((Zak, Aaron, and Nick will be in the next chapter))
In the front seat of the Impala somewhere around Spring Arbor, Michigan-
"Dean, I'm starving let's stop for something to eat," Sam prodded once more. Dean too felt as if his stomach was eating itself, though his mind raced so much that he didn't notice it. His knuckles turned white from the tight grip he had on the steering wheel. One of his favorite songs blared through the speaker, though he didn't notice it; too many thoughts and too many memories filled his head. "Dean, you look tired, we have been driving for a while and we haven't ate since last night, let's stop for some food," Sam said slowly.
"Sammy, why don't we wait until we get to Lansing?" Dean asked. He was sick of small towns; he just wanted to be in a big city. However, Sam looked very hungry, so for his sake Dean decided that this town would do.
"Because I want food now," Sam said. They continued driving and the only sound was Led Zeppelin coming through the stereo. Sam looked out the window. He liked this town, it was small, but nice. They drove through the main street of the town. They passed fields and farms going east, then they passed a college. The cold Michigan weather left snow on the ground. Dean peered out as they passed the University to see multiple groups of kids bustling back and forth from class to class.
"Sammy, two words, college girls," Dean said with a wide smile on his face. Sam rolled his eyes at the suggestive tone that Dean always uses when talking about girls. They passed a McDonalds, a grocery store, and a gas station. They continued driving passing a Café before pulling in at a strip mall.
"Dean, why didn't we just eat fast food, or at the Café like we always do?" Sam asked, wondering why the sudden change from the ordinary was for.
"Today's a new day. Why not we just go to a nice restaurant for once?" Dean drove, looking into each window. He saw a dance studio, a sushi bar, a martial arts school, and a dollar store.
"Let's go get sushi," Sam said, knowing Dean would never eat it.
"I don't eat bait. What about this pizza place? I am up for pizza. What about you?" Dean asked, knowing Sam really didn't have a choice.
Sam looked towards the restaurant. It didn't just look like a pizza place, it looked like a nice pub. "Why the big occasion? We always eat at some diner; this is just another ghost case." Dean pulled into a parking spot and turned the engine off. He turned and looked into Sam's hazel eyes.
"Can't my brother and I just go get some lunch without having a good reason for it?" Dean asked trying to avoid the question.
"Yes, we can't because we are us! There always have to be a reason for what we do," Sam joked.
"Fine Sammy, I just want for once to get out of this routine that we are in. I want to make this one case to be different. A little of out the ordinary, instead of eating at a diner, let's go to a little bit of a nicer place. Instead of a small, cheap motel, let's spend a little more money for a hotel." Dean opened the door and exited his beloved Impala. Slamming the door, he began walking towards to entrance to the restaurant. The smell of baking dough hit them and it only made Sam's mouth water so much more. They walked over to the bar and sat on two of the wooden bar stools as they admired the two flat screens that were mounted on the wall.
A tall man with dark hair and a goatee stood behind the counter. With a huge smile he welcomed them, "What can I do for you boys?" he asked. The brothers grabbed a menu and peered at the writing.
Dean frantically flipped it over and examined it closer, then again once more. The one place that he actually picks they don't have any hamburgers. "You don't have any burgers?" Dean questioned.
The man shook his head then smiled, "I'm sorry, this is a pizza joint, no burgers. But we do have a few subs, great salads, and our pizza is amazing- if I do say so myself. While you boys are looking at the menus, can I get you something to drink?"
"I'll take your best German beer, the darker the better," Sam proclaimed, "in a frosted mug." Dean rolled his eyes. "Unlike Princess Sam here, I'll just have a Bud Light in the bottle, or whatever you have," Dean muttered as he looked back to his menu. The man laughed, then went to fetch the beer for the boys. He came back and placed their drinks in front of them. Dean looked up and nodded his thanks and looked back to the piece of paper in his hands, though every time he read the entrees he didn't comprehend the words.
"Have you decided what you want?" the man asked. Sam and Dean ordered a pizza after a small argument over Dean wanting the "Meat Lovers," and Sam wanting the "Supreme." Turning to the front door the man smiled. Sam and Dean both looked to see a woman entering the restaurant. The woman was tall and average build with dark hair flowed to her shoulders. She was wearing a pair of worn jeans, a Michigan State University sweat shirt, and a pair of fur boots. She walked up and sat a chair away from Sam.
"Hey Steve," she muttered to the owner of the restaurant with a big smile on her face. "Just my regular, please."
"Leia, how are you today?" he asked. She gave a excited response. He popped the top of a bottle of Blue Moon and sat it in front of her, "Well goof, I will put your order in."
Dean turned to her with a smile, "Beer drinker, huh?" he asked as she pulled a book out of her bag. 'Great,' he thought, 'a smart girl. This isn't my field.'
"I suppose," she muttered, not peeling her eyes off of the print of her book. Sam lifted up the cover of the book slightly and stared at it. "To Kill a Mockingbird," Sam read as a smile painted his face. "I love that book." Leia lifted her intense grey eyes from the book and looked into Sam's hazel ones.
"Really?" she asked feeling flustered by his attempt. "O,r like your companion there, is it just a attempt to get me to like you? I will have you know that this is the twenty first century, I do not need a man at a pub trying to hit on me," she shot back. Dean smiled widely and slightly chuckled as he lifted the beer to his lips. "And you…" she pointed to Dean, "Word of advice: Next time you are going to hit on a girl, make sure she is a hooker or something. I can read right through you."
"I didn't mean it like that," Sam explained. "I am just a big fan of how it shows that even after the Civil War and even into the mid 1950's, that racial issues still were going on in the South. I was going to Stanford for law so I admired the way Atticus attempted to make the case go in the black man's favor." Leia's eyes grew wide.
"Oh gosh, I am so sorry, I have just been having a really hard week, with exams and my cross country." She covered her eyes then closed her book.
"It's okay. I'm Sam Winchester, by the way."
"I'm Leia, like Princess Leia from Star Wars." She offered her hand and Sam took it and shook it.
"You must have a twin brother named Luke," Dean said with a smile and a big laugh. Sam and Leia turned to him and gave him strange looks. He took another swig of his beer. "Fine buzz kills, go on and talk about world peace, or law or whatever you guys do for fun."
"So you go to the college up the road?" Sam asked as she placed her hand to her chest and began fiddling with a crucifix around her neck.
"Yes. I have a double major and a double minor. Law and psychology for my majors, and writing and American literature for my minors," she said as Sam's eyes widened.
"Wow, that's amazing!"
"Yeah but it can be a handful, between that and my cross country and volunteering at the food bank," she said.
Sam and Dean's food came. Dean began inhaling the food trying to ignore the geeks that sat beside him. He looked over to Sam who barely touched the piece of pizza that was on his plate, "Are you going to eat, Sammy?" Dean asked with a mouth full of food.
"Yeah, okay Dean go ahead," Sam said, obviously not listening to a word Dean said. Leia and Sam began to talk about their thoughts on global warming. "It's nice talking to someone intelligent for a change," Sam said as Leia smiled.
"Hey, I think that I am pretty intelligent," Dean said clenching his jaw, feeling partially offended.
"Dean who was our 17th president?" Sam asked.
"Brian Johnson," Dean said, happy with his answer.
"Dean that's the lead singer to AC/DC. Our seventeenth president was Andrew Johnson." Leia began to laugh along with Sam as Dean ate another bite of pizza.
"Shut up, Sammy."
Dean sat and listened to Sam and Leia go back and forth about books and law. He glanced outside and realized it was growing dark as some freak storm was rolling in. He felt uneasy but sat in silence, occasionally looking up at the TV to check the scores of sports teams that he didn't really care about. Dean wondered if Sam was going to make them stay in town so he could be with Leia longer. Dean still admired her, but knew no matter what he did, she would never like him the way she liked Sam.
He watched as a worker from the back came out and took the remote and began flipping through the channels, "Any preference on what we watch?" the lady asked, turning to Dean. Dean looked over to Leia and Sam; they continued talking, not even noticing the waitress.
"Anything. As long as it isn't any of that Jersey Shore crap," he joked. Her gaze turned to Sam and Leia.
"Third wheel?" she asked.
"Is it that obvious?" She laughed loudly, which made Dean crack a small smile. She seized to slip through the channels, stopping on a show that was is all green, night vision. A man with spiked hair was on the screen, provoking a ghost. "Oh, I love this show!" She proclaimed, "It sometimes makes me wonder if ghosts are real, but I know they aren't -" she said as Dean dropped her gaze and smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry do you- you know, believe in ghosts?"
"You could say that- who is that guy anyway?"
"Him? His name is Zak Bagans, him, and his two fellow hosts Aaron Goodwin, and Nick Groff go around ghost hunting," she said, and as if on cue, Zak began asking if there was a spirit with them.
"So he's lead Ghost Buster, and those are his two flying monkeys?" Dean asked.
"You could say that- Don't be a skeptic; there are things out there that no one can explain." The woman left the remote and went back into the kitchen.
"You're preaching to the choir sister," Dean mumbled under his breath as he took another swig.
The man came back and set the check on the bar. Dean placed a stolen credit card on it, and slid it to the man. "Mr. Thomas Fitzgibbons?" The man questioned, then shrugged.
"Wait, I thought you said is name was Dean?" Leia asked.
"It is- it's a- Thomas Dean Fitzgibbons," Dean said quickly. "You know, it's my saint name."
"But he's your brother and his last name is Winchester. And I don't remember a saint Dean."
"Not a very well know saint- he was the saint of um," Sam said, trying to think quickly on his toes.
"Of…Angels, Dean was the saint of angels," Dean blurted.
"Angels? Really?" Leia skeptically asked.
"Yeah like Castiel, Zachariah, and Gabriel," Dean explained.
"And same mother different fathers," Sam proclaimed. She nodded and dropped the subject.
"So what are you guys doing in a small town like Spring Arbor, Michigan?" She asked, changing the subject.
"Road trip- just needed to get away," Sam muttered.
"How long are you planning to be away from school and work?"
"Work travels with us, and school- I don't know if I'm ever going to go back." Sam felt stunned after he said this. Was it true, would he never finish college? Half of him wanted to, but he couldn't leave Dean. It was too late; he was supposed to be Lucifer's meat suit, he couldn't expect to go back, to have a normal life, let alone survive this apocalypse. He stared at the crucifix around Leia's neck trying to gather his thoughts.
"My eyes are up here," she said with a chuckle.
"Oh- I'm sorry; I was just admiring your beautiful cross." Embarrassment filled him as his face flushed.
"It's okay." She placed her hand on the pendent then met his eyes. "If you don't mind my asking- Are you a believer- you know in God, Heaven, Hell, all of that biblical stuff?"
"I never was, but lately I have been. A little more every day. I just feel like I haven't found him yet." Sam looked down at his beer.
"Maybe you aren't looking in the right places." She placed her hand on his. "Why don't you believe?"
"I do, but why would he let bad things happen to us like sickness, death, poverty?" Sam proclaimed.
"There's a reason for everything Sam. He does everything for some reason. You might not see it but he does. Whatever you're going through, it will always get better. He gave you your health, your intelligence, good looks, and most of all, he gave you Dean." she muttered quietly as she took his hand. Sam stared at her shocked, it was as if she knew what had happened, like she knew that Dean died. "I had a sister, named Bethany, she died in a car crash last summer. Be thankful that you have a brother who cares for you." She stared into Sam's brown eyes with her grey ones.
Sam never thought of it like that: Dean got a second chance. They have both died and came back to life many times. But for Leia, her sister will never return.
"I'm sorry," he said. She smiled and let go of his hand. She took her wallet out and threw a five dollar bill on the table.
"I hope you find everything you are looking for." She kissed his lips lightly then smiled. "The choices in life are up to you Sam; choose the right one." She walked to the door and as turned to Sam, a flash of lightning was heard from outside. Dean turned to watch her leave, but with the lightning she was gone, all that was left was her shadow, a girl with two wings on either side, but just like her it disappeared.
"Dude, was she a," Dean started.
"An angel," Sam cut his brother off, as shock filled him. The owner walked out and began cleaning the bars. "I thought you said you knew her."
"Knew who?" he asked as he stared at Sam skeptically.
"That girl that was just here, Leia."
"I don't recall a girl sitting here, let alone a Leia."
"Um, okay thanks." Sam sat there as his brother placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Looks like you got played by an angel. I'll say it again. They're dicks with wings, Sam, dicks with wings." Dean muttered as he finished his beer, "Let's go, this storm is making me uneasy."
The brothers exited the pub in silence and began once more to travel in silence to their destination.
"What doesn't make sense is why just come and talk to me? What for?" Sam asked once they hit the outskirts of Lansing.
"Maybe she thought you were cute," Dean joked.
"But why? We didn't even talk about the apocalypse, of Lucifer, or anything really," Sam muttered.
"I don't know Sammy, let's just forget it, okay?" Dean turned on the radio, hoping to stop Sam and his questions. Though he also was curious as to why would an angel make the trip to Michigan from Heaven just to have a beer with Sam to talk about school and literature.