CHAPTER TWENTY

"This thing moves so slow." Nyx mumbles, and Dean looks at his girlfriend. They're sitting on a cart, taking a tour of a film set in Hollywood.

"Why are you so crabby?" He asks, and her dark eyes flit briefly to him.

"I'm not crabby. I'm bored."

"Hey, you know this is where they filmed Creepshow?" He asks as he leans over toward the kid sitting next to him. Nyx's sitting next to Sam, who's about as excited to be there as she is.

"Now, to the right here is Stars Hollow." Says their tour guide. "It's the setting for the television series Gilmore Girls. And if we're lucky, we might even catch one of the show's stars." She says, and Nyx looks up at Sam.

"Come on." He says, and they get off the cart.

"Let's​ finish the tour." Dean practically begs, but they're already walking away.

The green-eyed boy catches up to them and he's looking around the lot. "Hey, check it out, it's Matt Damon." He points out a person to their left.

"I'm pretty sure that's not Matt Damon." His brother tells him.

"No, it is."

"Well, Matt Damon just picked up a broom and started sweeping." Nyx says, and Sam starts laughing.

"Yeah, he's probably researching a role or something." Dean argues.

"I can see it now, Jason Bourne and the Killer Broom." She says, and Sam laughs harder as Dean shoots her a dirty look.

"This way. I think stage nine's over here." Sam says.

"Come on, man. Let's keep going this way." Dean tries.

"No, come on. We got to work." He says, and his brother sighs. They start bickering, and Nyx gets ahead of them.

"Hey, baby, you know anything about the Poltergeist set?" Dean asks, and the brunette turns so she's facing them and walking backward.

"Yeah, it was rumored that the set was cursed, that they used real human bones as props." She says, and he nods; that's exactly what he was getting at. "I think I even heard​ that at least three actors died that were in it." Nyx adds.

"This is part of why I love you." He says, and she smiles as she turns back around.

"Yeah, might be something like that." Sam says.

"Alright, so this crew guy. What's his name?" Dean asks.

"Frank Jaffe."

"You got a death certificate or a coroner's report or anything?"

"Well, no, but it's L.A., you know? That might not even be his real name. But the girl who found him, she said she saw something — a vanishing figure."

"What's the girl's name?" Nyx asks.

"Uh, Tara Benchley." Sam tells her.

"Whoa, Tara Benchley." Dean repeats, and she turns around because the boys stopped walking behind her. "From Fear.com and Ghost Ship Tara Benchley? Dude, why didn't you say so?"

"Sounds like someone has a crush." Sam says as he looks from his brother to Nycole.

"Yeah, I'd say so." She agrees, clearly amused.

"I mean, I'm a fan of her work." Dean says, and she nods. "It's— It's very good." He adds, and she laughs as she starts walking away from them.

"Yeah, they're good movies." She agrees.

"Hey, baby." He runs over and wraps his arms around her waist. "She's not as hot as you, trust me." He says, and she shakes her head as he hugs her from behind as they keep walking.

They head onto the set for the case that they're gonna work, and some guy starts yelling for them — for Dean. "Uh, excuse me. Green-shirt guy?" He says, and they look at him. "Yeah, yeah, you. Come here. Can you get me a smoothie from craft?" He asks.

"You want a what from who?" Dean asks, and Nyx nudges Sam.

"You are a P.A." The guy says. "This is what you do."

"Yeah, he, uh..." Sam chuckles as he runs over to them. "One smoothie coming right up." He pulls Dean away from them, and they walk back over to Nycole.

"What's a P.A.?" Dean asks his brother.

"I think they're kinda like slaves." Sam tells him as they walk away from them.

The three hunters go off on their own to look for anything that might be related to their job, and then filming starts for the movie again. Nyx ignores it for the most part and walks over to the boys at the popcorn machine a little while later.

"There's no EMF anywhere." Dean says.

"Great. So, what do you think​?" Sam asks.

"Well, I think being a P.A. sucks. But the food these people get? Are you kidding me?" He's saying as Nyx reaches them. "I mean, look at these things. They're like miniature Philly​ cheesesteak sandwiches." He picks one up.

"Are you ever not stuffing your face?" Nyx asks, and Sam shakes his head.

"What did you find out about the dead crew guy?" Dean asks, his mouth full.

"Uh, Frank Jaffe was just filling in for the day. Nobody here knew him or where he lived or anything." Sam says.

"Oh, great. So, you found out as much as I did." He's still talking around his mouthful of sandwich.

"I'm wondering why I'm dating you." Nyx says, and he looks at her. "You're disgusting, you know that?"

"Did you find out anything, Nyx?" Sam asks, and she looks at him.

"Yeah, a little on stage nine's history." She tells them. "Four people died messy here over the past eighty years. Two suicides and two fatal accidents."

"Any one of them could be a vengeful spirit." Dean says.

"Yeah. We gotta narrow it down more."

"I'll get right on that." He says and starts walking toward Tara Benchley.

"That doesn't bother you?" Sam asks Nyx.

"That he has a crush on a movie star and now that he's on the same set as her, he wants to talk to her?" She shakes her head. "He can look at and flirt with whoever he wants. He does anything else, then I'll have a problem."

"You are way more evolved than most people." He says, and she laughs.

"I trust him, that's all." She says, and he nods.

—

Sam knocks on a door, and an older man answers. "Gerard St. James?" Dean asks.

"Yeah." Gerard says.

"You're still alive, and you're not Frank Jaffe." Sam says.

"You were— You were desert soldier number four in Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn." Dean says.

"I was." Gerard says.

"I knew I recognized you. I am a huge fan." He says, and Sam and Nyx look at each other. "I mean, your turn as the tractor-crash victim in Critters 3 — wow."

"Wow." He laughs. "Hey, well, please, come in." He says as he looks at the three of them, and they all walk inside.

He gets them something to drink as he explains to them what happened that day on set.

"Yeah, it was the producers. I mean, they brought me in for the day to play Frank." He tells the three of them.

"Just to fake your death?" Dean asks.

"Well, rumors of a haunted film set... Free publicity, especially when you're making a horror movie." He says as Nyx sits down next to Dean. "I mean, it's already all over the internet​."

"Yeah, we know." Sam says.

"These days, it's all about building new media, building buzz. They say I'm the new lonelygirl."

"Who?" Dean asks.

"And the ghost Tara saw?" Nycole asks.

"Projected on a screen of diffusion." He tells them.

"Isn't that kind of cruel...messing with their heads like that?" Dean asks.

"Hey, I just play the part. I don't write the script." Gerard says. "Speaking of... I'm playing Willy in a dinner-theater production​ of Salesperson at Costa Mesa all next month. Get a free pepper steak with the coupon." He says as he hands Dean a coupon.

"Well, now, wait a second. If you're seen in public, won't that ruin the hoax?" Dean asks.

"Oh, please. Frank and Willy — totally different characters."

"You know what? Thanks very much, Mr. St. James." Sam says. "It was just nagging at us. But we— We're very glad, you know, you're alive and well."

"Absolutely." Nyx says as they all stand up and each of the hunters shakes his hand.

"I wanted to ask you." Dean says. "What was it like working with Richard Moll?"

"There's something wrong with you." She mumbles.

"He's from Metalstorm." He says. "He was Hurok, king of the cyclops people."

"When we leave, I need to reconsider this relationship." She says, and he shoots her a dirty look.

"Stop saying​ that." He says, and she chuckles.

"Gentlemen's gentlemen." Gerard says as Dean looks back at him.

"Yeah?" He looks at the coupon in his hand. "Alright, pepper steak."

"Why are you with him?" Sam jokes as they walk toward the door.

"We have the twins now, I'm kinda stuck with him." Nycole says. "At least for the next eighteen years."

"Seventeen years and seven months."

"I can hear you two." Dean says from behind them.

"Don't worry. I love you, baby." She says, and he shakes his head at the two of them as she and Sam start laughing.

—

The three of them are now back on set because the guy who told Dean he wanted a smoothie supposedly committed suicide. He hung himself and fell onto the set while they were in the middle of shooting a scene.

"Walter's a little testy for a P.A., huh?" Dean comments as Sam and Nyx walk over to him. That Walter guy just walked past them calling everyone on set an idiot.

"How's it going in here?" Sam asks.

"Really good. Tara has really stepped up her performance, and I think it's probably from all the sense-memory stuff."

"Sense-memory​?" Sam questions.

"Yeah."

"Who are you, and what have you done with my boyfriend?" Nyx asks.

"Dean, you know, when we ask how it's going here, we're talking about the case, right?" His brother asks him. "We don't really work here."

"I thought you hated being a P.A." She says.

"I don't​ know. It's not so bad." Dean says, and she looks at the headset he's currently wearing. "I kind of feel like I'm part of the team, you know?"

"Why don't you come back to our team now please?"

"Listen, we conned our way into the morgue. News reports are right. Brad's a doornail — no question." Sam says.

"He's not listening to you." Nyx tells him.

"Copy that." Dean says. "Sorry. What?" He then asks his brother.

"Copy that?" Sam questions.

"What did you say?"

"The news reports are right. Brad's a doornail." He repeats.

"They're aware." Dean says, talking into the headset, and Nyx shakes her head.

"Who's aware?" Sam asks.

"He's still not listening to you." The brunette repeats.

"Sorry. What were you saying?" Dean asks them.

"Uh, uh, the newspaper's right. Brad's a doornail. No question about it." Sam tells him. Again.

"I guess it's a good thing we didn't skip town." He says. "Oh, come here I want you to hear something. Copy that, I'm on my way." He starts walking away from them, and his girlfriend sighs.

Sam grabs Nyx's arm and pulls her with him as he follows after his older brother.

"Hey, Dave. Can you play that thing you were showing me earlier?" Dean asks one of the sound guys.

"Sure." Dave nods.

Sam listens to it with headphones, and Nyx concentrates on it so that she can hear the audio track too. It's from when the actors were filming before, but then something weird and distorted comes through. They thank Dave before walking​ away from him.

"EVP." Sam says.

"From the night of Brad's stage dive." Dean tells them. "All of a sudden, I'm getting electromagnetic readings up the wazoo. For some reason, it's a legit haunting now."

"Whose ghost? And what's it want?" Nyx asks.

"I don't know. I think we should take a look at Brad's death scene."

The three of them make their way into a trailer, and Dean puts the video in a player connected to the tv. "Where'd you get this DVD?" Sam asks.

"They're called dailies. I got it from Cindy. She's got this kind of thing going on with Drew. He dubbed me an extra copy." Dean tells them.

He fast forwards until they're almost at the part that they want to see. The camera's on a blonde girl, and then she screams when Brad's body falls through the roof.

Something distorts on the screen, and Sam tells Dean to back track it so that they can see it again. "Wait." He says, and Dean pauses it. The picture changed. "There."

"It's like 3 Men and a Baby all over again." Dean says as they look at the ghostly figure that wasn't​ there before the picture distorted. Sam just looks at his brother. "Selleck, Danson, and Guttenberg, and— I don't know who played the baby."

"What's your point?" Sam asks.

"Did you live under a rock or something?" Nyx questions, looking at Sam. "There's a scene where people say that the camera caught a ghost on film. It's in the background of one of the scenes, there was this boy that nobody remembers."

"Spirit photography." Dean adds.

"And you two say that I have strange information in my head." Sam shakes his head at them as his brother and Nyx look at each other. "Wait, I've seen her before." He says, looking back at the ghost on the tv.