Whew! This chapter turned out longer than I expected, but Sam and Dean are finally going to get to meet Alexa. Hope you have fun reading it. Please, if you find any typos, or mistakes, let me know! I read through it a few times, but my brain has this annoying habit of substituting what it wants to see for what is really there. Many thanks!
Disclaimer: Only the idea is mine. Supernatural and the characters therein belong to the actors, writers, directors, producers, and technicians that bring it to life. Rated T, because there's a bit of cursing.
Dean was finishing up his cheeseburger when Castiel returned. The pub didn't have salads, so Sam had ordered chili, prompting a few rude comments from Dean. The angel walked through the door and strode purposefully to their table. Dean jammed the last of the burger into his mouth as he approached. Sam just pushed the chili away.
"Cas, what did you find out? Any idea why you had orders to bring us to her?" Sam asked.
"You should come and speak to her."
"Oh-kay. Not really an answer to my question, Cas. But I'm guessing that it's important we meet her?"
"Yes, Sam. It is important. Follow me."
Without waiting for an answer, Castiel turned and walked back out of the pub. Dean reached in his pocket and pulled out enough money to pay for their meals, and then he and Sam followed. Castiel was turning around the corner of the building, moving quickly through the darkened parking lot to a small grassy area at the back of the pub. The young woman, Alexa, was sitting at a picnic table situated beneath the parking lot's only lamp. Two cars sat in the shadows, glinting vaguely in the lamplight.
She stood up as they drew near and wiped her hands nervously against her shirt. Or maybe she's making sure she can keep a good grip on a concealed weapon, Sam thought. He concentrated for a moment on the weight of the weapons he carried. Three knives and a gun. Ought to be enough to kill her, if necessary.
Dean, apparently, wasn't worried about that necessity. He walked over, clasped her right hand, and shook it. "Alexa, right?" When she nodded, he continued, "Any idea why the angels gave orders for us to meet you?" He looked her right in the eyes, daring her to lie to him.
"Because collectively, they have a crappy sense of humor?" she answered.
Dean stared for a moment, not used to sarcasm in answer to his own. She sighed.
"You don't know anything about how Sam got out? I'm just clarifying things here." Alexa sat back down at the picnic table, palms pressed against the marred wooden surface.
"No." Sam maneuvered onto the bench across from her. "I showed up outside Dean's door about ten days ago. Three days ago, we saw each other again. There was no indication of what got me out of the Pit." Dean sat too, straddling the bench next to Sam, while Castiel looked on from the head of the table.
She frowned at them both. "Only three days? You were out a week before you saw Dean again? That wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. He was supposed to be left in front of Dean's door. What happened?" She turned to Castiel, questioning.
Before the angel could answer, Sam interrupted, "Wait, you know about that? I was left in front of Dean's door that first night. I just couldn't go in. I wanted to see him, but I thought that it would be better to stay away for a while, until I found out what was going on. I made sure he knew I was okay. I just don't think I deserve..." He stopped, suddenly aware how much he was confessing to this stranger.
Her eyes flared with anger as she snapped at him, "Samuel Winchester, don't you dare say you don't deserve to be back! You don't get to decide that. Stop beating yourself up. Obviously someone thought highly enough of what you'd done to get you out of there."
Dean looked surprised at her tone, and then even more surprised when Sam answered her in anger.
"Or something decided that I could be a useful weapon and sprung me so that I would owe them a favor." Sam glared back at her.
She closed her eyes for a second before speaking. "Stupid, stubborn Winchesters. Always have to argue. Relax, okay? You don't owe anybody. That isn't what happened."
Dean and Sam exchanged a look at her outburst, but didn't respond to it directly. Instead, Dean asked, "You know the details of how Sam got out? You know what happened?"
"It was part of a deal. Someone made a deal to get Sam out."
"Who?" Dean demanded.
Sam groaned. "Not another deal. 'Cause you know, the last one turned out so well."
"I can't tell you who." Alexa looked at each of them in turn. "Glaring at me isn't going to change my answer! I can't tell you. I can only say that you don't owe anyone anything. You paid the debt already."
Sam almost snarled, "That isn't good enough," at the same time Dean said, "How do you know all this?"
Castiel interrupted at that point. "Alexa has dreams, or visions. Much like Chuck. She sees what happens to you."
"Are you kidding me? Another prophet? I so do not need this crap in my life!" Dean slapped his face into his palms.
"A prophet? Hardly." Alexa snickered. "The angels would no more want me recording events for them than the demons would want me on their cheering squad. The visions are a side effect. Why they focus on the two of you, I couldn't say. But for the last few years, they have." She waved her hand in the air as if to say 'I have no clue'.
"A side effect of what? And how come both sides consider you the enemy?" Sam asked.
"And if they consider you the enemy, what the hell are we doing here, with Cas, with orders to meet you?" Dean added.
"It was part of the deal." Alexa chose to answer just one part of Dean's question.
"Wha... huh? What do you mean it was part of the deal? Some kind of weirdo deal going on there. Sam gets out and we have to meet you?"
"Sort of."
"What's 'sort of' mean?" Sam asked. He stood up and started pacing, searching the shadows of the parking lot for danger.
"I'm not just supposed to meet you. For the next – well, not quite a year at this point – I'm supposed to... God, this is awkward. I don't understand how this became a condition of the deal." Alexa looked up at Castiel as she said the last part, with an almost pleading expression on her face.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean demanded.
Now it was Alexa's turn to stand up. Sam tensed and swung to face her. She held her hands up, showing that she wasn't reaching for anything.
"You aren't going to like this. I don't like this." She looked at each of them closely, waiting for a reaction. Neither answered. She made a face and continued, "I'm supposed to stick near you both for the next year. I have to see you both on a regular basis. Hunt with you occasionally, or hell – maybe go see a movie. Who knows? That sort of thing."
"You have got to be kidding me!" Dean exclaimed.
"I'm not exactly thrilled with this turn of events either. It certainly wasn't part of my plan." Her quiet voice belied the weight of emotion her tone carried.
"What happens if we refuse? Or if you refuse?" Sam asked.
Alexa gestured for Castiel to answer the question, then crossed her arms in front of her. Both brothers looked at him expectantly.
"The terms of the arrangement were that Alexa needs to see at least one of you every day for the next year, starting with today. She must become a significant part of your lives. If that does not happen, Sam will be returned to Hell and all the protections afforded to the rest of you will be removed."
"All the protections afforded? Explain that please," Dean said.
"You, Bobby, Lisa, and Ben have been declared off limits to both angels and demons. You cannot be harmed or your lives interfered with. Apparently my involvement in your lives is an exception."
"So someone got that, and they got Sam out? Not to sound self-absorbed or anything, but who has that kind of currency? I mean, Sam being in the Pit, everybody coming after me for refusing to be Michael's meatsuit, I thought we were at the top of everybody's hit list. Messing with us seems to pretty much be your national pastime. And what could get both sides to agree to the same deal? I know you think God saved you, Castiel. But this? What the hell is going on?"
Sam watched Alexa carefully. I think she's telling the truth, but at this point, I could be so screwed up I'd never know the difference. He walked around the table, stepping close to her. She met his eyes and didn't flinch from his scrutiny. He noticed absently that her eyes looked gray in the lamp light and wondered what color they really were. Watching for her reaction, he said "You really don't want to go with us, do you?"
Still looking at him, she huffed out a breath. There was a long pause, then she finally answered, "I don't think it's in my best interest, no. But there isn't an alternative. Refusing would mean sending you back, and leaving the rest of you in danger. I won't do that." She kept her arms crossed in front of her, but lifted her chin a little.
Sam continued to maintain his gaze as he said, "Why isn't it in your best interest?"
"I'm pretty sure both sides made it part of the arrangement because they thought it would hurt me. It was a bonus for them. I figure they're probably right, and since getting hurt isn't something I generally look forward to, no, it's not in my best interest."
"Why would they want to hurt you?" Dean asked, distracting Sam and breaking the stare between the two.
"They don't like me much." She turned away, stepping into the shadows, and dragged a hand through her hair.
"Why is that?" Sam picked up the conversation again.
"Probably because I'm not quite entirely human," she answered quietly.
Dean stood up quickly, untangling himself from the picnic table. Sam's hand was on his gun. Castiel put up a hand, motioning for Dean to be still, and said, "Sam." When Sam didn't respond right away, the angel repeated his name, a little more forcefully.
Sam swiveled his head toward Castiel, but his hand remained on the gun.
"She is not your enemy. I can guarantee that to you. She is not an evil to be hunted." The angel spoke softly.
Alexa turned back to them and asked Castiel, "If I were to die before the year is up, would it negate the terms of the deal? If I died either by accident or on purpose?" Dean and Sam exchanged a confused look.
Castiel seemed to listen to the air for a moment, his eyes sliding closed, but moving and shifting beneath the lids. When he opened them, they glowed briefly.
"If you were to commit suicide, the terms of the deal would be void. If you are killed, either accidentally, or by someone else with malicious intent, the terms will still be in force."
Alexa watched Sam, who still had his hand on the grip of his gun. Her gaze remained fixed on the gun, but her focus was obviously elsewhere. She raised her eyes and looked at Sam.
Calmly she instructed him, "Shoot me."
"What?" Dean said.
Sam said nothing, just watched her. When he didn't move, she uncrossed her arms, and hands outstretched at her sides, she took a slow step forward. Reacting to the threat, he pulled his gun out and held it in front of him. As she took a second step, he flipped the safety off. Her next step forward placed the barrel of the gun in the hollow of her throat. Alexa reached up slowly, wrapped her left hand around the barrel, and pulled it gently down until it rested over her heart. Her hand dropped.
"Sam, don't," Dean said.
Alexa kept looking into Sam's eyes and said, "Pull the trigger, Sam. Kill me. Please. I swear this isn't a trick. You know I'm telling you the truth. Just kill me."
Muscles in Sam's jaw clenched and his finger tightened a fraction on the trigger.
"Sam! Don't. This could be a set-up. We need to know more. Cas, help me out here." Dean had moved closer to his brother, but not close enough to stop him if he pulled the trigger.
Sam's gaze flickered over to Castiel.
"Is she telling the truth? Or is it a trick? Does she really want me to shoot her?"
The angel's answer seemed sad. "It isn't a trick. She really does want you to shoot her and she really does believe that the deal will still be intact if you do. But you forgot one thing, Alexa." He stayed silent until she turned to look at him.
"By asking Sam to shoot you, you are technically committing suicide. That negates the deal."
Realization crossed her face, and she closed her eyes in pain. Sam watched a single tear streak down her cheek as she turned away, cursing. Her shoulders slumped for a moment, then stiffened as she whirled around. She advanced on Castiel, yelling, "You guys suck, you know that, don't you? You suck!" She poked him in the chest.
"I did not negotiate..." Castiel began.
Alexa interrupted, "I'm aware of that. I'm talking to the ones you work for, Castiel." She made a frustrated noise, then tipped her head back so she looked at the stars and shouted, "Do you hear me? You. Suck!" She spun in a circle as she yelled, ending so she was facing away from them.
No one spoke into the silence that followed her outcry. Finally, Dean cleared his throat. Sam flicked the safety back on his now lowered gun and put it away. Alexa heaved a deep sigh, then tipped her head forward.
"What else do you need to know before I drive out to Cicero?" she asked, sounding defeated.
"You are not staying at my house. Lisa's house." Dean was adamant.
"I don't expect to. I wouldn't ask that of you. I'll stay nearby at a motel until I can find a room to rent. I don't need to ever step foot in the house if you don't want me there. Whatever will make this easiest for you. Both of you." She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Maybe I can just buy you both a cup of coffee every morning, say hi, and you can pretend I don't exist for the rest of the day. I can do that for a year. Sound like a plan?" She actually looked a little hopeful.
Before either Winchester could answer, Castiel cut in. "You need to see one of them every day, but you also need to become a significant part of their lives. Delivering coffee each morning will not achieve that."
"You've obviously never known anyone with a significant addiction to caffeine then. Delivering coffee every morning can be pretty significant. Even vital." She snarked at him. One corner of Dean's mouth tilted up a bit at that.
Castiel's head twitched a bit to the side. "Nevertheless, you must be more involved than that."
She just looked at him for a moment, clearly at a loss for words. Finally she made a disgusted noise and tossed her hands in the air.
Dean and Sam waited. She looked at them, shaking her head at the same time.
"Well. You've seen me today. I can start driving to Cicero now. It will take me about..." she paused to think, "sixteen, maybe seventeen hours depending on how fast I go. I'd get to Cicero around two or three o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Where do you want to meet me?"
"What do you mean, meet you? I'm driving with you." Sam answered.
Dean said, "Wha... no, you're not," at the same time Alexa said, "You don't need to do that."
Sam responded to both of them. "Dean, I'll be fine. It will be a good time to talk to Alexa and learn more about what's going on. You go back to Lisa with Cas, and I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."
"Uh, no, Sam. You come with me to Lisa's. We'll both see Alexa tomorrow afternoon. Let's be smart about this."
"Dean. I am being smart about this. We need to know more. Driving to Indiana is a good time to get some of the information we'll need. I'll be fine."
"Anything could happen! She could be some crazed killer thing for all we know." He looked at Alexa and said, "No offense." She just shrugged. Turning back to his brother, he continued, "You heard her say she's not entirely human. We still don't know what that means. Come on, Sam! You don't even have a cell phone yet. There's no way for us to talk while you're on the road. No way for you to call for help. You're coming home with me!"
"No. I'm not, Dean." Sam didn't even try to argue with his brother's points, which were good ones. They stared at each other, stonewalling.
"I agree with Dean. It's probably better if I drive alone and just see you there. But, because I know that probably won't happen, here." Alexa said, breaking the silence. She tossed a cell phone at Sam, who caught it. "Keep it on you, so you can make a call whenever you want. It isn't a problem, I have another." Looking over to Dean, she said, "The number is 978-555-0308. Or, as a second option, you can ride along in the car too. The more the merrier, right? But I warn you, my car is a two door. Whoever gets the back seat gets the fun of climbing in."
"What do you drive, a Gremlin?"
"Haha. Very funny, Dean."
"Fine. I'm coming with you. And I call shotgun."
Alexa rolled her eyes and Sam snorted.
"Yeah, yeah. You're both hysterical. I'm going to go call Lisa, let her know I won't be back until tomorrow. She's going to have to call my boss too. I'm so going to owe her for this." He started muttering as he walked several feet away.
Alexa sat on the edge of the picnic table, placing her feet on the bench. Sam eased onto the table next to her, bracing his own feet on the bench as well. She didn't say anything.
"Okay, so I'm going to ask the million dollar question." He began.
"What did I mean when I said I wasn't entirely human?"
"That would be the one."
"The dreams. There aren't the only thing that I can do that isn't quite normal. I can heal. I can't bring back the dead or anything, but I can heal injuries, ease pain, that sort of thing. And other, little things."
"Like what?"
"I'm a little stronger than I should be. Just little things." She shrugged, not looking in his direction.
"Can you prove the healing thing?" He asked, choosing for the moment to ignore her lack of an answer about 'other, little things'.
"If you trust me enough. I'll have to touch you. Got a bad knee or something?" She turned to face him for the first time since they sat.
"Yep. You can take care of that too."
"What do you mean 'too'?" She asked, eyes going wide as Sam pulled out a blade.
"I mean this." He put out his left arm and quickly dragged the knife lengthwise up the middle of his forearm, biting deeply into the flesh. Blood immediately welled up and dripped onto the asphalt below.
Alexa leapt off the table. "Holy hell, Sam! What did you do?"
A touch of something – off – danced at the edges of his eyes when he looked at her. "Prove you can heal. Fix it."
By this time, Dean had hung up the phone and rushed over at Alexa's outburst. Both Castiel and Dean took a step forward, clearly intending to help Sam, who was losing blood rapidly.
"No. She fixes it," he said to them. "Unless she can't," he added to Castiel, who nodded understanding.
"Just so you know, Winchester, your version of 'prove it' sucks ass." She slapped both hands around Sam's forearm, splattering both of them with blood, then closed her eyes. Though she squeezed tightly, the blood flow continued at first, but shortly it tapered off and stopped. She continued to hold onto his arm for another couple of minutes. In all, the process took about five minutes. When she finished, she stepped back, hands covered in blood. Sam's arm also sported a topography of smeared blood.
"If you ever do anything that stupid again..." She was clearly at a loss for how to end the threat.
"You'll answer to me." Dean finished for her, shooting his brother the glare that usually stopped Sam in his tracks, at least temporarily. Sam just shrugged it off.
"It wasn't stupid. It was a quick way to prove or disprove what Alexa said. Cas was right here. He could have fixed me up if she failed."
"If I failed? If I failed?" She was shouting. "This isn't school. You are not my life lesson coach. You weren't brought back so that you could go around stabbing yourself to prove a point. Stop risking your life unnecessarily!"
In a flash, Sam stood right in front of her, shouting back. "First of all, I get to decide what risks are necessary! And second, what do you know about why I was brought back, huh? What don't you share with the rest of the class, Alexa?"
Dean opened his eyes wide and blinked a few times at the vehemence in Sam's voice. Crap, is Sam suffering from PTSD or something? he wondered.
"You were brought back because you deserved it. You deserved a second chance. God, you idiot! Do you think that the angels would have allowed for the deal if they thought you weren't worth it? Screw what the demon's reasons were for accepting it, but trust Cas. Arrgh!" She managed to shove Sam back a few steps and turned away.
Taking a deep breath, she faced Dean and Castiel calmly. "Castiel, could you please reach in my jacket pocket and get the keys to my car? I don't want to get any more blood on this jacket. I've got a towel in the trunk. But you'll need to give the keys to Dean. You won't be able to touch the car."
"I can help." Castiel answered. He waved his hand and the blood was gone from Alexa and Sam.
"Wow." She looked at her jacket. "Even the jacket is clean. Thanks for the dry cleaning service."
"Why can't Cas touch your car?" Dean asked.
"There are sigils on it to prevent angels getting near it. And devil's traps to keep the demons away."
"Why would you want to keep angels away from your car?" Both brothers asked the question.
"I told you, they don't like me all that much."
Dean said, "Yeah, about that."
"I know, I know. Why? Why don't they like you? Because I insult their finely tuned sense of precision, okay? The fact that I exist pisses them off, because most of them enjoy being righteous and pissed off. Just leave it at that." She stomped off to the corner of the lot where the two cars sat. She stopped at the passenger side of a grey 1970 Dodge Challenger, unlocked the door, and reached down to flip the seat forward so someone could get in the back. Then she went to the trunk, popped it open and began going through a backpack. Sam noticed a devil's trap and sigils painted on the inside of the trunk, just like he and Dean had done to the Impala.
Sam and Dean followed her, trailed by a quiet Castiel. Dean stopped a few feet away.
"This is your car?"
"No. I have the keys to a complete stranger's car. Of course it's my car."
Dean smirked at her. "This is sweet. Details, please."
Alexa rolled her eyes. "1970 Challenger. 383 block. V8. Pulls about 335 horsepower. Custom paint job," she said, gaze flickering to the symbols on the trunk interior.
"Base model? Why not the R/T or the T/A?"
"Too conspicuous. Not that this isn't, now. But it isn't as flashy as the others. She's elegant."
"Goddamn sexy is what she is." Dean responded.
"Careful, Dean. The Impala will get jealous." Sam teased.
"I would never cheat on my baby. But, come on. This is a thing of beauty."
"Ugh. Dude, you're drooling."
Alexa slipped a wallet into her pocket and closed the trunk.
"Okay, last chance to catch the angel express home." She pointed at Castiel.
"Nope." Sam responded. He walked to the open passenger door and paused, looking back at Dean.
"You coming?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah. Just admiring an amazing machine, Sam. Just admiring."
"It's fine, I just wanted to know if I should get into the back seat or not." He ducked down and squeezed into the back. In an effort to get comfortable, he sat on one side, and stretched his legs across to the other side.
Alexa slid into the driver's seat. "Sorry. Car isn't really made for back seat passengers. Especially tall ones."
"I'm used to being cramped in most cars."
She started the engine as Dean pushed the passenger seat back into place and sat down. He closed the door reverently and put the window down to talk to Castiel.
From the back, Sam asked, "So if the sigils are in the trunk, how come Cas can't touch the rest of the car?"
"The sigils are painted on all of the panels of the car. On the interior, where they're hidden. There's one right here, you just can't see it because of the covering." She tapped the roof over her head.
Castiel said to Dean, "I will follow your progress and see you tomorrow in Indiana."
Dean nodded. "Great. Thanks, Cas. See you then."
He eased back in the seat in time to see Alexa plug an mp3 player in and turn on the radio.
"No, no! You can't do this. That thing does not belong in this car."
"This 'thing'" she mimicked Dean's tone perfectly, "has all my music on it. And this is my car, so my rules." She made a face at him. In the back, Sam laughed.
Dean groaned and said, "Fine. But if that thing starts playing some new age crap, I am tossing it out of the car, no matter what you say."
Alexa didn't bother to answer, just backed out of her parking spot. As she was leaving the lot, she tapped the play button on the mp3 player. Dean winced, expecting the worst.
The guitar solo from the middle of "Travelling Riverside Blues" blasted out of the speakers. Dean actually gasped. Sam snickered.
Alexa just smiled at Dean's shocked expression. She turned the volume down a little.
"I'm guessing you have no objection to the music?"
"If I wasn't with Lisa, I'd be proposing to you right now." He responded.
She laughed. "That's okay. I'd say no anyway. You're just not my type."
"That seems like a good place to start playing twenty questions. So tell us, Alexa, what is your type?"
Alexa glanced in the rear view mirror at Sam, but neither Winchester noticed. She answered Dean with a "not you, Dean. Next question?"
