Of Hunters and Travellers ♦ with go_downswinging

[noblexcompanion]

Donna wasn't sure what had pulled her apart from the Doctor - she had no idea if he was unharmed or even if he was still alive. He had promised, in those last few seconds before they were separated that he would find her, and all she could do was trust in him. He'd never let her down yet

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[go_downswinging]

Dean had been cleaning his gun with the EMF detector next to him on the table when the lights started beeping on it and the lights in his room flickered. "Son of a bitch." Just as he finished putting his gun back together there was a knock on the door.

"The hell?" He glanced down at his watch trying to figure out who'd be knocking this late. The gun was slid into the back of his jeans in the curve of his spine as he looked through the peephole.

Never too careful, Dean opened the door but didn't invite her in nor was the trail of salt brushed away from the threshold.

"Can I help you?"

[noblexcompanion]

"Hi, right, sorry. I know it's really late but... is your heating working?" Because that's what sane people do. They go to people's rooms in the middle of the night and ask about their heating... Apparently she'd spent far too much time with the Doctor.

"My room? It's flippin' freezing - like I can see my breath kind of freezing. And don't get me started on the lights! Talk about dodgy wiring, more chance of the place burning down than getting a good night slee--" She arched an eyebrow, staring at the line of salt. "--is that salt?" Because that was normal...

[go_downswinging]

All of which Dean did a mental note that the ghost was obviously in her room if she could see her breath.

"Yeah, spilled it on my way in, didn't bother cleaning it up. Figured it'd keep the ants out." Dean flashed a smile at her. "Let me take a look at your heater, see what's wrong with it. I'm pretty good with heaters and engines. Why don't you stay here and get warmed up?"

The last thing he needed was a civilian in his way.

[noblexcompanion]

"Would you? That'd be brilliant!" Without warning, she threw her arms around him in a hug. Apparently the line of salt wasn't going to keep her out, nor was she particularly bothered about personal space.

"You sure you don't want me to come with? I could... I dunno, hold your wrench or sommat. I feel kind of bad, dragging you out of bed at ungodly o'clock."

[noblexcompanion]

Donna set her phone down and rubbed at her tired eyes. "Archives at the nearest library then?" It was almost scary how easily Donna was taking all this in her stride. But probably for the best. The last thing Dead needed was a screaming, hysterical woman on his hands.

"Well, considering you just saved my life, I suppose I should find out your name so I can thank you..."

[go_downswinging]

In Dean’s line of work there were two kinds of people. The kind that freaked the hell out and made things worse and the kind like Donna that took shit in their stride and waited until it was over to deal. Dean dealt by having sex and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Everyone had their way.

He was very glad that fate tossed him someone like Donna. It could have been a lot worse. Unless she turned out to be a Sam girl then … it was a toss up.

“Name’s Dean. Dean Winchester.” He gave her a nod and a hint of a smile. “And who’s the chick that can toss off smart ass comments as well as throw iron at a ghost without batting an eye?”

[noblexcompanion]

Donna could get behind sex and alcohol as coping mechanisms. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. To be fair, in recent years there has been a distinct lack of both sex and alcohol - there has been a lot of hot chocolate though...

She returned the smile, giving a dry laugh. "Donna. Donna Noble. Believe me, I'm well versed in the weirder side of things."

[go_downswinging]

That got eyebrows rising to the hairline but that also called for a beer so he pushed off from the chair he'd been in and over to the small refrigerator in the room. If Donna was looking when he opened the door, she'd notice that it was pretty much stocked with beer. He picked out two and handed one to her.

"How'd you learn about the weirder side of things?"

[noblexcompanion]

"Apocalypses? Not that we've come across so far. Plenty of war - usually wherever humans go, funnily enough. I sometimes wonder if we're just cursed to ruin whatever beautiful land we happen upon." She shrugged. Sometimes she thought humans were pretty rubbish. She had seen plenty of terrible things.

"Course, it's not all humans. There's some pretty awful aliens out there too. And I suppose when I say we rescue planets is more the Doctor rescues planets and I just happen to be there." Even if she had saved the universe herself.

[go_downswinging]

Yeah, don't even get Dean started on how much of a dick angels and demons are.

"That's how a lot of Hunters start in the business. They just happen to be there and then they just keep hunting things and saving people." Dean smiled slightly, "you'll start to notice things more now than you did before."

[noblexcompanion]

"So ghosts trying to maim and kill people is more common than we think? I always thought ghosts just, I dunno, hung around because they were like stuck and not because they wanted to murder people. Seems I've been reading the wrong kind of ghost stories all my life."

Donna downed the rest of the beer. Don't you wish more women were like her, Dean? Open minded about the weird stuff, a smart ass and able to hold her own booze.

"Word of warning - try any funny business and I will smack you."

[go_downswinging]

You know if Donna had been a decade younger, Dean probably would have tapped that. Okay not even a decade younger.

He held up his hands, palms outward. "Promise won't try to cop a feel or take a look when you shower." Though he wouldn't promise not to wake up with a morning woodie. That was a fact of life, female in the room or not.

[noblexcompanion]

"It's... yeah, it's psychic paper. Projects thoughts or sommat. Not entirely sure how it works, just know it's useful." She flashed it again. This time she was apparently a doctor at the local hospital. Every trade has their own tools, right?

"Probably illegal - but very handy."

[go_downswinging]

"Damn, you don't have another one of those do you?" Because Dean might be salivating at the thought of how useful that would be both as a hunter and to get laid.

"What we do is in the grey areas. Not like we can go up to cops and say hey you know that dead body? Vampire or alien attack. This cuts through the bullshit and lets us help people, that's all that counts."

[noblexcompanion]

"Easy, Tiger. Only got the one. But if I manage to find the Doctor again I'll see if he can hook you up with a sheet." Or maybe she could ask Jack if Torchwood has any. She'd have to look into it.

"I get it. Helping people is important. It's what we do, right? Save people." She shot him a smile and headed out to the car park. There was only one car. "Yours, I hope?"

[go_downswinging]

Dean lovingly ran his hand over the hood of the Impala. "Yeah, this baby's mine." He opened the door and slid in the passenger seat, waiting for Donna to get inside, too.

"Best car out there." And he'd rebuilt her at least twice, probably more.

[noblexcompanion]

"They just don't know what they're missing!" She teased, downing the rest of her coffee. She took a few bites of her pancakes and grabbed some money from her pocket, handing it to Dean.

"Right, meet you at the library in... about fifteen minutes?"

[go_downswinging]

"See you there." Dean nodded and shoveled in the rest of his meal before paying the bill with Donna's money. And also managed to get the number of the cute cashier, then headed over to the library to meet Donna.

He found her easily in the reference section with older newspapers. "Find anything?"

[noblexcompanion]

Donna hadn't been looking for long. She'd nipped to the store nearby to pick up some supplies - toiletries, clothes, the usual kind of nonsense a girl needed to live motel to motel. "Seems the story made all the local papers." She spread some of the articles out for him to see. "Nothing about her grave though. There was an obituary which named the funeral home... If they're still in business they might know something..."

"Oh, I shoved my stuff in your car boot, by the way." Even though she didn't have the key...

[go_downswinging]

Boot? Dean had no idea what Donna thought a boot on the Impala was but he assumed maybe she meant backseat. "Yeah that's okay, it'll be safe there."

He slid into the seat next to her and looked at the obituary that she'd found. Brownlie-Maxwell Funeral Home, that should be easy enough to find. Or even if they're not in business maybe the same workers are at a new place."

It might take a little more leg work but that's how the cases usually went.