"Here's your bag, it has all your stuff." said Dean as he dropped the duffel bag beside the hospital bed.
"The receptionist said the doctor will be here soon with the release forms. We'll wait outside so you can get dressed." Sam then followed Dean out and shut the door.
Lucy eagerly got off the bed and heaved the bag onto it. The duffel bag was filled with neatly folded clothes. Lucy dug into it and found that they were complete outfits folded so that they could be grabbed easily and her underwear was safely tucked into the folds so they wouldn't fall out.
Lucy made sure the door was, in fact, shut and that the blinds on the windows were drawn before she undressed. She had a hard time undoing the knots of her gown so she pulled it off over her head and then proceeded to change into her new outfit.
The first thing she noticed was that her bras were smaller and then she spotted a tattoo on her chest. She grabbed the outfit and went into the bathroom. Lucy turned the lights on and was astounded by what she saw in the large mirror. She looked tired, but she was more tan than before, she was thinner and more muscular than she use to be. Her hair was less frizzy, longer and lighter. And on her body was a large strange tattoo of a pentagram inside a sun over her heart. She also noticed she had large bruises and lots of little scars.
She had a small circle in her left shoulder, thin lines on her arms, and she could see at least a dozen scars varying in size and shape on the rest of her body. She had no clue how she got any of the new scars, but out of them all, she wished she could forget how she got her oldest and still largest scar.
Lucy shuttered and then threw on her clothes knowing she had taken long enough, but when she was finally fully dressed, she could not believe what she was wearing. An almost skin tight dark blue shirt, well fitting blue jeans and surprisingly comfortable women's hiking boots.
As she took a few steps and even jumped, she found that she didn't jiggle like she use to. Her clothes, although close-fitting, flattered her figure better than any of her clothes from before ever had. Lucy thought she must have been very confident of herself. She knew she needed to hurry so she ran back out to her bag and checked the zipper pockets for a brush, a toothbrush and some toothpaste. She returned to the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth and then her hair and then put it up in a ponytail.
She put everything back into the pocket then zipped up her bag, slung it onto her shoulder and walked out with her head held high.
"Sorry I took so long." Lucy apologise to the guys. The doctor hadn't gotten there so Lucy just stood there in the awkward silence. "I've been wondering," Lucy inquired, "What happened to me?"
"You were mugged." Dean said quickly. Sam gave him a look that Lucy couldn't read and Dean returned with an equally unreadable look of his own. They silently seemed to argue and then Dean sighed, "We'll tell you after we get out of here."
What could be so bad that they didn't want to tell her. She thought for a minute and then she whispered, "I was raped!?"
Dean looked at her like she had grown another head, "What, No." he said like she was stupid to even think that.
Sam laughed, "Do you think if that had happened the guy would even be alive right now?"
"How would I know." Lucy said with quiet anger, she didn't like to be laughed at, but she was glad that she was wrong.
The doctor finally showed up with Lucy's release papers and they left the hospital.
They walked to the far end of the hospital's parking lot to an older black car. Dean opened the trunk and motioned for Lucy to give him her bag. As she handed it to him she asked, "Why are you parked all the way back here?"
"So no one will park next to her and bang their door into the side." He closed the trunk and patted the car before heading toward the driver's seat. Sam had already claimed the front passenger seat so Lucy got in back. She slid into the middle of the back seat and leaned forward so her head was between theirs, resting her arms on the front seats.
"This is a really nice car." She said looking around.
Dean looked at her offended, "This is not just some car. This is a vintage 1967 Impala."
"Oh, really? That's awesome! I've heard about them but I've never actually seen one!" Lucy faked amazement and it seemed to make Dean happy that she was an Impala enthusiast. "So, are you guys going to tell me what happened?" Lucy asked, raising her voice when Dean started the car and Metallica blasted through the speakers.
Sam lowered the volume so they could speak easier, "Well, we agreed to tell you the truth."
Dean took a deep breath, " We were," he gripped the steering wheel harder, "hunting a group of shapeshifters and during the fight you got knocked out." his grip on the steering wheel changed again. "And thats it."
Lucy sat back and thought about what he said. It would explain all the strange scars, she glanced up and saw Dean looking at her through the rearview mirror.
"So I take it that this isn't the first thing that we've... Hunted." Lucy said leaning forward again.
"Thats right, we hunt any monster that has the bad fortune of getting on our radar." said Sam as Dean pulled out of the parking lot and onto a highway.
"Monsters? As in vampire, werewolves and ghosts, oh my?" Lucy said sarcastically
"Yup," said Dean glancing at her through the rearview again, " all the monsters you hear about in fairy tales, they are real."
"You mean that even the Loch Ness monster is real?" she asked, completely serious.
"Ok, not all the fairy tales, but most of them are real."
"So UFO's?"
"UFO sightings and abductions are crap, it's just people looking for attention." Dean said loosening up his hold on the steering wheel.
"So we just got done with a hunt and where are we going now?"
"We're taking you to Bobby's to see what you know and get you back into fighting shape."
Lucy looked at Dean with amusement, " I'm sorry, but the mental image i just got from that is you guys teaching, well, reteaching me how to box."
Sam smirked, "What he means is that we will see how well you shoot a gun and how you do with a knife and start to teach you latin."
"Latin, what for?"
"Exorcisms."said Dean
Sam saw Lucy's look of confusion. "We have to exorcise demons and latin also helps with some of the spells that we do."
Lucy's eyes lit up at the mention of spells.
"Not like you think." Sam said fast.
"What Sam meant was rituals," Dean continued, "We sometimes need to use a ritual to gank whatever it is that we're hunting."
"Oh." Lucy sat back disappointed.
"You didn't think that our life was all unicorns and fairy dust did you?" Dean said rather harshly.
"No," Lucy said with a sigh, " but I did hope that magic was real. Kinda like in Harry Potter."
Dean laughed and Sam let out a little chuckle.
"What does gank mean?" asked Lucy
Sam looked back at her, "It's another word for kill that we use."
"Oh." Lucy thought that was smart.
For a while all was silent in the car and then a phone rang. Dean fished out his phone, looked at the caller ID and answered.
"Yeah Bobby?" … "But Bobby we're bringing Lucy-" … "Bobby, she has no idea how to defend herself." Dean shifted uncomfortably, "Yeah, ok." Dean sighed and stuck the phone back into his pocket.
"What Bobby say?" Sam asked.
"There's been four abductions in Elwood." Dean looked angry, "and Bobby wants us to check it out."
Sam looked surprised, "Didn't you tell him-"
"Yes," Dean's voice came out as a growl, "but he said this would be a good way to see how much work she needs."
"Who's Bobby?" Lucy asked.
"Bobby's a family friend." Sam said looking back at her.
"He's helped us get out of some serious messes" said Dean. "And we pass through Elwood anyway so it would be a waste if we didn't check it out."
They stopped at a little gas station in the middle of nowhere to fill up.
"You two go get something to eat and drink, just get me the usual, Sam. Or pie if they've got any." said Dean as he pulled up to a pump.
Lucy and Sam walked into the dim gas station that smelled faintly of beer and cigarettes. Lucy followed Sam to the cooler section in the back and as Sam grabbed a six-pack of beer, Luck looked at the other section of soda. She was in the middle of deciding between the Cherry Pepsi and the Dr Pepper when Sam silently came up behind her and said, "Try the Vanilla Coke." Lucy startled and automatically punched at him. Lucky for Sam, he had taken a step back when she had turned suddenly.
Sam put his hands up, "Woah, I didn't mean to scare you."
Lucy bristled at the smirk he had, "You didn't scare me," She turned and snatched a bottle of Vanilla Coke, "You just startled me." She took a breath trying to slow her heart.
Lucy turned back toward Sam, biting the inside of her cheek. She knew that she would be spending a lot of time with both Sam and Dean so she couldn't start any fights.
"Sam?" Lucy asked as they made their way through each aisle .
"Yeah?" Sam picked up a bag of hard candy only to set it right back down again.
"Sorry I almost punched you." She looked shyly up at him before returning her gaze to a package of chocolate chip cookies.
"That's fine, it's good to see that your reflexes are still in good shape."
They got up to the register and paid for the gas and the snacks; a pack of cookies and the vanilla coke for Lucy, two boxes of healthy granola bars for Sam, a pack of twizzlers for Dean and the six-pack for the guys to split.
Lucy and Sam walked back to the Impala. Dean was waiting for them, he had his door open while he stood looking over the top of his car with his arms resting on the roof. When they got close Dean asked, "Pie?"
Sam shook his head, "No."
Dean heaved a sad sigh and got into the car.
Sam was carrying his and Deans snacks and looked like he needed help opening the door so Lucy opened it for him. This gained a strange look from Dean which Sam seemed able to read.
"I wouldn't worry so much about Luc here," said Sam not seeing Lucy arch an eyebrow in surprise to the nickname, "She still has great reflexes, she took a swing at me."
Dean smiled, "Thats my girl."
"Your girl?" Lucy asked skeptically as she got in.
"Yeah," Dean looked back at her with a grin that looked fake, "Cause I trained you. It's good to hear that my protege hasn't lost everything."
"Uh-huh." Lucy said unconvinced.
Dean didn't go any further with the conversation, instead he started the Impala.
Led Zeppelin filled the silence as Dean concentrated on driving. Sam occasionally glanced up from his book to watch the scenery while Lucy, with nothing else to do, just watched the scenery pass through the driver's side window. Her body, still sore from the bruises, was now stiff as well. Lucy knew that if she could move, it would help. Lucy glanced at Dean and Sam then she put her right leg up on the seat. She then put her left hand on top of her right and tried to touch her toes. She was surprised to find that, not only could she touch her toes, but her nose could touch her knee. The stretching caused her a little pain, but it was a good stretchy pain.
Sam glanced from his book at her and gave her a confused look, "What are you doing?"
Lucy flipped her ponytail to the other side so she could see Sam as she stretched. "I'm stretching." Lucy grabbed her foot and tried to pull herself lower, then straightened and put her foot back down on the floor.
"Why?" a bit of Sam's hair fell in his face as he shook his head, not understanding.
Lucy slid to the left side of the car, put her left foot up on the seat and then proceeded stretch some more. "Because I'm sore and this helps."
"Oh." Sam thought about it for a moment before going back to his book.
Dean glanced back at Lucy and she gave him a quick smile then she returned her focus on her stretching. Lucy soon found that there wasn't enough room in the back seat to do anything but the leg stretches. Now Lucy was not only still sore, but she was also bored. She huffed a sigh and let herself fall back onto the seat, on her back Lucy could see lines where the roof of the Impala had once been bent.
"What?" Dean glanced back at her.
"I'm bored." Lucy used her fingers to follow the lines on the roof, making unknown designs in the air.
"Then read a book."
"I don't have a book." Lucy squinted in annoyance at the fact.
"Yeah you do, you usually keep one under one of the seats."
Lucy's eyes lit up. Quickly she swiped her hands under Sam's seat, but found nothing except a rather large dust bunny. She then put her hand under Dean's seat and found it. As she pulled it out her eyes grew large.
"No," She said in a disbelieving tone. She brought the book closer to the window to see it in better light. "It is!" Lucy was grinning from ear to ear, hugging the book. She looked up at the guys who were not sharing her joy at her discovery.
"Do you know what this is!?" holding the book, cover up, between the front seats.
"It's your favorite book and most treasured possession, we know." Sam said annoyed. Lucy instantly pulled the book back into her arms, protectively, regretting the sudden outburst.
Dean hit Sam's shoulder, giving him a look Lucy couldn't quite see then he sighed and looked at her through the rearview mirror.
"Sorry about him, he's having some... Issues." His eyes grew soft, "I'm really glad that you like the book."
Something in Lucy's mind clicked, "Did you get me this book?"
Dean gave a small laugh and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, you mentioned it being your favorite so when I saw it I got it. No big deal." Dean continued to look at her, occasionally glancing at the road. Lucy looked carefully at the book. A bookmark had been placed only a few pages in, the cover had no dents or folds in it and the cover art was not dulled with age. The spine had only one small crease from where she had previously opened it. It was straight off the shelf new and Lucy knew for a fact that they had stopped selling the book while she was still in high school.
Lucy looked up at Dean's eyes watching her in the rearview mirror. She wanted to hug him, but she settled on giving him her most heartfelt smile, "Thank you."
Dean must have smiled too because his eyes lit up before returning to the road.
The time flew by as Lucy immersed herself into the book. It had been years since she had last seen it, so while she was absorbed in it, she failed to notice that they had entered a small town until Dean parked in a motel parking lot.
"This is it, Elwood." said Dean as he turned off the Impala. Lucy looked up from her book and saw that it was late afternoon. The building in front of them was one story and slightly rundown looking.
"I'll get us a room, then we can get some grub from the diner we passed on the way in." said Dean. Then he got out of the car and walked into the motels main office.
Lucy put her book back under the driver's seat and looked at their surroundings. The motel was on a quiet road but she could hear traffic in the distance, so the main road was only a few streets away. The weather was nice, the sky only had the occasional big fluffy cloud.
Dean returned swinging a key around his finger with a grin. He got in and rubbed his hands together, "Time for some chow." He then turned on the Impala, the engine roared to life and they left the parking lot in search for food.
They entered a small 80's style diner called Mr. Happy Burger that was about a mile away from the town. It was all but empty so older waitress seated them in one of the red and white checkered booths away from the other customers. Dean sat on one side of the table and Sam sat on the other, this left Lucy uncertain where to sit so she quickly slipped beside Dean. The waitress gave them their menus and left them to decide.
Lucy looked at the menu, she couldn't decide what she wanted and sighed. Dean looked at her, giving her a wink ,"I've got this." He then took her menu from her and gave hers and his to Sam who gave the stack to the waitress.
"Ready to order I assume?" she asked while she took out her order sheet.
Sam started, "Yeah I'll have the Chef salad and a Raspberry tea."
Dean smiled at the waitress, "I'll have the Big Al with large fries and a large chocolate shake." The waitress looked at Lucy, "Oh and she'll have the grilled chicken with small fries and a large strawberry shake." Dean gave the waitress a pleasant smile and she walked back to the kitchen.
Lucy raised her eyebrow at him and he gave her a cocky grin, "If you don't like it then I'll give you all of my fries and my shake, deal?"
Lucy thought about it, he never said that she had to give up her shake and the extra fries would fill her up. "Deal."
They waited a while and the waitress came back with two waters and Sam's tea, "The shakes and your food will take a few more minutes." she then went to help another table.
"So, what are we going to do first, tomorrow?" Lucy asked them.
"Sam's already been looking in the newspaper." Dean looked at Sam.
"There have been four people who've disappeared," Sam took a sip of his tea. "and the town believes that it's aliens."
"Aliens, but didn't you tell me that they were fake?" Lucy asked.
"They are," Dean sighed, "but some people are insane enough to believe it."
Lucy looked up at the ceiling in thought for a minute then looked at Dean, "How can you be sure? I mean, Earth can't be the only planet with life on it. So is it really so far-fetched to think that there are possibly aliens?"
Dean looked at her like he couldn't believe what she just said, "Yes," he said a little too loud, "and even if they did exist, why would they go around abducting people?"
Lucy became defensive, " I don't know. And odds are you are right, but if, by some small chance, it is aliens then we should be ready"
Dean scoffed, "And how do you suppose that we get ready for something that has no lore on how to stop it?"
"Lore?" Lucy hadn't heard the term before.
"What," Dean looked very confused, "you know what lore means." Dean's expression changed into understanding. " No, no you wouldn't, would you." He put his head into his hand and gave a heavy sigh. He looked to the ceiling then slowly down, until, finally, he was looking at her. "Lore is all the legends and stories that depict monsters." His voice was softer, more tired now.
Lucy was confused by Dean sudden change of tone. Then she realized what had happened, Dean had forgotten that she'd lost her memory. Lucy quickly smiled, "So what do we know?"
Sam had just been watching Dean and Lucy while they quarrelled and was glad to change the subject. "Only that there have been four vanishings. I'll know more once I get my laptop set up in the motel room."
Dean nodded, but stayed silent and so did Lucy. She wasn't mad at him, but she didn't see why he got so riled up. When he told her that monsters were real she didn't second guess him, now that she thought about it, why didn't she second guess him. When he had told her it felt like someone was telling her what she had already known but had forgotten. Perhaps her memory was slowly coming back. The thought made Lucy smile.
The waitress came up to their table with their food and gave Lucy a questioning glance. Lucy smiled to her and thanked her for the food. After the waitress walked away Lucy looked hesitantly at the food before her.
"Just try a bit." Dean have her a half smile before taking a bite out of his Big Al. Lucy looked at the grilled chicken breast on her plate, she cut off a piece and ate it, chewing slowly. She found that it wasn't as bad as she had thought. She then reached to try her strawberry shake which only had a straw and a thin spoon, no whip cream or even a cherry, it was just how she liked her shakes.
But Dean put his hand over the top of her shake and shook his head then with his other hand pointed to her chicken, "Eat first."
Lucy raised her eyebrow, but complied. She was halfway through eating her dinner when she saw Dean reach for his shake and she put her hand over his shake just like he did to hers. She shook her head and swallowed, "You're not allowed to until I've had a taste of mine and if I don't like mine then I get yours, remember?" Lucy teased and Dean rolled his eyes with a smirk and he went back to his food.
Lucy swallowed the last bite of her chicken and popped the last two fries in her mouth. As she chewed she eyed Dean's food, all he had left was maybe three more bites of his burger and a third of his fries. She watched him as she pretended to slowly grab her water then she quickly grabbed her shake, but Dean was fast and his hand was over it before she lifted it.
"Drink some more water first." he smiled knowingly. Sam on the other hand just sighed heavily, rolling his eyes before taking another bite then continued to munch on his salad, ignoring them. Dean only gave him a quick side glance before looking back at Lucy.
Lucy gave him a playful glare, "And, why should I? I've already eaten all of my food and you said-"
Dean opened his mouth, but took a moment to say anything, "Please?" his eyes were playful.
Lucy smiled teasingly, "Well, since you asked so nicely." She picked up her water which was already half gone. She took two large gulps then set it down. She gave Dean a look that said, are you gonna let me have it or not?
Dean lifted his hand from the glass, his eyes bright. Lucy reached for it, keeping an eye on Dean. She brought the straw to her mouth and sipped some of the half melted shake into her mouth. The taste was amazing! It tasted like real strawberries, but only sweet, not tart.
Dean's smile grew and he lifted his own shake to his lips, taking a sip before saying, "This place has the best strawberry shakes in the world." he emphasized the sentence with his hands. Dean continued to watch her as she tried unsuccessfully to slowly savor the shake. His gaze made her more self conscious than she liked, but she tried to ignore him. Lucy finished her shake sooner than she wanted. She leaned her head back closing her eyes, savoring the last of the fading flavor.
"Check please." said Sam. Lucy opened her eyes and found herself looking at the ceiling. The tiles were slightly reflective so Lucy could see the colored smudges that were Dean , Sam, and herself as well as the table and the booth.
The waitress came to their table and left the check. She gave Lucy another look that Lucy realized was concern. Lucy gave her another smile before sitting back up. Dean pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and looked expectantly at Lucy. Lucy saw Sam scooting out of the booth and got the message, she got out. Dean walked to the register and Sam continued out to the Impala. Lucy decided to stay with Dean because, for some strange reason, she felt uneasy around Sam.
She stretched her legs as much as the short walk would allow. The waitress quickly rung them up and they left the diner. Lucy looked at the sky, the sun almost done setting making the sky purple, pink and orange.
Dean looked back at Lucy, "You coming?"
Lucy tore her gaze away from the sunset and looked back at him. "Yeah." Lucy got into the Impala and watched the sunset until they drove back into town and it disappeared behind some small town houses. Once within the town it didn't take long to get to the motel.
The sun had all but set by the time that Dean parked the Impala in front of last motel door, leaving the sky dark blue. Lucy thought about taking her book into the motel room but decided that it was safer to leave it in the Impala. Dean opened the trunk as Lucy got out. He handed her her duffel bag then pulled out two more duffel bags, Sam pulled out another duffel bag and what looked like a laptop case before Dean shut the trunk.
"I have a free hand, I can get the door." Lucy offered.
"Nah, I got it." Dean slung the bags onto his shoulder and walked to the door with Lucy following closely behind. Expertly fishing the key out of his pocket, Dean opened the door. He flipped on the lights and dropped his bags at the foot of the first bed. Then he fell, face down, onto it, letting out a content sigh. Lucy stood next to the door to let Sam in but didn't know what to do next. She saw that in the back there was a small makeshift kitchen with only a sink, a microwave and possibly a mini fridge, separated from the two beds with a strange corn ornamental wall. there was a desk with a phone on the back wall and a door that Lucy guessed lead to the bathroom and beside that door was an outdated table and matching chairs. The room itself was tinted green, even the panels were green, although the two very western paintings above the beds did make the room feel more like a home.
Luck put her bag on the chair that was beside the first bed. Dean turned his head to look at her.
"What's wrong?" Dean sat up.
"There are only two beds." Lucy pointed to the said beds.
Dean looked behind him, "Oh, yeah. You get that bed." he pointed to the other bed.
"What about Sam?" she asked.
Sam, who had been setting up his laptop, turned to her, "I don't sleep."
Lucy gave him a look of not understanding, "Don't sleep? But you need sleep, if you don't it can really mess you up."
"I've lasted almost a whole year without it." Sam responded.
"How?" Lucy questioned him.
"Being soulless helps." he said dryly.
Lucy looked at him stunned, "What happened?" The words slipped out without her thinking, but after she said them she somehow knew that he wasn't joking.
"We don't really know, but we're working on getting it back." Dean sat on the edge of his bed. "There is a lot that you need to catch up on and I promise that you will hear the whole story, but we need to figure out what's going on in this town first." Dean looked at her with soft eyes. He leaned over and patted the other bed. "Get some sleep."
Lucy nodded, it had been a long day and she was tired. She grabbed her bag and headed to the bathroom.
"Um, Luc?" Dean called as she reached the bathroom door, she turned back slowly, still not use to the nickname. "You don't have any pajamas, um. In our line of work it's best to sleep in our clothes, just in case."
Lucy's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh, ok." she hadn't thought about that, but she was glad he told her because she was still very lost on the way things worked now. She closed the bathroom door, setting her bag on the closed toilet. She opened it, searching for her toothbrush and toothpaste. Once she found them she quickly brushed her teeth.
Suddenly her thoughts turned to her friend, Nikki. Her eyes welled up so fast that Lucy couldn't stop them from flowing over. She washed her mouth out and took deep, even breaths hoping that her tears wouldn't turn to sobs. Lucy directed her thoughts onto the happy times that she and Nikki had, like on one Halloween when they had gone to a party and after everyone has gotten smashed. Nikki and her ran in screaming that the headless horseman was right behind them and everyone had run out the back door screaming.
Lucy smiled at the memory, she looked up at the mirror and saw that her eyes were a bit red now, so she splashed her face with water, hoping it would help. She put her toothbrush and toothpaste into her bag and zipped it back up. She took another deep breath before she opened the door and walked to her bed. She dropped the bag at the foot of her bed like Dean had done with his. Lucy looked at Dean and saw that he was looking at her, his eyes full of concern.
Lucy tilted her head, "What?" Dean shook his head and laid back down on his stomach, pulling his blankets up over his shoulders and closing his eyes. Lucy pulled off her boots and socks, putting her socks into her boots. She then retreated under the covers of the bed. She closed her eyes and let the faint tapping of Sam's typing lull her to sleep.