EMPTY · DEAN WINCHESTER [1]

First Born - Part I

~*~

Dean was sitting at the bar, a glass of whiskey in his hands when he noticed a beautiful light brown haired waitress stroll by. She smiled sweetly, walking right by him, his head turning so his eyes could follow her. However, no matter how hard he wanted to, he couldn't stop thinking about Ashleigh. Her smile, her laugh, her eyes when the sunlight hit them in the morning. The image of her crying, begging him not to leave her on that bridge was embedded into his head.

"So... Is that boudoir smile for me?" Dean whipped his head to the side, turning to face Crowley who had appeared beside him. The green eyed man was quick to snatch the demon blade from his jacket, his jaw clenched angrily.

"At least buy me a drink first." A sly smirk appeared on Crowley's lips as he lifted the glass to his lips.

"I said the next time I see you-"

"Dead. Yes. Rings a bell, but let's not dwell on the past, shall we? This bar is a bust, that waitress is trouble with a capital VD, and your pretty, Gadreel, has left the building. So, it's time to move on to more pressing matters, like destroying Abaddon." Crowley turned his head towards the hunter, eyeing him knowingly.

"Yeah, good luck with that, the knights of hell aren't exactly the dying kind."

"But there is something that can kill a knight. The weapon that the Archangels used to execute them- the first blade."

"Never heard of it." Dean gripped tighter to the demon blade in his hand, his fingers getting restless against the wooden handle "Can I kill you now?"

"I've been chasing that blade for decades." Dean sighed, placing the knife down on the table in front of him, taking a swig of his beer just as Crowley continued "The closest I got to it was when one of my droogs, Smitty, got wind of a protégé demon of Abaddon's who claimed knowledge of the blade. Sadly, before Smitty could nab the guy, a hunter by the name of John Winchester nabbed the protégé. I'm here to see if there's anything in the John Winchester memorial library that might lead us to the first blade. To killing Abaddon."

"You wanna hunt? With me?" Dean asked, his voice gruff. "I do love a good buddy comedy." Crowley spoke quietly, a slight smirk tugging on the edge of his lips. Dean stared at the demon, eyeing him carefully before chuckling in disbelief, pulling out his dad's journal and flipping through the pages. "Oh, yeah. Here it is. Yeah, he picked up the protégé who had bones with abaddon, but that's about ask it says in here."

Crowley reached over, Dean pulling the aged journal away "what do those numbers in the margins mean?"

"None of your business." Dean glared at the demon warily. "You're gonna play hard to get? We have time for a montage?" Dean rolled his eyes as they drifted back down to the page "it's a code. One of my dad's storage lockers. He may have put something about the case there." He closed the journal quickly. "And what does the 'T' next to the numbers mean?" Crowley inquired. "Not a clue." Dean stated plainly, putting the journal away as he spoke "Fine. Lets go find daddy's man cave then, shall we?" "And how do I know this isn't a trap?" Dean turned his head to look back at the king of hell with a scowl. "You don't. Thats what makes it fun." Crowley said, sniffing a rose calmly as he stood with a smirk.

~*~

Castiel bit into the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a disapointed look appearing in his eyes as the door to the bunker opened. "Hey." Sam caked out to the angel, carrying a plastic bag of takeout down the stairs. "Tastes like... Molecules."

"What? What're you talking about?"

"When I was human, you know, I had to eat constantly. It was kind of annoying." Castiel set the unfinished sandwich down, leaning back in his seat "yeah, a lot of human things are petty annoying." Sam shrugged lightly, letting the groceries hang by his side "but... I enjoyed the taste of food... Particularly peanut buttery with grape jelly, not jam. Jam I found unsettling."

"So, what?" Sam placed the bag on the table "now you can't taste PB&J?" Sam dipped his finger in the jelly, tasting it himself "No, I..I taste every molecule." "Not the sum of its parts huh?"

"It's overwhelming.." Cas shook his head sadly "it's disgusting. I'll miss you PB&J." He sighed as he lifted his head towards Sam, standing from his seat "We need to continue your healing. We're almost done." He reached forward, placing his two fingers against Sams forehead. He seemed perplexed however, causing Sam to open his eyes "what?" "Nothing." The angel said quickly, Sam grabbed onto his arm to stop him from continuing "You're a terrible liar."

"That is not true! I once deceived and betrayed both you and your brother."

"Okay, that's not the point." Sam held out his hand "Cas, what's wrong?" Castiel looked down, only for a split second "I noticed something. It's uh, it's resonating inside you."

"What?" The hunters eyes widened as he stared at his friend for an explanation "Something angelic." "Okay, uh.. What the hell does that mean?"

"Maybe we should call Dean." Sam lifted his head in shock, inhaling sharply "No." He cleared his throat, quickly standing from the table "he wanted to go and he's gone. We'll handle this." He said before sitting in an actual chair, reaching across the table and grabbing the bag of food.

Castiel sighed, taking a seat beside him. "And what about Ashleigh?" Sam averted his gaze from the angel, clenching his jaw. The two went silent as soft footsteps were heard.

Ashleigh entered the library, a half empty bottle of whiskey in her hand. She glanced at the two men, bags under her glassy, drunken eyes. She knew she looked pretty rough, she'd seen better days. After Dean left, she spent the rest of that night bar hopping, hoping he'd turn up.

She was silent, she was usually out searching for the older hunter but when she'd come home for the night, she always spelled of alcohol. As her eyes locked on the two, they turned their gaze, causing her to sigh. "I take it you're still acting like a child?" Sam sighed "Ash, you don't understand, Dean lied-"

"he saved your goddamn life Sam! Get the hell over it already!"

The room fell silent as Sam stared at the woman, she had never yelled at him or even raised her voice at him, not like this "You two are brothers. You fight. You lie. And you do whatever it takes to keep the other safe. But you always make up, its what families do!" She let out a shaky breath "You two just need to get over it..." Turning her head, she grabbed her takeout box Sam had gotten for her and retreated back to her room. Sam cleared his throat, shaking his head clear as Cas eyed him quietly but the two remained silent.