Chapter 2

Dean pulled the door to the bedroom closed quietly after laying the unconscious Lexi on the bed. He grasped Sam by the shoulder and pulled him along down the hallway back toward the library.

"Dude, what the hell?" he said as soon as he was sure they were out of earshot of the bedroom. "She passes out every time she touches you?"

"Dean, this is weird. When I touched her shoulder there was a shock, my hand is still tingling from it." Sam ran a hand over his face and up through his hair. "There's something more than just psychic visions going on here."

"Great, so it's not just freaky visions, its freaky freaky visions." Dean flopped down in a chair at the table where his laptop was set up and opened up a search window. "Man I don't even know what to search for here!"

"Yeah, I know. I've never heard of anything like this." Sam slid into a chair across from his brother, resting his elbows on the table and his chin on his clasped hands. "She's nothing evil, I'm pretty sure of that. But dude, she said I was in danger?"

"Yeah, I don't like the sound of that," Dean leaned forward and tapped his fingers on the keyboard as though the motion would create the right words to search. He looked up at his brother over the top of the computer "Cas?"

"What about him?"

"Maybe he can do his angel-mojo diagnosis thing on her?" Dean shrugged.

"Worth a shot, the sooner we figure out what this is, the better," Sam said as he slumped down in the chair, finally noticing how tense the day's events had made him. Seeing someone having visions again had brought back much of his old anxiety about the yellow eyed demon and his former...or dormant?...abilities. He watched as his brother closed his eyes, tilted his head back and began the familiar task of calling the angel to him.

"Cas, buddy, strap on those wings and come down here...we can use your help with a weird one!" Dean called out, keeping his eyes closed for a second before glancing around the room to see where his friend might have landed. The familiar whoosh of wings filled the air in the room just before Castiel walked up to the table to sit beside Sam.

"Sam. Dean. What can I help with?" the dark-haired, disheveled angel looked from one man to the other as he pulled the chair up closer to the table.

"Dude we've got some weird psychic chick passed out in one of the bedrooms. She just appeared outside the door and man, the whole thing is weird, Cas." Dean leaned forward toward Castiel, his own anxiety over the situation apparent in his tense posture. Cas cocked his head slightly to one side as he watched his friend.

"What's 'weird' about her?" he asked.

"She seems to get visions any time she and I have physical contact," Sam answered, his voice tentative, as though saying it out loud made it more true. "Visions painful enough that she passes out every time."

"Dude," Dean chuckled. "Guess there's no way you're hitting that, huh?"

"Dean…" Sam glared across the table at his brother's grin.

"And, she doesn't know how she got here, she was passed out when we found her and when she woke up she thought she was still in Maryland," Dean continued, brushing off his brother's bitchface.

"It's happened three times now, once in a store in Maryland and twice now here." Sam glanced between his brother and the angel as he spoke. "And the last time I felt a shock on my hand when I touched her. Any idea what this is, Cas?"

"What's her name?" Cas asked, his brow furrowed with concern.

"Lexi," Dean and Sam said in unison.

"I think I know what she is, but I should see her to be sure." Cas paused as he pushed his chair back and stood, looking between the brothers, then took a deep breathe. "I don't think you're going to like it."

Lexi woke to find herself comfortable and warm in a bed, but her head was still throbbing mercilessly. She pulled herself up to sit with her back against the headboard of the bed, and closed her eyes against the fresh wave of pain until it passed.

She sat, quietly taking stock of the events of the past few hours. She was surprised she wasn't panicking and scared, but there was something about Sam that made her assume everything was going to end up being fine. This felt entirely bizarre, but at the same time….

The bedroom door swung partway open, slowly, and Sam poked his head in. When he saw her awake and sitting up, he pushed the door open further and took a few steps into the room.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, his voice quiet, concerned.

"I think so, yeah." Lexi looked up at Sam and tried to smile. "I mean, I feel like my head might explode it hurts so much, but I think I'm okay."

"I'll get you some aspirin," Sam said, returning the half-smile. "We have someone here who might be able to help figure out what all this is, if you're up to meeting him?"

"The sooner we figure this out, the better." Lexi swung her legs over the bed and stood, following Sam from the room.

On entering the library, Lexi saw Dean talking quietly with a man clad in a khaki trenchcoat. As the man turned to meet her eyes, the vibrant, almost glowing blue struck her as somewhat odd. There was something different about the man, but she could feel Sam's trust in him and apparently that was enough for her to trust him as well.

"Lexi, this is Castiel," Sam said as he walked around the table to sit next to the man. He greeted her with a slight nod and a small smile, looking at her as though sizing her up. Not getting what he needed visually from her, he stood and reached an arm out toward her to shake hands.

"Nice to meet you," he said as Lexi took a tentative step towards him. Although hesitant to touch anyone after the pain she'd been going through with Sam, she reached out anyway and grasped his hand firmly.

As their hands met, Lexi felt an energy flow into her. It wasn't unpleasant, in fact, it was somewhat warm and soothing. It was just strange, not at all like the electric current that pulsed into her when she connected with Sam. And there were no images assaulting her with the touch, just a weird vibration and a dim, high-pitched tone that she was sure would hurt her ears if it were any louder.

"You've got quite a headache, don't you?" Cas asked as he let his hand fall from hers. He stepped a little closer, slowly raising his hand up toward her head. "May I?"

Lexi froze in confusion, her mouth gaping half open while staring at him, no words making it from her brain to her tongue.

"It's okay, Lexi, he's...a healer. He can help," Sam said.

"I guess…" Lexi relaxed slightly, her gaze still locked on the man's vibrant blue eyes. He pressed two fingers to her forehead then, the same vibration flowing into her again, but this time with a stronger pulsating warmth that seemed to push the headache back away from her, fading it until it was completely gone. He pulled his fingers from her, then her eyes, that she'd not noticed closing, flew open again. "Whoa. That's some aspirin you got there, Sam."

"Well, Cas?" Dean asked, shifting impatiently in his seat at the table. "What is she?"

Sam and Lexi both shot an identical scathing glare at Dean for his rudeness as Cas returned to his seat with a sigh.

"She's a Guardian of Man," he said, glancing between all three who stared at him blankly, waiting for more explanation.

"Okay, a little more here, Cas," Dean said, his impatience growing.

"There are hundreds on earth, some never meet the people they're meant to guard." The angel shifted uncomfortably in his chair, knowing his friends were not going to be happy with what he had to say. "They are human, but have an ability to connect with certain other people, usually people who have a special purpose for their lives. A guardian will protect a person by seeing dangers ahead of time, warning them so they can take a different path. They are like a psychic bodyguard."

"Why all the pain, then?" Sam asked, glancing over to Lexi, noticing her eyes frozen, wide, staring straight ahead.

"What is happening when she touches you is all your history flowing into her, all your memories and thoughts. If she'd found you at an earlier age, or if you'd led a less...intense...life, it wouldn't be so painful for her. Once she has all of your past connected to her psyche, the pain won't continue. But she'll have premonitions of things to come for you. Things that either need to happen or need to be prevented."

"Okay, so Sammy has his own personal psychic," Dean said, shifting back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest. "What's so bad about that? You said we wouldn't like this."

"Well, once the connection is established," Cas said glancing over at Lexi. "She can't leave him."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lexi said, backing up a few steps from the table and three strangers she'd suddenly found herself with. "What the fuck do you mean I can't leave?"

"You don't remember coming here, right?" Cas asked calmly.

"No, I just woke up after they found me outside."

"That's the psychic connection. It put you here."
"How did it put her here?" Sam asked, now fidgeting in his chair, not really happy about where all this was going.

"Subatomically," Cas replied dryly, looking between Sam and Lexi. "The connection finds the strongest imprint of your psychic makeup, the place you're most likely to be, and draws her there particle by particle. The stronger the connection, the more of your psyche she gathers, the more accurate it will become. Basically, you're stuck with each other."

Lexi pulled out a chair and flopped down heavily with her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. She let out an audibly shaky sigh. She muttered under her breath, "This is just fucking great."

Sam felt the color drain from his face as he heard his friend's words. He dropped his head, hair falling forward to cover his panicked expression as he stared at his hands on the table. His mind raced with chaotic thoughts, with the enormity of the situation. Having another person thrust into his life was not out of the ordinary. Having her stuck in his life was uncomfortable. But the idea that she would be downloading his life was causing an iron band of anxiety to wrap tightly around his chest, squeezing the breath from him and forcing a wave of trembling to the surface. He sucked in a deep breath, then forced it out slowly, followed by a brief clearing of his throat.

"Does this mean something is coming?" he asked, raising his eyes to meet Cas's. "She said I was in danger."

"Not necessarily. Guardians have been around since the dawn of man, and in earlier times, when there was a much smaller population, they had a much easier time finding their connections. Now, with so many people in the world, they hardly ever meet, so it may be she was meant to guide you through the things you've already experienced. Given your line of work, it's not surprising you have one."

"Wh..what line of work?" Lexi stuttered, suddenly realizing just how overwhelmed she was feeling and how many details of the situation were missing.

"Sammy, you give the talk. I'll get the drinks," Dean said with a sigh as he stood to walk across the room. Chewing his bottom lip, he poured three glasses of whiskey. He returned to the table, sliding one glass across to his brother who was reciting the well-practiced speech about the dark things in the world they'd spent their life fighting. He placed a second glass in front of the shaking Lexi before sitting back down with his own. A hard pit had formed in his stomach throughout the course of the conversation, knotting and churning inside him. The thought of including another person in the well-oiled machine of his life with his brother was ripping at his insides and his mind was already racing to find a way to stop it from going any further than it already had.

As Sam finished explaining the hunter's life to Lexi, she felt dizzy. The pungent scent of the whiskey in front of her was suddenly enticing, and she grabbed the glass with shaking fingers and brought it to her mouth, downing the burning liquid in one quick gulp. She looked up at Sam, then over to Dean, her eyes wide and her mouth opening to say...something, though nothing came out. She glanced across the table at Cas, a realization now dawning on her.

"So, Castiel is…"

"An angel," he said, bluntly.

"Okay." Lexi breathed out, spinning the empty glass in front of her. "All of this is real?"

"Afraid so," said Dean, appearing at her side with the bottle of whiskey, refilling her glass.

"Fucking great," she muttered, downing the second shot of whiskey and returning the glass to the table with a thud.

"Well, at least she'll fit in around here," Dean said with a chuckle, draining his own glass.