Author's Note: I'm sure you all noticed my poor attempt to make covers for these stories. I apologize for how sad they are. Poster making is not a skill I possess. For those of you that do have said skill and would like to make some cover art for me, please feel free to do so. I will find some way to reward you for your efforts.
I would like to give a special thanks to Leah Tatyana Nicole and Princess de la Luna for reviewing the latest chapter. To those who have added this story and myself to your favorites and alerts, you are wonderful. Being in an auto accident delayed getting this chapter getting out to you, and for that I'm sorry. Hopefully the length will make up for it.
I do not own Supernatural or any of the characters found there in. Alex and the Mayfair mythology are my own.
Chapter 4
"I'm going to go check the perimeter," Alex said as she grabbed her bow and headed for the cabin door.
"Sam should be here soon," said Dean.
"I won't be long." She placed the quiver on her back and walked out the door.
Shortly after they had arrived at the cabin, Alex had insisted on rigging the woods around the cabin in much the same way she had her caves in Purgatory. She knew that there was logically no reason to do it. Monsters weren't lurking in every shadow waiting to end her so called life anymore, but it made her feel safer. Dean had offered her his sawed-off the first time she went out seeing as all of her personal weapons had been at Bobby's when it had been destroyed, but she preferred the bow for it's stealth.
There were one or two exceptions to her weapons being favorite hunting knife, the one she always kept hidden in her boot, had joined Sam's arsenal. The last time Dean saw it her pistol was in the Impala's trunk. Sam had always said those were her two favorite weapons, and he wanted to return them to her as soon as he saw her. He was right of course, but Alex hadn't fired a gun in so long that she was starting to wonder if she even knew how anymore.
The bow was safe. It was quite and deadly. She did agree to take one of Dean's knives with her when she went out, just encase anything got in to close. After half an hour of examining traps and following tracks, she was satisfied that there was nothing out there and decided to return to the cabin.
Alex froze when the cabin came into sight. Her heart began racing at the sight of the shiny black Impala parked out front.
The Impala's engine rumbled to a stop as the car came to rest in front of the old cabin. Sam opened the driver's side door and paused to look up at the cabin as his mind began to wander.
When he had first gotten Dean's call he was elate. Just hearing his brother's voice again had been overwhelming. Now that he was so close to seeing him again after so long, he was almost terrified. There would come a time for him to tell Dean everything that had happened in the last year, and it wouldn't be easy.
He thought about Amelia. Things had been different between them since her husband had returned from the dead. Leaving right away would have been the right thing to do. They were married after all and deserved a chance to work things out, but Sam had been selfish and stayed until his brother had beckoned him away.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Sam had finally felt at peace. Nobody was out to kill him. There was no Apocalypse to stop. He was at peace. It was true that there were times when he thought about his missing brother and his long lost girlfriend. He missed them both terribly, but Dean had vanished without a trace. Alex was dead as far as he knew. Cas could not find her in Heaven, and Crowley swore she wasn't in Hell. He didn't actually think the demon could be trusted, but Death had also made it clear that she wasn't being tortured downstairs when he had gone after Sam's soul. It had taken him a long time, but he accepted the fact that she was gone and there would be no coming back this time.
Sam took a deep breath and walked to the door. He pushed it open slowly as he surveyed the inside. There was still a chance that this was some sort of trap. He took a few cautious steps inside until he was suddenly tackled to the ground. Looking up, he found his brother to be the assailant that was now bathing him in holy water.
"What the -?" he choked out. "I'm not a demon." Dean poured Borax on him. "Or a Leviathan. What –" he was cut short again by the feel of Dean's silver blade slicing into his arm.
"Or a shifter," said Dean. "Good." He removed himself from his younger brother and stood. He extended the bottles towards Sam. "My turn. Come on. Let's go."
Sam groaned slightly as he moved to his feet. "I don't need to. I know it's you."
"Damn it, Sammy," Dean growled in frustration before splashing himself with the two liquids. He held the knife out to his younger brother. "Come on."
"No! Dean can't I just say hello?"
If Sam wasn't going to test him, he'd do it himself. Dean rolled up his sleeve and cut his own arm with the knife. A small trickle of bright red blood appeared.
"All right," he said as he applied pressure to the wound with a bandanna. "Well," he looked to Sam, let's do this."
"I don't know whether to give you a hug or take a shower."
The men laughed for a moment before coming together in a brotherly hug. The last bit of tension Sam was holding in his body drained away. It was all real. Dean was really alive and standing right in front of him.
"Dude," Sam said as he backed away. "You're… freakin' alive." He took a few steps away from his brother and ran his fingers through his hair. "I mean, what the hell happened?"
"Well, I guess standing too close to exploding Dick sends your ass straight to Purgatory."
Sam's eyes grew wide. "You were in Purgatory?" Of all the things his brother could have said, this was the one that was farthest from his mind. He quite possibly would have been less surprised if Dean had told him Scotty had beamed him onto the deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise. "For the whole year?"
Dean thought about telling Sam how long it had been for him, but he saw no point in tormenting his brother. "Yeah, time flies when you're running for your life."
"Well, how'd you get out?"
"I guess whoever build that box didn't want me there any more than I did."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm here, okay?" Dean didn't want to go into the specifics about what all he had been through to get home. It was bad enough that he had to relive it every time he closed his eyes. There was no point in causing Sam even more guilt over not being able to find him first.
"What about Cas?" Sam asked. When Dean told him that they would be waiting he assumed that Cas would be at the cabin with him. "Where is he?"
Dean turned his back to Sam as he fought to keep his composure. "Yeah, Cas didn't make it."
"What exactly does that mean?"
Dean tried to explain it to Sam without telling him exactly what happened. In his mind, he had lost his grip on the angel. How was he supposed to tell his little brother that he was the reason Cas was still trapped?
"So Cas is dead? You saw him die?"
"I saw enough."
"So, then what, you're not sure?"
Dean could since that his brother was winding up for a tirade and turned to face him. "I said I saw enough, Sam."
The tone in his brother's voice made it clear to Sam that Dean was not in the mood for the third degree. "Right, Dean. I'm sorry."
"Me too."
"Wait a minute," Sam said. "You said we?"
"What?"
"On the phone, when I talked to you. You said 'we'll be waiting.' Who did you bring back with you?"
The sound of the cabin door opening and closing behind him drew Sam's attention. He looked over his shoulder briefly before doing a double take. His eyes went wide. She was thinner than he remembered, but there was no mistaking who the woman dropping a bow by the door was. "Alex?"
"Hi, Sam."
Dean said nothing as he grabbed the testing supplies and moved towards her. He quickly splashed her with holy water and Borax. Her eyes never left Sam as she held out her arm to be cut. He watched her face twitch slightly as the blade sliced into her flesh.
A tear twinkled at the corner of her eye as she watched him rise to his feet. Once Dean was convinced of her identity, she lowered her arm and made a beeline for Sam. She flung her arms around his neck and held him tight.
Sam stumbled slightly as she collided with his body. He was so stunned that it took him a moment to react. He looked to his brother who gave him a little half smile and a small nod as if encouraging him to go ahead. Finally, Sam wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against his body. He could scarcely believe it. It was like something out of a dream. She was alive. Alex was alive and he was holding her in his arms.
She loosened her arms slightly from around his neck and leaned back to get a better look at him. Holding his head in her hands, she examined him. Her eyes roamed over his face. There was still shock in his eyes when she looked at them. It made her chuckle slightly. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair.
"You're hair got long," she said. Sam laughed. "I like it." She looked into his eyes for a moment more before pulling him in for a kiss.
The moment her lips made contact with his he stiffened. Feeling his hesitation, she released his head and stepped back slightly. It hurt her to think that after so many nights dreaming of this moment that Sam would reject her, but the small smile he gave her assured her that everything was all right. It's just a lot for him to process, she told herself. He's still in shock is all. I should have been more considerate.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"No, it's alright."
Sensing the tension in the room, Dean decided to try and lighten things up a bit. "Look what I found in Purgatory."
Sam tried to speak, but he was so astounded that he ended up just opening and closing his mouth a few times before finally giving up.
"I can't believe your actually here," Alex said. "We tried to reach you for days, but most of your numbers are out of service."
"Yeah," Dean said. "Felt like I was leaving messages in the wind."
Dean moved to sit at the table, but Alex continued to stand as she watched Sam. It was taking every ounce of her strength to keep from touching him. Everything within her was crying out to hold him, but he wasn't ready for that.
"Yeah. I-I-I didn't get your messages."
"How come?"
"Probably because I ditched the phones."
"Why?" Alex asked worriedly as she gave in to her longing and place a hand on Sam's arm. "The Leviathan aren't after you again are they?"
"No, no nothing like that," he quickly replied. This was not how he had pictured this moment going. "I guess, um… I guess something happened to me this year, too." He gave a small shrug. "I don't hunt anymore."
Alex dropped her hand and stared at him in confusion as he gave them a tentative smile.
"Yeah," Dean said, clearly not believing his brother. "And Sasha Grey's gone legit." Sam let out a long sigh. "What?"
"Nothing. Um, she did a Sodenberge movie."
"What?"
"She did a Soderbergh – "
Dean cut him off. "No. You, Sam. You quit?"
"Yeah." He shuffled his weight uncomfortably from foot to foot as he fount for the right words to say. "Yeah, I – you were gone… Dean. Cas was gone. Bobby was dead." He looked at Alex. "There was no sign of you anywhere. Crowley even shipped off Kevin and Meg to parts unknown."
A pit began to form in the bottom of Alex's stomach as she listened to the two brothers talking about the family business.
"Nothing says 'family' quite like the whole family being dead," Sam said.
Dean's anger finally got the better of him. "We weren't dead." He stood and came toe to toe with his brother. "In fact, we were knee-deep in God's armpit killing monsters, which, I thought is what we actually do."
"Yeah, Dean. And far as I knew, what we do is the thing that got every single member of my family killed. I had no one – no one." Alex's gut twisted at his words. "And for the first time in my life, I was completely alone. And, honestly, I –I didn't exactly have a road map. So, yeah, I-I fixed up the Impala, and I just. .. drove."
Sam's words struck a chord within Alex. The whole time she had been fighting for her life and focusing on her own loneliness, she never once stopped to think about what Sam must have been feeling. They were soulmates right? If she felt his absence surely he felt her's just as keenly.
"Did you look for us, Sam?" Dean asked.
Alex answered for him. "Of course he looked for us. Right, Sam?" When he didn't answer right away she slowly turned her head to look at him. "Sam, did you look for us?"
Sam couldn't bring himself to look at her, so Alex placed a hand on his arm and forcibly turned him to look at her. She waited until he was looking her dead in the eye before she spoke again. "Did you look for me?"
He didn't speak. He didn't have to. The sad puppy dog eyes he gave her spoke more than his words ever could. She stepped away from him slightly as she struggled to come to grips with what he was saying. Alex's brows furrowed and then rose as it all sank in. He didn't look for me.
Dean was a bit less silent. "That's good. Now, we – we. .. always told each other not to go looking. That's smart. Good for you." Sam moved his eyes from the hurting woman before him to his brother. "Of course, we always ignored that because of our deep, abiding love for each other, but not this time, right, Sammy?"
Sam struggled once again to find the words to say, but there were none. He just watched as his brother turned and walked out the cabin door, slamming it behind him. He continued staring at the closed door for a moment before turning back to Alex. The look of shock on her face was slowly melting into anger, and Sam knew he was in for it.
"So you didn't look for me," it was more a statement than a question.
Sam looked into her fiery eyes for a moment before looking at the ground and shaking his head. "No."
"Why not? I mean, I get not looking for me when the Leviathan were after your ass. Kind of hard to look for me if you're dead. I get that. But what about after that, Sam? Why didn't you look for me?"
"Alex, I…" there was nothing he could say to her to make things better, and he knew it. Anything he said would be a poor excuse. He expected her wrath. What he did not expect was the right hook she suddenly laid across his jaw when she decided that he wasn't answering her fast enough.
Sam rubbed his no doubt bruised jaw as he watched her storm after his brother.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I'm going after Dean," she said as she gathered the weapons she left beside the door. "At least one of us should be looking for him."
She slammed the door in much the same manner as his brother. The sound made Sam jump slightly. The noise echoed the pain of the invisible blade being plunged into his heart at watching the two people he cared for most in this world walked away from him.
He stood there staring at the door for a moment more. "Welcome Back."
It had taken Dean and Alex a while to cool down after Sam's confession. Alex caught up to him and they just walked. Neither of them said a word. They didn't need to. They both knew what the other was thinking. Eventually they made their way back to the cabin.
"Where are your phones?" Dean asked Sam not long after they reentered. He pointed him to a box over on the shelf. "Alex can I borrow your earphones?"
"Yeah sure." She stopped her work in the kitchen and went to hand him the little blue earbuds.
"Thanks."
She nodded and walked back over to the kitchen area and resumed cooking.
Sam just watched the two of them work. It was easy to see that the two of them were still pretty pissed at him. He couldn't blame them. If the shoe were on the other foot, he would be pretty pissed too. He figured that the best course of action was to just let them cool off for a bit and try to repair the damage later.
Alex finished preparing the meal and started grabbing bowels and plates out of the cabinet. "Dinner's ready," she said.
Sam walked over to the kitchen and started fixing himself a plate. "Thanks," he said. Alex nodded to him before turning her attention to Dean.
"You want some dinner?"
"Pass," he said as he placed one of the earphones into his ear.
Alex just shrugged and set about fixing her own plate before joining Sam at the table. She had just begun to eat when she noticed Dean giving Sam a look that spoke of anger and disgust. It was so harsh that her blood ran cold and she paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. Sam, noticing her distraction, turned his eyes towards his brother.
"What?"
Dean didn't say a word as he removed the earbud from his ear and placed the phone on speaker. A message began to fill the room.
Sam Winchester, it's Kevin Tran. Crowley had me in this warehouse, and I just escaped. I don't know where I am. And I don't know if he or – or any other demons are still after me. I need your help. Call me back. It's Kevin Tran.
The name sparked something in Alex's brain. "Kevin Tran? The prophet?"
"Yeah," said Sam. "When was that?"
Again, Dean gave no reply. He just played another message. The boy sounded more panicked than before. Sam stopped eating.
"Okay," he stood. "I get it. So, what, you two want to… strategize or something?"
Dean played yet another message. The voice that came through on the other end was slow and slurred.
"Is he… drunk?" Sam asked.
"He's totally wasted," Alex said. As she listened, the words became clearer. It hurt her heart to hear how the young prophet was living. By the time Dean played the second message telling Sam to eat him, she was every bit as pissed as the elder Winchester.
Once the final message had finished playing, Dean stood and squared up towards his younger brother. "He was out responsibility." He threw the phone into Sam's chest. The blow wasn't hard enough to leave a mark, but it got the point across. "And you couldn't answer the damn phone."
Sam looked at the phone in his hand. For the second time that day, Dean walked away from Sam before he did something he would regret. Sam's face fell. He turned his sad puppy dog eyes to Alex.
"Don't look at me," she said. "That kid needed your help and you just turned your back on him. The Sam I know would never have done that." Their eyes locked for the first time since she had walked out of the cabin to find Dean earlier that day. She searched his eyes for something anything that would help her understand what was going on in his head. She tried to look into his mind and found that she could see nothing beyond the sadness in his hazel eyes. Blinking rapidly, she sat back in her chair. The worried look that crossed her face startled Sam.
"Hey," he moved a fraction closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Alex, are you okay?"
She stood quickly, forcing him to drop his hand from her shoulder. Alex pushed the sudden panic she felt at not being able to use one of her most latent and basic powers aside. Her stony mask firmly back in place, she looked back up at Sam. "I'm not the one you should be worried about." The food on the table now forgotten, Alex walked over to the bags Sam had yet to put away. "You're laptop in here?" she asked without even looking up.
"Uh… yeah," Sam stammered. He was shocked when she ripped open his bag and started going through his things. "What are you doing?"
"Finding Kevin," she said as she pulled out the computer. "Hurry up and finish eating. We've got work to do."
It had taken them a while to find Kevin. Alex's computer skills were a little rusty. Progress was a little slow until Sam took over. Since they only had the one computer, Alex decided to try a little spell work to find him. A simple tracking spell should be fine. Not having something of his would make it a lot harder, but since she was able to find a picture of him, she should be able to use that as a focus to work the spell. She'd done it before.
The spell fizzled out before it had even really begun. She tried the spell a second time. When it once again did nothing, she groaned.
"Everything okay over there?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, just can't get a read on him."
Sam was a bit surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah. Guess the photo's not enough since I don't know him." The boys seemed to accept her answer, but deep down she knew that something was very very wrong.
Sam was eventually able to use the background noise in Kevin's last message to give them something to go on. Since it was so late, they decided to get some rest and head out first thing in the morning.
Dean and Alex got very little sleep, just as they had every night since their return. Closing their eyes brought on flashes of life or death battles the two of them had fought. More than that, they were so used to being on high alert that closing their eyes for more than a few minutes at a time felt wrong. They kept jerking awake suddenly throughout the night.
Once the sun finally rose, they all packed up their bags and prepared to set out in the Impala.
"Hey," Sam said as he finished loading the rest of their things into the trunk. Dean looked up just in time to catch the keys that had been tossed to him.
He looked over his most prized possession with a critical eye. "Well," he said, "no visible signs of douchery. I'll give you that."
Alex couldn't help but let out a small laugh as she climbed into the back seat. A very strong odor suddenly assaulted her nostrils. Dean's own nostrils flared as he took his position behind the wheel.
"Smell like dog to you?"
That's it! Alex thought. "Yeah, I smell it too."
Sam inhaled. "In the car?
Dean gave his brother a disproving look. "You tell me." Sam just shrugged. "Hum" was all that Dean said after that before driving off.
A restless sleep managed to find Alex as the Impala pulled into the parking lot of the Palm Hotel. It was the most peaceful Sam had seen her since her return, and she still looked as if something was chasing her. He reached into the back seat and tried to wake her.
"Alex," he said. "Alex, wake up."
She jerked awake with a raging battle cry. Her breath was ragged as she assessed her surroundings. Sam's face slowly came into focus as the fog of sleep lifted. The now familiar smell of dog and the comforting feel of the Impala's leather seats helped anchor her to Earth.
"You okay?" Sam asked, worry evident in his voice. He watched her chest rise and fall rapidly as she began to calm down.
"Yeah," she said as she wiped the perspiration from her face with her hands. "I'm good."
As the trio retrieved their things from the trunk, two children ran by them firing pop guns. The popping sound caused both Dean and Alex to flinch as their guards came up as if they were preparing for a fight. Sam's brow furrowed as he observed them. The two quickly tried to cover their jumpiness, but he still saw it.
"I'm gunna go get cleaned up," said Alex shortly after entering the room. She placed her bag on one of the beds and started pulling out a change of clothes. She grabbed her gun and made sure it was loaded before tucking it into her waistband at the small of her back and disappearing into the bathroom.
Sam took notice of her unusual behavior. He prepared to ask his brother about it before noticing how tense and nervous he seemed. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah," Dean said as he ran a hand down his face. Okay was not the word best used to describe Dean at that moment, and he knew it. The thought of being still for more than a few minutes was driving him crazy. "Hey, what do you say we blow this joint, hit the road?"
"Now?"
"Yeah, Kevin's not getting any more found."
"The kid survived a year without us. He'll be okay for another twelve hours. Besides, when's the last time either you or Alex actually slept?"
Dean didn't want to talk about what was going through is mind. As for Alex, he could only guess what the female hunter was going through. Instead he chose to focus on the fact that his brother dropped the ball for a year. It was easier to focus on Sam's shortcomings than to deal with what was really going on inside his head. For the life of him, he could not understand why Sam would suddenly just stop.
"So what was it, hmmm? What could possibly make you stop just like that? A girl? Was there a girl?" Dean had only been half serious when he made that comment. It was meant as more of a joke than an actual question. Sam suddenly insisting that the girl had nothing to do with it caught him completely off guard. "There was a girl?"
"Yeah," replied Sam. "There was. And then there wasn't. Anymore questions?"
"Is that why you didn't look for Alex? Because you were too busy screwing around with some random chick?"
"It wasn't like that Dean."
"Then what was it like, Sam?"
"I found something. Something I've… never had all my life."
There was no trickery in Sam's words or looks. He was being totally sincere. That was probably what made this even more difficult to comprehend. Alex had been everything to him and now he was saying that he just moved on. Something wasn't right.
"So what about Alex?" Dean asked as he nodded towards the closed bathroom door, thankful that she would not be able to hear them over the sound of the running water." What happens now?"
"I don't know." It pained Sam to confess that he wasn't sure where things stood with the woman that he had once been willing to take on Heaven and Hell to protect. He hadn't been looking to find anyone when he met Amelia. She had taken him completely by surprise. The way she stood up to him, challenged him, it had reminded him of Alex at first. Eventually that had faded away and she earned a place in his heart that was all her own.
Alex placed her change of clothes on the toilet seat and turned on the water. She was preparing to undress when she realize that she had forgotten to grab her hairbrush. She was just about to open the door and retrieve the object when she heard the boys talking through the door.
"So what was it, hmmm?" she heard Dean ask. "What could possibly make you stop just like that? A girl? Was there a girl?" She held her breath as she waited for the response that didn't come. Then Sam spoke and her breath left her in a startle gasp.
"Yeah there was. And then there wasn't. Any more questions?"
She heard the rest their words through a dense fog. Every word Sam spoke slowly cutting away at her soul.
"I found something. Something I've. .. never had all my life."
The words were a dagger to her heart. He had been the one thing keeping her going. Once she realized that he was still alive somewhere, all she could think about had been getting back to him. His not looking for her had been one thing, but this…this was more than she could bear. Sam had been her everything, and she apparently had not been able to give him what he really wanted.
Alex didn't listen to anymore after that. Hairbrush forgotten, she stripped out of her clothes and stepped into the shower's spray. The water was so hot it burned her skin, but Alex hardly noticed. As the water ran down her tired body, the floodgate of emotion she had kept closed for so long finally broke free and tears began streaming down her face. A tiny strangled sob escaped her throat. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand so that the boys wouldn't hear and sank to her knees in tears as the hot water washed them and the last of her hope away.
Sam wanted to think about anything but the woman he left in Texas and the one currently in the shower. He needed something to distract him. That's when he noticed Dean was silently rubbing his hands together, a nervous habit he had picked up on long ago.
"So what about you?" Sam asked.
"What about me?"
"Look at you." Sam indicated the nervous tick. "You've still got that look. Both of you do. Don't think I didn't notice Alex going into the bathroom with a gun? You're shaky. You're on edge." He paused for a moment and let out a sigh. "What was it like?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
Sam really did want to understand what was going on with his brother and former flame. The only time he had ever seen either of them this keyed up was when they were in the middle of a hunt or one of them was in danger. He could only imagine what they must have been through in the last year.
"It was bloody," Dean began. "Messy. 31 flavors of bottom-dwelling nasties. Most days felt like 360-degree combat. Hell, I would have been dead within a minute if it hadn't been for Alex." Sam's eyes grew wide and he sat up a little straighter at this. Dean, seeing the change in posture from the corner of his eye, turned to his brother. He registered the look of surprise on his younger brother's face. "Yeah, you heard me. Alex saved my ass more times than I can count. She actually thought I was a ghost the first time she saw me." He gave a small chuckle. "I had to convince her that I was still alive, that we both were."
He watched his brother swallow what he could only assume was revulsion at hearing his words. Dean knew he should stop, but something inside of him told him to keep going. It was only a matter of time until Alex and Sam had a heart to heart about what had happened while she was away. When that happened, he wanted to make damn sure that Sammy knew what she was bringing to the table and just how badly all of this would inevitably hurt her.
"As soon as she realized that you were still out there, she started looking for a way out. Getting back to you was all she thought about. I saw her cut down a thousand monsters just to get back here. After all that she's been through, she comes back to find that she wasn't even a thought to you."
Sam's chest contracted as his brother's words took root in his heart. "That's not true."
"Oh isn't it?"
The three hunters stood rather awkwardly in the cramped dorm room. Kevin's former girlfriend, Channing, was the best lead they had for finding their missing prophet.
"The last time I saw Kevin was, like, a year ago," Channing said.
"When he disappeared?" asked Sam.
"Mm-hum. He stole his mother's car because he thought he was on a mission from God or something. It was crazy."
Channing's roommate was even less helpful than the girl they were there to see. Her random comments and constant jabber were getting on everyone's nerves. Alex was about three seconds away from having to walk out of the room or punch the co-ed in the face.
Sam did his best to keep them on track, but the track didn't get them anywhere. Channing insisted that Kevin had never been there. Even when Alex showed her the picture of him on campus, she was adamant that she hadn't seen him. When Sam pointed out that she may just be protecting him, she became less than happy.
"I hate Kevin," she said. "I wouldn't protect him."
This caught Dean's attention. "I thought you two had a thing."
"Yeah, when he was going to Princeton."
"Wow. Just like that?"
"Not everyone wants to stick around when things get rough. Right, Sam?" Alex quipped.
The younger Winchester's head snapped to the side, eyes wide, and just stared at Alex. There was a look of righteous indignation on her face that was so open to interpretation that he wasn't sure if she was pulling his chain or if she was just upset about him not searching for her. She quirked an eyebrow and turned her attention back to the girls.
"If you hear from him," she said as she handed Channing a card, "give us a call."
"Okay."
She turned to leave without giving either of the boys a look. Sam turned to his brother in hopes that he could give some sort of clue as to what was going on. Dean just shrugged and followed his friend out the door, leaving a bewildered Sam to follow behind.
Channing's roommate started prattling on about some Jewish boy she wanted to set her up with. When Channing turned to look at her, her eyes were black. She raised a small dagger in one hand and a rather terrifying bowl in the other.
"Shut up, bitch," she said.
The roommate was confused. "What?"
Channing quickly cut the girl's throat and filled the bowl with her blood. She recited an incantation and the blood began to boil as she made her demonic phone call.
"The Prophet still has not yet shown his face to me. But you should know Dean Winchester is back, and he has the Mayfair with him."
A sigh escaped Sam's lips as he loosened his tie. Finding Kevin was turning out to be a little more complicated than he thought it would be. He had definitely been on campus. There was security footage that proved that. The rest was a bit tricky.
"Don't judge me." Sam looked up as his brother. "I got bubkis." Dean took a seat opposite his brother.
"Same here," said Alex as she approached the table and took the final seat. "I've been showing that picture we found all over campus, but nobody seems to remember him. It's like the kid is a ghost or something."
"Well…" Sam was quickly interrupted by a waitress.
"And here you go," she said as she sat down a basket of food and one very large drink.
"Ah, thank you."
Sam pushed the plate towards his brother. Dean looked down at the bacon cheeseburger and fries in astonishment and adoration.
"Sweet mother of God. It's for me? Seriously?" Sam nodded.
Dean took a bite of the heart attack inducing sandwich. All of his muscles went limp as he close his eyes and chewed slowly, savoring the taste.
"Do we need to give you two a minute," Alex asked with a laugh.
Dean cut his eyes to her face. "Shut up," he said around the mouthful of cow causing Alex to laugh even harder only this time Sam joined in.
"Here," he said as he handed the giant cup to her.
She looked back and forth from the soft drink in front of her to his face. "Thanks…?" Alex said. Sam just nodded. Alex quickly grabbed the cup and slowly brought the straw to her lips. Taking a sip, a moan soon emitted from her throat. "God I could kiss you right now," she told him before taking another drink.
When a second moan sounded, Dean's eyebrows shot up his forehead as he looked at her. "Now who needs a minute alone?"
"Oh shut up, Dean. Dr Pepper is the nectar of the gods."
Dean opened his mouth to retort when Sam stopped him. "Okay, okay. We get it. You guys haven't had this in a long time and it's great. Moving on. I found the computer lab and the computer Kevin was working on."
"Nice," Alex chirped before taking another large gulp of her soda.
"Uh, thanks. Anyway, I found the website he was visiting, found his account user name, hacked into the website, found when else this username logged in, and then I reverse-tracked the IP address back to the original user, Kevin, who has apparently been using the same wireless router for the past two weeks."
"Good work," said Alex. "I'm impressed."
"I agree. That is spectacular work. Any chance I can get that in English?"
"Basically," said Alex, "Sam cyber stocked Kevin and found out where he is."
Dean nodded his approval before taking another bite of his burger. With his mouth still full, he picked up his food and said, "Let's hit the road."
The Impala came to a stop in front of an abandoned church outside of Fairfield, Iowa. The grass surrounding it had been left to run wild, hitting Alex at the knees in some areas. They had spoken to a few people around town upon arrival. Everyone that had seen Kevin pointed them in this direction.
Sam knocked on the door and called out to Kevin, but there was no answer. Dean set to picking the lock while Alex looked for another way in. It took Dean less than thirty seconds to force the old lock to give up it's prize.
"Hey," Dean stage whispered to Alex. Stopping at the corner of the building, she looked back and saw Dean beckoning her back over.
They quickly went through the door as silently as possible. They were unsure what they would find inside, but a prophet hosing them down with borax from a super soaker was not one of them.
"Stop! Stop!" Dean yelled. "Not Leviathans. It's us."
Kevin watched them for a moment, waiting to see if they had a reaction before slowly lowering the water gun. "What the hell happened to you guys?"
"Cliff notes?" replied Dean. "I went to Purgatory and met up with Alex." She gave a small waive. "Sam hit a dog."
"For real?"
"More or less," said Alex as she used the tail of her shirt to wipe the borax from her face.
"You want some towels?"
At the small closed mouth smile she gave him, Kevin went off to find them three small towels and gave them to the hunters. "So you're the witch?" Kevin asked as he handed Alex her hand towel.
"So you're the prophet?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You're right. Sorry."
"It's okay. I've had a lot worse receptions than this. Trust me."
Kevin turned and started leading them through the building. Warding symbols and devils traps littered the floor beneath their feet. The last time Sam had seen the young prophet, he hadn't know squat about any of this. Now he seemed to know everything.
"Who taught you all this?" Sam asked.
"I guess… God."
Alex did a double take. "Come again?" Kevin turned and looked at them with a small smile. "God taught you all of this?"
"Technically, yeah."
"Wait, wait, hold on. Crowley kidnapped you. I saw that. But then you left a message saying you escaped. How?"
The boy paused for a moment before launching into his story. Crowley had in fact kidnaped him and took him to some sort of warehouse to try and force him to reveal the secrets of another tablet, only this time it was all about demons. It took less than five minutes for Kevin to realize what he was looking at. While the whole tablet may not make since, he was able to glen enough information from it to realize the power it possessed.
It contained everything you could ever want to know about demons. Kevin's eyes had instantly been drawn to a spell. He told Crowley that it was a way to open the gates of Hell.
Dean practically came unglued when Kevin told them.
"You showed the King of Hell how to open a Hell Gate? So that all the demons in Hell could come out all at the same time?"
"What? No."
While the prophet had in fact told Crowley that was what he was doing, he had actually been working a spell to destroy and demons in the immediate area. The moment the match hit the spell a light flashed forward and destroyed his wardens. Kevin was stunned for a moment before he grabbed the demon tablet and ran for his life.
"Not bad," Alex said, obviously impressed.
"Thanks."
"Wait," said Sam. "Where's the tablet now?"
"Safe"
"Safe where?"
Dean jumped in. "Hey. As long as it's safe, okay?" He turned his attention to Kevin. "Were you able to read anything else off the tablet before you stashed it?"
"Only the stuff about closing the gates of Hell. Forever."
All three hunters looked at him in shock.
"Come again?" asked Dean.
"Banish all demons off the face of the Earth, lock them away forever. That could be important, right?"
Alex gaffed. "I like this kid."
Kevin smiled at her before Dean got his attention by moving closer to him.
"Closing the gates of Hell forever?" Kevin gave a small nod. "Yeah. Yeah, that could be important."
After a few more minutes of discussion, Sam asked Dean and Alex to follow him outside. They exited the church. Sam walked to the railing and leaned on it heavily.
"Okay," Dean said as he came to stand beside his brother. "If this kid is right, he's sitting on a bombshell. Hell, he is a bombshell."
"Can you imagine it?" Alex asked excitedly. "A world without demons. Sounds amazing doesn't it?" Her excitement started to diminish when she saw Sam looking off into the distance. "Sam?" He just looked at his hands. Silence descended upon them as all eyes turned towards Sam.
"That… I mean, there's no way that Kevin's getting out of this intact is there?"
"Well," Dean said, "he's done pretty well for himself so far."
"Yeah, he got out." His sad puppy dog eyes pulled at Alex's heart when he finally looked at her. She didn't have to be able to see into his soul to know that he was mourning what he had recently lost. The little bit of normal he finally found was gone, and chances are he would never see it again.
"And now he's in it… whether he likes it or not."
"So… free will, that's only for you?"
"I can't believe what I'm hearing. Sam, we have an opportunity to wipe the slate clean."
Dean was obviously getting rather annoyed with his little brother. For a moment, Alex even thought he was going to take a swing at him. She couldn't say that she entirely agreed with Sam, but she didn't want to watch Dean smash his face in either.
When Dean took another step towards his brother, Alex stepped forward and placed a hand on Dean's chest. She looked at her former lover. "Sam," she said, "I get that you don't like Kevin being a part of this. Really I do. I don't even know the kid and I wish that we could spare him from this, but think about all of the good we can do. If Kevin tells us the spell, we can get rid of every demon on the face of the Earth forever. You can have your revenge." Sam looked at her in confusion. "Those sons of bitches are the reason your life is the way it is. They destroyed you lives, killed your mother, killed Dean," she thought about leaving it there for a moment, but she had to see if he held any affection for her anymore. "Hell, they kept us apart for years. That means something to you right? Now tell me Sam, why wouldn't you want to end all that?"
Guilt swirled in the pit of Sam's stomach at her words. He should tell her about his life without her. He knew that, but if he did, she would never look at him the same way again. As he looked into her eyes, he wondered if she could see his secrets in them. There was something in her eyes that spoke of secrets untold that would change all of their lives. In his mind, he guessed that's what Purgatory would do to someone.
He tried to think of something to say to her, but his brain just kept swirling around the truths he was hiding from her. The look in her eyes was so intense that he had to look away. "I'll talk to Kevin," he said before turning and going into the church.
Sitting alone in the old sanctuary, lite by nothing but candles, was something Kevin was used to. This had been his home for a while now. There wasn't much to it, but he'd been safe here so far.
He heard the footsteps behind him, but he knew there was no reason to be afraid and just kept looking forward. Sam took a seat in the pew behind him.
"Kevin," he said. "I uh… I owe you an apology. Um… look, when you disappeared and Dean disappeared, I … need to clear my head, and… I'm thinking maybe you were one of the pieces that I should have been there to pick up."
He appreciated the words. It didn't change anything that he'd been through in the last year. Still, it was nice to know that the hunter felt bad about it. He just wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now.
"You've been a hunter since you were a kid, right?"
"Yeah mostly. Yeah."
"Ever since I realized I was a prophet… it's just hard to believe this is actually my life."
"Yeah. It sucks right now. I know that. Um. It might suck for a lot longer, but … trust me on this – it gets better."
Neither one of them really believed what he was saying. Sure there would be moments of happiness and relief, but things would never be "normal" again. The levity of it all made things difficult. Finding moments to laugh made it easier for Kevin. That's why he turned to face Sam and said, "You know I'm not gay, right?"
They both chuckled for a moment
"What about you?" Kevin asked. "Are you happier now that you have Alex back? Dean said she was like the love of your life or something."
Sam looked down at his clasped hands. He knew the answer he should give. he just wasn't sure if it was true. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah I am."
Kevin may not know the Winchesters all that well, but he could tell that Sam's lack luster answer was not exactly the truth.
Dean watched his brother walk back into the church without saying a word in answer to Alex's questions. This surprised him. He expected some sort of answer from him. Instead he just gave her his patented puppy-dog eyes and walked away. That's odd, he thought.
Something else he found odd were the little comments Alex had made over the last few days. Little digs at his brother. It was like she was trying to get something out of him. Then there was the way she looked at him when she thought nobody was looking. It was a combination of sadness and anger that he couldn't quite understand. Sure she had punched him when she found out that he hadn't looked for her, but something told him that this went deeper than that.
Things were a bit strained between the two of them. Alex had expected Sam to welcome her with open arms, not tell her that he hadn't even been looking for her. Hell, Dean was pissed at him for that too, especially after learning why. He just wasn't sure what Alex knew or where she expected all of the cards to fall. From what she'd told him about Heaven, his brother was supposed to be her soulmate. He wasn't sure if he really believed in all of that. He just knew that once his brother would have done anything for this woman. Now he just saw his best friend was hurting, and there was nothing he could do about it.
When he turned away from the door, he saw Alex leaning heavily on the green railing along the porches edge. Her head was down and shoulders slumped. She looked completely defeated.
"What's on your mind?" he asked.
She slowly looked up at him. What he saw nearly broke his heart. There were barely contained tears in her haunted eyes.
"Hey, you okay?"
Alex straightened up a bit before resting her hands on the railing and looking off into the distance.
"Why wasn't I enough, Dean?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
Alex placed her hands on the railing and let out a deep sigh. "I want to know why I wasn't enough for Sam."
He was taken aback for a moment as his brain struggled to comprehend what she just asked him. All he could think to do was try and reassure her.
"Why would you ask that, Alex? I know things are a little weird with Sammy right now, but …"
"I heard you and Sam talking," she said. "The other night when I went to take a shower, I heard you."
Dean furrowed his brows as he looked at her in confusion and tried to play if off as if he didn't know anything, but Alex saw right through it. "What are you talking about? You read Sam's mind or something?"
"The girl, Dean. I heard you talking about the girl."
His eyes grew wide before his entire face became crestfallen. She looked at him with tears in her eyes once again as he ran a hand down his face to compose himself. All he could suddenly think about was kicking his brother's ass, and that wasn't going to help anybody.
"Alex, I…. I'm sor –"
"Don't you dare say you're sorry, Dean. You have nothing to apologize for. You didn't do anything wrong."
"Okay. So what about Sam?"
"What about him?"
"What happens now? You just going to dangle this over his head until he takes the bait or are you going to tell him you know and get on with your life."
Alex turned away. "It's not that easy, Dean." He waited for her to continue. "Part of me doesn't blame him for moving on, but the rest of me wants to know why we can't pick up where we left off. Deep down I knew it wouldn't be exactly the same. A lot happened while I was gone. I get that. I just can't help but wonder."
"Wonder what?"
"If he still wishes he was with her." A single tear escaped Alex' left eye. She wiped it away angrily. "He did say that she'd given him something he'd never had before." She had promised herself that she wouldn't shed anymore tears over this. She did enough crying in the shower that night, but somehow her emotions didn't get the memo. "I should be happy right? I mean, he's here now. I just don't know what that means."
Dean wished he could set her mind at ease, but there was nothing he could say that would make this better for her. The only thing that kept her going in the end was her desire to get back to Sam. Now she was faced with the fact that her hope may have been misplaced.
"So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I want to just look past it and try to move on. It's just…"she stopped and she struggled to find the words to express what she was feeling at that very moment. Dean waited patiently for her to continue. "He's here right? He isn't running back to her. I should be happy. He's here. He's alive, and we can work on rebuilding what we had. It's just… I just don't know that given the choice he would choose me anymore."
Dean, not knowing what else to do at that moment, opened his arms and pulled Alex into a tight embrace. He did all he could to give her some sort of physical comfort. This just wasn't really his area of expertise.
Alex welcomed the attempt at making her feel better. She knew that this wasn't really Dean's thing. Chick flick moments, as he called them, always made him a bit uncomfortable. That made the hug all the more meaningful to her.
"Thanks," she said as she pulled away. "I need that."
"No problem." The exchange brief smiles. "Now what do you say we go wipe those black-eye sons of bitches of the face of the Earth."
Alex nodded. They turned and walked into the church to find Sam and Kevin sitting in the candle lite sanctuary. As they entered the room, the whole building seemed to shake. An earthquake was their first thought until they saw the floor boards breaking in a rather particular manner, destroying the devil's traps keeping them safe.
"We got company," Dean said as he moved to the duffle full of weapons on the floor and pulled out the demon knife. "Sam." He handed the blade to his brother.
"Kevin," Sam said, "I want you to stay behind us alright?"
The prophet nodded. Sam turned to prepare to fight when he noticed his brother handing a rather odd looking weapon to his former girlfriend before pulling out another for himself.
"What the hell is that?"
"Purgatory," Alex deadpanned, her eyes trained on the door in front of her.
They held their breath in anticipation as they waited for the demons to arrive. Suddenly, the door flew open and two demons entered the room. Dean and Alex stepped forward and blocked their path towards Kevin while Sam stayed close to the prophet in case more came in through the back.
"Dean Winchester," one of the demons said as he took notice of the hunter. "Back from Purgatory."
"Spanky the demon. Yeah, I heard about you. You're the one who uses too much teeth, right?"
The demon smirked before turning his eyes towards Alex. "And if it isn't Alexandra Mayfair, the former queen of Hell. I know someone that is dying to talk to you."
"Sorry, don't really feel much like talking at the moment."
Alex summoned all her will and focused on creating a circle of light around the demons. Nothing happened. She blinked repeatedly and tried again. When nothing happened for the second time, her fear was confirmed. Her magic was gone.
The demons suddenly rushed them. Sam watched in awe as his brother and Alex worked in perfect unison to dispatch the demons. They didn't speak at all. They just knew what to do. It almost looked like a dance the two of them had been practicing for years. That thought caught Sam off guard and made him wonder. How long were they really down there?
Dean and Alex killed the demons in no time. The hunters were getting ready to grab Kevin and run when an all too familiar voice greeted them.
"Hello, boys and girl."
They slowly turned to find Crowley entering the room, Kevin's girlfriend Channing at his side.
"Dean, You're looking…well, let's just say Purgatory didn't do you any favors. Now you on the other hand," he said as he turned his attention to Alex, "you look better than ever." Alex clinched her jaw and tightened the grip on her weapon. "Moose. Still with the pork chops. I admire that."
Kevin was overjoyed to see his girlfriend again. All he wanted to do was grab her and go, but the others stopped him. The girl in front of him was not his Channing. She was possessed by a demon in Crowley's command. The king of Hell let the poor girl to the surface for a moment, but a moment was all he gave her. That moment made Kevin want to save her at any cost. He agreed to trade himself for the girl.
"Not gunna happen, Kevin," said Alex.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" He knew he was being a smartass by saying it, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. "I'll grab my stuff."
They watched him walk out of the room. The hunters wanted to grab him, throw him in the trunk, and take off, but they knew that wouldn't solve anything. Crowley would just hunt them down again and again until he finally got Kevin where he wanted him.
"It really is good to see you again, Alexandra."
"Go to Hell."
"Ah, already have. If memory serves, so have you."
Alex just glared at him. Sam could feel the hatred coming off of her in waves. He half expected to hear thunder in the distance, but instead his mind focused on the implication of Crowley's words. Alex was in Hell! I thought she was in Purgatory. Sam's mind began to spin as he worked to come up with some sort of explanation. He would have remembered her being there right? If she'd been in Hell, she would have been there with him. Surely he'd remember that. But there was nothing. All he could remember of Hell was the pain and fear that overwhelmed him for so long.
"Yeah," Alex said. "Didn't care for it much."
"Oh but that's just because you were on the wrong side of the fence. How's about you come back with me? Only this time you'll be sitting on the throne next to mine."
"I'll pass thanks."
Crowley just gave her a cocky smile before calling for Kevin to hurry up. As he moved forward, a cascade of holy water suddenly fell on him. He cried in anger as steam rose from his body.
"Sam, Dean, Alex, run!" they heard Kevin yell.
The hunters didn't need to be told twice as the turned and sprinted form the room. They burst through the doors and made a mad dash of the Impala. Kevin crawled through a window and met them halfway there. Piling into the car, Dean stepped on the gas and started getting them the hell out of there.
As they passed the church, Crowley emerged with Channing at his side. The world seemed to slow to a crawl for Kevin as he watched black smoke pour from her mouth. The girl obviously looked confused by her surroundings until Crowley snapped his fingers. Her neck snapped violently to the side before she fell to the ground, dead.
Alex had to grab hold of Kevin's shoulder to keep him in the car as he screamed his girlfriend's name.
"All right," Dean said as he pulled the impala to a stop at a small gas station, "anybody want anything?"
"I'm good," Sam said.
"Me too," said Alex.
When Kevin didn't respond, Dean turned to look at him. The young prophet was just staring ahead as if none of them were there. A look was shared between the three hunters as they tried to think of what to say, but nobody had the words.
"Kevin?" Sam cautiously asked. "How you holding up?"
"Awesome," Kevin said. "The king of Hell just snapped my girlfriend's neck. How about you?"
Ever since they left the church, Alex had been trying to figure out what to say to Kevin to make him feel better about Channing. She knew that there was nothing to be said. She just wanted to make him feel better. Watching Sam die all those years ago had been one of the most horrific things she ever experienced. Nothing has ever been able to get the image of his cold lifeless body out of her head, and now she knows Kevin would have to carry the same burden.
Of course Dean on the other hand had about as much subtlety as his favorite shotgun.
"All right, listen to me. I'm sorry about your girlfriend, okay? I am. But the sooner you get this, the better. You're in it now, whether you like it or not. That means you do what you got to do. I'm hitting the head."
I want to hit you in the head, Alex thought as she rolled her eyes at the elder Winchester. She turned her eyes to Sam and saw the look of pity on his face. "Sam," she said. "I'm actually really thirsty. Do you think you could get me a bottle of water or something?"
Sam got the hint right away. "Yeah sure. I'll be right back."
She waited until Sam was out of earshot before she spoke, looking straight ahead the whole time instead of at the prophet beside her. "I'm not going to try and make you feel better, Kevin. I know nothing can do that."
"Gee thanks," he said sarcastically.
"I know how it feels to watch someone you love die. After I watched Sam die, I didn't speak for weeks." This got Kevin's attention.
"You mean when you fell into the pit together right?"
"No," she said. "This was a few years before that."
Kevin turned to her. "Sam died?"
Alex shifted her eyes to his. "Yeah. Dean too. Actually," she chuckled slightly. "We all have at some point." Kevin looked shocked. "That's not important now. What is important is that, the life we live, it's not easy. The people that we love… they will always be in danger even when we try to keep them safe. That's the life. It's hard, but a lot of good comes out of it. If we don't stand up to the evil sons a bitches out there, who will? The question you have to ask yourself is if the risk is worth it. If it is, then cherish what you have when you have it because it could be gone tomorrow. Otherwise, it's probably best to just bite the proverbial bullet now and go with Crowley and his demons because aren't ever going to let you go."
Her words were harsh, but they made since to Kevin. It was clear now that there was no easy way out, and if what she said about all of them having died at some point was true, well, getting out might be a lot harder than he thought.
Kevin nodded. Everything that she was saying hit home. He hadn't seen Channing in a year, but Crowley had still used her to get to him. That is what made it so hard. He no longer had a real connection to her, but it didn't matter. He was starting to realize that he may very well spend the rest of his life alone. Then he thought about the stories Dean had told him about her and Sam. Maybe there was hope yet.
"Well at least you still have Sam, right?"
He knew it was a loaded question even before he asked it. There was something off about her and Sam's relationship. That much he knew from talking to Sam earlier. He just didn't know exactly what it was that was gnawing at them. They were supposed to be some sort of epic power couple. He just didn't see it at the moment.
"Yeah," Alex said. "I guess you could say that." When Kevin didn't say anything she continued. "Dean told you that we were in Purgatory right?" Kevin nodded. "Did he tell you how long?"
"No."
"Dean was there for about a hundred years. I was there for more than three." Kevin's eyes grew wide. "I went from sharing a Heaven with Sam, to following him into Hell, and ultimately ended up in a warzone by myself thinking he was looking for me. It was nothing but violence and bloodshed. Every day I fought tooth and nail to stay alive knowing that I'd have to do it again the next. In all that time, the only thing that ever really made me want to keep going was the thought that I would one day make it home to Sam. I just knew that he was looking for me with as much determination as I had fighting to get back to him. Well, I finally made it out. Problem was, he didn't look for me. In fact, he moved on to somebody else while I was gone. The only reason I know this is because I overheard him talking to Dean about it. Sam has no idea that I know. He just thinks I mad because he didn't look for me."
"Wow."
Alex chuckled. She didn't even realize that she had begun to cry until a tear landed on her denim clad leg. She wiped them away angrily before continuing.
"The point to me telling you all this is so that you'll understand just how uncertain everything in this life is. You can't take anything for granted. He was supposed to be my soulmate, but look at us now. I know you are going to blame yourself for what happened to Channing. Just don't let it destroy the memory of your time with her okay. That memory may be the only thing you get to have."
Kevin nodded. "Okay."
"And if you breathe a word of this to Sam I will beat the living shit out of you. Understand?"
They both chuckled. She was serious and Kevin knew that, but in the same token, Alex knew that she would eventually have to tell Sam herself. She just didn't know if she would ever be ready.
Thanks for reading. So I want to hear what you think. Leave a review and tell me how the first meeting between Sam and Alex went, and how Alex should handle everything moving forward. When should she tell him she knows? Reviews are love. They keep me motivated.