Smoke and Mirrors
Summary: Sam has a vision about a girl's impending death, so he and Dean go to keep Sam's vision from coming true. But the boys soon realize that the girl from Sam's vision and her twin sister are not who they say they are. The girls are NOT love interests.
Disclaimer: Neither Judy, nor I own Supernatural or any other characters you may recognize. We wouldn't be teaming up to write a fanfic if we did. Haley and Lily is of our own creations, however.
And we don't own the song "Smoke and Mirrors" of which the title derives, the band The Receiving End of Sirens do. The song's pretty cool. Feel free to listen to it on their myspace.
A/N: Hey guys! Kelly and Judy here, and we are the authors of this story. The two of us came up with the idea of writing a joint fic, and this is what came to be when we put our plot bunnies in the same cage together. We hope you guys enjoy this story as much as we're having fun writing it. :D
Thanks a bunch!!
-Kelly & Judy.
Sam was sitting at the small round table in his and Dean's motel room, surfing the net on his laptop. Dean lay on the bed, back propped up against the headboard and the remote hanging loosely in his hand while he watched some stupid action flick on TV.
They had decided to take a break from driving and get some shut eye a couple miles down, so they pulled off on the next exit and into the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn. It was just like all the other shady motel rooms they'd stayed in. The walls were painted a hideous shade of rusty red, and like the rest, you felt the need to keep your cloths on for fear of catching something.
Sam paused from his typing to cover a yawn with the back of his enormous hand. He scratched the back of his head before continuing with his typing. But Sam suddenly stopped again when he felt a sharp pain shoot through his head. It dissipated for a moment before it came back, twice as bad. He winced as he grabbed onto his forehead as the familiar pain throttled him into a vision.
A lamp post illuminated the small sign that read "Welcome to Bowers, Pennsylvania. Home of the Bowers Chili Pepper Festival." Suddenly the vision changed to that of a young girl. She appeared frightened as she ran from an unknown being through a thick corn field. Corn stalks whizzed by her as she ran through the field trying to seek safety. Then the young girl's foot got caught into a divot and she tripped and fell. Her only means of protection, a pocket knife, fell out of her hand and landed a few feet out of her reach. The young woman quickly clambered to her feet trying to find her pocket knife. But the attacker picked it up before she could and used it against her, thrusting it deep into her stomach. The girl took in a raspy gasp, looking from the knife to the still hidden being, astonished. Blood dribbled out of her mouth and down her chin as the last fiber of life abandoned her. The young girl toppled over and landed on the hard ground with a sickening thud.
Sam took in a shuddering breath as he came back to reality. He heard yelling but he couldn't quite make out who it was or what they were saying. Sam's vision cleared and he realized he was staring into his brother's worried face.
"Sam? You with me, man? Come on, Sammy, talk to me!" Dean said frantically, grasping his brother's shoulders, trying to get Sam to look into his eyes and tell him he was okay. The dazed look on Sam's face faded, and he finally looked his brother in the eyes. "You okay?" Dean asked.
Sam swallowed thickly and nodded feebly. "Dean we have to go. We have to go right now," Sam said his voice soft and horse.
"Whoa, wait a minute Sam. What are you talking about? What'd you see?" Dean asked, trying to get his brother to stop and rationalize his thoughts.
Sam, who had shot up out of his chair and began throwing things into his bags, paused and looked at Dean. "I saw this girl get killed. Something attacked her. It was in Bowers, Pennsylvania. If we don't go soon, Dean, it'll be too late," Sam said with pure desperation in his voice.
Dean sighed and wordlessly began packing his bags. He was really hoping for a good night's sleep that night. They didn't have anywhere to be, they were in no rush. Dean was hoping to actually sleep in the next morning. So much for that idea.
After the boys packed and checked out of their motel room, they quickly left Newton, Illinois and set out on the 13 hour drive for Bowers, PA, hoping that they would make it there in time.
SNSNSNSNSN
Thirteen hours later, Sam and Dean pulled into the parking lot in front of the Topton House Diner in Topton, Pennsylvania. Topton was a neighboring town to Bowers, so they decided that Topton would be a decent place to stay. Sam unfolded himself out of the car. Dean got out and groaned while he stretched his stiff muscles. Thirteen straight hours in the car was not one of Sam and Dean's favorite past times, although they seemed to be doing a lot of it lately.
Sam and Dean stepped into the Diner and sat down at a booth in the far corner. Dean gazed out the window to the right and looked out at the small town folk walking their dogs down the street and the children playing hopscotch along the sidewalk. Sam glanced around the diner, looking at a few of the customers, but stopped when his eyes fell upon a familiar face. Sam smacked Dean in the arm to get his attention and said in a hushed whisper, "Dean, that's the girl from my vision!"
Dean looked over his shoulder at the young woman Sam was pointing to. She was one of the waitresses and looked to be about 18 or 19. She had long curly hair with a few streaks of bright pink peaking out from underneath her dark brown hair which was pulled up into a loose ponytail. She had striking green eyes and a bright cheerful smile. The girl jotted down some customer's order and then went back behind the counter and posted the order up for the chef.
Just then, the bell above the door chimed and in walked a young girl who looked exactly like the waitress from Sam's vision. She walked over to the counter of the diner and approached her twin sister. This girl however, looked slightly different despite the fact that she was a twin. Her hair was the exact same length and color as her sister's but instead of pink streaks; she had bright blue ones underneath her dark brown locks. She was wearing a black zip-up hoodie over her Black Sabbath baby-tee, and a pair of jeans accompanied with a pair of black vans sneakers. They smiled at one another and started to have a quiet conversation.
Dean turned around to face Sam and exclaimed, "Dude! Twins!" Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes "So which one was from your vision?" Dean asked.
Sam sighed. "I don't know. It was too dark. I couldn't get a good look at her to distinguish which one it was," Sam said with frustration. Things just got a hell of a lot more complicated.
"So what do we do?" Dean asked.
"The only thing we can do," Sam stated. "We follow them and make sure that whatever it was doesn't attack either one of them."
Dean looked at his brother and nodded. "I'll look after Black Sabbath girl, you can look after the waitress chick," Dean said. He looked back and saw "Black Sabbath girl" wave good bye to her sister and step out of the diner. Dean stood up, and wished Sam good luck before stepping out of the diner as well.
Dean got into the Impala and watched the girl get into her ruby red 1967 Firebird. The car sped out of the parking lot, with Dean trailing close behind. He followed the girl all the way to a shady looking bar called Toad Creek. The bar looked like a place he would go in to hustle some money out of some poor belligerent fools. He watched the girl step out of her car and into the bar. He was surprised that she could even get through the front door; she barely looked old enough to drink.
Dean got out of the car and followed her inside. He looked around the nearly empty bar trying to find her amongst the thin crowd, but there was no sign of her. How the hell could he loose her so fast? But then he looked up and saw the girl standing behind the bar, pouring Jack Daniel's into an old man's shot glass. She was a bar tender.
Dean couldn't help but smirk. "I think I'm gonna like this girl," Dean said to himself. He walked up to the bar and sat down on a wobbly old stool. He flashed the girl a smile and said, "I'll have a beer." She nodded and reached under the bar and sat it down in front of him. "My name's Dean, what's yours?" Dean asked as he brought the bottle to his lips, the smirk never leaving his face.
The girl looked at Dean with a quirked eyebrow and replied with a smirk of her own, "Hi, Dean. I'm Haley." There was an underlying snarky tone to Haley's voice when she spoke. Something told Dean that she had quite the attitude and that if he wasn't careful, he was going to be beaten over the head with it.
Meanwhile, back at the diner, Sam sat in his booth alone, pretending to be reading a newspaper while he kept an eye on the waitress. After he had caught a glanced at her name tag, he had discovered that her name was Lily. Sam would peer over the edge of the newspaper and watch her and make sure she wasn't out of his sight. Every once and a while, Lily would spot him watching her, and he'd quickly look away and pretend to be engrossed in a rather boring article about the approaching deer hunting season.
The end of the night was drawing near and the crowd at the diner was quickly dwindling. Lily was standing at the counter rubbing a wet rag along the top of it. She mindlessly wiped the counter top while she watched the mysterious stranger in the booth near the back out of the corner of her eye. He appeared to be reading an article in the newspaper, but Lily knew better. The man had been reading the same article for the past 5 hours, and never once, had she spotted him turn the page. But she, had however, spotted him watching her, which was slightly flattering in that creepy stalkerish kind of way. But there was something about this man, something… unusual. She couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly that was, but it was definitely something.
Lily averted her gaze and continued to make her way down the counter top with the damp rag, getting closer the stranger's booth as she did so. She kept her eyes cast downward, pretending to be absorbed in the tacky turquoise counter top while she felt the strange man's eyes boring into her like red hot laser beams. She unconsciously fidgeted uneasily under the strangers scrutinizing stare.
When Sam and Lily were eventually the only two people left in the diner (even the owner had gone home, leaving Lily the key to lock up), Lily heaved an exasperated sigh and she dropped into the booth across from Sam. Sam, who had had the newspaper up in front of his face, folded down a corner and looked into Lily's expectant face. They both looked at each other, neither saying a word, just staring at each other with eyebrows raised. Sam was finally the first to speak and he said as he folded up his newspaper, "Can I help you?"
"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing," Lily replied. Sam looked taken aback, not sure what to say to that comment. Lily sighed and said, "You've been sitting here by yourself all night. And I know you've been watching me. So who are you and what do you want?"
SNSNSNSNSN
Haley walked over to the small round table and placed the empty beer bottles onto her tray. She balanced the tray on her hand with ease and she walked by the front of the bar to walk around to the back to dispose of the empty bottles. But as she walked by, a fairly drunken asshole reached out his hand and grabbed a hold of Haley's butt.
Dean, who was sitting right next to the drunken assaulter, saw what the guy did out of the corner of his eye. Dean may have been quite the flirt when it came to girls, but he would never just go right out and grab someone like that. He was completely against that kind of disrespect against women. Dean was about to stand up and set the guy straight, but Haley beat him to the punch.
As soon as the man let go of her buttocks, Haley stopped abruptly. She gently placed her tray onto the bar and turned around on her heel to face the drunken pervert. Haley slowly sauntered up to the man, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. Suddenly she grabbed his wrist and twisted it painfully until it was bent behind the guys back. The pain brought the man to his knees as he cried out in pain. Haley bent down and whispered ever so calmly into his ear, "You grab my ass again; I'll break your arm. And I'm pretty sure you'll need it, what with it being your only source of pleasure."
"Okay, okay! I'm sorry!" the man yelled by means of surrender. He sounded like he was truly afraid and in pain.
Haley released the man's arm, and he quickly clambered to his feet and stepped back a few steps, staring at her looking slightly frightened. The pain was enough to sober him up a little and make him realize that what he'd done was wrong. He apologized again quietly before returning to his place at the bar. Haley shot him a look that said, 'Yeah you better be.'
Dean looked at Haley, eyebrows raised, as she picked up her tray of empty beer bottles and resumed her discarding of the bottles as if nothing ever happened. "Damn," he muttered quietly to himself before he took a sip of his beer. He made a mental note to not piss that girl off.
SNSNSNSNSN
Sam looked into Lily's dazzlingly green eyes. He couldn't tell her the truth; he knew all too well how people reacted when they knew the truth as to why he and his brother were in town.
"I'm, uh, waiting for someone," Sam said.
"Bullshit," Lily retaliated promptly. "You've been sitting here for hours. You're not waiting for someone." Lily gave him a hard, stern, stare and said forcefully, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Sam sighed. He figured the only other choice he had was to tell her the truth since she wouldn't believe anything but. "My name is Sam," Sam said. "And I think you and your sister are in danger."
"Danger?" Lily said taken aback. "What do you mean my sister and I are in danger?"
Sam sighed again. He really would rather not go into detail; it would only further to freak her out. "Look, just trust me, okay?" Sam said.
Lily stared at him, eyebrow quirked in that 'Are you serious?' kind of way. "Dude, I don't even know you, and you're telling me to trust you?" she replied shortly. "And how do I know you're telling the truth? You're a complete stranger that just rolled into town telling me that me and my sister's lives are in danger," Lily said pointedly.
"We wouldn't have drove 750 miles for this all to be a joke," Sam said forcefully.
"We?" Lily inquired.
"Yeah," Sam replied. "My brother and I. We drove all the way from Illinois to make sure you and your sister were safe."
Lily stared at him for a few seconds; now that she thought about it, she had seen him walk in the diner with another guy, but she lost sight of him when Haley came in…wait a minute…
"He's with her isn't he?" she asked in a slightly panicked voice.
But before Sam could reply, Lily shot up out of her seat and bolted out the door, the bell hanging from the glass door clanging loudly as it slammed shut. Sam chased after her, trying to catch up as Lily ran down the sidewalk of the small town, but he couldn't quite keep up, despite his freakishly long legs that were perfect for running.
Lily didn't stop running until she reached the front door of the Toad Creek pub about 4 blocks down the road from the diner. She threw open the door and ran in with Sam not far behind. She saw Haley standing there, talking to a man at the bar that she recognized as Sam's brother from earlier that day.
"Get away from my sister, you crazy stalker!" Lily exclaimed running up to her sister's side and tugging on her arm to pull her back to put a more comfortable space between Haley and the stranger.
Haley stood straighter at the sound of her sister's angry voice. She immediately knew that something was wrong. Lily looked extremely distraught and was breathing heavily almost as if she ran the entire distance from the diner to the pub.
Sam stepped up beside his brother, and Dean looked over at him, inaudibly saying 'What's going on?'
"Look, guys. I don't know who you are, but we don't need your protection. We've managed this long on our own. We don't need your help now. So why don't you just leave us alone," Lily said, standing tall and strong.
"Alright," Sam conceded. Dean's head snapped over at his brother's and he gave Sam a 'What!?' kind of look. "Fine, we'll leave you alone," Sam said. He nudged Dean in the arm and motioned him to follow him as they walked towards the door to the pub.
Lily and Haley didn't break eye contact with the boys' retreating forms until they were clear out of view.
Once Sam and Dean were outside and in the clear, Dean said to Sam knowingly without even looking over at his brother, "We're not leaving, are we?"
"Hell no," Sam replied swiftly.
A/N: Reviews are very much appreciated. :D