Exposition central! My bad...

Chapter 11 - Peace Pie

"Cas, would you do the honours?" Lana asked, groaning at the numerous aches ravaging her.

He touched her forehead and she shivered as wounds closed shut and bruises washed away.

"That never gets old!" she smiled, giving herself a little shake and relishing at her freedom of movement. She looked at her present company and no one else was smiling. Sam was avoiding eye contact and Dean looked moody. Cas just looked as he always did, blank.

"You're all pissed at me aren't you?" she sulked.

Met with no response, they all got in the Impala, Dean in the driver's seat, and began the journey back to the bunker. The first couple of hours were incredibly awkward and silent. Both Sam and Dean kept motioning as if they were about to say something, before swallowing it and turning their gazes back to the road.

Lana desperately wanted to break the silence but was scared of making the situation worse, so sat and wallowed in that anxiety.

A welcome ringing came from Lana's rucksack. She lunged forward and dug out her tablet, welcoming some human interaction.

"Yaaay! You're not dead!" Ceri cheered on the screen.

Lana chuckled, "Yeah I'm still here unfortunately."

"Cas!" Sadie squeaked. He was sat next to Lana on the back seat and had leant into view with a look of curiosity.

"Hello," he greeted formally.

"So!" Ceri turned serious, "You explained everything to Sam and Dean yet ?"

Frustrated grunts came from the front seats.

"Um...not yet," Lana sighed.

"Seriously!?" Sadie cried in disbelief, "All those two do is run about after you!"

"And saved your butt how many times already?" Ceri joined in.

"Hey!" Lana tried to defend to herself, but couldn't find any more words than that.

"You're bloody useless woman," Ceri scoffed.

"Look," Lana sighed again, "It's just...really tough. I've never had to explain it all, I don't fancy reliving it-"

"LANA!" Ceri squealed with a threatening glare.

"Okay okay okay! I will, I promise," Lana groaned.

"Now Cas!" Sadie looked at the Angel with a grin, "Someone very rudely hung up on us when we asked them to pass this message. I need to know, do you like blue?"

"I don't find any colour offensive. For someone to not like a colour is futile. We all have to be met with them as they are all around us. I like all colours. Blue is included," Cas answered lengthily.

Lana raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head with a brief laugh.

"Okay!" Sadie beamed. The tips of two knitting needles could just be made out at the bottom of the screen and they were now clicking rapidly.

"So what are you guys doing now?" Ceri asked.

"Heading back to the bunker, I think I'm laying low for a bit," Lana answered.

"Plenty of time to get chatting then!" Ceri hinted, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes...I promised didn't I?" Lana replied through gritted teeth.

"I must go," Cas suddenly stated.

"Bye Cas!" both girls on screen cheered in unison.

"Goodbye," he replied, before disappearing.

The video cut and Lana threw her head back in the seat and let out a loud exhale. The boys in the front were still silent, and she couldn't take it anymore.

"C'mon guys!" she pleaded suddenly, "Talk to me!"

"I think it's you who should be talking," Sam answered bluntly.

She chatted her teeth and uncomfortably shuffled in her seat. This was gonna suck, but if she wanted either of them to look her in the eye again it had to be done.

She started by talking about her Mum and Dad. He was a hunter and Mum did all the research and book stuff. He was recruited by the BML many years before Lana was even born. He was very overly protective of his family. Despite never being in combat he ensured Lana's mum knew how to handle numerous guns and even took Lana out on a hunt with him when she was ten.

"Ten!?" Sam cried.

"Well he didn't know it was going to turn into a hunt! It was a trip to York and I wanted to go on one of the ghost tours and...well... things got colourful," Lana explained further.

By the age of fourteen she had a few monster victories under her belt, and her Dad gave her the machete, named Cookie because that what she was eating at the time.

Aged twenty she was sneakily taking on hunts alone, backed up by childhood pals Ceri and Sadie. Her Dad didn't approve, but soon ate his words when Lana stepped in during one of his altercations with a stubborn Demon. He came away from that with his life saved but brutally injured, blind in his left eye and his opposite arm paralysed. He retired from hunting and went down the research and intel route with Lana's mum. Apparently impressed with her handling of the demon situation, the British Men of Letters recruited Lana.

"I thought it was just a regular hunting gig," Lana said, "Graham became my contact, he gave me the missions and reported back on what I'd found."

"So what was the problem? Sounds almost...cushy," Sam remarked, he was full blown turned in his seat with complete attention on Lana now. Dean was silent and kept his eyes focused on the road.

"It didn't last long until they started getting arsey with me," Lana went on.

Her focus was always on the kill. They wanted her to focus on gathering daft little trinkets, testing out stupid little gadgets they'd developed and sometimes just capturing the creature and delivering it back to them. The more she ignored these demands, the more deadly her missions seemed to become.

Lana's Dad didn't approve, he would often be screaming at someone down the phone about the ridiculousness of some of the tasks she was being sent on. He tried to get Lana's younger brother, a young teen at this time, to help. Giving him weapons training at home and such but, like Mum, her brother was more a bookworm. So her Dad gradually started to isolate himself, locked away in his study near enough all hours.

"I always said I didn't need any help anyway. Cocky little cow that I am..." Lana scratched her head, "No matter what they threw at me, I kept making it back home. With Ceri and Sadie having my back we could take on anything. As well as all the techy stuff they're pretty freaking sweet hunters too. So...there was no problem in my eyes."

"So why aren't they out here with you?" Sam asked.

"Well who was going to stay and look after the cats?" Lana laughed, "They keep watch on things at home, and I came out here."

"So what happened?" Dean finally stepped in, "What made you come out here? This night that Graham guy mentioned..."

Lana shut her eyes, this was the bit she had been dreading to get to.

"About six months ago..." she began, "Me, Ceri and Sadie had just set off for a hunt in Edinburgh. My Dad was being especially touchy about this one and was near enough demanding for us to not go... but we'd been doing this for years now so we didn't listen..."

About a half hour into the drive Lana's phone rang and her Dad was on the other end speaking fast and frantic. He told her that she had to get as far away from Doncaster as quickly as possible and never come back home. He dropped the codeword that something bad was going down. So of course, Lana had Ceri spin the car around and straight back home they headed.

On arrival, Lana had them two wait by the car and watch for anyone or anything coming out. She tore into the house and found five BML agents.

"They'd killed them," Lana muttered, eyes stinging, "They were stood over my family and they'd beheaded all of them..."

Sam turned away for a moment, before looking back with a look of sympathy. Dean was scowling, eyes still glued on the road.

"So you killed them," Sam said, "When Graham said you had killed a lot of their people..."

"I didn't kill them Sam," Lana rubbed violently at the tears that had started to stream, "I destroyed them. A-and I'd love to say that I saw red and I didn't know what I was doing, but I did! I was completely sound in mind, I utterly butchered those people and some sick part of me actually enjoyed it!"

A moment of silence, all that could be heard was the Impala engine growling. The tension in the air so thick, a knife would have struggled to cut it.

"We're supposed to kill monsters..." Lana sobbed, "That night showed me that I am one."

"Enough!" Dean yelled, the car suddenly swerving into a gas station they were passing. He got out and stormed away into the store. Sam hastily followed, leaving Lana alone.

"Dammit," she whispered to herself, kicking the seat in front. She got out of the car and started to walk to a fence not too far off from the station. She took out a cigarette and lit it. Closing her eyes to accept the nicotine hit, all she could see were the faces of the men she killed. Heard their screams as she deliberately delivered non-fatal but incredibly painful wounds with Cookie. Her laughter as one of them feebly tried fight back.

"Peace offering?" she heard Dean's voice. Opening her eyes, she saw him stood in front of her, six pack of beer in one hand, a cellophane wrapped cherry pie in the other.

"I thought it was you who was mad at me," she mumbled taking another drag from the cigarette.

"And I'm sorry?" he gave a cheeky smile and thrust his gifts forward.

A laugh escaped Lana, "Don't be..." she said, her face slowly dropped back to glum.

"Look," Dean moved next to her, "Whatever you did, you're not a monster. You hear me?"

"Dean...you weren't there I-"

"You're not! Trust me I'd know. You think me and Sammy haven't done screwed up things?"

"Well...yeah but..."

"Just shut up and come here."

Dean placed the beers and pie aside and pulled her close. Despite how bad she felt, she couldn't stop the slight schoolgirl giggle Dean always managed to get out of her. She was so relieved he was back on side. They kissed, and everything seemed back on track.

"Ahem," Sam said loudly, making the two jump, "We're all made up now then?"

…...

They were back on the road, Sam now drove and Dean and Lana shared the back seat. Dean was shovelling pie into his face, and now opened a beer.

"Excuse me?" Lana raised an eyebrow, "Did you not get those for me?"

Dean hugged the pie defensively, and reluctantly passed her a bottle.

"Sorry to bring it back up Lana," Sam started as Lana popped the beer open with an opener on her keys, "But... after that night, how did you end up out here?"

"I went into hiding after all...that. Cez and Sades went all hacker mode and tried to find out what went down. Nothing. Managed to get into my Dad's computer and all they could find out is that he had been getting into some confidential stuff, the content was all wiped though. He knew something, and BML didn't want him to know," Lana explained, "Couple of months passed, we got a lead that some guys had been sent out here, so I followed. Been following right up until you guys saved my butt from the vamps."

"Find anything out?" Dean asked, muffled with a mouth full of pie.

"Nope!" She sighed frustrated, "They won't back off either you know. Threats are nothing to them."

"Not to worry old chum!" Dean mocked in a terrible 'British' accent, "You have me to protect you now fair lady!"

She narrowed her eyes at him, not dignifying him with a response.

"Whoa..." Sam mumbled, easing off the gas pedal and rolling the car to a stop.

"Holy crap," Dean joined in.

They pulled up outside a farm. Police cars were littered all outside the front with their lights still flashing. The cattle fields around were vast and filled with hundreds upon hundreds of slaughtered animals.