"Dr. Silver, wife, two sons," Bobby noted, gazing at the picture they had snatched from the house. "Uh, oh," he sighed, causing Emily to look up.
An officer had pulled up in front of the house and was walking toward them. "Hi, there!" he called.
"Hi," Sam said, taking a step in front of Emily.
"Who are you?" the officer asked, stopping in front of the trio. The three flashed their fake FBI badges. "Is it causal Friday, agents?"
"We're on a case a few miles out. Got a call to come here," Sam explained.
"So how about you? What's your business?" Bobby asked.
"Oh, Dr. Silver's a friend of mine," the cop explained. "Heard he didn't show up for work today, so I thought I'd stop by – see if he's sick."
"Not sick, missing," Bobby corrected.
"Missing? Says who?" the officer asked suspiciously.
Bobby continued, "Says me. Empty house, no bags packed, car still in the driveway."
"How'd you get on this?'
"Oh, it's a long story," Bobby brushed him off. "Listen, why don't you put out an APB, and we'll compare notes down at the station. Sound good?"
"Uh, yeah…yeah," the officer turned back to the car, hastily getting in.
"Obliged," Bobby smiled.
"Wow," Sam smirked. "Talk about talking out of your butt."
"Yeah, just hurry ya idjits," he muttered, leading them back to the car.
Sam's phone began to vibrate as he moved to sit in the back with her again. "Dean." He paused. "What's the address? Uh huh…alright, meet you there." He ended the call with Dean before telling Bobby, "The vic, Ed Bright, is dead, they're going to talk with the roommate. He wants us to meet him at the apartment."
"Alright," Bobby shifted the car into drive, "Here we go."
As Sammy attempted to talk to her again, Bobby brought up the case, and the three ended up brainstorming possibilities, some of which were alien invasion, a new creature from the mother, and the taco bell zombie apocalypse. The three pulled up near the impala, walking over to the other two.
"So we got a missing doctor and an oozy patient, huh?" Dean greeted them
"I'm never going to get a normal hello, am I?" she sighed.
"Nope," the older Winchester winked.
"Dude," Sam sighed. "Let's just go see Ed's roommate."
"Does Ed Bright have a brother?' Castiel asked suddenly.
"No, why?" Bobby replied immediately.
"Then that's not his twin," he nodded toward the window where a man identical to Ed Bright was cautiously looking between the curtains.
"Sifter?" Sam asked as the man erupted into a coughing fit against the window.
Bobby sighed, "I don't know what we're looking at."
"Alright, Dean and I are gonna go in, you three stay and watch the door. Something comes out, shoot it," Sam proposed.
"Best guess, silver bullets," Dean muttered, reaching into his coat.
"Uh – I'm fairly unpracticed with firearms," Castiel interrupted hesitantly.
"You know who whines?" Dean asked, giving him a look. "Babies."
As Dean began to walk toward the door, Sam following closely behind, Emily burst out abruptly, "Dean."
"What?" he asked, slightly annoyed, turning to her.
"I don't like this. You guys could get ambushed or something – let Castiel go. Oh, stop the bitch-face, Cas, you're an angel, so you're can't die."
"Em," Dean said, eyebrows raised. "We'll be fine. Promise. Stay here."
As the boys tuned back toward the apartment, she moved to follow them before Bobby's hand on her shoulder stopped her. "Sweetie, they'll be fine, okay?"
She sighed, crossing her arms to wait. "Yeah, Bobby."
After what seemed like an eternity, they boys finally emerged from the house, Sam leading the way. Emily's chest immediately loosened at seeing them alive; Cas shot her a look she couldn't read.
"Well?" Bobby asked expectantly.
"Half a dozen people in there," Sam began, "all look like Ed Bright, all dead. We were able to talk to one guy, Marshall Todd, before he went."
"I don't get it!" Dean exclaimed walking through the front door. "What, a bunch of regular Joe's end up shifters? What the hell?"
"Shifters usually run in families," Bobby said. "This looks like an infection. Nobody touched nothing?"
There was a tense silence as the five stared at one and other. "Well, I'm bathing in Purell tonight," Dean grumbled.
Sam, quickly getting the topic away from possible danger, said, "So he said they met a girl."
"It's gotta be Eve," Dean replied.
Castiel asked, "But why would she do this?"
"Mommy monster," Bobby rationalized. "Make more."
"No, no, no, no, no…Cas has a good point," Dean said, eyebrows furrowed. "I mean, if she's gonna make a shifter army, then why make one that's sick, gooey, and dying?"
"Distraction?" Emily asked.
Sam looked at her. "From what?"
"Add that to the pile of crap that don't make sense," Bobby sighed.
"So should we hit the bar?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Let's go. Always the best gossip at the bars," Bobby mumbled, turning to walk back to the cars.
"Bobby," Dean asked, "could we trade off Cas and Em?"
"I do not understand," Castiel said flatly.
Dean looked over at the angel. "I just gotta talk to her, Cas, okay?"
He stared the older Winchester down for a few seconds before stating, "Very well," and began walking toward Bobby's car.
"Alright with me," Bobby said, following the angel.
Dean and Sam shot each other looks over Emily's head before the younger Winchester turned away. "Come on, Em," Dean said, opening the driver's door of the Impala.
"Yeah…" she said, slightly nervous at being alone with Dean after all that had happened. She climbed into the passenger seat, careful not to sit too close to him, and she mentally prepared herself for a heart-to-heart or a verbal beating.
As the engine roared to life and Dean pulled out onto the road, his voice said in a conversational tone, "So, Sammy was telling me that Bobby wants us to train you back up."
"Yeah," she said, caught off guard.
"I was thinking we'd go easy on you, just see where you are for now, alright?"
"Yeah, Dean."
He opened his mouth as if to say something but quickly shut it again. "Dean," she said hesitantly. "I-is that really what you wanted to talk to me about?"
He sighed, "That thing you pulled…before me and Sammy went inside and when we were in Wyoming." She nodded. "You can't do that again," he met her eyes.
"Dean–"
"Danger comes naturally with the job," he cut her off, "and we handle it when it comes along. Sometimes, people are just gonna die and you gotta choose the lowest number. And sometimes we can get in really dangerous situations. Now Sammy and I can handle it, and I know you can, too. But, Em, if you keep doing what you did today, one of these days…"
He trailed off and was silent for a few moments, his jaw set as he stared at the road. "Dean?" she asked, voice shaking slightly.
"One-one of these days, Emily…" he stared into her eyes as they pulled up to a red light, "I might just stay next to you…not go in." His piercing green eyes were pinned to hers in a desperate plea, what for she didn't know. "If you keep calling me back," he said softly, "one day I'm just gonna stay."
A car horn jerked his attention back to the road as he waved to the other driver in the rearview mirror. Sighing, he said, "We do this cause we've got to. We do this to save lives, help people. One day we're gonna get ganked, but not today, you understand?"
She nodded vehemently, staring at her shoes. He mouth opened, but she quickly shut it again. "Got it," she said instead of what her heart told her to. "Sorry."
He didn't reply, only pulled the car into the parking lot of the bar. As she reached for the handle, his large hand landed on her knee. Her eyes flashed from his hand to his face, locking their eyes. The intensity of his gaze frightened her as she tensed under his hand; he sighed, adjusting his focus to her hand. "I – never mind." In an instant, he was gone and reaching for the door. She took a moment to compose herself before stepping out of the car. the car.