#despite earlier claims of course this actively references like seven things i can spot

[isbergillustration]

Alien Shapes

[angelsandacceptance]

Wishful Thinking

“It just doesn't make any sense, Dean. I mean, why would Uriel tell me you remembered Hell if you didn't?” Sam asks for what seems like the thousandth time.

The girls roll their eyes in synch at the boys’ antics. They all sit at a table in a bar, drinking various things, as well as picking apart a plate of fries. 

Dean downs another shot. “Maybe because he's a dick. Might have something to do with it.”

“Maybe, but he’s still an angel.”

“Yeah, an angel who was ready to level a whole town. Look, I don’t know what-” “Radical,” The waiter says, coming up to their table right at that moment. “What else can I get for you?”

“Uh, I think we’re good,” Sam says. 

“Speak for yourself,” Chase says. “I’d like whatever dessert you’d recommend, unless pie is an option. Pie is life. And I’ll take another few rounds of these,” she finishes, pushing a couple of now empty shot glasses towards him. 

“A few more meaning?”

“Six.”

The waiter, looking slightly startled, walks away. 

“Sam, honestly, I have no idea why Uriel told you what he did, okay?” Dean says, finishing what he was trying to say earlier. 

“Right,” Sam says, unconvinced. 

“What?” Dean asks. 

“You gotta see it from our point of view, Dean,” Chase says. “You’re not sounding very believable. Right, Harley?”

“I think if Dean isn’t ready to talk about it we shouldn’t pry.” Harley answers.

“I’m fine talking,” Dean says gruffly. “I just don’t remember anything.”

“Okay. Fine. Then look me in the eye and tell me you don't remember a thing from your time down under,” Sam says, continuing to grill him despite Harley’s efforts.

“I don't remember a thing from my time down under. I don't remember, Sam!”

“Look, Dean, we just want to help.”

“You guys know everything I do, okay? That’s all there is.”

“Outstanding!” The waiter exclaims, coming back over with a tray. “Here’s your dessert and drinks, and is there anything else I can get for you?”

“Dude,” Dean says, looking at the waiter.

“Look, bros, you’ve got to try our ice cream extreme. It’s extreme.”

“Uh, no, no extremities please. Just the-”

“Check? Awesome, alright!”

Sam huffs, causing Chase to smile. He’s always hated getting interrupted. “Thanks.”

“Alright, so where do we go from here?” Harley asks once the waiter has disappeared. 

“I'm not sure. Uh, looks like it's been pretty quiet lately. No signs of demon activity, no omens or portents I can see,” Sam says.

“Hey, some good news for once!” Chase says, throwing back the second shot already.

“Yeah, just the typical smattering of crank UFO sightings and one possible vengeful spirit. Here, check this out. Uh... Up in Concrete, Washington, eyewitness reports of a ghost that's been haunting the showers of a women's health facility.” Dean chokes on his drink. “The victim claims that the ghost threw her down a flight of stairs. I can see you're very interested.”

“Women, showers,” Dean says. “We got to save these people.”

“Really, Dean?” Chase asks in disgust. “At least be better at pretending you want to actually just help.”

“What?” Dean asks in feign innocence. “We gotta help ‘em.”

***

“I'm not surprised the spirit world chose to make contact with me. I'm something of a... natural sensitive.” Candace, the victim, says.

“I can sense that about you, Candace, that whole... sensitive thing.” Sam responds.

“So, what did you say you're calling your book?”

“Oh, well, um... Well, the working title is... ‘Supernatural.’ Yeah, We've been crossing the country, gathering stories like yours. But, anyways, you were telling us about your encounter.”

“Yes. Well…” Candace sighs, “Once I saw the apparition, that's when I started to run.”

Sam and Chase notice a peculiar couple making out across the divider. Peculiar in the sense that the woman was way out of the man’s league. Sam keeps staring confused while Chase quickly adverts her gaze and scrunches her nose, a habit of hers whenever she’s uncomfortable. Chase elbows Sam because despite being weird, there isn’t anything paranormal about the couple.

“So the ghost chased you?” Chase asks.

“Not just that. It knew my name. It kept yelling, "Mrs. Armstrong! Mrs. Armstrong!" And that's when I hit the stairs and fell.” Candace responded.

“You fell?” Sam asks. “It didn’t push you?.”

“Oh, I don't – I don't know. I mean, I think it did. Maybe?”

Chase rolls her eyes. ‘Great.’

“Did you feel like it meant to hurt you, like it was violent, or anything like that?” Chases questions.

               “It was a ghost. I'm lucky to be alive. Anyway, I was at the bottom of the stairs, and that's when it got weird. It helped me up.” Candace says slightly chuckling.

               “Say again?” Sam asks.

               “Yeah. It helped me up. And it kept saying over and over, ‘Please, don't tell my mom.’”

Chase snorts at this, earning a look from Candace. “Sorry, that’s just an odd thing for it to say.”

“It is weird,” she agrees. 

“Yeah,” Sam says. “Weird.”

***

“You take the stairwell and I’ll take the showers.” Harley says, getting out of the Impala.

“Come on, why can’t I take the showers?” Dean asks, getting out as well.

“Um… I don’t know because you’re you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asks, slightly offended.

“Look Dean. It’s not happening, period.”

“You know you’re hot when you know what you want,” Dean says, sneaking up and hugging her from behind.

“No amount of flattery or affection is going to get you into those showers.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” Dean relents, letting go of Harley, pouting.

***

Harley and Dean sat on the steps of the fitness center waiting for Sam and Chase. Dean had found a newspaper and was looking through it. The headline said that a local man had won the lottery.

“Well, you pick up anything?” Sam asks them.

“Nada,” Harley sighs.

“Yeah. I'm not surprised. I kind of got the feeling back there that crazy pushed Mrs. Armstrong down the stairs.” 

“I got to tell you, I'm pretty disappointed.” Dean adds.

“Of course you are,” Chase says rolling her eyes.

Dean and Harley got up and the four began making their way back to their respective cars. A kid ran by followed by three others.

“Come on, guys, get him!” One of the presumably bullies says.

“I got him! I got him!” Another yells.

Dean being Dean has to make a reference and calls after the kid running from the others, “Run, Forrest, run!”

“I don't think anything's going on around here,” Chase says. “Maybe for once we get a break?”

“When do we ever get breaks?” Harley asks.

“Never,” Chase sighs dramatically.

The hunters overhear a man arguing with a cop on the pier, “How the hell was I supposed to get a look at it? It grabbed me from behind and threw me into a tree!”

“Something's going on,” Dean comments.

“Yeah, okay, Gus. I understand you got shook up. Anyone would be. But don't you think it – Don't you think it had to be a bear?” The cop asks.

“I know a damn bear track when I see one! This thing didn't leave bear tracks! Its feet were huge!” Gus answers.

“Now, Gus…”

“It was Bigfoot, Hal – The Bigfoot!”

At this the group started walking towards Gus and Hal.

“Gus, you're not talking sense here.”

“There's a Bigfoot out there, damn it, and he's a son of a bitch!”

“Excuse us, FBI,” Sam says, breaking the ice as they all pull out their badges.

“What?” Hal, the cop, responds.

“We’re here about Bigfoot,” Harley states matter-of-factly.

“About Bigfoot?”

“Yes.” Harley promptly turns towards Gus. “Can you tell me exactly where this happened?”

“Why, yes, I can,” Gus says, shooting a victorious look to the cop

***

“What the hell's going on in this town? First there's a ghost that's not real, and now a Bigfoot sighting?” Dean asks. 

The four hunters wander through the forest, near where Gus said he’d spotted Bigfoot. Mosquitos swarm around them, trees densely surrounding the few miles around. Chase, already sick of being in the woods, was already bitten several times by the annoying bugs. 

“Well, every hunter who’s worth their salt knows Bigfoot’s a hoax,” Sam says.

“Chase, didn’t you used to actually believe in Bigfoot?” Dean asks.

“Only because you told me he did!” Chase retorts. “Everything else is real, so I’m sorry if my seven-year-old self decided to believe her older brother.”

“In all fairness, he could just be really good at staying under the radar. I mean we didn’t think angels were real. Now we’ve met Cas and that asshole brother of his.” Harley adds.

“Well, maybe someone’s pumping LSD into the town water supply,” Dean jokes. 

“Then what made those?” Chase asks, stopping suddenly, pointing at large tracks, which couldn’t possibly have been made by a bear.

“That, uh... is a big foot.” Sam says hesitantly.

“Well, okay then,” Chase says. 

“Bigfoot isn’t looking so crazy all of the sudden,” Harley states.

The hunters begin following the tracks to a liquor store. Upon entering they notice that no one else is there and that the place is ransacked.

“So, what – Bigfoot breaks into a liquor store, jonesing for some hooch?” Dean says, before leaning down to inspect a few broken bottles, “Amaretto and Irish cream. He's a girl-drink drunk.”

Harley rolls her eyes at the comment.

“Dean, as a female, you should be and definitely are fully aware that I can match you in alcohol consumption. And Harley could probably outdrink all of us if she actually drank.”

“Yeah, but you’re different.”

Chase raises an eyebrow. “Choose your next words very, very carefully, Dean.”

Dean’s eyes widen and he simply turns around to keep investigating. “Seriously? He took the whole porno rack? I will repeat myself. What is going on in this town?”

After one final sweep of the place, they found some fur and decided to sit outside, pondering what this all meant.

“I got nothing,” Dean says, breaking the silence that had fallen over them.

“It’s got to be a joke, right?” Sam asks. 

“Yeah,” Chase agrees. “Maybe a big-ass motherfucker in a gorilla suit?”

“Probably,” Harley agrees.

“Or it's a Bigfoot. You know, and he's some kind of a alcoholo-porno addict. Kind of like a deep-woods Duchovny.” Dean adds.

“I thought you didn’t believe in Bigfoot,” Harley teases.

Dean gives her a pointed look. “Yeah, well, it seems everything’s getting weirder by the day, so what else am I supposed to believe?” He frowns, looking past Harley, to see a little girl on a bike, riding past. A porno magazine falls out of the basket attached to her bike, causing all four of the hunters to pause. “A little young for Busty Asian Beauties.”

“I don’t think she’s our Bigfoot, but she might know him. I say we follow her.”

***

“What's this, like a ‘Harry and the Hendersons’ deal?” Dean asks when they arrive at the little girl’s house.

They knock on the door and the little girl answers, “Hello?”

“Hello! Um, could we... You know what? Are your parents home?” Sam asks.

“Nope.”

“No,” Chase repeats in dejection. 

“Look, we just want to know if you’ve seen anyone really furry with big feet?” Harley says, probably a little too sharply. She’s never been particularly great with kids.

“Is he in trouble?” The little girl asks worriedly.

“No, of course not,” Chase says, kneeling down to the girl’s height. “We just want to make sure he’s okay.”

“Exactly!” Dean says.

“He’s my teddy bear,” she says. “I think he’s sick.”

“That’s perfect!” Chase says enthusiastically. “Because, we are… teddy bear doctors!” She bluffs, shooting a look back to have the others cover her ass.

“That’s us, teddy bear doctors, so if we could see your teddy bear we might be able to make him better,” Harley quickly says.

“Really?” The little girl asks.

“Really,” Chase says.

***

“He's in my bedroom. He's pretty grumpy,” Audrey says, knocking on the door. “Teddy? There's some nice doctors here to see you.” She opens the door to show a giant stuffed bear turn to them. 

“Close the fucking door!” the bear explains, causing Chase’s eyes to widen. She glances quickly at Audrey, hoping she wasn’t taking note of the language being used. Audrey quickly closes the door and turns back to the hunters with a shrug.

“See what I mean?” she asks. 

The four hunters, disguised as teddy bear doctors, turn to each other skeptically. They follow Audrey into the living room, allowing them to sit and talk to her. 

“All I ever wanted was a teddy which was big, real, and talked. But now he's sad all the time – not "ouch" sad, but ouch-in-the-head sad – says weird stuff, and smells like the bus,” Audrey explains to the four, who all watch her carefully. 

Chase snorts, “I understand that feeling.”

“Little girl,” Dean starts.

“Audrey!” Audrey exclaims, chastising Dean again for not using her name. 

“Audrey,” Dean corrects, “How exactly did your teddy bear become real?”

“I wished for it,” she says simply, as though it would be obvious.

“You wished for it?” Harley asks hesitantly.

“At the wishing well,” Audrey says, further explaining. 

They stand awkwardly outside the bedroom door, looking to each other nervously. Dean opens the door slightly, allowing all four to peer in. A large teddy bear sits on the bed, facing a loud tv, displaying the news. 

“Look at this,” the bear says, gesturing to the propaganda being spewed to the viewers. “You believe this crap?”

Dean raises his brows, pursing his lips slightly. “Not really.”

“It is a terrible world,” the bear continues to moan. “Why am I here?”

“For tea parties!” Audrey exclaims expectantly and excitedly. 

“Tea parties? Is that all there is?” he demands, gunfire on the tv momentarily distracting him enough for Dean to close the door and turn to Audrey. 

“Audrey,” Sam asks. “Can you give us a minute?”

“Okay,” she says, skipping off to the other room. 

“Okay,” Sam repeats, turning back to others. “Should-should we kill this bear?”

“I think it might kill itself,” Harley says, grimacing.

“I hate to agree, but I agree,” Chase sighs. 

“So what? We leave it alone?” Dean asks.

“I mean I don’t know,” Harley says.

“What would we even do? Shoot it? Burn it?” Chase asks sarcastically. 

“How do we even know that's gonna work? I don't want some giant, flaming, pissed-off teddy on our hands,” Dean says. 

“Yeah. Besides, I get the feeling that the bear isn't really the, you know, core problem here,” Sam sighs. They quickly make their way to Audrey. “Audrey. Where are your parents?”

She pauses a moment. “My mom wished they were in Bali, so I think they're in Bali.”

Chase’s eyes widen. “I wish I could do that.”

“Okay, well... I'm really sorry to have to break this to you, but... your bear is sick. Yeah, he's – he's got…” Sam pauses, shooting a look to all the other

“Depre-” Harley starts. Chase smacks a palm over her best friend’s mouth, her eyes cursing at her, as she has to improvise. 

“Lollipop...disease,” Chase forces out, thinking of the most innocent seeming idea. 

“Yeah!” Sam says, jumping on board. “Lollipop disease.”

“It's not uncommon for a bear his size. But, see, it's – it’s really contagious,” Dean explains. 

“Yeah, so, is there – is there someone, maybe a grown-up, that you can stay with while we treat him?” Sam asks. 

“Mrs. Hurley lives down the street,” Audrey says. 

Chase shoots Harley a disgusted  look, only now tearing her hand away, because Harley licked it. Chase wipes it on Harley’s shoulder, earning an eye roll from the boys as Harley tries to contain her laughter. 

“Perfect,” Dean says. 

“Good, yeah, good. Uh, we'd like you to stay there for a few days, okay?” Sam requests. 

Audrey shrugs, nonplussed. “Okay.”

“Oh, and, Audrey? Where is this wishing well?” Chase asks. 

***

The four hunters stare up at the sign, reading Lucky Chin's Chinese Restaurant, wordlessly sending each other furtive glances, not wishing to go inside. Eventually, the girls wander over to the door and pull it open, allowing the boys to step in, just as a child exits. 

“I know what I’m wishing for,” Harley says as soon as they step in making a beeline to the fountain.

“What are you going to wish for?” Sam asks as the other three follow Harley.

“I can’t tell you until after I make my wish.” She rolls her eyes and throws a coin in.

They wait a minute.

“Did it work?” Dean asks.

“Dunno? I don’t really feel any different.” Harley says, “I guess it did?”

“What did you wish for?” Sam asks.

“To be human.”

The three  Winchesters stare at her in shock. 

“Are you sure that was smart? All these wishes seem to be going awry, and you don’t know the kind of repercussions that could result from you wanting that-” Chase rambles in worry, concern filling her brown eyes as she stares at her best friend. Harley interrupts her, holding a hand up. “Sorry.”

“Well, my turn then,” Dean says, stepping forward. 

“What’re you wishing for?” Sam asks, curious. 

“Shh,” Dean holds up a hand. “Not supposed to tell.”

He tosses a coin in and not even a second later, a man walks in, “Somebody order a footlong Italian with jalapeño?”

Dean grins at the others, before holding his hand up slightly. “That’d be me.”

“Why don’t you wish for something?” Harley asks Chase. 

Chase shrugs. “I dunno what to wish for.”

“How about like, a book, or cat ears, or something.”

“Sure, let me just ask for a headband,” Chase laughs, fishing a coin out of her pocket.

Pulling out a quarter, she approaches the wishing well. Tossing in the coin silently, she waits with bated breath, a hand outstretched, awaiting her cat ears. She frowns, turning around. 

“I guess they don’t all work,” she shrugs. 

Harley snickers, pointing at her head. “They’re right there.”

Chase reaches up, and pulls off a headband, cat ears that match her hair -dark brown with red streaks. She smiles before resituating them on her head. “Okay, cool, so what do we do about this?”

“I don’t know. Stopping people’s wishes from coming true sounds like a dick move.”

The four went to sit in a booth and talk things over.

“I’m guessing this is also a result,” Chase says, gesturing to the headlines in the newspaper.

“And that,” Sam agrees, pointing to a couple over at a different table. 

“Unless he’s got a really great personality or he’s rich, definitely,” Harley adds.

“Yeah, ‘personality’,” Dean says.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

Dean winks at Harley from across the booth. Chase snorts. Dean turns his look to Chase, a frown settling across his face as he glares at her playfully. Chase shrugs in defense, reaching a hand up to readjust her cat ears. 

Dean takes a bite of his sandwich, moaning slightly. He points to it with a full mouth and a wide grin. “Thish ish good.”

“Ew,” Chase says. “Close your mouth, swallow, and then say something. God, Dean.”

Dean just grins at her wider. 

Sam rolls his eyes and interrupts. “So, you’re right, it seems like a dick move, but come on, man. When has something like this ever come without a price tag? And usually a deadly one.”

“Sam’s got a point,” Harley says.

“I don't know. It's a damn good sandwich. All right. Fine. We'll put a hold on the wishing till we figure out what's going on,” Dean sighs. 

“Uh, sir, sir, I’m sorry,” a worker comes over to their table. “We don’t allow people to eat outside food here.”

“Well, I am certainly not gonna eat the inside food here. Health department. You, my friend, have a rat infestation. We're gonna have to shut this place down under emergency hazard code 56C.”

Chase raises a brow, but then nods solemnly, trying to play along. 

“Rats?” The man exclaims in shock. 

***

The four hunters stand side by side, looking into the now-drained fountain. The buddha is plaster, paint peeling from its old, wearied edges, the smile thoroughly creeping out Chase. She looks away from it, scanning the bottom of the fountain, but nothing seems out of place. 

“Typical fountain, plaster Buddha. Nothing I can see,” Dean says.

“Yes,” the chinese worker says, agreeing enthusiastically. “Nothing. We keep a clean place here.”

“Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave during the preliminary investigation, okay? Thank you,” Sam says. The man leaves, though a sour look adorns his face. 

“Oh, come on. Aren't you a little bit tempted?” Dean asks, flipping a coin to Sam. 

Sam chuckles lightly, handing the coin back to Dean. “No. Wouldn’t be real. I wouldn’t trust it.”

“I don’t know, that bear seemed pretty real,” Chase says. 

“Wasn’t the bear a depressed drunk?” Harley asks. 

Chase waves her off. “No matter.”

“Come on, if you could wish yourself back, you know, before it all started... Think about it. You'd be some big yuppie lawyer with a nice car and a white picket fence,” Dean says, ignoring the girls’ deliberation. 

“Not what I’d wish for,” Sam says. 

“Seriously?” Dean looks at Sam, surprised. 

“It's too late to go back to our old lives, Dean. I'm not that guy anymore,” Sam deadpans. 

“All right, well, what, then? Hmm? What would little, baby Sammy wish for?” Chase asks, teasing her younger brother.

He looks at her, a serious expression on his face. It causes Chase to pause. “Lilith’s head on a plate. Bloody.”

Harley attempts to whistle lowly, forgetting she can’t whistle at all. “Shit, I’d like that too.”

“Also,” Sam says, lightening up slightly, “You’re by far, much smaller than me.”

Chase rolls her eyes, pouting slightly. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

“What’s that?” Dean asks, pointing to an old coin at the bottom of the fountain. 

The three others turn to look at it closely, unsure of what it is. 

“Some kind of old coin. I don't recognize the markings,” Sam says. 

“Neither do I,” Harley adds. 

Dean bends over and goes to grab it, but can’t seem to pull it off the fountain floor. “Damn,” he grunts, unable to move it at all.

“Lift with your legs,” Sam jokes. 

“That little fucker really is welded on there,” Dean says. 

“Let me try,” Harley says, attempting to pick up the coin. It didn’t even budge. “Noted, I’m not freakishly strong anymore. Guess I really am human.”

The boys left to grab a crowbar and a mallet. The worker attempted to stop them once he saw the tools, but the boys brushed past him.

“Let me see that. I got an idea,” Dean says referring to the mallet, he already had the crowbar. He wedged the end of the crowbar between the coin and the fountain, and hit the mallet against the crowbar. The head of the mallet flew off almost hitting Harley in the face.

“That was close. Too close,” Harley says once the mallet head lands.

“Coin's magical,” Sam says.

“I’d say,” Chase agrees.

“I think it’s hoodoo that keeps it protected,” Dean adds. “We can’t destroy it.”

Sam apparently keeps a pencil and paper on him and takes a frottage of the coin handing it to Dean as he was closest to Sam.

“All right, here. Y’all got to look into this.” Sam adds.

“Where you going?” Dean asks.

“Something just occurred to me.”

***

Chase sits, leaning against the wall of her and Harley’s motel room as she waits for her best friend. For some reason, Harley is sick. She’s sitting on the bathroom floor, waiting until she gets sick again, her head resting against the cabinet door, next to the toilet. 

Chase herself didn’t feel the greatest. Her head pounded and her ears were ringing. A click lets her know that Harley is exiting the bathroom and Chase sits up straighter, trying to ignore how sensitive to the light her eyes are. 

“Feeling any better?”

Harley shakes her head. “Not really.”

“Any idea what it could be?”

Harley shakes her head again, sighing deeply. “It could be something bloodborne. Something I picked up from a bad blood bag?”

“Yep, no superhuman strength, no immunities, and you’re probably not going to get any better soon.”

Harley looks up, a retort on her lips, but it dies upon her eyes landing on Chase. She stares, eyes wide, at her best friend. “Chase, you-your ears.”

Chase frowns. “What about them?” She asks, reaching up to readjust them. However, when she feels her fingertips meet them, she freezes. Her ears twitch, and a strangled cry escapes her lips as she bolts up, running into the bathroom. She stares at her reflection with wide, horrified eyes.

“I have cat ears!”

“Well, that is what you wished for,” Harley says, obviously trying to keep herself from laughing.

“No wonder my head hurts! These ears are just super sensitive to everything.”

Chase exits the bathroom, and upon Harley meeting her gaze, eyes flicking up to her ears, before meeting her eyes once more, Harley can no longer contain herself. 

Harley bursts into laughter, wincing as her sides begin to ache, abdominal pain starting up, causing her to clutch her sides.

“You okay?” Chase asks.

“No, but I’ll manage.” Harley says, pulling out her phone and dialing Dean’s number, “I found something on the coin though, before I puked my guts out.”

“The wishes turn bad,” Dean says as soon as he picks up.

“Trust me. We know,” Harley sighs, putting Dean on speakerphone.

“What happened to you two?”

“Chase is a neko, and we think I have some bloodborne illness. You?’

“That sandwich made me sick.”

“Anyway the reason I called you is because I found out the coin is Babylonian. It’s of the goddess Tiamat.”

“At least we have a starting point now,” Chase says.

***

The four hunters arrived at Wesley Mondale’s house. Sam had figured out he was the first to make a wish last night. Harley rang the doorbell and Hope, Wesley’s fiancée, opened the door. 

“Hi! Hope right? We’re the florists.” Harley says flashing her best fake smile and pepping up her attitude.

“Of course! Come in!” Hope says ushering the group inside, “Wes! You didn't tell me that you called the florists for the wedding.” 

“Huh?” Wesley says looking as if he just woke up.

“You're the best! Mmm! Ah! I'm gonna go get my folders.” Hope says rushing off.

“Uh? Okay.”

“Wesley, how's it going?” Dean asks.

“It’s ‘Wes’ Aren't you the guys from the health department?”

“Yeah. And florists on the side,” Sam says.

“Plus FBI,” Dean adds.

“And on Thursdays, we're teddy bear doctors,” Chase says.

“And sometimes I’m a vampire. We’re kind of Jacks of all trades,” Harley finishes.

“Huh? Why does she have cat ears?” Wesley asks, pointing at Chase.

Chase frowns, feigning offense. “It’s a medical condition.”

Wesley turns slightly pink, but looks confused still. “Sorry,” he mumbles, keeping his eyes glued to anything except Chase’s “condition”. 

“Look, Wes, it doesn’t matter who we are. It matters what we know about you,” Harley says pointedly.

“So, coin collector, huh, Wes?” Sam asks.

“Oh. Yeah. My... grandfather gave them to me,” Wes says.

“Did you happen to lose one of those coins lately? And by ‘lose,’ I mean drop into a wishing well at Lucky Chin's and make a wish on it?” Dean asks.

“No, I – I don't know what you're, uh, talking about.”

Hope comes back with folders overflowing with papers.

“Okay, now. I have a lot of ideas, but, you know, we don't have all the money in the world. Wes is between jobs right now. Means more time for me. You know, I'm thinking a Japanese-y ikebana kind of thing,” Hope says, pulling a picture out of one of the folders.

“Yeah. I can see it,” Dean says trying to get rid of her.

“Yeah. So, Hope, uh, tell us how you two lovebirds met,” Chase suggests.

“Oh, best day of my life,” Hope says.

“I bet,” Harley says, trying her best to refrain from rolling her eyes.

“Yeah! It's the funniest thing. We both grew up here, but I never really knew who he was. Not by name anyway. Until one day last month, it was like I just I just saw him for the first time. He was just... glowing. Oh, just glowing.”

“Uh, babe, can you – can you get us some coffee?” Wes asks.

“Yes. Yeah.”

“Oh. Okay. Okay. Mm-Hmm. Okay. Oh, okay. Oh. Mm-mmm, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay,” Wes says amidst the many many kisses Hope is giving him. Chase looks away, slightly disgusted and feeling awkward.

“Yeah.”

“Wes, we know. So tell us the truth,” Harley says. 

“My – my grandfather found the coin in north Africa, you know, World War II. And, uh, he brought it back. He, um, he said it was a real wish-granting coin, but that nobody should ever use it. Um... It was all I had, and when he died, I thought, "Well, you know what? Why not give the coin a shot?” Wesley explains.

“Yeah, well, now you're gonna wish it back,” Sam demands.

“Oh,” he laughs, “Oh. Ha ha, no, I'm not.”

“If you don’t do something about it, something bad’s gonna happen,” Dean says.

“Something like us,” Chase adds, crossing her arms. 

“We really wish you'd come with us,” Dean says, pulling out his gun, then putting it away again.

***

“I don’t get how anyone could wish for love,” Harley says, starting the flow of conversation.

Chase pauses, momentarily thinking of her answer. “To be honest, I don’t either. I don’t believe in love really, outside of family, so I’m not quite sure it’s something I’d ever think of. I’d probably wish for books.”

“Didn’t you already have a wish?”

“Oh. Right. Man, really wasted that opportunity.”

“Any specific books?”

“All of them?” Chase suggests jokingly. “I don’t think I’d be able to choose. Watch, the bad thing that happens is I get all the books, but I get a panic attack because I know I could never read them all so I die. Or they fall on top of me and crush me. That would be bad too.”

“I mean that’s one way to go. Suck that these wishes go bad though. It would’ve been nice to just have one good one.”

“I understand what you mean,” Chase replies, her ears twitching at the sound of another passing car. 

Harley laughs at the twitching ears, but soon regrets it as her stomach flares up again, “Ow! Okay being human kind of sucks.”

“Wow,” Chase says sarcastically. “Because I’ve never told you that before or anything. Because I’ve never expressed dissatisfaction with being human ever.”

“Okay fair, but like all I’ve ever wanted was to be human.”

“That’s also fair, but in the words of my favorite jamaican crustacean, ‘the seaweed is always greener in somebody else’s lake’,” Chase half-sings the quote.

“I was in a production of The Little Mermaid once. I was the little seahorse that follows Triton around.”

“That’s adorable!” Chase exclaims. “How have you never told me that before? We’ve talked about our theatre experiences so many times.”

“I guess I forgot about it amidst the nightmare that was Theatre Arts.”

Chase fake shudders, “Tech week, am I right?”

“I never had a tech week. Sounds exhausting though.”

Chase’s eyes widen as she turns slightly to peer at Harley. “How in the world have you not had tech week, but you’ve been in theatre? Tech week is the bane of my entire existence. It’s the last week of practice right before the show, where you’ve got costumes, lights, sounds, and all the makeup. You run through every scene like fifty times each night, and oh my God, don’t get me started on the backstage stress because your director, no matter how chill normally, is absolutely insane.”

“Well, I didn’t know it was called tech week. And those were my favourite practices.”

Chase shoots Harley a look of concern. “You really aren’t human, man.”

“Well, I am now. So deal with it.”

Chase smiles slightly. “Oh, right.”

The car jerks to the left suddenly as Chase hits something. “What the fuck?” She cries out, looking around wildly to see what she’d hit. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I didn’t see anything,” Chase mumbles, turning back around in her seat. “Did you?”

“Nah,” Harley shakes her head. “It was probably nothing. Just a speedbump.”

***

Chase and Harley come to a stop in front of Lucky Chin’s. They step out of the vehicle, heading inside to see Wesley and Sam getting out of the Impala, but no Dean.

“Sammy, where’s Dean?”

“Dealing with a runaway child with super strength.”

Chase raises a brow. “Are you… being… facetious?”

Sam shakes his head. “Sadly, no. Anyway, let’s get this over with.”

“Why can’t we get what we want?” Wes practically whines.

“Because life sucks?” Harley answers unsure.

“Yeah, Wes, this is life. And we don’t all get what we want,” Chase says, scratching her ears. 

Suddenly a bolt of lightning shoots down from the sky, splintering into three, hitting Sam, Harley, and Chase, knocking them flat on their backs. Their bodies lay still, dead.

***

Sam, Harley, and Chase woke up on the pavement outside of Lucky Chin’s restaurant. Hope walks out as the three are getting up, looking back with a confused glance before continuing on her way. Wes comes out shortly after. He hands Sam the coin, dejected, before walking away.

“Well, I don’t feel like puking anymore,” Harley says.

Chase frantically reaches her hands up into her hair, sighing in relief as she feels no evidence of ears. 

“I am never making a wish again,” Harley shudders.

***

The three Winchesters and the one now-no-longer-human, Harley, are all sitting on a bench, squished in next to each other. It barely seems like Sam or Chase are actually sitting on the bench, so much as leaning against the edges as Dean and Harley take up most of the room in the middle. Audrey walks past, normal sized teddy bear in hand; a bandaid had been placed over a bullet sized hole in its head. 

Chase waves to Audrey, who waves back, skipping alongside who must be her parents, extremely sunburnt and confused.

“So, uh,” Sam starts, glancing awkwardly around the town. “The coin’s melted down now, so it shouldn’t cause any more problems.”

“Audrey's parents are back from Bali,” Chase points out, nodding her head towards the retreating family. “Looks like all the wishes are gone.”

“And so are we,” Dean says, folding up a newspaper, whose headline reads, ‘Winning Lottery Ticket A Fake’.

The group gets up, each pair heading back to their cars. Dean suddenly stops, causing the girls to look back at him and Sam, who stand next to Baby. 

“You guys were right,” he says. 

Chase and Harley share a confused look. “About?” Harley asks.

“I shouldn't have lied to you. I do remember everything that happened to me in the Pit. Everything.”

“So talk to us about it,” Sam suggests. 

“No,” Dean deadpans. 

“Dean, bu-” Chase starts. Harley puts a hand on her arm as Dean holds up a hand, cutting her off. Harley gives her a look, telling her to drop it.

“I won’t lie anymore, but I’m not going to talk about it.”

“Dean, look, you can't just shoulder this thing alone. You got to let us help,” Sam says.

“He’ll talk when he’s ready to talk. No point forcing it.” Harley sighs.

“The things that I saw... there aren't words. There is no forgetting. There's no making it better. Because it is right here,” Dean taps his head, “forever. You guys wouldn't understand. And I could never make you understand. So I am sorry,” Dean says. 

Chase gives Dean a smile, small and bittersweet. “It’s okay, Dean. Just know we’re here for you when you need us.”

Dean returns the look, opening the driver’s side car door, about to get in. “I know.”