A/N: Back again for another chap! I finally had revelation the other day, and I think I found a definite direction for the story to go. I got really excited, hence the little extra length on this update. Hope you like it, and thanks again to everyone who's been leaving reviews/favs/likes! Love you all!

Chapter 10

Sam and Dean had looked at each other uncertainly as they pulled up to a dinky, suspicious looking motel. Sure, it was even one of the nicer ones they had stayed in in a long time, but something about dragging Lea with them made them second guess its decency.

Sam and Dean had discovered that Lea slept on car rides. They hadn't even been on the road for 15 minutes before she had uncomfortably balanced her head on her seat belt and - of course - started snoring. She finally woke up as they were circling the third motel they had looked at. This one had no stains or mold on the outside that they had seen so far, and the cars parked around it didn't look entirely disgusting. It still wasn't a chain, which made their chances of quality drop - but the prices dropped as well.

"Oh, are we here already?" She asked sluggishly, fixing her glasses and wiping drool off her chin as sneakily as she could.

"Well -" Dean began, wondering if he could make up a quick excuse as to why they weren't staying there and go find a better one. Finally, he decided against it and swung into a parking place. This was as good as any they were going to find within their means. "Yeah."

"Why don't you walk Oscar or something while we get us a room?" Sam suggested, and Lea shrugged and complied.

She scooted out the passenger side back door and opened it wide enough for Oscar to jump out. He immediately ran out into a tiny grassy median where he almost stood on either side of the concrete barriers. She leaned against the front of the impala as the boys went inside.

Settling, Lea fiddled with her glasses to keep them sufficiently covering her eyes. She remembered how it had been when she'd first started wearing them, stumbling around. Using her other senses to aid her instead of her eyes had been worse than the time when she had broken her right hand and had to learn to be dependent on her left. Vision was something altogether more precious.

"Excuse me," A voice startled her out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" Lea acknowledged. The voice was one of an older woman, coming from about two feet away.

"Sorry, I just pulled up and noticed… Anyway, I was wondering if you needed any help? Or if you're lost?"

"Oh, no. Thank you, ma'am, but I'm just waiting for… my brothers. They're inside trying to get us a room. I… don't really like a whole lot of new places." She sounded pathetic, and honestly it disgusted her the way she was trying to fool this nice lady. All the woman wanted was to help an apparently blind girl standing in a parking lot - but what was she supposed to do?

The woman smacked her lips and sighed sympathetically. "Of course, dear. Would you like me to stay with you till they get here?"

"Oh, that's alright, ma'am. I couldn't ask you to -"

"Please, sweetie, I really insist." The woman said firmly, moving closer. She moved slowly, and obviously bumped a bag of some kind against the side of the car so that Lea would know where she was. She jumped a little at the noise, ashamed that she exaggerated the response and caused the lady to say, "Oh dear, I've gotten so clumsy over the years. That was just - it was just my bag, dear, nothing to worry about."

"Oh, don't worry ma'am, it was really nothing. I'm just a little tired is all. I can… I get a little jumpy when I'm tired."

"Poor thing," The woman responded. "Have you and your brothers been traveling for a long time?"

"I…" Lea began floundering. How many lies could she tell at a time? This woman was just trying to help her. "A little while I guess, yeah." She hoped the answer was vague enough and offered a smile in the woman's general direction.

"Oh! Are these them now?" The woman asked. Just then, Lea picked up on faint crunching footsteps.

"Hey, Lea." Sam said, sounding just slightly hesitant.

"Oh yeah, these are my brothers, Sam and Dean." Lea answered, stressing her words so that they'd be sure to pick up on it. Not that they weren't smart enough to pick up on it before, of course, but the last thing Lea wanted by then was for the woman to find out that she'd been lying.

"Yeah, we just ran in to get a room." Dean told her.

"Both of you?" The woman asked, in one of those overly chipper tones which implied that she knew something else had been going on.

"Yes, ma'am." Sam answered. "We were just trying to scrounge up what money we had. We've… Fallen on rough times, since we took full custody of Lea here. Otherwise we definitely would have gone to a nicer place, too," He laughed in a self derogatory, embarrassed sort of way. There was a pause, and Lea suddenly had an irrational fear that she didn't look anything like the character Sam was portraying her as. What was she supposed to do with her face while someone else was telling the lies?

"I see," The woman said, sounding less hostile. How did Sam do that? How long had they had to lie about everything about themselves?

"Well, ma'am, thank you so much for staying with our sister for us - I think it's about time to get our stuff to our room." Sam told the lady.

"Of course," She offered kindly. "You all look out for each other, you hear? Times are getting tough on everyone where money's concerned. Heaven knows I hardly scrounge enough to keep myself going."

"Thanks, ma'am. Take care." Dean appeased her, and they all got into the car. Lea waited for the click of the woman's shoes to fade a little before snapping her fingers and calling Oscar back.

Dean started the car back up and drove around to the other side of the building, right in front of the door, and continued like nothing had happened. Lea's chest hurt right at her heart and she tried to ignore it, be like the boys and forget about the encounter entirely.

Once at the motel room, they all grabbed their duffle bags and threw them over their shoulders as Dean unlocked the door and they pushed their way inside. The place was obviously old: the ceiling was textured, and the floor was still covered in purple shag carpet. Otherwise, it seemed good enough. The boys shook the sheets on the two beds out, throwing up crumbs and displaying lipstick stains but otherwise they seemed to be clean. The bathroom was fine except for a little grime in the corners where the tub met the floor and there were a few burn marks on the shower curtains. It smelled like cigarettes covered in cheap scented spray and had no windows except for one, which looked out at the line of doors next to them. Lea didn't mind, really. She finally took off her glasses (though she was honestly hesitant to after the earlier encounter) and asked the boys about sleeping arrangements.

"Well, I was hoping for a couch," Dean admitted, "But Sam and I'll take this one. You can have the other."

She accepted it. Dean didn't seem the type to like people questioning his orders. People had always told Lea - before her… eyes - that she would be the easiest person to live with. She thought people probably said this because she had a talent for knowing what would aggravate different people, and not doing those things. Honestly, all she really wanted was to live peacefully.

The boys began pulling out suits. Sam set up an iron.

"Where are you guys going now?" Lea asked.

"To talk to the family, the police, and anyone else we find who has a connection with the death." Sam explained.

"Oh," Lea answered. "Well… Can I tag along?"

Sam and Dean exchanged looks. "I don't think so," Sam answered. "Listen, Lea, we don't want to drag you into this any more than we have to, and what we're going to do isn't exactly legal."

Lea looked at the suits and then at the boys. "You're impersonating feds." She said flatly.

"Um…. yeah." Dean answered.

"So it isn't just not exactly legal, it's really really illegal."

"Um…. yeah." Sam answered.

"Well…" She felt that stress from earlier in the day build. Her lying to the woman was entirely unrelated to the boys not letting her go with them, but they evoked much the same reaction and it had doubled by this time. That burning shame and guilt in her gut turned into anger, which she quickly shoved down. If nothing else, she was determined to remain in control of her emotions. "Ok, I guess. Anything else I can be doing in the meantime? Maybe where the research is involved?"

"He's the one you ask there." Dean told her, shoving a thumb in Sam's direction.

"Go back through the information you compiled. Look for discrepancies. This seems like a cut and dry kind of deal, but it never hurts to be certain. Also, knowing as much as possible about the living family itself is helpful. I'll get my laptop out for you, so if you can do some background checks that'd be great." Sam stepped in. Lea nodded. She wasn't sure how to do background checks, but she was sure she could figure it out.

Unfortunately, the background checks were stiflingly boring. There was a possibility, she recognized, that she was going about them incorrectly. However, the information she was able to dig up was entirely unhelpful and uneventful. She texted Sam and told him there was nothing worth anything where backgrounds were concerned, and he thanked her quickly and told her they'd be back soon. Instead, Lea spent the hours the boys were gone doodling on the backs of her notes on the case and watching the weather, as that was one of the only channels besides pornos available on the box television. She also took a nap.

The boys came back and knocked on the door about four hours later with drive-thru burgers and fries in hand.

"Anything?" She asked eagerly when she let them in. They shrugged.

"Not much," Sam answered. "Found out the guy was buried, not cremated, so it makes getting rid of the haunting a lot simpler."

"Routine," Dean agreed.

Lea plopped down on the bed with a french fry hanging out of her mouth. "Well this is disappointing." She informed them, and all they could do was shrug and nod their heads. "What now?"

"Now, we wait till we can find the grave tonight, go dig up the bones and salt 'n' burn them." Dean explained.

Sam grabbed his laptop and clicked on it for a few minutes before saying, "Got the address for the graveyard. We're set."

"Guys. This is so boring. What'd you drag me out here for?" Lea groaned mockingly. The boys both turned on her sharply and gave her evil eyes for it, too. She laughed and grabbed one of the burgers.

The boys changed out of their suits and into the clothes they had been wearing earlier that day,made sure phones were charged and waited until around 11pm before they started getting restless and ready to head out. Lea thought that maybe she'd at least get to see the ghost while they were digging up the grave, possibly. She didn't think it was overly morbid, but it would make the trip worthwhile.

She was on her way out the door when Dean stopped her immediately with a "Whoa, whoa, whoa," and his arm blocking the doorway. "Not a chance, spitfire." He said. Lea felt her jaw drop before she realized what her mouth was doing.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked.

"No." Dean told her. "This case is easy, which means there's always room for complication. Stuff like this goes south real quick."

"No way." She responded. "You're trying to keep me holed up in this hotel room this whole time? Seriously?"

"Yeah," Dean answered. Maybe that wasn't true, but exaggeration was always the name of the game when Sam had gone through this.

Lea felt that rage she had felt earlier start up again, and this time couldn't really get a handle on it. She turned on Sam and didn't say a word, just fixed him with an affronted glare. He sighed and plaintively started explaining.

"Lea, it's just that first timers on ghost hunts aren't the safest thing in the world, and that's all we really want for you."

She didn't verbally respond, just worsened her glare at him. Finally, she realized that they weren't going to give in. She let out a little almost-growl (maybe she'd been around Oscar a little too much as of late) and turned around. "Fine!" She told them, and in doing so also told them in no uncertain terms about her state of mind. She threw herself on the bed and grabbed the remote, turning on the tv and beginning to flip through the channels, her stomach flipping.

Dean rolled his eyes, but Sam looked mildly conflicted. "See you in a few hours," Sam told her softly. "You don't have to wait up."

She didn't dignify that with a response. Sam looked even more conflicted, and mildly hurt by the snub, but turned out and followed his brother to the car.

As soon as she heard the impala's rumble, Lea jumped out of the bed and over to Sam's laptop. She clicked open the history to the last address search and pulled up the cemetery location on a map. There was no way in hell they were going to keep her in this hotel room and away from her first hunt.