Chapter 7

Alison didn't know how to feel when Dean said they were 10 minutes out. She was nervous and anxious at the prospect of entering an unknown environment, but she was also reluctantly looking forward to not sleeping in a motel room anymore. She tried to desperately keep herself calm as they approached the bunker.

The car ride had been surprisingly enjoyable. Dean's music was similar to her tastes and they had a lot of fun annoying Sam, who ended up plugging in his earphones. The tension present in the beginning of the ride had melted away by the third Metallica track, and Alison had finally relaxed after all the excitement of the previous day. But now she felt all her emotions crowding her, bombarding her senses as the distance between them and her new home continued to shrink. Temporary new home, she reminded herself.

Dean noticed her little freak out session in the backseat but decided against pulling over. He knew that if he gave her the slightest chance, she'd run, even if deep down she wanted this. So, he just continued driving and hoped that she would have an easier time once they arrived and she had a chance to unwind.

The bunker came into view just a few minutes later and Dean winced as he belatedly realised how this abandoned building would look to a stranger like Alison. He didn't exactly see any option other than to get her inside the bunker and re-affirm that she's safe, so he pulled up in front of the huge building as Alison took in her surroundings.

"This is your home?" she sounded skeptical, but not afraid which Dean took as a good sign.

"It was an old men of letters bunker and since they were all wiped out in the 50s, as legacies, we took over. Our grandfather was a member." Sam had already jumped into nerd mode and started explaining who the men of letters were, so Dean figured his brother could handle Alison and busied himself with unlocking the front door.

Alison walked down the steps still not exactly sure this was as awesome as Dean had described in the car, but then the entirety of the bunker came into view and she looked around in awe. Sam and Dean exchanged looks of barely contained glee as they saw the young hunter excitedly explore the place. This was probably the most animated they had seen her in their short time together. She actually looked and acted like a kid and Dean's heart ached at the unfamiliar sight.

"This is amazing! You guys have your own freaking bat cave!"

Sam started to explain everything to Alison and Dean took this opportunity to go in search of their resident angel. With a quick word to his brother, letting him know where he was going, Dean made his way to Cas's room leaving Alison and Sam to nerd it out.

He knocked on Cas's door but heard no response. Worried, he twisted the handle to find it unlocked. He opened the door completely and stopped in his tracks, smiling wryly at the sight that greeted him. Cas had apparently taken Sam's suggestion to heart. He was lounging in what looked like Dean's sweatpants and hoodie, with Netflix playing on the TV he had apparently dragged from Sam's room to his own. Cas himself was sound asleep, the dim light from the TV letting Dean see the drool on his face. He snickered quietly and took out his phone to click a picture.

Although Cas looked better than before, Dean was still worried about his friend. Just the fact that he needed to sleep was enough to tell him that Cas wasn't at full strength, despite his claim that he was better. He contemplated waking the angel up and introducing him to Alison but decided against it. He looked relaxed for the first time in days and Dean couldn't find it in his heart to disturb him just yet.

After taking a couple of more pictures, for blackmail material of course, Dean finally left Cas to rest, closing the door lightly behind him. Instead of joining Sam, he decided to make up a room for Alison and hunt down some food. He chose the room right in front of his, so that if she had any problem, she could come straight to him. He also realised at that particular moment that he cared more about this girl than he did for his privacy and it was a little jarring for Dean Winchester. He knew Sammy would probably make fun of him for it, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

He made his way back to the war room after making sure Alison's room had everything she could need, and realised that Sam had moved on to the library where Alison was currently exclaiming over all the different books, seemingly over her hesitation of staying with them.

"Well, Cas is asleep and I think your room is missing a TV. And possibly some clothes. He was lounging in sweats which is a first. But at least he looked better," Dean said to Sam.

"I thought angels didn't sleep?" Alison turned to Dean, still at ease, which made him less anxious about having her there. Maybe it would just work after all.

"Usually they don't. Cas… he already wasn't at full strength but then this witch Rowena put a rabid dog curse on him – it's a whole thing, I'll explain later. But he was pretty wiped out and I guess he's still recovering. He doesn't look near death anymore though, which is good."

"I'm more surprised that he's actually wearing something other than his usual look," Sam snorted.

"Yeah, I don't think we've ever seen him wearing normal clothes besides that one time when he was human – it's a long story," he said before Alison could ask.

"You'll tell me later I presume," she said wryly, echoing his previous statement, "You guys have a lot of long stories."

"What can I say? Our lives are interesting," Dean grinned. "Come on, I'll show you to your room."

He walked her through the bunker, showing her the common washrooms, the kitchen and pointing out his and Sam's rooms.

"And this," he pushed open the door, "is yours. You can personalise it if you want. I'm right next door and Sam's is right down the hall so, holler if you need anything."

Alison looked inside and suddenly the overwhelming feeling came back. Her own room. For the first time in her life she had a place she could call her own, albeit temporarily, she had to keep reminding herself.

"Thanks," she said, and if she sounded a little choked up, Dean mercifully didn't mention it.

"Settle in and get some rest kiddo," he nodded at her, "Cas will probably be up in an hour or so… you can meet him then."

He hesitated at the door. "Have you… did you change your mind?" he cleared his throat roughly, "about Cas and the… thing I mean."

"I… I don't know Dean. Maybe later. It's already too much right now."

She felt awful when he visibly deflated, cursing herself for hurting someone who had been nothing but kind to her.

"Yeah, alright. No problem, kid. Just – let me know if you change your mind."

He quickly left the room after that.

Alison was pacing her new room. She couldn't get over the defeated look on Dean's face. She knew he wouldn't show it, but he too really wanted to get it over with. If she was being honest with herself, so did she. She was just scared.

The more Sam reiterated the idea, the stronger it grew in her head. At first, she had laughed at the mere implication that Dean Winchester could be her biological father, but then she started building it up in her head, and now she honestly needed to know. Because now she wasn't sure it was a joking matter, after all.

But for a person like her to even begin to grasp the idea of family was too much. She wasn't scared of whatever the results could be. She could do worse in that area. What scared her was whatever came after – after finding out the truth. She once again felt anger rising for her mother. If only she had been honest, this wouldn't be happening. But then again, Sandra Williams was hardly ever honest.

Could she be happy here? It was safe, she had access to food. It was a home base – everything she had dreamed of having in the last few years since she had been alone. And rationally, she knew Sam and Dean wouldn't hurt her – at least not intentionally. She usually took much longer to trust someone but there was just something about them that made her feel… safe. Something she hadn't felt with anyone in a long time.

So maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She was pretty sure they wouldn't pressure her to do anything she wasn't comfortable with – Sam had reassured her of that much already. And maybe she would finally have someone to look out for her and in return she could look out for them.

She started pacing more furiously as she went over multiple scenarios in her head, overthinking every little detail. Family equalled hurt and pain in her head. And for Alison, it had always been difficult to win against her head. She remembered when she used to believe in her mother, before she had realised that she was just a burden to her – someone she got saddled with and had no choice but to drag around. She hadn't stopped hunting when Alison was born, in fact she had thrown herself more into it. Her recklessness was what had finally done her in. Alison had mostly been left with the neighbours or cheap babysitters when she was younger, before her mother decided that she was old enough to survive without supervision. She had been 6 at the time.

She had figured out how to survive by herself and she was good at it. She didn't mind being alone, but she also craved affection, which created a weird juxtaposition of want and need inside her, that she mostly tried to bury deep down. The past week had thrown her life into a complete frenzy and all her defence mechanisms seemed useless at that moment.

Before she could spiral further, Sam knocked at her door, to fetch her for dinner. She visibly reigned herself in, but Sam didn't comment once – just gave her an understanding smile. All these little instances were piling inside her head – how kind the Winchesters were to her and how much they seemed to care about her, making her crave that connection with them that she was too scared to allow herself to form.

"Cas is up. He's in the kitchen with Dean, so you can meet him now," Sam said as he started leading the way to the kitchen. Alison's steps faltered behind him. He paused and looked back at her,

"Hey, it's alright. Cas is not gonna hurt you and we'll be there the entire time," Sam tried to console her.

"I know… I think I'm just realising that I'm about to meet an actual angel," she squeaked, forgetting everything else for a minute.

Sam smiled at that. He remembered how overwhelmed he had been when he'd first met Cas, although the meeting hadn't been a great one. He and Dean sometimes forgot that having an angelic best friend was not common for everyone else.

"You'll be fine. Cas isn't like other angels – for one, he isn't a complete dick," Sam laughed as he continued with Alison in tow.

"Easy for you to say. I have never even met an angel before!" This easy camaraderie with the brothers was what was pushing her to get over her fears and Alison could feel that pull again – the need to find out more.

"Well, you're about to in a minute. Come on," Sam gently pushed her in front of him, guiding her to the kitchen.

She saw Dean first, who was handing a cup of coffee to, she presumed, Castiel. Cas wasn't what she imagined he would be. He didn't seem intimidating. He had a ridiculous case of bedhead going on and it looked like Dean was in mother-hen mode again, as Cas was wearing a blanket around his shoulders that he didn't seem too happy about.

Dean turned to her and smiled, gesturing for her to take a seat as he put the final touches to the pasta he'd whipped up.

"Well, looks like it's introduction time! Alison, this is our best friend and resident angel – Castiel. Cas, this is Alison," Dean grinned as Cas tried to awkwardly shake Alison's hand.

"It's really good to meet you Alison. I understand that you're looking for some answers I may be able to provide. I hope I can be of assistance," Cas's voice was very deep, which surprised Alison. She weakly smiled back at him, not entirely comfortable with the subject.

"Ah, yes. We're gonna take a rain-check on that bud. You're not at full strength yet and I don't want you to derail your recovery," Dean didn't want to put Alison on the spot and say she didn't want to find out yet. The kid had been through enough.

"Dean, I'm fine," Cas said, annoyance clear in his voice, "It barely requires me to do anything. I just need to look at her soul."

"My soul?" Alison squeaked, but no one heard her because Dean was suddenly almost yelling.

"Wait, wait, wait! Look at her soul? Like what you did to that boy, and to Sam when he was soulless? Yeah, that's not happening."

"Sam was what?" her voice was even more high-pitched now but again, she was ignored.

"No Dean. I don't need to touch her soul to recognise it. I merely need to look at it carefully, with her permission of course. I'm very familiar with your soul, I would recognise a piece of it anywhere," Cas assured in a soothing voice. Dean was now looking away, embarrassed and Alison wondered what was going on there. She turned to Sam – confusion clear on her face. He just shook his head, exasperated. Clearly, he had been stuck watching this dance for a long time.

"Yeah, alright. As long as there's no soul touching involved. That isn't pleasant from what I've seen. And look, there's no rush alright? You need to rest a little more and Alison needs some time to adjust," Dean said much more calmly now that he knew he wouldn't be subjecting Alison to excruciating pain.

Cas was clearly rearing up to argue with Dean about his ability to perform the task, regardless of his recovery, when Alison spoke from behind them.

In that split second, she decided that it was no use putting it off until later. She would either drive herself crazy or talk herself out of it entirely and run away from the only safe place she knew.

"Alright. Do it."

Everyone stopped talking immediately, which unnerved Alison to no end, but she steeled herself against the scrutiny. This was it. This was her choice.

"Let's do this," she repeated, nodding for good measure.

Dean looked at her for a good minute, then nodded to Cas, clenching his fists even as Sam moved to stand beside him and Cas came to stand in front of where Alison was sitting.

She exhaled sharply as she felt his palm touch her forehead. It was show time.