Chapter Twenty-Four: Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
"Come on, Sam, I'm begging you. This is stupid," Dean said.
"Why?" Sam shot back.
"Going to visit Mom's grave? She doesn't even have a grave…there was no body left after the fire," Dean said.
"She has a headstone."
"Yeah, put up by her uncle, a man we've never even met," Dean said. "So, you wanna go pay your respects to a slab of granite put up by a stranger? Come on. Alec, back me up here."
"You're not supposed to bring me into the middle of your fights," he said. "I'm an impressionable teen with issues."
Dean huffed but he could see a smile tugging at his lips. "Dean, that's not the point," Sam said.
"Well, then, enlighten me, Sam," Dean said.
"It's not about a body, or, or, a casket," Sam tried to explain. "It's about her memory, ok?"
"Hmm," Dean hummed back, definitely not convinced.
"And after Dad, it just…just feels like the right thing to do," Sam said.
"It's irrational is what it is," Dean said.
"Look, man, no one asked you to come," Sam said.
"How would you get there otherwise?" he asked.
"Hitchhiking," Sam said.
"That's safe," he said sarcastically. "Last time you hitchhiked, you found a demon."
"You're not helping," Sam muttered.
"I'm not taking sides," he reminded.
"Your explanation sounds like taking a side," Sam said.
"Or you could look at it like I'm arguing for both sides," he said. "Hitchhiking isn't safe, so Dean has to drive you, but if Dean doesn't want to drive you, then hitchhiking is an option."
"Why don't we swing by the Roadhouse instead," Dean suggested. Dean hated it when he talked in circles. "I mean, we haven't heard anything on the demon lately. We should be hunting that son of a bitch down."
"Except we don't have anything to kill the demon even if we do find it," he pointed out. Dean shot him a quick glare. "But I'm all for going to the Roadhouse again."
Dean laughed, "I bet you are."
"That's a good idea, you two should go," Sam said. "Just drop me off, I'll hitch a ride, and I'll meet you there tomorrow."
He rolled his eyes, "Thought we already went over the stranger danger of hitchhiking."
"Alec's got a point. You do seem to attract demons when you hitchhike," Dean agreed.
"Sam…why do people really go to graveyards to talk to dead people?" he asked seriously. "You did that back in California too."
"Well, it's just a way to remember them," Sam said.
"Do you talk to them?" he asked.
"Sometimes," Sam replied.
"Will John get a headstone?" he asked.
"No," Dean grumbled. "Because that shit costs money."
"What will you talk to your Mom about?" he asked curiously.
"Alec," Dean warned.
"You don't have to answer," he said with a shrug. "I've just never gone to a graveyard to talk to anyone before."
"I wanna give her something," Sam said. He could tell Sam was embarrassed now, so he decided to change the subject.
"You think after we talk to your Mom, we really could go to the Roadhouse?" he asked.
Dean chuckled, "You gettin' tired of texting?"
"No, I just miss kissing," he said with a big smile. That made his brothers laugh.
"I don't know how Ellen's gonna feel about you and Jo kissing," Sam teased.
"Ellen loves me," he easily replied.
"We'll see how much she loves you if she catches you kissing," Dean warned.
"Plus, we both know you're secretly scared of Ellen," Sam said, making Dean laugh.
"Yeah," Dean agreed, and then said in a ridiculously high-pitched voice that didn't sound like him at all, "Yes ma'am. Of course. I'm a perfect angel. No ma'am. I would never kiss your daughter without your permission."
"Is that supposed to be me?" he asked.
"Sounded like you to me," Sam said.
"You did call her ma'am like 20 times last time we were there," Dean pointed out.
"I was being polite," he grumbled.
"Well, Ellen does like you the best, so I guess it's working," Sam said, backing off from the teasing. He was surprised they had teased him as long as they did. They were tip-toeing around him when it concerned Jo. He was pretty sure they were afraid that if they teased him too much, then he'd stop talking to her. But he was a 17-year-old boy and Jo was super pretty and thought he was funny. Yeah, he was going to keep talking to her as long as she let him. And hopefully kissing. He liked when she kissed him. Maybe he could kiss her next time.
"Yes ma'am," Dean teased again, smiling at him in the rear-view mirror.
"You should try it sometime," he suggested. "Ellen thinks I'm an angel and Jo likes me." He was quiet for a minute, but then asked, "Can we get something to eat before we go to the cemetery? I'm starving."
"Dude, you're always hungry," Sam said.
"It takes so much energy to be me," he said as dramatically as he could.
Dean laughed and Sam shook his head in amusement. "Yeah, we'll get something to eat," Dean finally agreed.
"Good!"
They laughed a lot on the way to the cemetery. He was in a pretty good mood, and it seemed like Sam and Dean were too. He played dumb car games with Sam, while Dean coached him on how to play. He knew they were getting close when Sam stopped playing. Both of his brothers seemed more serious almost at the same time.
He followed Sam as he walked around the graveyard. Dean followed too, but he kept his distance and acted like he didn't care about all this. He could tell though, and Sam could tell too, but neither of them pointed it out.
He didn't want to intrude on whatever Sam wanted to talk about with his dead Mom, but he was curious. He stayed back as Sam walked up to the headstone that said:
MARY WINCHESTER
1954-1983
In Loving Memory
He wished they could put a headstone up for John. He must have really loved Mary to change his whole life to try to find her killer. He hated that John was gone and that it was most likely the demon that had killed him. He couldn't remember much from the hospital, but he remembered one thing very clearly. Dean had been dying and John had told him that everything was going to be ok. John was so sure that Dean was going to be fine, and then Dean was fine, and John was dead. He didn't know how it could have happened, but he had a feeling that Dean was only alive because John had done something.
He obviously wasn't going to tell Sam or Dean any of that. Dean was sad enough about John dying, he wasn't about to make it worse. Dean had been horrified when he found out that guy had died for him back when he'd had his heart problems. He knew Dean's guilt would be way worse if he even thought for a minute that John died for him. He would never tell him.
Sam got a knife out of his pocket and started digging around in the dirt in front of the headstone. He watched as Sam got what looked like dog tags out of his pocket and held them up.
"I think, um…I think Dad would have wanted you to have these," Sam said to the headstone. He supposed Sam was really talking more to his Mom, but he couldn't really see it that way. He didn't really get what Sam was doing. But Sam dropped the dog tags into the little hole he had dug and covered them up. "I love you, Mom."
He quickly looked away as Sam stood up to see Dean walking further away from them. He considered catching up to him, but Sam was already headed that way.
He would catch up to his brothers in a minute. Instead, he walked over to Mary's headstone and looked down at it. He wasn't going to talk to someone he'd never met, but he could pretend he was talking to John. "I hope you're with her now," he whispered. "I don't know if there's anything after all this, but I hope you're together. And maybe someday, a long time from now, you, Sam, Dean, and Mary can all be a family again." He looked around to make sure his brothers were far enough away that they wouldn't hear him before he said, "I don't know how you did it…It sounds bad, but I'm glad you did it. We were getting to know each other, and I'll admit it…I wanted you to treat me like you treated your own kids, but I think I need a brother more than I need a dad. So…thanks." That didn't feel like the right ending, and he felt so lame, but he was glad he said it out loud.
He ran over to where Dean was and looked at him curiously when he realized he was looking at a headstone of some girl who had died a few days ago.
"Did you know her?" he asked. Dean was really looking at the headstone. Or, at least, the dead grass around the headstone.
"No," Dean muttered distractedly.
"The dead grass is pretty neat," he said with a nod. "Makes sense…a cemetery full of dead people should have dead grass…" Dean didn't acknowledge him. "Sorry, that was insensitive."
Dean finally looked up and asked, "What's insensitive?"
"You really think I'm gonna repeat it just so you can tell me that it was an insensitive thing to say?" he asked sarcastically.
"Good point," Dean agreed before he started walking again.
"You sure are walking determinedly away from the Impala," he said, easily keeping pace with Dean. His leg was completely healed now, so he didn't have any problems with keeping up with Dean. His brother just kept walking until he found someone wearing a suit and started talking to him, asking him questions about the girl that had recently died. He remained quiet and let his brother do all the talking, not just because this was what he normally did, but also because he had no idea what Dean was doing.
He followed Dean once they started walking again. Sam gave him a curious look, but he just shrugged back since he had no idea what Dean was doing.
"Angela Mason," Dean said to Sam as they all started walking back to the Impala together. "She was a student at the local college. Funeral was three days ago."
"And?" Sam asked. He was glad Sam had asked because he still didn't get it and he didn't want to be the only one who had no idea why Dean cared about this dead girl they had never met. It wasn't like they were in a cemetery or anything. He laughed to himself but made sure his brothers didn't see him. He didn't think either of them would find him funny right now.
"And? You saw her grave," Dean said like it was obvious, even though it was obviously lost on him and Sam. "Everything dead around it in a perfect circle? You don't think that's a little weird?"
"Maybe the groundskeeper went a little agro with the pesticide," Sam said.
"No, I asked him," Dean said. "No pesticide, no chemicals. Nobody can explain it."
"Ok, so what are you thinking?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. Unholy ground, maybe?" Dean asked back. Sam stopped and just looked at Dean. He didn't understand why Sam was looking at Dean like that. "What?" Dean asked, also not understanding Sam's look apparently. "If something evil happened there, it could easily poison the ground. Remember the farm outside of Cedar Rapids?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Could be the sign of a demonic presence," Dean said before Sam could try to convince him otherwise. "Or, the Angela girl's spirit, if it's powerful enough." Sam just nodded and started walking again. "Well, don't get too excited, you might pull something."
"It's just…stumbling onto a hunt? Here, of all places?" Sam asked. His brother looked to him to try to get him to back him up on this, but he'd already told them he didn't like taking sides.
"So?" Dean asked.
"So…are you sure this is about a hunt, and not about something else?" Sam asked. He nearly groaned since he knew where this was going. His brothers were about to start fighting again.
"What else would it be about?" Dean shot back with an edge in his voice.
Sam sighed and shook his head before he started to get in the car. "You know, just forget about it."
"You believe what you want, Sam, but I let you drag my ass out here, the least we could do is check this out," Dean said.
"Yeah. Fine," Sam said.
"Girl's dad works in town. He's a professor at the school," Dean said.
"You got all that from the guy in the suit?" he asked as he got in. Dean started the Impala as soon as he was in and headed away from the cemetery.
"Yeah, he talked to the dad for a while," Dean said. "Plus, you were there. Weren't you paying attention?"
"Uh, no, obviously I was not paying attention," he said. Dean chuckled but he didn't say anything else as he drove. He didn't really know if this was a hunt or not, but he wasn't going to get in the middle of Sam and Dean arguing. Dean did agree to come out here, and it wasn't like it was going to hurt to check it out, so they might as well.
He hung back as they walked through the school. He'd only been to a real school once, and that had been with Rachel. This school didn't really look like Rachel's school. It smelled really old and there weren't as many people walking around. He'd been overwhelmed his first few days at Rachel's school. He'd never been around so many people that he didn't know for so long. He didn't know everyone in Manticore, but they'd always been kept with their units. His other missions were quick. He got in, he did the job, and he got out. He didn't hang around and try to fit in.
"Dr. Mason?" Dean asked as he opened the door to Dr. Mason's office.
"Yes?" Dr. Mason asked.
"I'm Sam. This is Dean, and…" Sam looked around for him, but he just shook his head. He didn't want to go into the office. "We were friends of Angela's," Sam said, easily covering up his introduction of him. "We…we wanted to offer our condolences."
"Please, come in," Dr. Mason said.
Sam and Dean walked in, but Dean left the door open so he could still hear. He was feeling empty suddenly. It was because he'd been thinking about Rachel. He should've just stayed in the car, but Sam and Dean would be worried if he just disappeared, so he walked over to the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor.
"She was beautiful," Sam said. He could hear two people sitting down, but one didn't sit. If he had to guess, he'd say it was Dean who was still standing.
"Yes, she was," Dr. Mason agreed.
"This is an unusual book," Dean said, his voice further away from Sam and the professor, so he was guessing he was right in thinking Dean hadn't sat down. He almost wished he'd gone inside now so he could see the weird book Dean was looking at.
"It's ancient Greek," Dr. Mason said. "I teach a course."
"So, a car accident, that's…that's horrible," Dean said. His heart flipped and a phantom pain shot through his leg and side. He could practically feel the metal as it tore through him. He wished his brothers were with him. He wasn't ok right now and he didn't know how to be ok. He didn't want to remember Rachel and he didn't want to think about John, and he definitely didn't want to relive the car crash.
"Angie was only a mile away from home when…"
"It's gotta be hard," Dean said when Dr. Mason trailed off. "Losing someone like that. Sometimes it's like they're…still around. Almost like you can still sense their presence. You ever feel anything like that?"
"I do, as a matter of fact," Dr. Mason said.
"That's perfectly normal, Dr. Mason," Sam said slowly. Obviously, Sam was giving Dean his concerned, I-wish-you-would-talk-to-me look. "Especially with what you're going through."
"You know, I still phone her. And the phone's ringing before I remember that…" Dr. Mason took a breath before he continued, "Family's everything, you know? Angie was the most important thing in my life. And now…I-I'm just lost without her."
"We're very sorry," Sam said.
He was relieved when his brothers walked back out a few minutes later. Dean knew with one look that he wasn't ok. His brother helped him up and gently messed up his hair, but he didn't ask him what was wrong. He had to focus on walking anyway, so he wouldn't start limping from the phantom pain that was still there. Ridiculously, he felt like crying. He hadn't cried for a long time. He was a soldier. But the feeling was still there.
"You're up front this time, kiddo," Dean said, leaving no room for arguing. Sam didn't say anything either, which meant both of his brothers knew he wasn't ok. He needed to get it together. If this really was a hunt, then he couldn't be freaking out about things he couldn't change, and he definitely couldn't be dealing with these dumb feelings. He just needed to focus on the hunt.
He wasn't surprised when Dean went through a drive-through for him before getting them a room. He felt better once he had something to eat, and nothing beat having a milkshake. Maybe he'd just been hungry. Although, it had been a depressing day so far with their trip to the cemetery and everything. Well, no, that wasn't right. They'd been having fun and joking around before they'd gotten to the cemetery. He wished they could go back to that.
He ended up curling up on one of the beds as soon as they were in the room. He could tell his brothers were having a silent conversation about him, but he didn't feel like calling them out on it. He fell asleep for a while after Dean put his coat over him, but he woke up again when he heard Sam and Dean arguing.
"I'm telling you, there's something going on here," Dean said. "We just haven't found it yet."
"Dean, so far you've got a patch of dead grass and nothing," Sam said. They were trying to be quiet since they thought he was still asleep, and he didn't move to clue them in that he was awake. They would stop fighting if he woke up, but he thought maybe they needed to just get it over with. They couldn't keep avoiding a fight to let it build up just because he didn't like it when they were fighting.
"Well, something turned that grave into unholy ground," Dean said.
"There's no reason for it to be unholy ground," Sam argued. "Angela Mason was a nice girl who died in a car crash. That's not exactly vengeful spirit material. You heard her father."
"Yeah, well, maybe Daddy doesn't know everything there is to know about his little angel, huh?" Dean asked.
"You know what? We never should have bothered that poor man. We shouldn't even be here anymore," Sam said. "Not just because you're digging for a hunt, but something's up with Alec and you know it. Going to the cemetery didn't seem to bother him but going to that school did."
"So what, Sam? What, we just bail? Without even figuring out what's going on?" Dean asked.
Sam was quiet for a minute before he said, "I think I know what's going on here. It's the only reason you'd drag Alec around when he's like this and it's the only reason I went along with you this far."
"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.
"This is about Mom's grave," Sam said. He thought it was more about John, but Sam also could be onto something.
Dean chuckled even though it sounded forced, "That's got nothing to do with it."
"You wouldn't step within a hundred yards of it," Sam said. "Maybe you're imagining a hunt where there isn't one, so you don't have to think about Mom…or Dad." Dean didn't say anything, which made Sam sigh, "You wanna take another swing? Go ahead, if it'll make you feel better." Dean had hit Sam? When did that happen?
"I don't need this crap," Dean grumbled.
He heard Dean digging through his duffle bag, probably looking for another coat since he was currently using the one he had been wearing. "Dean, where're you going?" Sam asked.
"I'm going to go get a drink," Dean said. "Alone."
He heard Dean leave, and then Sam sat down on the other bed. His brother looked surprised to see that he was awake. "How much of that did you hear?" Sam asked.
"All of it," he admitted.
"You ok?" Sam asked. He just shrugged and burrowed further into Dean's coat. "Was it something with Manticore? Back at the school?" He shrugged again, barely peeking out at his brother. "Alec, I can't help if I don't know what's going on. Don't shut me out…please."
He didn't want to talk about it, but after hearing Dean shut Sam out for so long, he figured Sam was at the end of his patience. He didn't want to make Sam mad, so if talking about his little freak out would help his brother, then he'd do it. "Going to the school reminded me of going to school with Rachel," he whispered. "And then you guys were talking about how that girl died in a car crash…and I remembered the crash in the Impala. And I miss John and I know I shouldn't…he wasn't mine to miss…"
"Hey, it's ok," Sam soothed. "With Rachel…was that the only time you went to school before?"
He nodded, "I didn't really like it at first. I didn't know anyone and there were a lot of people…more than I'd ever really been around for a long period of time."
"There weren't a lot of people in Manticore?" Sam asked curiously.
He shrugged, "There were but I was only around my unit for the most part. The missions I went on…I just got in and got out. I didn't have to pretend for very long."
"Did you end up liking school? After you got used to it?" Sam asked.
"I liked Rachel. I was good at being social once I got her to notice me. I liked school a little more after that," he said. "It was still really boring, but I picked up a few things. Not school things, but people things."
Sam nodded in understanding, but then asked, "What about the crash?" He didn't say anything since he didn't want to remember the crash. "Alec, it's ok to be messed up about what happened. I couldn't even look at you after that."
"I remembered how it felt…" he admitted. "Just hearing you guys talk about a car crash brought it back. Sometimes just sitting in the car freaks me out." He felt pathetic still snuggled under Dean's jacket, but he wasn't about to try to be less pathetic now. His brother reached over and rubbed his shoulder, but thankfully didn't ask him why he missed John.
"I don't want you to take sides 'cause I know you don't like it, but do you think Dean's right? Do you think this is a hunt?" Sam asked.
He shrugged, "I don't really know…but I think we should let this play out."
"Yeah?"
"Who knows, he might be right," he said. "Then we'll look like the idiots for not believing him."
"But if he's taking this too far, then it's not going to help," Sam said.
"If we don't back him up, then that's not going to help either," he pointed out.
Sam chuckled, and then nodded in agreement. "Ok, how 'bout this…Take his side."
"What?" he asked with a frown.
"You don't take sides, I know, but I also know when you actually think it's a hunt, you will if you have to," Sam said. "The shapeshifter, remember? Dean told me that he asked you if it was a hunt and you agreed with me that it was. Take Dean's side even if you don't think it's a hunt this time."
"Why? You don't think it's a hunt…"
"You're right," Sam agreed. "And I don't want him to get hurt chasing down something that's not real, so I'm going to keep trying to talk him out of this. But he needs you on his side."
"But if I'm on his side, then you won't have a way to stop this," he said.
"True, but he'll be more cautious if you're on his side," Sam said.
He wasn't so sure about that, but he didn't want to argue. He finally just nodded in agreement since he couldn't think of a better idea.
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He ended up where Angela used to live. He wanted to make sure Alec was ok, but he knew Sam would take care of him, and he couldn't stick around to keep arguing. That wouldn't help. And he knew this was something. He wasn't just trying to find an escape so he'd have to deal with everything. This was a hunt and he knew it.
He looked around and picked up a picture, but he quickly looked up when he saw a reflection in the glass. He'd actually been expecting to see Angela's ghost, so he was shocked when he saw a living girl standing there.
"Who the hell are you?" the girl asked in a panic. She quickly turned and ran down the hall, shutting the door before he could stop her.
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on!" he said. He had to come up with something. He hadn't expected anyone else to be here. He was getting sloppy. First not trusting his brothers on the whole Gordon thing and now this? At least his brothers weren't here with him.
"I'm calling 911!" the girl yelled.
"I'm Angela's cousin!" he said, throwing out the first thing that came to him.
"What?
"Yeah, her Dad sent me over to, uh, pick up her stuff," he said. "My name's Alan? Alan Stanwick?"
He nearly breathed out in relief when she opened the door a crack. "Her Dad didn't say that you were coming," she said.
"Well, I mean…" He held up his keys, pretending that was how he got into the apartment. "How else would I have the key to your place?"
It turned out the girl's name was Lindsey, and she was super torn up about Angela's death. He ended up in the living room, sitting on the sofa with Lindsey, who was now crying uncontrollably. He held out a Kleenex to try to help.
"So…I'm sure you got a view of Angela that none of the family got to see," he said. "Tell me, what was she like? I mean, what was she really like?"
"She was great," Lindsey said after blowing her nose. He just hummed back since he'd been hoping for a little more. "Just great. I mean, she was so…so…"
"Great," he guessed when she trailed off.
"Yeah. Yeah," Lindsey said, bursting into tears again.
"Yeah," he agreed as he held out another tissue. "Here you go." She blew her nose again, and he wondered how much snot she could possibly have. Seriously, was this girl in danger of choking on her own snot? Or maybe she was just going to get dehydrated from the amount of crying she was doing. "You two must have been really close, huh?"
"We were. But it's not just her, it's Matt," Lindsey said. Now they were getting somewhere.
"Who?"
"Angela's boyfriend," Lindsey said, sounding like he should already know that.
"Right, Matt. What about him?" he asked.
"He killed himself last night," Lindsey said. "He cut his own throat. Who does that?"
"That's…terrible." This was so great. Sam couldn't argue with him now.
"He was taking Angela's death pretty hard, and I guess…I mean, he'd been messed up about it for days," Lindsey said.
"Messed up how?"
"He kept saying that he saw her everywhere," Lindsey said. Even better, but he had to make sure. After Sam's last attempt to talk him out of this, he would need to make sure he had a real lead before he told them.
"Well, I'm sure that's normal. I mean, with everything that he was going through," he said.
"No, he said that he saw her. As in, an acid trip or something," Lindsey said. He was going to have to make sure this guy wasn't actually on drugs before he told his brothers his newest lead.
"Were Angela and Matt a happy couple? I mean, is there any reason that Angela would be angry with him?" he asked. Maybe Angela was haunting her boyfriend. If he cheated on her or something and she found out…that could be enough for a vengeful spirit.
"What? No, of course not," Lindsey said defensively. Bingo. "Why do you ask?"
"Just asking," he said. "Where did Matt live?"
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He turned on the TV while he waited for Alec to get out of the shower. He was itching to call Dean to make sure he was ok since he'd been gone for a while, but he wasn't going to leave Alec by himself, especially right now.
He flipped the channel, which of course ended up being the skin channel, and that was when Dean came back. He jumped and quickly turned off the TV before he tossed the remote to the other bed. "Hey." Dean slowly walked in, looking between him and the TV. He'd been hoping his brother hadn't caught that. "What?"
"Awkward," Dean said, sounding like his old self again. "Where's Alec?"
"Bathroom," he said. And that was when his little brother came out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel through his wet hair.
Alec looked between him and Dean, and then asked, "What's going on? Why is it awkward…"
"Sammy here was watching porn," Dean said.
"Was not," he immediately argued.
"Really?" Alec asked.
"I wasn't," he said, and then quickly shifted the focus back to Dean. "Where the hell were you?"
"Working my imaginary case," Dean said.
"Yeah? And?" he asked, shooting a quick look to Alec.
"Well, you were right. I didn't find much," Dean said. He started to nod in understanding since that was what he'd been expecting but stopped when he heard Alec laugh. Now he had a bad feeling. "Yeah. Except Angela's boyfriend died last night. Slit his own throat. But, you know, that's normal." Dean walked further into the room, playfully pushing Alec out of the way, who immediately pushed him back, smiling. "Uh, let's see, what else…Oh, he was seeing Angela everywhere before he died. But you know, I'm sure that's just me transferring my own feelings."
"Ok, I get it," he said before Dean could keep going. "I'm sorry. Maybe there is something going on here." And he wasn't just saying it. Dean could have actually found a hunt, and maybe he wasn't just trying to get out of talking about things.
"Maybe? Sam, I know how to do my job, despite what you might think," Dean said angrily.
"He didn't say that," Alec said, jumping in before he could. "Sam's just worried about you. Me too. But no one thinks you're bad at hunting. You're awesome at hunting." He was surprised Alec had said that. Alec hated when they were fighting, but he had been saying what needed to be said lately, which was good. He wished Alec would speak up more. Dean quickly hid his smile, but he reached out to mess up Alec's wet hair, which made Alec smile. He was definitely feeling better than he had earlier.
"We should check out the guy's apartment," he said.
"I just came from there," Dean said. No wonder he'd been gone for so long. "Pile of dead plants, just like the cemetery. Hell, dead goldfish too."
"So, unholy ground?" he asked.
"Maybe. I'm still not getting that powerful angry spirit vibe from Angela," Dean said. Dean got a small, pink book out of his jacket and held it up before he handed it to Alec, so he could look at it. "I have been reading this though."
"You stole the girl's diary?" he asked, surprised.
"Yeah, Sam," Dean replied like it was obvious. "And if anything, the girl's a little too nice."
"So, what do you want to do?" he asked, admitting that he was wrong and Dean could take the lead again.
"Keep digging, talk to more of her friends," Dean said with a shrug.
"You get any names?" he asked.
"Are you kidding me? I have her bestest friend in the whole wide world," Dean said, pointing at the diary.
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"I don't get this," he said, passing the little pink book up to Dean, who took it without looking away from the road. They were on the way to Neil's house, who was apparently connected to the dead girl. "Why would someone write all of that stuff down?"
"You got me, kiddo," Dean said.
"Sometimes it helps people to write things down," Sam patiently explained. "It's kinda like Dad's journal, but-"
He laughed, making Sam stop and chuckle too. "This is definitely not like John's journal! That's hilarious, Sammy." Dean was laughing as he tossed the diary over to Sam. "That was almost torture to read through. John's journal is cool."
"Kid's got a point," Dean said with a nod.
"Well, it still helps some people to write things down," Sam said, still laughing.
"Well, maybe she should've been a little more interesting if she was gonna write everything down," he said. "Can you turn the music up? And how far is it to this guy's place?"
"We're just a few minutes away," Dean said. "Don't fall asleep. You're going in with us this time."
"I took a nap already," he said. "And I'm not tired." He sounded like a child…taking a nap. Oh well.
"You sleep when you're bored," Dean said. "And we're in a small town, which means there's not a lot to look at, and you're asking how long until we get there, so that means you're bored."
"Maybe I should drive," he said. "I wouldn't be bored if I was driving…"
"No," Sam and Dean said at the same time.
He huffed in exaggeration, which made Dean smile a little. Thankfully, they really weren't that far away from Neil's house. And the guy didn't look like he believed Dean's cover story, but at least he didn't tell them to go away.
"I didn't realize the college employed grief counselors," Neil said.
"Oh yeah. Yeah, you talk, we listen," Dean said. "Or maybe throw in a little therapeutic collage, whatever jump-starts the healing."
"Well, I think I'm ok. Thanks," Neil said.
"Well, you heard what happened to Matt Harrison, right?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, I did," Neil said. It didn't sound like those two were friends.
"Well, we just wanted to make sure you were ok," Sam said. "Grief can make people do crazy things."
"Like cutting your own throat," he said. Neil gave him a funny look and Dean elbowed him even though he could see his brother trying not to smile.
"Look, I'm sorry about what happened to him. I am," Neil said. "But if Matt killed himself, it wasn't 'cause of grief." Now they were getting somewhere.
"No? Then why?" Dean asked.
"It was guilt. Angie's death was Matt's fault and he knew it," Neil said.
"How was Matt responsible?" Sam asked.
"Well, she really loved that guy," Neil said. "But the night of the accident, she walked in on him with another girl." Dean hummed, sounding like he might know something about that. "She was really torn up. That's why she crashed the car." Neil looked behind them, and he could tell he didn't want to talk to them anymore. "Um, look, I gotta get ready for work, so…thanks for the concern, but…seriously, I'll be ok."
Dean shared a look with Sam before he started back down the stairs, away from the house. Neil closed the door again, but he could still see him watching them from the window. Yeah, that wasn't suspicious at all.
"Well, that vengeful spirit theory's starting to make a little more sense," Dean said. "I mean, hell hath no fury…"
"So, if Angela got her revenge on Matt, you think it's over?" Sam asked.
"Takes two to tango," he muttered. Sam gave him a surprised look, so he said, "Dean's said that before. Plus, it's common sense. If Matt was caught cheating on Angela, then he was cheating on her with someone."
"Well, there's one way to be sure," Dean said.
"Yeah? What's that?" Sam asked as they got back into the car.
"Burn the bones," Dean stated.
He gagged at the thought. It usually didn't bother him that they dug up graves, but Angela wasn't going to be like most of the corpses they dug up. "Burn the bones?" Sam asked back, shaking his head. "Are you high?" Dean looked like he was thinking about if he was high or not, which made him laugh. "Angela died last week!" Sam said. At least he wasn't the only one thinking this was a bad idea.
"So?" Dean asked.
"So, there's not gonna be bones. There's gonna be a ripe, rotting body in the coffin," Sam said.
"Since when are you afraid to get dirty? Huh?" Dean asked.
"Can I stay in the car for this one?" he asked.
"No," Sam and Dean automatically replied.
"I'm probably gonna be sick digging up a rotting corpse," he grumbled.
"Oh…didn't think about that," Dean said.
"You're still not staying in the car," Sam said.
"Sam…" Dean started.
"No," Sam said before Dean could try to convince Sam to take his side. "You're coming with us. Just hold your breath when it starts to smell."
"I'm gonna pass out, then you two are gonna have a heart attack or something," he said.
"We're not gonna have a heart attack," Dean said, giving him a look in the mirror.
"Alec, Alec, are you ok?" he mocked in a high-pitched voice. "Alec, can you hear me!" Back to his normal voice, "And by then you're definitely yelling even though you know I have sensitive hearing."
"Hey, in our defense, you're usually unconscious when we're trying to get you to answer us," Dean said.
"And it usually seems like you can't hear us since you aren't answering," Sam added.
"Worry warts," he said.
"Now you're definitely coming with us," Dean said.
"Brat," Sam agreed.
It turned out the little brother card still worked. Sam and Dean dug up the grave, even though they both knew he could do it faster. And then Dean told him to go wait in the car once they hit the coffin, but now he didn't want to go.
"Alec, c'mon kiddo, we were just joking about you stickin' around for this," Dean said when he didn't move.
"I don't smell anything," he said.
"Well, the coffin's still closed," Sam said.
"Open it," he said with a nod. Dean got out and let Sam open the coffin, but he wasn't all that surprised to see that it was empty. Sam and Dean shared a look, and then they both looked at him. "I told you I didn't smell anything."
"They buried the body four days ago," Dean said.
"I don't get it," Sam agreed, still in the grave. He crouched down to shine the flashlight on the coffin a little better. "Look."
"What is that?" Dean asked. There was something carved into the coffin, so he moved the flashlight to let Dean have a better look.
"I'm not sure," Sam said.
Dean was quiet for a minute, but then said, "I've seen these kinds of symbols before…" Dean looked at him after a moment and said, "Get back to the car and grab some paper and a pencil or something."
He nodded once before he took off for the car. He knew Dean wanted him to get back as fast as possible, but he wasn't entirely sure where he was going to find some paper and a pencil in the car. Maybe he should just run back to a store or something. That might be faster than digging around in the trunk for something he wasn't sure anyone but Sam would have. And Sam's stuff was back at the motel.
He opened the trunk, and then opened the secret compartment, impressed as he always was with Dean's weapons stash. He picked up a throwing star, wishing he could use it someday since that would be so cool. He knew he was wasting time, but he hardly ever got to do this. Dean was so cool.
He surprisingly found a piece of paper that was only a little crumpled and found a pencil in the glove compartment. Dean didn't comment on how long it took him to come back, so maybe he hadn't been gone that long. His brother quickly copied the symbols onto the paper, and then got out of the grave.
He stood there like an idiot when Sam and Dean both started walking back toward the Impala. Were they just going to leave the grave like this? That seemed a little weird. But he guessed when they had to come back, at least they wouldn't have to dig up the grave again. Unless they weren't back tonight and someone found it. That would probably draw attention.
Dean practically floored it back to the college once they were all in the Impala again. He forced all of his stupid feelings away once they were at the school and followed his brothers back to Dr. Mason's office. Dean pounded on the door until Dr. Mason finally opened it, looking at them in confusion. His gaze lingered on him, probably because he hadn't seen him last time and he looked just like Dean.
"You're Angie's friends, right?" Dr. Mason asked.
"Dr. Mason," Sam started before Dean cut him off.
"We need to talk."
"Well, then, come in," Dr. Mason said, letting them in his office.
"You teach Ancient Greek," Dean said as he got the paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. "Tell me…what are these?"
Dean showed Dr. Mason the symbols, who looked at Dean in confusion. "I don't understand. You said this had something to do with Angela…"
"It does. Please, just humor me," Dean said coldly. This was not going to end well.
"They're part of an Ancient Greek divination ritual," Dr. Mason said.
"Used for necromancy, right?" Dean asked.
"That's right," Dr. Mason said with a nod. He didn't seem concerned that they'd found the spell. Maybe this guy didn't know his daughter was a zombie, which meant that they had the wrong guy.
"See, before we came over here, we stopped by the library and did a little homework ourselves," Dean said. He shared a look with Sam. Apparently looking at an old book in the Impala while Dean drove like a crazy person was today's version of stopping by the library. "Apparently, they used rituals like this one for communicating with the dead. Even bringing corpses back to life. Full-on zombie action." Which would be totally cool if they knew how to kill her…again.
"Yes. I mean, according to the legends," Dr. Mason said. "Now, what's all this about?"
"I think you know," Dean said. Dr. Mason definitely didn't know.
"Dean," Sam said to try to get Dean to stop before this got out of hand.
"Look, I get it, ok?" Dean said, ignoring Sam. "There are people that I would give anything to see again. But what gives you the right?"
"What are you talking about?" Dr. Mason asked.
"What's dead should stay dead!" Dean yelled.
"What?!"
"Stop it!" Sam yelled.
"What you brought back isn't even your daughter anymore," Dean said over Sam. "These things are vicious, they're violent, they're so nasty, they rot the ground around them. I mean, come on, haven't you seen Pet Sematary?"
"You're insane," Dr. Mason said, going for the phone.
Dean started forward, but he finally shook himself out of his shock and ran in front of Dean to block him. Dean still tried to get to Dr. Mason, but he wasn't budging.
"I know you're hiding her somewhere. Where is she?!"
"Dean! Stop, that's enough!" Sam said when Dean still wouldn't drop it. He pushed Dean back just a little, ready to push back a little harder if he needed to. He didn't want to do it, but Dr. Mason wasn't their guy. And he was about ready to call the cops, so they needed to get out of there. "Dean, look!" Sam said, pointing to the plants by the window. "Beautiful, living plants."
"I'm calling the police," Dr. Mason said.
"We're leaving," he said, more to Dean than to Dr. Mason. His brother looked at him, finally breaking out of his anger long enough to turn around and leave. He shared another look with Sam as his brother tried to smooth things over before he quickly caught up to Dean. He didn't think they should leave Dean alone right now. He was pretty sure this had something to do with John and what had happened at the hospital, but he kept his mouth shut.
"What the hell is the matter with you, Dean?" Sam asked angrily as soon as he caught up to them outside on the sidewalk.
"Back off," Dean warned.
"That man is innocent! He didn't deserve that!" Sam yelled.
"Ok, so she's not here," Dean said. "Maybe he's keeping her somewhere else."
"It's not him," he said, but neither of his brothers were listening to him.
"Stop it! That's enough, ok? Enough!"
"Sam, I know what I'm doing," Dean said.
"No, you don't. At all," Sam said with a shake of his head. "Dean, I don't scare easy, but man, you're scaring the crap out of me."
"Don't be overdramatic, Sam," Dean said, rolling his eyes.
"You're lucky this turned out to be a real case. Because if it wasn't, you would have just found something else to kill," Sam said.
"Hey," he said to try to get them to stop arguing. Or at least stop arguing in the middle of a sidewalk where anyone could see them. Not to mention the fact that Dr. Mason may have actually called the cops, which meant they needed to get out of there. But his brothers didn't want to stop fighting since they still ignored him.
"You're on edge, you're erratic-except for when you're hunting, because then you're downright scary," Sam said. "You're tail-spinning, man. And you refuse to talk about it, and you won't let me help you!"
"I can take care of myself, thanks," Dean said, an edge in his voice.
"No, you can't," Sam replied. "And you know what? You're the only one who thinks you should have to. You don't have to handle this on your own, Dean, no one can."
"Sam, if you bring up Dad's death one more time, I swear," Dean said over Sam, not listening to him either.
"Stop. Please, Dean, it's killing you," Sam said, also not listening to Dean. This argument could go on forever at this rate. "Please. We've already lost Dad. We've lost Mom. I've lost Jessica. And now I'm going to lose you too?"
"Stop!" he finally yelled, getting between his brothers so they would have to stop or actually include him in their fight. He glared at both of them for a moment, "This isn't helping." His brothers just looked at him, but he wasn't done yet. "You two pick the dumbest time to finally start fighting about this shit. This has been going on since the hospital, and I get it, you don't like to fight around me 'cause I don't like it, but seriously? That guy probably called the cops and there's a zombie on the loose. Stow the crap for later. Let's go hunt a zombie."
He walked off before either of them could say anything else.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sam gave him a pointed look after they got back to the motel room. Alec was pissed, and Sam was planning on doing some research in Dad's journal to see if he could find a way to waste the zombie, so he needed to make things right with their little brother.
Alec walked over to the tiny table and sat down before he turned on the TV, doing a fantastic job of ignoring him and Sam. They deserved it, but he still wished Alec wasn't so good at the silent treatment. He walked over to the other chair and sat down. He was right in Alec's line of sight, but his little brother didn't look away from the TV for a second. He'd screwed up with Alec too many times recently. He had to do better.
"Stow the crap?" he finally asked. He felt like he'd really accomplished something when Alec barely smirked.
"Where do you think I got that one?" Alec shot back.
"I'll give you that," he said relented. "I know I've been screwing up a lot lately…"
Alec's gave him a sharp look. "Dean, you knew this was a hunt from the moment we stepped into that cemetery." Alec waited for a moment, but he wanted his brother to keep talking to him. "You're wrong about Dr. Mason though. He's not the one that brought her back." He nodded in agreement, already knowing he'd been wrong. But it was good that Alec was calling him on it now.
"I'm sorry about all that," he said.
"I know I said stow the crap but…it might be better sometimes to talk about the crap," Alec slowly said. "Sometimes you need to fight…with Sam, with me. I'm not gonna break." Alec waited a minute to see if he would contradict him, but he didn't say anything. "Look, I gave you space after the hospital but I'm not gonna let it go anymore. If you don't wanna talk about it, fine, let's fight. Don't keep bottling it up 'cause that just makes it worse."
He glanced over at Sam, but his brother was very focused on Dad's journal. Too focused. Sam was trying not to listen, but it was obvious he was hanging onto every word. He was surprised Sam hadn't jumped in to back Alec up, but maybe Sam was hoping Alec would get through to him.
He almost wanted to ask Alec about what he thought happened back at the hospital, but he wasn't ready to face the truth. Deep down he already knew, but if he asked Alec and his little brother confirmed what he already thought…He couldn't handle that.
Alec looked away, a flash of hurt crossing his face before he slipped his mask back into place. "I hear you," he said to reassure Alec that he wasn't discounting what he said. "Let's hunt. After the hunt…" He trailed off since he didn't want to promise to talk. He didn't want to break a promise to Alec. He left it open-ended in case he felt like sparring would be better than talking after this hunt was over.
"Alright," Alec agreed.
"Sam, got anything on how we waste zombie-chick?" he asked.
"Head shot, double-tap," Alec said like it was obvious.
Sam chuckled and shook his head no, "Dude, you've been watching way too many Romero flicks."
Alec just shot Sam a big smile. He expected Sam to explain how to actually do it, but his brother didn't say anything else. "You're telling me there's no lore on how to smoke 'em," he said.
"No, Dean, I'm telling you there's too much," Sam said. "I mean, there's a hundred different legends on the walking dead, but they all have different methods for killing them. Some say setting them on fire, uh, one said…where is it?" Sam flipped back a few pages in the journal. "Right here. Feeding their hearts to wild dogs. That's my personal favorite. I mean, who knows what's real and what's myth?"
"We could just try them all," Alec said with a shrug.
He chuckled, "On a time-table here, kiddo." Alec just shrugged again. "Is there anything they all have in common?"
"No. But a few said silver might work," Sam said.
"Silver's a start," he said with a nod.
"Yeah. But now how are we going to find Angela?" Sam asked.
"We've got to figure out the person who brought her back," he said.
"Any ideas?" Sam asked.
"I think if it's not her dad…it might be that guy Neil," he said.
"Neil?"
"Dude was super suspicious," Alec said.
"Yep," he agreed before he stood up and walked over to where he'd left the pink diary. "Plus, you've got your journal, I've got mine." He flipped it open and flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for and read, "Neil's a real shoulder to cry on. He so understands what I'm going through with Matt." He looked at his brothers again, "There's more in here where that came from. It's got unrequited Duckie love written all over it."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he brought her back from the dead," Sam said.
"Well, it wasn't Matt 'cause he's dead," Alec said.
"Also, did I mention Neil is Professor Mason's TA?" he said. "Has access to all the same books."
He drove them back to Neil's house, and then motioned for Alec to pick the lock. Alec gave him a huge smile, which made him chuckle. He forgot how easy it was to make Alec happy. Sam smiled a little too since everything was better when Alec was happy.
"Hello? Neil?" he called out once Alec opened the door. He wasn't expecting Neil to actually be here since he hadn't opened the door when they'd knocked, but he was hoping to catch a zombie. They didn't exactly have a way to kill her yet…or, kill her again at least, but they would figure something out. They had to find her first. "It's your grief counselors…we've come to hug." He pulled out his gun, noticing that Alec already had his gun out and ready.
"Silver bullets?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, enough to make her rattle like a change purse," he said. They walked further into the house, but Alec nudged him and nodded to some dead plants by a window. He nodded in agreement, and then walked further into the house. It was his turn to nudge Alec and nod to what looked like a basement door. "Unless it's where he keeps his porn…" Sam opened the door, and he led the way down just in case the zombie girl actually was here. But it was empty. "Sure looks like a zombie pen to me," he said.
"Yeah. An empty one," Sam pointed out. "You think Angela's going after somebody else?"
He walked a little further into the small space but caught sight of something a little out of place. He pushed the grate, which easily swung to the side, leading out of the house. "Nah, I think she went out to rent Beaches," he sarcastically replied.
"Look, smartass, she might kill someone," Sam said. "We gotta find her, Dean."
"Yeah, alright," he agreed. "She, uh, she clipped Matt because he was cheating, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, like Alec said, it takes two to, you know, have hardcore sex," he said.
"I think I said it takes two to tango…" Alec muttered as he moved closer to the loose grate. He pulled Alec back since he was pretty sure his brother was going to try to squeeze through there just to see if it was possible.
"Either way, it just seemed that, uh, Angela's roommate was broken up over Matt's death," he said. "I mean, like, really broken up."
Off to Angela's place. At least he knew where to go and they had a possible lead. Unless Matt was cheating on Angela with somebody else. But it would be good to at least check it out. Alec was antsy on the way there, probably from the adrenaline. Hopefully this chick really was here, otherwise he was going to have to find a way to let the energy out. He wasn't in the mood to wake up in the middle of the night to find Alec missing just because he had too much energy.
He cursed once they got to Angela's place and entertained the idea of putting child locks in the back doors when Alec jumped out as soon as he slowed down. He knew better than to grab his little brother, but unfortunately, Sam didn't.
Alec swung at Sam out of instinct, but Sam was ready for him and blocked the punch. Alec instantly looked terrified even though he knew Sam and Alec were on excellent terms. He should've warned Sam that grabbing Alec to try to stop him from doing something was a bad idea. At least his little brother hadn't flinched like Sam was going to hurt him like he had when he'd made this mistake before.
He would talk to both of them in a little bit. Right now, he knew they had to get inside. Alec had excellent instincts, which he'd ignored like an idiot on the last hunt. But if Alec was running, that meant Angela really was here. He took off for the apartment and ran inside just in time to see Angela about to stab the roommate with a pair of already bloody scissors. He fired without even having to think about it. He shot Angela right in the chest multiple times, hoping this would bring her down. But instead, Angela screamed and bolted through the window.
He quickly followed, letting Sam deal with the hysterical roommate. He expected to Alec to run up beside him, but his little brother must have stayed back at the apartment with Sam.
He headed back since there was no way he was going to catch up to Angela. He shouldn't catch up to her anyway since the silver bullets did absolutely nothing. No point in trying to catch someone he couldn't kill.
"Damn, that dead chick can run," he said as he came back through the broken window. He could've used the door, but why bother.
"What now?" Sam asked.
"Back to Neil's," Alec said, already ten steps ahead. It would make sense for Angela to run back to Neil now that they'd pumped her full of lead. They still needed a way to kill her, but maybe Sam could come up with a plan B.
He nodded in agreement, and then motioned for Sam to try to smooth things over with the roommate. He really didn't care either way, but he doubted Sam would leave without at least trying.
He and Alec walked back out to the Impala, while Sam stayed back. "I know I'm in trouble," Alec muttered with his head down.
"You're not in trouble, kiddo," he said.
"I took off again, which always pisses you off, and I tried to hit Sam," Alec said.
"I'll admit, I've now entertained the idea of child locks in the Impala," he teased. Alec looked up at him in surprise, which made him laugh. "I won't, but I thought about it. And, c'mon, you didn't actually hit Sam. I hit Sam on the last hunt and we're still good."
"You hit Sam?" Alec asked. Now he felt like a horrible brother. He hadn't felt good about hitting Sam, but now with Alec asking him that…He wished he hadn't admitted that.
"I've got issues," he grumbled. Sam ran out before he could say anything else about how he'd regretted it as soon as he did it, and he really wished he hadn't. Instead, he said, "Don't grab Alec. He's an abused kid. You're not supposed to grab kids who've been abused."
"Alec, I'm so sorry," Sam said guiltily.
"I'm not an abused kid," Alec said with a scowl.
"Dude," he said in disbelief.
"I wasn't even thinking when I grabbed you," Sam said. "I just didn't want you to get hurt."
"We'll try not to do it again," he said to Alec. "But if we do and you end up throwing a punch, then that's ok. You defend yourself if you feel threatened, you hear me?" Alec started to say something, but then quickly snapped his mouth shut again, which meant he was probably about to say 'yes sir' because he'd just thrown out an order.
Sam messed up Alec's hair, which made Alec smile again. They got back in the car, and he started back to Neil's place. Again. This chick seriously got around.
"So, the silver bullets, they did something, right?" Sam asked as he got Dad's Journal out again.
"Yeah, something, but not enough," he said. "What else you got?"
"Um, ok, besides silver, we have…nailing the undead back into their grave beds," Sam said. "It's mentioned a few times. It's probably where the whole vampire staking lore came from."
"Their grave bed? You serious?" he asked.
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"How the hell are we going to get Angela back to the cemetery?" he asked.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
They finally found Neil again back at the school, sitting by himself at a desk in the dark. That wasn't creepy at all. He stayed back and let Sam and Dean go closer to Neil. The hair on the back of his neck was sticking up, and he really wanted to get his gun out, but he tried to stay calm. This would be so much easier if this zombie chick would just die like a regular zombie. Although, his version of a regular zombie was from the movies he'd seen, so maybe the movies were just wrong.
"What are you guys doing here?" Neil asked when he realized they were there.
"You know, I've heard of people doing some pretty desperate things to get laid, but you…you take the cake," Dean said. He was really glad Dean wasn't mad at him, but he really hoped he wouldn't put whatever those child lock things were in the Impala. He was guessing that would keep him from opening the door. He didn't want to hurt the Impala, but if he wanted out with those child lock things, then he would have to do whatever it took.
"Ok. Who are you guys?" Neil asked. He hadn't really bought the counselor crap in the first place, but now it was pretty obvious that they had been lying.
"You might want to ask Angela that question," Dean said.
"What?"
"We know what you did," Sam said. "The ritual? Everything."
"You're crazy," Neil tried. It was weak.
"Your girlfriend's past her expiration date and we're crazy?" Dean said angrily. "When someone's gone, they should stay gone. You don't mess with that kind of shit." He watched Dean since he had a suspicion that Dean knew what had happened back at the hospital. He didn't want to bring it up again since he knew Dean didn't want to talk about it, but he needed to. After they took care of the zombie, he would bring it up.
"Angela killed Matt. She tried to kill Lindsey," Sam said.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Neil said, still trying to pretend he didn't cause this whole mess.
"No more crap, Neil," he snapped before Dean could move forward. He knew Dean was tired of this and was about to snap again.
Dean took a deep breath, and then said, "We can make this right, but you've gotta tell us where she is."
He growled when Neil still didn't answer and blurred forward to slam Neil against the wall. It would be better if he was the pissed off scary person than Dean. And Neil needed to talk. "My house," Neil said before he could hit him again. "She's at my house."
He scowled since Neil was still lying. He looked over at Dean and barely shook his head no. "You sure about that?" Dean asked. Neil nodded, looking around nervously. "Listen," Dean said, louder than before. "It doesn't really matter where she is. There's only one way to stop her. We've got to perform another ritual over her grave to reverse the one that you did. We're going to need some black root, some…scar weed, some candles…It's very complicated, but it'll get the job done. She'll be dead again in a couple hours. I think you should come with us." Dean gave Neil a pointed look, and there was no way Neil could miss what Dean was trying to get at. "I'm serious, Neil. Leave with us. Right now."
"No…no," Neil said.
Dean moved closer to Neil and whispered, "Listen to me. Get out of here as soon as you can. But most of all, be cool. No sudden movements. Don't make her mad." Dean waited a minute to see if Neil would change his mind, but he didn't. The idiot was going to get himself killed. Maybe he deserved it since he's the one who started all this. "Let's go," Dean said. Sam and Dean both started to leave, but he hesitated. Even if Neil deserved it, they shouldn't just leave him here. "Alec, c'mon kiddo, we've got a ritual to do."
He gave Neil one more look before he followed his brother back out to the car. "She's probably gonna kill him," he muttered once they were outside.
"Alec, we gave him the chance to leave with us," Sam said. "We couldn't just drag him out."
He didn't say it, but he knew for a fact that they could've drug that guy out against his will. It would have been super easy. "Ok, we could have drug him out," Dean said, already knowing what he was thinking. "But it wouldn't have helped."
"He's too stupid to play it cool," he said.
"Maybe he is," Dean agreed. "But we gave him a shot." He still didn't agree, but he wasn't going to argue about it anymore. "C'mon, we still need to get to the cemetery."
He stayed quiet as Dean drove them to the cemetery. He wasn't sure what fake ritual they were going to do, but he doubted he was going to get to play a big part in all this. He wasn't even sure there was going to be a plan. He always felt better with a plan.
"What's the plan," he finally asked as he carried a bunch of candles with Sam and Dean over to Angela's still dug-up grave. At least they didn't have to do that again.
"Well, Angela should come out here to stop us," Dean said. He set up some of the candles around the grave, while Dean went behind him and lit each of them. "Sammy's gonna lure her in, and then I'll stake her into her coffin."
"And what am I gonna do?" he asked.
"You're Sammy's backup," Dean said.
"So…nothing," he said with a scowl.
"Not nothing," Dean corrected. "Sammy needs all the help he can get."
"Dean," Sam said, giving Dean his favorite look.
"Hey, it's true," Dean said with a smile.
He huffed but he didn't argue. He was fast enough that he could be Sam's backup and get to Dean if he needed to. He wasn't sure staking Angela to her coffin was going to work, but if it didn't, then he could distract her long enough for Dean to come up with another plan.
"You really think this is going to work?" Sam asked.
"No, not really," Dean admitted. He grumbled to himself about older brothers and their ridiculous non-plan that they didn't even think was going to work. "But it was the only thing I could come up with."
He went on alert suddenly, hearing something further in the cemetery. He tried to find her, but he couldn't see her from where he was. He started to get up, already cocking his gun, but Sam put his hand against his chest to keep him back. He took a deep breath to keep himself in check since he knew his brothers were just being overprotective because they didn't want him to get hurt.
He looked over at Dean, who nodded back, silently telling him to go with Sam.
"Wait! It's not what you think," Angela said to Sam. He snuck silently through the cemetery, closer to where Sam was pointing his gun at Angela. "I didn't ask to be brought back. But it's still me. I'm still a person. Please." He almost felt back for her, but she was still a zombie, and she definitely killed that Matt guy, and she tried to kill her roommate.
Sam looked like he was thinking about it, but then he raised his gun and shot Angela in the head. She screamed as her head snapped back. Sam started to take off for Angela's grave, but she tackled him before he could get far.
He ran forward and tackled Angela off his brother. They rolled, and she was stronger than he expected, especially for a dead chick, but he was still stronger. They struggled and wrestled, closer and closer to Angela's grave. He threw her off of himself, dumping her right into her coffin.
He was breathing harder than he expected, so he was glad that Dean was ready for his own part. His brother slid into Angela's grave and stabbed a stake directly through her chest, pinning her down.
"What's dead should stay dead," Dean said as Angela struggled for a few seconds, only to go limp, dead again.
He reached down and helped his brother back out of the grave once they were sure she wasn't coming back. He blurred back to the car to get a couple of shovels before he ran back. He refused to give Sam a shovel since it looked like he was favoring the wrist he'd fallen on. It would go faster if he did it anyway.
"Rest in peace," Sam said.
"Yeah. For good this time, ok?" Dean agreed.
He finished off the grave before he followed his brothers back toward the car. "Y'know, that whole fake ritual thing, luring Angela into the cemetery? Pretty sharp," Sam said.
"Thanks," Dean said, sounding surprised.
"But did we have to use me as bait?" Sam asked.
"I figured you were more her type. Y'know, she had pretty crappy taste in guys," Dean teased. "Plus, Alec is always good to have as backup."
"I think she broke my hand," Sam muttered.
Dean laughed, which was not the reaction he was expecting. When he got hurt, Dean was always worried and checking on him every two seconds. "You're just too fragile," Dean said before he relented, "We'll get it looked at later."
"I can splint it," he said without thinking. His brothers turned at the same time to look at him. "I mean…you should still get it looked at and get a cast or whatever, but I can splint it until we get to the hospital…I…we were all trained field medics…never mind."
"No, that's a great idea," Dean said. "What d'you say, Sammy? Wanna test out Alec's skills?"
"Sure," Sam said with a smile.
He ran back to the car and got what he needed out of their massive first aid kit, so he was ready when Sam got there. He almost wished he hadn't said anything when he set Sam's bone since he was hurting his brother, but Sam just nodded back to him. He quickly applied the makeshift splint, hoping that would help until they got to the hospital.
"You want to stay for a while?" Sam asked. He looked up, thinking Sam was talking to him, but he wasn't. Dean was looking back into the cemetery, in the direction of Mary's grave.
"No," Dean replied, leaving no room for argument.
"Is that ok?" he asked Sam.
"Perfect," Sam said. "Might not even need to go to the hospital now."
"I think we should still go to the hospital," he said.
"If you say so," Sam teased.
He rolled his eyes, and then got in the car. He wasn't sure where the closest hospital was, but he hoped it wasn't too far. He didn't want Sam to be in pain. He hated hospitals, but he could just wait in the car or something until they were done.
He dozed off on the way to the hospital, woke up for a bit when Dean stopped to let Sam out, and then dozed off again. Dean let him stay in the car while he went in with Sam, but he left the windows down for him. He wasn't even all that tired, but sleeping was better than going into the hospital. He wasn't sure how long Sam and Dean were in the hospital for, but it didn't seem like very long before they were back and driving down the road again.
He woke up when Dean pulled off the highway suddenly. He looked around since he thought maybe they were at a motel, but they really were just on the side of the road. Dean got out and sat on the hood, so he looked over at Sam to see what was going on. But Sam just shrugged back and got out to join Dean on the hood.
He quickly followed since he had no idea what was going on and he didn't want to be left out.
"Dean, what is it?" Sam asked.
Dean was quiet for a moment, and then said, "I'm sorry."
"You…For what?" Sam asked with a frown.
"The way I've been acting," Dean said. He realized that Sam and Dean were actually going to talk about things. He shouldn't be here. They wouldn't be able to talk about everything if he was hanging around. He started to move to go back into the car but stopped and looked back at Dean. His brother was already watching him, waiting to see what he would do. He decided to stay. Dean hadn't told him to go away, so he would stay. "And for Dad," Dean said when remained where he was. "I mean, he was your Dad too. And it's my fault that he's gone."
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.
"I know you've been thinking it…so have I," Dean said. "Doesn't take a genius to figure it out. I'm guessin' Alec figured it out weeks ago…" He looked down since he knew what Dean was talking about. He didn't want to admit that he was hiding things from his brother. "Back at the hospital, I made a full recovery. It was a miracle. And five minutes later, Dad's dead and the Colt's gone."
"Dean…"
"You can't tell me there's not a connection there," Dean cut off. "I don't know how the demon was involved. I don't know how the whole thing went down exactly. But Dad's dead because of me. And that much I do know."
"We don't know that. Not for sure," Sam tried.
"Sam…" Dean stopped to try to pull himself back together, and he wanted to try to help somehow, but he didn't know what could help. "You, Alec, and Dad…you're the most important people in my life. And now…I never should've come back, Sam. It wasn't natural. And now look what's come of it. I was dead. And I should have stayed dead." He felt terrible because he didn't want to admit that he was grateful that John had sacrificed himself for Dean. His brother wasn't happy about it, and he knew he would've rather died than have John give himself up to save his life. How was he supposed to help with that? "You wanted to know how I was feeling. Well, that's it."
Sam just nodded, as much at a loss for what to do as he was.
"So, tell me," Dean said. "What could you possibly say to make that alright?"
Nothing. There wasn't a single thing they could say to make Dean feel better. And that was the worst feeling in the world.