***NOW***

Standing in front of the small, main street shop, Dean eyes the cobweb-coated storefront window with suspicion. Faded, heavy red curtains frame the large, dirty glass pane and the lettering on it is in a language that neither he nor Lizzy can read. In the bottom left corner of the glass is a symbol of a crescent moon in a very distinct style. The inside of the store looks dark and vacant despite the open sign hanging on the door.

"You sure this is the right place?" Dean asks while standing next to Lizzy on the sidewalk, hands in his jean pockets.

"Yup," Lizzy responds, looking down one more time at the scrap of paper in her hand. "This is definitely the address Bobby gave me on the phone."

"And how important is it that we get this stuff?" Dean implores with a scrunched up face. After taking one look at the place he now wants to avoid having to go inside at all costs.

"Oh, I don't know, Hot Shot," Lizzy looks to him with annoyance in his hesitance. "How important is it to you that poor little Nathan goes to bed tonight without fearing for his life?"

"Alright, alright," Dean laments. "I get it. You're right. It's just that we've been to a lot of creeptastic places for supplies before, but this one takes the taco."

"Just give it a chance, dumb-dumb," Lizzy asks of him while reaching for the handle of the front door. "Every gypsy place I've ever been to has been run by some good, solid people with more supernatural knowledge than either of us combined." She opens the door with a jingle of the bells hanging from it and walks through, holding it behind her for Dean to follow after.

"Doubt it," Dean mutters to himself while stepping inside. The dank, very small and quite barebones shop gives off an ominous vibe. While walking closely behind Lizzy as they make their way to the back counter, he surveys the place. Practically empty wooden shelving covers the side walls, more cobwebs hanging from each shelf along with a few dead roaches here and there. The thick layer of dust covering everything gives the place its overall unclean feel. There is not a single light on in the place, only what seeps through the front display widow keeps the store from being in total darkness. Peering at the small circular table with a red tablecloth on it in the front, Dean sees a small wooden chair to either side of it that look like they'd buckle under very little weight. Then the odor of the place hits him. "What the hell is that smell?"

"It's nothing," Lizzy rolls her eyes as she tries to brush his comment under the rug when she hears someone coming from the back room to greet them.

"It's like dead animal and mold," Dean remarks while scrunching up his nose.

"Shut up about the smell," Lizzy quickly warns before the store employee can hear them.

"And feet," Dean adds quickly before an elbow lands just hard enough into his ribs to keep him quiet.

"Drop it," Lizzy whispers with a face that meant she was serious just as an elderly woman makes her way to them. She takes her time getting to the old wooden counter opposite them, coughing loudly into her weathered, once white but now yellow handkerchief. Lizzy smiles warmly despite it all. "Hello there."

The woman just peers at the two of them from under her scarved head, not saying a word. Her frail hands rest gently on the counter as she continues to study them. Looking at Dean first, she gives him a weary look with her pale blue and murky eyes. It's a look of curiosity but not particularly a friendly brand of curiosity. He swallows hard as she begins making him highly uncomfortable with the judgmental expression on her rough, blemished, and creased face. Shifting on his feet with an awkward grace, he feels compelled to say something.

"Hi," he tries with a fake smile. On the inside he's grown nervous with her silence and scrutinizing glare. "We were hoping you had some items we're looking for."

She makes a thick sound of disgust low in her throat. Once her cloudy eyes are done looking him over, her sights travel slowly over to Lizzy standing next to him. The old woman's expression softens as her mouth turns up ever so slightly while staring into the hunter's eyes. Lizzy smiles back, unsure of what else to do. With the change in expression, the woman points a shaky, gnarled finger at Lizzy's chest and lets her slight grin turn into a full blow smile. Missing teeth and darkened enamel aside, Lizzy finds herself oddly comfortable with the unique character they've come across.

"We have a list of what we need if that helps," Lizzy explains, putting an unfolded paper on the counter and pushing it halfway across the splintered surface. The gypsy woman places the finger that had been pointed at Lizzy onto the note and slides it the rest of the way to herself. She lifts it slowly and holds it very closely to her face. Lizzy swears her eyes turn to a crystalline blue as they read over the note. Once she's read the list of items, she glances over the paper at the two people that she now knows as knowledgeable in the supernatural with once more hazy eyes. She nods slowly to both of them with a suddenly softer demeanor before shuffling her way into the back room once more, coughing into her cloth the whole way.

"What the fuck was that about?" Dean leans down and whispers to Lizzy once the woman was out of sight.

"No idea," Lizzy answers back, not understanding what is happening any more than he is.

"And why the hell did I get the stink eye?" Dean questions further with the insult he feels. He looks around again and picks up one of the only small glass jars in the entire storefront off of a nearby shelf. It has something ground into a fine, brown power in it.

"'Cause she's a good judge of character," Lizzy jokingly explains away.

"Ha-ha," Dean mockingly laughs a childish answer. "I'm just ready to get the hell outta here before she hate-rapes me with her weird-ass eyes again." He opens the lid and takes a sniff. "Ah! No!" he immediately holds the jar away from his face at an arm's length. "Jesus! What is that!?"

Lizzy makes a face of disgust as she takes the jar from Dean and puts the cover back on it. "I don't think you want to know."

"Gaah, it burns," Dean complains as he pinches his nose and squeezes his eyes shut.

"Don't be so dramatic," Lizzy asks of him with a laugh as she puts the jar back. "She's clearly helping us out so be nice, huh?"

"She's helping you out," he rebuts with a wipe of his now watery eyes. "Me she just wants to kill in my sleep."

"Fine, how about this; you be nice to her right now…" Lizzy starts as she wraps her arms around his middle. "And I'll be really nice to you later." She grins devilishly up at him while wagging her eyebrows.

"You would have done that anyways," Dean calls her out as his arms wrap around her shoulders.

"Yeah, probably," she laughs, pressing up on her tiptoes to kiss him quick. "But seriously, stop being mean. As soon as she gets back we pay and split."

"You're too fucking nice sometimes," Dean tells her, not understanding how someone can always be so positive about others, especially creepy others.

"And you're too fucking grumpy," she says while grabbing his ass hard with both hands. Dean jumps exaggeratedly with the grip on him and she giggles before kissing him again.

The elderly woman clears her throat when she suddenly appears back behind the counter. They both twitch with the surprise as neither heard her coming. Lizzy immediately pulls her arms off of Dean and Dean brings his hand to his lips to wipe off the lip gloss now on them.

"I'm sorry," Lizzy apologizes for her inappropriate display. "That was rude of us."

The woman stares at her while pushing the small paper bag filled with several items across the counter.

"How much do we owe you?" Dean asks while taking out his wallet. He's beyond ready to shag ass out of there.

Walking slowly around the counter, the old gypsy makes her way to Lizzy. She takes the hunter's hand in her wrinkled one and closes her eyes. After a few seconds she opens her eyes again with a look of surprise and shuffles her feet to the small table in the storefront corner, pulling the hunter along with her. Lizzy doesn't argue, just lets herself be led. Her curiosity is completely piqued by now and unlike Dean, she feels ok enough about the woman to go along with her.

The gypsy nods to one of the empty chairs, silently indicating for Lizzy to take a seat. She does as she's asked while the hunched over form of the old woman gradually lowers into the opposite side. Dean moves to stand behind Lizzy's chair, his hands on his hips as he awkwardly looks on. Uncomfortable isn't good enough to describe how he feels about all this.

Taking a deck of tarot cards off of a shelf on the wall behind her, the woman blows on them and makes a cloud of dust float Lizzy's way. As Lizzy coughs a little with the unintentional assault, the gypsy places the cards on the table before closing her eyes, a hand palm-side down on the table to either side of the deck. Her voice can be heard for the first time, low and raspy, as it mutters words in her native tongue that Lizzy and Dean cannot decipher. Once done, she looks back up at Lizzy with her cloudy eyes.

"Dukkering," she says to Lizzy one time before pushing the deck across the table.

"You want me to shuffle these?" Lizzy asks sweetly, receiving a single nod of the head from the elderly woman. Lizzy shuffles the cards, Dean watching carefully with a very concerned look on his face. The fact that this woman so clearly has a need to make Lizzy sit through a psychic reading unnerves him. First off, Dean's always thought readings to be absolute crap and total cons. Secondly, the vibe he's getting from the gypsy isn't exactly a positive one. This isn't good, he can tell already.

Once done shuffling, Lizzy hands back the deck.

"I don't know about this," Dean says very quietly to Lizzy as he leans down to her ear.

"Shh," Lizzy shushes him, now enthralled by the woman. Clearly she has something to share with Lizzy, a need to tell her fortune, and she's in it to win it. Curiosity was always a weakness of Lizzy's, even as a kid.

Peering across the table to Lizzy, the gypsy deliberately pries the top car off of the deck and places it on the table. The card is facing upright to the mysterious woman and it has two people in an embrace on it.

"Lovers," the woman's rough voice explains in English with a thick accent. "Your love is great, unyielding, very powerful."

"Sounds right to me," she informs with a warm grin. When Lizzy loves someone or something, she loves fiercely so the woman is spot on so far.

"You love him," she point upward to Dean with her quaking finger.

"Yes," Lizzy confirms, still smiling. "Very much so."

The woman once more makes her same sound of disgust she had earlier when evilly eyeing him.

"He's a good man," Lizzy reassures as she tries to stick up for Dean. For whatever reason this woman is very weary of her guy and is not saying why.

"A good man," she starts, then wags her finger at Lizzy. "Is not always good."

Wide eyed, Lizzy just stares at the woman who seems so sure of her words. "But he is good. He's very good to me, and for me."

"Now he's good," the woman confirms. "Later…" She once more makes her throaty sound of disgust and Dean's angered.

"A card told you all that about me?" Dean defensively and defiantly asks.

The woman glares at Dean with utter abhorrence while flipping the next card and placing it just below and to the right of the Lovers card.

"High Priestess," the woman huffs out while pointing to the card that is right side up. "You had a time of serious contemplation."

"That makes way too much sense," Lizzy tells her honestly.

"It was in the past," the woman further adds. "Not long ago."

"Yes," Lizzy agrees, feeling a chill over her accuracy. Lizzy just a few months back had taken time away from the road and from Dean to contemplate their future, their relationship, and her meaning in life. After finding out that she was specifically engineered for Dean she needed to separate herself in order to figure just how to move on with their relationship. This lady is damn good.

"The outcome you sought is correct," she tells Lizzy, her cloudy eyes glued to Dean as she says it.

"See, I'm not so bad," Dean quips, getting a face of warning from Lizzy.

"Not bad," the elderly woman acknowledges. "Troubled. And trouble follows you."

"That's very true," Lizzy lets her know how right she is, eliciting an eye roll from Dean.

The next card placed is the Death card facing upside down. Lizzy makes a worried face when she sees it before looking quickly up to the woman for answers as to what it means.

"Upside-down," the old woman tells Lizzy while pointing to the card. "You will not die. You cheat death."

"Generally," Lizzy answers in jest but with a scared face.

"Not yet," the woman answers back. "You will soon."

"I'm going to cheat death soon?" Lizzy asks quickly earning a nod from the woman in confirmation. "How?"

"Not today, not tomorrow," the woman mysteriously warns. "But you will before a year ends. It will be at the hands of someone very close to you."

"Yeah, this was a bad idea," Dean cuts in, having had enough of what the old lady is cryptically telling Lizzy. "Thanks and all, but we need to go." He reaches down for Lizzy's hand and is shocked when she takes it back quickly.

"I'm not leaving," Lizzy tells him with determination in her voice.

"There's no way this is real, L," Dean tells her.

"I think it is," she argues. "I'm staying."

"Miss Cleo's just trying to scare the living shit outta you," Dean loudly protests before looking over at the elderly gypsy. "Lady, I don't know what your end game is here, but this is crap."

"You say this because you doubt." The hazy eyes of the woman look up at Dean narrowed and angered. "You always doubt."

"No, I only doubt when something smells like a steaming pile of bullsh…"

"Dean!" Lizzy shouts, stopping his insult. "Shut up and let me listen. You don't like it, then leave."

Jaw clenched and frustration high, Dean says not another word. She isn't leaving, he is fully aware of that now, and he isn't leaving her there alone. He crosses his arms over his chest tightly and bites his tongue.

"I'm sorry," Lizzy apologizes to the gypsy on Dean's behalf. "If you'd be kind enough, I'd like you to keep going." She believes everything the gypsy is saying. She doesn't know why but she trusts what this woman tells her.

Hate emanating from the woman's eyes as she looks up at Dean, she pries her focus away to place the last card of the reading on the table upright and to the left, completing the diamond shape.

"Hierophant," the gypsy explains. "You have a time of struggle and great grief ahead."

Lizzy's eyebrow knit in worry with her words.

"You will mourn a loss, but I fear you are no stranger to loss."

"No, I'm not," Lizzy answers in a very worried tone.

"If you have faith," she tells Lizzy. "You will come out on the other side and find what you're looking for. You're a strong girl."

Lizzy smiles small at her words.

"You're special," the gypsy keeps talking while placing her hand atop Lizzy's on the table. "You feel what others can't. You feel what others feel."

After pausing for a moment, the old woman stands up without another word and begins making her way to the back room.

"Oh, um," Lizzy stutters as she stands up quickly, hand reaching into her back pocket. "How much do we owe you?"

Without turning around, the gypsy waves her hand in the air as if to say 'don't worry about it'. Lizzy wasn't hearing that. She jogs the few steps to her and gently takes her frail wrist in her hand. The woman immediately shoots Lizzy a frightened look, eyes suddenly clear blue and the haze now gone.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry!" Lizzy nearly shouts her apology when she realizes she's scared the old woman with her hold. "I just… um, here." Lizzy smiles as she drops some bills into her wrinkled hand. The gypsy closes her papery fingers around the cash before Lizzy lets her go. "Thank you."

The woman gives her a strange look, her eyes once more slowly clouding back over, before she continues her slow trek to the back room.

"Hey," Dean calls to Lizzy once the gypsy is gone. "Let's get outta here."

Lizzy nods and grabs their bag off the counter before she heads for the door along with Dean. Once outside, the two walk out into the sunny Wyoming day.

"That was kinda weird," Lizzy observes as they walk back to the Impala.

"No shit," Dean complains. "And that's exactly why I fucking hate gypsies. Weird, creepy, weird-ass people. Why did you let her give you that reading?"

"At the time I felt like why the fuck not," Lizzy explains while opening the passenger door of the car once they reach it.

"Good instinct there," Dean pokes fun.

"Yeah, thanks," Lizzy sarcastically says while they drive off the meet Sam.