Chapter Text
Chapter 32
Alex Milligan. It's a new name, but at the same time a familiar name. The Winchester brothers met her what seemed like another lifetime ago. Though not blood related, they still considered her family. She wasn't considered an instant beauty by most, but she held her own. With short cropped light brown hair that rivaled the silkiness of Sam's, and green eyes that closely matched Dean's, she stood at a proud 5'8".
Though she was taller than the average woman, she hadn't been born to John Winchester with his giant genetics that had clearly been passed onto his boys. No, her father had been a man passing through that had left her mother, Kate Milligan, to raise the child on her own.
While she shared neither mother nor father with the Winchesters, but rather a mother with Adam, after her older brother's death and them ultimately rescuing her from the ghouls responsible, Sam and Dean had accepted her into their family.
Alex rolled her eyes and skipped ahead a few pages. 'Accepting' isn't the word she'd choose. Watching the rain fall outside her shop window for a moment, she turned her gaze back to the worn pages in her hands.
Alex jumped as Dean slammed the door behind him causing her to lose the place in the book she was currently researching. The boys had gone on a hunt nearby to let off some steam. Alex, wisely, had chosen to stay behind at the bunker to enjoy some quiet time by herself. That was the excuse she had given anyways.
Truthfully, she knew the boys needed some brother hunting time without her getting in the middle. The past few weeks had been a roller coaster for them. Dean had been riding a hilarious high from being the one to kill Hitler-- something he frequently and repeatedly shared with anyone willing to listen-- to another all time low when they left to attend another hunter's funeral up north with Jody Mills; only to have had a run in with Mama Winchester. Needless to say, Dean hadn't been in a very hospitable mood the past few days. He was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. One that would be going off far sooner than any would realize.
Tick
More selfishly, she had opted to stay behind after hearing that this hunt--and the trip to the hunter's funeral-- had involved witches. Something Alex was diligent about avoiding.
She had nothing personal against witches. It would be a bit hypocritical if she did considering she herself, was in fact a witch. A rather powerful one at that. But the choice in avoiding other witches was simply so they wouldn't reveal that fact to the Winchester brothers.
She wasn't evil by any means, but she had learned quite quickly after meeting the older brother that she should keep that part of her life quiet. Dean Winchester had been as firm as a brick wall when she had first met him. A monster was a monster and the Winchesters hunted monsters. And though he was more accepting towards certain supernatural things these days, Alex confessing she'd been a witch the entire time wasn't a topic she found easy to bring up.
Alex smiled to herself when she heard Dean mumbling to himself as his boots knocked against the metal stairs, descending down into their Batman lair-- as she liked to refer to it. She let out a quiet sigh when his mumbling became more clear. "Damn witches."
Tick.
It had been almost a year exactly since she'd finally decided to take the brothers up on their offer to let her join their travels. They had accepted her in their own way when they first met, but in the end both parties had decided to go their own ways. After another run-in with the supernatural, Alex had called the brothers for help. That phone call had turned into a rather large hunt, which had led to her joining them on more hunts and eventually moving in with them at the Bunker.
Alex stoop up and stretched before gathering up the books from the large table in front of her. Sam gave her a small smile 'hello' as he hopped over the few steps leading up into the bunker's library.
"Fun hunt?" she asked, walking to the shelves to return the books to their rightful homes. Dean pulled out a chair and huffed in annoyance, mumbling again about witches. Sam set his bag on the table and rolled his eyes with a silent smile towards Alex. She felt a smile spread across her face. She'd always seemed to connect better to Sam Winchester.
They both had a love for books and research, and Sam had actually made an effort to keep in touch with her over the years. The two weren't great conversationalists by any means, but they'd quickly become family.
"It was fine. We ran into a couple hiccups, but we took care of it in the end." Sam pulled out his laptop, setting it on the table and opening it up.
"A hiccup, Sam?" Dean asked incredulously. "That bitch nearly killed us!"
Tick.
"It wasn't that bad. Stop being such a drama queen, dear."
The sound of the Scottish female voice had Alex freezing in her tracks. Keeping her back to the boys and the unexpected guest, her mind raced to find a way to silently extricate herself from the situation.
"Not that bad?" Dean's voice came out, anger lacing his words. "Sammy almost died! If you hadn't been there..." Dean trailed off, refusing to finish that thought.
Tick.
"If I didn't know you any better, I'd almost feel hurt at your lack of faith in me, Dean Winchester." Rowena held a hand over her heart in mock shock.
Alex remained as still as possible, her thoughts turning to concern for the brothers. She had felt the sudden shift in the room's atmosphere as Dean's words. As a person she had always maintained the talent of being able to read the undercurrent of the room. As a witch, the ability was magnified; something that came in extremely handy on many different occasions. Especially when it came to the brothers and knowing when to say something and when to keep her mouth shut.
Currently, even without needing to turn around, it made her hyper-aware of the set of all-knowing eyes currently focused on her. The eyes of another powerful witch. Alex felt her shoulders tense, knowing what was likely to come, but begging the universe to change her fate.
"And who might this be?" The Scottish woman's heels clicked as she took several slow steps closer to Alex. "I wasn't aware you boys had found a new housemate."
Tick.
Alex tried to maintain a neutral expression and relaxed air as she slowly turned to face the others. Sam glanced between the two women before realization struck. "Oh! Um, Rowena, this is our sister, Alex. Alex, this is Rowena. She's the witch that helps us occasionally."
Alex smiled softly at the woman and gave her a nod in greeting. She had placed a blocking ward around herself to help keep her hidden from other witches, but she knew that Rowena wasn't just any witch. Alex just hoped the wards would be enough to hold her secret just a little longer. At least long enough to allow Alex to speak to Rowena privately.
Dean huffed in annoyance as he poured himself a glass of amber liquid from the bottle of bourbon sitting on the table. "Help implies she is doing it out of the goodness of her heart. Rowena doesn't do squat out of the goodness of her heart. That would require goodness to be found there." He took a swig of the liquor before leaning back in his chair and pointing at Rowena with his glass while addressing Alex, "Don't trust a damn thing that woman says, Alex. She may be all powerful and 'wise' from being, like, a thousand years old, but she's still a witch." Dean put a sarcastic emphasis on the word 'wise' before continuing on. "And I don't trust witches. Especially not ones that gave birth to the King of Hell."
Tick.
Sam huffed at his brother in disbelief. "Dean--"
Rowena cut him off with a roll of her eyes. "I believe your brother used the word 'help' as in I helped you avoid death. Again, I might add." Rowena turned to address Alex, clearly unaffected by Dean's harsh words. "Clearly Dean is still upset that I--" The Scottish witch trailed off as she studied Alex with narrowed eyes.
Alex felt her heart rate pick up, silently adding more power to her blocking ward as she watched Rowena take a step closer to her. Rowena gave Alex a Cheshire Cat like smile. Her eyes never left Alex's as she addressed the boys, "My, my, boys. I don't know whether to be flattered or offended. You two constantly call me up and accumulate a rather hefty bill, when you have this lovely thing right here?"
Alex's breath caught at Rowena's words, her eyes darting to the two brothers who now looked at her with confused expressions.
Boom.
The bell above the door rang out as a customer walked in, quickly bringing Alex back into this world and out of the Winchester's world. Quickly swiping away a tear that she hadn't realized had fallen, she sent a warm smile towards the older gentleman and greeted him with a polite, "welcome."
Leaving the gentleman to browse, she grabbed the book she had been reading, Supernatural by Carver Edlund and tossed it back on the small shelf that stood behind her counter. She didn't need to keep reading to find out what happened. She had never read beyond the paragraph she had just read, but she didn't need to in order to know how the story ended. She had lived it.