An unlikely Hero
Author: Angelkisses87and Bubblegumthai
Disclaimers: I don't own Supernatural or its characters. Maggie is my original character creation and Lola belongs to bubblegumthai.
Author's note: This is a collaboration I co wrote with my best mate bubblegumthai. A follow on from Break the habit of a lifetime.
We had an awesome time writing this together throwing around ideas, sometimes hilariously ridiculous and others heartbreaking.
We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Chapter One
"Are we nearly there yet?"
Sam and Dean raised their eyebrows at Maggie's whine from the back seat. After several seconds, Sam sighed realising that Dean was far too engrossed in being back behind the wheel of his precious Impala to provide an answer,
"We've got another ten miles to go until we get to the hospital."
"Man I could kill for a burger right now. A big juicy burger with extra onions, a side of fries, covered in mayonnaise!" Maggie fantasized, licking her lips whilst stretched out across the back seat, casually, head leaning against the window. Maggie's fantasies of food are cut short as Dean slammed on the breaks, hurtling her against the backs of the front seats, "What the…? Dean…what…?" Maggie stopped as she pulled herself up, noticing the same thing that had distracted Dean; Lola's black pick-up.
Sam looked at Maggie in the rear-view mirror, giving one another a knowing smile. They held on for dear life as Dean spun the car around to pull into the same parking lot as Lola's truck.
Slamming the car door behind him, Dean climbed out of the car, face like thunder and stormed towards Lola, who stood, rummaging beneath the bonnet,
"Oh, the tension…" Maggie remarked with a smirk. Sam laughed in agreement.
Dean reached out, grabbing Lola's bare arm, smudged with car grease, pulling her out from beneath the hood of the truck. He spun her around to look him dead in the eyes,
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" He demanded,
"Dean…what're you doing here?"
"What," He began, slowly and carefully, his teeth gritted, "did you do?"
Lola sighed, looking down at her dusty feet. She knew full well what he was asking and it made it impossible for her to pull her gaze away from the floor with guilt,
"Damn it Lola! Answer me!"
"I did what I had to do." She said simply with a shrug, "I saw how you handled Maggie dying and I didn't want you to have to live out your last few days in a drunken stupor. And I couldn't bare the thought of Sam being alone." Dean simply stood there, shocked and hurt that she'd mentioned his impending death so casually, he furrowed his brow, opening his mouth to ask how she knew, though she beat him to it; "That's right Dean. I know. I had to hear it from a damn demon!" Her voice rising with emotion,
"You're so stupid. How could you throw your life away for someone you hardly know?"
"I didn't do it for Maggie, I did it for you."
"I know. That's what I meant."
Lola stared back at him in disbelief before giving him a withering look that Dean had seen many a time from Sam, his long suffering brother; a bitter huff of a laugh, with the curl of her lip and a shake of her head.
Maggie suddenly approached, seemingly from nowhere, giving Lola a hug that was not returned,
"Hey Lola." She beamed. Dean stood back, shaking his head by the intervention,
"Hi." Lola replied dryly, her eyes fixed coldly upon Dean over Maggie's shoulder. Sam also approached, smiling and trying to lift the tense atmosphere, attempted a joke;
"Jeeze. You guys are like a married couple!"
Maggie was about to laugh until she caught a glimpse of Dean and Lola's expressions, deciding it was better to just purse her lips and hold it back. Sam expelled a breath, looking around awkwardly,
"Phew…tough crowd…" He muttered,
"Sam…bad time…" Dean remarked,
"No, it's okay…" Lola sighed, "I have to finish fixing my truck so I can get the hell out of here. If you're quite finished, of course."
"Actually Lola, we're on the way to a job, we could use your help if you wanna come along?" Maggie piped up, glancing at Sam with a wicked smirk before looking at Dean with a sweet and innocent smile, which was returned, by a look that said 'I hate you',
"Thanks all the same, but Dean here's made it more than obvious that I'm just not welcome."
"As much as Dean likes to think it, he's not the boss of everything…we think you should come, right Sam?"
"Yeah…c'mon! It'll be good to have you around again. You could save our butts again!"
"Please Lola! I need a girl around! I've been stuck in this testosterone-filled car for three weeks damn it!"
"Just say yes and they'll shut up." Dean muttered as he pushed past her, stalking back to the car,
"See!" Sam exclaimed, pointing at Dean, "You DO have his approval!"
Lola reluctantly nodded her head in defeat,
"Alright then…"
"Awesome!" Maggie beamed in victory.
Lola leaned forwards from the back of the car, her hair falling down on either side of her face, irritating Dean. He made a big show of flailing his hand to swipe the curls away, spluttering dramatically as he did so,
"Oh pipe down, you woman!" Lola snapped before turning to Sam, "So what's the story behind this job then?"
"There's this abandoned hospital a few miles down the road. There have been some reports of hauntings going on down there that have suddenly stepped up over the last year. A couple of workmen trying to convert it have disappeared in there…so we're thinking vengeful spirit. It sounds a bit high school legend, but there could be more to it."
"Got a background story on it yet, any ideas on who's spirit it could be?" Lola enquired, sweeping a curl behind her ear, growing weary of Dean's complaining,
"Uh…no…" Sam admittedly sheepishly,
"It was a hospital, y'know!" Dean snapped childishly, "Loads of people died there!"
Maggie rolled her eyes,
"You wouldn't think he was the oldest, would you?"
Lola smiled in agreement,
"What I meant was have any witnesses given a particular description of the spirit?" She snapped,
"That's the thing! Everyone's accounts are different!" Sam cried excitedly, showing the reason he had been labelled a geek by his brother,
"Not a Psiren…" Lola whimpered, "We all know how Dean handles a Psiren."
"Okay…yes…I get it. I hear you. I put a gun to your head. I know. How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"
Maggie sat up with a start,
"You did what now? Jeeze…and I thought you giving me the silent treatment was bad…"
"At least he hasn't punched either one of you yet!" Sam joined in,
"Look, can we stop with the Dean bashing? I will turn this car around!" Dean snapped, slamming his hands down on the steering wheel in annoyance. The trio fell into silence until suddenly Lola muttered,
"…sorry Dad…"
Both Sam and Maggie tried to stifle their laughter as Dean's frown deepened, narrowing his eyes at them in the mirror before grunting and returning his eyes to the road. Lola slumped back in the car, her arms folding proudly in victory, happy that she'd been the one to get the last word in.
But her victory didn't last long as her head soon began to spin, her eyes losing focus for a few seconds before clearing again. Maggie turned and noticed that Lola's face had drained of all it's colour, savour her lips which were purple. She placed her hand on Lola's shoulder,
"Are you okay?"
This caused Sam and Dean to turn in their seats to look around. Lola just saw Sam's worried expression as she slipped sideways into darkness, slumping against Maggie's chest. Dean quickly pulled the car over before darting to the door behind him and pulling it open,
"Okay…get her outside. She needs air, but make sure that her airway's clear. Don't let her swallow her tongue!" She said calmly as Dean pulled the motionless form of Lola out of the car and onto the grass at the roadside,
"What happened?!" Dean fumed as Maggie knelt beside Lola, feeling her wrist for a pulse before gently touching her forehead; a cold sweat moistened her hand,
"How the hell should I know?! She just went down!"
"Dude…calm down…" Sam reasoned, "She's only passed out. It's probably just the heat."
Maggie nodded in agreement, though she didn't quite believe it herself. Just as quickly as she'd gone out, Lola came back around, opening her eyes slowly with a groan,
"Sam…get me the bottle of water out of the back please…" Maggie said over her shoulder before reaching her arms out to help Lola sit up, "How're you feeling?" She asked softly,
"…fine…" She mumbled, holding her head as she sat up, pushing Dean out of the way, "Why are you all leaning in on me?" She asked with a frown,
"You passed out." Maggie said matter-of-factly,
"Oh did I? It must've been Dean's overwhelming charm!" She remarked sarcastically as she shakily stood up. She walked over to the car, not wanting to talk about what had happened, even though deep down she was freaked out.
The Winchester siblings exchanged concerned looks before following her to the car.