El Cajon, California
Present Day

Burdened Sam enters his motel room. He silently sits down on the bed as the door falls in the lock behind him. Dean, who got his appetite back, is making a sandwich in the kitchen, accompanied by Lynyrd Skynyrd and one of their greatest hits Tuesday's Gone, which sounds from the radio.
"That took a while", Dean comments with his mouth full as he strolls into the living room.
Sam stays quiet for a few seconds, staring at nothing and still thinking over what happened. Dean notices something is off.
"Did darling break your heart?", he guesses.
"What?", Sam looks up, not paying attention, as if the question needed a bit longer to sink in.
He responds numb. "No".
The eldest frowns. He expected a bit more than just 'no'. Seems like something is really bugging his brother.
"What's up with you?", he wonders and takes a second bite from his sandwich after which he turns the volume of the radio down.
"Zoë went to the cemetery", Sam starts to explain, but it's enough for Dean to draw his own conclusions.
"Ha! Told you she was up to something!", he rubs in victoriously.
"Would you hold your horses for a second?", Sam interrupts irritated, feeling like he needs to defend her now.
"What? You're not gonna tell me that you have your Droopy face on because she is up to no good and hurt your feelings?"
Sam glares at him while he grinds. Sometimes his brother can be such a dick. But then he thinks of Zoë's words. When you two fight, it makes me so mad, because you have no idea how quick it might be over. She's right, and so he doesn't counter attack him, but responds calm and without any anger towards his brother.

"She went to the cemetery to visit a relative, she wasn't lying".
Now Dean's facial expression changes, this is getting serious. He's not even questioning anymore if Zo was telling the truth, apparently something bigger is going on.
"Zoë has a relative buried here?", he asks stunned.
Sam looks up. "Not just some relative, Dean".
He sighs. Sam knows Dean knew Zoë's sister, this might come as a shock.
"It's Abigail".
Dean stares at him as his mouth opens in disbelief. Then he looks away shocked and walks back to the kitchen slowly where he rests both hands on the kitchen sink, staring at the wall. Her sister? Abigail's dead?
"When did this happen?", he wonders staggered.
"Three days after you and Dad left, back in 2000".
Zoë told Sam this, when they had coffee together at a coffee shop across the street. She needed to calm down a bit, let it sink in. Besides, Sam didn't want her to get on her bike in this state. Zoë went from a complete wreck back to her cool normal self, almost numb. She didn't let go much and Sam didn't try hard to get it out. It's wasn't the time. Dean on the other hand starts to develop an eerie feeling in his stomach.
"Did we miss something?", he asks Sam, not sure if he want that question to be answered.
"You mean back then when you were working her case? She didn't say", the youngest replies honestly.

Dean crosses his arms in front of his chest and walks over to the other side of the motel room, pondering.
"Where is Zo now?"
Sam nods to the left at motel room 107, where Zoë has her own room.
"Think it's best if we let her be for a bit".
"Maybe it's not a good idea for her to work this case, if she's so emotionally involved", Dean thinks out loud.
"You can't pull her out, Dean. She might not be as focused as she normally is, but this is her sister's boyfriend who called her for help. Zoë feels obligated to finish this. We just gotta back her up on this one".Dean sighs, Sam's right. That would be cruel. It's up to them to make sure Zoë doesn't make mistakes on this one. But he can't help wondering, and this is really bugging him, that Abigail's death might have something to do with them. Could it be a coincidence that Abigail got killed three days after he and Dad pulled that demon out of Zoë? He gulps, he really hopes that they didn't make a mistake.
"What's up next?", he masks his worries and turns to Sam again.
"We need to figure out why Brayden Garner died, why he's still here and what he's bound to. Solve this case and move on", Sam lays out, as if it would be that simple.
"Sound good to me".

It's Zoë who makes that comment, as she enters the boys' room. She looks fine, she redid her make up and changed her clothes. Both Sam and Dean can't help to notice her summer outfit. She's wearing a pair of Daisy Dukes and a white tank top. Her natural tanned skin, which is used to be exposed to the Californian sun, looks healthy. The denim shorts with ragged edges show off her long legs. She wears brown leather sandals, same color as her belt.
A bit bored Zo sighs. "Eyes up here, boys".
The brothers snap out if it. It's only now that they realize they've been staring like two retards, nearly drooling. Sam recovers quickly and clears his throat, clearly ashamed. He tries to cover it up to ask her a question, but while he says the words, he realizes how stupid this might sound.
"You okay, Zo?", Sam checks carefully.
I might look okay, but what do you think, moran? The words are on her lips, but she decides to give it a rest. She knows Sam is just worried and uncomfortable, he gets that way sometimes."Yeah, I'm good", she replies, not really that convincing.
Dean doesn't believe her. "Sure you don't wanna skip this one?"
But she shakes her head determined. "I wanna work".
Both boys respect that, Sam gets up. "Let's pay Danny and the guys a visit, they might know more about Garner".
All agree as he exits the room. Zoë intends to follow, but Dean stops her.
"We'll be right up, Sam", he tells his brother, after which he turns to Zo. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

She sighs and clearly doesn't feel like talking about it.
"Do we have to, Dean?"
"Just one question", he cuts it short, realizing this is hard for her. "Abigail's death… do I have part in that?"
A bit shocked Zoë stares him in the eye. Well, that wasn't a question she saw coming.
"What do you mean by that?", she returns stunned.
"It's a bit of a coincidence, right? We exorcise a demon and three days later…"
He doesn't even finish his sentence, Zoë gets where he's going and shakes her head.
"It had nothing to do with you", she assures.
Dean is willing to except that answer, but he can't help but to think that this might be the reason why she's mad at his Dad. "And my father?"
A short silence, Zoë looks away and huffs.
"Look Dean, stop questioning. What happened to Abi stands on its self. It was just a coincidence".
"Says the one person who doesn't believe in such things", Dean bounces back."Maybe some demons wanted the hunters in the Sullivan family dead. Wouldn't be that strange, considering the count of exorcised they fulfilled", she brings to mind.
Dean looks away, he can't deny she has a point there. He decides to let it go.
"You're right, let's get going".

Together they move outside after which he closes the door behind them. Silenced they walk down the stairs and reach the parking lot, where Sam is waiting in the Impala. Apparently Zo has decided to leave her bike, because she intends to get into Dean's Chevrolet without complaining about it. Then again, it did offer her a bed and a roof every now and then when the weather got bad over the last couple of weeks, she's warming up to the car.
"Hey Zo".
She looks over the top of the Impala into Dean's eyes before she opens the door to the backseat.
"You know where to find us, right?", he asks.
A careful smile appears on her face. He might have a big mouth and an attitude from time to time, but since the hellhound case on Whitehorse Mountain she gets to see Dean's soft side every now and then. She and the boys have been through things, a bond is building and although she knows it's a dangerous path she's following, it gives her a comfortable feeling. She starts to feel like she's not alone in this world anymore.
"I know", she nods grateful.
Satisfied they both get in and Dean starts the V8 engine under the hood. Without saying a word they leave the Villa Serena Motel and hit El Cajon Boulevard. Time to pay Cubic Inch a visit.