Picking Up Where We Left Off (Gen, 8/13)
Title: Picking Up Where We Left Off
Disclaimer: This is Kripke's sandbox, I just like playing with his toys ;)
Rating: R, for language and violence.
Category: Gen.
Pairings: None.
Characters: Dean, Sam, Bobby, OCs, other canon characters.
Spoilers: For all episodes aired in the US. This story is mostly AU for season 3, but some characters and events will be mentioned.
Comments: Are what feeds my muse ;)
A/N: Much love and cookies to the awesomeness that is my beta tru_faith_lost . All remaining mistakes are mine.
Son of A/N: Yeah, so this wasn't the chapter made of EVOL, just the one before it. But I did finally get over the scene that was totally kicking my ass, so there should be a nice update next week. *fingers crossed*
Summary: Twenty five years ago, a demon killed Mary Winchester and tainted her son. Six years ago, someone drugged and abducted Dean Winchester. Nine months ago, one of a yellow eyed demon's tainted kids killed Sam Winchester. A few days later, the gates to hell opened, and all hell broke loose. And now, everything's picking up where it left off....
Chapter Eight
"Anything?" Sam asked as soon as Bobby opened the door. Dean had been missing for six days. Six days, and this was the only clue they had to go on, if any. Bobby closed the door behind him and went over to the mini-fridge, took out a bottle of beer, and had a good, long sip before he bothered answering Sam.
"There were eleven fires around here six years ago," Bobby said, "Well, eleven that didn’t involve some guy's trash can, anyway," he added when Sam looked up at him. "Two of them were in warehouses," Bobby finished, and Sam gave a slight nod.
"Okay," he said, "So we're splitting up?"
"Looks like," Bobby said, and took another long pull from his beer.
Dean couldn’t stand the thought of being weaponless. He searched every corner of the place, but the most he came up with were the crates, and he didn’t think coming at a demon with a sharp stick would do much good. He did make a few more holy water bottles, but then the slight headache he'd been having since he woke up turned into a sledge hammer pounding behind his eyes and he just couldn’t take it anymore. So he gulped down half a bottle of water with his name on it. He hadn’t meant to, he'd only meant to take a couple of sips, but he was just so thirsty. And now his mind seemed to work in slow motion.
That’s why the next day, when they brought Mike back, Dean was too slow. All he'd managed to do was be there when Mike collapsed so he could catch him. Ben was quick to help him carry Mike's dead weight, but by the time Dean remembered the holy water, it was already too late.
He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, either. One moment he was checking Mike out, trying to stop him from bleeding all over the floor, (the cuts weren’t too bad, it wasn’t like he was going to bleed to death or anything, but the place wasn’t too clean, and the others weren’t exactly calm as it was) and the next thing he remembered, the door opened again.
It took him too long to get his bearings together, but once he did, he grabbed a bottle and pushed himself to his feet. He didn’t count on the floor being so wobbly, though.
"Here you go, Jesse," a woman said as she led a little boy in the room, holding his hand. "You sit here with these nice people until your aunt comes to pick you up, okay?" The woman said in a fake perky voice. The boy seemed scared as hell, his face tear-struck.
Dean tilted his head to the side, trying to figure it out. The boy couldn’t have been more than six years old. There had been some sort of pattern with all the others; mainly the fact that they had all been taken before, but this kid, he probably wasn’t even born back then. It just didn’t add up.
"I don’t want to wait here, I want Aunt Libby!" The kid cried and wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve.
"Now, now, Jesse. Remember what we talked about? How you have to be a brave little boy, so your aunt will get here faster?" The woman chided, but the boy just started to cry harder.
Dean headed towards the woman and the little boy when another man stepped into the room, looking more than a little pissed.
"What the hell is this?" The man clipped, "Where's the girl?" He demanded. The little boy was quick to hide behind the woman.
"She died," the woman said.
"What?" The man bellowed, and Dean figured this was probably his chance. He motioned to Ben and hoped Ben understood that this was their best shot. The door had been left open. Ben gave him a slight nod and Dean focused his attention back on the new arrivals.
"What the hell do you mean…? How did you not know this before?" The man demanded.
"It's okay," the woman said with a slight smile, "Jesse here is going to be just perfect."
"A kid? A kid? What the hell am I supposed to do with…"
"An innocent," she smiled, "And with the right blood." At that, her smile widened. The man considered this for a moment, and then gave her a look that demanded more. The woman was quick to oblige. She knelt by the kid.
"Jesse, would you tell the nice man how old you are?" She asked sweetly. The boy shook his head and tried to hide behind her again. The woman wouldn’t let him. She had a firm hold on the kid's arm. "Jesse," There was a hint of warning in her tone, and the boy held up his hand, spreading five little fingers in the air. The woman smiled and looked up at the other man. "That's right," she said as she got to her feet, "You're five years old."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" The man demanded. "You have any idea how much planning went into…"
"His mother's dead," the woman cut him off. "She died in a car accident last year. She's the one you wanted me to pick up," the woman said. "The father, on the other hand, is trying to sneak out the door as we speak," she smirked, and both Dean and Ben froze. Ben's eyes were as big as saucers as he stared in shock from the little boy to the woman and back. Dean took a good look at the kid, trying to figure out if the woman had meant Ben or himself.
Ben startled when the doors suddenly closed with a bang. On the other side of the room, someone screamed and started crying. The man frowned. "Fine," he said flatly, eyes going from Dean and Ben. That was when Dean sprang into action. In a few quick strides, he was right behind the woman. He tapped on her shoulder and splashed half the bottle of holy water in her face as she turned to look at him.
The woman screamed as a black cloud shot out of her mouth, and she crumbled to the floor. Dean smirked, ignoring the screams and chaos that broke out behind him. He was more than used to that. He looked at the other man and was about to advance on him, when the guy smiled.
"Thanks for that," he said, and Dean frowned. "We'll see you soon, Eight," he added, and then Dean was flung against a wall so hard his vision blurred.
"I'm alright, I'm fine," he told Naomi as she helped him up. The floor tilted and Dean nearly lost his balance again, but Naomi held on.
"You sure?" She asked. Dean blinked and shook his head to try and clear it. "What the hell just happened?" Naomi asked, a little quiver in her voice. Dean blinked a few more times, and then looked around. The man was gone, but the woman was still there, still on the floor. He started his way towards her when she lifted her head, looked around in fear.
"What is this? Where am I?" She asked, pushing off the floor. She looked around, eyes going wide. "What is this place?" She demanded. And that's when Dean saw it. The marking on her arms, the crooked number ten. He pushed his sleeves up and squinted at the faded scar there, the two circles, the number on his arm. We'll see you soon, Eight. And then he cursed.
The warehouse was a bust. Something about faulty wiring that went from bad to worse when some genius poured water on it. Sam moved on to one of the buildings that burnt down, but it turned out to be a meth lab explosion that took out the entire building.
Sam walked into the diner and headed for a booth in the back. He was supposed to meet Bobby there for dinner before they went on investigating the fires. Sam was early though, so he'd asked for the specials menu and ordered some coffee while he waited. He gave the diner a once over - it wasn’t full, but wasn’t exactly empty; a nice enough place to bring a family.
Sam thanked the middle-aged waitress who brought his coffee and took out his father's journal. He'd read it a thousand times before, and yet, things kept taking on new meaning as the context changed.
He leafed quickly through the pages, looking for entries made in 2002. There were many of them; apparently, his father hunted a hell of a lot more after Sam had left for school. Sam rifled through the pages, looking for something he remembered reading but never quite fit in. He remembered asking Dean about it, but Dean had just dismissed it. Sam wasn’t so quick to dismiss it now.
Sam looked up from the journal when the little bell above the door rang. Bobby signaled the waitress for coffee even before he made it to Sam's booth.
"Anything?" Sam asked hopefully. Bobby sat down across from him and rubbed the back of his head.
"Sorry, Sam. Nothing demonic or supernatural about that fire. Just plain ole human stupidity," he said, and Sam let out a little sigh. He gave a slight nod, looking at the journal instead of at Bobby.
"I take it you didn’t have much luck, either," Bobby went on and Sam shook his head. Bobby smiled at the waitress who brought him his coffee and got a wink in return. He turned to watch her leave, and for a moment he reminded Sam so much of Dean he almost lost it.
"You okay, Sam?" Bobby asked when he turned back and noticed Sam's pallor. Sam gave a slight nod. Bobby scrutinized him a moment longer before he went on. "Well, maybe we ought to head back," Bobby suggested. "Maybe we did the wrong thing coming here."
Sam frowned, straightened. "How come?" He asked.
"Could be a wild goose chase," Bobby said and sipped his coffee. The waitress was back now, bringing their menus and a muffin for Bobby, who touched the tip of his hat and thanked her. Sam cut the flirting off before it got too far when he ordered a cheeseburger and a soda. Bobby raised a brow, but gave the waitress his order.
"You were saying?" Sam prompted. Bobby raised his brow again and took another swig from his coffee.
"I was saying, someone could have played us, sent us out here chasing our tails so we wouldn’t be where we needed to be. Where you brother needed us to be," Bobby said. "I mean, how much do you even know about that Jake fella?"
"There really was a fire six years ago," Sam said. Bobby let out a sigh.
"Boy, there's always a fire."
"No, I mean six years ago, while I was at school…" Sam had to stop, had to get himself under control. There was so much he didn’t know about that had happened in those four years. Dean and he had never talked about it.
Bobby looked intently at Sam for a moment, before jutting his jaw toward the journal laid open on the table between them. "Your daddy put that in his book?"
Sam nodded. "I just never realized… I mean, there's this entry… I always thought it was weird, you know? Said Dean went missing, that Dad had found him in a hospital pumped full of drugs and missing time. Dad wrote he needed to find out what did this to Dean, which I thought made no sense. Unless… they weren’t…"
"Weren't what?"
"Hunting together," Sam said, "I mean, I know Dean started hunting on his own after I left, I just… I thought they'd stayed together longer," he finished. Bobby just stared at him for a long moment. Not knowing what else to do, Sam drank his lukewarm coffee.
"Your daddy put anything else in there that might help us?" Bobby asked at last. Sam took a deep breath, nodded a little.
"He wrote Dean was… He was seeing things. Dad wasn’t sure if it was the drugs or something else, but he was seeing things."
"Things like little monkeys in pink bikinis things, or things like invisible people?" Bobby asked, and for a moment, Sam was too shocked by the mental image to answer. He shook his head.
"Mom," Sam said, then cleared his throat. "Dean said he'd seen Mom."
Bobby rubbed at his beard. "Well, shit."
"You think he really…?"
"I don’t know, Sam," Bobby said and patted Sam's arm lightly. "I don’t know." Sam swallowed hard. Bobby cleared his throat. "Any other pearls of wisdom John's left us with?"
Sam blinked the tears out of his eyes, moved the journal closer. "Just that… That others had been missing, too. That they were all found on the same day, and that there'd been a fire. He was never sure if the fire was connected, couldn’t prove anything. Of course, with what Dean'd said and the fire, he was sort of sidetracked into looking for the Demon again. He stopped digging too deep about other options," Sam finished.
"Well, we're just going to have to pick up where he left off," Bobby said, and smiled again at the waitress as she placed his order in front of him.
Dean closed his heavy eyes for a moment and rested his head against the wall. He had Jesse in his lap, the little boy's head resting against his chest and tiny fistfuls of Dean's shirt twisted in his little hands. Calming the kid down hadn’t been easy, but then Dean had always had a way with kids. The possibility that this might be his child… He couldn’t decide if he loved the idea or hated it with fervor.
Less than three months. That's all he had left before his deal came due. A kid would mean he was leaving something behind, that there would be proof he existed, even after he was gone. On the other hand, finding out now, when there was no time left on his ticket, when he couldn’t get to know his child, get to see him grow up, get to teach him things… Yeah, that kinda sounded like his sort of luck.
"Did you mean what you said?" Annie asked him, and Dean forced his eyes open to look at her. "Do you really think… Do you really believe they're gonna come for us?" She asked in a trembling voice.
"Yeah, I do," Dean said softly, his lip twitching a little when Jesse burrowed deeper into his chest. He stroked the kid's messy blond hair. "Thirteen people, that's not something you can just… People will be looking for us. My brother will be looking for us," Dean promised. Annie nodded a little, wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
"It's just… We're from all over. The police, they're not going to connect the dots. It's just one person from each place…" Annie went on.
"Yeah, well, my brother's smarter than the police. He'll find us," Dean said confidently. Annie nodded. Her hands were shaking as she sat down next to him, resting her back against the wall.
"I heard them… I heard what that… man said. He called you a number," Annie said. She tried to keep the quiver out of her voice, but failed. We'll see you soon, Eight. Dean turned to look at her. "I think… I think I remember that," she went on. "I've asked around, you've been here for six days."
"Well, not me, personally, but…"
Annie pulled up her sleeve and Dean frowned at the faded scar. "I'm number seven," she whispered, and another tear fell down her cheek. Dean clenched his jaw, rested his chin on top of Jesse's head.
"He sort of looks like her," Ben said, and Dean looked up at him. Ben crouched next to him. "He looks kinda like his mother. Like Molly. I think… I think he has my nose." Dean closed his eye, gave a slight nod. Not his kid then, and that still didn’t make him feel any better.
"You want to take him?" Dean suggested. And the only reason his voice sounded like that was because he was damn thirsty. Ben took a long look at the sleeping boy and shook his head.
"Nah, you're… you're better with him. I'm not… I'm not good with kids. I have two nephews, and neither of them like me," Ben said, pushing back a little.
"Never the same when it's your own kid," Dean said softly. Ben studied him for a moment.
"You got any kids?" He asked. It took Dean a long time to answer. He cleared his throat.
"No."
Ben nodded, sat down next to them, his knees drawn up, hands resting on top of them. "So what's our next move?" Ben asked at last. Dean's eyes were closed again. He needed to sleep, clear his head a little.
"I don’t know," he said softly, "but I'm working on it."
"Sam, I think I found something."
"Bobby?"
"That Jake fella, he said there were others involved, right? That this has something to do with what happened six years ago, right?"
"Bobby, what is it?"
"Well, this apartment building, it got burned pretty badly six years ago. Three casualties. I just talked to a couple fire department guys who were on scene. They said they'd seen some weird crap around, paintings on the floors and ceilings. Most of it didn’t survive by the time they got the fire under control."
"And you think this is it? You think that's got something to do with Dean?"
"This one guy, he took pictures of everything. For the insurance. Said if there was some freaking cult around, he wanted 'em out of his turf."
"And?"
"And what I'm looking at? This is some messed up crap, Sam. This is big league. Yellow Eyes big."
"You think it's the same demon that…"
"I don’t know, boy. But I got the pictures. You just meet me somewhere where we can get online."
"Sure thing, Bobby."
TBC
Previously: Where it all started >> 2 >> 3 >> 4 >> 5 >> 6 >> 7 >> 8 >> 9a >> 9b >> 10 >> 11 >> 12 >> 13
Thanks for reading!