(S1EP12 - Faith)

Alina was sitting on one of the chairs in the large white hallway, looking absently to the ground, unable to hear anything around her. She thought she'd seen Sam talking with two police officers, but couldn't get up from her chair without feeling like she was falling into a deep void. The same images were repeating themselves again and again in her mind. Her, outside the house with the two children they'd rescued the day before, waiting for her friends to come out once their work would be done. Yet, after a few minutes of waiting in the dark, she'd ended up going back inside the house to find the brothers in the basement. What she'd seen there would certainly haunt her for the rest of her life. She couldn't stop thinking about Dean's unconscious body, lying on the ground next to Sam, desperately shouting his brother's name to wake him up.

In that moment, even though she was in complete shock, Alina had quickly pushed Sam away from Dean, asking him to call an ambulance while she was doing CPR on her friend. She couldn't feel any pulse, but she had to try something. She couldn't stop crying, but he had to wake up...

"Alina?"

The young woman blinked a few times like she was emerging from a nightmare when she heard Sam's voice. She looked up at him, standing next to her with the doctor they were waiting to see. She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there, but she felt like she could've stayed like that for hours if Sam hadn't called her name.

She gave her friend a faint smile as she stood up to face the doctor, holding Sam's hand like they were both trying to stay strong for the other. Sam did most of the talking, and Alina listened to the man as he told them about Dean's massive heart attack, caused by the electrocution. He was resting now, but his heart was damaged.

"How damaged?" Sam asked when he felt Alina squeezing his hand a little harder in apprehension.

"We've done all we can. We can try and keep him comfortable at this point. But, I'd give him a couple weeks, at most, maybe a month."

Alina closed her eyes and let go of Sam's hand as she took a few steps away from them. She was facing a wall now, but she could still hear their discussion.

"No, no. There's...there's gotta be something you can do, some kind of treatment."

"We can't work miracles. I really am sorry."

Sam was upset, but couldn't leave his friend alone. He didn't add anything, simply went to put his hand on Alina's shoulder, making her turn around to face him. But she just kept her head down. She didn't look like she was about to cry, she just looked empty.

"Come on Alina. Let's go see him." When she didn't respond, he put his hand on her back to gently push her towards Dean's hospital room.

They found him lying in his bed, watching TV like nothing was wrong. But his face was pale, and he had dark circles under his eyes that couldn't be ignored. He kept his eyes on the TV when the two hunters entered the room, so he couldn't see the way Sam was trying to hold back his tears, nor how much Alina's hands were shaking.

"Have you ever actually watched daytime TV? It's terrible." His voice was weak, and it just made Alina feel worse. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be back on the road with her friends, she wanted Dean to live.

Sam was the only one to answer his question by simply shaking his head, before sighing with sadness. "We talked to your doctor."

Dean still refused to look at them. "That fabric softener teddy bear. Oh, I'm gonna hunt that little bitch down."

Alina simply scoffed, furious and feeling completely hopeless. She then went to stand in front of the window, trying to distract herself from the pain she was experiencing. And if she couldn't even do that, she at least didn't want Dean to see her cry.

"Dean." Sam called his brother more seriously.

The eldest Winchester was glad that Alina wasn't facing him anymore, because he wasn't sure he could've looked up at his brother if she was still standing next to him. He turned off the TV, and tried sounding as resigned as possible. "Yeah. All right, well, looks like you're gonna leave town without me."

"What are you talking about? We're not gonna leave you here."

"Hey, you better take care of that car. And you keep that stubborn girl safe. Or, I swear, I'll haunt your ass." He sounded way more serious now, which made Alina's heart ache a little more.

"I don't think that's funny." Sam told him.

"Oh, come on, it's a little funny."

There was a long silence after that. Dean took a quick glance at his silent friend with her back turned to him, then he watched his brother, looking down, fighting tears. He didn't want to see them like that.

"Look, guys, what can I say? Man, it's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it, end of story."

It hurt so bad. Alina wanted to scream, she wanted to break everything in that hospital, she wanted to kill someone or something, now!

"Don't talk like that, alright? We still have options." Sam tried to sound optimistic.

"What options? Yeah, burial or cremation. And I know it's not easy. But I'm gonna die. And you can't stop it."

Alina could feel her fingernails digging into the palms of her hands. There was a huge lump in her throat, and her head felt like it was about to explode. She wasn't okay. She wasn't...

"Watch me." She heard Sam say with confidence, until a sudden scream interrupted their conversation.

Alina didn't move when Sam walked towards the door to see what was happening in the hallway. The moment he opened the door, they heard the chorus of screams coming from every other room around Dean's. Screams of pain, fear, and sorrow. All the patients were yelling at the top of their lungs, and multiple doctors and nurses were running in the hallway, desperately trying to understand what was going on.

The same doctor as earlier suddenly rushed into the room to check Dean's current state. Sam followed him to the bed, confused by the situation. "Doctor, what's going on?"

"We don't know yet. How do you feel?" He asked Dean, with his eyes on the hunter's life monitor.

"I'm not screaming in pain, if that's what you wanna know."

The doctor looked lost, and concerned. He turned to Sam. "Stay with him, call the nurses if you notice anything out of the ordinary."

Sam nodded, and the doctor left in a hurry. The brothers shared the same worried look.

"What do you think's going on?"

Dean shrugged, so Sam walked to his friend near the window to grab her attention. "Alina?"

He once again put his hand on her shoulder. However, the moment he touched her everything went quite. The screams had stopped, and they could even hear the voices of the doctors outside the room, trying to figure out what had just happened with their patients. It had started and stopped so abruptly, they couldn't explain it.

"I'm sorry..."

The brothers looked at their friend when she turned around with a single tear rolling down her cheek. She closed her eyes and shook her head angrily. "I didn't..."

And they realized what happened. They realized all those screams had been caused by her Empathy. For the first time, she'd made multiple people feel her emotions at the same time. She was so silent from the beginning, the brothers couldn't imagine all those screams actually belonged to her.

Dean felt terrible knowing she was feeling that way because of him. She was devastated, and he wanted to comfort her more than anything else right now. He wanted to hold her against him, telling her everything would be okay even if it was just a lie. But she rushed out of the room before he could even talk to her.

She couldn't stay here in her current state, she didn't want to hurt anyone else because she couldn't control her own emotions.

Sam watched her leave, still in shock of what happened. Yet, he couldn't blame her. "I'm gonna make sure she's alright." He announced quickly before also leaving the room.

Dean couldn't believe how much his friend was affected by the idea of losing him. All those screams were echoing in his mind, and now that his brother was gone, he was finally able to let himself cry. He wanted to stay strong for them, but of course he didn't want to die. He couldn't leave them like that. What would happen to Alina after his death if she already felt like that when he was still alive?

Sam found his friend outside the hospital, crying all the tears in her body on the backseat of the Impala. She didn't stop him when he got in the car to sit next to her, and wrap his arms around her to hold her tightly. She just cried even more. She desperately grabbed his hoodie in her hands, and shoved her face into his chest to let out the scream she was trying to hold back. Sam didn't let go of her for a moment. He remembered the night Jessica had died. He remembered the way his friend had let him cry on her shoulder for hours right outside of his building.

He had to protect her from that. For their own sakes, he had to save his brother.

THREE DAYS LATER

Alina sighed in frustration as she hung up the phone for the fourth time and closed her eyes to calm herself down. She knew her mom didn't want to be found, but she needed her right now and she wasn't answering. The last three days had been a total nightmare. Sam and her, had spent all their time calling people, trying to find a way to heal Dean. Their only lead right now, was a Faith Healer in Nebraska. She could already see Dean's reaction to that idea, and couldn't help but laugh at how stupid this sounded like. But she was desperate. She was ready to do anything to save him.

She suddenly jumped in her seat when she heard someone knocking on the driver's window of the Impala, and was stunned to see Dean waving at her from outside the car. He looked even worse than the last time she'd seen him, three days ago, and was wearing one of Sam's hoodies.

"Dean?" Alina quickly opened the door for him, and watched him weakly get on the driver's seat next to her. She didn't know what to say, she wasn't expecting to see him now and here.

But her friend just smiled when he closed back his door and put his hand on the steering wheel, happy to be reunited with his precious car. "Hey Baby. Did you miss me?"

Alina was lost between joy, concern, and anger. She was happy to see him, but he looked terrible. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I checked myself out." He tried to give her a smile, but quickly had to lay down correctly in his seat to get some rest.

"Why would you do that?"

"Oh come on, Frenchy. Aren't you happy to see me?"

She loved the way he was still talking with his usual flirtatious tone and confidence, even though he wasn't fine at all. So she couldn't help but smile back at her friend. She didn't want to argue with him. "You know I'm always happy to see you, Winchester. But right now you look like a sexy Beetlejuice."

Dean slightly laughed at her comment. "As long as I'm still sexy..."

Alina hadn't realized how much she'd missed having these moments with Dean. She'd been so focused on trying to save him, it felt good to finally laugh a little.

"So, Sam told me you've been spending most of your time here."

So he was coming from their motel room? She didn't like the idea of him walking around like that when he was supposed to rest, and she couldn't tell him the truth about why she preferred staying in the Impala. After what she'd done to the patients at the hospital, she'd decided to stay away from any other human being as much as possible. She would simply isolate herself in the car all day, and Sam would force her to come back in their room at night.

"Yeah, well, you know how much I love that car."

And it was true that the Impala had a relaxing effect on her. She felt better here. She just had to close her eyes and imagine she was back on the road with Dean and Sam, laughing together, making fun of each other…

Dean noticed the way she was trying not to look at him. He didn't want her to hide because she was too scared of hurting people with her emotions, but he felt like he shouldn't be insisting right now. He couldn't make her feel uncomfortable when he'd been waiting for days to see her. At least she looked better. Or she was getting better at hiding her pain.

"Heard we're going to Nebraska. I just got out of a hospital bed and you guys already wanna take me on a road trip? You know me too damn well, Frenchy."

Alina didn't know what Sam had exactly told him about that trip, so she chose to keep the 'Faith Healer' part secret for now.

"What did you expect, Winchester? You wanted me to tuck you in a bed and sing lullabies to make you fall asleep?"

Dean sighed with a smile. He loved her sarcasm, but at the same time he was afraid of giving her false hopes by believing in this lead in Nebraska. So he said something he didn't want to say, but had to. "Hey, a dying man can still dream."

Of course the young woman cringed at his words. She didn't want to hear them from him. Why was he acting like he didn't care about dying? Why wasn't he fighting for his life? Was it that easy to leave her and Sam? Because she couldn't even think about letting him go. She'd already lost someone she cared about, and her life had never been the same after that. But her life without Dean…that was her biggest fear. She was already so close to him before she'd left five years ago, but ever since she'd returned and started traveling around the country with him, she'd realized how much he truly meant to her. She wouldn't have survived the last months revelations without him, he was everything she needed.

Nothing else mattered anymore, she couldn't let him die so soon without…

"Alina…"

Since she'd stayed silent after his stupid attempt to bring her back to reality, he was about to apologize and change the subject, but he just had time to say her name before her lips made him shut his mouth. Alina had gently grabbed his face in her hands, and pressed her lips against his, making sure she wouldn't hurt him even though he was pretty weak. That kiss wasn't as passionate as the previous ones they'd shared, but it had to be the most surprising one. She had no reason to do that, yet here she was kissing him with all the tenderness he'd never thought he deserved. His whole body was still hurting like hell just a few seconds ago, but Alina's touch made him forget about everything else. Even dying.

It took him a short moment to get passed the surprise, but when he did, he effortlessly lifted his hand to Alina's cheek to bring her closer to him.

She wanted this kiss to last longer, but was glad she'd pulled away from him when she noticed the way he was gasping for air. However, she did stay close to him with her forehead resting against his. Their eyes were closed, her hands were now on the back of his neck, and she also felt like she was suffocating from that bittersweet moment…

"I'm not 'just drunk'. It's not 'just a diversion'. We're not 'just pretending'. And you're definitely not dying. So if you wanna know the real reason why I did that, you'll have to ask me once you feel better, Winchester."

Dean had a bewildered look on his face when she let go of him and sat back on her seat, like this hadn't just happened. Of course she was actually freaking out from what she'd done, and her heartbeats were so loud, she almost turned on the radio to cover the obvious sound.

Luckily for her, Sam quickly arrived after that with their bags. He wanted his brother to sit in the back with Alina, so she would be able to keep an eye on him while Sam was driving. The brothers' friend was convinced Dean would never agree to be on the backseat, but to her surprise, he didn't protest when Sam helped him get out of the driver's seat.

Once they were all ready to go, Sam started the engine and drove away as fast as possible to get to their destination before sundown.

They'd been driving for a good hour, when Alina suddenly felt a weight falling on her arm. It didn't bother her to see Dean sleeping on her shoulder, but she didn't want him to wake up because of the little shock. She discreetly tried to take a look at his face, relieved to see his eyes still closed. He needed to rest.

The hunter thought about all these times she'd fell asleep on his shoulder, on the same backseat of the same car. When they were kids, he would always just let her sleep, trying not to move while Sam was sitting on the opposite side of the girl, and the children's fathers were talking about their hunts on the front.

She smiled at the memories, until she met Sam's eyes in the rearview mirror. The youngest Winchester simply nodded, as if to reassure her about his brother's future. And Alina nodded back with a sad smile, slowly grabbing Dean's cold hand on her lap to hold it tightly. He would be okay. He had to.

LATER

Alina groaned angrily when she got out of the car and had to walk in the muddy ground. That was disgusting. She was about to go help Dean, but Sam was faster than her when he got out and ran around the car. That was actually a better idea, she didn't want to be the one having to explain the huge sign next to the tent in the middle of the field. 'The Church of Roy LeGrange. Faith Healer. Witness The Miracle.'

Alina tried not to laugh, because she had to believe this could work. It would already be too late to find another plan.

She turned to the brothers when she heard them arguing. Well…it was mostly Dean yelling at Sam.

"Man, you are a lying bastard. Thought you said we were going to see a doctor."

"I believe I said a specialist. Look, Dean, this guy's supposed to be the real deal."

"I can't believe you brought me here to see some guy who heals people out of a tent."

An elderly woman with an umbrella passed by, blocking Alina's way when she was trying to join her friends. "Reverend LeGrange is a great man."

"Yeah, that's nice." Dean mumbled, clearly unhappy to be here. He then turned to Alina who was now standing next to him. "You knew about this?"

She simply looked up at Sam with a smirk. "I told you he wouldn't like it."

"That's our best option right now."

The three hunters started to walk towards the tent, noticing an angry man yelling at a cop. "I have a right to protest. This man is a fraud. And he's milking all these people out of their hard-earned money."

"Sir, this is a place of worship. Let's go. Move it."

The cop slowly pushed the man away, and Alina started to feel uneasy about this. She didn't know if it was because of that Faith Healer, or because she was surrounded by sick people, but something was definitely wrong. She then noticed an old man trying to get to the tent, but his cane was digging itself into the mud. The hunter abandoned her friends for a moment to go help the man who gave her a thankful smile once he got to the tent.

Alina didn't have to look around for too long to find the Winchesters after that, still arguing near the entrance. She sighed and walked towards them.

"But if you know evil's out there, how can you not believe good's out there, too?" Sam was struggling to convince his brother.

"Because I've seen what evil does to good people."

Their friend was about to stop the fight between the brothers, but a woman's voice suddenly joined their conversation. "Maybe God works in mysterious ways."

Alina stopped next to Sam at the same time the young, blond, beautiful woman holding an umbrella turned to Dean. And of course he had to check her out with a smile. "Maybe he does. I think you just turned me around on the subject."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Alina rolled her eyes at her friend and shared an amused look with Sam.

"I'm Dean. This is Sam and Alina."

The young woman took Dean's hand before smiling at the other two. They waved at her happily, relieved that Dean was too busy talking with her to complain about their plan.

"Layla. So, if you're not a believer, then why are you here?"

"Well, apparently these two here believe enough for the three of us."

Sam and Alina decided to ignore his unpleasant tone. An older woman approached Layla and put her arm around her before they could continue with their discussion. "Come on, Layla. It's about to start."

The two women smiled at the hunters, and moved inside the tent. But it was their smiles that made Alina realize how scared they actually were. One of them was sick. Really sick. The hunter frowned once she looked back at them, and noticed most of the fear was coming from the older woman. That could only mean one thing…Layla was dying.

"Well, I bet you she can work in some mysterious ways."

Sam couldn't help but chuckle at Dean's comment, but when the brothers noticed Alina's sad expression, their smiles faded away completely.

"You okay, Frenchy?"

Dean asking her if she was okay had to be the biggest joke of the day. She couldn't let him get worried for her in his current state. She nodded and took his arm to help him walk even if he felt like he didn't need it.

The tent was full of people, finding their seats and waiting for the Faith Healer to come on the small stage at the front. Dean and Alina were about to sit down in the back, but Sam stopped them, forcing his brother to move towards the front. "Come on."

"Don't! What are you doing? Let's sit here."

"We're sitting up front."

"What? Why?"

"Come on." Sam insisted, moving Dean up the aisle.

"Oh, come on, Sam." The eldest then turned to their friend walking behind them. "And you're not gonna say anything?"

Alina shrugged, not ready to argue with Sam about this. He was sure this would work, and she envied that optimism.

"This is ridiculous." Dean complained, slapping Sam's hands away. "I'm good, dude, get off me."

They found three empty seats behind Layla and her mother. Sam made Alina move in first, sat next to her, and let Dean take the aisle. He tried to help his brother sit, but once again Dean raised a hand irritably. He was acting like a child, but that wasn't new to Sam and Alina.

On the stage, a woman helped a blind man wearing sunglasses get to the lectern. That man, Roy LeGrange, started his little speech about the bad things happening in the world. Alina didn't need that to know how ugly the world actually was, but she listened anyway. She had to do it for Dean.

Multiple times, the crowd nodded and cheered at the things he said about God rewarding the good, punishing the corrupt, guiding him in choosing who to heal by helping him see into people's hearts…

"Yeah, and into their wallets." Dean whispered to Sam and Alina.

"You think so, young man?"

The whispering crowd immediately fell silent at Roy's reply. Of course he'd heard Dean…

"Sorry." Dean apologized, still frustrated to be here.

"No, no. Don't be. Just watch what you say around a blind man, we've got real sharp ears." The crowd laughed. "What's your name, son?"

Dean cleared his throat, hesitating for a moment before answering. "Dean."

"Dean." Roy repeated, nodding to himself. "I want…I want you to come up here with me."

The crowd clapped enthusiastically, and Sam seemed happy too, but Alina just couldn't stop thinking about that feeling she had earlier, outside the tent. What if something was really wrong with this place? What if Dean was in danger? She didn't move or talk when Dean shook his head, politely refusing the offer, making Sam look at him like he was insane. Alina's headache was starting to come back with all the noises surrounding her. She almost couldn't hear Roy as he insisted for Dean to come with him.

She closed her eyes to keep her focus, and reopened them when Dean was reluctantly standing up to move towards the stage. Sam was too excited to notice Alina pressing her fingers to her temple, trying to stop the pain.

"You ready?" Roy asked Dean once he'd joined him.

"Look, no disrespect, but…I'm not exactly a believer."

Roy smiled at him. "You will be, son. You will be." He then turned to the crowd. "Pray with me, friends."

The crowd lifted their arms up and joined hands with each other. Roy raised his hands to the air, placing one of them on Dean's shoulder, and the other one on the side of his head.

Dean was still hesitant, so he took a quick glance at his brother and his friend, frowning when he noticed the way Alina was wincing in pain. "Alina?"

But before he could do anything to help her, he felt a huge wave of energy taking control of his body. His eyes glazed over and he fell on his knees, Roy's hand still on his head. His body was trembling, and his eyes fell back in his head before he completely fell to the ground.

"Dean!"

Sam's voice brought Alina back to reality in the blink of an eye. She looked around quickly, and didn't hesitate to follow her friend when he jumped off his chair and ran to the stage.

"Dean!" Alina also called him worryingly. She didn't know what had just happened, but seeing him lying unconscious wasn't a comforting sight.

Sam grabbed the front of the hoodie Dean was wearing, while Alina took his face in her hands to wake him up. "Dean!"

Fortunately, the hunter's eyes bursted open almost instantly, and he gasped. For a moment Alina was relieved to see him awake, looking up in Roy's direction, but when she turned too, her relief completely disappeared with what she saw. Next to Roy was another man with white hair, wearing a black suit, with an extremely pale and wrinkled skin. He was staring at Dean all along, but right before vanishing his eyes found the girl sitting on the floor, next to her friend. And even after he was gone, Alina still had shivers all over her body. That man…

She didn't know who that was but…

That man terrified her.

So let's talk about that kiss! Because…OH MY GOD OKAY IT'S HAPPENING! EVERYBODY STAY CALM! EVERYBODY STAY CALM! STAY F- Okay I think you got it.

Well…I hope you liked this chapter, and I hope you'll like the next one, and the one after that, because…no, no, I'm not telling you anything else, you'll have to see for yourselves!

Also, special thanks to the people leaving reviews at every chapters, because they just light up my days every time I read them! Thank you so much!

I'll see you guys in part 2! Have a nice day/night, love u!