They succeeded to escape the real Homeland Security agents, and went back to the motel. They all entered the boys room where Alina lay down on Dean's bed, exhausted by the last events, and the brothers staring at her from afar.

She'd known from the moment she recognized the sulfur in the warehouse, that she would have to tell them everything. And although she hated that, she hated even more breaking a promise. So she started where it seemed easier to start. "The powder on the handle was sulfur." She informed them, still on the bed with her eyes closed. "It's one of the many signs of demonic possession. Another one being the black eyes our witness saw."

"Demonic possession?" Sam repeated as he thought about the clues they'd gathered.

"That would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to open up an emergency hatch."

"If the guy was possessed, it's possible."

Alina listened to the boys discussion, savoring this short moment when they were to busy putting together every pieces of the puzzle to interrogate her.

"This goes way beyond floating over a bed or barfing pea soup. I mean it's one thing to possess a person, but to use them to take down an entire airplane?"

"You ever heard of something like this before?"

"Never."

"I have." Alina announced in a calm voice, bringing the attention back to her. "Certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One causes earthquakes, another causes disease…these nut-jobs claim they're helping natural selection, but really, they just wanna cause as much destruction and sorrow as they can."

The young woman found it easier to keep her eyes closed while saying those things. She didn't have to face her friends, she didn't have to see whatever look was on their faces at the moment. "How do you know all that Alina?"

Sam's question forced her to open her eyes. He sounded concerned, and looked confused. Of course, she'd been in contact with him almost every week for five years, yet she'd never told him about demons. And now was the time. "Well, it started when I found out three years ago that my dad was an expert at hunting demons. He knew everything about them, had exorcised many of them, and after he died there was no one left to do what he could do best. So I studied the subject, and sent some demons back home. That's how I met Chris." Alina felt like her throat was being stabbed by millions of tiny needles at the same time. It was so painful to even mention his name, but she couldn't stop now. Especially because Dean didn't have all the informations Sam already had. "He was a hunter too, and he helped me a lot in my researches. For a few weeks it was just him and I hunting demons, until on day his sister decided to pay him a visit. That's how I met Charlie."

Dean was doing his best to not interrupt her, but he had so many questions. About Charlie, about the demons…

He just had to be patient, and that was hard for him.

"You know the next part. We fell in love, moved in together right next to Chris because we thought it would be fun to mess with him…I even got her a job at the same bar I was working at. And of course, it wasn't just demons, we also did a lot of basic hunting like Spirits, Skinwalkers, Wendigos…but for six months, we were like the perfect inseparable team. The thing is, when you keep sending those sons of bitches back to hell, you quickly become a walking target for their brothers and sisters that are still on Earth. And…"

The young woman sighed and looked away for a moment, trying to stop her tears from falling in front of the brothers. She had to bite her tongue really hard, so she could focus on the physical pain, and not the emotional one. Explaining the story from beginning to end, was like reliving the entire nightmare a second time.

She cleared her throat, embarrassed by the many signs of weakness she was showing right now, and resumed. "You know, we all got a anti-possession tattoo on our lower back."

The brothers were both surprised to learn that she had a tattoo this whole time, giving away a big clue on her past, and that none of them had noticed it. But she hated it so much that she would alway wear high-waisted pants and jackets to hide it.

Alina was starting to feel nauseous as she was getting to the hardest part of the story. She was disgusted by what had happened to her friend. She was disgusted by herself. "They were actually useless. When an angry demon found Chris, he burned his skin to erase it and possessed him anyway. Then he found me and…well he wasn't interested in my body. He just wanted to make me suffer, and that's what he did after he locked me down for days in the dirty basement of my family's old country house."

She abruptly noticed how much her hands were now shaking, and that her cheeks had became wet. She couldn't stay strong, but she had to finish no matter what. Because she was sure she wouldn't be able to do it later. The brothers were watching her trembling body on the bed, and had to stay away. In a moment like that, they knew Alina needed some space, even though they just wanted to hug her and reassure her. They wanted to tell her that no matter what could happen, they would always be there to protect her and keep her away from this kind of suffering. But they couldn't and it was killing them to leave her crying like that.

The young woman quickly wiped her cheeks with her hands, and once again cleared her throat. She decided to finish the rest of the story without taking any break this time. "So after a few days, Charlie found us. The demon was trying to kill her for interrupting his plans, but as they were fighting, she managed to take off the tape on my mouth. I started the exorcism immediately, and was still in the middle of it when the demon grabbed a knife, and cut his own throat… Charlie begged me not to finish the exorcism, because as long as the demon was still in Chris' body he couldn't die. But…but I knew it was too late to save him, and he'd already made us swear that if he ended up being possessed…we had to set him free no matter what. So I…I said the last words. And I'll never forget Charlie's scream when she saw him fall to the ground…covered in blood. He couldn't talk and…he…we watched him die…I watched him die…he was my friend and…I just…I had to…"

Alina couldn't control her heavy sobs anymore, and the moment she saw Dean and Sam trying to get closer to her, she jumped off the bed, walked away from them, and went to lock herself in her own room. She let herself fall along the door all the way to the ground, wrapping her arms around her legs to pull them closer to her chest, and let all the tears fall. The memories of that day were engraved in her mind, and she could never do anything against it.

LATER

Alina was lying on her bed when she heard a few knocks on her door. How long had she stayed in that room? Minutes? More like hours. She couldn't see the sunlight under the curtains anymore. She'd stopped crying, but she was too tired to do anything else than looking at the walls. She couldn't even sleep, because every time she tried to close her eyes, the blood and the screams would come and trigger more tears to fall. After her friend died, her mom had been there for her. Every night she'd wake up from a terrifying nightmare, her mom would come running in her room, holding her crying daughter in her arms until she'd eventually fall asleep again. But she wasn't here this time.

After three more knocks, the young hunter quickly recognized the sound of the door lock being picked. She sighed, left her bed, and opened the door to find Sam crouching in front of her, and Dean behind him, making sure no one was coming until the girl's appearance made him jump. He quickly hit his brother's back to make him get back up, and they both stared at her silently, trying to find a way to start the conversation. "Hey Frenchy…We brought dinner."

He lifted the small bag he was holding, and smiled at her in the most unnatural way. He was so clumsy that it actually made the girl smile too. She didn't want to cry in front of them ever again, so she closed the door. The boys stood in the empty hallway, disappointed by their unsuccessful attempt to comfort her.

"What now?" Dean asked his brother.

"That was your idea. I told you she wouldn't be hungry."

"Really? You're the one who wanted to pick the freaking lock, college boy!"

"Okay so think about something else! I'm not letting her sleep alone tonight!"

"Yeah me neither! So what?! We break down the door?!

The moment he finished his sentence, the door opened again, and Alina was now standing in front of them with her bag and a pillow. "I am hungry. And you guys are too broke to even consider breaking that door. Let's go."

She simply walked pass them, and stopped in front of their room, waiting for them to open it. The brothers didn't even think much longer, and ran to the door still confused about their successful mission.

The three of them ate silently in front of the small TV, and it didn't take too long for them to get in bed after that. Sam in his own bed, Alina and Dean in the other one. Surprisingly, the two insomniacs were the first to fall asleep, since Dean was too worried to even think about it. Lying on his side, he was looking at the back of the sleeping girl next to him, fearing to see her suddenly wake up from a vision of her dead friend. She'd gone through so much, and yet she was still fighting and smiling like nothing else mattered. She was strong, brave, and incredibly annoying. He just wanted her to be safe, he wouldn't even care if she decided to stop hunting.

After a few minutes of simply watching her, he finally noticed that her shirt had slightly lifted up, revealing a small piece of the black drawing on her lower back. At first he hesitated, not wanting to wake her up from a sudden move, but slowly, he started to discreetly brush his fingers against the fabric, and was about to see the whole tattoo when a hand suddenly grabbed his.

Alina was still lying on her side, and it would've been impossible for Dean to know that she was awake, if she hadn't startled him like that. She was still holding his hand when she rolled on her back to face him, her eyes wide opened. "We only kissed once Winchester. You should at least buy me flowers before trying to undress me."

Dean grinned at her joke, relieved that she wasn't mad at him for trying to take a look at her tattoo. "Gypsophilas, right?"

She frowned for a second or two, then chuckled at his words. "How could you remember that?"

"I pay attention."

"No you don't. You never pay attention to anyone else than you, your dad, your car, and sometimes Sammy."

"I pay attention to you."

"Obviously not enough to notice my tattoo sooner."

Dean opened his mouth, but then decided to stay silent. He shouldn't have tried to see it right after she'd told him about it. Curiosity got the best of him.

Alina could see on his face that he regretted his attempt, and felt bad for making him feel that way. So she quickly sat on the bed, and before he could say anything, lifted her shirt to show him her lower back. Dean's eyes found the tattoo in an instant, and the symbol on her skin made her story ten times worse. Maybe he needed to make sure that one part of it was real, to realize how surreal the rest was. She'd been abducted and tortured for days, she had to see her friend bleed and die in the arms of his sister, the woman she loved, because of her own words.

He sat up too and stared at the black symbol with anger, frustration, and remorse. Alina however, couldn't see his face behind her and his silence was worrying her, so she talked instead. "My dad used to wear this symbol as a necklace. I always knew it had something to do with hunting but he never told me what it was exactly."

She smiled at the thought of her dad, but Dean still refused to say anything, so she decided to turn around and met his shameful green eyes. She clearly didn't want him to feel worse, so she quickly raised her hand to smack his forehead, worried to see Sam slightly move behind him at the sound. Once she was sure that Sam was still asleep, she looked back at the hunter who was now rubbing his forehead. "What the hell?"

"You were overreacting. Don't overreact. I'm 91% fine and you're making the 9% left way more than they are. If you really wanna help, don't try to comfort me or I'll smack you again." She then gave him a big smile before lying back on the bed. "Come on Winchester, I need my beauty sleep."

She closed her eyes, listening to Dean as he lay down too, and after a few minutes of complete silence in the room, she felt two arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her back against the strong body of Dean Winchester. She didn't know what to say or do, because the man's hot breath on the back of her neck made her blush a little. She couldn't stop herself from thinking about their kiss the night before. And yet she felt safe in his arms. For the first time in a long time, she wasn't scared to fall asleep.

So she simply readjusted the pillow under her head and closed her eyes once again, relieved that Dean couldn't see the little grin on her face as she felt his calming heartbeats against her back.

The next morning, Alina woke up at the sound of a ringing phone and slowly opened her eyes to see that Dean wasn't next to her anymore. But when the ringing stopped, she heard his voice across the room and listened to him.

"Hello? Oh, hey, Jerry."

She didn't like that Jerry was calling so early in the morning again. That couldn't be for good news.

"Wha…Jerry, I'm sorry. What happened?"

Judging by Dean's tone, someone had died.

"Where'd this happen?"

Another moment of silence.

"I'll try to ignore the irony in that… Nothing. Jerry, hang in there, all right? We'll catch up with you soon."

Alina then heard Sam's voice when Dean hung up. "Another crash?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

"Where?"

"Nazareth."

"What about Ali…"

"What about me?" She interrupted him and sat up on the bed to stretch her arms. "You think I'm gonna stay here and let you guys have all the credit? That's cute."

She jumped off the bed, grabbed her bag, and started to walk towards the bathroom to get changed.

"Hey Frenchy…maybe you should…"

"Oh I guess you really like getting smacked Winchester. Didn't think you were into that kinda stuff but…I'm not judging."

And she locked herself in the bathroom quicker than they could talk. She didn't want to fight with them, but she also didn't want to let them handle this case without her. The previous day had been overwhelming for her but it was over now. She would fight no matter what they had to say.

It took them a couple of hours to get to the crash site, and when they arrived, they found the same type of dust that was on the first plane. They were all sitting in the car, as Alina was studying it closely. The Winchesters still didn't like the idea of her working on this case with them, but they also had to admit that she knew the subject way better than they did.

"Sulfur?" Dean asked, looking at her from the driver's seat.

"Yeah. That's officially the second plane crash involving Chuck Lambert."

"This demon sounds like it was after him." Dean concluded.

"With all due respect to Chuck, if that's the case, that would be the good news." Sam added, both of them looking at Alina, waiting for her answer.

"I don't think it is." She opened a small journal that the boys had never seen before. "Sam, did you find any similarities between this flight and flight 2485 other than Chuck?"

"Actually yes. They both went down exactly forty minutes into flight."

"It's biblical numerology, right?" Dean questioned them. "Like Noah's ark, it rained for forty days. The number means death."

"I went back, and there have been six plane crashes over the last decade that all went down exactly forty minutes in."

"Any survivors?"

"No. Or not until now, at least, not until flight 2485, for some reason. On the cockpit voice recorder, remember what the EVP Said?"

"No survivors."

"It's going after all the survivors. It's trying to finish the job."

Dean looked back at Alina. She hadn't said a word after taking out that journal and was now writing something in it. "What are you doing?"

"Taking precautions." She replied, still focused on her task. "Sam you should call the survivors, make sure none of them are planning to get in a plane today."

And that's what the youngest sibling did. On their way back, Sam called every survivors pretending to work for United Britannia Airlines. When he was done, there was only one person on the list that could soon become the next victim. The flight attendant Amanda Walker. Her sister had told Sam that it was her first night back on the job and that her flight was leaving Indianapolis at eight pm. So after a long stressful drive, ignoring every speed limitations, the three hunters finally made it to the airport just in time. One look at the departing board informed them that Amanda's flight was boarding in thirty minutes, so they had to hurry up and find her.

Dean was the first to react as he picked up a courtesy phone, called Airport Services, and asked for Gate 13. "I'm trying to contact an Amanda Walker. She's a flight attendant on flight...flight 4-2-4."

Sam and Alina both waited impatiently for Amanda to pick up the phone, and fortunately, it didn't take too long for Dean to suddenly react at her voice. "Miss Walker. Hi, this is Dr. James Hetfield from St. Francis Memorial Hospital. We have a Karen Walker here."

That excuse didn't seem to work because in less than a minute, Dean's face started to show complete panic. "Uh, well...there must be some mistake."

Sam quickly went around him to hear what Amanda was saying. Dean tried another lie, pretending to be friends with a certain Vince, that was supposedly a pathetic mess. But it still didn't work, since after a short moment, Dean desperately yelled in the phone. "No, no. Wait, Amanda. Amanda!"

He angrily smashed the phone back on the wall and turned to the two others. "Damn it! So close."

"You think you're in a freaking movie?" Alina sighed. "Women don't actually leave their job in the last minute for some stupid guy in real life."

"You got a better idea Frenchy? I'm listening."

"All right, it's time for plan B." Sam stopped them. "We're getting on that plane."

"Whoa, whoa, now just hold on a second."

Alina had to hold her laugh when she saw Dean completely wide-eyed at Sam's plan. She hadn't forgotten that surprisingly cute detail about her friend. But of course, Sam couldn't know about that. "Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board, and if we're right, that plane is gonna crash."

"I know."

"Okay. So we're getting on the plane, we need to find that demon and exorcise it." He turned to Alina, still in a hurry but also worried about the young woman. "You don't have to come, you know?"

She smiled at him and shook her head. She didn't want to go, but she had to. "It's okay, I can't keep hiding. You'll need my help so I'm coming with you."

Sam smiled too. He wasn't like Dean, of course he was concerned because Alina had always been his closest friend, but he trusted her too much to ignore her feelings. Plus, she was too stubborn and they didn't have time to argue. So he nodded and continued with his plan. "I'll get the tickets. You guys get whatever you can out of the trunk. Whatever that will make it through the security. Meet me back here in five minutes."

He was ready to move, but noticed Dean looking at him anxiously. "Are you okay?" He asked his brother.

"No, not really."

"What? What's wrong?"

"Well, I…I don't think it's good for Alina to…"

"Dean Winchester, don't you dare using me as an excuse for your anxiety."

"Anxiety?" Sam repeated. "What anxiety?"

Alina felt bad for Dean, even if he always pretended that nothing in the world could scare him. She'd promised him a long time ago, that she wouldn't tell anyone about his fear of flying, so she let him explain it to Sam himself, amused by his sudden shy attitude.

"Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh..." He moved his hand hesitantly, trying to mime a plane taking off.

"Flying?" Sam guessed in utter shock.

"It's never really been an issue until now." Dean defended himself like he'd just been insulted.

"It was, when we were kids and I wanted you guys to come see me in France."

Dean gave Alina an outraged look that made her smile even more.

"You're joking, right?" Sam couldn't believe what they were saying.

"Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam?!"

"All right. Uh…we'll go." He gestured to Alina and himself.

"What?"

"We'll do this one on our own." Sam explained, and Alina nodded in agreement.

"What are you, nuts?! You said it yourself, the plane's gonna crash!"

"Dean, we can do it together, or Alina and I can do this one by ourselves. I'm not seeing a third option, here."

"It's okay Dean."

He was always surprised to hear Alina call him by his name, but this time it wasn't out of anger, she was trying to reassure him. After all that happened, she was ready to face a demon, prevent him from crashing a plane, and yet she was still trying to reassure him?!

She couldn't be the one doing that! Dean had already missed too much opportunities to protect her, he couldn't let her do this by herself. "Come on! Really? Man..."

LATER

"Flight attendants, please cross-check doors before departure."

Alina was now sitting between the boys, Sam on her left, Dean on her right. The first one was calmly looking through the window, while the one in the aisle seat was anxiously reading the safety card. Alina had spend half her life traveling between France and America, so flying was like riding a bike for her, even if she wasn't the one controlling it.

Sam noticed his brother's behavior too and leaned over Alina with a childish smirk. "Just try to relax."

"Just try to shut up." Dean immediately replied, making the two friends smile even more.

Alina then cleared her throat to hide her own amusement, and raised her hand. "Wanna hold my hand Winchester?"

"No thanks."

"You sure? I mean we've done worse than that."

A simple annoyed look from Dean and she shrugged, getting more comfortable in her seat as the plane was starting to take off. She could see from the corner of her eye that Dean was jumping at every rumble and sound, so without even looking at him, she raised her hand once again. This time, Dean grabbed it in an instant and held it with strength.

Sam smiled at the sight.

It took more than ten minutes for Dean to really calm down, and he was still holding Alina's hand when Sam looked over at him in disbelief. "You're humming Metallica?"

"Calms me down."

"Look, man, I get you're nervous, all right? But you got to stay focused."

"Okay."

"I mean, we got thirty-two minutes and counting to track this thing down, or whoever it's possessing, anyway, and perform a full-on exorcism."

"Yeah about that…" Alina took a folded piece of paper in the pocket of her jacket and gave it to Sam. "I wrote it for you."

Sam took the paper, opened it, and was surprised to see the perfectly written text in Latin. "That's what you did in the car?"

"Yeah. Think you'll be able to do it?"

"Sure. I'll do it."

They smiled at each other, until Dean grabbed their attention back with his usual sarcasm. "Yeah, now all we have to do is find the demon on a crowded plane. That's gonna be easy."

"Just take it one step at a time, all right?" Sam said. "Now, who is it possessing?"

"It's usually gonna be somebody with some sort of weakness, you know, a chink in the armor that the demon can worm through. Somebody with an addiction or some sort of emotional distress."

Alina was astonished that he was so well informed. When had he done all these researches?

"Well, this is Amanda's first flight after the crash." Sam resumed. "If I were her, I'd be pretty messed up."

"I don't think the demon would use his victim's body thought. He didn't possess the pilot himself to kill him on that second crash."

"Only one way to find out." Dean told her before turning to the closest flight attendant. "Excuse me. Are you Amanda?"

"No, I'm not."

"Oh, my mistake."

He then looked to the back of the plane and saw another flight attendant. "All right, well, that's got to be Amanda back there, so I'll go talk to her, and…I'll get a read on her mental state."

"Your happy face is the same as your angry face, and you wanna analyze this poor woman's emotions?"

"And what if she's already possessed?" Sam warned him too.

"There's ways to test that." Dean went into his bag and showed them a Virgin Mary-shaped bottle of water. "I brought holy water."

"No." Sam and Alina refused in chorus as Sam snatched the bottle and tucked it inside his hoodie.

"What is wrong with you Winchester?"

"Yeah I think we can go more subtle. If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God."

"Oh. Nice." Dean nodded, ready to go, but quickly stopped by Alina.

"Dean? You're not planing on taking my hand with you there, are you?"

That's when he realized that he was still holding Alina's hand. He'd completely forgotten about it and quickly let go, embarrassed. He didn't say anything, tried to avoid the girl's eyes, and turned to go. But this time, Sam was the one calling him back.

"Hey."

"What?"

"Say it in Latin.

"I know."

He left again, and was stopped again.

"Hey!"

"What?!"

"In Latin, it's 'Christo'".

"Dude, I know! I'm not an idiot!"

Alina and Sam scoffed like two children as he walked away from them.

"Says the one ready to throw Holy-Water at a woman's face in the middle of a flight." Alina commented, making Sam laugh more.

"Yeah. But you know even if I was messing with him, he's been studying real hard since yesterday."

"Really?" She knew he was more than capable of learning important things for a hunt, but he would usually leave this kind of boring stuff to Sam.

"He's worried about you. We both are." Sam's smile fell as he thought about her story. "Alina… About the demons and…everything else. We used to talk more than I'd talk with some of my friends in college. Why didn't you tell me?"

She was expecting this question. It was true, she'd never told him about the demons, she'd simply said that Chris had died on a hunt, and that Charlie had left her because she was too devastated to continue their relationship. Which wasn't completely a lie.

"Sam I'm…I'm not sorry. I didn't tell you about the demons because it would've ruined everything. You would've spent so much time worrying about me, and that wasn't the point. I chose the stressful hunter's life with monsters and demons, but you wanted a normal one. I wanted you to get anxious over a stupid exam, not over your friend fighting demons. All I wanted was for you to be happy, and in the end that didn't even work either."

"Alina…" Sam hadn't realized that his friend was struggling this whole time, just because he made her feel like he couldn't handle that part of her life. And yet, she was right. He'd left his dad and Dean because he didn't want to deal with the family business, so of course, Alina respected his choice. But she didn't have to go through all of this on her own, not when they'd promised to always be there for each other no matter what. She'd listened to all his college problems, to all the stories about him and Jessica…

Growing up she had the Winchesters to protect her, but they'd completely let her down after she'd already lost her father.

"All right!" Dean returned to his seat, cutting short their conversation. "Well, she's got to be the most well-adjusted person on the planet. There's no demon in her. There's no demon getting in her."

Sam tried to focus back on the job. He'd have to talk with Alina later. "So, if it's on the plane, it can be anyone. Anywhere."

Alina also changed the subject. "Well that's actually a good thing. The possibilities are limited on a plane, since all the suspects are gathered here, it'll be easy to find our demon."

The plane suddenly shook a little, making Dean tense up again in his seat. "Come on! That can't be normal!"

Alina felt bad for smiling at his scared puppy face.

"Hey, hey, it's just a little turbulence." Sam tried to reassure him.

"Sam, this plane is going to crash, okay? So quit treating me like I'm friggin' four."

"You need to calm down."

"Well, I'm sorry I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"Dude, stow the touchy-feely, self-help yoga crap, it's not helping."

"Listen, if you're panicked, you're wide open to demonic possession, so you need to calm yourself down. Right now."

Dean was about to complain again, but the girl between them was getting tired of this. "Okay both of you shut up!"

The brothers instantly shut their mouths and looked at her in terror. She let out a long breath, trying to calm herself down, then turned to Dean. "How about I tell you a story? One that is not for a four years old."

"Wha…"

Alina leaned over to his ear and started to whisper things that Sam couldn't hear from his seat. He watched them as Dean's face started to change completely, from fear to excitement. And when the girl finally leaned back on her seat, the eldest Winchester was now staring absently in front of him, a simple grin on his lips.

"What did you tell him?" Sam asked Alina in confusion.

"The first girls sleepover I had after I came out. Lots of girls, zero sleep." She winked at Sam, then punched Dean in the arm to bring him back to reality. "Come on Winchester, we got work to do."

Once Dean was finally able to get his act together, they talked about the exorcism. Alina explained to them that it would be in two parts. The first one was expelling the demon from the victim's body, which made the second part way harder since the demon would be out of the body and could wreak havoc on its own. So they had to send him back to hell quickly.

After the explanations, Dean and Alina left with the EMF meter to investigate the plane. They slowly walked up the aisle, Alina right behind Dean, getting odd looks from the passengers as the young man with earphones pointed the weird device in their direction. Alina didn't want to look suspicious if they passed by the demon, so she stopped Dean and turned him around to make him face her. He only had time to take one earphone out when she got on her tiptoes, pulled him down with a hand behind his neck, and put a gentle kiss on his cheek. "It's okay honey!" She was smiling at him like the perfect girlfriend trying to reassure her anxious boyfriend. Dean didn't know what to do so he simply stared at her silently, as she put her hands on his chest in an affectionate and comforting way. "Don't worry I promise we'll land soon. Until that I won't let go of your hand, okay?"

She then put the earphone back in his ear, slided in front of him, grabbed his hand and they continued walking. This time however, the passengers were too embarrassed by the public display of affection to look in their direction.

Alina was so proud of herself, that she didn't even turned around to look at Dean. If she had, she would've noticed the nervous look on his face she'd just caused. Clearly, Dean knew she'd done this to avoid looking suspicious, but that simple gesture had brought back again so many memories of the way she'd kissed him outside that bar. Why was he feeling like that? It was Alina. Frenchy. The annoying girl that always hung out with his brother when they were kids, and enjoyed messing up with him whenever she could. Yes, he hadn't seen her in five years and now she was a very attractive woman, like really, really hot. But how was she able to make him feel that way? Maybe he was just confused because of the plane, and the demon…and everything she'd told them about her past trauma. That had to be it. He was just worried about absolutely everything and it was putting weird thoughts in his mind.

The hunter suddenly jumped when someone clapped his shoulder from behind. He was so focused on the EMF meter's sound, and his own thoughts, that he hadn't even noticed Sam. "Ah! Don't do that."

"Anything?" Sam questioned him, not paying attention to his brother's anxiety. Alina was about to answer for Dean, but something suddenly felt wrong. She knew this weird suffocating feeling.

"No, nothing. How much time we got?" Dean asked.

"Fifteen minutes. Maybe we missed somebody."

"Maybe the thing's just not on the plane."

"You believe that? What about you Alina?" Sam asked the girl who was already looking at something in front of her, the fear in her eyes clearly apparent. "Alina?" Sam called her again. "Are you okay?"

"Frenchy?" Dean slightly moved to get a better look at her, making her tighten her grip on his hand and getting a little closer to him. She was staring at the bathroom doors, and Dean couldn't understand what the problem was, until he finally looked down as the EMF meter spiked for the first time. At the same moment, the copilot exited the bathroom and headed towards the cockpit.

"What? What is it?" Sam was getting worried to see the two hunters strange reaction.

"Christo." Dean simply said. And that's when the copilot slowly turned to face them. With his black eyes.

Alina felt her blood boiling in her veins when she watched him going into the cockpit. "Son of a…"

As the three hunters were heading to the back of the plane to find Amanda, the boys were still hesitating to ask for her help, convinced she wouldn't believe them, but Alina didn't think twice when they arrived in front of the flight attendant, to close the curtain behind them.

Of course, she didn't believe their story at first, but the moment they mentioned the pilot Chuck Lambert and informed her of his death, she stumbled. Two crashes in two months, that wasn't a coincidence and she couldn't deny that. She finally admitted that she'd seen the man's black eyes on flight 2485, and agreed to help them even if she was still lost, and didn't know what they wanted her to do.

The hunters waited for her to come back, Sam pulling out the holy water, and the piece of paper with the exorcism written on it. And the moment the copilot appeared, Dean punched him in the face to knock him down. He pinned him down and put duct tape over his mouth. The whole scene reminded Alina of her abduction, but she tried to stay focus. She didn't listen to Amanda's panicked questions, grabbed the holy water in Sam's hand and splashed it on the copilot skin, making it sizzle.

The boys succeeded to calm down Amanda and got her to wait outside the curtain to prevent anyone from coming in. Dean and Alina were holding the man, when the first one turned to his brother. "Hurry up, Sam. I don't know how much longer we can hold him."

Sam instantly read the paper, as his friend was struggling to stay concentrated. She hadn't heard those words out loud ever since that day in the basement. The demon managed to break free briefly to hit them, until the hunters subdued him again. Sam picked up where he'd left off, but again, the demon knocked Dean off, pushed Alina to the side, pulled the tape off his mouth and grabbed Sam by the collar.

"I know what happened to your girlfriend! She must have died screaming! Even now, she's burning!"

When she heard the demonic voice say those words to her friend, Alina's fear changed into pure rage and she jumped on the copilot to sit on top of him and hit him repetitively in the face. "Shut up! You shut up!" She didn't care anymore if she was hitting the demon or copilot, she just kept on going until Dean's arms wrapped around her body to stop her. Dean pushed his friend behind him and went to hold the copilot down, even if it was now a easy task as the man was almost completely knocked out and couldn't resist as much as before. Dean turned to a stunned Sam and shouted at him. "Sam!"

They didn't have much time left, but fortunately, Sam recovered and began to read again. The words made the demon wake up and struggle again, so Sam helped Dean pinning him down. "I got him!"

They watched as the black smoke exited the copilot's body and disappeared into a vent.

"Where'd it go?" Sam asked.

"It's in the plane. Hurry up. We got to finish it."

Sam stood up to run after the demon, while Dean was crawling towards Alina. She was sitting against the wall, watching the copilot's unconscious body with regrets. She'd lost control and hurt an innocent man.

"Hey Frenchy? Look at me." Dean grabbed her face in his hands and forced her to look up at him. "He's gonna be fine. Okay?"

She nodded and slightly smiled at him, still trying to make him feel better when she obviously was the one in panic. Dean wanted to hug her so bad. He wanted to protect her, comfort her. But he didn't get the chance to do it because the plan suddenly dipped and heaved violently, separating the two hunters. Alina landed against the wall on the opposite side, right next to the copilot. The man's body was starting to slide away, so she grabbed his arm, pulled him next to her and tried to keep him in safety as the plane was quickly heading to the ground. She had to believe in Sam, she knew he was more than capable of doing it.

And as expected, right after a bright electrical charge ran through the entire engine, the plane leveled out, ending Alina's struggle to protect herself and the copilot at the same time. She sighed in relief, took a quick glance at the unconscious man next to her, before her eyes found Dean not too far from her. He'd splayed himself against the exit door, and was now slowly falling on the floor. She stood up as quickly as she could, stumbled a little, and fell back on her knees in front of the pale Winchester. "You okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah…No…I'm alive right?"

She scoffed in relief and was even able to joke again. "Do I look like an angel?"

"Are angels hot?"

"I don't…I don't think that would be the most appropriate word to describe them…"

"Then you're no angel Frenchy."

She laughed again and leaned over to pull him into a soft embrace. She was surprised of the short amount of time it took him to hug her back, he almost instantly did it, but couldn't complain about it. They both needed that. Sam reappeared behind the curtain, but chose to stay silent when he saw his best friend in the arms of his brother. They hadn't noticed him, so he left them alone, relieved that they were okay and didn't need his help.

THE NEXT DAY

The three hunters were able to get back to the motel to collect their stuff and pay Jerry one last visit. That's when they found out that Jerry had been able to contact them, because he got Dean's new phone number from John Winchester's voice message. The unexpected news shocked the brothers and their friend who'd tried numerous times to call John's number. Until that day, it was out of service.

But when Dean later tried to dial the number, the voice message began and the three of them heard it clearly.

"This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean. 785-555-0179. He can help."

It was actually odd for Alina to hear his voice, after trying to contact him so many times. She also hadn't heard it in five years, but it was still the same. The most intimidating and yet desperate voice. Her dad used to make fun of John's grumpy attitude, so Alina would do the same with his son. And she only now realized how much he indeed sounded and acted like his dad.

She also noticed and understood Sam's disappointment and anger when the voice message ended, and she wanted to lighten up the mood a little. "Well, I don't know about John, but I am really proud of you guys. Congratulations on your first exorcism."

She lifted her hands in the air to get a high five from the boys, but all she got were unamused looks. So she put her hands back down and rolled her eyes. "Seriously I mean it. Obviously I'm still pretty affected by…all that happened. So I'm glad you guys were here to save the day like you always do."

She smiled at them the best she could. Yes, she was happy to be with them, but she was also terrified. And even if she tried to hide that second part, this time Dean wasn't the only one to see that something was off with her. Sam frowned. "Alina what's wrong? Talk to us."

She'd hoped they wouldn't ask this question, but now that they had, she was actually relieved. That job with them was different. For the first time since her return, she'd lost control in front of them because of her absurd anxiety. Her smile slowly fell and she couldn't look at them in the eyes, so she stared at the ground. "It's just…it all started just like that with Chris and Charlie. The three of us on the road, fighting demons and monsters…if anything happened to one of you guys because of me…I don't think I'd be able to survive that. I can't lose you…you're my family."

"You won't." Sam simply stopped her and put a hand on her shoulder to make her raise her head. "Alina I'm sorry. All this time I thought nothing had changed between us…but I was wrong. I made you feel like you couldn't count on me, I was a terribly selfish friend. What happened to Chris wasn't your fault, if anything you freed him, and now that Dean and I are here, you don't have to be alone anymore because we're not going anywhere. Okay?"

Alina studied his eyes. Finding nothing else in them but love and concern. So she gently cupped his cheek in her hand, grateful that she could have a best friend like him, and nodded.

But even now, there was one thing she couldn't bring herself to tell them. One thing the demon inside Chris' body had told her back in that basement. The reason why she was convinced that Chris was dead because of her. It wasn't just about the exorcism.

Everything from the beginning, happened because of whoever or whatever she was.

So? What did you think of Alina's backstory? Of course, there are still some details about Alina and her family that even she doesn't even know about yet, so it's not over!

Also, I'm so glad that I'll now be able to add a bit of romance in Dean and Alina's flirtatious relationship. Things are about to change with these two, and I'm sure you're gonna love it! Well…I hope so…

Hope you guys enjoyed this long chapter! Have a nice day/night!