End of the World as We Know it Part 4
And this is the way it's always going to be
you and me forever baby
Sam had seen a plenty of dead bodies, but he’d hadn't been to a lot of a funerals. He glanced around, noticing the photographers and more than a dozen other people he wasn’t even sure Dawson knew. He had a feeling this wasn’t a typical funeral anyway. Dawson Leery’s death had garnered a lot of attention, mostly because of the public manner in which it happened. Seth had recounted the story to Sam and Dean when they’d returned from Colorado.
“I don’t know what happened. One minute, things are cool. We’re checking out the meerkats at the zoo, apparently not as cute in person, and the next I look over and Dawson’s freaking climbing over the guard rail into the bear cage. The bear cage!” Seth exclaimed. “I don’t understand! I am still freaking out here!”
Sam’d frowned. “And he didn’t say anything beforehand? He wasn’t acting weird?”
“Well, when I said the meerkats weren’t as cute in person, he did agree with me.” Seth frowned. “You think he could have killed himself over an ugly meerkat?” Seth’s eyes widened. “Oh my God, you think I set him off. It was me. Me and my stupid need to see the meerkats. Seriously? Meerkat? Why’d I even suggest the zoo? That place is dangerous!”
Dean’s brow furrowed thoughtfully as he glanced over at Sam, ignoring Seth’s freak out. “The head never seemed suicidal before.”
Sam’s eyes had narrowed. “Dude, some respect.”
“Sorry,” Dean shrugged, a bit sheepishly, “force of habit. Anyway, Dawson never seemed like the suicidal type. It’s weird, huh?”
And from the way, Dean had said weird, Sam knew that Dean was hinting that it might be their kind of weird.
So not only did Dawson commit suicide in public by climbing into a bear cage, some people had also managed to get it on camera. It was on all the news stations for the next two nights, and on YouTube the very next day. One jump, and Dawson Leery was an overnight sensation. People wanted to know everything about him. The band? A pretty key part of Dawson’s life.
Their music video was now playing on MTV all the time, stupid costumes and all. Their song was getting played on the radio. An actual major station, and not some local college one. Dawson had died, and now suddenly, the Buzz Boyz were big.
Sam wondered if there was some kind of irony in that. If there was, he didn’t appreciate it.
“Freaking insane, ain’t it?” Dean commented as he came up behind Sam, popped a mini quiche in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully. “That’s pretty good.” He reached for another one.
Sam marveled at Dean’s ability to eat despite any circumstances.
He frowned. Glanced around Logan’s crowded penthouse apartment to make sure no one else was in reasonable hearing distance. “So you think this is something we should maybe look into?”
“Why? You think Logan has the recipe?” Dean asked between bites.
Sam glared. “I’m talking about Dawson.”
“Oh.” Dean grinned. “I was just caught off guard by this whole ‘we’ thing. ‘Cause I know you can’t possibly be interested in a hunt, Sammy.”
“It’s…” Sam’s voice trailed off as Dean smiled at him knowingly, and he sighed, forgoing his explanation. “I did some research,” Sam said, still keeping an eye out for anyone that might overhear. “This has been the first death at the zoo, but in the past six months there’s been some accidents.”
“I knew it,” Dean crowed, “I knew you couldn’t resist. It‘s in your blood, Sam.”
Sam was not amused. “Whatever it is, it’s obviously escalating.”
“I know,” Dean nodded, and at Sam’s look of disbelief, he shrugged. “What you’re the only one that can use a computer?” He picked up another quiche. “I say we head out there tonight. Check it out for ourselves.”
“Head out where?” Seth asked as he came up behind them with Ryan in tow.
Sam stiffened, his eyes widening in surprise before he turned to Seth, shrugging it off. “Uh, nowhere.”
Seth smirked. “And you say that so convincingly.” Seth reached around Dean and grabbed a quiche for himself. “You know, you’re a terrible liar. It’s insulting. You know, sometimes you’re allowed to say,” Seth lowered his voice dramatically in imitation of Sam , “Well, Seth it’s none of your business and then I’ll be hurt, get over it and ask again.” He shrugged, and took a bite of his quiche. “So where are we going?”
Sam looked to Dean for help, but Dean shrugged, beat Seth to the last quiche left on the table, and grinned triumphantly.
Seth frowned in disappointment and turned back to Sam. “So?”
Ryan rolled his eyes, and pulled Seth away. “Ignore him.”
“Do not ignore me,” Seth insisted.
“How about we go find Summer?” Ryan asked referring to Seth‘s girlfriend, clapping a hand on Seth’s shoulder and forcibly yanking him away.
“I hate when you get hands-y.” Sam heard Seth mutter, before they finally disappeared inside the crowd.
~BB~
“Zoo’s freaking boring at night,” Dean commented as the beam of his flashlight caught on the plaque outside the bear cage.
Sam shrugged, checking the EMF meter for any signs of activity. Big fat nothing so far. “That’s because most of the animals are sleeping.”
“ ‘Cept the ones that want to eat us.” Dean glanced into the cage wearily, and shook his head. “Shit, what a way to go.”
Sam frowned, sliding the EMF meter back into his pocket. “There’s nothing here.” Dean swung his flashlight around and caught Sam in the eyes. Sam squinted and swatted the light away. “Stop that.”
“Sorry,” Dean smirked and let the beam fall back to the ground ahead of them. “Well, there’s always the meerkats.” He switched the flashlight off. “Lead the way, Sammy.”
“Give me a minute.“ Sam blinked still seeing spots in front of his eyes. “Shit, I can’t see anything, Dean.”
“God, you’re such a girl.”
“You’re an ass,” Sam muttered, rubbing at his eyes.
Things were just coming into focus again, and Sam was about to ask to be in charge of the flashlight from now when he saw the look on Dean’s face, head cocked like he was listening for something. Sam frowned, immediately stilled, focused in on the sound of footsteps approaching. “Guard?” he’d mouthed.
Dean shook his head. Gestured for Sam to go around the right, while he headed left, see if they could corner whatever it was. Sam nodded, pulled out his gun as he and Dean split up.
He came up around the other side of the cage, and paused sticking to the shadows. The footsteps had stopped. Sam heard the heavy breathing, whatever it was had stopped just outside the corner where Sam was hidden. Sam swallowed, heart pounding in his ears, and brought his gun up. Then he heard a familiar voice say, “I think we lost them. Hey, I totally just saw a light over here earlier.”
Sam stepped out of the shadows in surprise. “Seth.”
Seth and Ryan jumped. Seth let out a strangled scream, that he tried to cover with a cough when he realized it was just . “Oh, hey Sam. You’re here.” He swallowed, and took a step back closer to Ryan. “With a gun.“ He laughed nervously, and glanced at Ryan. “See that Ryan, Sam has a gun. Why do you have a gun, Sam?”
Sam flushed, and hid the gun away again as Dean strolled up behind them with the flashlight looking none too pleased, sawed-off in his other hand. “What are you guys doing here?”
Seth jumped and turned with Ryan. “And Dean. Also with the gun?” Seth held up his hands and glanced at Ryan. “Maybe we should go.”
Ryan frowned, glancing between Dean and Sam. “What’s going on here?”
“Oh, God,” Seth announced, his eyes widening as a thought just occurred to him. “This is some kind of ritual suicide thing right? What is it with people and zoos?! Look, just because Dawson killed himself, and sure it’s sad, and devastating, but we can get over it guys. Life goes on. He wouldn’t want this. We can talk about it. This is what friends are for.” Seth gestured between them. “Caring and sharing.”
Dean scoffed in disbelief. “Oh, come on we’re not here to kill ourselves.”
Seth paused, frowned, glanced at him wearily. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” Dean said in annoyance.
Ryan arched an eyebrow interestedly. “So what are you guys doing here?”
“Just wanted to check it out for ourselves,” Sam said, stepping in smoothly. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Still can’t believe it.”
Ryan looked skeptical. “Why the guns?”
“Dangerous area?” Dean offered with a shrug. It was true. Whatever had killed Dawson was still out there. Sam shot him a look before turning back to Ryan and Seth. “Look maybe we should all just get out of…”
As if on cue, the EMF meter in Sam’s pocket started going crazy. “Uh, S-Sam,” Seth said his eyes widening, just as Dean brought up the sawed-off aiming it right behind his brother. Sam barely had time to react before his world went sideways, and he was suddenly freaking weightless, as he flew threw the air, smacking against a tree a couple of feet away. That hurt. Sam groaned as he hit the ground and then tried to sit up. A lot.
“What the hell?! What was that?! What the hell was that?!” Seth yelled, throwing his hands up, starting to freak out after Dean had shot the thing and it had disappeared.
“Ghost,” Dean offered as a simple explanation, and ran over to check on Sam.
“Ghost?!” Seth’s voice rose shrilly. “Did he just say ghost?” Seth turned to Ryan. “That did not just happen.” He started hyperventilating. “I am just suffering from severe delusions. Obviously, Dawson’s death…”
Sam groaned, and winced as Dean tilted his chin up to get a look at his eyes. “Can you get up?”
“Yeah, sure. Just give me a minute to figure out which way that is.” Sam grimaced as he braced himself against the trunk, and slowly rose.
“Shit,” Dean breathed, checking him over for any further damage.
Sam felt himself start to tilt sideways, but then Ryan was beside him, helping him straighten. “You okay?” he asked with concern.
Sam nodded, brushing Ryan and Dean away as he finally stood on his own, taking a few deep breaths. “Peachy.”
Seth was still freaking out behind them.
Ryan didn‘t say anything else, just watching them quietly for a moment before asking, “That really a ghost?”
“Yeah,” Dean said. “They’re real. So are a lot of other things.”
“Dean…” Sam said warningly.
“So Casper…not so friendly,” Ryan said after a moment and glanced back at Seth, who was still talking to himself.
Dean watched Seth for a moment, and then glanced back at Sam. “Can I slap him?”
Sam frowned. “No.” He eyed Seth. “Maybe,” he conceded. He scanned their surroundings. “We probably should get them out of here before Casper makes a reappearance.”
Dean nodded. “Good idea. We’ll come back tomorrow. At least we know, we‘re dealing with a ghost.”
“Salt and burn,” Sam mumbled before heading over to Seth.
Ryan glanced at Dean as he fell into step beside him. “So you think this thing had something to do with Dawson’s death?”
“More than likely. Don’t think the swan dive was Dawson’s idea y’know?”
Ryan nodded, slowly. “And guns work on ghosts?”
“Loaded with rock salt,” Dean explained lifting the sawed-off onto his shoulder. “Salt repels them.”
“Salt repels ghosts,” Ryan repeated in disbelief. “Fuck, wow.” He shook his head as he processed this information. “Mind kind of blown here.”
“Handling it better than this guy.” Dean gestured to Seth as he came up behind him. Dean glanced at Sam. “You still sure, I can’t slap him?”
“Hey, you know it’s not every day a guy finds out ghosts are real, okay? I think I am entitled to be a little freaked out here and scared. Mostly scared. Did you see the way that thing threw Sam? What if it’d been me?”
Sam pulled the EMF meter out of his pocket, not wanting to get caught off guard again and arched an eyebrow at Seth. “Yeah, thanks for the concern.”
“Hey, this is obviously just another day at the office for you,” Seth said, shrugging it off. “Besides, I bruise easily.” He followed after Sam, who took the lead, while Dean brought up the rear.
Ryan glanced around uneasily. “So what if this thing comes back?”
“Well, I can shoot it, and Seth over here, can scream like a girl,” Dean said with a shrug.
“My scream’s not girly,” Seth said offended. “It’s manly.” He lowered his voice gruffly. “It’s manly-girly adjacent.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “How about we walk faster, yeah?”
They sped up their pace.
“So how exactly do you get rid of a ghost?” Ryan asked curiously. “You can’t kill a ghost, can you? I mean, they’re already dead.”
“Usually, there’s something tying a spirit here,” Sam explained, keeping his eyes on the EMF. “And it’s usually their remains. You have to salt and burn the bones.”
“And then no more ghost?”
Sam nodded. “That’s how it works.”
“So are like zombies real?” Seth asked with interest.
“Yep,” Dean supplied easily as he glanced around. “So are shape shifters, werewolves, witches-”
“I knew it!” Seth exclaimed. “Third grade teacher, Miss Hoffman: witch.” He smiled proudly. “Definitely never sleeping with my lights off again, but it’s nice to be vindicated.”
The EMF meter in Sam’s hand began to start up again. “Uh, guys.” He glanced back at them. “Run.”
The phrase, run for your life was never more aptly put. Sam put the EMF away and pulled his gun out, falling back to cover Seth and Ryan. “Just keep going and don’t look back!”
Casper, made one more appearance on Sam’s right, and this time Sam was ready, firing without hesitating. The ghost dissipated and they didn’t stop running until they were back in the parking lot.
“Better get out of here,” Ryan said, slightly out of breath. “Shots fired. Someone probably called the cops.”
Dean glanced at Ryan and Seth. “You two need a ride?”
Ryan shook his head. “Got the jeep.” He gestured to the black Range Rover parked a few rows away. He glanced behind him wearily. “That thing can’t follow us rout here, right?”
Sam shook his head, pressing a hand against his side. “You’ll be fine.”
Ryan nodded. “Good we’re out of here. Meet up later.” He grabbed Seth and headed for his car.
Dean watched them go, and glanced back at Sam in wry amusement. “Well, that went well huh?”
Sam winced, his side still hurting and pulled open the door to the Impala. “Let’s just get out of here.”
~BB~
The next morning Sam slumped down onto Logan’s sofa, still feeling a bit sore from the night before and he hadn’t been able to hide it from Jess. She’d been waiting up for him. Sam hated lying to Jess, but he knew he couldn’t tell her the truth about how he’d ended up banged up. Got drunk, and was clumsy enough to walk into a tree would have to suffice. She pressed a kiss against his cheek before Sam left for Logan‘s. Sam thought maybe in a few weeks, after this had all blown over, he could pull out the ring. She might just say yes.
“Hey.” Seth plopped down next to him and gazed at him expectantly. “So you know…last night…that really happen?”
Sam wished he could say no, but he had the black and blue on his jaw to prove it, thanks to stopping the tree coming at him with his face. Sam frowned, and reluctantly nodded, not really up to dealing with the multitude of questions Seth probably had.
Seth opened his mouth to say more, but Sam shot a warning look when Logan entered the room, still in his bathrobe. Apparently, this urgent morning meeting didn’t require him to be dressed.
Sam glanced over at Logan tiredly. “Can we just make this quick?”
Logan took in Sam’s bruised face. “Jess beating you again?”
Sam rolled his eyes.
“It was a tree,” Seth supplied helpfully from his perch on the armchair. “Came out of nowhere.”
Logan just arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, okay and while I pretend to care: news.” He eyed them all expectantly. “I’ve been fielding phone calls all week. Nothing the American public likes more than personal tragedy. Leno, Oprah, TRL, heck even CNN. Everyone wants you guys.” Logan shook his head in disbelief. “Who’d have thought the career I chose to piss off my dad, would actually turn out to be lucrative? Life. Hmm,” he mused.
“Be nice,” Veronica called out from the kitchen, “I’m making breakfast.”
Logan glanced back toward the kitchen. “But honey, then they’ll think they can stay!”
Sam rolled his eyes.
“Haha! You guys are more than welcome to stay.”
Logan turned back to them and shook his head in disagreement.
“I’m making pancakes!”
“Sounds great,” Logan said with obvious false cheer, and turned his attention back to the group in front of him. “So I’m thinking we go with the Big O, normally I’d say Larry, but there’s bad blood there.”
Ryan arched an eyebrow curiously.
Logan ignored him and carried on. “So we’ll fly out to Chicago tomorrow.”
Sam sat up quickly and winced, still sore. “Wait a minute, tomorrow?”
Just as Dean said, “Fly? That ain’t gonna happen.”
“I didn’t stutter.” Logan glanced between them. “There a problem?”
Seth grinned widely. “My mom loves Oprah!”
“Buy her a t-shirt,” Logan said dismissively, still waiting for an answer to his question.
“Yeah, I don’t do planes.”
“I don’t imagine that you would, it sounds painful,” Logan said with a smirk.
Dean’s eyes narrowed and Sam jumped in before it could possibly end violently. “Tomorrow? That’s a little soon. I mean, Dawson just…” his voice trailed off, and he frowned, “we just need some time.”
“Yes, I know. This is a very difficult time. The whole Dawson thing is tragic,” he waved it off dismissively, “but I don’t think you understand the opportunity you have here.” They still looked skeptical, and Logan rolled his eyes. “This is what you’ve all been waiting for. Right now, we’re at the pinnacle of public interest here, but that can change at anytime. I hear Britney’s not doing that well.”
“Look,” Sam said finally, “some things are just more important.”
“More important?” Logan looked skeptical. “Okay, let me put this in words your low brow interests will understand. Massive amounts of money. We’re talking big leagues here, Sammy boy. Now not that I’m not sure Jess loves that lovely apartment you share with the windows that don’t open in your questionable neighborhood, but imagine how much more she’d love a place where you can walk home at night without worrying about getting mugged.”
Sam opened his mouth to protest, the neighborhood was not questionable. Logan cut him off though, “Or a car where all four doors work.”
Sam fell silent, and slumped down in his seat. Fine, maybe he wasn’t exactly raking it in and any other job he landed wouldn’t compare to the money he’d make if he stuck with the group for now. Jess probably wouldn’t care about the money, she’d just want Sam to be happy, but that didn’t mean she didn’t deserve nice things. Maybe even a better ring than the one he was carrying around with him now.
Logan took Sam’s silence as acquiescence and continued. “Alright, so tomorrow-”
“Hey, look we’ll do it,” Ryan said jumping in, “but maybe you can put it off for another day or two. Give us a chance to make some arrangements. This is kind of last minute and unexpected. It’s a lot to deal with.”
“Fine,” Logan agreed with obvious annoyance. “Two days, you‘re all in Chicago. You can fly, you can drive,” he shot Dean a pointed look, “you can walk. I don‘t care how you do it. ”
Veronica chose that moment to interrupt. “Breakfast is served!”
~BB~
Once they’d left Logan’s Seth was practically bouncing around behind them like an overenthusiastic puppy. “So we’re going to discuss last night, right? I mean, we‘re not just going to pretend that whole ghost thing never happened.”
Dean glanced back at Seth as he stopped in front of the driver’s side door of the Impala. “Don’t worry, we’ll handle it.”
Seth frowned, and glanced between Dean and Sam. “But I want to help.”
“You can help by staying out of our way,” Dean said high-handedly before pulling open the door.
Sam gave Seth an understanding smile, but he was with Dean on this one. “Look, it’s safer this way, okay? This can get dangerous. Dean‘s right. Don‘t worry about it. We‘ll take care of it. We have experience dealing with these sorts of things.”
Seth was about to reply to Sam’s admission, but Ryan surprised them both by stepping in. “Look, you’re probably right on this, but Dawson was our friend too. You can’t just expect us to sit on our hands. We want to help and if there’s anything we can do, anything at all, we’ll do it.”
“Besides,” Seth added, “if I have to. I’ll just follow you again. I’m good at it.”
Sam paused and frowned, shared a look with Dean over the open door. Dean shrugged. Sam sighed. “Alright maybe there’s something you can help with.”
Seth looked eager. “What’s that?”
“Meet me at the library in an hour.”
“What for?” Seth asked a little deflated at the news.
“Because if we’re going to go after this thing,” Sam gazed at him seriously, “we’re gonna have to find out who or what it is exactly.”
Ryan arched an eyebrow. “Why?”
This time Dean grinned. “Cause we’re gonna have to burn it.”
~BB~
“So this was…what? Like a normal childhood outing for you?” Seth swung his flashlight around, watching the beam play off the gravestones.
Sam didn’t glance up as he scanned the graves for Morris Neadley’s headstone. “Pretty much.”
Seth shook his head in disbelief and glanced over at Ryan. “And I used to think Disneyland was exciting.”
“Less chance of dying,” Ryan murmured helpfully.
“Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me.” Seth made sure to move closer to Sam. “I still don’t see why I couldn’t have a gun. Ryan gets to have a gun.”
“Well, uh, someone had to hold the salt.” Sam’s brow furrowed as he scanned the next row of graves, and thought he was definitely going to make Dean pay for leaving him behind with Seth and Ryan. He was starting to wish Seth came with an off button or that he’d given some serious consideration to Dean’s plan of leaving Seth tied up if Seth continued to insist he’d just follow them if they left him behind.
Seth eyed the container of salt in his hand. “Sodium. The silent killer.” He turned his attention back to his unwilling audience. “Besides, I could totally handle a gun. I kicked massive ass in Resident Evil.”
“Yeah, sort of not the same thing,” Sam said over his shoulder. He saw Dean signal with the flashlight a more than a few yards in front of him and turned back to Seth and Ryan. “Dean found it. Let’s go.”
They gathered around the simple non-descript headstone. Morris Neadly. March 13, 1935 - April 8, 1974. Seth kept the beam of his flashlight steady. “Uh, so what do we do now?”
Dean tossed Sam a shovel. “Start digging.”
~BB~
Sam groaned, feeling the ache in his shoulders and the strain on his back as he tossed another shovelful of dirt over his shoulder. It’d been way too long since he’d dug a grave. He paused to roll his shoulders back, and Dean tossed him a grin. “Little rusty, huh Sammy?”
Sam glared at him.
Dean went back to digging. They were about two-thirds of the way there. “Remember that summer in Texas? The haunting just outside Odessa?”
“Two ghosts,” Sam said, remembering. “Two graves.” Mother and son. They’d been buried right next to each other. Sam took one and Dean the other, and they’d raced to see who’d be done first. Sam’d been fifteen, and a bit stringy, but what he’d lacked in strength he’d made up for with enthusiasm.
“I beat your ass then. I can beat it now.”
Dean had won, but just barely. Mostly because he kept on taking time to trash talk and rag on Sam. “I remember Dad said, you didn’t stop showing off, he was gonna knock you upside the head,” Sam said, smiling faintly.
“Sometimes the old man didn’t have much of a sense of humor, huh?”
From the way Dean got quiet after that last comment, Sam knew Dean was back to worrying over their father again. Sam had to admit it was a little weird the way he’d apparently took off, left the journal behind, but it wasn’t the first time his father had chased after some new hunt, new lead. For a second, Sam remembered the old fear, the one where his Dad went out on a hunt and Sam would worry that he wouldn’t come back. “He’s fine,” Sam found himself saying. “I’m sure, Dad’s fine. He’ll call or something. Eventually.” Wherever John Winchester was, he could take care of himself, that, Sam was absolutely sure of.
“I’m not worried.” Dean looked pleased. “You worried, you big girl?”
Sam rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything Seth leaned over and asked, “Are you guys done yet?”
“Almost.” Sam shot him a look. “You’re supposed to be look out.”
“I am looking out. It’s dead out here.” Seth chuckled to himself and glanced at Ryan. “Get it. It’s a cemetery. It is literally dead out here.”
Ryan didn’t seem amused from the tree he was standing by about two feet away, keeping his eyes and his ears open to any suspicious movement or sound.
Seth sighed. “What no one has a sense of humor anymore?” His flashlight started to flicker and he frowned. “I think the batteries are dying.” He gave it a smack.
Sam frowned at Seth’s comment, just as Dean crowed beside him as his shovel hit the solid weight of pine. “Beat you.”
Sam was going to protest the unfairness of that, because he’d been unfairly distracted by Seth.
“I think someone obviously didn‘t go with Energizer.” Seth stared down at his flashlight and gave it a shake. He grinned once the light steadied and he focused the beam on the gravestone above Dean‘s head. He made bunny ears.
He was about to tell Ryan to check it out when Ryan yelled, “Seth! Look out!”
Seth turned just in time to come face to face with the ghost of Morris Neadly. Seth screamed, just as the ghost lunged and then dissipated in a cloud of vapor. Seth was left facing Ryan, the smoking shotgun in Ryan‘s hand still pointed directly at Seth‘s chest. Seth stared, face oddly pale. He made an odd croaked sound that might have been a thanks before the flashlight fell from his hand and he dropped to the dirt.
Sam and Dean both scrambled out of the grave, armed and ready. Dean glanced down at Seth’s prone form. “What happened?”
“That ghost showed up. So I fired.“ Ryan relaxed his arm, letting the shotgun fall back to his side. His breathing was slightly labored, probably from the rush of adrenaline. “It worked,“ he said, slightly in disbelief. “It actually worked.“ Ryan stared down at Seth. “Did I hit him?“
Sam stepped over to Seth and knelt down to check on him. He patted him down and checked his neck for a pulse. “I think he fainted.” Sam glanced at Dean. “Finish it. I’ll stay up here and keep watch with Ryan. He might come back.”
Dean was already grabbing the lighter fluid from the duffle. “Already on it.”
Ten minutes later, the fire in Morris Neadly’s grave was burning strong, and aside from another close call (Sam was going to have an awesome shiner to go with the bruise on his jaw), the rest had been pretty much uneventful. With Morris gone, the zoo should be safe again, well as safe as a zoo could be. Sam stared at the flames and thought the stupid group thing and Jess and the ring burning a hole in his pocket and he wondered if he was doing the right thing here. He thought about Dawson, who hadn’t had a chance, and it wasn‘t fair. Maybe Dean was right. Maybe Sam was being selfish.
Seth sat up groggily and blinked, glancing around. “Did we get it?”
Ryan and Dean glanced at him in disbelief at the use of the word ‘we’, and Sam smiled faintly. “Yeah, we got it.”
Seth nodded. “Cool.” He started to grin. “That was awesome!”
~BB~
Three Days Later
“So you’ll be back Friday, right? You’re not going to make me come after you this time, are you Sam Winchester?”
Sam laughed into the phone as he stepped out of the small gas station mart. “Don’t worry about it, Jess. I promise. We’re heading back now.”
“Good.” Sam could picture her smile into the phone. “So how was Oprah?”
“I have to admit,” Sam said, leaning in through the passenger side window to hand Dean a soda and a bag of jerky. He pulled two more cans of soda out of the bag he was carrying and tossed one to Ryan and Seth respectively in the backseat, “that was kind of cool. Even Dean was a little impressed.”
“That’s great,” Jess said with a soft sigh. “I’m so proud of you, baby. I can’t wait to see it.”
Sam’s face flushed at her words. “Thanks. I think it went pretty well. Seth was Seth, but there’s not much we can do about that.”
“Hey!“ Seth said from the back seat, taking offense at Sam’s comment. Sam ignored him.
He slid into the passenger seat, and glanced at Dean, who was busy going through his box of tapes as he decided on what he deemed was suitable road music. “Hey, maybe we’ll get there sooner if I can talk Dean into letting me drive.”
Dean didn’t bother to glance up, just shook his head.
“Okay, just get here safe, okay?” Jess giggled on the other end of the line and then paused. “Wait, I think I’m going to have to let you go. There’s someone at the door. Love you. Call me later.”
Sam turned toward the window, hunching his shoulders slightly. “Me too, and I will.” He finished saying his goodbyes, and hung up the cell phone. He slipped it back into his pocket and turned to face Dean, Seth and Ryan who were staring at him with a barely concealed grins of amusement. “What?” he asked defensively.
“Nothing.” Dean shrugged. “You’re just so adorable, Sammy,” he mocked, and pinched his cheek. Sam scowled and slapped his hand away. Dean laughed. “Still not letting you drive though.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sam muttered, and settled down for a long drive.
“How about me?” Seth asked from the back at Dean’s look, he held up his hands and sat back. “Kidding.”
He was about to settle into a nice weary doze as he gazed out the window at the passing scenery when he felt something land on his lap. His eyes widened in surprise and he sat up, picking up Dean’s cell phone. “What’s this for?”
“Coordinates. From Dad,” Dean added, just in case Sam didn’t get it. “I checked it out while you were inside. It’s only about three hours out.”
Sam frowned, feeling a little guilty. For a second, with everything else going on, he forgot about his Dad possibly being missing. But the coordinates had to mean he was okay, right? “Dean…”
“Come on, Sam,” Dean wheedled. “It’s not going to hurt to check it out.”
Sam thought about it for a moment. “Three hours?”
Dean nodded.
He glanced back at Seth and Ryan in the backseat. “What about them?”
“They know. We can park them somewhere,” Dean said with a shrug.
Seth sat forward in his seat. “So is this another ghost thing? Can I have a gun this time?”
Seth was met with a resounding chorus of no.
“Geez,” Seth muttered. “Fine. I get the salt.”
Sam frowned still unsure, he met Ryan’s gaze in the rearview mirror and Ryan shrugged. Dean gazed at him expectantly. This was probably a very bad idea, but Sam found himself saying, “We have to be back, Friday.”
Dean grinned already, altering course. “No problem.”
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