The woman led the way back into the kitchen and then turned back to face us.

"You don't remember me?" she asked Dean.

"Honestly, if I had a nickel for every time I heard a girl say that..." Dean smirked a little. "You're gonna have to refresh my memory."

Instead of responding, the woman stepped forward, reached up, and pulled Dean in for a kiss. After a moment, she pulled back and Dean watched her for a moment.

"Tessa."

"That's one of my names, yeah," the woman, Tessa, nodded.

"So you do know her," I said, hands clenched at my sides.

"From the hospital after the accident," Dean confirmed.

"The accident with Dad?" Sam inquired and Dean nodded.

"So, this is the reaper that came after you," I said, glaring over at Tessa.

"Yeah."

Tessa looked over at Sam, then at me.

"Well, this was fun," she said, then turned back to Dean. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

She moved to leave, but Dean stopped her before she could go anywhere.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, you can't- you can't take the kid."

"Why?" Tessa demanded.

"Demons are in town, that's why," I piped up. "They've already snatched your reaper pal. The kid knows where."

"So?" she turned her attention to me.

"So, you should shag ass," Sam informed her. "For all we know, they could try and snatch you, too."

"Except that this town is off the rails," the reaper pointed out.

Mrs. Griffith came in from the dining room, grabbed something off a side table, put her hair up, and then left again. Sam and I watched her the entire time.

"And someone has to set it straight," Tessa continued.

"Yeah, we understand that," Dean nodded, "but these are special circumstances."

"What? Your whole angel-demon dance-off?" the reaper scoffed. "I could care less. I just want to do my job."

"Right, yeah, and, look, we want to help you do your job," Sam said. "So, if you would just bail town-"

"No."

"Well, then, could you hold off until we fix this?" Dean asked her. "Please?"

Tessa stared at him for a long moment, and then gave a sigh.

"Alright, but just so we're clear, when I start reaping again, I'm starting with the kid."

"Understood," I nodded. "I'll find him."

I turned to head upstairs, but was stopped by Dean's voice.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. What-"

I turned back to stare at him.

"What are you gonna say to him?" he asked, green eyes wide as he stared back at me.

"Whatever I have to," I shrugged.

Once again, I turned and headed up the stairs, feeling all three pairs of eyes on me as I went.

⁘

Heading into Cole's room, I looked around before sitting down next to the open closet where I had seen Cole hiding. I didn't turn to look at him as I spoke.

"This all must be pretty overwhelming, huh? Pretty scary, too."

"The worst is my mom," Cole responded quietly.

"Must be hard, seeing her like this," I continued.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the young boy lean forward into the light a bit more.

"She's always coming in here, talking to me, telling me how sad she is," he told me. "I knock some stuff over to let her know I'm here, but... she only gets sadder."

"Well, you might want to ease up on the flying soccer balls," I laughed a little.

Cole was silent for a few moments and I glanced over at him briefly.

"I'm not telling you where the smoke is," he said.

I was also quiet, thinking through my options.

"Hey. What if I told you that if you helped me, you wouldn't have to leave here? Ever?"

"What about the one downstairs?"

"Tessa? Oh, she wouldn't bother you. No reaper would. You could just stay here with your family as long as you wanted."

"You can do that?" Cole asked, hope in his voice.

"Yeah, you bet I can do that," I confirmed.

"You swear?"

I hesitated a brief second before nodding, staring him dead in the eyes.

"I swear."

⁘

After talking some more, I managed to coax Cole out of the closet and downstairs with me. Dean and Tessa were talking quietly together at the table while Sam stood off to one side, studying some pictures on the wall. I cleared my throat to announce our presence, drawing all three members' attention.

"Hey, guys," I greeted them, eyes never leaving Tessa and Dean.

"Hey, Cole," Tessa said gently. "I'm Tessa. I'm not going to hurt you."

"It's okay, Cole," I told him. "Just tell them what you told me."

"I saw the black smoke at my funeral," he said.

Sam glanced back at Dean, then looked back at Cole and I.

"At the cemetery?" he asked.

Cole shook his head.

"At the funeral home," he corrected. "It was everywhere."

The lights flickered, and we all looked around.

"You doing that?" Dean asked Tessa, who shook her head.

"No."

The front door opened and black smoke poured through, filling the house. We all ducked down as the smoke covered us all before disappearing once more. Everyone was accounted for, except Tessa.

"Tessa!" Dean cried.

"Cole, you okay?" I addressed the young boy who was still hiding behind me.

He nodded in confirmation and I turned back to face the brothers.

"Well, how the hell are we supposed to fight that?" Dean demanded.

"I don't know. Learn some ghost moves?" Sam shrugged.

"By tonight?" the elder Winchester scoffed. "Yeah, sure. I'll meet you back at Mr. Miyagi's."

"Who's Mr. Miyagi?" Cole inquired.

I glanced at Cole, then at the Winchesters and back again.

⁘

Cole taught us the tricks of how to do "ghost moves", coaching us through moving different objects and hitting things.

"See?" he smirked after hitting Sam in the stomach. "If you want to hit something, you just got to get mad."

I glanced at Dean, thinking about how I'd managed to make contact slapping him upside the head earlier after the comment he made.

"Yeah, got it," Sam nodded, straightening up.

Cole turned to Dean next.

"Now you try. Hit me."

"Uh, I think I'll stick to just picking on somebody my own size," Dean gestured at Sam.

Cole whacked Dean in the face and I laughed as Dean massaged his jaw. The young boy came over to me next.

"Hit me as hard as you can," he challenged me.

"Dude, I'm not gonna do Fight Club with a twelve-year-old," I shook my head.

He whacked me in the face and I shook it off.

"Alright, cut it out," I said.

"Make me."

He took another swing, and I blocked him before swinging back. Before I could make contact, however, he vanished. We all looked around as Cole reappeared just out of reach.

"Whoa. Whoa, you got to teach us that," Dean grinned.