They all went back to Missouri's house to get what they needed. They gathered different herbs and roots, putting them into small bags that would go inside the walls in the north, south, east, and west corners on each floor of the house. Alina was feeling better now that she was away from that place, but she knew it wouldn't last long since they were about to go back there at night. She just couldn't wait for it all to end.
"And this'll destroy the spirits?" Sam asked Missouri, obviously still a little skeptic.
"It should. It should purify the house completely. We'll each take a floor, Alina I don't want you alone there even for a second."
"She'll stay with me." Dean confirmed before Alina could choose between him and his brother, which made everyone look at him in amusement. And Dean didn't like that at all. "What?"
Alina was tired, but not too tired for her favorite activity : Making fun of Dean Winchester. "Well I didn't think you wanted to hold my hand so bad Winchester."
"I don't...I'm doing this for you Frenchy! If you don't want my help, just say it!"
Sam also couldn't let this opportunity go away without embarrassing his brother. "Woah, aren't you being a little too defensive Dean? You know friends can hold each other's hands, right? Unless..." Dean didn't let him finish as he quickly kicked his brother's leg under the table with his foot, making the youngest one close his mouth to hold back a groan of pain. And he just stared at his brother like he was about to murder him.
"Alright that's enough boys." Missouri stopped the fight before it even started, giving Alina a discreet smile that the brothers didn't notice. "Let's focus on our task tonight. Once the spirits realize what we're up to, things are gonna get bad. So we better work fast."
It was going to be another long night...
LATER
Dean and Alina took the first floor while Sam was upstairs, and Missouri in the basement. The eldest Winchester was hitting the third wall of this floor while Alina was waiting next to him with the two little bags of herbs left in her hands. The moment the hole was made, Dean turned to Alina with worried eyes that simply made the girl sigh. "Dean..."
"What? What's wrong? You're feeling something?"
"Yeah. The urge to punch you if you keep asking me if I'm okay." She threw the bag in the hole and left to go in the kitchen, the last spot. And of course, Dean didn't wait too long to follow her like he was her shadow.
"I just wanna make sure you don't get hurt."
"I know, and I actually thought it was adorable when we were still working on that first wall. Now it just sounds like a creepy obsession." She stopped next to the last wall and didn't even look at Dean when he leaned towards the surface and started punching it with his small ax.
"Well I'm not gonna apologize for that." Just at that moment, Alina felt a headache coming and knowing what it meant, quickly checked her surroundings with her guard on. "You'll thank me later, Frenchy."
But she didn't. She was too busy pulling him down with her, right before a knife hurled itself into the cabinet in front of which his head used to be. When he realized what was happening, he grabbed the table to knock it over and place it in front of them. They got closer to each other so the small shield would protect them both, and watched as more knives came through it. Since the weapons were now useless, it was time for the fridge door to open next to them, and everything inside of it started to fly towards the friends. "The bag!" Dean shouted while they were ducking every attacks, and the two hunters stood up as fast as they could, Dean holding the table in front of him to protect the girl behind him from the knives while she threw the small bag of herbs into the hole.
A blinding light instantly invaded the whole room, forcing the hunters to drop back to the ground and protect their eyes for a few seconds before it all went away. When they opened their eyes, they were relieved to find the calm and silent kitchen that was now in a complete mess. But they were alive. They sat next to each other and smiled.
"You okay?" Dean asked his friend, who couldn't help but laugh at the hundredth time he'd asked her that question tonight. She laughed, until she felt a sudden pressure around her neck, starting to chock her. She tried grabbing the thing that was causing her suffocation, but nothing was there. "Alina?!" Dean saw his friend holding her neck desperately gasping for air. "Hey hey hey what's wrong?! What's happening?!" He wanted to take her hands away from her neck to see the source of the problem, but he was surprised when she pushed him away and shook her head.
"Sa...Sa..."
Sam. He didn't know what what going on, but it wasn't hard to guess that Sam was in danger, and it was affecting Alina.
"Go..."
Alina managed to say this single word before Dean finally got up and ran upstairs as fast as he could, finding his little brother lying on the ground of a room, being strangled by a cord. "Sam!" He rushed over him and tried getting the cord off, but since he couldn't do it he went to the wall, kicked it rapidly to make a small hole, and placed the bag Sam had dropped inside it. The same light as before emanated from the room. Once it disappeared and Dean was sure the spirit was gone, he went back over to a weak Sam, unraveled the cord from around his neck and pulled him into his arms.
It took a few minutes for a panting Alina to appear on the doorway, rubbing her neck and looking at the brothers that fortunately seemed fine. She met Dean's eyes and slightly laughed. "Thank you."
He smiled, knowing she was referring what he'd said right before they got attacked by the spirit, and nodded, still holding his little brother against him.
LATER
The hunters and the psychic were standing in the chaotic kitchen, Sam talking to Missouri near the entrance, and Dean checking Alina's neck on the other side of the room. Of course, she was completely fine and the strangling had left no mark, but Dean couldn't help himself. "Okay that's it for tonight. We're getting a motel room and you're not leaving it until I'm sure you're completely rested."
"Dean you're such an overprotective boyfriend…"
They both reacted the same way at the statement. They stood still, looked at each other, realized what she'd just said, what he'd just heard, and quickly looked away with a serious expression to hide their embarrassment. She regretted saying it like that when she actually meant to say he was 'acting like' an overprotective boyfriend, while Dean felt stupid because it didn't even sound weird for him at first. Why was he acting like a freaking teenager?!
"You sure this is over?" They heard Sam ask and chose to concentrate on the boy's conversation with Missouri.
"I'm sure. Why? Why do you ask?"
Alina noticed how Sam hesitated to answer, like he wasn't even sure himself, or was too scared to be treated like he was insane. "Never mind. It's nothing, I guess."
The young woman hadn't paid attention, but maybe he was right. Something with the atmosphere wasn't right, like the calm before the storm. And that whole 'herbs bags mission' had felt a little too easy to complete, even though half of their group had nearly died of suffocation. Unfortunately, she also couldn't feel the spirit's bad influence on her anymore so there was nothing she could say to confirm his theory.
"Hello? We're home." They heard Jenny entering the house and the little family came into the kitchen to find the mess the hunters had left. "What happened?"
"Hi, sorry. Um, we'll pay for all of this." Sam offered without asking for the other two's permission. And even if Alina wanted to help Jenny as much as she could, she looked as confused as Dean when her best friend just gave away their money so easily. They'd earned that money. They'd scammed so many people for it.
"Don't you worry." Missouri added. "Dean's gonna clean up this mess."
Alina was a much bigger fan of that idea. She loved the face her friend made as he simply stood there and annoyingly glared at Missouri for her proposition. Which only annoyed her even more. "Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Get the mop."
Dean began walking away, and once again Alina didn't need to be a psychic to know what he was thinking. "And don't cuss at me!" Missouri scolded him, making the boy leave while muttering under his breath.
His friend kept laughing until she eventually joined him and took the mop from his hands. "We both messed up the kitchen. Just don't tell Missouri I helped you." She winked at him and got to work, making the boy smirk. She could've let him do all the dirty work by himself, but here she was secretly helping him and that was one of the many reasons why that sentence earlier sounded so natural. She cared about him, even after the battle was over and all that was left to do was the boring stuff hunters hated so much.
LATER
"All right…" Dean complained for the fifth time in the driver's seat. "So tell me again, what are we still doing here?"
Alina was trying to fall asleep in the backseat, but it wasn't as easy as usual. She was exhausted, yet she just kept feeling a sharp pain in her back and couldn't find a comfortable position to relax after that long day. Like Dean, she wished she was in a motel room right now, but she also couldn't ignore Sam's intuition after everything she'd been through.
"I don't know. I just…I still have a bad feeling."
"Why?" Dean insisted, still mad at his brother for making him stay in front of the house to keep an eye on Jenny and her kids. "Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing, the house should be clean, it should be over."
"Yeah, well, probably. But I just wanna make sure, that's all."
"Yeah, well, problem is I could be sleeping in a bed right now." He slid down in his seat and closed his eyes.
"I second that." Alina said in the middle of a yawn. She imitated Dean and tried to get some rest, but as she was finally starting to fall asleep, Sam suddenly jumped on his seat and hit his brother's arm to grab his attention.
"Dean, Alina. Look!"
His brother and his friend both opened their eyes and looked at the house, spotting Jenny behind the window of her bedroom, screaming desperately for help. The three hunters instantly rushed out of the car and ran towards the house.
"You two grab the kids, I'll get Jenny." Dean said as they entered the house.
Alina let the brothers handle the mom and the little boy, quickly finding Sari sitting and screaming for help in her bed because of the figure on fire standing by her closet. The hunter didn't let the sight frighten her. She grabbed Sari and took her out of her bed. "It's okay Sari. Let's…" And that's when she realized something. She couldn't feel anything bad coming from the spirit behind her, in fact, she almost felt protected by it. Earlier that day she couldn't even walk inside that room without holding Sam's hand, but this spirit wasn't trying to harm her.
"Alina!" Sam appeared in the hallway, carrying little Ritchie in his arms and stopping the moment he saw the spirit.
Alina still had Sari in her arms so she quickly walked towards Sam and gave him the child. "Sam get them out of here!"
"What about you?!"
"Don't worry! Go!" Sam hesitated to leave his friend alone with that spirit. "Now Sam! Go!" He knew he didn't have time to argue with her since the kids in his arms were shaking and crying in fear, so he let out a frustrated groan and finally left the room.
Alina turned back to the figure on fire and was intrigued when the spirit simply stayed where it was, staring at the girl in a non-threatening way. The warmth created by the fire even felt soft and welcoming. Like the warmth of a…mother.
The hunter couldn't believe what was on her mind, yet she didn't hesitate more before walking straight towards the figure and stopping a few inches away when the fire suddenly disappeared around it. Alina's jaw dropped when she recognized the blond, beautiful woman facing her with a smile on her face. She'd seen so many pictures of her with the Winchesters and her mom. She'd spent her whole life regretting to never be able to meet her. But it was her, and she was here.
"Mary…" The girl's voice was so low, she even wondered if the boys' mom had heard her.
"Alina…" She sounded so familiar, even if the hunter was still a baby when she'd met her. It was so gentle, and there was so much love in it, it brought tears to Alina's eyes. Mary Winchester smiled at the girl and put her hand on her cheek as if she was trying to prevent her tears from falling. "You look just like your mom."
Her attempt failed as Alina started crying. She was so happy to see her, and at the same time so sad that her friends weren't here. Their mom had stayed in that house all this time…
"Thank you." Mary told her, now wiping her tears away with both her hands. "For taking care of my boys."
Alina's heart could've exploded at these words. It meant the world to her that Mary could see how much she loved her sons. And it also felt so wrong to be the one talking to their mom. So she grab the hands that were on her cheeks and nodded quickly. "I'll go find them. I'll bring them here and you…"
"No. We don't have much time left."
That scared the girl. She didn't like her tone and choice of words. "What do you mean? You can't leave already…"
"Alina listen to me."
At that exact moment, Alina heard a loud noise coming from downstairs, and the sound of a door slamming shut. Something was going on, and that had to be connected to what Mary was telling her. Were they really running out of time?
Mary held Alina's hands tightly and kept smiling at her, choosing not to focus on the concerning sounds. "Tell Dean and Sam that I love them."
"Mary no…" She didn't want to be the one saying it to them. She wanted her to talk with her sons.
"And please…keep an eye on Dean for me. He needs someone like you in his life even if he feels like he doesn't deserve it."
Alina simply nodded, bitting her lower lip to stop herself from crying more. She then took a deep breath and closed her eyes when Mary came closer to put a kiss on the top of her head. Once again, she felt nostalgic with that simple gesture that her mom's best friend had probably done many times to her when she was just a newborn. And when she opened her eyes, she saw Mary disappearing in the ground like she was going downstairs.
The young hunter quickly wiped the rest of the tears away from her cheeks and rushed out of the room. She skipped a lot of steps when she ran down the stairs, noticing the hole in the front door, made by an ax. She ignored it and went to the kitchen where she found Sam pinned against the wall by an invisible force, with his brother standing in front of him, pointing his gun at…the figure on fire he couldn't recognize. To Dean's surprise, Alina instantly jumped between the gun and the spirit. "No please stop!"
Dean frowned at his friend. "Alina get out of here!"
"Put your gun down!"
"Alina…"
"Dean don't!" Sam shouted behind him all of a sudden, still pinned against the wall. "Don't, she's right!"
"What, why?!"
"Because I know who it is." His brother answered with a faint smile that Alina was relieved to see. "I can see her now."
And the brothers' friend stepped aside to let Dean see the fire vanishing around the spirit, finally revealing his mother's face. His expression softened as he lowered his gun slowly, completely shocked by the sight. "Mom?"
Mary smiled and stepped closer to him. "Dean."
Alina wished his mom could've said more, she wished Dean could've talk to her like she had. She didn't need to be a psychic or an Empath to be touched by the tears forming in Dean's eyes as he kept looking at his mom, never taking his eyes off her even when she walked away from him to go to Sam.
"Sam." The youngest son cried while smiling at her, until her own smile faded and she looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" He asked her but didn't get an answer.
Alina was also surprised by these words since Mary hadn't said anything to her about it. What was she apologizing for?
Of course, none of them got the answer as Mary walked away once again, to go stand in the middle of the kitchen. She turned around one more time to look at Alina, who nodded to confirm that she would take care of the boys for her. And now reassured by her best friend's daughter, Mary looked up at the ceiling angrily, ready to do what she had to do. Protect her family. "You get out of my house. And let go of my son."
Flames surrounded her body, and now back to a big fire she reached the ceiling to disappear in an explosion that seemed to destroy the other spirit instantly. Alina watched Sam finally falling back on his feet, now freed from the invisible force. He walked over to Dean, and the brothers shared the same stunned expression.
"Now it's over." Sam said with a faint smile, and his friend had to agree with him.
She couldn't feel that dark energy anymore, but she also couldn't feel Mary's presence. She was gone.
THE NEXT MORNING
Alina was almost blinded by the sunlight when she woke up in the backseat of the Impala. She blinked a few times and yawned before noticing Dean's jacket on top of her. She wanted to smile at the gesture, but the previous night's events came back to her mind and she felt a knot forming in her throat. The Winchesters had lost their mom once again.
"Thanks for these."
That was Dean's voice. It didn't take more than a few seconds for the girl to see her friend standing on the other side of the car with Jenny.
"Don't thank me, they're yours."
She was talking about the trunk of old photos next to Alina on the backseat. The young woman stretched her arms and finally got out of the car, quickly noticed by Dean. "Hey Frenchy, hope we didn't wake you up."
"I don't even remember falling asleep." She closed the back door and joined her friend, waving at the woman they'd helped who was now walking away to give them some privacy.
"You didn't." Dean informed her. "You fell in my arms the moment we walked out the house last night. I just thought you needed some rest so I put you in the car."
She felt weak and stupid for constantly fainting, but Dean's smile reassured her before he handed her the old photos he had in his hands. She took them after giving him his jacket back and looked at them. There were mostly pictures of Mary, John and their kids, but there were also some pictures of Alina's mom and Mary together. The girl grinned at a picture of Dean sitting on an armchair with baby Sam on his lap. "Missouri's right, you were a goofy-looking kid."
"Alright…" Dean took the picture from her hand in annoyance, making his friend laugh until her eyes landed on the picture that was underneath it. Her smile faded when she saw Mary, and the name 'Alina' on the blanket wrapped around the baby she was holding in her arms.
Alina's mom had photos of her best friend holding her daughter so it wasn't new for the girl, but after last night, it felt even more heartbreaking.
"How did you know it was her back there?" Dean questioned her the moment she threw the pictures back into the trunk on the backseat. He was obviously referring to the way she'd jumped in front of his gun when he still couldn't see Mary's true form, and Alina had nothing to hide about it.
"I saw her in Sari's bedroom before she came downstairs. I talked to her."
The last sentence made Dean stare at her with even more expectations. He didn't know that. Alina leaned on the side of the car next to him, still affected by all the sadness she'd experienced.
"I wanted to come and find you so you could talk to her, but that other spirit trapped us inside and…our time was limited." She still regretted not being able to bring the boys to her, even if she was glad they'd seen their mom one last time before she'd left. She smiled sadly and looked back at Dean. "She wanted me to tell you and Sam that she loves you. I'm sorry you have to hear it from me though."
Dean was overwhelmed by all the emotions seeing his mom had brought back to him. He felt as vulnerable as when he was just a kid. And as much as he would've wanted more time with his mom, he was glad that Alina was the one to tell him that. It meant a lot to him that his mom had chosen her to do it. So he smiled softly and looked down at the ground.
Alina stayed silent after that, giving him enough time to process everything. All of this made her realize that even thought she was still mad at her dad for hiding her abilities and taking her memories away from her, she also wished she could see him and hug him just one more time. Even for a second. She missed him, and she loved him no matter what.
"She said anything else?" Dean eventually came back to their conversation, curious to know more about what his mom and his friend had talked about.
Alina immediately thought about the thing that had surprised her the most. The fact that Dean didn't think he deserved to have her in his life. Mary seemed sure of it, and it actually broke Alina's heart that her friend could have such absurd thoughts. She probably was the one who didn't deserve him after all. But she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable so she chose to keep that last detail to herself when she looked back at him with a grin on her lips. "She just asked me to keep an eye on you. She said you needed someone like me in your life, and whatever that means, I wasn't intending to leave you anyway so…you're definitely stuck with me Winchester."
She pushed him on the side softly and laughed, looking away while Dean couldn't take his eyes off her. Apparently his mom knew how special that crazy girl was to him. She knew Alina was the only person he allowed himself to be vulnerable with. How she made him feel worried and safe at the same time. He just couldn't lose her and from what she was saying, he wasn't going to.
For the first time since she'd started to feel her Empathy affecting her, Alina didn't get a painful headache when a wave of emotions that weren't hers came to her. It wasn't anything bad, just…admiration, gratitude, happiness…and love. And it couldn't come from anyone else than the person standing right next to her. She wasn't expecting to feel so many good things directed to her all of a sudden, so it took her a moment to let her smile grow wider when she turned to her friend. These feelings weren't hers, but they were perfectly similar to the one she had for him. She cared so much about him. She'd always loved him.
Dean noticed the way she was looking at him and tried to hide his flustered face behind a frown that only made her chuckle even more. "What's wrong with your face, Frenchy?"
"It's called smiling. You should try."
He wanted to, but he fought against every fiber of his body to keep a serious face on and check his surroundings like he didn't care about what she'd said. "I don't smile."
"Sure you don't." Alina joked back happily. "You're lucky you're so handsome with those terrible social skills of yours."
He had to hide his smile even more after that comment. And he looked adorable.
Alina was glad he could react like that even after everything that had happened recently. She wanted him to be happy too. He deserved it. He deserved everything.
She was so proud of having him as a friend in that moment, she decided to grab his arm to pull him down so she could put a tender kiss on his cheek. It wasn't just a childish, quick little kiss. It was a slow, soft and warm contact that got him even more flustered. When she let go of his arm and took a few steps back after giving him another smile, he found himself regretting that it hadn't last longer. He was still able to feel her lips on his skin, and wanted so much more of it. But when he turned around, Alina was already walking towards Missouri and Sam, sitting on the steps of the house. He was definitely losing his mind over this girl. Out of all the women on this planet, why did he have to catch this kind of feelings for his best friend? The only woman that cared so much about him, she couldn't just fall for him like others would…
"Sam, I'm sorry." Missouri told the boy as Alina was joining them.
"For what?"
"You sensed it was here, didn't you? Even when Alina and I couldn't."
Alina hadn't forgot about Sam having weird abilities like her, but she didn't want to talk about it with Missouri since it was Sam's problem. She was glad however that he was finally asking the psychic about it. "What's happening to me?"
Missouri shook her head sadly. "I know I should have all the answers, but I don't know. One thing's for sure, you're not like Alina. Your powers are both powerful but they are completely different."
"So what should we do?" Alina asked, more worried about her friend than herself.
Sam noticed the way she was nervously taping on her arm with her fingers, obviously trying to hide her fear from them. He didn't want to give her his answer, but he also wanted her to be okay. "Missouri told me she could help with your Empathy. Maybe you should stay here with her."
The young woman was concerned about what she could do with her uncontrollable powers, but she couldn't stay here. Not after she'd promised Mary to stay with her boys.
"Are you trying to get rid of me Sammy?"
She got a smile from him. "You know I'm not. I just want you to feel safe."
"Yeah…thanks. But I won't feel safe if I have to spend every second wondering if you two idiots are trying to kill each other or not."
She really didn't want them to be alone, because she was always the one who had to come between them, every time they were arguing. Especially after all the bad energy she'd felt with their last disagreement. These two needed a chaperone, and she was the only person on Earth, crazy enough to take the job.
Sam was relieved that his friend wasn't going to stay after all. He wanted her to stay by his side, and he wanted Dean to finally admit his feelings to her, which would've been difficult if she'd chose to stay with Missouri. But he still felt like the two women needed to talk for a moment before they had to leave, so he nodded and went to check on Jenny, looking at her house from the sidewalk.
Missouri took the opportunity to talk privately with Alina. "Honey, I know how much these two mean to you, but are you sure you don't wanna stay? The kinda power you've got, it needs to be trained."
"I know. But no matter how much this looks scary, I do feel safer around Dean and Sam. I'd do anything for them and they'd do the same for me. That's not something I should leave behind so easily."
Missouri smiled, knowing that kind of love was exactly what the girl's father wanted her to have in her life. She knew she'd be alright with the Winchesters now. "Your father would be proud of you."
Alina wanted to thank her for saying that, but was quickly interrupted by Dean, honking behind her, impatiently. "Frenchy! You ready?!"
She sighed and gave Missouri a thankful smile before turning around and walking towards the car angrily. "I swear Winchester, next time you honk at me like that, I'm gonna honk your face!"
She heard Missouri laughing behind her when she reached the Impala, standing next to it with the brothers to give Missouri and Jenny one last look.
"Don't you three be strangers."
"We won't." Dean said to Alina's surprise. He actually liked her.
"See you around."
They all smiled at each other, until the three hunters eventually got in the car and drove away slowly. That wasn't just a normal job, and this time they were leaving the city with a lot of new informations they didn't even imagined they would get. Now that Alina knew what she was, she'd finally be able to focus on helping the brothers. They were going to find John, and figure out what was going on with Sam. They had to.
But until then she was glad to be on the road with her two favorite boys, doing what they did best together. Saving people, hunting things. The family business.
Okay. Honestly? It was so hard to write this chapter while staying truthful to the characters' feelings towards Mary. The boys just love their mom and are completely biased about her, and Alina was still a baby when she was alive so everything she knows about her is coming from her mom or the Winchesters.
But damn, what kind of a mother is she?! I can't believe I had to add a scene of her, saying that she loves her sons because SHE COULDN'T EVEN SAY IT IN THE EPISODE! IT'S JUST A SENTENCE, MARY! YOU WERE LITERALLY STANDING THERE SILENTLY FOR SUCH A LONG TIME! WHY?! JUST TO SAY THEIR NAMES?! AND TO APOLOGIZE?! FOR SOMETHING THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW YET?!
BE A MOTHER TO YOUR SONS, MARY! BE A MOTHER!
Anyway…I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I heard you guys, trust me the slow burn will end soon! I'm curious to know in which episode you think they'll admit their feelings actually…hehe…
It's 2am, I'm gonna sleep now and I'll see you in 'Asylum'! Have a nice day/night!