Thud! Clang! Hiss! Thwack!

The sounds of a fight echoed through the dirty back alley, though it wasn't much of a fight so much as an ambush. One man jumped two young men who had entered the alley from above, throwing the shorter of the two into a dumpster hard enough to dent it. The thrown man hit the ground hard, in too much pain to get back on his feet any time soon. The taller of the two ambushed men knocked away the punch the ambusher threw at him before it could connect, having been given just enough time to react purely on instinct. As he did so, a passing car's headlights illuminated the alley just enough for him to see that their attacker had jagged fangs protruding from his gums. The ambusher hissed at the taller man, shoving him with inhuman strength against the wall and lunging towards him. When the taller man tried to bat away an oncoming hit again, the ambusher grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground, pinning the taller man in place.

The taller man tried to grapple the creature off of him, but it held him down with inhuman strength, one of its hands making it to his throat, teeth snapping as the man's attention was shifted to keeping the thing at least far enough it couldn't bite him.

"Sammy!" the shorter one shouted, gripping the rim of the dumpster to pull himself up. Before he could lunge at their ambusher, three shots rang out from the mouth of the alley back towards the street. The creature shrieked in anger, staggering backwards before setting his eyes on the newcomer and hissing again, but this time in pain.

At the same time, a sheathed machete was thrown in the air towards the man near the dumpster, who caught the weapon and unsheathed it with well-practiced ease, advancing on the creature with a slight stagger and swinging the weapon with enough strength to cut its head completely off.

By then, the newcomer had reached the taller of the two, and as the creature's head rolled across the ground she reached her hand out to help him up.

"Are you all right, Sam?"

Dean approached the two, the now-bloody machete in hand. "Well, what do you know? Déjà vu."

Deja rolled her eyes as she pulled Sam to his feet. "You've been waiting to use that one, haven't you, Mouth?"

Dean gave a slight yeah, I don't regret it shrug as Sam went right to the heart of the matter. "Deja, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the same reason you are; I found a case, and it looks like we found the same case. Either way, you're lucky I arrived when I did. I take it you thought you wiped out the nest and didn't know about this straggler?"

"Pretty much-but how are you here, specifically?" Sam stressed, gesturing to the random ally in a decently large town.

"Oh, that," Deja said with a slight chuckle. "I started asking questions and was told about the two agents with rock idol last names and started asking about you two until someone pointed me to this joint."

Deja jabbed a thumb at the bar next to them where Sam and Dean had been having a victory beer while Sam nodded in understanding. "And when you got here, you heard the scuffle."

"I already knew to expect vampires because of the vics, so I jumped in to lend a hand, and now here we are." Deja looked down at the vampire on the ground before them. "We should probably take care of Chompy here before somebody sees us and thinks murder. We can chat and catch up afterwards."

************************************************

"So, no luck with finding your dad?"

Deja, Dean, and Sam sat collectively in the boys' hotel room, relaxing after a long day for everyone-though for Deja it was more of a chance to stretch after a long drive-and catching up on what had happened with everyone while they'd been off doing their own things. Sam and Dean sat on their beds, and Deja had pulled up a chair, leaning it back casually onto two legs and balancing herself on the wall behind her.

Sam shook his head, looking understandably irritated. "None. What about you, did you find any leads on your witches?"

"Zip. I did see a good movie and wrap up a case here and there, though, but nothing major or story-worthy. What about you two, have you had any interesting cases?"

"Nope," Dean said rather quickly.

"Nothin," Sam added. Deja's eyebrows rose.

"So, it's just been one boring stretch of road for all of us then? Nice to know. So..." Deja dropped her chair back onto four legs, leaning forward. "You won't mind if I tag along for a while, will you?"

"What?" Sam asked, taken aback. Deja shrugged.

"I dunno, it's just been really quiet, no leads or anything, and quiet is bad when you're solo-quiet leads to gradual insanity," she stressed with a smile and a short laugh. "And running into you guys here, well...I kinda liked teaming up with you two and thought if you'd have me we could try doing so again."

Sam and Dean shared a look, both of their expressions hesitant. "Well..." Dean started to say, sounding like he was about to turn down the offer as gently as he could.

"I'm not asking to move in or anything, I'm not talking anything permanent-just until I pick up another lead, since that will probably lead me elsewhere. I won't be a bother, I promise: I drive my own car, eat my own food, use my own weapons, and book my own rooms."

That sounded like a sales pitch for a pet, she thought.

"It couldn't hurt," Sam said slowly, looking to Dean.

"We did work well together back on that witch hunt," Dean relented. Deja clapped her hands together.

"All right then! And if I become a bother, just tell me and I'll go. So where are you two headed, generally?"

"Right now, we're not entirely sure," Sam admitted. "The last we knew our dad was in California, so we've been calling a bunch of his buddies in the area to see if any of them have seen him or if he's gone to any of them for supplies. So far, nothing, but we haven't got in contact with everyone yet, so we may still find something."

"Okay...well, you guys keep doing what you're doing, I'll do my thing in my little corner of paradise, and we'll see how this goes." She stood up from her seat, stretching her arms over her head. "As for right now...I'm going to get some sleep. I'll see you two in the morning."

They boys said their goodnights, and as soon as Deja was through the door, Dean turned to Sam. "It couldn't hurt?" Dean echoed.

"What? I was being honest. And I thought you were the one hoping to get lucky with her," Sam jabbed.

"An occasional job together is fine by me, but tagging along when we've only worked one short case with her before..."

"Dude...you already agreed, so relax. I doubt she's going to try and kill us in our sleep or key your car. You heard what she said, if it doesn't work out, she'll leave. Let's just give it a shot-it never hurts to have an extra set of hands ready to help out."

*******************************************

Deja looked up at the knock on her motel door, rising from her rickety chair and closing the book she's been pouring over. She'd been traveling with the Winchesters for roughly a week, and they had fallen into a sort of easy routine. She always got a room next to theirs-unless there were thin walls, then she would get a room down for privacy's sake-and followed behind them in her car. At one point the boys had backtracked on their own to Kansas for a 'private matter,' which Deja hadn't minded. Everything had been smooth sailing and quiet, though she was sure that soon they would pick up a case. Nothing was ever smooth and silent for long.

Deja peeked through the door's peephole, giving a little yelp when all she saw was another eye on the other side. Thankfully, it was a familiar eye.

Deja opened the door, messing with the long sleeves of her faded ACDC shirt as she leaned against the doorframe. "You can be an asshole, sometimes, Dean. You know that?" she teased.

"It's not my fault if you're easily startled," Dean returned, and Deja rolled her eyes.

"What's up, Dean?"

"We've got a job."

Deja's eyebrows rose. "A job, really? What is it?"

"We don't know."

"You..." Deja gave him an odd look. "How did you find a job if you don't know what it is?"

"We got coordinates."

"From..."

Dean bit down on his tongue for a second before speaking. "From our dad."

"Your Dad?" Deja echoed in surprise. "Wait, I thought he was missing?"

Dean rubbed the back of his neck. "He is, but...He's still given us two cases despite being gone. He left coordinates behind for us to find that Wendigo job we told you about, and changed his voicemail to tell people to call us if we needed help, which led to that demon making planes go down. Just a little while ago he sent us coordinates from an unknown number, so that's probably where he wants us to go next."

Deja was taken aback. Their father was alive, knew probably knew that his boys were looking for him, was sending them jobs, and yet...they still had no idea where he was and couldn't get in contact with him. What kind of messed up...

No, no, not your place to judge.

"O...kay. All right, then. Where's the job?"

Now it was Dean's turn to be taken aback, and he stared at Deja for a long moment. "That's it-no more questions, just where's the job?"

"Yeah. I'm assuming you know your dad well enough to know it's him, so I won't question the source anymore. And you opened with we have a job so I'm assuming that's where you're going, so I'll be there. Why, were you expecting the Spanish Inquisition and some prissy girl hissy fit?"

Dean looked down at his feet. "I guess I'm just so used to Sam arguing with everything our dad says I regularly expect it now."

"Oh, I have plenty of questions of my own, but it's none of my business, so I'm keeping it to myself," Deja amended. "So, this case, the coordinates-where are we headed?"

Dean took a step back, jabbing a thumb towards his and Sam's room. "Come on over and we can all find out."

Deja rolled her eyes but stepped outside her room, shutting the door behind her. "All right, let's see what we've got, then. I've been itching to see some action."

********************************************

"So, the coordinates point to Rockford, Illinois," Dean announced from his spot at the table, eyes glued to the laptop in front of him with brows furrowed. "I checked the local Rockford paper, and take a look at this."

Sam and Deja both moved closer as Dean shifted the computer so they could see the screen before continuing to speak. As he summarized what they were looking at, Deja took in the picture of a rather happy looking young cop and a run-down building that looked like it came right out of a horror movie. "This cop, Walter Kelly, comes home from his shift, shoots his wife, then puts the gun in his mouth, blows his brains out. And earlier that night, Kelly and his partner responded to a call at Roosevelt Asylum."

"Okay, I'm not following..." Sam said, gazing blankly at the pictures and article Dean had on display. "What does this have to do with us?"

Dean sighed slightly and pulled out a weathered leather hunting journal, but Deja was the only one close enough to hear it, and even then it was a faint sound. "Dad earmarked the same asylum in the journal."

Deja respectfully didn't try to peek a glimpse at the hunter's journal Dean was shifting through, scooting back so Sam could see.

"Let's see..." Dean muttered to himself as he leafed through a multitude of well-used pages before he finally came to a stop. "Here. Seven unconfirmed sightings, two deaths-until last week, at least. I think this is where he wants us to go."

Sam made a quiet sound of disbelief, rising to his feet and locking his hands together behind his head. "This is a job. Dad wants us to work a job."

Deja blinked. She'd thought that had already been established, by the way Dean had spoken...

"I mean, maybe we'll meet up with him, maybe he's there," Dean said hopefully.

"Maybe he's not. I mean, he could be sending us there by ourselves, to hunt this thing," Sam said, the irritation growing in his voice.

"Who cares!" Dean said loudly and cheerfully, snapping the journal shut and rising to his feet. "If he wants us there, that's good enough for me."

Deja remained sitting, feeling the tension continue to grow between the two and hoping that if she remained sitting and quiet they would forget she was there and she could discreetly slip out the door.

"This doesn't strike you as weird? The texting, the coordinates?" Sam pressed as Dean moved over to his bed to pack up the journal. Deja very carefully rose from her seat, eyeing the door and discreetly slinking towards it.

"Sam!" Dean said abruptly and loud enough to quickly cut Sam off. "Dad's telling us to go somewhere-we're going."

Awkward sibling/family drama. Come on, you can make it to the door before they spot you...

No one seemed to remember she was there until the door clicked open, and by then Dean was in the bathroom, so it was only her and Sam. Sam turned around, looking like he'd just remembered she was there. Deja glanced between the ajar door and Sam, then gestured outside. "I'm just...going to go pack. Just come tell me when you two are ready to go."

"Sure, but before you go...don't you think it's...odd for a father to vanish from the face of the planet without telling his only family, then ignore all attempts from them to contact him and occasionally leave messages that only contain numbers for the location of a job? I mean...just a simple I'm okay, this is where I'm at, or an I'm still alive in the first place would be nice."

Deja sighed, leaning against the doorway so she was halfway in the room, halfway out. "I think it's none of my damn business," she said simply, which caused Sam to scowl and look away. "But if you really wanted my opinion...I have no clue why he's going about things the way he is-I can't speak for your father, I don't know him. But I think that he thinks you two are capable of handling these jobs without him, which is special in its own way."

Looking away from Sam, Deja caught Dean's eye in the mirror next to the bathroom door and looked away before either of them could interpret the other's expression. "I'll just go pack now," she said awkwardly, making a quick escape back to her room before she could get caught up in any more family drama.

She liked being around the Winchesters, but she did not like the family drama-she would avoid that as much as she could.

*****************************************

Deja looked up from where she sat on the hood of her car when she heard footsteps approaching her, smiling slightly when her eyes confirmed that Dean had left The Old Terminal Pub that Officer Kelly's partner frequented.

"I take it Sam's chatting up the partner, now," she commented as he reached her, leaning against the side of the Impala and facing her. She took a sip out of the soda can she held in her hand, taken from her currently dwindling stock. While they were in town she would have to buy more-she always had soda on hand, she wasn't about to run out now.

"Yeah, it might be a while." Dean pointed at the soda. "Do you always have one of those? I almost never see you without one lying nearby."

Deja laughed. "I always have a soda on hand-though I'm running low right now, I'm going to have to restock soon." Deja took another sip of her soda, and despite her better judgement decided to brush on the taboo topic of the week. "So, your dad's still alive-that's good news."

Dean's gaze suddenly wasn't on her as he chose to instead look at the building Sam was inside. "That it is."

"So...after this, does the search continue, or will you two be waiting for him to come to you?" Deja asked carefully.

"I don't see how that's your business."

Deja shrugged. "It's not. I was just curious and thought I'd ask," she admitted, heaving a sigh and laying down on her hood. "I hate the waiting part...it drives me insane."

"It's not my favorite part either, but..."

"It just comes with the job," Deja finished. Bored, she tried to balance the soda can on her chest, knowing she was an odd sight at the moment in her tattered sweats and old long sleeve, but really not caring.

"You and boredom don't mix, do you?"

"Not at all..." Deja murmured.

"I could think of some ways to pass the time."

"Dean, you're getting obvious with your flirts."

"I never said anything about that...though I'm open to it if you are," Dean added with a grin. Deja sighed.

"I'll pass, thanks."

"Your loss," Dean said with a roll of his eyes. "Anyway, that's not what I was going to suggest. You like those little games to pass the time, right?"

"Oh, you mean like when we tried to see if we could pick out any virgins in the bar because you said something about being able to sniff one out in a ten mile radius?"

"Yeah, kind of like that one."

"I won that one."

"I still disagree-there weren't any other virgins in that bar."

"Yes there was, and I know for a fact she was a virgin, but you failed to pick her out."

"I still disagree, but back to what I was trying to say, unless you want to continue being difficult?"

"Why thank you for noticing, Dean, I try."

Dean made a sound of disgust, waving a dismissive hand through the air. "Never mind, I give up."

Deja laughed. "All right, all right, I'm sorry, I'll behave. What entirely wholesome entertainment were you going to suggest, Dean Winchester?"

"I was thinking one of us hums a song and the other tries to guess what it is. It's stupid, I know, but it'll pass the time...And keep you from spilling Dr. Pepper all over you."

Deja snickered, sitting up. "Touché. So, who starts?"

"I can," Dean volunteered. After a few seconds pause he started humming what was obviously a rock song's intro, and knowing his taste she threw her mind to what some would call mullet rock.

Though Deja loved a lot of those songs, they were classics.

After the first few notes, Deja smiled. "You Shook Me All Night Long, Rolling Stones." She pursed her lips, going through her mental musical library for a song Dean might know but wouldn't be obvious. Not wanting to struggle with trying to sing the intro chords, Deja went right to the chorus of her song, bobbing her head left and right in time with her humming. After a few moments, Dean managed to place the song.

"I Need a Lover, Pat Benatar."

They continued on like this, back and forth with different rock songs. Deja mostly went with the pop and rock of the seventies and the eighties, though occasionally she threw in modern songs to mess with Dean. Much to his chagrin, she'd been around them long enough for him to recognize some of the Avril Lavigne songs she loved so much. Some of the other modern or softer songs she threw into the mix...well, he pretended he didn't recognize them, but by some of his little reactions she was pretty sure he did.

Finally, as they started getting further and further away from songs that the other recognized, Sam left the bar, halting their intensifying competition. Dean's smile gained a slightly bitter edge to it, and he appraised his brother with a relaxed indifference.

"You shoved me kinda hard in there, buddy boy," Dean called as Sam came closer within hearing range. Deja's eyebrows rose as she looked to Sam. The silent tension between the two brothers was already returning?

"I had to sell it, didn't I? It's method acting," Sam countered as he made his way around to the passenger's side of the Impala. Dean only looked confused.

"Huh?"

Sam huffed and rolled his eyes, waving a dismissive hand Dean's way. "Never mind."

"What did you find out from Gunderson?" Dean asked, thankfully quickly moving on from the previous conversation. Sam leaned against the roof of the Impala.

"So, Walter Kelly was a good cop. Ahead of his class, even-keeled. He had a bright future ahead of him."

"Well, that doesn't necessarily mean that everything's all right on the inside," Deja chipped in.

"What about at home?" Dean asked.

"He and his wife had a few fights, like everybody, but it was mostly smooth sailing. They were even talking about having kids."

Deja felt her good mood drop slightly at that news, but she shoved the feelings aside, knowing that it wouldn't do much good to pity the people who were already dead-they had to stop whatever was doing this before more bodies turned up.

"All right, so either Kelly had some deep-seated crazy waiting to bust out, or something else did it to him," Dean summed up. Sam nodded.

"Right."

"What did Gunderson tell you about the asylum?"

Sam gave him a slight half smile. "A lot."

After a few moments of silence, Deja spoke up. "Well, Sam, don't leave us in suspense."

"Long story short, it's a hotspot for teenagers because of a local legend that says that if you spend the night in the asylum, the spirits of the patients will drive you insane."

"Which, with what happened to Officer Kelly...might be true," Deja muttered, tapping her soda can against her thigh. "We should probably check out the asylum then-but not tonight, let's try it in the morning after I've got a couple hours under my belt."

"All right, you heard her Sam, she needs her beauty sleep," Dean commented, opening the driver's side door.

"Or we could go now while I'm all strung out from the caffeine I've been drinking since we hit the road, and when we get there I get startled and end up accidentally shooting someone. We can do that too," Deja replied without missing a beat. Sam chuckled.

"In that case, we'll definitely go in the morning."

**********************************************

After unwillingly getting up at an unsavory hour of the day, a cup of coffee, a quick breakfast, and a casual jump over a roughly eight foot fence, Deja, Dean, and Sam all made their way up the stairs to the entrance of the Roosevelt Asylum. As they neared the door and Deja took in the sights around them, she felt a chill go down her spine and a pit settle in her stomach. Goosebumps broke out along her arm, and she frowned up at the building as Sam and Dean filed inside the door, rubbing her arm absentmindedly.

"Oh yeah...there's definitely something wrong here..."

Both brothers paused and turned to stare at her, which made her realize she'd spoken out loud. Deja shook herself out of her momentary stupor and stepped inside, though the feeling of unease and wrongness didn't leave her.

"Care to share with the class?" Dean asked expectantly, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, um..." Deja fumbled, turning back to the entrance as her mind scrambled for her reply. "I've always had this thing-call it a sixth sense, I guess-where I can feel when there's something bad nearby, like a malevolent spirit or sometimes dark magic if it's something seriously messed up. It's kind of like a gut feeling that somethings wrong, but stronger and more, ah...potent."

Sam perked up noticeably. "You're saying your psychic?"

Curious...

"No...no, I wouldn't go that far," Deja amended. "I mean, I'm not able to commune with the spirits, or read minds, or anything like that. It's just...if some really dark or powerful magic is being done or there's a vengeful, malevolent spirit nearby I get this...bad feeling. Kind of like a combination of someone's watching you and a pit in your stomach, and this sense of wrongness...it's hard to explain, but I wouldn't label myself as psychic. I know a few psychics, and that's not me. I'm just...a little supernatural sensitive."

The guys just looked at her, Dean appearing to be a little weirded out while Sam looked like he was still labeling her as psychic in his book. "Can you two please stop looking at me like that and keep going? We're in the asylum, now what?"

Sam glanced down, looking abashed. "Right, sorry. So, apparently the cops chased the kids here..." Sam gestured to the hall on their right. "...into the south wing."

"South wing, huh? Wait a second. South wing, south wing..." Dean murmured, pulling their father's journal out of the duffel bag he was carrying and flipping through the pages. "1972: three kids broke into the south wing, only one survived. The way he tells it, one of his friends went nuts and started lighting up the place."

"So, whatever's going on, south wing seems like the heart of it," Sam said softly as they all looked down said hall.

"Yeah, but if kids are spelunking the asylum, why aren't there a ton more deaths?" Dean asked. Deja walked towards the large double doors, kneeling on the ground and picking up the cut chain that was still partially looped in one of the door handles but hidden by the debris on the floor.

"It looks like the doors are usually chained. They could have been chained up for years," Sam said pointedly.

"Yeah, to keep people out...or to keep something in," Dean said ominously, raising his eyebrows twice for emphasis and giving both Deja and Sam a mischievous smile.

Deja pushed open the door to the hall, peering down the dark space before looking back at the two Winchesters. "So...dark, creepy, haunted asylum wing that I'm getting all sorts of bad vibes from...who's got an EMF reader, and who wants to go first?"

Dean pulled out a square object...and EMF reader, and stepped past her into the hall. "I've got this, ladies."

Sam's arms rose in the familiar come at me, bro, gesture. "Dude!"

"I'm not going to complain, he implied I'm classy," Deja snickered when Sam turned to her for backup, following after Dean into the south wing and missing Sam's reaction. Dean stood with the currently inactive EMF in hand, waiting for the two of them to catch up. The hall stretched out in front of them, and Deja could see that there was another branch that went in a different direction.

"I'll see if there's anything useful down this hall-and don't worry, if I see a Casper, I'll yell," Deja said with a sweet smile.

"Just be careful, we don't know what we're dealing with yet," Dean cautioned.

"I know, I know," Deja sighed, already starting down the hall.

This will also give you boys a chance to maybe bring up some conversation topics that are obviously causing some tension. With my luck, probably not, and you'll have another outburst while I'm the awkward bystander.

********************************************

Deja spent and unknown amount of time walking the creepy asylum hall alone, peeking her head into decrepit patient rooms and trying not to get spooked. Ghosts weren't her favorite thing to deal with-they'd always freaked her out, especially the children ghosts.

Not that she was about to admit it to her companions. How many jobs for a hunter involved ghosts? Besides, it was a manageable fear...most of the time. Sometimes it was just too damn creepy for her.

Like Sam and Dean's story about that child ghost killing people from water, or their Bloody Mary case, or their recent story about the Hook Man. Those had been nightmare worthy, and she was glad she hadn't been around for those.

No thank you.

Now, after coming up with basically nothing but a floor plan for the hall, Deja made her way back to the hall Sam and Dean had taken, trying to ignore the sensation of someone watching her. Even though she could tell this place had something bad lingering in it, nothing was coming out right now. Perhaps this was one of the cases where the spirits only came out at night or something.

As Deja neared the end of the hall, she started to hear raised voices.

Oh good, they were talking about their problems in her absence. Best to give them a little more space...

"So am I, Sam! Look, he sent us here, he obviously wants us here. We'll just have to pick up the search later."

"It doesn't matter what he wants."

"See, that attitude right there...That is why I always got the extra cookie."

Deja couldn't help the quick smile that flashed across her face at Dean's perfectly relaxed tone, though she knew he was probably tense at the moment. While they fought, she entertained herself with trying to figure out what old liquid was inside a mason jar left sitting on a cart in the hall to pass the time. In the room in front of her, the argument continued, Sam's voice raising from an annoyed, level tone to a louder, irritated one.

"Dad could be in trouble. We should be looking for him. We deserve some answers, Dean, I mean, this is our family we're talking about."

Dean cut Sam off before he could finish saying about, his tone suddenly hard and leaving no room for further argument.

"I understand that, Sam, but he's given us an order."

"So what? We've got to always follow Dad's orders?"

"Of course we do."

The room fell silent, and Deja looked up, staring at the door as she waited to see if the argument really was over. When she was sure that they had really stopped speaking and it wasn't just that she couldn't hear them, she made her way through the double doors, expression smooth so they wouldn't know she'd just heard their family drama...again.

"So, I just finished with the rest of the wing...this place was definitely left in a hurry, and nobody seemed to bother coming back for anything. There's medicine on the floors, still on the shelves, clothes in some cases-just stuff everywhere, strewn about like it was caught in some kind of stampede. You'd think this was a war zone and not an asylum," Deja reported as she made her way into the room, playing temporarily ignorant to the still sizzling tension from the argument the two had just had. Dean had his back to Sam, messing with something on the table while Sam turned his attention to Deja.

"They could have had an uprising or something-patients have been known to riot in places like this before. From the looks of this room, they were into the medieval, twisted stuff."

"Lobotomies and electroshock...joyous," Deja murmured, taking in the chair with the straps in the center of the room. Dean hadn't turned to acknowledge her presence yet, picking up a weathered plaque off the examination table he was standing by.

"Sanford Ellicott..." he murmured to himself before turning back to Sam and Deja. "You know what we've gotta do? We've got to find out more about the south wing, see if something happened here."

As he spoke he walked up to Sam, pushing the plaque into his chest without pausing and walking out the door. Deja didn't immediately follow, looking at the plaque with Sam to read Chief of Staff Sanford Ellicott, M.D. Sam simply heaved a frustrated sigh, dropping the plague onto a counter and walking after his brother. The resulting clatter of the plaque echoed around the abandoned building and, not wanting to be left behind.

**************************************

Deja sat in the waiting room to see Dr. James Ellicott who was, of all things, a psychiatrist. Once Sam and Dean had found this medical descendant of the Sanford Ellicott who worked at the asylum, they had decided to see if they could get any information out of him. Sam had suggested scheduling an appointment to get the opportunity to speak with him, and Deja had volunteered to be the one to see the shrink, much to their surprise. When they'd asked why she wanted to do it, she's simply shrugged and countered with an at least neither of you have to go in. That had resulted in no more arguing, and now, while Sam and Dean waited outside, here she sat in the waiting room, staring mindlessly out the window because she refused to look at the magazines.

She wasn't much of a magazines person.

"Deja Floy?"

Deja tore her gaze away from the window to look up at the man leaning in his doorway looking at her expectantly, and she stood up from her seat on the couch. "Hello, Doc."

"Come on in," Dr. Ellicott replied, gesturing her into his office.

"Thanks for setting up an appointment-I know it's hard to get in without much notice, but my job has me moving around a lot and I prefer in person meetings over phone calls," Deja said as she stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her before taking the seat right across from Dr. Ellicott.

As Dr. Ellicott settled in and got ready, pulling out a notebook and everything, Deja let her gaze roam the room, taking in some awards on the wall, his degrees, a photo of what was probably him and his father...

Dr. Ellicott turned his full attention to her, which she did in return.

"Before we get started, Dr. Ellicott," Deja said before the man could speak, crossing her legs and interlocking her hands over her knee. "I want to say that I've been to a few of these, almost always with a different person because I travel a lot, and I already kind of know what kind of method I can usually work with for talking about me, since I'm not usually too keen on the subject but I know I've got to talk about it somehow."

Dr. Ellicott blinked in surprise, but he didn't argue. "All right, then, Deja-how do you prefer to do this?"

"I like to talk so that it's not one sided. I'll talk about me, answer whatever questions you ask me, but I feel comfortable if I can ask you questions too-I'll try not to get into anything super personal when asking questions, though."

"A question for a question then?" Dr. Ellicott asked.

"Exactly."

"All right then, I'll start-how've you been, Deja?"

"Mostly the same, which I know isn't an improvement by a long shot. The job has me traveling a lot, but recently I've been working with these two brothers, and we've been traveling together-that's different. I've been on my own for...eleven years now. They're the first people I haven't immediately left after meeting them," Deja said honestly, leaning back in her seat. "As for my question...does medicine run in your family?"

"Yes, it does a little, my father was the chief of staff at the Roosevelt Asylum," Dr. Ellicott said dismissively. "Why've you been on your own for so long, Deja? You would have been thirteen eleven years ago, and your records say you've been in and out of foster care homes..."

"Well, after I saw my family murdered in front of my eyes I wasn't exactly in a people mood, and since the killers were-and still are-at large, I didn't trust anyone. And I still believe that its best that I don't get close to anyone else so that they don't get hurt by the same people who killed my family."

"Why would you believe the killers would come after you specifically?"

"That was my turn to ask a question, Dr. Ellicott," Deja said quietly, but she answered him anyway. "It was organized crime, and they were after me. They're boss was-is-a little mentally disturbed and had an unhealthy fixation with me from the first time she saw me. I'll go ahead and ask two questions so we catch up-isn't the Roosevelt Asylum that huge creepy building that looks like something out of a horror movie, and did something happen there because it looks pretty messed up."

Dr. Ellicott sighed. "Yes, that's Roosevelt Asylum, and there was a patient riot in the south wing that shut the Asylum down. So you're still convinced that this...crime syndicate that killed your family is after you."

Deja inclined her head. "I know they are. They've just gone underground since I grew older and are being a lot more careful."

Dr. Ellicott tapped his pen against his notebook. "If you're so sure that they are, and your belief that they will go after anyone you get close to is the reason you haven't associated with anyone in so long...what's so different about these two brothers you're traveling with?"

Deja paused, absentmindedly tracing nonsense patterns on her leg. "I've...been trying to figure that out myself, Doc. I can save my question for the end, I want to know about the riot and I can tell that's going to be a long story, so ask away."

"Okay then, let's see if we can get to the bottom of this. Tell me about these two brothers your traveling with, first."

"Well, there's the oldest, Dean, and the youngest, Sam. They're, ah...private investigators, they travel around and try to solve the really bizarre and hard cases that have the police stumped-they're really good at it, too. It's a family business," she added, considering what else to say.

"How did you meet them?" Dr. Ellicott asked.

"They were working a job in a town I'd stopped at-it had some bizarre mass murders going on, and I wanted to look into it for my writing. Then they showed up at the request of one of the families to work the case and our paths kind of converged. I shadowed them for my writing while they worked, they solved the case...I gave them my contact information and we parted ways. I ran into them again a while ago and asked if I could tag along, they said yes, and here I am."

"Why did you give them your contact information?" Dr. Ellicott asked.

Deja pursed her lips. "I...liked working with them. Well, I guess I should say I liked working with Dean, I hardly spent any time around Sam on that job."

"Oh, so you're attracted to the older brother?" Dr. Ellicott said with a smile. It wasn't a question so much as a statement, and Deja couldn't help but laugh.

"What? No. I mean...he is extremely handsome, I'll give him that, and he flirts with me a lot..."

"Do you flirt back?"

Deja paused at the questions, a small smile slipping across her face. "Occasionally, but it's not like anything serious. It's just...something fun that we do, like a game. He shamelessly flirts, and it becomes a competition of sorts if I reciprocate."

"Do you think it could be something more?"

"No," Deja said simply. "Dean's more of a...one night stand kind of guy. If I'm going to get involved with someone, I want it to be more than that."

"Okay then...what about the younger brother, Sam?"

Deja sighed. "Sam...he's a good guy, smart, definitely driven..."

A silence lingered for a few moments. "But?" Dr. Ellicott eventually prompted.

Deja stared at a spot on the ground. "I'm not sure...he entirely realizes he's got something really good."

"Why would you think that?"

"There's a lot of...tension between him and his brother, and they keep getting into arguments, and sometimes with the way he looks at Dean, or talks to him...it's like he doesn't realize that Dean's just trying to keep a family together, and trying to watch out for his little brother. I don't think he realizes he's got a damn good older brother."

"I can tell you feel strongly about this," Dr. Ellicott stated as he watched her mannerisms closely. "Why is that?"

Deja sighed, closing her eyes. "Because I had an older brother."

Dr. Ellicott nodded in sudden understanding. "So you look at Sam and Dean, and you see Sam has what you once had, and he's not appreciating how good of a thing it is, which bothers you."

"I guess so," Deja said with a sigh. "Though that still doesn't answer the why did I decide to road trip with them question."

"Well, the answer to that might be a little more obvious than you think," Dr. Ellicott said pointedly.

"What do you mean?"

"Deja..." Dr. Ellicott said in a voice that sounded like he was explaining something to a child, and he leaned forward. "You've been on your own for eleven years. Did you stop to think that maybe you were tired of being alone and wanted some human interaction again? Wanted friendship?"

Deja stared at a spot on the ground. "No, I haven't thought that. It's safer to be alone. And I'm not exactly a person someone would want to be around. I'm dangerous."

"I don't think that's true."

Deja looked up with a bitter smile. "You don't know me. You know what's on those records, you know what you can see, what I've said today, but you don't know me. You don't know me at the end of the day when no one else is around. You don't know how I feel."

"And how do you feel? Why do you feel like you're dangerous?"

"That's one of my problems, Doc. Most of the time, I don't feel anything. The rest of the time, it's anger, or pain, or a need for revenge, and that scares me. It's dangerous for someone like me to have that much...anger and nothing." Concern flickered in Dr. Ellicott's eyes, and Deja sighed. "Don't look at me like I'm going to become some psychotic killer, you're not the first person to give me that look. I'm not about to go murderer on innocent people, I'm too moral for that. I might lack feeling right now, but that doesn't mean I lack morals."

After a few seconds of silence, Dr. Ellicott spoke again. "Do you feel differently when you're around Sam and Dean?"

Deja blinked, momentarily thrown off guard. "I...I guess. I mean...I enjoy being around them, when they're not having a family argument. Dean's pretty funny, Sam's amusing...I feel comfortable around them."

"Perhaps spending time with them will help you feel better overall," Dr. Ellicott suggested.

"Maybe..." Deja murmured. She shook her head, ready to stop this line of conversation before it went any further and she lost control of the situation. She was here for a reason, and it wasn't to play therapist with the person she was actually interrogating. "Anyway, Dr. Ellicott-could I hear about that patient riot at the asylum?"

***************************************

"And she finally emerges-you were in there forever, what the Hell were you talking about?"

Deja gave Dean a sly smile as she approached. "Oh, boring psychiatrist stuff, and interesting asylum riot stuff as well."

"What did you find out?" Sam asked.

"Well, the south wing was where they kept the seriously disturbed, like your criminally insane, psychotic people-"

"Sounds cozy," Dean quipped.

"-and in sixty-four they rioted, attacking the staff and each other, which is why that place looked like a war zone," Deja finished.

"So...what, the patients took over the asylum?" Dean asked for clarification.

"Apparently," Sam commented.

"Any deaths?" Dean asked, still focused on Deja.

"Some patients and staff, including our chief of staff Sanford Ellicott," Deja announced. "It was a gory event-they didn't even find all of the bodies. The cops scoured every inch of the place, but the patients must have...stashed the bodies someplace hidden."

Dean grimaced. "Well that's grim."

"Yeah, after that the patients were moved to a different hospital and Roosevelt was shut down."

"So, to sum it up, we've got a bunch of violent deaths and a bunch of unrecovered bodies," Dean stated.

"Which could mean a bunch of angry spirits," Sam finished.

"Well, good times-let's go check out the hospital tonight," Dean quipped with a sparkle in his eyes, pulling out his keys and getting in the driver's side of the Impala. Deja looked up at the sky, gauging that they had a while before they would be heading to the asylum tonight. Maybe she'd get some rest, maybe she'd do some study...maybe she'd try to get the guys to do something enjoyable before they headed to the haunted asylum at night.

She was so looking forward to it.

Not.