A/N:Takes place during Shadow.
"Hey Red, you got a minute?"
"For you? I've got two."
That had him grinning. But it was another phone call that brought him a sharp pang of realization. He wanted to be with her. In person. Face to face. He was used to it by now but it didn't stop happening. Things between them were better, almost what he wanted but the phone calls were a pale substitute to spending actual time with her. Sure, she said she needed space and maybe that was the turning point for her. He didn't know, he just wanted her by this side again.
"We're in Chicago and I need a little help with something."
"You should probably finish that request before I agree to anything. Because I'm pretty sure you can't afford my per minute rate."
Mae assumed he was going to proposition her. It was something he had been doing more. It wasn't unwarranted or unwanted. It probably wouldn't be long before it turned from something playful and teasing to something serious. "The first two minutes are free. What would you say no to? More importantly what would you say yes to?"
Dean was a tease sometimes. She admitted, she found it kind of flattering. Her only regret was that she was flattered by it and that it also flustered her, more than a little. Dean flirted like his life depended on it. She knew he didn't reserve it just for her and she knew she was hardly the first woman to feel that thrill tug at her when he made a move.
She sighed and tried to steer the conversation back to something productive. "What do you want Dean?"
Her voice was soft, a little quirky. There was no sharpness to the question. He thought she might have been a little embarrassed, in fact. But he couldn't tell. He let the playful banter go for the moment. "Yeah, we found this weird… well actually a weird case."
"A weird case?" she said with a laugh, "I can't imagine what that means."
"To tell you the truth, at first, I thought it was a werewolf but uh, we found this—this symbol, I don't know what it is. I was thinking, maybe you could look at it for me."
"If you have a picture, sure. Send it to me."
Dean emailed the picture to her. "Thanks." He smirked to himself a little, he liked working together with her like this, "I appreciate it."
"You want to tell me about the case?" She asked before he had a chance to say anything more.
"Yeah, about a week ago, this girl, Meredith got killed in her apartment—no prints, no signs of a break in, nothing that gave any clues as to how she got offed aside from the fact that she got ripped apart and, get this, her heart was missing. Before her, there was another guy who got killed the same way, but nothing ties him to Meredith."
"Ouch, that's rough. But that's not a lot to go on. I mean a lot of things could kill you like that, fewer that would take a human heart but… ah here we go."
When she opened her email and looked over the picture, she took a sharp breath. "Jesus, this must have been a hell of a mess."
"That's how it goes. You ever see that symbol before?"
"It's a sigil." She bit her lip, thinking over the implications of this. It was symbol she'd only seen in books, ancient book with ancient spells. It wasn't something someone would likely stumble upon or cast by accident. She felt that bubble of worry for Dean and Sam again. "Where did you find this?"
"At the girl's apartment, dripped into the carpet in her own blood."
"You saw that in the blood splatter? Hmmm," she gave him an impressed little hum, "that takes a sharp eye.
"I do have at least a small handful of skills here." It was teasing but he took the compliment because it was from her and he thought perhaps the part she didn't way was that she didn't know if she would have seen it.
"Yeah well… you are dealing with some serious shit here Dean."
"Serious like how?"
"You ever heard of a daeva?"
"Sure." He paused, clearing his throat at the blatant lie, "But Sam might not know. So… why not give me your take on it so I can… tell him."
"Right," she said with a laugh, "well depending on the texts you read they run the gamut from false gods to chaos demons to the personification of every imaginable evil."
"So… great."
"Exactly. But they're old, like really old. If that's what you're up against," she sighed, "well…I don't know why anyone would want to summon something like that. Of course, I guess we've seen dumber things."
"I think we both know the answer to that Mae." He sighed, scrubbing his face for a moment, "So how do you kill one?"
She shook her head and took a long sigh. "Like I said, these things are… ancient, Zoroastrian to be exact. It's old and I don't know if these things can be killed… I can look but I can't promise you anything."
Dean nodded, closed his eyes for another moment. "Yeah, I know you can't but… well I guess you looking is more than enough. But there has to be a way to kill these things."
"Maybe but… you still have to deal with the fact that they're probably not acting of their own volition here."
"How do you know?"
"If you have a sigil in blood..."
"They go for human sacrifice."
"So, you've got one summoned, you've got one being controlled. You tell me how you control chaos. Frankly, I think the daeva is the least of your problems. I mean, no matter how you cut it, these things are tough, and you've got someone who thinks they're tougher. I think they'd tear through you before you could even get close enough to kill one."
"This has been a fun chat Mae. Very reassuring."
"You couldn't just tell me you'll walk away from this, could you?"
"I could, it'd be a lie, but I could tell you that if that helps you. Besides, you wouldn't walk away if you were here, and we can't. We walk away, more people die-"
"I know, Dean, I know. I'm sure have a better chance than anyone else. That doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Yeah well, I'm not exactly a fan. At the risk of being yelled at for saying this, I wish you were here. Not so you'd be thrown into the middle of this thing, although, the extra help wouldn't suck but… I miss you, Mae."
He heard her little sigh, finding it somehow reassuring. "I miss you too."
The line went silent for a while, and they listened to the quiet breathing of the other. It wasn't an awkward silence, but it was a heavily weighted one. There were promises, offers and requests that hung in that quiet. Neither Mae nor Dean could quite convince themselves to speak any of them. "How the hell do you know all this anyway?" he said instead.
"I'm just that good, handsome."
He chuckled before he sighed. "So, a daeva, that's what you think this is?"
"Looking at that symbol, it's my best guess. I can look into it from here, let you know anything I find."
There was work to be done, he reminded himself. He still had to check in with Sam, so it was best to tie this conversation with Mae up for the time being. "So, where is here?"
Mae pressed her lips together. "Um...Dowagiac, Michigan."
Dean scoffed. "Michigan. You're, like, a lake away, huh?"
"More or less."
His frown was audible across the line. "I guess I pictured you...across the country, miles and miles away."
"It's not like I knew where you were either."
"How come this case didn't show up on your radar?"
"It's...not what I was looking for."
"What you're looking for is in... Dowagiac, Michigan?"
"No."
He hated when she moved into one word answers, terse and full of information she refused to give. All he wanted was her to tell him whatever her big secret was and for all their progress, she just wouldn't. "What were you hunting?"
"Demon." She said after a long pause.
"By yourself?"
"I'm a big girl, Dean."
"You know, I was there last time you tangled with a demon or two."
"That wasn't the last time."
Dean wanted to yell at her, it seemed ludicrous that she'd take that kind of risk on her own. "So, you're just...runnin' around the country, gankin' demons by yourself? Is that the important work you had to do?"
"Part of it. I don't really wanna talk about it right now. Okay?"
He could have pushed it, he though, but she was right, they would only end up fighting about it. He was fine with a fight, just not in the mood for this particular one. He could admit to himself, he was rather lonely right then. "I guess it looks like I've got a thrilling night of research ahead of me."
Her laughter was light and friendly, even if it was hesitant at first. "Where's Sam? Isn't he you're Encyclopedia Brown? I thought you were the face, and he was the brain."
"I thought it was pretty obvious that I can put something like this together. I'm not completely inept here Maes."
"Still," She smiled a little to herself, "I just… figured he was the research guy."
If their positions were reversed, Sam would have been doing the research. Dean thought, even if Sam thought there was something fishy about Meg, that it was good for him to get out. The run down he'd done on her proved that she was a real girl. "Yeah well… Sammy is actually out with a girl."
"He's out with a girl in the middle of a job? Well that sounds… off."
"He's staking out her apartment but still."
Mae laughed. "Your brother is stalking some girl and who's idea was this? Did guys Freaky Friday each other? Is he trying to… what's he trying to do?"
"He met this girl, Meg, a while back and ran into her here at a bar. Which is weird."
"You and me ran into each other again at a bar."
"You were stalking me."
"Fair enough."
"Yeah and running into this Meg chick here is just too weird. It's… there's something up with it. But she's still hot so it wouldn't be the worst if he—if he got a little more comfortable."
He could almost hear her head shake. Only she didn't say what he was expecting her to say. "With a girl you don't trust? Why would you do that?"
"Well… I mean…we checked her out, she seems to be a normal girl. It's fine, she's hot and it's Sam." He wasn't expecting her to question his intentions. "Besides, it was Sam's idea. Sam wanted to track her down, Sam wanted to find out the truth about her."
"You are so weird."
"Why is that weird?"
She huffed, feeling a hodgepodge of emotions she couldn't even name. "It sounds like you're more worried about getting your brother laid than you are about this case. Are you your brother's pimp or something?"
"I am worried about the case. This is just... He's the one who thinks there's a problem with her. I'm not making him do anything. But c'mon, you know he should try and get out more."
"Try and get out more? I... you know it's not that simple in this line of work. Besides, I just… shouldn't he decide if that's what he wants or not?"
He wasn't sure if she was trying to pick a fight or if this was some sort of sisterly affection she had for his brother and she was worried about Sam. But he most certainly didn't want to fight with her over this. "Hey, I did not pick her out. He met her, months ago I should add, and she likes him. I don't see the problem."
"Maybe nothing but I am guessing he's uncomfortable with the whole thing."
Dean scratched his chin. "Sure but… he's not going to get over Jessica if he doesn't try. It's hard enough that we're hunting down the demon that killed her. I think it's good for him to get out there."
"To stalk a girl?"
"Not ideal but we still have to figure out if she's just a normal girl or if it really is weird that we're running into her now. I will tell you what's weird, she was not into me at all."
Mae laughed. "Well that is definitely something paranormal. A woman who can resist your charms, she must be evil."
"So, you can see why we need to investigate."
"I suppose. I guess I don't have any footing to point out about weird relationships in this line of work."
"I have never stalked you." He joked.
"You used to peep on me."
"Oh, I'd still do that if we were in the same place again." She laughed, this time she didn't blush with embarrassment but flushed ever so slightly with the thought of him watching her, wanting to watch her. "So… what are you wearing now Mae? I'm picturing something… lacy. And pink."
"Lacy and pink? I'm guessing that picture you have in your deviant little mind is way, way more attractive than reality."
"Oh, c'mon just play with me."
"Dean… don't. I don't...I'm not ready for that. Uh, if you want my help, you should let me get down to it so… I'll give you a call later."
He had been turned on by the prospect of a little dirty talk with her and was disappointed that she wasn't interested but he heard something in her voice. Something that sounded a lot like nervousness laced with desire.
"Yeah, sure. I'll talk to you soon then."