Episode 5

The Winchesters

Stella woke groggily to the feel of leather on her back, laying in the backseat of a moving car wearing her old worn jeans and her cut-up Metallica t-shirt. She was relieved at the view out of the window, because she recognized the highway immediately. She was in the United States which was a good start, and she could hear the familiar sound of classic rock music. For a moment she thought she was having a dream of a childhood memory, until she heard a familiar voice, "What the hell?!" suddenly she could feel the car swerve and screech to a stop. Stella was tossed a bit in the back seat, and when she finally oriented herself she was greeted by two confused and angry faces, and the barrel of a sawed off shotgun held by Sam Winchester in the passenger seat. Her hands shot up, and she jumped, banging her head on the roof of the car.

"Ow! Please don't shoot!" Stella noticed the boys looked a bit different than on the TV. Dean wore no gel in his hair, and Sam's long brown hair was greasier and a bit messy. They both showed bags under their eyes, and scars on their skin. "Please I need your help we don't have much time,"

"How the hell did you get in here?!" Dean roared.

"I woke up here, I swear! Please there's a demon after me and I'm not safe here! Just let me explain please I hate guns just put the gun down!" Stella was now burying her head under cover of her arms, coiling away from the brothers. It was true that she hated guns; she made Damian keep his locked in a safe. They eyed her suspiciously for a moment, decided she seemed harmless enough for now, and lowered the shotgun. She unclasped her head and looked up at them.

"Fine but you're gonna have to take a test," Dean winked. "Don't worry sweetheart it won't hurt if you've got nothin to hide," Sam passed the shotgun to Dean and stepped out of the car, walking around to the trunk. Dean set the gun down and fixated on Stella, smiling. "How'd a nice girl like you get involved with a demon anyways? You make a deal?" Sam rummaged through the trunk, pulling out a shot glass and some holy water. Before Stella could respond he climbed back into the front seat, filling the small glass and handing it to Stella. She drank it, and Sam finally relaxed.

"OK, looks like you pass. Tell us what happened," Stella didn't know where to begin. She took a deep breath.

"So… I come from a place, where you two don't exist. Well, I mean you exist but as characters in a show on TV,"

"Oh god you're from the parallel universe with those douchebag actors? And what exactly do you mean you 'woke up' here?"

"Yes! A parallel universe that's exactly it! It makes so much sense! OK listen, I'm asleep there right now. This demon, it seems like he can only get me in my dreams. He's killed someone, in my universe someone I really care about through my dream. I don't know why he's targeting me probably because I can come here but he could show up at any second and I need you to come with me to my universe and help me find him, I think I know how to get you there. Please come back with me you're the only people who can help nobody is going to believe me back home and I don't know how to fight him. I don't want anyone else to die," Stella was practically out of breath. "Will you help?"

Sam and Dean both looked at each other intensely, as if reading the other's mind. "Do you mind giving us a moment?" Sam asked.

"Yes but you have to decide quickly please I don't feel safe here,"

Sam and Dean both stepped out of the car. "As much as I HATE that place, and I really hate that place, she needs our help and fast if what she says is true she could wake up and be gone at any moment. We've gotta make a decision now,"

"I don't know Dean. We're on a case right now, with people who need us here,"

"If this thing is hopping dimensions, he's been to ours too. He's threatening our people and if we can hunt him down at his source we can stop him from ever coming back,"

"How do we know we can trust her? She's got enough juice to hop dimensions just like this demon that's following her and we usually don't have much luck when we trust monsters,"

"Common does that girl look like a monster to you? She's terrified look at her!"

"I just don't know Dean…"

"Common Sam after everything that's happened can you please, PLEASE just trust me? For once? The case we're on, bloody mess, a Ouijia board left out but no body? No trace of anybody leaving the scene like the vic just disappeared out of thin air?! Don't you think it could have something to do with what's happening to her?"

Sam signed and ran his enormous hands through his long disheveled hair. "Alright. If she can really do it we'll go with her. This better not be because you have a crush Dean or I swear—"

"This is about hunting a demon," they both stepped back into the Impala. "We decided we're gonna help you out with your demon problem sweetheart. Now, how's this whole dimension hopping thing work?"

"Thank you… seriously thank you so much. We have to do this fast he could show up at any second," Stella thought for a moment, "OK, we're gonna need some chloroform, a mask, and… our hands," Sam gave Dean a confused look. "Basically, we all have to lose consciousness at the same time while making some kind of physical contact, and I'm definitely married. So we're holding hands," She shot a glare in Dean's direction.

"Alright, I can get you all that. I just have one question," Stella nodded. "What's your name honey?"

"Stella. Stella MacGregor," her fists clenched slightly, "…and now that you know my name you can quit it with the pet names,"

"Well, Stella MacGregor, we're gonna keep you safe OK? Sammy's gonna put a ring of salt around you and that son of a bitch can't touch you," Sam got out and grabbed all the salt he could carry out of the trunk. Dean and Stella stepped outside as Sam made a large salt circle in the dirt and grass off the side of the highway.

"Why can't I just come with you guys? You're going to leave me here alone?"

"No I'm gonna stay here with you. I've got holy water, and an iron crowbar. We'll stay inside the circle till Dean gets back we're not gonna let anything happen to you," Sam seemed to trust Stella a bit more. He knew genuine fear when he saw it, and he could tell it wasn't fear of them.

"Hey why do you get to stay here with the hot chick?" Sam and Stella shot him a dark look and he put his hands up in surrender.

"Thank you, so much. Just step on it Dean I don't know how much longer till I wake up and I'm not leaving without you guys," Sam and Stella stepped into the circle.

"Why don't you come over here and give your girlfriend a kiss goodbye Dean?" Sam's tone was dripping sarcasm. Dean flipped him the bird and winked at Stella.

"Bitch,"

"Jerk,"

"I'll be back," Stella couldn't help but chuckle at his terrible Arnold impression. One thing she did like about Dean was his cheesy god-awful one liners, it reminded her of Damian. As he fired up the Impala and headed back down the freeway Stella and Sam stood awkwardly, neither knowing what to say to the other.

"So what's it like, living in a world with no heaven or hell?" Sam finally spoke up.

"Honestly? It still kinda blows. There are things that make it worthwhile; I've got my husband and my pets and my sister and brother in-law. I've got a few nice friends and we all get drunk and mess around with whatever will entertain us for the night on the weekends. We may not have to deal with ghosts or demons, or evil wizards, but our biggest problem is the rest of the world. Some of the things I've seen on the show… I mean don't get me wrong it can be pretty brutal and I know you guys have been through some serious shit. But we deal with human beings that are capable of things even demons don't dream up. You can't walk down the street, and see someone coming the other way without thinking, 'Is that guy going to try to rob me? Rape me? Kidnap me and sell me into human trafficking? Kill me? Try to sell me drugs? Or is he just going to smile and say hello?' So yeah there are some really amazing things about it, I love my family and they make me so happy. But anyone could take it away from me at any time, over money or power or sometimes for no logical reason at all. Even if they don't hurt you physically they can treat you so horribly, they make you want to hurt yourself. We have monsters too, they're just nearly impossible to pick out until it's too late," she suddenly realized how close to home that had hit, and she turned her back to Sam for a moment to let a silent tear fall down her cheek. She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've had my fair share of trouble telling the monsters apart from the men. Hell sometimes I don't even know where Dean and I stand," Stella turned and shot him curious look. "I don't know how much you know about us, but we're not always the best heroes. People we love, they get hurt a lot too,"

"I'm sorry about Jess, I don't know what I would do if that demon took Damian from me. I'm too afraid to even dream about him now…"

"As you should be!" Stella jumped when a third unfamiliar voice joined their conversation.

"Crowley? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh no no no Crowley popped off for a bit. I'm particularly fond of his vessel so I thought I'd borrow it. Suits me don't you think? It's the accent. How was your little road trip to Sacramento Sammy boy? You let it get cut short by this little WHORE?!" He was circling the salt line as closely as he possibly could, "Quite clever by the way, calling in the Winchesters! What did the great Sherlock Holmes let you down? It's going to take a lot more than these guys to kill me Stella but I must admit I'm impressed. You really get around!" he laughed his chilling laugh.

"What the hell is it about me that you're so concerned with?! What do you want from me?"

"I WANT YOU OUT OF MY WAY," the demon roared.

"I'm not in the way of anything! You're in the way of me getting some peaceful sleep and having a decently normal life so tell me what exactly am I getting in the way of?!"

"All in good time Stella dear. OH SHUT UP WITH THE EXCORSISM WILL YOU?!" Sam had been muttering in Latin under his breath. Stella couldn't make out a word of it, but she couldn't help but smile smugly.

"Look who's powerless now," she smiled.

"Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos!" suddenly the black smoke came pouring out of Crowley's mouth, and as it disappeared into the night so did its vessel. "So that's our man?"

"That'd be the one," Stella spit on the ground, "That piece of shit killed Ruby and threatened my entire family… why did he say you were headed to Sacramento? Is that true?" but Sam didn't have time to answer. Dean went flying off the asphalt next to them, kicking up dust and screeching to a halt in the dirt.

"Honey! I'm home!" he stepped out of the driver's side, plastic shopping bag in hand. "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing we couldn't handle. Let's get this over with before he comes back,"

"Well just to be safe," he stepped into the circle. "What's your plan Stella?" First, she poured the chloroform on some cloth and tucked one piece safely into the surgical mask. She handed the other two to the brothers, "OK, so you each are going to take my hand. Now this part is important because we have to pass out at the EXACT same time," she hung the surgical mask around her neck, being careful not to drop the soaked cloth inside. "I'm going to put this on and hold my breath. I'm going to squeeze your hands three times to count, the third one means inhale into the cloths as deeply as you can. Whatever you do, don't let go of my hand. You'll get left behind. Any questions?"

"Yeah, how exactly do we get back?" Sam wondered.

"I've got a man on it. The best in the biz!" she tried to sound reassuring. "Trust me he's going to do everything he can to get back to where he's from and that means we'll figure out how to get you two back too," Sam looked unconvinced, and Dean didn't look like he much cared about anything. "Are you ready?" They nodded, and Stella put on the mask. She squeezed, 1… 2… 3… and they all breathed in deeply, holding tight to each other's hands and dropping toward the hard dirt ground.