Don't you tell me to deny it
I've done wrong and I wanna suffer for my sins
I've come to you cause I need guidance to be true
And I just don't know where I can begin
What I need is a good defense
Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal
Criminal by Fiona Apple
10. Going Rogue
Central City, Missouri
It was early in the morning, the sun rays had barely lit up Hayley's apartment through the big window front when Mike reached his arm out to the bedside next to him, smiling from cheek to cheek. He hadn't even opened his eyes fully before he noticed there was no one there next to him and his smile slowly faded.
"Hayley?" He called out through the apartment, but only heard his echo come back. "Hon?"
It was way past 8AM when she snuck back through the front door. The sweet smell of pancakes and maple syrup reached her nose as she came to a halt in her living room.
Mike was up, making breakfast. As a bartender he usually tended to sleep way past noon and she was surprised to see him up already. But then again, he wasn't just a bartender anymore, he wanted to be a hero – just like her. And getting up early seemed to be part of it.
"Heeeey….you're up really early," Hayley said, the guilt and surprise clearly noticeable in her voice. Mike raised a brow at her, setting the pan he was holding aside. "I brought us coffee." She held up two disposable cups and reached one over to Mike.
"Yeah, we have training today, remember?" He asked her with a serious look on his face. "What? You figured I wouldn't notice you sneaking out?" He asked her, hiding his grin. She had always been a bad liar.
"Sneak out? What, me? Noooo…I was just going for a run, you know, coffee…" she mumbled as she took a sip from her cup, practically tying herself in knots – at least that's what her stomach felt like.
He looked her up and down, chuckling and shaking his head. "Really? In your suit?" He teased her and she frowned as she looked down on herself.
Dammit, she thought.
"'Cause I've been watching the news this morning and the lady on TV thinks you've been pretty busy," Mike said and grabbed the remote control of the TV, turning up its volume.
"And in other news today, the Flash stopped three bank robbers earlier this morning while simultaneously putting out a fire four blocks away…," a female reporter's voice echoed through her tiny apartment before Mike muted it again, giving her a look.
"Looks like you've had a pretty busy morning already," Mike stated, crossing his arms in front of his chest, waiting for her to crumble.
"Oh, that! Yeah, I was just in the neighborhood. No big deal," Hayley lied and he threw her another look as she chewed on her bottom lip.
"Looks like you could have needed some help," Mike said, trying to give her a guilty conscience. She just laughed at his antics.
"Okay, I hear you. Next time, I will wake you and we go crime fighting together…like a date," she teased him, taking a few steps closer to him and he chuckled.
"I know you're just making fun of me now, but joke's on you because I would actually like that," Mike replied as he put his arms around her waist. She giggled at his silliness as she reached her arms around his neck, catching him in a deep kiss.
Charlottesville, Virginia
The brothers had left Central City a week ago, but it felt much longer. Maybe it was the boredom. There hadn't been one single good hunt out there this week and their last case had led them to Virginia. The case turned out to be a simple heart attack and the boys were back to looking through newspapers again.
It was a quiet and sunny day and Dean was sitting outside a little café on Main Street, skimming through articles while Sam was getting them some coffee.
The headline Man's Throat Slit Without Trace certainly caught his attention and as soon as Sam sat down across from him, setting down the two coffee cups in front of them, Dean handed the paper over to his little brother.
"Anthony Giles," Dean said with a grin. He had a feeling this case would be good.
"Who's Anthony Giles?" Sam asked, raising a brow at his brother.
"He's a Baltimore lawyer. Working late in his office, check it out," Dean said excitedly and Sam picked up the paper, taking a look at it.
"Uh…throat was slit, room was clean," he muttered as he read through the article. "Huh. No DNA, no prints."
"Keep reading, it gets better," Dean encouraged him with a smile and Sam threw him a look.
"Security cameras failed to capture footage of the assailant," Sam said, sounding surprised, his interest now peaking too.
"So I'm thinking either somebody tampered with the tapes…," Dean mused.
"Or it's an invisible killer," Sam concluded.
"My favorite kind. Hayley's gonna love that," Dean said with a satisfied smile, but Sam threw him a look.
"Wait…you wanna call Hayley for this?" Sam asked, raising a brow.
"Yeah, why not?" Dean asked with a shrug.
"Dean, it's a straight forward ghost hunt," Sam replied with a frown.
"Exactly. That girl loves ghosts. It's the only thing she can actually kill. Besides, no prints, no DNA, no tapes…that's like a challenge for a CSI nerd," Dean argued, but Sam threw him another look.
"Dean, Hayley's got enough on her plate right now. And she's right. We can't fight on two fronts at the same time together," Sam said and Dean sighed. He hated it when his little brother was right.
"Fine," he agreed reluctantly. "But that means you're Scully," Dean said with a grin as he got up from his chair, referring to one of the main characters of the X-Files.
"I'm not Scully, you're Scully," Sam complained, frowning and Dean chuckled.
"No, I'm Mulder. You're a red-headed woman," Dean teased him before he went back to the Impala, Sam following him.
Central City, Missouri
She raced over to the table, grabbing the paddle before she hit the tiny white ball flying her direction. The paddle landed on the ping pong table again just as she rushed over to Mike, avoiding a punch as she ducked just in time and his fist hit the concrete wall behind her instead, causing it to crack. If they kept training like that, they soon had to renovate this place too.
He gasped frustrated, but Hayley was already on her way to Caitlin, beating the doctor in Operation. She smirked at Caitlin when the little red nose blinked at the redhead's turn before she joined Dr. Wells for a game of chess.
"This isn't even remotely anatomically correct," Caitlin complained, frowning as she looked down at the board game while Hayley decided her next move as she looked at the chess board in front of her.
"That's not the point, Caitlin," Hayley replied, smiling.
"Then what is the point?" Caitlin asked, looking at her frustrated.
"To have fun," Hayley said with a grin and Wells cleared his throat.
"And to continue your ongoing training by testing the speed of your mind by pushing your ability to multitask," Dr. Wells added, giving her a look.
She made a move on the board before she picked up the paddle again, beating Cisco at ping pong. Mike was next. They had been training for a week like this and eventually he seemed to make some progress.
He came at her again and even held up for a few rounds, but his left-side defense was still weak. Hayley knocked him to the ground and the tiles shattered around him. He was still too slow to keep up with her and she grinned winningly at him.
"Checkmate!" Wells suddenly called and she looked surprised over to him as she helped Mike back up from the floor.
"Wait, checkmate?" Hayley asked surprised, wrinkling her nose. Chess had never been her strong suit.
"Checkmate," Wells confirmed with a satisfied smile. "I guess we still have a few things left to learn, don't we, Dr. Allen?"
Their training was then interrupted by the lab's alarms going off. Cisco stormed over to the computer, Hayley speeding to his side.
"Armed robbery at 4th and Collins," Cisco informed them immediately, waving his paddle at the big screen in the cortex as Hayley went straight for her suit.
"For the record, I crushed ping pong, Operation and Mike," Hayley replied confidently.
"Or I lost on purpose," Mike exclaimed with an embarrassed chuckle and Cisco shook his head at him before patting his shoulder. "I'm coming with," he said determinedly, but Hayley frowned. He had been trying to come on cases with her for a while now, but she had made it a habit of shutting him down. The last few times he had actually been out with her, he had almost gotten himself killed. Or her.
"No, it's fine. I got it, babe. Don't worry, okay?" Hayley said, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek. He sighed. And before he could even argue his point, a flash of yellow lightning rushed out of the cortex.
Baltimore, Maryland
A good three hours later, the brothers had made it to Baltimore. Andrew Giles' house, to be exact, where they talked to Karen, his wife.
She was a young woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, with dark brown hair tied into a short ponytail. She wore black-framed glasses as she read through some fake insurance information the brothers had given her and it reminded Dean a little of Hayley.
The boys had put on their usual suits and ties, posing as insurance company employees and sat across from her in the living room. The woman was clearly still shaken up by her husband's death and had started sobbing as soon as they had walked through the door.
"Insurance. I totally forgot about the insurance," she muttered, shaking her head at her own silliness.
"We're very sorry to bother you right now, but the company is required to conduct its own investigation. You understand," Sam explained in a sympathetic voice.
"Sure," Karen nodded, trying to feign a smile at them.
"Okay, uhm. If you could just tell us anything you remember about the night your husband died," Sam asked carefully and she swallowed, thinking.
"Uh, Tony and I were just supposed to have dinner. He called and said he was having computer troubles and that, that he had to work late. That was it," she replied, looking at them.
"Do you have any idea who could have done this to him?" Sam asked.
"No. No, it's like I told the police, I, I have no idea," Karen replied.
"Did Tony mention anything, you know, unusual to you? In the days before his death?" Dean asked casually and Sam threw him a look.
"Unusual…?" Karen looked at them confused.
"Yeah, like strange?" Dean helped her.
"Strange?"
"You know, Karen, weird? Weird noises, uh, visions, anything like that?" Dean kept interrogating and Sam cleared his throat, giving his brother a subtle nudge.
"He had a nightmare the day before he died," Karen finally said and Dean shot his brother a winning look.
"What kind of a nightmare?" Sam asked, ignoring him and putting on his concerned face again.
"Uh, he said that he woke up in the middle of the night and there was a woman standing at the foot of the bed, he blinked and she was gone. I mean, it was just a nightmare," Karen explained and the brothers shared a look.
"Did he say what she looked like?" Dean asked and Karen gave him another confused look.
"What the hell difference does it make what she looked like?" Karen asked, now a little more upset.
"Uh, it's just our…our company's very thorough," Dean said quickly and she nodded, accepting his answer.
"He said she was pale, and she had dark red eyes."
Central City, Missouri
She raced down the streets of Central City until she arrived at the location Cisco had pinned for her. She watched as four robbers followed a security truck on two motorcycles and used a tow truck to get a hold of the vehicle in front of them.
She knocked out the two guys on the motorcycle with ease. It wasn't hard for her to catch up to their speed. She raced back and kicked the guy climbing on the tow truck in the head, and he fell off. As he took off his mask, she managed to get a glimpse of his face and two sets of baby-blues were staring back at her. She wouldn't forget those crystal blue eyes anytime soon.
The truck then came to a halt, the driver running out of it in a panic. She heard a shot being fired, but she was too late to do anything about it. She sped over to the man, seeing the blood come out from a wound on his shoulder.
"Where's the nearest hospital?" Hayley asked the team through her intercoms. She had missed them on the road. It was nice to have your friends in your ear any time you'd need them. She never felt alone with them by her side.
"St. Andrews…Seven blocks north, two east," Caitlin replied.
"Call the ER, tell them they have an incoming GSW," Hayley replied while the four robbers sped off on their two motorcycles, abandoning the job. She would get them eventually, but she needed to get this man to the hospital first. Saving someone's life would always be a priority for her.
The CCPD arrived a few minutes later, ceiling off the crime scene. Joe had texted her multiple times where she was. After changing into her civilian clothes again, she showed up.
"Sorry, Captain. I was at the hospital…visiting a friend," Hayley said apologetically and Captain Singh frowned at her as he usually did when she showed up late for work. Little did he know, she actually had two jobs.
"There's nothing missing. It looks like someone interrupted a robbery. Guard says there was three of them," Singh informed her as Joe joined them.
"Actually, there were four," Hayley corrected him and Joe threw her a look. She definitely wasn't that good of a CSI. But she was getting better at lying.
"I mean, that's how many I would bring if I were doing a robbery of this nature. That's definitely a four guy truck," she explained awkwardly. Okay, maybe her lying still needed a little polishing.
"A driver, two more to cover the guards, and…somebody used liquid nitrogen to crack open this door, so…four bad guys," she finished and the two looked at her perplexed.
"Thank you, Dr. Allen, for your brilliant insight," Captain Singh replied and she furrowed her brows at his sarcastic undertone.
"For somebody so fast, you're a little slow on the improvising," Joe mocked her as soon as the Captain had left. "Did you see anything that could help us catch these guys?"
"Yeah, one of them lost his mask. I saw his face," she said with a proud smile. Joe grinned at her happily. Their father-daughter crime fighting sure had become easier once she had become the Flash.
"So look through these mug shots of Central City's Most Wanted, and see if you can find our guy," Joe told her as soon as they were back at the precinct. He handed her a folder full of criminals, basically CCPD's whole database and she skimmed through it in a matter of seconds.
"That's him," she said with a smirk, pointing at a guy with blue eyes in his thirties.
"Damn. Leonard Snart," Joe said, shaking his head. He seemed to know him and Hayley looked curiously up at him.
"Leonard Snart? No wonder he broke bad with that name," Hayley commented as she looked through his file. "Huh, Snart's father was a cop."
"…was a bad cop. Took his anger out on his kids until he went to prison," Joe informed her.
"Snart's Dad is in prison too? Maybe we should start a club…," Hayley said and Joe threw her a look. She felt a little sorry for the guy. Who knows where she would be now if she hadn't ended up with Joe.
"He shows up, like, every six months. He cases a job for weeks before he makes his move," Joe explained. "Then, he does the job…gets away." She could tell by Joe's revengeful look that Snart had definitely been on his list for a while.
"That's before the Flash was around," she said with a smirk and Joe threw her a look.
"Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?" Joe asked, raising a brow and she looked guiltily at him.
So far, the police knew that the only valuable thing worth stealing in that truck was the Kahndaq dynasty diamond. Snart sure wouldn't stop until he got it. Lucky for them, it had arrived in the Central City museum this afternoon and Joe decided to take Eddie on a stakeout.
Baltimore, Maryland
The brothers visited Andrew Giles office next. It was already nightfall and the neighborhood seemed quiet when Sam picked the lock on the front door. They were sure they could stay here undisturbed for a while.
The two ducked under the yellow police tape that sealed off the door and turned on their flashlights. Sam immediately found the huge pool of blood on the carpet, shinning his light over it, and took out his notes.
"Hey. Anthony Giles' body was found right about here," Sam said, comparing it to his files. "Throat slit so deep part of his spinal cord was visible," he read on and Dean let out a low whistle.
"What do you think? Vengeful spirit? Underlining vengeful?" Dean mused.
"Yeah, maybe. I mean he did see that woman at the foot of his bed," Sam said, sitting down at the glass desk in the middle of the room.
Dean continued to look around until he stumbled upon a piece of paper on Giles' desk. It had the same word written on it over and over again – danashulps.
"Take a look at this," Dean said, handing it over to Sam.
"Dana Shulps. A name?" Sam asked, looking up at him.
"I dunno, but it's everywhere," Dean said as he picked up another sheet from a pile on the floor. "Well, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," he quoted The Shining with a grin and Sam threw him a look.
He glanced down at the glass table in front of him, noticing some weird prints on it. He carefully breathed on the glass, revealing the same word on the surface – danashulps.
"Wow. I'd say we've officially crossed over into weird," Sam mumbled, baffled.
"Maybe Giles knew her," Dean said.
"Or maybe it's the name of our pale red-eyed mystery girl," Sam mused, looking up at him.
"Well. Let's see what we can see," Dean said, throwing a pile of files on the desk.
It had taken Dean four hours to look through all of Andrew Giles' client files while Sam was frantically searching on the computer for some answers. So far, they had nothing and Dean threw his last file down with a frustrated sigh.
"There's not a single mention of a Dana Shulps anywhere. There's not a D. Shulps. Or any other kind of friggin' Shulps," Dean complained irritated.
"Great," Sam muttered before he stared ahead into the computer screen.
"What have you got?" Dean asked, looking at him.
"Nothing. No Dana Shulps has ever lived or died in Baltimore in the last fifty years at least," Sam replied, a little frustrated now too.
"Awesome. So we wasted four hours for nothing," Dean grumbled and Sam threw him a look.
"Dean, we always do this," Sam said annoyed. He didn't know what the hell had gotten into his brother. For the last few days, Sam had felt like he was traveling with a toddler on an airplane.
"Well, if Hayley were here, we would have been done three hours and fifty-nine minutes ago," Dean argued and Sam shook his head at him.
"Oh, so you would rather have Hayley looking through a bunch of files than keeping a whole city safe…that's very mature, Dean. C'mon, you're just lazy," Sam argued in a mocking tone. Of course, he missed Hayley too. Especially since he realized she had been a second buffer to Dean's annoying side and now with her gone, it landed all on him alone again.
Dean tried to protest, but Sam cut him off again. "Besides, Hayley left me her hacking software and I think I'm pretty close to cracking Giles' password. Maybe there's something in his personal files, you know?" Sam said and Dean looked at him surprised.
"By close you mean…?" Dean asked hopeful and Sam looked up at him.
"Thirty minutes, maybe?" Sam replied with a shrug and Dean frowned again.
"Hayley would've been faster…," Dean mumbled under his breath defiantly. Sam glared at him. He cleared his throat, glancing down at his watch. "I mean, awesome. So I guess I just get to, uh, hang out," he said, feigning a smile as he fell back into a comfy chair in front of the desk. "Awesome," he muttered again, rolling his eyes and Sam threw him another glare before he started to concentrate on the screen in front of him again.
It didn't even take a minute until Sam heard clicking noises coming from across the desk and sighed deeply. He tried hard to ignore his older brother's antics, but couldn't any longer when the noises eventually got louder and ended in mouth-farting sounds.
"Dude, seriously," Sam said finally, looking at Dean irritated as his brother just smiled innocently at him.
"All right, I'm gonna go talk to Karen again, see if she knows anything about this Dana Shulps, huh?" Dean suggested as he got up from his chair, leaving for the door.
"Great," Sam murmured annoyed. He was relieved to finally get some alone time.
"Keep going, Sparky," Dean mocked him with a smirk as he closed the door behind him.
Central City, Missouri
Sometimes the only way to free her mind was to run. Although, the past week had been quite uneventful, she couldn't let go – not as long as he was still out there. Her mom's killer.
She knew by now he thrived on her impatience, but she was just so sick and tired of his games. She couldn't sleep, eat, do anything without thinking about what it was all supposed to mean. She was just a girl then. She wasn't the Flash. And there was no particle accelerator explosion before her mother died. Maybe it was the CSI in her, but she just had to analyze every moment – every word he had said to her that night.
You know who I am, Hayley. It's your destiny to lose to me...
She felt like her head was going to explode soon. And not even running seemed to help anymore.
But drinking might, she thought as she downed a shot of tequila, placing the shot glass upside down in front of Mike as he watched her. She shuddered. The taste of it was enough to feel buzzed, even though she technically couldn't.
"You okay there, sunshine?" Mike asked, smiling sympathetically at her.
"Yeah…it's just been one of those weeks, you know," she said quietly, looking down. He nodded understandingly.
"Yeah, I know," he said and she looked up at him. "What? You don't think I notice the tossing and turning at night? You're not that much of lightweight," Mike said with a chuckle.
She narrowed her eyes at him before the corners of her mouth reached her cheeks, showing her dimples. She felt like walking on a threshold with Mike. One second she loved that he knew her so well. Other moments she absolutely hated it, because she wanted him to stay as far away from her as possible. She didn't want the man in yellow to take it all again – away from her, everything she loved.
"I'm sorry. I should have let you come today," she said, biting down on her lip. "It's just…"
"You worry Reverse Flash is coming to break my neck," Mike finished for her.
"Reverse Flash?" Hayley asked with a frown.
"Hey, don't look at me. Cisco does the naming. And if you think about it, he is kind of the opposite of you – yellow suit, red lightning, evil…," Mike replied. Hayley sighed. "Look Hayles, you're not the only one with powers anymore. We're a team, right? And I can handle myself and protect you at the same time. I wanna help. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Well, you're not supposed to protect me. We're supposed to save people, remember?" She reminded him, raising her brows and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Yeah, I know. Save all the people, lock up the criminals. I got it, I got it. Relax, okay?" Mike repeated and she glared at him.
"Don't tell me to relax!" She hissed through gritted teeth. "If we don't take our job seriously, people die!" Why couldn't he get that into his head? This wasn't just some hobby they could do together as a couple. With the man in yellow still out there, all she could do was worry.
He jumped over the bar, coming to stand next to her. He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Hayles, I know all that, okay? Just trust me," Mike said, a soft smile on his face. She nodded hesitantly. He kissed her forehead and she eventually gave in to his embrace, letting out a deep breath. She just had to remind herself every day, she was allowed to let go sometimes too. After all, she was still partially human.
"Besides, as long as we got the cold gun, let that bastard come," Mike said with a smirk and she giggled, kissing him.
"What do you mean it's gone?!" Hayley asked shocked, anger bubbling up inside of her. She thought she had heard wrong when Cisco said he lost the cold gun. But unfortunately by the guilty look he was giving her, she knew her ears seemed to work fine.
Cisco squirmed a little in his place, looking helplessly around the cortex while Caitlin and Dr. Wells both threw him disappointed looks.
"How long has it been missing?" Dr. Wells asked in a low voice, obviously holding back some anger too.
"I don't know," Cisco replied quietly, seeming a bit scared.
"I'm gonna ask you again, Cisco. But when I do, I expect a more specific answer than I don't know…now, how long has this weapon been gone?" Wells asked again, this time louder and Cisco swallowed hard.
"A day, maybe two…One of the janitors didn't show up for work this morning. He was probably the one who took it," Cisco explained and Hayley let out a relieved sigh. At least, Reverse Flash hadn't gotten to it yet. "I kept it in my lab, because I had been working on it for the last week. Trying to improve it, so we could actually use it against Reverse Flash for good. I didn't think that…"
"You didn't think, because if you had, you wouldn't have lost the only weapon we had so far against Reverse Flash and that could possibly hurt Hayley," Dr. Wells yelled at him. Hayley watched as Cisco almost shrunk twice in size. She shared an uncomfortable look with Caitlin. Boy, did they wish they weren't in the cortex right now. She had never seen Wells this angry. He usually was calm and collected.
"I'm sorry. If you just let me explain…," Cisco pleaded, but Dr. Wells wouldn't have any of it and brushed him off.
"No. Now, you are gonna figure out a way to locate this gun, and you are gonna do it right now," Wells ordered him and Cisco nodded quietly.
Hayley's phone started to ring in the midst of their heated argument and she excused herself to look at her display. "That's Joe. He says Snart is at the museum right now," Hayley informed the team.
"Great, let's go," Mike said determinedly, leaving the cortex before Hayley could even try to come up with a lie why he couldn't come this time. He seemingly had chosen another method to get his way, which included ignoring her entirely.
"Uh…," she mumbled, but it was too late and Mike was well on his way.
Snart had already gotten to the diamond and was on an escape route out of the museum when Hayley and Mike arrived, coming to a halt on the sidewalk in front of the building.
Joe was running after Snart, trying to cross the street, when he pulled out the cold gun, freezing the asphalt in front of them. A few police cars that had just arrived on scene slid over the ice and crashed.
So that's where it went, Hayley thought as soon as she noticed the familiar weapon in Snart's hands. The good news was, at least now they knew where it was. The bad news – some criminal had it and was terrorizing the city with it. She needed to get it back.
But before she could go after Snart, her eyes wandered over to a few cars slithering on the frozen ground, aiming for a crowd of people.
"We need to stop the cars!" Hayley shouted at Mike as she raced to move the crowd out of harm's way.
Snart used his little time window and escaped into a theater across the street from the museum. Mike watched as Hayley was busy trying to save people from crashing cars. He could stop a car with ease, but Snart had the cold gun. Not only was it the weapon that could help them stop the man in yellow, it was also the weapon that could hurt her.
"I'll go after Snart," Mike announced as he followed Snart inside the theater, a flood of people rushing out in a panic.
"Dammit," Hayley cursed when she saw what Mike was up to. "Mike!"
"We really need to come up with a name for him soon," she heard Cisco's voice in her ear.
"Won't be necessary because I'm going to kill him after this," Hayley replied, grinding her teeth.
"Everything okay, guys?" Caitlin asked worriedly.
"Snart has the cold gun. Mike went after him," she told the team.
Mike followed Snart upstairs, reaching another level of the theater as people ducked out of their way. Snart surely didn't seem to care how many people he hurt in this process.
Hayley ran after them into the theater, just as Snart pulled the cold gun, aiming it at Mike. She raced over to him, giving him a hard push that almost propelled him through the wall, his back breaking the marble column behind him. Although she was just in time to save Mike, she wasn't fast enough to save herself, the cold ray hitting directly on her stomach.
She fell to the ground, managing to duck behind another column before Snart could hit her again. She could feel the ice break and crack through her suit. It was hard to breathe, the cold filling her lungs and making her shiver. She clenched her teeth, trying to breathe through the pain. It stung badly. The ice burned, a thousand needles piercing through her skin. She prayed she wouldn't end up in a Jack London novel, dying slowly of hypothermia.
"Hayles, you okay?" Mike asked her worriedly as he got back up, running over to her.
"Yeah, just keep the people safe. I'll handle Snart," she growled and disappeared into a bolt of lightning.
"Time for a test run," Snart announced with a curious smile at his new toy. He started firing the gun randomly at people, watching on as Hayley tried to save them all, one by one. The cold gun definitely had slowed her down.
At least the pain had another purpose. It was like an experiment, experiencing the effects of the cold gun on a speedster firsthand.
Breathe through the pain.
Snart fired again – this time in the opposite direction of Hayley, aiming for an usher in one of the theater halls. She could see the cold, blue ray race towards the man, but no matter how much she tried to move her feet faster, she couldn't catch up to it. She watched as the blue beam hit the man's throat right in front of her. The ice surrounded his entire body, freezing him still forever.
The frozen body dropped to the ground in front of her. His eyes were still open, looking confused. The man had just been doing his job. It wasn't his fault.
"No!" She yelled desperately. But there was nothing she could do now as she knelt down to the cold body. When she looked behind her, Snart was already long gone.
She found herself in a familiar environment when Caitlin had practically pushed her into the med bay, inspecting her wound.
"Gah!" Hayley shrieked as Caitlin started poking her cold stomach. Her skin had actually turned blue where Snart hit her. "It's still numb. Is that going away? Because I don't want to look like I'm part smurf for the rest of my life."
Cisco chuckled, but quickly stopped when Wells threw him a look. He knew Dr. Wells thought it was his fault Hayley got hurt.
"It's presenting itself like third degree frostbite," Caitlin explained.
"I thought she had hyper-healing," Mike said. He felt guilty she got hurt and felt responsible for the death he indirectly caused with it. He thought he could stop Snart by himself and finally show Hayley that he was indeed cut out for this job. But maybe he wasn't after all. No wonder she doubted him, he even started to doubt himself.
"It's been slowed," Caitlin replied. "If your cells weren't regenerating at the rate they are, your blood vessels would have frozen solid and the nerve damage would have been permanent. You're lucky to be alive," she informed Hayley, giving her a look. She hated it when Hayley got hurt. She knew one of these days not even her medical expertise would suffice to save her speedster friend.
Great timing, Hayley thought when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. "Joe needs me at the precinct," she informed them. She hoped off the bed with a gasp. It would probably take a while until she wouldn't feel that stinging pain anymore.
Mike quietly followed her until he caught up to her in the hallway.
"You need any help?" He asked her carefully, hands in his pockets.
"Nope, I'm good," she replied quickly before she raced off. Mike let out a deep breath. He knew it would take some time before she would forgive him for this.
Joe was sitting on his desk, his look stern as his eyes focused on the computer screen in front of him. He didn't even notice his daughter until she tapped him carefully on his shoulder.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Uh, how are you feeling?" He asked her, the worried-father-look written all over his face.
"Still a little freezing, but nothing permanent. I'll be fine," Hayley replied.
"Good. Now, can you explain this to me?" Joe pulled the computer screen in her direction so she could read an opened file.
"Holy shit," she muttered when she saw the Winchesters' mug shots. "When were they taken in?"
"Couple hours ago," Joe replied.
She had already turned on her heels, ready to run to Baltimore, when Joe stopped her in her tracks.
"Hold on, kid. You're not going there to bail them out," Joe told her.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't planning on bailing them out," Hayley replied with a smirk.
"The hell you're gonna break them out," Joe whispered angrily, avoiding unwanted listeners.
"Joe, c'mon! You know they didn't kill anyone!" Hayley argued.
"I'm not talking about the murder charges. Credit card fraud, theft, grave desecration…?" Joe read on from a list of charges, shaking his head.
"Okay, that last one – also part of their job," Hayley said defensively. "And you know, sometimes an object is haunted, so they gotta steal it," she argued.
"And the credit card fraud?" Joe raised a brow at her.
"They need to make money somehow. It's not like the government is paying them," Hayley countered.
"You told me they were hustling pool for money," Joe said, a stern look on his face.
"Uh, well, that's one of the ways…look, does it really matter? We know they're good people," Hayley said, looking at her adoptive father.
"Oh, do we now…," Joe repeated her words and she wrinkled her brows.
"Yeah, we do. At least, I do," Hayley defended them. She didn't always agree with the brothers' morals, but had begun to understand that sometimes doing a little bad was necessary to fight the greater evil.
"So you're gonna quit your job as a CSI now, too? Instead steal a couple of credit cards as payment for being the Flash?" He asked, raising his brows and she narrowed her eyes at him. She had to admit, he was good.
"So what? You're worried I suddenly go rogue now?" Hayley questioned.
"No, I'm saying what makes them any different from Snart? Just think about it," Joe said and she paused, looking at him for a moment.
"I don't have to. Snart killed an innocent man right in front of me today. Sam and Dean would never do that," she argued stubbornly. Joe sighed. "Now if you excuse me, I have a prison break to plan."
Baltimore, Maryland
The interrogation room at the Baltimore police station was gray and cold. Two officers were standing guard at the door while two detectives, a man and a woman, tried to get some answers out of Dean.
But he wouldn't budge – instead he just came up with one wise-ass remark after another. Especially the male cop seemed to slowly get irritated with him. His last response had hit the nail on the head and the cop grabbed him by his leather jacket, raising him to his feet, only the big metal table between them.
"Do you think this is funny?" He yelled at Dean. The female detective tried to intervene just as the door swung open.
"What the hell is going on here?" a woman's voice asked angrily, storming into the little interrogation room. The cop let go of Dean, turning his attention to her.
Hayley, Dean realized surprised.
She was wearing a dark gray suit, matching skirt, high heels, glasses and her hair pinned into a strict ponytail. She carried a black briefcase, which she slammed forcefully on the metal table that Dean was handcuffed to, almost crushing his fingers underneath. He looked up at her stunned. Whatever she was doing, it was working. She was scary as hell. But she glanced at him for a second and he could see the insecurity in her eyes – she was improvising this.
"Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?" The male cop asked her aggravated, but she brushed him off.
"I could ask you the same thing. I'm Special Agent Hart, FBI, and this is my goddamn case. I mean c'mon, credit card fraud, grave desecration, murder in multiple states…and believe me, there's a lot more where that came from. This is clearly federal jurisdiction, pal. Did you really think we'd let local police handle someone like that, Officer dimwit?" Hayley smirked at the cop challengingly. The guy glared so hard at her, Dean was sure he wanted to smack her.
"It's detective," he hissed, gritting his teeth.
She took a step closer to him, their faces almost touching, and smirked again. "Oh please, you should be glad they don't send you back to police academy as a janitor after I'm done talking to your chief," she threatened him. He stared at her perplexed before he took a few steps back, clearing his throat. He exchanged a look with his partner and took a deep breath.
"Now, leave, please," Hayley ordered them and the woman nodded immediately, pushing her partner out the door, the two guards positioned themselves outside again.
She walked over to the door confidently, closing it before she let out a deep breath.
"Miss Congeniality…man, that's a great movie," Dean said with a chuckle at her fake name.
She turned her head to him. Death stare, uh-oh, he thought when he saw her face. He had a feeling she would be angry. He had also hoped she would never find out about the brothers' arrest.
"You…shut up! I leave you and Sam alone for one week, Dean. One week! And you two idiots get arrested?! Are you kidding me?" She yelled, pacing up and down the little room, the light bulb above his head swinging in accordance with her from all the wind she caused.
"And now you got me involved and I practically betrayed all my morals by posing as a fake FBI agent," she said hysterically, recalling the conversation she had with Joe. Was he right to be disappointed in her? Who even was she? A hero or a vigilante? Or worse: a criminal?
Better make some room, Dad. Your prodigal daughter is coming Iron Heights.
But Dean just tried his hardest not to laugh. He knew half of this rant was just because she was nervous. He remembered she hated the first time he forced her to lie and pretend to be a false authority figure. Her nerves almost rocketed through the roof.
"Do you know how many laws I just broke, huh? Do you?!" She continued.
"No, but to be honest with you, it does turn me on a little," Dean teased her with a chuckle. Death-stare. "Besides, it's not like me and Sam planned this," he argued. She rolled her eyes back.
"Dean, they literally caught you kneeling over a dead body after they found the front door lock picked," Hayley countered. Even he had to admit it didn't look too neat for him.
She leaned against the wall, throwing her head back as she groaned in pain a little. She held on to the side of her stomach where Snart had shot her. It still hadn't healed completely and felt cold.
"What's wrong? You okay?" Dean asked, looking worriedly at her. He could tell she was injured.
"Yeah, just new battle wounds. Some criminal hit me with the cold gun," Hayley replied.
"Wait…you guys lost the cold gun?" Dean asked upset.
"You're one to talk. You guys lost the colt," Hayley countered and he frowned.
She was quiet for a moment, thinking, and he knew it had something to do with Reverse Flash. Even he had gotten a text from Cisco about the stupid new name.
"You're gonna get him, Speedy," he reassured her and she looked at him briefly.
"Right. It's not just that…" She hesitated for a moment, thinking. "If you ever had to save Sam or an innocent stranger, who would you pick?" He hadn't necessarily expected that question from her, but he wasn't surprised either. He asked himself that every day and always came up with the same answer.
"Sam," he declared confidently, not a waver of doubt in his mind.
"Really? That easy?" She was a little surprised at his blatant honesty, but Dean had always been a straight shooter.
"That easy," Dean confirmed with a shrug. He would never apologize for putting his brother first and not just because his father had told him to.
"Someone died, Dean. Because I protected Mike. When I first got these powers, I swore I'd protect everyone, no matter what," Hayley said thoughtfully.
"So did I. But this job is more than what we tell ourselves at night so we can fall asleep."
"I just don't wanna lose him," she admitted quietly. She felt selfish for dragging Mike into this life. If something happened to him, it'd always be on her.
"I know. You won't," Dean assured her softly. Even though they both knew he couldn't make such grave promises, it still made her feel better. "Look Hayles, there's nothing wrong with protecting the people we love. It's what's keeping us human," Dean said and she looked at him for a moment.
"That's actually decent advice, Winchester" she said, the perplexed expression still hadn't left her face entirely. "Guess prison really does change people, huh?" Hayley joked and Dean cracked a smile.
"Well, there's more where that came from," Dean announced proudly as he pulled out a little piece of paper with notes scribbled on it. Hayley leaned over his shoulder, looking at it curiously.
"I figured out the case and what our ghost was trying to tell us with this nonsense. First, we thought it was a word. You know, a name maybe? But then I figured, maybe it's an anagram," Dean explained as she looked stunned at his notes. "Do me a favor and give this to Sam. See if any of the names match a place or a street maybe."
"Not bad, Winchester. That's actually pretty damn smart," she admitted and he beamed smugly.
"Oh, you better be impressed by me. I'm a fucking genius," Dean proclaimed and Hayley threw him a look, chuckling.
"Calm down, Einstein. You're still cuffed to a table," she replied, gesturing at the metal around his wrists and ankles.
"By the way, what's the plan here, Sandy?" Dean asked, referring to her undercover role again.
"It's definitely gonna be tougher to get you out than Sam," she mused.
"So…?"
"So…how good are you at creating distractions?" She asked with a smirk and he gave her a big grin in response.
While Dean was providing the necessary entertainment for the local cops, Hayley snuck into the room where they were keeping Sam. His room was much brighter and even had a big window. Idiots, she thought. If the cops only knew who they were really dealing with, they would've upped the security measures a long time ago.
"Hayley? What the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked when he spotted her and she quietly closed the door behind her, grinning at him.
"Oh, so nice to see you too, little Winchester," she joked and he frowned at her.
"I mean, did Dean call you?" He asked with a stern face and she shook her head with a chuckle.
"No, silly. You two idiots triggered my alarm in the police database. When I saw you got arrested, I raced straight back here," Hayley replied.
"Okay, well, uh, do you have a hair pin or something?" Sam asked, looking around the room for something to break open his cuffs, fidgeting around nervously.
"Nope, sorry," she replied casually with a shrug.
"Uh, okay, give me your bra," Sam said, his face still serious and Hayley was holding back a laugh.
"Oh geez, Sammy. You naughty boy," Hayley teased him, giving him a wink and he frowned at her. He had almost forgotten that Dean was Hayley's buffer as well.
"I need the wire to open the cuffs," Sam explained patiently with a feigned smile, but she just kept grinning at him.
"Sure…or we could use the key I snatched from the cops earlier," she replied with a smirk, holding up a set of sparkling metal.
Sam grimaced again.
She sped Sam back to the first motel they found in the yellow pages. Sam rented a room under a fake name only Dean would recognize. It was the brothers' contingency plan in case they ever got separated.
"You think we're safe here?" Hayley asked as they entered the stuffy motel room, looking outside the windows carefully.
"Yeah, we should be fine for a while," Sam replied, getting back to his notes again.
"What are you guys hunting anyways? Dean just told me about some kind of vengeful spirit," Hayley asked as she picked up their files, skimming through them.
"Yeah, a woman. She always wrote one word everywhere – danashulps," Sam said and she looked questioningly at him. "And it seems like one of the words Dean made out is actually a street. Ashland Street."
"Great, let's go," she replied, but before she could take a step forward, Hayley heard the familiar beep in her pockets and looked at the little screen on her phone. Cisco had texted her about another Snart sighting.
"Go," Sam said and she looked up at him surprised.
"Sam…Dean's still in jail and we still haven't found that ghost yet and burned its bones to a crisp," she said and he sniggered.
"You're starting to sound like Dean, you know that right?" Sam teased her now and she frowned. She definitely needed a cleanse when she got home.
"Sam…"
"Hayles…it's alright. I can handle the ghost. And Dean. If we do run into trouble, you're just a flash away, right?" Sam tried to convince her, smiling softly.
She nodded, letting out a deep breath like she was forcing herself to let something go before she disappeared out of the motel.
There was a knock on the door suddenly and Sam was almost sure she had come back again, but he was surprised to find someone else entirely at his doorstep.
"Hi, Sam," Detective Ballard, the female cop that had interrogated him earlier greeted him, holding up her bruised wrists for him to see. All the victims before her had the same injuries. Sam decided to let her in without any further questions. He knew his brother must've sent her if the detective had found him here.
Central City, Missouri
Yellow lightning rushed through the cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs and Hayley came to a halt in the middle of the room, the team surrounding her.
"Hey, where were you?" Mike asked her, but she ignored it.
"Any news on Snart?" She asked frantically, looking at Cisco.
"I figured out a way to track Captain Cold," Cisco announced and Hayley lifted her brow.
"You gotta stop naming these guys," she said, although she had to admit – that one sounded particularly cool. "How?"
"The cold gun is powered by an engine control unit, a microcomputer that regulates air-to-fuel ratios so the sub-cooled fluid in the chambers don't overflow and…," Cisco explained.
"Explode," Hayley finished his thought.
"Right," Cisco confirmed. "This E.C.U. was receiving updates wirelessly from my tablet.
If I boost the signal using Central City's network and send a false update, we'll get a ping back, and then…"
"We can locate Snart," Hayley realized. "How long will it take?"
"Depends…how fast can you hack into the city's network?" Cisco asked her with a smirk and she chuckled.
She raced over to the computer, typing away at the keyboard in super speed and a few seconds later she came to a stop. "Got it. He's heading west on Nelson towards the train station. Seems like he's leaving," Hayley informed the team. She quickly changed into her suit, ready to go.
"Alright, let's go," Mike said, grabbing his jacket.
"No, uh…I think I'm better off doing this alone," Hayley told him. She could see the disappointment in his eyes. Maybe she had been harsh, but she couldn't risk anyone else getting hurt.
Snart had already boarded a train when she arrived, racing past Joe and Eddie at the station, who had gone after Snart. But she knew cops would be powerless against the cold gun. She managed to jump the train, coming to a halt in front of Snart. The passengers inside looked frightened. Mothers clinging onto their children, men in suits grabbing their briefcases tightly.
"I didn't see you before," Snart said. A smile played across his face as he looked her up and down. "Does your mom know you're out past your bedtime?" He taunted her and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"If you wanted to get away you should've taken something faster than a train," Hayley quipped.
"That's if I wanted to get away," Snart countered and she furrowed her brows. What the hell was his plan? "I've seen your weakness at the armored car, then at the theater. See, while you're busy saving everybody, I'll be saving myself." He aimed the cold gun to the floor of the train, freezing through it until the beam reached the rails. She knew she had only a limited amount of time to save all the people on the train before it derailed and crashed, killing everyone still inside.
"Good luck with that." Snart smirked before he jumped off, leaving the chaos he created behind him.
She'd have to be a lot faster than she was to save everyone and still catch Snart. The train was already lifting off the rails, turning everyone inside upside down. She managed to get everyone out, grabbing on to floating human after floating human and bringing them to safety, as she watched the remaining train crash and burn.
Suddenly she felt a cold sting behind her and gasped, falling to her knees. Snart had gotten her with the cold gun yet again, freezing her to the ground. There was no way for her to move and escape now.
"Pretty fast, kid, but not fast enough," Snart told her with a winning smile. "Thank you."
"For what?" Hayley asked him perplexed, still fighting the stinging pain that was numbing her nerves.
"You forced me to up my game, not only with this gun, but with how I think about the job. It's been…educational," he said and she rolled her eyes back.
"Ahh, awesome. Glad I could help," she replied sarcastically, gritting her teeth as another cold wave ripped through her body. She was so tired of being everyone's pawn. She didn't want to play anybody's game. Not Snart's, and not the Reverse Flash's.
She knew Snart would kill her now. Welp, at least she had a good run and saved a few.
"Drop it." She suddenly heard a familiar voice behind Snart. He turned around, revealing Mike, Cisco and Caitlin standing behind him. The whole team had come to save her.
"This is a prototype cold gun, four times the size, four times the power," Cisco declared.
"So, unless you want a taste of your own medicine, I'd back the hell up," Mike threatened him, arms crossed firmly in front of him.
"Your hands are shaking," Snart mused, looking at the new cold gun in Cisco's trembling fingers. "You've never killed anyone."
"There's a first time for everything, Captain Cold," Cisco replied and Snart smiled at his new nickname.
"We will shoot you if you hurt her," Mike warned. Snart paused for a second before he turned his attention back to Hayley.
"You win, kid. I'll see you around," he said, storing the gun away as he walked casually past the team.
"Hey, leave the gun," Mike shouted after him, throwing Cisco a look to keep aiming their gun at him.
"Don't push your luck," Snart replied simply before he disappeared into the distance all together.
Caitlin then turned off the prototype cold gun. "Couldn't shoot him if I wanted to. This is actually the S.T.A.R. Labs vacuum cleaner with a lot of L.E.D.s," Cisco explained and Hayley chuckled.
"C'mon, let's get you warm," Mike said as he helped her back up.
"Thanks for saving me," she whispered and he smiled at her.
"Don't worry about it. Just returning the favor, right?"
She replied with an urgent kiss before she pulled back to look at him, fumbling with his hands.
"Mike, I'm sorry. I was just scared. I thought I couldn't do this with you out there with me. Truth is, if it's between you or someone else, you're always gonna win." She looked up at him and he smiled softly.
"Get a room you two!" Cisco told them and they started to chuckle.
"Wanna order pizza tonight? You're probably starving by now," Mike suggested and she nodded happily.
"Sounds perfect," Hayley agreed. Her stomach probably would be growling if it still didn't feel numb. But before she could race off to grab some take-out, her phone was vibrating again. This time it was Sam with a 911 text. She sighed.
"Go," Mike told her with an encouraging smile. She looked at him for a moment, weighing his words in sincerity.
"Thank you," she replied softly, placing a kiss on his lips before she disappeared into the night.
Baltimore, Maryland
Sam had informed Hayley that apparently the male cop, Sheridan, who she had yelled at, went rogue. He was the culprit that killed all those people – not the vengeful spirit the brothers had initially suspected.
The only problem now was, that same cop had also kidnapped Dean, probably to kill him too and pin him as a scapegoat. Sam had already located the police van, sending Hayley the coordinates as well.
Sam and Detective Ballard arrived first, watching as Detective Sheridan yanked Dean out of the van, throwing him to the ground in a secluded wooden area offside the road.
"You're a cocky son of a bitch. You think those people in St. Louis are gonna buy that crap you're peddling?" Detective Sheridan asked rhetorically, looking down at Dean. "Here's the thing. You're not gonna make it to St. Louis. You're gonna die trying to escape." The detective then pulled out his gun, pointing it at Dean's head.
"Wait! Wait. Let's, let's talk about this. I mean, you don't want to do something that you're gonna regret later," Dean tried to argue nervously. But Sheridan just cocked the gun without a care in the world. "Or maybe you do." He needed to buy time. Surely, his companions wouldn't be far behind to save his ass.
"Pete! Put the gun down," Detective Ballard yelled, standing next to Sam. Dean sighed relieved. Help had arrived.
"Diana? How'd you find me?" Pete asked, looking at them shocked.
"I know about Claire," she told him and his eyes widened before he gathered his posture again.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sheridan murmured.
"Put the gun down!" Diana yelled, pulling her own gun on him.
"Oh, I don't think so. You're fast. I'm pretty sure I'm faster," Sheridan warned her as Dean saw a faint streak of light rush through the brushes. Internally, he felt calmer. At least, the chances of him actually getting shot now were slim.
"Why are you doing this?" Detective Ballard asked her former partner, coming closer to him.
"I didn't do anything, Diana," he replied.
"It's a little late for that," she told him.
"It wasn't my fault. Claire was trying to turn me in, I had no choice," he argued.
"And Tony? Karen?" She asked.
"Same thing! Tony scrubbed the money, he got skittish, and then he wanted to come clean. I'm sure he told Karen everything," Sheridan told her. "It was a mess – I had to clean it up. I just panicked."
"How many more people are gonna die over this, Pete?" His partner asked him and he looked at her desperately.
"There's a way out. This Dean kid's a fucking gift. We could pin the whole thing on him. Right? No trial, nothing. Just, just one more dead scumbag," Sheridan argued like it was the sanest thing.
"Hey!" Dean protested, catching Sheridan's attention and he raised his gun at Dean again.
"No one will question it. Diana, please. I still love you." Ballard started to lower her gun, leaving the brothers to look at her in disbelief. "Thank you. Thank you," Sheridan replied relieved. He turned back to Dean who closed his eyes, expecting the worst as the dirty cop straightened his aim and a shot was fired.
Suddenly Dean was lying in the grass a few feet away from Sheridan; Hayley next to him. She replied to his baffled look with a wink. He frowned and looked over to his attacker, who was now crying out in pain, gripping his bloody stomach. Ballard had taken a shot at her partner and succeeded.
"Then why don't you buy me another necklace, you ass?" Ballard told her former partner off. She walked closer to him, gun still raised.
But Sheridan managed to knock her down, tackling her feet and she fell. The gun flew out of reach. Sheridan was close on his way to grab it, still clutching his bleeding stomach with his other hand. Sam went for the gun too but missed. Sheridan grabbed it swiftly and directed it now at Sam.
In a split second, Hayley could hear the familiar gun clacking. The safety was off. Everything slowed around her. She looked at Dean as he stood almost still, his eyes on Sam, his mouth moving to yell something that wouldn't stop a bullet. It would take her too long to run to Sam. Sam was too far away and Sheridan was too close to him. She was still not up to her regular speed, still weakened by the cold gun. She still could see the usher's face. It was too risky and she couldn't risk it again.
A shot was fired. Sheridan's hands grabbed on to his throat, trying to keep the blood in as it pooled out. He choked before his lifeless body collapsed to the ground.
It happened so fast, the brothers hadn't even realized where the shot had come from until their eyes wandered over to their speedster friend.
Dean noticed she held his gun in her hands. She must've taken it from him in a split second. Her arm was still outstretched sraight, aiming in Sheridan's direction. Her look was stern, focused. There was no panic or sorrow in her eyes. He fully would expect a nervous breakdown.
But instead she was quiet. She pulled her arm back and put the safety back on as if she had done it a million times before. Her facial features turned soft as she handed the gun wordlessly back to Dean.
"Thanks," he replied stupidly. He didn't know what else to say. She had saved his brother after all and he wouldn't have done anything differently. The shot was good too.
"You're welcome," she said sincerely. She still seemed off to him, but in the end, her first kill went a lot better than he had expected.
Sam looked worriedly at Dean, but his brother shrugged in response. Hayley still seemed like Hayley.
Sam walked over to Detective Ballard, who was standing by her late partner's body. "You doing all right?"
"Not really," Ballard replied as she looked at the body. "The death omen, Claire – what happens to her now?"
"Should be over. She should be at rest," Sam replied and she nodded.
"You, uh, wanna talk about something?" Dean came closer to Hayley, who had retreated to Ballard's car and away from the body. She leaned against the hood thoughtfully. He had tried to give her a little space.
"I'm fine. He was a bad guy. We kill bad guys, right?" She needed the reassurance.
"Yeah, he offed three innocent people. He tried to kill me. He would've killed Sam if you hadn't…you know," Dean said softly.
"I know." She nodded.
"Good. You know, this isn't that different than a cop shooting some criminal. I'm sure Joe has shot people," Dean offered. She chortled in response. "What?"
"Yeah, might not wanna tell Joe that," Hayley joked, remembering his words.
"Why?"
"Uh, he thinks you're a bad influence on me." Dean laughed at that.
"What about Sam?"
"Let's be honest, no one thinks Sam's a bad influence on anyone," Hayley bantered.
"That's true. That kid's annoyingly good," Dean agreed with a smile. "But what do you think? You think Joe's right? I mean you did just kill a cop." His eyes looked expectantly at her. He was almost scared to hear her answer.
"Never." She smiled softly. "I think you're a good person-slash-friend."
He couldn't help but grin. He stretched his arm around her, pulling her in for a hug.
"Don't tell me I finally melted your wisecracking heart?" She joked and he laughed.
"As long as you don't tell Sam."
"Tell me what?" Sam looked at them curiously. This was by far the closest he had seen them together.
"So, uh. What now, officer?" Dean asked, clearing his throat. He turned his attention around to the detective, who approached them as well.
"Pete did confess to me. He screwed up both your cases royally. I'd say that there's a good chance that we could get your cases dismissed," Ballard said.
"You'd take care of that for us?" Sam was surprised at her willingness to help them.
"I hope so. But the St. Louis murder charges? That's another story. I can't help you. Unless…I just happened to turn my back, and you walked away. I could just tell them that the suspects escaped." She looked at the three, a soft smile playing across her face.
"Wait, are you sure?" Sam asked her and Dean almost kicked him.
"Yeah, she's sure, Sam."
"No, it's just, I mean, you could lose your job over something like that," Sam kept arguing, running close to getting knocked out by Dean.
"Look, I just want you guys out there doing what you do best. Trust me, I'll sleep better at night. Besides, I hear Central City is giving the Flash a pass, I don't see why I shouldn't either." Ballard turned around, walking away.
"Nice lady," Sam remarked and Dean nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, for a cop."
"Guys, we need to get outta here. This area is probably gonna be swarming with cops soon looking for you," Hayley noted.
"Good point. So where's the next diner?" Dean asked them with a smile.
A/N: I missed you guys! But I never forgot you ;)
Let's get this party started! I will try to post weekly chapters as much as possible. I'm really sorry about my long-ass fucking break. But you'll be happy to know I continued writing this story even if I didn't post new chapters. Currently working on Part 3. Until then: enjoy the rest of Part 2 :)