Alina had to return with the boys to the fraternity so Sam could do some more researches. Alina was lying on the bed behind him and had been playing with a ball, making it bounce on the ceiling for several minutes when her friend decided that he had enough and turned towards her, annoyed. "Alina, why are you here?"

"What do you mean? I'm waiting for you to finish."

"Can't you go wait downstairs with Dean?"

Alina immediately looked away from her friend, who very quickly understood the reason for her embarrassment. He smiled in a mocking way that Alina didn't like at all. "Stop it." She ordered him, irritated by his attitude.

"Is this because of the kiss?"

"It wasn't a kiss! It was a diversion!"

"It was definitely a kiss."

"I…it wasn't…shut up Sam!" And she finally left the room. Sam was glad to be able to work in silence again, and yet he couldn't help but wonder how this whole thing between his brother and his best friend would end.

Alina was relieved that the big party downstairs was preventing her from seeing Dean right away. She didn't have any problem with him, obviously, she just wanted to…not see him. Maybe she was a little embarrassed about that kiss after all. But technically, it was only their second kiss for Dean, while she'd also kissed a Shapeshifter with his face, and dreamed of kissing him before they arrived here. She just couldn't stop thinking about doing it again, and it scared her. She couldn't feel that way about Dean. She'd known him her entire life. Was she losing her mind?!

"Alina!"

The hunter almost jumped when she heard her name being yelled right behind her. Fortunately, it was just Stacy. Unfortunately, it was Stacy.

"Hey Stacy!"

Her new roommate hugged her before she could add anything. "I'm so happy to see you here! You have to tell me everything! Who's that guy you were kissing in our room?! He's so hot! Is he new?!"

Of course, Stacy had to remind her of the only thing she wanted to forget right now. But the girl looked so drunk that at least, Alina didn't have to use that horrible accent. She wouldn't even notice the difference in her current state.

"Yeah he's new. I…met him at the church."

"Really?! That's so cool!"

Alina smiled at her, and noticed the empty cup in her hand. "Hey, how about we go refill that cup?"

"Sure! Totally! Let's go!"

Alina followed Stacy to the kitchen, where the drunk girl suddenly jumped in a guy's arms. They both fell to the ground and as Alina was actually getting worried for them, she quickly turned around when she realized that they were kissing and almost ripping each other's clothes on the kitchen's floor. "Okay…" She grabbed a bottle of whiskey next to her and took a sip, giving the two lovers some privacy. It had to be the boyfriend.

"Hey Alina?!" Some other girls from the Sorority called her once she walked out of the room. So she joined them, not seeing her two friends walking right pass her, talking about their case.

The brothers were worried about their friend, so they walked back into the crowd of people, searching for the familiar face of the girl. They were relieved when they soon found her in the living room, but it didn't last too long as she was being harassed by a boy who clearly chose to ignore her multiple rejections, putting his hands on her waist to pull her against him when she told him to leave her alone. Dean's hands were turning into fists, and his legs walking towards Alina before he could even think about it.

"Dean wait!" Sam tried to calm him down, but he could only follow his brother as he didn't managed to stop him.

They walked into the crowded space ready to intervene, but once they reached Alina, they were surprised to see her standing alone at the same place she was. However, one look to the ground and they realized that the guy Dean was about to put in a hospital bed, was already lying there and holding his bloody nose. Alina looked at him, satisfied, until he started to get back up and said the one thing he shouldn't have said. "You broke my nose you bitch!"

"What did you call me?!" She was about to jump at him again, but two pairs of arms stopped her at the last second and she wasn't surprised to see Dean and Sam holding her back. She felt a little more at peace the moment she recognized their familiar faces, and sighed, turning back at the injured frat boy in front of them. "You should thank them, they just saved your freaking manhood!" She then looked back at her boys. "Come on let's get out of here."

They nodded and let go of her so she could leave the room. That's when she realized that everyone was now looking at her, but she didn't care. She just hated men who thought they were allowed to do everything according to their disgusting needs. This one was actually lucky he got a simple broken nose out of it.

The Winchesters watched her walking away from them and were about to follow her but again, the guy refused to close his mouth. "Hey that chick's crazy. Keep her the hell away from me or I swear I'll…"

"You'll do what?" Dean interrupted him, infuriated by that guy's attitude towards his friend.

Sam joined Alina outside. The young woman seemed to have completely calm down thanks to the fresh air, and was now waiting next to the Impala.

"You okay?" Sam asked her, while putting a hand on her shoulder to get a closer look at her face.

"I'm pissed, but I'll be okay. Where's Dean?"

They both turned to see Dean who was just coming out of the house, shaking his hand like he'd just punched someone. And Alina had a pretty good idea of who it might have been. "Come on Frenchy, you and I are going to the cemetery to find that unmarked grave."

"What about Sam?"

"I'll keep an eye on Lori. Make sure the spirit doesn't strike again."

Alina was worried for him. She knew how dangerous it was to get close to that girl, and yet she couldn't ask him not to go. Their job was dangerous anyway. "Be careful Sammy."

"You too."

They shared a smile, and Alina got in the car before Dean drove away. The cemetery wasn't too far from the fraternity house, so it didn't take too long for the hunters to enter the sinister place with their bags, two shovels, and two flashlights. Thanks to Metallica, they didn't have to say anything on the road, but now that they were walking between the graves, the silence was making them uncomfortable.

So Alina wanted to start the conversation before deciding to jump inside one of those graves and die of embarrassment, but Dean was faster to talk. "You did great back there. That guy was a douchebag."

"Yeah well…I always say that if you can't take a hint, you should take a punch."

She smiled as she heard Dean's little chuckle. Before this whole drama, she felt like being alone with him after that kiss would be terribly awkward, but now that she was investigating a cemetery in the middle of the night with him, she felt back to her normal self. She took a quick glance at the hand that he was shaking when he got out of the house and sighed. "You didn't have to do that, you know?"

"Do what?"

"You know what."

"I don't."

Alina rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever..."

She was still walking when Dean stopped her, and showed her the grave in front of them with his flashlight. The familiar cross symbol was engraved on the headstone, so they both let their bags fall to the ground, and took off their jackets to start digging. Alina didn't like this part of the job, but it was even worse with a Dean covered in dirt and sweat, making it really hard to concentrate.

What she didn't realized, was that Dean was also trying not to stare at her. She was so busy digging that she hadn't noticed how much her tank top moved with each shovel stroke, revealing a small lace part of the same bra she was wearing earlier when she'd kissed him. Dean definitely felt ridiculous about reacting this way. It wasn't the first time a woman in underwear threw herself at him. He needed to break the ice on the subject, before losing what he had left of reason. It was still Alina after all. "Hey Frenchy?" He called her as they were half done digging. "About earlier…you know, when you…we…"

Alina knew exactly what he was referring to, and didn't like where this conversation was heading. "What about it?" She simply replied, refusing to look him in the eyes.

"It's just…" He couldn't do it. He wanted to. He was dying to say what he had to say, but he just couldn't. "What was that fake accent?"

Alina did her best not to sigh in relief, and smiled at his question. "Oh…yeah I had to look and sound interesting enough to be accepted in the Sorority. So I used that accent with my roommate and some other girls."

Dean had only heard her say a few words with that accent, but the idea of her talking like that from the moment she'd arrived just made him laugh.

"Don't laugh at me!" Alina shouted and threw some dirt towards her friend.

Dean managed to dodge the attack and smiled at her. "I'm not laughing at you. That was a smart move actually." He was impressed by everything she did, including the smallest details like this one.

They kept digging until they found themselves in a deep hole, breaking the wooden floor of the grave to finally see the remains they had to burn. "Hello preacher." Dean said completely out of breath.

Alina let out a big sigh, exhausted by all the effort, and threw her shovel aside. "Okay, let's get the salt and…" But as she was trying to climb out of the hole, she slipped on a broken piece of wood and lost her balance. Dean was quick to grab her and firmly hold her body against his to secure her. She also held onto his shirt with both her hands, putting even less distance between them.

The two hunters were now staring at each other, panting from tiredness but also because of how close they were. The only lights around them were their flashlights, powerful enough to show their faces, and the way their eyes couldn't help but look at their lips, wanting nothing more but to get a taste once again. Alina could feel Dean's hands hesitantly sliding from her waist to her back, and that hesitation was the hottest thing she'd experienced from a man until now. Especially a man like Dean Winchester. Their faces were starting to lean towards one another, and they probably would've kissed, if the sound of a stick cracking near them hadn't stop the action at the very last moment. Alina and Dean stepped away from each other when they heard the noise, looking around to make sure it wasn't something dangerous. But as it was more than likely that the sound was caused by a small animal, they quickly let their guard down again. Their eyes met for a fraction of second before they both decided to look away in embarrassment.

Alina cleared her throat and took a look down at the bones. "We better finish this and go find Sam."

"Yeah. Definitely."

And they both climbed out from two opposite sides of the hole. Alina took the salt out of her bag, while Dean was taking the lighter fluid out of his, and they started to pour them in the grave, before Dean lit up a match, standing above the open grave. "Goodbye, preacher." And he finally threw the match, causing a big fire, burning the bones and everything else in the grave.

But as the heat of the fire was slowly getting out of the grave, Alina felt a sharp pain in her head that made her stumble a little.

"Alina?" Dean took a step closer to her, worried to see her carefully sitting on the ground. He crouched in front of her and grabbed her face in his hands. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine yeah…but I don't think it worked."

"What do you mean? We burned the bones."

"I know but…I don't…I still feel connected to it."

"Connected? You're connected to that freak?!"

"Dean calm down. We need to find Sam."

Dean kept staring at her, concerned for her well-being, but eventually agreed on the fact that Sam could be in danger and that they had to hurry. "Okay. Come on." He helped Alina getting back up and they left the cemetery to go find the third hunter.

LATER

It was already daylight when they found out that Sam was at the hospital. Lori's father had apparently been attacked by the spirit, despite the bones getting burned to ashes. Alina and Dean were almost running towards the place where they knew they could find Sam, and while the girl was worried about her friend, Dean was more worried about her. "Felling better?" He took the opportunity to question her in Sam's absence. "You scared the crap out of me back there."

"I know. I'm sorry…"

Dean suddenly put his arm in front of the girl, to stop her in the middle of the empty corridor. "Okay you can't just apologize and expect me to forget about what you said. How are you connected to that spirit?"

"I told you I don't know Dean. I just felt his…anger. He wanted to kill someone so bad it gave me a freaking headache just thinking about it. I guess it's the same way I was connected to that little boy's spirit at Lake Manitoc, and to that Bloody Mary one. I have no idea how this happens, but it does."

Dean really didn't like that. He regretted more and more bringing her with them to that case. Her nightmare should've been enough of a warning.

And Alina felt bad for making him worry so much about her. That wasn't her intention, she just wanted to help. She wanted to do her job. "Listen, for now I just wanna make sure Sam's alright, and find out what we missed with that spirit. So could we please talk about this later?"

Right now, the only thing that really scared Dean was that he didn't know how to help his friend. He hated no knowing, especially when Alina's life was on the line. But once again, she was too insistent. So he nodded and they both continued walking until they saw two officers blocking the way. Once they reached them, they tried to keep the hunters from going any further, but fortunately Dean spotted Sam and the Sheriff on the other side.

"No, it's alright, we're with him. He's my brother." Dean explained to the officers before yelling at Sam. "Hey! Brother!" Both Sam and the Sheriff turned to see Dean smiling and waiving at them.

The Sheriff told the two others to let them through, so the three hunters quickly reunited halfway, and Alina put her hands on Sam's arms to make him stand still in front of her. She wanted to make sure that he was completely fine. "Oh my God Sammy, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

"No I'm fine. Don't worry." He smiled at his friend, allowing her to relax a little.

"What the hell happened?" Dean interrogated his brother once he was sure that the two were done.

"Hook Man."

"You saw him?"

"Damn right. Why didn't you torch the bones?"

Dean and Alina shared a look, before Alina replied with confidence. "We did it Sam. We salted and torched them, there's nothing left in that grave."

"Yeah, you sure it's the spirit of Jacob Karns?"

"It sure as hell looked like him. And that's not all. I don't think the spirit is latching on to the reverend."

"Well, yeah, the guy wouldn't send the Hook Man after himself."

"Wait…if it's not the reverend, don't tell me you're thinking about…"

"Yeah I think it's latching onto Lori. Last night she found out her father is having an affair with a married woman."

The other two gave him a confused look. "So what?"

"So she's upset about it. She's upset about the immorality of it. She told me she was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished."

"Okay, so she's conflicted. And the spirit of Preacher Karns is latching onto repress emotions and maybe he's doing the punishing for her, huh?"

"Right. Rich comes on too strong, Taylor tries to make her into a party girl, dad has an affair."

"Well it's a good thing we weren't all raised like her. If people deserved to die for making out and partying I don't think I'd still be around."

"Yeah remind me not to piss this girl off." Dean added. "But we burned those bones, we buried them in salt, why didn't that stop him?"

"You must have missed something."

"No. We burned everything in that coffin."

"So maybe there wasn't everything in the coffin." Alina concluded, thinking about the most reasonable explanation. "Maybe they kept some of his remains somewhere else or…"

"Did you get the hook?"

"The hook?" They both repeated in chorus.

"Well, it was the murder weapon, and in a way, it was part of him."

"So, like the bones, the hook is a source of his power."

"So if we find the hook..."

They all finished the sentence in chorus. "We stop the Hook Man."

The brothers and their friend shared a smile. They finally knew how to end this case once and for all, and they couldn't wait for it to be done.

And so the hunters went back to the library, ready to make some more researches. They spent hours going through the papers related to Jacob Karns, until Alina decided to leave the boys and check the church records. She didn't know why, but she felt like she could find an answer there. And after a few more minutes, she found what she was looking for. She went back where the brothers were at the same time Dean was standing up. "Hey we found something." He informed the girl once he noticed her return. "Jacob's personal affects were given back to the St. Barnabas Church after his death. We need to check the church…" He stopped talking when he recognized the book in her hand.

"I know, I found it." She sat in front of the boys and opened the book back to the interesting page she'd just found.

"Wait…" Sam interrupted her as she was about to read it out loud. "How did you know you had to look into the church records?"

"It was just…obvious."

"No. Not really."

And that's how she realized that she had once again used her strange connection to the spirit, without even noticing it. And Dean also understood that when he saw her confusion. She looked terrified again. But she wasn't scared of the spirit, she was scared of herself. So he quickly brought her back to reality before Sam would get suspicious of anything. "So what did you found?"

Alina blinked twice, met Dean's reassuring eyes, and was able to go back to her reading. "Right…so in 1862, the St. Barnabas Church received a silver-handled hook from state penitentiary. The problem is…it was reforged."

The brothers sighed at the news, just like she had the first she'd read it. "So they melted it down." Sam said, clearly annoyed. "Made it into something else."

Their job was far from being done, and it was starting to get on their nerves but they still ended up going to the church. Even if they didn't know what to burn, they had to try with anything they could find there that even looked like silver.

"So, Lori's still at the hospital. We'll have to break in." Sam informed them.

"Alright, take your pick."

"I'll take the house."

"I'm coming with you." Alina said, already following Sam towards the house.

"Hold on…" Sam and Alina both turned back to Dean. The hunter was looking at his friend worryingly. Ever since he'd found out about her secret, he felt better being able to keep an eye on her. He'd left her alone in that Sorority house, and she ended up waking up next to a real bloodbath. Sure she could handle herself, and Sam was also more than capable of protecting her, but he didn't know what Dean knew.

"Dean?" Alina called him, since he'd stayed silent for quite a long time.

She wouldn't like him being overprotective again, and it would only take a few minutes after all. So he forced himself to smile as mischievously as he was used to. "Make sure he stays out of her underwear drawer."

Alina smirked at Sam's reaction, and ran after him before he could leave without her.

Of course, their first destination was the kitchen where they started to put everything that looked silver in their bags.

"Hey Alina? Is everything okay?"

Alina froze for a second, before resuming her mission as if everything was completely normal. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"You've been acting strangely ever since we got here. Maybe even before that."

She obviously had planned to tell him everything, but now wasn't the best time. "Sam…"

"Is it because of Dean?"

She froze again, but this time instead of going back to her job she completely turned to her friend and frowned at his question. "What about him?"

"I don't know…I thought maybe you needed to talk to someone about what happened with the Shapeshifter. You know I'm here for you, right?"

Alina couldn't help but feel bad for the way she'd treated him after she'd told Dean everything. She didn't want to add any more problems to his already troubled mind. He still couldn't sleep, how could she become another reason for his anxiety to keep him awake? No she couldn't, not now. "I know. Thanks Sammy." They smiled at each other and kept investigating the house.

Once they were finally done, they met Dean in the basement of the church where he was already throwing everything he'd found into a fire.

"We got everything that even looked silver." Sam announced, as the two friends let their heavy bags fall to the ground.

"Better safe than sorry."

And they threw everything into the fire. They weren't even done when they suddenly heard footsteps above them. Dean took his gun and turned to Alina. "Burn everything." She nodded and watched the brothers going upstairs to check the source of the sound.

The young woman kept throwing the different items in the fire until there was nothing left to burn, but she once again felt uneasy about the situation.

"It's Lori. Sam's with her." Dean told her when he came back next to her. "Did you burn everything?"

"No."

Dean bent down to check the bags, but she grabbed his arm to make him look back at her. "Dean we're missing something."

"What do you mean? Everything was there."

"Not everything…"

And as if to prove her point, they suddenly heard a big sound coming from upstairs and the screams of Sam and Lori. The Hook Man. The hunters hurried up the stairs to go in search of the other two. And they found them very quickly in front of the threatening figure of a tall man dressed in black, with a hook instead of his hand.

"Sam!" Alina yelled at her injured friend.

"Drop!" Dean added as he raised his gun and shot the spirit the moment Sam fell to the floor, making the Hook Man disappear into dust for a short moment.

Alina immediately kneeled in front of Sam to check his bleeding arm. "That doesn't look good Sam, we need to get you out of here."

"I thought we got all the silver."

"So did I." Dean replied angrily.

"Then why is he still here?"

"Because we missed something guys!" Alina repeated, tired of this never-ending situation. They all started to look around desperately, until Sam noticed the cross necklace around Lori's neck.

"Lori, where did you get that chain?"

"My father gave it to me."

"Where'd your dad get it?"

"He said it was a church heirloom, he gave it to me when I started school."

"Is it silver?!" Sam and Alina asked at the same time, both losing their patience.

"Yes!"

Sam immediately ripped the chain off from around her neck and gave it to Alina. The girl got back up, but stopped next to Dean when they heard a scratching sound behind them. In the hallway, the Hook Man now invisible was making a long scratch on the wall.

"Dean let's go!" Alina pushed him after he threw the rifle and rock salt to his brother.

They both ran back to the basement, not stopping once even after hearing Sam shooting again, and threw the necklace into the fire. After a few seconds, Dean turned to his friend to get any useful information from her. Which she didn't understand. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Well do you feel anything?"

"I'm not a freaking human crystal ball Winchester!"

She was about to go back upstairs, but the moment she turned around, her vision was blocked by a huge figure in front of her.

"Alina!" Dean shouted, but it was too late.

The girl barely had time to see the hook rising in the air, because it quickly went into her chest. At this point, she couldn't feel anything anymore. She could only see the terrifying face of the Hook Man, staring at her like he was trying to see inside her soul.

But then, as the necklace was now completely melting in the fire, the spirit started to stumble away from her, taking the hook out her chest. Dean ran to Alina to wrap his arms around her and protect her from the Hook Man catching on fire in front of them. He held the shaking girl in his arms until he was sure that the spirit was gone for good. But even once they were alone, he couldn't bring himself to let go of her. If he did, he knew he wouldn't be able to stop the blood from leaving her body. He couldn't protect her. Why couldn't he protect her?

"Dean?" Alina's voice sounded so far away from him. "Dean…I'm okay…"

Her words didn't seem to reach her friend who continued to hold her with strength. She therefore had to gently push him back to force him to look at her. "I'm okay." And to prove that she wasn't lying, she pushed her jacket and shirt to the side, showing him the total absence of blood. There was no trace of the hook that was still stuck in her heart a few seconds ago. She didn't have a single scratch.

Dean observed her unharmed chest in total confusion, wrapping his hands around her arms like he was the one about to lose his balance. "What…how? I saw it. I saw the hook…"

"I know. I know but…I'm fine."

Dean looked up to meet her teary eyes. "I'm fine Dean." He cupped her cheek in his hand, wiping the single tear away with his thumb. He was convinced that he had lost her. He was convinced that he had failed, and he would never have forgiven himself for that.

He was so relieved, that he could've said the words he wasn't even able to admit to himself before that. He could've said them to her, without fearing to be rejected by her. She was there in front of him, alive and as beautiful as ever, and he just could've said…

"Guys?!" Sam's voice coming from upstairs, forced them to look up. "You okay down there?!"

But from the way he was talking, Alina could hear that he was in pain.

"Oh shit, Sammy!" Alina was finally reminded of his injuries and quickly left Dean to go check on his brother. "Sam stop moving around and sit down! You're still bleeding, you imbecile!"

Dean listened to Alina arguing with his brother above him, unable to move from his current spot. He couldn't believe what he was about to say. He couldn't believe…he actually felt that way…

LATER

Alina was sitting in the passenger's seat of the Impala, waiting for the boys to join her. Dean, who was talking to the Sheriff, was the first to come back while Sam was still getting patched up in the ambulance behind them. He sat on the driver's seat next to her, and noticed the way she was looking at her own reflection in her side view mirror. She was frowning and playing nervously with one of the elastic hair band around her wrist.

"Hey Frenchy?"

She was almost startled when he called her, but turned to him with a faint smile on her face anyway.

"I know you're worried about everything that's happening to you…"

"Yeah no shit Sherlock."

"Yeah well I'm not. Not anymore."

She was confused by his words. Of course he should've been worried. "Dean…I'm not normal."

"But you're alive. You were stabbed in the heart by a freaking hook and you're still alive. So until we find out what's going on with you, I guess I'm good with the 'not normal' stuff."

Alina didn't realized she was smiling until Dean smiled back at her. He always knew how to cheer her up. Sometimes he was just clumsily searching for his words, other times he knew exactly what he had to say. That was one of the reasons why she loved him so much. She took his hand in hers and chuckled a bit at the shy face he made when he felt the sudden contact and looked down at their hands. "Thank you Winchester."

He raised his head to glance at her at the same time she let go of his hand to look back in the side view mirror. "He's not gonna kiss her, huh?"

Dean didn't understand her comment at first, even afraid that she might've been talking about him. But then he noticed Sam in his own side view mirror, standing next to the ambulance, talking with Lori.

Alina felt bad for her best friend. Lori was the first girl he'd actually noticed after Jessica but maybe it was just because they could understand each other's pain.

So as expected, the two hunters watched the young man walking away without another word, leaving the sad girl behind him to get in the backseat of the Impala. Alina turned to him to give him a quick smile.

"We could stay." Dean offered him to Alina's surprise. But Sam simply shook his head.

And even if he was disappointed by his brother's answer, Dean respected it and started the engine to leave another town, with another case solved. Apart from the music, the car was silent as they drove away. Alina discreetly took a glance at Sam's bandages in the rear-view mirror, than brushed the skin of her chest with her slightly trembling hand.

She couldn't help but wonder if her mom could have the answers to her questions. And if so, why was she still missing?

All this time she had spent looking for her, but what if her mom was actually trying to hide from her own daughter?

And that's it for the Hook Man episode! Well that was an interesting one to write, but the Bugs one will be a little different so I can't wait for you to read it!

Also, I'm currently working on episode 9, and sad Dean is just making me hate the fact that I can't hug a fictional character through my screen! Somebody hug that child for the love of God!

So anyway…as usual, I hope you have a nice day/night!