"Since time is of the essence, I'll just go ahead and add a plus-four to the prophet's invitation," Beau said, and then tossed the invitation into the air and disappeared. Dean and Sam discussed possible options for bidding and then decided to just have Kevin memorize the spell from the tablet.
"Ok, let's go," I said. It was the next day. We'd discovered the tablet missing, hunted down the person who stole it, and got the information from the pawn shop for where to find the person who bought it. I was impatient to get started.
"Nope, you're staying here," Dean said.
I frowned. "Yeah, like I'm going to be safer out here than I am in there with you guys. You heard what Beau said. It's warded against everything. I'll be fine."
Dean glanced at Sam, and Sam nodded. "Fine," Dean said. "But you do exactly what we tell you to, nothing more, nothing less." He gave me a look that meant I was on a short leash.
"You'd think she'd already know that after last night," Kevin muttered. I flushed bright red, realizing that he and his mom had in fact overheard.
"Kevin," Ms. Tran said, snapping her fingers. He subsided, but I was still embarrassed.
We headed to the warehouse where the auction was being held. All of us except Dean made it through the metal detector. We started looking for the tablet. Dean asked how we were supposed to tell who was who. When Sam said that they were all monsters, a little pang of hurt started up in my stomach again.
Dean spotted the tablet, but it was covered up and there was no way Kevin could get to it. The plates blocking it were metal, so I couldn't even use directed fire to burn them up. Sam said that we needed to come up with a Plan B, and then Crowley was there.
"Hello, boys," Crowley said. "And you brought your little fire starter, how sweet." Crowley didn't often show interest in me, so his calling me out made me a bit nervous. Dean pulled me behind him.
"Kevin! Sorry about your play date. Her name…?" Crowley shrugged and continued by taunting Ms. Tran, who slugged him right across the face. I cheered until Sam held up his hand to make me stop. Dean started to move forward but Sam blocked him.
Then Plutus came out, looking for all the world like a stereotypical mobster on television, and Beau announced that the auction was starting. Sam put his hand between my shoulder blades and led me to the chairs that were set up. Dean stopped to talk to someone and joined us a few moments later.
When bidding on the tablet started, Crowley and a guy in a Weiner Hut uniform started a bidding war that ended with Crowley offering up the moon. Then Beau added Kevin to the lot and suddenly Kevin was locked to a post next to Plutus. Sam and Dean stood up and were shoved back down into their seats by the bouncers. I opened myself to the fire within me, and Dean grabbed my leg and shook his head. I quenched the fire.
Ms. Tran offered up her soul, and Crowley left in a huff when Plutus accepted.
After the auction was over, Dean and Sam talked to Ms. Tran about losing her soul, and then I followed Dean and Sam into the room where Plutus waited, my heart skipping again when Dean said that we were getting off cheap by Ms. Tran losing her soul. It didn't feel like we were getting off cheap. And if that was cheap… I felt a little sick inside.
When we entered the room where Plutus was, Dean leaned down to whisper to me. "You keep that flame locked up. I don't care what happens. Got it?" I nodded. Ms. Tran came back into the room, and reached out to take Plutus's hand.
After that, things happened kind of fast. It was actually Crowley in Ms. Tran, and he shoved Sam and Dean away. Then Plutus was dead, and Sam and Dean were blocking Crowley from Kevin. I put a wall of flame in front of them, blocking Crowley further. Then Crowley was running away. I dropped the flame and Dean took off after her, and I took off after him. Sam yelled my name, but I ignored him.
Dean caught up with Crowley in the display room. He grabbed Crowley and shoved him against a post, putting the knife up to his throat. Except that it was also Ms. Tran's throat and if he killed Crowley he would also kill Ms. Tran. I screamed Dean's name as Kevin yelled "Mom!" I flung myself at Dean, shoving him just hard enough that Crowley was able to push him off and leave Ms. Tran's body in a wash of red smoke. I landed on my butt on the floor.
Before anyone could react, Crowley was picking up the tablet and warning Kevin to run or the Winchesters would use him up. Dean watched him leave angrily.
I got to my feet, afraid to look at Dean, but at the moment, he was more concerned with Ms. Tran. We helped Ms. Tran into a chair in the auction room, but she seemed to be catatonic. Sam joined us as Kevin took his mom's hand and tried to get her to talk to him. I hung back by the wall, trying to keep Dean's attention off of me.
Dean started trying to make Kevin feel better, but it didn't work. Then Kevin demanded a few minutes alone with his mom, and Sam told him that he could have five minutes. As Dean walked back into the display room, he snapped his fingers at me.
Oh fuck. He only did that when he was really pissed at me, like too pissed to speak. I flushed and followed along after him. When we were back in the display room, he pointed to a corner.
"Dean," I began, but then he looked at me, and I flushed again and went and stood in the corner.
Sam and Dean talked quietly on the other side of the room, too quietly for me to make out what they were saying. Then Dean said "Does it seem a little quiet in there to you?"
They left me and went back into the auction room, but Kevin was gone.
-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-
They spent the rest of the day looking for clues to find him, but they found neither hide nor hair. I followed along miserably, knowing I was in a lot of trouble, but really not pushing for them to hurry up and deal with me. If they wanted to take the rest of their lives hunting for Kevin before getting to me, then I was ok with that. They searched the warehouse, and then drove around the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen him. Sam did things on the computer; they tried calling him, all to no avail.
Finally, around ten o'clock that night, they gave up and got a room at a motel. Dean pulled the Impala up to the parking spot in front of the room, got out and then opened my door and gestured for me to get out. Sam got our stuff out of the trunk while Dean led me into the motel room and pointed to the bathroom.
"Shower and get ready for bed," he said.
"Dean," I started. He glared at me.
"I am too angry to deal with you right now," he said. "Shower and get ready for bed."
Sam came in with our stuff, and I pulled out my night shirt and my toiletry bag. Sam started setting wards around the room as I went into the bathroom.
I heard their low voices while I was showering, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I cried as the water poured over me, long after I was done washing.
Someone banged on the door. "You've had plenty of time, young lady. Dry off and get out here," Sam said through the door.
I shut off the water, dried off, and put on my night shirt and panties. I opened the door to see Sam standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest. I looked up at him. "I still need to brush my teeth."
He stepped back and let me go to the sink, which was outside of the bathroom. I brushed my teeth as quickly as I could, spurred to quickness by Sam's presence. When I turned around, I noticed that Dean wasn't in the room.
"Where's Dean?" I asked.
"He went for a run. Get in bed and go to sleep."
The blood drained from my face. "How am I supposed to get any sleep with this hanging over my head?" I asked.
"You should have thought about that before you did it. Get in bed." I scowled and Sam raised his eyebrows at me. "Don't think you can push me and make it happen quicker. You'll just make it worse. Now get in bed."
I gave up and climbed into the roll-away bed, burying my face in the pillow and crying softly. Sam sat down at the table, turned on his laptop, and started doing some research. Just like I thought, I didn't go to sleep. I was still awake an hour later when Dean returned. He grabbed some clothes out of his backpack and went into the bathroom.
When he got out, he and Sam talked about minor details like needing to visit a Laundromat and what the next steps in looking for Kevin were. I lay still in the bed, unable to sleep but not wanting them to know I was awake.
"Jessie," Dean said. "Come here." I didn't bother pretending to be asleep. I pushed back the covers and got out of the bed, dragging my feet over to Dean where he was sitting across from Sam at the table. "Tell me why you're in trouble," he said.
I swallowed. I hated it when he basically made me lecture myself, but I really had no choice. "I disobeyed orders," I said. "I lit a fire after you told me to keep it locked down. I chased after you when you went after Kevin. I ignored Sam when he called my name. I shoved you when you were on Ms. Tran." I paused for a minute. "I was just trying to help! You would have killed her if I hadn't done that and then Kevin would never have helped us again!"
"Who makes the decisions around here, Jessie?" Dean asked.
"You and Sam do," I whispered, looking down at my bare feet.
"What are you supposed to do?"
"Follow your orders. Stay out of the fighting. Obey the rules about the fire-starting. But Dean, I can help. I can do so much more if you'd just let me, just teach me! I was able to help in Purgatory!"
"When we want you to help, we'll tell you to. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Dean."
He shook his head. "I don't think you do, because I've asked you that several times in the last two weeks and you keep doing the exact opposite of what you're supposed to be doing." I flushed. "I don't know what you're trying to prove, but all you're doing is getting yourself into more and more trouble. I've talked, I've explained, I've asked you for an explanation, and now I've had enough."
"I'm sorry, Dean," I said.
"I don't believe you, or you wouldn't keep acting like this. What do I have to do?" he demanded. I shrugged, staring at the dark blue carpet. "Fine, go get the hairbrush."
My head shot up. "No, Dean!"
"You want me to take off my belt instead? Because I'm seriously considering it, Jessie."
I burst into tears and he flung his hands up. "Lord, save me from children crying after they've gotten themselves into trouble. Go get the hairbrush, Jessie," he said.
I turned around to go to my bag. I tried to stop crying, but it wasn't working. I pulled the wood-backed hairbrush out of my bag and took it back to him. He pointed it at me.
"You are on restriction. No phone, no laptop, no games, no mp3 player, no books except school books. When we're in a motel, you're on your bed, back to the TV. When we're on a hunt, you stay in the god-damned car. You ask before you leave our presence. No fires: not candles, not matches, not cook fires. Don't even think of crossing me on this or I'll have you over my knee every night for a week."
"Yes, Dean." I swallowed. "For how long?"
"At least a week," he said. The fact that he didn't give me a definite time frame was telling. He was going to hold me to prime behavior for the entire week or he would extend it. It had happened before.
"Yes, Dean," I said.
He took my arm and pulled me over his lap.
There was no warm-up this time. He just started in with the hairbrush, smacking my butt over and over. I tried not to cry, but I couldn't help it. I grabbed his shin and held on, crying the entire time as he blistered my ass with the hairbrush. "I want a change in your behavior," he said as he brought the brush down again and again. "I do not want to have to do this again."
I didn't try apologizing this time. I knew it would do no good. After what seemed like forever, he finally stopped, put my hairbrush on the table, and then pulled me into his arms, holding me close while I cried. I was going to be uncomfortable for a couple of days when I sat.
After I stopped crying, he helped me off his lap. Sam looked up from his computer. "Come here, Jessie."
I walked over to him, staring down at my feet. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle it if he decided to spank me for not stopping when he had called my name, but he just took my chin in his hand and forced me to look at him. "Next time, you listen when I call your name," he said. I nodded. "You're going to write me 500 lines of I will come when Sam calls me."
"Yes, Sam," I said.
He pulled me in for a hug. "You think you can sleep now?"
I nodded. Both of them tucked me in. I rolled over to face the wall and wondered if I was going to be able to break this habit of bedtime spankings. I fell asleep to the sound of Sam typing and Dean watching television.
