Disclaimer, and spoiler alert for Season 8 in the disclaimer: I just read an interview with Jeremy Carver. Apparently Sam's love interest being added to the show is named Amelia. Great minds thinking alike, huh? So, I really want to finish the story before the season starts so my Amelia and their Amelia don't overlap.
Author's Note: This one is a little long, but gets Sam and Amelia moving toward each other.
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Chapter 3
After leaving the hospital, Amelia had found her way to the ramp for I-90 Eastbound, closed he eyes and asked for a ride. Soon, she was thanking the large dog that had come and offered to carry her on her back. While she was pointing out it wouldn't be safe for either of them, the dog's owner stopped and thanked her for finding her beloved Rottweiler, adding "we're heading to our home near Coeur d' Alene, could you use a ride". She climbed into the pickup with Pam and Daisy, who decided she would let her very special new friend have the window seat, and Amelia's journey was underway.
A few hours later, as Pam left Amelia off at her exit east of the city near the end of the lake, Daisy thanked her for giving her the puppies she could feel she was now carrying. Pam drove away shaking her head, wondering how and when her normally defensive dog had become such a marshmallow.
Amelia was picked up by Jim, who was on his way back to Missoula. He had been in Coeur d' Alene settling his mother's estate after her sudden demise. He mentioned he didn't usually pick up hitch-hikers but he just had to stop. Amelia smiled and nodded to Jim's mother's spirit sitting next to him in her classic T-bird they were all now riding in. He talked about how much he missed his mom, Angela. Angie told Amelia how much she worried about her son. They had stopped to stretch their legs, well Jim and Amelia, when Jim sat down on a bench and started to quietly cry. He said his mom had taught him to cook and he was a successful chef because of her. He had spent a day going through her all her papers trying to find the recipe for her spaghetti sauce. It was the only one she had never shared with him, and he had never been able to 'get it right'. Amelia saw the tears in Angela's eyes and Amelia silently asked her if she wanted to talk to Jim one last time. Amelia asked Jim if he had pencil and paper. As Angie dictated her recipe to her, Jim watched in amazement as Amelia wrote out a recipe in his mother's handwriting. Amelia handed the recipe, including Angie's secret ingredient, to Jim. He just stared at her, open mouthed with no words coming out.
Amelia was expecting a lot of questions or denial or anger, something. In her experience, people often had time hard time accepting communicating with those beyond the veil. Jim finally found his voice, thanked her and asked if his mom was still here. When Amelia nodded yes, Jim smiled and sighed, "Really mom, you're handwriting is still horrible. " Angela smiled back at her son as he added, "What is this word, licorice?" And suddenly he could swear he could smell his mom's kitchen, feel her touch his face and he quietly stared at the recipe and wept tears of peaceful joy. He sat there remembering how much he loved his mother. Amelia left Jim and Angie and walked through the semi-trucks stopped at the rest area until a driver offered her a ride. Several people stopped and asked if Jim if he was okay. He smiled and told anybody who would listen what the quiet young woman had done for him. She was back on the road, heading east before Jim noticed she was gone.
Two days later Amelia had met two long haul truckers and a few local travelers but hadn't made much progress. All of the generous people that offered her rides had been on the last legs of their journeys and getting off the interstate only a few hours into the drive. Despite her desire to reach her destination and find the young man, she couldn't ignore the needs she found along her route. One had been a farmer facing ruin because his wells had dried up and he couldn't afford to buy enough water like the big, commercial farms. Amelia had gone with Eric because despite his being gruff and loud he was a loving father who believed if "he took care of his land and stock they would take care of him". When they had reached his place, a small working farm/ranch had he had bought 10 years ago believing he could make a difference to his children's, and the planet's, health by using natural methods. Amelia healed and filled his wells. He had taken her back to the highway, carrying a couple canteens of fresh well water and sandwiches on home-made bread, to catch another ride. She saw a great deal of Montana because of such diversions, ate some of the tastiest foods she could remember and met dozens of people who loved this planet almost as much as she did.
But her sense of urgency was increasing as the weeks had passed. She was travelling with a caravan of RVers when they were stopped because the interstate was closed just west of Devil's Tower in eastern Wyoming. She had been reluctant to ride in the huge machines that seemed so wasteful to her. But the people in these mobile homes were more tied to the land than she could have imagined. It turned out they were all retired and loved travelling around the country and communing with nature. They travelled from one clothing-optional resort to another. Amelia couldn't help laughing along with her companions when they had explained they called themselves the BNSs, Bare Nekkid Seniors.
But now they, as well as everybody else, had been stopped by roadblocks because a forest fire along the highway made it unsafe to pass until it was under control. Her companions were in no hurry so they pulled out their folding tables and set up for a game of bridge. Amelia was not as willing to wait. She could find no where to get out of sight, and decided she could complete this task without being too obvious. She stood next to the RV, turned her face to the sky and silently asked the air currents to bring water molecules so clouds would form. Within half an hour everybody had taken refuge in their vehicles from the sudden wind storm, bringing rain heavy clouds. In less than an hour the skies had opened up and it was pouring rain over most of northeastern Wyoming.
Three hours later the police opened the interstate to traffic since the unexpected deluge had completely extinguished the fire that was presumably started by a cigarette thrown from a car on the highway. Amelia wasn't sure if she would have used her power to put out the fire if it had been started by natural circumstances. But, she was moving again and she had stopped yet another man-made assault on her beautiful high prairie. She remembered something she had heard the last time she had been here; "everybody needs one or two juicy rationalizations to get through the day".
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Sam had holed up at Rufus' cabin while gathering information and tracking Amelia's movements. He'd followed her from Spokane through Idaho and Montana along I-90 east. The irony that they may have actually passed each other going opposite directions on the interstate didn't escape him. When she had stayed on 90 in Wyoming, instead of taking I-25 south which would have been the quicker way to Omaha, Sam wasn't as sure she was headed to Nebraska. Sure, she could stay on 90 until Sioux Falls and then head down I-29 to Omaha. He was disappointed for about 30 seconds, thinking he had misread the situation. But there it was again, coincidence…. Sioux Falls!
Sam wondered how despite her slow but straight forward progress east along the interstate there were no reports of Amelia being stopped and/or questioned by any law enforcement officers. She'd fled across state lines after surviving an explosion and leaving the hospital in Spokane and not even the FBI seemed to care, at least publicly. Sam could find no reports that her progress had been hampered by demons or Levis, either. Not that the news would have called any incidences demonic or supernatural. The Leviathans might have bigger problems right now but he couldn't believe Crowley had missed the reports. The King of Hell wouldn't have let a mysterious stranger, especially someone who seemed to have magical powers, just casually stroll across North America. He'd grabbed up Kevin, the Prophet, without batting an eye.
Sam called Jody Mills in Sioux Falls. She wouldn't take his call until she stepped outside the Sheriff's office. He told her about his lack of progress finding anything to help Dean but he was sure the appearance of this woman, Amelia Stone, at the exact same time as his brother's disappearance was important. She confirmed that she had also heard of Amelia. Jody said she seemed to be headed her way until she vanished in Oacoma this morning. She added that the FBI had contacted her and that they thought she was headed her way, too. She had also been instructed, in a way that left no room for discussion, her officers were not to engage the young woman in any way. Sam knew the sheriff well enough to know that hadn't sat well with Jody. Sam hadn't had to even ask, she had volunteered to keep an eye out for her and let him know if anything came up.
He packed up the car with any and every thing he thought might be of use and headed south out of Whitefish to see if he could catch up to Amelia somewhere before she reached their former home base at Bobby's home in Sioux Falls. He drove, stopping only for gas and to catch a couple hours of sleep. The Impala's miserable gas mileage actually gave Sam a chance to stop, connect to the internet and check to see if Amelia had been spotted. He rolled his eyes as he heard Dean's voice in his head telling him "comments like that is why she likes me better". He silently apologized to Dean's baby for disparaging her mileage and thanked her for being their rock all these years as he pulled back onto the road.
Sam had lived most of his life in the Impala. His dad had dragged him and Dean across the country chasing monsters and the demon that killed his mom. He and Dean had continued Saving People and Hunting Things. Hell, Dean had said that so often he thought about having T-shirts made. His memories of his life with Dean in the Impala had helped Sam control Lucifer and stop the Apocalypse. Becky had showed him Chuck Shurely's last book and even a prophet knew how much she meant to the Winchesters. He knew Dean agreed and he certainly thought it possible that he was driving "the most important object ever". Dean had let Meg drive his Baby into the SucroCorp sign as a diversion while they had broken in and killed Roman. That was just how desperate they had been that Dean had let a demon drive his beloved car.
So, now here he was, back in the Impala, headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, "well and truly on his own", as Crowley had put it. This trip was different, yet at the same time felt so much like four years ago, because he was racing to find a way to save his brother.
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Author's Note #2: Daisy is a Rottweiler as a tribute to Lampito and her Jimiverse, her intelligent and humorous stories have provided me hours and hours of entertainment and brightened many days. Thanks.
