>TALL TALES<

Karoline tapped her fingers impatiently as she took a long drag from her cigarette, the smoke filtering out of her mouth and out the open window beside her. She took a sip from her beer as she looked across the table at her sister who looked royally pissed off as she flipped through the book in her hands, then at Sam, who looked pissed as well, and finally at Dean, who looked just as pissed as the other two. A warm pit of anger boiled in her stomach as she looked at them, so she turned her gaze back out the window. "Could you not smoke those in here." Dean snapped in annoyance.

"No." She answered simply, taking another long drag.

"Dude, you mind not eating those on my bed," Sam's question had an edge of annoyance to it, turning Dean's attention away from the blonde.

"No, I don't mind," Dean replied nonchalantly, only infuriating Sam more. Sam glanced at Alayna for help but was met with a cold stare. He sighed heavily, returning to the book in his hands. "How's the research going?"

"You know how it's going?" Sam bit back rhetorically at his brother. "Slow," He answered his own question, angry at Dean for not raising a hand to help.

"You know what would make it go a hell of a lot faster?" Alayna took up Sam's strategy of rhetorical questions while she glared at Dean. "If you helped," Despite her biting retort, he still didn't look up from the car magazine he was reading.

"Or if I had my computer," Sam added, still pissed about what he was sure one of the other three in the room had done. In response, Dean smiled fakely and nodded eagerly. They lapsed into a silence for a few moments that was only broken by the music Dean had turned up.

"Could you turn that down?" Karoline finally burst out, unable to take the music anymore. "Some people are actually trying to work,"

"Yeah, absolutely," Dean replied, turning the dial to the right, making the music grow even louder, Karoline clenched her jaw flicking her cigarette into the beer bottle before getting up and shutting off the music. "Hey!" He protested immeadiatly, but she didn't care.

"You know, maybe you should just go somewhere for a while, huh?" Sam suggested, and Dean turned his gaze on Sam.

"Hey, I'd love to. That's a great idea. Unfortunately, my car's all screwed to hell," Dean snapped his response, still furious about what he figured Sam and Alayna had done to his car.

"You could walk... or take a taxi," Alayna suggested, really wanting him out of the motel room. The tension between all four of them hung so thick in the air you could've cut it with a knife. He opened his mouth to respond when there was a knock on the door. Alayna got up, taking the knife that was sitting on the table with her as she walked to the door and looked through the hole to see Bobby on the other side. Without any further hesitation, she opened to door to reveal him standing there. "Bobby," she greeted with a relieved smile.

"Hey, Alayna," He glanced back into the room. "Kare, Boys," He nodded to them.

"Hey, Bobby," Dean got up from the bed to greet him.

"It's good to see you again so soon," Bobby told them, the waver in his voice telling the four he was unsure as to why he'd been called.

"Yeah, uh, thanks for coming," Sam led him into the middle of the room. "Come on in,"

"Thank God you're here," Karoline breathed out in relief as she took a seat in her chair again.

"So, um... what didn't you want to talk to me on the phone about?" He asked, frowning. It was the girls idea to bring him in on this case, and they didn't want to talk to him over the phone because something told them it wasn't safe. Whatever they were hunting, it was powerful.

"It's the job we're working here," Alayna started, glancing at her sister and the two boys. "I wasn't sure you'd believe what was happening,"

"Well, I can believe a lot," Bobby chuckled, turning away from her briefly.

"Yeah, but this isn't exactly the normal ghost-haunting job," Karoline tried to prepare him for what they were about to tell him.

"Not even close," Dean added, making Karoline glance at him to see his eyes were trained on Bobby.

"We thought we could use some fresh eyes," Sam's words made Bobby shrug in agreement.

"Why don't you begin at the beginning?" He suggested, turning to pick up an empty take-out container from the bed disgustedly.

"Okay, it all started when we caught wind of an obit," Sam started from the very beginning of the hunt as Bobby tossed aside the container and sat on the bed. "See, a professor took a nose dive from a fourth-story window, only there's a campus legend that the building's haunted," Dean and Sam sat on the bed across from Bobby while Alayna and Karoline pulled up chairs so the five of them formed a rough circle. "So we pretexted as reporters from the local paper,"

-Sam-

"Yeah, we both had the professor for 'ethics and morality'." The two college students informed Sam and Alayna as they sat across from them while Sam placed a recorder in the middle of the table.

"Yeah? So why do you think he did it?" Sam questioned, and the kids shrugged.

"Who knows? He was tenured, wife and kids. His book is a really big deal," The girl told him, eyes wide as she nodded. "Then again, who's to say it was suicide?" She added ominously.

"Jen, come on," The guy rolled his eyes at her.

"Well, what else could it be?" Alayna questioned.

"Well, you know about Crawford Hall," The girl checked, thinking they'd obviously know about the story surrounding Crawford Hall.

"No, I don't, actually," Sam denied, wanting to know more about the legend.

"It's a bunch of crap. It's a total urban legend," The guy shrugged off the girl's enthusiasm about the myth.

"Yeah, well, Heather's mom went to school here, and she knew the girl," The woman told the guy, making Sam think that there might be more to the 'legend' than they knew.

"Wait, what girl?" Alayna asked.

"Like, thirty years ago, this girl was having an affair with some professor. He broke it off. She jumped out the window and killed herself," The girl leaned forward and dropped her voice as if she were telling a ghost story at a campfire.

"You know her name?" Sam needed to know.

"No," She shook her head as the guy drank some more beer. "But they say she jumped from room 669," Her eyes were wide as if that was supposed to mean something. "Get it?" Sam and Alayna shared a look, neither getting it. "You turn the 9 upside down..." Sam and Alayna's faces cleared with understanding, and they nodded for her to continue. "So now she haunts the building, and anyone who sees her...they don't live to tell the tale,"

"Well, if no one lives to tell the tale, then how does the tale get told?" The guy, who was now a little more than buzzed, made Alayna grin at his wit.

"Curtis, shut up!" The woman snapped, rolling her eyes.

"You know what? Thanks a lot, guys," Sam smiled as he took the recorder off the table. "Excuse us," They got up and headed over to the bar where Karoline and Dean were taking shots.

"Guys, what are you - what are you drinking?" Sam questioned disgustedly as Dean downed three shots in a row while Karoline only took one.

"I don't know, man," Dean slurred with a dopey grin on his face.

"I think they're purple nurples," Karoline chimed in helpfully from where she was leaning on the counter beside Dean, clearly tipsy herself.

"Okay, well, listen. I think we should check out the professor's office," Alayna tried to get back to the hunt they were in the middle of.

"Oh, no, no, no. I can't right now," Dean shook his head turning back to glance at Karoline before looking back at Sam imploringly, dropping his voice to a whisper. "I've got this feisty little wildcat on the hook..." He gestured back to Karoline, who rolled her eyes kicking Dean's leg, but he just grinned at her.

"Hey, we met this girl over here," Karoline's face lit up with excitement as she looked at Sam and Alayna for a moment before hitting the girl next to her on the arm. "You two should talk to her,"

"N-" Sam began, but it didn't matter, the girl was already turning around to meet him.

"Starla," Karoline introduced, gesturing to the blonde girl in the fishnets and jean skirt. Alayna looked her up and down unimpressed then back at Sam, grinning slightly as he wore the same look."This is our friends, Sam and Alayna," Starla downed the shot in her hand, placing it against the table before holding her hand out to Sam to shake.

"Enchanté," She giggled drunkenly before her face turned sour, and she wrenched her hand out of Sam's to cover her mouth as she convulsed, making retching sounds in the back of her throat. "Sorry," She took the hand away, composing herself slightly. "Just trying to keep my liquor down,"

"Girl, nice." Karoline high-fived the drunk girl.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa hold on a minute," Dean broke in before Karoline could interrupt the story.

"What?" Sam questioned innocently, knowing exactly what was wrong with his version.

"Come on, Sam. That's not at all how it happened," Karoline added, frowning at the boy as he looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"No?" Sam retorted. "So neither of you ever drank a purple nurple?"

"Yeah, maybe that, but... I don't say things like 'feisty little wildcat'," Dean protested while Karoline rolled her eyes at what he chose to defend. Of course he would pick that out of everything Sam had said.

"Her name was not Starla," Karoline objected to the name Sam had chosen to describe her.

"Then what was it?" Alayna asked, glancing back and forth between Dean and Karoline.

"Lucy," She chose a name at random, knowing that none of them would object, for none really remembered her name. "And she was grad student on folklore, I wanted Sam and Alayna to talk to her to see if she could help with the hunt."

-Karoline-

Karoline clinked her glass with Dean's a small laugh escaping her lips after she'd downed it, she looked up to meet Dean's drunken, green eyes, "We should go help Sam and Alayna."

"Tch, forget about it," Karoline's mouth twitched into a smile at the dopey grin on his lips. "They got it."

"I'm serious." She insisted, a hand on his chest to stop him from getting more drinks.

"So am I." He mocked, earning a soft laugh from the blonde, the sound bringing a small smile to his lips as he gazed down at her. Her eyes flicked up to his, and her smile faltered slightly after seeing the look on his face. "What?"

"Nothing," She shrugged it off with an easy smile. "I should go help Sam and Alayna."

"Hey, wait." He caught her arm, bringing her back in front of him against the counter so she couldn't get away again. "Don't do that."

"Well, then don't look at me like that." She whispered seriously.

"Like what?" His face crunched up in confusion.

"The whole lovey dovey look." She pointed at him accusingly causing him to jerk back slightly.

"I wasn't looking at you like that." He denied instantly, and, before Karoline could say anything else, she felt something wet touch her hand, making her jerk it away from the counter. The bartender immediately cleaned it up with a towel while Karoline's attention was drawn to the woman who was apologizing for spilling her drink.

"I'm such a klutz," Her words were only slightly slurred as she laughed. She was dressed in a low cut black dress that fell to her knees, and she had applied only minimal make-up to her face.

"That's alright," Dean grinned widely at her while looking her up and down, then gave Karoline a pointed look.

"Oh, please." She scoffed, knowing he was just doing that to prove a point.

"Are you two from around here?" She frowned at them in confusion. "I've never seen you before,"

"No, we're just passing through," Karoline replied politely, and she nodded.

"I'm Lucy," She seemed determined to be friends with them. "I'm a grad student here. Anthropology and folklore," That caught Karoline's attention, and she stopped to ask her a question when a voice behind her interrupted.

"Guys, what are you - what are you drinking?" She turned back to see Sam watching disgustedly as Dean downed three shots sloppily.

"I don't know, man," Dean slurred with a dopey grin on his face.

"I think they're purple nurples," Karoline chimed in not really caring.

"Anyway, we think we found something. We should check out the professor's office," Alayna added, bringing the conversation back to the hunt.

"Sam, Layna, hey, this is Lucy. I think you three should talk," Karoline prompted hoping this would help with the hunt.

"No, that's okay. I'll talk to her," Dean checked her out obviously, as if Karoline weren't even there.

"You have fun with that." She smiled sarcastically at him, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I will. You go with Sam and Alayna to the office."

"That is not what happened," Dean snapped, cutting her off from finishing the story. "We-"

"Nothing," Karoline cut him off with a pointed look. "We, nothing."

"Did something happen?" Bobby questioned awkwardly, not sure whether he wanted to intervene or not.

"You want to know how it happened?" Dean asked rhetorically. "I'll tell you how it happened,"

-Dean-

Karoline and Dean clinked glasses and raised the shots to their lips, downing it quickly before placing the glasses on the table. Karoline turned to Dean, smiling slightly and biting her lip as she put her arms around his neck. "My God, you are so attractive," She spoke in a soft voice. "Why did I ever turn you down?"

Karoline scoffed loudly, rolling her eyes, and ignoring the questioning look Bobby, Sam, and Alayna gave her. Dean ignored her interruption and continued the lie.

Dean stopped her as she leaned up to kiss his lips."We can't. We have to help Sam and Alayna with the case," Dean told her nobly. "We should find out more about this urban legend. Lives are at stake,"

"Sorry," She bit her lip again as she gazed up into his eyes. "I just... I can't concentrate. Your eyes... it's like looking at stars," Her hand ran through his short hair and pulled his lips down to hers, that's when there was wetness all over the counter, and Karoline looked over at the blonde with surprised eyes.

"Sorry," A girl to their left apologized. "I'm such a klutz," She added, batting her eyes at Dean.

"Hey," He replied, giving her a nonchalant half wave before returning his attention to Karoline.

"I'm Lucy," She interrupted them again, making them stop and turn to her. "I'm a grad student at the college. Anthropology and folk lore,"

"You know who you should meet?" Karoline told her with a sharpness to her voice that caused the girl to stop looking at Dean. "Our friends, Sam and Alayna," She gestured over to the table that Sam and Alayna were sitting with the two college students before turning back to Dean. "Where were we?"

"Guys, what do you think your doing?" Sam pursed his lips like a rich beverly hills girl who didn't get the shoes she wanted and Alayna had a single eyebrow raised and her arms crossed. Dean sighed in annoyance as he turned to look at Sam and Alayna.

"Guys," Karoline looked over Deans shoulder at her sister and Sam in annoyance. "Could you.." She let the sentence hang, flicking her eyes to Dean in a hidden meaning. "You two can talk to Lucy," She gestured over her shoulder, not bothering to look back at the woman.

"This is a very serious investigation, guys," Sam snapped at us. "We don't have time for any of your blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah-blah," Sam continued blah-blah-blahing while Dean smirked down at Karoline, raising a hand to cup her cheek. "Blah!"

"Right. And that's how it really happened," Sarcasm dripped from Karoline's voice as Dean finished his story.

"I don't sound like that, Dean," Sam protested, and glanced at Dean in annoyance.

"And I would never say any of that," Karoline added, clenching her jaw angrily.

"That's what you sound like to me," He told Sam before turning to Karoline. "And you said some of that,"

"No, I-" Karoline began objecting.

"Okay," Bobby interrupted whatever Karoline was about to say. "What's going on with you four?"

"Nothing. It's nothing," Alayna shrugged it off, trying to pretend like everything was okay while Dean and Karoline glowered at each other.

"Come on," Bobby wasn't fooled by Alayna's attempt at a lie. "Ya'll are bickering like four little kids."

"Fine," Alayna broke in. "I'll tell you what really happened."

-Alayna-

"Yeah, we both had the professor for 'ethics and morality'." The two college students informed Sam and Alayna as they sat across from them while Sam placed a recorder in the middle of the table.

"Yeah? So why do you think he did it?" Sam questioned, and the kids shrugged.

"Who knows? He was tenured, wife and kids. His book is a really big deal," The girl told him, eyes wide as she nodded. "Then again, who's to say it was suicide?" She added ominously.

"Jen, come on," The guy rolled his eyes at her.

"Well, what else could it be?" Alayna questioned.

"Well, you know about Crawford Hall," The girl checked, thinking they'd obviously know about the story surrounding Crawford Hall.

"No, I don't, actually," Sam denied, wanting to know more about the legend.

"It's a bunch of crap. It's a total urban legend," The guy shrugged off the girl's enthusiasm about the myth.

"Yeah, well, Heather's mom went to school here, and she knew the girl," The woman told the guy, making Sam think that there might be more to the 'legend' than they knew.

"Wait, what girl?" Alayna asked.

"Like, thirty years ago, this girl was having an affair with some professor. He broke it off. She jumped out the window and killed herself," The girl leaned forward and dropped her voice as if she were telling a ghost story at a campfire.

"You know her name?" Sam needed to know.

"No," She shook her head as the guy drank some more beer. "But they say she jumped from room 669," Her eyes were wide as if that was supposed to mean something. "Get it?" Sam and Alayna shared a look, neither getting it. "You turn the 9 upside down..." Sam and Alayna's faces cleared with understanding, and they nodded for her to continue. "So now she haunts the building, and anyone who sees her...they don't live to tell the tale,"

"Well, if no one lives to tell the tale, then how does the tale get told?" The guy, who was now a little more than buzzed, made Alayna grin at his wit.

"Curtis, shut up!" The woman snapped, rolling her eyes.

"You know what? Thanks a lot, guys," Sam smiled as he took the recorder off the table. "Excuse us," They got up and headed over to the bar where Karoline and Dean were taking shots.

"Guys, what are you - what are you drinking?" Sam questioned disgustedly as Dean downed three shots in a row while Karoline only took one.

"I don't know, man," Dean slurred with a dopey grin on his face.

"I think they're purple nurples," Karoline chimed in helpfully twirling the empty shot glass in her hands.

"Anyway, we think we found something. We should check out the professor's office," Alayna added, bringing the conversation back to the hunt.

"Sam, Layna, hey, this is Lucy. I think you three should talk," Karoline prompted hoping this would help with the hunt.

"Why?" Alayna asked confused.

"She studies anthropology and folklore." The blonde specified and Alayna nodded.

"Alright."

"So we talked to the girl and then we went to go check out the school, figured it was a haunting."

-Alayna-

"How long have you been working here?" Alayna questioned the janitor as he led them up the stairs to the room.

"I've been mopping these floors for six years," He flicked on the lights as he answered. "There you go, guys," Alayna and Sam followed him into the room, Dean and Karoline behind them. Dean powered up the EMF, causing the janitor to look at him in confusion. "What the heck's that for?"

"It's to find the wires in the walls," Alayna replied smoothly catching the janitors attention, a small smile flicked on his lips as he looked her up and down, but turned away when she quirked an eyebrow questioningly.

"Ah. Well. Not sure why you're wiring up this office. Not gonna do the professor much good," The man told them, crossing his hands over his chest.

"Why's that?" Dean asked him.

"He's dead," The man responded flatly.

"Well, damn," Karoline muttered, going to the window. "What happened?" She questioned, and the man pointed to the open window behind the still cluttered desk.

"He went out that window right there," He replied as if the whole thing were no big deal.

"You weren't working that night, right?" Alayna asked, her eyes wide in fake surprise at the news.

"I'm the one that found him, sweetheart," he grinned at the short girl, the same flirtatious look in his eyes as he looked at

"So you saw it happen?" She questioned, pretending to be impressed by the news that he'd found the body.

"Nope. I just saw him come up here, and, uh..." He trailed off suddenly, glancing away. "Well..."

"What is it?" Alayna asked, genuinely curious now.

"He wasn't alone," The janitor told them, raising his eyebrows imploringly.

"Who was he with?" Dean questioned through the twenty some candies he had crammed into his mouth.

"Come on! I ate one, maybe two," Dean protested as Alayna sat down in her chair again, enjoying this part of the story very much.

"Hey, just let her tell it. Don't interrupt," Karoline chided him, wanting Alayna to continue with how Dean was cramming chocolates into his mouth.

"He was with a young lady," The janitor informed the girls, Sam, and Dean. "I told the cops about her, but I guess they never found her," He shrugged, not really caring about the death.

"You saw this girl go in, huh?" Sam questioned. "But did you ever see her come out?"

"Now that you mention it, no," The guy frowned, trying to think about that night.

"Has she been around before?" Karoline asked, knowing the mystery girl was probably the ghost that they were hunting.

"Not her," He answered, laying emphasis on her.

"What do you mean?" Dean questioned around a mouthful of chocolate.

"I don't mean to cast aspersions on a dead guy, but, uh... Mr. Morality here? He brought a lot of girls up here," He opened up. "Got more ass than a toilet seat," Dean cracked up, smacking Karoline's arm before pointing to the janitor appreciatively.

"One more thing," Alayna glanced around as Sam spoke. "This building - it only has four stories, right?"

"Yeah," The janitor nodded in confirmation.

"So, there wouldn't be a room 669?" Alayna checked, and the guy shook his head.

"Of course not. Why do you ask?" The man frowned in confusion at the question.

"Curiosity" Alayna brushed off, and the guy shrugged. Karoline dragged Dean with them as they left the office and went back to their motel room.

"Well, no traces of EMF, that's for sure," Sam summed up what they had found.

"And the 669 myth is a bunch of useless crap," Alayna added as Dean grabbed Karoline a beer.

"So, what do you guys think? The professor's just a jumper? The legend is just a legend?"  Karoline questioned, glancing at Alayna, for it had been her that urged them to take this case.

"I don't know," Dean admitted, opening the beer. "The girl that the janitor described - that's pretty weird,"

"Yeah, we should see what we can dig up on the history of the place," Alayna went about it logically, and Sam nodded quickly, pulling out his computer and turning it on.

"Dude, were you on my computer?" Both girls glanced at the screen, and Karoline's eyes widened fractionally at what she saw.

"No," Dean replied, coming out of the bathroom to look at Sam in confusion.

"Oh, really?" Sam questioned, raising his eyebrows. "Cause it's frozen now, on, uh, bustyasainbeauties.com."

"That was not me," He protested but slunk back into the bathroom when he realized the three didn't believe him.

"Would you just - don't touch my stuff anymore, okay?" Sam snapped at him loudly.

"Why don't you control your OCD?" Dean retorted in annoyance.

"But did you dig up anything about the building or on the suicidal coed?" Bobby cut in, not wanting a repeat of what happened the first time they'd strayed off target.

"No, the history was clean," Karoline informed him when he walked past where she was leaning on the table with her arms folded.

"Then it's not a haunting," Bobby reasoned.

"Maybe not," Dean corrected him. "Tell you the truth, we're not really sure,"

"What do you mean, you're not sure?" Bobby questioned with a frown, probably trying to understand why they, four seasoned hunters, were so jumpy about this case.

"After that it started getting... weird," Alayna tried to explain.

"What got weird?" Bobby questioned, and they could tell he was beginning to get annoyed with their round about way of answering his questions.

"The next part, we, uh... we didn't see it happen, but... it's just... it's pretty weird, even for us," Alayna glanced at her sister and the boys for help, before clearing her throat. "Well... um... a guy - a student at the college said... well..."

"He said he got abducted by aliens," Karoline finally cut in.

"Aliens?" Bobby repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah," Dean responded, a knowing look on his face. They'd all gone through the different stages of shock at the news.

"Look, even if they are real, they're sure as hell not coming to Earth and swiping people," Bobby tried to go about the information logically.

"Hey, believe me. We know," Dean agreed whole-heartedly.

"My whole life I've never found evidence of an honest-to-god abduction. It's all just cranks and pranks," Bobby told us.

"Yeah, we thought that too, but... we agreed that talking to the guy couldn't hurt," Alayna remembered.

-Alayna-

"Hey, you ought to give those purple purples a shot," Dean joked, chuckling as the guy at the bar gave him a look before downing another. Karoline hit Dean's arm lightly, her silent way of telling him his teasing was going too far. He coughed and looked away from the kid, who had shots lined up.

"So, what happened, Curtis?" Alayna inquired, trying to get to the bottom of the situation.

"You won't believe me," Curtis informed them without a doubt in his voice. "Nobody does,"

"Try us," She encouraged, shrugging.

"I do not want this in the papers," Curtis pointed a finger at Alayna threateningly as he spoke.

"Off the record, then," Dean assured him, nodding for him to continue.

"I blacked out, and... I lost time and when I woke up, I don't know where I was," He seemed to be remembering something because he stopped and shook his head.

"And then?" Karoline prompted him.

"They did tests on me," His voice cracked as he spoke, making them feel almost sorry for him. "And, uh..." He took a shot of tequila before continuing. "They, uh... they probed me," Alayna turned away to stop herself from laughing, but when she saw Karoline silently laughing to herself it was kinda hard to hold back.

"They probed you?" Dean echoed incredulously.

"Yeah, they probed me," He confirmed, not elaborating on what he meant. "Again and a-again and - and again," He took a shot of whiskey as he grew more and more anxious. "And again and again and again and then one more time," Karoline glanced at Dean, both of them fighting a smile.

"Yikes," Dean's deadpan tone made Karoline swallow to keep from laughing.

"And that's not even the worst of it," That got their attention.

"How could it get any worse?" Dean questioned, letting out a small laugh. "Some alien made you his bitch," Curtis glared at Dean, and Karoline smacked him in the arm again, fighting off a smile herself.

"They... they made me...slow dance," Alayna glanced at Sam, who was struggling against a smile, and then at Dean and Karoline, who were laughing lightly.

"You guys are exaggerating again, huh?" Bobby didn't really phrase it as a question, but the three of us answered simultaneously.

"No," Bobby frowned at their conviction.

"Then this frat boy's just nuts." Bobby replied firmly.

"Yeah, we're not so sure. We went to the college to look at where the kid said he'd been abducted..." Dean began.

-Dean-

"I'm telling you guys, this was made by a jet engine," Sam stated, sounding convinced.

"You mean like a saucer-shaped jet engine?" Alayna questioned disbelievingly, staring at the circle of singed grass on the lawn outside the college.

"Well, what else could it be?" Sam tried to reason, shrugging.

"What the hell?" Dean muttered agitated, shaking his head.

"Yeah," Sam agreed softly, glancing between him and the girls.

"Seriously, what the hell?" Dean snapped louder, and Sam glanced around to see if anyone had heard. If they had, they didn't care enough to look over.

"I don't know. I mean, first the haunting, now this?" Karoline recalled what they'd learned about the hunt so far, which wasn't much.

"I mean, the timing... there has to be a connection between the two," Alayna nodded, agreeing with Sam.

"You mean between the angry spirit and the sexed-up E.T.?" Dean pointed out. "What could the connection possibly be?"

"I don't know, but there has to be one," Karoline shrugged.

"I mean, what else could we do, so we just kept on digging."

"So, you and this guy, Curtis - you were in the same house?" Sam questioned the teenage boy, who the four of them had finally found in the courtyard.

"Yeah," He answered shortly, clearly not wanting to expand.

"You heard what happened to him, right?" Dean asked him, surprised by the guy's indifference.

"Yeah, he says it was aliens, but, you know, whatever," The guy shrugged it off, earning a glance of respect from Dean.

"Look, man, I-I know this all has to be so hard," Sam began emotionally, looking away to hide his tears.

"Um, not so much," The guy shrugged, clearly growing slightly uncomfortable.

"But I want you to know...I'm here for you," The student awkwardly nodded, not sure what to do about the taller man's display of emotions."You brave little soldier. I acknowledge your pain," The student's eyes flicked to Dean and the girls for a moment before returning to Sam. "Come here," Sam wrapped him in a tight hug, making his eyes widen in surprise. "You're too precious for this world,"

"I never said that!" Sam protested while the girls laughed outright.

"You're always saying pansy stuff like that," Dean shrugged, defending himself. "Even Kare and Alayna aren't that emotional, and they're chicks," both girls quirked an eyebrow at Deans tone.