Do you want a now romance with Chris and oc. Or for it to be longer to get there and for it to be Chris and Castiel?
Dead in the Water:
"Kids are the best, huh?" Dean grinned. Andrea was obviously ignoring him at this point. Chris bit her lip trying not to laugh. It wasn't often Dean got shot down. They only stopped when they reached a building called Lakefront Motel.
"There it is. Like I said, two blocks." Andrea said.
"Thanks." Sam said and Chris nodded.
But then Andrea looked at Dean. "Must be hard with your sense of direction. Never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line." Andrea threw again over her shoulder as she left. "Enjoy your stay!"
Chris started to grin. "You know, I think I actually like her."
"You would." Dean scoffed.
Sam shook his he's head with an identical grin. "Kids are the best? You don't even like kids."
"I love kids!" Dean protest r.
"Dean, I hate to tell you this but haven't even seen you with a kid in the last two months I've known you." Chris said. She was grinning widely now, looking years younger then she was.
"Name three children that you even know." Sam suggested.
Dean looked like he was having some serious thought. Chris crackled with laughter. "Don't strain yourself Dean-o." Following Sam who waved a dismissive hand to the motel.
Dean scratched his head helplessly. "I'm thinking!" Dean called after them before flowing.
A few minutes later found Chris carefully cleaning her gun. Sam was doing research on his laptop. Dean was going through their clothes, trying to see if they needed laundry duty soon. "So there's the three drowning victims this year." Sam said.
"Any before that?" Dean asked.
Chris hurriedly started putting her gun pieces together. "Yeah." Sam saw on the screen. "Six months spread out over the past thirty five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there, it's picking up its pace."
"But what could it want? Why kill these people?" Chris mused, sucking on her bottom lip.
"Could we have a lake monster on a binge?" Dean guessed.
Chris groaned, "I hate lake monsters." She explained to her brothers as they glanced up.
Sam shook his head. "This whole lake monster theory, it just bugs me." Chris tilted her head to the side in thought.
Dean leaned over Sam's shoulder to see the webpage. "Why?"
Sam explained, glancing over the page. "Loch Ness uh, Lake Champion. There are literally hundreds of eyewitness accounts but here, almost nothing."
"Well there has to be something. A secret people aren't telling?" Chris suggested. She stood and pushed Dean over with her hip to see the laptop screen.
Sam tapped his fingers on the desk. "Probably. Something is going on around here." Sam scrolled down the page when Dean sudden stopped him.
"Barr, Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?"
Chris' face converted into confusion. "Well you're not crazy. That name sounds too familiar to me to."
"Christopher Barr, the victim in May." Sam read from the screen. He clicked on another button. "Oh, Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband, Lucas' father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescues." The mood turned very sour after that fact. Especially with the picture shown of Chris wrapped in a blanket and looking so pathetic. Like a wet homeless stray puppy, all wide eyed. Chris looked down at her fingers. She was too damn sensitive when children were involved. "Maybe we have an eyewitness after all."
"No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over." They had all lost their mother but Dean had it hardest. Sam was to young to remember anything. All Chris could remember was the vague feeling of warmth and flashes of blonde hair like her own. Dean remembered the most.
"So maybe we should find Andrea. See if we can get anything out of Lucas." Sam suggested.
"But Lucas doesn't even talk." Dean reminded them.
"I suggest we at least try something. Let's go to the park." Chris said, putting her gun in the back of her pants as usual.
The brothers looked at her in disbelief. "We're on a case and you want to...take a walk through the park?" Dean scoffed.
Chris rolled her eyes. "Not a walk. I eavesdrop on people sometime and I surely remember Andrea said she was going to pick up Lucas later and go to the park. If we hurry, we may get there before they leave." And so grabbing their guns for extra protection as usual, the three Winchester siblings left. It wasn't hard to find the park in a small town. It was actually right across from the local high school.
School was out for the day so many kids were laughing and playing. "There's Andrea." Chris pointed her out, sitting on the bench. Following her line of sight led to where Lucas was sitting by himself on a stone bench drawing again with a bunch of toy army men.
"Can we join you?" Sam asked Andrea when they reached her.
She glanced up, "...I'm here with my son." Andrea said awkwardly. It wasn't like her and her son were doing anything together anyways.
"Oh, mind if we say hi?" Dean asked, wrapping an arm around Chris' shoulder and forcibly leading her away.
"Why do I have to come?" Chris hissed. She was never any good with children.
"Your a girl. You must have some motherly instinct." Dean muttered.
Chris elbowed him harshly, forcing Dean to grab his ribs winching. "Dick, that's only if you're an actual mother. Not a random woman and a kid."
Dean shushed her as they reached Lucas who didn't evenly up. "How's it going?" Dean asked cautiously, kneeling down. Chris glanced around before easing herself to her knees. She just knew she was going to get grass stains all over the knees of her pants. "Oh, I used to love these." Playing with the toy soldiers. Lucas didn't look up from his crayons. "So crayons is more your thing?" That's cool. Chicks dig artists."
He was getting nowhere. Dean elbowed Chris. "Oh, uh." Chris racked her brain for something to say. "Um, mind if I draw with ya?" Grabbing a blank paper and black crayon. She didn't know what to draw so she did something all children would do during school when they're young. She used to do it before she had an accurate picture in mind.
"You know." Dean said caustically, " I'm thinking you can hear me, you just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something. Anyway. Well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or, uh...or believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake. Okay, no problem."
Dean nodded at Chris and stood to leave. Chris stood with him, leaving her picture by Lucas. "This is my family." Chris explained softly before they left. "That there is my mom. I don't really remember her so I have to use her looks from whatever I can get from a mirror. Then there's dad. Once again, I never met him in my memory so I just guessed on his looks. That is my big geek of a little brother Sammy. He may be all grown up now but that doesn't stop me from wanting to protect him. And that's my big brother Dean. He's a protector, it's in his nature, to do whatever he can without it being for his own gain. You don't find many people like that in the world." Chris sighed, looking down at her picture once last time before leaving it. Chris winked playfully, "I'm sure I can trust you to protect my family."
Dean and Chris started their walk back. "So protector am I?" Dean smirked. It was nice for someone to realize he was there and what he did to make sure his siblings made it out alive.
"Shut up before I tell Sam I found you looking up bustin Asian beauties on his laptop again." Chris shot back. "You're just lucky I know how to get those things unfrozen."
"You wouldn't!" Dean exclaimed, surprised at how devious his little sister could actually be.
"Try me." Chris smirked as they reached Andrea and Sam.
Andrea looked sorrowful as she was saying. "Lucas hasn't said a word, not even to me. Not since his dad's accident."
"Yeah, we heard." Dean said.
"Sorry by the way." Chris shifted on her feet awkwardly. She wasn't much good at comforting.
"What are the doctors saying?" Sam asked.
"That is a kind of post traumatic stress."
Sam was the best with the civilian people they came across. "That can't be easy. For either of you."
"We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just...when I think about hat Lucas went through, what he saw." Andrea's hand squeezed and unsqueezed continuously.
"Kids are strong. You'll be surprised what they can deal with." Dean said.
"I bet before you know it, Lucas will start talking and you won't even remember he ever stopped." Chris said optimistic.
Andrea looked so sad at the mention of her son. "You know, he used to have such life. He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish..." She was cut off as Lucas walked up. He stood between Dean and Sam before holding up a picture. Chris took it from him. It was a picture of the Carlton house.
Chris knelt beside Lucas, running a hand through his hair. "Thank you Lucas." He would never know just how much this may help them.
At that exact moment in the Carlton house, Will was walking up behind his dad who sat sullenly in his armchair as he had for hours. "Hey dad? You should probably eat something. I'm gonna make some dinner, okay?" Will was concerned for his father. He hadn't moved in ages, just sat there staring at nothing for hours on end.
In the kitchen, Will started their lunch. After washing the fish, he was starting to cut it up. But stopped as he noticed the water running from the sink was starting to turn brown. Drowning in confusion, wondering what the heck, Will turned it off. But then the water now colored black started coming from the drain. Something must be stuck in it, Will decided as he rolled up his sleeve. He reached in and pulled out the plug but the water still didn't move. It only stopped filling the sink when it was a few inches from the bottom. He sticks his arm back in but something grabbed him in a death grip, jerking his upper body into the sink. He fought terrified but was to weak against the grip. He drowned in that sink while his father sat unaware in the next room over, not realizing he'd lost his son only weeks after his daughter.
"Excuse me, could you tell me what happened here?" Chris asked a random lady. She stood outside the Carlton house. The place was overcrowded with neighbors and law enforcers. Sam was trying to get information from the police while Dean was busy at their motel.
"Will Carlton is dead. Everyone is saying its a suicide because he drowned." The woman explained tearfully.
Chris blinked, "I'm sorry? If he drowned in the lake, how was it a suicide?"
The woman looked at her like she was stupid. "Because he didn't drown in the lake. He drowned in the kitchen sink." Of course, because that made so much more since then drowning in the lake, Chris thought huffingly. Wait...in the sink? If someone does suicide, it wouldn't be drowning themselves in a sink.
Chris and Sam met up. Without a word, they climbed into the impala to go to their motel room. They had to talk to Dean. "So I think it's safe we can rule out Nessie." Sam said as they came in. Dean looked up from where he sat on the bed.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked. Sam sat beside him and Chris sat on the second bed.
"We just drove past the Carlton house. There was a ambulance there." Sam explained.
"He drowned?" Dean guessed.
Chris cut in. "And according to everyone, it was a suicide. Even though he drowned in the kitchen sink."
Dean shook his head. "What the hell? So we're not dealing with a creature. We're dealing with something else."
"The question now is what." Chris leaned back on the bed, arms tucked behind her head.
"Water wraith maybe?" Dean guessed. "Something that controls water..."
"Wait," Chris sat up. "Doesn't that water come from the same source?"
"The lake." Sam said. Sam stood and started to pace. "Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever it wants, it's running out of time."
"And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere." Dean exclaimed standing up.
"These killings aren't going to stop till either we stop it or that lake is dry and we can't wait that long." Chris bit her thumbnail. "Half the people in town could be dead by then."
"But we do know one thing for sure. We know this has got something to do with Bill Calton." Sam said. Chris sighed, those children shouldn't had paid he ultimate price for whatever the father may have did.
"Yeah, it took both his kids." Dean said, sitting heavily into the chair at the table.
Sam added something else they didn't know. "And I've been asking around. Lucas' dad, Chris-Bill Carlton's grandson." Damn, what did they do to piss off whatever this was.
Dean looked at his younger brother and sister. "Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit."
"Great!" Chris suddenly exclaimed, standing up happily excited. "Can I drive?"
They reached the lake in record time and climbed out of the impala. "I am never letting you drive again!" Dean shouted, practically falling out of the car.
"I am not that bad!" Chris protested, climbing out of the driver's seat.
"You nearly ran down an old lady!" Sam called from the back.
"One time! And I still say I had the right a way." Chris insisted as they walked up to the lake. Her and Dean started an argument.
Sam shushed her as they were walking up to Bill Carlton. It didn't seem he moved from that spot where he was sitting on the deck. "Mr. Carlton?" Sam called cautiously. He looked up at them before turning back to he lake. "We'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind." Let's hope he actually had some worthwhile information, Chris thought.
Dean started in on their lie. "We're from the department-" bill interrupted him. "I don't care who you're with. I've answered enough questions today."
Chris tried, "Please sir...more people could be hurt. You're son said he saw something in that lake. Did he mention anything else to you? You seem to be out here a lot, have you seen anything unusual? We think someone...or something is clearly targeting your fame."
Bill's voice crack as he spoke and said, "My children are gone. It...it's worse then dying. Go away, please." Chris looked away. She knew lost, what Winchester didn't? But she didn't know what it felt to lose a child. But if it's anything like losing an almost sister...she didn't want to imagine how much worse the pain could be.
Sam, Dean, and Chris started back to the car. "What do you think?" Sam asked when they were far enough not to be overheard.
Dean's answer was, "I think the poor guy's been through hell. I also think he's not telling us something."
Chris allowed her eyes to glance over to her big brother. "At least I'm not the only one thinking it."
"So now what?" Sam asked, leaning against the impala. Chris looked back towards the dock and her eyebrows came together in confusion. Where was Mr. Carlton? Be wasn't sitting there where they left him like he always was.
"Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something." Dean's voice grabbed her attention. He was staring at the Carlton house. "Chris, let me see that picture Lucas gave you." Although confused, Chris reached into her multi pocket cargo pants and handed him the folded up drawing. Dean flipped open the picture to reveal it as being identical in drawing to the house before them.
They're next stop was now the Barr household to see Lucas. "I'm sorry but I don't think it's a good idea." Andrea said nervously in the doorway.
"We just need to talk to him." Dean protested. "Just for a few minutes."
"He won't say anything. What good is it gonna do?" Andrea questioned, not wanting to admit her son may know something about these killings.
"Andrea," Chris said firmly, looking her dead in the eye. "You'd be surprised what kids may know."
Sam cut in, "We think more people might get hurt. We think something's happening out there."
Andrea shook her head desperately, "My husband, than others, they just drowned. That's all."
"But Andrea, you have to admit that something is going on around here. Something horrible." Andrea crossed her arms, putting a hand to her face.
"If that's what you really believe, that all these people just drowned. Then we'll go. But if you think there's even a possibility that something else could be going on, please let me talk to your son."
Andrea look at them each in turn before leading them up to Lucas' room. Lucas was laying on the floor drawing again. Dean nudged Chris. She shook her head, "It's your turn." She pushed him into the bedroom.
Dean sighed and knelt beside Lucas who didn't look up. "Hey Lucas. You remember me?" Lucas continued to draw a picture of a red bicycle. "You know I, uh, I wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is, I need your help again." Lucas started drawing a stick figure person in water. Dean opened the picture Lucas has drawn of the Carlton house and put it beside the picture he was drawing. "How did you know to draw this? Did you know something bad was gonna happen? ...Maybe you could nod yes or no for me?" Lucas kept coloring. "You're scared. It's okay, I understand. See, what I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom and I was scared too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom-I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe your dad wants you to be brave too." Lucas finally looked up before handing Dean a picture of a White House in front of a yellow house. There was a boy with a blue baseball cap and red bicycle near a wooden fence. "Thanks Lucas." Dean said quietly before the Winchester's left the Barr family home.
Dean, Chris, and Sam were riding through town in the impala, now trying to figure out where they were supposed to go. "Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died." Dean said.
Chris was leaning forward in the back seat, sitting on the edge of the seat with her arms hanging over the front seat between the boys. "And these pictures are good. You just don't start drawing out of the blue like that, especially if he never had an interest in it before."
Sam was looking at the picture Lucas had given Dean. "There are cases, going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies."
Dean got an idea, "Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow? I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns so if you got a better lead, please." Chris bit her thumbnail, how were they suppose to find the house in the picture. Lucas wouldn't have drawn it for no reason.
"So we have another house to find." Sam sighed, waving the picture.
Chris voiced the problem, "And how are we supposed to find this one house. There has to be a thousand yellow house miles around."
Sam pointed out the obvious. "See that church?" The church standing in front of the yellow two story house. "I bet there's less then a thousand of those around here."
Chris raised her eyebrow impressed, she hadn't even thought of the surroundings. Dean grinned and couldn't help but tease, "Oh, college boy thinks he's so smart."
Chris laughed, "Well I'd hope he learned something after four years in that school."
Sam glanced towards Dean and then away. "You know, um...what you said about mom-you never told me that before." Chris looked at Dean curiously. It would make more sense not to tell her since they've only been together nearly three months but not to tell Sam who pretty much grew up with him? Then again, Sam seemed like the only Winchester big on emotions, or the most emotional with those puppy dog eyes.
"It's no big deal." Dean muttered, before glancing at his siblings. "Oh God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?"
Several minutes later and twenty different houses, a Dean compared Lucas's picture to the scene in front of them. Seeing it was identical, Dean knocked on the door. Seeing the old lady caused Chris to hide her face behind Sam's shoulder. The brothers tried not to grin when they realized this was the old lady Chris almost hit while driving earlier.
Dean quickly tried to turn seriously. "We're sorry to bother you ma'am," the woman named Mrs. Sweeney showed them in. "But does a little boy live here, by chance. He might wear a blue ball cap, has a red bicycle."
Mrs. Sweeney swallowed hard, looking down at her hands as if she was about to cry but had cried so much that she no longer had the tears to do so. "No sir. Not for a very long time. Peter's been gone for thirty five years now." She showed them a picture of a twelve year old boy taken at least fifty years ago or so. "The police never... I never had any idea what happened. He just disappeared." Sam nudged Chris to get her attention, pointing out a pack of army toy soldiers that looked like they haven't been touched in forever. Lucas' had the same toys. "Losing him-you know..." She looked up, "it's worse then dying." There it goes again, losing a child.
"Um, Miss." Chris stuttered, hoping the woman hadn't gotten a good enough look to recognize her. "He wouldn't have disappeared like...from this house?"
Mrs. Sweeney shook her head, crossing her arms sorrowfully. "He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school. And he never showed up." Dean got distracted by a picture of Peter on his bike with another boy next to him. He pulled it off the mirror it was taped to and read the back. "Peter Sweeney and Billy Carlton, nineteen seventy."
Back at the lake, Bill stood up and stared out at the lake. "You've taken everything, everyone. I've got nothing left. I didn't understand. I didn't believe. Now I think I do. I think I finally know what you want."
Dean, Sam, and Chris were only a few minutes away passing the local diner in the impala. "Okay, this little boy Peter Sweeney vanishes and, this is all connected to Bill Carlton somehow." Sam clarified what they knew.
"Bill sure as hell seems to be hiding something." Dean said, tapping his fingertips against the wheel at a red light.
"So now everyone Bill loves is getting punished." Chris added, leaning back in her seat.
"So what if Bill did something to Peter." Dean went along with their train of thought.
"What if Bill killed him?" Sam continued.
"I don't know about you but I'd be pretty pissed off if someone killed me. Peter being a kid would want revenge no doubt." Chris finished as they parked outside the Carlton household. The three quickly climbed out to question Mr. Bill Carlton about his old childhood friend Peter. But then they heard the sound of an engine. Without hesitation, the Winchester's raced around to the backyard where the lake was. Bill Carlton was riding out to the middle of a small boat. The Winchester's started to scream but their screams either went ignored or unheard over the roar of the engine. But then something under the water, the water rose, flipping the boat. Bill was sent crashing into the lake where he would never resurface again.
At the police station across town; Chris, Sam, and Dean were being led in by Officer Jake after the neighbors called about being worried since Bill was out on the lake so soon after his children's deaths. "Sam, Dean, Chris." Andrea stood surprised, Lucas in the chair beside her. She handed a plastic container to her son. "I didn't expect to see you here."
Jake didn't seem to pleased. "So now you're on a first name basis?" He looked at his daughter. "What are you doing here."
Andrea looked back at her son holding the box before turning back. "I brought you dinner."
Jake shook his head apologetic, "I'm sorry sweetheart. I don't really have the time."
"I heard about Bill Carlton. Is it true? Is something's going on with the lake?" Andrea asked, face converted in pure worry and concern.
Jake sighed, "Right now, we don't know what the truth is. But I think it might be better if you and Lucas went on home." He led them towards the door. Lucas suddenly made a sight whining sound, grabbing tightly into Dean's arm as they passed. Chris' eyes widened surprised, 'What was wrong? Lucas looked like something horrifying was going to happen...' She thought.
"Lucas? Hey, what is it?" Dean bent over to his height but it was pointless. Lucas hadn't talked since the incident his dad died in, he wasn't about to start talking now. Andrea just as confused and worried as everyone else pulled him away.
Lucas didn't look away from Dean. Lucas was all sweaty, pale, and shaky. Chris couldn't get the image out of her head as Jake led them back to their seats in the office. Jake started the conversation, snagging her attention. "Okay, just so in clear, you see...something attacked Bill's boat, sending Bill who is a very good swimmer by the way, into the drink and you never see him again." Chris, Dean, and Sam glanced at the other.
Dean as they're spokesperson nodded, "Yeah, that about sums it up."
Jake clearly looked not believing, "And I'm supposed to believe this even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake? And what you're describing is impossible. And you're not really Wildife Service?" Chris felt icy cold, like she'd been dumped in water, heart leaping in her chest that they've been caught. Jake smirked at their identical looks of surprises. "That's right, I checked. Department's never heard of you three."
Chris swallowed hard. "Sir, uh...we have a very good explanation for...all of this."
"Enough." Jake snapped. "Please. The only reason you're breathing free air is one of Bill's neighbors saw him steering out that boat just before you did. So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance. Or, we can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your car, you put this town in your rearview mirror, and you don't ever darken my doorstep again." He looked at them all firmly in turn, looking like he wouldn't hesitate to toss their asses in jail.
Sam spoke up this time. "Door number two sounds good."
"That's the one I'd pick." Was all Jake said.
At the Barr household now late at night, Lucas was sitting on his bedroom floor. He was insistently drawing a black spiral. Andrea was heading for her back when she passed and noticed he was still up. She quickly walked in and crouched down beside him. "Baby, what are you doing up? Come on, let's go to bed." She ignored the picture and picked up her son for bed, making him drop his back crayon.
A few streets over, the Winchester's had recently just finished their packing and checking out of their motel. Chris leaned against her door, staring out her window. They sat there for several minutes although Chris didn't notice.
"Green." Sam said suddenly, snapping both Chris and apparently Dean out of their thoughts.
"What?" Dean said surprised.
"Light's green." Sam clarified, the only Winchester paying enough attention. Good thing it was so late and nobody were behind them or some people would be mighty pissed off. Chris almost drifted back off into her thoughts when she noticed Dean turning the wrong way. No surprise, Sam noticed to. "The interstate's the other way."
"I know." Dean said, speeding up back towards the houses on the lake.
"Um...then what are we doing?" Chris asked, scooting to the edge of her seat.
Unaware they were heading towards her house, Andrea was plugging up the drain and turning on her back water without a care in the world. Oh how naive she was to believe that night would be like every other.
"But Dean, I think this job is over." Sam protested after Dean said they weren't done with this town yet.
Dean shook his head in denial, "I'm not so sure."
"Dean." Chris said, resting her elbows on the seat between her brothers. "Shouldn't the spirit be at rest though? Peter got revenge by killing Bill who killed him, case closed."
Dean sighed, picking up the speed slightly. "What if we take off and this thing isn't done? If we missed something and more people get hurt?"
"But why would you think that?" Sam exclaimed desperately.
Several tensed seconds passed before Dean finally answered. "Because Lucas was really scared."
Chris raised her eyebrow amazed that this was actually her brother in front of her. A grin formed on her lips, she wasn't the only one worried. "That's what this is about?" Sam asked with the same amazement.
"I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid's okay." Dean said. And beside, Lucas was clearly tapping into Peter's spirit. If he was terrified, just like in his drawings...something was bound to happen.
A wide grin grew on Sam's face. "Who are you? And what have you done with my brother?"
Chris chuckled, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I kinda like it."
Dean glanced at his younger sister and little brother before glancing back at the road. "Shut up." Was all he said although not forceful or mean, just accepting their teasing.
At the Barr house, Andrea was just climbing into the tub. Andrea leaned back, closing her eyes and relaxing. She didn't notice the water starting to turn brown. Andrea slowly ran the rag across her neck, slowly opening her eyes. That was when she noticed her bath water turning a mucking brown. She screamed, swinging a leg over the side of the tub to get out, only to be dragged back in.
In the hallway, Lucas' mouth was opened in a silent scream, pounding on the bathroom door. He could hear his mother screaming for help and sloshing water but was unable to get in. He turned, prepared to go to the neighbor's for help as he headed down the stairs.
In the bathroom, Andrea was crying as she was once again pulled under the water.
Just outside, Chris climbed out of the car, closing the door behind her. She stared up at the house as they started walking up to the stairs. The house looked dark, silent...ominous. "Are you sure about this?" Sam asked as they got closer. "It's pretty late."
Chris started picking at her nails. "Think about it this way. If there's nothing wrong, we can go with a peace of mind instead of just wondering. That was when Dean run the doorbell and not two seconds later was Lucas opening it. Chris' senses went on high alert at his urgent, sweaty look, eyes wide and mad with panic, breathing heavily. Dean fell in front of him, grasping his shoulders and asking urgently what was wrong. Lucas took off, heading to the stairs. Dean, Sam, and Chris wasted no time following him. Lucas was once again banging on the bathroom door, water now pouring underneath the door. Dean pulled him away and into Chris' arms who was only a step behind him. Without hesitation, Dean kicked the door nearly off the hinges. Chris pushed Lucas' head into her stomach so he wouldn't see the struggle as Sam dove his arms into the tub. Every time Sam would pull her head out, she'd get seconds before getting dragged back in. Chris knelt down, wrapping her arms around Lucas. She felt her shoulder become wet as he cried heavily. But Sam pushed on and didn't stop tell he was gasping on the bathroom floor, Andrea grasping for breath beside him, coughing up water.
The sun was coming up before Andrea calmed down enough and for Chris to help her get her clothes on while she was still freaking out. Now three of them were sitting in the living room, Andrea wearing pajama's and a robe. "Can you tell us?" Sam asked. Chris handed Andrea the tea she made with hopes of it calming her down.
Andrea snook her head desperately, "No...it doesn't make any sense." Wrapping her fingers around the tea cup.
"Welcome to our world," Chris muttered, sitting down on the couch beside Sam.
Andrea started to cry again. "In not crazy." Andrea begged for it to be true. She dropped her face into her hands desperately.
"No, you're not." Sam agreed. "Tell us what happened. Everything." They needed to know, to fully understand exactly what this spirit wanted. It got Bill Carlton, why would it want Andrea?
Andrea swallowed hard, taking a sip of her tea before she began talking. "I heard...I thought I heard, there was this voice." She stuttered awkwardly, once again feeling like a crazy person.
"And did it say anything to you?" Chris asked, eyes trained on Andrea.
Andrea shakily said, "It said...it said 'come play with me.'" Andrea broke down crying again. Well that couldn't be good.
That was when Dean came from where he was searching the house for anything that may be connected to Peter. He slapped an old photo album on the coffee table. "Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?" He questioned. It was a picture of a group of Boy Scouts, all in uniform, two of them were Peter Sweeney and Billy Carlton.
"What?" Andrea looked up startled before comprehending why he was asking and looking back down at the picture. "Um, no. I mean, except that's my dad right there. He must have been about twelve in these pictures."
"And he was friends with Peter to." Chris said, seeing the picture had Bill Carlton and Sheriff Jake on either side of Peter.
The Winchester Siblings looked at the others. "Chris Barr's drowning." Dean seemed to realize something. "The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been to the sheriff."
"Bill and the Sheriff." Chris said, slowly standing up. It was like all the dots were being connected.
"They were both involved with Peter." Sam added.
Andrea shook her head, to confused to understand. "What about Chris? My dad-what are you talking about?"
But Dean was distracted. "Lucas?" Chris turned around surprised, hair falling around her shoulders. Lucas had been put to bed after calming down knowing his mother was okay. But now he was standing in the kitchen, looking out the window on the door...like he was in some kind of trance. "Lucas, what is it?" Dean repeated cautiously but was ignored. Instead, Lucas opened the door and started walking outside. Dean was the first to follow, then Chris worriedly, followed by Andrea concerned, and finished by Sam closing the door behind them confused. Chris tried talking to him, her voice mixing with the others asking questions but that all went as ignored as the first. Nobody seemed able to break whatever kind of trance he was in. Lucas only stopped a few feet from the lake, looking meaningfully down at the ground he stood on and then up at his confused mom and realization struck Winchester's. Chris swallowed hard. Lucas was connected to this Peter...something has to be there, hidden by the mounds of dirt.
Dean took charge, "You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?" Andrea shakily nodded before pulling Lucas who kept glancing back urgently to the house.
"I need to get my own shovel." Chris groaned, sinking the blade of the shovel she swiped from Andrea's shed into the dirt Lucas had marked.
"Well sweetheart, we'll get right on that." Dean grunted sarcastically as the boys joined her in digging with their own shovels from the trunk.
"Just keep digging." Sam muttered tiredly. And so they did. They dug continuously for several long minutes getting deeper until Sam's shovel banged against something. The three looked at each other before ditching the shovels. Chris was joined by her brothers by dropping to their knees and digging by hand. Chris' hand wrapped around a thin tire and the boys pulled up handle bars. A red bicycle now covered in ages old dirt and rusted to the core. "Peter's bike." Sam realized.
"Damn," Chris whistled. "That must have been under there for ages."
Chris froze as she heard the family click of a gun's safety being turned off. Behind her was Jake, holding his shiny silver gun pointed at them looking terrified. Chris swallowed hard, trying not to panic although her hand was twitching, wishing she could reach for her own gun without causing notice. "Who are you?" Jake demanded, hand firm and not shaking.
Sam cautiously raised his hands, "Put the gun down, Jake." A muscle in Chris' jaw jerked as she followed her brothers lead, slowly raising her hands.
Jake ignored him, looking terrified as he glanced between them and the old rusted red bone. "How did you know that was there?" Chris' fingers curled slightly, almost phantom feeling she had something she could use.
Dean toon over. "What happened? You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake and then buried the bike?"
"You should have known better Jake." Chris called. "You can't hide the truth, the past always comes back."
In the house, Lucas and Andrea were watching out the window from the living room. Andrea panicked at seeing her father pointing a gun at the three people trying to help her, knelt down in front of her son, grasping his shoulders to make sure he paid attention to her. "Go to your room, sweetie." She glanced back. "Now. Lock the door and wait for me. Don't come out." Lucas shakily nodded and ran off.
Outside, Chris was pissed as Jake kept denying the truth. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."
Dean clarified before Chris could mouth off. "You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty five years ago. That's what the hell I'm talking about."
"Dad!" Andrea cried out as she arrived running off. 'About time' Chris thought. It was one thing to kill you're friend when your kids but...he surely wouldn't shoot his own daughter...would he.
"And now you got one seriously pissed off spirit." Dean said. Chris glanced around, thinking of anything that would help if things went south.
Sam picked up where he left off. "It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas and everybody you love,"
"Just like it did Bill Carlton." Chris added in.
"And once you've felt the pain Peter's mom felt, it'll take you. It won't stop until it does."
Jake shook his head scoffing like they were idiots or crazy. "Listen to yourselves, all three of ya. You're insane."
Chris rolled her eyes. "And trust me, I've been called worst."
"The point is," Dean said. "If we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Now tell me you buried Peter somewhere.. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake." Shit, Chris hasn't even thought about that.
"Dad, is any of this true?" Andrea asked, pale and shocked. It wasn't easy to find out your father had became a murderer at age twelve.
"No." Jake lied a little too firmly. "Don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous." Chris glanced between Andrea and Jake.
Andrea took a shaken step forward, "Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake. Dad look at me!" She shrieked. Chris looked started at the sound of her name but calm down realizing it was the other Chris. Jake slowly raised his head to meet her eye. She looked at him begging, "Tell me you...you didn't kill anyone." When Jake looked away, she had her answer. "Oh my God." She said in a state of horrid shock.
Jake finally explained what happened as Chris slowly lowered her arms. "Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him but this time...it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to but we held him under too long and he drowned. We let the body go and it sank." Chris bit her lip to stop the string of curses that was about to erupt from her mouth. "Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational."
"Listen to me, all of you." Dean said firmly. "We need to get you away from this lame, as far as we can right now." Chris liked that plan, she wasn't big on drowning.
Jake clearly wasn't listening. "Lucas!" He suddenly cried out, looking behind them. Chris spun around, eyes wide and panicking as she saw Lucas sitting on the dock far too far away reaching in for something. But then he got dragged into the water and didn't emerge. Chris took off running to the lake, her body running with all the others who wanted to keep Lucas alive. Chris didn't think about how cold the water would be or that there was a ghost drowning people in it. She barely took a breath before diving in, the icy cold water giving her a brief shock to her bones. She was just happy Brooke had been obsessed with swimming at one time or she never would have learned.
Chris came up long enough to take a deep breath before diving back in. Dean and Sam were also in the water somewhere looking. When she came up again, Andrea was screaming. Chris rubbed the water out of her eyes as Dean and Sam joined her. But then Jake started talking, slowly wading into the water. "He's just a little boy. Please, it's not his fault, it's mine. Please take me." He begged.
"Jake!" Chris protested, already feeling the guilt of losing something they should have saved. But it was to late, Jake was already being dragged down. Chris ignored the feeling of her clothes weighing her down and dived under, hair plastering to her face. Chris stayed under as long as she could before coming back up when she felt she would drown. Sam had already can up and Andrea was crying heavily on the dock. Chris pushed her wet hair sticking to her face out of her eyes. And then Dean came up, carrying a dead looking Lucas in his arms. Chris could feel tears stinging in her eyes but blinked them back.
The next day, Chris was sitting on the hood of the Impala, handing her duffle bag to Sam to toss in the truck. Chris had a handheld mirror she took from Andrea's room balanced on her knees and pulling her hair into a half-decent ponytail. "Look, we're not gonna save everybody." Sam said, knowing Dean was blaming himself.
"Just think about what we did do." Chris looked up with an almost sad smirk.
"I know." Dean signed, fiddling with the keys in his pocket.
"Sam, Dean, Chris!" Andrea called walking up with a bright smile. Lucas was walking behind her with a slight smile. Chris smiled herself and climbed off the Impala to greet they're guests. "We're glad we caught you. We just made you lunch for the road." Only then did Chris notice the tray Lucas carried with clear paper over it. "Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself."
Lucas looked up at his mother, "Can I give it to them now?" He had started talking again as soon as they managed to wake him up after his near drowning experience.
"Of course," Andrea smiled, kissing Lucas' head. Andrea was a great mom. Chris wondered if her own mother would have been similar had she lived long enough for her children to remember her.
Dean helped Lucas to load up the tray in the backseat where Chris would make sure it wouldn't fall or slide during the drive. "Come on Lucas, let's load this into the car." He was surprisingly good with kids.
"How you holding up?" Sam asked now that Dean was distracting Lucas.
"It's just gonna take a long time to sort through everything, you know." Andrea said. Not surprising since this was her first contact with the supernatural.
"Andrea, I'm just," Chris started, shifting uncomfortably. Maybe it was her Winchester genes but she wasn't to good with comforting, although Sam seemed to be best at it. "Really sorry about what happened." She finished, awkwardly putting her hands into her cargo pants pockets with the thumbs sticking out.
Andrea shook her head smiling. "You saved my son. I can't ask for more then that. Dad loves me. He loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that." At least she wouldn't have to worry about supernatural drownings anymore, at least none made by Peter. Andrea and the youngest two Winchester's looked over to where Dean was already coaching Lucas on what he should be doing now that he could talk. Like how much Dean's favorite band, 'Zepplin Rules!' Only Dean, so typical, a Chris thought shaking her head with a fond smile. Pieces of loose hair fell around her cheeks.
"You take care of your mom, okay?" Dean said, standing up from where he had been sitting on the edge of the car's backseat. Chris thought Dean would make a great dad if he ever brought a kid into this mixed up world.
"Alright!" Lucas agreed without hesitation. Looks like Lucas had found a new hero, someone to look up to in these past week they've been in town.
Andrea put her hands on Lucas' shoulders from behind and leaned up to kiss Dean's cheek. Looks like Lucas wasn't the only one effected by Dean. "Thank you." She whispered to him. Chris smirked, she never thought she'd seen the day Dean was flustered.
Dean shifted on her feet for several long moments. He scratched his head awkwardly before deciding it was time to leave. He started around the car to the driver's seat. "Sam, Chris, move your asses."
"So bossy." Chris commented, heading to her door of the car.
"We're bout to run out of daylight before we hit the road if we don't go now!" Dean shouted, climbing into the driver's seat. Chris scoffed before climbing in the back. Sam shook his head smiling before climbing in to the front seat. Chris put a hand on the sandwich tray, she was kinda getting hungry. Dean turned on his brain damaging music to Bad Company's 'moving on' as Dean started the car.
'I got to move on and I never seem to slow down' the radio played. Chris let a smile play on her lips as Andrea and Lucas waved them off. 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm moving on, moving on from town to town.' Chris leaned against the window as they took off from yet another town. They had saved this town and it was time to move on. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I never seem to slow down.'
Anyone looking out their windows at that moment would have seen a shiny black Impala cruising down the highway leaving their town.
Miles away in a small airport, a man was sitting in his chair waiting for his flight. But just looking at him all hunched over, one could tell he was very ill about the flight. Sweating buckets with his sleeves pushed half up and buttons messily done, his hair a mess. The man checked his ticket and seeing he had time, quickly made her way to the bathroom before he could be sick. In the bathroom, he immediately leaned over the sink, splashing water on his face. A man came out a stall and washed his hands. "Nervous flyer?" He guessed. Wasn't to hard to tell the way the first guy was hunched over the sink looking like he was about to throw up.
Just great, exactly what he needed. "It's that obvious, huh?"
The man dried his hands grinning, "You know, what are the odds of dying in a plane crash? I mean, what? Twenty thousand to one?" Then he left leaving the man to feel even worse then before. Just before he could resplash water on his face again, he noticed something in the mirror. It looked like black smoke drifting from the vent on the wall. The man turned to get a better look and breathed deeply as the smoke flew up his nose and mouth. His eyes turned black, even the whites, before fading back to normal.
On the plane "Have a nice flight, sir." The beautiful blonde flight attendant named Amanda said with a bright smile. The man faced her, an almost sinister smile on his face as his eyes flashed black again. "Oh, I'm counting on it." Amanda looked startled at the sight of his black eyes but was quickly distracted by the next passenger coming aboard the plane looking for their seat.
Several hours later, the man with the black eyes named Phelps turned to the woman flipping through a magazine beside him. "Excuse me," he interrupted her flicking. "Do you know how long we've been up?"
The woman smiled kindly and looked at the watch on her wrist. "About forty minutes."
Phelps plastered a joking smile on his face. "Wow, time really does fly. Excuse me, I've got to stretch my legs." The woman pulled her legs in as close to the seat as she could while the man squeezed passed her. Nobody noticed him heading to the back towards the bathroom. But one man, Max Jaffey, glanced back wondering if he was done with the bathroom. But the man wasn't going to the bathroom. He was standing by the emergency door with his hand on the release handle.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Max suddenly screaming panicking. Everyone looked up, around surprised wondering what the happening. Phelps turned and looked at Max with a nasty grin. Max felt all the air leave his body, leaving cold shock at the black eyes the man had. He opened the door and flew out. Everyone screamed, pulling on air masks and clutching their armrests for dear life as the plane jerked and they started going down.
A day's drive away from the airport the plane came from, "Why did I have to come?" Chris whined, yawning loudly as she and Sam reached the motel room. She held a coffee loosely in her hand. Her hair was a messed, pinned to the top of her head by a clip with bangs falling around her face. It was just a few days shy of four months that they've been hunting together.
"Because you woke up to me leaving." Sam answered, holding a tray with two other coffee's and a bag of snacks on his arm for the road since they should be heading to the next town today.
"It should still be illegal to be up this early." Chris whined as they headed inside. "And you were being way to loud, how was I suppose to sleep? It's surprising Dean did."
"Morning sunshine." Sam said way to cheery in Chris' opinion to Dean who was just waking up
