Phantom Traveler
Emilia cuddled into Dean's side, tangling her legs into his. The huntress peaked her head over to see if her daughter was cozy on the opposite bed, in the motel room they slept in for the night.
Seeing that Zoe was still sound asleep, Em laid her head on Dean's back.
The couple always found themselves in weird positions when they slept. One night, Em woke up to Dean using her bottom as a pillow. The other night, Em had her face on top of Dean's.
It was now early in the morning, just past sunrise. It was quiet. But then, Dean heard a click, the front door was being opened by someone.
Dean opened his eyes to make sure his kid and lady was okay, they were still asleep. As the door opened, Dean became more alert and slipped a hand under his pillow for a weapon.
When he turned to look, he saw Sam entering the room, carrying coffee and pastries.
"Morning, sunshine," Sam greeted his brother with a small smile.
With Dean moving around, Emilia slowly woke up. She groaned. Both brothers were quiet for a moment, the both of them aware that Em was not a morning person.
Em moved like a zombie, without a 'good morning' being said to anyone, the young mother went to the bathroom. The brothers exhaled once Em locked the restroom door.
"What time is it?" Dean asked.
"Uh, it's about five forty-five."
"In the morning?" The older Winchester rolled his eyes. He hated early mornings.
"Yep."
"Where does the day go?" Dean sat up in his bed. He looked at the bed in front of him to Zoe cuddled to her teddy bear. "I see my baby's still asleep."
Sam smirked. "It's tough getting her to go to bed."
Dean laughed. "Had some trouble last night?"
Sam shook his head. "She went to bed after a cup of milk."
The older Winchester snapped his fingers at Sam, showing him some praise. "That's the way to go, when she can't sleep, milk is what you give her! She's out in ten minutes...tops. Don't tell Em that though."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"She doesn't want Zoe to get 'milk drunk' before bed, something about a dry mouth and pee," Dean explained, waving his hand as a dismissal to the conversation. "Did you get any sleep last night?"
"Yeah, I grabbed a couple hours."
"Liar. 'Cause I was up at three, and you were watching a George Foreman infomercial."
"Hey, what can I say? It's riveting TV."
Dean eyed his little brother. "When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"
"I don't know, a little while, I guess. It's not a big deal."
"Yeah, it is."
"Look, I appreciate your concern—" Sam tried to say.
"Oh, I'm not concerned about you. It's your job to keep my ass alive, so I need you sharp."
Sam shrugged.
"Seriously, are you still having nightmares about Jess?"
Sam walked a crossed the room to sit on the opposite bed, where Zoe was still asleep. He handed a coffee to Dean.
"Yeah. But it's not just her. It's everything. I just forgot, you know? This job. Man, it gets to you."
Dena shook his head. "You can't let it. You can't bring it home like that."
"So, what? All this it...never keeps you up at night?" Sam asked, aware of something Dean didn't know he was aware of. "Never? You're never afraid?"
"No, not really," Dean answered before taking a sip of coffee.
Sam reached under Dean's pillow to pull out a large hunting knife and held it up as evidence.
Dean took the knife back. "That's not fear. That is precaution." The order brother looked around him. "Who told you that was under there anyway?"
"Em."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Traitor."
"You know, I'm too tired to argue with you," Sam told his brother before his eyes trained on his niece. Zoe blinked, her brown eyes fluttering open. "Hey, zozo."
"Hi," The little girl mumbled with a small smile. Zoe slowly got up, he little body crawled over to her uncle. Her arms wrapped around his neck. Sam returned the hug. "Uncle Sam, sleepy sleepy."
"You saying I look tired?" Zoe nodded.
Just then, Emilia walked out of the bathroom, her hair combed and her face free from tiredness.
"Zoella!" Em called out happily. The three year old crawled out of bed to run to her mother. Em picked up her daughter, spinning her around.
Dean was on the phone, he looked back at the two with a small smile. "Yeah, Jerry, we'll be on our way."
The older Winchester eyed his toddler. "Zoella Claire Winchester, you mad at daddy?"
The toddler, still on her mother's hip, shook her head. "No, daddy!"
"Noooo, daddy," Dean mocked. He walked up to his girlfriend to grab his daughter from her, just to give Zoe a kiss and tight hug. "How did my princess sleep?"
"Good!"
"Good," Dean said.
Sam watched the two, it always amazed him to see Dean like that.
"So, what's up, Dean," Sam asked him. Dean turned around and shrugged.
"Looks like we got a case, we need to head to Pennsylvania."
Emilia rolled her eyes, "On the road again."
Dean looked at his girl, he leaned in to give her a soft kiss. "On the road again."
~Supernatural~
"Thanks for making the trip so quick. I ought to be doing you guys a favor, not the other way around. Dean and your dad really helped me out," Jerry, the guy who had the ghost problem some years back, thanked them.
"Yeah, he told me. It was a poltergeist?"
"Poltergeist? Man, I loved that movie," some random worker said.
"Hey, nobody's talking to you. Keep walking. Damn right it was a poltergeist, practically tore our house apart. Tell you something, if it wasn't for you and your dad, I probably wouldn't be alive. Your dad said you were off at college. Is that right?"
"Yeah, I was. I'm—taking some time off," Sam told him.
"Well, he was real proud of you. I could tell. He talked about you all the time," Jerry mentioned to Sam.
"He did?" Sam seemed surprised.
"Yeah, you bet he did. Oh, hey, you know I tried to get a hold of him, but I couldn't. How's he doing, anyway?"
"He's, um, wrapped up in a job right now." Dean told him.
"Well, we're missing the old man, but we get Sam. Even trade, huh?"
Dean laughed.
"No, not by a long shot." Sam said.
Jerry looked behind to see Emilia walking with them. The toddler, Zoe, was on her mother's hip. Jerry recommended that Zoe wear a helmet on her head before coming into the factory.
"Last time I saw the little one, she was barely a year old. Now look at her, they grow fast, don't they?"
Dean looked back at Em and Zoe. He smirked. "That's right. She's a big girl now."
"I got something I want you guys to hear," Jerry said, getting focused on the reason why they were here.
They were inside his office. Sam was standing while Dean sat beside his girls on the small couch.
"I listened to this. And, well, it sounded like it was up your alley." Jerry put a CD in a drive. "Normally I wouldn't have access to this. It's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia flight 2485. It was one of ours."
The recording: "Mayday! Mayday! Repeat! This is United Britania 2485—immediate instruction help! United Britanis 2485, I copy your message—May be experiencing some mechanical failure...
There is a loud whooshing sound."
Jerry shook his head. "Took off from here, crashed about two hundred miles south. Now, they're saying mechanical failure. Cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people on board. Only seven got out alive. Pilot was one. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine. Chuck is, uh...well, he's pretty broken up about it. Like it was his fault."
"You don't think it was?" Emilia asked.
"No, I don't."
"Jerry, we're gonna need passenger manifests, um, a list of survivors," Sam listed.
"Alright."
"And, uh, any way we can take a look at the wreckage?" Dean asked.
"The other stuff is no problem. But the wreckage...fellas, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way I've got that kind of clearance."
Dean frowned. "No problem."
~Supernatural~
Sam was waiting by the car outside a Copy Jack.
Emilia walked down the street to get Zoe a popsicle. She rolled her eyes when she saw Sam still waiting outside.
"Look! Look, Uncle Sam!" Zoe exclaimed, reaching her arm out to Sam. He grabbed her. Her sticky fingers wrapped around his neck.
The younger Winchester looked at his niece, he gave her a goofy grin. "Your hands are dirty."
Just then, Dean came out of the store. Em and Sam sighed with relief.
"It's about damn time," Emilia said to her boyfriend.
"You've been in there forever." Sam complained.
Dean held up two IDs. "You can't rush perfection."
Emilia immediately noticed the number of fake IDs Dean held in his hand and scoffed. "Ruh Roh, Raggy, where's mine? Am I not hunting this time? Am I not on the case?"
Dean handed Sam the cards. The older Winchester grabbed Em's hand, pulling her closer. "Babe, shouldn't you focus on zozo? I mean...we all can't be on a case."
Emilia glared at him. She scoffed. "I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."
"Homeland Security?" Sam asked, reading the IDs. "That's pretty illegal, even for us." Sam walked around the car to put Zoe in her car seat before walking back over to the passengers side.
"Yeah, well, it's something new. You know? People haven't seen it a thousand times." Dean told his brother. "Alright, so, what do you got?"
"Em said she found some EVP on the cockpit voice recorder."
"Yeah?" Dean smirked. When he looked back at his girl, she was still glaring at him. She rolled her eyes before training her gazes outside of her window.
"Listen." Sam said before playing the tape, which has been edited to pull out a scratchy voice.
The recording: "No survivors!"
"'No survivors'? What's that supposed to mean? There were seven survivors."
"Got me."
"So, what are you thinking? A haunted flight?"
Sam shrugged. "There's a long history of spirits and death omens on planes and ships, like phantom travelers."
"Mm-hmm," Dean sounded. He didn't really focus on what Sam was saying, he really was trying to figure out if his girlfriend was going to be mad at him all day.
"Or remember flight 401?"
"Right. The one that crashed, the airline salvaged some of its parts, put it in other planes, then the spirit of the pilot and copilot haunted those flights."
"Right."
"Yep."
"Maybe you guys have a similar deal," Emilia said, her eyes on Sam.
"Alright, so, survivors, which one should we talk to first?"
"Third on the list, Max Jaffey," Emilia said, passing Sam the survivors list and her notes.
"Why him?"
Sam sighed, reading over Em's notes. "Well, for one, he's from around here. And two, if anyone saw anything weird, he did."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, I spoke to his mother," Emilia said with a sigh.
~Supernatural~
They stood in that lobby at the Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital.
Somehow, Dean convinced Sam to stay in the car with Zoe while he and Em questioned Max.
Emilia stood there, tapping her feet as the receptionist grabbed Max Jaffey's file.
"You know, you didn't have to drag me in here to make me less mad at you," Emilia informed her boyfriend. "After what happened with Sam, you asked me to stay. So, now what? You want me to sit back and take care of our daughter? It's a joint effort, Dean. She's your kid too."
"You don't think I know that?"
"You tell me," Emilia scoffed as she crossed her arms. "It's just some days...I feel like I'm doing this by myself...when I have you and Sam to help me."
Dean nodded, he grabbed her hand. "I get it. I'll sit back more and take care of her."
Before Emilia could respond, the receptionist came back. She smiled at Dean. "Right this way."
~Supernatural~
Max was walking with a cane between Em and Dean. The traumatized man was confused, he went over his story already...why again?
"I don't understand. I already spoke with Homeland Security."
"Right. Some new information has come up. So if you could just answer a couple questions..." Dean said, getting straight to the point.
"Max, just before the plane went down, did you notice anything...unusual? Completely abnormal?" Emilia asked. Her brown eyes softened, she couldn't imagine what must have been going through this stranger's head.
"Like what?"
Dean glanced at Em then back at Max. "Strange lights, weird noises, maybe. Voices."
He shook his head. "No, nothing."
"Mr. Joffey—"
"Jaffey." Max corrected the hunter. Em smirked. She thought the sass was absolutely perfect.
"Jaffey. You checked yourself in here, right?" The patient nodded. "Can I ask why?"
"I was a little stressed. I survived a plane crash."
Dean eyed. He knew Max was not giving him the real reason. "Uh huh. And that's what terrified you? That's what you were afraid of?"
"I...I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"See, I think maybe you did see something up there. We need to know what."
"No. No, I was...delusional. Seeing things."
Dean scoffed and looked at his girlfriend. "He was seeing things." He mocked.
Em sighed. She walked over to Max and sat beside him. "It's okay. Then just tell us what you thought you saw, please."
"There was...this—man. And, uh, he had these...eyes—these, uh...black eyes. And I saw him—or I thought I saw him..."
"What?" Dean asked as he grew impatient.
"He opened the emergency exit. But that's...that's impossible, right? I mean, I looked it up. There's something like two tons of pressure on that door."
"Yeah." Dean was lost for words.
Em pulled out her notepad. "This man, uh, did he seem to appear and disappear rapidly? It would look something like a mirage?"
"What are you, nuts?" Max asked. Emilia tilted her head, waiting for a response.
"He was a passenger. He was sitting right in front of me."
Emilia looked over at Dean. This was not something she was use to, so this overall case was going to be something to remember.
~Supernatural~
"How come daddy and Uncle Sam get to get new clothes?" Zoe whined, kicking the back of the drivers seat. Emilia was standing outside waiting for the boys to come out of the store with their new suits.
"Because Daddy and Sam have to go look at plane parts, remember?"
"We waits on them?" Zoe asked just before grabbing her bratz doll, Sasha.
"Yes."
Zoe gasped dramatically and gave her mother sad eyes. "But...but we goes to the park! Remember mama?"
Emilia leaned over Zo's window and sighed. "We will, munchkin. But not today. This case is important. Don't you want to be a big girl? If not for me, for daddy and Sam?"
"For pop pop?" Zo asked, referring to her grandfather John. Em gave her little girl a sad smile.
"Yeah, bugs, for pop pop too."
Em sighed just as Dean and Sam exit the store, "Mort's for Style", wearing crisp black suits with white shirts. Sam adjusted his collar as he walked up to the impala.
"Ooouuu, looking sharp, boys," Em teased the brothers.
"Man, I look like one of the Blues Brothers." Dean complained, definitely feeling out of his comfort zone. Emilia laughed as she reached to fix Dean's collar.
"No, you don't. You look more like a...seventh-grader at his first dance." Sam teased.
"Sam, don't make fun of your brother," Em looked over at Zoella. "How does your daddy look?"
Dean smiled seeing Zo eye him. "What do you think Ella? Does daddy look like the Prince you've been waiting for?"
Zoella shook her head and giggled, "No daddy! Uncle Sam is the prince and you just my daddy."
Dean looked down at himself and over to Em and Sam. "I hate this thing. And apparently so does my kid."
"Hey. You want into that warehouse or not?"
Dean rolled his eyes and walked over to the driver's side. He started the Impala with Sam already sitting shotgun. And Em and Zo in the back.
As Dean was driving, he looked at his daughter through the rear view mirror. "And Zo, I'm going to say this once. You listening, Zoella Claire?"
Assuming she was in trouble, the toddler pouted. "Yes, daddy?"
Dean stared at her with seriousness. "No boys until you're 55." Zo started smiling again.
"Okay, no boys. Boys yucky!"
Dean nodded. "That's what I like to hear."
~Supernatural~
"Twinkle twinkle little star..." Zoella was singing her favorite song of the week, but did not seem to pass that one phrase. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.."
"Honey," Em said softly as her hands tighten around the stirring wheel. "There's more parts to that song"
"I knows mommy, but I's like just that part." She took a sip from her silly cup. "When's they coming back?"
"Soon"
Zo shook her head. "But pop pop said that too... he's not back."
"Zo..." Em turned around in her seat to look at her baby. "Listen, we're gonna find him and bring him home. Okay?"
"Okay..."
Suddenly, an alarm from the warehouse went off. "Shit!" Em shouted as she started the car, waiting for the boys. "Zo, mommy didn't say shit"
The little girl giggled, "yes she did."
"Oh hurry up boys," Emilia was getting anxious. She grabbed her gun, getting ready to go in. But as soon as she opens the driver's door, she sees them coming out. "Oh thank God"
"Em, go go go go..." Dean shouted. Em quickly drove off as soon as Sam closed the back seat door.
She looked at both of the brothers, "well that was close."
