CHAPTER THREE

"Matthew!" Hallie all but shrieked. "Matthew, let him go!"

There was a blur of events, somehow managing to get everyone but the gang of the ghost's friends outside of the building.

Dean searched the crowd of fleeting people for his brother, but only found the strawberry blonde he'd been standing by. "Where'd Sam go?" he inquired frantically.

"I don't know," she said softly, peering through the glass doors, only to come to realization that neither Sam nor her father had gotten out; and an addition to that discovery? She couldn't get back into that building if she wanted to. "I think we have a problem," she stated, panic rising in her voice.

"What?" he asked.

"We're locked out and both my dad and Sam are locked in," she answered.

Inside-

Charlie had managed to sneak upstairs for his sawed-off and by the time he returned, Sam had retrieved his daughter's from behind the bar. The younger, still armed, fished his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed his brother's phone. He got no answer, thanks to the dead battery, and thought for a moment that he remembered seeing the shape of Hallie's phone in her pocket earlier. "Mr. Carson, what's Hallie's cell number?" he asked quickly.

The elder man didn't hesitate to give him the number and watched closely for the spirit disappearing and reappearing around his bar.

Sam got a bit of a frantic answer.

Outside-

"Hello?" her voice was shaking when she picked up.

"I know he's your brother, Hals, but you can't hold off torching him any longer and I suggest you do it fast or someone's going to die tonight," Sam replied in a hurry.

Hallie bit her lip. "I know. Be careful, Sam," she said quietly before she shut the phone and turned to the Winchester standing behind her. "North Ridge Cemetery."

Dean looked a bit surprised, but started to get in his car parked next to the sidewalk. "You comin' or staying?" he asked quickly.

She hesitated for a moment then slid into the passenger seat.

Bar-

Sam shoved his cell phone back in his pocket with a sigh. He was confident she could allow herself to do it, but it wasn't going to be easy.

"What do we do?" Charlie asked. The spirit had disappeared for now. The bar was silent and the six guys it had been trying to kill were basically cowering in the booth.

The younger man shrugged. "Wait it out, hope to god Dean gets to the grave before he comes back…"

Impala-

"This is the only way to get rid of him?" Hallie asked curiously. "I mean, talking to him won't help…?"

The man sitting in the driver's seat chuckled. "You've read the books, haven't you?" he asked. "He's gone, you've gotta let him go," he added seriously.

Her gaze shifted to the stud on her jeans she was picking at. "I guess me letting him stay here this long didn't help, did it?" she inquired.

Dean gave her a curious look as he pulled into the cemetery. "No, but I'm not sure I can blame you. I know salt and burn kind of fits my job description, but it's a little different when they're family. I get it."

She nodded, signaling that was along the lines of what she'd been going through for the past year or so.

"So how was your date with Sammy?" he grinned. "I couldn't get any information from him this morning and you guys spent the afternoon hiding. Speaking of, what were you up to out there?"

"You're a nosy big brother… and if he wanted you to know, I'm sure he would've told you about the date," she stated with a small smirk. "He was giving me pointers."

Dean smirked, quirking an eyebrow at the strawberry blonde. "Pointers, huh? You know, getting sex tips from Sam is like learning how to cook from someone who burns microwaveable mac and cheese."

"And getting them from you would be getting cooking tips from someone who manages to fuck up a bowl of cereal."

"Ouch," he laughed. "That smarted a little."

Hallie quieted as they neared her brother's grave. She could see it from the car and debated getting out as he pulled up to the edge of the curb.

The elder was already ready with supplies from the trunk before she even thought to get out. He stopped to poke his head in the driver's side window. "You wanna stay in the car?"

She hesitated for a moment and shook her head, a quivering sigh escaping her lips. "No, I'm coming."

The tombstone looked the same, only the flowers left there were wilted and brown. It still read, "MATTHEW CARSON, loving brother and son. May he rest in peace," and it caused a small cynical laugh to break through her.

"Yeah, rest in peace," she murmured to herself.

Dean couldn't help but smirk. "You gonna help me dig or what?" He held out a shovel to her and she took it, but stalled breaking ground right away.

"This is definitely going on my list of weird experiences," she mumbled.

He could only laugh.

Bar-

Charlie Carson and Sam stood in the booth's surrounding area, shotguns in hand and loaded. The spirit had disappeared a few minutes ago and the bar was eerily silent now. Kevin was the most terrified, but Sam wished he could get his own hands on him when this was all over; assaulting Hallie hadn't exactly put saving Kevin on his priority list.

"What's going on?" Charlie inquired, his stance loosening a little.

"Hang on," the Winchester brother said quietly. Just as he started pulling his cell phone out of his pocket again, the ghost reappeared in front of Kevin and immediately wrapped his hands around his neck.

Cemetery-

"Salt." Dean gestured for the strawberry blonde to hand him the salt he'd retrieved from the trunk of the Impala. She tossed it to him and watched, somewhat dazed, as he dumped the contents into her brother's grave. Between the salt, the gas and the fire that was now blazing over her sibling's remains, the situation had become suddenly more upsetting than expected. "C'mon, we've gotta get out of here before someone sees us," he piped up a few minutes later as he gathered their belongings and led her towards the car with his free hand on the small of her back.

She was concealing tears by the time they were driving out of the gates at the entrance of the graveyard.

The Winchester spared a glance in her direction and mentally slapped himself for not making her stay behind; it was her brother after all and, up until now, he hadn't really thought about the fact that this would be a bit of an emotional disaster. He could tell Hallie was doing her best not to cry. A lone drop escaped from the chocolate brown eyes in the passenger seat and she tried to make wiping it away as subtle as possible.

"You okay?" he pried gently.

She nodded. "Yeah," she stated with a sniffle. "Music?" It was said in the least amount of words possible, but he understood it meant she didn't want to talk and he was completely content with that. Emotions were never his thing, anyway.

With a nod, he turned up the stereo and turned onto the road back to the Magic 8 Ball.

Bar-

Matthew Carson's spirit flickered for a moment and then disappeared, leaving Kevin in the booth, gasping for air.

Within ten minutes, the gang had calmed down and relaxed. Sam recognized the familiar rumble of the Impala's engine outside; he could see the headlights click off as the vehicle pulled up to the sidewalk. Almost immediately after, Hallie pushed through the glass doors and past the men currently standing by the bar. Charlie cast a sideward glance at the Sam, confusion and worries evident in his worn-out features, obviously not sure if he should go after her.

The elder Winchester brother forced open the door a moment later, subtle frustration, but more concern written on his face. "I wouldn't let her stay up there alone for long," he stated.

His brother set down the shotgun on the counter next to Mr. Carson and started up the stairs, two at a time.

Kevin took the opportunity to leave, considering within the ten minutes when everything was calm, Sam had threatened him with a glare that could define the "If looks could kill…" phrase.

The rest of the gang didn't hesitate to follow, except the black-haired, blue-eyed one that had taken his own turn to threaten the leader for assaulting Hallie. "Is she gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Probably not for a while, after what we just had to do," Dean said bluntly. "But Sammy's got it under control."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Ryan," Charlie sighed. "Go home and get some sleep."

Ryan nodded and departed in silence.

"Right, well…"

"Dean."

"Well, Dean, I think you've earned a few beers."

"Ditto."

--

Sam figured out which room the strawberry blonde had run to simply by following the sound of muffled sobs. He knocked softly. "Hallie?" His voice was quiet, hoping not to spook her. She didn't reply, but he could tell she'd tried to stifle the sound of her crying more. With a quick intake of breath, he twisted the doorknob – thankful she hadn't thought to lock it – and poked his head in. Hallie was sitting in the middle of her bed, forehead rested atop her knees and her arms curled up next to her ears. "Hals, can I come in?"

She looked startled at first, trying to wipe tears from her cheeks without making it obvious, but the fact that what little make-up she'd bothered to apply before work this morning was smeared below her eyes or running down her cheeks gave her away. "You're already in," she muttered.

He shut the door behind him and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. A single lock of strawberry blonde was obscuring his view from her hidden facial features. With the slightest amount of hesitation, he brushed it back behind her ear. "I probably should've told you when I said you had to do it… I didn't literally mean you had to go do it yourself…"

"You should've let him strangle Kevin," she murmured.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "You have no idea how badly I wanted to," he stated.

Hallie shook her head. "It probably would've put him to rest… Kevin's the reason he's dead."

A/N: Mini-cliff, I suppose. :) Don't worry, I'll finish this scene in the next chapter; I desperately need to finish the scene because of the ending.

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XxCrash.And.BurnXx