Chapter Eight
All this time… all those weeks… all those goddamned exorcisms all over the damned place and she'd been here. Twenty minutes drive from the freaking church all this time!!
But there wasn't time for that now, was there? Because that asshole, the one she'd told him had hit her when they'd been together, that… that monster had been with her all this time. Who the hell knew what he'd done to her in the past few weeks? She'd had bruises…fading bruises…but bruises clearly visible an entire yard away.
The door crashed open under the weight of his body, thrown against it so that the lock would give way. It came off its hinges and Sam really didn't care. He wanted his hands on that man: Jack.
Dean was somewhere behind him, out of sight but Sam could still feel him there just a few steps behind him. Ready to back him up if he needed it.
"Dude's not in here Sam. Where the hell could he have gone?" His brothers voice coming from the living room. The sound of heavy footfall coming from above them. Sam's eyes flew up to the source of the sound.
"Upstairs Dean… dude's upstairs." And then they were both running up the stairs, taking them two and three at a time. They were making enough noise to wake the dead but they didn't care. Didn't matter how much warning the guy got, he was in for a world of hurt tonight. They were going to make sure of it.
Sam made it up to the top of the stairs first…just in time to see Jack open a door at the end of the hall and slip inside…and then that voice. "Jack?" Oh God, that voice.
He didn't know how he got there, but suddenly the door was at his feet instead of on its hinges and his fist was connecting with Jack's jaw. And then…and then he saw her. She had crawled up the bed, back pushed up against the headboard as if she could become a part of it. Terrified and shaking she looked from Jack on the floor to Sam towering above him.
Dean was hauling Jack up by his collar and dragging him over to a chair, roughing him up along the way. More footsteps…lighter ones now, racing up the stairs and then Cal was there too. Rope in hand. Salt, holy water and leather bound journal in hand. "I called your Dad… he's on his way."
But Sam wasn't paying attention to them anymore, he was focused on Fran. Something was wrong. She looked lost, confused, scared… something was wrong because she wasn't asking him if they'd brought her shotgun, or a bat or anything she could use to put a dent in the man who had put his hands on her and given her those bruises, that haunted look.
He remembered her eyes…dark and possessed under her pretty white veil. There was Dean's angry voice and the word 'Christo' but Fran's eyes stayed chocolate brown. Instead Jack's voice was an unearthly roar that filled the room. "Damned Winchesters!! Katie you tell them to leave…tell them to leave now or so help me I will make you wish you'd never been born!"
There were tears streaming down Fran's face as the words came from her lips. All Yes Jack and Of course Jack and Please don't hurt them, please before she turned to Sam and begged, begged him to just leave. Cal and Dean were staring at her in disbelief and Sam…well Sam didn't know what the hell to do.
"Franny…god, sweetheart. It's okay… we're here to help you. To bring you home."
"But…my name is Kate." And now she was confused because that was the second person in the last few weeks to call her by that name she didn't know…and it wasn't her because she knew her own name for Christ's sake.
"No…no it's Francine honey. Don't you…do you know who we are?"
Did she know…? God, she knew he was Sam. That man she'd dreamed up to help her get through this hell that was her life. But Sam wasn't real, he was a daydream. What the hell was going on?
"You…you're Sam. I…I dream you. You're not real. You can't be here."
Yeah, something was definitely wrong. Completely and totally screwed up. Because Fran, who should have been his wife…the woman who knew him better than his own brother did...She was standing in front of him scared as all hell because she thought he wasn't real.
He took her face in his hands and gently brushed fingers through tear tracks over green and purple tinged cheeks and made her look at him. "Don't cry. I am here. You're safe." Sam needed her to hear the words, even if she didn't believe them…and he could tell she really didn't. There would be time enough to make it better. Right now he had some serious business to take care of with this Jack guy and his little demon friend.
"Cal?" He tossed the keys to the Impala at her and watched as she caught them. "Get her out of here, take her home. Stay with her 'till we get back. I don't want her to see this."
"Sure thing Sam." And Cal had an arm around Fran's shaking shoulders, wings curving protectively around them and ushering her towards the door. Dean stopped her just before they stepped out and kissed Cal lightly. "Be safe, okay?"
"I could say the same to you Winchester. Better come back in one piece or you'll have me to deal with, go it?"
"Yes ma'am." He smiled and watched the two women start down the stairs.
Sam waited…watched through the window as Cal led Fran across the yard and tucked her into the passenger seat of the Impala. Listened to the thing behind him rant and roar its anger as he watched the beast of a car come to life and roll away. Waited as the knowledge settled itself in his chest, in his heart that finally they'd found her and Fran was safe. A little broken, but safe. Only then did he turn around and face the man, the demon who had done this and when he did, those ink black eyes met his head on.
"You'll pay for this Winchester" it angrily declared, the words designed to generate fear accomplishing nothing but to fuel the fire of anger that burned through Sam's veins.
"No." Sam voice gone deep and dark, snarling out the words that echoed through his entire being. "No. You're fun's over. I'm going to personally exorcise your ass right back to hell."
Dean was handing him the journal and dousing the guy in holy water. When Jack screamed Dean just smacked him upside the head and told him to shut the hell up. "No one asked your opinion dude."
Five minutes. It took no more than five minutes to speak the latin and make the dark cloud that was the demon come streaming out of Jack's body. As soon as the cloud dissipated Sam had his hands on Jack, who was still tied down to the chair.
"Dude, you shouldn't've done that. Should've just left the girl an' me alone. It'll be back for her. She's got something it wants."
"The hell it will. We sent it back to hell Jack. Better start thinking about that 'cause I have no doubt you'll be joining it someday." And Sam smashed a fist into Jacks face on principle alone.
"Sammy! Goddamn it, what the hell?" Dean was worried. This violence thing? That was his gig… Sam was the one who saved his fists for defense. Preferred to take the first punch and then wail on the guy.
"Did you see her face Dean?"
"Yeah, I did Sam. But the guy was possessed… how do we know it wasn't the demon that did that?" Dean could have laughed at this complete role reversal. Would have if this wasn't so damned serious. 'Course, that idiot Jack picked just that moment to open his mouth again.
"Is that what this is about? Her face? Yeah man, I did that. That and a whole lot more. The woman needed to learn her place in the world."
"You goddamn sonofabitch!" There was a satisfying crack as Sam's fist connected with Jack's face again.
"Dude, you're going to regret that. Go ahead and do your worst. Nothing's gonna change the fact that Kate is mine now. I made a deal, see? When that yellow-eyed chic comes back I'll tell her what happened and then it'll be your asses getting whooped."
Sam's fist was in the air again, ready to strike the blow that would shut Jack up but Dean's hand stopped his arm from moving.
"Wait. Did you say yellow-eyed chic? What the hell kind of deal did you make Jack?"
"Simple. I keep the girl fed and healthy for a few months until she gives up what the chic wants from her, and then Franny's mine to do with what I please."
The wheels were turning in Dean's head…a few months huh? "How many months?" It wasn't a question, it was an order to answer.
"Eight." A slimy sneer from the man tied down to the chair. Sam wasn't getting it though. His mind was still stuck on making the guy pay for even thinking about hitting his Fran. Dean though? Yeah, Dean got it loud and clear.
"Are you telling me…so you're saying the deal you made was to keep Fran here until she…"
"Yeah, until she has that damned baby. Pain in the ass that it is, it's worth the wait to give her what she really deserves."
"Wait… Dean?" Sam had turned his attention from Jack to his brother with a confused little frown. "Is he saying what I think he's saying?"
Dean had no idea what to say. "I, uh… I think he's saying you're going to be a dad Sam."
And at that exact moment the whole world came crashing down around him. All that anger that had been boiling in his veins finally boiled over so that he couldn't hold it anymore. "DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU HIT HER GAVE HER ALL THOSE BRUISES KNOWING SHE WAS PREGNANT?!?"
"'Course I did. The damn things not mine is it? She had it coming."
Dean had just enough time to think to himself that Sam couldn't have been any scarier if he'd been possessed. Then Sam was untying the asshole and it was all Dean could do to try and stop him. "Dude, what're you doing?"
"I'm about to beat the living hell out of the guy Dean…I'm making it a fair fight."
There was no arguing the logic here. Sam was doing this, nothing was going to stop him. And Dean? Well, in the same situation he was pretty sure he'd feel the exact same way. Only difference would be that he probably wouldn't have even bothered untying the lowlife.
A half hour later, when the cops came barging through the front door Sam had earned more than a few cuts and bruises but Jack was definitely worse for wear. Thank God for small towns because the first officer on the scene was one of Franny's regulars at Chez Henry's. One look from Sam to Jack and he didn't even need to be told what had happened. "Where is she?" He'd asked.
"Cal took her home." Sam answered through a split lip.
"Go on and join her then. I've got this."
Dean patted a uniformed shoulder as he followed Sam out the door. "Thanks man."
"Don't mention it. I've been looking for a reason to haul this guy in ever since the first time he laid a hand on her. Fran just beat me to him last time."
They found their father waiting in the kitchen for them when they came down the stairs. Hadn't even heard him come in. "You, uh, been here long Dad?" Sam asked him, eyeing him wearily.
"Long enough. He still alive?"
"Yeah, unfortunately."
"Good. We're heading back, meeting Cal at the farmhouse. We've got our work cut out for us if we're going to protect those two from the demon."
Dean nodded and turned to leave. Sam went to follow but was stopped by his father's hand on his shoulder.
"Sam... we'll keep them safe. Both of them. Okay?"
"Yeah Dad." Sam ducked his head and turned to go, hiding the fear behind a mop of shaggy brown hair. "We will."
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