There But For Grace

Chapter Four

Episode 4 – The Phantom Traveler

Consciousness came rushing back with staggering force as Grace rose from the pitch black of her sleep. As she struggled for some sort of regular train of thought, she snaked a hand under her pillow and drew out a gun, cocking it in the same motion.

She sat up slowly, straining her eyes in the dark and listening intently for any sound of movement in the room. After a minute of complete silence she relaxed slightly, reaching over to turn on the light but not releasing her hold on the gun. She knew that Dean and Sam weren't in the room, they both well aware they had to let her know it was them early on, she had nearly shot Dean a couple of times when he hadn't announced his presence.

With light flooding the room she looked around carefully once more, before finally accepting that she was alone. She released the gun's hammer and set it in her lap, reaching for her phone before leaning back against the headboard. She set the phone to call the first of her speed dial numbers and raised it to her ear, letting her head fall back against the wall.

It rang twice before it was picked up.

"Hello?" Dean's voice came out anxious.

"Hi." Grace suddenly felt more awake, tense again as she registered his tone. "What's going on?"

"Um, nothing. Well, not really, we're sort of after this demon and there's a plane, and – " his voice ceased, to be replaced with the sound of him taking some deep breaths.

"Dean? Dean, are you ok?" Grace's voice rose in worry.

There was a slight scuffle and Dean's breathing was replaced with Sam's voice.

"Grace?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "What's happening?"

"Everything's ok, just – Dean's a little scared of flying."

Grace could hear Dean's indignant protestation of "Plane's crash!" in the background.

"Why are you guys going on a plane?"

"There's a demon that's trying to crash it and this is the only way we can stop it." Sam's tone was low and Grace could imagine him casting an anxious glance around the crowded airport.

"Right," she said, trying not to sound too worried. "Um, where am I?" she felt a bit foolish asking Sam, Dean usually told her without her having to ask and that was much less awkward.

"Oh, right, you're in a motel in a place called Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Listen, we're in Indianapolis."

Grace felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. "Oh."

"Sorry, we had to get here before the plane took off." Sam began to say something else, explain further, but Dean's voice interrupted him from the background.

"Get her to pick up the car."

"Dean says can you please come pick up the car. We left it in the airport car park and that's probably not the safest place considering what we have in the trunk."

"Yeah, I can pick it up, no problem."

"We'll leave the keys," Sam's voice was beginning to sound distant as he walked through the airport.

"No, it's alright, I've got a set," Grace assured him, her mind already planning the best way to get from Pennsylvania to Indiana – she was looking at a long bus ride.

"Oh, ok," there was surprise in Sam's voice, not thinking that Dean would let anyone else have keys to his precious car, but he didn't press it. "Grace, I've got to go. We're boarding. We'll see you when we land."

"Ok. Take care and I'll see you soon."

"Sure. Bye Grace."

And Sam hung up. Grace let her phone fall, closing her eyes briefly and frowning. They were about to board a plane, with a demon on it, that was supposed to crash. Any way you looked at it, that was not a good plan. She sighed. Well, they would look after themselves, and she had to get to Indiana.

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It hadn't occurred to Grace, until after she reached Indiana and found the impala, that perhaps the plane wouldn't land back at the airport it had started out from. For all she knew, she had a long drive ahead of her to meet them. The car was where the boys had left it, however, and there were no signs that anyone had noticed anything suspicious about it.

She got quickly into the driver's seat, started it up and drove out of the car park, paying the extortionate airport-parking fee on the way. Pulling up on the side of the road not far from the entrance to the airport, she took out her phone and waited for a call.

It wouldn't be long, she hoped. They were boarding when she had spoken to them and that was getting on for, she glanced at her watch, seven hours ago now. Even allowing for delays and talking to the police, they should have finished by this time. Her right foot began to jiggle restlessly up and down and she passed her phone from one hand to the other.

They would be fine. There was no way that one stupid demon could take the two of them out. And if there had been a plane crash she would have heard about it on the radio.

These reassuring thoughts didn't seem to help that much and when her phone rang, she jumped in her seat. Frantically flipping it open she gasped, "Hello?" anxiously down the line.

"Hey, Grace."

The sound of Dean's voice sent relief flooding through her.

"Hey," she replied. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, fine. Just about. We're at the airport. Want to come pick us up, the cops are a bit persistent around here."

Grace smiled. "Sure, I'll be at the entrance in a minute."

She hung up and started the car again.

Ten minutes later she was swinging into the pick up bay in front of the airport. She saw Dean and Sam waiting outside and pulled up next to them. They waved briefly at a blonde woman in an airhostess uniform and got quickly into the car.

"Let's go," Dean instructed from the passenger seat and Grace pulled out. She was a bit surprised that he hadn't insisted on taking over the driving.

As they pulled onto the main road, she sent him a glance and noted he looked shaken and still pale. Looking back in the rear view mirror, she saw that Sam looked anxious as well, though not as bad as Dean.

"Is everything ok?" she asked, frowning between them both.

There was a short silence as Sam looked towards Dean and Dean looked out of the window.

"Yeah, everything's fine, Grace," Sam finally replied.

Realizing she was not going to get a more detailed answer, Grace nodded and concentrated on the road ahead. It wasn't long before both the boys fell asleep.

A/N: A little bit more insight into Grace there - hope you enjoyed, let me know!