Those of Good Purpose – Chapter 2
Day 285
Cranmer, Utah – 7:57am
Dean awoke feeling a horrible constriction across his body. He lifted his head from the pillow and found himself alone in the bed intricately tangled within the dishevelled bed clothes. He looked around the darkened room and spotted the clock on the bedside table shining with the glow of the lime green LCD.
Pushing himself up onto his elbows, he searched the darkness of the room. The Doc was not in the bed with him and when he couldn't immediately see her, he felt a panic fill him. Had she left him here in this hotel like Sam?
Dean sat up in the bed, reaching for the bedside lamp as he looked in all the darkened corners of the room. His heart was in his mouth as he looked around. Had he done something wrong? Did he cross a line last night that they should never have crossed?
He spotted the Doc's luggage by the door and felt the vice like sensation in his chest ease a little.
Then Dean heard the door to the bathroom and he turned just as the Doc walked out. He felt his breath stutter momentarily so great was his relief. She smiled at him, her eyes a little too knowing for his comfort.
"Good morning" she said, her voice running over his skin like sun warmed silk.
"Morning" he replied watching as she walked around and sat down on the edge of the bed.
She had obviously showered, washed and straightened her hair, because it hung in a smooth fall of dark fire down her back. Her hair was beautiful and highly sophisticated like this, but in all honesty, Dean liked it best when it was a wild untamed mane of curls, like it had been last night.
The Doc wore a stylish pair of black jeans and a rust coloured turtle neck sweater that clung to all of the luscious curves of her body like a second skin. Under her arm she carried an aged leather bound book.
"Thought I'd done a runner, did you?" she asked with a smile.
"That's what I normally do after sex" Dean scoffed, desperately trying to conceal the very real fear that still lingered deep in his mind.
At his words, Dean saw the Doc stiffen slightly. It was the slightest of movements, but it was enough to let him know that the Doc was feeling as vulnerable as he was, but for a whole set of different reasons. Something about that made Dean smile. It was almost comforting to know, that in spite of all her gifts and all of her extra sensory perception that the Doc was still vulnerable to that most human of traits….doubt.
"If you need to keep going on your own Dean, I'll understand."
The Doc's voice was carefully even, but the seriousness in her tone betrayed her own fear. Dean smiled at her, a subtle curving of his lips as he reached and brushed a long silken strand away from her face, dragging his fingertips along the softness of her cheek.
"I said that's what I normally do Doc." he said with a hint of humour in his voice. "I think we can both agree that there is nothing normal about the situation that we find ourselves in."
There was so much meaning caged carefully in those words. So much that they insinuated but didn't actually say, but all of Hannah's thoughts disappeared as soon as Dean pressed his soft lips to hers.
Dean felt his body react keenly to his contact with the Doc and it was more than just his standard male 'wakeup call'. He had always thought that once the delicacy had been tried, his hunger for it would be sated somewhat and the second taste would never be as intense as the first.
But as he kissed the Doc, felt her pliant lips part slightly under his own, he was quickly reviewing that philosophy. Memories of the previous night flooded through him feeding his anticipation. Dean knew on a very primal level that he had a promise of ecstasy with this woman and that on its own would always bring intensity greater than any frantic first time copulation possibly could.
Dean felt heat building between them and he found that all he wanted to do was tumble the Doc over on to the bed and burry himself deep inside of her. But something stayed that instinct. It hung in his mind like the shadow of a storm cloud…he had to find Sam.
As if sensing the hesitation, Hannah broke their kiss and smiled as Dean rested his forehead against hers panting slightly. Searching for any kind of distractions, he reached out slightly and touched the book that was still tucked under the Doc's arm.
"I generally prefer Sports Illustrated for my bathroom literature" he said, a smile curving his lips "But each to their own."
Hannah smiled at his words, pulling back so that she could look him in the eye.
"Your right, it isn't my standard fair, but I thought I might find something in it to help us find Sam."
Dean eyed the book as the Doc bought it forward from under her arms. Runes that he couldn't identify had been branded in the old leather of the front cover, and the parchment had been stained a dirty yellow colour through time.
"A Grimoire?" he asked more of a statement than a question.
Hannah nodded looking down at the book, then back at Dean.
"So I take it that you don't have that feeling anymore pulling you south?" Dean had to ask, but he already knew the answer. The Doc knew that he knew it too and she smiled at him, caressing his cheek gently with her fingertips.
"I think it is reasonable to assume that the thing pulling me south was Sam, even if he was doing it unintentionally. I haven't sensed anything since he visited us in the car."
Dean noted with both interest and gratitude that the Doc was very careful not to state what had exactly happened in the car. He was dealing with it in his own way and in his own time, but it was like a fresh wound, still weeping and sore.
"So you find anything in there that might help?"
"Maybe"
Dean watched as Hannah's face become suddenly serious, and he knew without needing to be told, that she had indeed found something, but it was probably going to be very dangerous.
"Come on Doc" he said pushing himself up in the bed so that he could rest his back against the headboard "Isn't that like being a little bit pregnant? You either have or you haven't?"
Hannah couldn't help smiling at Dean's black and white view of the situation. It was true that she had found something, but she wasn't even sure if she could make it work…and even if she could it would be incredibly dangerous.
"Alright" she said, caution making her elongate her words "I have found a scrying spell that may let us use a mirror to be able to see Sam. If we can get it going we might be able to see something that will give us some clue as to where he is."
"But…" prompted Dean, knowing that the Doc hadn't told him everything.
"But, if we can see him, he'll be able to see us, and with his power he'll be able to shut us down as soon as he becomes aware of it. We would only get a second or two at the most…and"
Dean waited as the Doc seemed to hesitate for a moment.
"And…" he prompted again watching her closely.
Hannah took a deep breath as if she was considering exactly what words she was going to use.
"And" she finally said "the amount of power and the nature of the power that this spell is drawing on, will make us light up like a roman candle on the psychic radar or any demon in the surrounding area."
"And that's a problem why?" questioned Dean
"Well, until the magnified energy of the spell dissipates, we'll be the equivalent of a worm on a big old demon hook."
"Alright" said Dean with a subtle shrug "So we destroy the grimoire when we are done with the spell."
Hannah nodded "Yes…I considered that as well, but I don't think it would help. This sort of magic marks the spell caster as much as the grimoire. Even if we did destroy the book, I think both you and I would still come across like a cup cake to a fat kid for any demon that crossed our path. And I can pretty much guarantee that they will find us. They won't be able to resist it."
Dean sighed heavily. He had found a brief spark of hope at the beginning of this conversation, but the more the Doc spoke, the more hopeless this option seemed.
"How long do the affects last?"
Hannah met his eyes and shook her head slightly "I don't know?" she said.
"And by surrounding area, you mean…." questioned Dean
"It depends on how long the connection lasts" Hannah said, rubbing at her chin and throat with an agitated hand. "If it is only for a second or so, then I don't know… maybe just the demons in this state. If it lasts longer, then we could be looking at all the demons in this country, the northern parts of Mexico and the southern parts of Canada."
"Great" Dean said rubbing both of his hands over his stubbled face. "Ultra high risk for tiny, possibly no return."
"Without it, what else do we have?" asked Hannah in a voice that Dean recognised as her reasoning analytical voice. She wasn't making an emotive appeal, she was looking for the facts so that she could make and informed decisions, and it was just the focus that Dean needed to stop himself going off half cocked and endangering them both.
"We know that Sam's last known position is to the south of us." Dean said watching Hannah's face closely.
"And we know that we can find Rimmon if we need to." Hannah's lips thinned into a single grim line. "That's not much"
"How long do you think you would need to set this ….scrying thing up?"
Hannah considered that for a moment. "If we can get the things we need, setting up is just a matter of minutes."
Dean thought for a long moment, weighing up their options. He could see in the Doc's face that she had already made her mind up about what she thought they should do, but bless her, she was keeping silent and waiting for Dean.
"I'll have a quick shower and then we'll hit the road. Let's keep heading south for the moment and see if that gets us anywhere. We'll pick up what we need for the spell along the way and if we hit a dead end by this afternoon, we cast it."
Hannah smiled, admiring the decisive and quick way that Dean had formulated their plan of action.
"Sounds like a plan."
"Well you never know." said Dean leaning out of the bed to grab at his discarded jeans and boxer shorts "We may get lucky and Sam will call us and tell us exactly where he is."
"Or" replied Hannah, watching as Dean slipped into his boxers "Sam is so cranky that I'm with you, that he turns around from where ever he's going and comes looking for us."
Dean climbed out of the bed, pulling Hannah to her feet as he stood "Stranger things have happened."
"Yes they have" she said looking up into his face with a rye smile on her lips.
Dean's arms snaked out to gather the Doc close and he pulled her hard against his body as he kissed her passionately, almost desperately.
"Now that's how we say good morning where I'm from." he said when they broke apart, and he couldn't help but revel in the way the Doc's arms clung to his shoulders as if she needed his support to stand.
"Well that must make family breakfasts in Kansas just that little bit awkward." Hannah responded in a flippant tone, and Dean couldn't help the bubble of laughter that burst up through his throat.
He kissed her a second time, running his lips gently over hers and then kissing either cheek.
"I don't suppose I could convince you to have another shower, could I?" Dean's voice had turned husky as he whispered against Hannah's ear.
"They do say that cleanliness is next to godliness." she said against his lips and then she kissed him whole heartedly, her arms tightening around his neck.
Dean was instantly ablaze with feeling, like someone has doused him with lighter fluid and then dropped a Zippo at his feet. He could hear blood pump in his ears and his erection was pressed intimately against the Doc's belly.
Needing to feel the touch of her skin against his own, Dean reached for the Doc's sweater and pulled it up over her head. Again she wore the bronze satin bra, but Dean made short work of that, kissing and biting each of her ears and he pulled the straps from her shoulder.
As he ran his fingers down her arms, Dean felt a rough patch on the Doc's bicep that felt wholly out of place next to the velvet softness of her skin. Curiosity made him lift his head and he cooled his libido for long enough to take a good look at her arm. He was surprised to find that it was covered in a clear wound dressing that was a solid two inches thick and three of four inches long.
Dean's brows drew together as he inspected what looked like an over sized band-aid.
"What the hell happened here?" he asked, stepping away from her and holding out her arm for inspection.
Hannah lifted her shoulders in a subtle shrug "It is just a scratch from the rail yard, nothing serious."
"You had this last night?" Dean asked in surprise "How come I didn't notice it?"
Hannah gave him something of a coy smile "Well you were a little preoccupied."
Despite Hannah's efforts to keep things light and playful, Dean's mood had shifted quickly, the burning lust that he had been feeling had changed rapidly to a fierce protectiveness.
"May I?" Dean asked as he ran his fingernail under the sticky edge of the dressing.
"If you like" she replied and watched as he gently pealed back the dressing to reveal the long angry welt underneath.
Dean inspected the wound, recognising it for what it was immediately. The skin had a bloodied graze on it the thickness of his little finger and the edges of the wound had tiny little blisters and black spots of burnt flesh consistent with powder burns. From the looks of this, the Doc had narrowly escaped catching a bullet in her arm.
Hannah could see the thunderous look on Dean's face as he inspected the wound. In an attempt to alleviate his fear she tried to make a joke of it. "Some of those bullets can be slippery little suckers."
Dean's eyes met hers and they were hard, full of barley repressed anger.
"Half an inch to the left Doc, and you could have lost the use of this arm."
Hannah smiled gently at Dean, laying her free hand against his cheek.
"Half and inch to the right and it would have missed me completely."
Dean gently re-stuck the dressing over the wound and pulled the Doc into his arms. In his embrace the Doc could feel all of the emotions coursing through the man she held against her.
He was angry that she had been injured, furious that it had been Sam who had done it and ashamed that he had been unable to do anything to prevent it.
"It's all right Dean" Hannah said gently running her hand over the soft hair at the nape of his neck "I'm not made of glass."
Dean didn't respond, but Hannah could sense his resolve to keep her safe. She didn't argue with him. She knew it would be pointless, but she also knew that they were in a war, and in war people got hurt all the time. It would just have to be something that Dean learned to live with.
When Dean kissed her, it was not with the all consuming hunger that his touch had been earlier, it was instead with a slow resolute tenderness. His touch and his hands dominated her, reminding Hannah of their difference in size, and he handled her with infinite gentleness, which in itself had an intoxicating sensual appeal.
As they kissed and caressed each other, a slow burning desire built between their bodies. It was languid and smouldering, but there was a hint of danger to it, almost as if all it would take would be a small catalyst and they would burst into flames and consume each other.
As Dean kissed down the soft flesh of the Doc's neck, he marvelled at the human mind. The Doc was naked…so, for that matter, was he; but he had no recollection of when the clothes had come off, no memory of the logistics of how they had come off, all he could feel was the satin bliss of the Doc's body moving against his own.
Dean ran his hand over the Doc's hip and down her thigh. He caught the Doc's leg just behind her knee and lifted it gently so that her leg curled up over his hip, opening her thighs slightly so that he could rub his aching erection against the soft cradle of her body.
As he had the night before, Dean could feel all of the Doc's physical responses as if they were his own. And he knew by the way she ground her pelvis rhythmically against his erection, that she too could feel what was driving him wild.
Dean felt the Doc's arms tighten around his shoulders, then using the leg that was wrapped around his hips, she lifted her other leg from the floor and wrapped it around his waist too. Dean's arms wrapped under her bottom to support her, and once she was balanced, the Doc lifted in her hips and positioned the head of Dean's erection at her slick opening.
She lowered herself just and inch and then tightened the grip of her thighs around Dean's hips, so that she was balanced with only the tip of his cock inside of her. With the Doc wrapped firmly around him, Dean moved towards the bathroom, every step towards it making the Doc sink further down his throbbing manhood, so by the time Dean had reached the door, he was seated to the hilt deep within her body and groaning deep in his chest like a tolling church bell.
Dean managed to get the water flowing, and then making sure that it wasn't too hot, he stepped underneath the spray and allowed the warm liquid to flow over them. Both he and Hannah were motionless for a few moments as they indulged in the warmth of the water and the sensuous feel of it running over their bodies, but the need to move inside of her finally overwhelmed Dean, and he pushed the Doc's body against the tiled wall of the shower cubicle, thrusting as deeply as he could inside of her as he did so.
The Doc gasped and turned her face towards the spray of water. This made her hair wet and it flowed between their bodies like fine strands of silk. With the Doc braced against the wall, Dean was able to lean back slightly so that he could look at where their bodies joined, he could follow the tracks of water as it ran down her face and over the swell of her breasts and he could see the expressions of pleasure that moved across the Doc's beautiful face.
In life the Doc could be reserved with others to the point of appearing austere, but as a lover, Dean realised that all of her reactions were honest expressions of the deep seated passion that coursed through her. She could no more stifle the moans that flowed from the depths of her chest than she could stop breathing. And every sound drove Dean to thrust harder and deeper…trying to get as close to her as humanly possible.
It was sublime, the warm water spilling over them, the combined sounds of their passion, the liquid slick flesh over flesh. Dean wasn't by nature and exhibitionist but just this once he prayed that there were people in the rooms next to them, just so they would be driven mad with envy.
In the pit of his stomach Dean felt the strange dipping sensation that likes of which he normally felt when riding roller coasters and he new that heralded that the Doc was close. He kept his rhythm steady, holding her hips and thrusting into her as he focused on the foreign sensations that he was feeling.
He had learnt last night that a woman's orgasm was an entirely different sensation to a man's. A man's was like dropping a match to a stick of dynamite. The build up was like watching the wick burn away and you always new the explosion was inevitable.
A woman's orgasm was a lot like woman. It was elusive and made you stretch and work for the ultimate goal. The only thing that Dean could acquaint it with was like standing on the edge of a building right at that point of overbalancing. There is always a second or two where your body wavers and your arms flail and you think you may just make it back up to the top, but generally that is right before you overbalance and fall to ground below.
Dean could feel the Doc reaching for that elusive feeling. He could feel it in the tightening of the muscles around his cock. Hear it in the short sharp intakes of breath and sense it in his mind, that grasping almost lucid thought. He let the Doc waver for a moment, and right when she was on the brink, he thrust hard pumping his hips and pushing her over the threshold into pleasure.
The Doc screamed involuntarily, unable to muffle the evidence of her ecstasy. It was that, which nearly pushed Dean over, that wild abandonment of control from a woman who prided herself on her ability to maintain control at all times.
Dean didn't want to join the Doc just yet, he wanted to feel all of her sensations untainted by his own pleasures, so her clapped down on his instinct, controlling his body to hold off on the thing that it wanted to do most in the world. As the aftershocks shook the Doc, it certainly wasn't easy.
Dean stilled looking at the Doc as she reclined against the tiled wall. When she opened her eyes to meet his gaze, their colour had shifted from their usual steel grey to the molten mercury that he acquainted with her gifts.
She smiled at him. A lazy smile full of mystery and mischief, then he felt her internal muscles stroking the throbbing length of his manhood. On the outside the Doc barely moved, but internally she was milking him gently, stimulating every inch of him and Dean nearly lost the battle with his control.
The Doc's smiled seemed to grow a little, as if by not succumbing Dean was issuing her with some kind of challenge. She tensed the muscles in her thighs, and lifted herself up Dean's throbbing length and began a slow ride, thrusting her hips in time to the throbbing pulse that she could feel through his erection.
Dean's breath caught in his throat, and his body began to move of its own volition. He was desperately trying to hold himself back, but the Doc was dragging him to the precipice and any moment now he knew he would tumble helplessly over.
Then Dean felt a caress across his testicles and his eyes snapped open to meet the Doc's. Her smile grew, and he could see in those thought filled eyes that she had just discovered a new application for her telekinetic ability.
Again Dean felt his testicles being caressed, a gentle unseen hand running over his balls and stimulating the sensitive flesh at the base of his penis. A strangled groan was all he could manage before he lost the iron grip on his control and began thrusting into the Doc's welcoming sheath with blind passion.
His orgasm ripped through him, making him shudder with a knee weakening intensity. On the periphery of his senses he was aware that the Doc had joined him on his freefall and that just made the moment even more perfect.
Breathing hard, Dean had to put his hands on the wall, to stop himself from sinking to the tiled floor of the shower. Doc relieved him of her weight, unwinding her legs from around his waist and standing in the arc created by his arms.
Dean looked at her, water running down his face and over his shoulders. He smiled feeling slightly shell shocked by the intensity of his experience. He hadn't dreamed that anything could have possibly topped the feelings and sensation that he had felt last night, but he was incredibly happy to be proved wrong.
"We really need to get going don't we?" said Dean with strong disappointment in his voice as he rested his brow against the Doc's
"I'm afraid so" said the Doc tilting her head back and kissing him, ignoring the water that ran over her face and into her eyes.
"Damn it" Dean muttered under his breath. "When we have found Sam and I have given him an appropriate ass kicking…we are so coming back here." he said as he reached for the soap. "I think this has just become my most favourite motel in the state…Hell! I might even go so far as to say the entire country"
Once the pair had focused on the task of getting cleaned up, it didn't take them long in the shower. Hannah dried off and let Dean have the bathroom so he could shave and went out to bedroom to hunt down the clothes that had been abandoned earlier.
When Dean emerged fifteen minutes later with a towel wrapped around his hips, the Doc was already clothed, her makeup had been reapplied and she was finishing straightening her long hair. In fact, with the exception of the few sections of damp hair, the Doc didn't look any different than when Dean had first seen her this morning.
"Huh" muttered Dean as he fished in his duffle for a clean change of clothes "I thought women were supposed to take hours getting ready?"
Hannah smiled at him, watching him change through the reflection in the mirror as she pulled the straightener down a long damp section of her hair.
"It was tough, but through years of intense training, I have managed to hone it down to a fine art."
"I can see that." he replied pulling a t-shirt over his head. "So what are we going to need for this spell? We should probably make a list so we can pull over and find the stuff."
"There is nothing too out of the ordinary. Candles, a votive bowl preferably made of silver, a sharp knife, a small animal."
Dean baulked as he slipped his arm into the sleeve of his shirt. "A small animal!...Oh I so hope that in not for what I think its for."
Hannah looked at Dean through the reflection in the mirror, her eyes becoming very serious. "This isn't pretty Hollywood magic, this is the dirty, dangerous, blood sacrificing black arts magic."
"I know." said Dean repacking his duffle "But a small animal? Damn!"
"Well the spell originally called for the flesh of a newborn baby, but thankfully later practitioners had left a note in the margin that said that an animal sacrifice was enough to get the spell to work."
Having finished drying and straightening her hair, Hannah unplugged her straightener and left it on the small vanity to cool down. She turned and watched Dean as he carried his duffle and put it on the floor by the door near her own luggage.
She wanted to confess to him how afraid she was of delving into this sort of darkness, she wanted to tell him how the dark entity that she kept trapped within her mind howled with delight at the mere prospect of feeling that surge of dark power. But instead she went and fetched her coat from the motel closet slipping it over her shoulders.
Her pride would never allow her to limit Dean's options of finding his brother just because she was afraid. That didn't mean however that she wasn't praying for something to occur before that time came, that would give her a reprieve from having to re-immerse herself into the shadowy workings of a grimoire.
"Alright, you good to go?" asked Dean looking at her from the door.
"Absolutely" Hannah replied gathering up her hand bag and picking up the hair straightener off the vanity.
Dean carried the bags out to Charlotte, who gleamed in the bright morning sunshine. Hannah paused at the door looking around at the motel. They had arrived under the cover of darkness and she hadn't really gotten a good look at the place. As she looked around now at the pleasant country style inn that was surrounded by woodland, she had to agree with Dean. This was beautiful little place and she would definitely enjoy coming back here.
"Still happy for me to drive?" asked Dean as he closed the trunk and jingled the car keys.
Hannah smiled, shielding her eyes against the glare of the morning sun. "If I said no, would that stop you?"
Dean smiled back at her enjoying the companionable banter "Probably not."
"Well then, I guess I'm still happy to let you drive." she replied before moving to the passenger's door "But I get to pick the music."
Dean moved up to the driver's door. "Now hold on a minute." he said watching the Doc across Charlotte's roof. "The driver always gets to choose the tunes…it's the rules."
Hannah gave a careless shrug "My car….my rules."
"Can't argue with that" muttered Dean as he unlocked his door "But something tells me I'm going to regret this."
"Oh Yee of little faith." Hannah said with a smile.
The pair slipped into Charlotte's sun warmed interior, and Dean turned the engine over, letting Charlotte idle for a minute before heading off. They pulled up in front of the reception office and Dean slipped out of the car, leaving the Doc to plug her iPod into the cars stereo system.
As Dean pushed through the door to the reception office, he spotted the big inn keeper that had helped in the early hours of the morning.
"Morning Sir." said the big man, whose large plaid flannel shirt made him look a little like Rufus Ruffcut from the Wacky Races.
"Morning" said Dean with a smile desperately trying to avoid making any reference to Sawtooth or the Buzz Wagon.
"Might I say" said the big man in a conspiratorial stage whisper "You look all the better for having a bit of a rest. I was a little bit worried about you when you pulled in last night."
"Yeah" said Dean, surprised slightly by the sincerity on the inn keepers face "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to get you out of bed"
"Don't even give it a second thought." said the big man with a chuckle the rumbled around his chest. "So you'll be leaving us today then?"
"Yes thanks."
"A shame." said the inn keeper wistfully "It is such a beautiful day and there is so much to see in this area."
"Well you certainly have a great place here" Dean said handing back the room keys to the inn keeper's meaty fist. "Great showers." he added with perhaps too much enthusiasm.
"Thanks" said the inn keep slightly quizzically "If I get you just to sign here, then we should be all set to go."
"Actually" said Dean as an afterthought "Do you mind if I settle up in cash?"
"Of course not, sir" said the inn keeper blinking rapidly as if the prospect of anyone paying cash in this day and age was almost unheard of.
Dean fished some bills from his wallet and handed them over to the big man. He honestly did want to come back here some day and somehow he didn't think leaving an unpaid tab with a fraudulent credit card would go down well with this man mountain.
"There you go Sir, your receipt and your change."
"Thanks" said Dean accepting the change and stuffing it in his pocket. "Have a good day." he said as he left.
"You too sir" said the inn keeper "And drive safe."
Dean walked out of the office, waving over his shoulder at the big man who stood behind the desk waving like an animatronic lumberjack from Frontier Land.
Opening up the driver's door, Dean slipped in behind the wheel and started Charlotte up again. As power hit the stereo, the system came to life and the gritty heavy opening riff of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' was piped into the car through five different speakers and a sub woofer.
"Oh" said Dean his face breaking into a smile of complete joy "The 'Zep'…How did you know?"
Hannah smiled, her fingers tapping the beat out on the arm rest of her door. "I must be psychic or something."
Dean shot her a Cheshire cat smile, then throwing Charlotte in gear he headed off towards the highway.
Day 285
Kayenta, Arizona – 9:41am
Sam looked at his watch as he filled the Pick-up with gas. Isabelle had gotten them up fairly early that morning, but Mel had somehow manage to complain and drag her feet enough that they hadn't left the motel in Utah until well after 8am.
They had driven through the spectacular Monument Valley, but Sam had been unable to derive any joy from their scenic surrounds. In spite of his best efforts his thoughts seemed to be fixed on Dean and the strange separation that he now felt from his brother. Sam couldn't explain it, he just felt wrong. He didn't trust his travelling companions and he had never felt more isolated in his entire life.
What was worse, was that Isabelle had still not told him where they were heading, despite all of her assurances that she would, so he was travelling blind forced to trust a temperamental teenager and a demon in the body of an angelic child.
The fuel nozzle clicked, breaking Sam out of his reverie. He hung the heavy nozzle back in the pump and then headed to the cab of the truck.
"You want anything from inside?" he asked looking at the two girls who still watched him with wary eyes.
"A Coke and a Hershey Bar." said Mel in that pubescent voice that was both vaguely belligerent and painfully patronising.
"Ahh…the breakfast of champions." Sam muttered acerbically "Isabelle?"
The elfin little girl looked at him with her age wearied eyes, "No thankyou." she said in her careful well formed words.
Sam nodded "Alright, I'm just going to pay for this then I'll hit the John and we'll head out. We won't need gas for a while, so Mel if you gotta go…go now."
Sam didn't wait for the churlish response that he knew would come in his direction; he just headed for the shop. He pulled out his wallet and noticed that he was running dangerously low on cash. Isabelle, had better have some way for pulling cash out of thin air because very soon he was going to be forced to use one of his many aliased credit cards and as soon as he did, there would be a trail for Dean to follow, which is the last thing that he wanted.
Sam fetched Mel's requested food also grabbing a coke for himself, then he went up to the counter and handed the attendant the cash.
"Can I have the restroom key too please?" he asked as the attendant handed back his change.
Shrugging, the attendant reached under the counter and produced a beat up hub cap that had a key attached to it by a mangled wire coat hanger. Sam took the hub cap unable to keep from being amused at the rather rudimentary anti theft device.
He headed back to the pick-up passing the cokes and the candy bar in through the window; then he headed off to the restrooms, trying not to look back over his shoulder at the unearthly eyes that he could fell boring into his back.
Sam unlocked the restroom and the locked himself inside. It wasn't a particularly big bathroom but thankfully it was clean, and it afforded him the privacy of what he needed to do.
Pulling his cell phone from his pocket he switched it on. He hadn't wanted to be plagued by calls from Dean, so yesterday he had left the phone switched off in the hopes of avoiding it. Sure enough when his phone came back on he had nearly a dozen missed calls from Dean, there was one from Bobby and one from a number that he couldn't identify.
Sam didn't bother with them, if he was going to stick with his mission; he couldn't let himself get side tracked so her cleared all of the messages without even reading or listening to them. A clean slate was what was called for here.
With that done, Sam searched for Wendy's number and dialled hoping to god that he could reach her. He didn't know when he would get another opportunity like this again.
"Hello." said the gentle voice on the other end of the phone and at is sound Sam nearly felt like weeping.
"Wendy? It's Sam." he finally said "I can't talk for long, but I just wanted to call and see how you are."
"Sam" Wendy said, her voice swelling with delight as she said his name. "I was hoping that you would call. Where are you? You sound strange?"
"Strange?" said Sam, feeling his chest tighten slightly "What do you mean strange?"
"It's all echoey like you've got your head in a bucket or something." she said, and Sam could hear the smile in her voice.
"No" Sam said trying to laugh but not feeling terribly humorous "No buckets. But there is a mop and a rather large pile of urinal cakes."
"What?" said Wendy quizzically "Are you alright Sam? You don't sound too good?"
"No. I'm fine….I just….." Sam sighed heavily running his hand through his hair "I just really miss you is all."
There was a long pause and for a moment Sam wondered if the signal had dropped out, but then Wendy spoke alleviating all of his fears.
"Why don't you Sam? Why not come back here for a little while? I know that you can't stay forever….but…I miss you too….and….you're really starting to worry me."
Sam closed his eyes letting his head fall back as he listened to the quiet beseeching voice on the other end of the line.
"I want to come back….You can't imagine just how much I want to come back, but there is something that I need to take care of first."
"Well I have some holiday time owing" she said quickly "Tell me where you are and I'll come to you."
Sam was sorely tempted to say yes, but he had no idea where they were headed and he sure as hell wasn't going to expose Wendy to the dangers that Isabelle and Mel represented.
"You can't do that. It is just too dangerous here and I won't put you in more danger than I already have."
"I'm not afraid Sam." said Wendy resolutely "I know you think I am but I can handle it."
"I don't doubt you" replied Sam "I am just afraid enough for the both of us."
Sam looked at his watch then at the locked door of the bathroom. "Wendy, I'm sorry but I have to go."
"Alright" Wendy replied quietly "But ring me back when you can."
"I will" Sam promised, and with that he hung up unsure if he felt worse or better for making that call.
He hurried out of the restrooms and handed the key back in to the service attendant. Then he went back to the pick-up and climbed in studiously avoiding meeting Isabelle's knowing eyes.
"Alright" he said as he started the engine "Where are we headed?"
"Tuba City" Isabelle said quietly, and the statement of an actual destination rather than a direction surprised Sam so much he had to look at the tiny girl sitting beside him.
"What's in Tuba City?" he finally asked, praying that this one act of disclosure meant that Isabelle was finally going to share more information with him.
"You'll know when we get there." she said enigmatically, and Sam couldn't help the sharp spike of disappointment that lanced through his chest.
"Great" he muttered under his breath as he put the truck in drive and headed off to rejoin the highway.
