A Queen

Chapter 1 Episode 7 - Hook Man

It had been a few days since we had left St. Louis, and while the brothers had been incredibly sweet and understanding with me, I still found myself flinching away from Dean until his scent would hit me, and then I would be left apologizing over and over again and it would end with Dean hugging me, telling me that it was okay, that he understood, but the guilt I felt, knowing that it wasn't really Dean on top of the face that that I couldn't get what that monster wearing Dean's face did to me out of my head... They kept telling me that they understood, they weren't mad at my jumpiness, or the fact that I would growl if they got too close too fast, or the nightmares, but it was getting to me. I thought I was stronger than this. I knew I was stronger than this... Valkyrie had also been very quiet since everything had happened and that wasn't helping. I tried talking to her about how she called Dean our mate, but she wouldn't answer me.

"Alright, thank you for your time." Sam's voice sounded out from behind where Dean and I were sitting outside on the patio of this cute little diner we had found. His scent of coffee and books brushed over me as he joined us at the small table, taking the seat on the other side of Dean.

"Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is getting cold over here, Francis." Dean made fun of him as he took a seat.

"Bite me." I almost spit out my drink at that bit of sass from Sam.

"So, anything?"

"I had them check the FBI's Missing Persons Data Bank." Sam started with a shake of his head. "No John Doe's fitting Dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations."

"Sam, I'm telling you, I don't think Dad wants to be found." Dean told him. The look on Sam's face almost broke my heart. "Check this out. It's a new item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It's only about a hundred miles from here."

"The mutilated body was found near the victim's car, parked on 9 Mile Road." Sam read out loud, looking over the article Dean had pulled up on the laptop.

"Keep reading."

"Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible."

"Could be something interesting." I spoke up.

"Or it could be nothing at all." Sam told me. "One freaked out witness who didn't see anything? Doesn't mean it's the Invisible Man."

"But what if it is? Dad would check it out." Dean said, backing me up. Sam just nodded before packing up, handing me my drink as I got up. Dean reached up, putting his hand on my lower back to guide me to the car, and dammit, I flinched again, but I didn't move away. I refused to let this ruin me. I let him guide me to the car, opening the door and helping me in with a kiss to my hair.

"Oh hey, Princess." He started once he was in the car. "I got you something." He shuffled around in his jacket pocket before he pulled out an iPod, handing it to me.

"Dean, you didn't have to do that." I told him, but took the outstretched device, regardless.

"I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to. I put a few songs on there I've heard you talk about, plus a couple that I know you like."

"You did, huh?" Sam said.

"Okay, so I had Sam do it, but I bought it, okay?" I giggled a little at that.

"Thank you, Dean..." I said, quietly. Sam tossed me a pair of headphones with a grin as I started going through the songs. There were a bunch of songs on there that Dean listened to in the car all the time, but also a bunch of other songs I didn't know Dean even knew the names of. Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, Good Charlotte, but also Enya, Mozart, Eminem... I had always like listening to a wide variety of different music, and this made me so incredibly happy, seeing all of this. I put the headphones on and pressed shuffle, letting the music of the first song wash over me.