(just a heads up! since this episode is mainly flashbacks and whatnot, the flashback scenes will be italics. just a heads up! oh, and also this chapter is mainly going to be ana telling diana ballard what happened and whatever. unlike in the episode where it was sam. but in this it is ana)

A police officer named Diana Ballard enters an interrogation room where Ana is placed by the window. "Thought you might be thirsty." Ballard says.

"So, so you're the good cop. Who is the bad and pathetic cop?" Ana snarks to the officer.

"Oh, the bad cop is with your boyfriend and the 'pathetic' one is with his brother." Ballard says.

"Oh, and I guess lucky me I get stuck with you." Ana says. "You're holding us why?" She adds.

"Well, for starters your boyfriend is being held on suspicion of murder, and you we'll see." Ballard says.

"Murder? Dean isn't capable of murder." Ana says as Ballard looks at her.

"You sound genuinely surprised. Or are you that good of an actor?" Ballard sarcastically asks.

"Who did he murder?" Ana asks.

"We'll get around to that."  Ballard says.

"Well, you can't keep us here without formal charges!" Ana says to the woman in front of her.

"Well, actually we can, for forty-eight hours. You are twenty-five years old, no job, no home address. Your mother died when you were a baby, your biological father is alive and is currently in a prison in Texas. Then there's the case of your boyfriend, Dean. Whose demise was, well, just a little bit exaggerated. Feel free to jump in whenever you like." Ballard says as Ana is leaning against the wall, folding her arms as she looks at Ballard. "Shy? No problem. I'll keep going. You moved around in orphanages growing up, then you got adopted when you were fourteen went to high school and met Mr. Winchester. You weren't a straight-A student, the most grades you'd get was C's. Then Mr. Winchester moved in with you when you were in your early twenties. Is that correct."

"I'm not agreeing nor denying." Ana says.

"So, what happened after Sam got in the picture?" Ballard asks.

"We went on a roadtrip across America." Ana replies giving Ballard a blank look.

"How is that going for you?" Ballard asks as Ana rolls her eyes.

"Great. I mean... we saw the second largest ball of twine in the contential US. Awesome." Ana replies sarcastically as she pulls a chair up to the table and straddles it with her legs on both sides of the chair.

"We ran, Dean's fingerprints through AFIS." Ballard says.

"Okay, like I'm supposed to care." Ana retorts.

"Got over a dozen possible hits." Ballard says.

"Possible hits. Which makes them worthless." Ana says.

"But it makes you wonder. What are we gonna find when we run your prints and take your DNA." Ballard says.

"Yeah, well." Ana says as she pounds her fist on the table sarcastically. "You be sure to let me know, alright." She says sarcastically as she points at the coffee cup. "May I?" 

"Please." Ballard says.

"Great." Ana replies as she sniffs the cup and sips it as Ballard leans over her, intently.

"Anastasia, you seem like a good kid. It's not your fault Dean's your boyfriend. We can't pick that out. Right now, detectives in St. Louis are exhuming a corpse. They're trying to figure out how your boyfriend faked his own death. After torturing all these young women. Dean's a bad guy. His life is over. Yours don't have to be." Ballard says as Ana looks at her incredulous.

"You want me to turn against my own boyfriend?" Ana asks.

"No. We already caught him cold. Red handed at the Karen Giles murder scene. We just need you to fill in some missing pieces." Ballard says.

"Why would I do that?" Ana asks as she took another sip of the coffee.

"Because I can talk to the DA. Make a deal for you. You can get on with your life. Dean's as good as gone." Ballard says as Ana looks down to her lap. She honestly can't imagine her life without Dean.

"John Winchester and Tony Giles were old friends. They were in the service together. Dean and Sam have known him since they were kids, you know? So, we came as soon as we heard about his death." Ana says.

───※ ·❆· ※───

flashback

Dean is sitting at a cafe table with Ana beside him, Dean is reading a newspaper as Ana is eating her bagel. Sam approaches the couple with two cups of coffee and an iced coffee for Ana and sets Dean and Ana's coffee down onto the table. Dean hands the paper over to Sam as Ana gives Dean a piece of her bagel and he eats it. "Anthony Giles."

"Who is Anthony Giles?" Sam asks. 

"He's a Baltimore lawyer. Working late in his office, check it out." Dean says as Sam reads the newspaper. 

"Uh, throat was slit, room was clean. Huh. No, DNA, no prints." Sam says.

"Keep reading, it gets better." Dean says.

"Security camera failed to capture footage of the assailant." Sam says.

"So, I'm thinking somebody tampered with the tapes--" Dean says.

"Or it's an invisible killer." Sam says.

"My favorite kind. What do you think, Scully? You wanna check it out?" Dean says as Ana shakes her head a little at Dean.

"I'm not Scully, you're Scully." Sam says to his brother.

"No, I'm Mulder. You're a red-headed woman." Dean says as a huff of a laugh escaped Ana's lips.

end of flashback

───※ ·❆· ※───

Ana continues her story. "Woulda been kinda hard for Dean to kill Tony, considering we weren't in town at the time."

"So, tell me what happened next." Ballard says to Ana.

"Okay, uh, that's when we went to see Karen. She was barely holding it together. We just wanted to be there for her. You know?" Ana says.

───※ ·❆· ※───

flash back

Karen was a young woman with dark hair and dark-framed glasses, she was sitting in her home, on the verge of tears. She's looking at some form that Dean, Sam and Ana who are dressed as insurance company employees, had given her. "Insurance. I totally forgot about the insurance."

"We're very sorry to bother you right now, but the company is required to conduct its own investigation. You understand." Ana says to the woman in front of her. 

"Sure." Karen says.

"Okay. Um, if you could just tell us anything you remember about the night your husband died." Sam says to the woman.

"Uh, Tony and I were just supposed to have dinner. He called me and said he was having computer troubles, and that, that he had to work late. That was it." Karen explains as Ana nods her head.

"Do you have any idea who could have done this to him?" Ana asks.

"No. No, it's like I told the police. I...I have no idea." Karen says.

"Did Tony mention anything, you know, unusual to you? In the days before his death?" Dean asks.

"Unusual..." Karen says.

"Yeah, like strange things, that he typically wouldn't say or something like that." Ana says. Karen shakes her head. "Any weird noises? Uh visions, anything like that?"

"He had a nightmare the day before he died." Karen says as Ana nods her head.

"What kind of nightmare?" Dean asks.

"Uh, he said that he woke up in the middle of the night and there was a woman standing at the foot at the bed, he blinked, and she was gone. I mean, it was just a nightmare." Karen explains.

"Did he say what she looked like?" Ana asks.

"What the hell difference does it make what she looked like?" Karen asks.

"Uh, it's just, our, our company's very thorough." Dean says.

"He said she was pale, and she had dark red eyes." Karen says.

end of flashback

───※ ·❆· ※───

 "So, Sam gave Karen a hug, and I told her to call me if she needed anything." Ana says. "And that was it. End of the story."

"Anastasia, I am trying to help you here. But you have got to be honest with me. Now, we have an eyewitness. Someone who saw two men and a woman fitting your guys' description breaking into Giles' office." Ballard says.

"Okay, look. Karen called us later, said that there was some stuff that she wanted from Tony's office, but the police weren't letting her in -- like a picture of the two of them in Paris, and some other stuff. Look, it was wrong to enter a crime scene, but she gave us the key!" Ana says to Ballard.

───※ ·❆· ※───

flashback

Ana picks the lock on Giles' office and her, and the brothers enter, ducking under the police tape. Ana shines her flashlight on a pool of blood on the floor. "Hey, Anthony Giles' body was found right about here." San sats. "Throat slit so deep that part of his spinal cord was visible."

Ana's face scrunches up at what Sam had said that. "So, vengeful spirit? Underlining vengeful?"

"Yeah, maybe. I mean he did see that woman at the foot of his bed." Sam says as Ana picks up a sheet of paper lying on the desk.

"Look at this."  Ana says as she takes the paper. It contains small-font printing on the word 'dana shulps' repeated over and over to fill the page. "Dana Shulps. A name?" Ana finds another paper. "Yeah, but it's everywhere."

"Well, all work, and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Dean says grinning as Ana shook her head again.

Ana shines her flashlight down on the glass table in front of him, pausing. He breathes on the glass, revealing the same letters 'DANA SHULPS' impressed in the surface. "Wow. I'd say we've officially crossed over into weird."

"Our whole lives are weird." Ana says as Dean couldn't help but agree with her when she said that.

"Maybe Giles knew her." Dean says.

"Or maybe it's the name of our pale, red-eyed mystery girl." Sam says.

"Well, let's see what we can see." Dean says.

Later they are frustrated and have found nothing after searching through all accessible paper and computer files in the office. Sam is at the desktop computer. "There's not a single mention of a Dana Shulps anywhere. There's not a D. Shulps. Or any other kind of friggin' Shulps." Dean says annoyed.

"Great." Sam mutters.

"What have you got?" Dean asks.

"Nothing. No Dana Shulps has ever lived or died in Baltimore in the last fifty years at least." Sam says.

"So, what now?" Ana asks.

"Well, I think I'm pretty close to cracking Giles' password. Maybe there's something in his personal files, you know?" Sam says.

"By close you mean..." Dean says.

"Thirty minutes, maybe?" Sam says.

Dean glances at his watch semi annoyed. "Awesome. So, I guess I just get to, uh, hang out." He mutters with a small eyeroll. "Awesome." He says as Sam is typing on his computer concentrating and Dean sits down annoyed and starts making clicking and mouth fart noises. Ana tries not to laugh at seeing Dean being bored.

If she is being honest, he looks like a bored toddler which is honestly adorable. But he would admit that he is being bored which is to be expected. "I'm gonna go see if Karen knows anything about this Dana Shulps, person. C'mon baby." Dean says as Ana huffed as she was mid reading a book which most likely was a Harry Potter book. She and Dean, then walked out of the motel to head to Karen's place.

End of flashback

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Then Dean and I went back to Karen's place to check up on her. I mean, you know, she had been pretty upset earlier." Ana says to Ballard. 

"So, why did you go with him?" Ballard asks Ana.

"Because I was bored too, but I was reading a book." Ana says to Ballard. 

"So, after you and Dean left Sam in the motel room. You and Dean went to go murder Karen?" Ballard says which made Ana's eye start twitching a little from the questions.

"HE DIDN'T MURDER ANYONE!" Ana exclaims as she is pretty sure that wherever Dean was in the police station that he had heard her.

"I heard the 911 calls! Karen was terrified. She said someone was in the house." Ballard says as she had hit the table.

"Yeah, and just because she heard someone in the house doesn't mean it was me and Dean." Ana says to Ballard.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

flashback

Dean and Ana arrive at Karen's place as Ana knocks on the door. "Karen, you in there?" Ana asks as she looks around and picks the lock.

Ana tries the light by the door, but it doesn't work. The couple goes further into the house and into the bedroom. Dean pushes the door and sees Karen lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Her throat is slit deeply, as Ana's face contorts in disgust at seeing Karen dead on the floor. She forcably turns her head away from Karen and sees the pages from the printer and a slight frown was on her face.

"Seriously, what the hell?" Dean asks to himself as he kneels down by Karen's body, noticing the bruises on her wrists. He takes one wrist on his hand, which made a little bit of Karen's blood on his hand.

"Freeze." A voice says behind the couple as three cops have their guns trained on the couple. "Stay on your knees. Hands where I can see them. Now." The woman says as Ana glances at Dean as he did to her, he muttered the words, 'i love you' to her as she barely nodded her head at what he said.

End of flashback

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Sheridan is sitting in an observation room where Dean is in, handcuffed to a table. Just then Ballard enters the observation room. "You gettin' anywhere with him?" Ballard asks

"No, just a lot of wise-ass remarks, and him saying he wants his girlfriend, the redhead you have. You?" Sheridan says to Ballard.

"Ana's story matches Dean's to the last detail." Ballard says.

"Hmm, did you see the guy who has Sam?"

"No, not yet. But I'm gonna after you."

"Yeah, well these two are good. I'll give 'em that."

"If we don't get Ana to flip, we have nothing but a lot of circumstantial evidence." Ballard says.

"We got Dean and Ana at the crime scene, and Dean had blood on his hands. Juries have convicted for less." Sheridan says.

"Yeah, but I mean where's the murder weapon? What's the motive? You talk about reasonable doubt." Ballard says.

"Diana." Sheridan says. "Do you have reasonable doubt? We keep learning on these guys, one of them will tumble. And don't forget about St. Louis. I'm telling you. This Dean guy is our guy."

"I know Tony Giles was a friend of yours." Ballard says.

"Yeah, he was, he was a good friend." Sheridan says.

"Look, and I know you want to clean this mess up quick. But come on, Tony knew a lot of criminal types, I mean, maybe we're just." Ballard says.

"Criminal types? He was a defense lawyer, for godsakes, of course he knew criminal types." Sheridan says.

"Alright, let's get back at 'em." Ballard says.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Ana pulls a pad of paper and a pen and writes 'DANA SHULPS' and frowns in thought. "Anagram maybe?" Ana whispers to herself. 

not too long later

Ana is looking at the note Dean sent her, which reads:
HILTS
IT'S A STREET
ASHLAND
- MCQUEEN

"I hope that's meaningful. But I'd like to discuss your case now." Kraus says.

"Sure thing, Matlock." Ana says as she gesturing to a chair.

"You two really are dating, aren't you?" Kraus says as before Ana could say anything, a knock on the door is quickly followed by Ballard, who address Kraus.

"We need you. With the other one." Ballard says.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Several others have crowded into the observation room outside where Dean is being held, across from him is a digital camera. "Counselor? Your boy decided to confess." Sheridan says.

"Mr. Winchester? I'd advise against that strongly." Kraus says.

"Talk directly into the camera, first stating your name for the record." Sheridan says as Dean clears his throat and leans forward, looking into the camera.

"My name is Dean Winchester. I'm an Aquarius. I enjoy sunsets long walks on the beach, my girlfriend Ana. And I did not kill anyone. But I know who did. Or rather what did. Of course it can't be for sure, because our investigation was interrupted. But our working theory was that we're looking for some kind of vengeful spirit.

"Excuse me?" Ballard asks.

"You know, Casper the bloodthirsty ghost?" Dean asks as in the observation room the spectators start laughing.

"Tony Giles saw it. I'll bet you cash money Karen did too. But see, the interesting thing is the world it leaves behind. For some reason it's trying to tell us something. But communicating across the veil, it ain't easy. You know, sometimes the spirits, they, they get things jumbled. You remember 'REDRUM' same concept. You know, it's, uh, maybe word fragments... other times, it's anagrams. See, at first, we thought this was a name, Dana Shulps. But now we think it's a street. Ashland. Whatever's going on, I'll bet you it started there."

Dean spreads his hands and smiles. "You arrogant bastard. Tony and Karen were good people, and you're making jokes." Sheridan says.

"I'm not joking, Ponch." Dean says.

"You murdered them in cold blood just like that girl in St. Louis." Sheridan says.

"Oh, yeah. That wasn't me either. That was a shape-shifter creature that only looked like me." Dean says as he smiles at the camera. 

Sheridan loses his temper and hauls Dean up by the collar, slamming him against the wall. "Pete, that's enough!" Ballard says.

"You asked for the truth." Dean says.

"Lock his ass up." Sheridan says as another cop takes over, shoving Dean face-first against the wall, and handcuffing him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Sheridan and Ballard return to Ana's interrogation room and find that she is gone. The only thing left behind was the coffee and the note. "What the hell? Where is she?" Sheridan asks.

Sheridan goes to the window, which is open and looks out. It's a four story drop with no visible fire escape nearby. Ballard sees the note on the table and picks it up. "What did she do? The fire escape's way over...what?"

"These three guys." Ballard says as she hands him the note.

"Hilts and McQueen?" Sheridan asks.

"Hilts is Steve McQueen's character in the Great Escape." Ballard says as just then the door to Ana's interrogation room is busted open.

"Sam Winchester is gone."

"Son of a bitch." Ballard curses under her breath.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Dean is handcuffed to another table as Ballard enters, nervous, as she then shuts the door. "Can we make this quick? I'm a little tired, it's been a long day, you know, with your partner assaulting me and all."

"I want to know more about that stuff you were talking about earlier." Ballard says.

"Time Life. Mysterious of the Unknown. Look it up." Dean says.

"Let's pretend for the moment, you're not entirely insane." Ballard says.

"Mmm." Dean hums a reply.

"What would one of these things be doing here?" Ballard asks.

"A vengeful spirit? Well, they're created by violent deaths, and then they come back for a reason, usually a nasty one. Like revenge on the people that hurt 'em."

"And uh, these, they're capable of killing people?" Ballard asks as she rubs her neck, as Dean notices something on her wrist.

"Where did you get that?" Dean asks, as she pulls up her sleeves to reveal deep bruises, just like those on Karen's wrists.

"I don't know. It, it wasn't there before." Ballard says.

"You've seen it, haven't you? The spirit?" Dean asks.

"How did you know?" Ballard asks.

"Because Karen had the same bruises on her wrists. And I'm willing to bet that if you look at Giles' autopsy photos he's got 'em too, it's got something to do with this spirit, I... I don't know what." Dean says as Ballard turns away looking into the mirror. "I know. You think you're going crazy, but let's skip that part, shall we? Because the last two died who saw this thing? Died, pretty soon after. You hear me?"

"You think I'm going to die." Ballard says.

"You need to go to Ana and Sam. They'll help. Besides ghostly lore is Ana's thing. She'd be the best bet for your help, trust me." Dean says offering Ballard a small smile.

"You're giving your brother and girlfriend up." Ballard says.

"Go to the motel first, listed in the yellow pages. Look for Jim Rockford and Margaret Jones - it's how we find each other when we're separated. Now you can arrest them if you want. Or you can let them save your life. You pick?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Sam and Ana are sitting at a motel desk, they're both going through files. Ana couldn't focus without Dean, even with Dean being distracting earlier by making mouth noises and stuff, with Ana. Sam doesn't care; her hand is shaking as she tries to concentrate at the files. "Hey, he'll be okay. Okay." Sam says which made Ana jump almost like she forgot that he was there. 

A small frown is on his face, as he takes Ana's hand that is shaking as the other one is holding the book. When Sam is holding her hand knowing it calms her down, and despite her nerves and anxiety right now, she manages to calm down a little. Sam has learned a few tricks that calms Ana down when she is this anxious and nervous, like Dean he softly rubs his thumb on her knuckles. "I... I miss him."

"I know, so do I." Sam says to Ana, as just then there was a knock on the door. Ana whips out her gun that was in her pocket to find Ballard; Ana hesitates without lowering her gun as Ballard shrugs and come in.

"These showed up after you saw it?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, I guess." Ballard says, as she turns to Ana who had yet to lower her gun. "You can lower the gun."

Ana looks at Sam as he nodded his head softly, as she lowered her gun and put it back into her pocket in her shorts.

"Alright, you're going to tell us exactly what you saw." Sam says.

"You know, I must be losing my mind. You two are fugitives. I should be arresting you two." Ballard says.

"Alright, well you know what? You can arrest us later, alright? After you live through this. But right now, you've gotta talk to us." Ana says.

"Now this spirit. What did it look like?" Sam asks.

"She was, um, really pale, and her throat was cut, and her eyes, they were like, this deep dark red. It appeared like she was trying to talk to me. But she couldn't. It was just... a lot of blood."

"You know what? Here. We've been researching every girl that's ever died or gone missing from Ashland Street." Sam says as he leans over a table where he gathers up a stack of crime scene photos.

"How'd you get those? Those are from crime scenes and booking photos." Ballard says.

"You have your job, we have ours." Ana sarcastically says as Ballard gave her a side-eyed look.

"Here. I need you to look through these, tell me if you recognize anyone." Sam says.

Ballard sits and flips through the stack. On the third photo, a young woman's booking photo, she stops. "That is her. I'm sure of it." Ballard says.

"Claire Becker? Twenty-eight years old, disappeared about eight or nine months ago." Ana says.

"But I don't even know her. I mean, why would she come after me?" Ballard asks.

"Well, before her death, she was arrested twice. For dealing heroin. You ever work narcotics?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, Pete and I did. Before Homicide." Ballard states.

"You ever bust her?" Ana asks.

"Not that I remember." Ballard says.

"It says that she was last seen entering 2911 Ashland Street. Police searched the place, didn't find anything. Guess we gotta check it out ourselves. See if we can find her body." Sam says.

"What?" Ballard asks confused.

"Well, we gotta salt and burn her bones. It's the only way to put her and or any spirit to rest." Ana says.

"Of course it is." Ballard says.

"You go with Ballard, Ana. I'll stay here." Sam says as Ana looks at Sam, confused.

"You sure?" Ana asks as he nods his head as he hands Ana a small duffel bag of weapons that she was going to need. "Thanks."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Ana leads Ballard into a dark and creepy warehouse. "So, what exactly are we looking for?" Ballard asks.

"I'll let you know when we find it." Ana says.

They then split up, Ana checking up a flight of stairs and Ballard continuing on the lower level. She turns towards a window and sees Claire, standing by the window. She struggling to talk. "Ana? Ana? Ana!" Ana runs down the stairs to Ballard as then the ghost disappeared.

"Hey! Hey, I'm here, what is it? What happened?" Ana asks.

"Claire..." Ballard says but then trails off.

"Where?" Ana asks.

"She, she was here." Ballard says.

"Did she attack you?" Ana asks.

"No, no, she was just like, reaching out to me. She was over there by the window." Ballard says as the window is blocked by a shelving unit. "Here, help me move this."

"Alright." Ana says as they shove the shelves aside, revealing the window. It is labeled from the outside.

"Our little mystery word." Ballard says as they turn to see a shadow on the opposite wall, casting the words into clear reflection.

"Now the extra letters make sense." Ana says as she pulls out her EMF reader and approaches the opposite wall.

"What is that?" Ballard asks.

"Spirits and certain remains give off electromagnetic frequencies." Ana says.

"So, if Claire's body was here, that would indicate that?" Ballard asks.

"Yeah, well, that's the theory." Ana says as the EMF reader purrs as she waves it over the brick wall. She turns and starts breaking through the wall with a sledgehammer. When she's knocked out a sizeable hole, she pokes his flashlight inside.

"Yeah, there's definitely something in there." Ana says as she starts breaking through the wall with elbows and fists. "You know? This is bothering me."

"Well, you are digging up a corpse." Ballard says, as Ana shakes her head.

"No, not that. That's, uh, that's pretty par from the course, actually." Ana says.

"Then what?" Ballard says.

"It's just, I mean, no vengeful spirit I've ever tussled with wanted to be wasted, so why the hell would Claire lead us to her remains? It doesn't make any sense." Ana says as she had broken most of the wall. "Alright, here. Give me a hand."

Together they pull out a shroud-wrapped body and place it on the ground. Ana pulls out a pocketknife and cuts the copes holding the shroud together, uncovering her. Ballard then holds out her wrists. 

"Her wrists. Yeah, they'd be bruised just like yours?" Ana says as Ballard notices a necklace on the corpse and touches it cautiously. "That necklace? Mean somethin', to you?" Ana asks.

"I've seen it before, it's rare. It was custom made over on Carson Street." Ballard says as she reaches into her neckline. "I have one just like it. Pete gave it to me."

"Now this all makes perfect sense." Ana says.

"I'm sorry?" Ballard asks confused.

"Yeah. You see, Claire is not a vengeful spirit, she's a death omen." Ana says.

"Excuse me?" Ballard asks.

"Claire's not killing anyone. She's trying to warn them. You see, sometimes spirits, they don't want vengeance, they want justice. Which is why she led us here in the first place. She wants us to know who her killer is." Ana says as there was a moment of silence. "Detective, hate to get personal but how much do you know about your partner?"

"Oh my God." Ballard says after she was thinking for a moment.

"What is it?" Ana asks.

"About a year ago, some heroin went missing from lockup. Obviously, it was a cop. We never found out who did it. But whoever did it would need someone to fence their product." Ballard says.

"Someone like a heroin dealer. Somebody like Claire." Ana says.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Sheridan is driving an armored van with Dean in the back. "So, I'm being extradited to St. Louis, huh? And you just decided to transfer me yourself, eight hundred miles? At two in the morning? This can't be good." Dean says.

Ballard is driving Ana down a similar stretch of road, finishing a call on her cell phone. "Alright, thanks." Ballard says as she hangs up.

"What is that?" Ana asks.

"Pete just left the precinct, with Dean." Ballard says.

"What?" Ana asks.

"He said the prisoner had to be transferred, and he just took him. Dispatch has been calling but he won't answer the radio." Ballard says.

"Radio? He took a county vehicle?" Ana asks.

"Yeah." Ballard confirms.

"Well, then they should have a lo-jack, you've just gotta get it turned on." Ana says as Ballard looks at the redhead. "I watch crime shows/police shows."

"Nice." Ballard says.

The armored van pulls off the road and stops. "Pee break? So soon? You might want to get your prostate checked." Dean says as Sheridan gets out and circles to the back of the van where Dean is at. "Son of a bitch." Dean mumbles as then Sheridan opens the van. "Hey, I'm cool in the van, you go do what you gotta do." Dean says as Sheridan hauls Dean out and throws him to the ground.

"You're a cocky son of a bitch. You think those people in St. Louis are gonna buy that crap you're peddling? Here's the thing. You're not gonna make it to St. Louis. You're gonna die trying to escape." Sheridan says as he pulls out his gun and points it at Dean's head.

"Wait! Wait. Let's, let's talk about this. I mean, you don't want to do something that you're gonna regret later." Dean says as Sheridan cocks the gun. "Or maybe you do."

"Put the gun down, bitch." A voice says which makes the hairs on Dean's neck stand up, as it was Ana

"Who are you? Why should I take an order from a bitch like you." Sheridan says to Ana which sparked something in Dean.

"Watch, who you're calling a bitch. She doesn't like it." Dean warns to Sheridan as the man shoves Dean again, as Ana cocked her gun. Sheridan then turns his attention back to Ana. "What you gonna do about it, then, little girl."

"You killed Claire, just admit it. Then this will all be done."

"Admit what, bitch?" Sheridan snarked to Ana, which made her pull out a rifle, which made Sheridan slightly lower his own gun. "Put the gun down."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sheridan says, as that's when Ballard gets out of the car. Sheridan turns his attention to Diana and not Ana. Ana cocked her head at Dean, and he nodded his head as he moved out of the way. "Where do you think you're going?" Sheridan asks Dean as before he moved towards Dean that's when Ana shot the rifle, in his shoulder.

"Step away from him!" Ana says to Sheridan. 

"Claire was trying to turn me in, so I had no choice." Sheridan says

"And Tony? Karen?" Ballard asks.

"Same thing! Toy scrubbed the money, he got skittish, and then he wanted to come clean. I'm sure he told Karen everything." Sheridan says. "It was a mess; I had to clean it up. I just panicked."

"How many more people are gonna die over this, Pete?" Ballard asks.

"There's a way out. This Dean kid's a friggin gift. We could pin the whole thing on him. Right? No trial, nothin'. Just, just one more dead scumbag."

"Not if I have to do anything with it."

"Who are you, his sister?"

"Fuck no. But someone you don't want to mess with." Ana says as she still had her gun pointed at Sheridan.

"He needs a better type. Than bitches." Sheridan says as Ana looked at Ballard who nodded as Ana shot Sheridan in the chest, which struck him in the heart.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Ballard is kneeling by the body of her late partner. She gets up and approaches. Ana and Dean standing nearby. "You doin' okay?" Ana asks.

"Not really. The death omen Claire. What happens to her now?" Ballard asks.

"Should be over. She should be at rest." Ana says.

"So, uh. What now, officer." Dean says as he has an arm around Ana.

"Pete did confess to me. He screwed up both your cases royally. I'd say that there's a good chance that we could get your cases along with Sam's dismissed." Ballard says.

"You'd take care of that for us?" Ana asks.

"I hope so. But the St. Louis murder charges? That's another story. I can't help you. Unless... I just happened to turn my back, and you three walk away. I could just tell them that the suspects escaped." Ballard says.

"Wait, are you sure?" Ana asks.

"Yeah." Dean says

"No, it's just. I mean, you could lose your job over something like that." Ana says

"Look, I just want you guys out there doing what you do best. Trust me, I'll sleep better at night." Ballard says as she turns to go. "Listen, you need to watch your back. They're gonna be looking for you three right now. Get out of here. I gotta radio this in."

"You, wouldn't happen to know where my car is, by chance?" Dean asks.

"It's at the impound yard down on Robertson." Ballard says.

"Thanks." Ana says as her and Dean turn to leave.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

hannah speaks!

hope you like the chapter!

see you in the next one!

<3