Mysterious Mix
I got this idea from another author who got the idea from somewhere else and I don't know where…but I thought the idea was interesting so I did it and got something cool…an idea :D
Anyway the idea was that you take the nearest book to you and write a story from the fifth sentence on page 123. So …I was sitting there and like 'hey…sounds neat' and then I hit a bit of a snag, you see…I have about 30 books close to me(not exaggerating) and I was like…'which one's closest?' and then I just took the one on the left and opened it up. It was How to Draw Manga and roughly the fifth sentence was: "If the vanishing point is moved father to the right side, the building will become even more visible." I didn't get any real inspiration from that sentence…but who could blame me…so I cheated and picked up the next closest book.
The book was These Unlucky Deeds by Richard Martin Stern. Much better sentence and I had some inspiration right off the bat. Of course the sentence isn't directly quoted into the story and the circumstances are a bit different, not to mention the characters, but it is the inspiration that counts.
He went off in his car, and it was not until sometime later that Joy, going to the hall closet for something, and she could never afterwards remember what, found herself just standing there and staring because neither Bob's tennis racquet nor his golf clubs had gone off in the car with him, which was strange, within the framework of today's wary mood entirely too strange.
Mad Cow Disease?
After the various Apocalypses from various dimensions, The Powers that Be had decided it was time for a change. So as most say…out with the old, in with the new…well that meant either disrupt the fabric of reality and moral standards and kill off all the old champions…or wipe their memories and put them in a sort of witness protection program with entirely new lives.
That seemed like it would end better…especially when a next true apocalyptic apocalypse comes and they need to get help from the old champions…then they will still have access to them.
This is where our story begins…in a little town in Maine with Angie and James Fuller and their three charming sons, Michael, Anthony, and Dillan. James, the sheriff of this small town, and Angie, a 10th grade chemistry teacher.
They loved their life and their sons and this town. Both of them were very involved in the community, James was even thinking about running for Mayor but he eventually decided against it because that would mean leaving his position as Sheriff. Angie was the best cook in town. She baked little goodies for every event in the town, most went only to get some of her good eats. Angie was a southern belle turned New England socialite. Angie and James met at their sophomore year at Oxford University in England. Angie was studying Science while James was studying History. They fell hard for each other and dated for the remainder of their time at Oxford. The day was coming when they would be separated to go back to their homes. James decided this wasn't an option. He set up a romantic boat ride on the Thames River where he proposed. Angie agreed before he had even finished the sentence. Two weeks later while they were at the airport waiting to board a plane she let it slip she was pregnant. He was ecstatic and couldn't stop talking about it. So the whole flight home they started to plan their future out.
18 years later and their plans were still holding strong. That however was about to change…dramatically.
It was mid-July, the weather was good, and Michael was getting ready to head off to college in Italy to become and architect.
All that planning Angie and James had done was thrown into the fire on the night of July 17th when James was getting ready to leave work. It was 8 o'clock at night, a little later then James normally went home, but he had some paperwork he had to finish at the station. He put on his coat and was just walking out the door when Mrs. Bovee, an elderly widow in the neighborhood who was always bringing the boys at the station dinners. Tonight however Mrs. Bovee wasn't bringing in dinner. She looked distraught and as she got closer James could see she was in tears. He ran over to her quickly. As he came up to her he saw that she was carrying her beagle, Rufus…he was bundled up in a blanket.
"Mrs. Bovee…what happened?" James asked.
"R…R…Rufus is…d…dead…" She sobbed. James led her over to the station. James' deputy, Jacob, went to greet Mrs. Bovee but then he noticed her distress and he leapt up to give her his chair. James knelt down in front of her. "Some….some….something got…h…him…He brought something in from the w…woods last night…and it…it made…it made him sick…"
Mrs. Bovee handed the bundle to James. James stood up and set the bundle on the counter. He unwrapped the blanket and stepped back in surprise covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve. Jacob had to leave the room because the sight and smell made him sick to his stomach. Mrs. Bovee only sobbed more.
"It's…w…worse…then when I left the house." James looked at Mrs. Bovee curiously. He turned back to the dog. The beagle was dead alright and from the looks of it, it seems that he had been eaten up from inside. Some of his flesh was just hanging off the bone exposing bits of muscle. His stomach was completely uncovered making it look almost as if he had been gutted, but it wasn't a smooth cut. It almost as if the skin just melted. The body smelt as if it had been decomposing for days.
"Mrs. Bovee, do you know what Rufus brought home?" James asked bundling the dog back up. Mrs. Bovee shook her head.
"Some sort of animal. He did that most nights, run off into the woods right there, never…never too far…then he would bring in some small animal, more like a cat then a dog really." Mrs. Bovee kind of chuckled between sobs.
"Mrs. Bovee, do you still have any of it? Or did Rufus eat it all?"
"Rufus ate it all as far as I know." James silently cursed.
"Ok Mrs. Bovee, I'm going to have Jacob take you home. Do you think that Valerie can stay with you for the night?" Valerie was Mrs. Bovee's bingo friend that lived in the neighboring town about 15 minutes out. "Or maybe you could stay with her? Jacob can drive you over there."
"I'll call her. I…I don't think there will be a problem with me staying with her." James gave Mrs. Bovee the phone and took Rufus's body into the back room. He took it and placed it in one of the cells. Then as he was leaving Jacob came out of the bathroom. James deliberately blocked Jacob from seeing the bundle.
"Mrs. Bovee is calling Valerie Jackson right now. I want you to take her over there. Drive her to her house to get her things and take her to Valerie's then you can have the rest of the night off. I'll call Susan in to take over for you.
"Thank you Sheriff. You don't have to block him anymore. I know he's in there. It was just the shock of seeing him like that. I wasn't expecting it…I'm ok now though. Poor Rufus…" James shifted his weight into a more comfortable position.
"Yeah, it's horrible. I just wish I knew what it was that he got into…" James said. "I hope we don't have any diseased squirrels out there or anything."
"Me too." They went back out to Mrs. Bovee.
"Alright, Mrs. Bovee?" James asked. She sniffed and nodded. "Ok, Jacob will take you to get some things from your house and then he will take you to Valerie's."
"Thank you Sheriff."
"It's my job. Now I need your permission to go onto your property. I want to search through the woods right by your house to see if there is anything I can find to tell me what did this to Rufus."
"It's no problem Sheriff. I know you won't steal anything of mine." Mrs. Bovee said. Then she and Jacob left the station. James called Susan, another of his deputies, and explained what had happened and that he needed her here. She happily agreed. Everyone always joked that Susan would never leave work if James didn't make her go home and get some sleep. He would find her asleep in the bunks in the cells at odd hours catching a few moments of rest.
As soon as Susan got there James headed home.
He came in and was greeted warmly by his blonde haired wife.
"How was work?" She asked after stealing a kiss and walking back towards the kitchen.
"Well up until an hour ago, it was the same as it always is." James yelled taking off his jacket. He hung it on the hook and sat down to take off his boots.
"What happened an hour ago?" She asked from the kitchen.
"As I was leaving the station I saw Mrs. Bovee running towards me carrying something. It turns out that Rufus caught something in the woods and it made him sick."
Angie poked her head out of the kitchen and stared him straight in the eye.
"He's dead."
"Oh no." Angie said sitting down next to him. James just nodded. They sat there staring at the floor for a moment, Angie with her flour coated hands in her lap, and James with only one boot off. Angie stood up again and James resumed his daily routine. "Do you think it's some kind of disease or something like Mad Cow?" She asked from the kitchen once again.
"There's no way to tell unless we get more in the town with the same thing." He finished his boot and stood up taking off his gun holster and placing it on the coat rack next to his jacket. He walked into the kitchen and placed his arms around Angie's waist. "It was horrific though. I've never seen anything like it. It was almost as if he had been dead for days."
Angie looked at him over her shoulder. She gave him a curious glance.
"It's hard to describe…it was almost as if his skin was falling off. It also looked like something burned its way out of his stomach."
"Gross!" James and Angie turned to see their three sons all standing in the doorway. The two oldest, Michael (17) and Anthony (16), glared at their younger brother, Dillan (9), for giving them away. Dillan was the one who exclaimed his feelings. James waved them into the room sitting down at the table. Dillan ran over and sat on James' lap. Michael and Anthony both sat down across from their father.
"It sounds like something you'd see on Halo! Like the flood!" Dillan said excitedly. Angie rolled her eyes.
"It does though Mom." Michael pointed out to his mother. "It does seem a bit like that…but not quite. I mean the way he kind of just decomposed so rapidly…"
"He hasn't come back from the dead has he?" Dillan asked with sincere concern evident in his voice and his eyes.
"Probably not…that is a very unlikely thing to happen," James said.
"But what if he was injected with the T-Virus?!" Dillan asked.
"I doubt we have an underground facility in our town Dillan." Angie said popping her deserts in the oven. "Besides if we did, I'd probably be working for them." She said with a grin as she sat down at the table.
"Probably…" James said. "But how do we know you aren't already?"
"Oh, I just don't think it is practical. I mean how would I fit it into my busy schedule?" She asked.
"All those trips to the grocery store…" Anthony pointed out.
"That is a bit suspicious, Mother." Michael said.
"Yes, extremely," James laughed.
"Well, you don't have to worry about me slipping any T-virus in to your food because it won't affect you until after you're dead. So what does it matter?"
"Hey!" All four boys said at the same time. Angie just laughed.
"Ok you three, head off to bed. I'm going to go and check out Mrs. Bovee's house tomorrow so I will need your help." All three of them ran upstairs saying quick goodnights.
James and Angie both sat there is a comfortable silence smiling at each other every once and a while. James flipped through a magazine while Angie finished up with her deserts. Soon they were heading up to bed as well.
The next few days went by as normal as they ever were. James and the boys couldn't find anything in the woods that would have possibly caused Rufus's horrible demise. On July 20th however, James got a call from Hank Wellington. He lived just a little out of the town's limits but he was still in James's jurisdiction. Hank told James that there was something wrong with his animals…they were all sick. James got out there as soon as he could. Hank thought that someone had poisoned them and that was why he called James. James wasn't too sure about that but he wrote up the report and examined the bodies of the four German Shepard's who had all dropped dead. They were also starting to show some of the same signs that Rufus had shown.
James wasn't sure what was going on here.
Over the next week James was overly cautious. He started looking out for signs of disease everywhere. He had warned the town of a potential break out, that maybe some of the small animals had created some sort of ailment and that they should try to keep their dogs out of the woods. On July 30th, six dogs and two cats died of this same thing for no apparent reason. James had been checking every possible angle, he checked to see if it was their food but none of them were the same type. He thought maybe it was something in the people's food that just didn't affect humans but that didn't seem to get them anywhere either. Another thing that was strange was that none of the neighboring towns had any problems.
On August 2nd, James was driving home when he went past the old Donne house. Something caught his eye in one of the windows. The house had been abandoned for years. He stopped and turned around parking across the street. He walked up to the door pulling out his flashlight. He walked carefully across the creaky porch. When he pushed the door open he was surprised to find it already open. He looked down and was even more surprised to see a solid line of salt across the doorway.
James of course knew that it was meant to keep spirits out of a house but he had never actually seen anyone besides his grandmother do it. He stepped over the line and into the house. He walked into the living room and noticed right away that there were salt lines on all the window sills as well. He also noticed that the line on the middle window sill had been broken. He jumped when he heard a creak from the floor above him. Someone was walking across the floor towards the stairs.
James moved silently out of the living room as quickly as he could and then slipped underneath the staircase so that he was completely hidden in the shadows. The person started down the stairs. As soon as he was off the steps and walking towards the front door James stepped out from under the stairs.
"Sheriff! Stop where you are and put your hands in the air." The tall man of about 6'6 stood stalk still and put his hands up. He had a duffel bag in one hand and a sawed off shot gun in the other. "Drop the bag and set the gun down slowly. The man did as he was told. "Now stand back up, place your hands on the back of your head…good…lock your fingers…now turn around slowly…" The man turned. James was suddenly hit with a wave of familiarity. He couldn't describe it. The man noticed James was a little off balance and he took the opportunity to grab his bag and run. James went after him but it was useless because he was long gone. He did find a journal on the sidewalk that the man must have dropped.
James went back to his truck. He sat and flipped through the journal. The journal looked as if it was owned by a psychotic, ex-marine/doctor who happened to have met James's grandma at some point in his life. The book was filled with different things on all sorts of creatures that wouldn't be out of place in his sons' comic books. But for some reason, he felt like he knew it all already.
He sat there in his truck flipping through this journal for almost an hour. Then he found a page in the book that was bookmarked by a newspaper clipping.
Small Town Plagued by Mysterious Ailment
The small town of Jasper Creek, Missouri has been overwhelmed for the last month
by a strange disease that seemed to spring out of nowhere. This mysterious sickness
started with the animals, but then strange and unexplainable deaths started creeping
up all over the town...
There were six other newspaper clippings from six other towns across the US. There were also a couple of things from some other countries, possibly one of the Baltic's and also an Asian country.
After he had looked through the newspaper clippings he looked at the page of the notebook. There wasn't anything written on the page but there was a sticky note on the back of one of the clippings that had only one word on it, HEL.
James closed the book and headed home. When he got there he found that his wife was already in bed and a chocolate éclair on the kitchen table with a note saying: 'Hope you're alright. I was worried about you. This case is taking its toll on you. Be careful.'
James pulled out his cell phone and realized he has seven missed calls four from Angie, two from Michael, and one from Anthony. James sighed and went into the living room where he logged onto the computer. He looked up 'Hel' on the internet. After a good 45 minutes of research, James finally logged off.
At first he had believed that whoever had put that sticky note there couldn't spell, but then he found out it was referring to the Norse goddess, Hel, who was the goddess of death, ruler of the underworld.
"Ok…goddess of hell…is Hel. Very original people," he muttered.
As he made his way up to his room, he thought about the man in the house and what he had to do with this case. He couldn't figure out why he was so familiar.
James changed, brushed his teeth and crawled into bed with his wife. She rolled over and he could see her glaring at him through the darkness.
"I'm sorry." He said. She softened up, but only slightly. "I was out patrolling the neighborhood on my way home and I saw someone in the old Donne place."
"Who was it?"
"Dunno. He got away. But He dropped this journal and his shotgun. I was flipping through the journal and lost track of time."
"Next time, call before you lose track of time. I was worried out of my mind."
"I promise." He kissed her and she cuddled up to him and buried her face in his chest. He held onto her like he would never let go.
The next day was Dillan's birthday but James was distracted. Angie noticed this of course but didn't say anything about it. James was trying to figure this whole thing out.
First of all, what was it and what exactly was it trying to accomplish.
Second of all, who was the mysterious man who seemed to disappear into thin air?
Third of all, why was he in that house?
The last thing James was distracted by was the fact that he seemed to believe this goddess stuff…
After the party was over Angie and the boys were cleaning up in the kitchen, all the guests had gone and James was in the bedroom flipping through the journal once again. He didn't know why but this all seemed entirely too familiar.
As he scanned the pages and things popped out at him for no apparent reason like what was so important about a Wendigo or the lady in white? Why did he seem to know that vampires could go out in the sun? All this information he was reading seemed like something out of a movie or video game but he got the feeling that there was something more to it. He knew that this journal looked like it belonged to a schizophrenic but it didn't feel like that to him.
The next day James went into work at the normal time. Again the day seemed to be starting off just like it should. James pulled into his parking space just in time to see a man exit the station and cross the street then round the corner. It was the same man that he saw at the Donne house. James ran into the station.
"Jacob!" The deputy jumped and turned to James in surprise. "Who was that man that just left?"
"Um, Jeremy…Jeremy Weaver…I think. He said he was from the State Health Department. Said they were investigating the deaths."
"Is he staying at the Juniper?"
"It is the only hotel in town…I mean yes sir, Sheriff." James walked back out the door. He got back into his truck and drove off. He stopped in front of the Juniper, an old Bed and Breakfast that had been in this town since the town had been founded. James jumped out of the truck and ran into the Bed and Breakfast.
"Jim! Sherry!"
"Oh, Hello Sheriff. What a surprise. What can I do for you?" It was Sherry.
"Is there a man staying here? A tall man with brown hair?"
"Why yes." She looked a little troubled. "He isn't in any kind of trouble is he?"
"Oh no," James chuckled. "Nothing like that. He left the station right as I was pulling in and Jacob told me he was a State Health Inspector and he was here to help with the outbreak. I wanted to talk to him…see what he knows."
"Oh, I understand. I thought that maybe he had done something wrong which would surprise me because he seemed like such a nice boy…a bit lonely…but very polite, nonetheless." Sherry told him the room the man was in and James headed up the stairs. When he came up to the room he listened at the door and heard movement inside. That was a good sign. James took a step back and kicked in the door. The man was sitting at a table with his back to the door. Before he had a chance to turn around, James had him against the wall. James was holding one of the man's arms behind his back with one hand and with the other hand he was holding the man's head against the wall.
"Oh my!" Sherry stepped into the room. "Sheriff, I thought you said he hadn't done anything wrong."
"I'm sorry Sherry, I didn't want to lie to you but I couldn't take the chance that he was listening in on the conversation. Everything is alright now, you can go back down stairs. I have everything under control…oh and don't worry, I'll pay for the door." Sherry nodded and went back down stairs.
As James listened to make sure Sherry was down stairs the man took an opportunity to reach up with his free arm and elbow James in the face. James stumbled backwards and before he got his footing the man tackled him to the ground. James however pushed the man off of him, turned the man over and pinned him to the ground.
"Who are you?" James asked as he placed handcuffs on the man's wrists. "And what were you doing at the Donne house?"
"My name is Jeremy Weaver. I work for the State Health Department. I am here to investigate the strange animal deaths. I was at the house doing some reconnaissance. I was searching through a little bit of the woods and I noticed some things that lead me to that house."
"Why did you run when I caught you?"
"I was scared. I knew that it would have meant trouble for me. I didn't want to start this investigation out on the wrong foot…"
"Well, that decision just started it off a lot worse than it would have been." James helped the tall man to his feet and started to lead him out of the room but then he caught James reflection in the mirror and stopped dead in his tracks. He turned and faced James jaw dropping.
"D…Dean?" James stared at the man curiously.
"Sorry. My name is James, but it's Sheriff Fuller to you." James pushed the man out of the room.
"Dean, listen to me! I know it's you! Why are you doing this? Where did you go? I've been looking everywhere for you!" James stopped and the man turned to face him.
"Look! I am not Dean! I don't know who the hell you are either! All I know is you need some serious psychiatric help and I want you out of my town!"
"You honestly don't know who I am?" The man said in surprise.
"That is what I just said isn't it?"
The man was silent all the way to the truck. James put him in the passenger's seat and walked around to the driver's side. As soon as he opened the door the man started talking to him again.
"Dean it's me, Sammy…please, you have to remember!" James ignored him as he got in the truck. "You disappeared into thin air 3 years ago and I've been searching for you since then. I thought the Yellow-eyed Demon had gotten you. You have to remember something…Is that dad's journal?" He said looking at the floor board of the back seat. James reached back and held up the journal.
"This is your dad's journal?"
"Our dad's." Sammy said stubbornly.
"If that's the case, your dad is just as crazy as you are." James pulled out on the road and headed back to the station.
"Come on, what about all those things we hunted? The ghosts? The demons? Meg? The yellow-eyed demon? The Vampires? The Colt? The ghost truck? The reapers? The killer clown? The Wendigo?" James pretended not to react to the Wendigo bit. But he was surprised that the man had mentioned it. "What about dad and his obsession with revenge? Or you with your obsession of calling me Sammy despite how much I hated it? Oh the fact that you were always trying to keep me safe? How can you keep me safe when you can't even remember who I am?!"
"Well…I'm sure you'll be plenty safe in the holding cell at the station." Sammy sat there staring at James.
All of a sudden the radio went crazy. Turning on and off flipping stations. Sam stared at it.
"That better not mean what I am thinking it means!" James said. Sam just gave him a look that told him everything he needed.
"Dean, if we die, I just want you to know that I took real good care of the Impala while you were away." James turned and looked at Sam with an expression on his face that could not even begin to be described. As he looked at Sam he suddenly saw a flash, a memory he supposed…of Sam sitting next to him, spoon in his mouth as he slept, Led Zeppelin playing while he just laughed. Then another flash came…of a woman up on the ceiling of a nursery…in flames…hundreds of other flashes came along with the worst pain he had ever experienced in his life. When they finally stopped he opened his eyes. His world had literally turned upside down.
"Sammy?!" He called.
"Yeah?"
"I remember everything. I'm sorry…I don't know…"
"It's ok Dean. We'll figure it out…it's just like you."
"What?"
"The one thing that would make you remember is the Impala." Dean hit Sam.
"Oh, how touching. I hate to break up this lovely reunion." Dean and Sam both watched as a set of legs walked up to the driver's door. Suddenly the door was gone as it was ripped off its hinges.
"Hel…" Dean said.
"Oh goodie, you already know me!"
"Yeah…and I would say you were pretty if it weren't for the half living half corpse look you've got going on there." Dean said. Hel looked furious.
"How dare you defy the gods?!" She yelled angrily.
"You're not a god." Dean stated plainly. Hel screamed an unnatural scream and reached for Dean's throat. But Dean was ready for her. As soon as she bent down he pointed his gun and the shotgun Sam had dropped at her. He shot her square in the face. She backed up and disappeared.
"We have to go. She's going to be out for blood, mine in fact…and mine to a sadistic bitch means my kids." Dean said as he took off his seat belt. He un-cuffed Sam and Sam unbuckled himself. They both got out of the truck.
"You've got kids?"
"Three…Michael, Anthony, and Dillan but…that can't be, can it?" Sam shrugged. Dean leaned back into his truck and pulled out the police scanner and the journal. He tossed the journal to Sam and set the scanner on the underside of the truck. "Millie? You there?"
"Sheriff?"
"Yes Millie. Now I need you to tell Jacob to go get Tommy and head over towards the Juniper. Tell them they need the tow truck."
"Ok…Sheriff," Millie said. Dean went to put the scanner back but another voice came through.
"Why do we need the tow truck Sheriff?" Jacob asked.
"Because I flipped my truck."
"Oh. Ok Sheriff, I'll be there in a minute."
"Thank you Jacob." Dean put the scanner back.
"So…Sheriff Fuller…how's life?" Sam asked. Dean just smiled at the amused look on his brother's face.
"Good. Wait until you meet Angie."
"Angie?"
"The mother of my children and my wife."
"Oh." Dean laughed.
Jacob and Tommy made it over and were able to pull Dean's truck out of the ditch he flipped over into, and they towed it back to Tommy's shop. They then went back over to the bed and breakfast to get the impala.
Sherry was surprised when they both came in.
"I'm sorry, Sherry. It's ok; there was just a misunderstanding on my part. I blew things way out of proportion. Now, you just get that door fixed and then you tell me how much it cost and I'll repay you." Dean explained as Sam went up to get some of his stuff and the keys to the impala.
"Alright. I've got my notes, now can you take me to the scenes of the deaths?" Sam asked coming down the stairs as he looked through some papers.
"Sure thing." They started to head out the door.
"Oh Sheriff!" Sherry called.
"Yes Sherry?"
"You're bleeding…here's a tissue…" His nose was in fact bleeding.
"Oh, thanks…" He took the tissue and plugged his nose. They then took their leave.
"That's weird. It must have something to do with the memories. Do your visions hurt that much?"
"I dunno?" Sam shrugged. Dean went up to the impala.
"It's like I haven't seen you in 40 years."
"40?"
"Yeah…"
"You've only been gone 3 years…you should only be 31."
"Then how come I'm 40?"
"Just because you remember being 40 that doesn't mean you are 40."
"Whatever, Sam…just give me the keys…" Sam tossed him the keys. They both got in the car.
Dean was happy to be back in the impala again. But it just seemed different…
"Plus, even if I am 31, I remember 40 so technically I haven't seen either of you in 40…" Dean said with a smug grin on his face.
He pulled into the driveway of his house and parked next to Angie's jeep. Dean led Sam into the house.
"Welcome to my abode. Take off your shoes."
"What?"
"Take off your boat sized shoes." Dean repeated as he sat down to take off his own boots. Sam sat down next to him slipping off his shoes and placing them under the bench. Dean took off his jacket and holster just like it was any other day. He walked into the kitchen but Angie wasn't there.
"Angie!" He called out.
"I'm up here. The kids went to see a movie…some horror no doubt…" Dean motioned for Sam to follow him up the stairs. He walked into their bedroom to find his wife in nothing but a pair of jeans. He pushed Sam back into the hall before he would see anything incriminating. Angie laughed at her husband's antics.
"Who's your friend?" She asked as she slipped on a shirt.
"Angie…" Dean said seriously. "We need to talk."
"You not leaving me for a man are you?" Dean didn't even crack a smile. "Oh no, you aren't, are you?"
"No. He's my brother." Angie stared at her husband and then at Sam. After a moment she nodded.
"Ok, what else?" She knew he was hiding something.
"Nothing else…"
"Don't you lie to me James Andrew Fuller. I know there is something you aren't telling me."
"Dean Eric Winchester." He said.
"What?"
"My name isn't James Andrew Fuller…it's Dean Eric Winchester." She stared at him with a gob smacked expression. She stared at him waiting for him to say 'April fools' or something, but it never came.
"Something is going on…I don't quite know…but something happened and I lost my memory but not in the normal sense…"
"What do you mean?"
"He means that he's only been missing for 3 years but he has 40 that are completely new." Sam said.
"How?"
"There is something you should probably know before we even dip our toes in that conversation." Dean said. She didn't say anything but he knew that look that told him to continue. "I'm a hunter…"
She raised an eyebrow.
"You suck at these conversations Dean. What he should be saying is this is going to be hard to understand at first but most of those things you've never believed in like ghosts and werewolves and things, most of them are real. There are people all over the world who work to keep these things under control."
"We basically get rid of the bad stuff in the world. We look for signs of malevolent spirits or supernatural activity in newspapers and things then we travel and hunt them down if need be."
"So if all those things are real…then you aren't who I married…and every memory we have together is fabricated?"
"No! Not at all!" Dean said.
"Oh really."
"Well, I think we still had all that and technically I still am the guy you married still but I have a little extra baggage. Oh, let me just warn you right now: don't call Jacob and ask him to look up my record because you won't like it."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, it means that a lot of things aren't as they seem when you work in this business."
"Ok…like what…?"
"Well…for instance, we were involved in a bank robbery…but we were only in there because there was a Shapeshifter running loose who was robbing stores and banks. We knew what the next bank it was going to hit so we tried to head off, but there was this guy who the Shapeshifter killed and his best friend tried to do the same thing we were doing but he didn't know what he was up against. He didn't quite plan it out because he came in with a gun and made it seem like a robbery. He ended up getting killed by the police before we could find the Shapeshifter, so we had to keep up the appearance of the bank robbery so we could find it. We found it but became wanted for robbery…"
"Ok…Robbery. Anything else on your dazzling record?"
"Murder…also a Shapeshifter…we've escaped from the police countless times…Sam disappeared from Stanford after his girlfriend was killed in a fire that was set by a demon who killed our mother…umm…credit card fraud…identity theft…impersonating officers…grave desecration…"
"Grave desecration!"
"Hey only because one of the only ways to get rid of a malevolent spirit is to salt and burn the bones!" He said blocking her from hitting him.
"Ok…that's understandable at least."
"Ok…escaping from prison…that one was because a friend of our dad happens to be a warden at the prison and he happened to have a spirit in his prison. He asked us to get rid of it, and the only way for us to get in there without asking too many questions…"
"Was to get caught."
"Exactly."
"Stupid plan," Sam whispered.
"You still aren't over that?"
"It still was a stupid plan!"
"Whatever Sam."
"So what else is real out there?"
"Well…ghosts, werewolves, demons, vampires…" Angie had suddenly gone stalk white.
"Angie? What's wrong?"
"I've…I've had this conversation before…with…someone else…I…" She suddenly went limp and her eyes rolled back into her head. Dean caught her easily. But then she started screaming and holding onto her head. Dean carried the petite woman over to the bed.
"Sam, get some water. There's a cup in the bathroom." Sam did as he was told.
"You did the same thing," he said coming back out of the bathroom. Dean took the glass and held Angie up.
"Angie…Angie…wake up…" She stirred and opened her eyes. "Drink this…"
She accepted the water.
"You're right," she said suddenly.
"About what?"
"Something is going on."
"I'd say so."
"Summers…Buffy Anne Summers." Dean smiled and Buffy waited for the laughter.
"Buffy…I like that."
"Really?" She asked in surprise. "Most people think it's funny."
"No, it's different. That's what I like about it. It is different but that makes it beautiful in its own way." Buffy smiled.
"You know, we are going to have to redo every conversation we've ever had."
"Basically."
"What's going on here? And who the hell are you?" Michael said as he and his brothers stood in the doorway.
"Language Michael." Buffy warned.
"This is your uncle Sam…He is the person that you get your nerdiness from." Dean said.
"I always assumed we got it from you two." Anthony said. Both Dean and Buffy snorted. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"You both went to Oxford!" Michael said. Buffy and Dean laughed again. Sam stared at the two of them.
"Ok…now what?" Sam asked.
"I guess we tell them too. I don't think we could keep it from them," Dean pointed out.
"Ok kids…" Buffy said standing up. "Mommy is a vampire slayer, Daddy and your uncle Sam hunt Supernatural beings. Mommy and Daddy both had their memories replaced from their young lives and placed together to hide something. Most of those movies you've watched, most of those creatures you've seen are real…no the flood aren't and I do not work for a secret underground facility. I work for a very above ground facility and they are actually acknowledged and respected by governments…except the U.S. of course…they think we are a terrorist organization. Oh I can't wait to see the looks on their faces!"
"You're a…a Vampire Slayer…but that makes you…Oh my god…you blew up a town…" Dean stuttered. She nodded. He had tears in his eyes and then he hugged her. Everyone in the room was surprised by this gesture. "That is so cool."
"Umm…Dean…we still have that mythical problem to take care of…" Sam said.
"Oh…right." Buffy sent Dean a look. "I sort of pissed off a Nordic Goddess by shooting her in the face."
"Nice going."
"She is the one responsible for all the disease and stuff."
"That makes sense."
"So what do we do now?" Sam asked.
"Go out there…find it…kill it…" Dean stated.
"You want to kill a goddess?" Sam asked.
"I have." Buffy said. Everyone looked at her. "Well I have."
Dean hugged her again. He then turned to his son's. He knelt down right in front of them. He glanced at Buffy, she nodded. Sam looked totally confused.
"Ok, I am going to give you boys a choice. It's a choice that me nor Sam nor your mom ever got…" Sam caught on.
"What is it daddy?" Dillan asked.
"You can get in this fight with us, or wait on the sideline until it's over…Now I want you to think about it really hard because once you're in…it's really hard to back out. Me and Sam…we've been doing this since we were real little. It all started when I was four…our dad started training Sam when has was nine…we were raised to be soldiers. Your mom, she was forced into this too. She was called by the powers that be and she got handed superpowers and told to go fight vampires and demons when she was fifteen. We don't want you to feel the same way we did…that's why we are giving you the choice. We all would understand if you would rather wait it out where it's safe."
Dean looked back at Sam who had a boyish grin on his face and then at Buffy who gave him a nod of approval and then back at his sons who were all a deep concentration.
Fifteen minutes later Dean was in the driver's seat of the Impala once again. This time there wasn't that empty feeling like something was missing. He took Buffy's hand in his and then looked into the back seat where Michael, Anthony, and Dillan were all looking through books on Norse mythology trying to determine how to take her down. Dean glance over Buffy's head at Sam, his brother.
Their lives were basically starting over again but they didn't mind. This time, there was no plan, no preordained arrangement for their lives. He and Buffy silently agreed that this time, they would go with the flow.
Life was good.
The End