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Mary Winchester was a sensitive topic for Dean. He loved her so much but he was afraid of her disappearing from his mind. He was only 4 when she died and now, as an adult, it’s hard to remember something from that age.
He was trying so hard to keep her in there but every year, she slips further from his memory. Same thing goes for you. You were always having a hard time remembering your mom. You’ve been without a mom for so long that any new story of her, you grasped onto. You couldn’t let her slip from your memory, you tried so hard.
Mary wasn’t buried since she burned in that house but her uncle made a headstone for anyone to cherish her memory. You wished your mom had that. She was cremated because those were her wishes. You never got her ashes since you were a kid so they gave her to her family, whom you never met.
When Sam found out where her grave was, he made Dean take him there. Dean didn’t want to visit it but Sam did and everyone knew that Dean did whatever Sam wanted.
“Come on, Sam, this is stupid. We should go back.” Dean begged, driving to the cemetery.
“Why it this stupid?” Sam asked, a little offended. Sam had no memory of his mother and this was the only way to feel close to her.
“Mom doesn’t even have a grave. There was no body left after the fire.” Dean said, clenching his jaw as he talked about her.
“She has a headstone.” Sam said, looking at the road.
“Yeah, put up by her uncle, a man we’ve never even met. So, you wanna go pay your respects to a slab of granite put up by a stranger?”
“Dean, that’s not the point. It’s all about her memory. I didn’t even know her but by the stories I’ve heard, I could tell she was a pretty great mom. I wished John had a grave so we could visit. I wish my mom had a grave. It doesn’t matter where she is but it matters where you place her memory.” You explained gently, looking at Dean.
“Sure.” Dean nodded, not listening to you or Sam.
“You didn’t have to come.” Sam said.
“Why don’t we swing by the roadhouse instead? I mean, we haven’t heard anything on the demon lately. We should be hunting that son of a bitch down.” Dean said, sighing.
“That’s a good idea, you should. Just drop me off, I’ll hitch a ride, and I’ll meet you there tomorrow.”
“Yeah, right, and leave me stuck with those people, making small talk? No thanks.” Dean continued to drive. He made it to the grave site and actually got out but went nowhere near the grave. Sam immediately walked over to the grave and knelt down, speaking lowly.
“Dean, she would be proud of you.” You said, standing next to another gravestone.
“Don’t.”
“Dean, just listen. Despite how John raised you into this shitty life, you are an amazing man and I wish Mary were here to see that. I wish I could have met her. Thank her for giving me you.” You laced your fingers with his and placed your head on his shoulder. He didn’t say anything and that was okay. He just needed to hear that.
“Look at that.” Dean said, changing topics. You lifted your head and looked at the dead tree by the grave you were standing by.
“So? It’s a tree.” You looked at Dean.
“It’s a dead tree. Cemeteries work to keep their plants alive to make it look nice.” Dean frowned, backing up a bit, looking at the ground. You followed him and finally saw what he was seeing. A perfect circle of dead grass was surrounding that gravestone.
“You think something is going on here?” You asked, looking at him.
“This doesn’t happen. We should check it out to make sure.” Dean looked at you. When Sam was done, you three got into the car and Dean left to go find out more about that grave. He stopped at a place where he knew he could get information while you and Sam waited outside.
“Where is he going?” Sam asked, confused.
“Getting information on a grave. Back there, we saw a grave and no plants were alive. Cemeteries don’t do that. He thinks something is up.” Sam nodded, still not understanding what was going on but decided against saying anything else. Dean came out a moment later with a business card in hand.
“Her name was Angela Mason. She was a student at the local college; funeral was three days ago.” Dean said, walking to the car.
“And? That’s something normal. Tragic, but normal.” Sam asked.
“Sam, her grave had a perfect circle around it. Everything was dead inside. You don’t think that’s a little weird?” Dean asked, walking to the driver’s side.
“Maybe the groundskeeper went a little agro with the pesticide.” Sam said, trying to think of an explanation.
“No, I asked him. No pesticide, no chemicals. Nobody can explain it.” Dean said, putting his hands on the top of his beauty.
“Okay, so what do you think?” You asked him.
“Unholy ground, maybe?” Dean said, shrugging. Sam just stared at him, shocked. He was speechless.
“Think about it Sam, if something evil happened there, it would be unholy ground.” You explained, looking at the younger brother.
“Could be the sign of a demonic presence. Or Angela’s spirit, if it’s powerful enough,” Dean said before his brother could get a word out. Sam wasn’t saying anything for a while and it was making you anxious. “Well, don’t get too excited, you might pull something.” Dean said sarcastically.
“It’s just… stumbling onto a hunt? Here, of all places?” Sam said, unsure of this whole thing.
“What are you saying, Sam?” Dean asked, giving his brother a look.
“Nothing, forget I said anything.” Sam said, getting into the car. Dean looked at you and you shrugged, getting into the car.
“You believe what you want, Sam, but, I let you drag my ass out here, the least we could do is check this out.” Dean said, getting into the car.
“Okay, fine. What did you find out?” Sam asked.
“Girl’s dad works in town. He’s a professor at the school.” Dean said, starting the car and driving off.
“Remember this guy’s daughter died three days ago. We need to spare his feelings. We need to be gentle. You should let me talk to this guy.” You said, seeing the school.
“What, you don’t think we can be gentle?” Dean asked, parking the car. You got out with the Winchesters and walked into the school.
“I believe you can but that’s because I’ve lived with you both. Sam is more gentle than you anyways, but a grieving man always loves a woman’s touch.” You looked at Dean a moment too long and he stared right back at you.
“It’s true.” He said softly. You smiled softly and put a hand on his arm. You walked to the man’s office and knocked on the open door.
“Mr. Mason?” You asked, stepping inside a couple of steps.
“Yes?” The man looked up from his desk and he raised his eyebrows.
“Hi, I’m Y/N and this is Sam and Dean. We were friends of Angela’s. We wanted to offer our condolences.” You gave him a gentle smile and he motioned for you to come in.
“Please, come in.” You walked and took a seat next to Sam in front of his desk. Dean decided to look around the classroom and settled by a bookcase. He started looking through the books there but you paid no attention to him.
Dr. Mason took out a photo album and showed you pictures of Angela.
“She was beautiful.” Sam said gently.
“Yeah, she was.” He said, his voice a whisper, as if he would break at any moment.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this. Losing someone isn’t easy.” You said, looking at the man. He nodded and sighed, sitting back.
“This is unusual.” Dean spoke up, holding a book. He showed you the cover which was weird because it was all Greek letters and symbols.
“That would be because it’s ancient Greek. I teach a course on it.” Dr. Mason said, glad to have a distraction. He hoped you would ask more about it but Dean had other plans.
“So, a car accident. That horrible.” Dean said, putting the book down.
“Angie was only a mile away from home when, uh…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
“It’s gotta be hard losing someone like that. Sometimes it’s like they’re still around. Almost like you can still sense their presence,” You looked at Dean and you knew he wasn’t talking about Angela. You knew he missed his mom. “You ever feel anything like that?”
“I do. All the damn time.” Dr. Mason sighed.
“That’s perfectly normal, Dr. Mason. Especially with what you’re going through.” You said in a gentle voice while Sam was looking at his brother.
“You know, I still call her phone. Every time it rings and rings before I remember that she, uh… Anyways family is everything and without her, I’m lost.” You felt bad for the man, honestly. Losing a family member wasn’t easy by any means.
“Yeah, I know how you feel.” Dean muttered. You weren’t sure if he wanted to be heard but you did.
“We’re very sorry. Thank you for your time but we better get going.” Sam said, standing up. Dr. Mason nodded and walked you to the door. No other words were spoken as you and the Winchesters walked back to the car.
“Well, if you still think something is going on here, we better get a motel room.” You said when you got into the car. Dean didn’t say a word as he skidded out of the place.
“I’m telling you, there’s something going on here. We just haven’t found it yet.” Dean said, frustrated when he didn’t find anything on Sam’s laptop. Sam was lying on the bed, doing something on his phone. You were sitting by the window, staring outside for no reason.
“Dean, so far you’ve got a patch of dead grass and nothing.” Sam muttered.
“Sam, I know something is going on. No need to be a smart ass.” Dean glared at his brother.
“Dean, I believed you in the beginning but we’ve interviewed her dad and you talked to people. Nothing seems to be going on. Dean, her dad didn’t give anything away.” You looked at the older Winchester who was entirely focused on the computer.
“Yeah, well, maybe Daddy doesn’t know everything about his little angel.”
“You know what? We never should have bothered that poor man. We shouldn’t even be here anymore.” Sam said, sitting up.
“So, what, Sam? What, we just bail? Without even figuring out what’s going on?” Dean asked, looking at his brother.
“I think I know what’s going on here. It’s the only reason I went along with you this far.” Sam said, shaking his head.
“What are you talking about?” Dean asked with a scoff.
“This is about Mom’s grave.” Sam said with a deadpan look.
“That has nothing to do with this.” Dean said with a scoff.
“Are you sure? Dean, you wouldn’t go near it.” You said gently. You weren’t siding with Sam but you weren’t ignoring his words either. You didn’t want to make him even more pissed.
“Maybe you’re imagining a hunt where there isn’t one so you don’t have to think about Mom or Dad.”
“I don’t need this shit.” Dean shook his head, standing up and grabbing his keys. He headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” You asked.
“I’m going to go get a drink. Alone.” Dean said lowly, slamming the door behind him. You sighed and watched from the window as he got in his car and angrily drove off.
“I don’t understand why it’s so hard for him to admit his feelings. I understand it hurts but why does he do that?” You asked Sam who sighed.
“You know him as well as I do, if not better. If there is one person who can make him feel better, it’s you.” Sam said, getting up and grabbing his laptop.
“I wish I knew Mary.” You said after a while of silence.
“Me too,” Sam said softly. This life was getting harder to live, to deal what you had to deal with constantly. You never knew what case was going to come your way or who you were going to meet.
Dean never came back that night.
You slept alone.