Ten

It was a humid July afternoon. Alaine had been inside the bunker, keeping to herself while Dean had gone into town to pick up some things. Two long weeks had come and gone, and in that time frame, things had changed even more for the two. For Dean, spending so much time in close proximity to Alaine had begun to drive him out of his mind. With the realization of the fact that he was unbearably attracted to her, he was finding it more difficult to control himself around her. He'd resorted to avoiding Alaine as much as he possibly could just to play it safe. Whether in the kitchen, walking past one another in the halls, or bumping into each other in the library, each short encounter with her added onto his growing frustration. They'd only been out on two recent hunts and on both, they had been forced to share a motel room. She'd been against letting him sleep on the floor, leaving him no choice but to climb into bed with her. It had been absolute torture having to endure being so close. Even being trapped within the confines of his Impala for hours on end with her by his side was enough to drive him up a wall. They'd do some light chatting and Dean would struggle to keep himself from looking at her. He'd go on to surreptitiously admire her every chance he got and it was never for long. He'd stare for a brief moment before tearing his gaze away and forcing his attention to be on something else.

Looking from the outside, the situation was almost laughable. He'd rarely ever look her in the eyes, would avoid any sort of physical contact, and on rare occasions would become breathless whenever she'd stand too close. He'd been bold enough to kiss her that night in the kitchen. He knew what he'd done, he knew why he'd wanted to do it, but now, he wasn't sure why he was so hesitant to do it again.

Dean was one to take whatever he wanted without a moment's thought, which made no sense when it came to Alaine. If it were any other woman, he'd seduce her into sleeping with him and completely have his way with her. He couldn't deny that he desired nothing more than to be intimate with her, to feel her in ways that'd been engraved into his memory. However, there was something else brewing inside of him; something foreign. It was enough to rid him of the need to take whatever women crossed his path to bed. He no longer sought sex from strangers. Dean couldn't understand it, but for whatever strange reason, his thoughts, the carnal yearning all centered onto one person:

Alaine.

It was something completely...unexpected. The more he kept himself away, the more he wanted her. And yet, his longing wasn't as simple as something solely sexual. It was driven by an emotion he couldn't comprehend. It kept him up at night, it stopped him from thinking of anything else other than her. The unknown feeling had turned into a tether, linking him to her. It was as if he'd woken up one day and no longer saw her as his childhood friend, or the sweet, young girl he'd lost his innocence to. He'd look at her and would see the strong, beautiful woman she'd turned out to be; a woman he couldn't help but want in ways he never thought were possible.

Whatever attraction he felt was now developing into something entirely different, and it was earlier this morning when the realization suddenly struck him. He'd walked in on her cleaning the kitchen. Music had been playing softly from her phone sitting on the counter while she wiped down the stove with a soapy dish rag. It was something in Spanish; he'd been able to tell by the way her hips moved to the tropical rhythm. She'd been in her element, completely unaware of his lurking presence in the doorway. She hummed along to the song, her ponytail swinging as she swayed her head from side-to-side. In that moment, she looked breathtaking, and Dean's heart had jumped into a wild gallop at the sight of her.

He ended up leaving before she could discover him. That had been around ten in the morning. It was now a quarter to three, and Dean was sitting in the middle of a diner, picking at his half-eaten lunch, still reluctant on going back home.

With a sigh, he took a swig of his beer when his phone chimed from inside of his pocket. He set the bottle back down onto the table, his hand then reaching into his jacket to fish out the device. Upon unlocking it, he saw that he'd just received a text message from Alaine. He clicked the notification to open up their messaging thread.

Lainey

-Where are you? I need you to pick me up some deodorant and face moisturizer from the drug store.

He quickly typed back a response and hit send.

-Got it. Be home soon.

Stowing away his phone, Dean called over the waitress to pay for his meal, asking for a to-go box before slipping out of the booth. When she came back with his change and his unfinished food, he made it out to his Impala and drove off.

Back at the bunker, Alaine had been in the middle of organizing some of the books in the library in alphabetical order. She'd finished up with the last shelf and dusted off her hands on her jeans when the iron door to her underground home opened and slammed shut.

She stole a glance at her wrist watch. It was a little over three o'clock. Rising back onto her feet, Alaine walked out into the open to welcome Dean, but came to an abrupt stop when the man setting his bags down onto the operations' table turned to cast her a surprise glance.

"Alaine?"

She met the eyes of Sam Winchester, returning him an equally-confused look as he walked over.

"Sam?"

"What...what are you doing here?" he asked, a smile forming on his lips.

"I, uh...I sorta live here now, courtesy of your brother."

"Really? That's great."

Alaine blinked. "Sam, where the hell have you been? It's been three whole months. You've had Dean looking all over for you."

"I know he has."

"Why haven't you called him? Hell, why are you just now popping back up?"

The younger Winchester held her scrutinizing gaze. He sighed, his shoulders slumping as a grim expression settled onto his face. She took notice of this and stepped forward, concern furrowing her brow.

"Is everything alright?"

Sam shook his head. "No. We're all in danger."

By the look in his hazel eyes, Alaine knew he wasn't joking. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I think you should sit for what I'm about to tell you."

Alaine did just that, settling herself into a chair as Sam plopped himself down in the seat adjacent from her. For a small moment, he didn't know how to begin relating to her all the information she needed to know. After taking some time to think, he chose to start from the very beginning.

Alaine had already been aware of most of the details. The brothers had hunted for the demon that killed their mother alongside their father, they managed to stop the Apocalypse, Dean had died and gone to hell, Angels actually existed and weren't just a myth. Everything else she needed to know hadn't been much of a surprise to her, given the wacky lives the Winchesters have lived thus far. When Sam rounded up to the present, he told her of the fall of the angels and how they'd tried to seal the gates of hell and failed. He then went on to explain his reason for walking out on Dean, and told her of the things he'd done while being away.

He'd spent his time searching for the angel that'd possessed him. Although he had the help of their good friend Castiel, he hadn't been able to locate Gadreel. He even brought up how he knew Dean had been looking for him. It had been Castiel who'd told him, and in return Sam had asked him not to let his brother know where he was.

"But why?" she'd asked, confused as to why Sam would want to hide his whereabouts.

He had merely sighed and said, "The time wasn't right."

Going into more detail, Sam told her of a discovery he'd made in the midst of his search for Gadreel. The angel named Metatron, the one behind the killing of his good friend Kevin, was in the works of planning something that would effect the entire population of the human race. He refused to say what exactly, explaining that he needed Dean to be present before he said anything further.

Now fully brought up to speed with everything, Alaine took a moment to gather her thoughts. It was so much to process, she felt like her head was going to burst. Leaning back in her seat, she expelled a long sigh.

"Thanks for bringing me in the loop. I had no idea all this was going on."

Sam offered her a smile. "Right now this situation calls for an all-hands-on-deck, and what better person to bring on board than you."

"I'm happy to help in any way that I can. You can count on me."

From the next room, both hunters heard the sound of someone entering the bunker. They exchanged a quick look before they simultaneously rose from their seats and turned towards the library's entranceway.

"Alaine. Yo, you in here? I got the stuff you asked for."

"In the library," she called back.

Treading down the iron staircase, Dean cast a glance at the room below. He noticed a familiar looking set of duffel bags sitting on the operations' table. Without warning, a wave of anger swelled in him. He hurriedly descended the stairs, dropping the small plastic bags he'd been carrying next to the duffels before stalking his way over to the library.

As he expected, he found Sam standing in the middle of the room. His eyes briefly flickered over to Alaine, his jaw tensing.

"Dean."

Turning his attention onto his brother, the elder Winchester fixed him an angry scowl. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick your ass right now."

"Listen, I know you're mad—"

"Mad?" he interrupted, his voice seething. "You go and disappear for three whole months and think I'm just 'mad?'"

"Alright, I get it. You're pissed."

"Damn right I'm pissed!" Dean blared. Stepping forward, he drew closer to his brother. "The hell were you, Sam? I looked everywhere, I even had Cas searchin' for your ass."

"I know."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Sam sighed. "I knew you were looking for me. I asked Cas not to tell you where I was, or what I was doing."

The elder Winchester's eyes widened in incredulity. "You gotta be friggin' kiddin' me!"

"Dean, listen. I didn't come here to argue with you. You can be angry all you want later. Right now I really need you to listen to what I have to say."

"Why the hell should I? I swear I'm kicking both of your asses!"

"Dean," Alaine spoke up, gaining the enraged hunter's attention. "You need to hear him out."

He took note of the urgency in her voice before looking back at Sam. "Fine. Start talking."

"Cas and I have been working together since I left. We've been trying to track down Gadreel. About a couple of weeks ago, we got some Intel on Metatron and decided to follow the lead. We ended up being attacked by a swarm of demons, and were hardly able to fight them all off."

"Demons?" asked Dean, brows furrowing in confusion. "The hell do they have to do with him?"

"We asked ourselves the same thing, then one of the demons we managed to capture told us."

"Told you what?"

"That Metatron's in league with hell."

The eldest brother scoffed in disbelief. "You can't be serious. What's he playing at?"

"This is where it gets bad. Before I killed the demon, it told me what Metatron's plans are. It said he's going to wipe out the entire human race."

Standing beside Sam, Alaine turned to him with a bewildered expression. "He can't do that...can he?"

"Not alone," Sam said. "By himself, he doesn't have the power to pull it off, but with help, he could kill us all in the blink of an eye."

Dean's face now displayed pure, unfiltered anger. " Who's he got on his side? Crowley?"

"I'm not sure. We weren't able to get that out of the demon."

"Did you find anything else out?"

Sam nodded. "I know how Metatron's going to try to pull all this off."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Dean urged, his voice firm. "Spit it out."

The younger Winchester looked upon his brother for a brief moment. He swallowed hard before his lips parted to speak once more.

"Metatron's...Metatron's going to spring Lucifer out of the cage."

Silence fell over the room. Sam let this revelation hang in the air, allowing both Dean and Alaine a moment to absorb the severity of the situation.

"What?" she'd asked, fear and unease audible in her trembling voice.

Sam proceeded to explain. "There's this mythical object called the Spear of Triam. It's a weapon forged with the powers of Zeus' thunderbolt, Poseidon's trident and Hades' pitchfork. It was used by the demigod Perseus to kill Cronus. With the combined powers of the gods, that spear could be used to do just about anything. Metatron's already amped-up up with the Angel tablet, but with the spear in his possession, he could break Lucifer out and bring hell on earth."

"Then we have to find it before he does," Dean spoke up.

"Exactly."

"But...how do we find a weapon that has no trace of ever really existing?" Alaine questioned. "I mean, in the movie Wrath of the Titans, it was just something made up. It doesn't even exists in Greek Mythology. You're telling us the damn thing is actually real?"

Sam nodded once more. "It's definitely real. There's different versions, different lore. Most of them speak of Zeus releasing his siblings from Cronus' stomach and joining forces with them and the Cyclopes to take him down. Some also say that Zeus locked Cronus away in Tartarus while others talk about Cronus being forgiven and allowed to rule over a distant land. Cas and I did some digging and found out that it didn't really go down the way it's told in the lore. Believe it or not, there's some actual truth to what's in that movie."

Dean expelled a burdened sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb and closed his eyes. "Son of a bitch. Just when I was starting to get used to the peace and quiet around here."

"We're gonna have to put all our heads together on this one. Cas is working on something to help. In the meantime, I say we try to busy ourselves with some cases and a bit of research."

"Alright," said Dean. "Guess I'll comb through the lore to see if I can find anything relating to the spear."

"I'll help you," Alaine offered.

The elder Winchester cast her a dismissive glance. "I'm good on my own. Why don't you work with Sam on findin' us a case?"

A pang of disappointment tightened her chest. She faked a smile. "Oh...okay."

"Good. I'll leave you two to it then."

A few hours had passed since Sam's return. It was now nine o'clock, and all three hunters sat in the operations room, Sam at the head of the table with Dean at his left hand. Alaine had taken up a chair at the far end, secluding herself in her own research as she scanned the web for a possible case.

The sound of typing and book pages being flipped filled the space of the room, and Dean found himself nearing the point of insanity. Closing the ancient tome in his hand, he set it down on the table.

"Okay, I'm gonna go stir-crazy if I have to sit here for another minute. Please, tell me you guys got somethin'."

"I've got nothing," Sam spoke, his gaze glued to his laptop's screen. "No wind on a case, or leads on the spear."

"Yeah, me neither," Alaine added from across the table.

Dean leaned forward in his seat, his attention settling onto his brother. "Looks like we're not finding anything today. I say we call it a night on the research."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sam agreed.

"I'm in the mood to grab a few drinks, you two down?"

Alaine looked up to find Dean's eyes on her. She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I could use a beer or two. What about you, Sam?"

"Uh, sure," he smiled, shutting his laptop. "I still kind of owe you for last time since we never got the chance to catch up."

"Well, you'll definitely be making it up to me tonight."

Dean rose from his seat. "Alright. I'm gonna grab my stuff. I'll meet you two outside."

After grabbing a jacket from her room along with a bit of money, Alaine joined the brothers in the Impala. They'd driven to the next town over, stopping at a dive bar Dean insisted on checking out. When the trio walked into the establishment, they cut through the crowd of patrons and found themselves a nice empty table. Dean offered to go grab them a round of beers and walked off towards the bar, leaving Sam and Alaine in one another's company.

Settling into the chair beside her, Sam turned to her with a smile.

"You know, I was pretty surprised to find you in the bunker."

"I bet," Alaine replied over the blaring music. She returned his smile. "It's good to see you again. I gotta say, I was a little worried about you."

"What? Really?"

"Absolutely, but I see it was all for nothing. You're not the fragile little Sammy I used to know. You've gone and sprouted into a full blown giant."

Sam laughed. "Thank God. I hated being so short growing up. I remember you used to pick on me a lot. What was that nickname you used? 'Short stack?'"

"I used to love calling you that. Now I guess I'm gonna have to resort to something else. How does 'giraffe legs' sound?"

"Funny, but I'm sure you can come up with something better."

"Give me 'til the end of the night, I'll make sure to find one to your liking," Alaine promised with a smirk.

After a couple of minutes of chatting, Dean appeared at the table with three beers. He handed them off, keeping one for himself as he sat down across from his brother.

"So, what do you to say we play some pool later?"

Alaine hid her smirk behind the rim of her bottle. "Looks like someone hasn't learned his lesson."

Dean frowned. "We agreed to never bring that up again."

"Bring what up?" Sam asked, looking between the both of them, confused.

"Nothing. Just the fact that I humiliated him by winning all of his money in a match."

The younger Winchester's face lit up in amusement. "No kidding? Dean never loses."

"He did to me."

"How about you wipe that cocky grin off your face and take me on in a drinking contest?"

"Drinking contest?" She chuckled. "I think I'll pass."

"Why? Scared you're gonna get your ass beat?" Dean taunted.

Alaine raised a brow, fixing him a challenging look in return. "Fine. You're on, Winchester."

"Uh, guys?" Sam looked between the both of them. "You think that's a good idea?"

"Don't worry, Sammy." Shoving his hands into his pockets, Dean took out the keys to the Impala and tossed them over to his brother. "You're taking up the role of designated driver tonight."