Making her way downstairs, she saw Dean sitting on one of the barstools in the kitchen, talking to Sam, who was standing by the sink washing some dishes.
"Where's Sammy?" she asked. Dean gave her a strange expression and shrugged.
"In bed apparently. He must've fallen asleep while eating. Anyway, what brings you back so soon? Don't tell me you're planning to stay the night again."
Alex rolled her eyes.
"Of course not!" she exclaimed, sounding offended. "Do I look like some kind of idiot? Plus, I only stayed at Cas' last night because you were sleeping in the other room."
Dean snorted.
"Yeah, that was real nice of you," he said sarcastically. Then, turning toward Sam, he added: "Besides, I doubt there's anything you could possibly want that would keep you up all night. So just go to sleep already, Sammy."
Sam glared at his brother. Then he grabbed another bottle of water out of the fridge and headed upstairs. Alex watched them leave for a moment. Once he'd gone upstairs, Dean turned to face her, crossing his arms across his chest. His gaze narrowed into a stare that made her feel very nervous.
"Alright, spill it."
Alex furrowed her brows.
"Spill what?"
"Your secret project. Or whatever it is you're working on."
She sighed and placed the bag with the food on the counter.
"It's nothing important," she assured him. "Just something about the history of the internet or something..."
Dean snorted, raising an eyebrow.
"Or something," Alex repeated. "And besides, no need to be rude. I know you've got nothing against computers or anything like that, but you don't gotta act like I'm crazy."
"I'm not acting like you're crazy," Dean insisted, leaning forward so he could meet her eye. He seemed sincere enough, and she believed him, but Alex wasn't completely convinced yet. She kept an eye on him and slowly reached into her backpack to bring out the folder. She handed it to him without warning.
"Here. Take a look at what I found."
Dean took the folder reluctantly, opening the first page. As soon as he read the title, his expression froze. He blinked several times, frowning confusedly.
"A journal?" he asked.
Alex frowned too and pointed at a sentence near the bottom of the page. It read:
"So many questions I couldn't answer... What happened to the angels and demons? And where are they hiding now?".
The two humans both glanced up at the ceiling, then down at the open laptop in front of them. Alex slowly turned back towards the laptop, and Dean followed suit. They each sat silently in complete silence for what felt like forever until finally, Alex broke the silence.
"Do you believe in God now, Dean?"
"What do you mean?"
Alex shrugged.
"I mean, you've spent most of your life believing that God is responsible for your dad's death and I mean… well, you've spent most of your life believing that He exists."
Dean stared at her intently. For a while, neither of them said a word. Neither of them wanted to break the silence that had somehow fallen between them. However, eventually, Dean spoke.
"Are you saying that you want me to stop believing in God?" he asked. Alex shook her head, unable to meet his eyes.
"Don't," she pleaded. "Please. Just keep believing for me, okay? I'm not asking for you to do what everyone else seems to be doing, I'm just… asking you for you."
"Okay," Dean said softly. "I'll keep believing."
They fell silent again after that, this time, however, it wasn't uncomfortable. On the contrary, it seemed almost comfortable. They both sat there for a while, looking at each other, trying to understand the situation they were in, feeling like they weren't fully understanding it themselves either. Their relationship was complicated, to say the least, but somehow it fit together perfectly in such a way that it seemed like it should've been the way it always had been. The past couple of weeks had changed everything. Maybe it wasn't the best idea they'd ever had, considering the fact that they still didn't know exactly who they were or where they came from. But for a little while at least, it felt alright. For a brief moment, they could pretend that everything was normal.
