That Ship Has Sailed

Dean and Thea I

"I've told you a thousand times, Ollie, I'm old enough to run the night club. Everything is going just fine. Enjoy your honeymoon with Felicity and don't call again," Thea hung up on her brother and shook her head chuckling. She then returned to taking inventory. Just then, she heard voices and turned, listening.

When they continued, she left the back room and entered the empty night club, "Hey," she called out, "We're not open yet--" She stopped short when she saw two met standing in the empty room wearing suits.

"Good afternoon, ma'am," the taller one said, "I'm agent Smith and this is my partner, Agent Rhodes. We're with the FBI."

"FBI," Thea said, confused, "I can assure you we're all up to code and we've had no complaints or illegal drug use," she reassured the men.

"I'm sure you haven't," agent Smith said. "We're actually here for a different reason."

"Yeah," the shorter, scruffier one said, "We heard there have been disappearances in the area and wanted to know if you've seen or heard anything...strange."

Thea thought for a moment. The only strange thing nearby was her brother's secret base in the basement. She paused, then shook her head, "No, I haven't--I mean, I've heard that some people went missing," although she knew that they were people her brother had interrogated and brought to maximum security, not exactly within the parameters of the law, "but I haven't seen anything," she finished quickly.

"Okay, well," Agent Smith said, "If you do hear or see anything, don't hesitate to give us a call," he held out a business card, which Thea took.

"I will," she replied.

"Thank you," Agent Smith replied. He gently whacked the arm of the shorter man, Agent Rhodes, and they both turned to leave. Thea shook her head in confusion, then looked down at the business card which simply had a name and a number on it. She put it in her pocket and went back to taking inventory.

A few hours later, the club was in full swing, lights flashing and music blaring and booze being served. Thea was behind the counter, smiling at the success of the night club and how well she ran it without her brother. That's when she noticed one of the agents from earlier that day, walking through the crowd, holding a strange machine in his hand and a confused look on his face.

Confused herself, she left the bar in the capable hands of a fellow bartender and walked over, "Agent Rhodes?" she asked. The man didn't respond. "Agent Rhodes," she said a little louder, this time, touching his arm to get his attention. He turned quickly, startled, "What are you doing back? Are you off duty?" She judged by the leather jacket and jeans that he was.

"Uh--" he stuttered only a moment before he shoved his hand in his jacket pocket, putting away whatever machine he was using, and said, "Yeah, I'm off for the night..."

"Where's your partner?"

"He wanted to stay behind and do some research for the--case..."

"I see. Well, while you're here, do you want a drink?"

The man paused, but then grinned slightly, "If you're pouring, I'm drinking."

Thea smiled and led the way back to the bar. When she found out the man only drank whiskey, she paused, saying she didn't have any up front, but would go out back and find him some. He waited patiently while she did so. While in the back, Thea glanced at her reflection in one of the bottles, adjusting her hair so it was perfect.

Upon returning, however, she found Agent Rhodes had disappeared from his spot at the bar. She looked around, but didn't find him.

"Hey, did you see a man sitting here a minute ago?" she asked the other bartender.

"Yeah, he got a call and booked it out the back door."

Thea nodded in response and set down the whiskey, looking through the crowd to try to spot the man. Instead of waiting around, however, she decided to just follow the direction he'd gone. So, out the back door she went. When she arrived, she heard the same voices she'd heard earlier and noticed two, dark figures standing near a black car. One was Agent Rhodes and she recognized the other as Agent Smith, though he was wearing a brown jacket and jeans now, presumably off duty as well.

"Dean, I'm telling you, there is no lore around here. This place is clean."

"What about the disappearances, then, huh? They can't be just regular disappearances. Something has got to be taking them."

"Have you ever considered that it may not be a something, but a someone? There are crazy people out there, Dean. It could just be a serial abductor."

"Whatever, let's just get out of here. If there's nothing to hunt, I don't want to spend another minute in this dull, little city."

"What about the club owner? You seemed to take a liking to her," the taller one teased as he opened the passenger side door of the black car.

"Shut up," the other replied.

Thea was confused, but decided not to pursue the matter, so she turned to go back inside. Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her arm.

"How much did you hear?" Agent Rhodes asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Enough to know your name is Dean--are you even an agent?"

The taller one walked over and looked at Dean. Dean let go of Thea's arm and she stayed put, crossing her arms over her stomach, her own eyebrows furrowing.

"No," Dean admitted, "We're not. We heard about the disappearances and came to investigate."

"What kind of investigators are you, anyway?"

"The not normal kind," the taller one said, pausing, "I'm Sam. This is my brother, Dean."

"So, the whole agent thing was...a ruse? A lie?"

"More of a ruse," Sam replied, "Look, we feel bad, but we were just checking it out. The only strange thing I found out about this city is a vigilante who wears a green hood and shoots arrows--"

"What, like a superhero?" Dean asked, confused.

"No, a superhero is someone with supernatural powers who uses them for good, a vigilante is a regular guy with a skill who uses it to bring people to justice."

Dean gave Sam a look and shook his head, "You are such a nerd," he said gruffly.

Thea cracked a grin at the banter, but it was gone by the time Dean looked back at her. She then uncrossed her arms. Dean looked back at her and a silence lingered. Just then, Sam clapped him on the shoulder and said, "I'm kinda tired. I'm going to turn in. You can stay here if you want."

Dean agreed, handing the keys back to his brother, "You do that," he said with a grin. Sam rolled his eyes with a smile and left. Once they were alone, Thea looked sideways at Dean and he did the same to her. He moved forward in an attempt to kiss her quickly, but Thea grabbed his arm and twisted it, throwing him to the ground in a second. "What the hell?" Dean shouted, "Do you treat all your dates like this?"

"Dates?" Thea asked, then she shook her head, "I'm sorry," she said, letting go of him, "Force of habit, I guess-"

"What would possibly get you into a habit of attacking people like that?" Dean asked.

"My brother--I guess," Thea admitted, knowing that it was her brother's training that had made her extra cautious when strange people approached her. Now that she knew he wasn't an agent, she was skeptical all over again, though she was still attracted to him.

"What the hell does your brother do?"

Thea shook her head, "Doesn't matter. How about we start over and I go pour you that whiskey?"

Dean agreed and held his hands out slowly, "Are you going to attack me again?"

Thea grinned, "No."