(S1EP10 - Asylum)

Sam watched in disbelief as his brother was typing on the laptop, the mysterious coordinates he just got in a text message. He didn't want to believe that after all this time, after what happened in Kansas, it could actually be coming from their dad. "You think dad was texting us?"

"He's given us coordinates before."

"The man can barely work a toaster, Dean."

"Sam, it's good news!" Dean was relieved that Alina wasn't in the room right now, because he wouldn't want her to get affected by that new argument Sam was starting. "It means he's okay, or alive at least."

"Well, was there a number on the caller ID?"

"Nah, it said 'unknown'."

"Well, where do the coordinates point?"

"That's the interesting part. Rockford, Illinois."

"Okay, and that's interesting how?" Sam was clearly losing his patience. He didn't understand how his brother could be so fast at following orders he wasn't even sure came from their dad.

"I checked the local Rockford paper. Take a look at this." He turned the laptop towards Sam to let him see the article talking about the recent death of a cop. "This cop, Walter Kelly, comes home from his shift, shoots his wife, then puts the gun in his mouth, blows his brains out. And earlier that night, Kelly and his partner responded to a call at the Roosevelt Asylum."

"Okay, I'm not following. What has this have to do with us?"

"Dad earmarked the same Asylum in the journal. Let's see..." He took their dad's journal and turned a few pages until he found the one he was looking for, with an old article talking about that Asylum taped to it. "Here. Seven unconfirmed sightings, two deaths...till last week at least. I think this is where he wants us to go."

Sam scoffed at the realization. That had to be a joke. "This is a job... Dad wants us to work a job."

"Well, maybe we'll meet up with him? Maybe he's there?" Of course Dean was the optimistic one when it came to John Winchester. And that actually infuriated Sam even more.

"Maybe he's not? I mean, he could be sending us there, by ourselves, to hunt this thing."

"Who cares?! If he wants us there, it's good enough for me!" Dean was getting tired of his brother constantly doubting everything their father did.

"This doesn't strike you as weird? The texting? The coordinates?"

"Sam! Dad's telling us to go somewhere, we're going."

Sam didn't even try hiding his frustration, staring at his brother annoyingly before giving up with a sigh that Dean ignored. The eldest brother was already grabbing his stuff to put them in his bag. "Come on, pack your bag. What's Alina even doing? She's been out for almost an hour."

Sam rolled his eyes, realizing that his brother hadn't listened to the girl when she'd told them she was going outside. "She's in the parking lot, washing the car."

Dean instantly dropped his bag on the bed and looked back at his brother who was lazily walking to the bathroom. "She's what?!" But since he didn't get an answer, he rushed to the window of the motel room and spotted the Impala parked a little further away. There were two buckets on the floor next to it, but his friend was nowhere to be seen. Worried for her safety, he didn't think twice before running out of the room and towards his precious car.

Fortunately, he didn't have to worry too much for Alina as her head quickly reappeared on the other side of the car, where she was crouching to clean the doors. Once the fear gone, Dean noticed how spotless his Baby looked. All the mud accumulated from traveling around the country, and hunting in dirty places, was now completely gone. He hadn't seen her like that in a long time and it made him forget instantly about his argument with Sam. "Baby, look at you!" He complimented his car in astonishment. "You look amazing!"

Alina hadn't noticed Dean was here until she'd heard his joyful voice. She smiled and turned to him, knowing he was talking to the car, but ready to mess with him. "Thanks Winchester! These are old clothes actually but I do look amazing today."

Dean took a moment to admire his car, then finally turned to his friend...and it only got worse. She was wearing an old t-shirt and ripped shorts, both damaged by the many hunts they had known, and soaked by the hose she'd used to rinse the car. Her hair were tied in a high bun, from which several strands had escaped to fall in front of the young woman's face, smiling proudly at her work. She looked incredibly hot right now, and she'd cleaned the Impala without being asked to. Dean would've never asked her to do something like that anyway, so it was even more surprising for him.

"You like it?" Alina asked him when she noticed how silent he was. She thought he was mad at her for touching his car without his permission, but he was actually too stunned to find his words. "I promise I was gentle with her."

Dean didn't know where to look. The Impala, or Alina. Both were sexy as heck, but only one of them was staring at him in expectation. So he pulled himself together and quickly nodded in excitement. "You did an incredible job, Frenchy. But you didn't have to do that."

"Of course I did! We have to take care of our team members, Winchester." Alina protested and walked pass him to use her microfibre towel and dry what was left of water. Dean couldn't help but admire the show these shorts were giving him when she bent down in front of him. He smiled at the sight, feeling stupid for getting excited like a freaking teenager all of a sudden. Luckily, he had enough time to look away when Alina turned back to him. "Alright, I'm done."

"Great, that's...great." He sounded ridiculous, but Alina didn't seem to notice. She was too proud of herself for that. However, he couldn't just stand there and watch her silently like a creep. He had to say something, and his eyes quickly found the buckets on the ground near the car, then the hose, and the sponges... "Where did you get all that stuff anyway?"

"Oh the guy at the reception gave it to me."

"Just like that?" It was hard to believe.

"I mean...he and his friends did spend the whole time watching me like total creeps, so I guess he got what he wanted too."

Dean didn't like that reply. He quickly checked his surroundings when he heard her say those words, and spotted the four men sitting on their folding chairs a little further away. They were smiling and staring at the girl, holding beers in their hands like they were watching a movie. They were disgusting, and Dean's smile faded when he realized that they'd been checking his friend out while she was cleaning his car. "And you just let these perverts sit there and watch you?!" He sounded more offended than her by their actions, which amused the girl.

"What was I supposed to do? Chase them away with the hose?"

"Yeah! Something like that!"

"Dean they gave me what I needed to wash the car, I don't care if they spy on me as long as they do it from far away. Plus, you were also checking me out a few seconds ago. Don't lie."

Her friend was about to protest, until she mentioned his own pervert attitude. That made him close his mouth right away. Okay...he did deserve that.

"I'm done anyway, so the show's over." The moment she said that, the two hunters heard the men sitting on their chairs yelling at the young woman to grab her attention, even whistling at her. Alina sighed and put on a big fake smile as she waved back at them.

And that was it.

Dean immediately put his hands on Alina's waist to lift her up, and throw her on his shoulder. He wasn't surprised that she didn't fight back and instead laughed when he walked back towards their room, ignoring the complaining men behind them.

"You're so predictable..." Alina said as he opened the room's door.

"And you're putting on more clothes." Dean shut the door behind them.

"Whoa, never in my life I thought I'd hear you say those words, Winchester."

And Sam's fake cough was really quick to interrupt them. Dean turned to his brother, while Alina lifted the upper part of her body to see him standing next to his bed, closing his bag after putting all his stuff back in it.

"We're leaving?" Alina asked him, confused.

Her question, and the judgmental look his brother gave him, reminded Dean of the current situation he'd totally forgotten. He put his friend back on the ground and got his serious back. "Yeah. I got a text from dad with coordinates. He's sending us on a job in Rockford, Illinois."

Nothing he'd just said made sense to the girl who had also lost her joyfulness. "Wait...what? You're kidding, right?"

"He's not." Sam confirmed with his slightly annoyed tone.

Alina had to process these new informations after such a silly moment, and almost thought she'd fainted again and was dreaming right now. "What do you mean your dad texted you? We've been trying to call him for months!"

"I know. There wasn't any caller ID, but the coordinates? They're pointing to an old Asylum that I found in he's journal. A cop recently killed his wife and committed suicide after spending his last shift there. This definitely sounds like our kind of gig."

He looked so eager to go check the place for his dad, he didn't seem to realize how absurd that sounded like. Not the Asylum, but the fact that after months of complete radio silence, John Winchester's first text to his sons was a potential new case? Alina couldn't believe it. He hadn't even showed up in Kansas after Dean's call about their old house. What kind of parenting was that? "Dean..."

"If we leave now, we can be there before sunset. Pack your things, Frenchy." He smiled at the girl and went back to what he was doing before getting distracted. He didn't notice the look of disbelief Alina gave his brother, who simply shrugged, agreeing with her on how strange the situation was. But since it was Dean, all Alina could do was trust him and start collecting her stuff, preparing to leave for their next hunt. Whether it came from John or not, if people were getting hurt in that Asylum they couldn't just ignore it. They had to do their job.

LATER

Since the hunters needed to make sure that the last death was indeed linked to the Asylum, they quickly found the partner of the cop that had killed his wife and himself. Daniel Gunderson. Alina was standing next to Sam in the local bar, watching Dean from afar talking to the man, pretending to be an invasive reporter so his brother would come and play the good cop part.

"I still think we shouldn't be here just because of a text message." Sam complained, waiting for his turn to enter the discussion between the two men.

"I know you've never been a fan of Dean's little soldier side, but if people are in danger here we shouldn't be focusing on who sent us."

Sam sighed, still pretty pissed off by the whole situation, but he had to admit she was right. Alina then noticed the way Mr Gunderson was starting to raise his voice, and softly pushed Sam towards them. "Come on Sammy, be convincing."

The youngest Winchester joined his brother and their witness, aggressively grabbing Dean by his jacket to push him aside. Alina almost ran to them when she saw Dean's back violently hitting the pool table. Maybe that was a little too convincing...

"Hey buddy, why don't you leave the poor guy alone! The man's an officer! Why don't you show a little respect!"

Dean paused and stared at him for a moment. Alina wasn't supposed to get involved since the boys were still concerned about her Empathy being triggered, but she just couldn't stand there. She walked straight towards her friend and grabbed his arm to calm him down, throwing an infuriated look at Sam. "Come on, let's go." She told Dean in a soft, acting like his worried girlfriend. "I told you that guy wasn't worth it." She felt bad talking about this poor man like that, he'd just lost his partner after all. But she couldn't waste any more time so she pulled Dean with her towards the exit to let Sam handle the rest.

The moment they got out, Dean walked away from her angrily. "What the hell was that?!"

"Dean calm down..."

"He doesn't get to be mad at me because I wanna do my job!"

"Enough!" Alina snapped to bring him back to reality. His eyes met hers, and he realized that he had to calm down. For her. So he simply readjusted his jacket and groaned in frustration. His friend came in front of him to put her hands on his chest, trying to make him slow down his breathing while feeling his quick heartbeats getting back to normal at the contact.

"You guys did a good job, if Sam's still inside right now, that means he's getting all the informations we need. I agree, he was unnecessarily aggressive but it worked, right?"

"Yeah I guess..." Alina saw how much Dean was actually hurt by the fact that his brother couldn't understand his point of view. Why did everything have to be so difficult with them?

The two hunters went back to the Impala to wait for the third one, both leaning against the hood. Dean was actually glad Alina was here to calm him down, but he also hadn't forgotten about what they'd told her earlier. "I thought you were supposed to stay away from the plan."

"I'm supposed to do a lot of things, but none of them are funny enough to make me waste my precious time."

Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes at her impulsiveness. She was so...

"Nice car." They heard a voice behind them and both turned to see the two giggling girls getting in their own car, parked next to the Impala.

And without a surprise...

"Thanks!" Dean and Alina both replied in chorus, quickly looking at each other once the girls left, driving away from the bar.

"They were talking to me, Frenchy."

"Oh really? 'Cause I'm pretty damn sure they were looking at me."

They shared the same stubborn look waiting for the other to give up and admit they were wrong, but instead the smiles that appeared on their faces turned into laughters they weren't able to stop. "Okay Winchester...I can share if you need it so badly."

"Shut up." He shook his head, laughing at how similar they were. She understood him better than Sam, his own brother. And yet, she also shared so many similarities with his sibling that it almost felt surreal for a girl like her to even exist. But it did make sense, since they'd all grown up together.

Sam walked out of the bar a few minutes later, with a satisfied look on his face that Dean didn't shared. He was still angry at him. "Shoved me kinda hard in there, buddy boy."

"I had to sell it, didn't I? It's method acting."

Alina smiled at Dean's confused look and decided to change the subject before it'd go too far. "So whatcha got Sammy?"

Sam noticed how Alina was trying to avoid a new fight between him and Dean, and chose to follow her lead. "So, Walter Kelly was a good cop. Head of his class, even-keeled, he had a bright future ahead of him."

"What about at home?" Dean asked.

"He and his wife had a few fights, like everybody, but he was mostly smooth sailing. They were even talking about having kids."

That was the confirmation Dean needed. "Alright, so either Kelly had some deep-seated crazy waiting to bust out, or something else did it to him."

Alina sighed, already guessing the right answer. "They're never just crazy..."

"If you want crazy..." Dean started before turning to his brother. "What'd Gunderson tell you about the Asylum?"

"A lot."

That wasn't a good sign for the girl who didn't feel like exploring the haunted Asylum right away. "Could we at least get some sleep before going there?"

"I never thought you could be afraid of the dark, Frenchy." He was obviously joking, yet this time she didn't laugh at all.

"It's an Asylum, Dean! People died in there, it's not gonna be Empath Friendly!"

The brothers hadn't realized how dangerous this could actually be for their friend. Of course that place would be full of angry spirits, and they didn't know how Alina would react to that. Unfortunately for them, these worrying thoughts were pretty easy to read on their faces. "Okay guys...I just wanna make sure I'm physically and mentally prepared for it. So if I catch you two sneaking out of the room in the middle of night to go investigate without me, I swear I'll find a way to control my Empathy and make you fear me for the rest of your lives. Did I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." The brothers replied like two robots.

"Great. Now let's get in the car and find a motel. Sam you'll tell us what you found out on the road." She was the first to get inside the Impala, leaving the two speechless young men standing on each side of the car, wondering how she could look so sweet and terrifying at the same time. If they were actually planning to go without her while she was asleep, they were now convinced it was a mistake they couldn't make. And they didn't want to hurt her by leaving her behind, so they would just have to keep an eye on her during their investigation. Everything would be alright as long as they stayed together, right?

THE NEXT DAY

The hunters decided to go visit the Asylum at dawn, so they wouldn't be interrupted by other human beings. When they all left the car parked outside of the building, Alina stayed behind the boys with her arms crossed, watching them jump over the tall fence like professionals trying to show off their skills. She hated how hot Dean had looked doing it...

"Alina?" Sam called her when he noticed she was still on the other side of the fence. "Do you need help?"

She smiled at her two friends, already amused by the situation. "No I'm fine." She started walking towards the fence, but right before putting her hands on it to jump, she turned to her left, walked for a few seconds, and simply bent down to access the giant hole in the barrier and join the brothers in front of the stairs. The Winchesters looked at the hole, then back at her, then away, embarrassed.

"Okay let's go." Dean said like nothing had happened, already going up the stairs followed by his brother and the girl chuckling behind them.

Once inside, Sam informed them that the cops went into the south wing during their shift, to find the kids that had broke in. Which made Dean go through his dad's journal and find out that in 1972, three kids had also entered the south wing and only one had survived, claiming one of his friends had lost his mind, starting to light up the place.

Alina noticed the broken chains that used to keep the south wing locked, which had to be the explanation to why no one else had died for years, until that cop.

They didn't have a choice, so they pushed the doors and started to walk down the hallway with Dean holding his EMF meter in front of them. It didn't take too long for him to turn to his brother with a mischievous grin. "Let me know if you see any dead people, Haley Joel."

"Dude, enough." Sam complained like he did every time Dean would make fun of him.

"I'm serious. We know Alina can't get hurt as long as she's connected to us, whatever that means, but you gotta be careful, all right? Ghosts are attracted to that whole ESP thing you got going on."

Alina rolled her eyes, at the boys walking in front of her. "Don't bring me into this..." She mumbled loudly enough to get a wink from Dean.

"I told you, it's not ESP!" Sam tried to defend himself, annoyed by his brother's comments. "I just have strange vibes sometimes. Weird dreams."

"Yeah, whatever. Don't ask, don't tell."

"Don't worry Sammy." Alina comforted him jokingly. "I also get strange vibes when I sleep next to Dean, so I'm pretty sure you're not the only one having weird dreams."

The eldest brother stopped walking in the middle of the hallway, causing Alina to bump into him and Sam to now be the one smiling in a mocking way. He just loved to see that shy look on his brother's face because what Alina was saying wasn't entirely false.

Dean thought he was doing a good job hiding his 'attraction' when sleeping next to his friend. And it wasn't easy. Especially ever since the Bloody Mary case when she ended up sleeping so comfortably in his green shirt, that she'd officially stolen another one from his bag to wear it every night. Knowing there wasn't anything under it was already a lot to process for him, but since she always wore those tiny sports shorts, he also had to deal with her naked legs involuntarily landing on top of him in the middle of the night. Sometimes he would even woke up with a weight on his chest that turned out to be Alina's head, using him as a pillow without even noticing it. He felt so stupid getting aroused by little things like that, like a teenager finding out about the feeling of a woman's touch. He'd already experienced that...many, many times. So what was wrong with him?!

"Dean?" Alina snapped her fingers in front of him to bring him back to reality like she often did. "You know I was joking...right?"

She was joking? So she couldn't really feel...

Dean instantly forced himself to laugh like he was also messing with her. "Of course I know that. Come on let's keep walking." He turned around and walked away a lot faster than a few seconds ago. Sam and Alina shared the same amused look and high-fived discreetly. "You're coming or what?!" Dean yelled from afar, making the two friends almost run to catch up with him.

"You get any reading on that thing or not?" Sam changed the subject to focus back on their investigation, glancing at the EMF meter in Dean's hand.

"Nope. Of course, it doesn't mean no one's home."

"Spirits can't appear during certain hours of the day."

"Yeah, the freaks come out at night."

And that was one of the reasons Alina didn't want to come in that building the previous night. She was glad they could start doing their researches in peace, without having to stop every five minutes to shoot at an angry spirit or dodge their attacks.

"Hey Sam?" Dean called his brother, back to his mocking tone. "Who do you think is the hotter psychic? Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Love Hewitt, or you?" He didn't noticed Alina stopping again to stand behind him with her arms crossed and her murderous eyes. Sam did, and he surprised his brother who couldn't believe he was actually laughing at his joke. But then Sam gave him little taps on the shoulder, trying not to laugh too much when he warned him. "Oh you're so dead..."

That's when Dean realized that he hadn't mentioned someone, and worryingly turned to his friend, instantly scared of the way she was glaring at him. He tried his charming smile to save himself. "Come on, Frenchy! It would've been way too easy to answer if you were an option!"

Alina tilted her head in a threatening way that almost made Dean take a step away. But then she just chuckled and let her arms fall back along side her body. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better Winchester. Sam's obviously the hottest in this building."

Sam laughed at that comment, while Dean was now frowning. And Alina was enjoying this payback, but they had to hurry up. She didn't want to stay in that Asylum longer than she needed to. So she shrugged and followed Sam inside the room next to Dean, ignoring his offended look.

The eldest Winchester followed them quickly, so they could all investigate that room. Dean whistled, impressed by the amount of things they were finding out about that place. "Man. Electro-shock. Lobotomies. They did some twisted stuff to these people. Kinda like my man Jack in Cuckoo's Nest." He said that last sentence with a large grin, making crazy eyes, trying to mimic the actor he was talking about. But since the other two ignored him completely, his smile quickly dropped and he looked away.

However, he wasn't expecting Alina to come stand next to him less than five seconds after that, and push him on the side to get his attention. When he turned to look at her, she smiled at him and did her best McMurphy impression. "You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it."

She hadn't finished her sentence yet, that the big proud childish smile on Dean's lips had already reappeared. And just like that, without any other word, his friend winked at him and went back to her job. Dean couldn't take his eyes off her. She would probably make him go crazy before the spirits in that building could. He watched her as she stopped in front a shelf to take a book and blow the dust accumulated on the cover. She didn't expect the dust to fly directly in her face and coughed multiple times while angrily throwing the book back where it belonged. Dean tried not to laugh at the scene but she was just adorable, and once he realized there was a giant stupid grin on his face he looked away from her, getting his attention back on the case.

"So." He was the first to talk since he was the only one uncomfortable with the silent. "What do you think? Ghosts possessing people?"

"Maybe." Sam answered. "Or maybe it's more like Amityville, or the Smurl hunting."

"Spirits driving them insane. Kinda like my man Jack in The Shining."

Alina laughed at the new reference that was also kind of terrifying. "So we should be fine as long as Sam and I don't start talking to our fingers." Dean laughed with her until Sam decided he was done with the jokes.

"Guys? When are we going to talk about it?"

He surprised the two friends, making them both turn to him. "Talk about what?" His brother asked.

"About the fact dad's not here."

Of course he wanted to talk about John now. Alina did her best not to scold Sam for ruining the mood by bringing that up once again. He'd already spend the entire previous day, complaining about that text message Alina started to wish they'd never received in the first place.

"Oh. I see. How about...never."

"I'm being serious, man. He sent us here..."

"So am I, Sam. Look, he sent us here, he obviously wants us here. We'll pick up the search later."

"It doesn't matter what he wants."

Alina rolled her eyes at their childish attitude and decided to keep herself busy so she wouldn't focus on them too long to start getting another headache. If she just ignored them, they'd eventually stop by themselves.

"See? That attitude? Right there? That is why I always get the extra cookie."

"Dad could be in trouble, we should be looking for him. We deserve some answers, Dean. I mean, this is our family we're talking about."

Alina poked around a table, noticing a name written on a plate. Sanford Ellicott. The name of the doctor that used to work here was definitely a huge hint.

"I understand that, Sam, but he's given us an order."

"So what, we gotta always follow dad's orders?"

"Of course we do."

"Hey guys?" Alina grabbed their attention from the other side of the room, proudly showing them what she'd found. "I could continue this investigation by myself so you guys could stay here all day and argue about how we got here, or you could come with me to find out more about the south wing and eventually save a lot of people by doing so. Your choice. I'm leaving." She then walked to them, gave the plate to Sam with a simple shrug before leaving the room and the two brothers inside it. They were free to resume their conversation, yet they both chose to follow the girl. She could be quite convincing when she wanted them to do something, and that was a good thing for Dean because he was tired of constantly fighting with his brother.

LATER

It wasn't hard for the hunters to find Dr Sanford Ellicott's son, since he'd decided to follow his father's path. Alina insisted on going inside to play the patient and get as much informations as possible, but Sam didn't want to stay alone with his brother outside, waiting for her to come back. He was upset because of Dean, and he didn't want Alina to be upset because of him, so he was glad to leave the other two outside when he entered the clinic.

His friend however, was pretty worried about him going there alone. And Dean noticed that as they were both leaning against the glass windows next to the front door.

"Hey relax Frenchy. What's the worst that could happen to him?"

Alina tried not to smile at his innocence. That was cute. "You never went to therapy, right?"

"Hell no. I don't need to talk about my childhood with a total stranger." And the little laugh Alina let out when she heard his answer, made him doubt about her own answer. That couldn't be true… "Hold on…did you?"

Alina simply nodded so her friend almost thought he was hallucinating.

"When?!"

Maybe his reaction was a little too much, but it didn't surprise Alina. She was just like him before her first session. "It was…about a year after losing my dad. One of our old neighbors was a therapist who worked exclusively with hunters. I thought it was stupid at first but my mom forced me to go."

"Wait…you went to a hunter therapist?" Dean was trying to be understanding, but that sounded so absurd.

"I mean, I couldn't go to a normal one. At least with her I wasn't afraid of getting sent to a mental hospital talking about spirits and werewolves. And it helped me dealing with…a lot of things. Honestly I would've gone back to see her after what happened with Chris and Charlie, but she died on a hunt months before I even met them."

Dean was stunned. He didn't think Alina was the kind of person to believe in that sort of things, but he could see how affected she was to have lost the person who'd supposedly helped her so much.

Since he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable with that conversation, he decided to suddenly put on a shy smile and stared at her with big expectations. "And so…you ever talked about me?"

"Oh yeah, you were one of the main topics."

Dean first laughed, but then stopped abruptly, questioning himself on the sarcastic tone he thought he'd heard because he wasn't sure of it anymore. He turned back to her and…she wasn't laughing! She wasn't even smiling! She was serious?!

Of course Dean wanted to ask her about the things she'd said about him to her therapist, but Sam chose this moment to finally walk out of the clinic.

"It's about damn time…" Alina sighed as Sam was walking past them, forcing his brother and his friend to catch up and match his pace. Alina wondered if he was just still mad at Dean, or if he wanted to leave the place as fast as he could to avoid another therapy session.

"Dude! You were in there forever." Dean complained, already forgetting about Alina's story. "What the hell were you talking about?"

"Just the hospital, you know."

That wasn't convincing at all.

"And...?" His brother insisted.

"And the south wing? It's where they housed the really hard cases. The psychotics, the criminally insane."

They reached the Impala where Sam told them about the riot that took place one night in 1964, during which the patients attacked the staff and each other. Basically they took over the Asylum and caused a couple of deaths. Unfortunately, some bodies, including Dr Ellicott's, were never recovered even after the police scoured every inch of the place. These bodies were probably still hidden somewhere, so they now knew why the place was full of angry spirits.

They had to go back in that Asylum at night after all…

LATER

Everything was fine, until the hunters reached the south wing doors once again. The brothers both walked in without any problem, but when it came to Alina she almost lost her balance the moment she passed the doors, catching herself back on the nearest wall. She instantly got worried looks from her friends who'd turned around when they'd heard her stumbling behind them. "Hey you okay?" Dean asked in a serious tone.

"Yeah I'm fine…" She blinked twice, trying to avoid the headache she knew was coming. She was so cold, but she knew it was because of that connection she had with the spirits, and from the way she was struggling to stand normally, she knew they'd have a busy night. "It's just a lot more active now than earlier."

The hunter lifted her flashlight towards the Winchesters, trying to smile at them. "It's okay, I…I think I got this."

"Are you sure this is safe?" Sam asked and Dean nodded. Alina was glad they were finally agreeing on something, but she wished it wasn't about overprotecting her. "Maybe you should wait outside."

"What? No, Missouri said I'd be fine as long as I stay with you guys. I'm not gonna wait outside all by myself."

She had a point. But they didn't want her to be suddenly hit by the pain without them knowing it. So without planning it, they both raised their hands towards their friend and talked in chorus. "You should take my hand."

The brothers frowned at each other, irritated by the way they had the exact same reflex.

That was enough to make Alina smile and forget about how suffocating this place felt. They were unbelievable. The young woman quickly smacked their hands away from her in amusement. "I already told you not to fight over me boys. And I'm not gonna hold your hands every time we go in haunted places, I'm not a freaking kid." Since Dean was holding the EMF meter, and Sam the camera, she grabbed the shotgun in Dean's bag to load it and hold it down in front of her. "Now shut up and help me find the dead bodies so we can burn them and get the hell out of here."

She didn't wait for them any longer, and started to walk in the dark hallway. The energy was heavy but it wasn't as threatening as she expected it to be. She still didn't know if that was a good thing.

"Getting readings?" Sam asked his brother with the EMF meter in his hands.

"Yeah, big time."

"This place is orbing like crazy." Sam could see the countless little orbs floating all over the place through his camera.

"Probably multiple spirits out and about." Dean was still focused on the EMF, when he noticed that his brother was now standing still behind them, staring at the camera in shock. "What? Did you get anything?"

Sam opened his mouth, looked up at his friend also waiting for his answer, then back at the camera. "Hey maybe you should walk next to us."

Dean had no idea of what made him react like that, until he went to stand next to Sam and saw the concerning image on the camera's little screen. The device was on night vision mode, and the girl standing in front of them was now surrounded by every single orbs in the hallway. It almost looked like a shield around her. Dean raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That can't be normal."

"What?!" Alina was starting to freak out since she couldn't see what was going on, and their reactions weren't helping.

"You don't feel anything?" Dean insisted.

"No. In fact…I was freezing when we first got here but now I kinda feel better. Why?"

The brothers were stunned. She really seemed fine to them but they couldn't ignore what was on the camera. Sam was the one to finally give her an answer. "They're all surrounding you Alina. It looks like the spirits are…attaching themselves to you."

"What?!" Alina instantly joined them and turned the little screen towards her to see what he meant, but…everything looked normal. It was just her on the camera. "I don't see anything."

The brothers were even more surprised when they went next to her and couldn't see the orbs surrounding her anymore. It was just the three of them standing in front of the camera.

"What the hell?" Dean was completely lost, but Sam only had to think for a few seconds to find a plausible explanation.

The youngest Winchester grabbed his brother's arm and walked away from the girl, stopping just a few inches away from her. And once again, every orbs in the hallway started to gather around the Empath, like a group of ants. Even from afar, the vision was scary enough to make the hunter rush over to the boys, making the invisible shield disappear the moment she reached them. "That's definitely not okay. Can we hurry up and get this over with, guys?"

"Yeah of course." Sam couldn't agree more. "Just stay close."

"And be careful." Dean added. "The only thing that makes me more nervous than a pissed off spirit...is the pissed off spirit of a psycho killer."

The two best friends next to him simply stared at him for this comment, before Alina hit his arm as hard as possible.

"Hey! Why would you do that?!"

"Why would you say that when I'm literally a spirit beacon right now?!"

Sam rolled his eyes at them. "We don't have time for this guys."

Alina kept glaring at his brother for a few more seconds, until she finally went back to the case. This time, they tried to walk at the same pace to prevent Alina from being surrounded again by the spirits that seemed to leave her alone, only when the brothers were near her.

They walked around the place, the brothers going into separate rooms while always keeping their friend close to one of them, until Dean and Alina heard Sam's voice yelling at them from a different room. "Guys? Guys!" The two hunters rushed into the room. "Shotgun!" Sam shouted as an old woman with white hair and one bloody eye hanging out of her head was moving towards him.

Alina quickly pointed her weapon at the spirit. "Sam, get down!"

He threw himself on the ground right before Alina shot the woman without hesitation. She disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving the three hunters gasping and looking around them to make sure they were now completely alone.

"Nice shot." Dean complimented the girl next to him.

"Thanks." And she gave him the shotgun to go help Sam standing up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine but…that was weird."

"Yeah. You're telling me." Dean started to move out of the room, quickly followed by his brother and their friend.

"No, Dean, I mean it was weird that she didn't attack me."

"Looked pretty agro from where I was standing."

"I mean…" Alina tried to replay the scene in her mind but all she could see was Sam. "I was too worried to pay attention."

"She didn't hurt me." Sam insisted. "She didn't even try! So if she didn't wanna hurt me then what did she want?"

Alina did find it weird too. The spirits surrounding her in the hallway didn't seem threatening either, since she hadn't even noticed they were here until the brothers saw them. She would usually get a headache whenever something bad and powerful was near her, like when she'd entered the south wing. But…there was nothing negative with those spirits.

They were walking down another hallway when a sudden noise in the room they were passing made them stop. Dean raised the shotgun, Sam flicked on his flashlight to shine it into the room, and they all approached the metal bed covered in a ragged sheet on its side. They could see the top of a blond head behind it, and after sharing the same look to confirm they were ready, Sam reached out and tipped the bed over.

They were surprised to see a terrified and gasping girl sitting in the corner of the room. She definitely wasn't a spirit. Alina put her hand on the weapon so Dean would lower it, and slowly approached the girl. "Hey it's okay. We're not gonna hurt you."

The girl was still shaking when Alina offered her a hand that she hesitantly took, to finally stand back up.

"What's your name?" Dean asked gently.

"Katherine. Kat."

"Okay. I'm Dean, this is Alina and Sam."

"What are you doing here?" Sam questioned her almost too abruptly since he quickly got an angry look from Alina. The poor girl was already traumatized she didn't want to scare her even more when they were supposed to help her.

"Um…My boyfriend, Gavin."

"Is he here?" Dean and Alina asked in chorus, not liking the idea of another unprotected person being in that building.

"Somewhere. He thought it would be fun, try and see some ghosts. I thought it was all just...you know. Pretend. I've seen things. I heard Gavin scream and..."

"Alright." Dean stopped her when they all realized they'd have to find the guy before they could finish their job. "Kat? Come on. Sam's gonna get you out of here and then we're gonna find your boyfriend."

Alina was already pushing her towards Sam, but to her surprise, Kat quickly stepped away from her. "No! No. I'm not going to leave without Gavin. I'm coming with you."

"Kat…" The more Alina was standing next to her, the more she could feel her anxiety rising. "You can't stay, it's too dangerous."

"Yeah there's no joke around here." Dean confirmed, noticing the way his friend was starting to breath heavily. She was feeling something.

"That's why I gotta find him."

The hunters looked at each other, and when Alina shook her head so they wouldn't agree to keep her around, Sam simply shrugged. That couldn't be good…

"Alright, I guess we gonna split up then." Dean announced, still looking at Alina worryingly.

The young woman knew she didn't have time to make them change their minds, because they had to hurry and find Gavin. But she didn't like the way Dean was staring at her like she was about to collapse at any moment. Of course he'd noticed how uneasy she felt. "Fine. I'll go with Sam." She was already walking towards him, but Dean grabbed her arm the moment she walked pass him.

"You're coming with us." He said, clearly implying that it wasn't a request.

"Why? You need two girls to keep an eye on you?"

"I'm serious Alina. I'm not letting you go anywhere in that place without me."

Alina knew he was just concerned about her safety, so she didn't want to get angry at him. "I'll be fine Dean." And she tried to walk away, but he didn't let go of her, even letting his grip fall to her hand, holding it tightly in his.

"Alina…"

She didn't turn around to face him, knowing it would be useless to argue with him. That was absurd, but she looked up at Sam anyway with a sigh. "Be careful."

Her friend nodded at her. "You too." And he left while the other three took the opposite direction.

They wandered around some hallways, searching for any sign of the boyfriend.

"Gavin?" Kat called him in a still shaking voice. Even with two experts, she was still terrified of that place. "Gavin?"

Dean suddenly stopped to stand in front of her. "I got a question for you." Alina waited next to him, wondering why he was taking a break now. "You've seen a lot of horror movies, yeah?"

"I guess so." Kat hesitantly replied.

"Do me a favor. Next time you see one? Pay attention. When someone says a place is haunted...don't go in!"

He then kept walking again, making Alina roll her eyes at him and turn to Kat as they were following him. "He's obsessed with horror movies." She tried to reassure the girl, even though she couldn't say Dean was completely wrong. "But seriously…you shouldn't be with a guy whose idea of a romantic date is to take you to a creepy place where a lot of people died. That's like a huge red flag."

"Yeah…so why are you with him?"

This time, Alina was the one to stop in the middle of the hallway when she heard the girl's question, frowning at her. "What?"

"I…" Kat was looking at the two hunters, now completely lost in her theories. She was sure of it from the way Dean had reacted when they had to split up, but now she wasn't sure of anything. "Aren't you guys like…dating or something?"

Dean and Alina looked at each other until the embarrassment was too hard to ignore. The young woman turned back to Kat with an amused smile on her face. "I don't get why people keep saying that. I'm definitely not with him and..."

"Wow!" Dean interrupted her almost instantly. "What do you mean 'definitely'?"

Alina shrugged. "The truth? That we're not together."

"Yeah but you make it sound like it would be the worst thing for you to date me."

"I never said that! Although it would probably be the worst thing for you to date anyone."

Dean's offended look made her realize she should've kept her mouth shut. He wasn't gonna let this conversation end so easily.

"Come on Winchester…we both know you're not the 'relationship type'."

"You don't know that!"

"I've literally known you my whole life! I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings but…I know what's on your mind every time you see an attractive woman! And it's fine! All I'm saying is…if we were to hypothetically date, you'd probably feel trapped in this hypothetical relationship, and I hypothetically wouldn't want that for you!"

Dean was lost for words. Was that really what she thought of him? He was so focused on not being able to share his feelings with her, he hadn't even thought about the way she saw him. But it was understandable. He couldn't even protest because she was right about the kind of person he was. But…

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when both their flashlights started to flicker before completely shutting down. Of course this kind of things happened in haunted places. "You son of a bitch." They said at the same time, making each other smile even though they were arguing just a few seconds ago.

Alina then joined Kat behind to make sure she was okay and apologize for what she had to witness, while Dean was reaching into his pocket. "It's alright, I got a lighter."

The little flame wasn't as bright as the flashlights, but it would be enough.

However, Alina was almost startled when Kat grabbed her arm all of a sudden. She turned to the frightened girl. "Are you okay?"

"You're hurting my arm." Kat simply replied.

"What are you talking about? You're the one holding me, Kat."

Dean turned around when he heard the confusion in his friend's voice. He used his lighter to see Kat's hand holding Alina's arm, then the three of them looked at the empty space next to Kat to finally see the disembodied hand that was clutching her arm. And before they could react, the girl was dragged into a room, pulling the hunter with her inside.

The metal door slammed behind them, leaving Dean outside.

Are Dean and Alina finally…talking about some hypothetical feelings?

I know you guys don't like the 'hypothetical' part, but they have to go through this to get to the real stuff. Trust the process! The slow burn will soon turn into a freaking fire!

Alina taking care of Baby was also one of the scenes I wanted to include in my story before I even started writing it.

I think Dean is so adorable in this episode with all his silly jokes and movie references!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as usual, have a nice day/night!