Title: Memories Forgotten
Author(s):
hunters_retreat Crossover: Supernatural/Dollhouse
Characters/Pairings: Sam/Dean, Dean/Caroline
Warnings: Incest, Dub-Con (Sex with Dolls), AU
Artist:
chosenfire28
Art Link:
hereSummary: Everything changed int he Winchester family the day Sam went off to Stanford, leaving his father and brother behind to try his hand at normal. He had no idea how his choices had affected his family until the day he met Cain. Nothing in Sam's life will ever be the same again.
Memories Forgotten
Part III
The aquarium opened at 9:30 and Sam was there with Cain and Erin in tow. It was a good place to do this, public enough that they could cause a scene if they needed to and open enough that they could get out. They’d had breakfast at a small restaurant right outside the aquarium so Sam had been able to watch and see what was happening. There was nothing unusual before the opening and he was pretty sure that this Ballard guy was going to keep his word and come alone.
Sam pulled his phone from his pocket and told Cain and Erin to wait for him by the Kelp Forest. “Meet me at the ocean view deck.” Sam told Ballard as he answered the call. “I’ll have on a red shirt and I’ll be the tallest guy you see.”
“You’re sure you’re taller than me?”
“How tall are you?”
“6’2””
“Yeah.” Sam said with a smile because there was something almost amused in the voice on the other end of the phone. “Look for the tallest guy you can see.”
Sam stood against the rail. The deck was still pretty clear, not a lot of people out on it just yet and he was glad he’d left Cain and Erin inside. He saw him the moment he came outside, saw the way his eyes found him and didn’t look away.
“Sam?”
“Agent Ballard?”
“Paul.”
Sam took the hand that was outstretched and nodded to the other man. “Thanks for coming up to meet me.” He said, trying to start things off in a civil manner.
“You said you were interested in the Dollhouse. What can I help you with?”
Sam sighed. He didn’t know how much to reveal. He’d thought about it most of the night. He’d fallen asleep easy enough with Cain between him and Erin, but it only lasted a few hours before he was up and pacing. It all came down to his impression of the man in front of him. He seems fairly aggressive over the phone but in an honestly frustrated way. “I think… I think someone I know might have been involved in the Dollhouse. I found him. I got the name, but I got nothing else. He’s… he’s not the same person he was.”
Paul’s eyes had tightened slightly at his words and Sam wondered if he’d already trusted too much. “Not the same person? Like he thinks he’s someone else.”
“Exactly.”
“The Dollhouse is everywhere.” Paul said quietly. “I’ve been trying to get to them for a year. I can’t find someone who’ll get me in, can’t even find a way in. What they do there, it’s just not right. I’ve been trying to get to them, but I can’t get a break.”
“I just might have one for you then. But I want my friends to get their memories back. And I want them to walk away clean of whatever they might have done before hand.”
The agent looked at him for a minute. “Friends?”
“I have a friend who knows how to get in touch with the Dollhouse and I have two people who were from it. My friend, he didn’t know what it was. Just thought it was some sort of high priced call girl type thing. The others… I just want them to get their lives back without forfeiting whatever they were supposed to get.”
“I can’t guarantee anything, but you get me in there and I’ll do everything in my power to help you. Where are your friends?”
“Close. Safe. I didn’t know if I could trust you.”
“And you still don’t.”
“I’m not comfortable around Feds. Nothing personal.”
Paul shrugged. “Not too comfortable around them myself these days.” He admitted.
Sam watched him for a second and then decided to trust his father’s advice. Trust your gut. He smiled at the other man then. “Let’s take a walk.” They were close to Cain and Erin but Sam felt the agent stop before they got close enough for him to say anything.
“Caroline? You have Caroline?”
He was looking at Erin and before he had to say anything Cain’s eyes looked up and met his. He pulled Erin a little closer, whispering something in her ear that had her laughing and that kept her attention away from the others. He wanted to walk over there and kiss him for it, for reading him as well as he did when they were hunting together but he didn’t think the agent would appreciate that.
“Her name is Erin.” Sam said.
“No. Her name is Caroline.”
Sam understood then. “They call him Cain. His real name is Dean. He doesn’t remember me, but he should. We spent most of our lives together.” He wasn’t going to mention the brother part. Cain didn’t know it and neither did Erin. Just what he needed to bring into it all was his currently incestuous relationship with his brother who didn’t know he was his brother.
“How did you find a way to contact me?”
“A friend hacked into the FBI files.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” Sam said with a smile. He owed Ash a lot of really cheap beer for this one. “He said there wasn’t a lot to tell, but he got me your name and number. Now, I don’t know what to do. I want Dean back but I don’t know what happened to him.”
Paul looked down for a second. “I don’t know if I can help you. I want to. They wipe their memories like some kind of a computer disk. They program them to be someone else. I don’t know how or where or when or why.”
“So there’s no hope.”
He watched the other man sigh. “I didn’t say that. You said your friend knew about the Dollhouse. Would he be able to help us out more?”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. His Dad is a politician and he’s got old money to back it up. He only knew about the place because of him and he had no idea what they were.”
“And what do they think they are now?” Paul asked suddenly, motioning to Cain and Erin.
Sam took a deep breath and looked away. He caught Cain’s eyes and Cain smiled at him, something warm and affectionate. “High class hookers. Well paid, clean, and with me for the weekend.”
“Your friend bought you two dolls for the weekend?”
“Bachelor party.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I didn’t know last night. I thought that’s what they were.”
“And you didn’t have any trouble with that?”
Sam laughed. “There are a lot of nasty things in this world but prostitution isn’t really what I consider one of them.”
“And you missed the fact that the guy in your room was your friend?”
Sam felt his face flushing slightly. “He was wearing a blindfold.”
Paul gave him a funny smile. “Why exactly?”
“To make it easier to pretend he was someone else.”
“Who?”
“My friend.”
Paul shook his head. “This sounds complicated.”
And even though the conversation made Sam uncomfortable as hell, he was relieved by it also. They guy was observant and had good instincts. “You have no idea.”
“Tony?”
“I don’t know if I can help you with this Sam.”
“Tony. I have to help him and I need you to do that.” Sam didn’t have a lot of patience. Cain and Erin were walking around the aquarium as Sam and Paul walked a ways behind, watching them and trying to think of a next step. Without Tony there was no next step.
He watched as Cain said something to Erin, watched as she pulled him close and kissed him lightly. They were supposed to be high class hookers, the types that were given expensive lofts and designer clothes and the best of everything. They acted like the lovers they were. He didn’t know if it was all an act or not.
He’s never seen his brother so close to someone and it hurt. How much of Cain was Dean if he’d been brought up differently? Or was any of it Dean at all? The openness he shared with Erin was distracting to him, something he craved and pushed away over and over again. He was going to get Dean back and when he did, shit was really going to hit the fan. Dean would never forgive him for what he’d made them become, but at least Dean would be himself again.
He heard the loud sigh at the other end of the phone. “Where are you?”
“Monterey.”
“Alright. I’ll call you when I’m close. I don’t… Sam I don’t know what all I can do, but I’ll help you get your friend back. I didn’t… I’m not that kind of person.”
“Yeah Tony, I know. That’s why I knew you’d come through now.”
Paul looked at him as he closed the phone. “He’s coming. He doesn’t know how much he can do, but he’s coming.”
“We’ll work from that then.”
Sam nodded. “Until then, I think it’s time you met Erin and Cain.”
“How can you call them by the wrong name?” Paul asked. “How do you pretend like that?”
Sam shrugged. “Because when he answers to Dean it’s an act on his part and I’d rather pretend I don’t know Dean right now, then to watch him try to pretend to be Dean. Because if you call her Caroline and tell her that’s who you want her to be, she’ll try.”
Paul’s mouth thinned, lips pulled taut in an angry white line. “I can’t tell you how much I hate this whole thing.”
Sam nodded. “We’ll find a way. We have to.” He caught up with Cain and Erin and smiled. “Hey, this is a friend of mine. Paul Ballard, this is Cain and Erin. Guys, this is a Paul.”
Cain looked him over and smiled widely. “Exactly how friendly are you Paul?” He asked as he shook the extended hand.
Paul looked surprised and Sam felt a flash of jealousy at the way his brother fell so completely into this. “Not that type of friend Dean.”
Cain’s eyes hardened slightly as his eyes came up to Sam’s. “Dean?”
Sam shook his head and took a deep breath. “Sorry. Cain.” He hoped he sounded more apologetic than he felt. He didn’t want to upset Cain with the use of the wrong name and what he’d said to Paul was true. However, Cain was his in ways that Dean never would be and he didn’t like the idea that Cain was willing to sleep with whoever walked up, even if he was supposed to be a hooker.
“It’s nice to meet you both.” Paul said, stepping into the conversation before it could become more awkward. Erin smiled at him, taking him by the arm and showing him the eels that she and Cain had been examining.
“I’m sorry.” Sam said as he watched Erin and Paul.
“I might be your guy for the weekend, but I’m not that guy Sam.”
“Yeah you don’t need to remind me.”
“Apparently I do.” There was anger in his voice and Sam looked up in surprise.
“Look I didn’t mean anything by it so what’s your problem?”
Cain shook his head. “I just thought… after that first night we were past that. I might be a whore Sam, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel anything. It doesn’t mean I didn’t think…” He ran a hand over his face in a gesture that was so Dean he nearly chocked on it. “Sometimes, the people you get are assholes and you do what you have to. Some times you actually like them. Other times… you start to think maybe they like you too.”
Before he could respond Cain was walking away and talking animatedly to Paul. He took a deep breath and wasn’t sure what to even think of that. He decided after a minute that he really needed not to think about it at all. He was getting Dean back and the more he thought about Cain and how different Cain was from his brother then the harder it would be to stuff this all back down when he did get Dean back.
His phone rang, saving him from having to examine anything else in his head. He was a Winchester after all and even though he was the one most likely to tackle his emotions head on there were some things he was just as happy to bury as his brother or father.
“Hello?”
“Hey Sam. I think I found something that might help you out.”
“What have you got Bobby?”
“A spell. I don’t know what those people did, but I don’t see why a memory spell shouldn’t be able to get Dean’s memory back.”
“Aren’t those spells normally to erase or change people’s memories?”
“It’s why it took me so long to find it. I emailed you the information already. Most of it’s probably stuff you already have with you anyway.”
“What if his memory has been modified Bobby?”
“That’s what the spells for Sam.”
“I mean... will he remember all of it?”
“I don’t know for sure. There are some vague references but it seems like it depends on what changed the memory in the first place.”
“Thanks Bobby. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
“Just… have your brother call me when you get him back Sam.”
Sam closed his eyes for a moment, wondering what he’d have done without Bobby and shook his head. “Sure thing Bobby.”
Sam took a deep breath as he looked at Cain and Erin waiting in the car. He was sure Paul was on their side now, but the other man didn’t know what was out there. “I think we have a way to bring them back tonight, their memories, but you’re going to have to trust me.”
Paul’s look was a mix between surprise and concern and anger. He wasn’t sure where the anger came from but it was enough to make Sam feel defensive.
“Why didn’t you do it before then?”
“I got the call while we were inside. I didn’t know about it until then.” He’d checked his email as soon as he’d gotten off the phone with Bobby, making sure he had everything he needed. He didn’t because he wasn’t hunting anymore but there were some interesting shops in the area and after letting Erin do a little more shopping he’d been able to get everything pretty discretely.
“Sure. You just happen to know a guy who can fix them and you didn’t get it done until now.”
“What are you trying to imply?”
“That you wanted to have a little fun before you gave them back their memories.”
Sam felt his fists clench. He couldn’t remember wanting to hit anyone so badly in his life, his father included.
“Sam?”
Cain was there then, at his back, his hands on Sam’s shoulders. Paul’s eyes went to Cain’s and then back to his as if to add to the implication. “I’ll do it tonight. Be there by 8:00 if you want to see what I’m doing.”
“And before then?”
“Show up early if you want to see what I’m giving up.” It was a gauntlet that he knew Paul wouldn’t pick up. Sam didn’t want to lose this thing with Cain and Erin, didn’t want to lose the closeness and security he felt with them. It was more than sex with them and he felt like it was more for them too, like Cain had been trying to explain to him earlier. He didn’t want to lose that but he couldn’t keep it if it meant the Dean was gone forever and that Cain and Erin were just slaves that didn’t now they were in cages.
He felt Cain’s hand squeeze lightly at his shoulder and Sam forced himself away from Paul Ballard then, turning into Cain’s gaze. “We’re good. Let’s get back to the hotel.”
“Lunch?” Erin asked from the back seat of the car. He could see she was worried about what was happening but she focused on something else instead.
“Yeah.” Sam said with a smile. “Lunch. Wanna go out or stay in?” He asked her.
She winked at Cain. “Oh, I think room service works just fine for me.”
He felt himself smiling then and let out a small laugh. Cain sat in the passenger seat of the car and he winked at her. “Girl after my own heart.”
Sam watched them for a minute, knowing this was going to be it. He had a few more hours with them before he’d do the ritual that would hopefully give them back their memories. Then Erin would disappear and he’d get to meet Caroline and Dean would be back and Cain would be gone. As much as he wanted his brother back, he couldn’t help but mourn a little for the two people that sat in the car waiting for him to drive them away.
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