3: Coffee

At nine a.m. the next morning, Sam leaned against the passenger door of the Impala waiting for Dean. He had slept well and was feeling better than he had in weeks. Dean seemed to simply appear on the curb while he was watching the cloudless Florida sky.

"Where are we even going?" Sam asked.

"Back to that apartment building, I want to get another look around before that kid gets there."

Sam sighed and leaned his forearms on the hood of the car.

"What?" Dean asked flatly.

"Nothing."

"Look, I get it," Dean said "you want to believe her. But come on, man."

"But what if, Dean? What if she really has figured out something that we haven't?"

Dean wasn't able to get a word out before a high voice spoke behind them saying "Good morning. Walk with me."

They followed Meli across the street into the Town Center. She led them up the short Main Street to a Starbucks on the far corner by the clock tower. She directed them to a table on the sidewalk and went inside with the intention of getting something to wake her up. The November morning was crisp and mild, a blissful change from the already harsh weather of the Midwest. The brothers were able to shed their jackets and sit comfortably in the sun, both trying hard to ignore how out of place they felt in this seemingly picture-perfect town square. There was a wine store and a stuffy-looking boutique on one side of the street and I jewelers and lounge bar on the other.

"This place must seem damn near posh compared to the places you normally stay, huh?" Meli appeared beside them and began to wordlessly distribute food items and beverages.

"You didn't have to," Sam insisted "really."

"Don't worry about it." Meli gave him a warm smile .

"What do you mean where we normally stay?"

"I know who you two are— Sam and Dean Winchester."

This grabbed their attention. They said nothing, but Meli seemed to be able to read their expressions.

"Like I said, a few hunters have been through here since I started doing this, I heard rumors."

Again, they said nothing; Sam's eyes flickered to Dean and back again.

"I got a little curious, so I looked you up. Found some interesting stuff."

"I can only imagine." Dean muttered.

"Trust me," Meli said with a sarcastic edge "no you can't. Then there's those books."

Sam resisted the urge to groan, but Dean couldn't hold it back. Those damned books.

"I haven't read many of them, but your reputation precedes you."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw Dean peek into the paper bag Meli had placed in front of him and subtly lick his lips. Whatever was inside had obviously grabbed his interest, probably by its smell, but it seemed some principle within the older Winchester was arguing that he shouldn't eat it. Sam did notice with a laugh that his brother begrudgingly sipped at his coffee nonetheless.

"So where did we leave off?" Meli asked, pulling a chunk off her scone and nibbling at it.

"I wanted to ask you about why you were at the apartments last night." Sam answered.

"I caught wind of something there from a guy I did a job for last month and I went to check it out. From what I gather, the previous owners sold it back to the city about six months back, but I don't think it had anything to do with the haunting. Actually, I'm pretty sure the sale is what brought that ghost around, like, he's been there for a while but the change in the environment woke him up. But I can't be sure."

"You seem like you know your stuff." Dean said, giving in and taking a bite out of the cherry filled pastry.

"I've always been into the paranormal," Meli confessed "which is probably a good thing. I've been trying to draw this ghost out for almost two weeks; he's shy and not completely aware of what's going on. I was going to take my time last night, but that didn't work out. I tried to rush it," she gave a bitter laugh "you saw how well that went. I couldn't hold him. What about you? Weston isn't exactly on the way to anywhere, so what brings the famous Winchesters all the way down here?"

Sam gave it a moment of thought. "You, I guess."

"I'm flattered."

"We were in Jacksonville helping out a friend of a friend when we heard about a weird string of unsolved hauntings that people said were just 'going away.'" Dean said, complete with air quotes. "We figured, we've never heard of anything like that, so why not check it out."

"Well, they are just 'going away,'" Meli mimicked the air quotes "they've been moving on."

"And it's been you the whole time?" Sam asked.

"Like I said, for about a year."

"You can't get anything out of the ghost, have you checked town records or anything?" Dean asked, tearing off another mouthful of pastry, Sam was relieved to hear him being pleasant.

"I've looked through some of the stuff I can get my hands on, but most city records are off limits, you can't exactly find them at the library. Not that I haven't tried. What I do know is that there is no public record of any deaths occurring on that property, and the city is only eighteen years old as it is, so there wasn't a whole lot to go through. I tried to check for anything in the surrounding area, but it's not easy for me to make trips out of town very often."

"Can't your parents take you?" Sam asked, head tilting slightly.

Meli made a nervous sound that could have been meant as a laugh. "I'm kind of on my own right now, so I work with what I have."

"Wait, you mean you don't have parents?" Dean asked. Sam recognized a familiar tone in his voice.

"Everyone has parents, Dean," Meli answered shortly "that's how babies are made."

"Don't be cute. You can't be older than, what, seventeen?"

"Eighteen, actually."

"So where the hell's your family?"

"Somewhere near Tallahassee, I suspect." She said this as though it meant almost nothing to her. "My brother goes to FSU."

"Then how come you're down here?" Sam asked, concern rising in his chest. It was always unsettling to meet someone who was still so young completely on their own.

"I grew up here. Ben got into school and they made plans to move away to be closer to him at college. I decided to stay here."

"Bull." Dean stated.

Meli seemed wholly uninterested in his disbelief of her explanation and waved it off with a flip of her hand.

"You're lucky you're eighteen—" Dean began.

"Or what," Meli laughed "you'd call the cops, see me thrown into the system? Yeah, that really seems like the smart thing to do. The lady who owns the hotel owes me a favor, so she lets me stay there. I do odd jobs for her, and sometimes I charge for my services. Not the most upstanding thing to do, but a girl has to make a living, right?"

"As long as you're not in trouble, it's not our business." Sam amended politely. "But we may be able to help you get a look at those records."

"How?" Meli asked skeptically "You're not any sort of officials."

Dean gave her a confident grin. "That's never been a problem."