Ophelia walks into the library, putting a sandwich next to Sam's laptop. It's been six weeks since Dean's death and none of them have been taking it very well. Dean's body disappeared and Sam informed the girls he tried to summon Crowley to make a deal or something, but Dean's body was gone by time Sam got out of the dungeon.
Sam has been a restless search for the two ever since, barely sleeping or eating. His right arm is now in a sling, having hurt it when dealing with a demon.
Libby's shut down, as usual. She rarely talks or eats or even comes out of her room. Ophelia has attempted to get her to take a walk outside, but the young girl refuses to do anything.
Ophelia has once again, reverted back into the parent role. Hiding her grief so she can take care of Sam and Libby. She hates that it's her default. She's tired of it. She wants to openly feel her own emotions, if she would only let herself do so.
She misses her dad more than anything. She wanted to begin the grieving process, but the news of his body being gone from his room complicated that idea. Part of her just wants to let Crowley keep using her dad's body as a meatsuit for a demon because Sam's hunt for them is exhausting her even more.
"You should eat." Ophelia says quietly. She starts to leave, stopping at her uncle's voice.
"Don't you want to help?" He asks. "I-I mean, if you help, we might find him sooner."
"No. No, I don't want to help." Ophelia says, turning back to her uncle. "I don't want to find my father's corpse that's possessed by a demon and have to exorcise him in order to burn him."
"We're not gonna burn him. We're gonna exorcise him and then get him back somehow." Sam says making Ophelia scoff.
"What? You make a deal? So Libby can lose her dad -- again -- in one to ten years?" Ophelia questions. "Yeah. Perfect plan. I don't-- I don't have the energy to deal with this crap anymore. I'm... I'm tired. I'm tired of you guys dying and being the one who steps up when somebody dies."
"Oph, your dad--"
"Is dead. He's dead. And I want him alive, I do, but I can't go down a bunch of dead ends in order to get there. It'd just hurt more. So you stick to your wild goose chase and I'll continue to be the caregiver for you guys."
"Ophi, come on. When we find him--"
"You mean if we find him? No demons are talking, no matter how much torture you put them through. Nothing you're doing is working. It's just draining you and making you go crazy! And it's draining me to watch you practically kill yourself over this. Plus, having to take care of Libby when she's back in her depressed state like every other time somebody dies."
"Fine. You don't wanna help. Don't help." Sam says.
"Well, at least I'm taking care of your daughter." Ophelia bites. "You know what? I'm... I'm done. I'm done caring about you guys, I'm done pushing my feelings back to be there for you. I'm done taking care of you and putting myself last. Because none of you appreciate it! The only one who appreciates anything I do is an eleven year old!"
"So you keep your hunt going, I'll keep being there for your kid, and I am going to express any emotion I want. I am done doing crap that... that makes me feel like crap." Ophelia says, walking over to the table, and grabbing the plate with the sandwich.
"My sandwich now." Ophelia says, taking a bite into the sandwich. She grimaces in disgust, forgetting about the fact that she doesn't like almost anything Sam puts on his sandwiches. "It's the wild animals' sandwich now." She says, heading for the door.
"Oph--"
"I'm done, Uncle Sam!" Ophelia calls back, heading up the stairs and outside.
+++
Sam found a lead and dragged the girls with him to the town, having to drag Ophelia practically kicking and screaming. The three walk into the police station, Libby glumly following as she hugs her Eeyore stuffed animal. Ophelia follows, a glare set on her face, her arms crossed over her chest, anybody able to tell she rather be anywhere but here.
"Appreciate you coming down, agent. But I'm afraid you may have just cost Uncle Sam a tank of gas." The officer says.
"Oh, why's that?" Sam asks.
"You came up here to investigate Drew Neely's murder, right?" The officer asks.
"Right." Sam nods.
"Problem is, no one's certain it was a murder at all." The officer says.
"Okay, then what are we dealing with here? A suicide?" Sam asks.
"Self defense, more likely. Uh, the surveillance footage was corrupted. Our techies finally managed to clean up the file. Hold on a sec now..." The officer pulls up the footage and plays it. "That John Doe right there is the one you want to keep your eye on."
Ophelia looks, freezing when she spots her father on the footage. He looks normal, just reading a magazine -- she assumes it's porn.
"Son of a bitch." Sam whispers.
"Watch." The officer says. "Okay, now, porn guy's just minding his own business. And there's Drew Neely. See the knife?"
"Yeah."
"That's intent right there. Now watch this."
Drew jumps Dean who quickly takes the first blade out, stabbing Drew.
"Looks like a cutlass or something. I don't know what the hell this is. Problem is, we don't know if this guy's a hero or a psychopath." The officer says. He pauses the video as Dean's face is shown closeup on the footage.
Ophelia feels tears prick her eyes at seeing her father's face.
"That's the image that's getting uploaded to the wires." The officer informs.
"I, um... I gotta go outside for a bit." Ophelia quietly says, knowing if she talks louder, her voice will crack and the dam will break. She quickly makes her way out, letting the tears fall once she steps into the fresh air.
"Detective, do you mind if I, uh, take another look at this?" Sam asks.
"Knock yourself out. I'll be back in a few." The officer says, walking off. Sam sits down and rewinds the tape, going frame by frame. He stops at a shot of Dean's face, his usual green eyes being black.
+++
It's nighttime and Sam is driving, Ophelia asleep in the passenger seat, and Libby lying down in the backseat, staring numbly at the back of the front seat.
The car dies, Sam pulling off to the side. He grumbles, getting out and he struggles to open the hood with one arm. Libby can see headlights pull up behind them and looks up to see a guy walk up.
"Hey. Need some help?" The guy asks.
"Uh... yeah. I-I think so. It just died on me." Sam says.
"Out here?" The guy asks.
"Yeah." Sam nods.
"Your ride really has it out for you, huh?"
"I guess so."
"Give you a hand with that?" The man motions to the hood.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'd appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks." Sam says and the guy pops the hood.
"Ah... these new cars and their computerized brains, huh? One zero out of place, and the whole thing just goes kaput. Well, right there. There's your problem."
"What the hell is that?"
"Well, that's a kill switch. This here is the remote." The guy holds it in his hand. Sam goes to defend himself, but the guy easily knocks him out.
"Guessing you're a righty." The guy says.
+++
Ophelia and Libby sit in chairs in a barn. Their wrists and ankles are ziptied to the chairs, and they watch as Cole leads in a blindfolded Sam. He roughly shoves Sam into a third chair, putting zip ties on him as well. He takes the hood off Sam's head whose nose is bleeding.
"Okay. Home sweet home. Breathe. There you go. You good, partner? How's that chicken wing?" Cole asks.
"Who are you?" Sam asks.
"First time I broke my arm, my older brother, Davey, had me riding on the handles of his three speed. Decided to pop us a wheelie, look real fancy for all the little pretties outside the DQ. Well, we were looking mighty good for a little bit. And then, whoop ass end over teakettle, boy. Hurt like a son of a bitch."
"Nobody cares about your broken arm sob story, douchebag." Ophelia says.
Cole walks over to her, harshly backhanding her across the face.
"Hey!" Sam and Libby both call out. Cole grabs Ophelia's chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him.
"You're Ophelia Winchester." Cole says.
"And you're a dickhead who likes hitting little girls you have tied up in a barn." Ophelia coolly remarks, a smirk on her face.
Cole smirks a little, walking to a table. He returns with a roll of duct tape, starting to unravel some of it.
"Okay, you really think that's--" Ophelia cut off by Cole sticking the duct tape on her mouth and wrapping it around her head a few times to make sure she has no chance of getting it off or talking.
"Much better." Cole smirks, the teenager glaring at him.
"You're Sam Winchester... Libby Winchester. I think we can all agree on that. And your older brother, your uncle, and your dad, Dean, well... he and I, we go way back." Cole says.
"You're a hunter?" Sam asks.
"Sure. Yeah, we can go with that. Hunting your brother counts, right?" Cole asks.
"I wouldn't do that." Sam says.
"Yeah?" Cole asks.
"You would die." Libby says.
"Trust me. Look, buddy, I-I don't know who you are, all right? I don't know what you want or what my brother did, but if you got any sense, I suggest you turn tail and run back to that army recruiting ad that spit you out in the first place. He's a monster."
"Well, he was. Yeah, he was... many, many moons ago. But now he's prey. And I'm the monster now."
Ophelia glares at him, a hammer flying towards his head, but he moves just in time to narrowly miss it.
"What the--" Cole looks around. He stares between the three Winchesters, all having similar glares on their faces.
When Cole walks away, Sam turns to Ophelia.
"Watch it." He whispers, only earning an eye roll in return.
Cole grabs Sam's phone, using it to call Dean and putting it on speaker phone.
"I left you an open tab at the bar. Knock yourself out." Dean says.
"Well, hell, I just may take you up on that." Cole says.
"And who is this?" Dean asks.
"Me? Well, I'm karma, brother." Cole says.
"On my brother's phone?" Dean asks.
"On your brother's phone." Cole confirms.
"Is he dead?" Dean asks.
"No. Not yet. Same for your niece and your, uh, little girl. And as long as you show up where I tell you to show up, your family will be just fine."
"And how do I know they're still alive?"
"Speak." Cole holds the phone out to Sam who doesn't say anything. Cole punches Sam in the face, him groaning in pain.
Cole holds the phone out to Libby.
"Hi." She meekly says, not wanting to get punched.
"And, uh, Ophelia's a little tied up right now, so..." Cole grabs the abandoned hammer and slams it down on her wrist. A loud but muffled scream escapes her as she bends over in pain, tears falling down her cheeks.
Ophelia tries to breathe through the pain, the tape only making it harder as sobs attempt to escape her, the girl barely able to do anything.
"Proof of life." Cole says. "Got a pen?"
"No, you listen to me. There's no trade. There's no meet up. There's no nothing -- except the 100% guarantee that, somewhere down the road, I will find you, and I will kill you."
Ophelia is able to hear over her struggled sobs and breathing, her heart breaking at his words, her tears now both out of pain and sadness.
"Well, that'll be a cold comfort to your dead brother, daughter, and niece."
"I told 'em to let me go. So whatever jam they're in now, that is their problem."
"Mmm. Father of the year material. Well, I'll be sure to pass that on to them as I'm slitting their throats." Cole says.
"Yeah, you do that, cause they know me. And they know damn sure that if I am one thing, I am a man of my word." Dean says before hanging up.