Of Grave Importance Part 1

Sam was leaning against the hood of the car. Angela stood in between Sam's legs and was leaning against his chest. Sam wrapped his arms around her middle and rested his cheek against her head.

Dean walked up carrying a tray of take-out food. "God, could you two be any more gross?" he teased.

Angela stuck her tongue out at Dean playfully. "You're just jealous."

Dean rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Whatever. Here,"

Dean sat down next to Sam and Angela. He put the tray down on the hood between them.

"You know…even though the world is going to crap, there's one thing that I can always count on," Dean started. "These things tasting the same in every drive-through in every state in our great nation," he added before taking a bite of taco. "Mmm."

Suddenly, a phone started to ring. Sam took his arms away from Angela's waist and started to pat his pockets. Dean took out his cell.

"Annie," he greeted, clearly surprised.

"Hey, Dean," Annie's voice rang through.

"A nice surprise." He replied. "How you been?"

"Oh, I'm still kicking. So, good, I guess," she replied. "Heard about Bobby. I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Dean sighed. "Us too. What's up?"

"Well, I got some of his old books. I thought maybe you'd want 'em."

"Yeah. Sure. Where you at?" Dean asked.

"Bodega Bay," she responded. "Crow's Nest Inn."

"You working?" Dean asked.

"Always," Annie chuckled. "You guys anywhere nearby?"

"Near enough."

"Cool. Why don't we meet at the Pier Front Restaurant—lunch?" she suggested.

"1 o'clock?" Dean replied.

"Yeah. Bye." Annie confirmed before hanging up.

~/~\~

Sam, Dean, and Angela were sitting at a table overlooking the pier. Sam held Angela's hand as they looked over their menus. Dean was looking through a newspaper.

"Hey, get this," Dean started. "Dick Roman is funding another archaeological dig. Guy moves more dirt than 'The Drudge Report'."

"Well, any—anything on what he's digging for?" Sam asked curiously.

Dean frowned at his brother. "Don't you think I would have led with that?"

Sam sighed and looked at his watch. "Annie's not usually this late, is she?"

Dean shook his head. "No, never. She's totally compulsive. I'll try her cell."

"You know, uh, you know she and Bobby had a thing, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I knew that." Dean muttered as he dialed her number. "Really?" he looked at Sam.

"Yeah," Sam chuckled. "Kind of a foxhole thing—very Hemingway."

"Huh," Dean muttered. "She and I kind of went Hemingway this one time, too."

Sam frowned. "Alright, well…that happens." He replied, making a face.

Both Dean and Angela looked at him in confusion. Sam shrunk slightly under their combined gaze.

"Look, i-it was a while back," Sam started. "We ended up on the same case. She was stressed. I-I-I…I didn't…have a soul."

"That's a lot of foxholes," Dean muttered.

Angela turned back to her menu, looking slightly tense. Sam frowned deeply.

"Babe?" Sam asked.

Angela looked up at him and forced a small smile. "Yeah, Sam?"

"I'm…I'm sorry," he apologized. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

Angela sighed deeply. "No, no…it's…This is just the first time I'm hearing about it," she shrugged. "I'm just being dramatic, don't pay me any mind."

Sam squeezed her hand gently and leaned closer to her. "Babe, I promise that you are the only woman for me." He murmured. "I wish to God that I could take back everything I did during that year. I love you more than anything, Angie."

"I know. I love you too, Sammy," she smiled softly. "Sorry for having a little…episode just there."

Sam chuckled and kissed her softly. "I don't want anyone else in this world—hell, I don't want anyone else in this universe. Only you," he replied softly. Sam pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles.

"She's not answering," Dean interjected, obviously frustrated. "Well, here's to ghosts that aren't there." He added, pouring whiskey into his coffee mug.

"You sound kind of disappointed," Angela pointed out.

"Ah, it's better this way," Dean shrugged. "I mean, even though I wish we could see him again doesn't mean that we should."

The three clinked their coffee mugs together and drank.

"Ahh." Dean breathed. He looked around the restaurant and frowned. "Are we being stood up?"

"Yeah, let's hope that's all this is," Sam muttered.

The flask rocked slightly on the table. Neither Dean, Sam, or Angela noticed.

~/~\~

The three hunters walked towards their car. Sam and Angela were holding hands while Dean held the phone to his ear.

"Nothing?" Angela frowned.

"Straight to voicemail," Dean replied. "Something's not right."

"What's she doing on Bodega Bay?" Sam questioned.

"She's working some kind of job. She didn't really say." Dean shrugged as he took out his flask. He frowned when he noticed it was empty. "I got to get a refill."

Sam sighed. "You know what, man? Why don't you, uh, just pack it away for a while? All it does it remind us of him, you know?"

"Yeah, I thought about that, but, uh…not yet." Dean replied.

Dean walked around the car to the driver's side. Bobby was sitting in the back seat of the car, but none of the hunters could see him.

"Let's go check out Annie's hotel room," Dean suggested.

~/~\~

Dean sat on the bed looking at some of Annie's research while Sam and Angela sat at the table looking through papers. Bobby stood behind Sam and Angela.

"These go back years—disappearances never solved," Angela noted. "They stop a few decades back, then pick up again just recently. All teenagers."

"Looks like Annie found a spot a lot of them liked to poke around just before they went missing," Dean replied.

"Yeah?" Sam raised his brows."

"Yeah. Old Van Ness house." Dean replied as he got up to show them the information. "It's, uh, cheery."

"Well, the police combed the place. They always come up dry." Sam sighed.

The curtain next to Sam and Angela moved, but the three hunters didn't seem to notice it.

"Yeah, local law. Always on the ball." Dean scoffed.

"Guys…" Bobby sighed.

"So, built in 1862 by the Van Ness family…" Angela started.

"I just made that curtain shimmy." Bobby tried again.

"Who lost it in the early 1900s." Angela finished.

"Could you look in the right place at the right time?" Bobby asked.

"Put up for sale a few years back. No takers." Sam added.

"Probably 'cause it creeps their queso," Dean replied.

"Balls, this is exhausting." Bobby shook his head.

"It's just been sitting there, boarded up for ages," Sam continued. "Oh. Get this. I guess a couple months back, someone put it on one of those, uh, 'most haunted houses in America' lists."

Dean shook his head. "Let me guess—that's when the, uh, teenagers started to go missing."

"Yeah," Angela sighed.

"Okay. Now let's get rolling." Bobby suggested.

"Ah, I say we get rolling." Dean sighed.

Sam, Dean, and Angela left the room. Bobby stood up and looked at the closed door.

"Idjits."

Dean's jacket, with the flask in the pocket, was hanging over a chair. The door opened and Dean reached in to grab his jacket.

"Thank you," Bobby muttered before he flickered and disappeared.

~/~\~

Dean, Sam, and Angela walked into the deserted house, shining flashlights. Bobby was behind them.

"Honey, I'm home," Dean muttered.

"Geez. My people." Bobby said, looking around.

Throughout the room, there were tons of other ghosts, all invisible to Dean, Sam, and Angela.

"Hi," Bobby greeted. "I'm Bobby, and I'm a ghost. Hoping for a little ghost orientation here. Je m'appelle Bobby."

None of the ghosts responded to Bobby.

"Chilly." He muttered,

~/~\~

Sam, Dean, and Angela walked into an upstairs room.

"Annie?" Dean called out.

Dean dialed a number and held his phone to his ear. Angela held an EMF reader, which was flashing and making noise.

"There's a whole lot of something," Angela muttered.

A phone started ringing somewhere nearby. The three hunters walked in the direction of the sound and found a phone on the floor—most likely Annie's.

~/~\~

Dean, Sam, and Angela were walking through the house. They walked up the stairs as Bobby watched.

"The call to me was the last one she made," Dean sighed. "So, where the hell is she?"

"Bobby?" Annie asked suddenly.

Bobby turned around. "Annie! We've been looking for you."

"I can't believe you're here," Annie smiled softly.

"Yeah. I'm a doornail." Bobby replied. "Bad news here. If you can see me, you are, too."

~/~\~

Dean, Angela, and Sam were walking through the house. Dean was listening to Annie's phone messages. Angela's EMF reader was flashing and making noises.

"Hey, Annie, I'm e-mailing you those news clippings you asked for. I…" the woman's voicemail played.

"We're redlining all over the place," Angela sighed. "Assume the worst?"

"Yeah, I always do," Dean replied.

"Okay. Vengeful spirit, maybe lots of them," Sam theorized. "Killing kids. Look around. No blood. No anything. Certainly no bodies."

"Well, if evil is partying here, it's got a hell of a cleanup crew," Dean muttered. "Wait, wait, wait."

"What?" Sam and Angela asked.

"Here's something," Dean pushed a button on Annie's phone. "From earlier this week."

"Okay," Sam nodded.

"Free me. Free me." The voicemail played.

Angela frowned. "Where'd that come from?"

The number on the screen read '(…)…-…'

"You ever seen a phone number look like that?" Dean asked.

~/~\~

Dean, Sam, and Angela walked into one of the larger rooms.

"Well, that is every square inch of this place," Dean sighed. "No bodies, no pieces of bodies—no Annie. A whole lot of sizzle and no steak."

"Well, maybe no news is good news," Sam suggested.

Dean's brows furrowed. "Meaning?"

"Meaning maybe she's just not here," Angela replied. "Maybe she's still okay."

Dean scoffed slightly. "Yeah, and what does your gut say?"

Sam sighed. "Let's just see if there's anything else in her research."

"Sam! Angie! Dean!" Annie called out as the three hunters left the room. Annie frowned when she didn't get a response.

"Honey, don't you think I've tried that?" Bobby asked. "I shouted myself hoarse."

~/~\~

Sam, Angela, and Dean were sitting in the car outside of the deserted house.

"Where'd Annie get her intel?" Dean asked. "Do we know?"

Dean drank from the flask and Bobby appeared in the backseat.

"Stupid flask," Bobby grumbled.

"Bodega Bay Heritage Society," Sam held up a booklet.

"Guys, come on," Bobby sighed. "All the action's back in the pool. Let's go!"

Dean started the engine and Bobby groaned.

"Dammit," he huffed.

~/~\~

"The house dates back to the mid-19th century," the historian explained. "Miles Van Ness made his fortune in the gold rush, eventually settling his family in Bodega Bay."

"Anything…unusual ever happen in the house?" Angela asked.

"Oh, over the course of a century, things are going to happen in a house," the man replied.

Bobby looked at a hanging lamp. "Tell it what to do," he muttered with a scoff.

"Some locals swear it's haunted," the historian continued.

Bobby took a deep breath and tried to touch the lamp with a finger. "Move," he demanded. Bobby's finger passed right through the lamp.

"Every village has its idiots."

"We only want the real scoop, of course," Dean replied.

"Balls!" Bobby groaned.

"Whitman Van Ness. Son and heir. Handsome, charming, dogged by tragedy all his life," the historian explained. "He lost the family fortune, then the house. It became a bordello. He lived in isolation till his death at age 40."

"He's still there," Bobby muttered.

"Who's the, uh, the bruiser there?" Dean nodded.

The historian pointed to a photo of Dexter standing next to Van Ness. "Dexter O'Connell. A convict. An extremely violent man."

"He's there, too," Bobby replied.

"Mr. Van Ness was socially progressive and took pity on him," the historian continued. "He worked as a groundskeeper. Dexter was convicted for murdering Whitman's fiancée on the eve of their wedding. Another calamitous event in the poor man's life."

"Hmm." Sam hummed.

"Thank you," Angela added.

"The house is popular this week," the historian noted.

Angela frowned. "What do you mean?"

"A lady came by the other day asking all sorts of questions."

Dean frowned. "Uh, 30s, red hair, good-looking?"

"Mm." the man hummed. "I gave her the same advice I'll give you. Stay away from the place. It's extremely unsafe."

The three hunters nodded and left.

~/~\~

Bobby looked exasperated after he failed to move a coin in the motel room.

"So, besides Whitman's fiancée…" Sam read from the photocopy of the newspaper. "Dexter O'Connell was also convicted of killing a bunch of hookers who worked at the brothel."

"He escaped before they could hang him," Angela added. "But then he returned to the house, where he was found shot to death. Why would he escape then go right back to the house where he got arrested?"

"I don't know," Dean called out from the shower. "Add that to a list of things I don't know!"

"So, what's the next move?" Sam sighed.

"You know, if I could, I'd be getting old waiting on you three to figure this out," Bobby grumbled.

Dean partly opened the shower curtain and grabbed a towel, then closed the curtain again. Bobby looked at the steamed-up bathroom mirror.

"Alright, now," Bobby muttered. "I can kill werewolves, fix a Pinto, and bake cornbread. I will be damned if I can't get Zen."

~/~\~

Dean ran his hands through his wet hair. He looked at the mirror and frowned. "Sam? Angie?"

"What?" Sam asked as he and Angela walked to the bathroom.

"Tell me one of you wrote that," Dean pointed at the mirror.

'Annie trapped in house' was written in the condensation on the mirror.

"Uh…No. No, neither of us wrote that." Angela assured.

"Well, then, who's there?" Dean asked. He looked around the room. "I said, who's there?!"

The hot water faucet on the sick turned and steam started to rise. 'B' and 'o' were written on the mirror by an invisible force.

Dean's frown deepened. "Bobby?" he asked. "Bobby?"

'Bobby' was written in full on the mirror. Bobby was standing next to the sink.

"Yes," Bobby sighed.

Dean, Angela, and Sam still couldn't hear Bobby.

"This whole time, we've been trying to talk ourselves out of it, he's been—what's he doing here?" Dean asked.

Angela picked up the flask and held it up. "Guys…"

"We don't have time for this! Get your asses back to that house!" Bobby snapped.

Dean's eyes widened. "We got to get back to that house, stat."

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And only a few more chapter till the wedding chapter :) I'm so, so excited for you guys to read it! Also, thank you for the recent reviews, your feedback means the world to me. Love y'all xoxo :)

~Emily