Meeting Cassie

It all started in Girardeau, Missouri late one night several weeks ago. A single car was driving down the stretch of highway, the weather playing on the radio. A black man was driving the car. He glanced down confused when his radio station suddenly crackled and the whole thing turned off. The man glanced back to his rear view mirror only to see a large black trunk approaching his car out of nowhere and going fast. "What the..." He muttered. The truck suddenly slammed into the car of his car, making it shake. The man panicked as the truck did it again, nearly throwing him off the road. He jumped as his radio suddenly flickered back to life, the weather gone and now politics playing. The man couldn't see the truck anymore but then there was suddenly headlights flashing in front of him, the truck had someone ended up in front of him and stopped on his side of the road. The man slammed on his breaks and tried backing up. The truck followed, slamming into his car. The man screamed, swerving across the icy roads. He could do nothing as he was flung off the road, flipping several times with no one around. The mysterious truck pulled away and disappeared into the night.

Miles away, I was sitting on the hood of the car at the gas station eating a sucker. Sam was standing beside me but I had my legs curled in and he had a road map of the stage spread out. Dean was heading back over after talking on the phone for several minutes. "Have you found anything yet, Sammy." I asked, leaning against the windshield.

"Yeah, I think we just need to bypass that construction just east of here." Sam traced his finger over one of the tiny map roads. "We might even make Pennsylvania faster than we thought."

"Bout time, it seems to be an endless road to get there." I complained, sitting up.

"There's just one problem." Dean said, hanging up the phone. "We're not going to Pennsylvania."

Both Sam and I looked at him startled, we'd been planning to go to Pennsylvania for days. "Wait, what?" Sam demanded.

"When was this decided?" I asked, jumping off the hood.

"I just got a call from an, uh, old friend." Dean stuttered for a bit making me narrow my eyes. "Her father was killed last night, think it might be our kind of thing." Sam and I looked at each other confused. Dean scratched the back of his hair. "Yeah, believe me, she never woulda called, never, if she didn't need us." Dean walked passed us, climbing into the car. "Are you two getting in or not?"

Sam and looked at each other again. "Let's go see this friend of his." I sighed, tucking hands behind my back before ditching the finished sucker stick now that I was done with it.

It was several minutes of silent cruising down the road. I was leaning against the window watching a field go by. "By old friend you mean," Sam trailed off.

"A friend that's not new." Dean shrugged, not looking away from the road. Yeah, so cute he thought he was going to get away with just saying that.

"Nice try, so her name is Cassie?" I looked at Dean's phone in my hand and the most recent number called.

Dean seemed to realize he didn't have his phone in her pocket. "Little thief, give me back my phone!" Dean snapped. I smirked, dropping it over the seat between the brothers. I had picked his pocket when he passed after mentioning we weren't going to Pennsylvania after all.

"So Cassie, huh?" Sam smirked. "You never mentioned her." At least I wasn't the only one who had no idea who this Cassie chick was.

"Didn't I?" Dean asked innocently. He knew perfectly well that he'd never even mentioned her before. Both Sam and I stared at him for several seconds before he finally broke. "Yeah, we went out."

"Dean-o actually had a girlfriend!" I said started. I thought he only had one night stands.

"As in, for more than one night." Sam laughed. He'd apparently thought the same as I.

"Am I speaking a language no one can understand?" Dean demanded, getting annoyed. "Dad and I were working a job in Ohio, she was finishing up collage." Oooh, Dean went out with a collage girl. "We went out for a couple weeks." I almost choked, he actually went out with someone for weeks, I was dumbstruck.

"And..." Sam prompted. Dean shrugged a little.

"So we're going all the way to Missouri where there's no proof this is our thing." I guessed.

"It's terrible about her dad but it looks like a standard car accident." Sam insisted. "I'm not seeing how it fits with what we do." That makes two of us. "Which by the way, how does she know what we do?"

Dean shifted a little, not looking at us. "Wait, did you tell her!" I demanded shocked. "You told her the big family secret?!" What the hell was he thinking?

"Our big family rule number one." Sam demanded pissed. "We do what we do and we shut up about it." Dean practically enforced that rule over all others and yet, he told it to a girl who he dated for a few weeks. "For a year and a half I do nothing but lie to Jessica," Sam didn't even tell Jess and he was dating her for over a year. "And you go out with this chick a couple times and you tell her everything!" I didn't tell my friend Brooklyn and we lived together since I was seventeen.

"Dean!" Both Sam and I shouted when he said nothing.

"Yeah, looks like." Dean muttered just to get us to shut up. He sped up the speed. Sam gave a normal bitch face. I sighed and leaned back in my spot against the window.

At the local newspaper office, a black man was arguing. "It's a newspaper we put out, not a bulletin for the mayor's office."

A white man was scowling at him. "Get off your soapbox Jimmy, I'm urging a little discretion is all."

A young woman fought back pissed. "No, I think you're telling us what you want us to print and what you want us to sit on."

The mayor said, "I know your upset Cassie, I liked your dad a lot. But I think your grief is clouding your judgement."

"Two black people were killed on the same stretch of road in the same way in two weeks." The guy named Jimmy said.

That was when Sam, Dean, and I walked in on they're conversation. "Jimmy, you're too close to this." The Mayor was saying. "Those guys are friends of yours." I'm guessing the victims. "Again, Cassie, I'm very sorry for your loss." He said before leaving.

Then Cassie noticed them, quickly coming over. So this was Cassie. An African American woman with short curly brown hair. "Dean." She grinned.

"Hey Cassie." Dean grinned.

It was weird. "I feel like I'm dreaming or something." I muttered to Sam who was grinning. He was pleased to see Dean with a girl he wasn't trying to pull to bed.

Apparently they heard me. Dean quickly straightened up embarrassed. "This is my sister Chris, and our brother Sam." Cassie smiled at us but more out of politeness than anything else. Her eyes flickered back to Dean seconds later. "Sorry about your dad." Dean quickly apologized.

Cassie slowly nodded, "Yeah, me to." And then they were staring at each other again. Then they did that weird staring thing again. Weirdest day like...ever.

Cassie led us back to her house where she served us tea. "Thank you." I muttered as she passed me one.

"Yeah, no problem." Cassie said, passing one to Sam. "My mother is in pretty bad shape." She explained. "I've been staying with her." She passed the final cup to Dean. "I wish she wouldn't go off by herself." Well at least she still had her mother around. "She's been so nervous and frightened." Who wouldn't be when the supernatural was involved, if this was even our kind of case. "She was worried about dad."

"Why?" Dean asked. I quietly sipped my tea but listening closely.

"He was scared." Cassie slowly poured herself a cup of tea. "He was seeing thing."

"Seeing things...like what?" I lowered my cup from my mouth.

"He swore he was seeing an awful looking black truck following him." Cassie explained.

"A truck." Sam latched onto that. "Who was the driver?"

"He didn't talk about a driver." Cassie said shaking her head. "Just the truck." Like there wasn't thousands of black trucks in this state alone. "He said it would appear and disappear." I straightened up, that sounded more like our kind of thing. "And in the accident, dad's car was dented." He was in a crash, of course it was dented. "Like it had been slammed into by something big."

"Now you're sure this dent wasn't there before?" Sam asked.

"Maybe you might just had never noticed it before." I suggested. Dean quickly set his tea down on the table.

"He sold cars." Cassie said like it would explain why he wouldn't have a dent in car. "Always drove a new one." Ah, the people who had money to buy a new car every time one came out. "There wasn't a scratch on that thing." So she paid attention enough to notice that. "It had rained hard that night." Not surprising in this part of the state. "There was mud everywhere." Which of course, would happen after a rain storm. "There was a distinct set of muddy tracks leading from dad's car, leading right to the edge where he went over." Cassie bowed her head like she was about to burst out crying and trying to keep it contained. "One set of tracks, his."

Dean finally spoke for the first time since they arrived. "The first was a friend of your fathers?"

She jerkily nodded. "Best friend." Cassie corrected. "Clayton Soames." I committed that name to memory. "They owned the car dealership together. Same thing. Dent. No tracks. And the cops said exactly what they said about dad." More often than not, the cops didn't know what the heck they were talking about. "He lost control of his car."

"Well cops aren't exactly in our line of work." I said, sipping at my tea. I should know, I've been trying to avoid the cops long belong I joined the family business.

"Can you think of any reason why your father and his partner might be targets?" Dean asked. Well at least we knew there was a connection between the victims. It was so much harder when they didn't have any noticeable connections. Cassie slowly shook her head.

"And you think this vanishing truck ran them off the road?" Sam guessed.

Cassie ignored the question. "When you say it like that..." Shit, we were going to stay in this white picket rich house longer. It made me antsy since most my life was spent in run down places. "Listen, I'm a little skeptical about this ghost hunting..." I scoffed, she was the one that called us, not the other way around. "Or whatever it is you guys are into." She made it sound like a weekend hobby instead of a life style choice.

"Right, because we do this for fun." I muttered huffing.

"Skeptical." Dean seemed to get pissed. "If I remember, I think you said I was nuts." Which was exactly why we didn't tell civilians about our job.

"That was then." Cassie said like it made it all better. "I can't explain what happened up there." So it wasn't so nuts now that she needed us. "So I called you." That was when the door open and an older woman walked in. I rose to my feet along with Sam and Dean. "Mom." Cassie quickly took her mother's arm to help her walk across the room. "Where have you been, I was so,"

Mrs. Robinson looked worried. "I had no idea you'd invited friends over."

"Mom, this is Dean, a...friend of mine from...collage." Cassie said awkwardly. And then she quickly moved on to us. "And his brother Sam and sister Chris."

"Nice to meet you...Mrs. Robinson." I said awkwardly.

She didn't seem to hear me. "Well I won't interrupt you." Mrs. Robinson tried to leave.

"Mrs. Robinson, we're sorry for your loss." Dean interrupted before she could leave. "We'd like to talk to you for a minute if you don't mind?"

Mrs. Robinson looked startled and then annoyed. "I'm really not up for that right now." She left with a scowl.

Late that night, there was a pick up truck rolling into town. "Welcome to Girardeau, Missouri." Derek muttered, seeking out the closest motel so he could finally get some rest for the night. He didn't feel like sleeping in his truck like he did last night.

He passed an open field, searching under the seats for his phone. He never noticed the upside down car. Or the black man slumped over the steering wheel with lifeless eyes. Or the black truck that disappeared into the night.

The next morning, "Jimmy meant something to this town." The mayor was explaining to Cassie. "He was one of our bet. We won't be the same without him."

"Our best seems to be dropping like flies." Cassie argued. "Clayton, my father, Jimmy."

"What is it exactly you want me to do?" The mayor demanded. He had grown quickly annoyed over Cassie the last few days.

"How about closing this section of road for starters?" Cassie said firmly with a prissy expression.

"Close the main road?" The mayors scoffed like it was the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard. "The only road in and out of town? Accidents do happen Cassie and that's what they are. Accidents."

They hadn't noticed we had walked up. "Damn, a third victim in what, the last week?" I asked, looking as police scurried over the crime scene.

"Did the cops check for additional singing on Jimmy's car, see if it was pushed?" Dean asked.

The mayor ignored them in favor of looking at Cassie. "Who's this?" As if we couldn't speak for ourselves.

"Dean, Sam, and Chris Winchester, family friends." Cassie introduced us as. Not like you could really call me or Sam that. Or Dean considering they split after he told her the truth. "This is Mayor Harold Todd."

Still talking to Cassie, the mayor explained, "There's one set of tire tracks. One doesn't point to foul play."

"Well something is happening." I interrupted. "How often does multiple wrecks happen on the same road so close together." The mayor huffed, refusing to do anything about what was happening.

"Would you close the road if the victims were white?" Cassie accused, turning this into a race argument. Race was one of the bigger arguments of the world, coming just after religion and politics

The mayor made himself as tall as he could which wasn't much taller than he already was. "You're saying I'm racist Cassie? I'm the last person you should talk to like that."

"And why is that." Cassie demanded.

"Good questions." I muttered from standing between Sam and Dean.

"Why don't you ask your mother." And then the mayor walked away.

Back in the motel room, I was pulling my hair into a loose bun. I wore a crisp grey jacket, a white button up shirt, pencil skirt, and little heels. Sam was wearing something identical, only with pants, a tie, and actually walkable shoes.

Sam was pulling on his jacket while I fixed my bangs to hang over half in one eye. "I'll say this for her, she's fearless."

"Was she always like that?" I asked, standing up a little taller in my heels. Dean was fixing his tie in the mirror.

Sam started to grin, "Bet she kicked your ass a couple times." Dean didn't stop what he was doing. Just glared at Sam in the mirror. "What's interesting is you guys never really look at each other at the same time. You look at her when she's not looking, she checks you out when you look away."

"You noticed that too!" I smirked. I was pleased that I wasn't the only one observing they're little relationship.

Sam nodded grinning wide. "It's just an interesting observation."

I shook my head with a little grin. "You boys work this out. I'm grabbing us snacks from the vending machine." I went outside and walked down the concrete. The vending machine was just around the corner. I bought a few bags of chips and a candy bar or two before buying three drinks. I was holding them carefully as to not crush or drop them. I turned around to head back to the room or the car, wherever the boys were now. I didn't get to when I ran smack into someone. I managed to hold onto my purchases except for one drink that fell and rolled to his feet. "Sorry." I said getting impatient as he bent down, retrieving my drink. Then I caught sight of his face as he stood. "Derek?!" I said startled. Honestly, I never expected to see him again after the first day we met. Meeting twice was coincidence. Now third here of all places, it was starting to get weird.

Derek looked up started at suddenly hearing his name from this virtual stranger. Only then did he recognize her, not used to seeing her in a suit since the last two times she'd been in biker boots and jeans. "Chris? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." I said grinning. Something about this boy had me smiling already. Derek had been thinking about Chris since they're second meeting a few weeks back. She'd crossed his mind at least once every couple days. He had a feeling it was going to happen more now that he kept seeing her.

"I asked you first." Derek shot back.

I shrugged a little sheepish. "My work takes me all over with my two partners. I was just getting us a few snacks for the road." I explained.

"Ah, I can see that." He said, looking at her armful. "Do you need a hand with that or..."

"No, no, I'm fine." I said quickly enough. I didn't like appearing like I couldn't do anything for myself. I awkwardly took my drink from him, juggling and adjusting a little as to not drop everything. Derek looked like he was about to argue. "Sorry, but I really should be going before my partners send a search party." Like they would ever. They'd be to busy searching for me themselves.

"Hold on." Derek stopped me before I could take more than a few steps. "It's just," he scratched the back of his head embarrassed. He'd never been real to good with girls. At least she wasn't in the middle of a gang of giggling girls like all the girls in his high school seemed to be. "We've met three times already. Maybe I could...take you out. Go for coffee sometimes before you leave town." Derek could leave whenever but he didn't know about Chris or how pressing her job was. She might have to leave as soon as it was over or she could relax for a few days.

I raised an eyebrow, remembering my mess of a life. "Trust me, I'm not the girl you wanna go out with."

"No offense," Derek said, hands in his pockets with the thumb hanging out. "But can't I be the judge of that."

I raised an eyebrow and relented. "Alright, meet me tonight at that first diner coming into town." And then I walked away. I grinned a little, hearing Derek wait until I was around the corner before cheering.

"Where have you been?" Dean asked, him and Sam waiting at the impala for me.

That cut out my smile. "Never you mind." I snapped. "I just got your asses some food." I dumped the bags through the open window before climbing in. Sam and Dean looked at each other confused.

"Time of the month." Dean mouthed to Sam who nodded in agreement.

We made it to the docks in record time. Our cover this time was being the insurance company. After asking some fisherman about who we were looking for, our search led us to two men having lunch on the pier. "Excuse me, are you Ron Stubbins?" Sam started us off. Ron silently nodded.

"You were friends with Jimmy Anderson?" Dean clarified.

This time, Ron demanded, "Who are you?"

"We're just Mr. Anderson's insurance company." I lied with a pleasant smile. "Just tying up all our loose ends."

"We were just wondering, had the deceased mentioned any unusual recent experiences?" Sam asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

But Roy just looked confused. "What do you mean, unusual?"

"Well visions, hallucinations." Sam said cautiously. Most people would blow up, get nervous, or declare us as nutso's on sight.

"It's part of a medical examination kind of thing." Dean lied.

"All standard procedure, we ask these things of everyone during our job." I said was an easygoing smile.

"What company did you say you were with?" Ron asked all suspicious like now. Not a good sign, we needed to get back on track and to him answering our questions.

"All National Mutual." Dean lied. It was at least a real company, but at least none that had heard of any of us. In the same breath, he asked, "Tell me, did he ever mention seeing a truck?"

"It would back been black, probably pretty big." I said.

"What the hell you talking about?" Ron demanded, looking at us as if we were lunatics. "You even speaking English?"

Then the man Ron was eating lunch with spoke up. "This truck, a big scary monster looking thing?"

Maybe we should be asking these questions to him and not Ron. "Yeah actually, I think so." Dean agreed, fishing for any information.

The man slowly nodded. "I had heard of a truck like that."

"Really?" I asked hopeful but a side of skepticism in my voice.

"Where?" Sam asked quickly.

"Not where," the man corrected with a shake of his head. "When. Back in the sixties there were a string of deaths. Black men. Story goes they disappeared in a big, nasty, black truck."

"They ever catch the guy who did it?" Dean asked.

"Never found him." The man explained. "See, there was a time when this town wasn't to friendly to all its citizens."

I shared a look with Dean and Sam. "Well thank you for your time." I said.

The three of us made our way over to the impala. As we were walking, we talked more about the case. "A truck." Dean said.

"Keeps coming back up, doesn't it?" Sam sighed.

"Which means there's a black truck out there somewhere running black people off the road for whichever reason." I tugged on my hair.

Dean stopped us before we could reach the car. "You know, I was thinking." That was never good, I joked privately in my head. "You heard of the Flying Dutchman?" Who hadn't was the better question.

"A ghost ship infused with the Captain's evil spirit." Sam recited.

"So close to the ship that you'd think it was a part of him." I said.

Dean nodded in agreement, "So what if we're dealing with the same thing?" But instead of a ship, it's a- "You know, a phantom truck, an extension of some bastard's ghost re-enacting past crimes."

"The victims have all been black men." Sam noted.

"Great," I sighed. "So what we have is a pissed off racist ghost."

"I think it's more than that." Dean suggested. "They all seem connected to Cassie and her family."

"Alright." Sam nodded. "Well you work that angle, go talk to her."

I noticed the sun was starting to go down. "You two talk, I'm going to get coffee."

The brothers looked at her confused. "Coffee? You just ate." Dean said.

"Well I haven't had my daily coffee." I called over my shoulder, walking off. The coffee shop was just a few streets over so it wasn't to far to walk in my heels. I entered before ordering myself a coffee with lots of sugar and milk. What could I say, I was a sweet-aholic. I found Derek sitting in one of the coffee booths with a coffee in front of him while stacking the pepper and salt shakers. "Hey, am I late?"

I startled him into knocking over the shakers. "No, of course not. We never agreed on a time." Derek was pleased she'd actually shown up. He went on his first date freshman year only for the girl to not show up to begin with where they decided to me. So he'd been a little iffy about meeting girls places ever since.

We decided to grab our coffee's and go for a walk around the block. "So I've been meaning to ask." Derek started. "Why'd I have to leave town last time we met?" She'd told him to leave as fast as he could and not to look back before running off herself.

I tensed, "Oh uh, let's just say that there was some very bad people in that town."

Derek raised a curious eyebrow, taking a sip of his coffee. "And how would you know that? Weren't you knew in that town too?"

I tucked a piece of hair behind my head. "I have a...very complicated life. The things I saw in that town wasn't the biggest or the worst I've come across. It's all part of the job."

"And is your job usually so dangerous?"

I thought back to what I've been through just the last six months alone. The wendigo, the faith healer, the scarecrow, Bloody Mary. "Yeah, it can get...kind of hectic."

"So are you doing anything dangerous now? I mean, you're working around here right now, right."

"Yeah." I nodded. "Me and my partners are still working on everything. We're only in this town because one of my partners got a call from an old friend of his about our work. She thinks something that...involves our work is here, so we're here just to help her out." Derek was confused about what this work was but shrugged it off. "Besides, she pisses me off. Broke my brother's heart when they were dating a few years back."

As we were having our litter date, the mayor was looking at plans for the building he was paying to be worked on. He folded up his papers and walked to his car. He never made it because a black truck pulled up behind him. The mayor freaked, forgetting his car and took off running down the street. That just gave the truck an easier way to run him over, before leaving him for dead.

During this, Dean was busy...getting busy, with Cassie.

At the motel, "Well I actually had fun." I grinned. They'd walked around the block a few times until they're coffee supply ran out. Talked a little more about Derek finding a brief job unloading packages for this recent widow in town.

"I'm glad." Derek said pleased, looking proud of himself as they arrived at her door around the corner from his. He hadn't actually thought on it. He just walked with her until they reached her temporarily place, having wanted to make sure she got home alright. Derek didn't realize just how different she was from most women. How she was a fighter, the Winchester gene in her making her be so. "So," He shifted a little on his feet, doing that thing where he tried to seem like he was cooler than he was. "This is the third time we've met in different places all over the country. Does that mean I get your number."

My lips twitched into a grin and I patted his chest. "Tell you what, we seem to be meeting all over the place. If we meet again, I'll give you my number."

"Really?" Derek straightened up. He hadn't thought it'd be that easy. I nodded and Derek grinned. "Oh yeah, we'll definitely meet again!" He started walking backwards to him room. But of course, his cool exit was ruined when he backed into a little old lady, his arms flaring as her groceries went flying, causing him to trip over a soup can and land on his back. I smothered a laugh as he stuttered apologies, awkwardly piling the items into his arms.

Walking into the motel room, my good mood evaporated when I saw Sam's worried expression and hanging up the phone. "I was just about to call you. We've got to go." I didn't bother asking. I took two minutes to dress in my normal clothes before we were out the door.

Dean met us at the crime scene, his clothes all wrinkled. "Where have you been?" Sam smirked, seeing all the signs of a 'fun night out'.

"Looks like someone's been busy." I wrinkled my noise. Brother and sex, still two words I didn't want to think about at the same time.

"I'm guessing you guys worked things out." Sam said. It didn't take s genius Dean had spent that last couple hours or so with Cassie.

"We'll be working things out when we're ninety." Dean scowled. "So what happened?"

"Every bone crushed." Sam walked him through what we'd just found out. "Internal organ's turned to pudding." Which personal made me sick but that was just me. "The cops are all stumped, it's like something ran him over."

"More like a heavy black truck." I stated and Sam nodded.

"Tracks?" Dean asked.

"Nope." Both Sam and I said.

"What was the mayor doing here anyway?" Dean asked.

So Sam explained, "He owned the property."

"Which he just bought a few weeks ago." I reminded Sam.

"But he's white." Dean said as equally as confused as they all were. "He doesn't fit the pattern."

"We've noticed. And there's something else."

Sam took up finishing they're explaining. "Killings didn't happen up on the road. That doesn't fit either."