PHANTOM TRAVELER [PART ONE]
___

"Who is it?."
—
"Hello?."

• • •

Dean is asleep with his hand underneath his pillow, Juliet beside him, also fast asleep. Harlow is in the middle of her parents, sprawled out, with her foot almost pushing Dean out of the bed. The huntress and her daughter don't react when the door to their motel room door opens.

Dean, however does.

As the door opens, he awakens and slowly slips one of his hands under his pillow for the weapon he has stashed there. As soon as his hand has grasped the metal of the object, he turns to look, he sees Sam entering the motel room, carrying coffee, apple juice and pastries. He let's out a breath of relief as he drops the weapon that's still under his pillow.

Sam notices his brother is awake and turns to him, a smile of greeting on his face. "Morning, sunshine." Dean groans as he turns to look at Juliet and Harlow, he turns back to Sam when he sees that they are both still sleeping. "What time is it?" Sam goes to answer but Juliet, who had also woken up from the sound of the door opening, beats him to it. "Five firty-five." Dean turns to her with one of his eyebrows raised in surprise, "I thought you were asleep?" The huntress turns to her boyfriend, "Sam coming in with his big feet woke me up." Sam looks at his best friend, offended. "I do not have big feet and I was as quiet as a mouse."

Juliet jokingly looks down at his feet before looking back up at him, her eyebrow raised playfully. "How? Your stompers give you away instantly." Sam rolls his eyes and sarcastically laughs.

Dean's groaning, causes the two hunters to turn to him and watch as he looks between the two. "It's in the morning?" Juliet and Sam glance at each other and roll their eyes at that being the thing that's on his mind. The huntress turns back to Dean and smiles, "Yes, honey, in the morning." The hunter lets out another tired groan as Juliet gives Sam a look. "You'd think, with all the mornings' we've had, where we've been woken up early from Harlow cryin' when she was a baby, he'd have gotten used to it." She then turns and looks back at Dean, his head in his pillow. "Guess not."

Dean ignores her comment and looks at the two. "Where does the day go?" He then sits up slowly, being careful not to wake Harlow. He turns to Sam, "Did you get any sleep last night?" Sam nods his head, "Yeah, I grabbed a couple hours." Juliet narrows her eyes at him, having always known when he's lying, and it seems Dean knows his tell, as well. "Liar. 'Cause I was up at three getting Harlow some warm milk, and you were watching a George Foreman infomercial." Sam shrugs at his brother. "Hey, what can I say? It's riveting TV."

Juliet gives him a look before her expression goes soft with concern. "When was the last time you got an actual good night's sleep, Sammy?" The man in question turns to his best friend and he immediately caves with the truth after seeing the gentle look in her chocolate brown eyes. "I don't know, a little while I guess. It's not a big deal." Dean, though, disagrees. "Yes, it is." The youngest Winchester brother, sighs. "Look, I appreciate your concern-" Dean cuts him off with a shake of his head, "Oh, I'm not concerned about you-" Juliet rolls her eyes, knowing that what Dean is saying, isn't true. "-It's your job to keep my, as well as Juliet and Harlow's, ass' alive, so I need you sharp."

Sam shrugs his shoulders, that being the only reaction out of him. Dean looks at his brother in concern. "Seriously, are you still having nightmares about Jess?" The taller Winchester sighs as he crosses the room to sit on his bed, and hands Juliet and Dean their coffees while putting the apple juice up for when Harlow is awake. "Yeah. But it's not just her. It's everything. I just forgot, you know? This job. Man, it gets to you."

"You can't let it. You can't bring it home like that."

Sam scoffs, "So, what? All this it...never keeps you up at night?"

Dean shakes his head.

"Never? You're never afraid?"

"No, not really."

Juliet and Sam scoff at the same time as the former of the two reaches over and pulls out the large hunting knife he keeps under his pillow and holds it up as if it's evidence that what's he's saying, is a load of crap. Dean rolls his eyes as Sam points to it, silently backing his bestfriend, and takes the knife back, "That's not fear. That's precaution." He then turns and addresses Juliet "Besides, I remember once upon a time, you used to do the same." Juliet shrugs her shoulders, "Yeah, but that was before me and you slept in the same bed. One knife per bed, that's my rule."

Dean smirks, "Oh yeah, what other rules do you have when it comes to our bed?"

Juliet blushes as Sam shakes his head at the two, but mainly at his brother, "All right, whatever. I'm too tired to argue."

Harlow then starts to stir from the noises surrounding her, waking her up. Juliet and Dean look at one another before looking to the bathroom door. They face one another narrow their eyes at each other, like a cross draw between two cowboys.

  The two, being the children that they are, make a run to the motel bathroom door, racing one another. Luckily for   Juliet, she gets into the bathroom first and immediately slams the door in his face and locks it. Unluckily for Dean, he now has to deal with a moody child who takes after him when it comes to being woken up too early. He narrows his eyes at the bathroom door. "You traitor." His eyes narrow more when he hears the quiet giggle from Juliet on the other side of the door.

"Daddy?"

Hearing his daughter's voice, Dean looks down and sighs once more before turning around to face Harlow, who's currently looking at him like a parent would their child when they're being too loud. "You woke me up." The hunter smiles at the five-year-old sheepishly before quickly grabbing one of the pastries and the bottle of apple juice Sam had brought, and holding it out to her. "Sorry, baby. But look, it's your favourite, apple juice and a puff pastry."

Harlow hums as she takes the food and drink from her fathers hands, she smiles when she takes a bite out of the delicious goodness that is in her hands. She looks back up to Dean, a mouth full of food. "Wetter if it dwas pwie." The oldest Winchester laughs. "I know, honey. I know."

Juliet's phone then starts to ring, causing the two hunters and child to look at it in confusion. Dean turns his head to the, still closed and locked, bathroom door. "Juliet, your phone's ringing!" After getting no reply, he tries again. "Babe!" The bathroom door opens and Juliet sticks her head out with one of her eyebrows raised. "What?" Dean jabs his thumb in the direction of her still ringing phone. She opens her mouth in an 'o' shape before she briskly walks over to it and picks it up, answering it, before it can ring out.

Dean tilts his head at Juliet, "Who is it?"

The huntress swats her hand at him, motioning for him to be quiet before putting it on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Juliet, it's, uh, it's Jerry Panowski. You, Dean and John helped me out a couple years back. I tried calling Dean but he didn't pick up"

Hearing this, Dean checks his pockets for his phone and fishes it out. He curses under his breath when he notices a missed call. He double curses when he sees that his phone is on silent. He quickly changes it and turns the volume up on his phone before placing it back in his pocket.

Juliet smiles. "I remember you Jerry, no need to remind me. I'm not Dean" Jerry laughs on the other end of the line. Dean looks at the phone in confusion and tilts his head at Juliet, who covers the speaker on her phone with her hand to whisper, "Up in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. The poltergeist?" A look of realization washes over Dean's face as Juliet rolls her eyes and uncovers the speaker on the phone. She holds it out to Dean, so Jerry is able to hear him. "The poltergeist, it's not back is it?"       

"No. No. Thank God, no. But it's something else, and uh..., I think it could be a lot worse."

Juliet furrows her eyebrows, "What is it?"

"Can we talk in person?"

Juliet, Sam and Dean eye each other as Harlow looks at them in confusion as she continues to eat her breakfast.

• • •

"Thanks for making the trip so quick. I ought to be doing you guys' a favor, not the other way around." 

The family of four follow Jerry through the hangar as he explains to Sam what happened the last time Dean and Juliet were there with John. "Dean, Juliet and your dad really helped me out." He then glances down at Harlow, who is holding her mothers hand. "This young lady was there to, but she was so much smaller." He looks up to Juliet. "She's grown." The huntress laughs and nods her head, "That she has, Jerry." Dean hums in agreement. "She's a little trouble maker now, kissing boys and that." 

Harlow rolls her eyes at her dad's knowing look that he sends her way. "I've wonly wissed one boy and dats Wucas!" The five-year-old then sticks her tongue out at Dean and him being the child that he is, sticks his tongue out back at her.

Sam, wanting to get back to work, glances at Jerry.

  "Yeah, they told me. It was a poltergeist?"

A man who's walking past, hears the conversation and stops to turn to the group. "Poltergeist? Man, I loved that movie." Jerry turns to the worker, a glare on his face. "Hey, nobody's talking to you. Keep walking." Jerry then talks quietly to Sam, "Damn right it was a poltergeist, practically tore our house apart-" he turns to Dean and Juliet, "-Tell you something, if it wasn't for you two and John, I probably wouldn't be alive."

Jerry looks back to Sam, "Your dad said you were off at college. Is that right?"

Sam nods is head, "Yeah, I was. I'm-taking some time off."

Jerry smiles at the younger Winchester brother. "Well, he was real proud of you. I could tell. He talked about you all the time."

Sam glances at Jerry, an unsure look in his eyes. "He did?" Juliet gives her best friend a knowing look as Jeryy nods his head, "Yeah, you bet he did." He then glances between all three of the hunters, "Oh, hey, you know I tried to get a hold of him, but I couldn't. How's he doing, anyway?"

The three hunters look to one another before Dean answers, "He's, um, wrapped up in a job right now." Jerry nods his head, buying what Dean said as the truth. "Well, we're missing the old man, but we get Sam. Even trade, huh?" 

Juliet and Dean laugh as Sam shakes his head, "No, not by a long shot."

They arrive outside of Jerry's office but before they go in, Jerry turns to him. "I got something I want you guys to hear." he then leads them into his office and gestures his hand to the three chairs in front of his desk. Sam sits in the first one, Juliet in the middle seat and Dean in the last seat with Harlow on his lap as they all listen to Jerry.

"I listened to this. And, well, it sounded like it was up your alley."

Juliet watches as Jerry puts a CD in a drive before, her eyes meet his as he once again, looks between the three hunters, who all have hardened but interested looks on their faces, Dean and Juliet more so than Sam.  

"Normally, I wouldn't have access to this. It's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia flight 2485. It was one of ours." 

He then presses play. Juliet's eyebrows shoot up as she hears a panicked and breathles voice flood through the speakers. "Mayday! Mayday! Repeat! 2485-immediate instruction...may be experiencing some mechanical faliure." Juliet's eyes narrow as a loud whoosing comes through the speakers, so loud that Dean has to cover Harlow's ears.

Jerry looks up at the three hunters once the voice recording ends, wathcing as Dean removes his hands from his daughter's ears. "Took off from here, crashed about two hundred miles south. Now, they're saying mechanical failure. Cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people on board. Only seven got out alive. Pilot was one. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine. Chuck is, uh...well, he's pretty broken up about it. Like it was his fault."

Sam raises an eyebrow, "You don't think it was?"

Jerry shakes his head, "No, I don't."

Juliet smiles at him, believing him as Sam nods his head, "Jerry, we're gonna need passenger manifests, um, a list of survivors." The said man nods his head, "All right." The brunette huntress raises an eyebrow at Jerry, "Also, is there any way we're able to take a look at the wreckage?" Jerry winces, "The other stuff is no problem. But the wreckage...guys, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way I've got that kind of clearance."  

Juliet bites her lip as she looks to Dean, who frowns and looks at Jerry. "No problem."

• • •

Sam leans against the Impala, waiting outside a Copy Jack, with Harlow as Dean and Juliet are inside making new Fake I.D badges for the three.

As they're waiting, Harlow turns to her Uncle, Ellie the elephant in her hand, "Unca Sam." The said man looks down at his niece, a smile on his face. "Yeah, angel?" He watches as the little girl inhales a breath as she looks at him, her green eyes identical to his brother's. "Vhy awe you sow twall?" Sam chuckles at the out of the blue question. "Probably because of genetics. Granpa's tall, isn't he?" Harlow hums in thought before nodding her head, "Wup! So, wou wet your height fwom gwandpa?" Sam nods his head, "Yeah, that's right." He watches as his niece's eyebrows furrow as a thought pops into her head. "Wat is gen-gene..." Sam laughs as Harlow pouts when she struggles to get the word out. "Genetics?" The five-year-old nods her head vigorously when her uncle says the word for her.

Sam chuckles before thinking on how to answer the question, humming in thought as he does. "Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are exactly the same color as your dad's?" Harlow, once again, nods her head. "Mommy wells me dat all da twime." Sam smiles, "Well, that's what genetics are, your dad has passed his green eyes onto you, just like your Mom has passed on her nose to you." 

Harlow giggles as Sam taps her nose causing her to purposefully go cross eyed.

Another thought then pops into her mind, she looks up at her uncle once more. "Unca Sammy, dow awe babies wade?" Sam's eyes widen as he chocks on air, not having expected that question. "Uh...um, b-babies are mad-" Luckily for Sam, Dean and Juliet exit the Copy Jack and walk down the steps, a smile on both of their faces, that is until they both face Sam, who's face is as white as a sheet.

"You okay, Sammy? You look as if you've seen something."

Sam bites his lip before leaning over to Juliet to whisper in her ear what Harlow had asked him. The huntress' eyes widen as she chokes on her own laughter. Dean looks at the two in confusion before Juliet tells Dean what Sam had told her, also in a whisper. The oldest Winchester brother chuckles as he looks down at Harlow. The said girl, looks up at her family, arms crossed with a glare on her face. "Hey! What's da wig idea?"

The hunters burst out laughing at the girl's supposed anger, that she thinks makes her look fierce, but instead makes her look like a cute little bunny rabbit with how her nose twitches when she's mad.

"We'll tell you when you're older, kid."

Harlow huffs at that being the second time that sentence has been said to her, but she let's it go as Dean holds up three ID cards. Sam sighs in relief, "Good. You guys were in there forever." Juliet rolls her eyes as does Dean. "You can't rush  perfection."

Juliet hums in agreement as Dean passes the ID that was made for his brother, to Sam.

The said man looks down at the ID that's been given to him and then to Dean, one of his eyebrows raises in question. "Homeland Security? That's pretty illegal, even for us."

Juliet rolls her eyes at the tone of Sam's voice. "C'mon Sammy, I'm sure it'll be fine."

Sam isn't convinced by his best friends words. Dean sees this and decides to try and quell his brothers nervousness. "Yeah, well, it's something new. You know? People haven't seen it a thousand times."

They get into the car, Juliet in the back with Harlow while Sam is up the front with Dean.

• • •

After being on the road for 'round ten minutes, Harlow's out like a light.

Dean glances at his daughter from the rearview mirror, a soft smile pulling at his mouth as he takes in the peaceful expression on the five year olds face.

The oldest Winchester brother then turns to Sam. "All right, so, what do you got?"

"Well there's definitely EVP on the cockpit voice recorder."

Juliet raises her head at that, a questioning look on her face. "Yeah?" Sam nods his head as he addresses both his brother and best friend. "Listen." He then hits play on the tape, which Juliet notices has been edited so only a demonic, scratchy voice remains.

Juliet narrows her eyes as she listens to the voice repeat, "No survivors." She turns and looks between both Winchester brother's "No survivors?"

Dean picks up on her confusion, "Yeah, "No survivors." what's the supposed to mean? There were seven survivors."

Sam shrugs his shoulders, just as stumped as the other two hunters in the car. "Got me."

Dean glances at his girlfriend from the rearview mirror, knowing that she's good with her instincts when it comes to working a case.

"What are you thinking, Jules? A haunted flight?"

Juliet hums in thought, "I don't know, from what I've read, there's a long history of spirits and death omens on planes as well as ships, like phantom traveler."

Sam nods his head, agreeing with Juliet, whereas Dean glances at his girlfriend in confusion before looking back to the road, "From what you've read?" Juliet hums, "Yeah, me and Sammy did some reading about spirits. Making sure we're not rusty, hey Sammy?"

Sam chuckles, "Yeah-" he turns to her from his place in the passenger seat. "-and I have to say, Jules, I'm kinda impressed with how you got most of the questions I came up with, right?"

Juliet smiles in triumph as Dean furrows his eyebrows, "Woah, woah, woah. Questions?" Sam nods his head, "Yeah, we both wrote down questions to quiz each other on, about the book we read."

Dean shakes his head, "Since when?" His brother scoffs a laugh as he turns to him, "Since forever, Dean. When Juliet wasn't hunting with you and dad, we stayed back at the motel and read books and then quizzed each other on it, and then when we both started to get into huntin', we did the same but on 'monster research' as we liked to call it."

Juliet chuckles, "The good old days." Sam nods his head in agreement as Dean just glances between the two and the road. "You two are dorks, y'know that?"

Juliet and Sam roll their eyes simultaneously. The former of the two scoffing.

"Yeah, well, one of those supposed dorks is your brother, while the other one is your girlfriend."

"Well, you can't choose your family."

Dean laughs as Juliet playfully slaps his shoulder. "You're annoying."
Dean hums in agreement while Sam smiles at the two before bringing the topic back to the case.

"Hey, remember flight 401?"

Dean and Juliet nod their heads, the former of the two being the one to reply, "Right. The one that crashed, the airline salvaged some of its parts, put it in other planes, then the spirit of the pilot and copilot haunted those flights." 

A look of realization crosses Juliets face and Sam immeimmediately clocks it and nods his head at her, "Right." The brunette hunter shakes her head, "So you think we're dealing with something similar?" Sam once again nods his head, "Yep." Dean weighs up the idea in his head before silently agreeing. He glances at Sam in the passenger seat before looking back at the road. "All right, so, survivors, which one do you want to talk to first?"

Sam looks down at the list as Juliet leans closer and peers at the list from behind his shoulder. The best friends glance at each other, having a silent conversation before both coming to an agreement. The youngest Winchester brother turns to Dean. "Third on the list: Max Jaffey." Dean furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "Why him?" 

Sam sighs, "Well, for one, he's from around here. And two, if anyone saw anything weird, he did." Dean raises one of his eyebrows. "What makes you say that?" His little brother nonchalantly shrugs, "Well, I spoke to his mother." Juliet looks at him, a questioning look in her eyes. "You did?" Sam nods his head, "And she told me where to find him." Juliet looks at him oddly.

• • •

Dean parks the Impala in front of the 'Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital'. He cuts the engine and turns to look at his still sleeping daughter before looking to Juliet, an eyebrow raised. "Should we wake her up?" Juliet looks down to Harlow, and with one look at the peaceful expression on her face, she shakes her head. "No, she didn't get a lot of sleep last night," her brown eyes lock on Dean's green ones. "-She's still having nightmares about what happened at the Lake." His eyes soften as Dean leans over and gently moves a lock of Harlow's hair from her face. "Why don't you and Sam go in and question him?" He moves his eyes to Juliet and Sam.

The two best friends look at each other before nodding their heads. Sam opens the glove compartment and takes out two fake IDs, one being for him and the other for Juliet. He passes the brunette hers before pocketing his and getting out of the car. Juliet goes to exit the car, but before she can get out, Dean grabs her hand. She turns to him, a look of confusion on her face. Dean, however, smiles and puckers his lips. The brunette jokingly huffs but still leans in and kisses him.

The two smile at each other before Dean watches as Juliet gets out of the car. Sam comes around to the driver's side and leans his head into Dean's window, a smirk on his face. "Where's my kiss?" Dean rolls his eyes as Sam jokingly leans closer. Dean pushes his brother's face away with his hand, "Get outta here." Juliet and Sam laugh as they start to make their way towards the hospital.

• • •

Juliet and Sam walk around the Hospital garden with Max walking in between them with his cane. The hospital patient looks between the two hunters, a confused look on his face.

"I don't understand. I already spoke with Homeland Security."

Juliet nods her head as she bites her lip. "Right, it's just some new information has come up. So it would be great if you could answer a couple of questions."

She gives Max a sweet smile as said man complies. Juliet and Sam look to one another before the latter clears his throat. "Just before the plane went down, did you notice anything...unusual?"

Like all past people they have asked this question to, Max furrow his eyebrows, confused. "Like what?"

Juliet elaborates.

"Like strange lights, weird noises, maybe. Voices."

Max shakes his head, "No, nothing."

"Mr. Joffey-"

Juliet winces as Max raises his eyebrow as he corrects her slip.

"Jaffey."

Juliet blushes in embarrassment. "Sorry, Jaffey. You checked yourself in here, correct?" The hospital patient nods his head and Juliet tilts her head in curiosity. "Can I ask why?"

Max smiles to assure her that he's not offended by her question. "I was a little stressed. I survived a plane crash."

Juliet nods her head in understanding, "Right, and that's what terrified you? That's what you were afraid of?"

Suddenly, Max clamps up and shakes his head, "I...I don't want to talk about this anymore."

Juliet sets her jaw, knowing that she needs more information and that the man who's being questioned, knows something but is holding it back.

"Forgive me, but I think you did see something up there, maybe. We need to know."

Max shakes his head once more, "No. No, I was...delusional. Seeing things."

Juliet raises her eyebrow before muttering to Sam, "He was seeing things." The tall Winchester brother elbows her in the side before addressing Max.

"It's okay. Then just tell us what you thought you saw, please."

Max takes a deep breath before nodding his head, "There was...this-man." The plane crash survivor gulps down the lump in his throat before continuing. "And, uh, he had these...eyes-these, uh...black eyes. And I saw him-or I thought I saw him..."

Juliet furrows her eyebrows in determination, determination to gather as much information as she can. "What else?"

Max inhales deeply before continuing. "He opened the emergency exit. But that's...that's impossible, right? I mean, I looked it up. There's something like two tons of pressure on that door."

Juliet nods her head agreeing as Sam looks to Max. "This man, uh, did he seem to appear and disappear rapidly? It would look something like a mirage?"

Juliet holds back her chuckle as Max looks at Sam like he was crazy. "What are you, nuts?"

Sam tilts his head like a confused puppy dog as Max shakes his head.

"He was a passenger. He was sitting right in front of me."

Juliet and Sam meet eyes and have a silent conversation before thanking Max for his time and to contact them if he can think of anything else. (Juliet gave him a fake card with her number on it.)

The two then leave the man to his own devices and start to make the treck back down to the impala.

—

Authors Note

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I've last updated, two months in fact! I've just been swamped with stuff, summer is coming so I'm going out a lot more.

This chapter is a short one, I apologise for that as well. The next one should be longer and have more action in it.

But I hoped you enjoyed this chapter anyway.

I know there wasn't a lot of Harlow scenes in this chapter but there will be more next chapter!

I appreciate all the comments and votes I get on this book, more so the comments as all of you are so lovely and kind.

I hope you all have an amazing summer, also happy pride month to those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community ❤️

Please doesn't forget to vote and comment and I'll see you all in the next chapter!

See you all the next chapter 🥰