Season Three

Episode Eleven: The Darkest Half

By irismay42 & Tree

Part Three

He’d only met her once.

Jessica.

Sam’s girl.

Dean wondered, as he watched his little brother recede into a tiny dot in the Impala’s rearview, whether he and Jess would have gotten along, had things been different. Had she not burned up on her bedroom ceiling just like Mom.

He’d liked her. Sure, she was hot and everything, but it was more than that. He figured himself a pretty good judge of character and, based on the two minute conversation he’d had with her at the apartment in Palo Alto, she’d seemed…nice. Girl next door nice. Bring you chicken soup when you were sick nice. Bake you cookies nice. And, of course, way out of Sam’s league.

He smiled a little as he remembered her Smurfs t-shirt and the way she’d looked up at Sam like he was the only other person in the world; and he wondered whether he would have been jealous of her, had he been given the chance to get to know her. The way Sam was obviously jealous of Mia.

He shrugged and snapped on the cassette deck, blasting out a little Bad Company in the hope of erasing this evening’s ugliness from his mind with a well-placed guitar riff.

You’ve been living in a world of fiction, and you can’t see who’s wrong, no
You’ve been living in the past, it’s a contradiction, and this can’t carry on...

Dean grimaced.

Welcome to the world of the brokenhearted, I welcome you
You’ve been heading down the road to nowhere, and you don’t know the way...

Stupid Bad Company.

He ejected the cassette and tossed it in the back seat, listening to the sound of his own breathing instead.

But the car was too quiet and Dean had never been comfortable alone with his own thoughts.

He glanced at the empty passenger seat before his eyes drifted back to the equally empty rearview, and his thoughts once again wandered toward Jessica.

Of course, he and Sam had barely spoken after the younger brother had left for the shiny hallowed halls of Stanford. There had been time and distance between them, their relationship put on hold by hunting and by studying, by duty and by freedom. Dean had stayed and Sam had left and Dean had had no reason to feel possessive of his little brother or jealous of his girl.

But they were different people now than they’d been back then. A couple of years back in each other’s lives, eating, sleeping, fighting and almost dying side by side and maybe Sam had a reason to feel the way he did about Mia. He was just being protective of Dean. Not jealous. Not at all.

But maybe Dean was just making excuses. Sam had no right to say the things he’d said about Mia. No right at all. Dean would never have said anything like that about Jessica. Never questioned her motivation or her loyalty. Even if he had been jealous. Which he wouldn’t have been. No way.

“I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business…” he suddenly remembered telling her, as if his claim on Sam was infinitely greater than hers could ever be, and a tiny corner of his brain remembered a sudden spike of – something – when Sam had put his arm around her, raised his chin and grit out defiantly, “No. Whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her.”

Of course, Sam had been wrong about that.

The way he’d been wrong about a lot of things.

The way he was wrong about Mia.

So yeah, Dean may have been a tiny bit jealous of Jessica, but he’d not snuck off to the nearest library in the middle of the night to research every last detail of her life like some demented stalker. Like Sam.

Of course, Sam probably hadn’t snuck off anywhere to do anything, but that didn’t stop Dean picturing it in his mind’s eye, Sam with a villainous grin on his face as he produced another piece of damning evidence with a triumphant “Ah-ha!” and a twirl of his villainous fake mustache.

God, just thinking about it made Dean grind his teeth together and grip the steering wheel so hard he could practically hear his old girl squeal in pain.

How could Sam have gone behind his back like that? Sneaking around, checking out Mia’s story; spying on them.

And, just as Dean had no proof Sam had snuck off to a library in the middle of the night while twirling a villainous mustache, he also had no proof that Sam had been spying on them. None at all. But he was just so damned incensed right now his brain didn’t really give much of a crap about reason or logic.

He replayed the last hour over and over in his head – Sam sniping at Mia, Sam sniping at Dean, Dean calling Sam “demonic…”

Dean had called Sam demonic.

He blanched at the thought, stomach beginning to churn in shame.

How could he have said that?

How could he have said that to Sam?

What the hell was he doing? Was he really choosing to believe Mia’s story over Sam’s? On what grounds? His kid brother was the smartest person he knew and he’d known him a hell of a lot longer than he’d known Mia. So if Sam said there was something wrong with the girl, that her story didn’t check out, then Sam had to be right. Right?

But then, what was Sam doing checking her out in the first place?

Dean felt his ire beginning to rise once more as he considered that. Sam had no right to do that. No right at all.

He wondered how long this had been going on, this little obsession of Sam’s. How long had he been suspicious of Mia? How long had he been “researching” her? Since before Cibola? Is that why he’d gone storming off into the desert like a teenage girl with PMS?

Goddamnit, Sam!

Sam could have died.

Sam could have died.

He glanced into the rearview, his little brother no longer visible standing alone by the side of the road.

He needed to give Sam a little space, that was all. A little time to get used to the idea of Dean and Mia. Sam was a smart kid. Way smart. Eventually he’d realize he was wrong about the girl. He’d come around. Eventually.

Wouldn’t he?

What if he didn’t? What if Sam was so blinded by whatever this mental block was he’d put up between himself and Mia – be it jealousy or something else – that he never got past it? What would Dean do then? Was this it for them? Zero hour? If Sam couldn’t handle Dean having any kind of relationship but the one they had with each other, then what hope was there for them? Was parting ways really the only way to go?

Dean shook his head. No, that was just stupid. And it made Sam sound plain lame. It made Dean sound plain lame. Sam wasn’t a little kid anymore, pissed off that Dean would rather go out on a date than stay in and watch Star Wars with him for the millionth time. Sam was an adult now – smart and logical. He was mature enough to handle this. It couldn’t be something as simple as petty jealousy. Dean had a much higher opinion of Sam than to believe that. So if it wasn’t just jealousy and Sam’s gut really was telling him they shouldn’t trust Mia, then maybe he was right?

Dean thought back to the way Sam had looked, laid out unconscious on the dusty floor of that abandoned bar on the edges of the Sonora, and shuddered.

Sam could have died.

His gaze skittered toward his cellphone abandoned on the seat next to him, fingers of his right hand creeping across the leather until they curled around cool plastic.

He needed to call Sam. He needed to check he was okay….

As he brought the little phone up to eye level he suddenly remembered that the battery had crapped out on him back at the Hamilton house, and Sam’s ridiculous assertion that Mia had somehow been responsible.

Like Mia could have drained the battery!

Like Mia could have almost set herself on fire just to garner Dean’s sympathy and trust.

Like Mia could have done something to Joe Bearwalker or killed Father Normand.

Like Mia could control demons.

It was ridiculous. It was stupid. Sam was being an ass.

Screw it. He flung the cellphone across to the passenger side of the bench seat and punched the steering wheel in sheer frustration. Stupid, snot-nosed, jealous little brat….

He deserved to be ditched by the side of the road. Maybe it’d teach him to grow up a little.

That thought got Dean through the next five minutes.

But as he pulled the Impala back into the parking lot of Plano Medical Center, his mind soon strayed back to that question hovering at the edges of his consciousness; that question he had never thought he would be forced to answer.

If it came down to it, if he had to choose between Sam and Mia…What the hell would he do?

Roadside,
Plano, TX

Sam kicked at an empty beer can abandoned by the side of the road as he continued to trudge along in the opposite direction to the one Dean had taken when he took off in the Impala. He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of an engine, but the headlights behind him turned off to the right before they even reached his position and he pulled his jacket tighter around himself to keep out the growing chill.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been walking, but not a single vehicle had passed him by since Dean had driven away.

Dean had driven away.

He cleared his throat before setting his jaw and trying not to think about it.

Was he even going in the right direction? He’d only passed a couple of junctions and he was pretty sure Dean hadn’t turned off the main road on the way to the hospital. But they’d been headed from the direction of the Hamilton house, and now Sam wanted to get back to the motel. They’d been headed that way before they’d had the fight. Disagreement, Sam amended. Misunderstanding. He sighed. Fight, he finally admitted. And Dean had swung the Impala back the way they’d come when he’d told Sam he was going back to the hospital to pick up Mia. So Sam must being going the right way…right?

He frowned. How had he gotten himself so turned around?

That was a good question. How had that happened? Could he really be so wrong about Mia? Maybe Dean was right. Maybe Sam was just being an idiot.

He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, finger hovering over Dean’s speed dial before he remembered Mia had somehow drained the battery in Dean’s cell.

He almost laughed at that.

How the hell could Mia have drained the battery in Dean’s cell?

Yeah, he was being an idiot. And Dean was right…except he wasn’t. Sam knew it. He just knew it. Mia had meant for Sam to wind up in that basement by himself. Mia had meant to get him killed tonight. He’d never been so sure of anything in his life.

So why wouldn’t Dean listen to him? Why wouldn’t he open his eyes? Why wouldn’t he even admit the possibility that something could be up with Mia?

So this was it? Dean would rather trust Mia than his own brother? Whom he’d known his whole life while he’d know Mia five freakin’ minutes?

Screw him, he thought. He’s being an ass. If Dean didn’t know enough by now to trust Sam, then maybe Sam should leave him to it and let him suffer the consequences.

But the consequences were pretty unthinkable.

He shuddered, trying not to dwell on it, wrapping his long arms about himself in an effort to fend off the early morning chill.

Goddamnit, Dean!

Dean could be in danger.

What if Mia wanted to kill him too?

He quickened his pace a little, encouraged by distant streetlights and what looked like a few houses a mile or so up the road. Dean would be okay. Sam would get back to the motel, they’d make a joke out of this and it would all be over.

Except Mia would still be in the next room.

His fingers tightened convulsively around his cellphone, thumb still hovering over Dean’s speed dial even though he knew there was no way his big brother could pick up the call.

Dean….

He almost dropped the phone when it suddenly lit up in his hand, vibrating wildly as it belted out Feeder’s Feeling A Moment and the little screen flashed a single word: Dad.

Plano Medical Center,
Plano, TX

“Hey, hotstuff.” Mia leaned in through the driver’s side window, caught hold of Dean’s chin and tilted his face in her direction. “I been calling you!”

Dean shrugged, slapping on a fake smile and trying not to think about the expression on Sam’s face as he left him by the side of the road. “Phone’s dead, remember?” he said.

Mia nodded. “Oh right. I broke your phone.” She leaned in and kissed him before pulling away and grinning broadly as she scooted around the front of the big Chevy and pulled open the passenger door.

Dean frowned. “What was that for?” he asked a little uncertainly as the girl climbed in next to him. “For sticking up for me,” she informed him. “With Sam.”

Dean shifted a little uncomfortably, suddenly fascinated by a lone Cheeto wedged between the floorboards and the gas pedal. “Yeah, well.”

Mia glanced around the empty Impala, brow crinkling a little. “So where is he?” she asked. “That pissy little brother of yours.”

Dean looked up sharply. “He’s not ‘pissy,’” he told her quickly. “He’s just a little –”

“Nuts?” Mia offered, pulling the door shut with a squeak and sliding across the seat until her thigh was pressed up against Dean’s.

Dean glanced sideways at her. “He’s just trying to look out for me,” he muttered sheepishly.

“Aww, sweet,” Mia drawled, entwining her arm in his. “That why you ditched him?”

“I didn’t –” Dean stopped abruptly, the mischievous twinkle in Mia’s eyes causing the anger to drain from his voice. “I’m giving him some space,” he said instead, unsure who he was trying to justify himself to.

“Okay,” Mia said, her hand slipping down to Dean’s thigh as her lips brushed his ear. “I could work with that.”

Dean fought the urge to push her away as her mouth slid down to his neck. “Whoa there, little lady!” he managed, finally catching hold of her upper arm and forcing her to break contact.

She blinked at him before frowning. “What’s up, you got a headache or somethin’?”

“Funny,” Dean deadpanned, glancing around the parking lot. “Maybe we should wait till we’re not on Candid Camera?”

Mia looked up at the security camera only a few feet away from them. “Dean Winchester,” she said, “I had you down as a lot of things, but shy sure wasn’t one of them!”

“Yeah well,” he said, putting the Impala into drive and peeling away from the curb smoothly. “Maybe under this brash hard-as-nails exterior I’m really a gentleman at heart.”

Mia punched him playfully in the shoulder. “You’re something,” she agreed, twisting in her seat until she was facing front again, although her arm remained entwined with his.

“So how’s Jordan?” Dean asked, the change of subject seeming a little obvious, even to him.

“She’s gonna be fine,” Mia replied as if she hadn’t noticed. “They pumped her full of happy juice and she’ll probably wake up tomorrow thinking it was all a nightmare.”

“It kind of is, right?” Dean said, glancing sideways at her. “Being possessed? Like waking up from one long awful nightmare.”

Mia’s expression sobered and she nodded slowly, finger twirling one long lock of her hair in a way that uncomfortably reminded Dean of Alyssa Medina, the memory-stealing freak who he’d last seen eviscerated in Wyoming. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “It was. A nightmare.”

Dean nodded slightly, eyes back on the road as something in his gut twisted uncomfortably.

She could have been controlling all of them – all of the demons that have supposedly possessed her.

He heard Sammy’s voice echoing around in his head and started a little when he felt Mia’s hand squeeze his thigh.

“Ooh, little tense, huh?” Mia drawled, her intentions plain on her face as her tone veered wildly from reflective to seductive in a couple of beats of Dean’s heart. “You know I could help you with that…”

Dean laughed a little nervously, pushing her hand away. “Not while I’m driving, sweetheart,” he managed, grinning a little awkwardly. “Wouldn’t want to wrap my baby around a tree. I usually leave stuff like that to Sam.”

Mia nodded. “I get it. Long night, huh? Nothing to do with the things Sam was saying about me.”

Dean’s eyes flickered away from the road for a second. “Huh?”

Mia shrugged her shoulders and sighed, disentangling her arm from Dean’s and pushing herself slightly away from him along the bench seat. “Never mind.”

“Mia, hey, I’m sorry,” Dean apologized sincerely. “I – it’s just…” He trailed off, shrugging one shoulder and reaffirming his grip on the steering wheel. “Me ’n Sam…kinda had a fight.”

Mia seemed genuinely surprised. “Over me?”

Dean shrugged again but didn’t answer, and Mia slid herself back toward him, gently resting her head on his shoulder. “You wanna talk about it?”

Dean shook his head. “Let’s just get back,” he said. “Get some shuteye. I’m just tired.”

Mia nodded. “Sounds like a plan,” she agreed.

Southfork Motel,
Plano, TX

Dean didn’t even think about it as he got out of the Impala and automatically followed Mia to her room. For all his protestations of just wanting to get some sleep, all his attempts to rebuff Mia’s less-than-subtle amorous advances, right now Dean just didn’t want to be alone.

And he knew no way was Sam going to be back yet.

Mia beckoned him inside not with a “come hither” smile, but with a genuine look of concern on her pretty face, catching his arm and guiding him into the room before motioning for him to sit on the bed.

He followed her instructions wearily, whole body tensed up and thrumming, and when, his eyes closed, he felt the bed dip a little to his left and Mia’s gentle fingers in his hair, for a second he almost forgot all about what had happened earlier with Sam.

Gradually allowing himself to relax under her gentle caress, he leaned into her touch as she combed her fingers through the short spikes of his hair, the subtle scent of her perfume almost making him feel drowsy. He didn’t resist her when he felt her lips against his, one hand entwining itself in her soft hair, and he almost felt as if he was going to drown in the scent of her.

Ozone.

He blinked, pulling away from her slightly as the other odor assaulted his nostrils.

“What can I smell?” he asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

Mia looked down at him, perplexed, shifting her weight a little as she knelt next to him on the bed. “I showered this morning, I swear…!”

“No,” Dean shook his head. “Ozone. I can smell –”

“Oh, that!” Mia rolled her eyes. “Damn hairdryer blew up on me this morning! Can you believe it? What’s a girl to do –?”

She made to kiss him again, but he held her away, frown deepening between his eyes. “We were in a different motel this morning.”

Mia blinked at him, sitting back on her heels. “Yeah, well, I thought maybe you’d be able to fix it for me, so I threw it in my bag somewhere. Stinks like a bitch though!”

Dean looked at her, looked into her soft brown eyes and relaxed a little. “Dammit, Sammy…” he muttered under his breath, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Mia caught his chin with her fingers. “You wanna tell me what happened yet?”

Dean hesitated for a second, never comfortable pouring his heart out to anyone, most especially not to a chick. He almost laughed at that.

“It was stupid,” he said at length. “We just had this big emo set-to, right there by the side of the road and Sam…”

“Sam doesn’t trust me,” Mia provided, nodding slowly. “I get it. I do, Dean. He’s watching out for you.”

Dean raised his eyes slowly to meet hers. “Yeah, he is,” he said quietly. “For the longest time…y’know it was just me, Sammy and Dad. Dad was gone a lot –”

“You said your dad’s a hunter too, right?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, ever since our mom…” He shrugged. “Anyway. He was gone a lot and it was pretty much just me and Sammy a lot of the time growing up so…”

“You look out for each other.”

“He’s not trying to hurt you, Mia.”

“I know. I do. And I really do understand. I never had any brothers or sisters, but I can still get where Sam’s coming from. I would have killed anyone who tried to hurt Greg…” She trailed off, sighing. “Who knew I’d be the one to hurt him, huh?”

Dean took her hand and squeezed it gently. “What happened to your boyfriend…wasn’t your fault you know.”

Mia nodded awkwardly. “Yeah. Demonic possession can put a real crimp in your love life.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“You’ve not –” Mia began, but stopped herself abruptly.

“Not what?”

“You said it had just been you and Sam for a long time. There’s been – no one else…? I mean, girl-wise…?”

Dean smiled lopsidedly at her discomfort. “There was this one girl,” he said. “Back in Ohio. She runs a newspaper in Missouri now…” he trailed off.

“Didn’t work out?”

Dean looked up at her. “Thought I was nuts.”

“Ah. I can see how that could be a problem.”

“Only girl I ever – I ever told. Y’know. About what we do.”

Mia nodded. “Harsh,” she said. “But I can see why Sam’s acting the way he is.”

“Huh?” Dean pulled away from her a little, frowning quizzically.

Mia twisted herself until she was sitting on the bed next to Dean, her foot gently rubbing against the side of his calf. “He’s used to having big brother all to himself,” she explained. “It’s been just you and him most of his life. It’s hard when you suddenly have to share someone you love with someone else.”

Dean nodded a little. “I guess.”

“Imagine how you’d feel if your dad suddenly remarried,” Mia added.

Dean raised a brow. “That’s not the same –”

“Yes it is,” Mia asserted. “If you boys grew up like you say. Just the two of you. You taking care of him. You’re kinda like a surrogate father to him, Dean, whether you want to admit it or not.”

Dean didn’t comment on that for the longest time. “Sam’s a grown-up, Mia. Not some snot-nosed little kid jealous of his new stepmom.”

“All I’m saying is that jealousy can be a really powerful emotion, not something even the most rational of us can control. Cut Sam some slack. He’ll come around.”

Dean shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said slowly, part of him screaming at him to shut the hell up while the rest of him wouldn’t listen. “He’s been – he’s been researching you. Checking out your backstory.”

Mia stiffened, pulling away and just staring at him. “He – what?”

“He –” Dean faltered a little. “He said you didn’t exist until about six months ago.”

“I look six months old to you?” There was a humorous lilt to Mia’s voice that sounded somehow forced to Dean’s ears.

“That’s not what I meant –”

“I know what you meant, Dean.”

“So…?”

“So what, Dean?” All pretence at humor was gone, and Mia was fairly growling at him, her whole demeanor having slewed in a complete one-eighty in the blink of an eye. “You askin’ me why there’s no trace of me up until six months ago?”

“Well – yeah, I guess…”

“So you don’t trust me any more than your goddamned stupid brother?”

“He’s not stupid,” Dean began to protest. “And what happened to ‘cut him some slack’?”

“He had no right to do that, Dean,” Mia continued as if he’d not even spoken. “He had no right to go snooping into my history. That’s my business and no one else’s!”

“Yeah, I know that, but –”

“And now he has your head so twisted around you’re actually starting to believe him, aren’t you?”

“Mia –” He tried to put a hand on her arm, but she shook him off and jumped to her feet.

“So – what?” she said, spinning around to face him. “You think I’m some kind of Queen Bitch from Hell now, too?”

“I didn’t –”

“Just because that no good, stupid, nosey idiot of a brother of yours says so?”

It was Dean’s turn to jump to his feet. “Hey, watch your mouth, babe, that’s my brother you’re talking about. And he was just trying to get my back –”

“By stabbing me in mine?”

“Mia –”

“How could you, Dean? How could you take his word over mine?” Mia wiped hurriedly at her cheeks with the back of her hand as tears began to well in her wide brown eyes and trickle down her face. “I thought – I thought you loved me!”

“I do –”

“But not as much as you love Sammy, huh?” She straightened, setting her trembling jaw until her full lips compressed into a thin line. “You care more about that damn brother of yours than you care about me!”

Dean recoiled, his own words thrown at Sam in ill-considered temper coming back to haunt him. “You’re jealous because you think I care more about her than I do about you…”

“We’ve – been through a lot together…” he stumbled over the words, trying to think of a way to deny Mia’s accusation that wouldn’t come off sounding like a bold-faced lie. “Of course I care about him – he’s my kid brother. I’ve been looking out for him most of my life!”

“Well maybe you ought to start looking out for yourself for a change!”

Dean frowned at her, like that was an alien concept.

“Look,” Mia said, taking a breath even as her hands balled into fists at her sides. “I get it, okay? I know you guys would go to Hell and back for each other. But whatever Sam might think, I never intentionally tried to get you hurt. Either of you. Why would I do that? You two cheeseheads saved my life! Took me in when no one else would give me the time of day. I just wanted to show you I was worth the effort, is all. And I know I messed up a couple of times. But I said I was sorry! I thought Sam accepted that?”

“Yeah, me too,” Dean said quietly, placing his hands gently on Mia’s shoulders. “Sam’s not trying to be difficult, trying to invade your privacy. It’s just the way we work, that’s all. I watch his back, he watches mine –”

“Why would you need your back watching, Dean?” Mia burst out, shrugging his hands away. “Or don’t you trust me either? Just because Sam says it, that automatically makes it true?”

“Mia –”

“Why’s he always the one you trust? Huh? Why’s he always the one you listen to? Can’t you see he’s stifling you? You’re the oldest, Dean, he should be in your shadow, not the other way around!”

“I’m not –” Dean began to protest, but Mia carried right on over the top of him.

“He’s so used to you doing whatever he wants whenever he wants it, he’s so used to being the sole focus in your life that he’ll never let you have anyone else, Dean! Can’t you see that? He’s using you! And you can’t see it! You can’t see he’s just a jealous, spoiled, manipulative brat –!”

“Don’t talk about my brother like that, Mia,” Dean warned her, his voice lowered as he took a step toward her before thinking better of it, almost afraid if he got any closer he might actually hit her. “I mean it! You don’t know anything about him!”

“I know he’s wrong!”

“No, you’re the one who’s wrong! About him and about me!”

“Sure, I’m wrong –”

“Just because we watch out for each other – just because we watch out for our family – doesn’t make us dysfunctional freaks!”

Mia nodded. “You know what? You’re right. You know what it makes you? It makes you sad, that’s what it makes you. Sad and pathetic.”

Dean paused, breathing hard. “What?”

“You ’n him. Sad, pathetic losers. So scared of anyone hurting you or leaving you –” Dean flinched involuntarily, “– that you just keep on running back to each other when the going gets tough. Too scared to leave. Too scared to be alone. That’s what happened when your dad ditched you, right Dean? First thing you did, you went running off to find Sam, your own little security blanket!”

Dean blanched. “How did you…?” He’d not told her any of that. He was sure he’d not told her any of that.

“And the second time he goes running off to California he only makes it as far as the bus station before he comes running back to big brother.” Mia shook her head in disgust. “You’re hopeless, the both of you.”

“Mia –”

She took a step toward him, eyes flashing. “Pointless.” Another step closer. “Useless.” And another. “Weak.”

Dean had backed up until he felt the bed hit the back of his legs, for once in his life absolutely at a loss for words. “Mia, what the hell –?” he finally managed, his voice sounding oddly strangled.

Mia shook her head. “Goddammit, what the hell was I doing wasting my time on you?” she said, her face a mask of what Dean could only interpret as disgust. “There has to have been an easier way that this!” She raked a hand through her hair roughly before suddenly looking back up at him. “You know what?” she continued. “I’ve had enough of this game, Dean. It’s not fun anymore.”

Dean blinked at her, something in the back of his head – something with Sammy’s voice – screaming at him, and his hand slid unconsciously to the small of his back, feeling for his .45. “Mia, what the hell are you talking about?” he demanded, sounding more than a little rattled no matter how hard he tried to keep his game face on. “What game?”

Mia was right in front of him now, so close he could feel her breath on his neck. “I should have known you’d be a big disappointment, Dean,” she murmured, her breath slowing as she ran one finger down the side of his face. “You and your brother both. Like father like sons. It’s genetic I guess. You Winchesters – all so self-absorbed. Broken. Worthless.”

Dean swallowed hard, fingers finding cool metal as Mia thrust her face close to his, whispering in his ear; warm breath, ice cold words.

“You think I loved you, Dean?” she breathed, running her fingers through the short hair at the nape of his neck. “Huh? You think I loved you? Well I’m sorry to disappoint, baby, but you’re nothing more than a broken toy and I don’t want to play with you anymore. You understand me? Dean?” Dean tried to pull away from her, but her fingers twisted in the back of his collar and held him fast. “Dean? You get it yet? I never loved you! And now I’m tired of you. You were just the appetizer, sugar. You understand me? Now I’m ready for the main course…”

Roadside,
Plano, TX

“Dad?”

Sam did his best not to sound too stunned as he pushed the talk button on his cellphone and spoke into the receiver.

“Hey, Sammy.” His dad’s voice cut through the ether loud and clear, and Sam felt such an inexplicable sense of relief he had to stop walking for fear his knees might buckle.

“Are you – are you okay?” he asked hesitantly, something about the tone of Dad’s voice, something about the way he could hear his slow even breathing, making him uneasy. “We’ve not heard from you in so long…”

John let that hang there for a while. “I know, son,” he said at length. “I been – busy.”

“Busy with what, Dad?” Sam couldn’t help himself, needing to know what was more important to John than keeping in touch with his kids.

John didn’t answer that, and if it hadn’t been for the continuous sound of his rhythmic breathing, Sam might have thought he’d hung up. “So how are you boys?” he asked at length, an odd inflection in his voice. He almost sounded…worried. “I know I’ve been out of it for a while but…I just wanted to check you guys were okay.”

Sam frowned. “Dad, is everything all right?”

John sighed wearily. “Mostly,” he said. “How about you? Is Dean with you? I’ve been calling his cell for twenty minutes now. I was starting to get a little worried.”

The days when Sam would have silently seethed that his father had been trying to call Dean for twenty minutes with no reply before it occurred to him to try calling Sam were long gone, so Sam merely shrugged. “Battery crapped out on him,” he explained. “Right in the middle of a hunt, too.”

Sam could almost hear John’s frown down the phone line. “Not like your brother to get sloppy like that.”

“Yeah, well,” Sam said, “that’s a whole other story, Dad.”

“I got time.”

Sam almost dropped the phone at that. “You – do?”

“I miss talking to you guys.”

That was the closest the Winchesters got to a group hug, and Sam’s mouth hung open for a second. “We – uh – miss you too, Dad.”

“Your brother there?”

Sam chewed on his lower lip for a second. “Uh –”

“Think I could talk to him, Sam?”

There was an underlying thread of need in his father’s voice that set even more alarm bells ringing in Sam’s head. “Dad, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Can I talk to Dean, just for a second?”

“He’s – uh – not – we’re not – he’s not here.”

Dad paused. “What time is it where you are?”

Sam glanced at his watch. “Uh – a little after one.”

“He out with a girl someplace?”

Sam considered that. “Yeah, there’s a girl involved I guess.”

Another pause. “Something you’re not telling me, Sammy?”

Sam sighed heavily. Even as a kid he’d never really confided in his dad, always preferring to spill his guts to Dean if something was bothering him. But right now, it was Dean that was bothering him and he really felt he needed to talk to someone about it. Anyone. Even Dad. And he had offered to listen after all….

“Dean and I,” he managed finally, shoving his hair back from his face and closing his eyes for a second. “We had a fight.”

John didn’t reply for a second. “You did?”

“Yeah.”

“Over a girl?”

Sam could hear a hint of amusement in his dad’s voice, and he felt all of twelve years old again. “It’s not what it sounds like.”

“No?” John said, the grin obvious in his voice. “What was that girl’s name? Candy? I seem to recall you putting bubblegum in her hair when she suggested Dean should take her to the movies instead of you…”

“I was eight, Dad.”

“Some things don’t change, son.”

You’re just jealous….

Sam shook his head. “This is – different,” he said slowly.

“Different how?” The concern was back in Dad’s voice, and Sam could imagine him instantly on the alert again, muscles tensed, phone pressed hard to his ear, worry lines creasing his forehead. He’d seen him like that a hundred times growing up – Dean calling to say he was in trouble or hurt; Pastor Jim calling with bad news; or worse, Bobby calling with possible intel about the thing that killed their mom. It was almost as if John could never again allow himself to relax completely after Mom died.

“This girl,” Sam began to explain. “We picked her up a few months ago when our friend Kyle called us for help. She’d been suffering with multiple possessions – had killed a bunch of people where she worked without even knowing she’d done it. Or so she said…”

“What do you mean, Sam?”

“I don’t know, Dad. There’s something about her. Something – something off. And I just…I can’t get Dean to see it. He’s kinda…well he’s kinda fallen head over heels if you know what I mean.”

“Dean? Our Dean?”

“I know. And it’s not – I mean there’s nothing I can put my finger on, just… Well she’s kinda put us in danger on a couple of hunts – hinky research that could have gotten us in big trouble – or – y’know – killed. Bad intel. Demons conveniently showing up so she can put herself in harm’s way to save Dean. Remember Joe Bearwalker…?”

“That was her?”

“That was the demon that was supposedly stalking her, yeah. This last hunt? She swears up and down the phone message she gave me from Dean got garbled, but I swear, Dad, she meant to trap me alone in that basement with a demon…”

“She what?”

“I was okay – I exorcised the thing – but – but Dean just won’t listen to me. Won’t entertain the possibility that maybe she’s not all she seems. He just – he just trusts her, Dad, and that’s not like Dean, right? To just trust someone with – with my life.”

John was silent for a couple of seconds. “Son, this is important,” he said, suddenly sounding a whole lot more interested than he had when he thought his boys were just arguing over some random girl. “When did you run into this girl again?”

“Uh…” Sam considered that. “Not long after – after you ditched us back at Bobby’s. Couple months maybe?”

John hesitated for the longest time, and Sam could almost hear the tension across the phone line. “What did you say she was called?”

“I didn’t,” Sam replied, a little taken aback that his dad would be so interested. “But it’s Mia. Mia Cameron.”

“And she’s how old?”

“Twenty-three,” Sam said. “But I – I did a little checking around and up until six months ago she didn’t seem to exist.”

“Meaning…?”

“No record of her. Anywhere.”

“And where’s she supposed to be from?”

“Oklahoma. Parents died in a car wreck when she was a baby. Says she grew up in foster care, but if that’s true, CPS don’t have a record of it. She’s kind of a drifter – a lost soul. Y’know, no real home to speak of. I think – I think that’s maybe why Dean connected with her, fell for her so hard.”

“Describe her for me.”

Sam’s brow crumpled into a confused frown. “Describe…?”

“What does she look like, Sam?”

“Yeah, I got that –”

“And?”

John was clearly losing his patience and Sam had absolutely no idea why. “Well, she’s maybe five-five. Slim. Dark brown hair. Brown eyes. Uh – kinda hot. Y’know, obviously, because Dean –”

“Any distinguishing marks?”

“Any…? Dad, you been away to cop school all this time or something?”

“Marks, Sam,” John barked shortly.

“What, like tattoos?”

“Yeah. Exactly like tattoos.”

“Well yeah. On her shoulder. Not sure if it’s a tattoo or a birthmark. Kinda looks like a bird. Dean thought he recognized it but –”

“Where are you, Sam?” John demanded suddenly, cutting his youngest off mid-sentence and sounding closer to freaked than Sam could ever remember hearing him.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

“Just tell me where you are, Sammy!”

“Dad –”

“Right now, Sam!”

Southfork Motel,
Plano, TX

“You…what?” Dean blinked hard, as if somehow that would rewind the last few minutes and erase the things Mia had just said. “You never…?” He pulled away from her, shrugging her hands off him and sidestepping the bed.

“Loved you?” She followed his retreat, hands on hips, a swagger to her walk that Dean didn’t remember seeing before. “Yeah, that’s what I said, baby.”

“But – you…I…” “Lost for words” wasn’t usually a phrase anyone would ever associate with Dean. But this? This was unreal. It couldn’t be happening. And he couldn’t think, couldn’t feel, couldn’t do anything but stare at Mia with a look on his face that was part shock, part disbelief and part utter devastation.

“Maybe you should have listened to that whiny little brother of yours, Dean.”

Sam. Sam had been right. Sam had been right and Dean hadn’t listened to him. Dean hadn’t listened to him because – because he was so damn sure he was in love. With Mia. With this girl who was looking at him now like he was something she found stuck to her shoe. God, what an idiot he’d been…

He took another step backward, blood pounding in his ears and spots dancing before his eyes as he tried to remember how to breathe.

“Poor, stupid Dean. So in love you didn’t even realize you were just a means to an end,” Mia drawled, continuing to move toward him like a panther stalking its prey, a look of completely insincere sympathy twisting her features until she was almost unrecognizable to him. “Are you really that starved of affection? So desperate for someone to love you?” She laughed coldly. “Pathetic really. Needy. But then you’ve always been needy, haven’t you, Dean? Dad’s approval. Sam’s love. Can’t live without either one. Must o’ nearly killed you when they ditched you. Funny, maybe I’m not the only one who’s been using you.”

Dean straightened a little. “What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded. “They never used me! Hell, you don’t even know them! You don’t even know me!”

“And you think you know me so well?”

Dean continued to back away from her, numb fingers still groping for the .45 at his back while his mind groped for one of his usual snarky comebacks but came up unaccountably empty.

“What’s the matter, honey? Cat got your tongue? Or are you just too damn dumb to work it out for yourself without that little brother of yours to help you? Not much goin’ on in that pretty little head of yours, is there Dean? Still, I guess we can’t all have beauty and brains.”

Dean continued to stare mutely at her, his heart feeling like someone had gone to work on it with a chainsaw while his brain appeared to have seized up from lack of oxygen.

“Daddy’s little soldier,” Mia added, smiling icily as she continued to advance on him.

“You – you don’t know anything about my dad!” Dean repeated, fingers finally closing on cold steel.

“Don’t be too sure about that, darlin’,” Mia assured him with a twisted grimace. “I know a lot more about your family than you think. And I gotta say, the way you two sad sacks were raised? Your daddy’d be pretty disappointed in you right now. I mean, raised as warriors? Gimme a break! You couldn’t spot a demon if it was sat on top of you!” She grinned lasciviously, licking her lips as she looked up at him through lowered lashes. “And hey, that was probably the most fun part of this whole gig.”

Dean blinked. “So – so you’re a demon?” he stammered, finally recovering the power of speech just as instinct kicked in and he managed to whip the .45 out from behind his back and aim it squarely at Mia’s forehead.

“It’s a little more complicated than that.” Mia didn’t even have to move, a flick of her eyes all that was required to rip the Colt from Dean’s fingers and bring it arcing toward her, catching it deftly in one hand and smiling at him slowly.

“Sonofa –” But Dean never got to finish the sentence as he was picked up bodily and slammed against the wall behind him as if he was nothing more than a rag doll, eyes widening as he tried to pull away from the plasterboard only to be held in place by the all-too-familiar sensation of invisible hands pushing against his chest and limbs.

“Oh Dean,” Mia sighed dramatically, sashaying toward him as she caressed the gun now held between slender fingers. “I guess Daddy’s little soldier isn’t really up to that much, is he?”

She stopped with only an inch between them, and he could feel her warm breath against his cheek as she moved her mouth close to his ear. “But then, you were never really good for much of anything, were you Dean?” She smirked, the edge of her tongue caressing his ear. “Besides the obvious, of course…”

Dean gritted his teeth and tried to hang on to what little composure he had left as Mia ran long fingernails through the short hair at the back of his neck and tilted his face down toward hers, red lips brushing lightly against his as she breathed seductively against his mouth.

“You know, there were some perks to making you think you loved me,” she murmured.

“Oh yeah?” Dean ground out, trying to pull away from her.

Mia sighed. “Uh-huh,” she confirmed. “You sure taste good. In fact, I think you’re gonna be real popular with my little demon friends when they come to feast on your flesh.”

Dean’s jaw tightened visibly. “What the hell do you want, bitch?” he growled, trying not to flinch as Mia shoved his own .45 beneath his chin, forcing his head back with a dull snap before slowly running the barrel of the weapon along his jaw line and pressing it into his neck just below his left ear.

She rested her free hand against his chest, leaning into him and turning her eyes upwards as if she meant to kiss him, a trickle of oily blackness suddenly oozing across her dark brown irises before disappearing as she blinked up at him lazily.

Every part of him froze, paralyzed by the sudden crushing memory of staring helplessly at his own reflection as a similar demonic blackness slid across the surface of his eyes.

He shuddered, and Mia leaned in closer, breathing softly against his ear as her fingers slid once more into his hair. “Tell me where your daddy is, Dean…”

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The Winchester Chronicles