Chapter 2.0

And so it begins, for real now

Crap crap crap!

Did these people kidnap her in her sleep or something? How was she supposed to answer him? She was so disoriented! He looked like he seriously meant business, and the business end of his gun was not something she wanted anything to do with. Wait, what did he mean who or what the hell are you? What the hell else would she be? A zebra? Great she got kidnapped by some crazy guy and who knows who else! What to do? What to do?

"Um, Dean." It was whoever else was in the room. Another male, based on the voice. This got the gun wielding man's attention. That must be his name. Dean looked around him, briefly, then did a double take. His eyes slightly wide and jaw set. What ever he saw surprised him, but Mei couldn't see. She took his looking away as an opportunity to free her hands from under the blankets. Even though the movement had been small, it got his attention back to her.

Dean shifted his gun to one hand and caught something the other man tossed to him with the other. It was a flask. He opened it with his thumb and proceeded to douse her face with whatever liquid was inside. She sputtered a little in surprise. It was just water? She was so confused, and now she was wet too. He handed the flask back to the other man in exchange for a knife. A very sharp and pointy one, she noted trying to back away from him but coming against the far wall, keeping her hands up.

He approached her, flipping the knife in his hand so he was holding the blade. Gun still pointed at her head. He was handing the knife to her? She shook her head, refusing, obviously unsure and scared. Was this some kind of weird game? Give it to her so they could shoot her and call it self-defense? No Thanks.

"Just touch it. It's silver." he demanded. As if that made sense. She shook her head again and he seemed to get agitated.

"Touch it or I cut you with it." She flinched and hesitantly pressed against it with the back of her hand. Nothing happened. He drew it away from her. She could practically see the gears turning behind his green eyes. What else was he going to do?

"Well that covers most things but it doesn't explain all of this stuff." he motioned around the room, probably talking to the other man. He seemed to relax more, as if she had passed some test. The other man came into view now, curiously looking at her. He had longer hair as was very, very tall. He was wearing a white V-neck shirt and sweatpants. He quirked a brow at her curiously.

"She hasn't said anything?" He asked Dean. "She looks… confused. I don't think this was her idea." He stated and she nodded, clearly confused. "What is your name? We aren't going to hurt you." The tall man seemed to be trying to calm her. They all stood still for a while, it felt like forever. They were waiting for her to speak, gun still aimed. She felt like she could hyperventilate. "He asked you a question." Dean demanded moving the gun slightly closer. The other man looked pensive for a second before stating, "Maybe she doesn't even speak English." Then there was a muffled buzzing sound coming from what she presumed was the nightstand on the other side of the bed. Then a loud and deliberate notification tone she had chosen for one of her friends. The timing of everything was almost too good.

"Do you understand the words that are coming out my mouth?!" it was Chris Tucker, from one of her favorite movies. Rush Hour. Both of the men look to where the phone is, outside of her view. The tall man looks at Dean as if asking him if it was his.

"Dude, that's not one of mine." They both look to her, quizzically. She puts on a slight grimace.

"Chris Tucker? Really?" Dean asks, amused by it and the irony.

Her reaction is hesitant.

'Inside joke.' Then she resumes her surrender posture. They didn't understand, of course they wouldn't know sign language. Their eyes did give away their newfound realization though. Dean turned his head away from her and whispered loudly.

"Sammy, did she just talk with her hands?" She thinks he assumes she's deaf. That's fine. She catches onto the other man's name. Sammy.

"I think so, this might be a problem. All I remember is 'thank you' and maybe some of the alphabet." Sammy replied, bringing his hands up and moving his fingers, trying to sign the ASL alphabet. It was pretty bad. They both looked uncomfortable now. She waves her arms cautiously, trying to regain their attention. Dean wasn't pointing the gun at her anymore but he still had it in his hand at his side. So she still had them up, frightened. With her hands, still above her head, she moved one hand to look like she had a pen and the other underneath it like a surface to write on. Sammy jolted a bit understanding and shuffled away after a quick "Ah right." looking for something for her to write on.

Dean put his gun on a table behind him, realizing she was eyeballing it. He looked her in the face, moving slowly closer to her, motioning his hands gently for her to put her hands down.

"You. Can. Put. Your. Hands. Down. Now." He exaggerated each word with his mouth so she could read them as he sat on the opposite corner of the bed, facing her. It was like he was trying not to scare her now but still keep a cautious eye on her. She didn't get it, one minute he was ready to shoot her, she could tell he really was, and the next he was trying to comfort her? What the hell. She obliged trying not to break eye contact. She was sitting on her feet and they were starting to fall asleep on her. She wondered if she should make a plan to escape. She was quite literally cornered. She squirmed visibly and hissed a little at the discomfort.

Sammy returned with a pen and motel notepad. Handing them to Dean who handed them to her. She began to write, using the wall.

"Please don't hurt me! Where am I? Why am I here? And who are you? What do you want?" She chose to leave out that she was not deaf, she might overhear something useful that she could tell the police if they continued to think she was. She handed the paper back to Dean who began to read it somewhat out loud.

"We wont hurt you, unless you're here to kill us." He seemed to seriously think she might be. She squirmed some more trying to free her feet from under her. But trying not to move too suddenly since they obviously saw her as a threat. It was becoming quite unbearable. It seemed to make Dean curious.

"Do you need to pee or something? Because you're dancing an awful lot and there's no music." She asked for the notepad and pen again. 'My feet are asleep.' Handing it to him with a pained expression. "Seriously?" Dean hesitated but offered a hand to help her up, the taller man watching carefully. She reluctantly took it. She noticed he had a firm and calloused grip as he helped to pull her up to her tingling feet.

"Don't get any ideas. I'm just going to frisk you." She visibly stiffens at his statement and is practically a statue as he does so. Checking her not so modestly for weapons. Every muscle stiffening as she restrains herself from hitting him.

"She's got nothing on her. Her pajamas are nice though. Sit. Down." He makes sure she can see his mouth this time and pushes down on her shoulder so she will sit on the bed. He sits next to her on the edge of the bed. He feels too close so she scoots as far away from him as she could, nearest the headboard. She had shaken the blankets away from her when she had stood up but her feet were still very uncomfortable. So, she brought them up on top of the bed, rubbing the soles and arch to try to get some circulation back into them. Flinching visibly at the pins and needles feeling all too common with sleeping limbs. She was free from the corner now and she looked around, finally getting a good feel of her surroundings.

A motel room. They were in a motel room. That was super shady. There were two beds, a little table with chairs, a couch, and a tv. She guessed on the other side of the wall, that her head had hit earlier, was a bathroom. Sammy was between the two beds, the only door to the outside behind him. He had her phone and he was looking through it. She cursed in her head. She would have to find another way to call for help. The gun was still too close for comfort, all they had to do was leap toward it and they would have it again. Not nearly enough time for her to bypass Sammy and get to the door and another few seconds to unlock it before getting out to who knows where.

"Hey hey hey," Dean got her attention, obviously seeing her start to panic as her eyes darted around the room. "We. Are. Not. Going. To. Hurt. You." he paused, "Unless you're a monster." He tried calming her down then just stated the last bit as if it were just a matter of fact. He motioned to the pen and paper, eyebrows raised, facial expression trying for reassuring. He wrote his name down, pointing at it on the paper then himself. Then he wrote Sam, pointing to the lanky mountain of a man still going through her phone. He raised a hand in greeting, smiling half heartedly, regretfully really, continuing through her personal mobile, as he glanced up from it.

"The only family contacts she seems to have are two." He showed Dean the contact list, she could see it as well. The time on the notification bar told her it was 7:14 am, the date next to it. February 3rd 2010. Okay yesterday had been the 2nd. The contact list right underneath; Uncles phone # 1 and Uncles phone # 2. She tried reaching for it but he drew it back, narrowing his eyes at her. She frowned, worried. What did they want from her? Did her uncles even realize that she was gone? How long ago had she been taken? Did they drug her? She hadn't felt anything getting here. She pointed back at her questions on the paper. Dean, noticed her impatience.

"Woah woah we have questions too." He commented starting to write something down, something along the lines of 'What are y' then crossing it out, changing his mind. Sam begins to relay to Dean what he has learned so far about her.

"There are zero calls in her call history, obviously, but the last text she got, the Chris Tucker tone that went off earlier, was from a Rebecca. She was asking if they were still on for a movie today. Before that, Uncles phone # 2 told her at 9:45 pm last night that they would be working on changes for the menu. For next month. No need to get ready tonight. Relax. Go to bed early. You worked hard today. Hugs and kisses. Goodnight princess." he paused and looked at Dean, who chuckled.

"She could be a princess." Dean murmured. His eyes agreeing somewhat playfully as he looked her up and down, a small flirtatious smirk now evident there. Mei's expression turned pallid at this and he looked wistful for a second before turning back to his writing. She was still scared. If she really didn't know how she got there, who wouldn't be? he thought.

"Yeah Dean, she's someone's princess. The area codes are from California. So, what is she doing here?" He asked. She had turned to him when he started to speak. Her eyes going back and forth before locking on whichever one of the two was speaking. She looked even more surprised. They weren't even in California? Panic started to set in even deeper now. Her heart sank and she wanted to cry. Her eyes started to tear up but she held back as best as she could. That was when she noticed, what had surprised them earlier, when she was back in the corner and couldn't see very much of the room.

She slowly made her way off the bed, feet still a little tender, but not too badly. Her eyes focusing on everything lying around the room. There were some of her things, as she had them in her room. Her clothes, shoes, some books, DVDs, and photographs. Ones that had been pinned on her vanity mirror back home. All of her things were scattered about in a perfect semi circle around the bed where she had woken up. Some even on the other bed, but never breaking the line.

She silently asked for Dean to let her through with a hand on his arm, he paused from scratching something else out, watching her as she walked in front of him, squeezing past where his legs hung off the bed. Her fear slipping away a little as full on curiosity and wonder now filled her. Why were her things here? And like this? This looked like something straight out of the twilight zone. She looked down to the blankets as her bare feet stepped on them, the ones she had been tangled in. One was hers and the other one from the hotel bed. She looked behind her, at the pillows near the headboard. Hers was there too, along with the hotel ones. She knew because it was her pillow sham that she had at home, completely different than the standard white that motels were known for. It had a pastel floral print.

She peered around the wall, into the bathroom where the line continued. More of her things there. Luckily none in the toilet, the seat was up. Her toothbrush was in her cup on the counter near the sink, like it usually was at home. She tilted her head picking it up in full on wonderment. She had to make sure it was real. She held it as she went back to where the men were following her with their eyes. Her own eyes full of questions as she looked at the both of them. Her mouth agape. They both looked at the cup then to her, just as confused.

"We are just as lost as you are princess." Dean broke the silence, then continued to write. Mei reached over and stopped his hand from writing anymore, blindly, without looking at him. She was making an internal list of all of the things she saw and recognized. She slowly took the pen and paper from him and was going to go to the table, but saw the gun and how Dean and Sam almost jumped to stop her from getting near it. She shot her hands up again, and slowly approached the table, her arm outstretched, scooting the gun away from her with the end of the pen. As if it was something gross and she didn't even want to touch it. She sat down slowly, her legs starting to give a little. After placing her cup with her toothbrush down, she quickly wrote.

'I can hear you. I'm not deaf. What is going on?' She held it somewhat demandingly out so they could read it, an arrow now drawn next to her questions she had written down earlier, dark in emphasis. Sam had made his way to the table as she wrote, had taken the gun from it, and was now handing it back to Dean. Pocketing her phone. She noticed. They were still unsure of her. They narrowed their eyes, suspiciously. She wasn't deaf, so that was clear now.

"We are in a motel right outside of Sioux Falls, South Dakota." Dean says as he gets off of the bed, taking the pen and crossing off the question he just answered.

"We don't know why or how you got here." He smirks a little, "I'm usually pretty aware of who I bring to bed with me. And you sweetheart, I did not see coming." He crosses off two questions.

"I'm Dean Winchester and that guy," He points a thumb at the tall man, "is my little brother Sam." Another question marked off. He crossed the last one off as he stated,

"As for what we want, probably the same thing you do right now. To know why you're here." He narrowed his eyes at her as he said this, seeming to try to figure her out.

"Now it's our turn for questions. First, what is your name, and where are you from?" He sat across from her giving her back the pen, so she could answer. She wrote down her name, 'Mei Xinyi' She didn't feel comfortable telling them where she was from exactly so she just put down 'Central California'. He opened his mouth to speak again but paused as something on the floor caught his eye. He picked it up. It was a DVD of one of her childhood favorites. It had been a birthday gift to her from one of her friends a few years ago.

"So, is all of this stuff yours Mei?" He asked flipping it over to look at the other side of the cover. She didn't have to write anything down, and just nodded, studying his interest.

"Power Rangers, the Movie? Seriously?" She went deadpan with his comment, writing down: 'Sue me' so he could see. He laughed, handing it to Sam who quirked a brow, fully amused as well. She didn't care. She wrote down in retort, hiding it from Dean's view until she was ready to show him.

'You're still in your underwear.' Her face was still unimpressed. He hadn't realized that fact, seemingly intrigued by everything that was going on. Looking down at himself, he chuckled nervously.

"You ask her, you know, stuff." He motioned to Sam going to the bathroom, taking what she assumed was his duffle bag. She blushed, it had been near the path where her stuff had landed in the room and one of her black bras was latched onto one of the looped handles. He didn't notice. She reached out to try to stop him but Sam had taken his seat and cleared his voice before she could.

"What is the last thing you remember before being here?" He asked, he hadn't noticed what his brother had taken with him either. He did, however, curiously notice her blush. Then there was a "What the hell?" from the bathroom where Dean had disappeared to. He came back out, now fully dressed in jeans, shoes and a button up plaid shirt; that he left unbuttoned over the black tee he was still wearing. He was holding the bra by the strap with a finger, handing it out to her. "I think this is yours." She snatched it and hid it under the table on her lap. He was a little too amused by it for her liking, she could see it in his eyes. It wasn't even over an hour ago, he was pointing a cocked gun at her head. What was wrong with these people? She then crabbily began to write what she remembered about the night before.

"So, you just went to bed, at home in California, and woke up today, the next morning, here?" Sam repeated what she wrote out loud for clarification. She nodded.

"Has anything," He stalled, hesitating. "like this ever happened to you before? Anything out of the ordinary." She shook her head, no. Mei was looking at him like he just grew an extra head. Was this normal for them? They didn't seem as surprised as she was, at least not anymore. And what was with the full-on interview? It was like they were prepared and just did weird stuff like this routinely.

"So, you were just spirited away from your bed, and into mine, for no reason?" Dean chimed in, he seemed disbelieving, but not entirely toward her. Like he had a feeling something else was up, and it wasn't completely her fault.

"Well," He let out an exasperated sigh, "we will figure this out later. I am starving! You?" he asked her, and she stared at him, surprised. Seriously? Food? With all of this going on? Sam stood up and somewhat forcefully took his older brother's arm, taking him to the far corner of the room away from her, whispering quietly so she couldn't hear. But she could.

"Dude, we don't know who or what she is, if she's even human and you want to take her out to eat? It could be some elaborate trap to try to get us to put our guards down. Remember that ghoul and Adam? It passed the tests too. For all we know Crowley could have something to do with this." Mei pretended not to hear them, starting to pick up her things that were closest to her without leaving her seat at the table. Making little stacks of what was what. Ghoul? What? She didn't know who Adam or Crowley were. They weren't making any sense.

"That doesn't explain why her stuff is here too. Why would a ghoul bring all of this with it to try to get to us? I mean come on, Power Rangers the Movie? And Crowley is dead, Cass burned his bones a while back. Yeah that works. Hell, maybe Cass was the one that dropped her off. Look if it makes you feel better then don't put your guard down, I'm sure as hell not going to. But for all we know she could be a victim in all of this, whatever it is. Do you really want to give her the third degree? What if she's not out to get us? What if she just needs help?" he narrowed his eyes at Sam, as if searching for something. He still wasn't entirely sure if he had gotten his whole soul back, he trusted Death had put it back, he could already tell that he had, but maybe he left something behind? Castiel had said it was severely damaged, raw even.

"Look, how about we just don't let her out of our sight until we will figure this out." He finished, trying to reassure Sam by placing his hand on his shoulder. Sam seemed hesitant, but nodded. This was different than Dean's usual character, to defend before jumping to persecution, but he agreed. Sam could only think that maybe something had changed him in the year and a half since he had last seen him. They still hadn't talked about what had happened after he fell in the cage with Lucifer. Maybe it was because she was pretty, he didn't fully know. They turned to her and started to pick up her things that were closest to them from where they were in the room. Sam started stacking her books, one or two of them actual children's books. One book caught his attention and he showed it to Dean.

"This might come in handy." it was 'American Sign Language for Dummies'. Dean scoffed but took it, obviously interested. He flipped through it absent-mindedly, then looked at her asking if she minded, then tossed it onto his bed to look at more thoroughly later. Mei didn't mind, it's why she had it. Not for this kind of situation but more for anyone willing to learn. She wondered how long they were planning to have her around. She didn't want to be rude though and tell him 'no, that's my book'. They had a gun.

Within a few minutes, they had all her things on what was Sam's bed, separated by what they were. Books and movies; all media type things. Pictures and personal trinkets; her bedazzled photo album seemed to amused the two men. Then there was her pile of clothes and personal hygiene items. She quickly tried to find all her undergarments before either of the men got to any of them. Her toothbrush, hairbrush and some random hair ties were also included in this group. Her small purse of a backpack, school backpack and small carry on suitcase were there too. It was as if whatever caused this wanted her to have everything she would needed or want away from home. She even peered out the window into the parking lot, hoping to see her Bumblebee there. Maybe she could just drive home in it. No luck. Oddly enough her keys were in her bag, where she had left them the night before.

It really made her uncomfortable that all of this was here, and not at home, where she should be too. She sighed sitting on the edge of the bed. It wasn't like she had a lot of stuff, but it was pretty much everything she had. Besides the movies, books, blanket and pillow, it looked like a good chunk of it would fit into the backpack and suitcase. Standing up, resigned, she began to pack them as best as she could. Her most bulky clothes items were left out. Her zip up sweater, a bomber jacket and a pair of lace up moto boots. She kept those out, besides whatever else she was going to change into for the day.

Sam and Dean had begun to gather their things together as she was packing her own. There were way more guns in the room than she first realized and it made her very fidgety. Sam had also gotten dressed and said something about putting their stuff in the car as she made her way to the bathroom with her backpack. Planning to put her PJs in it after she changed.

She felt weird, like none of this was real. She looked at herself in the mirror after changing and letting her hair down. She felt like she was watching her life from somewhere on the outside and this was all some sort of weird dream, or movie. Like she had a script and was just following it as best as she could. She honestly didn't know how to react. How was she even coping with all of this? This wasn't normal. She should be trying to maker her way home right now. But how? She had hardly any money; maybe $24 and some change. She didn't have her debit card, she rarely ever carried it with her, it kept her from spending needlessly, and it wasn't among her things.

She didn't know how long she was in there, just staring at herself in the bathroom mirror. Trying to wake up from whatever this was. Even wetting her face with cold water. She was completely zoned out. She could hear the brothers speaking quietly outside, when Sam had gotten back, barely discernable over the sound of the water running. Her mind not even trying to understand what they were saying. So, when there was a knock on the door she jumped, startled, and started to roll her hair up, in her trademark ox horn style. She felt she needed at least something normal right now. Doing her hair was normal. Right? It was Dean at the door.

"Mei? You okay in there?" He knocked again, either worried or wondering if she had escaped. Maybe he had forgotten that this bathroom had no windows. She opened the door to find him leaning against the frame, he had put on a jacket. It was a brown Carhartt Duck Detroit Jacket, she knew because she had gotten one for one of her uncles back home. They shared it amongst themselves, like they did most everything. She nodded sullenly, staring at the familiar-ness of it, already having done one bun and now working on the other. She had changed into her dark denim slim jeans and a gray t-shirt that had a graph of zombie expressions. Dean pointed at it like he wanted to say something but then changed his mind.

"Ready to eat? We are going to swing by the diner to get food then go to an old friend's house, he lives just on the other side of town. We'll pick something up for him too. He might have a way to get some information on why or how you got here." She seems unsure about the plan he was laying out. She still didn't know who these two were. Should she even go anywhere with them? What if they had something to do with what was going on? But really, what choice did she have? To top it all of most of the world's population probably didn't even know sign language. Sure, she could write but how was she supposed to make a getaway like that? If she hadn't thought it was weird and curious already, their reaction to her just spontaneously appearing had her wondering what they were used to in their lives. Maybe she could find some answers going with them.

"Oh hey. Here, I got this in the little shop next to the motel office while I was out." it was Sam, he handed her a small spiral notebook and pen. She had been zoning out again, lost in her thoughts. They thought it was like she was in mild shock. She took the notebook and looked at it blankly. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?" It was Dean again, he gently grasped her shoulder, trying to get her to respond. She looked out of it. She snapped back into reality and shook her head honestly. She opened the notebook and wrote down,

'I want to go home.' They looked somewhat sympathetically at her words. "We will do all that we can to get you home Mei, promise." Sam tried smiling reassuringly, but it looked kind of forced and made her uncomfortable.