A/N: Hey guys! I really had a hard time with this chapter so I would greatly appreciate reviews on it. Thank you for reading.
I'm sitting quietly in that back of Sam and Dean's car. I can't believe this is happening. I mean, I flat out asked them if there would still be threats after the demon was gone, and they'd told me there would be. Yet, here I am, sitting in the back of the impala, getting towed back home to face god knows what. I thought Sam and Dean were heroes! They saved my life and exorcised a demon. They'd promised me I'd be okay. But now I'm starting to think my first impression of them was way off. Heroes don't go back on their promises. Heroes don't leave young girls to deal with deadly forces on their own! Dean and Sam Winchester are not heroes. They just put up a front to make people believe that they are, than they throw those same people to the dogs.
I see Dean briefly glace back at me through the rearview mirror. My face must be reflecting my anger, because he looks a little taken aback.
"Ash, you okay?" Dean asks me.
"What the fuck do you think?" I wanted to scream at him, at them both. But instead I just return my gaze out the window and reply with a head nod.
From the corner of my eye I see Dean throw Sam a look. They're having one of their silent conversations, just like back at Bobby's house. This must be something they do a lot.
Sam glances back at me, and when I meet his gaze, he gives me a weak smile, which I don't return. I just turn my eyes away and press my forehead against the cool glass of the window, shutting my eyes tight to all the anger and fear pulsing through my veins.
SPNSPNSPN
The impala pulls up in front of my house. I take a deep, calming breathe before stepping out of the car, and onto the hard cement sidewalk. When I start to walk toward my front door, Sam hastily rolls down his window.
"Hey!" he calls. I stop walking and turn slowly.
"Aren't you gonna say bye kid?" Dean questions me.
"Guess not" Is all I say, as I turn to face forward and continue walking. I pull out my key as I reach the door, but before I unlock it I pause, take a deep breathe, and turn. My face remains stoic as Sam and Dean stare at me soberly. After a moment, Dean starts up the car, and pulls away. Sam doesn't take his eyes off me, craning his neck as they get farther down the street. Then, just before the car turns the corner and disappears from sight, he lifts his hand and gives a small wave.
I feel like crying. I raise my hand, and give a feeble little wave, even though I know Sam'll never see it. I don't even really know why I'm sad. I knew these guys for like, two days, and in the end they'd left me to die. It's just, for some unexplainable reason, this whole situation just feels…wrong. Which makes absolutely no sense. I mean, it hadn't felt wrong when they'd showed up on my doorstep, claiming to be two men who hunt monsters for a living. It hadn't felt wrong when they'd taken me to that field in the dead of night. There had been no doubt in my mind that they would protect me, to the best of their ability, from the thing that was destined to show up in that field and take me away. If none of that had felt wrong, then why did this completely normal situation, me on my doorstep with the two strangest people I'd ever met putting miles between me and them, feel so utterly and completely wrong!
I shake my head in an attempt to pull myself together, remind myself that I need to try and prepare for whatever might be coming, and turn the key in the lock.
"Wonder where I can get some holy water."
SPNSPNSPN
Dean hated this so much. Leaving this girl to deal with whatever was coming on her own.
"If anythin' is even comin'. We don't really have anyway of knowin'. And if somethin' does, it probably won't be for years. You heard what the demon said." Bobby speaks up from Dean's memory of their previous conversation.
"Ya, Bobby I heard what it said. Did you? Talking about taking her away, getting her ready for him whoever the hell that is."
"It also said that she was developing at a steady rate. In other words: the demons have no immediate reason to take her!" Bobby had shot back.
"But Bobby" Sam had interjected. "We don't even know what they want her for. It could be a danger to her! Hell, it could be a danger to other people too!"
"What would you boys have us do then huh? Move her around so she can't be found? Drag her around with you two? Make her a hunter? That is a sixteen year old girl upstairs; we can't just destroy her life because there might be something comin' for her! You two really wanna turn into your daddy? Because that's where this road leads!"
"Her life is already uprooted!" Dean had whisper-yelled. "I can see it in her eyes Bobby! She's miserable. Miserable, and scared. She's holding something inside of her that terrifies her. We have a chance to help her, get her answers!"
"Dean's right. She needs someone, anyone, to be there for her right now. Her family is dead, and we are some of the few people on this planet that can understand what she's going through. We found her for a reason Bobby. There is a reason we chose to work this case, a reason why it wasn't another pair of hunters who showed up on her doorstep. Trust me when I say, I know what it feels like to have something inside of you that you don't understand. She doesn't just need help Bobby, she needs our help!"
After Sam's little outburst, Bobby had gone silent. He'd measured them both up before ending the argument with these words: "You two really think she'll be happier and safer as a hunter? Fine. If you boys can look me in the eyes, and say honestly that you believe that, I'll back you up on this."
It had been a minute later that Dean'd gone upstairs to tell Ash they were taking her home.
He still doesn't like it though, and he knows Sam doesn't either.
"She'll be fine." Dean keeps telling himself this, but it isn't helping him shake his uneasy feeling.
He looks to the passenger seat, and Sammy is staring at him, his eyes plagued with anxiousness and doubt.
"Dean-" Sam starts to tell Dean to turn the car around, but stops once he feels the car lurch. Dean is already making a U-turn, heading back to Ash's house.
"I know" He says.
They drive the short distance back to Ash's house in silence, grab their guns and get out of the car. They jog to the front door, where Sam rings the door bell. No answer. Sam and Dean share a meaningful look.
"One, two, three!" Dean counts, and then kicks open the door.
They enter the house quietly, guns at the ready, eyes darting around for anything seeming to be out of place. Everything seems to be in order, so Sam creeps around the corner into the living room.
He immediately spots the heap in the middle of the floor, and runs over. Ash is unconscious, blood trickling from her lip and gushing from a cut just above her left eyebrow. She's also holding something tightly in her right hand, and when Sam inspects further, he sees that it's a piece of wood. Well, half of one anyway. It looks like it was broken over something.
Sam returns his gaze to Ash's face and gives her a gentle shake. "Ash?" he asks. When he gets no response he tries again, louder this time.
"Ash!" Again, no answer, so Sam raises his head to call for Dean, but when Sam looks up Dean is already rushing toward them. He kneels on the other side of Ash, by her head.
"What happened?" He asks Sam, tentatively brushing a finger over Ash's forehead wound.
"I don't know, I found her like this." Sam says, already moving toward the kitchen to get a towel. He returns with a hand towel, which he gives to Dean. He places it in Ash's wound and applies pressure, trying to stop the bleeding.
"We need to get her to a hospital." Sam says, already sliding his arms under Ash's form. Sam lifts Ash's limp form easily, Dean still holding the now bloodied towel to her head. Sam looks down to the young girls face.
"We're gonna get you help Ash. You're gonna be-" But Sam's words are cut off abruptly as both him and Dean are hit with an invisible force, and sent flying into the wall. Sam's arms are ripped out from under Ash, and she crashes to the ground, landing next to the splintered piece of wood. Sam and Dean connect with enough impact to leave dents in the drywall, then land in a tangled mess on the ground.
As the brothers untangle themselves and push up to their feet, they hear dark laughter.
"Knew you two morons would show up here. Long time no see boys. How are my favorite pretty boys doing today?" Says a patronizing voice. Sam and Dean may not recognize her new meat-suit, but they'd recognize the speech anywhere.
They both realize who it is at the same time, and they say her name in unison.
"Meg"
