Chapter Nineteen - You don't have to be such a dick about it...
Alone in his room, Dean doesn't know what to make of the argument with Andy. Truth be told, he doesn't know what to make of his feelings.
Back at Chuck's, he had been worried about her, in danger and once again too close to Lilith, all because of Sam's arrogance. Then, when he understood that Andy was willing to hand herself over, just to save them if necessary, Dean realized he couldn't let it happen. He knew firsthand what Lilith and demons were capable of, and the mere thought of Andrea going through something like that made him sick. She had been through too much already since joining them. That's why he'd prayed to Cas to come and remove her from the game, stopping her from doing anything too crazy.
Initially, Dean told himself he had called Cas because the last thing they wanted was to give Lilith access to Andy and to an easy way to break seals. But deep down, he knew there was another reason for his actions.
The whole dream life Zachariah had shoved down their throats, had awakened something he thought to be long gone from his mind. The first time he thought about it had been with Cassie. Back then, he told her the truth about what he did for a living because he had wanted a future with her. A life, a family. It didn't go the way he expected, so he let go of the pipe dream, and focused on his reality. A couple of years later, with Lisa and Ben, for a brief moment, he had allowed himself to consider it again, but it was short-lived, so he gave it up for good.
However, that dream life brought it all back, his desire for a future, for a family, something he never really had. Not after his mom, and the way his dad raised them. While Dean knew John had done the best he could, and that the work they did was far more important than anything else, now and then, he found himself wondering about wanting more.
As a hunter, the last thing on his mind should be feelings for a witch, but Dean knows Andrea is more than just a witch. She's one hell of a woman. Not only was she gorgeous, funny, great in bed, and with lots of things in common with him, she also had a good heart under all of the sarcasm.
Andy's life had been tough enough with her family and the curse she carried on her skin. She deserved to be happy, and have a life beyond all of this mess. All he was trying to do was keep her safe so that she could get out of this in one piece. She should be helping, not fighting him.
Initially, when they'd started talking, Dean was hoping she would understand his side, but after everything, he isn't sure of anything anymore. All he knew was that Andy had lied to him and that if push came to shove she wouldn't hesitate in handing herself over to Lilith to save them. This means that on top of everything, he's going to have to protect Andy from herself.
Dean waits a couple of hours in his bed until he's sure everybody's asleep. Then, as quietly as possible, he walks outside. After making sure no one's around, he grabs a couple of tools from Bobby's equipment and goes to Andy's bike. He looks at the imponent vehicle and apologizing, Dean takes the tools and makes sure that Eleanor Rigby isn't going anywhere, anytime soon.
When he goes back to bed and falls asleep, Castiel appears to him, saying he needs his help.
Andrea wakes up with someone shaking her. Opening her eyes, she sees Dean standing in front of her. "What's going on?" She asks, sitting up, alerted by the look on his face.
"It's Cas. He asked me to meet him, and I think something is wrong,"
"I'll be down in 10," Dean just nods and walks out of her room, without saying anything else.
In a couple of minutes, she's dressed and packed, ready to go.
Andy mounts her bike to heat it a little before they go, but she can't get it to start. She tries again and again, but nothing happens. Worried and annoyed, she's about to see what's going on when Dean's voice stops her. "We gotta go, Andy,"
"My bike's not working," She replies.
"Well, there's no time for you to play mechanic. You can ride with us, come on," He says, and enters the Impala.
Sighing, she grabs her bag, and looks at Bobby, as she opens the backseat door. The older hunter nods before she even speaks. "Don't worry, I'll look into it,"
"Thanks, Bobby,"
The place Castiel mentioned turns out to be an old abandoned warehouse and Andrea can't help but feel a chill at the memories it brings. She follows the Winchesters in silence, and as they enter the building she is hit by an enormous amount of energy. Something had half-full happened here.
As they go down a staircase, her suspicion is confirmed.
"It looks like a bomb went off," Sam says, illuminating the destroyed walls and furniture.
"There was a fight here," Dean replies, looking around.
"Between who?" Sam asks, but before Dean can reply, Andrea notices the wall.
"Guys," She says, using her flashlight to show them the blood sigil painted on the concrete. "That's one of Anna's banishing spells," Andrea had spent enough time studying those symbols to recognize them a mile away.
"So, what? Cas was fighting angels?" Sam questions, as usual trying to make sense of things.
"I don't know," Dean says, walking further, and that's when he stops. Castiel is lying in the middle of the rubble, passed out. "Cas? Cas. Hey, Cas?"
Andy and Sam run to where they are, getting there in time to see Castiel sitting up. "What's...? What's...? What's going on?"
Dean puts a hand on his shoulder. "Just take it easy. Take it easy,"
The angel seems troubled and confused, and looking at him, Andrea feels something's not right.
"Cas, you okay?" Sam asks.
"Ugh. Castiel. I'm not Castiel. It's me," He replies, making a face.
"Who's 'me'?" Andrea questions, studying him.
"Jimmy. My name's Jimmy," The man responds.
"Where the hell is Castiel?" Dean demands, pulling away from the guy.
"He's gone," Jimmy replies in an ominous voice.
At first, they don't know what to do. It takes Dean a moment to react. "Can you tell if he's telling the truth?" He asks Andrea.
Nodding, she walks closer to this Jimmy guy and puts a hand on his head for a second. "Castiel isn't here anymore," She says, stepping away from him. "And before we do anything else, I think we should get out of here,"
No one argues with her, and soon, the four of them are back in the car, driving to a motel.
"That is disgusting," Andy comments as Jimmy Novak devours his third hamburger.
Dean nods. "You mind slowing down?" He tells Jimmy. "You're gonna give me angina,"
"I'm hungry," Jimmy replies with a half-full mouth.
"When's the last time you ate?" Sam questions, studying his face.
"I don't know. Months," He answers, taking another bite and moaning at how delicious the hamburger is.
"What the hell happened back there?" Sam asks a moment later. "It looked like an angel battle royale,"
"All I remember is a flash of light and I, uh . . . I woke up and I was just, you know, like, me again," Jimmy explains between bites.
"So, what? Cas just ditched out of your meat suit?"
Jimmy shakes his head at Dean. "I really don't know,"
"Jimmy," Andy tries more gently than the boys. "Do you remember anything about the time Castiel was inside of you? Anything at all?"
"Yeah, bits and pieces. I mean, angel inside of you, it's kinda like being chained to a comet,"
"Damn it," She mutters, imagining what the man in front of them had been through.
"That doesn't sound like much fun,"
"Understatement," He says through another bite.
"Cas said he wanted to tell us something," Sam says. "Please tell me you remember that,"
Jimmy shakes his head. "Sorry,"
That reply takes the last of Dean's patience away. "Come on, what do you know?"
"My name is Jimmy Novak. I'm from Pontiac, Illinois,"
Jimmy goes on, telling his story, about how he came to be Castiel's vessel. When he's done, the boys and Andrea go outside.
"So, what do we do?" Sam asks Dean.
"What do you mean? The guy's got a family. We buy him a bus ticket, send him home,"
"I don't know about that. Dean, he's the only lead we got," Sam declares.
"He doesn't know anything," Andrea says for the first time, ignoring the way Sam looks at her.
"Are you 100 percent about that?"
"You think he's lying?" Dean replies. "What, you wanna go Guantanamo on the guy?"
"Dean, maybe he doesn't even know what he knows,"
"Huh?" The older Winchester asks, not understanding Sam's point of view.
"I say, at least we get him to Bobby's," Sam pauses, looking at Andrea. "Do you know if there is a spell for recovering lost memories?"
"I heard of one once, but it's bloody and painful, Sam,"
Sam shakes his head at her answer. "Well, maybe all he needs is hypnosis or a psychic. Or hell, maybe Cas will just drop back into him,"
"I don't know, man,"
"Dean, back there, that was angel-on-angel violence. Now, I don't know what's going on, but it's big. And we can't just let the only lead we got just skip out,"
Dean shakes his head. "You remember when our job was helping people? Like, getting them back to their families?"
His words don't change Sam's determined expression.
"You think I don't want to help him? I'm just being realistic. I mean, hell, we're doing him a favor," Sam argues.
"How?"
"Dean, if we want to question the guy, you can damn well bet the demons do, too,"
Finally, Andrea has to agree with Sam. "He might have a point, Dean. Demons were dead set on getting Anna,"
Sighing in defeat, they head inside to talk to Jimmy, but he had already heard them. Andy stays silent as they argue because, at the same time she understands Sam's point, she also sympathizes with Jimmy's need to be with his family.
After they're done, Jimmy sits by her side on the table. "The spell you mentioned outside," he says, going straight to the point. "Can you do it?"
Andy offers him a small smile. "That spell isn't the answer, Jimmy. I could kill you if I dug deep enough in your memories. Besides, we're the least of your problems. We're working on keeping you safe, and once we're sure no one will hurt you or your family, you can go back to them. Ok?" He doesn't reply and Andy goes outside for a smoke.
In the morning, she wakes up to Dean slamming on her door to tell her that Sam let Jimmy escape. It doesn't take them long to be on the road, driving to Illinois. The ride is uncomfortable. The tension between the brothers is screaming, as well as the weirdness between Dean and her, and it makes Andy want to be anywhere but in the backseat of the Impala.
Hours later, she jumps in both surprise and fear when Anna all of a sudden appears by her side.
"Hey guys," At the sound of her voice, Dean too jumps in his seat, jerking the steering wheel, which makes the Impala swerve before he gets it back under control. "Smooth," Anna says with a small smile on her face.
"You ever try calling ahead?" Dean asks, and although he's still shaking his head, he sounds more… flirty, and for a second Andrea stares between the two of them.
"I like the element of surprise," The angel replies, still smiling.
"Well," He continues, using the rearview mirror to check her out. "You look terrific,"
Andy doesn't miss the hidden innuendo in his words. For a second she'd almost forgotten that Dean slept with Anna back when they were helping her escape from the angels. What she does miss is why she's so bothered by the way Dean's looking at the angel.
"Can you knock off the flirtation, Casanova?" Andy says before she can think about it. "I am sure she didn't come here for a lame pick up line, Dean,"
In the passenger seat, Sam stifles a laugh, and as Dean stares at her with indignation, Anna studies the witch, finding very interesting the hurricane of emotions and feelings inside of her. Turning her attention back to Dean, Anna agrees.
"Yeah, not the most appropriate time, Dean. You let Jimmy get away?"
Dean redirects the blame to Sam and Andy makes a mental note about how Anna also seems to sense something different in Sam. They continue talking about Jimmy, and the angel tells them what happened to Castiel, how he was pulled back to heaven, for some unknown reason, probably related to whatever message he wanted to give Dean. Anna urges them to find Jimmy, alerting them to the fact that demons are after him and that he might be dead already.
Andrea's locator spell gets them to the Novaks' house. Upon arriving there a couple of hours later, they hear screams. Immediately on hunting mode, the boys jump out of the car, Andrea hot in their heels. In a second, Dean's using Ruby's knife to slash a demons' throat, and Sam is dealing with the other demon, while urging them to get Jimmy's family out of the house. As Dean takes Jimmy and his daughter, Andy supports Jimmy's wife until they reach outside.
"Get them in the car," Dean barks, going back inside. Andy does as she's told, and just as the family gets inside, Sam and Dean appear, hurrying out of the house.
The ride is fast and uncomfortable, as Andy shares the passenger seat with Sam and Dean wants to put as much distance between them and whatever demons may be following.
Finally, after crossing state lines, they stop at a gas station. Leaving Jimmy's wife and daughter inside the car, Andrea goes to where the boys and Jimmy are talking.
"I'm gonna tell you once again, you're putting your family in danger. You have to come with us," Sam says.
"How long?" Jimmy asks. "And don't give me that "cross that bridge when we get to it" crap," He completes.
"Don't you get it?" Sam questions in a tone that can only be described as rude. "Forever. The demons will never stop. You can never be with your family. So you either get as far away from them as possible or you put a bullet in your head. And that's how you keep your family safe. But there's no getting out and there's no going home,"
"Well, don't sugarcoat it, Sam," Dean comments, shaking his head at his brother's way to handle the matter.
"I'm just telling him the truth, Dean," Sam replies, dryly. "Someone has to,"
"Well, you don't have to be such a dick about it," Andy says, speaking for the first time.
"Excuse me?" Sam demands, angrily. "I'm saying what needs to be said! And what are you even doing here? You're not helping, you're not doing anything useful, you're just staying in the way!"
"Listen here you-"
"That's enough, you two," Dean says, cutting her off, and putting an arm between the two of them. Then, he turns to Jimmy. "Talk to your wife. We'll get them a car, and they can drive away from here,"
Nodding, Jimmy walks back to the Impala. "I'll get the car," Sam says, walking away and leaving Andrea and Dean alone.
"Is he always such an idiot and I hadn't noticed or is there a reason for him to be such an asshole today?" She asks sarcastically, shaking her head as she watches Sam.
Dean thinks for a moment. "I wish I knew,"
Once the family is gone, they take off too, driving in the opposite direction. Hours later, Jimmy's phone rings, with the terrible news that demons have his wife and daughter.
Dean does try to come up with a plan while Jimmy enters the abandoned warehouse alone, but the three of them are easily overpowered by four demons.
The one holding Andrea is possessing a big and strong man, and he has a large and tight hand wrapped around her neck and he pushes her inside, ahead of the boys, and as they enter, a possessed Amelia holds a knife to the young girl's throat. "See this knife right here?" The demon asks. "If you even try to speak a single spell word, anima maga , the girl dies,"
Andy tries to struggle against her captor, but it's in vain. The ropes around her wrists aren't bulging and neither is his hold.
"It's funny," Demon-Amelia continues. "I was actually bummed to get this detail, picking up an empty vessel. Sort of like a milk run. Now look who landed in my lap!"
"Yeah, well, you got us, okay? Let these people go," Sam argues, actually sounding more like a movie hero than an arrogant idiot.
"Oh, Sam. It's easy to act chivalrous when your Wonder Girl powers aren't working, huh? Now for the punchline. Everybody dies," With that, the demon pulls a gun out of nowhere and shoots Jimmy in the gut. Andrea screams, but the demon puts a hand over her mouth. As Jimmy falls to his knees, Demon-Amelia turns to the other demons. "Waste little Orphan Annie,"
As the demon walks towards Claire and grabs a pipe to hit her, the girl suddenly grabs the pipe with one hand and puts her other hand on the demon's forehead. A bright white light appears and the demon screams as he's exorcised.
That's all Andrea needs to bite hard the hand over her mouth, and that second of distraction is all she needs. She kicks his leg hard and stepping away enough to turn around, she focuses. "Phasmatos incendere ad pulvox," Immediately the demon screams with pain, falling to his knees as his eyes start to bleed. While the spell won't kill him, it's more than enough to allow Andrea to exorcise him. "In nomine mortis, exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus. Omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te,"
When the demon is exorcised, Andy's focus breaks and as she looks around, she sees Sam over the other female demon, desperately drinking her blood. Horrified, she stands there watching as Sam stabs the demon in the heart, and gets up to exorcise Amelia with his powers, now back in full force.
Castiel, now in Claire's body, walks over to Jimmy. "Of course we keep our promises. Of course you have our gratitude. You served us well. Your work is done. It's time to go home now. Your real home. You'll rest forever in the fields of the Lord. Rest now, Jimmy,"
"No. Claire?" Jimmy asks in a weak voice.
"She's with me now. She's chosen. It's in her blood, as it was in yours,"
Those words wake something up inside Jimmy, and when he speaks again, some strength has returned to his voice. "Please, Castiel. Me, just take me. Take me, please,"
"I wanna make sure you understand," the angel continues. "You won't die or age. If this last year was painful for you, picture a hundred, a thousand more like it,"
"It doesn't matter. You take me. Just take me," Jimmy pleads.
"As you wish," With that, Castiel touches Jimmy's face and a bright light emanates from his eyes and mouth. Claire falls to her knees just as her father stands up, once more possessed by Castiel. He walks past them, and as Amelia runs to her daughter, the angel turns around to leave.
"Cas, hold up," Dean calls. "What were you gonna tell me?"
"I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean," The angel says in a cold and dead voice. "I serve heaven, I don't serve man, and I certainly don't serve you," With that, he just walks away, leaving them standing there.
Keeping her distance from Sam, Andrea helps Amelia and Claire, trying her best to comfort them. Dean drops them a few states over, near a relative's house, and soon it's just the three of them again.
Exhausted, Andy lays down in the backseat, and she can't help but think about Jimmy, Claire and Amelia, and how their family had been destroyed.
Just as she starts to drift off to the sound of the rain, Sam speaks.
"All right, let's hear it,"
"What?" Dean asks, not taking his eyes off the road.
"Drop the bomb, man. You saw what I did. Come on, stop the car, take a swing," The younger Winchester replies.
"I'm not gonna take a swing," Dean sounds cold and distant to Andrea's ears.
"Then scream, chew me out," Sam dares, almost as if he wants a reaction from his brother. Any reaction.
"I'm not mad, Sam,"
"Come on. You're not mad?"
"Nope,"
"Right. Look, at least let me explain myself," Explain myself? Andy asks herself. There was no explanation for what he'd done. He had drunk blood from a demon!
"Don't. I don't care," Dean says, and Andrea knows that it's not that he doesn't care. He does care, but like her, Dean knows there isn't any explanation for what Sam did.
"You don't care?" Sam sounds surprised.
"What do you want me to say, that I'm disappointed? Yeah, I am. But, mostly, I'm just tired, man. I'm done. I am just done," Dean replies, cutting the conversation short.
Sometime later, Sam's phone rings. It's Bobby, asking them to stop by his house, regarding something about the apocalypse.
Andy sleeps the entire way to Bobby's, and when they arrive, as Sam enters the house first, looking for Bobby, Dean puts a hand on her arm. "You should go upstairs,"
Andy looks at him, a question in her eyes. "What's going on?"
"Can you just go upstairs? Please?"
"I'll stay right here," She finally replies, after staring at him for a second. "I need a smoke, anyways. Will that be enough?" It's clear he doesn't want her with them for whatever reason, so she'll stay here, keeping her distance.
Nodding, Dean walks inside.
Although curious, Andrea smokes her cigarette slowly. Once she's done, she grabs her bag and walks to the house. Inside, the first thing she sees is Dean and Bobby, drinking whiskey in the living room, but what she hears is Sam's screams coming from the basement.
Before she can ask what's happening, Dean breaks the silence. "We locked Sam up in the panic room, and he must stay there," Without further explanation, he finishes his whiskey and goes upstairs.
Andrea looks at Bobby, but the older hunter just shrugs, shaking his head.
"I'm gonna head upstairs too, Bobby," She says a moment later. "Good night,"
"Night, Andy,"
Putting her things in the guest room, Andrea goes to Dean's room. She knocks once and waits.
"Bobby, I told you-" He stops mid-sentence, seeing her standing there and not Bobby.
"I just came to see how you are," She says, and surprisingly, Dean opens the door for her to come inside.
As she enters, he answers her question. "I don't know how I am. How am I supposed to be? I knew something was wrong with Sam and I did nothing! I should've known. I should've done something!"
"This isn't your fault, Dean," Andy replies gently as he finishes his outburst. "This was Sam and his choices. This isn't on you. Right now, you need to focus on helping your brother. Thinking about the past won't help Sam,"
Dean studies her for a moment before replying. "I don't even know where to start. I mean, how can I help someone drinking demon blood? Someone… addicted to demon blood?" It's clear that saying those words is painful to him, and that he's beyond hurt by all this and for a moment Andrea wants to hug him and tell him everything will be okay, but she stops herself just in time, doing the next best thing.
"I don't know, but we'll figure something out. You and I, okay? I'll help you," Again, surprise fills Dean's face.
"Do you know anything about drinking demon blood?"
"No, but I'm going to check my family's grimoire. Maybe something there can help. In the meantime, I know a potion that helps with addiction symptoms and with withdrawal. Not sure it will work on Sam, but we can try," She pauses and daring to put a hand on his shoulder, Andrea continues. "Sam's going to be fine, Dean,"
He stares at her for a long moment. "Thanks, Andy. You being here means a lot,"
"You don't need to thank me. I'm not going anywhere. We'll figure this out," She pauses, stepping away from him. "I'm going to bed. Just knock if you need anything,"
Once again, a strange force pulls Andrea from the blissful darkness of sleep. This time, however, she finds herself back at her family's home. Just as she looms around, a voice comes from behind her.
"Andrea,"
Turning around, Andrea finds a blonde girl she has never seen before.
"Who are you?"
The girl smiles, but something in Andy's gut says there's something wrong here. "You know who I am, Andrea. I've been waiting a long time for this moment,"
As realization dawns on her, Andrea takes a step back. "Lilith," She whispers, fear screaming inside of her.
Lilith smiles, and even though she has a kid's face, the smile is terrifying.
"You don't need to be afraid, Andrea. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here as a friend. And as a friend, I came to warn you that the time has come,"
"Time has come for what?" Andrea manages to ask.
"For you to join me," Lilith replies, smiling again. "I conjured this dream to warn you and to give you time to say your goodbyes," Just as Andrea tries to argue, the demon raises a hand, stopping her. "I'm trying to be nice, here. But if you don't want to play nice, it's okay. We can do this the hard way, which involves a demon army and dead people. Since I can't touch the Winchesters, my demons will start with Bobby Singer, and then they will keep killing people until you come to me," Lilith pauses, smiling one more time. "Both ways entertain me, but I know you would hate for anyone to get hurt because of you,"
Suddenly, Andrea remembers Alistair's words back in Greybull. You've been running and hiding for so long, but you can stop worrying now, girl. Have fun and enjoy your little life while you still can, 'cause when the time comes, no matter where you are or with who you are, we're going to come for you. And that's when she realizes she doesn't have a choice. It would always come to this. Resigned, she faces Lilith.
"Where do I meet you?"
"There's a perfect crossroads not far from here. Be there at 3:33, sharp,"
"The witching hour?" Andrea asks, holding back her desire to roll her eyes.
"Yes! Appropriate, don't you think?" Lilith smiles. "By the way, if you try to tell someone, or if you try to do something you'll regret like screw with your powers or kill yourself, I'll know and I'll be very, very angry, Andrea," Then, the creepy smile turns to laughter, and the demon laughs and claps her hands maniacally. "I'm so excited for our play date! See you soon, Andy!"
As the dream ends, Andrea jumps awake in bed. Grabbing her phone, she checks the time. 01:57. She has about an hour and a half but considering it'll take around 30 minutes to get to the crossroads, she's got just an hour. Getting up, she doesn't allow her mind to think that in less than an hour she would have to face something she'd been running from for almost a year. It would drive her crazy to think about it, so she focuses on settling her affairs. Once her things are neatly packed up, she grabs her notebook and a pen and starts writing her goodbyes.