Chapter Four: We have to talk

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. Chapter contains some excerpts from the pilot. In this chapter we start to get a look at how Alison deals with flashbacks of her mom and who she starts to lean on. Enjoy!

Alison's POV

I wake up, stretch and look at Dean in the rear view mirror, silently thanking him for letting me use his jacket as a blanket. "Hey, how far away are we?" I whispered to Dean so not to wake up Sam. I lean over the front seat so it's easier to chat.

"We're just about to pull into town. Need to stop and fill up once we get into town. You should probably change out of that before we go check out the bridge." I look down at my cut offs and sleeveless plaid shirt. Can't risk running into cops at the bridge looking like this. "Yeah I definitely need to change and grab another coffee." Dean gives me a look, "What? Did you forget that I live off of coffee and candy already? Jeez Dean-o get it together." I laugh and shove his shoulder lightly. Dean is shaking his head and starts laughing.

"I honestly forgot. But how are you holding up Ali? I need to know that you'll be okay with this hunt."

"Dean I'm fine. No need for chick flick moments right now. I have you and Sam's back on this." I give him a look to show I mean business. This isn't something I can talk about right now, not when we have a hunt to deal with. I can't be weak, I need to be strong for the boys. Dean looks back at me and nods as he pulls into the gas station. I grab my bag and hop out of the car, making my way to the bathroom to change.

Dean's POV

I looked after Ali as she bolted out of the car. I know she's not okay but she's not about to show it, guess I can relate to that. At least I know she's focused on the hunt and helping us track dad down. Sam's still snoring away as I fill up the tank, I'm lost in my own thoughts when Ali comes back and hands me a cup of coffee.

"Stretch is still passed out huh?" Ali takes a swig of her coffee and tosses her bag in the back seat.

"Yeah, thanks for the coffee. How should we wake sleeping beauty?" I say as I look at her and she's wearing jeans and a red plaid shirt. She's playing with the pentagram necklace that I gave her years ago for her birthday.

"Hmm I say we blast some Metallica." She noticed that I'm staring. "What's with the stare down?"

"Just surprised that you still have that necklace that I gave you." She stopped playing with it and smiles.

"Of course I do. You gave this to me the Christmas before I left for college. I always wear for protection." Ali shoves me with her shoulder as she goes to climb in the car. I get in the front seat, start the car and blast the music scaring the crap out of Sammy. Ali and I burst out laughing as Sam flails around in the front seat startled awake.

Sam's POV

"Dammit Dean. That's not funny." I look around and notice we're at a gas station and the sun's up. AJ is in the back crying from laughter. "Dude your face was priceless!" I glare at Dean and look at AJ for help but she's still laughing.

"Sorry Samsquatch, we had to. You were sleeping like the dead and we're a few minutes away from the bridge." I just groaned, pulled out my phone and started calling around everywhere that might have caught whiff of dad. "Well there's no one matching dad's description at any hospital or morgue. So that's something I guess."

"A good something.." AJ gives me a small smile. Missing was better than dead in my mind. I looked back out the window and noticed cops gathered at the bridge. "Hey guys, take a look over there." Dean and AJ look over in the direction I pointed out. Dean slowed down the car until we were pulled over and shut off the engine. He reached over to the glove compartment and pulled out a box full of fake ids.

"Dude what is all this?" Of course Dean ignored the comment and grabs three identical ids. He grabs his, tosses one to AJ and hands me mine. Federal marshals we're definitely going to jail.

"Let's go." AJ said as she gets out of the car and stands up tall which is well a bit of a feat since she's barely 5'4".

The deputy was standing by the bridge's railing, leaning over in order to talk to the officers down below. "You find anything?" I heard him yell. "No. Nothing yet!" One of the officers down by the river yelled. Deputies Jaffe and Hein , which I overheard other officers mentioning them were talking over by the railing. Apparently the guy who went missing last night is dating Hein's daughter. I walked up to them with Dean and AJ as Dean stated "You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't ya?"

Deputy Jaffe looked at the three of us suspiciously. "And who are all of you?"

AJ flashes her badge as Dean and I followed suit. "Federal Marshals sir."

"Aren't you a bit young to be a marshal miss?"

"Well bless your heart. Now, you did have another one correct?" AJ stated, she meant business and didn't want to do the run around.

Jaffe nodded, "Yeah that's right. About a mile up the road, there's been others like that."

I spoke up "So this victim, you knew him?" Jaffe nods "Any connections between the victims, besides that they're all men?"

"Not as far as we can tell." Jaffe looks away sheepishly. AJ speaks up "So what's the theory you're running?"

"Honestly?" Jaffe looked over at her. "We don't have a damn clue. Serial murders or some kind of kidnapping ring."

Dean scoffed. "Well, this is exactly the crack police work I would expect from you guys." AJ glared at him and stomped on his foot.

"I'm sorry about that gentlemen. I think that will be all, thank you for your time." The two deputies nodded, as the three of us start walking back to the Impala.

"Dean way to be professional!" AJ snapped.

"What? It wasn't a big deal." Dean scoffed. I coughed and tilted my head towards the two real FBI agents heading our way. "We got to go now!"

Alison's POV

Great... Of course the FBI would show up as we're leaving. We get to the car and head into town, Sam wants to find Deputy Hein's daughter to ask her questions about the boyfriend's disappearance. All I can do is shake my head at Dean's behaviour towards the deputies. He seriously needs to learn to use that damn filter every once in awhile, he almost blew our cover. We found Rachel and Amy downtown handing out and posting missing flyers. After somehow convincing them that we were distant relatives of Troy, we all sat in the diner and they told us about the local legend of a woman that got murdered out on Centennial Highway.

Sam had told us that we needed to go to the library and here we are. Dean is pecking away at the keyboard looking 'Female murder hitchhiking' and getting nowhere. I shoved him out of the chair. "Dude, what the hell Ali?" Dean groaned.

"Just let me try, I know what I'm doing." I said as I entered in 'Suicide Centennial' in the search box. A few articles popped up, though only one caught my eye. "Hey guys, look at this." Dean and Sam lean over me. "This article is from 1981. Constance Welch, 24 jumps off Sylvania Bridge and drowns in the river." I read.

"Does it say why she did it?" Dean asked.

Sam scanned the article. "Apparently an hour before they found her, she called 911. Apparently her two small children were in the tub. She left them for a minute and when she comes back, they're not breathing. Both of them died." I frown and feel sick to my stomach. Constance must have been devastated. "Our babies are gone" Sam continued, "And Constance couldn't bear it' states husband Joseph Welch." I looked at the photograph.

Dean leaned over me again and said "Hey wait, doesn't that bridge look familiar?" Holy shit, I looked at the photo again. "This is the bridge we were at this morning!" I exclaimed, "That explains the car. At least we know where to start." We run back to the car and waste no time getting back to the bridge. When we got there I took to one edge of the bridge, while the boys took to the other.

Dean's POV

"So this is where Constance took a swan dive." I shook my head slightly as I turned to face Sam, as I noticed Ali heading over to us. "So do you think dad came out here?" Sam asked me and I shrugged. "Well he was chasing this story and we're chasing him. So yeah." I started to walk down the rest of the bridge. Sam was right on my heels and I can hear Ali muttering under her breath, something about shit about to hit the fan.

"Well now what Dean?" I stopped dead in my tracks. "What do you mean Sam? We keep digging until we find him. It might take awhile." I stated and Sam stopped walking. Ali grabbed my arm and starts saying "Dean, Sam's got to be back by Monday. Remember he's got that.." I spin to face them.

"Monday. Right. The interview." I'm pissed, Sam gave a small smile to Ali as if to thank her for reminding me. "You're real serious about this Sammy? Going to live some apple pie life? Does Jessica know the truth about you? You ever going to tell her?" Sam's smile faded and he stiffened.

"Maybe I am. And no she's never going to know." I scoff and Ali gives me a warning look and takes a step between us.

"Well that's just healthy there Sammy. You can pretend all you want, but sooner or later you're going to have to face what you are."

"And who's that Dean?" Sam asked, clearly knowing the answer.

"A hunter Sam!" Ali gasped. "Dean, he stopped being a hunter awhile ago. He got out and it took him a long time to get where he is. I'm proud of him and you should be too. I know that he left and that made you feel like you were alone. But Dean come on if he doesn't want to hunt, you'll still have me on hunts. I don't plan on going back once I'm done this last class." I'm angry, how dare she take his side.

"Are you kidding me Ali?! You both left and got to live the apple pie life and I got stuck hunting. Sam has a responsibility..." I shoved past her.

"To what Dean? Dad and his crusade? What difference would it make?" I grabbed Sam by the collar and shoved him up against the railing. I'm furious, I can feel Ali trying to pull us apart.

"DEAN STOP! Let him go!" I shoved Sam back and walked a few feet away. That's when I notice something, more like someone standing on the railing of the bridge. "Hey guys, look." Constance looked at us, and just stepped over the railing and fell into the river. Ali runs to the railing looking over, "Where did she go?"

Sam turned around, "Dean..Who's driving your car?" I stopped dead in my tracks, without taking my eyes off of baby I grabbed my keys from my pocket and jingled them. Baby jerked into motion, and headed in our direction. "Holy shit!" I exclaimed as Sam and Ali start running. The car is moving faster than we can all run, and we all know that it's about to catch up to us. We have nowhere to go except for over the edge, Sammy dove over first and without waiting a second I pull Ali over the edge with me. All I can hear is Ali screaming as we hit the ice cold river water. I must have let go of her when we hit the water, I swim up to the surface and I can't see her or Sam.

"SAM? ALI!" I yelled and start swimming towards the bank. Ali pops up beside me and I can hear Sam yell down to us. "Are you guys okay?" The jerk is hanging off of the railing on the bridge deck.

Alison's POV

"We're okay!" Dean shouted back to Sam. I looked over at him and he's covered in mud from head to toe. I look down at myself and I'm just as covered in mud, I can even feel the mud squishing between my toes in my boots. I can hear Sam laughing at us, I bet we're a sight to see.

"Dean, did you really have to pull me into the water with you?" I sigh as I drag myself up the hill back to the bridge. "There's mud in places where there shouldn't be."

"I just wanted to make sure you made it off the bridge." Dean smirked playfully "Can I see where all the mud is?" I smacked the back of his head. "Shut up you pervert." We climb into the Impala and make our way to the motel, I can't wait for a nice long, hot shower. It's close to midnight by the time we make it back to the motel and the clerk was shocked at how Dean and I looked when we checked in. "Two rooms please." Dean states as he puts his credit card down on the desk. The clerk looked at the card and back at us. "You guys having a reunion or something? Some guy with the same last name, rented out one of the rooms for a whole month." I grabbed Dean's hand since he was beside me, while keeping my face neutral. John was fine, it's all going to be okay. The boys went to go check out John's room and I went to my room to shower and change. It's been a long day and I have a feeling it's going to get even longer.

As soon as I walk into my room I toss my bag on the bed and stripped out of my clothes, as I made my way to the bathroom. As I got in the shower and felt the hot water washing over my body, my hand unconsciously ran over the scar I've had since I was little. Sometimes I swear I can still feel the blade my mom used slicing into me. As I get out of the shower, I hear banging on my door. I quickly wrap myself in a towel and grab my gun off of the nightstand before I go to the door.

"Ali open up!" Dean's shouting as he bangs on the door.

"Jesus Dean.. I was in the shower." I opened the door, still dripping from the shower and let the boys in. Dean looked at me and smirked so I pulled the towel tighter and grab a sweater and shorts out of my bag. "Let me just change and you boys can tell me what you found." I walk into the bathroom and can hear muffled chatter from Sam and Dean. I wonder what they found in John's room, knowing John he probably had the walls covered with items from the case. I throw my wet hair in a messy bun and grab my dirty clothes to shove back in my bag.

"Took you long enough Short Stack." Sam laughs as I toss my mud covered shirt at his head.

"Yeah yeah.. So now what did you boys find?" I shooed Dean away from my bag and sat down on the bed across from them.

Sam's POV

Oh poor AJ... We definitely caught her off guard. It's starting to feel like the days when the three of us would hang out after a hunt. Dean and I would always razz her because she would take too long to unwind, or when she would get frustrated after not figuring something out first. AJ and I have always been close and she's my best friend. Hell when we went off to college, she was the only family I could count on. I wonder what has her so out of sorts with this case.

"Earth to Samsquatch!" AJ is waving her hand in front of my face, I smack it away.

"Sorry AJ. Spaced out for a minute." I smiled sheepishly. "Anyways, Dad figured out that Constance Welch is a woman in white. He had the same article that we found at the library."

"Did the article say where she was buried?"

"Nope! But if I were Dad I would track down the husband, if he's still alive." Dean told her.

"Alright. So have we got an address?" I shook my head and come up with a challenge.

"Not yet. Do you want to race to see who can find the address first?" AJ gets a competitive glint in her eyes.

"You're on Winchester! Dean you're in charge of finding some food." Dean just shook his head as he got up and made his way to the door. "Whatever dorks." He muttered on his way out and we laughed. We spent a good hour searching for Joseph Welch before AJ squealed in delight. "Boom! Got Joseph Welch's address, we can go and talk to him in the morning!" I started laughing as AJ started doing her victory dance around the room, not noticing that Dean had walked back in with food.

"Nice moves there Half Pint." Dean chuckled as AJ froze and blushed like crazy, mumbling something about food. "So did you two find the husband?"

"Yeah which is why AJ was dancing like a Looney Tune."

"Bite me Samuel!" AJ glared, grabbed food from Dean and sat down on her bed. "We can head out in the morning and talk to him about Constance." Yup, AJ is going to ignore me for teasing her about her victory dance like she always does. It's been that way since we were kids, more so now because she didn't really get a chance to cut loose since we've been at school. Giving AJ my best puppy dog look I said "AJ come on don't be mad. You know I only tease because you're my best friend."

"Dude don't ruin my appetite." Dean grumbled while chowing down on his burger.

"Fine but you owe me Winchester. Let's finish up so I can kick you boys out so I can sleep."

"Alright. The faster we close this case the faster we can get back on Dad's trail." Dean said as we finished up eating and AJ started pushing us towards the door. I give her a big hug and pat her on the head.

"Hey Sammy, I'll be right there just need to talk to Ali for a second." I give him a nod and head back to our room.

Dean's POV

I turned back to face Ali, "Hey, good job on tracking down the husband."

"Thanks. What did you really want to talk to me about Dean?" She was leaning against the door rubbing her eyes.

"You think that Dad is really okay? That he just wanted us all back in the game?" Ali's the only one that I can talk to freely about my worries about Dad. I just want to get back on the trail and get this job over with. She sighs and looks up at me with those big hazel eyes "Dean, I really think he's okay. He's probably on a new case and wanted us to finish what he started. Stop worrying and go get some sleep for once." I give her a small smile and pull her in for a hug and I know she wasn't expecting it. "Alright I'll leave you to sleep. Thanks again Ali." I turn and walk back to my room, leaving Ali in the doorway.

Alison's POV

Well I definitely didn't expect that, not that I mind. I swear Dean has gotten more muscular in the past couple years. I think the last time he hugged me like that was my birthday before I told him I was leaving for college. Anyways it's not like it matters right now, we have to figure out how to gank Constance so we can get Sammy home for Monday. He at least deserves a chance to have a normal life, well as normal as it can be for a hunter. At least Sam has a chance, hell I tried but it didn't feel right. My going away to college it made Dad happy, it made me happy for awhile until the nightmares started again.

I didn't have nightmares about mom for years until about 3-4 months ago. I don't remember much of the nightmares when I wake up except for mom looking at me with these terrifying white eyes. I wish every day that I could have mom back, the way she was before the demon took over. Then maybe dad, mom and I would have had a shot of being a happy family. Even though dad would still help other hunters, we would maybe have a shot at normal. I shake my head and double check the lock on the door, grabbing my knife and crawling into bed. Time to try and sleep before we get this case wrapped up tomorrow.

/Nightmare/

"Momma! Where are you momma?" I'm walking through our house trying to find her. I'm trying to open doors but they won't budge. I hear something coming from the kitchen. "Momma, is that you?" I start walking down the stairs and the lights start flickering. I turn around, I swear something just moved and continue down the stairs. I walk towards the kitchen, I see momma in there with her back to me. "Momma! You scared me, I thought someone broke in." I sigh relieved to see her.

"Now, now little Alison Singer. You don't think that I'm actually your precious little mommy do you?" The demon turned around and flashes her white eyes. "No! You let her go!" She throws me against the wall and she starts carving into my stomach, I feel like I'm on fire. "I had plans for you Alison and your little mommy got in the way. Just you wait, I'll be back for you." She plunged the knife deeper into my skin as I scream.

I woke up shaking in cold sweat and screaming. My heart's racing, I look at my phone and it's 5 am. Great, I barely got three hours of sleep and I'm freaking out. I keep repeating to myself that it's just a dream, I'm safe the boys are next door and I'm awake. I get up and head to the shower, might as well start my morning since I'm up. Once I'm done my shower I change into jeans and my favourite Arizona t-shirt. I pack all my stuff into my bag and head out the door to toss it in the Impala. I guess I should go see if the boys are up yet, we need to get a move on.

Dean's POV

I hear the door to our room opening and I slide my hand under my pillow and grab my gun. I feel the bed dip and open eyes, pointing the gun at the intruder. "Jesus Christ Dean will you put the damn gun away!" Ali whispers, "Ali, what the hell?! Why are you sneaking into our room? I could have shot you!" I'm trying to talk quietly but it doesn't work by now Sam's awake. "Well sorry! I figured I would wake you boys up so we could grab food before we finish up the case." I finally get a good look at her and she looks like hell.

"Did you even sleep at all last night Ali?" She runs her hand through her hair and sighs. "Barely, had nightmares and couldn't go back to sleep." I pull her back onto the bed "Hey, just try to get a bit more sleep. Sam and I can get ready and I'll wake you up when it's time to go." Sam looks over to me with a questioning look. "Dean, honestly I can't fall back asleep. Once I wake up from a nightmare, I'm up for the day."

Alright then, guess we'll be dealing with a tired and cranky Ali today. I grab my stuff and quickly change while Sam packs up the gear. We're about to leave when we notice the police outside, so we sneak out of the bathroom window. As we make our way around the side of the building the police are taking off and we bolt for the Impala. We can't risk sticking around to deal with the police.

"So think the police figured out we're not Feds?" Sam asked as we're speeding down the road to speak to Joseph Welch. Ali laughs from the backseat, "No shit Sherlock. So drive by questioning of the husband and then head to the old house sound good?"I look back at her through the rear view mirror.

"Sounds good Tiny. Don't want to stay in this town longer than we have to."

After speaking with the husband, we headed off to the old house where Constance was buried. Ali and I got out and walked around the property looking for where Joseph said she was buried. That's when we heard screaming coming back from the Impala. "SAM! SAMMY!" I shouted as I started running back to the car and see Constance with her hand in Sam's chest. Not even thinking I fired a shot off at her, she vanished as soon as she saw the rifle.

"SAM!" Ali yelled as Sam gripped the steering wheel tightly and revved the engine. What the hell is he thinking?

"I'm taking you home!" Sam said as he stepped on the gas and the car lurched forward into the house. Oh crap, we took off running. I shoved pieces of debris out of my way as I headed for the driver's side and Ali went to the other side. "SAMMY? Are you okay?" Sam groaned "Yeah, just help me out of here."

"Guys...She's here." Ali barely had a chance to let us know when suddenly we got pinned against the Impala by a desk. I look over to Ali and she's starting to panic, "Ali, listen to me we're going to get out of this." This is when the lights started to flicker and water started to pour down the stairs. Two creepy ghost kids are standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You've come home to us mommy." They said in eerily quiet voices. Constance looked distraught, they hugged her and then they all disappeared in a giant puddle of water.

Sam and I gave the desk a good push and went to the spot where they disappeared but I saw Ali back at the Impala making sure the damage wasn't too bad. It's time to go, time to get back on Dad's trail and I'll have to talk to Ali about her panic attack.

Alison's POV

I try to keep quiet in the back while Sam studied John's journal and Dean kept his eyes on the road. I can't believe I panicked, way to look weak Singer.

"So Dad's in Blackwater Ridge, Colorado." Sam said looking at the co-ordinates that John had jotted down in the journal. Dean nodded, "Well if we shag ass we can be there by noon." I stiffened.

"Dean, I umm.." Sam said hesitantly "The interview is in like ten hours. I can't miss it."

"Yeah yeah whatever. I'll take you home." Dean was disappointed.

"Hey Dean?" I asked "Do you think you can drop me at my place on the way?" Dean gives me a look in the mirror.

"Tiny not you too!"

"No I'll meet up with you don't worry. I just want to pack up my apartment and grab the Mustang." I really just want to load everything up and go back home to catch up with Dad. I need to get my head sorted out and the only way I can do that is if I face it rather than bury myself in a hunt.

"Yeah we can do that for you Ali." Dean said glad that I wasn't completely abandoning him like he felt Sam was doing. I smiled back and patted Sam's shoulder. "So Samsquatch, are you going to pop the question to Jess when you get home?" He blushed and shook his head, "Planning my wedding already there Tiny?"

"Hey, a girl can dream! I'm living through you, you know I've been very much the lone wolf." I laughed and noticed that Dean raised his eyebrow at that. Sam turns to look at me and flicks my forehead. "Hey! No flicking!" I flicked him back, causing Dean to tell us to knock it off before we end up in a ditch for distracting him. A few hours later we pull up to my apartment, I say bye to the boys and tell them to play nice for the rest of the trip back to Sam's.

I headed into my apartment and started throwing all my stuff into the extra hunting bags I had buried in my closet. It probably takes me thirty minutes to pack up all the necessities and I toss the bags by the door. Taking one final look at what I called home for the almost past three years, I grabbed my bags and head down to my mustang. Once everything was loaded up, I put the keys in the ignition and heard the engine rev to life. "Oh baby, I missed you." I said as I headed down the road on my way to Sioux Falls. Let's see how Dad reacts to seeing my after almost three years.

A/N: So what did you think? This chapter was a bit of a challenge for me mixing the rest of the pilot episode and trying to get some of Alison's back story in a bit. The next chapter will contain Alison's arrival back in Sioux Falls and Bobby dealing with her showing up after being away for so long. Please read and review!

If you want to see what Alison is wearing in this chapter check out these links: spn_bd/set?id=205054809, spn_bd/set?id=205213742, sleepwear/set?id=205213492