Fic: Clean Slate (3/7)
Title: Clean Slate (3/7)
Author:irishka1205
Character: Sam, Dean, Bobby, Ruby, Castiel, Uriel, Anna, Lilith
Spoilers: through 4.14
Disclaimer: I don't own anybody or anything. They all belong to the evil genius that is Eric Kripke.
Rating: PG
Summary: When Dean is attacked by demons, Sam must do whatever it takes to keep his brother safe.
Author’s Note: Huge, gigantic thank you to muses_circle for being my beta and personal cheerleader when it comes to writing and to crazundeadfairy for giving me another pair of eyes on this story and continuing to listen to my fangirly squee on daily basis.
Previous chapters: Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2
Before either man had a chance to say anything else, Dean bid good bye to the girl and hurried back to the car.
“What did you tell her?” Bobby asked as they pulled out of the driveway.
“That you were an old friend of my parents. You and your son just passing by and invited me to go fishing.”
“That’s pretty impressive,” Sam noted. “How’d you come up with that?”
“Just came to me,” his brother’s reply came from the back.
****
Part 3
Sam managed to sleep for a little over two hours as Bobby drove. He wished he could have slept longer, but after the nightmare that woke him up in a first place, Sam was reluctant to so much as close his eyes again.
When they finally got to Bobby’s place, Sam escorted Dean downstairs, not wanting to take any chances.
“What is this place?” Dean asked as they walked into the tiny room filled with books, unopened cans of food, and a lone bed by the wall.
Sam tried to gage the other man‘s mental state, to see if he was nervous, freaked as hell and ready to run first chance he got. Dean remained quiet most of the way here and not being able to see him from the passenger seat, Sam had no idea what could have been going through his brother‘s mind during that time.
“Ever heard of a panic room?” Sam replied, looking around the room. He knew there could not be anything remotely supernatural there, but it was the force of habit.
Dean chuckled with amusement. “Your dad has a panic room?”
“Bobby’s not my dad,” Sam corrected, taking note of uneasiness in his brother‘s voice.
“Oh, sorry. I thought…I mean, he acts like it,” Dean stumbled to explain himself.
“No. He’s just…a friend of the family.”
His brother nodded in response.
The two stared at each other for a moment, one nervously, unsure of what to do next. The other one feeling torn between wanting to stay and have a longer conversation with the man he hadn‘t spoken to in months and wanting to run as fast and as far as he could. The second choice won out and Sam turned around to leave. He was already in the doorway when his brother spoke again.
“Who’s Dean?”
Sam froze in place, his heart suddenly beating violently against his ribs. He slowly turned around and met the other man’s eyes. “My brother,” he finally answered after a long pause, his voice cracking.
“Is he the one those men are after?”
Sam could barely breathe and his heart seemed only to beat harder and harder. “Yes.” His voice was nearly a whisper.
“Why are they after him?”
Sam didn’t respond right away, trying to find words, trying to decide just how much he should reveal to the man standing across from him. But he could find none. “It’s a very long, very complicated story,” he said instead.
“You have a lot of those. Long and complicated stories, I mean,” Dean replied.
In spite of himself, Sam snickered. “Pretty much the story of my life.” He started to turn around to leave when another question once again stopped him in his tracks.
“Where is he? Your brother. Where is he?”
Sam tried taking a deep breath in, but the giant lump in his throat made that task nearly impossible. With the tears suddenly stinging his eyes, Sam stared at the man in front of him, looking for the answer in the man’s face - his brother‘s face. Except, behind his brother’s eyes there was a stranger.
And Sam had his answer.
“Gone,” he whispered.
He couldn’t take the look of sorrow on the other man’s face. Clearing his throat, Sam focused on the task at hand. “Look, just stay here and do whatever Bobby tells you. And if you hear anything, just lock the door. You’ll be safe here, I promise.”
“What are you gonna do?” There was anxiety in Dean’s voice.
“Something I should have done a long time ago,” Sam answered. He wasn’t lying about that.
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to make sure those bastards don’t come after you again.”
“What…Sam…” His brother’s face showed worry, concern. And Sam couldn’t take seeing that expression any longer.
He had a job to do. And regardless of what the end result of it was going to be, Sam knew that there was very little chance he’d ever see his brother again. “Good bye…Kyle.”
Not waiting for a response, Sam ran out of the room and up the stairs.
*****
Sam found Bobby at his desk, deep in research, probably looking for any signs that demons followed them here. He was just about to ask whether Bobby found anything when a car pulled up to the house. Quickly realizing who it was, Sam headed outside.
She was out of the car by the time Sam reached her. “Thanks for coming,” he told her. He wasn’t completely sure she would.
“I gotta say, I was pretty surprised you called,” she said, slamming the driver side door.
Sam sighed, knowing full well that she had every right to be pissed at him. “Ruby,” he tried, but she cut him off, seemingly not interested in hearing his apology.
“So, what’s going on?” Ruby asked.
Grateful for reprieve in the change of the subject and being able to get right down to business, Sam took a step closer to her. “Lilith,” he replied and watched as Ruby’s expression changed to that of concern. “She sent her lackeys after Dean.”
She let out a loud sigh. “I assume since you’re here and calm…” She paused, her eyes studying his face for a moment. “…ish,” she corrected herself. “That means he’s ok.”
“For now,” Sam confirmed.
Ruby nodded. “She’s not going to stop there, you know that.”
“I know,” Sam replied grimly. “And I’m not waiting for another attack.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Attack first,” Sam replied with determination in his voice.
Ruby’s expression remained unchanged, but her eyes widened slightly, studying Sam‘s face. “You found her?” She finally asked.
“Not yet. That’s what you’re here for.”
Ruby chuckled. “Sam, come on, you’ve been looking for Lilith for how long now? I’ve told you everything I know. Obviously your new best friend doesn’t have a clue either.”
The last part was tinted with disdain and Sam didn‘t have to think long to know that she was referring to Anna.
“If Lilith doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be,” Ruby added.
“There has to be a way,” he insisted.
“There isn’t.”
“I don’t accept that.” Sam took a step toward her, lowering his voice. “Come on, Ruby, there’s gotta be a way to find her. A spell, something?”
“Lilith is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them,” Ruby replied. “You found her using witchcraft once. She won’t make the same mistake again. She knows how to hide and hide well.”
“There has to be another way!” He nearly screamed in frustration.
Ruby stood quiet for a while, then let out a loud sigh as she came up to stand right in front of him. “There is…one,” she said quietly, staring up into his eyes.
Without hesitation, Sam asked, “What is it?”
A tiny smile crossed her lips before she answered. “You.”
Sam‘s eyes narrowed as he studied her face, confused. “Me? But…how? I don’t…”
“Oh, come on, Sam, you really think that Azazel’s big plan for you was to send his demon army back to hell with the wave of your hand? You have other abilities, Sam. Powerful abilities.”
Sam stared back at her, confusion quickly paving way to realization of exactly what she was trying to tell him. And one thing came to mind. “Ava,” he said, his voice barely audible.
“Who?”
“This girl I knew, psychic like me. She learned how to control demons. Make them do whatever she wanted,” Sam explained.
Ruby smiled again. “Make them tell you whatever you need to know.”
It didn‘t take long for Sam to realize exactly what she was telling him. She gave him a way to find Lilith. “Find demons. Make them tell me where she is.” It was more of a statement rather than a question.
“With a little practice, you’ll be able to get whatever information you need.”
Sam shook his head. He didn‘t have time for practice. “Just tell me what to do.”
“Sam, it doesn’t work like that. How long did it take you to get a grip on just exorcising demons. You need time to get the hang of this. I’ll show you but we need time.”
“We don’t have time,” He responded, his voice getting louder. “Just tell me, I’ll figure it out.”
“Sam, this is insane.”
“Just tell me how!” He growled.
He heard her gasp and a strange wave of energy came from him toward her, enveloping her entire body. He couldn’t see it, but he felt it with every fiber of his being.
Her face contorted as if in pain, Ruby stared at him. “You’re doing it,” she said slowly.
Stunned, Sam let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and took a step back. It was as if a hold was suddenly loosened on Ruby, as if an invisible hand holding her just let go.
“You’re a much quicker study than I thought,” she said, trying to catch her breath.
A shiver ran down Sam’s spine as words he heard years before played in his head. Once you give into it, there’s all sorts of Jedi mind tricks you can do. Jake was right. Sam fought it for so long. Now that he wasn’t fighting against his abilities anymore, it took no effort at all.
He took a step toward her as he pulled the knife from his pocket - her knife - and held it out to her.
Ruby stared at him, confusion written on her face.
“You’re going to need it more,” he explained. “I need you to stay here, protect Dean.”
“What are you going to do?”
Sam just stared back at her.
She understood his plan at once. “No, no way, Sam. I don’t care how powerful you are, you can’t go after her alone.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“No!”
“Yes,” he bellowed, gripping both her arms with his hands. “Promise me. Promise me, you’ll stay here and protect Dean.” He did it consciously this time and it was already getting easier. Another wave came off from him toward her and Ruby once again gasped and stiffened.
“I promise,” she answered, her voice tiny, barely audible.
Sam let her go and took a step back, feeling horrible for using his powers against her when she was the one who taught him how to use them in the first place. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Ruby didn’t answer and looked away instead.
“Ruby, please,” he tried another approach. “Ruby.” He came closer again, this time cupping her face with his left hand, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes. “Please.”
Ruby didn‘t respond.
“I need to know that he’s going to be ok,” he explained. “I can’t do this if…I need to know that no matter what happens to me, Dean’s going to be ok.”
The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds before Ruby’s gaze dropped to the knife in Sam’s right hand. He held it out for her and this time she took it.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
The two shared another look but were interrupted when the front door of Bobby’s house swung open.
“Care to tell me what the hell is going on?” Bobby demanded as he quickly crossed the distance between them.
“Ruby’s going to stay here,” Sam informed him. “Help you keep an eye on Dean.”
Bobby’s gaze moved from Sam to the young woman standing next to him. Sam realized that this was the first time Bobby saw Ruby in this body.
“Ruby?” Bobby studied her for a few seconds before turning his attention back to Sam. “And where exactly are you going?”
“Lilith,” was all Sam said. It was all he had to say. The older hunter understood the meaning behind the unspoken words.
“Alone? Have you completely lost your mind, boy? I told you before and I’ll tell you again, you’re not John.”
Sam straightened at the mention of his father. “No,” he replied, staring Bobby straight in the eye. “I’m not. I can actually win this one.”
“And how the hell am I supposed to tell your brother that I let you go off on a suicide mission all by yourself?”
“You don’t,” Sam calmly responded.
Bobby was anything but calm, though. “Sam…”
Sam sighed. “If something happens…if he still doesn’t remember…“ He cleared his throat, then continued. “Don’t tell him, Bobby. He never has to know.”
“Sam…”
But Sam wasn’t going to waste anymore time on this. Without another word he turned around and walked over to Impala. With one last glance at the hunter and the demon standing in front of the house, Sam revved up the engine and drove away.
Go to Part 4
Author:irishka1205
Character: Sam, Dean, Bobby, Ruby, Castiel, Uriel, Anna, Lilith
Spoilers: through 4.14
Disclaimer: I don't own anybody or anything. They all belong to the evil genius that is Eric Kripke.
Rating: PG
Summary: When Dean is attacked by demons, Sam must do whatever it takes to keep his brother safe.
Author’s Note: Huge, gigantic thank you to muses_circle for being my beta and personal cheerleader when it comes to writing and to crazundeadfairy for giving me another pair of eyes on this story and continuing to listen to my fangirly squee on daily basis.
Previous chapters: Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2
Before either man had a chance to say anything else, Dean bid good bye to the girl and hurried back to the car.
“What did you tell her?” Bobby asked as they pulled out of the driveway.
“That you were an old friend of my parents. You and your son just passing by and invited me to go fishing.”
“That’s pretty impressive,” Sam noted. “How’d you come up with that?”
“Just came to me,” his brother’s reply came from the back.
****
Part 3
Sam managed to sleep for a little over two hours as Bobby drove. He wished he could have slept longer, but after the nightmare that woke him up in a first place, Sam was reluctant to so much as close his eyes again.
When they finally got to Bobby’s place, Sam escorted Dean downstairs, not wanting to take any chances.
“What is this place?” Dean asked as they walked into the tiny room filled with books, unopened cans of food, and a lone bed by the wall.
Sam tried to gage the other man‘s mental state, to see if he was nervous, freaked as hell and ready to run first chance he got. Dean remained quiet most of the way here and not being able to see him from the passenger seat, Sam had no idea what could have been going through his brother‘s mind during that time.
“Ever heard of a panic room?” Sam replied, looking around the room. He knew there could not be anything remotely supernatural there, but it was the force of habit.
Dean chuckled with amusement. “Your dad has a panic room?”
“Bobby’s not my dad,” Sam corrected, taking note of uneasiness in his brother‘s voice.
“Oh, sorry. I thought…I mean, he acts like it,” Dean stumbled to explain himself.
“No. He’s just…a friend of the family.”
His brother nodded in response.
The two stared at each other for a moment, one nervously, unsure of what to do next. The other one feeling torn between wanting to stay and have a longer conversation with the man he hadn‘t spoken to in months and wanting to run as fast and as far as he could. The second choice won out and Sam turned around to leave. He was already in the doorway when his brother spoke again.
“Who’s Dean?”
Sam froze in place, his heart suddenly beating violently against his ribs. He slowly turned around and met the other man’s eyes. “My brother,” he finally answered after a long pause, his voice cracking.
“Is he the one those men are after?”
Sam could barely breathe and his heart seemed only to beat harder and harder. “Yes.” His voice was nearly a whisper.
“Why are they after him?”
Sam didn’t respond right away, trying to find words, trying to decide just how much he should reveal to the man standing across from him. But he could find none. “It’s a very long, very complicated story,” he said instead.
“You have a lot of those. Long and complicated stories, I mean,” Dean replied.
In spite of himself, Sam snickered. “Pretty much the story of my life.” He started to turn around to leave when another question once again stopped him in his tracks.
“Where is he? Your brother. Where is he?”
Sam tried taking a deep breath in, but the giant lump in his throat made that task nearly impossible. With the tears suddenly stinging his eyes, Sam stared at the man in front of him, looking for the answer in the man’s face - his brother‘s face. Except, behind his brother’s eyes there was a stranger.
And Sam had his answer.
“Gone,” he whispered.
He couldn’t take the look of sorrow on the other man’s face. Clearing his throat, Sam focused on the task at hand. “Look, just stay here and do whatever Bobby tells you. And if you hear anything, just lock the door. You’ll be safe here, I promise.”
“What are you gonna do?” There was anxiety in Dean’s voice.
“Something I should have done a long time ago,” Sam answered. He wasn’t lying about that.
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to make sure those bastards don’t come after you again.”
“What…Sam…” His brother’s face showed worry, concern. And Sam couldn’t take seeing that expression any longer.
He had a job to do. And regardless of what the end result of it was going to be, Sam knew that there was very little chance he’d ever see his brother again. “Good bye…Kyle.”
Not waiting for a response, Sam ran out of the room and up the stairs.
*****
Sam found Bobby at his desk, deep in research, probably looking for any signs that demons followed them here. He was just about to ask whether Bobby found anything when a car pulled up to the house. Quickly realizing who it was, Sam headed outside.
She was out of the car by the time Sam reached her. “Thanks for coming,” he told her. He wasn’t completely sure she would.
“I gotta say, I was pretty surprised you called,” she said, slamming the driver side door.
Sam sighed, knowing full well that she had every right to be pissed at him. “Ruby,” he tried, but she cut him off, seemingly not interested in hearing his apology.
“So, what’s going on?” Ruby asked.
Grateful for reprieve in the change of the subject and being able to get right down to business, Sam took a step closer to her. “Lilith,” he replied and watched as Ruby’s expression changed to that of concern. “She sent her lackeys after Dean.”
She let out a loud sigh. “I assume since you’re here and calm…” She paused, her eyes studying his face for a moment. “…ish,” she corrected herself. “That means he’s ok.”
“For now,” Sam confirmed.
Ruby nodded. “She’s not going to stop there, you know that.”
“I know,” Sam replied grimly. “And I’m not waiting for another attack.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Attack first,” Sam replied with determination in his voice.
Ruby’s expression remained unchanged, but her eyes widened slightly, studying Sam‘s face. “You found her?” She finally asked.
“Not yet. That’s what you’re here for.”
Ruby chuckled. “Sam, come on, you’ve been looking for Lilith for how long now? I’ve told you everything I know. Obviously your new best friend doesn’t have a clue either.”
The last part was tinted with disdain and Sam didn‘t have to think long to know that she was referring to Anna.
“If Lilith doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be,” Ruby added.
“There has to be a way,” he insisted.
“There isn’t.”
“I don’t accept that.” Sam took a step toward her, lowering his voice. “Come on, Ruby, there’s gotta be a way to find her. A spell, something?”
“Lilith is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them,” Ruby replied. “You found her using witchcraft once. She won’t make the same mistake again. She knows how to hide and hide well.”
“There has to be another way!” He nearly screamed in frustration.
Ruby stood quiet for a while, then let out a loud sigh as she came up to stand right in front of him. “There is…one,” she said quietly, staring up into his eyes.
Without hesitation, Sam asked, “What is it?”
A tiny smile crossed her lips before she answered. “You.”
Sam‘s eyes narrowed as he studied her face, confused. “Me? But…how? I don’t…”
“Oh, come on, Sam, you really think that Azazel’s big plan for you was to send his demon army back to hell with the wave of your hand? You have other abilities, Sam. Powerful abilities.”
Sam stared back at her, confusion quickly paving way to realization of exactly what she was trying to tell him. And one thing came to mind. “Ava,” he said, his voice barely audible.
“Who?”
“This girl I knew, psychic like me. She learned how to control demons. Make them do whatever she wanted,” Sam explained.
Ruby smiled again. “Make them tell you whatever you need to know.”
It didn‘t take long for Sam to realize exactly what she was telling him. She gave him a way to find Lilith. “Find demons. Make them tell me where she is.” It was more of a statement rather than a question.
“With a little practice, you’ll be able to get whatever information you need.”
Sam shook his head. He didn‘t have time for practice. “Just tell me what to do.”
“Sam, it doesn’t work like that. How long did it take you to get a grip on just exorcising demons. You need time to get the hang of this. I’ll show you but we need time.”
“We don’t have time,” He responded, his voice getting louder. “Just tell me, I’ll figure it out.”
“Sam, this is insane.”
“Just tell me how!” He growled.
He heard her gasp and a strange wave of energy came from him toward her, enveloping her entire body. He couldn’t see it, but he felt it with every fiber of his being.
Her face contorted as if in pain, Ruby stared at him. “You’re doing it,” she said slowly.
Stunned, Sam let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and took a step back. It was as if a hold was suddenly loosened on Ruby, as if an invisible hand holding her just let go.
“You’re a much quicker study than I thought,” she said, trying to catch her breath.
A shiver ran down Sam’s spine as words he heard years before played in his head. Once you give into it, there’s all sorts of Jedi mind tricks you can do. Jake was right. Sam fought it for so long. Now that he wasn’t fighting against his abilities anymore, it took no effort at all.
He took a step toward her as he pulled the knife from his pocket - her knife - and held it out to her.
Ruby stared at him, confusion written on her face.
“You’re going to need it more,” he explained. “I need you to stay here, protect Dean.”
“What are you going to do?”
Sam just stared back at her.
She understood his plan at once. “No, no way, Sam. I don’t care how powerful you are, you can’t go after her alone.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“No!”
“Yes,” he bellowed, gripping both her arms with his hands. “Promise me. Promise me, you’ll stay here and protect Dean.” He did it consciously this time and it was already getting easier. Another wave came off from him toward her and Ruby once again gasped and stiffened.
“I promise,” she answered, her voice tiny, barely audible.
Sam let her go and took a step back, feeling horrible for using his powers against her when she was the one who taught him how to use them in the first place. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Ruby didn’t answer and looked away instead.
“Ruby, please,” he tried another approach. “Ruby.” He came closer again, this time cupping her face with his left hand, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes. “Please.”
Ruby didn‘t respond.
“I need to know that he’s going to be ok,” he explained. “I can’t do this if…I need to know that no matter what happens to me, Dean’s going to be ok.”
The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds before Ruby’s gaze dropped to the knife in Sam’s right hand. He held it out for her and this time she took it.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
The two shared another look but were interrupted when the front door of Bobby’s house swung open.
“Care to tell me what the hell is going on?” Bobby demanded as he quickly crossed the distance between them.
“Ruby’s going to stay here,” Sam informed him. “Help you keep an eye on Dean.”
Bobby’s gaze moved from Sam to the young woman standing next to him. Sam realized that this was the first time Bobby saw Ruby in this body.
“Ruby?” Bobby studied her for a few seconds before turning his attention back to Sam. “And where exactly are you going?”
“Lilith,” was all Sam said. It was all he had to say. The older hunter understood the meaning behind the unspoken words.
“Alone? Have you completely lost your mind, boy? I told you before and I’ll tell you again, you’re not John.”
Sam straightened at the mention of his father. “No,” he replied, staring Bobby straight in the eye. “I’m not. I can actually win this one.”
“And how the hell am I supposed to tell your brother that I let you go off on a suicide mission all by yourself?”
“You don’t,” Sam calmly responded.
Bobby was anything but calm, though. “Sam…”
Sam sighed. “If something happens…if he still doesn’t remember…“ He cleared his throat, then continued. “Don’t tell him, Bobby. He never has to know.”
“Sam…”
But Sam wasn’t going to waste anymore time on this. Without another word he turned around and walked over to Impala. With one last glance at the hunter and the demon standing in front of the house, Sam revved up the engine and drove away.
Go to Part 4