AN: Why hello there, I'm sure you're asking yourself, is this what I think it is? The answer is, yes, this is a multi chapter Deanlena fic, amazing. This is a birthday present for a dear and lovely friend of mine, Belle. Love, I hope you like this, because I've worked my ass off on it;) basic premises: Elena in season one of Supernatural. So obviously it takes place during season one of Supernatural, and less obviously, it takes place two years after the season three finale of TVD, ignoring all events after that. There will be a chapter per episode, with three added that are specifically Elena-centric, because shockingly, she does have her own storyline. Two of her chapters will be flashback chapters that will explain how exactly Elena ended up with the Winchesters. The first one will be chapter two and the next one will be at just about the midpoint of the story.

Obviously, a lot of the dialogue is lifted directly from the show, as this is a direct rewrite of season one, and hopefully my additions will blend well. I hope you enjoy, I'm very excited, and very nervous about this. Without further ado, we shall begin our story.

Addendum

(n.)

A thing to be added; an addition.

Chapter One

Pilot

aka

What I Can't Carry, Bury

Palo Alto/Jericho, California: October-November 2017

"Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors," Sam says, following his brother out into the night. The impala is parked right out front, and shockingly, there's a girl perched on the back hood. Sam stops.

"Uh, hi?" he says uncertainly, all previous arguments momentarily forgotten.

She smiles and lifts a hand to wave. She's roughly the same age as Sam, maybe a year or two younger, and is very pretty with long dark hair and sparkling brown eyes.

"Hey," she replies, shooting Dean an amused look. "Did you forget to mention me?" she teases. Dean rolls his eyes, completely unperturbed by her presence.

"I didn't really have an opening," he shoots back dryly. "Get off my car," he adds.

The girl raises her hands in surrender and slips off the car, landing on her feet. She turns to Sam.

"Hi, I'm Elena," she says, holding out her hand. He takes it.

"Sam," he replies, shaking her hand. She nods.

"I know," she replies simply, slipping her hand out of his and tucking it into the back pocket of her jeans.

"So are you two," he gestures between her and Dean, and Elena laughs.

"You laugh every time someone asks us that," Dean accuses, looking slightly grumpy. Elena just grins at him.

"That's because the idea of you with a girlfriend is hilarious," she retorts.

Dean opens his mouth, an offended look on his face, but Elena doesn't give him a chance to continue their playful argument.

"Your dad was friends with my, my father," she stumbles over the last couple of words, but continues. "He took me in after my father died."

Sam frowns.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he mumbles, wondering why his dad would do that. He isn't exactly the paternal type. She shrugs a little like loss is something she's used to.

"I went to pick Elena up from the airport and found out Dad hadn't called her the entire time she was gone," Dean speaks, breaking the awkward silence.

"I was visiting my brother at college," she adds.

"Dad never goes that long without checking up on her, so that's how I figured something was wrong," Dean continues.

Elena nods in agreement.

"It is strange, but I wasn't too worried until Dean said he hadn't heard from him either," Elena says.

"He's in trouble, and I need your help, Sammy," Dean says. "I can't do this without you."

Sam shakes his head, glancing at Elena.

"Yes you can," Sam contradicts. Dean looks away, and shrugs a little.

"Yeah, well I don't want to," Dean replies simply.

Sam sighs, reluctance weighing down his bones. Still, he opens his mouth, and asks the one question he's been trying so hard to force down since Dean had announced that their father had gone M.I.A. on a hunting trip.

"What was he hunting?"

Dean turns to open the trunk, the news articles all prepped and ready to go. Elena hangs back, already privy to the information, and she doesn't feel that it's necessary to include herself in the explanation.

"So when Dad left, why didn't you go with him?" Sam asks, sparing a glance for Elena, wondering how involved she is in the supernatural world.

"I was working my own thing, down in New Orleans," Dean explains.

Sam gives him a skeptical look.

"Dad lets you hunt alone?" Sam asks, his tone almost condescending.

Elena snorts. Dean shoots her a glare before he responds.

"Dude, I'm twenty-six," he says indignantly.

Elena raises an eyebrow, and Dean quickly amends his statement. "I'm not usually alone," he adds.

Sam blinks in surprise at the implications. He looks at Elena.

"You hunt with him?" he questions.

"Sometimes," she replies. "And sometimes I hunt with your dad instead."

Sam stares at her, unsure of how to reply. She's unknowingly just answered his unasked question, not only does she know about the supernatural—which he already assumed—but she's also a hunter. He wonders how she got involved in all of it.

Dean speaks up, cutting off Sam's musings.

"Anyway, I've usually got back-up, but someone," he looks pointedly at Elena who raises an eyebrow saucily in response, "just had to go visit her brother at college, so I was solo on this one," he finishes.

Elena rolls her eyes, like they've had this argument before.

"It's his first year at college, forgive me if I felt the need to check on my brother and make sure he's settling in," she shot back.

Dean gives her a disbelieving look.

"Admit it, you just don't like New Orleans, you always avoid jobs in New Orleans," he accuses.

Elena shakes her head.

"No I don't," she says flatly. "Aren't you supposed to be explaining John's case to your brother?" she reminds him.

He gives her a look, like the conversation isn't over, but turns back to the folder to show Sam.

Sam, feeling bemused by their bickering, tries to focus on what Dean is telling him. He can't help but wonder if maybe there's more going on between them. Elena had flat out laughed at the idea of them dating, but after only five minutes, Sam can tell there's something there.

"Maybe he was kidnapped?" Sam suggests dryly, referring to the man who'd disappeared, focusing again on the case.

Dean shakes his head and shows him all the other victims. Then Dean brings out his ace in the hole, the voicemail from their dad.

In the voicemail, their father tells Dean he needs him to pick Elena up from the airport because he can't do it, then he rambles cryptically about something happening, ending the voicemail with a warning.

Sam's more focused on the EMF, so he doesn't quite get the significance of the first part until Elena tells him.

"He always picks me up from the airport," she says, and Sam looks at her. "Really, he'd prefer if I didn't go at all, but I have to see my brother."

Dean nods his head. "She's been with us for two years and he's always the one to take her to the airport and the one to pick her up when she gets back," he agrees. "It was weird that he asked me to do it instead, but then Elena said she hadn't heard from him either, and that's how I knew something had to be wrong."

Sam frowns and wonders if there's any delicate way to ask this.

"Why would he be so concerned about you all the time?" he asks. "I mean, needing to know where you are and keeping in contact all the time. That's kind of extreme, even for him," he elaborates.

Dean gets this strange look on his face. Elena looks away from them, and when she speaks, she's speaking to the empty street.

"There are a lot of reasons, believe me, we don't have time to get into them," she finally says. She turns back to look at Dean. "You should show him the EMF recording," she tells him.

Dean still has that stiff look on his face, but he nods. Very abruptly, Sam realizes his question has been swept under the rug with no real explanation.

"I can neeever go home."

The woman's voice is eerie and it sends chills down Sam's spine in a way that's all too familiar. Like riding a bike, Sam thinks ironically. Dean closes the trunk, turning to look at him.

"Been almost two years, never bothered you, never asked you for a thing," Dean says.

Two years, Sam glances at Elena, that's how long she's been with his father and his brother. Had his father already taken her in the last time he'd talked to his brother?

Dean's looking at him expectantly, and Sam finds that his resolve is non-existent at this point.

"All right, I'll go," he agrees, glancing over at the silent Elena. Her face is unreadable. He looks back at his brother, who looks almost relieved. "I'll help you find him, but I have to get back first thing Monday, just wait here." Sam starts back to his apartment, a list of necessary supplies already entering his head.

Dean gives him a bemused look.

"What's first thing Monday?" he asks.

Sam stops and turns back to look at him, hefting himself to his full height, his chin tilted upward with pride.

"I have an interview," he tells him.

"What a job interview? Skip it," Dean dismisses easily. Elena thumps him in the back of the head and he gives her a nasty look, which she returns with one of her own.

Sam turns to face him fully.

"It's a law school interview," he contradicts. "It's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?" Dean echoes, an unimpressed look on his face.

"So do we have a deal or not," he asks, ignoring his brother's tone.

Elena cuts in before his brother can make an asinine remark.

"We'll have you back in time," she says, and Sam gives her an appreciative nod, but keeps his eyes on his brother. Dean rolls his eyes but nods in agreement.

Satisfied, Sam turns and heads back inside to get his things and make his excuses for Jess.

"Do you always have to be such an ass?" he hears Elena ask Dean, but the door closes behind him before he can hear his reply.

While he packs, he wonders if he should say something about Elena to Jess, but he can't think of anything to say that doesn't sound completely insane.

My brother showed up out of the blue needing my help to find our dad and he has a strange girl with him, and even though they both swear there's nothing going on between them, I'm not sure if I believe them.

Right, because that would sound completely reasonable. So instead he just smiles and reassures her that he'll be back in time for his interview. When she kisses him goodbye he tries not think about those nightmares he's been having about her and ignores the foreboding feeling in his gut.

When he gets outside, Dean's already behind the wheel and Elena's curled up in the backseat, half asleep. Feeling slightly unsure, he steels himself before he throws his bag into the trunk and slips into the front seat.

They're at a dirty old gas station, and Sam's trying to find something to listen to that doesn't remind him of a bad action movie when Dean comes out offering him junk food for breakfast.

"No thanks," Sam says, shaking his head. Dean shrugs and pulls the gas pump out of the car. Sam can't help but needle Dean about their credit card scams while Elena's still in the store, getting her own breakfast. When Elena comes out of the store a few minutes later, she has two muffins and a cup of coffee, a far more traditional breakfast.

"Lemon poppy seed or blueberry?" she offers Sam, and he takes the blueberry one gratefully. "Good choice." She nods approvingly as she slips back into the backseat. She'd flat out refused when Sam offered to switch with her, pointing out that his legs are much longer than hers.

Sam turns his attention back to his brother.

"I swear man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection," Sam complains.

Elena snorts from the backseat, and Dean tosses her a look.

"Why?" Dean questions, looking genuinely baffled. Elena stifles a giggle, which earns her another look.

"Well for one, they're cassette tapes," Sam starts. "And two, Black Sabbath? Motörhead? Metallica? It's the greatest hits of mullet rock," Sam complains.

Elena makes a noise of agreement, which earns her a third look, but she ignores it.

"House rules, Sammy, driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole," Dean says charmingly.

Elena leans forward, resting her chin on the back of Dean's seat, looking at him.

"Don't you mean pie-hole?" Elena asks innocently, unable to keep her mouth shut any longer. Sam snorts Dean looks back at her, and she gives him a completely innocuous look.

"Are you sassing me, Gilbert?" Dean asks, the serious look on his face ruined by the way his mouth twitches like he wants to smile at her. Sam deduces that Gilbert must be her last name.

She gives him an affronted look, all innocent doe eyes and fluttering lashes.

"No of course not," she says, sounding scandalized, "I wouldn't do anything of the sort," she assures him, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Sam glances between them, amused.

"You're lucky you're pretty," he tells her seriously.

"Right back atcha," she retorts instantly.

Before Dean can reply, Sam cuts in.

"Are you guys always like this?" he asks, amused.

"No," Dean says. "Usually we're much worse."

Elena nods in agreement. "We're on our best behavior because we have company," she adds.

"Dean has good behavior?" Sam asks and Elena laughs.

"Watch it, Sammy," Dean says, pushing in a cassette tape.

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old, it's Sam, okay?" Sam insists, the music starting.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you, the music's too loud," Dean replies, shooting him a grin. Elena gives Sam a sympathetic look as she settles back into her seat, putting on her seatbelt.

Eventually Sam gets Dean to turn the music down. He makes calls to the local morgue and hospital while Elena and Dean banter like it's their second nature and Sam wonders if they realize what it seems like to an outsider.

"Check it out," Dean says.

Elena and Sam look ahead of them to see a familiar sight—police cars and crime scene tape all converging around a bridge. Dean pulls over to the side of the road.

"Well that was fast," Elena murmurs from the backseat and Sam snorts in agreement.

Dean leans over Sam to get into the glove compartment and pulls out a couple of (fake) federal badges. He grins and hands one over to Sam. He turns briefly to Elena.

"Stay in the car," he tells her, and she rolls her eyes but nods her head anyway.

Sam gives Dean a questioning look. "Why does she have to stay in the car?" he asks.

"We're less memorable without her," he explains. Sam glances back at Elena who shrugs. "It's the legs," Dean adds, and Elena thumps him in the back of the head. He ducks forward, but grins and continues anyway. "And the hair, and the face, and the—"

"I get the point," Sam cuts him off. "She stays in the car, okay."

Dean and Sam get out of the car to approach the situation ahead of them, meanwhile Elena sprawls out across the backseat, her phone in her hand.

"Do you usually leave her out of this part?" Sam asks. Dean shrugs.

"Sometimes. I like to think of it as saving her for the right moment," he says. Sam raises a curious eyebrow, so Dean continues.

"You don't play your aces right up front, you wait for the right moment," Dean explains.

Sam's not exactly sure what he's supposed to say to that, but luckily they've come upon the crime scene, so he's saved from having to reply.

"You fellas had another just like this last month didn't you?" Dean says to the two officers, easily getting into character.

It takes Sam a little longer, but when he opens his mouth to start asking questions, it comes easier than he thought it would. As he listens, he takes note of all the abnormalities, and tucks away small bits of information that wouldn't seem that important to other people—like the girlfriend putting up missing posters downtown.

Dean opens his mouth and the sarcasm is thick enough that Sam honestly wonders how he ever works cases alone. Sam steps on his foot before the words are even completely out of his mouth.

"Thank you for your time, gentlemen," Sam says, leading Dean away from the crime scene before he can say anything else.

When Dean sees that no one is watching him, he thumps Sam in the back of the head with all of Elena's finesse.

"Ow, what was that for?" Sam hisses.

"Why did you have to step on my foot?" Dean counters.

"Why do you have to talk to police like that?" Sam shoots back.

Dean gives him an incredulous look and steps in front of him to stop him.

"Come on," he says with disbelief. "They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone in this," he points out. "I mean if we're gonna find Dad, we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves."

Sam clears his throat, moving his chin slightly to indicate that someone was behind them. Dean turns to see another officer with two men in suits.

"Can I help you boys?" the officer asks.

"No sir, we were just leaving," Dean says. "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully," Dean quips; leading Sam away quickly.

Back in the car, Elena is still sprawled across the backseat, happily texting away on her phone.

"So what'd I miss?" she asks dryly.

"The whole carnival," Dean shoots back.

"Darn, and I could really go for funnel cake too," she deadpans, and Dean snorts. As he drives away, she sits up, leaning forward.

"Seriously though, what's up?" she asks.

So while they drive into town to find the victim's girlfriend, Dean gives Elena a brief rundown of events on the bridge, with Sam adding in details every once in a while.

In town, it doesn't take them long to find the girlfriend, she's with her friend and a giant stack of Missing posters.

"I bet you that's her," Sam says and Dean nods, they move to head over towards the girl as her friend wanders off, but Elena stops them.

"No offense, but there are times when I am less memorable than either one of you," she tells them. "And this is definitely one of those times."

Dean and Sam stare at her blankly. She sighs and elaborates.

"Two strange men coming up to a girl on the street and interrogating her about her missing boyfriend? That's pretty memorable," she says. Sam starts to see where she's going with this. "But," she continues. "A girl casually running into another girl and expressing her concern for said missing boyfriend, maybe catching up on some of the local gossip? That kind of thing happens every day."

With that, Elena turns, flashing them a smile over her shoulder while she casually walks towards the girlfriend, Amy. She glances at the missing poster, and then says something to the girl. The girl replies, and in no time the two of them are chatting like old friends.

"See Sammy, right moments," Dean says, clapping Sam on the shoulder, grinning proudly at Elena.

Amy looks comfortable with Elena, and the sympathetic, understanding look on Elena's face is perfectly sincere in a way that makes even Sam kinda want to spill his guts to her.

"She's good at this," Sam observes, a touch of awe in his tone.

"People like Elena," Dean replies simply.

"I can see that," Sam says, still watching the two girls.

After a couple of minutes, Elena gently touches Amy's elbow and says something, and then surprisingly, Amy throws her arms around Elena and hugs her tightly. Elena hugs her back and then waves as Amy and her friend walk away.

Sam and Dean make there way over to Elena. Elena turns back to look at Dean, who's standing right behind her. She grins up at him and he smiles back at her.

"So what'd you learn?" he asks her.

She points to a diner across the street.

"I'll tell you once we've ordered," she says and Dean laughs.

He hooks an arm around her neck and steers her across the street towards the diner, Sam trailing after them.

"It was the funnel cake thing, wasn't it?" he asks and she nods.

"I've been hungry ever since," she confesses, and Dean laughs.

Once they're seated, Sam gets his first up close look at how strangers interact with Elena, and it's fascinating. She instantly has the waitress smiling and chatting about her day like they've been friends for years and Elena looks fully invested in the conversation, her face lighting up every time she smiles at the waitress. Elena is more than just personable, she's magnetic, everyone wants to know her, and when given the opportunity, they bask in her attention like she is the sun.

The waitress leans down to tell Elena her favorite dishes on the menu like it's a secret. It's like Dean and Sam aren't even there—normally Dean would be charming the pants off the waitress and Sam would be rolling his eyes like the straight man he was born to be, but this waitress seems to think Elena is the only one at the table. She remembers to take their orders though—barely.

When she's gone, Elena turns to them and leans forward to fill them in on what she and Amy had talked about.

"A hitchhiking ghost who offs the people who give her a ride? That's original," Dean says dryly once Elena is finished. Elena rolls her eyes.

"Well that's the story Amy told me," she replies, shrugging her shoulders.

"We should find a library after this, do some research," Sam suggests. Dean nods reluctantly.

"That's a great idea," Elena agrees, smiling at him. Sam can see why everyone likes her, her smiles are infectious and he can't help but smile back at her.

After they're done with their food, they head off to find the local library and search for information on the hitchhiking ghost.

They hit the jackpot when Sam theorizes that it was a suicide—not a murder. Constance Welch jumped off the bridge they'd just been at earlier that day after her children drowned in the bathtub.

While they wait for it to get dark outside, Sam continues to research, Elena and Dean bantering in the background and occasionally aiding Sam in his search.

When they reach the bridge it's dark out, and Elena hesitates before she steps onto the bridge.

"I don't really do creepy bridges," she tells Dean when he asks what's wrong.

"You scared?" Dean asks, smirking. She glares at him.

"Yes," she replies, but she follows him onto the bridge anyway.

They end up at the side of the bridge, looking down over at the water, and Elena has a vaguely nauseous look on her face.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive," Dean says, seemingly unaware of Elena's distress. Sam however, has noticed and is about to ask what's wrong when Dean catches his eye and shakes his head, indicating that he shouldn't ask. Figuring that Dean knows Elena better than him, Sam shuts his mouth.

"So you think Dad would've been here?" Sam asks instead. Elena backs away from the edge, putting space between herself and the side of the bridge and the two brothers.

"Well he's chasing the same story, and we're chasing him," Dean replies logically, stepping away from the edge. He heads over to Elena, who looks calm and collected again, he touches his hand briefly to her elbow as if asking a question and she nods in response. Sam marvels at their silent communication for a moment before pressing on.

"Okay, so now what?" he asks.

Dean is looking around the bridge, so his attention is not on Sam when he answers.

"Now we keep digging 'til we find him, it might take a while," he replies.

"Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by Mon—"

"By Monday," Dean cuts him off, turning around to look at him. "Right, the interview," he says, his voice bordering on contempt. "I forgot," Dean admits. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?" Dean asks, continuing before Sam can reply. "You think you're just gonna become some lawyer? Marry your girl?" Dean says, his voice full of derision.

Sam can see he's itching for a fight, and Dean doesn't seem to care that Elena is standing right there and can hear everything he's saying, so he decides to do the same.

"Maybe, why not?" Sam replies defensively.

"Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean does she know about the things you've done?" Dean asks straightforwardly.

Sam can feel his hackles rising, and he glances over at Elena who has been silent for a long time. She's still looking at Dean, her face soft with understanding and Sam wonders what she knows that he doesn't.

He looks back at his brother, and replies.

"No and she's not ever going to know," he insists, moving closer, losing his cool.

"Well that's healthy," Dean replies sarcastically. "You can pretend all you want, Sammy," Dean continues. "But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are," he finishes, turning around to walk away.

But Sam is ready for a fight, so he follows after him.

"And who's that?" he asks.

Dean sweeps out his hands, gesturing to himself and the still silent Elena.

"One of us," he says. Sam still can't quite relate the word hunter to the sweet, understanding girl he's only known for a day, but his hackles rise at the comparison between himself and his brother.

"No," he denies forcefully. "I'm not like you, this is not going to be my life," Sam insists.

"You have a responsibility," Dean argues, spitting out the words like he's been holding them back since he broke into Sam's apartment yesterday and attacked him.

"To dad and his crusade?" Sam counters, and he can see the defensive set of Dean's mouth, always ready to defend their father's choices. Ignoring him, Sam barrels on. "If it weren't for pictures, I wouldn't even know what mom looks like," he admits.

While they've stopped walking, Elena has wandered in the option direction, trying to give them space to have their moment.

"And what difference would it make?" Sam continues. "Even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone, and she isn't coming back."

His declaration is too much for Dean, and Sam soon finds himself shoved back and pressed up against the bridge's support beam. Elena moves forward, intervening for the first time.

"Dean," she says, her voice full of gentle reproach. Dean doesn't look over at Elena, never breaking eye contact with his brother.

Finally, he speaks. "Don't talk about her like that," he reproaches, his voice surprisingly soft.

He lets go, moving back away from Sam, and Elena moves closer to Dean. He turns, like he's going to say something to her, but Elena's attention is elsewhere, so Dean follows her line of sight.

Noticing their sudden rigid postures, and the way they are both fixated on something further down the bridge, Sam moves closer to them and follows their line of vision. A cold chill slips down his collar to trace a shiver down his spine.

A figure in white stands up on the railing at the side of the bridge, her hair loose and wild around her, her clothes torn. She turns back to look at them, her eyes catching Elena's, and the two girls—one dead, one alive—do not look away from each other for the longest moment. When at last Constance breaks their eye contact, she turns to fall face forward into the river, setting them all running toward her, despite knowing they're decades too late to save her.

All three of them lean over the edge, searching for her.

"Where'd she go?" Sam asks.

"I don't know," Dean replies.

Suddenly they hear the familiar sound of the impala starting. Dean turns almost instinctively, unsure if what he is hearing is real. Elena and Sam follow him. Once they all see the car on, they slowly start to back away.

"What the fuck?" Dean says, summing up everyone's feelings perfectly.

"Who's driving your car?" Sam asks stupidly.

Dean pulls the keys out of his coat pocket in response.

Suddenly the impala starts driving towards them. Sam and Dean turn to run, Dean grabbing Elena's hand to drag her along with them.

"Go, go, go," Dean orders, his hand still clasped tightly with Elena's. The impala is quickly gaining on them, and when Elena veers towards the railing, the other two seem to understand her thought process and vault over after her.

While Elena had neatly flipped herself over the railing and is still holding onto it, toes balanced on the tiny ledge hanging out, and Sam had managed to grab ahold of a bar on his way down, Dean hadn't been quite as lucky.

Sam pulls himself up beside Elena.

"You okay?" he asks her and she nods.

"Yeah, you?" she replies, slightly breathless. He nods.

"Yeah," he echoes. Together they look over the edge to where Dean is dragging himself out of the river.

"Dean!" Sam calls down to him. "Hey, are you all right?"

Lying on his back, covered in mud, Dean makes the OK sign with his hand.

"I'm super," he replies sarcastically, and Elena starts to giggle. Set off by her laughter, Sam starts to chuckle, until the two of them are clutching the railing—and each other—for dear life while they cackle at the ridiculous sight of Dean covered in mud.

"SHUT UP," Dean shouts, but they just keep laughing, far too gone to stop now.

While Dean treks his way back up to them, Sam helps Elena back over the railing, the two of them still giggling occasionally.

By the time Dean is back on the bridge with them, they've managed to contain their mirth to nothing but the occasional grin.

Dean looks over his baby, and Sam clears his throat, trying to be nice.

"Car all right?" Sam asks, a laugh threatening in his voice.

"Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems all right now," Dean replies. Elena has her giggling much more under control than Sam, so when she speaks, there is no trace of laughter in her voice.

"That's good," she says. Dean looks over at her, and she gives him her best Bambi look, he shakes his head at her.

"That Constance chick, what a BITCH," Dean declares, glaring out into the night.

"Well she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure," Sam says grimly.

Together the two brothers sit on the car, after a moment Sam turns to Dean.

"You smell like a toilet," he informs him, and that sets Elena off again. She laughs so hard she has to sit on the ground, and Sam can't help but laugh a little bit too. Even Dean chuckles a little—mostly because Elena's laugh is infectious, but he still laughs.

After carefully covering the driver's seat in an ancient towel, they set off to find a motel.

Inside Dean slaps down his credit card.

"One room please," he says.

The old man at the desk picks up the card, glancing at the name and then up at the man covered in mud in front of him.

"You guys having a reunion or something?" he asks dryly.

Dean and Sam exchange a look, and Elena steps away from her place by the door, glancing over at Dean.

"What do you mean?" Sam asks.

"That other guy, Burt Aframian, he came in and bought out a room for the whole month," he tells his three eager listeners.

After the man hands over the keys to their room—two queen beds, and Sam doesn't even want to know how sleeping arrangements will work—the three of them head in the direction of 'Burt Aframian's' room.

Dean and Elena stand look out while Sam carefully works the lock over—lock picking another skill that comes back to Sam as naturally as riding a bike. When the lock clicks open, Sam steps inside the room. Once glance around has him grabbing Dean by his collar and dragging him in. Dean grabs Elena's hand just in time to drag her along with him, and Sam shuts the door behind her.

The three of them stare at the sight before them, and it takes Dean and Elena a moment to notice they are still holding hands. Elena lets go first.

The room is papered with photos, newspaper clippings, and pages upon pages of text. There's a salt circle on the floor and an old, half-eaten hamburger by the lamp.

"I don't think he's been here for a couple days at least," Dean says, speaking at last. Sam examines the salt circle, while Elena's attention is already on the papers pinned to the walls.

Sam points out all the safety precautions their father had set up.

"He was worried, trying to keep something from coming in," he theorizes.

Dean has joined Elena in her examination of the walls. They stand on opposite ends of the room, Sam heading over to Dean.

"What do you got here?" Sam asks.

"Centennial Highway victims," Dean replies. "I don't get it," he continues. "I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities," Dean rambles, and Sam goes across to where Elena is standing to see what's on the wall in front of her.

"There's always a connection, right?" What do these guys have in common?"

Sam looks towards the third wall, following the massive amounts of research his father had painstakingly gone through. Finally he sees the clue that makes everything make sense. In black marker: woman in white.

"Dad figured it out," Sam says, admiration clear on his face. Elena has slipped up behind him, understanding dawning on her face. Dean turns to look at them.

"What do you mean?" Dean asks.

"He found the same article we did," Sam explains, gesturing to it.

"Constance Welch, she's a woman in white," Elena concludes.

Dean raises his eyebrow, glancing back at the wall of victims.

"You sly dogs," he accuses knowingly. "All right, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, Dad would've found the corpse and destroyed it," he continues, all business.

"She might have another weakness," Sam suggests.

Dean shakes his head.

"No, Dad would want to make sure. He'd dig her up," Dean insists. "Does it say where she's buried?" he questions, coming over to them.

"No, not that I can tell," Sam says.

Elena shakes her head.

"I haven't found anything," she says.

"If I were Dad, I'd go ask her husband, if he's still alive," Sam advises. Elena nods in agreement.

"All right, why don't you see if you can find an address?" Dean suggests. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up," he continues, heading towards the bathroom, eager to get the dried mud off of him.

Elena has already begun to look through the papers scattered around the room, her movements precise and well practiced.

"Hey Dean?" Sam calls after him. Dean turns back to look at his brother. "What I said earlier about Mom and Dad, I'm sorry," Sam apologizes.

Dean holds up a hand to cuts him off.

"No chick flick moments," Dean insists. "If you want a hug, ask Elena," he says.

"Elena looks up from the stack of papers she'd been sorting through and gives him a withering stare, and Dean responds with a blinding grin.

Sam snorts.

"All right, jerk."

"Bitch."

Elena looks back down at her papers, shaking her head and smiling fondly at their antics. Dean heads towards the bathroom to get cleaned up.

Sam laughs a little, glancing over at Elena. He can see the curve of her smile as she looks through the papers. After a moment, her phone rings and she picks it up.

"Hey Jer," she answers, standing up to slip out the door.

Sam watches her go, wondering if 'Jer' is her littler brother she'd been visiting in college. It was such a normal thing to do—visit your little brother at college—but she obviously wasn't a normal girl.

Dean had all but called her a hunter during their argument the night before, and yet Sam couldn't quite see it yet. She'd handled the ghost about as well as they had, and she's obviously great with people, but to Sam she still seems like a nice young girl who should still be in college herself. He can't help but wonder what kind of horrors had brought her into this world.

Why did his father take her in?

In his musings, Sam had been wandering around the room, and he catches glimpse of an old photo of their father and Sam and Dean as kids, Sam can't help but smile a little bit at the memory.

While Elena's outside still on the phone, Sam decides to check his messages, seeing that he has one from Jessica, he listens to it. Feeling slightly guilty, be barely pays attention as Elena slips into the room and Dean heads out to find some food.

Elena also declines Dean's invitation for food; already back to her task of finding Joseph Welch's address.

Outside, there is a sheriff's vehicle, and Dean turns quickly, already dialing Elena's number.

"Yeah?" she answers.

"Gilbert, Five-O, you guys need to take off," he orders. Elena straightens, standing quickly to look over at Sam, who's attention is now solely on her.

"What about you?" she asks worriedly.

"Uh, they kinda spotted me," he admits. "Go find my dad," he orders, hanging up quickly and turning around to face the officers who'd walked up behind him while he was warning Elena and Sam.

"Problem, officers?" Dean questions innocently.

"Where's your partner?" one of them asks, and Dean thanks the heavens that he'd had Elena stay in the car.

"Partner? What—what partner?" Dean asks, playing dumb.

A quick exchange had one of the officers heading off to look for Sam while the other stayed to question Dean.

Elena and Sam had been watching the exchange from behind the curtains of the motel room, but seeing the approaching officer, they quickly backed away to plot their escape.

"So, fake U.S. marshal, fake credit cards, you got anything that's real?" the officer questions sarcastically.

Dean opens his mouth, and like every other day of his life, spits out the first sarcastic thing that comes to mind, regardless of the consequences.

"My boobs," he deadpans, grinning like the idiot he is.

Needless to say, he gets cuffed. Still, Elena and Sam had gotten away, so at least there's that.

In the interrogation room, Dean plays it cool with practiced ease, frustrating the officers to no end.

"So, you wanna give us your real name?" the interrogating officer asks dryly.

"I told you, it's Nugent, Ted Nugent," Dean insists.

"I'm not sure you realize just how much trouble you're in here," the officer replies, placing a box full of evidence from John's motel room on the table.

"We talking misdemeanor kind of trouble, or uh, 'squeal like a pig' trouble?" Dean quips, still not taking any of it too seriously.

"You got the faces of ten missing persons taped to your wall," the officer counters. "Along with a whole lot of satanic mumbo jumbo. Boy, you are officially a suspect," the officer informs him.

Dean replies dryly, pointing out that he was too young to actually have committed the first one. He continues to appear relaxed and unconcerned throughout the interrogation until the officer calls him by his real name and slaps down his father's journal.

"I thought that might be your name," the officer says with satisfaction, seeing Dean's interest.

He flips through the book, amazed by the strange content, finally stopping on a page with Dean's name and some random numbers. Then he flips a couple more pages to show another message.

In his father's familiar handwriting, three more words that made Dean more worried than anything else had since he'd picked Elena up at the airport and she'd told him she hadn't heard from his dad in a week.

Keep her safe.

The man flips back to the page with his name and the numbers

"Now, you're staying right here until you tell me exactly what the hell that means, and who in the hell 'she' is," the officer demands.

Dean takes a breath and looks up at the officer, ready to do what he did best, lie.

Elsewhere, Sam and Elena had found the address for Joseph Welch.

"You should go talk to him," Elena says. "I'll take care of Dean," she continues, giving him a sly grin.

Sam raises an eyebrow at her.

"How are you gonna do that?" he asks. She continues to grin.

"Sometimes it's a good thing to be memorable," she says with a shrug.

"Seriously, you go find out what we need to know about Constance, and I'll get your brother out," she says.

Sam nods, still wondering what she had planned.

"Okay," he agrees bemusedly.

She nods her head.

Good," she says simply. She pulls out a prepaid cellphone from her purse.

"Now, how are you at phony phone calls?"

"I told you, it's my locker combination," Dean insists once again, ignoring the officer's impatience.

When another officer came in to inform the interrogating officer of shots being fired on some road, Dean tries to keep his grin to himself.

Dean soon finds himself handcuffed to the table while the officer takes off to deal with the situation. Dean's just fingering a paperclip when he hears the sound of a man's voice and the distinct tap. tap. tap. of boots on the cement floor.

He doesn't hold back his grin at all as Elena comes strolling into the room, her hips swaying, clad in tiny jean shorts that show off her infamous legs. She grins back at him and casually pulls out a key ring from her back pocket.

"He didn't notice you stealing his keys?" Dean questions incredulously.

She shrugs. "He was focused on other things," she replies archly.

"God bless those shorts," Dean mutters as Elena perches on the thin arm of his chair. She gives him a reproachful look that is ruined by the grin on her face. He grins back at her, unrepentant. She grabs his hand, using the key to unlock the handcuffs from his wrists.

She's close enough that he can smell the familiar scent of her skin and her loose hair slips over her shoulder to brush against his neck and then she's moving away from him all too quickly

He shakes it off, standing up to grab his dad's journal and head for the door. Catching sight of the journal, Elena grabs his wrist, stopping him.

"First of all, we can't go out that way," she points out. "They might not have noticed me waltzing in here, but they sure will notice you waltzing out," she reminds him and he gives a conceding nod.

"Second of all, where did you get that?" she asks, gesturing to the journal in his hands.

"Our friendly neighborhood officers found it in Dad's room," he tells her. He opens it to show her the page pertaining to her. "What exactly does he mean?" he asks.

She starts, looking up from the page like she's coming out of a trance. She shakes her head.

Not here and not now," she says, he gives her an exasperated look. "Later," she promises. She puts the keys down on the table and gestures toward the window.

"Sam went to see Joseph Welch," she tells him. "We should get going."

Reluctantly, Dean nods, tucking away her promise for later, he puts the journal into his jacket, heading out the window first and turning around to carefully guide Elena through.

Together they make their way across the street. Elena guides Dean over to a beat up old pick up truck. She slips into the front seat, tossing Dean her phone to call Sam.

"Why exactly did you pick this car?" Dean asks, and Elena opens the sun visor. The keys fall into her lap. "God you're good," he says, his voice full of awe.

"I watched the old man put them there five minutes before I went in to get you," she says with a shrug, starting the car.

While she drives, Dean calls Sam.

"Dad's gone, he left Jericho, I've got his journal," is all Dean has to say before Sam feels the world tilt on its axis.

"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing," Sam replies, feeling slightly dazed.

"He did this time," Dean replies simply.

"What's it say?" Sam requests.

"Same old ex-marine crap," Dean responds, glancing over at Elena. "And something about Elena," he adds.

"What exactly does it say?" Sam questions, his curiosity peaked.

"Coordinates, don't know where to yet though," Dean says. Sam shakes his head even though Dean can't see him.

"No, what did it say about Elena?" he clarifies. Dean glances over at Elena. She's intent on the road, guiding the old rust bucket along the road in the dark.

"'Keep her safe,'" Dean replies. "I don't know what it means yet, Elena hasn't told me," he continues. Elena barely flinches, focusing intently on the road ahead of her.

"I guess we've gotta figure out where those coordinates are located," Sam mutters, still more focused on the Elena part. What does Elena need to be kept safe from?

"Yeah," Dean agrees, his attention also on the girl beside him.

"Dean, what the hell is going on?" Sam finally bursts out, his curiosity over the mystery surrounding Elena and their disappearing father finally getting to him.

Suddenly there is a figure in the road, and Sam slams on the brakes before Dean has a chance to reply.

"Sam, Sam!" Dean calls through the phone.

Elena glances over at him worriedly.

In the backseat of the impala, Constance stares Sam down.

"Take me home," she orders. Sam just stares at her. "Take. Me. Home," she orders again, this time with more force.

"No," Sam replies flatly, his intent clear. This only seems to enrage her.

Constance locks them in the car, using her ghostly powers to drive them to her house, Sam protesting all the while.

Dean can vaguely hear what's going on through Sam's abandoned phone, and tells Elena to head for the old Welch house. She obeys instantly, pushing the battered old truck well past its limits as they speed toward Sam and his ghostly captor.

At the old Welch house, Sam pleads with the flickering ghost in the backseat.

"Don't do this," he pleads, wondering if ghosts have any sense of right and wrong.

"I can never go home." She speaks as if he hadn't spoken at all, and the heartbreak is clear on her face—but there's another emotion on her face—fear.

"You're scared to go home," Sam says, realizing it even as he speaks.

When he turns around, she is gone, the next second she is beside him, crawling into his lap, desperate and angry.

"Hold me, I'm so cold," she begs, using all the right lines on the wrong guy.

"You can't kill me," Sam states matter of factly. "I'm not unfaithful, I've never been," he informs her.

But Constance doesn't seem to care, she is out for blood, and his is readily available.

"You will be," she whispers in his ear, forcing a kiss on him. Her lips are cold and he is unmoving, refusing to play along with her games.

She disappears just as suddenly as she had appeared. When she reappears again, her fingers are burning holes in his chest, and it's all a blur until Dean shoots a hole through his own car to put a salt round into her. Elena follows close behind him. Constance is determined to have her blood though, and continues to torture him. Sitting up, Sam turns the car on.

"I'm taking you home," Sam quips, driving Dean's precious impala right through the side of the house. Dean and Elena exchange a look, running in after him.

"Sam!" Dean yells.

"Here," Sam calls back.

Elena at his heels, Dean makes his way over to the car.

"Are you okay?" Elena asks. Sam grimaces.

"Can you move?" Dean asks.

"I think so," Sam replies. "Help me," he requests, and Dean reaches a hand in to help him out.

Elena's attention is on the ghost. Constance stares in wondrous terror at the ruin of her home. Smashed, on the floor before her is a family portrait. She picks it up, and the pain on her face is so familiar Elena loses her breath temporarily.

Dean hauls Sam out of the car and turns them to see what Elena is staring at. Constance finally turns her attention back to the three of them, her eyes locked on Elena once again. None of them move, barely breathing. It is a long time before Constance's attention turns over to the brothers. She slams the photograph down, sending a chest of drawers into their legs, effectively pinning the three of them to the side of the impala.

She moves closer, her attention on Dean.

"Take me home," she purrs, repeating her same old lines.

Dean's eyebrows shoot up, Sam and Elena exchange a confused glance.

"Oh sweetheart, I think you're mistaken, I don't have a girlfriend," Dean points out.

Constance arches one delicate eyebrow, glancing over at Elena pointedly and back at Dean with emphasis.

"Oh hell no, even the ghost thinks we're dating!" Dean exclaims, and even then—pinned to a car and seconds from a bloody death at the hands of a ghost, Elena can't help but giggle a little.

"Really?" Dean asks her incredulously.

She shrugs.

"It's still kinda funny," she admits.

"Psycho ghost lady thinks we're dating and wants to murder us, how is that funny?" he hisses back. She rolls her eyes.

"She tried to kill Sam even though he wouldn't take her home, she's clearly going off book, I don't think she cares much about the whole 'in a relationship' thing anymore," she retorts.

"Guys, now is not the time," Sam interrupts.

They return their attention to the angry ghost, but her attention has been stolen from them by the flickering lights that announce the arrival of her own ghosts. The water trickling down the stairs is the first hint.

Dean, Elena, and Sam try their best to stay perfectly still while Constance is confronted by her children that she birthed and murdered.

"You've come home to us, Mommy," they whisper as one and the their audience of three watches in horrified fascination as they embrace her, dragging her away screaming, for her punishment.

Once she's gone, the three of them heave the chest of drawers off of them.

"You okay, Gilbert?" Dean asks, glancing her over.

Elena waves him off.

"I'm fine," she insists. He doesn't look convinced.

"She was like fixated on you or something," he points out. Elena shrugs.

"I don't know why," she says honestly. She turns her attention to Sam.

"Are you okay?" she asks him, obviously concerned about his injuries, he waves her off, already wondering how he's going to explain the five holes in his chest to Jessica.

Dean meanwhile, is examining his baby.

"He's fine," Dean replies. "But if you screwed up my car," Dean says, turning back to look at Sam. "I'll kill you."

Neither Elena nor Sam need to look at his face to know how serious he is.

Elena picks her way through the debris to get a good look at the puddle of water where the three ghosts had been. Following up behind her, Sam takes a good look at her face, and sees that she is pale and thoughtful.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"She couldn't come home," she tells him. He nods.

"Because this is where she drowned her kids," he summarizes.

"She was too afraid to face them," Dean says, through with his examination of his car.

"She could never go home again," Elena says, and then she turns around, a frown on her face.

"I think she knew I can't go home either, that's why she kept staring at me," Elena tells them.

With that, she heads out the drive the borrowed pick up truck back to its previous spot, leaving them stunned.

"Why can't she go home?" Sam asks Dean.

Dean looks at him, his face open and honest.

"I have no idea," he admits. "All I know is, Dad told me to keep her safe."

Dean turns to get into the car and Sam follows him.

Once Elena has dropped off the old man's car and crawled into the backseat of the impala, they head off, eager to get away from Jericho as quickly as they can.

"Okay, here's where Dad went," Sam says. "It's called Black Water Ridge, Colorado," Sam informs Dean as he drives. Elena is passed out in the backseat.

"Sounds charming," Dean quips. "How far?"

"It's about six hundred miles," Sam responds.

Dean considers it.

"If we shag ass, we can make it by morning," he points out. Sam looks over at him; reluctant to burst his bubble, but determined to make it back in time for his interview.

"Dean, um," Sam starts.

"You're not going," Dean states, no question in his voice. Sam shakes his head.

"The interviews in like ten hours, I gotta be there," Sam insists.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Dean shakes it off. "I'll take you home," he says, clearly disappointed.

He glances in the rearview mirror to check on the sleeping Elena, as if to reassure himself she's still there—he isn't alone.

They drive the rest of the way back in silence.

Elena is still asleep when they roll up in front of Sam's building, so he doesn't get to say goodbye, and he finds himself strangely disappointed. Despite only knowing her for a couple of days, he likes her a lot, and already almost considers her a friend. He keeps it to himself, but he's glad Dean has her. Even the best hunters need someone to watch their back.

"Maybe I can meet up with you later, all right?" Sam suggests, wanting to help find their dad, and feeling bad for leaving it the task to Dean.

"Yeah, all right," Dean agrees but Sam can see it's insincere.

"Sam," Dean calls after his retreating figure. Sam turns back to see what he has to say. "You know, the three of us made a hell of a team back there," he says, glancing back at Elena's slumbering form. Her shoulder twitches in a way that's familiar and he can tell she's only moments away from waking up.

Sam smiles a little.

"Yeah," he agrees. Dean drives away and Sam heads into the building.

When he gets inside he sprawls out on the bed, letting out a content sigh.

Back in the impala Elena sits up and stretches, her body still heavy with sleep. In a move that Dean has harassed her about hundreds of times—surprisingly more for her safety than the car's—she climbs over the seat back and into the front seat beside Dean.

She buckles herself in.

"I told you not to do that," Dean scolds halfheartedly.

"You're barely coasting," she points out, her voice scratchy with sleep. He rolls his eyes fondly at her.

He is solemn and quiet in a way that gets under her skin and before she knows what she's doing she's opening her mouth.

"I get where he's coming from, you know," she tells him. Dean glances at her, his question written all over his face.

"I wouldn't have exactly picked this life for myself either," she tells him, her voice gentle.

He tries not to wince, but her admission still stings like a bitch. Before the smarting can set in, Elena opens her mouth again.

"At least the company's good though," she continues lightly, glancing at him from under her lashes.

He can't help but grin at that.

She sighs and leans over, her head on his shoulder, and she's about the close her eyes and succumb to sleep again when they stop at the corner to turn. A flickering of light catches her attention from out of the corner of her eye and she turns to see what it's from.

She sits up suddenly, her attention on the apartment building Sam had just walked into; flames flickering from one of the apartments.

"Dean," Elena says urgently, and he reacts as quickly as he was trained to, following her line of sight and then whipping the car around to get them back to the burning building his brother is in.

He's out of the car and across the lawn in a matter of seconds, ordering Elena to stay put even as he dashes inside after his brother.

With trembling hands, Elena dials 911. After the call is made, Elena stands in the middle of the lawn, cups her hands over her mouth and screams "FIRE!" at the top of her lungs.

When Dean comes bursting out onto the lawn dragging a struggling Sam with him, Elena lets out a shaking sigh of relief and runs over to help Dean wrangle his brother away from the building and toward the car.

Time passes strangely, people come streaming out of the building, emergency vehicles pull up with their screaming sirens, firemen rushing to contain and extinguish the fire.

Sam stops fight them and stares into space. Dean does a quick round, trying to find out if anyone knows what happened. Elena sits next to Sam, quietly offering him support, wisely keeping her mouth shut.

There is only one casualty of the fire, Jessica Moore.

When Dean reaches them, Elena is sitting in the open door of the backseat, and Sam is at the trunk. Dean touches Elena on the knee and she gives him a reassuring smile, he returns it, heading back toward his brother.

He looks at Sam, at a loss for words, and Sam looks back, something defiant in his eyes.

Sam sighs, looks down, and says, "We got work to do."

tbc.

AN: Chapter title from Pack It Up by the Pretenders. I found this song from a poem by Margaret Atwood, from her You Are Happy collection, the poem itself is painfully accurate for both the Winchesters and Elena herself. I can't find the title right now and my copy isn't with me currently, but the first line is "kill what you can't save" and you can find it online that way.

Thoughts? Comments? Until next time!

xoxo

-Pixie