A/N: Thanks again to everyone who is showing their support, either through clicks or typing. Each and every one means the world to me! Now for a slight announcement: I will not be posting next week, but it is only so I have enough time to refine the next few chapters. Since starting my second year in college, I have little time to do the refining my story needs, but again those are just excuses. Expect a new chapter the following Friday. Thanks so much!

She trailed behind the flowing, tan trench coat as it fluttered through the early morning breeze. She made sure to stay far behind the escaping man so her footsteps weren't heard. She adjusted the strap of her duffel bag on her shoulder, never tearing her eyes from Jimmy.

Frankie followed him for what seemed like twenty minutes, maybe more. All she knew was by the time he stopped walking her thighs were on fire and the sun had risen from its dormancy. She approached his destination. He sat on a bench at a bus stop. Of course, buses were the most discrete way out of a town. She should've known that. Well, that meant she was getting on there along with him.

But then a problem came up. It wasn't a money issue; she had plenty of that to last her. The issue was instead one a little harder to fix. How was she going to sit on a bus for hours on end without him recognizing her? Sure, they hadn't known each other long at all. Hell, she didn't recall saying more than ten words to the guy. However, he had in fact seen her and would recognize her the moment he saw her.

She bit her lip, sinking behind the corner of an alley. How was she going about this? Her first mode of action was rummaging into her bag for anything she could disguise herself with. If only her hair were longer. Then she could at least put her hair in a ponytail, but that just wouldn't work. She needed something to make her look different enough.

She looked around the corner to make sure Jimmy was still sitting on his bench. She kept her eyes on him until a foul stench reached her nostrils. What was that? The smell pulled her eyes downward to the unconscious position of a homeless man. How had she not noticed an entire person there?

She wasn't entirely thinking about that, though. As much as she despised herself for even considering it as a possibility, her eyes drew immediately to the worn hat on his head. Oh, come on now, she wasn't a heartless thief. She would never, ever steal a homeless man's hat. That was just rude. But… she did need a disguise and it was the only possibility. Especially since a bus was pulling into the bus stop as she was debating the situation.

She lightly whimpered to herself. Oh, how she'd hate herself for this later. She plucked the fraying hat from his head and replaced its presence with a winkled five dollar bill in his jacket pocket.

As the bus's door folded open, Frankie walked out from the shadows, head and face covered by the hat that was too big for her head. She shoved her hands in her denim jacket and still kept a sizable distance from Jimmy. She walked in the bus and paid the fare before turning to walk down the aisle. Despite Jimmy looking out the window, she still tipped the hat lower on her face as she passed him. She set herself down on the opposite row so that she could still have an eye on him. The bus driver let a few more people on board before finally closing the doors and taking off out of town.

Once the road started passing at a decent speed, Frankie allowed herself to let out a breath she was not aware was being held. Relief washed over her at the knowledge of being on a bus alone with Sam and Dean's escapee. See? She wasn't useless. They had no idea where he was and she did. Boy, would they regret lying to her.

She thought back to their dirty trick. Her arms found themselves folded across her chest. Sure, she should have seen it coming from a mile away, but Dean promised her that this was her chance. Where she came from a promise was a promise, not a tactic.

She sighed through her nose, the light air fogging the window for a full second. How could they do this to her? Did she really mean that little to them? If she were them she never would have lied to her. If she were them she never would allow her to go back to that horrid hometown of hers. If she were them she would never leave her to live all by herself, alone in this cruel world with the knowledge that monsters, angels and demons exist. If she were them she would let her join the fight against the evils of the world.

But she wasn't them. She wasn't them at all. And that was the problem. She would never be them, Dean had said so. Why, she wondered. What was it about her that was a major turn off to hunters? Was it her bum kidneys? There wasn't anything wrong with them right now! Sure… she had tendencies to get high blood pressure, and every once in a while she would get a headache or even pain in her back or practically anywhere in her abdominal area, but those… those were just quirks!

Yeah, she wouldn't be slowing anyone down. For a while, at least. But what happened when that time ran out? In ten years or later… or sooner, what would they do to her? Leave her in a hospital bed for the rest of her days?

She was being overdramatic. Not every case of PKD ended with an early exposure to cysts and definitely not every case led to renal failure. But the ones in her family did. Her great aunt, her grandmother… her mother. She shouldn't be overdramatic. She was always different than a lot of her known family. Maybe she would be the one to end the line of early departures. She'd keep thinking that. It was the mindset she'd held for years and it was the mindset she'd keep.

She shifted in her seat and gazed at the colorful early morning sky. If she was going to get anywhere in this world she needed to stop thinking about the things that would hold her back. Sure, she was dying. Agonizingly slow, but she had a few good years still left. She wasn't useless! She still had a lot to offer and, dammit, she was going to do something with herself!

This mission was entirely too important. She couldn't afford to mess this up. If she did this right, just right, she could win over Sam and Dean's favor. And if not, then fuck it. She'd do exactly what they warned her not to do. She'd start hunting all by herself. She was doing this. She was sick and tired of being a useless shell of a person. She was John Winchester's daughter and she was following in his damn footsteps! To hell with what her brothers thought. If they weren't with her then they were against her, and she was going to let them know that!

The funny thing was that she was fully prepared to let Dean know that. Oh, how she'd spell it out in big, bold letters, right in his stupid, dumb face. But Sam… oh, Sam. He was the first one she was drawn to. Hell, he was the only one she was drawn to. Sam, he was nice to her. He was the only one between him and Dean that thought of her as an actual sister. He even believed it before he went and got her tests done, even if a little.

But he was the brains behind their cruel deceit. He wanted her gone just as much as Dean did. Even though he had said that to her face, she still had hoped that he didn't really mean it. God, could she not have one decent family member left in this world?!

But she did have one, she knew she did. Adam. He was the model brother. Sam and Dean sure did have a lot to live up to. Adam wanted nothing but the best for her. And even though she didn't see what was so special about herself in his eyes, she welcomed his caring attitude. When she thought about it, she thought that maybe she could go and live with him and his mom after all of this was done with. Obviously she would need some time to train up for her solo hunting career. Maybe she could take Adam up on his offer and go live with them.

Another sigh left her. She couldn't do that. She knew she couldn't. Not only was Adam an active college student, he also had his hands full caring for his traumatized mother. Frankie wondered how Kate was doing. Was she better? She sure hoped so, but she really doubted it.

She thought more about Sam. Was his caring attitude towards her all an act? Honestly, she didn't know what to believe. He very well could have just put on a performance to deceive her. Who was she to deny that? She'd be lying if she said it didn't break her heart to think about Sam lying to her the whole time. It was such a letdown. She thought the two of them got along pretty well. With time, she thought they could be as close as he was to Dean, but that was such a long shot that she didn't even give it a second thought.

She leaned her forehead against the glass of the window.

She was right back where she started, right back where she was before she left on this goddamn trip. Alone and heartbroken. But this time, both of those factors were warped to have a different meaning. She wasn't alone because she was left behind. She was alone because she made the choice to break away from her usual passive ways. And she wasn't heartbroken because she lost someone she loved deeply. She was heartbroken because she allowed herself to place her trust in someone she hadn't even known a week.

She shut her eyes as she breathed out the negative, sorrowful thoughts. She wasn't going to be that Frankie anymore. The sad, wallowing Frankie had no business being on that bus. She was left behind with the stitched up pillow in the motel. She was going to be determined Frankie, fueled by the anger from her brothers' lies, from here on out. That was the Frankie she wanted to be.

That Frankie had a mission to keep an eye on an angel's vessel so demons don't get to him first. She turned her head over to see him. He was also gazing thoughtfully out of the window. She wondered about Jimmy. If he was an angel's vessel, was he special in some sense, or just an average Joe? And if he was special, what made him special? Did he even know that he would be a vessel before he became one? Was he completely unaware of the potential to be a vessel? Could… could she be an angel's vessel?

She shut her eyes to quiet her rambling questions and opened her eyes once more to look back out of the window. The thought still stuck to her mind, though. Could she be a vessel? It wasn't like she wanted to be one! But she was very curious on how that system worked, and she was honestly confused by it. If angels needed vessels, why? Could they not conjure up some physical form of their own? She supposed not. But wasn't using a human as a vessel a little… intrusive?

Were they able to access every thought, every memory? Was the person able to control themselves at all under the guide of an angel, or did they give hand complete control to the divine being?

Frankie lightly snorted at the thought of them as divine. Sure, they were freaking angels, but according to Sam and Dean they were horrible, heartless beings. Okay, maybe that was putting it on a bit thick, but their point was that they weren't like the angels Sunday school teachers prattle on about.

Except Castiel, they told her. Castiel was apparently their friend. So, what about him made him their friend? Was he a rogue? A mole maybe? What about him made him special? And more importantly, was he as big an asshole as her brothers?

She had to be honest with herself. If she was keeping an eye out for the vessel of an angel, a good guess would be that eventually the angel would come back to it. At least she hoped so. Maybe Castiel would find another vessel. But she didn't know the system. She could only hope that she'd get to meet Castiel.

Not only would it be totally interesting to meet an angel in the flesh – well… the flesh of another human being – but, boy, did she have questions for him. Not only about what angels were really like, but also why the hell weren't they helping people? Goddamn! There were people dying, literally suffering without the influence of angelic beings! What were they doing up there that was more important than the wellbeing of humanity?

She began making a list of things to be sure to ask him when she saw him. She'd make sure she saw him. After all, they had unfinished business. Sam and Dean were bringing her to him so he could heal her kidneys. Well, damned be her soul if she were to let that opportunity pass by. If- when he healed her kidneys, she would be set free. She would be a completely different person, brand new. She would start a whole new life as a hunter, healthy and free. Screw what her brothers said. They didn't want her near them? Fine. She'd go looking for monsters in California. She always did want to go to Disneyland.

She let a smile spread onto her cheeks. Her brothers' deceit may have been an end to an opportunity for a good relationship with them, but it was also a beginning to her new life as a healthy cryptozoologist hunter who saved people all across the states. Yup, she liked the sound of that life. And God be with anyone who would stand in her way.

It was late afternoon when the bus finally reached Pontiac and Frankie's ass was numb from siting on it the whole time. At least the drive was over. When the bus lurched to a halt, Frankie stretched while making sure to keep her eyes on Jimmy. He was already standing and heading for the door when she finished popping her spine. He was really eager to see his family.

She exited the bus – thanking the driver because kudos to him for putting up with the massive fart-fest from the asshole at the front – and followed after Jimmy closely behind him. When the crowd started getting thinner, though, she made her distance greater. She didn't want to be too far away, but as long as she saw that distinct trench coat she was fine.

It was still a good walk away, and Frankie was freezing her ass off in the cold. Why was there snow on the ground in April? But after taking a turn into a residential area, Jimmy finally slowed down and turned into a house's walkway.

Frankie hurried to crouch behind a bush from the next house over. Once she was sure that she was concealed, she peaked over the leaves to watch the man. He was just… staring at the house. She could only guess that he was overcome with emotion. She'd be, too, if she was separated from her family by an angel for a year.

As she waited for something, anything, to happen, she filled in her time by looking at the house. It was nice, obviously a house for a nuclear family. It was well sized and was mostly white. Yellow flowers poked out of the light layer of snow at the base of the house.

Just as she was getting bored enough to start counting the flowers, Jimmy stepped up to the front door and rang the doorbell. That was all Frankie needed to be sure that this house was his destination. She revealed her phone from her pocket and opened up a new message for Sam and Dean. She began typing up her situation and the house's address when the front door opened.

At first there was silence. She hated herself for it, but Frankie's curiosity got the best of her. She stopped typing as she lifted her eyes to the now open door where a woman stood.

"We stopped looking for you," she heard her say. Jimmy responded by shaking his head and whispering something she couldn't hear from her distance. "You were dead. We, uh… we thought you were dead."

Frankie could see him take a deep breath. "I'm okay," he said, though it didn't sound like there was much truth in it.

The woman, presumably his wife, motioned for him to go inside the house, but Frankie could see the hesitation in her face. Castiel must have screwed up bad with this guy.

Now inside the house, Frankie didn't need to eavesdrop anymore. Geez, she was doing that a lot lately. However, instead of continuing her text to her brothers, she decided to call them instead. The phone rang only a few times before Sam's hopeful voice came through.

"Frankie?"

"Hiya, Sam," she humorlessly greeted.

"Frankie, where are you? Why did you leave last night?"

"You know good and well why I left, Sam." Frankie left all previous feelings she had towards Sam back in the motel.

"We were worried sick. We thought demons came and took you and Jimmy!"

"Nope. Not what happened at all." Frankie stood from her crouched position and began slowly walking down the sidewalk, sass present in her step as much as it was in her voice. "What happened was you let Jimmy slip through your fingers and I was the only one who noticed him escape. Honestly, I was just gunna let him leave, but that wouldn't be the Winchester thing to do, now would it?"

"Look, this isn't a game. I know you're mad about us tricking you-"

"Oh, I'm a little more than mad," she coolly bit. "I don't even think you know how pissed I am. You do remember my situation, right? Dead mother, dead father, kidneys dying, my brothers are sick of me before even getting a chance to know me, monsters exist, I have a rightful position in a family business but I'm not family enough, my brothers trick me into thinking I'll get to help people when really they want to get rid of me as soon as possible, should I go on?"

"Let me talk to her," Dean's voice barked from the other end. Oh, great. Here comes the fire. She prepared to be annoyed rather than scared. "Listen here, Frankie. I don't care what you think about us right now, but you better tell us where you are or-"

"Oh blah, blah. Would you just give me a minute to speak before you go jabbering on, please?" It was a lot easier to speak to him this way when she wasn't looking into those intense eyes of his.

"Excuse me?" he said in that intimidating, warning voice. Frankie wouldn't let it affect her, though. Not when she was on such a confident streak.

"I'm gunna tell you where we are."

"We?"

"Yeah, genius. I'm with Jimmy." The silence on the end was actually kind of humorous. "He left and I followed him. Are you really that surprised?" More silence followed and she could only guess he was giving Sam one of his signature looks. "That's why I called you guys. I at least have the decency to let you know that we're okay. Now you know that you can trust me."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Frankie sighed into the phone. "Look, you meant what you said. I'll never be a hunter and I need to stop pretending that I'm gunna be one. Sure. Believe that all you want. But I also meant what I said. I wanna help people. And right now I'm doing that by keeping an eye on Jimmy. No demons so far." She lightly smirked into the phone. "Not so useless after all, huh?"

"Tell us where you are."

"Oh, I will. In good time. I just wanna relish this feeling for a little while longer, y'know? I know something you guys don't." She had the balls to laugh a little into the phone. "How does it feel on y'all's end? Not knowing something I do?"

"Frankie," Dean snapped.

"Alright," she barked back, remembering that these guys certainly don't share her sense of humor. "I'll text you the address." Dean was so heated over the conversation that he ended it right then and there. Frankie took the phone from her ear and looked down at it. "What, no goodbye?"

She sighed as she turned back around to head back towards the house. She opened up a message to John's phone and began typing the address. She had trouble remembering the numbers on the house and went to lift her head up to check it.

She didn't get to see a single number when her foot slid against an unseen strip of ice. She throatily gasped as she launched forward, no hopes of remaining upright. She quickly knew to land on her left side to avoid injury to her already injured wrist, but she had forgotten that that hand was already taken.

Her phone that had been in her left hand flew forward when she tried to catch herself. She landed hard on the ground with the air knocked out of her, nose not even an inch away from hitting the pavement below. She would have let out a relieved sigh if not for two reasons: not having any air left in her lungs, and the unmistakable shattering crash of phone against concrete.

Her head shot up, setting her eyes down the sidewalk. "Fuck," she squeaked out. Her phone lay in a hundred separate pieces, screen not even present on it anymore. "Oh fuck, oh fuck!" she repeated as she lifted herself from the ground. "No, no, no, no!"

She hopelessly reached for the cellphone, but there wasn't very much to grab. It was only scrap now, not even resembling a phone. But she didn't care about its looks or even the fact that she no longer had a phone. She didn't finish typing! She didn't send! Sam and Dean don't know where to find her!

This was bad. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to act all tough and confident to her brothers when she told them that she had control over the situation and then when they showed up they were supposed to see that she was capable of handling a situation until they arrived. Now she was here, but they wouldn't be arriving!

Now she was stuck there to take care of the situation herself. It was up to her to make sure Jimmy wasn't taken by demons. She wasn't qualified to do that! She didn't have the training to handle this situation! She was just the messenger! She was just supposed to tell the qualified people where the man was!

She tried to calm herself. Maybe the demons weren't hot on their trail. Maybe they wouldn't be for a long time. But eventually if they did… damn she was in a pickle. What was she doing? She should have just stayed in the motel and stayed pathetic instead of trying to be something she was not.

Hold up.

Frankie lifted her head from the shatters of her phone. Did she not just take a long ass bus ride pumping up her self-esteem? One broken phone wasn't going to change who she wanted to be. She could still regain control over this. She just needed to find another phone was all. Only… she didn't know anybody but Jimmy and he was the one she was trying to avoid.

Oh, well. She'd… she'd figure this out somehow.

When the sun finally sank beneath the horizon, she still had no plan. She had tried to knock on a few doors, but either no one answered or the door was politely slammed in her face. She didn't even know there was a polite way to slam a door, but this neighborhood proved that to her.

She was running out of time. She wasn't anywhere closer to handling the situation, but as long as no demons made an appearance they were fine. Her mind wandered to exactly what a demon would look like. The only piece of evidence she had was a clue given by Dean. When she was listening in on their conversation with Bobby, he mentioned that Bobby should protect her from any "black-eyed bastards." Now, she didn't know if that meant demons or not. It could be any number of things, but that would be an easily definable characteristic.

She sighed as she walked back to the front of the house. The lights leaked out of the windows onto the yard in front of her. Her eyes were drawn to movement towards the left side of the house. She stalked over to the side of the house to see what was going on inside. It wasn't creepy. She was just doing her job. She had to make sure Jimmy was safe.

Inside, Jimmy and his wife and daughter sat at a dinner table with a plate of sandwiches in front of them. Frankie looked over to Jimmy. He was speaking to his daughter, tears streaking down his face. He looked happy.

Something swelled in Frankie's chest as she looked at the scene before her. It was a nice family dinner with a mother, father, and daughter. That was something she never had. She never had happy family dinners. Hell, she never had family dinners. She was left alone most nights. It wasn't like it was her mother's fault. She had to provide for them, even if it meant leaving Frankie home to cook her own dinner.

Her eyes gazed at the three people inside. As uncomfortable as the wife looked, she still seemed to have a bit of comfort in knowing that her husband was finally home. The daughter was happy, the mother was hesitantly glad, and Jimmy… he was just ecstatic. He bore the face of a redeemed man.

Frankie all of a sudden felt like an ass. She just about ruined this for him. Had she actually gone through with the texting, he wouldn't have this. Sam and Dean would have shown up by now and taken him away from this. Sadness swelled in her heart. If she had this, if she was taken away from this, she wouldn't let anyone take it away from her again. She couldn't do that to Jimmy. She wouldn't.

But he needed to be protected. Well, she could do that from afar, right? They could just protect from afar like a superhero. Yeah, Frankie the Superhero. That sounded better tha Frankie the Girl Who Splits Up Families for Her Own Gain.

"Hey!" came a random voice from behind her. She whipped around, having momentarily forgotten that she was literally stalking someone. A tall, bearded man stood at the sidewalk, hands on his hips as he glared at her. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Who are you?"

"U-Uh…," was all Frankie could muster.

"Yeah, well get outta here before I call the cops on you, huh?"

Frankie didn't need to be told twice. She hurried away from the window and hurried passed the stranger. She dared to have some confidence and went to look up to the man's face as she passed.

Black eyes.

She froze, stopping her next step just as she passed him. No, she didn't just see that. She didn't just look up to that man who was shooing her away and see pitch black eyes.

She swung her head around as he glared at her, eyes now perfectly normal, as if they had never been anything different. She glared back in confusion before he walked up to the front of the house and rang the doorbell. Frankie should turn around and walk away. There was no way she saw what she just did. She only saw what she wanted to see… right?

She crouched behind the stone column that decorated the front of the house as the woman appeared back in the doorway. She wore a smile this time and immediately invited the man inside. Okay, that was that. There was no way he was a demon. She knew him.

But he could have been possessed. Sam and Dean mentioned that on more than one occasion. What if the demons caught word of Jimmy's location and possessed their friend to gain entrance into the house?

She had no solid evidence to make that assumption. And she had no place to take action. She just needed to get to a phone, and fast. Sure, she wanted Jimmy to have a nice time with his family, but seeing what she thought she saw triggered her mind to think of what could happen if that guy was a threat.

She jumped at sudden yelling from inside. She immediately ran over to the right side of the house to look into the window. There she saw Jimmy repeatedly whacking the stranger with a bottle. Just smacking his face over and over again with a beer bottle! Frankie couldn't believe what she was seeing! She thought Jimmy was a good guy, not this violent man in front of her!

But she stripped away any thought of him being a dangerous man when she took his family deeper into the house, leaving the bleeding stranger on the floor. Frankie had at first wondered if she should have gone in to help him, but she wouldn't dare do that once he sat up from the floor… with his pitch black eyes.

Oh god. Oh fuck, it was a demon. It had to be. She wasn't seeing things. She really walked passed a demon.

And she let him into the house!

She had to fix this. She scanned the house for any entrance other than the front door. The element of surprise was crucial. She spotted a back door. Yes, that was her next mode of action.

She took off sprinting to the back of the house, her lungs immediately burning. Damn, she needed to work out more. When she finally reached the door, she peeked in first to see what the situation looked like. Fear spiked up her spine when she saw the demon grab Jimmy's daughter and hold her with a knife to her throat.

There was no more need to hesitate. She had to go in. She had to pull a move like with the ghouls. Damn, she was so stupid. She had absolutely no place to go in there. She would most likely cause more trouble than help, but here she was, tightening her grip on her weapon and narrowing her sights on the bastard that was holding a young girl hostage.

No training, no plan, she had her machete at the ready and burst through the door.

She let out an echoing battle cry as she sprinted towards the demon. He turned his head back just as Frankie ran right into his back, blade piercing him like a javelin. Frankie had closed her eyes tight when she first made contact, but when her eyes opened she couldn't physically close them again from what she saw.

The man's eyes and mouth leaked light and his entire body seemed to twitch as if he were being electrocuted. Shocked confusion took hold of her features, and she took a cautioned step backwards. How the actual hell…

His body fell limp to the floor, light and shockwaves diminishing. Stunned where she stood, Frankie looked down at her machete. She just caught the last glimpses of streaks of light underneath the fresh blood before the light disappeared completely.

"The fuck," she whispered under her breath as she lifted her eyes to the people before her. Jimmy was being pinned to the ground by another stranger, this one a woman, but with black eyes as well.

"Hunter," she growled. Frankie would have found that to be a complement if she wasn't staring death in the face. She had to show some form of bravery in the face of danger, so Frankie's only response was lifting her machete back up to protect herself. The demon bared her teeth in retaliation, a guttural growl clawing its way up her throat.

"No!" Jimmy's wife yelled as she lunged for the demon, rolling her off of the man beneath her. Snapping out of her momentary shock, Frankie hurried over to Jimmy and grabbed his coat, hoisting him up and pushing him towards the door. He reached for his daughter when he looked back towards his struggling wife.

"Amelia!" he called after her.

Frankie wasn't thinking ahead of time about her actions. Honestly, that was the only way she would get through this fight. She ran over to the pair and dove for the demon who was seconds away from clawing out Amelia's eyes.

"Run!" she shouted after the family. Jimmy's wife and daughter showed no hesitation in leaving immediately, but when Frankie took another look towards the door, she saw the man himself still there, unsure of whether to help or not. "Jimmy, go! Now!" she commanded. He hesitated one last time before going for the door.

Something hit Frankie's face hard, knocking her off of the demon. Another blow to her face sent it turning the other way before one last hit to her stomach sent her flying backwards into an end table.

Her body hurt all over. She knew her wrist would be aggravated by that last blow. She opened her eyes to see the demon looming over her. "I've just about had it with two-bit hunters ruining my day," she snarled. Frankie looked around for her machete. It was her only defense against the threat in front of her. "Looking for this?"

Her eyes snapped back up to see the demon holding her weapon. The very sight of it handling something of her mother's fueled her anger enough to push passed the pain. "Now this is new," the thing continued, gazing curiously at the bloodied blade. Frankie glared up at her as the demon's brows furrowed. "Never seen one like this before." The demon's black eyes faded to their normal appearance, scowling down at the girl. "Where'd you get this?"

"Fuck off," Frankie spat up at the monster as she tried to sit up.

The things merely chuckled down to her, readying the blade to use it on Frankie. The girl's eyes widened, confident anger quickly leaking out of her. "You shouldn't have come here, you little bitch."

"Back at ya, whore," snarled a voice from the side.

Both the demon and Frankie looked over to see Dean rushing in and rearing back his own knife at the demon, but before the blade could hit her, her body twitched back as a huge black cloud flew out of her mouth and into an air vent, demon-less body falling to the floor.

Frankie stared wide-eyed ahead at where the demon had been standing. Her fear finally caught up to her, paralyzing her where she sat. 'What… w-what the hell…?' she muttered in her head. She could barely comprehend what had just happened. She only broke out of her shock when Dean appeared in front of her and reached his hand down to grab her arm.

"You alright?" he quickly asked, pulling her up to her feet. She couldn't answer. She only gave a single nod before Dean was pulling her towards the door. Before they could leave, though, she reached down and snatched her machete from the bitch's hand.

They exited the house only to be met with the Impala. Jimmy was shoving his daughter inside and looking around for his wife before she appeared right behind him. Dean was busy pushing her in behind them, not worried about the lack of space in the backseat.

Frankie was still in a state of mild shock, but starting to break through it. She started calming her panting when Sam looked behind his seat. "You okay?" he frantically asked. The others nodded their heads, but Frankie couldn't bring herself to. She was still trying to process the previous events.

It wasn't long before the Impala was speeding down the road to safety from the house.

The car eventually stopped in an empty parking garage, allowing Frankie to step out of the car to get off of Jimmy's lap. Yeah, that was one awkward ride.

Sam, Dean, and Jimmy exited the car, too, leaving Amelia and Jimmy's daughter alone inside. That was good. They had been through a lot. Frankie stood next to Sam as her brothers talked to Jimmy.

"You were right," Jimmy said, looking back at his family in the car.

"Sorry we were," Dean sighed.

"But I'm telling you… I don't know anything."

"I don't think they're inclined to believe you."

"And even if they did," Sam added, "you're a vessel. They're still gunna wanna know what makes you tick."

"Which means vivisection, if they're feeling generous," Dean followed up.

So vessels were special. At least Frankie had an answer to that question after this whole ordeal.

"I'm gunna tell you once again," Sam continued, "you're putting your family in danger. You have to come with us."

Jimmy paused for a moment before turning to look back at his family. "How long?" he asked, looking back at Sam and Dean. "And don't give me that 'cross that bridge when we get to it' crap."

"Don't you get it? Forever. The demons will never stop. You can never, ever be with your family." Frankie looked over to Sam. He had a very different feeling to him than usual. He wasn't the collected, reasoning brother she previously knew. She took a small step away from him. "So you either get as far away from them as possible, or you put a bullet in your head! And that's how you keep your family safe, but there's no getting out and there's no going home."

"Well, don't sugarcoat it, Sam," Dean sarcastically mumbled. Frankie was thinking the same thing and glared up at the taller brother.

"I'm just telling him the truth, Dean. Someone has to."

Jimmy had the face of a broken man. He knew Sam was right. He knew there was no going back, and that was very present in his downcast eyes. He lowered his head to collect himself before asking if he could say goodbye. Sam and Dean, of course, agreed. As big of assholes as they were, they weren't heartless. They gave him a few minutes to explain the situation to his family, but urged him to be brief in case demons weren't far behind.

Once Jimmy crouched by the open door of the Impala, it left Frankie, Sam, and Dean alone and standing not far behind. The awkwardness of the situation finally dawned on Frankie. She spared a look over to her brothers, who were staring right back at her. She swallowed, and averted her eyes as she collected what she wanted to say.

"You guys got here fast," she muttered, forcing her eyes back on them. "How'd you find us?"

"We tracked your call," Dean said, gaining her attention. "It wasn't that hard to find you after that. No thanks to you."

"I know, I'm sorry. I…," she sighed, knowing that what she was about to say made her sound very incapable of handling herself. It was almost better to admit defeat right then and there.

"Do you even realize how dangerous what you did was?" Sam scolded, sounding rougher than what Frankie had hoped. He was using the same tone of voice that he used with Jimmy.

"I know," she mumbled like a scolded child would.

"You should have told us Jimmy escaped the moment you saw him leave. You should not have gone off by yourself trying to be the hero, Frankie! You know what we told you about trying to be a hero!"

"I know."

"If you wanna be a family so bad, listen to us! We know how these things go and it would have ended really, really badly had we not gotten there when we did!"

"I. Know."

"Why is it so difficult to accept that we're hard on you for a reason? You were almost killed!"

"Yeah, and what of it?" she snapped, getting just the slightest bit in his face, though it was hard to do when he was so tall. "At least I would go out helping somebody. That's how I wanna go out. You two may be comfortable with me dying slowly and painfully all by myself, but I'm not!"

"This isn't funny. This isn't a game. You can't just go off and pretend to know what you're doing, that's not how this works."

"Well you weren't gunna show me how, so why complain?" Frankie took a moment to calm her quickly growing temper. "Listen, I know you guys don't want the responsibility of looking after me. I get that I am a lot more weight on your shoulders than you need, but I am not going back to Alabama. I'm too involved in the hunter world now. I'm never gunna escape it. Hell, I just went up against demons! I'm probably on someone's list now."

"Yeah, and that was a stupid move. You probably are on someone's list. That's gunna make it a helluva lot harder to keep you safe! Don't you see the consequences of your actions, Frankie? You've made all of our lives harder!" Frankie flinched under the harsh tone of his words.

"Easy, Sam. Cut her some slack, alright?" Dean interjected. Frankie glanced over to him, confusion on her face as much as it was on Sam's.

"What, you're defending her now?" Sam asked.

"Sam, you were the one who let Jimmy escape. And you were the one who wanted to bring her out here. Hell, she even saved the guy's life. You can't exactly put her on trial for that."

Frankie was impressed and even shocked at Dean. She never thought she'd see the day when he would defend her. She glanced back over to Sam, hoping that he agreed with his brother. "Yeah, but she still should have texted us the address when she said she would." The tall man glared down to her. "Why didn't you text us?"

"Believe me, I was in the process of texting y'all, but…," she reached into her pocket and revealed the broken mess that used to be her phone. "I kinda dropped the ball on this one. And by ball, I mean… I mean my phone. I tried finding another one, but people here are dicks."

Sam and Dean nodded down to the pitiful heap of shattered screen. At least they were calming down now. Sam was still angry, but hey, so was Frankie. She didn't forgive him for lying to her. Even if he meant it with good intentions, he still lied, and that was something that struck a nerve with her.

After a moment of sighing and huffing shared between the three of them, Sam walked off to ready a car that Frankie was sure had been stolen. That just left her and Dean standing next to each other.

Frankie looked over to her brother. Feeling her eyes on him, he shifted his eyes over to meet her own. She tightened her lips, knowing that she should say something, but not entirely sure how he would react to it. Sure, he just defended her against Sam's out-of-place anger, but he was still Dean, the brother known for out-of-place anger.

She sucked it up and sighed heavily through her nose. "Thank you," she said, giving him a genuine look of gratitude. "For everything. The demon, a-and with Sam, just… thanks for having my back."

It took a while for him to respond, and when he did it wasn't anything close to what she thought he'd say. "One of the demons was dead in there," he grunted. Frankie narrowed her eyes. What was he getting at? "Any idea how that happened?"

Oh, now she understood. He was insinuating that she killed it. Well, this would be the opportune moment to take her stand, to prove herself. This would be the moment to reveal the truth that she wasn't entirely useless and that she could hold her own in the field, against demons no less.

But there was that feeling, the feeling of doubt. The look in his eyes didn't help. He looked curious, suspicious, and even a little concerned, it seemed, all at the same time. Why? Well, she could guess why.

He wanted to know how. If she killed a demon, how? She didn't use salt, she didn't use Holy Water, and she knew nothing about exorcisms or if they even worked. A quick look at the crime scene would have also revealed that the thing was bleeding, so violence was used. And since it was used, he wanted to know what it took to kill it.

But honest to God, Frankie didn't know how she killed it. She went in that house blind, thinking only of stabbing the threat, not knowing whether or not it would even work. But it did, and in the most amazingly dumbfounding way. Once the blade hit, it lit up like a Christmas tree and sparked like a lightning rod. Now how the hell did she do that? Did all machetes do that to demons?

No. She didn't think so. Not based on how the other one reacted to her weapon. She said she had never seen it before, meaning that there must be weapons like it or that at least do the same sort of damage. Then she asked where she got it.

There was only one conclusion she could come up with. Her mom's machete was no ordinary machete.

Now that was just crazy. Absolutely bonkers. Machetes couldn't be magical, even in a world where ghosts and boogiemen turned out to be real. But… if it was somehow magic, then, boy, did she have questions. What made it special? Where did she get it? Why did she have it? Unfortunately, those were all questions that she wouldn't get an answer to, seeing as the source was gone.

So what was she going to tell Dean? The truth? Why did she feel like she shouldn't? Well… she also thought she knew the answer to that one, too. What if she told them her machete was special and they stole it from her? She hoped upon hope that they wouldn't do such a thing, but taking their previous actions into consideration crushed that hope.

She looked directly into Dean's eyes. "A sucky demon?" she brushed off. Well, that was a sucky excuse, and that was apparent with the look Dean gave her.

"Frankie," he warned. "Be serious."

"I-I am being serious! I don't know how I… h-how it died." Dean took a slow step towards her. "Really!"

"Really? Sure you didn't… I dunno. Kill it yourself?"

Frankie scoffed in his face. "Me? Dean, c'mon. It's me you're talking about. I sprained my wrist trying to chop off a ghoul's head. I mean… you expect me to take down a demon?"

"I never said that. I'm just tryin' to figure out what happened back there." His eyes contradicted his words. He was definitely accusing her of killing the demon and he wanted to know how she did it.

Frankie felt sweat collecting at the back of her neck. That was strange since it was too cold to be wearing one jacket outside, at least for a Southerner like her. He was trying to corner her, trap her against her own words. She averted her eyes, even went as far as taking a step away from him and tightening her grip on her bag. This didn't go unnoticed by the man. Frankie brought her hand to scratch at her head. It was then when she noticed that her – or rather that bum's – hat was gone. It must have flown off with the attack.

She was starting to panic over not having a backup plan for avoiding his accusations, but luckily for her she didn't have to for long. Jimmy and his family walked near them as Jimmy gave his last goodbye to his daughter. Dean kept his intrusive glaring until Sam stepped away from the car and presented it to Amelia. The older brother still kept his suspicious aura, but his hard stare was pointed elsewhere.

It was an emotional moment for Jimmy. He was saying goodbye to his family forever. In order to protect them, he could never be a part of their lives again. Frankie couldn't help but feel partially responsible. She had no reason to. She never knew him or Castiel or Sam or Dean before this dilemma began, but she was with Sam and Dean now, taking him away from his family. Her brothers would deny it until the day they die, but she was a part of the team for this one situation.

Now they were getting into the Impala. Sam got in the passenger seat as usual, Jimmy settled into the backseat, and Dean was opening the door to the driver's side. Before he ducked in, though, Frankie got to catch one last curious glower before he tore his eyes away and crouched into his seat.

Great. Frankie didn't need him poking around in her secret situation, not before she could figure it out all by herself. She was worried enough as is over what her mother was keeping from her. Why did her mom have a machete that could kill demons? With a sigh, she decided it was something she would just need to sleep on.

She had fallen asleep on the drive back to Bobby's, but the slumber was crudely interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. She quietly groaned and turned to get comfortable again, but when she cracked open her eyes and realized that she was using a sleeping Jimmy as a pillow, she pulled away and sat up straight.

"Who is this?" Sam's voice sounded from the front. Frankie followed his arm as he reached back and tapped his phone at Jimmy, waking him from his sleep, too. "Hey. It's your wife."

Jimmy took the phone from the man and brought it to his ear. Frankie decided that the call wasn't her business and she leaned against her door, trying to get comfortable again. "Amelia," Jimmy spoke into the phone. Frankie curled herself up as best as she could, using her duffle bag as a makeshift pillow. Before she drifted off to sleep, though, she absentmindedly glanced at Jimmy once more.

She did a double take. Jimmy had turned pale. He no longer wore the calm face of a man greeting his wife. He instead stared straight ahead, mouth parted and eyes teeming with fear. That fear was as present in his face as it was in his quiet, terrified voice.

"Oh my god…"