"Okay," Dean said, "You're on speaker." He held the phone in front of him.
"Hey, Grace."
"Hey, Sam." Grace pulled her shirt back on and sat behind Dean, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Okay, so I looked into the knocking sounds, and I found something called a tommyknocker."
"Tommyknocker?" Dean asked. "Like the movie?" He ran his free hand along Grace's arm.
"Same name, but no... not like the movie. These are spirits, sort of like sprites or brownies. They have different names in different countries, but they're said to live in mines and make knocking sounds."
"And they cause cave-ins?" Grace asked.
"Depends on who you ask. A lot of the lure says they're friendly, and the knocking sound is them imitating the miners... maybe even warning them of a collapse. But there are certain kinds of knockers, one in particular called a kobold, that are nasty. They lure the minors deeper and cause accidents and cave-ins."
"Stevenson mentioned that he heard a woman's voice," Grace said, "and that it sounded like it was coming from further in the mine."
"Right," Sam said. "I checked into that, and there was a female inspector on the grounds that day. Just like Stevenson said. So, there's no way to know if that voice was her or something else."
"So this is definitely what we're after?" Dean asked.
"Well," Sam said, "that's the thing. There were so many collapses, so close together... that's still weird. Knockers aren't big in lore anymore, and to think that there are four different ones out there suddenly causing trouble..."
"Not likely," Dean said.
"Right. So I thought maybe it's one and it's attaching itself to people to get to the next mine. I started trying to make connections. The obvious one is the survivors who went into other mines."
"But," Grace said, "the survivor of the second collapse wasn't involved in the third."
"No, but that female inspector was. She was at the second collapse too. She was in the mine just minutes before it happened."
"So," Dean said, "the first survivor goes right back to work, and dies in the second collapse. No survivors, but the knocker attaches to the inspector, who goes to the third mine. Landry survives and ends up in the next mine collapse."
"And now," Grace said, "the survivor of that collapse is about to go back to work. That makes sense. The mine he ends up in will collapse if the knocker attached to him."
"Yeah, but here's the thing," Sam said, "there is nothing in knocker lore that says they attach to people or move from mine to mine. At least, not that I can find."
"So, where does that leave us?" Dean asked. His hand grazed over Grace's and he felt the ring on her finger. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it.
"I don't know," Sam said. "If you ignore the lack of attachment lore, the tommyknocker is the best fit here."
"Well, we can't ignore it," Dean said, "but let's say it is a knocker. How do we kill it?"
"I haven't figured that out yet. I'll keep looking."
"How's the leg, Sam?" Grace asked as she ran her right hand up and down Dean's thigh.
"Doin' okay. Can't wait to get this cast off."
"You have any idea which mine Porter is coming to?" Dean asked.
"No... You'll have to wait til he gets there to find out. I did find out where he'll be staying. I'll text you the address, along with his arrival information."
"Awesome." Dean put the phone down on the night stand and laid back against the headboard, pulling Grace with him. She laid on top of him and he held her face in his hands, kissing her deeply.
"Alright," Sam said, "you should have that now. Bobby should be back tomorrow. I'll see what he knows about knockers."
Dean pulled his lips away from Grace long enough to say, "Sounds good."
There was silence for a moment before Sam finally asked, "Are you two making out with me on the phone?"
Grace froze, but neither she nor Dean answered and that was answer enough for Sam.
"Damn it, Dean! That's just wrong, man. I'll call you back if I find out more."
Sam disconnected and Dean smiled up at Grace. "Where were we?"
Grace sat up and pulled her shirt off again. She ran her hands down his chest, staring at the ring he gave her as it moved loosely on her finger. She took it off and lifted Dean's left hand, putting it on his ring finger.
"Hold on to that for me... I don't wanna lose it."
"Lose it? What kind of wild night did you have in mind?" Dean grinned.
"The kind we were having before your phone rang."
She threw her bra across the room and practically attacked Dean's neck with her mouth. It didn't take long for them to reach the frantic state they were in before. Dean flipped them over and hovered over her.
"My beautiful... sexy... woman..." he said between kisses. "Tell me you're all mine," he said staring into her eyes. Grace's breath caught. The look in his eyes, the huskiness in his voice, his hand on her breast... it all sent shivers through her entire body. She felt like she was about to lose control.
"I'm all yours... take me."
"Not yet." He kissed down her body, removing her panties as he went. Once they were off, he stood and removed his boxers. He kissed his way back up to her mouth, driving her crazy.
"Now?"
"Not yet."
His strong hand was on her thigh, squeezing and rubbing. He lifted her leg and wrapped it around his waist. He shifted his weight and did the same with her other leg. He slightly dipped his hips so that their bodies made contact, and Grace let out a gasp.
"Baby, please."
Dean wasn't sure if he should tell her that he kind of liked hearing her beg for him. It almost seemed wrong, but he couldn't help it. He loved knowing he affected her this way.
"Please what?"
"Oh my... please... take me. Make love to me."
He thrust into her and she threw her head back, her whole body shaking. He waited for her body to calm before he started moving again. She dug her fingers into his back and her legs tightened around him.
When he finally laid on top of her, she ran her fingers through his hair. He went to roll onto his side, but she held on tight to him, not ready to lose the feeling of him on top of her. Eventually his arms got tired of him trying to hold his weight off of her, so he forcefully rolled them over. Grace landed on top of him and Dean held her there to make sure she knew he wanted her to stay. She stared down into his eyes.
"Tell me you're all mine," she said.
He smiled and ran his hand through her hair. "I'm all yours."