Chapter 2 - An Unexpected Meeting
MADISON, IOWA – 1:08am
Dean was jolted awake by Sam cursing. It was pitch black outside and there was nothing but corn fields on either side of them.
"What? What is it?" questioned Dean rapidly looking around to try and get his bearings.
The car was slowing down and Sam was steering it over to the side of the road. Dean looked around him again and then he looked at Sam who had bought the car to a complete stop.
"Something's wrong." said Sam reaching down for the keys.
"What do you mean something's wrong" Dean looked at his brother accusingly "What did you do?"
"Me?" cried Sam "Nothing, the engine just gave out."
Sam turned the key and nothing happened, the engine didn't even cough up any spark of life.
"If you've done something to my car Sam, I swear I'll…." Dean couldn't even finish the sentence, hollow threats where not his thing.
Sam turned the key once more time.
"Nothing." he said defeated "Its dead."
Dean looked down at his watch. It was hard to read in nearly no light but he thought that it said it was just after 1am – so there would be no calling for a tow any time soon either. He looked out the windows, looking at the fields with a predator's eye.
"What are you doing?" said Sam watching him scan their surroundings.
"Making sure there aren't any demonic scarecrow type things in any of these fields." Dean replied as he pushed the passenger door open and got out of the car.
"Pop the hood would you." he called to Sam as he went to the trunk to get a flashlight.
Dean shone the light down on the Impala's engine. He kept the engine clean and he worked on it whenever business would let him, mind you he hadn't serviced it in some time. There was no steam coming off the engine so he was fairly certain it wasn't the radiator. He was pretty vigilant about keeping the water reservoirs full so he discounted that quickly.
He opened up the oil cap on the engine, careful not to burn his hands on the hot metal. When he shined the light down the cavity, he could clearly see oil in the engine. That wasn't always the best test, not on a hot engine but because he kept a really close eye on the oil he was fairly certain it wouldn't be anything related to that, unless they had a leak or something.
To satisfy his curiosity, Dean got down on his hands and knees and lay flat on the road, shinning the flash light up under the engine to see if he could see anything that would indicate that they had a leak.
"What do you think?" said Sam hanging out of the driver's window.
"Not sure." said Dean getting to his feet and dusting his hands off on his jeans.
He looked again at the engine under the torch light.
"Just try turning it over again?" he instructed and waited as Sam's head disappeared in the car again.
Dean heard the key turn in the ignition, but there was nothing, not even a cough that would indicate that there was any sort of spark hitting the engine.
"Anything?" said Sam leaning out of the window again.
"Nope" said Dean turning to lean against the side of the Impala "I'm guessing that it's the alternator but I can't really be sure in this light. But we ain't going anywhere tonight. What was last town we went through?"
"We past through Greenfield about half an hour ago" said Sam as he pulled the map into his lap. Dean went and stood by the driver's window so that he could shine the light onto the map.
"Winterset is the next town. Where would you say we are." said Dean scrutinising the map.
"If I had to hazard a guess I'd say we are probably smack bam in between them."
"Ok" said Dean mentally going through the steps in his head "We wait until someone else comes along, wave them down and get a lift into Winterset."
"Hate to burst your bubble bro, but I haven't seen anyone else on the road for a little while now?"
Dean gave Sam and exasperated look.
"I guess we could hike back to Greenfield." suggested Sam
Dean did not look particularly enthused about that idea.
"How far would you say?"
Sam shrugged slightly "I don't know 10, 15 miles maybe."
"Oh Man." said Dean in frustration, kicking at the dirt under the car with his foot. "Should never have let you drive." he muttered "I always knew no good would come of it."
"Hey" protested Sam "This isn't my fault."
"Strange wouldn't you say that when I drive she doesn't miss a beat. But when you drive…" Dean left the sentence unfinished as he walked to the trunk to pull out his duffle.
"Dean" said Sam sharply pointing to a pair of headlights coming down the road towards them.
"What do you know." said Dean pulling an orange emergency light from the trunk and holding it high over his head.
The car coming towards them was flying and for a moment the boys thought that it probably wouldn't stop. They waved their arms to try and get the drivers attention, but it didn't seem to do any good.
At the last minute, the car pulled in sharply and parked in front of them. Then the reverse lights came on and the car backed up so that it was only a few feet from the open hood of the Impala.
Dean swung the flashlight on the car and to his amazement, the beam of light highlighted highly polished French blue.
"I don't believe it." said Dean as he watched the driver getting out of the car.
"Looks like you could use a little help." said the rich English accent into the quiet darkness. The speaker walker forward into the halo of light thrown by the flashlight and it revealed the pretty brunette from the Diner in Aspinwall.
"You're right about that." said Sam watching the woman opening the trunk of her car. "I don't suppose you could give us a lift to the next town."
"I could" said the young woman rummaging with the stuff in her trunk "But then you'd have to wait until morning for someone to be able to come back and get you, then you'd have to wait for repairs and lord only knows how long that could take." she stopped for a moment and looked up at Sam with a gentle smile on her face "And I get the impression that you are keen to get where you're going."
"So what do you suggest?" said Dean walking up next to Sam's shoulder making sure that he could easily reach the revolver that he had just slipped into the waistband of his jeans.
"Well, why don't we change out that alternator and get you back on the road." she said and then turned back into the trunk of her car, pulling out and impressive toolbox and placing it on the ground behind her car.
"Wait" said Dean suspiciously inching his hand around to the handle of the gun "How did you know it was the alternator?"
The woman paused with what she was doing as if she had to really think about her answer. "Let's just say that I have a bit of an instinct about these things."
"Changing the alternator is not going to help." said Dean signalling Sam with his eyes that something was very wrong about this scenario "I think the battery is shot."
"Well" said the woman pulling out a battery from the trunk of her car and laying it on the ground. "As luck would have it I have one of those too."
It was then that Dean went for the gun. In his business he didn't believe in coincidences and he sure as hell didn't believe in luck.
"Ok lady, who the hell are you?" he said pointing the revolver squarely at her.
The woman seemed slightly taken back at the sight of the gun, but she very carefully put her hands up to show that she was no threat.
"Take it easy. I was just trying to help you." she said looking between Dean and the barrel of the gun.
"That's not what I asked." snapped Dean "Who are you?"
"My name is Hannah. Hannah Riordan." At that the woman went for something in her jacket pocket, but paused when Dean re-aimed the gun at the centre of her chest.
"Don't" he snapped and a look of shock spread across her face.
"It's just my ID. I thought if you could see it, it might put you at ease."
Dean indicated with his head that she could keep going and she pulled a small wallet from her pocket and handed it to Sam.
"Dr Hannah Riordan." said Sam as he pulled her licence out of the wallet. "She looks to be telling the truth."
"Sam you and I have a hundred of those and they can be made to say anything." he said giving his brother a quick glance. "Answer me this Doc, why would a woman be driving around in the middle of the night with a whole heap of car parts that are not for her car?"
The woman sighed slightly "I guess you are not going to accept serendipity are you?" she said more to herself than for the benefit of the brothers.
"Look you probably aren't going to believe me, but sometimes I get and instinct about something, an idea that something is going to happen. I saw your car pass me in Manning and I got this feeling that your alternator would fail. Ok" she gave them both a look like she was waiting for them to laugh at her or berate her for what she had just said.
"That doesn't explain how you knew where we were?" questioned Dean, the harshness having gone from his voice.
"Actually I didn't know. That part was really just luck." she said sensing that Dean was relaxing slightly and letting her hands fall a little lower.
"So you bought car parts and a battery all the way from Manning just in case you came across us in trouble?" said Sam he eyebrows furrowing.
"Well" said Hannah smiling nervously "When you say it like that it does seem a little bit strange. Look sometimes my instincts just kind of tell me to do something and I don't question it anymore. More often than not I'm right"
Dean looked questioningly at Sam, the look telling his younger brother that he didn't like this situation at all. Meg had shown up coincidentally and she had bought all sorts of trouble down on the pair, now this woman shows up in the middle of nowhere with everything they need to get them back on the road again.
Sam looked back to his brother sharing his doubt about the woman's sudden appearance. Then he looked to the woman as an idea struck him.
"Christo" he said into the night watching to see if the woman shuddered. If she shuddered at the name of God then it would definitely indicate demonic influence, but she didn't shudder she just looked mildly surprise, then her look changed to suspicion.
"Why would you say that?" she quizzed her eyebrows lowering on her face in confusion "Who are you?"
The brothers exchanged looks again. Both agreed that she wasn't demonically possessed, but her reaction wasn't typical, yet neither of them spoke as they weighed up their options.
"Look" said Hannah finally "I don't want any trouble. How about you toss me my wallet and I'll get back in my car and we'll call it no harm no foul. You can keep your gun on me the whole time if you like?"
"No" said Dean cocking his head slightly "I have a better idea. How about you take a seat, and my brother's going to get some rope and make sure that you can't bother anyone while we change this alternator out."
The woman gave him an icy look from her blue grey eyes "How do I know that you won't hurt me or leave me here tied up?"
"Well" replied Dean cocking his head slightly "You don't. But if you want us to trust you, you're going to have to give us a little trust."
"Well I'm at something of a disadvantage here, and I'm not talking about the gun. You know who I am but you haven't introduced yourself."
Dean smiled at the woman "How rude of me. Sammy where are my manners" he turned his eyes back to the woman, his lips were smiling, but the smile didn't touch his eyes.
"I'm Dean" he said "And this is my brother Sam."
The woman looked between the two brothers as if weighing up Dean's plan, then having decided, she sat down on the road and put her hands on her head.
Sam hurried to the trunk and pulled out a set of handcuff and a handful of cable ties. Walking back to the mustang he started to slip the handcuff onto the woman's hands.
"I'm sorry" he said feeling slightly lame "But if you had seen half the things we have, you'd understand why we're doing this."
Hannah looked at him as he was binding her hands trying to get a read on him but she said nothing. After he had secured her hands, Sam slipped a cable tie through the links of the handcuffs and looped it around the tow ring just under the bumper of the mustang. Then he bound her feet with two more cable ties.
Once she was securely bound, Dean slipped the gun back into the waistband of his jeans and walked over to the toolbox that sat on the ground. The box was fire engine read and the Snap-On label ran on either side of it. He opened the toolbox and the tools inside gleamed in the light of the flashlight. They had either never been used, or this woman took very good care of them.
"Snap-ons" Dean said appreciatively "Very nice."
"Only the best" murmured Hannah as she watched him handle the tools inside the box almost reverently.
"Sam, come over here, your going to have to hold the flashlight for me" said Dean
"There is a work light in the boot." said Hannah, indicating with her head towards the trunk.
Dean reached over into the back of the mustang and pulled a large halogen light out of the back with a hook on it that could be hung from the hood. Turning it on he was surprised at how much light it actually threw and had to shield his eye briefly as they adjusted to the new light source.
"I gotta say Doc." said Dean hanging the light from a hole in the hood "You have all the best toys."
Dean looked at the engine, he was impressed that he could see so well and got to work removing the old battery. Sam stood on the other side of the car draping his tall frame on the edge and watching what Dean was doing in the engine. Occasionally he had to adjust himself so he didn't block the light.
Every now and then he looked over to the woman sitting in the shadows on the ground in front of them. He knew that she was paying attention to everything that they did, but she deliberately didn't make eye contact with either of them.
"It's a great car." Hannah ventured hesitantly. Being tied to the bumper of her car wasn't exactly how she had planned this all to go down, but her gut told her that these boys needed to reach their destination, and she had learnt now to trust those feelings implicitly; what ever it took, even if it took getting tied to her car.
"Thanks" said Dean as he hefted out the ruined battery and placed it on the ground.
"Is it a 68?" she questioned watching as he stuck his head back under the bonnet.
Dean looked up slightly surprised "No" he said smiling slightly "67"
"I love Chevys" Hannah said quietly "When I was first looking to buy a car I wanted a 69 Chevelle, but when I saw Charlotte, I couldn't go past her."
At this both Dean and Sam looked up at her in unison.
"You call your car Charlotte?" Sam asked unable to keep the amusement from his voice.
"Silly isn't it" said Hannah smiling nervously "I have this compulsion to name my cars, what can say? Apparently I'm also compelled to talk insensately when I nervous"
"Why are you nervous?" said Dean leaning deep into the Impalas engine to undo a nut.
"Well, I'm not sure if it has escaped your notice, but I'm handcuffed to the bumper of my car, in the company of complete strangers. That sort of thing tends to make me a little nervous."
"Doc, if you're on the level with us then we're not going to hurt you. We don't do that sort of thing." Dean paused for a moment "Well not often" he finished with a cheeky smile.
While Dean worked Sam watched the woman, his curiosity peaked. She was probably in her late twenties or early thirties, but there was an aspect to her that seemed very old. It certainly wasn't her looks, her hair was a shiny auburn and her skin creamy, but around her eyes there was wariness, a wisdom born of seeing too much. Sam had seen that sometimes when he looked at his brother, hell, he had seen it once or twice in the mirror but he definitely saw it in this woman.
"Have you always had visions?" Sam said quietly resting his chin on his hands.
Hannah laughed slightly but it lacked humour "No, not really. This is what you might call a recent development."
"How recent?" pressed Sam
"Oh, eighteen months or so" she turned her eyes up to Sam "You don't seem surprised by the possibility though" she seemed to study him intensely, almost as if she was looking right through him. It may have been a trick of the light, but Sam thought her eyes glow a little like molten mercury before she spoke again.
"No but you wouldn't be would you?" she muttered, almost to herself "You get them too."
Dean looked up sharply from what he was doing to look between his brother and the woman sitting on the ground before them. Sam's eyes were intent on the woman and she was scrutinising him with an intensity that unnerved him. He decided that the best thing he could do, was get on with what he was doing and get them the hell away from here and this freaky woman.
"How did it happen?" Sam asked without breaking the lock of her gaze.
"I don't know?" she whispered, and Sam felt in his gut that was a lie.
"Sam" said Dean sharply pulling Sam's focus away from the Doctor on the ground "Why don't you get in the car and wait for me to tell you to turn the engine over."
Without a word Sam moved away from the engine to slide into the driver's seat.
"So you're the eldest then?" said Hannah struggling to make her aching wrists comfortable.
"One of your visions tell you that?" said Dean pulling another tool out of the tool box
"No, your bossy nature told me"
Dean looked up slightly irritated. "Listen Doc, it's late, I'm tired and all I want to do is find a bed, so this whole thing would go much faster if you would just shut the hell up."
"Listen here wise guy, this whole thing would have gone a lot faster if you had just let me help you change it out." snapped Hannah, feeling largely unappreciated by now.
Dean let out an annoyed grunt and Hannah turned towards the trunk of her car determined not to engage either of them in conversation again. Minutes slipped by into an hour, until finally Dean asked Sam to start her up. The Impala coughed a couple of times and then roared into life.
"Alright!" said Dean jubilantly starting to pack away the tools "I am a car god!"
"How thrilling for you." said Hannah tersely "Do you mind untying me now?"
Dean put the toolbox in the back of the Mustang and hung the work light from the open trunk so that it cast the woman beneath it in stark light.
He squatted down on his haunches and pulled a flick knife from the pocket of his jeans, slicing the cable tie that was circled around Hannah's feet. Then he quickly cut the tie that secured the handcuffs to the bumper and extended his hand to Hannah to help her stand.
"Well thanks for your help Doc. I'm really sorry for handcuffing you down there. I hope you'll forgive me." with that he slipped the handcuff keys into her palm "And I sincerely hope that you forgive me for this."
With that said, Dean slipped the gun from his waistband and shot at the rubber on the Mustang's rear tyre.
"Aww…Come on!" said Hannah agitatedly, recovering quickly from the initial shock of the gun shot.
Sam leapt out of the car, "Dean! What the hell are you doing?"
"Get back in the car Sam." Dean said sternly his eyes still focussed on the Doctor "DO IT…NOW!"
Sam recognising the warning tone in Dean's voice and hurried around behind the car to climb into the passenger's seat.
"I really am sorry Doc, but I can't have you following us." As he spoke Dean backed up to the drivers door, with one deft movement he had slipped the gun back in his jeans and slid in behind the wheel, taking off with the screeching and smoking of tyre rubber.
Sam sat in the passenger seat starring at his brother "Are you Nuts!" he all but yelled "What, we're just going to leave her there?"
"I had to Sam." said Dean trying madly to defend himself "I couldn't have her following us."
"But she did nothing but help us and you shot out her tyre."
Dean looked again at his brother "Sam I didn't have a choice, there was something off about that woman and if I have to decide between her and us, well then I'm going to do everything that I need to do to look out for us."
"Justify it any way you want Dean" said Sam "You just stranded a woman, who was only trying to help us, out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, in absolute darkness."
A prick of guilt rose up in Dean at Sam's words "Come on Sammy, you're being a bit over dramatic aren't you. I didn't exactly strand her there. I just slowed her down, while she changes that tyre."
Sam glared at Dean "How do you know she can change a tyre? How do you even know that she has a spare?"
"Any woman who is driving around with a Snap-on toolbox and a auto work lamp is going to know how to change a tyre. I mean she knew what year the car was made for Christ sake"
"That may be true." argued Sam "But before you went all Dirty Harry on her tyre did you even check to see if she had a spare?"
Dean looked at Sam, guilt creeping across his face.
"Well did you?" challenged Sam
Dean rolled his eyes and looked back to the road. It was too late now anyway and he was not going to let Sam make him feel bad about his decision. He had done it for their safety and that always took priority, over everything.
Despite his resolve, Dean couldn't help start to wonder about the woman. He inadvertently began to play scenarios about all the things that could possibly happen to her through his head. Twice he nearly turned the car around, but stubbornly he forced himself to stick to his guns.
Sam didn't say a word to him, the whole trip. That only added to Dean's guilt and also made him feel a little indignant. Sam had the luxury of worrying about the fait of the freaky, mustang driving doctors, he didn't have their lives to think of. That was Dean's job, always Dean's job. Dean made the hard calls, and Sam could just sit back and judge him for it. After all, isn't that exactly what he did to their Father? Now it seemed he was doing it to Dean.
Dean drove straight through Winterset and headed east to Patterson. Close to the Patterson city limits he saw a motel by the side of the road and pulled into it. After organising a room with the surly night attendant, who was not all that impressed about being dragged from his bed in the middle of the night, Dean and Sam parked the Impala out the front of their room and went inside.
"Which bed do you want?" asked Dean trying to get more than a grunt from Sam
Sam shrugged slightly then walked sourly over to the furthest bed and through his duffel bag on it. Dean rolled his eyes skyward
"How long is this going go on Sam?"
"How long is what going to go on." muttered Sam without looking at his brother.
"The cold shoulder attitude you got going on at the moment?"
"Well excuse me Dean but, I'm a little bit pissed at you."
"OK" said Dean hesitantly "For a while longer I see."
Sam turned on the bed pinning his brother with angry eyes. "I just don't get you sometimes Dean. A woman comes along, who has visions, just like me, who knows that I have visions, who does nothing but help us and not only do you not let me talk to her, you shoot out her tyre for her trouble."
"Now hold up a minute." Dean retorted "What exactly would you have me do Sam?"
"I don't know?" said Sam raising his voice a little "Maybe we could have spoken to her a little more, found out more about her, more about her powers."
"Sam" said Dean exasperated "How did she know you have visions?"
Sam tried to respond but seemed suddenly stumped by the question.
"Don't know, do you?" said Dean walking to stand over his brother "Well I do. She was reading you like a supermarket tabloid."
Sam's face lost its colour and he swallowed the words that were rising in his throat.
"We have no idea whether that woman in a friend or not. She may be perfectly harmless and it could have been some freaky coincidence. But how many times is that the case for us?"
"Never." said Sam quietly
"That's right." said Dean pushing his point home. He'd had a lot of time to think about this in the car. "My first responsibility is to make sure that you and I are safe, and not worrying about someone who could potentially be a spy for the enemy."
Sam looked up at his brother somewhat crest fallen. He knew that Dean made sense but it still pricked his sense of fair play to hinder someone who had just helped them out of a really tight spot.
"Dean" he said quietly "Who is our enemy?"
Dean looked down at his brother, his face softening slightly "Bro, I'd be asking myself who isn't. It's a shorter list. Now get some sleep, we have to be up in a few hours and we got a lot of work to do."