Hollowing Souls

Of Grave Importance

"Alright, here we go." Dean put the fast food bag down on the hood of the car, and Alex pulled her legs in closer, leaning back up against the windshield to see the stars twinkling in the night sky. She accepted one of the bags from Dean, humming in excitement as she pulled out a taco. "You know," Dean started, doing the same, "even though the world is going to crap, there's one thing I can always count on — these things tasting the same in every drive-through in every state in our great nation." He took a bite of his hard shell taco, eyes closing as he savored his meal.

"I like tacos," Alex agreed, watching as Sam dug out his own food from the bag. She turned her attention to the sky, wings folding outwards as a plane passed overhead.

Dean's phone rang, and the hunter started slightly at the noise before he pulled it out of his pocket. "Annie. How have you been?"

Annie? Alex tipped her head to one side. She was a hunter, undoubtedly — why else would she have Dean's number? She vaguely remembered Bobby having mentioned a hunter named Annie, but that was all she knew. Alex tried not to stare at Dean with too much suspicion, instead keeping her gaze fixated on her food.

"Yeah," Dean was saying, "us too. What's up?" He listened for a couple of seconds, and Alex took another large bite of her taco, listening to the satisfying crunch of the corn shell. Dean nodded. "Yeah. Sure. Where you at?" A second later he asked, "You working?" followed by, "Near enough."

"Who's Annie?" Alex whispered, nudging Sam in the back with her shoe-clad foot. Sam ignored her, and she frowned.

"One o'clock?" Dean glanced over at Sam. "Yeah, that works. Okay, bye." He hung up. "You remember Annie Hawkins, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Sam nodded in agreement. "Why? What's up?"

"She, uh, she said she has some of Bobby's old things, and was wondering if we wanted them. She's down in Bodega Bay. We're meeting her at the Pier Front Restaurant at one for lunch. Sound good?"

"Sounds fine, yeah."

Alex watched as Dean stood up, face twisting into a frown. "We're not leaving now, are we?" she asked. "We just stopped. You should eat now, Dean. Besides," she added, looking upwards, "it's a nice night out. When's the last time we've actually stopped to look at the stars? Years. Literally years, guys."

Dean wasn't convinced. "Come on. Bodega Bay's about an eleven hour drive. We need to leave now if we're going to get there on time."

Alex rolled her eyes, letting out a defeated sigh. "Fine," she caved, "fine. Whatever. We can just eat in the damn car." She slid off of the hood, grabbing the bag of tacos as she crawled into the backseat. "I miss the Impala," she muttered. "This car fucking smells."

...

July 17th, 2012

Bodega Bay, California

The Pier Front Restaurant was a quaint, bright little place, overlooking the warm, blue waters of Bodega Bay. Alex watched the waves roll in from the ocean as her wings twitched unnervingly. They were seated in a table at the corner, beside large glass windows looking out upon the water, and Alex had her back to the rest of the restaurant. The idea of leaving her wings exposed to the rest of the crowd made her uncomfortable, and she shifted nervously in her seat. Both of the Winchesters had their backs to the walls, Dean to her left reading the newspaper, and Sam to her right with the menu in his hands. Not sure what else to do, the young angel picked up the white and red laminated brochure.

"Hey, get this," Dean started. "Dick Roman in funding another archeological dig. Dude moves more dirt than 'The Drudge Report.' "

"Well, any — anything on what he's digging for?"