Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Cold Christmas

Bubblegum Thai

Chapter One

As Sam and Dean entered the airport, they were greeted with the busy hubbub of the holiday rush. A large Christmas tree stood in the centre of the main terminal entrance, surrounded by hundreds of people wrapped in heavy coats and scarves as they rushed this way and that, departing and arriving. Families hugged one another in greeting and farewell as trolleys full of suitcases were pushed in every direction. The two brothers looked at one another as they stopped still, feeling out of place until out of the massive throng of people stepped a familiar face framed with soft auburn hair,

"Sam, Dean!" Lola beamed as she hugged the pair in turn before stepping back and holding out a ticket each, "Here are your tickets. Thank you so much for coming with me."

"Uh…Lola…" Dean began awkwardly. He hadn't seen the other hunter since she'd saved their bacon from the Psirens. He could still remember her tear-soaked eyes as she looked him in the face for a split second before turning and leaving, "I don't have a passport. I'm wanted by the police…"

Lola nodded, reaching into the side pocket of her large black holdall. She extended her hands again and gave them a passport each,

"As a general rule, I don't deal in forgeries….however, desperate times and what have you."

"Is yours fake?" Sam asked quietly. Lola shook her head,

"I have no reason to need one."

Dean flipped open his passport to see a rather tired reflection looking back at him,

"You used my mug shot?!" Dean snapped, "Where did you get that from?"

"The police database." Lola said simply with a casual shrug,

"So that's why you told me not to shave…" Dean mused as she began to lead them to check in,

"How are you, Lola?" Sam asked as the duo walked alongside of one another, leaving Dean to hang behind them as they placed their bags one after the other on the belt for the stewardess to label,

"I'm fine. How have you been?" She asked Sam with a smile, "It's good to see you guys are doing so well."

"We never got a chance to thank you back then. We really appreciate your help…without you we'd be…well…" Sam trailed off just as Dean cut in,

"Yeah!" Dean said loudly, "Why'd you take off like that?"

Lola looked Dean square in the eye,

"I think you know why."

The two looked at one another for a short while until Sam cleared his throat. He didn't know what had gone on, if anything, Dean had been as closed as he had been about Jo',

"So why don't you tell us what you need us to come to England with you for?"

Lola reached into her second bag, a canvas shopper slung over her shoulder and handed them some newspaper clippings,

"Two hundred years ago in a village called Essendon, a strange illness struck and the village's thirty-three children all died. All within a week of one another, all over Christmas. There's lots of silly speculation as to how and why this happened, some people say that the church faces the wrong direction and is in fact a house of the devil, and not God. It's been boarded up since the deaths happened."

"It's been boarded up for two hundred years?" Dean asked. Lola nodded,

"There's no need for housing and such in rural parts of England so there are buildings there hundreds of years old just sitting there falling apart." She said seriously, slipping her hands into her tight black jeans pockets, "People say the children died because of a hellish curse placed upon the village by the devil himself for the villagers worshipping God in his church…but, anyways…about a month or so ago children started disappearing from the village and the surrounding towns and villages. Five have gone so far. I have no idea what it is, but I'm determined to find out."

Sam nodded in agreement,

"Sounds like definitely something we should be looking into."

"Definitely." Dean repeated, "I guess we'll find out when we get over there."

"Right." Lola agreed.

- - -

"What ARE you doing?!" Lola snapped as they walked along the gangway towards the waiting airplane, Dean dawdling with his carry-on bag, falling further and further behind Sam and Lola,

"Dean's afraid of flying." Sam whispered in her ear. Lola's expression fell to one of exasperation,

"A big tough man like you afraid of flying?" She asked, placing her hand on her hip, "Come on…all the good seats'll be taken!" She joked, marching back to Dean. She grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the flight, "I'll let you sit next to me if you like. I'll hold your hand and let you sit in the window seat."

"Stop patronising me." Dean muttered, pulling his hand away and stalking on ahead, "I'm fine. Just fine." He said, more to himself than to Lola.

- - -

Sam settled into the seat beside his brother, wearing an amused smile. Dean narrowed his eyes at him before turning his face away to look across the aisle. Lola grinned and waved from her seat next to a young man with black spiky hair. Dean narrowed his eyes as he quietly made a joke about the emergency procedures, to which she giggled to. Sam smacked his arm to bring him back to the real world, Dean glared at him with a chilling look before glancing back across the aisle. He smiled a weak and nervous smile at the female hunter as she watched him carefully. She suddenly pulled out a pen and scribbled a note on her sick bag, folding it with origami-like precision and hurling it across the gap between the seats. Dean caught it and unfolded it with curiosity. He grinned as he read her message:

Seriously though…are you going to be alright?

He looked up to meet her worried expression and nodded once. She grinned and returned to chatting with her new friend,

"And if you're not," Sam began, "she was nice enough to give you her sick bag. Romance is still in the air." Sam joked. Dean playfully reached overhead to place a punch on his brother's chest.

- - -

As they pulled up outside of the river-side hotel, the light was already beginning to fade. Lola had pre-booked their rooms so they collected their keys and headed strait up. They walked seemingly for miles on end until they came to a single door,

"Here we are." She said proudly,

"We're sharing a room?" Dean asked, confused,

"You'll see." She said with a grin as she swiped the key card and opened the door into a large living area complete with a huge mini-bar and wide-screen television. Two long plush sofa's lined a low mahogany coffee table and in the far left corner by the window there was a large dining table and three chairs. On either side there was a single door set into the wall, they were open and the trio could clearly see the twin beds in the left-hand room, "The bathrooms are en-suite." She stated as she moved towards her own room, "Let's get washed up and go grab some dinner, yeah?" Before the brothers could answer she'd closed the door on them.

- - -

A short while later, Dean found himself draped on one of the sofas channel searching in his usual plain t-shirt and faded jeans. He glanced up as Lola entered in a pair of low black heels, dark blue jeans and a black jumper. She was fiddling with her handbag before pulling out a hair elastic that held her ponytail in place, so that her auburn ringlets tumbled around her face. She grinned at him, biting her lower lip before turning her face away, embarrassed. Dean being a typical man, didn't seem to notice, he was too busy watching her jeans as she walked to his room to knock for Sam. The shaggy-haired twenty-something appeared, feigning a rather unconvincing yawn,

"I'm really jet lagged…" He murmured, "I'll just give it a miss."
"Okay…" Lola smiled, "If you get peckish, just call room service, okay?"

Sam nodded in understanding. The truth was, that he wasn't tired, he just wanted to give Dean some space as he desperately wanted the angry older man to be happy. He was in fact going to wait until the duo were out of sight and then head round the corner to McDonalds and spend the entire night researching on his laptop, "Have a nice rest, Sam." Lola called as Dean held the door above her head. Dean sent Sam a wary look before giving a short, sharp wave and following her out of the door whilst pulling on his trademark brown leather jacket.

To be continued...