⌜ chapter seven ⌟

"Sam, some guy is dead now because of me." Dean says as he looks at his brother, trying to keep his voice down, not knowing that he already woke up Isla when he shut the door walking into the room a few minutes ago.

"I didn't know." The younger boy tells him, unable to meet his gaze, and his expression softens as he looks at him. Sam takes a deep breath as he sits up straight in his chair. "The thing I don't understand is, how is Roy doing it? How is he trading a life for a life?"

"Oh, he's not doing it." He shakes his head as he walks back over toward the table that Sam's sitting at. "Something else is doing it for him."

"What do you mean?"

"The old man I saw on stage. I didn't want to believe it, but deep down I knew it."

"Knew what? What are you talking about?" Sam questions, looking up at his brother with a furrowed brow.

"There's only one thing that can give and take life like that." He says as he sits down across from him. "We're dealing with a reaper."

The boys start doing research after that for the case that they've discovered, and Isla gets up from where she and Minx were taking a nap on Sam's bed. The blonde's careful not to wake the kitten, and then she walks over to pour herself a cup of coffee. She rolls her right shoulder as she tilts her head to the left, trying to stretch it after laying down for an hour.

Sam gets up and goes into the bathroom as the older boy walks over to get himself some coffee as well. Isla glances up at him as she leans against the counter, and this her gaze flickers over to the closed bathroom door.

"Something on your mind?" Dean asks, feeling her gaze when it returns to him.

"It's not Sam's fault that we found a...killing healer." She says, and he nods. "He was desperate to save his big brother. You're lucky that you have someone who loves you enough to turn over every stone to keep you from ending up dead."

"I don't blame him for Marshall dying in my place."

"Good. And while we're on the topic of where you're placing blame — stop blaming yourself for what that shifter did to me." She says as she turns her body to face him. "It may have been your face, but it wasn't your hands. You didn't do this to me."

"It was my memories that led him to you." He argues, and she shakes her head.

"You. Didn't. Do. This." She repeats. "But you are the one who saved me. Instead of taking the blame, maybe you should take some credit. I'm alive because you killed someone who looked like you. And I've already moved on, it's part of the job that I choose to do. If anyone's to blame for me almost getting killed, it's me."

"Are you two ever not arguing?" Sam asks as he walks out of the bathroom and makes his way back over to his seat.

Isla then takes Dean's seat across from the younger boy and starts doing some research of her own for their case. They're working all through the night, and have piles of papers printed up by the next morning that they're all reading through.

"You really think it's the Grim Reaper?" Sam questions. "Like Angel of Death, collect your soul, the whole deal?"

"No, no. Not the reaper — a reaper." The older boy corrects as Isla rubs her temples and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. "There's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth. They go by a hundred different names. It's possible that there's more than one of 'em."

"But you said you saw a dude in a suit."

"What, you think he should've been working the whole black robe thing?" Dean questions.

"Hell yes." Isla nods. "If he doesn't look like Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, then I don't want 'im."

The older boy narrows his apple green eyes at her before looking at his brother. "How much drugs have you given her?" He asks, and Sam looks over at the blonde.

"It's a cartoon, you lame asses." She says as she sits back in her chair. "Not all of us troll bars late at night. Some of us simply watch tv."

"Go to bed."

"Ooh, can I?"

"You've been up too long anyway. You should be getting more rest until you're better." Sam tells her. "You still look like you were hit by a truck."

"The mother-hen has spoken." Isla stands up, stretching her back and legs. "I drank too much coffee." She mutters as she then starts toward the bathroom.

A couple minutes later, the blonde's walking back into the main room after washing her still slightly bruised hands. She makes her way over to Sam and holds her hands out toward him with her lower lip pushed out in a begging manner. He chuckles as he reaches up and places his hands on either side of hers, warming them up for her. She did this a few times while they were doing research to find a way to save Dean, and he was highly amused because it's usually while she's sleep deprived like she is right now. It seems to make her act more childish.

"We can't kill Roy, we can't kill death. Any bright ideas, college boy?" Dean questions before glancing between the two of them. He's now standing by the sink after having rinsed both his and Isla's coffee mugs.

"However Le Grange is controlling the reaper — break it." Isla says, and Sam points up at her, his hands still over hers.

"Half asleep, and she still has better ideas than you do." The younger boy says, looking at his older brother.

"Go to bed." Dean tells her again.

"Whose bed is Minx on?" The blonde asks as she walks away from them with her eyes half shut.

"Sam's." He says, so she flops down on Dean's bed and curls up with his pillow to get some much needed sleep.

—

Isla walks into the boys' room the next day and sees Dean sitting on the foot of his bed instead of packing up so that they can leave. "Hey." She gets his attention, and he looks up at her. "Sam told me you almost got yourself killed last night. Twice in one week — you going for a record?"

"I just had to one up you, that's all." He says, and she smirks.

She looks at him for a moment; he's staring down at his hands again. "Why the long face?" She asks, and just he shakes his head. "Dean, come on."

He takes a deep breath as his green eyes find her again. "We did the right thing here, didn't we?"

"This is about that girl from when we first got here?" She asks. "Sam told me that you've talked to her a few times since — said you seemed to like her. Layla, right?"

"She's a good person, and now she's gonna die in a few months."

"Dean..." She takes a deep breath as she walks over and sits down next to him. "I know that it sucks, and I know that sucks doesn't really even begin to cover it, but it's life. It's normal, it's human. Not everyone gets the ending that they deserve, but that protester didn't deserve to die so that she can live. And neither did you."

"Why do I deserve to live more than she does?" He asks, and Isla reaches over and rests her hand on his arm as she leans into his side.

"You got it wrong, Dean. Neither of you deserves to live more than the other, but nobody should die in her place. No, she doesn't deserve what's happening to her, but that's life. And life isn't always fair." She says, and he looks at her. "You saved that protester from Sue Ann, you saved those kids from being eaten by a monster, you saved me from being that shifter's next victim. All that in three weeks time, and the list goes back how many years? You did the right thing here."

The corners of his lips tug upward as he places his hand over hers. "Thanks, doll face." He says, and she smiles as she looks into his apple green eyes.

"Anytime." She lightly squeezes his fingers, and his gaze drops to her lips as she looks up at him with that smile still brightening her face.

The door opens then, and Sam walks into the room. Dean and Isla both look over at him, and then they see the blonde woman that's walking in behind him. The older boy quickly stands up, pulling away from Isla as he turns his back to her so he can face the other two.

"Layla."

"Sam called." She smiles as she looks up at him. "He said you wanted to say goodbye." She tells him as Isla looks down at the carpet in front of her shoes, rubbing her now cold hands over her jeans.

"I'm gonna...grab a soda." Sam says, making up an excuse to leave them alone. "Isla?"

"Yeah." Their friend nods as she quickly gets to her feet. "Actually, can you help me get Minx into her carrier?" She asks the younger boy, moving around Dean to get out of the room as fast as she can without being totally obvious about her shift in mood.

When Dean walks out of the motel a few minutes later, he sees Isla with the driver's side door of her truck open. She's leaning inside the cab, across the seat, no doubt with her fingers through the metal grate door of Minx's carrier to play with the kitten while they wait for Dean to finish his conversation with Layla. He doesn't see his brother anywhere, and he wants to talk to Isla anyway, so he walks over to her.

"Hey." His hand lightly brushes over the small of her back to get her attention, and she turns her head to look at him.

"What's up?" The blonde asks as she pushes herself up, off of the seat that she was leaning on, and looks up at the older boy. His hand drops back to his side as she takes a small step back.

"I just wanted to apologize. We were talking, and I blew you off." He says, and she shrugs.

"No big deal. You wanted to talk to her." The blonde glances back at Minx, who's meowing because she wants to get to them.

"Well, yeah, but..." He shakes his head, having a hard time making sense of his thoughts. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's no big deal, really." Isla says as she looks back at him. "If you wanna talk to a girl that you like, who am I to stop you? The girl that your dad's worried can't take care of herself, so you got saddled with the task?" She scoffs as she looks away from him.

"Woah, what?" He questions, eyebrows furrowed. "I never—"

"Hey, are we ready to go?" Sam asks as he walks over to them, holding out the soda that he got from the vending machine for Isla.

"Yes!" The blonde smiles as she quickly reaches out for the bottle of Cherry Pepsi. "You're the best, Sasquatch."

"I thought I was the mother-hen."

"That too." She nods, still smiling. He chuckles as he shakes his head at her. "Alright, let's get out of here. It's too cold for me at the moment." Isla says before climbing into the truck, and Dean moves back a step so that she can close her door.

"Did something happen?" Sam asks, noticing the look on his older brother's face.

"No." Dean then turns around and walks away from him, heading for the Impala. "Move your ass!" He calls over his shoulder, and the younger boy's eyebrows furrow as he shakes his head and starts toward the passenger side of the sleek, black car.