"So, what were you doing around here if you weren't digging beyond the grave?" Dean accepted the beer Sam had offered him with a nod, everyone in various states of relax as they waited for the pizza.
"Well once I figured out I couldn't save you.. I started hunting down Lilith, trying to get some payback.." he took a deep drink of his own beer as he sat down, glancing between Dean, Bobby, and the suddenly pensive, quiet woman who perched at the window, curtain drawn back as she watched the streets like a hawk. "All by yourself," Bobby scoffed, thumbing the lip of his bottle with a dry, humorless chuckle, "Who do you think you are, your old man?"
Sam returned the dry laugh, glancing at the floor in penance, and palming his beer from one hand to the other. "Yeah, I'm-.. I'm sorry.. Bobby, I should have called.. I was pretty messed up.."
CJ watched the street with vivid intent. The second she saw Ruby again, she was going to need to give her the burner number she'd bought.
Well, she bought three, but that wasn't really important.
"Oh yeah," she felt Dean move closer in her direction and turned her head to see him from the corner of her eye, watching as he picked up a lacy white bra by the curve of his pinkie in the hand that held his beer, "I really feel your pain."
Sam let out a quiet, nervous chuckle, glancing around the room to avoid his brother's smug eyes. "Ahm- anyways. I was tracking these demons to Tennessee. And, out of nowhere, they took a left, booked it up here."
"When?" Dean demanded.
"Yesterday morning," Sam offered, before taking another heaping gulp of his drink.
"You think these demons are here because of you?" Bobby asked quietly, confusion and concern twisting into his words without thought.
"Likely, but not ballpark, quite yet," the voice of the lone female occupant of the room drew their attention as she snapped the blinds shut with a tug and pulled a container of salt from her bag to liberally line the windows. "The ringing that Cowboy and I had heard in the shop wasn't demonic. There was no wavelength to suggest that it was, and while Demons hurt like hell, there is something else that hurts quite a bit worse."
"And what would that be?" Sam narrowed his eyes, watching intently as she went from window to doorway, lining everything as she spoke almost absentmindedly. "Something you have met before, but have not truly been introduced to," she spoke vaguely, and irritation bubbled between Sam's lips before Bobby reached out his arms to squeeze his shoulder. "She's like that.. She gets visions, like you used to, but.. Hers are more.. Frequent.. And vivid.."
"Run of the mill prophet without the fancy security detail," she shrugged, shooting him a small, knowing smile before returning to her task, "It was nothing demonic, if anything, it was so pure it sent out a signal for all the baddies to flock there. Mainly out of curiosity, I'm assuming."
"But you know what it is," Dean stated simply. She was silent, giving a non committal hum, before capping her salt with a grimace. "That'll have to do. Ah-!" She spun on her heel then, pointing toward Dean with the empty can of salt and a frown on her face, "Sleeve off, Cowboy, I wanna make sure that handprint isn't blistering or fading just yet."
"Handprint," Sam repeated dubiously, his eyes nearly bugging out of his skull when Dean lifted his shirt to reveal the giant, burn-like print of a hand marking his shoulder. Dean didn't even seem bothered by the question, more so the sweet time she took plucking her way over there to stand beside his chair and dig through her bag.
"What are we supposed to do, we've got a pile of questions, and no shovel. The only lead we have is a.." Sam was going to name some unpleasant synonyms for stubbornness, but bit his tongue, merely gesturing to the woman standing over Dean with a packet of M&Ms in hand, eyeing it in deep thought. "I know a psychic," Bobby offered after a few moments of silence, "A few hours from here. With something this big, maybe she's heard the other side talking." "Hellyeah, it's worth a shot," Dean nodded, the eldest hunter of the three men muttering that he'd be right back as he got up to place the call. Dean glanced back at the woman still hovering just inches from him, torn between asking several questions at once, before settling for a simple one.
"Why are you shoving candy in my face?"
"Your stomach was growling," the brunette muttered, holding out the packet when he looked reluctant, "It won't ruin the appetite for pizza, that should be here in a few minutes, but double stomach pain doesn't feel nice." "Thanks, I guess.. Weird, but thanks.." Dean murmured, taking the bag and tearing it open just a bit while she took over to inspect the wound. Her hands were cool against the warm skin of his arm, the tips of her fingers carefully tracing out the shape of the hand. Pulling a piece of paper from her pocket, she pressed it over his arm, and rubbed what he could assume was a dull marker around each groove, tracing out the print with slow, practiced patience.
"So, your name is CJ?"
Sam's effort to get her to talk was weak, at best, but she had stopped all the same, lowering the marker, in order not to ruin the drawing, and turned her head to give him a polite nod. "Yes, it is. And you are?"
"My name is Sam," he offered, in an equally polite, monotone voice. He wasn't completely sure what to ask first, but, simplicity was always best, right? "So, how old are you?"
"Nine."
"Nineteen?"
"No, she means nine ," Dean clarified with a firm, serious nod, the little bit of beer Sam had pulled into his mouth returning to the bottle with a cough. "What- how can she- what?"
"Time travel," she grinned, flashing him a smile that was all teeth, eyes closed in amusement as she drummed her fingers on the back of the love seat Dean occupied. "I was born in 1998. In March. I'm currently twenty two, I've been here since just before 2005. I got put in a mental hospital when they couldn't find record of my existence anywhere. DNA never showed up, not even for baby me, which kind of freaks me out, but I suppose that if I were in two places at once, the time paradox would tear both coexisting timelines completely apart and destroy the fabric of the universe."
"English, please," Dean muttered, a grunt in his voice as he lifted a hand to his temple.
"Two of me in one place is bad, if we touch, the planet could explode."
"Much better, thank you," he scoffed, holding absolutely still when she had returned to her task of tracing. "What are you even doing?"
"Getting a copy of this, obviously. I'm putting it in my journal for future reference," She pointed to the think travel book she had placed on his lap with her bag so she could work effectively. It was quite for a few more minutes, though she had not moved from the arm of his chair, she was now taking pleasure in measuring the size of her tiny hand compared to the mark.
"It's almost yaoi sized, which is both scary and absolutely reassuring to my future plans."
"And what would those plans be?" Sam's voice was paired with Dean's intense stare, and she only managed to give Dean a sweet, knowing grin, "You're gonna meet your best friend~ And he's freaking adorable~ "
"Alright, I'm done," Dean got up from his seat abruptly, sending her flailing in her seat, arms waving as she arched backwards, however, probably in a knee jerk reaction, his arm draped around her waist and hauled her back up, effectively dumping her into the actual seat.
The two were silent for a second, trying to process why the Hell he had done that, before he dropped her, shook his head to clear it, and spun on his heel to leave.
"Ah- wait-!" Sam, struck with the sight of his brother leaving toward the door, quickly got to his feet, reaching around his neck for the cord he knew was there, "You, ah- you might want this back.." He carefully removed the bronze amulet and held it out toward his brother, dropping it into his palm.
Dean examined the old, but loved artifact with a soft sort of revery, glancing up to give his brother a brief, warm smile. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Sam brushed it off with a soft laugh.
"Hey Dean," Sam asked, quietly, once his brother had dawned the present he'd given him long ago, "..What was it like?
"What, Hell-?" Dean, surprised, took a guess at his brother's apologetic expression.
"I-I-ah," Dean shook his head when he could see his brother's puppy-dog eyes, the lie slipping off of his tongue with ease as he shuffled his feet, painting his face with confusion. "I don't know.. I-uh.. I must of blacked it out."
They shared a look, Sam looking defeated, and sad, while Dean remained cool and relaxed. "I don't remember a damned thing."
"Well," Sam smiled a little, but his voice was barely above a whisper, "Thank God for that-"
"What the fuck are you thanking God for?! He's the one sitting box seat for all this bullshit-!"
The loud, honestly irritated voice of the lone female came from the far end of the room, letting the boys know that she had heard them perfectly fine, even at the volume and distance as she crouched over a window, glaring at the street, "I swear if I don't see the pizza here in five minutes.."
As if on cue, she perked up rightly, and bolted for the door, "Pizza-!"
"CJ-!" Dean made a motion of grabbing her arm, but she ducked under him with ease and patted his shoulder as she passed, "Be right back, Cowboy-!"
She stood outside longer than she needed to with the pizza's, one meat lovers and one combination. She waited in silence for the long black haired woman to come out of her hiding in the alley a few yards over, and offered her a glare, receiving one in equal, if not more fiery, in return. "Who are you?" Ruby's question was the first words to break the general silence, but the look she got in return didn't answer anything, while a slip of paper was held out.
"My number. Use it . If I call, you answer , if you don't, I'm going to track you, hunt you, and shove that knife you love so much so far up your ass you'll taste static. Capisce? Lucifer is not something to fuck around with. And neither are the Winchesters."
"I don't' know what you're-" "Save it," the dimension crosser cut her off, relishing in the trace of fear the demon displayed, though it was quickly covered with pride and annoyance, "I want him out just as much as you do, but I abhor your methods of doing so. Do what you must- but if you hurt either of them.. I will make your death slow.. And I won't need to worry about hurting any human in there, will I? Considering you recycled that fine piece?"
"How do you know about.."
"I know everything, just answer when I call and I wont rat you out."
"Who are you?" Ruby demanded again.
CJ smiled, a feral glint coming to her eyes as she took two steps closer to the demon, the raven taking just as many steps away for distance at the threatening vibe.
"I'm one pissed off mama bear trying to keep her cubs in line, and adopt several more.. You tell Sam about any of this, and I'll be sure Luci makes you his personal hound's chew toy. Her name is Ramsey and she's got one hell of a bite.""
"How long does it take to get a pizza?"
Dean's grumble was met with a look of silence as the brunette met his eyes, slowly dragging her eyebrows upward with suggestion twisting her features.
"I'm sorry, did you want me to ignore the pizza-man's ass?"
"Seriously?"
Dean's expression flickered in both annoyance and bitterness, his teeth chewing over his lip as he worked out just why that comment made him so annoyed. Sam looked equally, if not more so annoyed. This chick was either too quiet, too loud, talked too much or didn't talk enough.
Didn't she have a medium setting?
"Boys.. and girl," Bobby's voice cut into the quiet as they poured over the now open pizza boxes, "I've got an address, you comin'?"
"But.. but pizza.." CJ's voice was quiet as she looked down at the boxes in forlorn, she felt relaxed, for the first time in ever, due to the close proximity of both brothers. Like she had her boundless energy back.
Her worst fear seemed to confirm itself in that moment.
"Fine," her voice was back to monotone as she stood up quickly, ignoring the surprised looks of both brothers as she passed them and snatched her bag from the floor by the wall, "I'm taking my bike. Hurry up." She disappeared out the door, and Bobby shot the two boys a look of exasperation. "What did you two idjits do in the ten minutes I was gone?"
"We didn't do anything," Dean defended himself immediately, his shoulders bunching up like ruffled feathers. Sam frowned at his brothers reaction, the coil in his shoulders similar with indignation as they shared a look, Dean picking up the pizzas as they moved to follow the elder man, who had rolled his eyes and turned, yelling at them to grab their crap and follow.