Almost Me

Let the twists begin lol!

"I can't believe it." Ellen muttered. "This...this is so..."

"Surprising." Jo suggested.

"Impossible." Rufus remarked.

"Amazing." Bobby concluded, his eyes looking up the stairs of the house. Dean had carried Aria in and proceeded up the stairs with her, intent on getting her in the tub to clean up. Everyone had been too stunned to say anything. "He burned her. I remember, I was there, she was nothing but ashes."

"So what happened?" Lily asked.

"Hell if I know." Bobby sighed.

"What do we do?" Ellen asked.

"She isn't a demon." Rufus pointed out. "I went through it all. Salt, holy water, everything. I don't know what happened to her or where she came from but it's definitely Arianna Lewis up there."

"Mostly." Sam muttered, speaking for the first time since finding Aria. Everyone looked at him, wondering what he meant. "We can't assume that she's just...back...good and whole with no damage because obviously that's not physically true. I also doubt it's psychologically true as well. Something's changed for her, there's no way she'll be the same person."

"Least she remembers us." Rufus tried to lighten the mood, receiving nods all around. All eyes turned to the stairs, listening to the quiet from the upper level.

In the washroom, Dean sat on the closed toilet lid and watched Aria soak. The water had already turned dirty but they weren't too fussed. She couldn't stand so a shower was out of the question. They didn't speak, just sat their with their eyes on the water. Dean had so many questions but Aria didn't seem capable of answering at the moment. He had to say something though because the silence was driving him insane.

"Is the water too hot?" Dean asked. Aria lifted her eyes to him and smiled slightly, giving a small shake of the head. "Good...good."

"I don't know...how I'm back." Aria spoke softly, her throat still feeling raw. "I remember...the demon in me. I remember you trying to exorcise it."

"It stabbed you." Dean muttered.

"Yeah." Aria agreed, nodding. "And you kept going."

"I'm sorry..." Dean started to apologise but stopped when he received a head shake.

"I didn't want it in me." Aria explained. "I...I'm sorry that I couldn't...that I was gone...but I don't blame you for what did. I'm grateful you did it."

"He's still out there." Dean announced. "We can't find him. We don't know where he is or what his next move could be. He hasn't done really anything since that night."

"Dean..." Aria hesitated as she watched the emotions roll in Dean's eyes. She had to know because she had a sickening feeling that things were a lot more different than she imagined. "How long has it been?"

***SL***SPN***SL***SPN***SL***

Four years.

She felt sick to her stomach.

It had been four years since the day she had died.

Dean had felt this guilt and pain for four years.

And yet, he still knew when she was likely to be sick. He grabbed the waste bin and held it out just as Aria leaned over the side of the tub and vomited a surprising amount. Of course, any vomit would surprise her since she hadn't eaten anything in, apparently, four years. She had no memories of anything between dying and waking up with Rufus shaking her and calling her name, looking stunned and frightened. He had made her swallow some salt and splashed her with holy water just to be safe and she didn't begrudge him. She had been fine until she tried to stand and found her legs weak. It was the moment she saw the disaster that was her body that made her fly into a panic and suddenly feel pain all throughout.

Pain that oddly enough started to fade when Dean, Sam and Lily had arrived.

There had been a quick introduction to the girl that Aria didn't know and an awkward greeting with Sam before she was bundled into the Impala. Sam and Lily had rode along with Rufus, letting the other two have time alone. But they didn't talk. Dean had kept his arm around her the whole time. In fact, her sitting in the tub had been the first time he had let her go since he pulled her from Rufus.

"This may be a...bad time to ask but...are you hungry?" Dean asked softly.

"Oddly...yes." Aria replied. Dean smiled slightly, remembering how she would be hungry at the weirdest times. He stood up and made his way to the bathroom door. "You're leaving?"

"Just going to check real quick if there's food left from dinner." Dean assured her. Aria bit her lip then nodded. She watched him walk out of the room before her eyes dropped to the murky water surrounding her. Making a face at it, she leaned forward to pull the plug out. Her fingers closed around the rubber stopper and removed it from the drain.

And then she screamed.

It wasn't something she had a control over and she didn't even know what had happened but suddenly it felt as if a bomb of some sort had gone off in her chest, thousands of little sharp objects stabbing into her from the inside. She leaned back quickly, thinking that would help, but the pain just intensified, especially when she ended up ramming her head into the wall. She squeezed her eyes shot as her vision blurred and she took quick shallow breaths, deep ones setting off bombs again.

"ARIA!" Multiple voices were calling her name and she heard the thundering of footsteps as they stormed up the staircase. When the door was flung open and warm hands fell to her arms, the pain died off and she opened her eyes to say Dean leaning over her, pale and frightened.

"You stopped it." Aria muttered in amazement.

"What?" Dean asked.

"It hurt...so bad...and then you were back and...it stopped." Aria explained, taking deep breaths and relinquishing in the comforting feeling now. Someone coughed and they both turned to see everyone else standing in the room as well, eyes averted, Bobby holding out a towel. Aria bit her lip, remembering now that she was naked. Dean aided her to her feet long enough for him to get the towel around her before he lifted her into his arms.

"So...everything's okay?" Lily asked.

"Seems like it right now." Dean muttered, still confused.

"Come on, everyone out." Ellen ordered. "I'll bring up some food in a few minutes. Dean, Jo's put some clothes in your room for Aria so get her dressed." Dean nodded and followed the group out of the small room. While they all went down the stairs, he went to the bedroom that was his whenever they visited.

"How far did you get before you heard me scream?" Aria asked as she was placed on the bed.

"Just to the living room." Dean replied. He raised an eyebrow and picked up a pair of panties. "You don't think..."

"I'm pretty sure those are new." Aria cut in, indicating to the price tag still attached. "You know Jo...she'll buy things and keep the tags on until she actually wears them."

"Yeah, something that'll never change." Dean chuckled lightly. Aria grabbed the panties from him and slipped them up her legs, lifting her hips carefully to shimmy the clothing on under the towel. Dean helped her with the shorts and decided to turn around when she pulled on the t-shirt.

"So...anything or anyone new and exciting in your life, Winchester?" Aria asked, trying to ease some of the tension that had suddenly built and wondering if referring to him as she used to would help matters.

"Killing demons and monsters mostly." Dean answered, shrugging.

"So still flying solo?" Aria questioned with a head tilt. Dean looked at her in surprise and she wasn't sure if it was surprise that she had asked or something else.

"Well...I...it's...not in the uh...I'm not..." He stumbled over his words, honestly not sure on how to answer that. He faded off as she nodded slowly, whether in understanding or just out of pity, he wasn't sure but he was glad he didn't really have to answer.

Of course he had slept with other women in the last four years but never got close to any, never went past a one night stand, never felt much for any of them. He didn't know why he had trouble answering though. It wasn't as if they were ever an official thing. He had been seemingly eternally plagued with not knowing how she had felt about their one night together.

But he could ask her now. Maybe...possibly...probably later. Yeah, later sounded good, after she had time to relax and get over the experience, maybe even remember something.

He would ask later...maybe.

***SL***SPN***SL***SPN***SL***

"Do you think he'll mind that we took the Impala?" Lily asked.

"Nah, he's so fussed over Aria that he probably won't even notice." Sam replied, driving around the empty roads.

"He knew last time and he had been asleep the whole time we were gone." Lily pointed out.

"Yeah but last time we also...did...stuff." Sam countered with a grin. Lily laughed and shook her head. "Not that I'm complaining, it was worth the lecture."

"Glad to hear." Lily agreed. She watched him carefully out the corner of his eye. He had needed this, needed to get out and clear his head before he tried to wrap it around the concept that his old friend was back from the dead. "Hey Sam.."

"Yeah babe?" Sam asked, glancing over at her.

"Tell me about Aria." Lily requested. Sam raised an eyebrow then pulled over to the side of a deserted road. He parked the car then turned to look at the girl next to him. She looked curious and he had forgotten until then just how out of the loop Lily was on this particular subject. He smiled at her and reached over to brush her hair from her face.

"Sure." Sam agreed.

So next chapter we'll get the great and mighty moment of how the Winchesters met little miss Arianna Lewis.