Her tongue touched the tender flesh of her cheek and Alex winced, pressing her fingers over the skin to make sure it wasn't marred as she walked down the street, dressed in her pant-suit. She knew she looked rather rough for a professional, but oh, well. She'd just tell them she'd had a rough case. She'd rather have suspicious cops than not have gotten the information she'd acquired the night before, when she'd dragged down a demon after a vicious fight.
Her heels clicked as she walked, the commotion growing louder with each step.
Normally – now a days' kind of normal, anyways – she ignored cases that appeared as she traveled around hunting. Once, she might have stopped to consider, but now…she had too much work to do regarding her big three. But this case…this case involving children…it had struck a nerve, and she couldn't help but get involved.
A dead man or woman here or there was one thing, but missing – possibly dead – children was a bit too much for her to ignore.
As she stopped before the house that was clearly the crime scene, already searching her pockets, she studied it. Normal, suburban house, now cluttered with police tape. There were already a few men and women giving her suspicious looks, not happy to see he there, but Alex didn't care. She merely flashed a badge at them and inhaled sharply as she walked past them all.
She paused, sniffing again, and slowly turned when she heard a voice ask, "Where'd you find them?"
"Huh," she muttered as a detective answered, "We found the parents upstairs. Pretty brutal. Not a break in, no alarm ever went off, and we can't get any leads on the baby."
Alex waited until Sam Winchester decided he was done questioning the detective before clearing her throat and calling out, "Sam!" He glanced back, and then paused, seeming just as surprised to see her there as she'd been to see him. She trotted over, not entirely pleased to see him after the weird feelings he'd given off the last time she'd seen him, but…
Company was company, and since Bobby and Avery had chosen to stay back in Sioux Falls after forcing her to promise to keep in better touch with some reluctant forgiveness, Alex didn't mind so much. Besides, Sam wasn't one of the people who'd screwed her over. Yet, at least.
"Alex?" Sam questioned as he stopped in front of her, hands in his pockets. "What are you doing here?"
"Same as you, I presume," she answered, nodding at the house with sharp blue eyes. She pushed some red-blonde hair from her face and scowled. "Someone's kidnapping children, and I don't like it. I heard what the detective said…not very helpful. Do you have anything?"
He shook his head. "No." Very carefully, Alex inclined her head pointedly, and Sam's lips twitched. "You want to work the case together?" he suggested, more so guessing what she wanted, and Alex beamed as if he'd suggested the best idea she'd ever heard.
"Yes," she said, though she had to admit, it made her nervous to work with Sam now. Something still didn't feel right about him. The animal-half of her – the part that she liked to pretend didn't exist – told her so. She turned on her heel, and together, they made their way into the house that had been the scene of the crime. As they walked, Sam informed her that he'd spent time in each of the other houses.
"No sulfur, no EMF – I'm starting to think this might not be our kind of thing," Sam told her as they began investigating, going through the motions. Alex was relieved to find it was rather easy to fall back into old patterns – though she admittedly found it hard to not miss the fact that Dean was absent. "What do you think?"
Alex shook her head. "Four couples were murdered in this part of the state within days of one another, Sam. Four children taken. That's not natural at all." She didn't like that he wasn't more interested, she realized, but said nothing about it. "From the way I'm looking at it, it seems as if something's either taking the children for meals, or there's someone out there – human, mind you – who's crazy enough to start taking a bunch of babies. Either way, you can't just move on. Someone's hurting human babies."
"I guess," he muttered with a heavy sigh as Alex paused to sniff, looking for something. There was definitely something there – just nothing she could straight up place at the moment. He glanced out a window and paused as he studied something. "The detective said no alarm was tripped, but they've got security. I'll call Samuel and have him look into it." Alex bit back the urge to make a sound of disgust, really not too fond of Samuel Campbell. "Where are you staying?"
"A motel maybe ten miles away," said Alex. "Why?"
He pulled his phone free and typed something in before sending it. A moment later, an alert came through on her phone. "That's where I'm staying," he told her. "I'll call Samuel, get what I can from the people here, and then I'll meet you at room one-oh-three. Sound good?"
She nodded. "I'll bring lunch," she said with a shrug and promptly left without another word.
She didn't trust this new, improved Sam Winchester with much.
But Alex supposed he could at least do well grabbing information.
As Alex swung out of Sam's car that night, she supposed she could say that she'd added a few new things to her list of "weird new things Sam's doing since he came back from Hell." She'd brought lunch form a nicer place, evening making sure to grab some of his old favorites simply to prove that she still considered him a friend, but he'd not touched a bite of the food she'd brought. Additionally, by the time she'd shown up, he'd already found new information through Samuel, announcing where they'd be going that night. While she'd not fought it, she'd been a little annoyed by the fact that she wasn't too involved with the hunt – more like a PA than anything else, which pissed her off.
"Got your knife?" Sam questioned as he checked his gun and tossed her a flashlight. She snagged it with ease, flipping it on to make sure it worked before shutting it off again. She could see rather well in the dark, but thought nothing of reminding him.
"Yes," she said confidently. "I always have it."
"Good, let's go then."
Sam led the way up to a house bathed in darkness. It was nearly midnight, and Alex supposed that the family would, at the very least, be sleeping. "This is a bad idea, Sam," muttered Alex as he knelt before the front door and began to pick the lock. "This is a really bad idea."
He sent her a shockingly nasty look, not pleased with her commentary. "Kids are getting hurt and you care about what'll happen if they catch us breaking in?"
"I care more," said Alex quietly, "about what'll happen if they catch us breaking in, send us off to our respective next lives, and then get attacked by what's coming after them." She took a deep breath as Sam pushed the door open. Alex sighed as she reluctantly followed him in.
The moment they were in the house, Alex knew that her fears had been unnecessary. "Sam," she hissed, her nostrils flaring as she inhaled the scent of blood and something nasty and dangerous. She ripped her blade from her arm and ran further into the house, stopping in the living room. She stared at the crimson-stained white carpet. Two bodies – a man and his wife – were sprawled out dead on the carpet.
Sam peered over her shoulder and then shifted his grip on his gun and headed further into the house. They split up, investigating every inch of the house, and Alex kept a sharp ear out for any signs of violence or someone else in the vehicle. Her skin was crawling as she ducked around a corner –
A very canine-sounding yelp left her mouth as she hit the ground, tackled by a man who slammed the wrist of the hand holding her knife so hard into the ground that it clattered away. She swore, snarling back at the creature that growled right back. She twisted, unbalancing the thing kneeling over her, and slammed her forehead forward so that it cracked nastily against the creature's nose. It reared back with a yell of surprise and pain just a moment before Sam slammed into it, silver knife skimming its flesh.
Alex scrabbled back as they grappled with one another, blindly trying to find her knife in the semi-darkness. She whipped around when she found it, her sharp eyes noting Sam's noticeable difference in size, and then plunged her knife down into the hand of the attacker. He screamed and shouted in pain, and Alex caught the smell of burning flesh just a moment before he threw himself away, escaping out the front door.
"Bloody hell," growled Alex, heaving for air. She touched a tender spot that had bruised fro her scuffle with the demon from the night before and winced. It had been smacked again in the fight.
Rather than making sure Alex was okay, Sam huffed irritably at the fact that the thing had escaped, and then went to go check the rest of the house. Alex gaped after him, nearly insulted, but gnashed her teeth and went back to checking as well, making a mental note to inform Bobby when she next saw him. She wouldn't see him for a while, she was sure, but it was best to tell him.
It was as she was creeping through a back room that she heard it.
She whipped her head around, looking. "Sam!" she called and heard him thumping down the stairs a few seconds later. She got down on her hands and knees when she heard it again: a soft snuffle, indicating the incoming wails of a child. She listened intently, growling so lowly in her throat it couldn't be heard.
After a few moments, she found it, and when she did, she exhaled sharply at what she found: a baby. With gentle hands, she reached in pulled it free. Carefully, Alex tucked her legs beneath her, gently resting it in her lap as it gurgled excitedly, giving her a small little smile. "Hey, there," she breathed as Sam rounded the corner.
His expression changed into one of shock. "What the hell?"
"We saved one," was all Alex said, and together, they peered down at the baby that resided before them. She took a deep breath and then glanced sharply at Sam, taking in the almost objective fascination he held in regards to it. Instinct told her to keep quiet about what her nose told her. It wasn't human, but…if she told Sam that…
Now that she held a baby in her arms, there was no way in hell she'd let this case continue without extra hands, she realized. And with Bobby unavailable, Avery too reluctant to go back into the field, and Sam as he was…
That left one choice, and not one she was too excited about making.
Dean Winchester was not pleased. Not with Sam, not with Alex, and not with the situation at hand, because he could most certainly not not help Alex out. Not when she'd asked him so tiredly, quietly admitting that she didn't trust Sam alone with a case involving a baby and that she wouldn't have asked had she not thought him to be the very last resort. He was still surprised by the declaration. A baby was the last thing he'd expected to hear about them having.
Not for the first time, Dean wondered where Castiel was in all of this, why he'd not been called for. A child's safety wasn't something they screwed around with.
"Okay," Dean said, letting out a sigh. Lisa stood before them, a gun in hand. He'd emptied it out after showing her how to use it, and she was watching him expectantly, an almost sad look in her eyes. "Show me."
"I've got it," she said, frowning as she looked at the gun. "We've been over this."
"Humor me."
So she did. "Load clip," she said, doing each motion as she said it. "Pull slide. Safety off. Safety on. And," she continued when he turned to the salt container he'd put on the table, opening his mouth, "salt the windows and the doors. Check them every night." Seeing the unease on Dean's face, Lisa's lips quirked almost bitterly. "It's fine, Dean. You want to go, so go. We'll be fine."
That seemed almost as if it was the wrong thing to say, however, because Dean immediately shook his head. "You know what?" he said, folding his arms. "Sam and Alex can handle this–"
"Dean," Lisa said sharply, giving him a smile tinged with annoyance, and he winced. That look meant nothing good when it appeared on her face. "No offense, but if you don't walk out that door…" She made a small gesture with the gun after ensuring the safety was on. "I'm going to shoot you."
Dean grimaced, knowing better than to protest. "I bet you're missing your ex right now," he told her as he grabbed his duffel bag. He ensured everything was in it before zipping it shut and throwing it over his shoulder. He paused to look over at her when she joined him, having left the gun on the table. "The boring one?"
"God," she huffed, rolling her eyes. "Shut up." Lisa drew him down for a swift kiss, her lips pressing lightly against his in a fond moment. "Just be careful, okay?" she said as she pulled back. He waved farewell as he ducked out the front door, and Lisa watched him go with a heavy sigh. "Bye," she murmured.
It didn't take long for Dean to get to where Alex was staying and therefore, where Sam and the baby were also at. His truck rumbled into the parking lot loudly, making Dean miss the purr of the Impala's engine for a few moments. He spotted Sam shuffling around in a car with ease and wondered briefly where Alex was before supposing she was playing guardian to the baby.
"Sam!" he called when he swung out, reaching into the truck bed to grab his bag. Sam immediately pulled out of the car to look over and waved briefly before shouldering a bag that Dean assumed belonged to Alex. Dean knew better than to start the discussion without the skinwalker, who'd likely be cranky about something or another. Upon closer inspection, he realized that there was a shape in the back seat of Sam's car. Alex, more than likely, Dean thought as Sam loaded her bag into the trunk of his car.
Sam waved for Dean to bring his things over, and Dean dropped the bag into the duffel before ducking around the side of the car to swing into the passenger seat. "Hey, Alex," he said as he closed the door behind him.
"Hi," murmured a sleepy Alex, who looked as if she was ready to crash. There were bruises beneath her eyes – not entirely from lack of sleep, he realized. She'd been fighting recently, and it was taking her body a surprising amount of time to recover from them. Must have been a nasty fight then. Not for the first time since she'd "told" him about what had happened in the year he'd been retired from hunting, Dean wondered what the hell had happened and who she was hunting to be receiving damage like that.
But Alex clearly didn't care about her injuries. Her eyes were locked on the child in the car seat beside her, her lips twitching into a smile as she gently played with its small fingers. "So," said Dean when Sam had swung in, looking to his brother and then back to Alex. "What do we know about the thing you guys were hunting?"
"Well," said Sam. "It was fast and it freaked when I cut it with silver–"
Alex snorted loudly. "It was a shapeshifter," she told them, rolling her eyes. She tapped her nose with a finger. "I could smell its stench."
"I don't recall seeing babynapping in a shapeshifter's profile," muttered Dean. He looked back at the baby. "Well?" he said, and Alex's mouth quirked into a small smile at the way he cocked a brow at the baby. "Feel free to speak up if you know anything."
The baby sniffed, blinking blankly at him, and Alex bit back a grin when the car started and made continuous beep until Sam told his brother to put his seat belt on. Dean gave him a dirty look. "What am I, in third grade? A car should drive, not be a little bitch." The baby made an unhappy whimper, and Dean rolled his eyes, telling him, "Don't take it personal."
Coughing to hide her amusement, Alex said, "We need to get supplies."
Sam frowned. "I have an arsenal in the trunk."
"Not that kind," she sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. "Honestly, Sam. Do you know nothing about having babies around? He's going to need formula, diapers, some fresh clothes, the likes." She gave the child another warm look, and Dean found himself watching her with surprise as she crooned to him, leaning in and murmuring something in a low tone.
Kids weren't something they'd ever really talked about while traveling. Any of them – excluding a conversation here or there about Ben, although that had been mostly before Alex had come around and one or two talks here or there after he'd run off. Then again, he'd seen what she'd been like with her nieces and from the looks of it, Alex liked children. He wondered what she'd do when they had to hand the kid off to social services – or wherever else children went.
At least, Dean supposed as he turned forward in his seat, there were two of them now who could handle the baby and keep an eye on Sam. They'd just switch off here and there. "How'd you two get into this case together anyways?"
"Like normal," said Sam.
Dean glanced over his shoulder again and Alex waved him off. "I was hunting and heard that some kids were in danger." She gave the baby a gentle smile as he squealed, flailing his arms excitedly. She tucked him in with gentle fingers, readjusting the blanket. "I can ignore most hunts. Most hunters will take care of things if I don't want to. I can't just leave a case when children are being taken."
Around what he'd expected. "And that hunt you were on before the kids?"
Alex bared her teeth in an irritable grin immediately, her attitude changing from gentle to angry within seconds. "None of your bloody business," she said icily, glancing at Sam, who was looking at her curiously in the rear view mirror. "And it's not yours either, Sam," she added sharply, "but definitely not yours, Dean. You're out, so you're going to stay out."
"Do I look out to you?" said Dean pointedly, making a gesture to the space around them. Mostly the baby.
Alex clenched her jaw. "No," she admitted, suddenly sighing tiredly and flopping back, resting her head on the baby's car seat. He squealed in delight and tangled his fingers in her hair, pulling until she winced and gently unwound his fingers.
"I can't say you do."
The next day found all three in a department store. Alex had a list in hand, and Dean pushed the cart along beside her. Sam trailed behind them, peering over his brother's shoulder at the cooing child that peered back at Sam with sparkling eyes from his carrier.
"Alright," muttered Dean, glancing at Alex. "What do we need?"
She tapped a pen on the paper, cocking her head. "Diapers," she said, pointing to a box. Sam reached over and snagged a decently sized box, but Dean corrected him, pointing at a different brand. When Alex glanced at him questioningly, Dean shrugged.
"Lisa has a baby niece," he told her, "so I've been on a few runs."
"Huh," commented Sam, cocking a brow.
"Shut it."
"I just said-"
"I just said, 'shut it,'" warned Dean before grimacing as the baby began to fuss a little. Alex immediately tried to push him aside, crooning gently to him, but Dean said grimly, "We gotta get moving. We've got the waterworks in, like, T-minus ten."
Sam looked as if this was the last thing he wanted. "Yeah, okay, let's go," he agreed, and Dean rushed forward, pushing the cart swiftly.
They finished shopping for the baby fairly quickly, but it did nothing to get them out in time to avoid the wailing child. He cried loudly and angrily in a demanding manner, indicating that he wanted something. Dean fully expected Alex to complain about the piercing sounds hurting her ears, but instead, she hummed and bounced him on her hip, scowling at the people who watched them with disapproving looks as Dean and Sam focused on checking out at the counter.
"Come on," she hummed, smiling gently at the baby. "Easy there, little one."
"Alex, make it stop," snapped Sam under his breath and Alex growled at him. "Everyone's staring at us like we're...we're…" He didn't need to finish his sentence for Alex to understand what he meant. "Feed it!"
"I did feed him," she hissed back at him.
"Then what's wrong with it?" snapped Sam.
"Dude, calm down. You think we speak baby? Maybe he needs a diaper change," Dean suggested, and the look of horror on Sam's face made him grin. He offered his hands out and Alex passed the baby over with hesitation, clearly not wanting to trust him with the baby but figuring she didn't really have a choice since nothing she was doing was helping.
"What are you doing?" Alex demanded as he held the baby out in front of him, making a face in mimicry of the baby's screaming face.
"Nothing," Dean said quickly, focusing on something over Alex's head, and Alex looked over her shoulder to find a woman approaching. Her nostrils flared and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously as the woman spoke.
"Aw," the woman cooed, smiling at the baby. Alex went to slide between the woman and Dean, but Dean stopped her with a quick glare. No need to make people suspicious if it was unnecessary. They had a missing baby with them after all, and the last thing they needed was someone to report to the police that a couple of people who didn't look like they'd ever held a child before had a baby with them. "What's the matter? What's his name?"
Alex exchanged a wide-eyed look with Dean. "Bobby," Dean said hastily at the same time that Sam answered, "John."
"Bobby-John," clarified Alex with a glare at the pair. Neither were helping their situation! She bit back the urge to growl as the woman cooed at the baby and asked to take him. She didn't bite it back a second time when Dean helplessly let her. She glowered at him, her nose telling her everything she needed to know.
Dean Winchester was officially an idiot.
"I see now," said the shapeshifter. "Bobby-John's a little wet. No offense, you three look exhausted. I don't mind. Lord knows I've changed a million diapers."
Had she been in her canine form, Alex knew her hackles would have been bristling and her teeth pulled back from her teeth. "You have," she said darkly, a snarl in her throat, "seconds to give the baby back, or I'm going to take my knife, and I'm going to stab you in the neck."
Dean and Sam stared at her, briefly confused, but the woman's gaze flickered with hatred.
And then she took off at a run.
"You're a bloody idiot!" roared Alex as she leaped after them. "Did you not pay attention?!"
Dean swore loudly and barreled forward, knife already in hand. Sam vanished in another direction, and Alex wondered just briefly where he'd gone. But she kept her attention on the most important matter: getting the baby away from the shapeshifter.
The shapeshifter made it halfway through the store before Sam suddenly slammed into her from the side, ripping Bobby-John from her fingers, disappearing to safety down an aisle. Alex snarled as she withdrew her knife and slashed it, baring her teeth. The shapeshifter screamed. It drew attention that Alex knew they didn't need, but Dean seemed to care about as much as she did, because he tackled the shapeshifter to the ground and brandished his own silver knife. Alex instinctively flinched away, putting her black blade away with a scowl.
"Hey!" a voice shouted, and Alex swore when she saw a man approaching.
The shapeshifter latched onto that. "He's hurting me!" the creature screamed, and Alex growled lowly in her throat, frustrated when the man shouted at Dean to get off of the supposedly innocent women. Alex snapped her teeth when the man hauled Dean off of the shapeshifter by the shoulder.
"Okay, alright!" snapped Dean, hastily putting his knife away. "Alright. Alex, come on!"
He tore off through the store and Alex jolted after him, already panting for air when they burst outside. She nearly laughed her approval when Sam's car squealed to a halt mere feet away from them. "Go!" shouted Dean as she hurled herself into the back seat with the baby and Dean slid over the hood to get to the passenger seat faster. "Go!"
Alex sat there for a moment, her chest rising and falling as she fought to catch her breath. After a short moment, she rasped, "Dean, you have got to be kidding me."
"I'm sorry I don't have a nose like yours," barked Dean.
"You don't need a nose like mine," she growled back. "You need a lick of common sense to listen to the bloody skinwalker when she's trying to tell you something without talking out loud." She rested her head back, closing her eyes for a moment and then opened them, sliding them to Bobby-John, who looked just downright confused by the commotion around him. Her heart ached as she let him grip a finger.
She should tell them, she thought, her lips pressing into a hard line.
But she didn't trust Sam enough to.
Had it been just she and Dean, she might have told him. But there was something about Sam…she didn't dare open her mouth and tell them. It was for the baby's sake that she kept quiet.
"You know," said Sam as she went to work on fixing the baby's car seat, adjusting it correctly with gentle fingers. "It could have been following us since the baby's original home."
Alex stiffened. He wasn't wrong, she supposed. Dean agreed and said, "We have to get off the road. Get Bobby-John here someplace safe. Figure this thing out."
"And hope to the heavens above," said Alex with a yawn as Bobby-John began to fuss again, "that we can get this child to sleep."
From where she was sprawled out on the bed, phone in hand as she skimmed through a variety of messages - mostly from Avery, who was getting crabby that she'd not given her any sign that she was still alive - Alex watched Dean change Bobby-John's diaper with a smirk on her face. He looked worried as he tried to bribe the baby into staying still with money. Alex downright laughed at that one.
"Like the baby's going to want money," she teased before shooting a text back to Avery, reassuring her that she was alive. She said nothing more as she tossed the phone onto the bed and sat up. Dean beamed proudly when he finished changing the baby's diaper and declared, "Okay, you are golden, Bobby-John! Time to hit the hay."
"Dean," said Sam when Dean picked Bobby-John up and began humming a song that was definitely not a traditional lullaby, if Alex was correct, as he carried him over to a crib they'd managed to purchase by some miracle. "You're just going to make it cranky again."
"Sh," hushed Dean, carefully leaning over to lay Bobby-John down. "If I put you down, you gonna be a man about it?" He carefully removed his hands - and grinned proudly when Bobby-John merely made a contented sound and snuggled in to sleep.
"Good job, Winchester," praised Alex, sincerely impressed. She'd not thought Dean would be capable of such things.
"Huh," muttered Sam, clearly thinking along the same lines. "You're not awful at this."
Dean snorted in disbelief. "Dude, I'm barely keeping that thing alive."
"I take offense to that," Alex said sharply. "I'm helping, and we're doing just fine, thank you very much. You're doing fine, Winchester. Believe me. There are much, much worse people who do a lot worse in the world when it comes to children." She narrowed her eyes pointedly at him when he glanced at her.
"I guess...I've kind of had to do stuff like this recently," admitted Dean, rubbing the back of his head. "Sink or swim, right? I know Ben's not my kid, but I don't know...I'm starting to feel like he is. Then I think about the way we grew up," he looked at Sam, "and I don't know, I kind of feel like I have a chance to do something different with Ben, you know?" Sam scoffed, and Dean scowled. "What?"
"Look, you clearly care about the kid." Sam's tone of voice had Alex rocking upright, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "But moving them around? Keeping them on lock down? I mean, you do have them on lock down, right? How is any of that different from how we were raised?"
Alex knew immediately to stay quiet. This was not her business, and she didn't want to really be a part of it - especially when Dean said angrily, "I'm not shoving them into this life, okay? This is temporary."
"Dad always said it was temporary, Dean. He said it for twenty-two years." Sam looked away from his brother, focusing on the papers in front of him. He slipped one away to look at a new one. "Look, I get it. You want to watch out for them. That's great. I'm just asking...how do you do that and not turn into Dad?"
Silence fell, and Alex shifted uncomfortably, wanting nothing more than to disappear with Bobby-John. There were a few moments of this uncomfortable silence before out of nowhere, Sam swore and rocked forward. "I can't believe I missed this! The house on Elm. The mother was killed, baby was grabbed, but the dad wasn't living in the house at the time."
"So he's alive," realized Alex aloud, scrambling off the bed to come and peer over his shoulder at the information. Sam offered it do her, and she skimmed through it quickly. "We need to go and have a talk with the father. See what he knows."
She glanced over her shoulder at the baby when Bobby-John suddenly cooed, squirming in the crib. She grimaced, debating. She didn't want to leave Bobby-John alone with either Winchester. But her nose was needed for what they were doing...she could detect who was a shapeshifter and who wasn't…
But Bobby-John.
Bobby-John was more important at the moment.
"I'll stay," she said at the same time that Dean did. The two exchanged startled looks, drawing a barked laugh from Sam.
Dean ignored him and gave Alex a pointed look. Just as she'd thought, he said firmly, "You go. I'll stay. I've got my silver bullets ready and I know how to take care of a damn baby for more than five minutes. I'm not an idiot."
"I suppose," Alex said, reluctant. He didn't know what she knew about that child, and she worried about that. She probably should have pulled him aside, told him what the baby was. It might have made things better for everyone. She just...didn't want Sam to know. Something told her it would be a bad thing. She reluctantly went over to the bed to grab her jacket, tugging the leather on. She felt that it gave her a more professional air when she wasn't walking around in a pant suit or "professional" clothes.
"We shouldn't be too long," Sam told Dean, not caring who went with him if anyone went at all. He ducked out of the motel room, not bothering to wait as Alex paused to anxiously look over her shoulder.
"Watch that child, Dean," was all she said before following Sam.
It didn't take them long to find the father of the missing child. Sam had already found the workplace of the man, apparently, within the few minutes of conversation after discovering that he didn't live in the same house. Alex wondered just how he'd managed that, but chose not to say anything. Apparently, he was working at an auto mechanic's shop, and when they inquired about him, it took a matter of minutes to track him down.
The father, upon starting the investigation, was rather angry and upset. "I just," the man sighed irritably, wiping sweaty hands on a pair of coveralls that protected his clothes from grease and oil. "I still can't believe it. I mean, it's one thing to die like that. The poor baby, just into thin air. No thanks to you guys," he added sharply to the pair before him, who had come in playing the role of police.
"Well, that's why we're here," Sam said without much emotion in his voice. He impatiently shifted his weight, dark eyes focused on the man before them. "You had filed for divorce?" The man gave him a look. "It's important. Sorry."
"She...she, uh, cheated on me," stammered the man, looking irritated and embarrassed about it. "I caught her."
Alex winced sympathetically. "My apologies, sir," she said, having lost her accent for this interview. It wouldn't be useful, she'd felt, if the man had considered them suspicious. "And did you know the other man?"
"No. I mean...I didn't 'catch her' catch her, but she lied to me. We hadn't...you know, in a while, and then she's pregnant. She said it was mine." He gave a bark of angry laughter, furious with the idea. "And I said that's impossible and what is she talking about. And she says, 'Don't you remember when you went out of town and came back early?'"
"But...you didn't," guessed Alex with a sigh.
"No. I was at a damn softball tournament. Whoever he was, he's the father," declared the man confidently, and Alex inhaled sharply as an idea occurred to her. She glanced at Sam. He clearly had come up with the same idea, because his eyes were wide with realization.
"Thank you for your time, sir," Alex said, hastily shoving at Sam's arm. "We'll let you get on with your day and get back to you if we need anything else." She pushed him past some cars that were being worked on, past a man that eyed her curiously, past a customer who did the same to Sam, and right outside with a growl in her throat. "Sam, the father of that baby-"
"-is definitely not the man we just met," finished Sam in agreement. He already had his phone out by the time they'd reached his car, pressing it to his ear as he tossed the keys to Alex. Alex snagged them, surprised. She'd not expected to be driving, but she was sure as hell grateful for it.
"Hey," Sam said when Dean had picked up. "We talked to the father. He checks out. But the baby...we think the shapeshifter is his dad."
Alex was somewhat sulky and silent in the back seat, mostly because she knew that the second she tried to say anything, Dean would launch into a rant. As it was, he kept throwing her angry looks over his shoulder, even as he and Sam muttered to one another in the front seat. Alex shifted her gaze to the baby in the seat beside her - a baby that looked entirely different from the Bobby-John she'd seen earlier that day. He was different in every way possible, from the color of his skin and hair, to the shape of his bone structure.
She trailed a finger along his plump cheek fondly. She wouldn't let anything bad happen to this shapeshifter child. Not when it was so much like her.
"You know," Sam said suddenly, and she flinched, expecting some kind of scolding. "It's pretty smart, actually. I mean, shifter poses as a guard for the security company to get near the house. Then it scopes out the family."
"And when the father takes off, shifter becomes him. A few glasses of wine, shakes the mom's trees, comes back in nine months to collect its prize." Dean snorted, looking as if he agreed with Sam's comment. Alex, not liking where this conversation was going, stiffened a little, her teeth bared.
"I didn't even know they had babies," Sam added. Alex froze. "I thought they were just...freaks of nature, like X-Men style."
And just like that, the anger was gone, replaced by bitterness. Alex clamped her mouth shut, knowing that if she said something now, it'd come out very nasty. "You learn something new every day, huh?" said Dean, glancing briefly over his shoulder again at Alex. This time, it was less angry and more careful, as if interested in knowing what she thought of Sam's words. She met his gaze evenly, curling a lip in answer.
"I've never seen a baby monster before," said Sam thoughtfully, and Alex couldn't keep her mouth shut then.
"He's not a monster, Sam Winchester, he's a baby," she snarled, her fingers clenching into fists. She scowled at them both, furious. She turned her flinty gaze onto the more sane of the two, in her opinion. "You want to know why I didn't say anything about him being a shapeshifter, Dean? That's why. Because regardless of what you say, he is not human, and that apparently makes him a monster."
"Hey, I didn't say he was a monster, and we've had this talk," Dean said pointedly. Just because he was pissed off with her for not telling him that the baby was a shapeshifter didn't mean he liked what his brother had said. "You know what I think about it. It's just a baby, Sam. It's not his fault his dad is a shifter."
"Right, but it's a shifter, too," pointed out Sam, and Alex snarled at him again.
"So what am I then, Sam?" she barked. "Some skinwalker?"
"Alex, calm down," said Dean firmly. "No one's saying anything like that. The fact still remains that we've got to look after him. What the hell else are we going to do? We can't actually drop it off at an orphanage. They might get upset when it changes again."
"I'll take care of it," Alex said immediately. They both turned in their seats - Sam just briefly - to look at her. She glared fiercely at them both. "I'll take him. I'm the one who found him. I'm another monster. I can raise him, just like I was raised after that skinwalker took a chunk out of me."
Dean pressed his mouth into a hard line. "That's not a good idea. Not because you can't raise him," said Dean hastily when Alex rounded on him with cold fury, "but because of whatever it is you don't want to talk about, Alex. Look at you. You've got a black eye, and I doubt you've ever had a black eye for this long. Whatever it is you're hunting, it's not safe for a kid."
"I would drop it. I would drop my hunt if it meant keeping that child safe from hunters," she rasped. "He deserves a chance. A chance to see what it's like to live without having to live in fear. I'll drop hunting entirely if I have to and go to Barachiel for help with keeping things off my back. I want to make sure he has a good life."
"Alex, you've seen how it goes. We don't get to leave the life," pointed out Sam suddenly. "I say we take it to Samuel."
"What?" barked Alex, remembering the older man that she strongly disliked. "Are you insane, Sam? How is that helping him leave the life?"
"He'll know what to do. They're our family, too. Even if they're hunters." Dean commented that they didn't really know them, and Sam said simply, "I know them. Not every hunter is a head case. I mean, Samuel is a lot like you, Dean."
"Point made. I'm a freaking head case," said Dean, glancing briefly over his shoulder. Alex was eyeing Bobby-John, as if she was considering snatching him and then throwing herself from the car. She turned a desperate look on Dean and he grimaced when he realized she was begging him to do something. She wanted Bobby-John to go anywhere but to Samuel.
Well," snapped Sam, frustrated with their protests. "Pitch a better idea then!" He glared at Dean and then at Alex, daring them to come up with a better idea. When neither could, he said in a snappish tone, "Great! Samuel it is."
Alex scowled at the younger Winchester and turned her body back towards Bobby-John as he gurgled happily in his sleep, his small fingers curling around her own. "If anyone hurts him," she said darkly, "I'll add you to my list, Sam Winchester."
"What list?" Sam demanded, but Dean turned a warning look on her, silently telling her that she'd do no such thing, no matter how much a dick his brother had turned into in recent times.
Alex ignored that look and played with the baby's fingers, wishing that things could go back to being much more simple.
The Campbell's compound was rather intimidating at night when you were one of the creatures they hunted, Alex thought as Sam's car pulled to a stop beside a few others. She could see a few people gathering, curious about the baby Sam had called ahead about. She was already stiff with anger by the time she'd climbed out, Bobby-John held tightly in her arms. There was no way in hell, she'd already decided as Sam led she and Dean over to the gathered group, that she was going to let them so much as lay a finger on Bobby-John. She recognized a few from the djinn situation some time ago. Christian, one she didn't like. Mark, iffy. Gwen, somewhat okay.
Samuel, definitely not okay.
She stuck close to Dean, confident he would help keep the baby safe. Alex watched them all piercingly, hoping that they didn't know about her own situation. She bared her teeth a little when Gwen sauntered over and stroked Bobby-John's cheek without permission. "Well," she cooed, "aren't you just the best disguise a monster ever wore?"
"Watch it," Alex said darkly, and Dean gave her a look, too. He trusted the people around them about as much as Alex did, and the last thing they needed was them finding out about Alex. When Sam went to greet Samuel inside the compound, Alex and Dean reluctantly followed him. Alex tightened her arms around the baby, reluctant to let him go.
"What's our next move?" Sam asked Samuel, who watched the baby curiously with a furrow in his brow.
"I got a couple of ideas," Samuel said. "Here, Alex, let me see the little guy." Samuel extended his hands to take the baby. Alex recoiled, barley biting back the deep growl she nearly let loose. She glared at Samuel. Samuel rolled his eyes. "What do you think I'm going to do?"
"You really don't want me to answer that question," Dean told them.
Christian snorted, smirking at Alex in a way that made her want to drive a fist into his teeth. She really didn't like him, or any of the other Campbells. She threw Dean a desperate look, silently pleading that they just turn and leave, but before he could either confirm or deny that he'd go through with her request, Christian spoke. "Well, I'm curious. Who exactly do you think we are, Alex?"
Her gaze snapped to him. "Hunters," she said simply.
"Funny, here I've been thinking we're his family," he said, jerking his chin at Dean. "Then again. You're not family, right?"
"Hey, let's not get worked up," Sam said, stepping in. "Here, Alex, it's fine. Let me take him." Alex only stiffened, so Dean took over, waving his brother off.
"Hey," said Dean sharply, waiting until she'd looked him in the eye to continue. "We'll hand him over for now and then when we've finished the hunt, we'll come back. If we're lucky, we can find somewhere that'll be good for him, right? Bobby might know someone."
Alex's jaw worked furiously as she leveled him with a distressed look. Finally, she looked back to her charge. Bobby-John was peering at her with cute eyes, squealing at her, and it only made it hurt more when she rasped, "You swear you won't let him become target practice?" She ignored everyone else. Forget them, she wanted to declare. Out of all of those present...she trusted Dean alone.
He nodded curtly, so she pressed a fond kiss to the baby shapeshifter's head and passed him over. Her heart missed a beat when Dean reluctantly handed the baby over to Samuel, looking as if the action pained him. Alex curled her fingers into fists so tightly that she tore at the skin of her palms. "Hey there," Samuel said, bouncing Bobby-John a little on his hip. "You're a big fella, aren't ya? I haven't held one of these in a long time. Your mom was the tiniest. She was as bald as a cue ball."
Alex shifted back and forth, ready to snatch him away. She knew she could overpower Samuel with physical strength. The only question would be what would happen with the other hunters around. "What are you going to do with him while we finish hunting this shapeshifter?"
"Watch him. And you know, we could raise him," Samuel suggested.
That was the very last thing Alex wanted.
"...excuse me?" Dean said, looking as if he'd expected anything but that.
"It's dangerous out there for him," pointed out Samuel.
"And what about...what about while he's in here?" Alex demanded, her fists shaking at her side. She looked desperately to Sam. He was quietly watching all of this, not seeming to care. He'd be no help, so she stepped up to stand at Dean's side. "Are you going to hurt him?"
"Yeah," agreed Dean, and she was grateful for him backing her up. "You going to study him? Poke at him?"
Christian looked coldly at Dean. "Your mind goes straight to torture, Dean. Don't assume that for everyone." Dean glared at him, and Christian gave a careless shrug. "Sorry, I heard about what you majored in down in the Pit."
Alex felt a snarl bubbling up in her throat. "What the bloody hell," she snapped, bristling, "is your problem?"
"You're starting to become a pain in my ass," retorted Christian, glaring at her and then Dean, who was glaring right back at him. "You both are."
Sam frowned in disapproval at Christian, and then looked between him and the two bickering with him. "We all done bristling up here or what?" sighed Samuel with impatience. "Nobody's going to do anything to him, you two. When he's old enough, we throw it to him. He wants to volunteer to help out, that's fine."
"Could be great," mused Mark from where he stood nearby, watching the chaos unfold with folded arms. "Think of the kind of hunter he'll grow up to be. I mean, if you're anything to go by," he said, indicating Alex, who stilled. "He'll be pretty interesting."
"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Christian, and Alex turned an icy glare on him. Dean hissed her name pointedly.
"Come on, you can't have missed it," said Mark, arching a brow. "Look at her. She's something. No human would growl like she's been doing. What's your weakness, lady? Silver? Iron?"
"None of your bloody business," Alex said stiffly as Samuel turned a sharp look of interest on her. She really didn't like that, nor did she like the look that Christian was giving her. She bared her teeth at both of them, stepping closer to Dean. Dean didn't move, arms folded tightly over his chest. Her sharp gaze darted briefly to Bobby-John, as if to check on him. She suddenly felt as if she was back with him, the owner of the first name on her list, and shuddered at the memory of how he'd given her a similar look just hours before her partner had left and things had gone wrong.
"Why can't you give us just an inch of trust?" Samuel said suddenly, frowning at her. "You, too, Dean. We're family. We've not done anything to you. Either of you, even if you're not human." He cast Alex a suspicious look for that. Great, she wanted to cry. They knew now. A group of suspicious hunters knew she wasn't human.
"Maybe because you two," Dean said angrily, indicating Sam and then Samuel, "are suddenly back from the dead, and we seem to be the only people who want to know what the hell happened!"
"You're not the only one," said Sam in a hushed tone, "that wants to know."
"There's just a little too much mystery with this family for me to get comfy," finished Dean, scowling.
"Then don't! But don't put it on us. All we're trying to do is invite you in," Samuel said. Alex eyed him. He was like a snake, she thought. A snake that would "invite you in" and then turn and bite you the second you turned your back. "Christian. You and Arelene, still no luck on the baby front?"
Christian, in the midst of a staring contest with Dean, didn't take his eyes off of him as he said, "No."
"But you want one?" When Christian agreed, Samuel said, "Congrats, it's a boy. Sometimes." He handed the baby right over to Christian, who took him carefully. Alex didn't care that the snarl left her that time, her entire body locking up in her rage. For an instant, she considered ripping out Samuel's throat.
And then she suddenly fell quiet. Her head snapped around as Dean swore, furious with Samuel's decision, already protesting. A growl suddenly built in her throat as she heard something approaching, the sound building into something larger as barking came from dogs somewhere outside. Samuel glanced over at her, and then at the door. "Check the back door," he ordered quietly to Christian, taking Bobby-John from him. He in turn handed Bobby-John to Dean, who took the baby with care. Bobby-John snuffled curiously, looking puzzled by all of the passing around. "Downstairs panic room," Samuel said quietly to Dean. "He'll be safe there. Go. Now!"
Dean nodded, swiftly starting forward. Sam hurried after him and Alex shifted back and forth, debating where to go before darting after them. She'd stand guard outside of the panic room. She caught up with ease, yanking her blade free of its hiding place, and twirled it expertly in her grip as she jogged along beside them. Bobby-John whimpered in fear, but remained quiet.
Sam led them right to the panic room and ducked inside. Dean followed suit, and Alex took a deep breath before saying firmly, "I'll stay out here. Lock the door, don't come out."
"Alex," warned Sam, but Alex slammed the door shut without hesitation, whirling around and standing in a braced position before the door, her fingers tight around her knife.
She'd let someone touch that child over her dead body.
She listened to the sound of gunshots going off over their heads, her blue eyes watching the long hallway before her. She didn't move an inch when she heard a scream. Somewhere behind her, Sam and Dean were arguing in muffled voices about something she couldn't bring herself to pay attention to, for a figure appeared at the end of the hall.
Unease filled her when she realized a shapeshifter had taken the form of Sam. For as odd and untrustworthy as Sam was, she couldn't imagine hurting him. But within three steps, its form had changed and her stomach dropped in shock. It didn't shed any skin. Didn't leave a disgusting mess of flesh. Merely...shifted, and now she looked at herself.
"Move, skinwalker," snarled the shapeshifter, its eyes flashing with malice. "We have no argument with your kind. Besides." Its smirked. "Shouldn't you be doing as your Alpha commands?"
Alex jolted, her eyes flickering uncertainty. What? But she said nothing, instead brandishing her knife. The shapeshifter curled a lip - and then lunged at her. Alex swore loudly when it moved faster than she expected, slashing. Her knife connected briefly with its cheek, narrowly missing its eye. The shapeshifter howled when it burned at its skin, but ignored the pain in favor of grabbing Alex by the throat and hurling her against the wall.
Alex collided sharply enough that the breath was driven right out of her. She wheezed for air, clawing at her chest as she hit the ground hard on her side. A snarl escaped her, breathless, when the shapeshifter ripped the door off the hinges with ease. She scrambled for her knife, throwing herself to her feet as she swept into the room.
By the time she'd gotten there, the shapeshifter had already knocked Sam aside like he was nothing and had changed shapes again, taking on Dean's form. It had Dean cornered, a hand curled tightly around Dean's throat, and Dean was scowling at it, his arms tight around Bobby-John in a show of refusal to give him up. Alex growled, lurching forward when he ripped the baby right out of Dean's arms.
Bobby-John was shockingly quiet throughout the entire event, even when the shapeshifter threw Dean aside like he had Alex - as if the man weighed nothing, and it stunned her. Because even Alex found Dean Winchester heavy, and she had supernatural strength to back her up.
She braced herself in the doorway, tasting blood on her tongue from where she'd bitten through her lip. "No. You're not taking him," she growled, her voice ripping violently from her throat.
"Stop me," challenged the shapeshifter with a sneer.
She leveled her knife at him.
For a moment, no one moved. She heard Dean swearing on the ground as he crawled over to check on a groaning Sam. She didn't dare look at them. One wrong move would be her mistake - an action that would result in her death, more than likely. Alex gasped for breath, admittedly nervous in a way she'd never been about this shapeshifter. Because there was something different about this one; it was something they'd never seen before. To top it all off...now that she wasn't panicked and moving, she could smell him, and he was oh, so different from any other shapeshifter she'd come up against.
Something she wasn't so sure she'd win against.
So with a low moan of despair, Alex lowered her knife and reluctantly stepped aside, already feeling horrible about it.
The shapeshifter gave her a smile that made her feel even worse. "Good choice, skinwalker. Keep an ear out. Your Alpha will have orders for you soon enough."
That was the last thing she wanted, whatever it meant.
And then the shapeshifter was gone.
Dean stared at her in outrage and astonishment. "You just let him go?!"
"I couldn't have won," she said hoarsely. Her knees were quaking, threatening to buckle beneath her. "You couldn't smell him, Dean. Something...there was something about him that wasn't good at all."
Sam, sitting up with a grimace and touching his head, demanded, "What?"
Alex merely looked away, unable to provide an answer.
When Sam had recovered sufficiently, the three made their way upstairs, where Samuel, Christian, and Gwen were cleaning up. Alex's nostrils flared; she could smell the presence of death there. Someone had died. She just wasn't sure who when there was no taint of blood.
Samuel didn't seem surprised to find out that the baby had been lost to his father. Dean threw Alex angry looks when he explained an edited version of what had happened to Samuel, keeping quiet about some things and not about others. When Dean had finished, Samuel grimaced. "Well, I'm pretty sure it's not a myth now."
"Myth?" snapped Alex crankily. "What myth?"
Samuel glanced at her, holding her gaze a little coldly. "We think it may have been an Alpha."
Alex and Dean, who momentarily forgot his annoyance with her, exchanged a wide-eyed look, and Sam glanced at her, too. Alex was relieved when Sam chose not to say anything, instead nodding when Dean asked what Samuel meant: "An alpha, like…?"
"Like all monsters come from somewhere, right?" Samuel shifted his weight, face serious. "We're talking the king shapeshifter. The first one who spawned all the others. There's a ton of lore about it. It's why it was so strong - why nothing we had could stop it. And he said that he could find the baby anywhere. That he could feel it, like there was a connection. That's in the lore, too."
A chill went down Alex's spine, understanding immediately what she was being told.
If there was a shapeshifter Alpha, then there was more than likely a skinwalker Alpha, and whenever that Alpha wanted...they could very easily track her down.
Alex suddenly wished more than ever that she was a human.
"Thanks for the drop off," said Alex sincerely as she dragged her things out of Sam's back seat. She avoided looking at the car seat still back there. It only served to make her sad about the fact that they'd failed Bobby-John.
Dean was still a little unhappy with her, though he'd said nothing about it. Still, he looked a little concerned when he asked, "Hey, about what that shapeshifter said...you really think some Alpha's going to come calling on you since you're a skinwalker and all?"
Alex, very aware that Sam was curiously peering at her while simultaneously trying not to look like he was listening, said evenly, "I don't know. Other skinwalkers...they don't tend to like me, so maybe I'll be left alone. Or, if I'm very unlucky, and I happen to be that most of the time...they'll want to erase me from the living world and send me to-" She cut off.
They didn't need to hear about that. They didn't need to know what she knew - what she'd promised she'd keep quiet about.
"I better get going," she said quietly, ignoring the pointed look she was receiving. "Be safe, and make sure you don't get under your girlfriend's skin too much, Winchester. Bye, Sam!"
"See you," said Sam, giving a small wave without looking up from what he was doing after losing interest.
Alex rolled her eyes and wandered over to her vehicle, unlocking the door. When she climbed in, she sat there for a moment, taking a deep, unsteady breath.
Something told her that they weren't done with Alphas.
But...there were other things to worry about, like making sure her most recently acquired trail didn't go cold, so Alex started the car, prayed to the heavens above that things would go well, and was on her way.
An update! This is one of my favorite episodes in the show, to be honest. On that note...we get to see some interesting interactions next chapter/episode. ;)
Thanks so much to the reivewers (Savage Kill, Kaikitty165, Trench gun, Mo, and Sidhe13!) as well as those who favorited and followed! I truly appreciate it! :)