Chapter 13
November 2
Bruce Moore stood in front of his daughter Jessica's grave with his wife Connie and daughter Kristine. It was just such a senseless death. The only good thing had been that Sam Winchester, his daughter's boyfriend hadn't been home that night; every day he thanked God that Sam's brother had come and taken him away for the weekend. He was even grateful that their drunk of a father had gone missing, anything to ensure that someone had survived the fire that had taken Jessica's life.
Bruce looked up at the sound of a car engine. The car was a black Impala like the one that he had seen at Jessica's funeral. That one belonged to Sam's brother Dean. He hoped Sam's brother had brought him here today. It was appropriate that he be here on the first anniversary of Jessica's death. When Sam got out of the car he wasn't surprised, what did surprise him was the older man who got out of the back and put his hand on Sam's shoulder. That couldn't be John Winchester.
How could Sam let that man touch him? The scars that man had put on that poor boy! And for him to be here today of all days! Dean Winchester got out of the driver's side and walked around to stand on the other side of his brother. The three of them walked towards Jessica's grave together with Sam in the middle. A young woman and a teenaged girl got out of the back of the car and followed the Winchesters. Bruce had no idea who they were.
It wasn't until they were closer that Bruce saw that all three of the men were carrying something. Dean was carrying a single flower, what kind Bruce didn't know. Sam was carrying a teddy bear, a small one; Bruce could barely see it in Sam's hand. John, (if it was John, Bruce really hoped it wasn't), was carrying a box of rock salt of all things. Why on earth was he carrying that?!
Silently the young woman and the girl tugged Bruce and his family back from the grave. John went to stand by the right side and Dean went to stand at the left. Sam stood at the foot of the grave. John reached out and placed some type of crystal at the base of the headstone and then all three men started chanting softly as John poured salt around the grave. As the salt line reached the end of the area John could reach without moving Dean took the container and continued the line.
The same thing happened when he passed the salt to Sam and then Sam passed the salt back to John. It was obviously some kind of ritual and Bruce knew just enough Latin to understand that it was a prayer to God to bless and protect the dead. He hadn't known that Sam was into strange religious practices but this wasn't too bad. And Bruce wasn't the sort of person who persecuted others for their religious beliefs.
When the prayer was done Dean knelt down and put the flower on the grave. "I'm sorry I didn't get to know you better, Jess. You would have made a good addition to the family. I could see that just from the one time I met you. I'm also sorry I never got to see you baby. I really wanted to be an uncle."
Kristine froze. How had Dean known about the baby? Jessica had just found out after they had left and they didn't get back until after she was dead. She and Cordy were the only ones who had known and they had only found out because they had taken Jessica shopping. When Jessica had seen the teddy bear, she'd had to have it for the baby but had made them promise not to tell Sam until she could. After the fire they had agreed to keep it to themselves because it would have hurt Sam too much to find out that he had not only lost the woman he was going to ask to marry him, but his child as well. The only reason she knew about what Sam's plans had been was because he had asked for her and Cordy's help in picking out the ring.
When Dean leaned back and stood up Sam bent forward and put a tiny teddy bear next to the flower and the crystal. He was very much aware of Jessica's family being there, but he still had to say the words. Oh well, it would be simple enough to come up with a cover story and tell her the truth at the same time.
"I miss you Jess. I'm so sorry that bastard hurt you and the baby. I didn't know that he would go after you too. I thought he was done hurting my family. But we got him sweetheart. He'll never kill anyone else again. His daughter told me about the baby. She taunted me with it, trying to make me fall apart so I wouldn't be able to go after her father. It didn't work." Sam laughed a little.
"After all this time, they never understood my family, Jess. If someone hurts one of ours we hunt the bastard down and a little thing like finding out that more than one person died isn't going to stop us. All that did was piss us off more. They're all dead Jess. They didn't give us a choice, but I'm sure I would have killed them anyway. Don't worry about us getting into trouble over it; we've been cleared by the cops. I'm just sorry you didn't get a chance to tell me about the baby. I'd have given anything to have been able to hear that from you." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I wish I could have had more time with you both. Even though you didn't get a chance to really live, Baby, I still love you just like I love your mom." Sam choked up and Dean went over and held his brother.
"Watch over them both Mary. They're a part of the family." Was all John said before he too enclosed Sam in a hug.
As John and Dean turned Sam away from the grave the young woman and girl stepped up and each laid a flower on the grave. "Don't worry about Sam. We'll take good care of him." The girl said.
"Be at piece now. Your murderer is facing justice." The young woman said and they both turned back to the men they came with. They joined in the group hug. They stood silently for a few minutes before breaking up.
"Mr. Moore, thank you for not interrupting." Sam said as he shook Bruce's hand.
"I'm not a bigot, Sam. I may not have understood very much of what you were doing but it was very obvious that it had some kind of religious significance. Can you please tell me what you meant when you said she'd been murdered?"
John was the one who answered. "Mr. Moore, I'm John Winchester. My wife Mary and Jessica were both killed by the same serial killer. He was very good at getting away with it but I saw him the night he killed Mary. Unfortunately no one believed me. Sam knew the story well enough that when he found out the specifics of how Jessica died; he knew it was the same person responsible. He also knew that no one would believe him either. We finally tracked him down this summer. He and his children died in the attempt to bring them to justice. It has taken us this long to get cleared of any and all charges resulting from their deaths."
"That bitch Meg was the one who told us Jessica was pregnant." Dean said tightly. "Look, it's gonna rain soon. What do you say we get out of here and get some lunch or something?" They all agreed and after arraigning to meet at a local restaurant went to their cars.
After they had sat down a table and everyone was introduced Kristine was the one to start the long overdue talk. "Jessica was pregnant. She found out the morning after you left, Sam. Cordy and I took her shopping and she found a teddy bear for the baby. We were teasing her and she told us. That's why I told her you had been out looking for rings. I didn't want her to think you were going to propose just because of the baby. She wanted to tell you herself so after, Cordy and I didn't want you to feel worse. That's why we didn't say anything."
"I'm glad you didn't, I don't think I could have handled it right then." Sam said quietly. "It's hard enough now." Dean reached over and put his hand on Sam's neck. When he did so, his sleeve inched up and Bruce got a good look at a scar running across his arm just beneath his wrist.
"Where did you get that scar from Dean?" he asked harshly.
Dean smirked. He knew what Bruce thought. Hell, it was what a lot of people thought when they saw the scars he and Sam had. John and Sam had told him what they had decided to say if anyone had asked about Sam's scars. "Hunting accident, a brown bear got a hold of me. Dad shot it before I got mauled up too bad though. I still say it was too bad we couldn't skin it. A bear skin would have been nice for the floor of the tent."
"The tent?" Connie asked.
"No one would even look for the man who killed Mary, so I had to do it myself. I just couldn't let her killer get away with it." John said. "Along the way I lost my half of my business and I took to taking odd jobs to keep me and the boys fed. Living on the road like we were, sometimes it wasn't enough. There were lots of times we would end up camping and hunting for food. That turned into a second job skill for me. I just wish all of their scars had come from that."
"It's not your fault, Dad." "Shit happens, Dad, deal with it." Dean and Sam said at the same time. John just grimaced. Internally he was glad to see how well his boys were working together on this con, not that it was much of one; most of what they were saying was the truth. Buffy and Dawn knew they weren't any good at the cover story thing so they were staying quiet and hopefully unnoticed in the background.
"What happened?" Bruce asked.
"A pedophile grabbed Sam when he was five. Dad was paying for the gas and I had just gotten back to the car from the bathroom and Sam was on his way back to the car. Not your fault, Dad." He repeated. "We got him back alive and that's all due to your tracking skills. It's more than the rest of his victims families can say. All the rest of his victims ended up dead and they came from normal families so our lifestyle wasn't the problem either. He was hunting for his next victim and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time to run into the creep."
"Oh my gosh, are you all right, Sam?" Connie asked. Bruce just sat there stunned. It was no wonder Sam had refused to talk about the scars, and it was no wonder why John was a drunk. To have all of that happen to his family in such a short amount of time.
"It was a long time ago, Connie. I really don't remember that much except a lot of pain and my dad finding me." Sam said simply. "The worst part has always been people believing Dad was the one who hurt me no matter what I said, so finally I just stopped talking about it."
"God damned CPS was always looking at Dad like he was the worst scum of the universe whenever some well meaning idiot call them in." Dean growled. "We'd get just one bruise or into a single fight in the school yard and they'd be off running to call in the authorities. Never mind we were clean, well fed and healthy, we were obviously being abused." Sam snorted in agreement.
"Dad couldn't even take me on a trip to New York without someone calling the cops." Dawn agreed.
"Yeah, but in that case it was the motel manager trying to throw the cops off his tracks." John pointed out. Just then a waitress delivered their meals. The waitress was Cordy.
"Hey Sam, it's good to see you. Buffy, hi! Do I want to ask how you all ended up here together?" Cordelia was a little worried. That Buffy was out of Sunnydale was never a good thing and for her to be with all three of the Winchesters wasn't a good sign either.
"Don't worry, Faith has things covered at home, Cordelia. Actually, I've got a lot more help these days than I ever have before, so I got a few days off to go with Sam, Dean and John to visit Jessica and Mary. Give me your numbers and we can do some catching up." Buffy said, pulling out a small notebook and writing her contact information on a paper. She ripped it out and handed it to Cordelia, who took it and then wrote down her numbers on the pad for Buffy.
"I hope you all enjoy your lunch. Sam, give me a call later, ok? I have to get back to work now." Cordelia hurried back to where another employee of the restaurant was waving at her.
"Wow, she sure has changed!" Dawn said amazed.
"Providing for yourself can do that for a person, Dawn. Cordy is very lucky she made it here at all and she knows it." Sam said wisely. It hadn't been that long ago that he was in similar circumstances. Talk then turned to college and what the three students were up to and where Dawn was planning on going. It turned out to be a rather nice ending to a stressful morning.
Sam Zabuto hurried the two young girls with him into his car. He had to get them out of the country as fast as possible. Not only were they in danger from the Harbringers, they were also in trouble with the local law. Damn these bureaucrats and their paperwork! He didn't have time to deal with the niceties! He had at least one other potential to pick up before he could get these girls to Sunnydale and the Harbringers were getting close.
It wasn't like he could explain why he was kidnapping the girls to save their lives. Not to mention that a black man in the company of two young white girls was enough to cause a riot here in this country anyway. If he didn't know the price that would be paid if he didn't do this, he'd be moaning about why him right about now, he thought with a small regret for the innocence he had lost as a child.
He had dedicated his life to the Slayer line as a child as his family had wanted and if that wasn't reason enough there was Kendra, his Slayer and the price she had paid to save the world, and he wasn't about to let her memory down now. He had raised Kendra from infancy and he had always thought of her as a daughter. It was her legacy he was preserving now and nothing and no one was going to stop him.