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(13.1) ─ That Cryptic Cross

𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫:
‧⁺˚*‧☾ 𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐨, 𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝 ☽‧*˚⁺‧

Construction, the current vein of Carmen's existents. Of course when your brother insists on driving everywhere you're bound to hit construction. Pennsylvania was that lucky state. Sam had the map laid out of the top of Impala looking it over. Dean was off to the side on his phone. Leaving Carmen sat on the trunk searching through her backpack for anything to help her cool off. "Ok. I think I found a way we can bypass that construction just east of here. We might even make Pennsylvania faster than we thought." Sam announced glancing between the two of his siblings.

"Hallelujah! It's hotter than hell," She remarked, pulling the flap of her bag down. Pushing off the truck only to turn and open it. Throwing her bag besides her brothers before shutting it.

"Yeah. Problem is, we're not going to Pennsylvania," Dean announced, shutting his phone. Walking over to the driver door as Sam and Carmen stood side by side. "I got a call from an, uh, old friend. Her father was killed last night, and thinks it might be our kind of thing."

"What?"

"Yeah. Believe me, she ever woulda called, never, if she didn't need us." He explained before getting into the car, looking through the window to where Carmen and Sam were still standing. "Come on, are you coming or not?"

"As long as you blast the A.C." She said as Sam followed into the Impala. "So who is this friend?"

"Well...You remember Cassie?"

"Why yes, I do remember Cassie." She replied leaning forward. "And old friend my ass,"

"Language."

"By old friend you mean....?" Sam trailed off. "A friend that's not new," Dean replied. "Oh yeah, thanks," He said sarcastically. "So her name's Cassie huh? You guys never mentioned her."

"Didn't we?"

"No, Dean, no we did not."

"Yeah me and her went out," He said to Sam as if it wasn't anything serious. "You mean you dated somebody? For more than one night," Sam joked. "Am I speaking a language you're not getting here? Dad and I were working a job in Ohio, she was finishing up college. We went out for a couple weeks." "And...?" Dean shrugged slightly as Carmen sat back in her seat. "Look, it's terrible about her Dad, but it kinda sounds like a standard car accident. I'm not seeing how it fits with what we do." Sam explained. "Which by the way, how does she know what we do?" Carmen dramatically looked over at Dean, who clearly shifted. "Dean?" He looked at her through the rearview mirror. "You didn't tell her, did you?" She asked calmly. He didn't reply. She leaned up and slapped the back of his head, "You told her the secret! Our number one family rule?!"

"We do what we do and we shut up about it. For a year and a half I do nothing but lie to Jessica, and you go out with this chick in Ohio a coupla times and you tell her everything?" Sam questioned. The oldest stayed silent, staring at the road. "Dean!"

"Yeah. Look like," He replied putting his foot down harder onto the gas. Sam looked over at him shaking his head, clearly pissed.

"This is going to be a very long drive," Carmen remarked, sinking into her seat and pulling her seat belt on. Dean looked up at her through the rearview mirror, as Sam let out a heavy sigh. "My eyes are up here, doesn't mean you should look at him."

💾

The moment they reached the newspaper office, Carmen was the first to get out of the Impala. "Carmen, slow down!" Dean called after her. "How about you be faster!" She remarked, pulling the door open and walking in. Scanning the small room until her eyes found her. Cassie was talking to a pale middle aged man and an older darker man. "Two black people were killed on the same stretch of road in the same way in two weeks," The older man explained.

"Jimmy, you're too close to this," The pale man proclaimed. "Those guys were friends of yours. Again, Cassie, I'm very sorry for your loss." With that the man walked away. The other man, Jimmy, walked away but not before giving Cassie an empathic look.

Carmen watched as they left, the door barley closing before her brother grabbed it. She grinned jogging her way over towards the black curled hair woman. Cassie was angry, but once her eyes were on the younger Winchetser she broke out into a large smile. "I thought I heard one of your smart ass remarks,"

"I've got plenty more from where that came from," She said before the two hugged tightly.

"My god, look at you!" Cassie remarked, pulling away and holding onto Carmen's elbows. "How is it possible you're more adorable?" Carmen's smiled somehow widened even more, "Look at me? Look at you." Cassie let out a laugh letting a soft 'what' out but stopped when her eyes were on Dean. He gave her a small nod and smiled. "Dean," She finally gotten out. "Hey, Cassie," He replied as the two started to get lost in the other eyes.

Carmen smiled soften, seeing her brother truly happy for once. She stepped over next to Sam who was watching, smiling to himself as well.

Dean was quick to clear his throat, "This is our brother, Sam." Cassie smiled over at the brother before looking back at Dean. "Sorry 'bout your Dad." She glanced to the side at the sad reminder. But her eyes wandered back to the older WInchester, "Yeah, me too."

💾

The three Winchester's sat in Cassie's mothers house. Cassie had brought them a tray of tea from the kitchen, "My mother's in pretty bad shape. I've been staying with her. I wish she wouldn't go off by herself. She's been so nervous and frightened. She was worried about Dad."

"Why?'

"He was scared. He was seeing things," She replied while pouring the tea into four different cups. "Like what?" Carmen asked softly, knowing how touchy the topic could be. "He swore he saw an awful-looking black truck following him."

"A truck. Who was the driver?" Sam asked.

"He didn't talk about a driver. Just the truck." Cassie explained handing each of them a cup. "He said it would appear and disappear. And in the accident, Dad's car was dented like it had been slammed into by something big." "You're a hundred percent that this dent wasn't there before?" She question glancing over to Dean who smirked at the cup, quickly placing it on a side table. "He sold cars," Cassie started to explain, "Always drove a new one. There wasn't a scratch on that thing. It had rained hard that night. There was mud everywhere. There was a distinct set of muddy tracks leading from Dad's car...leading right to the edge, where he went over." She bowed her head, training to get her emotions together. "One set of tracks, his."

"The first was a friend of your fathers?"

"Best friend," She corrected Carmen who took a seat besides her, "Clayton Soames. They owned the car dealership together. Same thing. Dent. No tracks. And the cops said exactly what they said about Dad. He lost control of his car."

"Can you think of any reason why your father and his partner might be targets?" Dean asked as she quickly shook her head. "And you think this vanishing truck ran them off the road?" Sam asked. "When you say it aloud like that...listen, I'm a little skeptical about this...ghost stuff, or whatever it is you guys are into." Dean huffed at her words. "Skeptical. If I remember, I think you said I was nuts."

"To be fair, everyone thinks that we are escapes from the nut house," Carmen added jokingly.

"Yeah. That was then," She stated with a small huff, "I just know that I can't explain what happened up there. So I called you."

Suddenly, all of their attentions were drawn to the sound of the front door opening causing all of them to stand up. Cassie stood up quickly moving over to the pale middle aged woman. "Mom, Where have been I was so–"

"I had no idea you'd invited friends over," Her mother cut her off as she looked at each of the three siblings. "Mom, you remember Carmen, right?" Cassie held her hand out towards the youngest Winchester.

"The one that I watched over, while her brother was gone? Yes, yes I do. You've grown so much since I last saw you Carmen." The two exchanged smiles, "It's good seeing you again Mrs. Robinson."

"This is the brother, Dean...a friend of mine from college. And their brother Sam." Cassie introduced both of the brothers as her mother smiled softly at them, "Well, I won't interrupt you." She said going to move out of the room. "Mrs. Robinson. We're sorry for your loss. We'd like to talk to you for a minute if you don't mind?" Dean asked softly. "I'm really not up for that right now," Mrs. Robinson said, leaving to go to her room.

💾

Carmen was asleep on one of the motel room beds. While the other bed and the couch blankets and pillows were still sloppy thrown about. "Carmen, come on. It's time to get up." Sam said pushing her shoulders.

"5...more...minutes." She waved off still sleeping on her stomach.

"Daria, come on wake up,"

"5 minutes,"

Dean walked through the front door holding both of his arms out slightly, "Well?" Sam shook his head, "Nothing." Dean clasped his hand together, "Alright, Carmen don't say I didn't warn you." He spoke walking over to the sink, taking a mig from the side and fill it up before walking over to her. Once the cold water fell onto Carmen she was sitting upright. Muttering the word 'cold' over and over while pushing past her brothers.

"You're both assholes!" She yelled, grabbing one of the white towels and starting to dry off herself.

"How am I an asshole?" Sam asked, watching as she moved from the bathroom and to the coffee table where her backpack was. "You didn't stop him, jackass."

"Hey, it's your fault that you're such a hard person to wake up." Carmen narrowed her eyes at him with a slight head tilt. The look that made you wanna duck because it meant that she was about to throw something at you. "I'm dead aren't I?"

She didn't answer, instead moving into the bathroom and using her foot to shut the door. She heard Dean's phone ring but didn't pay too much attention to it. Stripping the cold wet clothes off and changing into fresh ones. Finding one of Dean's stolen flannels at the bottom putting it on. Then moved onto brushing her teeth and ending it with her brushing her hair. Tucking it behind her ears and seeing how much darker her under eye were. Her hands trailed down to the silver chain on her neck.

John Winchester wasn't the best father by all means. Not even worthy of a father's day card. He was always in and out of her life. Usually putting one of the boys incharge of keeping an eye on her. Resulting in them taking all the heat if anything happened. Even if it was a paper cut he'd put the eternity of the blame onto them. But she still cared about him. Bobby would say her heart was the same as her mother's. She hoped he wasn't dead somewhere. Even if she wished it at times, she would never truly mean it.

"Hey, Cassie called, said there was another victim." Dean shouted through the other side of the door. Breaking her from her thoughts. Snapping the claps on her backpack shut before opening the door sliding past him. Placing her back onto her bed, "Great, see you both in the car."

"Is that my shirt?"

"Can't hear you when I'm on my way to the Impala!"

💾

Emergency vehicles were parked all around the empty field where a smashed up car. Cassie was clearly fuming as she was having an argument with a white man having to do something with town hall. The three had just walked in to hear the last half of the conversation. "Close the main road. The only road in and out of town? Accidents do happen Cassie, and that's what they are. Accidents."

"Did the cops check for additional turning on Jimmy's car, see if it was pushed?" Dean asked as the man's attention turned to the three. "Who's this?"

"Dean, Sam, and Carmen Winchester. Family friends. This is Mayor Harold Todd." Cassie introduced as the boys stood behind her while Carmen was on the side of her.

"There's one set of tire tracks. One doesn't point to foul play." The mayor finally answered.

"Mayor, the police and town officials take their cues from you," She said, "If you're indifferent about-"

"Indifferent!"

She tilted her eyes with a glare violently at him, "Would you close the road if the victims were white?" Clearly all the attention that he would not want caused a reaction from him. "You suggesting I'm racist Cassie? I'm the last person you should talk to like that."

"And why is that?"

He stared at her for a moment trying to think of the right answer before speaking, "Why don't you ask your mother." He glanced at each of us before walking away.

💾

After dealing with the crash site the three went back to the motel room. "You know Dean, I could choke you with this tie with what you did this morning." Carmen remarked standing in front of him finishing tying his tie. "But that would be too obvious, and where's the fun in that?"

Sam let out a small dry laugh, "I'll say this for her, she's fearless," Sam commented about Cassie as Carmen walked over and straightened out some of the creases in his suit jacket. Dean hummed in response as he messed with his tie. "Bet she kicked your ass a coupla times." "Understatement," She muttered, Dean glared at the two of them. "What's interesting is you guys never really look at each other at the same time. You look at her when she's not looking, she checks you out when you look away."

"She whoops your ass when you're out of line." Carmen added.

"It's just a...just an interesting observation in a....you know....observationally interesting way."

"You think we might have more pressing issues here?" Dean asked as Carmen walked over the couch and laid down on it. "I know I've only been asleep for 3 hours."

"Hey, if I'm hitting a nerve."

"Let's go," Dean announced as the two laugh lightly. He ignored them and instead grabbed his keys and turned towards Carmen."We'll be-"

"Right back. Don't open the door unless it's us. If you need anything, call. If you go anywhere, ask first. If something happens, gun under the bed, knife under pillow, and salt bottom middle cabinet." She cut him off, listing off the different scenarios that they would always list off. "This isn't my first time being only Dean." She could tell that Dean was trying to hide his proud smile while Sam gladly showed his. Reaching towards the coffee table and picking up the remote and starting to change through the different channels. "Don't get arrested!"