Chapter 2

Sam didn't know where to start exactly but the church would be his best bet for finding out who had taken over Jim's post and possibly what had been done with her in the pastor's wake. The new pastor was polite and shrugged lot. Said that the former pastor was a good man, taking in Liz the way he had. Liz had had the option to stay but had chosen to move on. She had been very attached to Pastor Jim. Said that a lot of people had turned up to give their regards to the old man who had passed away of a heart attack in his cellar. Said people from the Vatican had shown up to see the body itself… all very strange. Where was she now? Only God knew.

Sam took a stroll through town to think of anything that would help. He sat in an old diner and racked his brain for anything. All he really had was her picture in the back of his dad's journal. It was a picture from the 80s, though and in Dean's duffle to boot.

He wondered, truly, how many lives had she lead. He wondered how many of them had been happy lives. He had read that some of them had been really horrible. He waited for the waitress to come by. He asked her but she was new and she didn't know much about Blue Earth. Then he was directed to the bar past the railroad tracks. Said to ask for Stan or his sister.

Angela was a big help. Said she knew mother and daughter. She had moved on when the pastor had died. But didn't leave a forwarding address and never called to check in. Good woman that girl.

--

Dean packed up his things and hit the road, using his dad's journal as a guide. People he'd been in contact with who were always good for a hunt. New bottle of whiskey and his car, he set out. Wondered if Sam were really coming back of it was just an excuse to go back to college and live a normal life.

--

Sam followed the trail across six states and ended up in his own backyard. Sam ended up in a bar in the middle of nowhere. A nice middle aged woman had stared him down for a few minutes then served him a beer, commenting that a nice college boy shouldn't be in backwater bars. He had just smiled and said that he grew up in backwater bars and they all felt like coming home. She had laughed and told him not to get too drunk. He was ready to give up his hunt. He took Dad's journal to a back booth and opened it up while he sipped his beer. Then he looked up to find the same woman staring at him. "Where did you get that book?"

"Um… it's mine." Sam had stat up, closing the book.

"That book belongs to John Winchester and if he finds out you've got it… you're not long for this world."

Sam took a moment to digest that threat. He had nodded to himself with a small, sad smile. "Dad came through here often, did he?" She stood there, eyes narrowed. "I'm Sam Winchester."

Then that scowl turned to a grin. "Well, I'll be… the littlest Winchester. Where is your dad? And you've got a brother too, right?"

Sam nodded to himself. "Dean's… on the road and Dad… well, he's under it."

She nodded. "Sorry to hear that. I'm Ellen. Your dad was like family once. I'm sad to hear he's gone."

"He died… and my brother… well… he solved the family problem for us all."

"Killed that son of a bitch that killed your mother… good for him."

Sam's eyes slid to his hands. "So, you know about that, huh?"

"Well, a man like your daddy…" She looked away, wet in her eyes. "He's not very trusting but a bottle of whiskey has been known to loosen a tongue or two tougher than his." She straightened up and looked him over. "Winchesters are welcome here. You need a place to crash, I got a couple rooms out back."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate it." He cleared his throat. "I can earn my keep. I've… never been one to follow in my father's footsteps as far as… room and board go."

"Good to hear." She chuckled with a face that spoke of how intimately she was familiar with John's way with money. "You… uh… pass that same message on to your brother. Your daddy… he sure was proud of you boys."

Sam felt the wet coming to his eyes. "He talked about us?"

"All the time." She nodded to him. "Dean's been a crack shot since he was six. Sammy's the smartest boy on the planet… Course… he stopped coming around when you boys was preteens still but when he did come by…"

"Yeah." He nodded until she went away. Anything to keep from letting that small piece of him inside, that tiny piece that still yearned for his father's approval, from growing too big.

--

Dean glanced at the passenger seat. It had been weeks without Sammy. On the road, alone. Maybe the kid had gone back to Stanford. Maybe Dean was on his own. The demon was dead after all. Dad was dead. No one around to make Sammy stay anymore.

--

Sam dunked glasses in a sink, scratched a finger nail against a stain or two, and loaded all into a dishwasher labeled "bar glasses". Then he set to hand-washing a stack of sturdy bowls which had once housed pretzels. In the midst of that, he didn't hear the girl walk up on him.

"That's what I like to see. Muscles in an apron."

He whipped around, splashing soapy water onto the wood floor. "Pardon?"

"Mom! Who's the help?" She called back, toddler on her hip.

"Sam Winchester! Be nice to him!" Came the call from up front.

"Winchester?" She tilted her head at him, blonde hair falling over her shoulder. "Any relation to John?"

"He's my dad." Sam nodded, turning back to the sink. "Well, he was."

"I'm sorry." She offered and Sam felt like she meant it. "It happens, in this life. Job got my dad, too." He felt her hand on his shoulder briefly and then she disappeared up front with the baby.

He took the next several moments and bowls to control his face. He was drying and stacking when Ellen and the baby returned to the kitchen. Sam had to smile at the kid, who stared back with huge hazel eyes. "Your grandbaby is adorable."

"Well, thank you but he's not my grandbaby. Thank God. Jo would have to slow down a minute to let a man catch her." Ellen hoisted the boy higher on her hip. "One of my waitresses… this is her boy. She's out on a Mommy's Day Out. This kid's no trouble anyhow, are you Danny, boy?"

"Hey Danny, I'm Sam." Sam tossed his towel on a counter and held his hand out to the boy, who took it and made Sam's hand look huge.

"I remember your daddy coming into my bar, the two of you in tow and thinking what a moron he must be to drag two kids around the country like that… but you look like you turned out fine." Ellen kissed Danny's head and wandered off out the backdoor. "Lord knows staying in one place didn't do Jo no good."

Sam watched her go and wondered at what she meant. He almost picked up the phone to call Dean but he swore to himself that he wouldn't do that until he found Liz. How in the hell Dean wasn't crawling the country looking for her… but then, it wasn't like it had been a simple break up or anything. They had abandoned her to make new memories out of nothing.

--

Dean slid into a booth and turned over his coffee cup and laid a twenty over it. The hangover was killing him and he'd be useless in an actual fight. She took the twenty, poured him a hot cup and didn't talk any longer than to lay a menu on his table. He poured in a generous shot of whiskey to remedy his condition. After nearly the whole cup, he felt like he could eat some pancakes but waved off her offer of eggs and bacon.

What did Sam think they were going to do? Find Liz, then what? Make sure she was doing okay but they had no right to inform her of what was in the dark. They had no right to steal her life from her. They had no right to take away the normal she was finally given after centuries and centuries of giving her happiness and life for a cause she could probably care less about. Now she could meet somebody and fall in love and get married and have babies and live her life.

Liz deserved that life. White picket fence with a good man; a husband with a good job. Father to her kids and nothing bigger to worry about than which schools the kids would go to… and Dean couldn't stand to watch her have it. Not even from the end of a block. He'd wanted it. He knew he'd wanted it and he'd been too much of a coward to tell his dad to shove it. Too much of a coward to let the hunting life go. To learn to fix cars in one place. To earn money the way Uncle Sam had intended. To buy a ring and propose and live that life that his mother had wanted for her boys before that evil son of a bitch had entered their house and shattered their American dream.

Stabbing his pancakes, he forced them down and drowned him with more whisky laced coffee. Let Sam find her and find her okay and then they could get on with their lives…even if it meant dropping Sam off at a college to finish his degree.

TBC