╭-°—✞——✞—°-╮

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡

𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦

╰-°—✞——✞—°-╯

Delaney paced back and forth in the interrogation room while Sam sat at the table in the middle of the room, fiddling with the fraying parts on the cast that still sat around his fractured wrist. The police had came to their motel room in the middle of the room and arrested Dean for murder and then took her and Sam along to sit them in the other interrogation room.

"Delly, stop pacing. You're giving me a headache," Sam complained.

Delaney stopped pacing and scoffed, turning to her brother. "Oh, I'm sorry, Samuel. I'll make sure to quieten my ever rising anxiety and worry for our older brother who is accused of a murder he didn't commit! So sorry I didn't take your feelings into consideration."

"Delaney - "

Whatever lecture Sam was about to give his baby sister for having an attitude was cut off when Diana Ballard, the detective that was at motel room when Dean got arrested, walked in with two coffees and placed it on the table.

"I thought you guys might be thirsty," Diana said to the two siblings, smiling at them as if she hadn't just detained their brother for something he didn't do.

"So, you're the good cop. Where's the bad cop?" Delaney sassed, crossing her arms and stood behind Sam's chair. She'd sit, but she knew that there no chance of her sitting still if she did.

Diana placed the file that was under her arm down on the table and fixed the sleeves on her jacket that were slightly wrinkled. "Oh, he's with your brother."

"Okay and you're holding us why?" Sam asked.

"He's being held on suspicion of murder," Diana replied and the two siblings rolled their eyes. "And you two, we'll see."

Delaney raised an eyebrow at the dirty blonde woman stood in front of her. "Hate to break it to you, lady, but my brother didn't murder anyone."

"You sound genuine about that answer. Or are you just that good of an actor."

Sam quickly shot his hand out when he noticed Delaney move to go at the detective. "I'm sorry, but who was he supposed to have murdered?"

Diana lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. "We'll get to that."

"You can't hold us here without formal charges," Delaney said, glad she went into law because she knew what the cops could and couldn't do.

"Actually, we can for forty-eight hours," Diana corrected, walking closer to the table. "You, being a pre-law student, would know that."

Delaney froze because how the Hell did Diana know what she went to school for? That only made her anxiety worse because that means she knew all about her brothers as well. They both barely finished high school and she was sure that the cops knew about the time the two boys got arrested for the fake ids.

"I know all about you, Delaney," Diana stated when she noticed Delaney's paling expression. She picked up the file she brought into the room and read from it as she walked slowly around the room. "You're twenty-one years old. No job, no current home address. Your mother died when you were a baby, your father's whereabouts are unknown. And then there's the case of your brother, Dean. Whose demise was, well, just a little bit exaggerated. Feel free to jump in whenever you like."

Delaney kept her mouth shut as she leaned against the wall behind Sam's chair, ignoring the look he was giving her. This woman could claim she knew Delaney and her brothers all she liked, but she would never actually really know them. Nothing in her file could ever begin to scratch the surface of the person she was. 

"Shy? No problem. I'll keep going. Your family moved around a lot when you were a kid. Despite that, you were a straight-A student. Got into Stanford with a full ride," Diana finished reading and turned to face Delaney and Sam, closing the file. "Then about a year ago, there was a fire in your dorm room. One fatality - William Anderson, your boyfriend. After he died, you fell off the grid. Left behind everything."

Delaney flinched slightly at the mention of Will, the wound still hurt even though it had been a year now since his death and she joined her brothers on the road. Her dark eyes flickered back to Dian who looked at her expectantly. "I needed some time off... to deal. So I'm taking a road trip with my brothers."

Diana leaned her hands on the table and smiled fakely at Delaney. "How's that going for you?"

"We saw the second largest ball of twine in the continental US," Delaney replied and walked over to the table to sit next to Sam. "It was awesome."

"We ran Dean's fingerprints through IAFIS. Got over a dozen possible hits," Diana explained from across the table where she still leaned her against it.

Delaney leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, smiling smugly at Diana. "The key word there is possible, sweetheart. It makes them worthless."

Diana seemed to grow annoyed with Delaney's sassy attitude. It only made Delaney want to do it even more. "But it makes you wonder. What are we gonna find when we run your prints?"

Delaney shrugged carelessly. "Well, you be sure to let Sammy and I then, alright?"

"Look, you both seem like good kids," Diana said after a long beat of silence. "It's not your fault Dean's your brother. We can't pick our family. Right now detectives in St. Louis are exhuming a corpse. They're trying to figure out how your brother faked his own death. After torturing all those young women. Dean's a bad guy. His life is over. Yours doesn't have to be."

Sam scoffed and looked up at the detective as if she were crazy. "You want us to turn against our own brother?"

Diana shook her head and stood up straight again. "No. We already caught him cold. Red-handed at the Karen Giles murder scene. We just need you to fill in some missing pieces."

"Why would we do that?" Delaney asked.

Diana pulled out the chair across from the siblings and took a seat, folding her hands on the table. "Because I can talk to the DA. Make a deal for you two. You can get on with your life. Dean's as good as gone."

"My dad and Tony Giles were old friends. They were in the service together. We've known him since we were kids, you know? So we came as soon as we heard about his death," Sam explained.

—✞——✞—

FLASHBACK: CAFE SHOP

Delaney smiled gratefully when Sam placed a cup of coffee in front of her at the small outside cafe her, Dean and Sam stopped at. Next to her Dean read a newspaper where the headline was MAN'S THROAT SLIT WITHOUT A TRACE in bold letters at the top of the front page.

Dean fold the newspaper and handed it over to Sam so he could read over the newspaper. "Anthony Giles. He's a Baltimore lawyer. Working late in his office, check it out."

Sam picked up the newspaper and skimmed the article that Delaney and Dean had been looking over while he went to go get the three of them coffee. "His throat was slit, room was clean. Huh. No DNA, no prints."

Delaney smiled around the rim of her coffee cup. "Keep reading, Sammy. It gets better."

"Security cameras failed to capture footage of the assailant," Sam read, leaning back in his seat.

"So, either somebody tampered with the tapes..."

"Or we got ourselves an invisible killer," Delaney finished for Dean.

Dean winked and picked up his coffee cup to take a long sip from it. "My favorite kind. What do you think, Scully? You want to check it out?"

"I'm not Scully. You're Scully," Sam argued, refolding the newspaper and placing it on the table.

"No, I'm Mulder. You're a red-headed woman," Dean corrected, smirking at his brother.

Delaney giggled and shook her head. "I swear, you two are so weird."

—✞——✞—

PRESENT

"It would've been hard for Dean to kill Tony, considering we weren't in town at the time," Sam said, leaning his elbows on the table.

"So, tell me what happened next," Diana instructed, motioning with her hand for the Winchesters to continue.

Delaney licked her lips and exchanged a glance with Sam, deciding to take the next half of the explanation. "Okay, uh, that's when we went to see Karen. She was barely holding it together. We just wanted to be there for her. You know?"

—✞——✞—

FLASHBACK: GILES' HOME

Karen sniffled as she shifted through the forms on her dining room table that the three siblings brought over. Her brown hair was tied in a bun and her brown eyes were framed by thin-framed glasses. She looked so small and broken over her husband's death. The three Winchesters sat next to her dressed as insurance company employees. 

"Insurance. I totally forgot about the insurance."

Delaney smiled sadly at Karen, knowing exactly how she felt about the sudden passing of her significant other. She hated to bother her when it was still so fresh, but they had to get to the bottom of what happened. "We are so sorry to bother you right now, but the company is required to conduct its own investigation. You understand."

Karen removed her glasses and wiped her eyes with the thick, gray wool sweater she wore and nodded. "Yes, of course."

"Okay. Um. If you could just tell us anything you remember about the night your husband died that would be really helpful," Sam said softly.

"Uh, Tony and I were just supposed to have dinner. He called and said he was having computer troubles and that he had to work late. That was it."

Delaney exchanged a look with her brothers, frowning slightly. "Do you have any idea who would have done this to him."

Karen shook her head, sniffling once again and blinked away the next wave of tears that filled her eyes. "No, no. It's like I told the police. I - I have no idea."

"Did Tony mention anything, you know, unusual to you? In the days before his death?" Dean questioned.

Karen furrowed her eyebrows as she looked over to Dean, confused as to why he was asking her something like that. "Unusual?"

"You know, Karen, weird? Weird noises, uh, visions, anything like that?"

Delaney kicked her brother in the shin to stop while he was ahead. He made this visit any more weird, she doubted Karen would tell them anything else.

"He had a nightmare the day before he died," Karen responded. He said that he woke up in the middle of the night and there was a woman standing at the foot of the bed, he blinked and she was gone. I mean, it was just a nightmare."

"Did he say what she looked like?" Delaney asked.

Karen seemed to grow even more confused with the Winchester's questions. "What the hell difference does it make what she looked like?"

"Our company is just, uh, very thorough," Dean swiftly lied, shooting her a charming smile.

"He said she was pale, and she had dark red eyes. 

—✞——✞—

PRESENT

"Then Sam gave her a hug and told her to call us if she needed anything," Delaney concluded. "End of story."

Diana sighed and drummed her fingers on the table. "Sam, Delaney, I am trying to help you here, but you have got to be honest with me. Now we have an eyewitness, someone who saw two men and one young girl fitting your and your brother's description breaking into Giles' office."

"Look," Sam spoke up, cutting off Diana. "Karen called us later. There was some stuff she wanted from Tony's office, but the police weren't letting her in. Like a picture of the two of them in Paris and some other stuff. We know it was wrong to enter a crime scene, but she gave us the key. 

—✞——✞—

FLASHBACK: TONY'S OFFICE

Delaney picked the lock of Tony's office and the three quietly stepped into the office, shutting the door behind them. She shined her flashlight along the wall next to her and stopped, nudging her brothers. "Tony's body was found right here," she informed and lifted the police report they made a copy of. "Throat slit so deep, part of his spinal cord was visible."

Dean whistled as they continued to inspect the rather large office that looked more like a tiny apartment than an office. "What do you think? Vengeful spirit? Underlining vengeful?"

"Maybe," Sam responded, rounding Tony's desk that sat by the window. "I mean he did see that woman at the foot of his bed."

Dean walked over to the desk with Delaney by his side and picked up a sheet of paper that stuck out of the printer on Tony's desk. He furrowed his eyebrows and handed the paper over to Sam. "Look at this."

"Dana Shulps," Delaney said, referring to the name that was typed over and over throughout the whole page. "A name?"

Dean picked up a few more sheets of paper with the same name around the office. "I dunno, but it's everywhere. Well, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

Delaney tilted her head as her light shined onto something on the glass table in front of her. She leant down and breathed on the glass, the name DANA SHULPS appearing along with the moisture before it disappeared along with it. "Wow. I'd say we've officially crossed over into weird."

"Maybe Giles knew her," Dean suggested.

"Or maybe it's the name of our pale, red-eyed mystery girl," Sam added.

"Let's see what we can see," Dean said and the three siblings got to work on searching the office for anything that could help them.

However, after hours of Sam typing on the computer and Dean having Delaney help him sort through the multiple filing cabinets and drawers in the office, they still came up with nothing to help.

Dean slammed the filing cabinet closed with a huff. "There's not a single mention of a Dana Shulps anywhere. There's not a D. Shulps or any other kind of friggin' Shulps."

Sam sighed and focused back on his search through Tony's computer. "Great. I also got nothing. No Dana Shulps has ever lived or died in Baltimore in the last fifty years at least."

Delaney leaned against the divider that cut off the front of the office to the back where Tony's desk sat with a few filing cabinets and the large window behind it. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, I think I'm pretty close to cracking Giles' password on his private stuff. Maybe there's something in his personal files, you know?" Sam offered with a shrug as he continued to type away at the keyboard.

"By close you mean..."

Sam shrugged, pursing his lips as he thought for a moment. "Thirty minutes maybe?"

Dean glanced at his watch, slapping a hand to his side. "Awesome. Della and I get to just, uh, hang out."

Delaney dropped into the two chairs that sat in front of Tony's desk with Dean as they both settled comfortably into it. They were sat in silence, the only sound being the clicking from the keyboard as Sam typed, until Dean started to click his tongue and making stupid noises with his mouth as he glanced around the room, clearly bored already.

"Dean!" Delaney snapped, punching his arm to which he cowered away from and rubbed the sore spot on his arm. "Knock it off or you're gonna be the next one with a slit throat."

"All right, I'm gonna go talk to Karen again, see if she knows anything about this Dana Shulps, huh?" Dean announced as he pushed himself up from the chair and slapped Delaney in the back of the head as he walked by.

"Ow. Dean!" Delaney growled, rubbing where hit her and shot her a cocky grin as he exited the office.

Sam chuckled and shook his head. "I swear you're both children."

"He started it," Delaney grumbled, crossing her arms with a pout and lowered herself more in the plush seat as Sam went back to trying to crack the password.

—✞——✞—

PRESENT

"Then Dean went back to Karen's place to check up on her. I mean, you know, she had been pretty upset earlier," Sam said.

Diana, who was now leant against the wall next to the door to the interrogation room, folded her hands in front of her. "So why didn't you go with him?"

"Sam and I went back to the motel room to take a nap. We were pretty drained from everything that was going on," Delaney explained and narrowed her eyes at the woman. "How did you even know we were there?"

Diana pushed off the wall and slowly walked back over to the table Delaney and Sam still sat at. "We found the motel matchbook on your brother when we arrested him," she informed, retrieving a clear bag with the motel's matchbook page inside of it. "Let's quit fooling around. Now you were with your brother the whole time you were in Baltimore. Why separate now? Because your brother left you to go murder Karen."

"He didn't kill anyone," Delaney argued, feeling the urge to strangle this woman more and more as time passed.

Diana slammed her hands on the table, but neither Winchester flinched. "I heard the 9-1-1 call! Karen was terrified. She said someone was in the house."

When it was apparent she was going to get anywhere with the siblings, she exited the room and closed it behind her. 

"It's going to be fine, Delly," Sam assured her once he was sure that Diana was gone. "We've gotten out of worse and you know that. We just need to figure out what this whole thing means."

Delaney chewed on her lip and a thought occurred to her. She reached across her brother to grab a piece of paper from the file and the pen Diana had left next to it. She quickly scribbled the name DANA SHULPS across the page and stared at it. "What if it's not a name? Could it be an anagram?"

Sam kissed the side of his sister's head and grinned. "You are a little genius, little one," he said, grabbing the paper and pen from her, writing down different variations of the name. He only got through about five variations when the door opened again to a middle-aged man in a suit, a briefcase in his hand.

"Hi, I'm Jefferey Kraus. I'm your brother's law," Jefferey explained and walked over to the table, handing over a yellow note paper to Delaney who took it. "Dean asked me to give that to you."

Delaney opened up the note that read:

HILTS & PARKER -

IT'S A STREET NAME

ASHLAND

-MCQUEEN

"I hope that was meaningful," Jefferey said as the two siblings exchanged a look and Sam folded up the note. "But I'd like to discuss your case now."

Sam gestured to the chair and Jefferey took a seat. "Sure thing, Matlock."

Jefferey chuckled, taking out a few papers from his briefcase. "You guys really are related, aren't you? Now... as you know, the DA might be interested in - "

A knock on the door cut off whatever Jefferey was going to say and Diana poked her head in. "We need you with the other one."

—✞——✞—

Delaney sat at the table in their shared motel room, typing away at Sam's laptop while he shifted through the multiple articles and files the two printed out with the room's printer. Once Jefferey left the interrogation room, the two escaped through the window and thankfully no cops were outside so they were able to make a quick and quiet getaway. There was no way they could figure out what was going on from an interrogation room.

Sam looked up at his sister as she rubbed at her eyes, being awake for a full day now clearly catching up to her. "Delly, why don't you take a nap? I'll handle this for a little bit."

"No, I'm fine," Delaney tried to assure Sam, but was immediately betrayed when a yawn escaped her lips.

Sam rose his eyebrows, but before he could get up and force her to lay down there was a knock on the door. The two exchanged a brief glance before he got up and opened the door to reveal Diana there, looking like she saw a ghost.

"What are you doing here?" Delaney asked, getting up from her seat at the table and walked over to the bed where Diana and Sam stood in the middle of the room.

Diana licked her lips and slowly rolled up her suit sleeves to reveal two dark, purple marks around her wrists. "I was in the bathroom and this pale woman with a slit throat appeared behind me after the name DANA SHULPS appeared in the moisture on the mirror."

"This appeared after you saw it?" Sam asked, gently taking Diana's wrists and turning them this way and that to inspect them.

"Yeah, I guess."

"You're going to have to tell us exactly what you saw," Sam requested, letting go of Diana's wrists.

Diana's breath shook as she stepped away from the two siblings, shaking her head. "You know, I must be losing my mind. You're both fugitives. I should be arresting you."

Delaney rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "Well, you know what? You can arrest Sam and I later, okay? After you live through this, but right now you've gotta talk to us. Now, this spirit. What did it look like exactly? We need more details than just pale and her throat being slit."

"Her eyes, they were like, this deep dark red? It appeared like she was trying to talk to me, but she couldn't. It was just... a lot of blood."

Delaney walked over to the table again where Sam's laptop was and motioned for Diana to follow her. "Okay, I've been researching every girl that's ever died or gone missing from Ashland Street." She holds up the crime scene photos that her and Sam got from the multiple cases.

"How did you get those?" Diana questioned, pointing at the photos in Delaney's hands. "Those are from crime scenes and booking photos."

Sam shrugged and took the photos from Delaney to hand to Diana. "You have your job, we have ours. I need you to look through these, tell me if you recognize anyone."

Diana sighed and took the photos from Sam, sitting down at the table next to Delaney as she flipped through the photos. On the third one, she stopped and showed it to Delaney. It was a young blonde girl's booking photo. "This is her. I'm sure of it."

"Claire Becker?" Delaney read the girl's name that was written across the police sign in the girl's hands. "Twenty eight years old, disappeared about eight or nine months ago."

"But I don't even know her. I mean, why would she come after me?"

"Well, before her death, she was arrested twice. For dealing heroin. You ever work narcotics?" Delaney asked, glancing up from Claire's photo.

Diana nodded. "Yeah, Pete and I did before homicide."

"Did you ever bust her?" Sam inquired next.

"Not that I remember."

Delaney skimmed through Claire's police file to find any other information that could help them. "It says that she was last seen entering 2911 Ashland Street. Police searched the place, didn't find anything. Guess we gotta check it out ourselves. See if we can find her body."

Diana's eyes widened as the two siblings got up from the table to get their jackets. "What?"

"We have to salt and burn her bones. It's the only way to put her spirit to rest," Delaney informed, shrugging her jacket on.

"Of course it is."

—✞——✞—

"So what exactly are we looking for?"

Delaney shined her flashlight around the dark, dusty and creepy warehouse that Claire had supposedly gone into. "I don't know, but we'll let you know when we find it."

Sam noticed a flight of stairs and the three split up with Sam going up to the next floor and Diana and Delaney going in two separate directions.

There wasn't much that gave away why Claire would be in this warehouse. The shelves were dusty and had cobwebs all over them, dirty and old jars filled with unidentifiable liquids inside of them filled the shelves along with other random items. It was like no one had been in here in years rather than eight months ago when Claire entered. 

She didn't get far with her investigation when Diana started to scream for her and Sam, causing her to turn and rush back over to Diana who was cowered back against a wooden pillar, shaking visibly as she stared ahead of her. "What happened?"

"She... she was here," Diana responded, pointing a shaky finger to the empty space in front of her as Sam rushed over.

"Did she attack you?" Sam asked.

"No. No, she was just like, reaching out to me. She was over there by the window," Diana slowly walked over to the shelf that was blocking the window, light streaming through the top of it that didn't cover the window. "Help me move this."

Delaney and Sam walked over and helped Diana push the metal shelf out of the way and revealed a window that had the words ASHLAND SUPPLIES written across it on the outside.

"Our mystery word," Diana noted, turning to look at the two siblings.

Delaney fumbled for the EMF reader in her pocket and switched it on, the device beeping once it was turned on. "Spirits and certain remains give off electromagnetic frequencies. So if Claire's body was here, this machine will indicate it."

The meter purred and flashed red when Delaney approached the brick wall across from the window they were just in front of. 

Sam found a sledgehammer against one of the walls and brought it back over to start smashing into the wall where the meter reacted. Once there was a big enough hole, Sam shined his flashlight inside of it to see if there was anything inside. He shoved his hand inside and paused when his hand hit something. 

"Okay, there's definitely something in there," Sam informed and started to work more of the wall off with his arms and elbows. "This is bothering me."

"Well, you are digging up a corpse," Diana reminded him.

"It's just, I mean, no vengeful spirit we have ever tussled with wanted to be wasted, so why the hell would Claire lead us to her remains? It doesn't make any sense."

Delaney sighed, running a hand through her hair as she didn't know what this could be about either. When Sam motioned for her help, she helped him drag out a shroud-wrapped body and placed it on the ground. Sam cut open the wrapping and revealed an already decaying body of Claire.

Diana helped up her wrists next to Claire's and Sam tilted her head. "Yeah she'd have bruised wrists like yours."

Delaney noticed a necklace and held it up for Diana whose eyes widened and paled at the sight. "What? This mean something to you?"

"I've seen it before. It's rare. It was custom made over on Carson street," Diana reached into her shirt and pulled out a replica of the necklace Claire had. "I have one just like it. Pete gave it to me."

Delaney scoffed and dropped the necklace, standing up as she paced slowly. "This all makes perfect sense now."

"I'm sorry?" Diana said, sounding defensive over the fact that Delaney was suggesting Pete had something to do with it.

"Yeah. You see, Claire is not a vengeful spirit, she's a death omen."

"Claire's not killing anyone. She's trying to warn them. You see, sometimes spirits, they don't want vengeance, they want justice. Which is why she led us here in the first place. She wants us to know who her killer is," Sam concluded for his sister.

Diana seemed shocked at the information and her mind visibly raced as she tried to connect the dots.

"What do you know about your partner?" Delaney questioned.

"About a year ago, some heroin went missing from lockup. Obviously it was a cop. We never found out who did it, but whoever did it would need someone to fence their product."

Sam and Delaney glanced each other before back to Diana. "Someone like a heroin dealer. Somebody like Claire."

—✞——✞—

Delaney sat in the back of Diana's car while Sam sat up front with the detective. The woman was on the phone with someone from the precinct and it was over in about a minute with the woman looking concerned.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Pete just left the precinct with Dean," Diana informed, glancing warily at the two siblings.

"He did what?!" Delaney exclaimed, poking her head into the front seat like she would in the Impala. "Are you kidding me?"

"He said the prisoner had to be transfered, and he just took him. Dispatch has been calling but he won't answer the radio."

Delaney furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait, he took a county vehicle?"

"Yeah," Diana sighed, running a hand over her face when they reached a red light.

"Well, then they should have a lo-jack, you've just gotta get it turned on."

—✞——✞—

Delaney, Sam and Diana tracked the van to a dark road with trees on either side. They rushed out of the car and over to where they spotted the van hidden in the trees, Pete holding a gun up to Dean who was on his knees and still handcuffed.

"Pete, put the gun down!" Diana yelled, holding up her own gun at him.

"Diana? How'd you find me?"

Dean glanced to his siblings who stood behind Diana, both staring at the situation warily. None of them knew how to get out of this one.

"I know about Claire," Diana admitted to Pete who still hadn't moved an inch since the three arrived.

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

"Put the gun down!" Diana yelled again.

Pete chuckled darkly and shook his head. "Oh, I don't think so. You're fast. I'm pretty sure I'm faster."

"Why are you doing this?" Diana questioned.

"It wasn't my fault. Claire was trying to turn me in, I had no choice."

Delaney crossed her arms and glared at the man. "What about Tony? Karen?"

"Same thing! Tony scrubbed the money, he got skittish, and then he wanted to come clean. I'm sure he told Karen everything."

Sam and Delaney looked at Dean, silently asking him if he had any idea how to get out of this. Dean shook his head and the two younger Winchesters grit their teeth and focused back on Diana and Pete who still had both guns cocked.

"It was a mess; I had to clean it up. I just panicked," Pete explained.

Diana narrowed her eyes, holding the gun tighter in her hand. "How many more people are gonna die over this, Pete?"

"There's a way out. This Dean kid's a friggin' gift," Pete replied and Dean gave him a look as if Pete were mentally insane. "We could pin the whole thing on him. Right? No trial, nothing. Just, just one more dead scumbag."

"Hey!" Dean barked, obviously insulted and quickly held his hands up in defense when Pete took a small step closer with the gun still raised.

"No one will question it. Diana, please. I still love you."

Diana slowly lowered her gun and Sam and Delaney gaped at her. Was she serious? The man was psycho and she was just going to let him be because he loved her? God, Delaney hated some detectives.

"Thank you. Thank you," Pete breathed before he turned his attention back to Dean, ready to shoot him.

However, before Pete could pull the trigger, Diana raised her gun again and shot Pete in the stomach. He groaned and rolled to the ground while Dean ducked out of the way as best he could with his hands still being cuffed.

Diana lowered her gun and slowly stalked over to Pete. "Then why don't you buy me another necklace, you ass?"

Pete growled and tackled Diana's legs, causing her to fall to the ground and lose her gun. Delaney went to grab it, but Pete was faster and pointed the gun at her. She froze and held her hands up in defense, both her brothers yelling for her but didn't want to take a step forward in case Pete shot her from the sudden movement.

"Don't do it! Don't do it!" Pete shouted, hobbling around and pointed the gun towards Diana. 

Sam pulled Delaney towards him when a low groaning sound came from a few feet away. The group turned to see Claire's ghost stood behind Pete, glaring at him darkly. She slowly crept toward him until a gun shot went off and he dropped to the ground, dead.

Diana slowly lowered the gun and stared blankly at Pete's dead body, the ghost of Claire finally gone.

—✞——✞—

The next morning, the three Winchesters approached Diana who was crouched by Pete's body. She had uncuffed Dean and allowed the three to go back to the motel to rest a bit and grab their stuff before she demanded they come back.

"How you doin'?" Sam asked as they stopped a few feet from Diana who was now on her feet.

"Not really," Diana replied honestly, glancing back at Pete. "The death omen Claire. What happens to her now?"

"It should be over. She should be at rest," Sam assured Diana.

Dean stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets, rocking back on his heels. "So, uh, what now officer?"

"Pete did confess to me. He screwed up both your cases royally. I'd say that there's a good chance that we could get your cases dismissed."

Delaney grinned, shocked the woman would help them like that. "You could take care of that for us?"

"I hope so. But the St. Louis murder charges? That's another story. I can't help you," Diana replied and a small smile appeared on her face. "Unless... I just happened to turn my back, and you walked away. I could just tell them that the suspects escaped."

Delaney blinked. "Wait, you're sure?"

"Yes, she's sure, Delaney," Dean grit through his teeth.

"No, it's just... I mean, you could lose your job over something like that," Delaney explained and Dean groaned at his sister's guilty nature. She was happy that they were able to dodge this obstacle, but she also didn't want this woman to lose her job.

"Look, I just want you guys out there doing what you do best. Trust me, I'll sleep better at night," Diana assured the three, turning to walk back over to Pete. She stopped after a few feet and glanced over her shoulder. "Listen, you need to watch your back. They're gonna be looking for both of you right now. Get out of here. I gotta radio this in."

Dean raised a hand to stop Diana from moving and she turned to face them again so she could talk to them properly. "Hey, uh... you wouldn't happen to know where my car is by chance?"

"It's at the impound yard down on Robertson," Diana answered and she noticed Dean's calculating look, immediately shutting his plan down. "Don't even think about it."

Sam laughed and waved her off. "it's okay, it's all right, don't worry. We'll, uh, we'll just improvise. I mean, we're pretty good at that."

"I've noticed," Diana said and smiled back at the siblings. "Now get out of here before I change my mind."

Delaney and the boys turned to walk back up to the road while Diana went to radio the cops over to Pete's body. "Nice lady."

"Yeah, for a cop. Did she look familiar to you?" Dean questioned.

"No, why?" Sam replied.

"I don't know. Anyway, are you hungry?"

Delaney giggled and shook her head. "Is that even a question?"

"For some reason I could really go for some pea soup."

Delaney rolled her eyes and playfully shoved Dean at his stupid horror movie reference. She was just glad that nightmare was over and they could get back to doing what they do best.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

It legit took me a half hour just to decide how to do this episode because of all the flashbacks. I thought about putting the flashbacks first and not making them flashbacks, instead just doing the storyline in chronological order instead of back and forth. However, I landed on this way because doing the precinct scenes were better I think because it got them to talk to Diana more and I had to do her going through Delaney's personal life.

Also sassy!Delaney is my new aesthetic and I LOVE it.