AN: In reply to guest reader Smile Black, thank you a bunch! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. Hopefully I'll have more to come. And to the other Guest that reviewed, I'll just say you're right to be wary, but not for the reasons you think. ;) But I'll agree with you there, I always kinda disliked her character too. Thanks for your compliments!
As always, please enjoy, and leave a comment in the little box if you feel like it.
Do You Recall
XVI: Back Talk
According to the angels, Anna was far from innocent. But who were hunters to believe what they were told? Even though they were hopelessly out-gunned, they fought back. Guns were useless, for that matter, and trying to fight an angel's strength hand to hand was an uphill battle in the snow with a ball and chain bolted on both feet, at best.
Castiel was easily able to breeze past Sam with a touch to his forehead rendering the hunter unconscious, but the moment Castiel touched the door, his form disappeared along with Uriel.
"What the hell was that?" Elena asked, out of breath and on the floor. Dean helped both her and Ruby up (which was new for him), and went to Anna while Ruby helped Sam sit up. Anna's arms were cut to hell, and strange symbols were drawn on the mirror in front of her in blood.
"I don't know how I did it," she said, eyes slightly vacant. "It just popped into my head."
Dean grabbed a towel from the night before in his duffel to wrap one of her arms, and Elena did the same with one of her old cloth bandanas. She wouldn't be wearing it again, that was for sure.
They didn't know how Anna did it when she didn't even know what it was she was doing, but Sam resolved to find out, while Dean and Elena walked Anna to the Impala and made the drive to Singer Salvage. Bobby welcomed them in with his usual gruffness and asked for a debrief before he went on his way. Where, he wouldn't say, but he'd given Elena an apology that he couldn't stay; he said he had something to take care of, most likely a hunter that needed his help.
So they led Anna to his panic room.
"Demons can't even touch the joint," said Dean.
"Which I find racist, by the way," Ruby quipped from just outside the room, crossing her arms.
"Write your congressman," he retorted. She tossed him and Elena a hex bag each.
"Extra crunchy. Hides you from demons, angels, all comers."
Dean nodded.
"Thanks, Ruby."
She looked a little surprised at that, but she nodded in return. He gave the hex bad to Anna and told her not to lose it.
"So Anna, anything playing on Angel Radio?" he asked.
"It's quiet. Dead silence," she said.
"Good. That's not troubling at all."
"We're in trouble, huh?" she asked. "You guys are scared…"
Dean shook his head after a moment, giving her a smile.
"Nah."
Elena knew better. But when Sam called from upstairs, Dean asked her to stay and look after Anna with Ruby. She would because he asked her to, not because she wanted to be anywhere near the demon.
Before he left, Elena handed him her hex bag and he stuffed it in his pocket. If he was leaving the panic room, he would need it more than her.
"So…Sam left because…" Anna trailed, and Elena knew she was fishing.
"To look up the symbols on the mirror so we can know what they are, and exactly what they do," said Elena. It wasn't a lie. But he'd also gone to look up everything he could find on Anna.
"I know I freak you guys out," she said, looking down. "I know I'm not normal. They're talking about me, aren't they?"
"We just want to know why this is happening to you," Elena replied, trying to calm her down. It wasn't happening. She genuinely felt sorry for Anna and hoped they could help her get these angels off her tail. But from the looks of it, they felt pretty justified in killing her.
"Well, I do too!" she exclaimed. "Why aren't I allowed to know?"
"Look, it's not that—"
"Forget this," she said, and hastily made her way upstairs. Elena couldn't run after her with her knee still bothering her (the fight with the angels hadn't helped), but she gave Ruby an incredulous look when she let Anna by without lifting a finger.
"You're just going to let her go right past you?" Elena said, walking to the stairs. Ruby rolled her eyes.
"Fine," she said, and ran up the stairs. It left Elena to look up at the stretch of fifteen steps. She was already tired.
"She just kept saying that this real father of hers was mad. Like, wanted to kill her, mad," Sam explained.
"Kinda heavy for a two year old," Dean commented.
"Well, she saw a kid shrink and got better, grew up normal."
"Until now…so what is she hiding?"
"Why didn't you just ask me to my face?" Anna said, surprising them. They looked over and she was there with a hurt expression and Ruby standing next to her.
"Nice job watching her," said Dean, "Where's Elena?"
"Coming!" a voice called from downstairs. Slow steps could be heard making their way up, but eventually Elena reached the top, a little out of breath.
"I'm fine, thanks," she quipped. Dean shook his head.
"You're right, Anna," Sam admitted. "Is there anything you wanna tell us?"
"About what?"
"The angels said you were guilty of something. Why would they say that?"
"You tell me. Tell me why my life has been leveled," she said, on the verge of tears, "why my parents are dead. I don't know, I swear. I would give anything to know."
"Okay," Sam said with a nod and a gentler expression. "Then let's find out."
After calling up an old friend, Dean drove the couple of hours it took to bring Pamela Barnes to Bobby's house. The sunglasses were new, but there was the familiar teasing and butt pinching for Sam, and a surprisingly warm hug for Elena. The last time she saw Pam, the woman was in a hospital bed. But she and Bobby had brought some CDs and Godiva chocolate (and her favorite brand of whiskey for when she was off her pain meds).
There was always a measure of guilt when she saw Pam, but she liked the woman all the same. At the very least, Pamela kept Sam on his toes. That and she was making Ruby uncomfortable, which was a plus.
Pam and Anna seemed to hit it off well; the psychic was all too willing to help against angels, considering. She had Anna lay on the cot in the panic room and lulled her into a state of hypnosis.
"Every muscle calm and relaxed…" she soothed, and soon, Anna seemed to ease against the pillow under her head. "Can you hear me?"
"I can hear you."
"Now Anna, tell me. How can you hear the angels?" Pamela asked. "How did you work that spell?"
"I don't know," came the soft reply. "I just did."
"Your father, what's his name?" Pam asked instead. Anna's eyelids twitched slightly.
"Rich Milton."
"All right. But I want you to look further back when you were very young, just a couple of years old."
"I don't want to." The girl turned her head a bit away from Pam, but the psychic continued.
"It'll be okay, Anna. Just one look, that's all we need."
"No…" She began to toss and turn now.
"What's your dad's name? Your real dad. Why is he angry at you?"
"No…"
Elena looked over at Dean worriedly. This was beginning to feel too familiar.
When Anna began to scream, yelling that someone—"He"—was going to kill her, Pamela wasted no time in trying to calm her down. The flickered oddly in and out of darkness, then the metal door slid shut and the ceiling lights burst in white sparks. All the while Pam remained calmer than anyone.
"Dean don't," she said steadily as Dean reached out for Anna. The punch she landed on him sent him sailing into a chair, the wood breaking beneath his weight. Sam and Elena helped him up as Pam brought Anna out of the hypnosis. She brushed tendrils of red hair out of the girl's face and talked with soothing tones.
"Anna? Are you all right?"
Her eyes opened, and she sat up slowly as she looked at Pam.
"Thank you, Pamela."
The way she said it was a red flag to Elena. Pam, though she couldn't see Anna's face, leant back with no doubt a similar train of thought.
"That helped a lot," she said. "I remember now."
"Remember what?" Sam asked.
"Who I am," she replied, looking up at the brothers with an odd expression. Dean was a bit frazzled, but still wanted answers.
"All right, I'll bite. Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm an angel."
"Don't be afraid. I'm not like the others," Anna told Ruby.
"I don't find that very reassuring," the demon said. She kept her distance, as did the other four as they stood in Bobby's living room.
"Neither do I," Pamela deadpanned.
"So…Castiel, Uriel. They're the ones who came for me?"
"You know them?" Sam asked.
"We were kind of in the same foxhole," she said.
"So what, were they like your bosses or something?" Dean asked. She gave a ghost of a smile.
"Try the other way around."
"Hmm," said Dean. "Look at you."
"Now they want to kill you?" The distrust in Pam's tone was obvious, and understandable.
"Orders are orders," Anna shrugged. "I'm sure I have a death sentence on my head."
"Why is that?" Elena asked.
"I disobeyed, which for us is about the worst thing you can do," said Anna. "I fell."
"Meaning?" said Dean.
"She fell to Earth," Pam answered him. "Became human."
"Wait a minute. Angels can just…become human?" Sam asked. Anna nodded hesitantly.
"It kinda hurts. Try cutting your kidney out with a butter knife," she said a bit wryly. "I ripped out my Grace."
"…Come again?" Dean asked.
"My Grace, it's energy. I hacked it out and fell," she explained. "When my mother Amy got pregnant, she always called me her little miracle. She had no idea how right she was."
Was that pride Elena sensed in her tone? Maybe. She still wasn't seeing a clear picture on why an angel would make such a hefty and…painful decision.
"So you just forgot that you were God's little Power Ranger?" Dean said skeptically.
"The older I got, the longer I was human, yeah."
"I don't think you all appreciate how entirely screwed we are," Ruby cut in. Her exasperation was clearly written across her face, and Elena, for once, was inclined to agree.
"Ruby's right. Heaven wants me dead," said Anna.
"And Hell just…wants her," the demon added. "A flesh and blood angel that you can question, torture, that bleeds. Sister, you're the Stanley Cup. And sooner or later, Heaven or Hell, they're gunna find you."
"I know. And that's why I'm going to get it back," Anna replied. "My Grace, I mean. If I can find it."
Dean liked the sound of it; simple, and if they were able to find it, they'd have an angel finally on their side. Though she admitted that she lost track of it while she was falling at thousands of miles an hour.
"You mean like the human eye can see, as maybe a comet or meteor?" said Sam. Anna raised a brow.
"Why do you ask?"
With enough research, Sam found record of a meteor that was sighted exactly nine months to the day of Anna's birth in the same area of Ohio that she was born in. And at the same time, there was another over Kentucky.
"Her Grace," Ruby clarified.
"Might be," said Sam.
"That only narrows it down to an entire state." She huffed a breath and stood from the couch she, Sam and Elena were sitting on.
"It's a start at least," Elena supplied. Ruby turned around with her arms crossed.
"Look, I'm…I'm sorry I brought you guys this mess. If I would've down I would've just kept my mouth shut."
"You didn't know," Sam said, shaking his head. "We'll muddle through."
"This is a fight you don't want to get in the middle of. It's Godzilla and Mothra. If one side doesn't get us, the other will," said Ruby.
"Then what do you want to do? Dump Anna and run?"
The demon shrugged, her expression hopeful. Elena wasn't surprised. A demon's sense of self-preservation always won out.
"forget it. Look," said Sam. "I know the angels freak you out—"
"Forget the angels. It's Alastair I'm afraid of," she said, and it rang a bell in Elena's mind.
"Alastair?" she asked.
"You met him in the church, practically the head inquisitor downstairs. Picasso with a razor."
Now Elena remembered. She'd heard him taunting Dean, claiming to know him in the pit. And it seemed like Dean remembered things less fondly.
"I'll go get Dean," she said. "Ask him what he wants to do."
Sam nodded, and she left the room with a growing sense of unease and nagging curiosity that wouldn't leave her be. She knew Dean wouldn't want to talk about it, and he didn't exactly owe her an explanation.
Maybe now's not the time, she rationalized to herself.
When she found Dean with Pam and Anna in the living room, there was a clear rift between psychic and former angel that was more one-sided than anything, but no one was judging Pam for her distance. That's why when she motioned for Dean to come and talk in the hall and told him what Sam had found, she was in agreement with what he asked of her.
"How's your leg?"
"A bit sore, but fine. Why?" she replied.
"Would you mind taking Pam home?" he asked. "This is a bit more than she signed on for."
"Yeah," Elena nodded with a sigh. "I can meet up with you guys where you find Anna's Grace."
"I'll call you," he said, and with a teasing half-grin, "Don't put the radio on too loud. You won't hear your phone over Billy Joel."
"You're one to talk," she scoffed, and went to grab her leather jacket off the back of the couch where she'd thrown it earlier. "Hey, Pam. I'm gunna take you home."
"You sure, hon?" Pamela asked, but she got up out of her seat with a note of relief on her face.
"Yeah. We'll go in my car. It's parked out front."
Elena opened the door for Pam, but Dean stopped her before she could walk out the door. He bent his head near her ear.
"Keep your eyes open on the road," he said. "Who knows what the hell's watching us."
She grinned a bit and glanced up at him.
"You be careful too."
The Camaro pushed a solid eighty down the interstate. There were only a few cars on the road at nine thirty at night.
"Speed limit's sixty-five," Pam commented idly.
"How do you know I'm speeding?" Elena asked.
"You're bouncing your leg," she said, which wasn't entirely an answer. "You're nervous."
Elena didn't say anything.
"The boys can handle themselves for a little while," Pam assured.
"I know. That's not…" Elena sighed. "We're caught in the middle of two friggin' armies here. And I'm not sure which one's worse…if we stay in the way of them getting to Anna, it's not gunna end well."
"Yeah. Good luck with that by the way." Pam rested her hands casually on her thighs. "I'm sorry I can't be more help, but…"
"No, Pam. Seriously, we understand." Elena looked over at the older woman. "You don't need to be caught up in this."
"They'll be all right," Pam continued after a moment. "If there's one thing I know about Winchesters, they're stubborn as hell."
She fixed Elena with her marbled gaze that was only a little disconcerting.
"And you don't seem like the type to run away scared either."
"I'm not scared for me," she replied quietly. A sharp whap on her ribs startled her and made the car swerve for a few seconds until Elena was able to correct the steering. She panted for air to calm her beating heart and glared over at Pamela.
"What the hell was that? You're lucky there's barely anybody on the road!"
"Stop sounding like a pansy-ass little girl then," Pam said firmly. "You're a fucking hunter. Act like one."
"I can't be worried?" Elena exclaimed. "I think I have the right. Angels, you'd think they be the least bit benevolent. But come to find they're dickbag sons of bitches who could care less about humanity. Two of those are bad enough, but add a whole gang of demons on our ass?"
She laughed humorlessly.
"And the bastard leading 'em, who apparently 'knows' Dean."
For a moment, Pam was quiet. Eventually she asked,
"When he was in Hell?"
"Yeah."
"Tough break."
"Tell me about it."
Pamela sighed, and the conversation died down to the sound of the Camaro's engine. After ten minutes, Elena couldn't take the silence, but she didn't feel like getting into another talk like that one. She turned on the radio.
"Crazy…crazy for feelin', so lonely…"
She changed the station.
"I can't fight this feelin' anymore…I've forgotten what I've started fighting for—"
Sorry, REO. Not now, she thought.
"When you're gone, the face I came to know is missing too—"
"What the actual fuck!" Elena exclaimed in frustration and pressed the scan button repeatedly.
"Would you pick a damn station?" Pam snapped.
"They're playing a ton of shit!"
"REO's not shit," the psychic pointed out.
"I know, I know…" Elena let out a sigh of frustration. "I need to get some CDs in here…"
When she found an older station that, though it crackled in places, it was playing Journey's "Sweet and Simple" and Pam forbade her to change it. Elena was finally able to relax once she mentally drowned out the lyrics and focused on Steve Perry's crystal clear voice.
"So," Pam said, crossing her arms. She glanced over at Elena with a smirk playing at her lips. "You bang Dean yet?"
Elena spluttered and they nearly swerved again.
"NO," she exclaimed. "God."
"It's a simple question." The psychic pretended at innocence. Elena called bullshit.
"You're worse than Val," she muttered. Pamela laughed. Despite not knowing who Val was, she was glad someone else had the sense to see what her dim, yet lovable friend obviously chose not to.
"Now you're pouting like Grumpy."
"Am not!" Then Elena double-took at the woman sitting in the passenger seat. "How the hell would you even know?"
"You can't fool me. I have a literal sixth sense…well, fifth now I guess."
Elena sighed heavily.
"It's…complicated."
"How's that?"
Elena rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her messy hair. They showered at Bobby's, but she hadn't bothered washing it, even brushing it in two days. It was how the rest of her felt.
"He's like a fucking clam. It's hard to get anything definitive out of him."
"I'll bet. But you don't think he cares about you?"
"No, it's not that…I don't know what he wants," Elena admitted. "And…things have been a little too crazy to be thinking about it."
"Okay…" Pam trailed. "Well what do you want?"
She blanked. Pam could tell.
"You care about him too. That's not the question," she said. "But what do you want from him?"
"I don't want anything from him." Besides answers about a couple of things.
"But you don't want a one-time thing."
"No." She replied without really thinking about it. Pam raised her brows.
"Then you have your answer," she said. "He'll have to figure his out on his own."
The rest of the drive was rock music and more casual conversation until they pulled up on Pam's driveway at about mid-morning. The two parted with smiles and a last warm hug before Elena made her way onto the highway and called Dean.
"Hey. Just dropped off Pam. Where am I going?"
"It was a bust. Her Grace is gone."
"Gone? What do you mean?"
"Someone took it," Dean sighed. "We're hiding out in some barn in the middle of Union."
"Kentucky?"
"No, Alaska," he sassed. She rolled her eyes and sighed. She had a long drive ahead of her.
"I'll be there in a few hours, but you need to tell me how to get to where you are."
He gave her directions, but it was a while before she stopped feeling lost with all the tall grass and cows she passed. It was well into the afternoon when she parked on the other side of the shack. From the front door she could just barely see the Impala hidden behind, under the dense trees and bushes.
She called ahead so they knew it was her knocking on the door, but she didn't take offence when they still looked wary until they saw her.
"She's not possessed," Anna determined. Elena gave her a bland look as she entered the shack. Sam closed the door behind her.
"Yeah. I've got the tattoo, thanks."
Dean's expression perked with interest.
"You've never said."
"You've never asked," she returned, crossing her arms. "I'm not giving an exhibition, if that's what you're getting at."
He smirked.
"Does that mean—"
"Dean," Sam cut in, shaking his head despite the amused look on his face.
"What?"
Elena rolled her eyes and took in her shabby surroundings.
"Nice place," she said dryly. "Looks totally angel proof."
"We've still got the hex bags. I think we should go back to panic room," said Dean.
"What, forever?" Ruby cut in. "Cause that's the only way—"
"I'm just thinkin' out loud."
"Oh, you call that thinking."
"Hey, hey, hey," Sam interjected. Evidently, this back and forth had been going on for a while. "Stop it already."
"Anna's Grace is gone, you understand?" Ruby exclaimed. "She can't 'angel up,' she can't protect us. We can't fight Heaven and Hell. One side, maybe, but not both—"
"Uh…guys," said Anna. "The angels are talking again."
"What are they saying?" asked Sam.
"It's weird…like a loop recording," she said. "It says, 'Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight, or…"
She hesitated to finish, but Dean prompted her otherwise. She looked at him with wide eyes.
"Or we hurl him back to damnation."
Dean's eyes flew open, and for a moment he was speechless, stiff with something he thought he'd long buried down. Elena could see in those eyes that it was fear.
"Anna, is there a weapon we can use against an angel?" Sam asked quickly.
"To what, kill them?" she asked. "Nothing we could get to. Not right now."
"Okay, wait," said Dean, "I say we call Bobby, we get him back from hedonism or whatever the hell he's doing, and—"
"Dean, what's he going to tell us that we don't already know?" Sam asked, voice raising with stress.
"I don't know! But we've gotta think of something," he said, matching his brother's tone with the slight note of panic in his own.
"Wait, how much lore is there on angels," said Elena. They'd uncovered at least fifty pounds of dusty books at Bobby's. "There has to be something we can use."
Sam and Ruby searched on his laptop while Dean, Anna and Elena flipped through the books stored in the Impala. It took a couple hours of back and forth arguing, but they finally agreed on a plan that would either save them all, or get them all killed. Either way, it was the only shot they had, but that didn't mean they could keep looking for things to help. Dean and Elena went to his car to retrieve a few books they'd forgotten while Anna helped Sam with drawing a map of the area.
Dean popped the hood open and the two rummaged through guns and other miscellaneous weapons to the farthest ends of the trunk, where the last few books were hiding.
"What are you thinking?" she asked without looking at him. She didn't have to see his face to know he was tense.
"That this is a crappy plan." When he shut the hood, she placed the books on top.
"We've made it through better with less," she pointed out. He glanced down at the ground and leant against the car.
"But Dean…what are we up against?" she asked. "…Who is Alastair?"
He stiffened and looked up at her, until he turned evasive.
"I told you. No one good."
"I need a little more than that," she said. "I heard him, Dean. He said he knew you."
That they were "so close in the pit" was the more exact wording, but if she brought that up she knew he would walk away from her. As it was, he was already avoiding her eyes.
"This isn't something I want to talk about."
"Dean…don't you always get everything out of me eventually?" she asked. "I'm just asking for a little on the return side."
"Elena," he warned. "Just drop it."
"Look, I…I can't imagine what you went through, but…" she trailed, then looked up at him with earnest eyes. "But if you opened up about it, maybe it would h—"
"Do you open up about your brother?" Dean knew it was a low blow, and one wrong thing out of anything he could have said, but he neededher to back off. He wasn't ready, wasn't even sure he wanted her to know. The look she gave him was so taken back with old anguish obviously dredged to the forefront. But he pushed the guilt down deep for once.
"This isn't any different," he said, finally staring straight into her eyes. "Look, I know you want to help me, but truth is, you really, really can't. Talking about it doesn't help me. It makes it worse. I can't make you understand what happened. And trust me, you don't want to."
Elena regarded him through disappointed eyes, her lips pressed.
Then she asked, "Why is it you can't let anyone in?"
Because the only one who ever really tried was Sam, and he'd ended up dead. And if Dean had left him at Stanford, Jessica wouldn't have died. Sam would have had his life, been a lawyer, gotten married, the whole nine yards. And now his brother was lying to him, wielding a power Dean didn't understand, and apparently banging demons.
He wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. Not when she could be next.
"Why now, all of a sudden? For two years, it's not like you rang me up when I was trying to find my dad. You weren't there when he died, or when Sam…" Here he cut himself off, but continued, "And when I died, what did you do? You let him go off on his own to get caught by demons—"
"You're blaming me for that?" she asked, her mouth dropping slightly in surprise. She hadn't wanted to believe he would. Bobby hadn't seemed to think so, at least. So much for that.
"You're the one who wanted to get yourself stuck with us and our shit," Dean said, maybe a little harsher than he intended. He knew he was being a dick, but it was the only way she would leave him be, and maybe she'd get some sense. All he would do in the long run was get her killed.
"But a few hard weeks later, you couldn't take it, right?" he surmised. "Did you stop and think where I was while you were out partying with your friends?"
"I get it, Dean." Her voice was hard, but her eyes were glassy, fighting tears. Her hands fisted at her sides itched like she wanted to throw a swing, but was restraining herself. "I get it, all right? You just want to keep running until you burn out. And right about now…"
The wounded look in her eyes as she glared at him would be something else branded into his memory.
"That's fucking fine by me."
She walked away from him.
He didn't know how long he stood there, outwardly numb, but replaying the last five minutes in his head. It was all anger and frustration that, honestly, wasn't all directed at her. Suddenly he felt a lot like his father, and that thought made the pit of his stomach feel hollow.
He went inside the house with a wake of guilt in every step, but only found Sam, who looked at him incredulously when he walked in.
"Save it, where is she?" Dean asked.
"Dean—" Sam cut himself off and sighed heavily. He shook his head.
It hadn't been hard to hear their conversation, but it hadn't been his place to get in the middle either.
"Tell me where she is, Sam!" The look on Dean's face told Sam his brother was aware of whatever his problem was, but Sam almost didn't have the heart to answer the question. The sound of a car engine being revved and peeling away answered it for him.
Dean's expression was wide-eyed, blank, while Sam's was resigned.
"She told me to call if I needed help," he said. "But…she's going home."
He wouldn't mention the extent of what she said, but he could see Dean putting together the gist of what might have happened after she came storming in, grabbing her coat and keys and bag and telling Sam what to do if he needed her. She hadn't even spared Anna or Ruby a glance.
"But obviously your brother doesn't need or want my goddamn help. So I'm not going to get in his fucking way."
He could see the moment Dean chose to internalize his reaction, when he put on a cold front. Sam didn't need to press him for his thoughts to know where they were, and this time, Sam didn't try to dissuade him.
She pushed the car to seventy, and it didn't feel fast enough. It was a good thing no one was on this dirt road, because she wasn't staying within her lane all too often.
The words he said to her kept replaying in her mind, over and over. It was true. Elena hadn't been there. She'd been doing a job she wasn't cut out for.
Maybe she still was.
And then she thought of Pamela Barnes.
Pam knew exactly who she was, and what she did. Even if it hurt. She stuck to her guns and used them.
So what the hell am I doing?
Was she really running away, abandoning Anna, because Dean pissed her off?
"Stop sounding like a pansy-ass little girl," Pam said firmly. "You're a fucking hunter. Act like one."
Elena sighed.
Yes, ma'am.
He was trying and failing to focus. Specifically on reading one damn page. It was frustrating, reading the same line over and over again. Dean was almost relieved when Anna came outside where he stood by his Baby.
"Hey…you holdin' up?" he asked.
"Trying."
"Yeah…" He knew the feeling.
"A little scared, I guess," she trailed. After a moment, she called his name softly, getting his attention. "I just wanted to thank you."
"For what?" he said, finally giving her his full attention.
"Everything…you guys didn't have to help me," she admitted.
"Hey, let's can the 'thanks for trying,' speech, ya know?" It just made things harder. "Participation trophies suck ass."
"I don't know," she shook her head, confusing him. "Maybe I don't deserve to be saved."
"Hey, don't talk like that—"
"I disobeyed. Lucifer disobeyed. It's our murder one, and I knew it," she said. "Maybe I've gotta pay."
"Yeah well," said Dean, looking downward. "We've all done things we've got to pay for."
She leant against the Impala and looked up at him with eyes that were knowing, but comforting. He noted the change in her demeanor with some wariness.
"Dean, I have to tell you something, but you're not going to like it."
"What?"
"I heard the angels talking about a week ago…about what you did in Hell," she said. Her voice was factual, but not condemning. Instead, her hand reached up and rested against his cheek. "I know…but Dean…it wasn't your fault. You should forgive yourself."
Her touch was warm, but something wasn't right. Her hands were soft, but not a soft that he remembered. This was almost feather-light.
Her left hand reached up and slid through his hair—a caress that was first gentle against his stubbled cheek, her thumb stroking his skin. Dean's eyes closed, to his surprise.
Dean shook his head and lightly guided her hand away from his face.
"Anna, I…I can't," he said. "I can't talk about it."
And he couldn't do this, whatever it was. She seemed a little disappointed, but there was understanding in her eyes.
"I know," she said. "But when you do, there are people who want to help you…you're not alone."
She smiled and looked down for a moment.
"That's all I'm trying to say." After a while, he nodded, but couldn't find the words. She nodded back and stood up before heading back into the barn. Dean would've followed, if not for the revving of an engine in the distance, coming closer. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it until a dark blue Camaro came around the corner and parked beside the barn.
He watched Elena get out and lock the car, then walk up to the door. She glanced around and saw him. He knew she did. But she didn't even acknowledge him as whoever was at the door let her in.
Just great.
Anna was the first person Elena saw upon walking back through the door, and she didn't waste time on pleasantries.
"I'm sorry I left," she said with a sigh. "It was stupid…"
"You were upset," Anna said, and it didn't surprise Elena that the woman's tone was slightly knowing, but it did bother her a bit.
"Yeah, well…I'm not leaving this time. Not until we finish this, and you're home free."
Anna's mouth quirked upward.
"Not that I have much of a home to get back to, but thanks," she said. "You didn't have to come back…I appreciate it."
"It's okay," Elena said. "I…think I'm gunna lay down and try to get a few hours of sleep while it's still night."
"There's not much furniture in here."
"There's hay," Elena gestured to the pile of hay in the corner. But on second thought, there were probably ticks and other things just as pleasant. "Maybe I'll just lie down in my car."
It was ten in the morning, and Ruby was nowhere to be found.
"Where the hell is she?" Sam wondered aloud. His pacing was beginning to make Elena dizzy.
"She's your Hell buddy," Dean said, taking a sip of whiskey from a silver flask. Anna noticed it once she came in the room.
"A bit early for that," she commented. Dean shrugged.
"It's two in the morning somewhere."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. Something was off, that was certain to Sam, but he also noticed that Elena didn't even spare his brother a glance.
A wind kicked up outside and stirred leaves that hit the side of the barn. It wasn't long before the doors burst open, making wooden splinters fly. Castiel and Uriel strode in much like before, one with a firm stare, the other slightly smug as usual.
"Hello, Anna," Castiel said. There might have been something akin to regret in his eyes. "It's good to see you."
"How?" Sam asked. "How'd you find us?"
Castiel's gaze flicked to the elder Winchester, who suddenly looked guilty.
"Dean?" said Sam. Dean looked down at Anna with the sincerest of apologies. "Why?"
Anna looked up at Sam.
"Because they gave him a choice. They either kill me, or kill you and Elena," she said. "I know how their minds work."
Her eyes met Dean's again.
"You did the best you could…I forgive you."
Dean looked torn, but he allowed her to step toward the angels.
"Okay. No more tricks," said Anna. "No more running…I'm ready."
"I'm sorry," Castiel said. Anna shook her head.
"No. You're not. Not really," she replied. "You don't know the feeling."
The other angel seemed to consider her words, regard them as the truth.
"Still, we have history…it's just—"
"Orders are orders. I know. Just make it quick."
"Don't you touch a hair on that poor girl's head." The voice came from behind them, and when the humans in the room turned with surprise, they came face to face with Alastair. With him were two other demons, who held up a swaying Ruby between them. Blood soaked the middle of her shirt and she looked abnormally pale.
Uriel stepped forward, and all three hunters plus Anna moved to the side, out of his way. Ruby was thrown to the side, and she scrambled to get out of the way, curling up by bales of hay. As heated words were tossed between angel and demon, Sam and Dean conferred without speaking.
"Turn away now," Castiel warned.
"Sure. Just give us the girl," said Alastair, and with a wink, "We'll make sure she gets punished good and proper."
"You know who we are and what we will do…I won't say it again." The angel stepped forward to side with Uriel. "Leave. Now. Or we'll lay you to waste."
"I think I'll take my chances."
In effect, those were the words that unleashed chaos. Sam, Dean, and Elena watched as Uriel killed the two lesser demons with relative ease. Castiel, however, was surprisingly not powerful enough to kill Alastair with simple touch. Instead, it was the demon who gained the upper hand, and began chanting a spell that seemed to be weakening the angel. Until Dean slapped him in the face with a crowbar.
It didn't do much, but he looked angry. And his focus was on them now.
"Dean, Dean, Dean…you had such promise," he said, and with a gesture of a hand removed the crowbar. "Such potential!"
His hand clenched into a fist, and for the brothers and Elena, it felt as if their organs were being slowly crushed from the inside. Such pain eventually brought them to their knees.
And then Anna screamed for them to shut their eyes.
Other song references include:
"Crazy" by Patsy Cline
"I Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon
"When You're Gone" by Avril Lavigne
"Sweet and Simple" by Journey