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It’s a while before Benny puts together who she is. It all makes sense when he does, why he was drawn to her in the first place.
She’s taking on 3 Leviathans the first time he comes across her. He has half a mind to step in and help her out, but she’s holding her own, so he just watches. Gotta do something to pass the time here. It’s artful, the way she maneuvers herself, liking going to the ballet. Andrea took him just the once. He didn’t understand a damn thing that was going on, but this he does.
When the last Leviathan is defeated, Benny steps out from behind his tree and whistles. “That was quite the show there.”
The girl brandishes her knife. “You one of them?”
He gives her a grin and brandishes his teeth in turn. “I got teeth but nothin’ like them ugly sons of bitches.”
She lowers the knife cautiously. “I’m Emma.”
“Benny.”
“Well, I’ll see you around.” He almost stops her, but what for? More small talk? She darts away.
***
The next time he sees her, she’s saving his neck.
She pulls the Leviathan away from him and tackles it to the ground. Benny is free to take on the other one, making a quick job of it. It’s surprised – Emma really did come out of nowhere and that thing was twice her size.
It isn’t long before Emma’s done away with her Leviathan, too.
“You died young, huh?” he asks.
“3 days old.”
“Ah. Amazon. Makes sense. You kill him?”
“His brother got to me first. Almost, though.”
Benny nods fairly. “Brothers will do that to ya.”
Just then, he hears a creek behind him. Papa bear instincts kick in, and he turns around to shield Emma from the potential danger, knowing full well she could take 3 of him out with no sweat. When he figures it’s nothing, he turns around. She’s already gone.
***
Time moves different in Purgatory, so he doesn’t know how long it’s been the next time he sees her. He follows a surprise plume of smoke, and there she is. She’s sitting alone on a log, digging into some kind of charred critter, the fire next to her still steaming from being freshly put out.
“You trying to attract Leviathan?” he asks as he saddles up next to her.
Emma shrugs. “I was hungry.”
“Yeah, I guess you got enough human in you to work up an appetite.” He laughs, remembering the meals he and Dean would scrounge up whenever Dean would get hungry. The way things moved in Purgatory, it didn’t happen often, but ooh , when Dean was hungry he was hungry . “You know, I found a human here once.”
“In Purgatory?” Her usual disinterested tone shifts.
“Dumb son of a bitch landed himself here trying to save the world. Got me out in the world for a little bit, too.”
“So what are you doing back here?”
“Wasn’t…wasn’t for me.” He sighs, Dean’s eyes grow progressively sadder as the memories flash through.
Emma looks down. “Is that way you don’t travel with a nest?”
Benny nods. “Kinda stuck in a bit of a limbo. Too human for the vamps, too vamp for the humans. Purgatory in a purgatory.”
She’s quiet for a second before looking back up at him. “We usually travel in packs, too. But they didn’t want me here, I didn’t complete my duty. So it’s just me.”
“Don’t have to be.” He doesn’t know what he’s offering, but those papa bear instincts are strong. She shrugs, but doesn’t run away for once.
***
They work well together. Benny’s built up years of tactical understanding, while Emma’s pure instinct. They can cover each other’s weak spots. And it’s nice to have someone to talk to, even if that someone is a sullen teenage girl. She perks up, though, when she listens to his stories about being topside both times. She didn’t get to spend more than 3 days there herself, it makes sense that she’s curious. Benny would think a kid would be more into the swashbuckling “vampirates” thing, but she always asks to hear about Dean.
It’s different one day, though, when he tells her about how he landed back in Purgatory. “So, I tell Sam –“
“Sam?!” she interrupts.
“Yep…Dean’s little brother…”
“Dean and Sam.”
“You got it, kid.”
“Winchester?”
He never told her their last name. “How do you….”
“Sam Winchester was the one who killed me.”
He’s silent as he puts the pieces together. “Dean’s your daddy?!” Emma nods, taking in the information. She’s startled when he erupts into laughter. “Of course he is. That man ain’t got nothin’ if he ain’t got a knack for trouble.”
Slowly but surely, she begins to smile too. “Tell me more about him.”
He feels almost selfish that he landed a companion who will let him talk about Dean all the livelong day.
***
“You think he’s ever gonna save us?”
They’re taking shelter by the river, when Emma drops that bombshell on him. “Dean, you mean?”
“Yeah.” She sits up on her elbows and explains carefully, “You say he’s always saving people. That he can’t help himself. He tried to save both of us before, you a bunch of times. So do you think he’s ever gonna come looking for us?”
He considers it. Sometimes, late at night, when he’s alone with his thoughts, he wonders where Dean is. If he got himself killed. Or if he just forgot about Benny. He doesn’t know which one hurts more. “If he ever lands himself back here, probably.”
She nods, considering it. “I don’t know if I’d let him.”
He laughs fondly. “Maybe the first thing stubborn enough to beat Dean Winchester when he’s made up his mind about saving something is his own kin.”
***
There’s a whole swarm of Leviathan. It’s been a couple days since Benny and Emma have gotten much excitement, and this seems as exciting as anything else they’ll encounter.
Benny realizes they’ve underestimated the excitement when the dust has settled and he sees the reason for the swarm.
The angel.
“Benny?!” he asks.
Emma gives Cas an odd look. “Who is this guy?”
“I’m Castiel. I’m –“
“Dean’s angel,” she finishes. Benny and Cas momentarily make eye contact, exchanging different pangs of sadness.
“He here?” Benny asks when his voice gets unstuck from his throat.
“I lost him,” Cas sighs. He tells them about what they’re doing there, the Leviathan flower for some magic God potion. More of the usual world-saving stuff.
“You’d think he’d wanna visit while he’s in,” Benny tries to joke, hoping that Cas can’t see past it.
“He thinks you’re dead. A Leviathan told him you were.”
Benny is almost glad at that. “What about me?” Emma chimes in.
To Benny’s horror, Cas gives her that signature confused head tilt. Dean didn’t tell him . “It ain’t in the lore that Amazons end up in Purgatory, is it?” Benny asks quickly before Cas can open his mouth. He gives Cas a glare, this time hoping he can read his expression.
“Uh, no. It’s not,” Cas says. “Dean didn’t know you would be here either.”
Benny tries to understand what she’s thinking, hoping that she buys it. The way Benny’s been telling it, Cas is about the most important person in Dean’s life after his brother, and he didn’t even know .
“We’ll help you find the blossom,” she says. “And then…” She looks up at Benny, almost for permission.
He grants it. “And then you let Dean keep thinkin’ we’re dead.”
Cas looks halfway between surprised and understanding, which is a far better state than he looked when they last parted.
They walk together towards a promising looking clearing. Emma bounds ahead when she spots a blossom.
“Dean fathered an Amazon?!” Cas hisses to Benny, standing close.
Benny nods. “The way she tells it, he tried to turn her. Get her to leave it all behind.”
Cas smiles fondly. “That does sound like him.”
Benny looks intently at that fond smile. He never saw whatever Dean saw in the guy, but he knew Dean saw something. “You’re gonna take care of him, right?”
“If I can find him,” he says as he droops.
“If there’s one thing I know about Dean Winchester, it’s that he can’t keep himself out of trouble. He’ll find you.”
Before Cas can respond, Emma comes back with a Leviathan blossom. Benny notices some new knicks on her arms and dirt on her face – he kicks himself for letting her go off without him. But she seems unphased. “We should get you out of the way until he finds you,” she says.
They find him a promising tree. “We’ll stay close. Just in case,” Benny promises.
“I can handle them. Thank you, though.” He sticks out a hand, which Benny shakes tentatively. Emma grabs his hand next as Cas says, “And it was so nice to finally meet you, Emma.” That last ditch effort is the best thing that angel ever did for Benny.
***
They still talk about Dean after that, sometimes. But it’s alongside their new stories: epic Leviathan kills, the weirdest critters Benny has cooked up for Emma. Dean Winchester is firmly in the past now, and Benny and Emma get to have a future.