(S1EP15 - The Benders)
Alina let out a huge sigh of frustration when she threw her bag on the back seat of the Impala. She noticed Dean and Sam walking out of the building at the same time, dressed as state troopers. They'd put on their best disguises to interrogate the only eye witness of the latest disappearance in this new case they'd found.
The young woman crossed her arms and leaned against the car as the brothers were walking towards her, and couldn't help but smile at how cute they looked. Like two children playing cops with they're fake uniforms. Alina didn't want to admit it, but she had that so unoriginal thing for men in uniforms. And of course, Dean in uniform was a completely different level of hotness.
"So whatcha got, officers?" Alina asked in a playful tone, making the boys smile when they reached her.
"Not much." Dean replied, joining Alina against the side of the Impala. "Kid was up late watching Godzilla..."
"Which one?"
Sam rolled his eyes at her question, since his brother had already made fun of him about that during the interrogation. "That's not relevant to the case, Alina."
"It is. I'd be more inclined to trust a kid with good taste."
"It's just a movie!" Sam complained, which gave her a huge clue. If he was already annoyed by the subject, that meant Dean had already brought it up when they were inside.
"Godzilla Vs. Mothra, uh?" She concluded with a smile.
"How'd you know?" The brothers asked in chorus, shocked by her correct guess.
"Really? You've been arguing over this ever since the remake came out and Sam had the audacity to like it." She'd always shared Dean's opinion on the subject, but she also thought that never ending fight was stupid. "Anyway, so what did the boy see?"
The Winchesters shared the same smile. The only thing they could agree on, was how much Alina meant to them. She'd always been here, and she had to be the only person on Earth that knew them so well. Dean nodded proudly and resumed his story. "Well he didn't see the thing, but he saw it grabbing Mr Jenkins and pulling him underneath the car. He said there was this whining growl as the monster left with the guy."
Alina frowned at this. She wished she'd found something to prove this theory of a monster abducting people. But...
"You found anything?" Sam asked once he noticed how frustrated she looked.
"Unfortunately no. We're in the middle of town, in the middle of the day, so no EMF meter, no night vision...I did try the infrared thermal scanner, but there's nothing left from that night."
"And what about your...other supernatural detector?"
Alina tried not to smile at Dean's hesitation. He was still afraid of saying something wrong that could offend her, and she didn't want to mock him for this. At least he was trying.
"Well I could be wrong because I still don't really know how to turn it on...or off, but I don't feel anything out of the ordinary here. At least nothing that could be our kind of problem. But again, I could be wrong."
Dean didn't like the way she sounded so unsure. She couldn't doubt herself like that, so he turned to his brother with a sudden, serious look on his face. "Yeah Sammy, I'm not sure about this either."
Sam was the one who'd found this new case, and he just couldn't leave before checking it out more.
Alina knew that, and her natural supportive instincts forced her to agree on staying in town for a little longer. "Alright, well I don't think we'll get anything useful today, so how about we get some rest and investigate a little more tomorrow?"
The youngest Winchester nodded, happy as always to have Alina's support on this. And while Dean still looked skeptic, the young woman already knew what to do to convince him.
She shared a knowing look with her best friend, then turned to his brother with a big grin. "In the meantime..." She quickly grabbed Dean's hat to put it on top of her head, and put both her hands behind his neck in a seductive way. "Maybe you could buy me a drink, officer?"
Dean really tried to resist her. He looked away and successfully didn't smile back at her for three whole seconds, after which he quickly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to him. "Sure ma'am. It's my duty to serve you." He started to lean down towards her.
"Really? Because I have a lot of demands, and it's kinda hard to satisfy me."
"Oh I'm pretty sure I know exactly how to satisfy you."
The two were smiling as their lips were about to collide, both burning in desire, when...
Sam honked multiple times from the passenger's seat, making them jump and separate from each other. They were so focused on flirting, they hadn't even noticed Sam getting in the car. "What the hell, Sammy?!" They shouted at the same time, with the same angry tone and face. They'd been stopped right before the best part.
And the youngest brother didn't care at all about what he'd just interrupted. He smiled at them like a proud kid and sat back on his seat.
Dean and Alina quickly calmed down, since they knew they'd have more than one occasion to continue this 'conversation'. Unlike the times they'd get interrupted before confessing their feelings to each other, and weren't sure when they'd be able to do it again, or if the other even wanted to. That last part was obviously more than resolved by now, and was actually the best one yet. Especially thanks to Alina's Empathy, making it ten times more intense for the two of them.
Everything was just great.
Something bad was definitely about to happen...
LATER
Alina took another sip of her beer, waiting for Dean's turn to end. She watched him standing behind the oche, raising an eyebrow at the way he was holding the dart in his hand. She then put her beer back on the table Sam was sitting at, looking at his researches, and walked towards Dean to stop right next to him before he could throw his dart. "Stop doing that."
"Doing what?" He didn't even look at her, keeping his focus on the board in front of him.
"You're letting me win." She watched the position of his feet, and smiled even more. "Stop letting me win."
Dean simply scoffed and let his arm fall alongside his body with the dart still in his hand. He turned towards Alina with a big grin. "You first, Frenchy."
Alina chuckled. So he'd noticed that she was also letting him win. They were both pretending to suck at this when they both already knew how good the other was at throwing darts.
The young woman got her seriousness back when she suddenly grabbed the dart in his hand, took his place behind the oche, stared at the board for a few seconds and...hit the middle of her target. Dean was impressed by her skills, even if he already knew about them.
Alina looked back at Dean with her arms crossed, and a proud expression on her face. "Happy?"
She noticed the way the hunter seemed distracted by something behind her, but she didn't need to turn around to know what this was about. She wasn't even surprised when Dean suddenly slid his hand under her jacket to caress the lower part of her back and pull her closer against him. He was being so obvious.
"Are these guys still staring at me?" She asked in a playful tone.
"You noticed them?"
"You didn't?"
Dean clearly didn't like the way these strangers were checking her out, even though this wasn't the first time it happened. They often stopped at local bars during their travel, and Alina always had to stop Dean from killing every guys daring to lay their eyes on her. He was cute when he was jealous like that, it was different from when he was jealous about Elias. Here he was just being protective, with Elias he was being absurdly doubtful.
"I'm gonna go talk to them." Dean was already trying to leave, but Alina grabbed his arm to stop him and pull him back in front of her. She didn't want that night to end in a bloodbath.
"Woah easy tiger." She laughed, holding him tightly so he wouldn't be able to escape her grip. "They're the ones that should be jealous of you."
"Yeah? Why's that?" He already knew the answer, but still wanted to hear it from her.
Alina smiled and got on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. "Because they'll never rip off my clothes on the backseat of their cars."
Dean smiled mischievously at her answer. He loved it when she was so confident about herself, that was the most attractive thing about her. "Right. That's my job."
"Yeah..." Alina took a step away and gave him a fake annoyed look, unable to hide her amused smile. "But you really need to stop doing that by the way. I can't just buy new clothes every time you decide to take me for a little drive in the middle of the night."
She gently patted his chest with a quick wink, and walked back to their table with a proud smile. She finished her beer and looked over Sam's shoulder to see his researches. "Can't you just take a break, Sammy?"
Sam simply shook his head and took a sip of his own beer. "So, local police have now ruled out foul play. Apparently, there are worse signs of a struggle.
"Well, they could be right, it could just be a kidnapping." Dean pointed out from his spot near the dartboard. "Maybe this isn't our kind of gig."
"Maybe it is." Alina corrected him, still trying to support her friend's theory. "We've looked into less."
"Yeah and we actually got something else here." Sam knew his next statement would grab his brother's attention. "Dad marked the area, Dean. Possible hunting grounds of a phantom attacker."
Of course, at the mention of John Winchester, Dean quickly dropped what he was doing and joined the other two at the table to look at his father's journal. "Why would he even do that?"
"Well, he found a lot of local folklore about a dark figure that comes out at night. Grabs people, then vanishes. He found this too, this county has more missing persons per capita than anywhere else in the state."
"That is weird."
Alina frowned in amusement at the hunter. "Oh so now you're interested?"
Dean shrugged and smiled at her. "Your turn."
The young woman rolled her eyes at him and took place in front of the board, still listening to the brothers' conversation.
"Don't phantom attackers usually snatch people from their beds? Jenkins was taken from a parking lot." Dean pointed out, surprisingly going against his father's theory.
"Well, there are all kinds. You know, Spring Heeled Jacks, phantom gassers. They take people anywhere, anytime. Look, Dean, I don't know if this is our kind of gig either."
Alina threw her dart before turning back to them with a long sigh. "Let's take a break for tonight, guys. We'll get back to this tomorrow."
The brothers nodded in agreement, until Dean and Alina noticed Sam taking out his wallet and standing up. "Right, I saw a motel about five miles back."
"Whoa, whoa, easy." The two others tried to stop him in chorus, not wanting to leave right away. They were actually having fun.
"Let's have another round." Dean continued with a frown.
But Sam wasn't sharing their point of view. "We should get an early start."
Alina tried to give him a puppy look, but when she realized it wasn't working, she just let out an annoyed sigh and grabbed her jacket on her seat.
Dean was as frustrated as her to leave so early. "Yeah, you really know how to have fun, don't you, Grandma?"
Sam smiled as Dean put his arm on Alina's shoulders. She was ready to hug him back, when she felt something that stopped her instantly. Something she wouldn't even have noticed without her Empathy since Sam was pretty good at hiding his feelings. Did her best friend feel uncomfortable about them? Yes, Dean and her were probably a little too 'physical' in public, and while she didn't care about what the others could think of them, she clearly didn't want Sam to feel bad because of them.
Dean noticed the way Alina's body had suddenly tensed up. He didn't know why she was reacting like that and was clearly worried about it when he decided to take his arm away from her.
Sam had just finished gathering his research when his brother cleared his throat in an attempt to hide his concern. "Alright, I'll meet you outside, I gotta take a leak." He smiled at Sam and took his jacket, but right as Alina was starting to follow her best friend to the exit, Dean grabbed her by the wrist to stop her from leaving.
Sam noticed that, and got a big smile from his friend before he could even say anything. "It's okay. I'll be right behind you, Sam."
The two hunters watched the third one nod at them and leave the bar without another word. Alina felt a huge lump in her throat.
"Hey you okay?" Dean asked the girl, still holding her wrist. She wasn't looking at him and it actually made him worry even more about this. "What's wrong? Did I...do something?"
"What?! No!" She didn't want him to believe that he could be the problem here, so she quickly looked at him and put her hands behind his neck to show him that everything was fine between them. "You didn't do anything, Dean. But..."
He stayed silent, anxiously waiting for the words following the one word he hated so much.
"But I think we should take it easy on the...'touching and kissing'..."
"Okay..." If that's what she wanted, of course he wouldn't force her to do anything even though he was already struggling to think about a possible way to keep his hands away from her. However, he was still curious to know where that sudden change of attitude came from. "Why now? What's the matter?"
Alina sighed and let her hands fall to his chest. "I just don't want Sam to feel uncomfortable about us being together."
Dean's eyes opened wide at the reply as he slightly chuckled in relief. "Sam? Come on, Sam doesn't have a problem with that."
"Yeah that's what I thought, but now I'm not so sure of it anymore. I just...I felt something just now and...I think we haven't paid enough attention to him lately. He's lost the woman he loved in the most horrible way and now he has to watch us being happy together. I can't imagine how hard it must be for him to see us like that every single day." She was surprised when she lifted her eyes, to see Dean smiling at what was supposed to be a serious subject. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Yeah it's just..." He tried to get his serious back, faking a frown that didn't last too long since his big childish grin reappeared quickly. "You said we were happy together..."
How could he be so adorable and annoying at the same time? She wanted to have a real conversation with him about Sam, but now she was also smiling like an idiot. She just loved seeing Dean's smile. "Are we not?"
"No we are!" The hunter replied, almost panicked. "We definitely are." He smiled again and started to lean towards her, but she simply leaned backwards with a soft laugh.
"What did I just say about the 'touching and kissing'?"
Dean sighed. He trusted the girl's Empathy and she knew Sam just as much as he did. Probably even better. So if she thought he could feel uncomfortable about their relationship, Dean would make an effort to tone it down a little. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his little brother, and Alina at the same time. She cared too much about her best friend to ignore his feelings. "Right, I get it. No 'touching and kissing' in front of Sam."
Alina gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks."
"Yeah. The thing is...Sam's not here right now."
Alina laughed and patted his shoulder. "No but he's waiting for me." She took a step away from him and put her jacket on. "I'll see you outside, Winchester." Of course she wanted to kiss him and touch him again while Sam wasn't here, but if she wanted to start fighting against her uncontrollable desires, it had to be now or never.
She gave Dean one last wink and walked away from him to go find Sam outside the bar. The eldest Winchester watched the girl with a smile, and bit his lower lip at the thought of what she'd said to him. She was happy. She was actually happy with him. He didn't think he'd ever have that effect on someone, especially because she was doing the same thing for him.
Alina walked throughout the parking lot with her arms crossed. She was freezing even with her jacket on, and just couldn't wait to get in the car. The place was empty, dark, and silent. It could've been scary for her, if she wasn't used to that kind of scenery. She simply walked to the Impala in the most natural way, but quickly stopped right in front of it when she found it empty. Sam wasn't inside the car.
"Sam?" She checked her surroundings, searching for any signs of her friend's presence. She could only see John's journal on the hood of the car but... "Sam?!" She was starting to get worried about him, although she knew he could defend himself. "Sa..."
Her jaw dropped in shock when she finally glanced at the ground next to the passenger's door, and saw in the dark what looked like a foot. She got closer and instantly fell on her knees when she recognized the unconscious body of her friend. "Sam!"
She first completely freaked out and shook him to try and wake him up, but was eventually relieved when she checked his pulse and felt his weak heartbeats against her fingers. "Sam wake up!"
She tried to shake him again but a hand suddenly blocked her mouth. She only got time to take her dagger out of her boot before a sharp pain in the back of her head made everything around her spin...and her body fell next to Sam's on the hard and cold ground.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
When Dean came out of the bar and reached his car, it didn't take him more than a second to notice that Sam and Alina were both missing. They were supposed to wait for him here, that was weird. But the weirdest thing, was the fact that his dad's journal was still on the hood of the car. He didn't panic at first, opening the car door to check if the two friends were inside. He was then going to look around when his foot hit something right next to the front wheel. Alina's silver dagger. The one her father had gave her, the one she always had on her. It couldn't have just fell off her shoe, so if it was there, that meant Alina must've grabbed it to defend herself. But against what? And where was she now? Where was Sam? Where were they?!
"Sam! Alina!"
Here was the panic. "Frenchy!" He started to run around the parking lot, desperately searching for them.
He tried questioning a group of people coming out of the bar to see if any of them had witnessed something, but once again failed to find a clue about their current location. He looked around frantically, his breathing getting uncontrollably faster at each seconds. "Sammy!"
He kept looking around him, unable to accept the fact that he'd just lost the two most important people in his life. Where could they be? He was about to shout their names again when he finally noticed a surveillance camera on top of a streetlight. That couldn't be his only clue right now... That couldn't be his only hope...
Dean walked in the middle of the road, looking completely distraught. Why? Why the two of them? This had to be a nightmare. A terrible, horrible nightmare.
But no. If it was a nightmare, he'd wake up in his bed with Alina lying next to him and holding his hand with her beautiful sleeping face. He'd just have to take a look at his right to find his little brother, sleeping just a few inches away from them on the other bed.
It wasn't a nightmare. It was real...and he was alone.
THE NEXT DAY
"Alina!"
The young woman heard the panic in her best friend's voice and remembered the last night's events, before she could even open her eyes. She jerked awake to observe her surroundings and realize she was currently trapped in a large metallic cage, in the middle of what appeared to be a barn.
"Alina?! Hey, right here!"
Her eyes instantly found the cage right next to hers. It wasn't her first time being locked in a cage like that so she wasn't too worried about herself, but the vision of Sam inside that other cage made her completely lose her temper.
"Sam?!"
She rushed to the side of her cage that was the closest to his, and tried to get a good look at her friend. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." He reassured her with a faint smile behind his own bars. And he did look good considering their current situation. "What happened? I thought you were with Dean."
"I was, but then I came out of the bar and I found you lying on the ground. I tried to wake you up but something or someone grabbed me from behind before I could even use my..." Alina frowned for a second, and quickly checked her boots. But the dagger was gone. "Shit..."
It had either fell in the parking lot, or been taken by her kidnapper. She wished it was the former one so Dean would be able to find it and keep it safe. But then...she thought about the hunter and her heart broke a little.
"Dean's probably looking for us right now. Don't worry, we'll get out of here."
Alina smiled and nodded at Sam. But she wasn't worried about not getting out of that place, she was worried about Dean being alone. She knew that was his biggest fear and wished at least one of them was still with him, to help him deal with the disappearance of the other. They were both gone. Why would Dean have to go through this?
"Hey you okay?" Sam asked his friend when he saw the concern on her face. "Usually you're the one trying to comfort me."
Alina smiled at him sadly. "I know. I'm just worried about Dean."
"About Dean? We're the ones trapped in cages right now."
She knew he could perfectly understand what she meant. He was just trying to lighten up the mood for her while already trying to kick down the door of his own cage.
"I just...I can't imagine how lonely he must be feeling right now."
"Alina?" The hunter called her so she would look up at him and see his faint smile. "Dean will be alright, okay? You know him, I'm sure he's already trying to get the surveillance cameras footage from last night. He won't stop searching until he finds us."
Sam was right. She usually hated that part of Dean that made him burry his feelings every time he had to face a personal issue. But right now, she was relieved of its existence because it would give him the time and motivation to find them before losing it completely. By the time he'd let it all out, she'd be there to hold him in her arms with all her strength. He had to hang on just a little longer, and they both had to get out of here as soon as possible.
Alina was about to follow Sam's lead in his attempt to escape, when she suddenly heard a noise coming from the other side of her friend's cage. It sounded like a groan. A human groan. A grumpy human groan.
"Sam?" She called him, waiting to get a confirmation from him that someone else was there, and got her answer when he instead talked to that other mysterious person.
"You're alive. Hey, you okay?"
The man locked in the third cage replied in an annoyed tone. "Does it look like I'm doing okay?"
The young woman couldn't see the face of the man, but could already guess that she was about to hate being trapped with him in that barn. Unlike her, Sam chose to ignore the man's tone and kept questioning him. "Where are we?"
"I don't know. The country, I think. Smells like the country."
Alina could hear in this man's voice that he'd been there for a little while now. He was already feeling hopeless. But if that was the case and he was actually the latest missing person...
"You're Alvin Jenkins, aren't you?" Sam guessed at the same time Alina did.
"Yeah."
The two friends let out the same sigh. Well that wasn't part of the plan but at least they'd found him.
"We were looking for you."
"Oh, yeah? Well, no offense, but this is a piss-poor rescue."
Alina definitely didn't like his tone, no matter how long he'd been trapped here. She slightly scoffed and shook her head. "Great. We've got ourselves another ungrateful one."
"Alina..." Her friend knew how much she hated that kind of attitude from the people they were trying to save. In a way, she was right to react like that. They were constantly putting themselves in danger and that was mostly all they got in the end. Still, Sam could handle this kind of situation way better than the young woman, so he tried to reassure the man. "Well, my brother's out there right now too. He's looking for us. So...
"So, he's not gonna find us." Alvin Jenkins stopped the hunter, annoyed by his optimism. "We're in the middle of nowhere. Waiting for them to come back and do God-knows-what to us."
"What are they? Have you seen them?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Whatever's got us, what did they look like?"
"See for yourself."
Alina was about to ask him what he meant by that when the huge door suddenly opened, and two men wearing black coats and hats entered the place. The two hunters watched them as one of them kicked the side of Jenkins' cage to make him move into the corner, while the other one used a key on a panel of buttons that unlocked the cage.
"Leave me alone! Don't you take me, leave me alone!" Jenkins yelled at them, terrified as they got closer to him. However, they didn't say anything, simply placing a plate of food in front of him before leaving and taking the key out of the panel to lock the cage again.
The two men were then about to leave, when one of them suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to Alina's cage. The hunter couldn't see his face, but she could feel his eyes on her. Staring at her like she was some kind of prey. And the little laugh she heard him make after that made her all body shiver in disgust.
The kidnappers left, and while Alina still couldn't see Jenkins, she could now hear him devouring his food and it was also disgusting. Everything here was disgusting. And yet, from what they'd just seen, Sam and Alina were now completely sure of one thing, these guys were normal human beings. No monsters or phantom attackers...just people.
LATER
Dean had spent the whole day trying not to think about what could've happened to Sam and Alina. He hadn't slept or eaten, and after hours of searching for them blindly, he'd ended up going to the Sheriff's Department to get some help from a deputy, using his fake ID to avoid wasting more time. He'd gave her Sam's informations to report him as a missing person, but had decided to keep Alina's existence a secret for now. He hated having to do that, but after Sam had almost reported their father as a missing person while they were still looking for him without knowing if he was still alive, she'd made them both promise not to do that if anything happened to her. Interpol still thought she was dead, and she couldn't take the risk to get in the American authorities' files. So right now, officially, he was just looking for his 'cousin' Sam, because Dean Winchester was also supposed to have died back in St. Louis.
Everything seemed so complicated at the moment, yet Dean had succeeded to win the deputy's trust and was now on the road with her in the middle of the night, trying to find a lead on the suspicious pickup they'd seen on the traffic camera. After a few miles, the deputy, Kathleen, pointed to a passing traffic camera. "Okay, the next traffic cam is fifty miles from here, and the pickup didn't pass that one, so...
"So, it must've pulled off somewhere. I didn't see any other roads here."
"Well, a lot of these backwoods properties have their own private roads."
Dean sighed, annoyed. "Great." He just wanted to find Sam and Alina but every new lead kept pointing at multiple different directions. He hoped they were okay. He knew they were more than capable of taking care of themselves, couldn't get scared easily, and at least they were together. Sam would probably die before letting anything happen to Alina, and Alina would probably kill anything and anyone trying to even lay a hand on Sam.
"So, Gregory?" Kathleen suddenly called him by his pseudonym, sounding surprisingly more concerned than a few seconds ago. "I ran your badge number. It's routine when we're working a case with state police. For accounting purposes and what have you."
Dean simply nodded, unable to worry about anything else than the two missing hunters.
"And...they just got back to me."
The young man was surprised when the car suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and Kathleen turned to him with a serious look on her face.
"It says here your badge was stolen. And there's a picture of you." She turned the computer to him, revealing the picture of an African American man.
That wasn't good. Dean knew he'd been busted but still tried to brush it off with a joke and a smile. "I lost some weight. And I got that Michael Jackson skin disease..."
Kathleen took off her seatbelt. "Okay, would you step out of the car, please?"
He couldn't let her interrupt his research. He couldn't let them down. He had to stop her. "Look, look, look. If you wanna arrest me, that's fine. I'll cooperate, I swear. But, first, please...let me find Sam."
"I don't even know who you are. Or if this Sam person is missing."
"Look into my eyes and tell me if I'm lying about this." He was now desperate and ready to do or say anything to convince her.
"Identity theft? You're impersonating an officer."
"Look, here's the thing. When we were young, I pretty much pulled him from a fire. And ever since then, I've felt responsible for him. Like it's my job to keep him safe. I'm just afraid if we don't find them fast..." His voice broke at the last words. And he didn't even realize the mistake he'd made until Kathleen pointed it out.
"Them? Hold on...is there someone else with your cousin right now?"
Dean couldn't even think of another lie. He was worried sick about Sam and Alina and just wanted to find them as soon as possible. He didn't have time for this, so he sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Her name's Alina. She's Sam's best friend and..." He thought for a short moment. He couldn't believe what he was about to say because it'd be the first time this word would come out of his mouth to describe her, but... "She's my girlfriend."
He frowned at himself. Why had he waited for Alina to be taken away from him, to finally use that word. That was absurd. Everything was absurd.
"Why didn't you tell me about her sooner?" Kathleen was still suspicious of him, especially after figuring out another one of his lies.
"Because...look Sam and I, we've known her forever. Thing is, her father died a few years ago and ever since then her mom's been worrying about her even more...I can't let her find out about Alina's disappearance. I need to find her and Sam before anything happens to them. Please...they're my family."
He usually wouldn't show that vulnerable side of him to anyone, but right now, he had to try everything.
"I'm sorry." Kathleen replied. "You've given me no choice. I have to take you in."
Dean closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. He was already trying to think about a way to escape the deputy, when she glanced at her visor and found a photo of her and another man, smiling. Her brother. He'd also disappeared and although he was also her responsibility back then, she'd never been able to find him. She could actually understand Dean's situation and knew she was about to regret taking that decision...
"After we find Sam Winchester and your girlfriend. Her name's Alina, right?" She fastened her seatbelt to restart the engine, and while Dean was obviously confused about her sudden change of mind, he chose not to say anything about it to avoid getting himself in more trouble.
Dean simply nodded as the car was getting back on the dark road. "Yeah. Her name's Alina."
At the same time, back in the barn, Sam was still trying to pull a metal coil from a beam. Alina was watching him, wishing she could be able to help him instead of just standing in her cage, being completely useless.
"What are your names, again?" Jenkins asked, nonchalantly seating in his cage.
"None-of-your-damn-business..." Alina grumbled from her spot. She was starting to get really tired of that guy's attitude, unlike Sam who was still willing to answer even though he was struggling with his task.
"It's Sam."
"Why don't you give it up, Sammy? There's no way out."
Alina was about to correct him, but Sam surprisingly did it first. "Don't...call me...Sammy!" And right after saying these words, he finally tore down the coil. He also made a small piece of metal fall on the floor of his cage, which made Alina rise up instantly.
"You got something?"
"Yeah..." The hunter picked it up and looked at it. "It's a bracket."
At least it was something.
"Well, thank God, a bracket." Jenkins scoffed in his usual unsatisfied tone, making Alina roll her eyes at the man. "Now we've got them, huh?"
The young woman wanted to ask him, really politely, to shut up and let them try to get out of here, when she heard the sound of a cage unlocking itself. Since Sam wasn't moving, and it wasn't coming from her own prison, it had to be...
"Must've been short." The two hunters watched Jenkins rushing out of his cage. "Maybe you knocked something loose."
That was the first time Alina got to see him, and she had a feeling that it was also going to be the last time.
"I think you should get back in there, Jenkins." Sam tried to warn him, feeling as suspicious as his friend.
"What?"
"Yeah Sam's right, get back in there now." She didn't like him, but she didn't want him to die when the whole point of being here was to save him.
"Don't you wanna get out of here?"
"Yeah. But that was too easy." Sam felt uneasy about the way that cage had simply unlocked itself. It couldn't be because of what he'd done.
"Look, I'm gonna get out of here, and I'm gonna send help, okay, don't worry."
"Jenkins, don't!" Alina grabbed the bars of her cage angrily.
"This might be a trap!"
But the man didn't listen to them. He walked to the door and turned to them one last time. "Bye, Sammy." And he left.
"Jenkins!" Sam tried calling him, but it was already too late. "Jenkins!"
"Sam, he's gone. He's not coming back."
"Well we gotta do something! We gotta help him!"
"How, Sam?!" Alina could feel his anger and concern rising and it broke her heart to see him like this. He couldn't blame himself for that guy's decision to leave. "We can't save everyone." She tried talking in a softer voice to comfort him. "We just spent the whole day trying to get out of here, there's no way for us to get to him now."
Sam knew she was right, and it made everything worse when just a few minutes later, they heard Jenkins' voice from afar. They heard him screaming, in the most horrible way, and then nothing. Everything went silent. Alina closed her eyes, trying not to let herself get upset about that failure. Jenkins was gone but it still wasn't over yet.
LATER
Both Sam and Alina were sitting in the corner of their cages that were the closest to each other. It was the middle of the night, probably past midnight, and none of them could understandably sleep. The place was silent and even with her jacket on, Alina had to wrap her arms around her legs to warm herself up a little.
"You cold?" Sam asked her when he noticed the way she was sitting.
"I'm fine, but I'll definitely stop complaining about the motel beds."
He was relieved to hear her joking tone. If he could give her his jacket, he wouldn't hesitate to do it. He couldn't hold her in his arms to reassure her either, but he kept giving her little glances every ten seconds to make sure she was alright. Of course she wasn't. And it was pretty obvious that the temperature wasn't the main source of her worries. "Hey don't worry. I'm sure Dean's fine, okay?"
Alina turned to him, surprised by his sudden comment, then quickly smiled at the way her best friend just knew her so well. She nodded, still not fully convinced. "Yeah. I mean, he has to."
She thought for a moment about the eldest Winchester. About the last time she'd seen him. She was starting to regret her request to put a little distance between them to respect Sam's grief. Not because she didn't care about her friend anymore, but because the only thing she wanted now was to be sleeping in Dean's arms. She wanted to see his smile, hear his laugh, or just feel his heartbeats against her ear as he'd hold her tightly and not let go.
Alina sadly smiled at the thought, and wanted to share her feelings with Sam although she'd sworn to herself not to bother him with that. It's not like they had much to do instead. "Hey Sammy?"
He simply looked at her, waiting for her to continue.
"I just think I should ask you...are you still okay with Dean and I being together?"
Sam couldn't understand what she was asking him right now. He'd been waiting for them to finally admit their feelings to each other for months, why would he have a problem with that? "What do you mean?"
"I mean...I might've...felt something from you last night, right before leaving the bar. I know it's stupid because I still don't know how to control my Empathy, so I could be totally wrong, but just in case, I wanted to make sure that we're not making things uncomfortable for you. You know, it's always just the three of us, and I...I don't want you to feel sad about us being together when you..." She hesitated to continue for a few seconds. Would it be okay for her to mention 'her'?
"Alina..."
The young woman looked at her friend with a sad expression that made him smile. She cared so much about him, how could he not be happy to have someone like her in his life?
"I'd be lying if I told you that sometimes when I see you and Dean, a part of me doesn't instantly think of Jess. I won't ever stop thinking about her no matter what, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy for you guys. I mean come on, you two are perfect for each other and I wish nothing more than your happiness Alina. After everything you've been through, you just deserve it completely."
Alina was more than touched by his words. She had to stay focus on him not to cry like an idiot. Or maybe she was just tired and it was making her feel way too emotional. "Sam you also deserve that happiness. And...I want you to know that even if I'm closer to Dean now, I still love you the same way I always did. You're my Wonder Twin, no one could replace you. You know that, right?"
Her best friend nodded with a smile that made her feel better. "I know, Alina. I love you too."
She was so mad not to be able to at least hold his hand right now. But she felt mostly relieved after having that conversation with Sam. Now all they needed to do, was to both make it out of here alive. For Dean.
I hesitated way before I started writing on this episode, whether I should have Alina being taken with Sam, or alone, or stay with Dean to help him find Sam, and I kinda like the final result so I hope you liked it too! I'll try not to make you wait too long for part 2!
Also, I'm already working on that original chapter I told you about, so it'll come right after The Benders, but I still don't know if it'll be in one or two parts.
Anyway, as usual, have a nice day/night!