(S1EP11 - Scarecrow)

"Dad?"

Alina first thought she'd misheard that word because she was still half asleep, but Sam seemed as shocked as her.

"Are you hurt? We've been looking for you everywhere. We didn't know where you were, if you were okay."

The Winchesters' friend quickly started to shake the sleeping brother next to her to wake him up. "Dean!" She whispered aggressively right next to his face. "Wake up!"

The hunter blinked a few times, unaware of the situation until he also heard his brother talking.

"We're fine. Dad, where are you?"

Dean was sitting up on the bed while Alina was too busy staring at his brother to look back at him.

"What? Why not?"

"Is that dad?"

Since Sam was too focused on the call to answer, Alina quickly nodded at Dean, noticing that he wasn't wearing the shirt he had on when she'd gone to sleep. She felt so stupid getting flustered in a moment like that, yet she successfully hid that as she spotted the shirt at the end of the bed. She took it as fast as she could to throw it on her friend, giving him an annoyed look before she heard Sam's next question.

"You're after it, aren't you? The thing that killed mom."

It felt like John was taking an eternity to give him an answer, but then…

"A demon? You know for sure?"

The young woman's heart almost stopped at this word. A demon?

"A demon?" Dean instantly asked his brother. "What's he saying?"

That couldn't be true. Was he still talking about the thing that killed Mary? Why did it have to be a demon out of all the monsters in this world?

"You know where it is?" Sam kept ignoring his older brother. He needed to know. He needed to get his revenge. "Let us help."

And Alina got déjà-vu with his next question.

"Why not?"

John didn't want their help, just like her mom didn't want hers.

"Give me the phone." Dean gave an order that Sam once again chose to ignore completely. It was as if his brother wasn't even in the room.

The youngest Winchester looked confused and angry. "Names? What names? Dad…talk to me, tell me what's going on."

Alina could feel Dean's impatience and concern growing next to her, as he still had his hand lifted towards Sam, trying to reach out for the small device.

"No. Alright? No way." Sam protested, reminding Alina that no matter how much time they'd spent looking for him for the past months, Sam really still couldn't help but fight with his dad.

"Give me the phone!"

At this point she also wanted Dean to have it so Sam wouldn't push his father to hang up angrily. These two just couldn't have a normal conversation. So she was glad when Dean leaned over her to reach his brother and took the phone from him.

"Dad, it's me. Where are you?"

Alina watched him, silently waiting for the answer. But she wasn't actually surprised when his body suddenly tensed up at his dad's words, and his worried expression completely changed into the face of a perfect little soldier getting orders. "Yes, sir. Yeah, I got a pen."

Alina handed him the notebook and the pen that was on the nightstand next to her, before he even had time to ask for it. He didn't thank her either when he took them, his full attention was on his dad and the informations he was asking him to write down. "What are the names?"

Alina met Sam's eyes, and felt bad for all the frustration she could read inside them. In a way, she knew how he felt because she'd been in the same situation with her mom. The difference was, she actually had no idea what her mom was doing.

Once his father was done giving him all the informations he needed about this new case, Dean thought he would simply hang up without another word, but he didn't. He took a short pause before using the slightly softer tone he would always take while talking about a specific person. "Listen Dean, I know Alina's with you right now. You two are taking care of her?"

Dean wasn't expecting this question, so he gave the girl a quick glance that made his entire body relax for a second, before going back to the conversation with his dad. "Yes sir, we are."

"Good. I'd rather her not being here at all but…as long as she stays in America you keep an eye on that girl and you don't let anything happen to her, you understand me? You keep her safe Dean."

Dean remembered how Sam used to be jealous of how considerate their dad was with Alina. He'd always treated her like the daughter he never had, even if she still had both her parents at the time, and would talk to her with the softness he'd never even gave to his own sons. The eldest however, had never questioned that choice because of how protective he also was over his friend. Today he was even proud of it, because his dad worrying for her meant that she truly was as special as he saw her. It wasn't just his biased opinion. How could he not keep her safe?

He turned to her once again, getting a confused smile from the girl. And with that, replying to his dad had never felt so easy. "Yes sir. I will."

LATER

Sam was the one driving the car while Dean and Alina were gathering all the informations they'd found before leaving the motel. The names John had gave them belonged to three different couples that went missing. All from different towns, in different states, gone on a road trip but never made it to their final destinations. Even if the hunters couldn't find a real connection between the couples at first, they eventually noticed that each one's route had took them to the same part of Indiana, every year on the second week of April.

"This is the second week of April." Sam pointed out, getting a simple 'Yep', from his brother. "So, dad is sending us to Indiana to go hunting for something before another couple vanishes?"

"Yahtzee." Dean confirmed with some sort of admiration in the voice. "Can you imagine putting together a pattern like this? All the different obits dad had to go through? The man's a master."

Even if Dean was too focused on his researches to notice Sam's irritation, Alina saw the way her friend was looking at her in the rearview mirror, annoyed by the way Dean was so eager to follow their dad's orders. She tried shaking her head to stop him from being too impulsive, but as expected, it didn't work. Sam let out a deep sigh and pulled over to the side of the road before turning off the car.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked him.

"We're not going to Indiana."

"We're not?"

Alina closed her eyes and wanted to disappear in her seat so she wouldn't have to witness this new argument. Sam had already tried killing his brother because of the influence of an evil spirit the night before, couldn't they just pretend to be a happy family for just one day?

"No. We're going to California. Dad called from a payphone. Sacramento area code."

"Sam…"

"Dean, if this demon killed mom and Jess, and dad's closing in, we've gotta be there. We've gotta help."

"Dad doesn't want our help."

"I don't care."

"He's given us an order."

"I don't care! We don't always have to do what he says."

"Sam, dad is asking us to work jobs, to save lives, it's important. Alina understands that too."

Their friend wanted to use this opportunity to join the conversation and try to calm them down. But Sam really thought he could convince his brother…

"Alright, I understand, believe me, I understand. But I'm talking one week here, man, to get answers. To get revenge."

Alina didn't like that last word. She didn't like how much importance Sam was giving it. "Guys…"

But this time it was Dean's turn to interrupt her. "Alright, look, I know how you feel."

"Do you?!"

Alina looked as shocked as Dean at the tone Sam was using now.

"How old were you when mom died? Four? Jess died six months ago. How the hell would you know how I feel?!"

Sam waited for his brother's answer, but Dean just couldn't find his words. And when he looked back at Alina with sad eyes, she thought it was because he was so hurt by that question he needed some support. But Sam knew. He knew Dean was looking at her because she was the one person he couldn't imagine himself losing in the same way he'd lost Jessica.

"Sam please…" Alina wanted to scold him for the way he was acting with Dean, but she also wanted to comfort him for having to think about Jessica's death when he was finally starting to sleep normally again. It was just so hard to pick a side when the brothers were fighting, because she cared so much for the two of them.

"Dad said it wasn't safe." Dean added before she could choose a way to handle this. "For any of us. I mean, he obviously knows something that we don't, so if he says to stay away, we stay away."

"I don't understand the blind faith you have in the man. I mean, it's like you don't even question him."

"Yeah, it's called being a good son!"

Alina jumped when Sam angrily got out of the car, quickly followed by his brother. She wanted to go after him too, but now that they were gone she was finally able to put her hands on her temples to rub them with a painful groan. She'd started to feel the headache coming before the car had even stopped. But the worst thing wasn't the pain, it was the fact that she could still hear the brothers yelling at each other while Sam was taking his stuff out of the trunk.

"You're a selfish bastard, you know that? You just do whatever you want. Don't care what anybody thinks."

"That's what you really think?"

"Yes, it is."

"Well, then this selfish bastard is going to California."

Alina turned around to see Sam put on his backpack and start walking away from the car. She didn't want him to leave. At least not like that.

"Come on, you're not serious!" Dean shouted at him, still standing next to the Impala.

"I am serious!"

"It's the middle of the night! Hey, I'm taking off, I will leave your ass, you hear me?!"

Sam stopped walking, turning back to face his brother. "That's what I want you to do."

Alina finally got out of the car while the brothers were simply staring at each other, waiting for something to happen. And she waited too, because no matter how messed up their relationship was, she believed they truly cared for each other and didn't want to separate like that.

But she realized how hopeless it was when Dean started to walk towards the driver's seat. "Come on Alina." He opened the door, and for a moment he was terrified not to see her moving, still looking at Sam worryingly. Could she choose to go with him? "Alina get in the car!" His voice was firm because he didn't want her to hear how desperate he was to get her attention. He was already losing his brother, he couldn't lose her too.

"Just give me a second." Was the only thing she told him before running after his brother who was already leaving again. "Sam! Wait!"

Dean was still worried, and angry, but he didn't want them to see it so he got in the car and watched them in the side view mirror, as Alina was finally reaching Sam and hugging him. He still wasn't sure if his friend would actually come back, or if he would have to watch her walk away with his brother. He was so scared…

But Sam was aware that she wasn't joining him. She could never. Yet he was glad he was able to hug her one last time before leaving her. "I'm sorry Alina. I have to go."

"I know." His friend took a step away from him with a forced smile. She didn't want him to see her cry. "I understand Sam. I mean…you couldn't stop me from going after my mom when I thought I could find her, so I won't ask you not to go if that's something you need to do. I just…I don't like the way you're leaving things with Dean. He's your brother, Sam."

"Yeah but…I can't keep doing this. I can't keep following dad's order blindly, I'm not like him."

"And I'm not saying you should be like him, I'm asking you not to make this the last conversation you'll ever have with your brother. I'll take care of him, so once you're done with whatever you'll find in California, you better come back and fix things with him once and for all, Samuel."

Sam couldn't help but smile at the way she'd used his full name. She always called him Sam, or Sammy, but when she called him Samuel he knew he couldn't mess with her. Because she was dead serious. She just wanted to protect him and his brother because they meant the world to her, and he felt the same way about his best friend. So he gave her a faint smile and nodded in agreement before wrapping his arms around her once last time. "Take care of yourself too, Alina."

She smiled against him, holding him tightly enough to be able to let go of him without any regrets when she walked back to the car. She wanted to leave first because she couldn't watch him go away. She couldn't cry right now.

Dean felt a huge wave a relief coursing through his body when he saw his friend coming back to the car, trying to act as if everything was fine when she sat next to him. They shared the same smile, knowing that neither of them wanted to talk about what had just happened, and drove away towards their next hunt.

LATER

Alina tried not to say anything when she noticed Dean, staring at his phone for a moment when they finally parked in front of a Café, in Burkittsville. Of course he wanted to call Sam, but he was too proud to make the first step. That was the most adorably stupid thing Alina had ever seen in her life.

She stayed silent when he simply sighed and put the small device back in the pocket of his jacket. "Let's go Frenchy."

They got out of the car, and luckily found someone to talk too pretty quickly. The man was sitting in a chair on the porch, right under the giant sign 'Scotty's Café'. At least the introductions wouldn't have to last too long.

"Let me guess…" Dean was the first to talk, gesturing at the sign with a fake amused smile on his face. "Scotty."

The man looked at the sign, then back at them, and it was already obvious that he wouldn't be the most talkative person in this town. "Yep."

"Hi, my name's John Bonham…" Dean was about to introduce Alina with a fake name, but Scotty didn't let him finish.

"Isn't that the drummer for Led Zeppelin?"

Alina had to fight against every fiber of her body not to laugh at Dean's face. He was taken aback by his bluff being called so fast. "Wow. Good. Classic rock fan."

He was lucky Alina was here with him, because she simply patted his shoulder before taking the lead. "I guess we can't win every time. I'm Alina and his real name is Dean, I'm sorry for what just happened, it's just a stupid game between the two of us. I mean…we didn't get many opportunities to laugh ever since our friends went missing."

"Really? I'm sorry to hear that." He said those words while keeping such a straight face, she just couldn't believe them. But she ignored it and kept going, to stay in her character.

"Yeah that's actually the reason why we're here." She discreetly hit Dean's arm, and almost killed him when it took an eternity for him to finally react and grab the two pieces of paper out of his pocket.

Dean was still stunned by the way his friend had saved the situation so easily, but he did his best to follow her lead when he gave Scotty the Missing Person flyers for the last victims. Holly and Vince Parker. "Yeah we were wondering if, you'd seen these people by chance." He waited a moment to see Scotty's reaction to the pictures before continuing with his story. "They went missing about a year ago. They passed through somewhere around here, and…"

"Nope sorry." Scotty cut him short and handed the flyers back like he didn't even care. "We don't get many strangers around here."

Either he was hiding something, or his social skills were really bad. The two hunters however, ignored his insensitive expression and tried giving him thankful smirks. Alina was ready to leave, but Dean wasn't moving from his spot. And…

"Scotty, you've got a smile that lights up a room, anybody ever tell you that?"

This time, it was too hard to keep a straight face, so Alina had to cough a few times to hide her amused snort when Scotty simply stared at Dean, the same way he'd stared them since the beginning of this conversation. The hunter chuckled, satisfied of his joke because he'd made his friend smile. "Never mind. See you around." And he put his hand behind Alina to make her walk away with him.

Once they were far enough so Scotty wouldn't be able to hear them anymore, Alina finally allowed herself to laugh and give her friend an annoyed look. "I hate you Winchester."

"No you don't." He smiled and put his arm on her shoulders to pull her closer to him as they were walking towards the closest store.

She rolled her eyes at his childish behavior and put her arm around him too. "Yeah…And I hate that I don't…"

Once they entered the store and met the two owners Harley and Stacy, an old married couple, they asked the same questions and showed the same pictures. But of course, and it couldn't just be a coincidence anymore, they didn't seem to remember seeing the missing couple. Dean wasn't as suspicious of them as Alina at first, because he couldn't feel the uneasiness she felt the moment Harley took the flyer from her hand. But then Emily changed everything. She was the owners' niece, and seemed to remember perfectly the missing couple.

"Did the guy have a tattoo?" She asked the hunters, coming down the stairs with some heavy boxes.

"Yes, he did." Dean and Alina replied in chorus. They'd both spent so much time staring at these photos, they didn't even need to think before answering.

After putting the boxes on the counter, Emily took a look at the picture of Vince and turned to her aunt and uncle. "You remember? They were just married."

It wasn't hard to notice that the way Harley suddenly remembered them, was more than strange and had to be related to the case. "You're right. They did stop for gas. Weren't here more than ten minutes."

"You remember anything else?" Alina asked him, trying to learn more about his implication.

"I told them how to get back to the Interstate. They left town."

"Could you point me in that same direction?" Dean added, glad to finally get a new lead on their hunt.

And quickly after that, the hunters were back in the Impala to follow the same road their missing couple had taken the night of their disappearance. Alina wanted to focus on the case, but the car felt so empty without Sam. She wondered if he was okay, promising herself to call him whenever she would get an opportunity. Dean was too stubborn to do it himself, but she needed to make sure her best friend wasn't lying unconscious in a bed ready to sleep for two whole days. She wouldn't be able to stay without any news of him for this long anyway. She took a quick glance at her reflection in the side view mirror, making sure the make up she'd put around her bruised eye was still hiding the mark of Sam's punch. Some people could easily get suspicious seeing a woman with such a big apparent bruise, especially when she was traveling alone with a man. She didn't want strangers to call the police on her friend.

"So what do you think about these people?" Dean really wanted to know the answer, but he'd also asked this question because he could see how troubled Alina was about the situation with Sam.

"I don't know…they're hiding something."

"And that's something you saw or…"

"Or what?" She knew what. And she wasn't mad at him for mentioning her psychic abilities, but she still wanted to mess with him.

"You know…"

"I don't."

Dean gave her a quick look to make sure she was being serious, which she was not, and let out a deep sigh. "Did you feel anything back there?"

Alina smiled at him. She just loved his sulking face. "I don't know what I felt. There wasn't any guilt, but they're definitely not innocent either. I just don't want another couple to disappear while we're here so…we'll just have to hurry and find out what Minnie and Roman Castevet are hiding from us."

Alina was looking through her window, so she didn't notice it when Dean frowned at her last sentence, and gave her multiple looks while making sure to keep his eyes on the road in front of them. He then smiled at the realization. "Wait, was that a horror movie reference?"

His friend hadn't even realized what she'd done. It just felt so natural even though she usually waited for him to make a funny connection between their current case and a horror movie, to then add her own sarcastic comment to the joke. "You're right." She admitted in a fake worried tone. "We've been alone for just a few hours and I'm already turning into you. That can't be good."

She smiled at his exasperation, because she knew he was actually happy to have her with him while his brother was somewhere between them and John. She wanted to make another joke, but a sudden noise coming from the backseat made the two hunters frown.

"What the hell?" Dean tried reaching for his bag, but since he had to stay focused on the road, Alina smacked his arm away and completely turned to the backseat to search the source of the sound.

However, her attempt to help completely failed when Dean found himself even more distracted by her ass right next to his face while she was busy going through the bags. He cleared his throat, flustered, and had to pull over at the same time she was getting back on her seat with the beeping EMF meter in her hand.

They both stared at it in total confusion, then looked at the orchard outside the car.

"I guess that's where we're going." Alina concluded, and they got out of the Impala to investigate the place.

The atmosphere of the orchard was kind of creepy, but everything looked perfectly normal when they started walking around. Everything…except the one thing they both spotted at the same time. The scarecrow on its post. They shared the same suspicious look before walking over to it and stand for a second in front of the terrifying figure.

"Dude, you fugly."

"Yeah…I'd rather go back to that creepy abandoned Asylum than being chased by that thing and his freaking sickle."

Dean let out a chuckle, before something grabbed his attention on the scarecrow's arm. A design that seemed familiar, but it was way too far to clearly see it. So when he found a ladder next to a nearby tree, he didn't hesitate to take it, put it near the scarecrow, and climb to the top so that he could be eye level with it.

Alina watched him anxiously as he moved the clothing of the scarecrow and pulled out one of the flyers to compare the design with Vince's tattoo. And they matched. Dean looked back at the scarecrow. "Nice tat."

"Okay now get back down, Winchester."

Dean put the flyer back in his pocket and turned to his friend below him with a smile. "You're worried about me, Frenchy?"

"I'm worried about having to catch you if you fall."

He scoffed at her reply, a little bit too confident about himself. "Come on, I'm not gonna…"

And there had to be a crow flying away from one of the trees at the same time, making a loud noise that startled the hunter, and…made him fall.

"Dean!" Alina's body ran before she could even think about it, and she also ended up on the rough ground when he fell on top of her. He was so heavy, she almost thought she had a broken rib when he finally lifted himself from her, with his hands on each side of her body.

"Why did I think I could actually catch you?" Alina complained as she found his green eyes right above her face.

"Well you did a good job cushioning the fall, Frenchy."

And with the flirtatious smirk he was now giving her, Alina knew what part of her body he was referring to. He'd landed right on top of her, so of course they had cushioned him. Alina sighed, having to choose between killing him for not listening to her, laughing at the ridiculous action, and feeling relieved that he wasn't hurt. "You're an asshole. You know that, right?"

Dean smiled at her. "What can I say? You look so hot when you're trynna rescue me."

She smiled too, unable to stay mad at him.

But the more time they spent in that position, the more their smiles started to fade away and their breathing to intensify. Their faces were so close, the way they were looking at each others' lips couldn't go unnoticed. It was the exact same sensation as when they were alone in that cemetery during the Hook Man case. No. It wasn't because back then they'd just kissed, so their lips still had the taste of it. Right now, it felt like an eternity had passed since the last time their lips had felt the softness, and roughness of a kiss. They wanted it so bad.

Dean kept looking at the beautiful woman underneath him, unable to stop himself from slowly approaching her face. Alina felt one of his hand sliding on the ground to stop on her waist and hold her against him, as if he was afraid that she would runaway. And the electricity she felt in her entire body when his lips softly brushed against hers, reminded her of all the pleasure kissing him could bring her.

And yet, once again, her body reacted before the information could get to her brain. She suddenly pushed him away, letting him roll on the ground next to her while she quickly got back on her feet. She cleared her throat and fixed her clothes, searching for something to do with her sweaty hands. Her whole body was sweating. She didn't know how the orchard had gotten so hot all of a sudden, but she clearly didn't want to stay and find out the answer. "Well I'm always happy to help, Winchester. Now, if you're okay we shouldn't waste more time and go back in town."

Dean was still lying on the ground, completely astonished by what had just happened. He watched Alina walking away from him before she stopped a few seconds later, turned around, and pointed at the opposite direction with her finger. "This way! It's this way…" She started to leave once again, unable to look at her friend on the ground behind her when she called him from afar. "Hurry up, Winchester! Or I swear I'm gonna leave you here with the creepy scarecrow!"

Her face was so red now, she was glad Dean could only see her back. Usually, whenever they were sharing a moment…too intense for them to handle, something would always come and stop them at the last second. A weird noise, a phone ringing…or just Sam. But this time Sam wasn't here, she'd left her phone in the car, and the crow from earlier didn't seem interested in making another apparition. She had to be the one stopping it. All these hypothetical talks about their relationship were definitely messing with her mind. It was Dean. Her friend, Dean. And he couldn't be anything else than that, not matter how good of a kisser he was.

And damn…he just had to be an amazing kisser…

Okay, wait for part 2 before you guys decide to attack me for this ending! Because I actually wrote a different version of this chapter's ending, BUT the timing didn't feel right. Like I said, you'll see in part 2!

So I wanted to post shorter chapters, which means there'll be 3 parts for Scarecrow, but I'll probably post part 2 tomorrow!

So I hope you liked this chapter and I'll see you tomorrow! Have a nice day/night!