Chapter One:
"You follow my orders and I promise I can bring your brother back."
Dean pulled two beers out of the cooler and shut the trunk, moving to sit on the hood of the Impala.
"That hunt was a bust," he grumbled, handing his brother a beer and opening his own.
"Dean, nobody else got killed," Sam said, scanning the expanse of the beach in front of them.
"Yeah, alright, but who do you think salted and burned the thing?"
The younger Winchester shrugged. It had been a standard haunting in an abandoned house in Bellingham, Washington by the coast. The two of them went and surveyed the house, found the ghost, and went to go salt and burn the bones. Except, when they got there, someone already had. They went back and asked around town if anyone else new had come into town but no one had seen anything out of the ordinary except for the haunting, so the brothers resigned to give up on the search.
They sat on the hood of the Impala in silence, drinking their beers and watching the ocean. In the midst of the silence, Dean noticed a woman walking out across the shore. He checked his watch. It was 12:58.
"Now how come she's out so late?" he mumbled to himself, drawing his brother's attention.
Sam turned his gaze to look at her; she seemed to be walking towards them.
She was a petite woman, barely five feet tall with a small waist. She had long brown hair that seemed to cascade down her shoulders with beads and feather intricately woven in. Her face was pointed with high cheekbones, a round nose, and a lot of freckles. Her eyes were a beautiful brown that seemed to turn gold when they caught the light.
"Well hello there," Dean gave her a flirty smile, "what's a beautiful girl like you doing out this late?"
Sam sighed, taking another sip of his beer and rolling his eyes at his brother's forwardness.
"Just out for a walk," she said; her voice was gentle, soft. Her gloved hands reached up to fiddle with the black crystal hanging around her neck.
"You want a beer? I got plenty in the trunk."
"Sure," she flashed him a smile.
"One beer, coming right up," he winked, turning to walk to the trunk.
"I'm sorry about him; he can get rather obnoxious," Sam told her honestly.
She laughed; it was a light hearted, bubbly sound.
"There you go," Dean handed her a beer.
"Thank you," she pulled the glove off her right hand and held her hand out to him, "I'm Abigail."
Dean shook her hand and opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off.
"Dean Winchester and that's your brother Sam. You two are hunters."
The older Winchester took a step away from her and Sam instinctively pulled his gun out of the waistband of his jeans.
"And how would you know?"
She raised her bare hand up to them, wiggling her fingers, "Psychic."
"We're supposed to believe that?"
"Well considering we've met before, Dean, I suppose so."
The blonde man's brow furrowed before understanding lit up his features, "You're Peter's kid!"
Abigail nodded.
"Peter?" Sam frowned.
"Peter and Liz Buchanan. Dad and I worked a vampire case with them way back. And we ran into her brother Anthony during that Wendigo case in Michigan."
"I remember him," Sam nodded, putting his gun away, "How's he doing?"
Abigail's face darkened and she looked down at her converse sneakers, "He uh...He's gone. Werewolf, last year."
"Oh man, I'm sorry," Dean rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, well it's over so…" her voice trailed off and she pushed a lock of brown hair behind her ear, revealing her hearing aids.
There was silence between the three of them. Abigail knew what they were thinking, she saw them both stare at her hearing aids. Hearing aids meant disability, disability meant weakness. She untucked her hair from behind her ear and cleared her throat.
"Well I'm heading out early tomorrow. It was nice to meet you guys," she smiled at them.
"Hey, let's exchange numbers in case we're in the same area," Sam suggested, pulling out his phone.
"Sure," Abigail put her glove back on and pulled the phone out of her back pocket. After they'd exchanged numbers, the three said their goodbye and Abigail walked over to a motorcycle parked a few yards away. She got on, secured her helmet and drove off.
Dean whistled, "That is one nice bike."
He was obviously not talking about the bike and Sam rolled his eyes.
The Winchesters ran into Abigail Buchanan again after they finished a case in Denver, Colorado. After the brothers had cleaned off all the Arachne blood, Dean decided it would be good to go out and have a drink in celebration, which Sam obviously knew his brother just wanted to get laid.
"Is it your turn to order or mine?" Sam asked as the two of them walked into the bar.
"It's yours," Dean said, stopping to survey the bar for any solitary woman, "Actually," he said when he spotted Abigail at the bar, "I'll buy."
"Okay?" Sam said, following his brother's gaze and scoffing when he saw the woman, "Dean, you can't be serious."
"Go big or go home," Dean gave his a brother a thumb's up before walking over to the bar. He leaned on the polished wood to the left of Abigail. "Well hello there, beautiful."
Abigail turned to look at him, smiling before holding a finger up. She pulled her hearing aids out of her pocket and put them in, adjusting the settings with little dials on the sides of the devices. "Sorry about that, it's loud in here"
"Not a problem. It's good to see you, Abby."
"You too, Dean. I figured you two would be in town. You take care of the Arachne?"
"Yeah," he smiled, eyes roaming over her. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail but several strands covered in beads had slipped free and hung loosely against her neck. She was wearing a simple button up tank top and a pair of ripped jeans. The crystal was still around her neck.
Abby cleared her throat, "My eyes are up here, Dean."
"I know."
Just then Sam came over, "Hey Abby."
"Hi Sam," she smiled, "How was the case?"
"Oh it was pretty easy," Dean answered for his brother, shooting her a wink.
"Dean, this whole 'I'm obviously checking you out' thing isn't working. I'm not interested."
Sam turned away, trying to stifle his laughter.
"Alright, I can take a hint. You order the drinks Sam. There's a blonde sitting alone in the corner," And he stalked off.
The younger Winchester laughed, "I am sorry about him. He just can't control his urges."
She laughed, "It's alright. The hunt went okay, though?"
"Yeah, a few cuts and bruises here and there but we're both alive so you know," he shrugged.
She nodded.
"Can I buy you a drink?"
"I'd like that."
The two of them sat in silence, drinking their beers and listening to the music that blared through the club. Abby adjusted the knobs on one of her hearing aids when a loud song started playing. Sam noticed that she seemed to fidget with them often.
"Can I ask you something?" Sam turned to look at her.
"Shoot." she said, setting down her beer.
"This is going to sound really random but I feel like we've met before, like before the beach."
She tilted her head, eyes squinting slightly, "I don't know, but I feel it too. Maybe we worked a case together a long time ago?"
"No, I'd remember a girl like you."
The both of them were silent as his words sunk in. Sam's cheeks turned a light shade of pink and he started stuttering, "I mean - I didn't…"
Abby laughed, "It's okay, Sam."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
"So how long have you and Dean been hunting?" She turned her stool so she could look at him. She had to admit he was extremely attractive. Despite his tall form and broad shoulders, he had a kind face. His hazel eyes were soft and his smile seemed to radiate kindness. She liked it.
"We grew up in the hunter life." he said, pushing his hair behind his ear, "Our mom died when we were young and we basically lived on the road with our dad after that."
"I heard John passed away a few years ago."
"Yeah, same demon that killed our mother."
"I'm sorry."
He shrugged, "I've still got Dean."
"I um….I heard that he…"
"Went to Hell?"
"Yeah. I wasn't sure if it was just rumour or not; you know how gossip spreads among hunters."
"No, he did."
Abigail turned to look at Dean who was flirting up with the blonde woman in the corner booth. He had a bright smile on his face. What kind of things had he seen in Hell? "How did he get out?" she asked, turning back to the man beside her.
"You won't believe me if I tell you."
She raised an eyebrow at him, "Try me."
"It was an Angel."
Abby's heart froze in her chest. Angel.
Sam watched as Abby turned away, visibly paling. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah," she tipped her head back and finished her beer, "It's getting late, so I'm gonna head back to the motel. It was nice seeing you, Sam. Tell Dean I said goodbye."
"Alright. See you around," he waved to her. He watched as she walked out of the bar. Her ponytail swung side to side as she walked. He shook his head; there's was something about her. He couldn't put his finger on it. Not yet, anyway.