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.3. Coming Together So Nicely

Dean squeezed himself behind the table and sighed deeply reaching for the menu. Sam looked at him distractedly from above his opened laptop.

"What's good?" asked Dean.

"Don't know. Coffee's reasonable."

"Right; a day's special it is." Dean turned in his seat to read the menu displayed on a blackboard above the bar. "Sausage surprise? No surprises for breakfast, thanks. What's a pig in a poke?"

Sam immediately shrugged into full awareness.

"You're joking, right?"

"Sure I am." Dean laughed and reached across the table to punch his brother on a shoulder. "So, what have you found?"

Sam sighed and turned his laptop, revealing multiple open windows, all of them displaying deeply disturbing images. Among others there was a picture of a great fire, a picture of a comet over a small village, a skeleton with a scythe and a bloodied body covered in wounds.

"Not much lore on the subject," said Sam. "Two people died so far. Third one survived the fall, but is still in coma."

"A fall?"

"They say he fell off a plane, same as the others. All three of them landed in this area." Sam clicked one of the windows, enlarging a map. "But there's nothing here. Just forests, fields and a creek."

"What's that?" Dean leaned closer, trying to read fine print on the map. "Sulphur what?"

"Hot sulphur springs," said Sam. He looked around and shrugged. "Listen, we should be leaving. Bobby has a lead on..."

"You're awfully eager to face the apocalypse out of a sudden," grumbled Dean.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Just... you real trigger happy this days. It's like you can't wait to be forced to use these powers of yours again. Which you shouldn't. Ever."

"I'm not trigger happy. I just... I can't sit and wait in some Boring Creek, Colorado, when Lilith..."

"I'll be damned!" exclaimed Dean suddenly. "It's them!"

"Wha...?"

"It's them; it's the Doctor and his British chick!"

"Where?"

Sam followed his brother's gaze and looked out through the dusty dinner's window. The skinny man in the suit was galloping through the street, weirdly looking device in his outstretched hand. It looked as if the device was pulling him forward. The man had a comical expression of concentration on his face – one eyebrow wrinkled, one high on his forehead, eyes wide and wild, hair in complete disarray. The redhead was following her companion with much more grace and dignity. Her white pants lost some of their crispy freshness, though; she had a big grass stain on her butt and another on the right knee.

"C'mon!" Dean was already at the dinner's door. "Sam!"

"What? Where? What for?" Sammy looked at his laptop. "And what am I supposed to do with..."

Dean was already gone.

"Great!"

He caught up with Dean two blocks down the street. With his nose pressed to an almost opaque window, Dean was peeking inside a desolate cinema theatre.

"What are they doing there?" asked Sam.

"It's a detector of some sort," answered Dean, his nose still flat against the window. "This device of his. It looks as if he's searching for something."

"Yeah, he's searching for aliens." Sam adjusted the weight of the laptop under his arm. "Dean..."

"Shit!"

"What?"

"There's a spook!"

"What, there?"

"D'you have your gun?"

"No. And my shotgun is in a trunk. I have the knife, though."

"Shit, Sammy!"

"What?! I was just having my breakfast!"

There was a frightening coughy whine coming from the theatre's lobby. This, as well as the redhead's shriek, caused both of the Winchesters to jump towards the door. Just as Dean reached for the knob, a heavy wing burst open. The woman collided with Dean at full speed, grabbed him with all her strength and didn't let go even when both of them were already on the sidewalk.

"Jeeesus!" whispered Dean, all the air squeezed out of his lungs. "Watch where you going, will you!"

"There's... there's something there!" yelled Donna. "It has the Doctor!"

She put her hands on Dean's shoulders and shook him violently.

"It grabbed him and dragged him away!"

"Get off me!"

"What?"

"Get the fuck off me!"

"O!"

With visible dismay Donna got to her feet, in the process landing a knee in a pretty fragile part of man's anatomy. She dusted her pants and top.

"There's no bloody reason to swear," she said.

"The hell there isn't! You're dangerous, woman!" Dean stood up, still bent in half, elbows pressed tightly to his sides. "Did you see it?"

"Did you see the ghost?" added Sam, for sheer purpose of participating in conversation.

"I've seen something," answered Donna cautiously. "Not sure it was a ghost. Anyway, whatever it may be, it has the Doctor."

"No it hasn't" The Doctor stepped outside the theatre, squinting in bright sunlight. "I've tried to sonic it and then it was gone."

"How did you even know it was going to be here?" asked Sam. "I've been trying to locate it all morning..."

"Weeell, I've just gathered some information on anomalies in the region, then sort of... triangulated them... it's a bit difficult to explain... Then we came to this little town, and then I used the analyser to discern certain electromagnetic frequencies and biological traits of the creature. And that led me here."

"Biological?" interfered Dean. "It's a bloody spook."

"Yes, well, it isn't," said the Doctor. "Although I must say it baffles me a little. The way it vanished... I didn't find any energy transfer residue, not even an energy signature. It's as if it vanished into thin air."

"Well spooks will do that," snorted Dean.

"Let me check it," said Sam. He hesitated for a moment, looked at his brother, pain written clearly on his pale face, then handed the laptop to Donna. "Here, can you hold it?"

He entered the theatre's lobby, straining his eyes in the semidarkness of the room. He switched on an EMF reader and listened to its sharp trills. Red lights flashed on the device's screen.

"We have readings, ok!" he yelled towards the door.

"There's a relay station just round the corner," said the Doctor from behind his back. "Wouldn't that scramble your readings?"

"Yeah, it would." Sam sighed and switched off the EMF. "Damn!"

"You two seem to be pretty eager to catch this... ghost," the Doctor noticed.

"Two people have died already so, well, yeah, I'd like to catch the son of a bitch as soon as possible."

"Wait a minute, people have died? You think this creature have killed them? How?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders.

"They were... well, kinda... mashed... The official version is that they've fallen off passing planes. So when they've finally hit the ground... You can imagine...."

"No, I'd rather not." The Doctor grimaced. "And you think your... ghost is responsible for their deaths?"

"Yes."

"Look, in all my life, and we're talking almost a thousand years here, I haven't seen a ghost," said the Doctor. "On the other hand I've never seen such readings. It is almost as if the creature was out of tune with your reality; as if it was in a state of constant dimensional flux. Still, it can affect your world. Have you seen those little whirlwinds on the street?"

"Almost a thousand years?" Sam knitted his eyebrows.

"Well, yes. 905 to be precise. So, have you seen them?"

"You're 905 years old?"

"Yes, I am. The whirlwinds...?"

"Are you human?"

"No, I am not!" There was impatience in the Doctor's voice. "Humans do not live that long. Can we focus?"

"What are you?"

"I'm a Time Lord." Sam's blank expression was a clear sign that some more explanation was needed. "I'm from a planet called Gallifrey. I travel through time and space. I'm a genius as well. Can we focus now?"

"I'm outa here," Sam turned on his heel and marched towards the door.

"Hey, wait!" The Doctor rushed behind him. "Listen, I really don't have time for this. I just need some information, which you guys have. I don't care if you're complete bonkers, believing in ghosts and demons, but we could..."

Sam stopped suddenly and turned towards him. He looked angry. The Doctor noticed suddenly how tall the young man was.

"Yes, I believe in demons!" Sam said. "I have reasons too. One of them killed my mum, my dad and my girlfriend. Another one took my brother to hell and tortured him for forty hell years! And yet another is trying to break seals holding Lucipher in his prison! So, yes, I believe in them! Hell, one day I may become one of them! You say you're not human? Well, so am I! Not completely, anyway! How's that for a proof?!"

The Doctor tilted his head. After a while he reached to the inner pocket of his suit, took out a small device, switched it on and pointed towards Sam. The device sang quietly and shone blue light.

"What's that?" asked Sam angrily.

"My sonic screwdriver," answered the Doctor inattentively, still probing the air around Sam's chest and head.

"A sonic screwdriver???"

"Well, yeah. Very useful."

"You're mad!"

"And you're right." The Doctor looked straight into Sam's eyes, serious look on his face. "Your DNA shows signs of manipulation. Oh, they're incredibly minute, almost indiscernible, but they're real. You're not entirely human, Sam Winchester."

Sam's shoulders sagged suddenly.

"It's demon's blood," he whispered. "God, I hate it!"

"Weeell, it makes you more resilient, supports your immune system, gives you the smarts, and certainly is responsible for your height. Don't see a reason you should complain about it."

"Try turning dark side. Becoming evil. Becoming one of them."

"We are all tempted by the dark side," said the Doctor quietly. "You don't have to have alien DNA mixed with your blood to become prone to evil. It's our choices that define us."

"Easy for you to say, Doctor," Sam sighed. "You don't have the end of the world to worry about."

"Several, actually." The Doctor switched off his sonic screwdriver. "Prevented them all. Don't wanna brag, but that's what I do. I travel and I help if I can. Did I mention I'm kinda clever?"

"A couple of times, yeah."

"Well, there's nothing there anymore. Let's go back to our companions."

"And then what?"

"Share our data?" The Doctor grinned. "Combine resources?"

"It may... not be so easy, Doctor. You must have noticed that my brother is... well, he's a little... socially awkward at times," said Sam.

"So is Donna," the Doctor laughed. "Good that we can communicate."

"Alien to alien," sighed Sam.

Outside, Dean and Donna glared at each other with death rays sparkling in both pairs of greenish eyes.

"Well, yes, we decided to combine our efforts," said the Doctor, rubbing his hands together. "Seeing how you're coming together so nicely."

To be continued...