ROUTE 666 PART 1

Being around cars his whole life, Dean already knew a thing or two about dealing with them. Throughout the years, he had developed an acute accuracy of telling how long it would take to fix something. So for Aiden's car, he knew just by the look and sound of it that it would take a couple hours to get her up and going. But since it was Alice's brother, Dean made sure to take extra care of the car and ensure everything was done right. So just a three-to-four-hour job ended up taking nearly all day to complete.

Although he had been stuck under a car all day, Dean didn't mind it in the slightest. The last month had been an emotional roller coaster for all of them, so he was glad to be able to sit back and relax. He liked coming to the Cromwell cabin and taking it easy for a day or two. He knew Sam would indulge himself with whatever he could read on the bookshelves, and it was good to see Alice taking it easy for once.

Dean had been underneath the Teal Mustang when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps crunching underneath the leaves outside. He moved his head to the side but still couldn't see anything from his perspective.

"Sam?" Dean called out with a sigh. "I asked for pie nearly an hour ago. You better have-" He couldn't get his words out when he felt someone grab the creeper he was lying on and suddenly yank him out from underneath the car. He froze the instant he locked eyes with Alice's blue gaze.

Alice snickered and leaned against the car. "Hey there, handsome." she said with a mischievous smile while holding up a grocery bag and Chinese take-out. "I got food. Come on."

It didn't take long for Dean to unfreeze himself and smirk. "That's what I like to hear." He gladly took Alice's outstretched hand and pulled himself up.

It was a subtle change but enough for Dean to notice. Alice had changed a little since the case regarding her near-death experience. She's still as stubborn as ever. Cocky and arrogant even, but it seemed she was more susceptive to his flirting attempts and even sometimes flirted back with him. Of course though, Alice wasn't entirely out of that funky headspace just yet. She still had her moments and became distant sometimes, but it was getting easier to reel her back in.

Dean walked over to the table and grabbed a rag to wipe the grease off his arms. "I thought Sam went out?" he asked.

"He was going to, but I was getting cabin fever and wanted to take a drive." She stepped back into the shed's doorway and looked around at the dense woods surrounding them, peaceful and still. "It's hard for me to stand still for a long time. I had to find something to keep busy, and hunting was usually my go-to thing."

"Don't you know the meaning of relaxing?" he questioned with an arched brow.

Alice shrugged in response. "Yeah, but only in small doses."

"We've all been there…." Dean followed her out of the building. Not long after, he started to eye the bags in her hand. "Did you get pie?" he asked and leaned his head on her shoulder.

Alice laughed a bit before shoving him off. She reached into the bag and pulled out a small container with a slice of blueberry pie inside. "I didn't forget." Her lips stretched into a wide grin when she saw how much his eyes brightened. He quickly kissed the top of her head before snatching the pie from her hand. He began to jog to the front door when Alice called back to him. "Take a shower first! We'll eat after you get out!" As she stepped into the cabin, she saw Dean reluctantly set the pie down on the table before disappearing down the hallway. "Sammy, come on."

"You're back?" Sam looked up from his spot on the couch and nodded. He sat down the book he was reading to help Alice unpack the food. "So…" Sam began while sitting down.

Alice eyed him suspiciously. "So…?"

"How you been holding up? You feeling alright?" He wasn't as afraid to ask this time around, but still wanted to be gentle with his words.

Alice's smile shifted a little as she thought to herself. "I'm alright, Sam. I mean…as much as I can be. My mind had been in the dark for such a long time that…it's gonna take some time getting used to things," she said slowly, almost cautiously. It's nothing you need to worry about though. Having you and Dean constantly around me…is more than enough."

Sam nodded and honestly felt relieved to hear it. "That's good to hear. Like…really good. Hey, if there's anything you wish to talk about though. I'm right here. Both Dean and I are," he offered.

Alice snickered and walked up behind him. "Thanks, Sam," she said and patted his shoulders.

Just as she was about to sit down, Dean walked out of the bedroom, still covered in dirt and grease. He had his phone up against his ear and looked both worried and serious. Sam and Alice watched him carefully as he walked over to them, soon hanging up with whoever was on the phone.

Alice was the first to speak. "Dean? Something up?"

Dean looked at her, and his face immediately cringed up like he had just remembered something. "I just got a call from an, uh, old friend. Her father was killed last night, think it might be our kind of thing."

"What?" Sam said, sitting up.

"Yeah. Believe me, she never would've called, never, if she didn't need us." Dean looked over to Alice for a brief moment before taking a breath for courage. "Alice, you ready for another case?"

The trip had barely gotten started, and things were already getting unpleasant. Sam didn't want to be the one to address the elephant in the Impala, but he knew if he didn't say anything, then Dean would've kept his mouth shut the whole time. He was glad that Alice wasn't in the car with them because he knew how uncomfortable the coming conversation would make her.

"By old friend you mean...?" Sam began, side-eyeing his brother expectedly.

Dean groaned and kept his eyes on the road ahead. "A friend that's not new."

Sam scoffed at his brother's attempt at avoiding the question. "Oh yeah, thanks. So her name's Cassie? You never mentioned her."

"Didn't I?" Dean sealed his lips tight but couldn't help but squirm under Sam's burning gaze. He took a breath before finally speaking. "Yeah, we went out."

"You mean you dated somebody? For more than one night."

"Am I speaking a language you're not getting here? Dad and I were working a job in Ohio, she was finishing up college. We went out for a couple weeks," Dean nearly hissed.

"And...?" Sam waited for Dean to continue, but he only got a shrug. "Look, it's terrible about her dad, but it kinda sounds like a standard car accident. I'm not seeing how it fits with what we do. Which by the way, how does she know what we do?" He pressed and immediately noticed Dean's shifting gaze. "You told her. You told her, the secret! Our big family rule number one. We do what we do and we shut up about it. For a year and a half I do nothing but lie to Jessica, and you go out with this chick in Ohio a couple times and you tell her everything? And now you're gonna drag Alice into this?"

Dean was able to keep stone-faced the whole time, but the moment Alice was brought up, his full expression changed to near panic. "What about Alice? If it's a case, she'll work it. There's nothing more to it."

"It is for her. We both know this is gonna upset her."

Dean clenched the steering wheel tightly and glared at Sam from the corner of his eyes. "Not if you keep your big mouth shut. And why are you looking at me like that? What do you think I'm gonna do? Leave Alice in the wind? Go after another chick?"

"No, I don't. Because I know how much you want to make this relationship work with her, but Alice might see things differently," Sam said without hesitation. He knew his brother's long history with women, but he could tell he generally wanted to try and have something with Alice. "I mean it, Dean. You're gonna have to be careful with this one. Alice is finally getting back on her feet. If we drag her into another…emotional problem, then she's gonna shut down again."

Dean tightened his jaw but did heed his brother's words. "Sam, I got this under control. It's gonna be fine. You hear me?"

"I hope so."

When Sam, Dean, and Alice stepped into the newspaper office, their attention was immediately pulled to the center of the room where they saw three people having an argument. One of them was obviously Cassie, and it looked like there was a disagreement about whether to publish the death of Cassie's father or not.

Alice crossed her arms over her chest and silently studied Cassie for a moment. She was a darker-skinned woman with adoring brown eyes that had quite a fierce expression to them, passionate and steadfast.

Even though Dean wouldn't say it, he most definitely had a type that he liked, and Cassie checked out all those boxes. From Alice's stubbornness, Layla's strong nature, Andrea's mild sass, and now Cassie's fierceness.

"Checks out," Alice accidentally let slip.

Dean furrowed his brow and looked down. "What?"

Alice frowned and shook her head. "Nothing."

After the three of them parted, Cassie turned around and spotted Dean and them standing by the doorway.

"Dean," she began, looking apprehensive.

While Dean tried to force a smile, he felt his stomach twist. "Hey Cassie." he said, clearing his throat before introducing Alice and Sam. "This is my brother Sam and my girlfriend Alice," he said, and actually felt a bit giddy to refer to Alice in such a way for the first time. "Sorry bout your dad."

Cassie nodded solemnly. "Yeah. Me too."

"My mother's in pretty bad shape. I've been staying with her. I wish she wouldn't go off by herself. She's been so nervous and frightened. She was worried about dad." Cassie explained, walking into the living room where Alice and the boys were waiting. She brought in three cups of tea and handed each of them one.

Alice gave an appreciated nod, but when she stared down into the mug, she immediately felt her stomach start to cramp up. She turned her face away to hide her discomfort and sat it down on the table beside her. "Why was she worried?" she asked, hoping to get her mind back on track.

"He was scared. He was seeing things," Cassie answered while taking a seat across from them.

Alice felt her cramps subside a little with her growing curiosity. "Seeing things? Like what?"

Cassie looked a little hesitant to speak at first. "He swore he saw an awful-looking black truck following him."

"A truck. Who was the driver?" asked Sam.

"He didn't talk about a driver. Just the truck. He said it would appear and disappear. And, in the accident, Dad's car was dented, like it had been slammed into by something big," she explained.

Sam frowned a little. He looked over to Alice, but she looked lost in thought and unreadable. "Now you're sure this dent wasn't there before?"

"He sold cars. Always drove a new one. There wasn't a scratch on that thing. It had rained hard that night. There was mud everywhere. There was a distinct set of muddy tracks leading from dad's car..." She stopped for a moment to try and force the pained words from her throat, "leading right to the edge, where he went over." She bowed her head to try and get her emotions under control. "One set of tracks. His," she finished shortly after.

After putting it off for a couple minutes, Dean finally got himself to speak. "The first was a friend of your father's?"

Cassie nodded. "Best friend. Clayton Soames. They owned the car dealership together. Same thing. Dent. No Tracks. And the cops said exactly what they said about dad. He 'lost control of his car.'"

"Can you think of any reason why your father and his partner might be targets?"

She shook her head. "No."

"And you think this vanishing truck ran them off the road?" Sam asked.

Cassie's jaw tightened, and she rolled her eyes. "When you say it aloud like that...listen, I'm a little skeptical about this...ghost stuff...or whatever it is you guys are into."

Dean immediately huffed at the remark. He looked over to Alice to see if she had a reaction, but she remained pretty stone-faced and indifferent about the topic. "Skeptical. If I remember, I think you said I was nuts."

"That was then."

"And this is now," Alice cut in. "Whether you think the concept of ghosts is crazy…it still doesn't shake the gut feeling you have that's telling you something is wrong, right?"

Cassie stared into Alice's icy blue eyes for as long as she could before having to look away. She could already tell that Alice was very perceptive and probably had conversations like this more than a couple of times. She already knew exactly what to say. "I just know that I can't explain what happened up there. So I called Dean."

Just then, the front door opened, and a middle-aged woman walked through. She seemed to be quite frazzled by the looks of things and a little shocked to see three strangers in her home.

Cassie immediately got to her feet and walked over to her mom. "Mom. Where have you been? I was so..."

"I had no idea you'd invited friends over." Mrs. Robinson said, looking over the three of them with her feverish eyes.

"Mom, this is Dean, a...friend of mine from... college," Cassie stuttered for a moment to think of a cover story, "This is Alice and his brother Sam."

"Well, I won't interrupt you." Mrs. Robinson said and was about to leave when Dean called back.

"Mrs Robinson. We're sorry for your loss. We'd like to talk to you for a minute if you don't mind?" he asked.

Mrs. Robinson just stared at him, looking slightly affronted. "I'm really not up for that right now," she said before swiftly leaving the room.