Before It's Too Late: Chapter 3

The doorbell rang, making Kyle and Alex briefly panic.

“The pizza’s here,” Sam explained, putting everyone at ease as he turned towards the door. He reached into his back pocket for his wallet as he opened the door.

Dean stood up to go to the kitchen. “You got any beer?” he asked Kyle, who had turned around so he was sitting in front of Alex, blocking her from the front door.

“Yeah. Top shelf behind the ketchup.”

Dean nodded his head. “Wait. Behind the ketchup?”

“I rarely drink,” Kyle explained with a shrug.

Dean was about to take off to the kitchen when he caught a glimpse of the pizza delivery girl. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail that went through the back of her company hat.

As Sam handed her the money and grabbed the pizza, she looked over to Dean and gave him a wink. Dean grinned back in response. I am so getting her number before we leave town. Dean looked at her long slender legs that were covered by her tight, black jeans. I hope she’s not a friend of Alex. Snapping out of his train of thought, Dean continued to walk back to the kitchen.

After the pizza girl left, Kyle turned around to face Alex. He saw her tiny hands gripping her head with her eyes closed.

“Hey, are you ok?” he asked, placing a hand by her side, even though he wanted to put it on her shoulder or on her back and give her a hug. Now those simple gestures would not feel the same.

Alex shook her head. “Headache.”

Feeling helpless and not knowing what to do or say, Kyle just said, “Oh.”

“I just need some food and I’ll be fine.” She sighed, dropping her hands on her chest to look up at Kyle.

“Well, the pizza just got here. I’ll cut you up a piece, ok?” He gave her a warm smile. At least I can help her out that way.

“We didn’t have food before?” Alex looked away, putting a hand back to her head.

Kyle was taken aback by her question. Alex not only sounded, but looked irritated with him. That’s not like her, Kyle thought. What’s going on in that head of yours, Alex?

“Sorry,” she muttered and he was barely able to hear her. “The pain is just getting to me, that’s all.”

After nodding his head, Kyle stood up and looked down at her, still wondering if it really was because of her headache. “I’ll get your food ready.”

As Kyle walked away to the kitchen, Dean watched as Alex tried to sit up by putting her arms to her sides and pushing on the soft blanket. She would get herself halfway up and end up falling back down. The blanket was too soft for her to get a good grip, so her hands would sink down and away from her. It didn’t help that she was still weak and had no food in her system to give her energy. She tried again and came up with the same result. This time when she fell she grabbed her head again, groaning in pain.

“Hey, take it easy,” Dean told her as he walked over to the chair she was on. “Here, let me help you.” Bending over, he offered her a hand for support.

“It’s ok, Dean. I got it.” Alex attempted to try again, but a force held her down. She looked down and saw Dean’s giant hand easily covering her middle, lightly pinning her down. Alex looked up at Dean’s face.

“No.” He warned her. “It’s not ok, Alex.” Dean knelt down, being closer to her eye level. “You haven’t eaten anything in twenty-four hours. Your body is weak. You need to get your strength back first. Let me help you.” He removed his hand and turned it over, palm side up.

Alex sighed and looked at his hand before looking up at Dean. Finally she nodded her head, “Fine.”

Seeing as she was barely able to move on her own, Dean slid his long fingers underneath her back. He maneuvered his thumb under her right arm, wrapping it across her stomach like a safety bar on a roller coaster ride. “Is this ok?”

“Uh huh,” Alex nodded her head and Dean pulled her up against the cushioned armrest. She raised her arm, letting Dean pull his hand out from behind her back.

“This situation seems a little familiar, huh, Alex?”

“Yeah,” she nodded her head again. “Lucky me.”

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dean offered after a moment of silence.

“Not really. I mean, what’s there to talk about? I can’t remember anything.” Alex looked away from Dean. Feeling her hands shaking from the nerves running through them, she quickly folded her arms across her chest where she held them tight.

Dean nodded his head in understanding as he watched her look away. He knew she would need time to deal with this. Sure she was in a room full of people she loved, but she was all alone in this situation. None of them could truly understand how she felt at that moment. Well, except for Sam, who remembered exactly what it felt like to be tiny. But then again Sam was still his freakishly tall self and was over six times Alex’s current size.

As Dean tried to think of something to say, he sighed. Nothing came to mind. Looking at Alex, he thought about the last time this had happened to her. “Hey, at least you’re taller this time.” Dean smirked, hoping to lighten up the mood. Instead, the only reaction he got from her was Alex shrugging her shoulders.

Dean scratched his head and looked around, not knowing what else to say. Spotting Kyle walking over to them with a plate and a drink, he stood up and walked into the dining room, deciding to give them their space.

“I believe this belongs to you,” Sam said as he handed over the receipt to Dean.

“What? You want me to pay you back or something?” Dean looked at Sam confused.

“Flip it over.”

Doing as he was told, a huge grin formed on Dean’s face. There on the back of the receipt were seven digits.

“I swear only you could manage to get a girl’s number without saying one word to her.”

Dean laughed triumphantly as he pocketed the paper. “You’re just jealous that she didn’t give it to you.”

Ignoring his brother’s ego like he’s done so many other times before, Sam changed the subject. “Do you think we should go search the woods now?” Sam asked, watching his brother take a swig of his beer.

Setting the beer down, Dean shook his head. “No,” he said as he grabbed a slice of the pizza. “It’s too dark out to see anything now. We’ll have a better chance in the morning. Besides, I think the more important thing right now is getting her to remember what happened.” Dean nodded towards Alex.

“If she can remember,” Sam relied doubtfully.

“Right now she’s our biggest clue and she can’t remember a thing. All we do have is a bunch of unanswered questions. Story of our life, huh?” Dean took a big gulp of beer followed big a large bite of his pizza.

“Yeah,” Sam laughed bitterly, looking down at Alex’s coat that Dean had placed on the dining room chair. “Is that blood?” he asked once he noticed the dark stains.

Swallowing his mouth full of pizza, Dean nodded his head. “Another mystery that still needs to get solved. And I don’t think it was from the cut on her arm either.”

Sam widened his eyes. “She got cut?”

Dean nodded his head. “I caught a glimpse of it when we first saw her.”

“So something must have attacked her then,” Sam said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, but for all we know she could have been caught in the middle of a bar fight. Or she just tripped and fell. Which is very possible, I mean this is Alex we’re talking about here. The girl is a magnet for anything supernatural and I’m starting to believe anything horrible in general.”

“Hey, you don’t think her curse has gotten any worse, do you?”

Dean shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I mean if it did, wouldn’t she have told us or Kyle at least?”

“Maybe.” Sam drank some beer, looking over at Alex. He had just finished his second slice of pizza when he got an idea. “Hey, I’m gonna go to the store real quick. There’s something I need to pick up. Do you need anything?”

Dean pulled out the receipt from his pocket and waved it at his brother. “I got everything I need right here.” Dean grinned, waggling his eyebrows.

Sam rolled his eyes, put on his coat and walked over to Alex and Kyle. The entire time he had come back with food, they barely spoke a word to each other and were relieved to see Sam step up to them. “Kyle, do you mind if I borrow Alex for a minute?”

Alex straightened, wondering what Sam wanted as Kyle nodded his head. “I was going to go make a phone call anyways,” he said as he stood up, taking the empty plate and cup with him.

“What’s up?” Alex asked once Kyle was gone.

“This is going to sound a little strange, but, uh, I need to measure you.”

Raising an eyebrow, Alex nodded her head in agreement, “You’re right. That does sound strange.”

“Just… trust me… Please?” Sam said awkwardly as he gave her a small smile.

“All right.” Alex sighed, “What do you want me to do?”

“Well, first I need a tape measure or a ruler.”

“There’s a ruler in the top desk drawer in the library,” Alex explained, pointing to a pair of white wooden doors adjacent to the front door.

Sam quickly went into the room and retrieved the wooden ruler. He placed it down next to Alex’s side. “I think it would be easier if you lay down.” Alex nodded her head in agreement and did just that. She stretched along the side of the ruler and looked up at Sam, who sighed.

“Well? What’s the verdict?”

“…Eleven inches tall,” Sam hesitated as he pulled the ruler away.

“More like eleven inches small,” Alex muttered.

Sam set the ruler down on the table, next to the recliner. “Try not to think about it.” He watched as Alex nodded her head, pulled herself up against the armrest again, and made herself comfortable. “I’ll be back in a bit.” Sam stood up and left the house.

After Sam left the house, she heard footsteps and watched Kyle go into the library, still on the phone before he closed the doors behind him.

“I heard him on the phone with his grandmother.”

Alex looked to her right some more and saw Dean walking into the living room. She opened her mouth, wanting to talk to him. He’s like an older brother to you. You can tell him anything, you know that. Alex closed her mouth. Come on! Just speak! He’s not going to laugh at you. Look at him. Alex looked up at Dean who gave her a warm smile before he sat down on the couch. Closing her eyes, Alex shook her head. I can’t.

“Something wrong?” Dean asked, snapping Alex out of her thoughts.

“You mean besides the obvious? No.” Alex sighed, deciding to stand up and stretch. She stood up on wobbly legs, holding onto the armrest to keep from falling over.

“Hey, be careful.” Dean leaned forward, getting ready to catch her if she toppled over the edge. “You’re a klutz, now is not the best time to be doing anything risky.”

“Standing up is risky?” she challenged. Letting go of the armrest to fold her arms over chest, Alex stared at Dean, proving she would be all right.

“For normal people? No. But for you? Yes.” Seeing Alex’s reaction, Dean knew right away that he made a mistake in his choice of words.

“So, I’m not normal? What, I’m some sort of sideshow freak now? Are you going to put me in an aquarium and charge people fifteen dollars per person to see me?”

If it wasn’t for the fact that Alex looked seriously upset, Dean would have made a joke about charging extra to watch her sing and dance. Right now he knew better than to mess with her emotions like that. He figured he would allow her to get used to her size before teasing her this time around. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry. I just meant you tend to get hurt a lot, and now that you’re… smaller, it’s easier for you to get hurt,” Dean explained. “I’m just looking out for you.”

Alex couldn’t help but smile just a little at his consideration. “Thanks. I appreciate your concern and everything, I’m just…” she trailed off as she looked up at him, waiting patiently for her to continue. “I’m just bored. I needed to look at something other than this chair.”

“Do you want to watch a movie or something?” Dean glanced at the television opposite of Alex’s chair.

Alex thought about it for a minute. “Sure.”

“All right,” Dean placed his hands on his thighs and pushed himself up. “I’ll go get the popcorn while you think of a movie for us to watch.” Dean was about to go into the dining room, when a thought came to him. He turned around and pointed at Alex. “And no chick flick movies.”

Alex smiled as she watched Dean leave the room. As she was standing up, she turned around and faced the armrest. She folded her arms and leaned against the big cushion as she stared at the contents sitting on the table. Alex marveled at the size of everything that could once fit comfortably in her hands. Now she would only be slightly taller than them.

In the kitchen, Dean was pouring the freshly cooked popcorn into a large bowl for himself and a small cup for Alex. Dean set the bag down on the counter and picked up the bowl and cup, carrying them into the living room. Upon entering the living room, he paused for a minute, seeing Alex staring off into space. He almost didn’t want to interrupt her thoughts, but he figured maybe it would be a good thing. She could use a distraction, he thought. Alex held a hand up to her head and Dean took the opportunity to let her be aware of his presence. “Everything ok?” he asked as he walked over to the couch, setting the bowl on the coffee table.

Alex nodded her head. “Yeah. But I just realized that I can’t show up for work tomorrow. And they’ll probably want to know why I didn’t show up for work last night.”

“You went to work last night,” Dean explained as he walked over to her. “Kyle called them to see if you were still there when you didn’t come home this morning. They said you were there for your entire shift.” Dean crouched down in front of Alex, seeing the confusion on her face. “You don’t remember that either, do you?”

“No,” Alex shook her head.

Dean thought about it for a minute, not wanting Alex to worry any more about the idea that just came to him. Dean cleared his throat and scratched his head. “So, did you pick a movie out?”

“Yes, I did. I was thinking we could watch The Great Escape. Or is that too much of a chick flick for you?”

Dean smirked at that. “Where’s the DVD?” Alex pointed to the cabinet that the TV was sitting on. Dean looked back at Alex. “I think you have the best spot.”

“You could sit on the floor in front of me if you want?” Alex offered.

“Uh, sure,” Dean said after a moment of consideration. “Before I forget, here’s your popcorn.” He went to hand her the cup, then realized that it was almost half her size.

“It’s ok,” Alex reassured Dean, surprising him a little. He watched as she looked around the chair before looking up at him again. “You can put it between the cushion and armrest,” she said, pointing to a spot off to her right.

Impressed by her quick thinking, Dean wedged the cup between the two cushions, where it fit perfectly. Once it was tucked in, he went over to the TV, set up the movie, and went back over to Alex’s chair and sat down in front of her. Dean looked over his shoulder and realized they were both higher than the actual chair, blocking Alex’s view. “Sorry.” Dean looked over at the couch and reached for a couple of pillows, which he tucked under his back. He then slouched down, until his neck was resting against the front of the chair. “Better?” he asked, turning his head slightly, to look at her.

Alex nodded her head. “Yeah, thanks.”

Dean pressed play and they sat in silence as the movie began.