I reach out and touch him at the shoulder, just making sure, he's really there. "Mitch? You're alive?"
And with that, the tears start streaming. "I thought you were dead! I thought I'd lost you too! I..." My voice breaks and just look at him.
There are grey hairs on his head that I've never seen before. A new scar has joined the ones he already had on his face. He looks older than the last time I saw him. Which, I guess, makes sense, it's been more than a year.
God, I've almost forgotten how much I miss him.

Mitch gets up and basically pulls me to ma feet too. "Hey, are you crying?"
"Yeah." I sniff and wipe some tears from my face.
"What? I can't hear you?"
"Yes, sir;" I say, louder. Out of the corner of my eye I see Sam and Dean, both guns now pointed at the ground, a bewildered and grim look on their faces.
"What did I tell you about crying?" He puts both hands on my shoulders and sternly looks me in the eyes.
"Not to."
"And why is that?"
I know the answer by heart. He's hammered the words into our skulls for years. "Because crying means you let your emotions take control of you. And if emotions control a hunter, they make bad decisions. And if a hunter makes bad decisions, people die."

"So, are you going to keep crying?"
I shake my head, tears still streaming down my face, and weakly answer "No."
"Excuse me?" his tone is still harsh.
"No, sir!" For a second I stop crying. I try to stop my lower lip from trembling, clench my fists as hard as I can.

And then, Mitch's face relaxes and he smiles at me. That warm and friendly smile I have missed so much. "Or, you know, we could get a hot chocolate and talk?"
"Yes, please," I fully give in to the tears and feel every wall I've put up inside me the past year trembling and falling, "Yes, I'd love that."
Mitch reaches down, takes my hands and tenderly unfurls my fingers. My nails are bloody and have carved red circles into the palms of my hands. He carefully traces his thumbs over the red marks before pulling me in for a hug. I'm crying and sobbing into his shoulder and he's just holding me.
"Uh, just one thing. You think those two nice gentlemen are going to kill me anytime soon?"
Through the tears, I chuckle a bit and pull away from Mitch, just enough to look at the brothers. "No, I don't think so. Right?"
Both their faces are unmoving, cold and distanced. Sam lightly shakes his head and puts away his gun. I raise an eyebrow at Dean and he slowly does the same.
I turn back to Mitch and look at him again. "You're alive. You're really alive. I thought you were dead, I didn't hear anything from you and I... I lost her and I thought I'd lost you too and... Oh God, I'm so glad you're alive." I'm still ugly-crying but I don't care.
"So she really is dead?"
I nod and he looks to the ground.
"I was hoping that the rumors were untrue, that she's still... Oh, pumpkin, I'm so sorry."
Usually, I'd complain about the nickname, but for now, I'll let it slide.
I snuffle and he pulls me in for another hug.
"You think these two will get us hot chocolate?"
Through the tears I manage to laugh slightly.
Fuck. I didn't think this would still be so hard. But Mitch being here, it just opens the flood gates. I feel weak and tired and just sink back to the ground, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Mitch sits down next to me.
"Then I guess we'll just have to talk without the Kaba."
I nod and take a deep breath. "Mitch, she... She's dead. They killed her."
I bury my head in my hands, trying to stop crying. It doesn't work. Mitch strokes my back and just waits for me to keep talking. He and I both know that I have to get all of this out of my system or it'll keep eating away at me.
"They burnt her, Mitch. And I-" a sob interrupts me. "I never got to say goodbye and I don't even know if she was dead when they burnt her, I don't even know if she suffered, I don't even..."
I have to stop for a second, take a deep breath. My eyes are still fixed to the ground so I don't know how the others are reacting. Mitch's hand stops for the fraction of a second though.
Slowly, I look up. "I bought the apartment. I've been saving for so long and I finally made it, I bought it and I was on my way to tell her. To tell her that we could finally have our own place with heat and water and our own shower and..."
Reaching into my shirt, I pull out my necklace and the golden ring attached to it. "Mitch, I bought the ring too."
"You did?"
Nodding, I snuffle again, "yeah, I did. I was gonna ask her, but... They killed her."
"Who did?"
"The Brits. The Men of Letters."
"Oh, pumpkin, I'm so sorry." He pulls me closer to him, my head now resting on his shoulder again.
He senses that there's more. Something I'm not telling him. He always knows when I'm not telling him stuff. "Did they do something to you too?"
Before answering I think about what I'll say. If I should even say anything. I don't want to worry him. "Nothing that would leave a scar."
Mitch pushes me away a little, just enough so that he can look me in the eyes. "What did they do?"
"They couldn't prove that I'm anything but human," I shrug, "so they had to let me go eventually."
"What. Did. They. Do?" His voice is cold. I know that tone. It's usually reserved for the people he's about to kill.
"I'm okay, Mitch. Really. I'm fine. I always am, right?"
"Yeah, that's my fucking problem."
For a second, I don't answer.
"When they let me go, I tried to find you, but I couldn't. After a while I just assumed you were dead too. I went back to school for a few weeks but... The apartment was way too big for me alone, especially without any furniture. So I went on hunts. And then I came here." I realize, I'm not crying anymore. I feel calm and exhausted.
"I had some hunters after me, pumpkin. I had to go dark. And when I got rid of them, I couldn't find you guys. Why'd you come to the US?"

With a small smile on my lips, I point at Dean and Sam, still standing there, frozen, watching us. "Because I found my father. And my uncle."

Mitch gets up and takes a few steps toward the brothers and grabs Sam by the collar of his shirt. Sam is tall as hell, but Mitch isn't that much smaller. Sam tenses up and pulls his gun back out and Dean points his at Mitch's head.
"You're the asshole, that left her?" He almost growls at Sam.
"Mitch? Wrong guy. Plus, he didn't leave me, he never even know I existed."
Mitch lets go of Sam and takes a few steps to look at Dean. I only see half of his face, but I know he has the expression that usually accompanies that cold voice I got to experience a few seconds ago.
Mitch is taller than Dean. Slightly. But he's towering over the slouched down Winchester, his eyes narrowed looking down on him.
And then he just scoffs and turns back to me.
"Okay, pumpkin, I know we should talk, catch up a bit, but we still have a werewolf to kill. I was trying to help him, but he had anger issues long before he became a Bitten."
Mitch reaches down and helps me up. I wipe away the tears and snot on my face with my flannel's sleeve.
"That's what Mitch does," I say, smiling at Sam and Dean, "he helps newly bitten lycanthropes. That's how I met him, he helped Maya a few years back. I mean, she was pretty good at keeping it in by herself, but he had some really great tips and also helped us with hunting and stuff and..." I let my voice trail off. The Winchesters look a little pissed.
I don't know if they're pissed at me or Mitch or both.
Whatever.
We do have a werewolf to take care of.
"Okay, let's go."