The Impala's engines halted and Dean hurried out of the vehicle. Sam hadn't returned his incisive calls and his instincts were telling him something bad happened- which is partly right. He held his gun in front of him as he ran up the path. He slowed his pace down as he reached the front door. He cautiously opened it and moved in. "Sammy!" Dean shouted when he saw Alex standing in the kitchen. He raised his gun.
Sam's head peered around Alex's torso. "It's alright, Dean," Sam said whilst Alex turned to face the other Winchester. "She's Levitt."
"Alexandra Levitt. Alex." Alex said with a smile. She held out her free hand to shake Dean's but he didn't look convinced; he still had his gun high. Alex rolled her eyes and put her arm back to her side. With her beer she gestured to the spare one on the table. "It's for you." She sat down across from Sam. "Take a seat."
"Dean, sit down. She's friendly." Sam reassured him. Dean lowered the gun but kept his eyes on Alex as he sat down and moved the beer towards him.
"Sam has been telling me about why you're here." Alex took a sip of her beer and leaned back on her chair. "So Dean, what makes you think you can find the tablet? I've tried to locate it but I always hit a dead end."
"We're good at our job."
"So am I!" Alex crossed her arms and gestured as she spoke. "But just because you're the sons of the elusive John Winchester doesn't mean you can solve a case our fathers' spent months on, and what I've spent years trying to resolve, in just a few days."
"With your collective knowledge of the case and our skill of hunting things, then maybe we could finally put an end to this. For all our sakes."
Alex tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear and rubbed her chin as she thought. "It'll be good to finally rest easy at night knowing I've, at last, gotten rid of that bloody tablet." She sighed. "Okay Winchester, you've got yourself a deal."
The two Hunters nodded and shook hands. "Welcome to the team."
Dean put John's journal on the old wooden table. He turned to the page in Falls City. He hesitantly handed it to Alex, who started to read through it. Alex managed convince the brothers to stay in the house while they worked on the case, so Sam gave the keys back to the motel woman and moved all their stuff to one of the spare rooms. The room had two old wooden beds and a dying wardrobe. The floorboards creaked but luckily they weren't close to falling apart. The windows were fogged up and the walls were peeling. Dean claimed the bed nearest the door while Sam took the one near the window.
Dean still hadn't warmed to Alex but trusted her enough to not have his brains blown out while they slept. It was something about her that he didn't trust; he just couldn't put his finger on it. Sam, on the other hand, was comfortable around her but still had his guard up as the same thing bothering Dean bothered him. Alex's guard was in overdrive, the last time she meet a Hunter he tried to kill her, so she had to kill him first. She never trusted them, Hunters don't trust anyone, not even their own, and she wasn't going to start now. She gave the Winchesters all the information she had on the tablet and the case their father's were on, they had the job of sieving through the hefty pile of papers and books.
"Why do you still live here?" Dean asked after hours of page turning and reading. His attention was drifting from the mindless pages."It's not exactly the best place for a Hunter."
"It's been my home for 17 years. I can't bear to leave it for a long time, let alone forever."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "No way you're 17."
"No, Winchester, I'm 22!" Alex snapped. "I moved here when I was 5."
Dean held up his hands defensively. "Jeeze, no need to snap at me."
"I'm not used to company."
"That's fine. If you don't mind me asking... where did you live?"
"England." She replied bluntly. She returned her attention back to the journal.
Dean sipped the last sliver of his beer. "Any mom in the picture?"
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Died in a fire a year after we moved here. I don't like to talk about it..."
"Our mom died in a fire." Sam said quietly.
"Yippee do, we've got something in common." She noticed that Sam looked hurt. "Sorry, I need to work on my manners."
"It's alright." Sam shrugged.
"Hunters have the worst luck." She commented with a sigh.
"Tell me about it." Dean replied.
After another hour reading and listening to Dean's attempt to flirt with Alex, Sam' head snapped up from a book. "Alex!" He called to her; she was in the living room.
A "Yo?!" echoed through the house.
"This map," Sam said as Alex peered around the wall. "What is it?"
"It doesn't say?" She enquired, moving to stand behind Sam.
"No." He was looking at an old stained map of some wooded area.
Alex studied it with narrowed eyes. "It's a map of a nearby wood. I've checked it out, there's nothing there."
Sam sighed and rubbed his forehead. Dean walked in with a bag of supplies that the house ran out of; salt, some silverware, beers, food, tea bags for Alex, and more beer. He plonked the bag on the table. "Found anything?"
"Nope." The two replied.
Dean groaned in annoyance, took out a beer and opened it. Some liquid hit the map. "Idiot!" Alex exclaimed. "This stuff is ancient I don't want beer on it." Dean gave her a flat look and took a swig of beer. Alex sat on the chair and put her head on the table. She moaned, "This is so annoying! I told you we wouldn't find anything."
"It's still early days yet." Dean said. This made Alex groan again.
"Ah, shoot!" Sam said. He jumped back in his seat.
"What?" Alex groaned, still with her head on the table.
"There's water leaking down onto the paper."
"It's the crappy pipes, it'll stop soon."
Sam nodded. Then after a beat, "Alex!"
"What?"
"Alex!" Sam said eagerly.
"What!" She snapped her head up to see Sam staring at the map. The water was just resting on it. "Oh." She said. More water dripped onto the map, and when there was a sufficient amount of water on it, the liquid moved to a spot in the top right hand corner.
"What's there?" Dean asked, nodding at it.
"It's an old statue. It's not that special." Dean looked at Sam and gave him a nod to get their things together. "You can't be serious! We're following water?" Alex exclaimed as Sam stood up.
"Got any better ideas?" Dean replied.
There was a pause and a sigh. "Goddamn it, I'll get my stuff."
