porch, standing in front of one another.

"Mr. Welch?" Alex asked.

"She's out in a plot behind my old house. It's over on Breckenridge."

Alex nodded, showing she understood him. "So, why did you ever move?"

"Are you joking? I'm not going to live in the house where my children died."

"What about marriage? Did you ever marry again?"

"No way." he replied, shaking his head. "Constance…she was the love of my life."

"Hm, so you two had a happy marriage then?"

Joseph didn't answer right away. He looked out idly behind Alex, into the plain scenery. "Of course, we did."

"Okay, well, I think I've got enough here. So, thank you for your time." Alex said, stepping off the porch. She parted ways from the older man, but turned back as a thought crossed her mind. She knew she would be taking a hell of a chance with her question, but the words sort of slipped out past her lips. "Mr. Welch, have you ever heard of a Woman in White?"

"A what now?" Joseph asked, watching Alex from his front door.

"It's a local legend." she informed him. Taking a few steps forward, Alex felt the need to drive home her odd question. "A Woman in White, or sometimes known as A Weeping Woman."

Joseph shook his head, "Not ringing any bells."

"They've been sighted for hundreds of years. In dozens of places like Hawaii, Mexico, Indiana, and lately in Arizona. These are different women, but they all share the same story." The older man was at a loss for words and Alex could see it.

"I don't care much for your damn nonsense, young lady."

Alex laughed to herself, licking her lips and looking elsewhere before she continued. "You see when these women were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them. These woman, basically suffering from temporary insanity…murdered their own children."

There was no verbal response from Joseph, only his eyes boring into Alex.

"Once these women realized what they had done, they killed themselves. Now, their spirits are cursed to walk the backroads and canals. And if they ever find an unfaithful man, they kill him and he's never seen again."

Her words rumbled something inside of Joseph. He was walking towards her, quite quickly, too. He was offended by her remarks, or more like her accusations. "You think that this has something to do with Constance? Oh, you little smart ass..."

Alex shrugged and crossed her arms. "I don't know, Mr. Welch. You tell me what you think,"

The two might as well have been squaring off in a ring, but Joseph backed down. "I mean, maybe I made some mistakes, but no matter what I did, Constance would have never killed her own children." His vice was shaky, filled with emotion and upset. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was pissed. "Now, you get the hell out of here and don't you dare come back!"

"That won't be a problem." Without a second thought, Alex made her way back over to the car and got inside. She started up the engine with the wires and speedily drove the car off the property. She found that task challenging, but she had gotten out with rather good information about the man. When she had driven some ways down the road, away from the Welch residence, she pulled over the car and put it in park. She ran her fingers through her breeze tousled hair in frustration. Maybe she wasn't cut out for the active work. She had never thought about what she was really getting herself into. The biggest motive for wanting to be in the business was so she could be with her family. Her eyes went wide as she stared out the windshield of the impala.

"Crap, Dean." she suddenly remembered. Alex pulled her phone from the front jeans pocket and stared at the screen. She thought about calling his cell phone, but knew it could be traced. So, she settled for the next best solution. Taking in a big breath that filed her lungs, Alex looked out the window and up to the darkening sky and let go of her breath. "If there is any kind of God out there, please let this work."

"911, what is your emergency?" a woman asked from the other end of the call.

"Oh my, God! Some-somebody has a gun! They're shooting! Oh, God please hurry!" Alex cried out, hoping she was sounding genuine.

"Okay, stay calm. What is your location, ma'am?"

"It's Whiteford Road! Please, hurry and send someone!" She quickly ended the call and slapped a hand over her mouth. She had never done anything like that before, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Alex had been driving along the dark road for a while, moving back into town when her phone rang from the passenger side. Carefully reaching over, Alex glanced at the screen when it was in her hand. She answered, "How was time in the slammer?"

"Don't you know how illegal it is to make a fake 911 call?"

"Oh please, this family is royalty when it comes to illegal acts. You're welcome, by the way."

Dean scoffed on the other end. "Yeah, listen we need to talk."

"Oh my god!" Alex exclaimed, wanting to tell her brother about the information she uncovered. "So, it turns out that Joseph Welch was unfaithful to Constance. We're totally dealing with a Woman in White. Plus, she's buried out behind their old house and he told me where-"

"Alex!" Dean shouted through the phone. "Shut up for a second, would you?"

"...okay?"

"He's not here. Dad left Jericho."

Alex's eyes stayed focused on the road, even as her mind was going other places. "How do you even know that?"

"I have his journal?"

"He never leaves that thing behind."

"He did this time."

Alex knew her brother all too well. He was holding back on something. "Dean, what does it say?"

"It's just some old ex-marine crap. You know, whenever he wants us to know where he'll be or where he's going..."

Alex understood and nodded to herself. "Great, more coordinates. Where to this time?"

"I don't know yet." Dean admitted.

"This is getting worse, Dean." said Alex. The whole "where did Dad go" mystery was getting old. "What the hell is going on? Is he trying to send us on a goose chase? If he is, it's so not funny." Her eyes were still on the road, but her focus was lacking. As she looked straight ahead, only to see a woman standing in the middle of the road. "Holy shit!" Alex slammed the breaks, not thinking about the phone to her ear as it dropped to the ground when she grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. Her breathing was heavy, her heart racing and just when she thought things couldn't get worse, there was a voice behind her. There was also the faint sound of Dean's voice coming through her phone speaker.

"Take me home."

Alex cautiously moved her eyes to the review mirror, seeing the Woman in White. She observed for a moment, slightly scared, but more confused. "Yeah…I don't think I'm really your type." she joked, but also serious.

The locks in the car suddenly switched and Alex tried to pull them back out, but no luck. Without even suspecting it, the car started driving itself, causing Alex to be forcefully pushed back into the seat. Still trying to get out of the car without luck, Alex grabbed the steering wheel. She tried her best to steer to car elsewhere, but it was no use. In front of her, she could see an old abandoned building. The car speed into the gravel and Alex swallowed the huge lump in her throat. The car came to a hard halt and Alex's face slammed into the steering wheel. Now, her nose was bleeding and her face hurt. She wiped at her nose, clearing most of the red, but smearing it just as well. Looking back into the review mirror, Alex meet eyes with the Constance. "Okay, you really don't have to do whatever it is you're planning to do. I mean, I'm not even a dude." Her ability to withstand uncomfortable situations was coming to the surface. She was terrified, to say the least.

"I can never go home." The woman said, sadly.

"You're scared to go home?" Alex questioned, moving her eyes back to the house in front her. When she looked back into the backseat, she gasped when she saw that the woman wasn't there anymore. Facing forward again, Alex saw from the corner of her eye that she wasn't alone in the front seat.

"It's just a ghost." she tried to tell herself. "It's just a-" Before she could finish her half-assed pep talk, Alex was thrown out of the car door and onto the rough gravel. The breath was knocked out of her and before she could catch it again, she felt an intense pain in her chest. Her eyes opened to the wonderful sight of the ghost fist deep in her chest. The pain was indescribable, feeling like her heart was about to burst inside her body. All Alex had the energy to do was scream at the agony she was enduring.

The loud bang of gunshots ran through the air and despite the pain coursing through her body, Alex felt relieved. Dean was there now and shooting salt rounds at the ghost. While Dean was firing and Constance was distracted, Alex used it to her advantage and managed to move herself from the dirt and back into the impala. She was in and closed the driver side door. It was a simple idea, one that she wasn't sure would work, but it had. Constance has rejoined her inside the vehicle in the backseat. Alex looked at the old house and glared at the supernatural entity in the review mirror. Luckily, the engine on the car was still running. "I'm taking you home…bitch!" Alex declared, as she revved the engine. Stepping on the gas, Alex let the car dive straight into the house and crashed right into the middle of it. The whole front was destroyed.

She couldn't move. "Am I in shock? Oh, my god, am I dead?!" she asked herself. Her nose was bleeding again and her chest ached still. Hearing a familiar voice call out her name was proof enough for her that she was indeed, alive.

"Alex?!" The sound of debris being moved could be heard. Rushed footsteps carried on behind it.

Alex squeezed her eyes and opened them together as she tried to regain her strength. It was hard, but her body complied with her wishes. She turned her head to call out the window of the car. "I'm right here!" it wasn't so much a yell, but more of a plea to get her out of her current position.

The crunching of rubble got closer to her before her brother came into view. "You okay?" Dean questioned. He tried to go to the driver's side, but it was blocked by large boards. "I need to go to the other side." His legs moved quickly and opened the door to the passenger's side. "Can you move?"

Alex nodded and sat up, painfully. She winced, "Yeah, it just hurts. Help me."

Dean reached further into the car, pulling out his sister from under her arms. "Alright, come on."

She groaned, feeling the discomfort throughout her body. When she looked up behind Dean, she threw herself back onto the side of the impala, cause her brother to look behind himself.

Constance was holding a picture, staring at it intensely until her eyes shot daggers up to both Alex and Dean. She threw down the picture and began walking towards them. A big dresser slid across the floor and pinned the siblings back against the car. They groaned, trying to push the structure off them, but it didn't work.

"This is it," Alex said out loud, panicking, "this is how I go!"

"Stop being dramatic!" Dean told her with a rough voice. He was still trying to get out from behind the dresser.

With what she thought would be one last negative thought, strange lights in the house started to flicker and water began pouring down the stair case. These events captured the attention of Constance She slowly looked up to the staircase and when she saw them, her children, she was shocked. Alex and Dean watched profoundly. The eerie voice of children filled the air around them.

"You've come home to us, mommy."

The two children abruptly appeared behind their mother and captured her in their tiny arms. The woman shrieked and started to disappear into the ground, like they were engulfed by water. Within a matter of seconds, she was gone, forever. Sighing out breaths of relief, Alex and Dean exchanged a look of easement before they both pushed off the heavy dresser that was still pinning them. Walking over to the spot where Constance and her dead children disappeared, they cautiously observed the remains of what they had just witnessed.

"Scene of the crime?" Dean wondered, glancing at Alex.

She nodded, "It's why she didn't want to come back here."

"Hm, well, you found her weak spot." Dean ruffled Alex's hair, making it even worse than it already was. "Nice work, little sis." He walked back to the impala., Alex following behind him.

"Thanks..." she said, unsure of herself. The two of them began to remove debris from the crash away from the car. Stopping in the middle of her action, Alex straightened up. "I thought she only hurt men?" she speculated out loud.

Dean looked up, giving an unclear expression. "Well, maybe it's…." he trailed off.

"Maybe it's what?"

"You, uh, got something you want to tell me?" Dean asked, raising his eyebrows, jokingly.

Knowing what he was referring to right away, Alex grabbed a piece of wood and threw it at her brother. "Bite me, jerk wad!"

He dodged the piece of wood. "Okay, okay! Just saying!"

It didn't take too long to clear a path for the car to drive down, so as soon as they were finished, they hoped into the vehicle. The car started with no problem, but Dean made an unhappy mumble. "Alex?"

"Yeah?"

His eyes were directed downward, below the steering wheel. "Why does it looked like you snipped the wires to hotwire my care?"

Alex scrunched her face at his question. "I didn't have your keys and I wasn't about to jack some poor bastard's car, because you went and got yourself caught."

Dean thought for a moment. "Okay, I'll give you that one."

"...but?" Alex dragged out. She knew it was coming.

"If you ever drive my car into a building ever again, I'll end you."

"Noted."

Dean ran his hands down the steering wheel and adjusted the review mirror. "You've violated her enough this week."

Dean was driving, seeming content as the car rolled down the road. He kept trying to be subtle, sneaking glances over at Alex. She was uncomfortable, thanks to the injuries she sustained. "How're you feeling?"

"It hurts," she admitted, "but I think I'll live."

"there's a first aid kit in the glove box."

Alex went to open the compartment, seeing the tiny white box which contained a few necessities. As she pulled it out, a map fell out onto the floor.

"Oh, we could use that actually." Dean told her.

"For what?"

"We need to find the coordinates Dad was talking about."

"Give me a minute, okay?" Alex said, opening the box of supplies. She grabbed out a few antiseptic wipes and a bandage. She ripped open one of the wipes and started to wipe to few cuts on her forehead and scrubbed away the blood from her nose.

"You did good these past couple of days."

Alex looked at her brother. It was dark, but she could make out his stoic face. "Thanks." Tearing open a new wipe, she wiped at her hands and arms, cleaning the specks of blood from her skin. "I just wish Dad was here to see it." She thought to herself, but laughed. "He'd probably just citizen whatever I did. I wasn't meant to go into the action."

"What makes you think that?" Dean asked, sparing a glance her way.

Alex shrugged, knowing Dean didn't see it. "I do the research, or most of it anyway. You even said so yourself, he doesn't want me messing things up for him."

"Alex, no." he tried reassuring her. "I was being an ass."

"Are you trying to convince me that there isn't some truth to it, though?"

Dean was silent. He kept his eyes forward, lips sealed.

Alex understood his silence and dropped the subject. She crumbled up her garbage and tossed it on the floor of the car. She picked up the map and unfolded it, eyes scanning the lines in the dark. Remembering they kept a flashlight in the glove compartment, too, she retrieved it and turned it on to see the map. "What were the coordinates?"

"35-111."

"Okay, give me a second." Alex searched the map the way she was taught. Through and through, it wasn't hard to spot the place where John wanted to send them. "Blackwater Ridge, Colorado."

"Really?"

"Yeah, maybe that's where he is."

"How far is it?"

Alex dragged the light along the map. "About six-hundred miles."

"We could probably make it by morning, considering the speeding laws we'd have to break."

Alex turned off the flashlight and closed the map. She opened the glove compartment, putting those and the first aid kit back where they belonged. "Or we could sleep?"

Dean let out a breathy laugh. "Or we could do that." He looked over at Alex again, "Are you sure your fine?"

"Yeah, it's nothing serious."

"Alright, we'll I want to keep driving, but if your that tired-"

"No, it's fine." Alex told him. She took off her jacket and bunched it up, using it as a pillow against the window. She yawed and closed her sore eyes. "We've got work to do."

Wow, that was long! I hope you enjoyed and please remember to review! I would really appreciate it,