Dearest Readers,
This has always been one of my favorite Supernatural episodes, so I really hope you enjoy this take! Let me know what you think
XOXO Ally Layne
Holy Water
Chapter 39: Heat of the Moment
Persie's eyes blinked open as she heard Annabeth close the door to the bathroom and the sound of the motel shower turning on.
She rolled over to look at the alarm clock next to the bed, and let out a huff. It was early morning and she didn't really care to be up this early regardless of what Dean said the night before. The boys, for some gods-awful reason, wanted to get an early start on the day.
Meanwhile, she thought it was a waste of time.
When Annabeth was toweling herself off and quickly getting dressed, she turned to the other woman with exasperation. "You better get ready or Dean's going to come in and… well, actually that's probably not true. But I'll kill you if you make me wait, so get your butt moving, Seaweed Brain."
Persie let out a long groan as she got out of bed and sludged over to the shower where she hopped in and let the water wake her up.
Annabeth finished up in the bathroom while she was in the shower, and asked her about what she thought they'd be running into today.
"Not sure," Persie admitted, scrubbing her hair with the motel shampoo. "Sam thinks it's some sort of physics or time thing. I don't know. I just slay monsters, Annabeth."
Annabeth laughed. "Never change, Persie."
She let out a hum, tilted her head and let the water wash out the suds from the shampoo. "I don't plan on it, babe."
"So, tell me again what's going on between you and Dean," she stated before Persie heard her start brushing her teeth. Her mouth sounded full when she added, "I know that something must've happened when we gave you time to talk it out."
"I already told you," she said, wiping the shower gel down her body. "Dean and I just talked some things through. One of the things being that he was a jerk and he apologized."
The water ran again and Annabeth spat out the toothpaste before rinsing out her toothbrush. "So there wasn't a lot of kissing?"
Persie snorted. "You are the worst."
"I am the best," She corrected. "And because I'm the best, Sam and I gave you time for the two of you to get your groove on and finally get some. But apparently you seemed to miss the memo."
"We talked, which is what we needed to do," Persie insisted, before pulling back the shower curtain so Annabeth could see her face. "And please do not refer to sex as getting my groove on. That's weird as shit."
"You're weird as shit," she said, before poking Persie on the forehead. "Now hurry up and get out of there before the boys come knocking on our door."
"You just don't want Sam seeing you without your hair done," Persie mocked.
"And you don't want Dean seeing you without your makeup done," Annabeth sassed.
Persie blinked. "Shut up."
"I've seen what you've been doing lately, you've been accentuating your eyes. You obviously want the poor man to drown in them more than he already was," she continued. "I think it looks great, though. And from the amount of time Dean's been lost in your eyes lately, I think it's paying off."
Persie quickly finished up in the shower before turning it off and willing herself dry, before wrapping herself with the towel and hopping out of the shower.
Annabeth shook her head at her dry friend. "I hate you for that."
She winked, and started to comb through her now dry, clean hair with her fingers half-heartedly. "You wish you were this cool."
"Sure. Whatever you say."
They quickly finished up and headed over to the boys room. Annabeth had her backpack that she'd been keeping close to her at all times, which made Persie realize the blonde was still carrying the Colt.
Before knocking on their motel door, Persie gave Annabeth a side-eye. "You haven't given it back to them?"
She raised a brow. "They're the ones who almost lost it in the first place."
"You're not wrong," she decided, then knocked.
Not even two seconds later, the door opened and an exasperated Sam Winchester opened the door. "Dean, they're already here. You're taking forever."
Persie peered past Sam's large frame and whistled. "Lookin' good, Hot Shot."
He paused in his frantic searching of his suitcase to give her a sly wink. "Don't you know it, sweetheart."
Sam scoffed. "You both are the worst."
Persie blinked up at the Samsquatch. "I think you meant best."
Dean continued to rummage through his bag before stopping as he pulled out a blue lacy bra, and turned to Persie as he held it up for everyone to see. "Did you lose something?"
She shot him a glare. "Keep speaking and that'll be the last of my bras you'll ever see."
He dropped it back into the bag. "Right." His eyes widened as he grabbed a handgun just off to the side of the bag, then grinned over at them, holding it aloft. "Bingo!"
Sam shook his head at his brother's antics, letting the others leave the room before he shut and locked the door.
They drove to a local diner where Dean insisted they needed to check out. Apparently all he could smell while driving down the street was the food from this place, which meant it was supposedly good grub.
Sam held the door open for his brother and the women, the bell that sat above the door rang with their entrance. They walked through the entrance and found a booth as the large sign on the door wrote in bold letters, Seat Yourself.
There was an old man getting his change from the cashier, who then told him, "Drive safely now, Mr. Pickett."
"Yeah, yeah," He grumpily replied before staggering toward the door.
Persie slid into the booth next to Dean as Annabeth took the seat next to Sam. She nearly jumped at the loud shout coming from the cook, "Order up!"
Sam grabbed four menus from the holder on the table and passed them out, while Persie looked to the side to see who must've been the only waitress in the joint talking to a shaggy looking man at the counter. "Can't stay unless you order something, Cal. You know the rules."
He pulled out some change from his pocket and pushed it toward her before mumbling, "Some coffee."
Next to her, Dean looked up past Sam's head and smiled. "Hey, Tuesday. Pig in a poke."
She raised her brow. "Do you even know what that is?"
He shot her a look that made her snicker.
"Are y'all ready?" The waitress asked as she walked up. Persie quickly scanned the menu, silently cursing her poor reading skills or rather the dyslexia that made it so difficult in the first place.
"Yes, I'll have the special, a side of bacon, and a coffee," Dean told her with a charming smile.
"Make it two coffees and a short stack," Sam said.
"I'll take two waffles and a side of sausage with a coffee, thank you," Annabeth added, her face hidden behind the menu, before placing it back down on the table in front of her with a white smile.
Persie bit her lip, and looked back at the menu that looked just as wonky as it did before. Letting out a quiet sigh, she looked up at the waitress who was still blushing from Dean's charm. "I'll take a short stack and side of bacon, please," she decided. "And for a drink I would like a cup of orange juice if you have it and a water."
The waitress nodded as she wrote it on her notepad. "You got it," She said, before giving them one last smile and walking away.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at Persie. "Did you… were you not able to read the menu?"
"Gods, Annabeth, just announce it to the entire restaurant, why don't you?" She rubbed her forehead before looking back down at the menu with a glare. "But yeah, I struggled to see what was on the menu. Not the end of the world."
"I thought so when you didn't order your usual," Annabeth commented. "I was expecting you to get the-"
"The short stack sounds great, Wise Girl," Persie muttered. "Don't rub it in."
Dean threw an arm around her shoulders. "Dyslexia?"
She nodded.
He gave her a small smile and took the menus from everyone to put it in their holder before leaning down to tell her softly, "If you ever need me to read some things off for you just let me know, Seph. No judgment- I know how some of these things can act up."
She leaned into him slightly. "I think it's because I'm tired."
He rubbed her shoulder. "You're fine, sweetheart. Just tell me if you need help, okay?"
"Thanks, Hot Shot."
Sam looked between the two with a knowing smirk. "I'm gonna cut in before the two of you get too gross," he mocked, before pulling out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and placing it on the table.
Dean grabbed it quickly just before Annabeth could get her hands on it. He gave the blonde a wink before looking down at the missing persons flier. "Alright, so this professor…"
"Dexter Hasselback, he was passing through town last week when he vanished," Sam explained, letting out a laugh when Annabeth ripped the paper out of Dean's hands to look for herself.
"Last known location?" Dean asked.
"His daughter says he was on his way to visit the Broward County Mystery Spot."
Sam grabbed a pamphlet from his coat pocket and placed it on the table, which Annabeth tilted her head to read. "Where the laws of physics have no meaning?"
Persie's eyebrows raised. "Which is why you think physics has something to do with his disappearance," she concluded with a shudder. "I hate science."
Annabeth looked at Persie over the missing person's report. "You hate psychics. You love marine biology."
"True." She shrugged.
A bell rang and their waitress walked over to them with a tray full of their drinks. "Three coffees, one orange juice and water," she announced as she placed the drinks in front of them. Annabeth immediately reached for the creamer, making Persie smile.
"Thank you," Persie told the woman.
"And some hot sauce for the…" She began, just as the hot sauce fell off the tray and shattered on the ground. "Whoops! Oh, crap." She looked up at them with a tired smile. "Sorry." She turned toward the kitchen and called out, "Clean up!"
Dean raised his brows at the others as the waitress walked back to the kitchen, making Persie roll her eyes as she sipped on her orange juice happily.
.
.
.
Persie walked at Annabeth's side as they followed the Winchester boys down the street outside the diner toward where they had previously parked the Impala.
She was feeling a little queasy after all the food she ate and tried to keep up while actively avoiding falling asleep standing up.
"Sam, you know joints like this are only tourist traps, right?" Dean asked his brother as a dog barked at them as they passed. "I mean, you know, balls rolling uphill, furniture nailed to the ceiling. The only danger is to your wallet."
Sam raised his hands. "Okay, look, I'm just saying that there are spots in the world where holes open up and swallow people. And sometimes the places are legit, like the Bermuda Triangle, the Oregon Vortex-"
"Actually the Bermuda Triangle is not one of these vortex things," Annabeth piped up. "The Bermuda Triangle is also referred to as the Sea of Monsters in the demigod world. All of the disappearances there are from mortals who accidentally run into monsters and are killed."
They stopped and looked back at the two demigods. "Sea of Monsters? That's real?" Sam asked.
Persie nodded matter-of-factly. "Yep. We went there when we were thirteen."
Dean choked. "Thirteen?"
"We hitched on a quest to go get the Golden Fleece and to save our friend, Grover," Annabeth added. "It was pretty impulsive but necessary, as it turns out we were the ones who were able to help Grover and keep him from being eaten by Polyphemus, a cyclops. Turns out it was luring satyrs to their death by using the fleece, so we were able to stop that, too."
Sam was shaking his head. "So the Golden Fleece is real, too?"
Annabeth nodded. "Healing powers and all."
He let out a woosh of breath. "Okay… Well, the Oregon Vortex is legit, at least." They started walking again, but he paused, stopping Dean in his tracks, before turning back to Annabeth. "Or is that caused by some godly thing, too?"
"Not that I know of," she admitted.
"Okay, cool."
They continued on their way, and Dean started up his questioning again. "Broward County Mystery Spot? Alright. So it is legit, and that's a big if, what's the lore?"
"Well the-"
A girl with short, blonde hair who was hastily walking with her head down and holding a stack of papers ran into Dean's shoulder, cutting Sam off. "Excuse me," she pardoned as she continued walking away.
Dean raised a brow at her retreating figure before turning back to Sam.
"The lore's pretty freaking nuts, actually," he continued. "They say in these places the magnetic fields are so strong that they can bend space and time, sending victims no one knows where."
"Sounds a little X-Files to me," Dean muttered,
"I was thinking Star Trek, to be honest," Persie added, rubbing her temples in exhaustion.
Annabeth was about to retort when they quickly moved to the side of the walkway to avoid the two men who were trying to move a desk into a building. It was pretty obvious it wasn't going to work.
"I told you it wouldn't fit!" one of the men shouted.
"What do you want, a Pulitzer?" the other man snapped.
Persie snorted as they continued their walk, while Annabeth tugged at her arm. "Since when did you watch Star Trek?"
"Since Paul became my stepdad."
"Huh."
Dean was still bitching at Sam about the Mystery Spot and insisted that there was no way it was real, which made Persie roll her eyes. "Look, Hot Shot, I'm not saying I agree this place is real, but if it is we need to check it out. There might be a monster or something like there is in the Bermuda Triangle, and if there is we will need to stop it."
Dean let out a sigh, before slowing down a few steps to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "Alright, fine. We'll go tonight after they close and get ourselves a nice, long look."
Sam looked back at the two of them, trying to suppress a smile. Persie was definitely his weak spot. Maybe he should start asking her to get Dean to do things. She'll have far better luck than him, anyway.
.
.
.
Later that evening, the awesome foursome snuck into the Mystery Spot. Annabeth used her nice lockpicking kit that she was gifted from Travis Stoll, and they were in easily after that.
Sam led the way with a flashlight, Annabeth and Dean right behind him, while Persie took up the rear. They walked down the hallway, and it quickly seemed like they were the only ones there.
As they walked into a room at the end of the hall, Sam shined the light onto the ceiling, making Persie bit her lip to hide her laugh.
"Wow, uncanny," Dean deadpanned, staring up at the furniture on the ceiling as Sam and Annabeth quickly did a scan of the room. "Find anything?"
"No." Sam let out a sigh, stopping in the middle of the room.
"Do you have any idea of what you're looking for?" Persie asked the taller Winchester.
He blinked. "Uh, yeah-"
"No, he definitely does not," Annabeth finished for him.
Dean shook his head as they continued to look around, and Persie gave her friend a wink before looking on the other side of the room.
The sound of a gun cocking made them stand still. "What the hell are you doing here?" A man yelled.
They spun around to see a man with a shotgun aimed at them. Dean's hands flew up when he saw that the gun was now pointed at him, his own gun in his right hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, we can explain."
"You robbing me?" The man demanded, his gun shaking in his trembling hands.
"Look, no one's robbing you, calm down," Sam tried, his voice calm and soothing in the unsettling atmosphere.
Dean slowly moved to put the gun on the ground, but the man's grip tightened. "Don't move, don't move!"
"I'm just putting the gun down," Dean tried to explain.
However, any other explanation they had to offer was void when the man suddenly fired, hitting Dean point blank in the chest and throwing him back on the floor.
Persie shrieked and water blasted through the pipes, knocking the man on the floor. She barely was able to concentrate to keep herself from drowning him and bowing to her anger.
Instead, she ran to Dean's side where Sam was hitting his face and Annabeth was holding pressure on his wound. "Call 911!" Annabeth ordered the man, who was now sputtering at them in shock. "Now!"
"I… I didn't mean to…"
"Hey, hey," Sam barked at his brother, ordering him to keep his eyes open. To stay awake. "No, no, no… please, not like this."
Persie fell to her knees as Dean's eyes closed and his heart stopped beating.
Annabeth looked up at Sam and Persie with tears in her eyes. "Guys…"
Persie's world went black.
.
.
.
"Cause it's the heat of the moment, the heat of the moment, the heat of the moment showed in your eyes-"
Sam's eyes flew open.
He was in bed.
How did he-
"Rise and shine!"
Sam's head snapped over to see Dean. Dean, who had just died from a massive shotgun blast to his chest was now sitting there-
Deans smirked at him. "Dude, Asia, right?"
"Dean?" Sam whispered, his voice coming out choked.
"Oh, come on, you love this song and you know it!" He turned up the volume, bopping his head and mouthing the words to the chorus. Then, completely oblivious to his brother's terror and shock, he got up and walked to the bathroom, leaving Sam laying there questioning his life decisions.
He watched as Dean brushed his teeth then gargled and spat out his mouthwash.
Dean looked over at Sam, finally noticing he hadn't moved in the minutes he's been getting ready. "What?"
"I… don't know."
His eyebrows furrowed. "You alright?"
Sam swallowed, and shook his head slowly. "No… I think I… man, I had a weird dream."
"Yeah?" Dean cracked a cocky smile. "Clowns or midgets?"
Someone started pounding on their hotel room door, making Dean stiffen before he checked the eyehole and immediately relaxed. "They're not even ready," he muttered to himself, before unlocking the door.
Sam watched as his brother went to open the door, and fought to get himself together. I just… it seemed so real.
A loud gasp sounded from the doorway and Sam looked over to see Persie hugging Dean so tightly he thought his brother might be choked from her enthusiasm. He heard some muffled sounds as she said something into his chest, but he couldn't see her clearly enough to get a gauge on what was happening.
Annabeth walked in the room behind Persie at a more sedate pace, but her face was pale as she stared at Dean like he was a ghost.
She looked over at Sam and he immediately knew that he was not the only one who thought Dean was dead when he woke up.
"It's Tuesday," Annabeth said numbly, walking over to sit at the bottom of Dean's bed, eying Persie carefully as she was still holding him tight. "But… it's supposed to be-"
"Wednesday?" Sam asked, and her gray eyes looked at him, calculating. "Yeah. I thought so too."
She pursed her lips. "So did Persie."
He heard his brother murmur quietly into Persie's hair. "What's wrong, Seph? What's got you like this, sweetheart?"
She sniffled and wiped her eyes as she pulled back from the embrace to look up at him. "I just had a nightmare, is all."
Once everyone had calmed down and gotten ready for the day, everything seemed to happen as it did in their dreams. Or… as it happened yesterday. The Tuesday before this Tuesday, which was not exactly a week ago.
It didn't even feel like a full day had passed.
All Persie could remember was Dean dying… then she woke up.
It was a really horrible dream- but both Sam and Annabeth agreed that they experienced it too.
They walked into the diner and the bell dinged as the door opened. Dean led them to the same booth, and like before, Persie noted that the cashier was giving the old man change. "Drive safely now, Mr. Pickett."
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled.
Still crabby.
"Order up!" the cook shouted as they took their seats.
The same spots they were in yesterday.
Or… rather, today.
"It's Tuesday," Dean said, looking at the specials. "Pig in a poke."
Persie's gut fell. "Tuesday?"
Dean nodded, eying her weirdly as the waitress walked up to their table. "Uh, yeah, it has been since this morning."
She rolled her eyes, but Annabeth was looking between her and Sam with the chaotic scheming look she was so familiar with.
"Are y'all ready?" The waitress asked, holding up her pad and pen.
"Yes, I'll have the special, a side of bacon, and a coffee," Dean said with a large grin. He was still giving Persie a side eye, probably noticing just how white her face became after he answered her obvious question.
She was suddenly not hungry.
Apparently, Sam and Annabeth felt the same way as they waved off the waitress, who told them to let her know if they change their mind, and walked off with a small smile.
"I'm gonna tell you guys, this job is small fry," Dean brought up. "We should be spending our time hunting down other… tangible things instead of whatever the hell this is."
Annabeth and Sam shared a look. If they were experiencing the same day over again… this might not be as small fry as Dean thought. He was the only one not aware of what was happening, and it was likely for a reason.
Running a hand through her already messed up braid, Annabeth looked across the table at Persie who was still paler than a sheet and looked like she was going to puke. Seeing Dean die really did a number on her.
"Hey!" Dean snapped his fingers. "You with me?"
"What?" Annabeth blinked out of her thoughts.
"Are you guys sure you're feeling okay?"
Sam's eyebrows furrowed. "You… you don't remember any of this?"
Dean snapped his head to him. "Remember what?"
"This," Sam said, doing an all encompassing gesture. "Today, like… like- well, it's happened before."
"You mean like déjà vu?"
Annabeth let out a long huff of air. "No, he means it's actually as though this has all happened before."
He shrugged. "Yeah, like déjà vu."
She rolled her eyes. "Forget out déjà vu or whatever. Does it feel at all to you like we're living yesterday all over again?"
He frowned. "Okay, how is that not déjà-"
"Dear gods, don't say it again," Persie bit out. "Just don't."
The waitress seemed not to notice the tense atmosphere as she walked back over with the tray. "Coffee, black." She placed it on the table carefully in front of Dean. "And some hot sauce for the-"
Like the day before, the hot sauce fell from the tray and careened toward the floor, but Sam quickly reached out to catch it before placing it back on the table.
"Oops- crap!" she exclaimed, before looking at Sam in slight awe. "Thank you!"
Dean raised a brow at his brother as she walked away. "Nice reflexes."
Sam shook his head, before sharing looks with Annabeth and Persie. Something was definitely going on, and whatever it was- it was probably nothing good.
After Dean ate his food, they left the diner and walked down the street. It was all happening as it did the day before, which only put Persie even more on edge than she was before. She frowned as they walked by the barking dog, chained up to a bike rack.
"I'm sorry you guys, but I don't know what the hell you're talking about." Dean shook his head in disbelief.
"Okay, look- yesterday was Tuesday, right?" Sam tried to explain again. "But today is Tuesday, too."
"Yeah, no good, you're totally balanced."
"You're the only one who doesn't believe this," Annabeth pointed out. "You're also the only one out of us who doesn't remember."
A girl ran into Dean's shoulder- same as the day before- as she had her head down and was holding tightly to a stack of papers. "Excuse me!"
Dean rolled his eyes and kept pace. "Look, I'm just saying that it's crazy, you know?" He tried to explain, making Annabeth roll her eyes. "Even for us, crazy. Dingo-ate-my-baby-crazy. Hey, maybe it was another one of your psychic premonitions."
Sam shook his head. "No, way too vivid."
"His what?" Persie asked.
Annabeth winced. "Yeah, not the time, Seaweed Brain."
"You have psychic visions?" She continued her questioning. "Since when?"
Sam gave her a wry smile. "Since forever ago. Sorry."
"Sorry?" Persie demanded. "And you treated me like-"
"Okay, definitely not the time," Annabeth cut her off. "You can say your piece after we figure all this crap out, got it?"
Her eyes narrowed. "You knew?"
"I figured it out," Annabeth admitted. "But let's get back to the real issue here- what in the Hades is happening to us?"
"Okay, look, we were at the Mystery Spot, then…" Sam trailed off, his cheeks pink from Persie's accusations. He knew where she was going with her question, and it was a bit awkward to be outed in the middle of the chaos.
"And then what?" Dean asked.
Sam cleared his throat. "Well… uh-"
"You died, Dean. Then we woke up," Annabeth told him, crossing her arms as he stuttered to a stop.
"Wait… what?"
Persie placed a hand on her forehead, doing her best to avoid remembering the sight of him laying on the ground- yeah, no. "You died, Hot Shot. And then we woke up, and you're the only one who doesn't remember it."
He shook his head. "But it doesn't-"
"Make sense?" Annabeth offered with raised brows. "Yeah, none of this does."
They quickly started walking again, albeit now at a slower pace. They walked around the two movers from the day before, who were once again bickering back and forth.
"Wait a minute!" Sam exclaimed as they made it further down the path. "The Mystery Spot… you think maybe it-"
"Maybe what?" Dean looked at his brother.
Annabeth was tracking his words, nodding along. "Yeah, we really need to check it out again."
Dean looked between them, clearly clueless.
Persie felt some pity for the man and placed a hand on his arm. "If it's the Mystery Spot that's causing all this weird déjà vu stuff then we should check it out again," she told him. "Maybe this time we can find something that will help."
"This time? Again?"
"Look, just go with us, okay?" Sam cut in, looking at his brother pleadingly.
Dean's resolve seemed to wilt at his brother's puppy-eyes. "Alright, alright, we'll go tonight after they close, get ourselves a nice long look-"
"Wait!" Persie shouted, feeling her cheeks flush as she realized just how loud she was. "Let's uh…"
"Let's just go now," Sam offered, catching on to her meaning. "Right now. Business hours, nice and crowded."
Dean blinked. "My God, you're all freaks."
Annabeth nearly facepalmed. "Dean…"
He held up a hand in defeat. "Fine, whatever, we'll go now."
Sam smiled in relief, which was mirrored by Persie's own. Annabeth, however, still looked extremely exasperated with the situation. The three moved to begin to walk after Dean, who had just stepped on the street-
Just as a car drove, seemingly out of nowhere, right into Dean.
Sam pulled Persie and Annabeth back, ducking out of the way as the driver finally slowed to a stop.
"Dean!" Persie shrieked, followed by Sam's own yell for his brother.
They ran to his side. He was a bloody mess, his eyes closed-
"Dean," Persie repeated, her voice sounding choked as she tried to gently turn him fully onto his back.
"No, no, no, no- come on, Dean," Sam spoke, his eyes welling with tears. "Come on!"
Annabeth looked up to see Mr. Pickett leaned out of his car's window before her eyes blurred with tears.
Persie placed a hand softly onto his cheek.
He wasn't moving.
Sam shook his brother, calling his name as tears fell from his eyes. "Dean. Dean!"
He was gone.