So, two years… I swear I can explain.

Disclaimer (and this is the only one you're getting): I do not own the Supernatural, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or any other related recognizable characters and/or properties contained within. All rights go to Warner Brothers, Marvel Comics, Marvel Entertainment, ABC Studios, and any other interested third party (I don't think I could name them all.) This work contains lines from Supernatural Season 4, Episode 5 "Monster Movie" and concepts and characters from both shows and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. All credit for those lines and concepts go to Ben Edlund, Eric Kripke, Sera Gamble, Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jeffrey Bell respectively.

This fic is rated M and contains non-explicit sexual content, violence, strong language, and descriptions of entirely normal bodily processes. If you are easily distressed by such topics, please do not read this fic.

Finally, I do not consent to my works being hosted on any unofficial app, particularly ones with ad revenue and subscription services. You should only be able to read this on FFN and AO3. Nowhere else. If you see my stories being hosted on a third-party application, report it to iTunes or the Google Play Store immediately.

The Road So Far…

When Dean Winchester was pulled out of Hell and resurrected by the angels, the first person he met was a woman by the name of Skye. She seemed innocent enough at first, but when she kept appearing where Dean and his brother Sam just so happened to be, Dean started to grow suspicious. Particularly of how she seemed to know what was going to happen before it happened.

She wasn't Dean's only concern, though. He still needed to get answers from the angel who pulled him from Hell, Castiel. Along with their family friend and fellow hunter Bobby Singer, they preformed a summoning ritual to bring Castiel to them. They had no way of knowing what they brought down on themselves.

Castiel was an intensely powerful being. If that wasn't evidenced enough by pulling Dean out of Hell, it became clear to them then. His true voice couldn't be heard without causing someone to go deaf, and the sight of his true visage would blind. To be able to interact with people, he had to possess a person. That did little to dilute his power, though. He made his grand entrance by conjuring a lightning storm, exploding nearby lightbulbs, and knocking out Bobby with just two fingers.

There was no denying Castiel's power, but that wasn't what had Dean astounded. More frightening to him were the visions he had experienced when he was around Cas. He'd watch as Cas gave a passionate, heartfelt speech declaring his love for him before being swallowed by an amorphous, black mass. Dean couldn't make any sense of it. He couldn't tell if it was supposed to be the past or the future. He tried asking Cas about it, but he didn't seem to know what he was talking about. He had no explanation for what he had seen, and for some reason that scared him like nothing else before. So much so that he ended up fainting after his and Cas' confrontation.

Meanwhile, behind Dean's back, Sam had been hooking up with Ruby, a demon who had aided them in the past. In addition to sleeping together, Sam and Ruby were working together to harness Sam's power. To do that, Sam had to drink Ruby's blood. It strengthened his powers and made him feel amazing. Most importantly, it allowed him to be able to exorcise demons using only his mind. Although the means were sketchy, Sam was certain he was doing the right thing, and that was all that mattered.

However, he and Ruby were interrupted when Sam got several alarming phone calls from Dean. He tracked them down to an abandoned barn on the outskirts of town and found both Bobby and Dean unconscious on the ground. Bobby came around with some prompting. Dean did not. Fearing something serious was wrong with him, Sam and Bobby brought Dean to the nearest emergency room. That was where they ran into Skye.

Skye had been at the gas station that Dean had tried to take refuge at after he dug himself out of his grave. She also had been at the hotel where Sam and Ruby had been staying. Both times, she seemed to know what was going to happen before it happened, and at the hospital she provided Sam with an explanation; she had a manuscript that foretold the events of those three days for the Winchester brothers.

Naturally, Sam didn't believe her at first and didn't want to hear her out. Skye did eventually manage to convince him to look at it, though. Sam did have to admit it was a little eerie reading the events of those days adapted into a narrative prose, but he wasn't entirely convinced. He wanted to see what Dean thought of it before he made a final decision. Before that, though, they had more serious matters to take care of.

Ghosts had risen and had started to stalk the four of them. They weren't just any ghosts; they were ghosts of people they knew and had failed. Bobby was stalked by a pair of twin girls he failed to save from being eaten by a monster, Skye was stalked by a set of foster parents who died defending her, and Sam was stalked by Victor Henricksen and Meg Masters – two people he and Dean failed to save from demons. Even Dean got a visit from a ghost.

Castiel had appeared before Dean in his hospital bed. Dean wasn't sure if it was a dream or not, but all the same he could do nothing but sit and listen as Castiel blamed him for his apparent death and stopped his heart. The doctors were able to bring Dean back, but it still didn't change how confused and terrified he was afterwards.

Meanwhile, Sam, Bobby, and Skye did their best to fight off the ghosts. Bobby found out that the ghosts had been awakened by a spell and there was a way to reverse it and send the spirits back to the other side of the veil. It wasn't easy, but the three of them managed to do it. Although, not before people got hurt.

Castiel came to Dean in a dream. It was the real Castiel this time. Dean knew it because he had no idea what Dean was talking about when he brought up what had happened with the ghost. Regardless, he did not come bearing good news.

The spell – which had been cast by Lilith – brought about the Rise of the Witnesses, one of the sixty-six seals keeping Lucifer locked in his cage. If all the seals were broken, Lucifer would walk the Earth free, and the Apocalypse would begin. Six hunters had died at the hands of the Witnesses and dozens of angels were killed trying to protect other seals. Castiel impressed the seriousness of the situation onto Dean by telling him that he was the one who pulled him from Hell, and he could just as easily send him back.

Days later, they brought Skye back to Bobby's house and she did her best to explain the situation. Four months earlier, Skye had awoken in the middle of a field hundreds of miles from where she lived. When she looked through her backpack for any clues, she found a manuscript of what appeared to be a supernatural fantasy novel. She didn't think that the manuscript was real until she had an encounter with a demon who possessed a person in the exact same manner as described in the book. That's when she realized everything in the manuscript was true and took a note on the front to "fix this" to mean that she was meant to interfere with events somehow.

Although it didn't exactly earn their full trust, it was enough to convince the Winchesters and Bobby to let her stay with them. At least, until she knew enough to defend herself from the supernatural. That was all well and good to Skye, so long as they didn't figure out what she was hiding.

When telling her story, Skye conveniently left out the part where she recently developed supernatural powers of her own. She didn't know why and how she gained these powers, but she could now feel the vibrations of everything around her and could even create shockwaves and earthquakes. She used those powers to help dispatch the witnesses and later to let Sam into the Impala after Dean locked him out. She probably would have said something about them eventually, but after she saw the way Dean reacted to Sam's powers, she decided it'd be safer not to.

Dean had been angry when he'd discovered that Sam had been working with Ruby behind his back to use his powers to exorcise demons. Sam tried to argue that he was only trying to do what he thought was good and right with something that everyone had deemed a curse, but Dean shut that down by informing him that the angels didn't want him using his powers. Specifically, Castiel had come to Dean and informed him that if he didn't stop Sam, the angels would.

Not wanting to see his brother get struck down by the holy powers of heaven, Dean put all his energy into convincing Sam to stop. They even continued their argument after they got ambushed by a group of mercenaries who wanted to steal a cursed object from Bobby's house. Finally, Dean hit his last straw. He decided to show Sam that there was something truly wrong with him by cutting his arm and pouring holy water over the wound. Sam's blood reacted to the holy water, which seemingly proved Dean's point.

Sam still didn't back down. He made one last impassioned speech about how he was trying to make the most of the terrible hand he'd been dealt as an infant; to take the curse and "make something good out of it because [he] had to." Dean didn't react well to that, and Skye saw it. It didn't help with what happened next either.

Skye chased after one of the mercenaries who was trying to run off with the curse box and managed to tackle her to the ground. When she did, the curse box broke open and the object – the Obelisk – was freed from its housing. Not thinking, Skye picked up the Obelisk and it started to glow in her hand. Startled, she dropped it, allowing the mercenary to pick it up.

When the mercenary picked it up, she experienced a very different reaction. Instead of glowing in her hand, the Obelisk turned her arm to stone. She was rushed away by the other mercenaries before Skye, or the Winchesters could figure out what was happening to her and thus had to assume that she was killed. That was already traumatic enough on its own, but the icing was put on the cake for Skye when Bobby later told her and Sam that what happened to the mercenary was what normally happened to a person who touched the Obelisk. Meaning Skye should have been killed when she touched it.

Meanwhile, Sam apologized to Dean for not telling him about Ruby or that he had been using his powers. He promised to stop doing both, but Dean wasn't sure whether to believe him. Regardless, he gave his brother the benefit of the doubt.

Several days after that, Bobby got a call from an old acquaintance of his, Dr. Elaine Burns, about a supposed vengeful spirit that was attacking people. Wanting to prove herself to the brothers and Bobby, Skye went on the hunt with them. Not trusting Skye, Dean stood in staunch opposition to her suggestions and even hazed her a bit. However, that did nothing to deter Skye, who eventually ended up pulling through for them.

It eventually turned out that the "vengeful spirit" was really a death omen that was out for justice against their murderer – Dr. Burns. Burns held both Bobby and Skye up at gunpoint and threatened to kill them, but Skye managed to distract Burns by throwing a knife. This gave the death omen the chance to get the justice they deserved.

In the end, no one could deny that Skye had what it took to protect herself as well as others. This was enough to convince the Winchesters to offer to take her on the road hunting with them. Skye accepted, though she knew the position that it would put her in. She had to hide her powers from Dean and Sam. Otherwise, it could be a matter of life or death.

Now

Sunday, October 6th, 2008

International Waters

In his sixty-two years of life, loneliness wasn't something Fred Thompson had ever really dealt with. He'd experienced it plenty of times before in the forms of fleeting emotions that passed with support from family and friends, but true, deep, agonizing loneliness was something that had eluded him. He'd had a strong connection with his parents as a kid, and he'd always been sociable charismatic, leading him to make friends easily.

After his service in Vietnam, he settled down with a woman named Stephanie and the two of them started a family of their own. For years they raised their children together, too caught up in the joyful chaos to feel even the slightest pang of loneliness. Sure, they were sad when their youngest child left to start their own life, but they still had each other. That was enough to brighten their skies even on the stormiest of days.

Eventually, there came a storm that they were not meant to weather together. The cancer had taken Stephanie quick. Everyone said that she was lucky not to have suffered for long. What they didn't understand was that for Fred, the suffering was just beginning.

The loss of Stephanie created a gaping hole in Fred's life that he didn't know how to fill. His children visited often, but they were no replacement for his wife's constant companionship. As each day dragged on into the next, life became increasingly unbearable. He couldn't stand to be in his own house. Everywhere he looked he just saw another reminder of Stephanie, constantly renewing his grief. He needed an escape from all of it desperately.

So, escape from what he did. He went to his local travel agent and began looking into vacation options. Stephanie's treatments had set him back a bit financially, but he was able to find a cheap, four-day cruise around the Bahamas. Fred knew it wasn't likely to cure his loneliness and depression, but he had hoped it would be enough of a distraction to provide him with a few days of reprieve.

Unfortunately, it looked like he might've been wrong on that. Getting out of the house had done him some good, but he had obviously made a mistake in choosing this cruise. Fred noticed that most of the people around him were couples – largely older people who were probably celebrating their new lives as empty nesters, but couples nonetheless. He had tried talking to some people, but the more he did the more it became apparent that they just weren't on the same wavelength. Eventually, he just felt he needed to give up.

Thus, Fred found himself on the second day of his cruise sitting alone at the ship's bar staring with deeply depressed eyes into his glass of whiskey. He thought about going back to his room, but at the same time that felt like a waste of his money. He'd spent a lot of money to get onto this ship, so he ought to take full advantage of its amenities. That way, at least one aspect of his trip wouldn't feel like a total waste.

Looking around, Fred watched as the other couples chatted, mingled, and danced with each other. Absently, he wondered what he'd be doing if Stephanie were there with him. Would they be walking around schmoozing with the other couples, or on the dance floor, tearing up the night without a care in the world? Fred wasn't sure. He just knew that he'd give anything to have Stephanie sitting on the bar stool next to him.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Fred turned to look behind him and was taken aback. Standing there was a woman in her late-twenties or early-thirties. Her long legs were accentuated by the short length of her emerald cocktail dress. Tightly coiled red curls framed her face and she looked upon him kindly with dark, yet warm eyes.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, snapping Fred back to attention.

"No, no, not at all," he rushed to get out before patting the seat beside him. "It's fine. You can sit here."

The woman grinned and thanked him before sliding into the seat. Fred couldn't help but stare at her as she got settled. She looked so much like Stephanie, but at the same time she couldn't be. Aside from the obvious, the illusion was broken in the smallest of ways. The woman did not move like Stephanie, nor did she sound like her. She was clearly a completely different person, yet the resemblance to his late wife was so uncanny that it had him mesmerized.

Of course, this didn't escape the woman's notice. She turned to him with a slight smirk on her face as she asked, "like what you see?"

Fred turned as red as a tomato and suddenly became interested in his half-filled glass.

"Sorry," he blurted out as fast as he could. "I didn't mean to stare."

"It's okay," she said with amusement. "I don't mind."

He looked up at her and – against his better judgement – let out a burst of balking laughter at her encouraging smile. Though, he was quick to reign himself in.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't mean to insult you. I just can't believe this is happening."

"What, that a stranger in a bar wants to talk to you?" Fred laughed at the joke but had to look away again.

"No, uh…" He gulped. "You just look a lot like someone dear to me."

"Oh, thank you," the woman said.

"They're dead now."

"Oh." Despite having freshly applied lipstick, the woman sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"I am, too."

All at once Fred shot back his drink. It burned, but that was alright. He needed it. At the same time, the bartender came over and put in the woman's drink order. A somber moment passed between them; one so powerful it was as if the entire bar around them went silent. Eventually, Fred couldn't take it and turned to the woman once again.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I promise, I'll leave you alone after this. I just have to ask, what's your name?"

The woman made a noise of surprise, shifting uncomfortably.

"I don't mean to impose or anything," Fred assured. "It's just… You look so much like her, and it'd just be easier on my mind if I knew your name. That way, if I see you again, I won't look at you and think…"

Fred never so badly wanted to stick his foot in his mouth. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite that flexible anymore. He almost settled for reaching for another drink, but then he remembered he downed it all in one go. Instead, he absent mindedly rubbed his chest. Drinking that fast must have given him heartburn.

There was the clank of a glass being set down on wood. Fred heard the woman thank the bartender and took that as a sign to make a hasty retreat. He started to slide his butt off the bar stool when a feminine voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Eden."

"What?" He turned to look at the woman, who offered him a kind smile.

"My name is Eden." Fred blinked twice before sliding his butt back onto the seat and holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Eden," he said. "My name's Fred." She took his hand, smiling brilliantly.

"Hi, Fred," she said. "Lovely to meet you as well." Letting go of his hand, she took a sip from her glass before continuing. "If you don't mind my asking, who's this person that I supposedly resemble?"

"I don't mind," he answered with a soft, yet sad smile. "I just thought that you looked a bit like my wife when she was younger. Her name was Stephanie." Eden gave him a sympathetic look.

"…And she died recently." Fred nodded in confirmation.

"In the last year," he said. "Cancer. Took her far too quick."

"I'm sorry," Eden said. "I'm sure she didn't deserve that."

"No one does," Fred agreed. "But her especially."

"Could you tell me about her?" Eden asked. "I mean, you obviously miss her. Talking about her could make you feel better; get you thinking about the good times."

Fred smiled and did exactly that. He talked about the good times he had with Stephanie; Christmases, vacations, graduations, weddings… He gladly recounted it all. Talking about the good times took a weight off his back that he hadn't known was there. He didn't know how long it would last, but at that moment he could breathe easier – like the air pressure in the room had dropped significantly.

His heart, on the other hand, was a different story. It felt like it was beating out of control. He was uncomfortable, but he really couldn't say he didn't know why. After all, Eden was a beautiful woman, and though he was getting up there in age, that didn't mean he wasn't capable of taking notice.

The alcohol probably didn't help. The bartender had refilled their drinks twice more. By the time Fred had finished both, he could swear the room was spinning. Eden didn't seem much better. He didn't know what she had to drink, but she'd gotten more giggly as the night wore on.

As it started getting later, people started to clear out of the bar. Fred and Eden were still talking, but the conversation had long since strayed away from Stephanie. It was the light, easy conversation of two drunken strangers. They laughed and enjoyed each other's company. Time started to fly by and before they knew it the bartender was making his last call. Fred and Eden looked at each other with flushed faces.

"Wow," Fred said. "Where did the time go?"

"I know," Eden said. "I was having such a good time."

"I was, too," Fred said.

"I wish it didn't have to end."

"Maybe it doesn't have to." Slyly, Eden raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

Fred found himself swallowing hard. He hadn't planned for this, nor did he have any intention of it when he set out on this vacation. However, Eden was just so beautiful, and he was just so lonely. Add alcohol to the mix and there was nothing holding him back from making his proposition.

"Well, I have a room on the ship," he explained. "And I was just thinking… Maybe we could go back there and talk?"

Eden hesitated to respond, causing Fred's anxiety to spike. His chest was shaking, and he could hear his own heart beating. He was almost certain that he had messed this up. After all, he hadn't done this in almost forty years and he was no spring chicken. He was just lucky she didn't laugh in his face.

He was starting to prepare himself for the rejection and the shameful walk back to his cabin when he saw Eden pick up her glass. Finishing off her drink, she set it down on the counter with an audible clink and looked at him resolutely.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go."

Fred looked up at her, wide-eyed.

"You're serious?" Eden nodded.

"Of course," she said. "I like you. I wouldn't mind going back to your cabin to talk. …Or you know, do other things."

The suggestive wiggle of the younger woman's brow caused Fred's heart to soar in leaps and bounds. Needing to relieve some of the nervous elation building up inside him, he gripped his chest and let out an uncomfortable laugh. Eden looked at him in concern, but he reassured her by taking her hand.

"Let's get out of here," he said. Any concerns she might have had were shaken off. She stood and let him lead her out of the bar.

A lot of things got lost in the haze of the moment. Fred couldn't be blamed for that. The entire way back to the cabin, his head felt lighter than air and every few seconds jolts of pain rocked his body. He chalked it up to anxiety. It had been a long time since he'd been with a woman.

He remembered leading her down the hallway and into his cabin. Once the door shut, everything started moving at lightning speed. Eden's lips were on Fred's in an instant. The move took him by surprise. It felt like an electric current traveled from her lips, down to his heart where it continued to spread through his extremities. Shocked by the rush, he had to push her away to catch his breath.

"Are you okay?" Eden asked, her head tilting with concern. Fred nodded weakly. It was all he could do since he couldn't quite find his voice. "Maybe we shouldn't be doing this…"

Alarm was raised in Fred's mind at the suggestion. He didn't want to stop. This was the first time he'd felt this kind of exhilaration – or any positive emotion, really – in a very long time. So, with heaving breaths, he forced himself to speak.

"I'm okay," he said. "I can keep going."

"You sure?" Eden asked with skeptical eyes. Again, Fred nodded.

"I'm sure," he said, adding a reassuring grin. "I think we should move this over to the bed. Might be more comfortable."

Taking his reassurance at face-value, Eden agreed and let him lead her over to the bed. Fred tried to motion for her to lie down, but a wicked grin graced Eden's face as she shook her head.

"No, you go first," Eden insisted. "I like to be on top."

A shudder passed through Fred. He'd never met a woman who wanted to take charge like this before. He knew it was something that existed, but he never knew that it would be something that he was interested in. Stephanie certainly hadn't been, but that was neither here nor there. Eden was interested and – strangely enough – Fred was, too.

Lying back on the bed, Eden quickly moved to straddle him. She pressed her body against all the right spots as she leaned forward to kiss him. The electric current returned in full-force. Waves of pleasure oscillated through his body at such a rapid rate it was almost painful. He was willing to grin and bear it, though. He had a feeling he would be rewarded if he did.

As time moved on and their motions grew increasingly intimate, Fred found himself unable to think clearly. Absently, he remembered that Stephanie liked having her hair pulled and reached up to tangle his fingers in her tresses. Giving a firm tug, he didn't expect the yelp of pain that came from the woman above him.

"Stop! That hurts!"

Fred tried to say something in apology, but his voice failed him. Against his own volition, Fred's hand seized and jerked back. He heard another sharp yowl and a plea for him to stop, but he couldn't follow her instructions. In fact, he could barely even hear her.

The pain he'd been trying to ignore for so long had finally overtaken his body. Numbly, he felt the force of gravity pull his hand backward. He could hear screaming, but Fred was no longer able to register where it was coming from. The back of his hand hit the pillow and the impact jostled his head to the side.

In his final moments, Fred caught sight of his fingers tangled in a mess of red hair. To his horror, the hair was still attached to the scalp and a flesh-colored glistening goo was dripping from it. He didn't stay concerned about it for long, though. Blackness soon encroached on his vision as he became incapable of conscious thought.

So, where have I been? Well, you see, there was this wizard who just broke into my house in the middle of the night to tell me that the son of the deposed king of Nigeria needed my help to regain his funds and status! So we jumped on the wizard's magic vacuum cleaner and skyrocketed halfway around the world to this secret cave where we had to defeat this colossal dragon and rescue these poor defenseless wombats from the pit of despair… Uh, it was just a whole ordeal. You probably don't want to hear about it.

Alright, in all reality it's mostly just blah, blah, blah, mental health shit, blah, blah, blah, hyper fixated on a different fandom for a while, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. However, that is all over now! I'm back with this new story, and as you can see it is much longer than the other stories in this series so far, so hopefully that will make up for the long time between posts! Please remember to comment and leave kudos! Thank you so much for reading this!

Remember kids, safe sex includes making sure your scalp is on securely and that your partner isn't having a heart attack before you start!