The Emma Davis Adventures

Just Plain Awkwardness

Chapter Four: Honey, I'm home!

Notes: So, I originally didn't want to post this right away (mainly because I'm trying to drag it out a bit as I've stopped working on the second part until the show comes back on. But, as it is Christmas, I wanted to post it just for the holiday. Also, thank you all so much for the reviews and choosing this as a favourite and to be alerted about it. Also, thank you for the constructive criticism, I love it and as I currently have only one other person who looks over it to catch all my mistakes, I'm really grateful for the opportunity to fix it.

"…And now I'm here."

Bobby Singer seemed to be a fairly pleasant guy. Bit rough around the edges and a bit paranoid sure, but alright.

When I walked into the house, I noticed what looked like a line of salt on the floor in the doorway. I raised an eyebrow but continued on in the direction Sam pointed me in. I looked around as I walked and raised an eyebrow at the giant star circled on the floor. It reminded me of some Hollywood satanic symbol. I took a deep breath and walked over it. What the hell was I getting into?

"Hey!"

I turned back and saw Dean outside the doorway. "What the hell are you doing out there? Hurry up!" Sam looked at me strangely.

"In case you haven't noticed sweet-heart, I can't come in!"

I blinked. "Why not?"

I swear he rolled his eyes at me and then pointed at the line of salt in the doorway, muttering something under his breath.

"Emma?"

I looked over at Sam who called me.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh," I said and then wondered how I'd explain this. "Um…well, Dean's apparently stuck outside. He says he can't come in due to the stuff on the ground."

Sam just kind of stared at me for a minute, eyebrows furrowing. "Oh, right," he finally said and looked over me before moving and kicking at the salt line.

"Thank you," Dean muttered, walking in.

"Come on," Sam said, stepping towards me. "It's this way."

--

As soon as I got into the appointed room, I was offered a drink and subjected to an interrogation. They didn't call it that; they just wanted to "check facts". Make sure I actually was seeing and hearing Dean as a ghost. So I had to answer questions like:

"When is Dean's birthday?" ("January 24, 1979") or "What was the gift I gave to him on Christmas when we were kids?" ("The necklace he wears that you got from Bobby and were supposed to give to your dad on Christmas but instead gave to him") and "What is Dean's biggest fear?" ("Flying…really? Flying?")

I had successfully answered the questions, relating what Dean would say to each, though I admit I couldn't help but snap at both the brothers at times. I was sick of answering the questions and really just wanted Dean out of my life.

I had also noticed they didn't really seem to relax until I took a gulp of the water I had asked for while they were questioning me. That made me a bit nervous, but that was before I started my story and with Dean egging me on ("Just do it already, Jesus"), I tried not to think much about it.

--

"Right. Show her Sam."

I frowned a bit and looked over at Sam who gave a sigh.

"Come on," he said and stood and motioned me to follow. "There's something I need to show you. Dean should come too."

I stood up, nervous but following both Dean and Sam.

"In here."

I walked into the room that Sam had walked into and stopped. Lying on a bed was the body of Dean Winchester.

"What the hell?" I took a step back.

"Come closer Em,"

I looked over at Dean who was leaning over his own body with a grin.

"Come on! Look!"

"It's not what you think," Sam said softly.

I prayed briefly to whatever higher power there was that I didn't just get myself into far too much trouble. I stepped closer until I was only a couple feet away from the bed. And the body. I gulped.

"Look close," Dean was speaking softly to me, looking at his body. "Look at my chest."

That when I noticed it. His chest was moving.

"Holy shit!" I jumped back, breathing more heavily. "He's alive?!"

I looked at Sam who nodded. I looked back at the body and then at Dean. He was grinning and muttering something about how he knew he wasn't dead. "Then what's with the ghost?!"

Sam gave a sigh. "We need to talk."

I once thought I was crazy. I had been certain of it. After all, how do you explain suddenly seeing a ghost? However, no matter how crazy I thought I was, that was nothing compared to these guys. I laughed.

They didn't react with the sudden "ha ha! Jokes on you!" but instead looked at each other with the kind of weariness and resignation I had seen on few people. It was the look of telling someone something you knew that wouldn't take well and you didn't really want to tell them.

I stood up.

One of them had tried to call me back but I walked out the door and kept walking until I got to my car. I sat on the hood.

--

"You know it's true."

I looked up and saw Dean there. He was looking at me with the same sort of resignation.

"Stop."

"This isn't something you can hide…"

"Stop!" I cut him off. "Just stop. I don't want to know. I don't want to hear anymore!" I felt my throat beginning to close up and I paused to let myself breathe and get it under control. "I just want to go home. You're here, you're brother's here and I just want to go home and get back to work and get back to my life and leave you here!" I paused to breathe again.

"Whether you like it or not you're involved." Dean started, his voice low. "You're the only one who can see me. Even if you wanted to, you can't leave now. We need you." He paused for a moment. "I need you to help me get back to my body. Afterwards, you can leave, but for now you need to stay. And if you're going to stay, you have to know the truth of what we do and what's out there."

I sat there in silence and looked to the side. Sam stood in the doorway of the house. "I need a minute." I told Dean and I watched him walk away. I closed my eyes. I wanted to go home. They needed my help though. Fuck.

I grabbed my bag out of the car and walked back into the house. I dropped it by the door and walked back into the room where Sam and Bobby were. Dean was lounging on one of the couches even though none of other occupants could see him. I think he just found comfort in their presence.

"So," I started and they all looked up at me. "What do I need to know?"

--

I was surprised I had slept that night. My head was reeling with everything they told me. With their adventures, as it were. Part of me had wished I still didn't know, that I could be the ostrich with her head in the dirt. A smaller part thought more of the lines of "huh. Well the world makes a lot more sense now."
When I woke up, it was to Dean calling my name and practically ordering me to get up.

"Go away!" I ordered. "You're home now, stop harassing me."

"You're the only one to talk to and frankly, it's boring downstairs. I can only watch people read for so long! Now let's go and help with the research." He motioned with his head towards the door.

"Alright, fine! Now get out so I can get dressed."

His eyebrows rose. "And miss the best part? Can't I watch?"

I scowled. "Get out ghost boy or so help me god, I'll plug my ears with wax and you'll really have no one to talk to."

He lifted his hands in surrender. "I'm moving, I'm moving." With he walked through the door.

My head plopped back into my pillow. I knew it was too good to be a dream. I sighed.

"I don't hear any changing happening…." I heard Dean's voice from the hall.

"Arg!" I cried out and threw my pillow at the door. I heard his laughter and then got up. Damn ghost.

--

"So, Emma, have any family?"
I had been researching through some of the books they had given me to look through. I felt briefly like I was back in university again. This sucked.
To make things worse, since Dean couldn't research or even talk to the others, he had taken to distracting me by asking me questions.
I was currently reading something about witches that I found kind of interesting actually. I answered him half-heartedly. "Yeah. My mom lives in the town across the lake from me."

"And your dad?"

I looked up then and briefly noted that Sam and Bobby where looking at me, only hearing one side of the conversation. I looked at Dean for a moment before looking back at the book. "He's dead."
I saw Dean's questioning glance and gave a sigh. "My dad was part of the Canadian Mounted Police. He died on the job like 5 years ago."

Dean kind of snickered. "He was a Mountie?"

I glared at him, my jaw clenching. "Don't." I said before I turned back to my book and concentrated on ignoring him. I didn't even think to look at Sam or Bobby.

"I found something." I heard Bobby call out and watched as Sam got up with a "what is it?" I stayed where I was.

"Emma!"

I looked over at Dean who was by both Sam and Bobby, checking out what Bobby was showing Sam. He motioned me forwards. My cell phone rang.

I grabbed it and headed to the door.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?"

I moved the phone away from my ear and gave a sigh. "Hi mom."

"Don't 'hi mom' me. Where are you? Why haven't you called me?"

I walked over to my car and sat on the hood again. "I'm in South Dakota."

"South Dakota?!" Again, I moved the phone away from my ear.

"Yeah, something came up and…a couple of my friends needed my help. I'm sorry I didn't call…"

"Friends? What friends?"

I felt like hanging up but instead tried to think of something. Dean walked up beside me. "Dean and Sam. I've known them for a while. I'm sure I've mentioned them a few times before…" I was completely bluffing, but she didn't need to know that.

"I don't know…"

"Don't worry, it's not just me and them. It's a huge trip thing…I didn't call because I...err…kinda got roped in it last minute."

We talked for a few more minutes before I said I had to go. I promised to call her back soon enough and yes I'd be careful and not to worry. When I hung up, I looked up at Dean who had his eyebrows raised.

"Sheesh," he said.

"Yeah. That was my mom."

"And I thought Ellen was bad."

I looked up at him. "Who?" I asked.

"Never mind. Come on, come back inside. They've figured it out but we need…a translator."

"Yeah." I said and got up. "Let's get this over with."

They hadn't seen me yet. I didn't really mean to pry, it was just I was walking slowly and Dean had ran ahead and I was pulled from my thoughts by Sam's voice, which sounded rather urgent.

"He doesn't have much time left." Huh? Who didn't?

"I know that," Bobby's voice. "If the idiot hadn't made the damn deal, we wouldn't be in this rush."

There was silence now and it seemed tense even if I was in the hall.

"Have you found anything?"

"Not yet."

Pushing back my curiosity and deciding I really didn't want to know, I walked in.

"Dean said you found something?" I asked, looking over at them and raising an eyebrow.

Sam stood straighter and gave a sigh. "Yeah. It'll take a day to get everything we need. But it should work." He stopped for a moment and just looked at me. "How is he?" His brow was furrowed and he looked concerned.

I saw Dean roll his eyes.

"Tell him I'm just peachy."

I sighed. "He's fine. Obnoxious, but fine."

"That's not what I said!" Dean commented, almost pouting a bit. I ignored him.

Sam gave a small smile. "Good."

Since there was nothing I could really do, aside from read some more, I sat on the porch with a book about demons and talking to Dean. Sam was doing more research and Bobby had gone to get supplies.

"So, salt repels a demon?" I asked and watch Dean nod. "Why?"

"Salt is considered pure, through many different cultures."

I nodded. Made sense, I guess. "So you use something considered pure to get rid of the...unpure? Weird." I paused for a moment considering something. "It says a circle of salt will protect you, right?"

"Yeah,"

"Well then, couldn't you like, salt the grounds of where you live? Or what if you had like…a pipe or something running in a circle around your house just under the ground...would that work?"

Dean didn't say anything and when I looked at him he seemed to be in slight shock. He blinked. "I dunno." He seemed to be thinking of it.

"Just a thought," I muttered before turning back to my book.

--

It was night now and I was sitting at a table with Sam. Dean was nearby in the room, making comments as usual but I was ignoring him.

"So, you're alright with this life?" I asked him. He has told me earlier that he had gone to university and had tried to live a more normal life.

"Now, yeah. Not so much before but this stuff…it follows you, you know?"

I thought about it for a moment. "No," I gave a small laugh. "But it makes sense. I mean, once you know what's out there…then you start seeing it and weird things make sense…right?"

Sam nodded and then looked at me. Seriously, what was with these Winchester men just staring at me after I spoke?

"You seem awfully perceptive." He said and I made a face.

"Not really," I said, "I just think of it in other terms. Like, you don't watch a famous movie or something for a long while. Then finally when you do, all those pop culture references suddenly make sense."

Sam laughed. "True." He paused for a moment. "Do you miss your dad?"

I stiffened and I noticed Dean paying attention. "He died doing what he thought was right. I may miss him, but I can't fault him for that." I took a deeper breath.

"I'm sorry," Sam said, his brow furrowing and a sort of understanding look passed through him.

Dean made a comment.

"Shut up ghost boy!" I snapped at him and took a deep breath. The talk of my dad made me edgy.

"What is it?" Sam asked. "What did he say?"

I looked over at him and sighed. "He said he didn't want to watch some chick-flick moment and to just get on with it."

Sam cracked a smile.

I glared at Dean who just gave me a grin. I stood up. "I'm going to bed. Night Sam." I walked out of the room, hearing Dean call out "what about me?" after me.

--

I didn't go downstairs as soon as I woke up the next day. I figured if they needed me, they'd call. Instead I called my mom again, checked my messages at home. I called work again and told them I should be home in a few days but if something came up, I'd let them know. I was tidying up the room, making sure my bag was packed, when the door opened. Dean stood there, just grinning. I rolled my eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Just admiring the scenery. Jeans look good on you."

My eyes narrowed. "Don't even bother trying ghost boy, I'm not interested. Whether you're corporeal or not."

"You know you want me…" He drawled, grinning wider.

I scrunched up my nose. "Please," I said, rolling my eyes. "Shove off Toto and leave me in peace. Shouldn't you be prepping or something?" I waved my hand in his direction.

"Now now, play nice sweetheart. None of this Toto business. In case you haven't noticed, I'm back in Kansas…sort of." He said and shrugged to himself as if accepting his statement.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"There are better uses for that," He waggled his eyebrows.

"Ugh!" I grabbed the pillow and threw it at him. It hit him in the chest and fell to the floor. I stared in shock and then pointed. "You're real!"

I hope you enjoyed it! And I hope you have a fantastic holiday!