╭-°—✞——✞—°-╮

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥

𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨

╰-°—✞——✞—°-╯

Delaney wrapped her arms around Dean's neck from behind and laid her head on his shoulder as she stared up at him with wide, green eyes that were similar to his own. "Please, Dee."

Sam sat in the passenger seat next to Dean with an amused grin on his face, never getting tired of watching Delaney work her baby sister magic on their older brother. No matter how much Dean tried to fight off Delaney's cuteness, he always fell to his knees and did what she asked him to. Unless it was dangerous, then he just laughed in her face and she would wind up doing it herself.

"No, Della."

"Pllleeeaaassseee," Delaney begged and pouted her lip.

Dean glanced away from the road and down at his sister who was working her puppy dog eyes extra hard this time. Not like that would get him to stop fighting it off, especially with what she wanted him to do. "No."

"Dean, will you just let the kid go to Mom's grave?" Sam sighed, knowing fully well that Dean was working twice as hard to fight off Delaney's usual gimmick because he himself didn't want to go to the grave.

"She doesn't even have a grave," Dean argued, his focus going back on the road so he wouldn't have to look either one of his siblings in the eye. "There was no body left after the fire."

"She has a headstone," Sam countered.

Dean scoffed and leaned his elbow on the windowsill, resting his head against his palm as he continued their drive down the empty road. "Put up her uncle that we never even met. So Delaney wants to go pay her respects to a slab of granite put up by a stranger?"

Delaney glared at the side of Dean's head, annoyed that he wouldn't just let her visit the grave for five minutes. It's not like they were far from where the gravestone was placed either. "That's not the point, Dean. It's not a bout a body or a casket. It's about her memory."

Dean hummed dismissively, clearly not wanting to listen to either Sam or Delaney.

Sam and Delaney exchanged an exasperated look with each other, both not understanding why Dean was adamant about not wanting to go to the grave. "No one is asking you to come, you know."

"It's irrational. Let's just go to the Roadhouse instead. We haven't heard anything on the demon lately. We should be hunting that son of a bitch down," Dean suggested and Delaney didn't miss how Sam flinched at the mention of the demon. 

Any time Yellow Eyes was brought up, Delaney could feel the tension pick up around her and her brothers and she had no idea why. She still knew the both of them were hiding something from her, but she wasn't sure what and it wasn't like either one of them were going to tell her. It was starting to bother her, yet she wasn't ready for that argument. 

"So you go to the Roadhouse," Delaney said after a long beat of silence. "Drop Sam and I off, we'll hitch a ride and meet you there tomorrow."

Dean snorted and lifted his hand off his palm. "Right. Making awkward small talk until you two show up. No, thanks."

Delaney smiled triumphantly and high-fived Sam when Dean got off the next exit that would lead them to the site where their mom's gravestone was placed.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Delaney sat in front of Mary's grave with Sam next to her. Their great-uncle didn't make the gravestone too fancy, all it read was:

MARY WINCHESTER

1954 TO 1987

LOVING DAUGHTER, WIFE AND MOTHER

"Sammy, do you have your switchblade?" Delaney whispered and tore her tear-filled eyes from her mother's grave and over to Sam. 

Sam fumbled in his back pocket for the switchblade and handed it over to his sister, who immediately dug a small hole in the ground right in front of the grave and tugged out their father's army dog tags from her jacket pocket. "Where did you get those?"

Delaney cleared her throat and dropped them into the small hole she made before covering it back up again with the dirt she dug out. "I took them off Dad before we burned his body back at Uncle Bobby's. I think Dad would have wanted Mom to have them, don't you think?"

Sam smiled sadly at Delaney and nodded. "Yeah... he would have loved for her to have them."

Delaney wiped furiously at her eyes as she sniffled, focusing her gaze back on their mom's grave. "I didn't even get to know her and I still miss her. Is that weird?"

"Not at all, kiddo," Sam assured and brought her into his side, rubbing her arm soothingly as she continued to erase the fact that she cried from her face. "Mom would be really proud of you, you know?"

"You think so?"

"I know so," Sam smiled at her, kissing the side of her head. "You've taken this whole family business thing so well even though you got thrown into it head first, especially whatever Yellow Eyes did to you that night. So such a small person you're the toughest girl I know and I know Mom would have loved to watch you grow into the woman you are now. You may not realize or know it, but you definitely have a lot of Mom in you."

Delaney smiled a little at this as she glanced up at Sam. "I do?"

"You may look like Dad and Dean, Delly, but you are definitely our mother's daughter," Sam chuckled and stood to his feet, holding his hand out for Delaney to take so he could pull her to her feet. "Now let's get back to Dean before he has a temper tantrum."

Delaney stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Sam's waist. "Thank you."

"For what, Delly?" Sam asked, wrapping his arms around his sister's petite frame. "I didn't do anything."

Delaney squeezed him a little tighter and laid her cheek on his chest, taking comfort in his usual cologne and after shave scent. "Just... being the best big brother ever."

"Don't let Dean hear you say that," Sam teased as he jokingly squeezed her especially tight to make her groan weakly in protest with a small giggle. "He likes to think he's your favorite."

Delaney pulled away and sent her brother a wink. "It'll have to be our secret then."

Sam ruffled her hair and felt himself relax a bit when he saw her genuinely smile and swat his hand away. Things had been extremely tense and rough since John's death and to see his little sister smile even for thirty seconds made him happy. She deserved at least some bit of joy with everything she's gone through as of late. 

"Come on you big dork, let's go," Delaney said and tugged Sam after her back towards Dean who walked towards them with a piece of paper in his hand. The two younger Winchesters stopped in front of Dean with raised eyebrows. "What? The man give you his daughter's number or something?"

Dean glared at his sister and held up the piece of paper. "No. It's a name. Angela Mason. She was a student at the local college. Her funeral was three days ago."

"So you're into dead girls now?" Sam added on to the teasing and his smile dropped when Dean flashed the glare to him next. "What does a dead college girl have to do with us?"

Dean gestured behind him to a large circular dirt patch with a bunch of dead plants surrounding it, a large and dead tree besides it. If Delaney didn't know any better, she would think it was winter if it wasn't for the 70 degree and brightly sunny that was currently going on. "Do you not see her grave? Everything is dead around it in a perfect circle. Do neither of you think that's a little weird?"

Sam shrugged and crossed his arms. "Maybe they just need a new grounds keeper."

"There are no pesticides or chemicals here," Dean explained, stuffing the piece of paper into his jeans pocket. "Nobody can explain it."

"But you think we can?" Delaney challenged with a raised eyebrow. "What exactly do you think is going on here?"

Dean scrunched up his face as he thinks it over. "I don't know. Unholy ground?"

Sam and Delaney blink at Dean as if he had gone crazy. Since when did he just dive head first into a case when they didn't even have all the facts on what happened? All they had to go off was a gravesite that probably just had awful care and Delaney hoped they didn't decimate their mother's grave like that or they would wish they were the ones buried six feet under when she was done with them.

"What?" Dean asked his siblings as they continued to just stare at him. "If something evil happened, it could easily poison the ground. Remember the farm outside of Cedar Rapids?"

"Yeah, but..."

"It could be the sign of a demonic presence," Dean cut Sam off before he could any further with his argument. "Or the Angela girl's spirit, if it's powerful enough."

Delaney rolled her lips into her mouth while she tried not to laugh and turned on her heel to make her way towards the Impala with Sam following after her.

"Don't get too excited, guys, you could pull something," Dean remarked as he followed after the two.

"It's just stumbling onto a hunt..." Delaney trailed off, pausing in front of the back door next to Dean. "...here of all places?"

"So?" Dean challenged.

Delaney placed her hands on her hips as she assessed her brother's demeanor, but he seemed like usual Dean right now. Nothing on his face or his body gave away he was feeling anything other than his usual demeanor. "I just... are you sure this is an actual hunt and not something else?"

Dean leaned his elbow on the roof of the Impala and gave his sister a challenging look, one that would have anyone else backing down. "Do tell me what else it could be about."

Delaney saw Sam waving his hand in front of his throat as if to tell her not to go down the road she was speeding towards. As much as Delaney would love to argue - like the true Winchester she was - she decided to just listen to Sam... for once. "Just forget it, Dee."

"Believe what you want, Della," Dean said, shutting the door as Delaney tried to open it to get in the backseat. "I let you drag my ass out here. The least you can do is let me go check this out."

"I think that's fair," Sam agreed, locking eyes with Delaney and silently begging her to just go along with it to appease their brother so they wouldn't have to listen to him complain the rest of their lives.

Delaney sighed and slapped her hands to her sides. "Fine, Dean, we can check out your little case."

Dean beamed and retracted his hand from the door. "The girl's dad works in town. He's a professor at the school."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

A short man with a gray hair on either side of his head and the top bald opened the office door and eyed the three siblings warily. "Hello?"

"Hi, Dr. Mason, I'm Sam and this Dean and Delaney," Sam greeted politely. "We were friends of Angela's. We wanted to offer our condolences."

Dr. Mason smiled softly at the siblings and let them into his office where Sam and Delaney took seats in front of Dr. Mason's desk and Dean slowly walked around the office, inspecting everything. Way to be subtle, Dean.

"Your daughter was beautiful," Delaney complimented, flicking slowly through the photo album Dr. Mason kept on his desk. She was a young girl with dark hair and eyes and a beautiful smile. It looked like she was a sweet girl while she was alive and it broke Delaney's heart that the girl didn't get to finish college or have kids of her own.

"Yes, she was," Dr. Mason quietly agreed, staring down at the photo of his daughter sadly. It was evident he missed his daughter dearly.

Dean held up a black book with a foreign language on it and a symbol that Delaney didn't recognize. "This is an unusual book."

Dr. Mason glanced over to Dean and nodded. "It's ancient Greek. I teach a course."

Dean placed the book back on its shelf and made his way over to where Dr. Mason and his siblings were seated. "So, a car accident. That's - that's horrible."

"Angie was only a mile away from home when..." Dr. Mason trailed off, it obviously being too painful for him to finish his sentence with the way his face fell.

"It's got to be hard... losing someone like that," Dean stated. "Sometimes it's like they're still around, almost like you can sense their presence. Do you ever feel anything like that?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

Delaney shot her brother a disapproving look, like a mother would give a disobedient child. "That's perfectly normal, Dr. Mason, especially with what you're going through."

Dr. Mason didn't seem to notice the stare down between the eldest and youngest Winchester siblings. "I still phone her, you know, and the phone is ringing before I remember that, uh..."

Delaney smiled sadly at Dr. Mason and part of her understood what he was saying because she did the same when Will first passed. She would go to text him to rant about her brothers or something that went wrong during a hunt before she realized he wasn't around to respond to the messages. Sure she could still text the number because his parents could never bring themselves to cancel the phone, but there would be no response.

"Family is everything," Dr. Mason concluded, staring down at his folded hands. "Angie was the most important thing in my life and now I'm just lost without her."

"I'm very sorry."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

"There's something going on. We just haven't found it yet."

Delaney rolled her eyes as she walked out of the bathroom of their motel room, running the towel over her wet hair. Her brothers were sat on either of the beds in the room as Dean flipped through a book in his hands and Sam lounged on the other bed, abusing the opportunity to relax for a few minutes.

"Dean, so far you got a patch of dead grass and nothing."

Dean glanced up from the book in his hand and over to his sister. "Della, something turned that grave into unholy ground."

Delaney tossed the towel back into the bathroom before she walked over to the circular table on the side of the room by the window, picking up her coffee Dean got for her before they arrived at the motel. "There is no reason for it to be unholy ground. Angela Mason was a nice girl who died in a car crash. That's not exactly vengeful-spirit material. You heard her father."

"Maybe daddy doesn't know everything there is to know about his little angel, huh?" Dean countered.

Sam sat on his bed and shook his head. "We should have never bothered that poor man. We shouldn't even be here anymore."

Dean scoffed and pushed himself off the bed and over to his duffle on the dresser in the corner of the room. "So, what, guys? We just bail without even figuring out what's going on?"

Delaney deflated slightly as realization dawned on her and it pained her heart. "I know what's going on here, Dean, and it's the only reason I even listened to Sammy and let you drag us here."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is about Mom's grave," Delaney declared.

"That has nothing to do with this, Delaney."

Delaney barked out an incredulous laugh. "Dean, you wouldn't even step within 100 yards of it. Look, maybe you're imagining a hunt where that isn't one so you don't have to think about Mom or Dad."

Dean turned to Delaney with a blank expression, clearly tired of hearing her try to make him talk about John and Mary's deaths. Mary's he would talk about when Delaney was younger, but only when she asked him to tell her stories about their mom as he tucked her into bed. She knew fully well how Dean felt about their mom's death, but that was more because when he told stories about Mary to her he would often tell her he missed her a lot. Hell, even when they went back to their old house in Kansas to save the new family living in it, it was written all over his face how he felt about Mary's sudden death.

John was a whole different ball game because Delaney knew all about him and she was grown when he died. He didn't have to tell her stories about John or work in how he felt about John's passing because Delaney had her own memories and feelings on the topic. He was also John's little solider and was closer to their father than Mary since they had more years together and more time. 

"If you want to shoot a witty remark at me, then go ahead if it will make you feel better."

"I don't need this crap," Dean grumbled, grabbing the motel room key and storming towards the door.

Sam sighed and turned to face Dean. "Dean, where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go get a drink... alone," Dean shortly replied before he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Delaney dropped down onto the bed with a groan. "Why can't he just talk to me, Sammy?"

"Cause our brother is stubborn," Sam replied and turned the TV on to a random movie. He pulled himself up the bed and patted the space next to him. "Come watch with me."

Delaney shrugged and crawled to lay next to her brother to sit and watch the movie. Might as well do something while they wait for Dean to come back.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Delaney rested with her head in Sam's lap as she slept peacefully with Sam running his hand through her hair soothingly. She had fallen asleep half way through the first movie and now Sam sat watching the next one while he waited for Dean to finally make his way back from wherever the Hell he went.

As if Dean knew Sam was thinking about him, the man walked through the motel room door and slammed it behind him. He stopped by the bathroom when he saw his siblings on the bed, the youngest slowly waking up no thanks to his slamming of doors. "Where have you been?"

"Working my imaginary case," Dean responded and tossed his jacket over the TV causing Sam to turn it off.

Delaney slowly sat up on the bed and rubbed her tired eyes. "What happened?"

"Well, you were right. I didn't find much," Dean informed, turning to face the two that were still on the bed. "Except Angela's boyfriend died last night - slit his own throat, but, you know, that's normal. Uh, let's see what else? Oh, he was seeing Angela everywhere before he died. Oh, but, you know, I'm sure that's just me transferring my own feelings."

Delaney licked her lips as she smiled amusedly at her brother having a small temper tantrum as he walked over to the table in front of the window and draped his flannel over the back of the desk chair. She didn't know why she found it as hilarious as she did, but it was still amusing nonetheless. "Okay, I get it. I'm sorry, Dee. Maybe there is something going on here."

"Maybe?" Dean snapped and turned to face his sister with a none-too-pleased expression. "Delaney, I know how to do my job despite what you might think."

Delaney sighed, hating how - once again, might she add - he was projecting his anger onto her. This was the exact reason she kept trying to get him to talk to her. "Okay... so... we should check out the guy's apartment."

"I just came from there..." Dean trailed off as he sat on the desk chair. "A pile of dead plants just like the cemetery. Hell, a dead goldfish, too."

Sam sat on the end of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees. "So... unholy ground?"

"Maybe. I'm still not getting that powerful angry-spirit vibe from Angela. I've been reading this, though," Dean explained, pushing himself up from the chair and over to his jacket that was still draped over the TV. He removed a journal from the inside pocket of his jacket and held it up for his siblings to see.

"You stole her diary?" Delaney asked, completely shocked her brother would invade the dead girl's privacy like that.

"Yeah, Della, and if anything, this girl is too nice."

"What do you want to do then?" Sam questioned, confused as to where Dean was going with this.

Dean propped open the book and began to leaf through it. "Keep digging, talk to more of her friends."

"You get any names?"

"You kidding me? I have her best friend in the whole wide world."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

"I didn't realize the college employed grief counselors," Neil, Angela's best friend from her diary, said, narrowing his eyes at the three in front of him.

"Of course they do," Dean lied swiftly, smiling innocently at Neil. "You talk, we listen and maybe throw in a little therapeutic collage - whatever helps jump-start the healing."

Neil nodded, seemingly believing whatever Dean said. "Well, I think I'm okay. Thanks."

"Well, you heard what happened to Matt Harrison, right?" Sam inquired, taking another step up on the stairs him and Delaney stood on behind Dean. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay. Grief can make people do crazy things."

Neil eyed the three for a long moment as his hand hovered over the doorknob to his front door. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened to him. I am, but if Matt killed himself, it wasn't 'cause of grief. It was guilt."

Delaney blinked at the new information and slowly stepped up to stand next to Dean. "Um... I'm sorry, but why is he guilty?"

"Angie's death was Matt's fault and he knew it. She really loved that guy, but the night of the accident, she walked in on him with another girl. She was really torn up. That's why she crashed the car."

Delaney glanced between her two brothers, both of their brains seeming to work into overdrive just like hers. If Matt was really the problem, then Angela was an angry spirit. As if Delaney hadn't dealt with enough of those already.

"Um, look, I have to get ready for work, so thanks for the concern. I'll be okay, though, seriously."

Delaney huffed as she watched Matt enter his house, slightly annoyed they couldn't get any more information out of Neil. She followed her brothers down the stairs and back towards the Impala that was parked down the block.

"Well, my vengeful-spirit theory is starting to make a little more sense," Dean announced. "I mean, Hell hath no fury."

"If Angela got her revenge on Matt, you think it's over?" Sam questioned.

Dean inhaled deeply as he thought it over for a second. "There's one way to be sure."

Delaney followed her brothers into the car and popped her head into the front in between her brothers. "Oh? What's that?"

"Burn the bones."

"Are you high?" Delaney laughed as she felt Dean's head to make sure he wasn't delirious from a fever. "Angela died last week."

"So?"

Sam turned in the seat so he could face Dean. "Um... there's not gonna be any bones. There is going to be a ripe, rotting body in the coffin."

"Since when are either of you afraid to get dirty, huh?"

"Dean, that's gross," Delaney whined, but he pretended to not hear her as he turned the car on and drove off.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Delaney stood above the six feet deep hole her brothers were digging as she held the flashlight so they could see properly. They had to wait a few hours for it to get dark before they could go around digging random holes in the ground in the graveyard. She got lucky and was handed the job of look out/flashlight holder while her two brothers did all the physical labor. Perks of being the youngest and the girl, Delaney guessed.

"Ladies first," Dean announced and smirked up at Delaney once they were done digging and Angela's casket was in the clear for them to open.

Delaney pouted and hopped into the hole. No wonder she was given flashlight duty. They wanted her to do the worse job of all. She shoved her flashlight into Dean's chest who merely laughed at her as he took the device from her. Delaney bent down and pried the casket open, holding her breath to prepare herself for the decaying human smell to waft into her nostrils. However, that stench never came.

The three Winchester siblings stared wide eyed at the empty coffin in front of them. Unless Angela was a zombie, there was no way she could have walked out of the coffin alone, especially not when the grave was untouched when they got here. 

"Dean, I don't get it. They buried the body four days ago, didn't they?" Delaney asked.

Sam shined his light around the coffin and it froze on the side of the coffin where Angela's head would have been. "Hey, what's that?" He pointed to where there were a bunch of symbols carved into the wood paneling of the coffin.

"I've seen these symbols before."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

The next morning, Dean banged heavily on Dr. Mason's front door, his expression clearly depicting how agitated he was.

"Dee, just take it easy okay?" Delaney begged, not wanting to freak out Dr. Mason. They didn't know if he was actually the one to bring Angela back from the dead or not. It wouldn't help anyone if they just went in guns blazing without getting all the information first.

Dr. Mason opened the door in his robe and pajamas and smiled warmly at the three. "Oh, you're Angie's friends."

"Dr. Mason..." Delaney began softly before she was harshly cut off by Dean who was not taking any shit from this guy.

"We need to talk."

"Oh, come on in then," Dr. Mason said and stepped aside to let the three inside before he lead them over to his office that was connected to the foyer. "What's all this about?"

Dean removed a piece of paper from his pocket where the drew the symbols that were in the coffin on and held it up for Dr. Mason to see. "You teach Ancient Greek. Tell me... what are these?"

Dr. Mason took the drawing from Dean and inspected it. "I don't understand. I thought this was about Angela."

"It does. Please, just humor me."

"They're part of an Ancient Greek divination ritual."

"Used for necromancy, right?"

"That's right."

Delaney and Sam both stood behind Dr. Mason and were giving Dean the same look to ease up on the man. Going off on him wouldn't do anyone any good whatsoever.

"See, before we came over here we stopped by the library and did a little homework ourselves. Apparently they used rituals like this one for communicating with the dead. Even bringing corpses back to life. Full-on zombie action," Dean explained, ignoring his siblings' warning gazes.

"Yeah. I mean, according to the legends," Dr. Mason agreed softly. "Now what is all this about?"

"I think you know."

"Dean," Delaney warned harshly. Seeing the distressed look on Dr. Mason's face, there was no way he could have done this. She glanced around them and noticed full grown plants placed in the corner of the room. Definitely not their guy.

"Look, I get it. Okay? There are people that I would give anything to see again. But what gives you the right?" Dean snapped at Dr. Mason.

Dr. Mason balked at Dean's accusation, confused on what he was even being accused of. "What are you talking about?"

"What's dead should stay dead!" Dean yelled. "What you brought back isn't even your daughter anymore. These things are vicious, they're violent, they're so nasty they rot the ground around them. I mean, come on, haven't you seen Pet Sematary?"

"You're insane," Dr. Mason shook his head and slowly backed away from the angered Winchester, reaching for the phone behind him.

Before Dean could lunge for the professor, Delaney grabbed Dean by the jacket and forced him to look to his left. "Look, Dean, beautiful, living plants."

"We're leaving," Sam promised Dr. Mason as Delaney began to push Dean towards the front door.

"I'm calling the police," Dr. Mason warned the siblings.

"We're so sorry," Sam apologized and exited the house after his siblings and back towards the Impala. 

Delaney stormed after Dean with Sam rushing behind her to keep up. "Dean, what the Hell was that?"

"Back off."

"No! That man is innocent. He didn't deserve that," Delaney chastised Dean as if he were her child.

"Okay so she's not here. Maybe he's keeping her somewhere else," Dean argued.

Delaney tugged on the back of Dean's jacket to stop him from walking and gave him a disapproving look. "No. That's enough, okay? Enough!"

"I know what I'm doing, Delaney."

"No, you don't. At all. Dean, I don't scare easy, but man, you're scaring the crap out of me," Sam added in once he caught up to his siblings and stood next to Delaney as they both faced Dean.

Dean scoffed and shook his head. "You're both being dramatic."

"You're lucky this turned out to be a real case, cause if it wasn't, you would have just found something else to kill," Delaney shot at him. 

"Wha-"

"You're on edge, you're erratic - except for when you're hunting, because then you're downright scary. You're tailspinning, Dee, and you refuse to talk about it and you won't let us help you," Delaney cut him directly off, not finished with her rant. "You think you can take care of yourself, but you can't. And you know what? You're the only one who thinks you should have to. You don't have to handle this on your own, Dean, no one can."

Dean clenched his fist as if he was going to start swinging punches. "Della, if you bring up Dad's death one more time I swear - "

Delaney desperately pleaded with Dean silently to just talk. "Dean, it's killing you. Please. We've already lost Dad. We've lost Mom. I've lost Will..." she trailed off as her voice cracked with emotion that was officially boiling over. "I can't lose you, too."

"We better get out of here before the cops come," was Dean's response and he softened at the anguish on his sister's face. "I hear you, okay, kiddo? I'm being an ass to you and I'm sorry, but right now we've got a friggin' zombie running around. We need to figure out how to kill it."

The zombie part broke Delaney as she let out a laugh since that's the exact thing she had thought the night prior about Angela.

"Right?" Dean prodded, wanting to hear her say she would focus on the hunt and now on him.

"Man, our lives are weird," Sam commented with a laugh of his own.

"You're telling me," Dean responded and walked over to the Impala.

Sam turned to his sister with a raised eyebrow. "You're not going to let this go are you?"

"Nope."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

"We can't just waste her with a headshot?" Dean groaned as he paced around the motel room.

Delaney leaned back in her seat at the table in front of the window and crossed her arms with an amused grin. "You need to stop watching so many movies."

"You're telling me there's no lore on how to smoke 'em," Dean clarified and sat down next to his sister at the table."

"No, Dean, I'm telling you there's too much. I mean, there's a hundred different legends on the walking dead, but they all have different methods for killing them," Sam explained, pushing himself up from the bed and walked over to join his siblings at the table. "Some say -- setting them on fire, uh, one said, where is it? Right here. Feeding their hearts to wild dogs. That's my personal favorite. I mean, who knows what's real and what's myth?"

Delaney ran a hand through her hair as she chewed on her lip. "Do any of them have anything in common?"

"A few said silver might work," Sam answered with a shrug.

"Silver is a start," Dean said. "How do we find Angela though?"

"We would need to find out who brought her back," Sam informed.

Delaney thought back to their talk with Neil. He may have seemed okay, but maybe he seemed too okay? If he was really her best friend, wouldn't he have been extremely upset if Angela died suddenly? If it was her and one of her best friends from college died, she knew that she would be a wreck afterwards. It had only been a week and the fact Neil seemed okay was a little suspicious.

"It's Neil."

Dean perked up at the mention of the best friend as he rushed over to where he left Angela's journal by his jacket. "I think Delaney has a point."

"Why do you say that?"

"You got your journal," Dean stated and nodded at John's journal in Sam's hand before focusing back on the pink one in his own hand. "I have mine. "Neil's a real shoulder to cry on, he so understands what I'm going through with Matt." He snapped the journal closed with one hand and grinned at his siblings, waving the pink journal in his hand. "There's more in here where that came from. It's got unrequited Duckie love written all over it."

Sam still seemed apprehensive about the whole thing as he closed John's journal. "Okay, but that doesn't mean he brought her back."

Dean mockingly snapped his fingers as if he forgot to mention something accidentally. "Oh, man, did I forget to mention he's Professor Mason's TA? Has access to all the same books."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Later that night, the three siblings quietly break into Neil's house which is dark and quiet. It was a bit odd since it was nearing ten at night and it was a weekday. Who went out past nine on a weeknight when there was work or school the next day?

"Hello? Neil?! It's your grief counselors -- we've come to hug," Dean yelled as they looked around the place and pulled out a gun.

Delaney glanced over to Dean when she heard he sound of a gun cocking. "Silver bullets?"

"Yeah, enough to make her rattle like a change purse."

They started to stalk through the house with Dean in the front with the gun out. There were wilted plants by a window in the living room, which only solidified both Dean and Delaney's theory that it was Neil. They come up to the entrance to the basement and Dean nodded at it to point it out to his two siblings.

"Unless it's where he keeps his porn..." Dean trailed off.

Sam and Delaney gave Dean a deadpan look and open the door. Dean once again lead the way downstairs to an empty basement with a small cot in one corner of the room. Besides the sibling, there was no one else in the room.

"Sure looks like a zombie pen to me," Delaney noted as she scanned the area around her. This Neil guy really was off his rocket.

"Yeah. An empty one. You think Angela's going after somebody?" Sam questioned.

Dean slowly walked across the room and fiddled with the grate that lead outside as it hung off one of its hinges, Angela clearly having escaped. "Nah, I think she went out to rent Beaches."

"Look, smartass, she might kill someone. We gotta find her, Dean," Sam huffed as he made his way over to where Dean stood.

"All right. She, uh, she clipped Matt because he was cheating, right?" Dean asked.

Delaney crossed her arms and nodded. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Well, it takes two to, you know, have hardcore sex," Dean replied and seemed amused when Delaney made a grossed out expression. "I know you're not that innocent, Delaney, don't give me that look. Anyways, I don't know, it just seemed that Angela's roommate was broken up over Matt's death. I mean, like, really broken up."

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The three Winchesters sat in the Impala after narrowly saving Angela's roommate from being stabbed in the chest with a pair of scissors. Of course, with their luck Angela escaped through the window after Dean got three shots on her. Delaney didn't want to leave Angela's roommate alone after being attacked, but she also knew her brothers needed her help so she had to leave the poor girl.

"So the silver bullets clearly did not do much, so do you have anything else?" Delaney questioned as Dean sped through the empty roads towards Neil's office at the campus.

Sam sat in the front seat with his flashlight in his hand as he flipped through their dad's journal. "Um, okay, besides silver, we have ... nailing the undead back into their grave beds. It's mentioned a few times. It's probably where the whole vampire staking lore came from."

"Their grave beds? You serious?" Dean complained, running a hand over his face. "How the hell are we going to get Angela back to the cemetery?"

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Delaney pushed her way into Neil's office and the boy startled at the sudden appearance of her and her brothers. He seemed extra antsy and it sent off even more alarm bells in her head.

"What are you guys doing here?" Neil asked, looking away from the paperwork on his desk. The only light in the room coming from the tiny desk lamp on Neil's desk and from the moon coming in through the window behind Neil's desk.

"You know, I've heard of people doing some pretty desperate things to get laid, but you," Dean clicked his tongue as he snapped his finger at Neil. "-- you take the cake."

"Okay. Who are you guys?"

Delaney rocked back on her heels and she sent Neil a fake smile. "Might want to ask Angela that question."

Neil tilted his head, trying to keep his innocent act up. "I'm sorry, what?"

"We know what you did. The ritual? Everything," Sam informed Neil.

Neil scoffed and looked back down at the papers he was looking over when the siblings originally burst in. "You're crazy."

Dean leaned his hands on Neil's desk, shooting him a dark gaze. "Your girlfriend's past her expiration date and we're crazy? When someone's gone they should stay gone. You don't mess with that kind of stuff."

"Angela killed Matt. She tried to kill Lindsey," Delaney added, stuffing her hands in her back pockets. "Your little girlfriend has been a very busy girl, Neil."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Having enough with Neil's blatant lies, Dean stormed around the side of Neil's desk and hauled him up by the collar of his polo shirt. "Hey! No more crap, Neil. His blood is on your hands. Now. Me and him can make this right, but you've gotta tell us where she is. Tell us!"

Neil glances down at Dean's hands that were fisted in his polo before his eyes focused back on Dean's face. "My house."

Delaney looked around the office and noticed dead plants in the corner of the room and pushed her tongue into her cheek, annoyed with Neil's lies now just like her brothers definitely were. "You sure about that, buddy?"

Neil silently nodded as Dean let him go and he fixed his shirt that got wrinkled from Dean's death grip. 

Dean seemed to freeze when he noticed a closet in the room and he subtly motioned to it for his siblings to see when Neil wasn't paying attention. Purposely, he raised his voice as he spoke up again, "Listen. It doesn't really matter where she is. There's only one way to stop her. We've got to perform another ritual over her grave, to reverse the one that you did. We're going to need some black root, some, some scar weed, some candles... It's very complicated, but it'll get the job done. She'll be dead again in a couple hours. I think you should come with us."

"You should really leave with us right now," Sam tacked on just to emphasize how important it was for Neil to leave with them.

Neil immediately shook his head, looking scared to even think about doing it. "No."

Delaney puffed out her cheeks as she stepped closer to Neil so she could lower her voice enough for just him to hear. "Listen to me. Get out of here as soon as you can. But most of all, be cool. No sudden movements. Don't make her mad." She turned on her heel and made her way towards the door to the office. "Let's go, boys."

Dean mockingly saluted as he followed after her. "Yes, boss."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Delaney helped Dean light candles around Angela's grave while Sam stood to the side waiting for her to pop up. He would be the bait for this hunt and she just hoped Sammy would come out of this without a scratch. This dead girl really had some pent up aggression in her and she didn't care one bit about snapping a neck apparently.

"You think this will work?" Delaney questioned, placing the candle she just lit down on the ground.

Dean squatted across from her as he lit his own candles with the lighter he had in his pocket. "No, not really, but it was the only thing I could come up with."

The sound of twigs breaking in the distance caught all of three of their attentions. The three siblings exchange glances before they nod to each other that they were ready. Sam pulled a gun from his waistband and trekked in the direction of the sound. 

Delaney took her spot next to Dean and chewed on her lip nervously. "Dee, this better work."

"Have a little faith in me, would ya?"

"It's hard when you yourself don't even know it's going to work."

Dean made Delaney look him in the eye and he tried to look as assuring as he could. "Have I ever let you down?"

"Well..."

"Della."

"Okay, no."

"Then trust me, okay?"

Delaney took a deep breath to settle her racing heart before she nodded and relaxed slightly when Dean kissed her forehead. She bent down to grab the metal stake by her feet and gripped it tightly so she was ready for when Sam and Angela came running towards them. Dean cocked his gun and held it up so he could shoot when necessary.

It wasn't long before Angela and Sam came tumbling out of the trees and when Angela tilted Sam's head back to snap it, Dean shot at her and knocked her off his brother. Once she was stood to her feet, Dean fired several more shots at Angela until she fell straight back into the open grave, landing in the empty coffin.

"Say goodnight, bitch," Delaney grit through her teeth as she jumped into the grave and rammed it into Angela's stomach as the sound of bones cracking was heard, pinning her to the coffin. "What's dead should stay dead."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

The next morning, Dean and Sam pat down the dirt over Angela's grave once they were done covering it back up, making it seem like no one ever messed with it since she was buried.

"Rest in peace," Sam sighed, leaning on his shovel.

"For good this time, okay?" Dean begged, not wanting to go through all of this again.

The three gave one more silent goodbye to Angela's grave before turning to make their way over to the Impala.

Sam slung his shovel over his shoulder as he shook his head, thinking back over the past few days. "You know, that whole fake ritual thing, luring Angela into the cemetery? Pretty sharp."

Dean bumped his shoulder against Delaney's and grinned. "Told you not to doubt me, kid."

"Did we really have to use me as bait?" Sam questioned with a small frown.

Delaney shrugged and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "You seemed like her type."

Sam stretched out his hand winced slightly when he put pressure in certain places. "I think she broke my hand."

Delaney giggled and pat her brother on the back. "It's okay. We'll get you checked out, big guy."

Once they reached the car, Dean turned back to look over at their mom's grave, a heavy sigh escaping his lips.

"Do you want to stay a bit?" Delaney asked him, seeing the war going on his head visibly in his eyes.

Dean's jaw ticked as he silently shook his head and gestured for his siblings to get in the car.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

They were only driving for about an hour before Dean pulled over to the side of the road and got out, sitting himself on the hood of the car. Delaney popped her head up from where she laid in the back and furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at Dean's back. He had been quiet the entire trip so far which did find a bit odd, especially when he didn't even put on any of his music. Just drove in silence, not taking his eyes off the road once. Typically, that's what you did when you drove, but Dean had a habit of glancing between his siblings and the road every now and then to make sure they were both okay throughout the ride and didn't have to go to the bathroom or didn't need anything to eat.

Delaney pushed her way out of the car along with Sam and walked around to stand in front of Dean who looked like he was lost in his own thoughts. "Dean, what is it?"

Dean licked his lips and looked up at the sky, squinting when the sun hit his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Delaney questioned, knowing immediately he was talking specifically to her.

"The way I've been acting," Dean clarified as Sam took a seat on the hood next to Dean. "And for Dad. I mean, he was your dad too. It's my fault that he's gone."

Sam balked at his brother's thoughts and looked at him as if he grew a dozen heads. "What are you talking about?"

"I know you both have been thinking it -- so have I. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Back at the hospital, I made a full recovery. It was a miracle and five minutes later Dad's dead with the Colt being missing."

"Dean..." Delaney sighed, but was cut off.

"You can't tell me there's not a connection there. I don't know how the demon was involved. I don't know how the whole thing went down exactly, but Dad's dead because of me. That much I do know."

Delaney stepped closer to Dean, itching to hug her brother because of how broken up he seemed. "We don't know that for sure, Dean."

"Della..." Dean broke off as his voice cracked at the end of her name. "You, Sammy and Dad... you're the most important people in my life and now ... I never should've come back, guys," he admitted.

Delaney felt her own eyes well up with tears at hearing how her brother was blaming himself for John's death. No wonder he didn't want to talk about it with her or Sam, it was some dark and heavy thoughts that weighed him down. It still didn't necessarily explain why he more of an ass to her than Sam, but maybe she was just overthinking that part herself. 

"It wasn't natural and now look what's come of it. I was dead and I should have stayed dead. You wanted to know how I was feeling. Well, that's it."

Sam and Delaney were quiet for a long moment as they both tried to process Dean's words. It was a lot to take in and it hurt the both of them to know this was what had been coursing through Dean's mind this whole time. No one should ever have to blame themselves for their parents' deaths and here Dean was, doing just that.

"So tell me. What could you possibly say to make that all right?" Dean voiced to his siblings.

Delaney had no response, all she could think to do was rush over to Dean and wrap her arms around his neck, burying her face into his neck as she clutched to him tightly. She felt him wrap his arms around her waist, hugging her tight and close as if he needed her to keep him grounded or the world would open up and swallow him whole. 

"I'm sorry, Dean," Delaney whispered into his neck.

"Yeah... me, too."

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

YA'LL WE GOT SOME PURE SAM/DELANEY CONTENT IN THIS CHAPTER AND I AM FREAKING HERE FOR IT OKAY? I LOVE MY BABIES. Also writing the final scene for this chapter hurt me way too much and now I just wanna hug my baby boi Dean and never let him go because he doesn't deserve what he's going through. Not only is he dealing with John's death and thinking it was his fault, but whatever John said to him and Sam about Delaney is also plaguing his mind and he's just a messed up boy who deserves all the love and affection right now.

Also, Delaney was born 1987 and this story takes place around mid-2008? It's why Mary's death is 1987 and not 1983 or 1998 as it would be if this took place in the present year. I debated on making it take place in 2019, but I wanted to keep the boys' births the same, so I just made Delaney's birth year be in 1987 (since obviously cant be 83 with that being Sam's birth year and the two are 4 years apart, with her and Dean being 6 years apart) and so with her being 21 (well almost, one more month for her to go... story wise of course not in reality WHEEEEE), it would have this set in 2008. 

JUST WANTED TO CLEAR THAT UP FOR YALL SO YOU'RE NOT CONFUSED!!

BUT I AM EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER/EPISODE BECAUSE IT'S ONE OF MY FAVE EPISODES OF SEASON TWO, WOOP! Already have a bunch of ideas for that one.