A/N: "Geez, ICanProveMishaIsASquirrel; is it going to be nothing but non-canonical character chapters from here on out because Alex is off at college?"

Lol, nope. ;)

Gotta admit, I really like this chapter. Feels like a gigantic dollop of amusing banter, but balanced with a heavy dose of plot set up. So enjoy!

[Side note; this one's got a funny formatting choice. Italics on Alex's dialog indicate she's being heard through the phone, while non-italics means the camera's on her over at the university. Idk why I did that, but I did, there it is.]

Appendix H

Section B

Alex Age 18

The Safest Place to Be

Dean was awakened by the sound of his phone ringing. Groggily, he rolled over in his motel bed and tilted the phone off the side table to read the caller ID, squinting through tired eyes.

It was Alex. He picked up.

"Hey," he said, a slight rasp in his voice. "What's up?"

"Hey," replied Alex. She was walking back from her first test, one hand in her jacket pocket to keep it warm, her backpack over a shoulder. "Did I wake you?" She sounded slightly surprised.

"It's okay," said Dean. "It is kind of early, though, isn't it?"

"I mean, it's like nine-thirty," said Alex. "I just finished my final."

"Really?"

Dean pulled the phone away from his ear to look at the time. Sure enough, it was already eight-thirty Mountain Time.

"Crap," he mumbled. He looked over to the lump of his brother in the next bed over. "Up and at 'em, Sammy. We overslept."

Sam didn't even move.

Dean grabbed the spare pillow from his bed and threw it hard at Sam. It bounced off and over him and tumbled to the floor. Sam gave a groan of protest.

"Get your ass out of bed. We gotta make tracks," Dean insisted as firmly as he could given how tired he was. He put the phone back up to his ear as Sam hauled himself to his feet with a noisy grumble. "Sorry, baby girl. Had a run in with some ghouls last night. Bled us both pretty good."

"Ugh, I'm sorry," said Alex. "Hate ghouls. Why don't you sleep it off for a while?"

"Nah, we should get headed your way," Dean replied, sitting up on the edge of the bed. "Don't want to be late picking you up for break."

"That's, like, midday tomorrow," Alex's brow furrowed in confusion. "Where the Hell are you?"

"Friggin' Utah," was Dean's answer.

"Jesus," said Alex.

"It's my fault," Dean growled. "I thought, 'it's just a couple states over, it's not that far.' Forgot about the mountains."

Alex gave a humorous snort.

"You can be late picking me up, you know," she said. "I'd rather hang in the dorm an extra day than you and Uncle Sam die in a fiery car crash on the way here."

"Aah," Dean grumped, "we've driven through worse. We'll take turns as we need to. Plus Sam got some juice that's supposed to help after blood loss—hey, Sam?" he called in the direction of the bathroom.

"Yeah?"

"What was that stuff you got for the blood drain?"

"Blood drain?"

"Yeah, the juice!"

"Oh! The cranberry juice?"

"Yeah, the cranberry—he got cranberry juice." Dean returned to his phone. "It's so dry, I feel like I can't move my tongue."

"Really? I don't mind it," said Alex. "Helps it's usually mixed with some other fruit."

"No, this is like straight cranberry juice. He went out of his way to find this crap," said Dean.

"Oh, ew," replied Alex, wrinkling her nose.

"Yeah.

"But you're not calling to listen to me complain," Dean changed gears. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah, kinda," said Alex with a sigh. "Had a bit of a run in last night myself."

"What kind of run in?" Dean snapped out of what was left of his weariness. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! Jenna's a little shook up, though," said Alex.

"Jenna?"

"Yeah," said Alex. "She was possessed by a demon."

"What?"

He knew it. He knew it, he knew it, he knew it! He wanted to punch Sam in the face for dismissing his fears, which were now completely confirmed and grounded in reality.

Although, here he sat, chatting with her on the phone a whole night after the event, and she was talking about it like she had under-seasoned her stir-fry for yesterday's dinner.

"Yeah. Fresh outta Hell, though—got stuck in my devil's trap before I even got back to the room, and didn't know about holy water or anything."

"Devil's trap? You had time to make a devil's trap but you didn't have time to tell me that you thought a demon was after you?" said Dean.

"No, it was the trap I put in the dorm when I moved in," said Alex. "Under the rug."

"You hid a devil's trap in your dorm room? Just in case?"

"Of course, I did!"

Dean chuckled. "That's my girl."

Dammit, Sam was still right. Two would-be attacks in just as many months and she had foiled them both without breaking a sweat.

Nevertheless, he cringed to tally the incidents.

"And you exorcised it right away, right?"

"Well, I interrogated it first," replied Alex.

"Alex, I told you to just exorcise them right away," Dean scolded.

"If I exorcise them right away, then I won't know why they're there," said Alex. "It's just a band-aid."

"I don't care if it's a friggin' cast," retorted Dean. "Just exorcise them right away from now on! Okay?"

Alex sighed reluctance. "Okay."

"Okay," he repeated, rubbing his face. "But Jenna's taking it hard, huh?"

"Yeah, she was awake for the whole thing. I kind of had to spill the beans after that," Alex returned to her original intent.

"Well," Dean sighed, unclenching a bit, "it was only a matter of time, really. If you'd hated each other but had to live together, that would be one thing, but you two really got tight fast."

"Yeah," Alex couldn't stop a small smile. "She called me her best friend last night. And I kind of called her mine, too. And that was after she was possessed."

"So she didn't run away screaming?" said Dean.

"Nope," Alex replied. "In fact, she's ready to start fighting the good fight."

"Well, she better be, if there's gonna be demons hanging around," Dean commented. "You have a spare charm?"

"Yeah, she's wearing it now," said Alex.

Sam had reentered the room, wiping the remnants of toothpaste from his mouth with the motel's sad-looking hand towel. "Is that Alex?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah."

"Hi, Alex!" Sam raised his voice and leaned in the direction of Dean's phone.

"Hi, Uncle Sam!" Alex shouted back.

Dean removed the phone from his ear and put it on speaker between the two of them.

"Heard you met some ghouls last night," said Alex.

"Yeah," said Sam as he pulled the jug of cranberry juice out of the miniscule fridge. "Mean ones. We're fine, though, just a little lightheaded."

He took a swig of juice and gagged.

"Why did you buy it if you don't even like it?" asked Dean.

"It's not the juice itself, it's the juice with the toothpaste," croaked Sam.

"Oh, gross." Dean grimaced. "Okay, good to know.

"Alex had a little adventure of her own."

"Oh?" Sam inquired.

"Yeah, Jenna was possessed," said Alex.

"What, by a demon?" said Sam, surprise striking his face.

"Yeah," Alex replied.

"Are you both okay?" Sam asked worriedly, coming to sit on the bed opposite his brother.

"Oh, yeah, we're fine," replied Alex. "She was already in my trap when I found her and I exorcised her after we chatted."

"What, your trap?" asked Sam.

"She made a devil's trap in her dorm room the day she moved in," Dean bragged to Sam.

"Holy crap," was his reply. "Way to go, Alex," he said to the phone.

"Right?" added Dean.

"Well, I drew it the next day," Alex amended. "But thank you!"

"How's your roommate doing?" asked Sam. "Was she awake?"

"Oh, yeah," Alex said, her tone a little sad for a moment. "See that's what I was calling to ask about. Jenna's kind of in the hunting game now, and I haven't had any time to train her on how to fight these guys, so I'm kind of worried they're going to go after her over break."

"The demons are after Jenna and not you?" Sam asked.

"Well, they're after her to get at me," Alex elaborated. "They're kind of low-grade demons. Their first attempt at snagging me didn't go so well, so they're going to try and mess with her until I give them what they want."

"What do they want?" asked Dean.

"It's a whole thing," said Alex. "I'll tell you on the way home.

"But like I say, I don't want to leave Jenna alone. So I was wondering if she could come back to the bunker with me for break."

Immediately, Sam's face registered horror. He cut his hands through the air in a negative gesture and mouthed at his brother, "No! No!"

"What?" Dean asked in barely a whisper, shrugging.

"She's going to be all over me!" Sam replied just as quietly so the phone wouldn't pick up his protests. "It's like a month and a half break! We'll be coming out of our skin!"

"You'll be coming out of your skin," Dean mumbled back, barely audible.

"Uncle Sam, I can hear you." Alex said it deadpan, but there was the slightest hint of humor under the blandness, and Dean could tell she was just as amused as he was.

Sam cleared his throat and began tentatively, "Listen, Alex, I don't know if—,"

"Sure, she can come stay for break!" Dean interrupted with joviality, making his little brother scoff in exasperation. "Safest place for her to be until she can learn the ropes. A whole month and a half of training will really get her whipped into shape. Hell, maybe she and Sam can practice wrestling!"

"Oh my God, Dean," Sam buried his face in his hands, turning bright red.

Alex burst out laughing.

"Okay, well, I'm nearly at my room," said Alex when she recovered. "I'll ask her if she wants to come stay.

"Don't worry, Uncle Sam, I'll get her to behave herself. She's not all spunk. Well, she's a lot of spunk, but not all. She does have a brain in her head."

"I guess I'll have to take your word for it," replied Sam, dejected but smiling at the reassurance his niece was trying to give him.

"You can trust me," Alex chuckled. "All right, gotta go. Thank you! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow, baby girl," said Dean, and hung up.

They sat for a moment on the beds, Sam glaring daggers at his older brother. Dean met his gaze with a wry and content smile.

"You always see the really little ones with the tallest guys," he said.

"Dude, stop it," Sam collapsed backwards onto the bed. "She's not even half my age! It's disgusting!"

Dean snickered as he rose and headed for his already packed gear. "It's just a little flirtation. You can handle it. But I will be teasing you relentlessly until it settles down."

"Screw you," said Sam.

"No, screw you," Dean quipped suggestively.

"Jesus Christ," Sam grumbled.

Dean slung his duffle over his shoulder. "Come on, little brother. Let's hit the road."

A/N: *evil chuckle* Oh boy, where are we going with this?