"Why did I agree to breakfast?" I moaned into my pillow as the alarm on my phone continued to go off. "I could have slept in for once."
Reaching out blindly, head still buried in the pillow, I managed to shut the alarm off. I rolled over and kicked the covers off, feeling the cold draft that followed and wishing to lie back down even more. I rubbed my eyes and stretched before finally standing up. My duffle bag lay across the small plaid sofa across the room. Deciding another warm shower sounded like a good idea, I rummaged around in my duffle bag for clothes before heading off to the bathroom.
When I finally finished cleaning myself up, I caught sight of the time. I had about fifteen minutes before I had agreed to meet up with them. Deciding I really didn't want to show up early and look overly eager, I grabbed my phone and called Garth in hopes that he might have something productive for me to do. I was itching to be back on the road.
"Hey kid," Garth answered almost immediately.
I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything. He was barely over a year older than me but it didn't matter how many times I reminded him of this, I was always "kid" to him.
"Looking for a case?" he asked me.
"You read my mind," I said with a chuckle.
"Well, you still in Kansas?"
"No, I made it into Nebraska about midday yesterday," I told him.
"Hmm," he said and paused for a moment.
"Uh, Garth, you still there?" I asked after a bit of silence.
"How would you like to help out with a case I'm heading to in Colorado? Just a boring, run of the mill, dig up the ol' bones and burn 'em case, but I haven't got much else going on at the moment."
"When is anything ever run of the mill?" I asked him skeptically to which he chuckled.
"I'll text you the info and I'll call you probably around the early afternoon. Figure we should both be about there then."
"Sounds good, I'll be heading out in a bit. I ran into the Winchesters last night and helped them out with a demon and now they want to get breakfast."
"You ran into Sam and Dean?" Garth asked with renewed excitement in his voice. "How are those guys?"
"Sam…doesn't look so good. I think something's wrong with him but it isn't my place to ask. You think it has something to do with those trials we heard about?"
"More than likely," Garth answered. "What they were doing was pretty serious, can't imagine it wouldn't come with its own price to pay."
"They always seem to be in the middle of the worst of the worst," I mumbled. When I caught sight of the alarm clock by the bed, I realized I was about to be late meeting up with the others for breakfast. "I've got to go Garth."
"Alright kid, be safe. I'll text you soon with the info."
Stuffing my phone into my pocket, I made my way over to my bag on the sofa. I zipped it up and did one quick check to make sure I didn't leave anything behind before I raced down to the lobby to check out. The moment I turned to head back to the others' room, I found them entering the lobby from down the stairs.
"Thought you'd stood us up!" Charlie said with a smile.
"Sorry, I got a little…distracted," I told her.
"You've still got time for breakfast right?" she asked hopefully.
I nodded and was dragged out the door of the motel by Charlie while the brothers began checking out of their room.
"There's a diner just down the road that Dean's been talking about all morning," Charlie told me, pointing down the street. "He's got some weird love for pie," she added on as she made a face.
I let out a laugh as I glanced at the guys through the motel window. My eyes caught with Sam's for a moment before I quickly turned my attention back to Charlie.
"That's nothing compared to what I used to hear about Dean Winchester," I told her.
Charlie's face lit up. "Now you have to tell me."
"We had a mutual friend," I explained, "he thought of the Winchesters like his sons. Anytime I needed a place to crash his door was open, but it meant I was in for a story or two about these guys. Dean apparently used to be quite the ladies' man."
A sly look crossed her face. "So everything is true."
"What?" I asked, confused.
"Have you ever heard of that book series Supernatural? By Chuck Shurley?" Charlie asked.
I nodded with a knowing look. Bobby had told me all about those. "Yes, what about them?"
"Apparently some time around when he wrote the last book, Swan Song, he wrote a few other things, kind of like short stories almost. But they take place long after that book finished. Like he could see snippets of the future."
I was listening intently now. There was a rumor that had gone around awhile back that Chuck was dead, so there was no way he could have been writing these now.
"Well see, the guys explained that he was a prophet and was writing about them without knowing it at first, but it's curious that he wrote about things happening now," Charlie said.
"Like what?"
"Those tablet things the guys had been working on, the trials or whatever, were mentioned, although briefly. Sam's…illness. Something about the angels. And—" Charlie said, before she was cut off by Sam's deep voice.
"Charlie, stop."
A defeated look crossed her face. "I'm only trying to help."
"That's not helping. And Chuck can't predict the future; just because he wrote about it doesn't make it real."
The two stared at each other for a moment before Charlie turned back towards me, clearly defeated.
"Everything else seems to fit," Charlie mumbled only loud enough for me to hear.
"Right, about breakfast," Dean said, rubbing his hands together with a big smile on his face.
"Charlie mentioned a diner down the road, I can just meet you guys there," I told him.
"Sounds like a plan," Dean said, pulling the keys to the Impala out of his pocket and heading to his car with a straight-faced Sam following.
"You mind if I tag along with you?" Charlie asked me. "I'd rather not get told off by Sam just yet."
"Yeah, no problem."
"I'm going to ride with Sierra," Charlie called over to the guys.
Sam stopped as he was about to get into the passenger seat and gave Charlie a stern look.
Charlie held up her hands defensively right away. "I'm not going to say anything!"
Sam eyed her a moment longer before he got into the car and sat staring straight ahead. Dean and Charlie exchanged looks before he got into the car as well.
"What's that all about?" I asked her as I unlocked my car.
She didn't answer me until we had both gotten inside and I had started the car up.
"Just something I found in some of those things Chuck wrote. There was something a bit personal in there and…let's just say he doesn't like to hear about it. And he doesn't want to believe it," she explained.
I nodded and found I was kind of curious. "How did you find these little 'snippets of the future' of his?"
"Oh, they're online. All of his books are online, too." She smiled as she said, "The guys aren't really happy about that."
"I wouldn't be either," I mumbled.
"Have you ever read them?" She asked me curiously. "The books, I mean?"
I shot her a look. "Does it look like I have lots of leisure time?"
"No," she said with a laugh, "I guess not."
There was a pause in which she flipped on the radio and settled on some song she seemed to recognize and started bobbing her head to it.
"So why are you with the Winchesters, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Long story short, I've helped them a few times. And I'm also sort of on the run for a bit of hacking I did as a kid…they offered me some place safe to stay for a bit. We just keep getting side tracked before they can drop me off." She let out a sigh. "I don't know how you guys do this everyday."
"Don't really know anything else," I said absently as I followed the Impala into the diner's parking lot.
Before I had a chance to turn my car off Charlie turned to me and asked rather urgently, "What do you think of the guys?"
I raised a brow at her and spotted Sam and Dean talking in the now parked Impala. It looked as if they were having a serious discussion.
"They're…nice," I answered.
"Yeah. What about Sam?" she asked with a sort of desperate curiosity on her face.
I raised a brow at her. "What about Sam?"
"I saw you looking at him last night," Charlie stated bluntly.
A thought struck me suddenly. "Oh no, Charlie, I'm not interested in him. I wasn't trying to—"
She rolled her eyes with a grin on her face now. "They're attractive and all, but not my type, if you get what I mean."
"Oh," I said, relaxing. "For a moment I thought you were going to tell me off."
"So you do like him!" She exclaimed.
"What? No! I don't even know him!" I told her.
That sly grin I saw on her face back at the motel slid back into place. "You're attracted to him."
I opened my mouth to respond but was cut off by a knock on my window. I jumped and turned to see Dean with a quizzical expression on his face; Sam was staring at Charlie with his eyes narrowed. I saw her shoot him an exaggerated smile before she shot me a knowing look and got out of the car. Dean backed up and let me out as well.
"Sorry, been awhile since I've had girl time," Charlie said easily before heading into the diner.
Both Dean and Sam turned their gaze on me as if waiting for me to confirm their suspicions. I only shrugged sheepishly and followed after Charlie feeling entirely confused. There was something she had been getting at, but I couldn't figure out what.
An older woman led us to a booth and Charlie slid in one side, grabbing the sleeve of my jacket and pulling me along with her. Sam slid in first on the other side of the table so that Dean was sitting across from me. He didn't waste any time before picking up the menu and forgetting about the rest of us.
The waitress took our drink orders and I began eyeing the menu even though I knew what I wanted. Nobody was talking for a bit at first and out of the corner of my eye I kept seeing Charlie and Sam communicating to each other silently. I was grateful for the waitress coming back to take our orders and interrupting them.
"So where are you headed to next?" Dean asked me now that his attention was no longer on the menu.
"Colorado. Sounds like I've got a job taking care of a ghost," I told him.
"Do you always work jobs alone?" Dean asked, a look of concern on his face.
I shook my head. "No, not always. I've got other hunters I can call if I need help. Usually Garth and I work a case together here and there if we're nearby."
Dean made a face. "Garth as in—"
"Garth Fitzgerald, yes," I said with a grin.
"How's he been?"
"The same as you remember him, I'm sure," I told Dean with a grin.
"Are you two like," Dean started, seeming to struggle for the right way to phrase his question, "A thing?"
I nearly choked on my coffee at his question. "No! He's like my older, dweeby brother or something."
Our food showed up moments later and the sight of eggs and bacon had me too preoccupied to take note if Charlie and Sam were back to their silent conversations or not. No one really said anything while they ate, except for the random noises of enjoyment Dean kept making while he ate, which would always cause his brother to shoot him looks.
Once we finished I offered to pay the bill, but Dean wouldn't hear of it.
"You saved us the other night, I think we can handle breakfast," he told me.
Not that it mattered; I knew he was using a fake credit card to pay the bill just like I was taught to do.
We made small talk while we waited for the waitress to come back with Dean's credit card; Charlie kept strumming her nails on the table as if she was restless. Eventually the waitress headed back over and Dean was stuffing the card back into his wallet. We all got up and made our way to the parking lot silently.
"Well, I guess this is where we part," Dean said as the four of us stood between the two cars. "We really appreciate you stepping in when you did last night," he said, Sam nodding in agreement beside him with a strained smile on his face. "If you ever need us, or if we need bailing out again, maybe we should exchange phone numbers?"
"Yeah," I agreed.
Pulling out my phone, we exchanged info, Charlie even exchanging numbers with me.
"I'm sure we'll run into you again," Dean said.
I nodded as Charlie gave me an abrupt hug. When she pulled back she smiled and told me she'd be in touch soon.
"It was nice meeting you," Sam said politely offering me a less strained smile.
I noticed the bruise on his face had gotten a little darker, or maybe he had gotten a little paler again. I tried to fight the rising feeling of worry in my stomach as I said goodbye to him.
We each got into our separate cars and before I pulled out of the diner I gave the three a quick wave. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket I checked my text messages. True to his word Garth had sent me the name of the town we were meeting up in. Turning on the stereo, I was ready for a few hours drive to the next state.