Chapter Nine

Bobby's face broke into a grin as he opened the door. "I am glad that you boys made it," he told them. "I have a job for you to do in Mississippi. There's a spirit making a big racket down there. I think that it might be one of the things that escaped from…" Bobby trailed off as he noticed Liz. "Who's this?"

"It's a long story, Bobby," Sam replied. "I take it you didn't get our message."

"The one about the summoning ritual? What does she have to do with that?"

Sam shrugged. "We're not sure exactly."

"Did you meet her on your way to the shaman?"

Dean looked away guiltily. "No," he said, "we didn't actually make it to the shaman."

Bobby's eyebrows raised. "Then where have you been for the last week?"

"We were chasing down a lead," Dean told him.

"I sent you to a shaman. What kind of a lead were you chasing down?"

Sam answered before Dean could. "We decided to check out some possible demon activity in Oklahoma. It turned out to be nothing."

"I see," Bobby replied shrewdly. "Where does the girl fit in?"

"That's the long part of the story," Sam answered.

"I'm Liz, by the way," Liz explained, stepping forward to shake Bobby's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Liz. Why are you traveling with these two?"

Liz glanced between Dean and Sam. "We got into a bit of trouble together, and they were nice enough to let me tag along with them."

"You ran into trouble?" Bobby asked Dean worriedly. "What happened?"

Dean glared at Liz. "Nothing happened," he insisted. "We'll explain after we put our stuff up and grab something to eat." He walked out of the room.

Liz looked at Sam awkwardly. "Should I just hang out here?"

Sam shook his head. "Bobby's got another extra room. I'll show you to it." He glanced at Bobby. "Is that okay?"

"Sure. If she needs help, we'll help her."

"Thanks," Liz told him. "Let me grab my bags."

"I'll get them," Sam replied, reaching to grab the bags at the same time Liz did. They froze as their hands touched then looked at one another heatedly.

Bobby watched the exchange with interest. "That must have been some week."

At his words, Liz let go of the bag as if she had been scalded. "It definitely had its moments," she agreed, blushing furiously.

Sam cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Follow me," he told her and walked toward the back of the house to a small room with a twin-sized bed and dresser. The room was plain; an off-white comforter was on the bed and nothing but a mirror hung on the wall.

"It's not much, but it's a place to lay your head."

"It's great. Thanks, Sam."

He nodded and started backing out the door, but Liz grabbed his arm to stop him.

"I'm sorry that all of this happened," she told him.

Sam stiffened and looked down at her hand, which she quickly removed from his arm. He walked past her without responding. She put her bags on the bed then headed back out to the living room to wait with Bobby while the boys got settled.

"So you were hunting with the boys?" Bobby asked conversationally.

"Hunting? No. Um, Dean and Sam were at my community for the last week investigating some disappearances."

"Oh. I noticed you didn't so much as bat an eyelid when I mentioned that spirit. Why is that?"

Liz shrugged. "I've known about supernatural stuff since I was little. The community I'm from dabbles in it a bit."

"Do you think that your meddling in the supernatural may have been the reason that those people disappeared?"

"No. Not really. We've been doing this stuff for awhile, and no one disappeared until recently."

"There's a first time for everything," Bobby pointed out harshly.

"I guess."

"That still doesn't explain why you're here. What happened to get them to bring you along?"

Liz shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure that I should be the one to tell you why I'm here," she told him.

"Who should I ask then?"

She did not get to answer as Dean walked in then, a sandwich shoved in his mouth. "Where's Sam?" he asked Bobby between bites.

"In the back putting his stuff up."

"Sam!" Dean yelled. "You're slower than a girl. Hurry up!"

Sam appeared in the doorway. "At least I didn't get duped into marrying someone I had known less than a week," he retorted.

"No. You only wish you had," Dean replied.

"You boys had better explain yourself," Bobby said, annoyance creeping into his tone.

Sam smiled wickedly. "Dean married Liz."

"Dean married Liz?" Bobby asked. He watched Liz to gauge her reaction.

She drew in on herself, oblivious that she was being observed. Her face flushed when she looked up and realized that Bobby watching her. "Yes," she told him. "Dean married me."

"Tell the whole story Liz," Dean demanded. He turned to Bobby. "She tricked me!"

"My mom tricked us both," Liz chimed in.

"And I need you to help me," Dean continued as if Liz had not spoken. "I need a way out of this so that I can take her back home and we can all forget this ever happened."

"I'm not going home," Liz said adamantly.

Dean turned to her. "You can't stay here."

"That's fine. That money should last me for awhile."

"Dean, she can stay if she wants to," Sam insisted.

Bobby clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Enough," he said. "What do I have to do with anything? I'm not an attorney."

Liz interrupted before Dean could answer. "It wasn't that kind of a wedding."

Bobby waited for her to explain, but she hesitated. Dean rushed to throw in his two cents.

"Her mom did some kind of mojo on me. Liz says we can't undo it."

"Can't?" Bobby repeated, still staring at Liz.

"Can't," Liz reiterated, meeting Bobby's stare with one of her own. "This is a forever kind of deal."

Bobby turned to Dean. "Tell me exactly what happened, Dean."

"Well, Liz said she needed someone to kiss her to bless her wedding or something, so I kissed her. The next thing I know, her mom is speaking in Latin beside me and then my head explodes in pain."

"Maybe Liz should explain it."

Liz looked at Bobby uncertainly. "He actually did a decent job. My mom told me that I needed to get blessings for my wedding the next day and gave me an inscription. She said I needed to have the person say the blessing and seal it with a kiss. I ran into Dean and asked him to bless me. Then, my mom was beside us reading some incantation. I don't know what the incantation was. She was saying something about 'the tie that binds our minds through time and space.' It's possible that if I saw it again I could identify it. I also have a copy of the blessing that Dean and I read if you want it."

"I do."

"I'll go get it," she said and headed back to her room. She came back a short while later with a piece of paper and handed it to Bobby.

Bobby took the paper from her. "Latin, huh?" He gave Dean a severe look. "Boy, don't you know better than to read Latin when you don't understand it? Are you really that thick?"

"Me? Liz understands Latin and she didn't know what was going on, either."

"In my defense, I had never been to a marriage ceremony before, and I was supposed to be getting married to another man the next day. My mom has trained me since I was five on how to be a good wife to him. I didn't expect that the night before my wedding she would get cold feet and marry me to another man."

"You stood there and let her do it, though," Dean said.

Liz sighed. "I was a little…distracted. By the time I realized what was going on, Mom was saying the last line."

"What exactly were you doing that had you so distracted?" Bobby asked curiously.

"We were kissing," Dean said matter-of-factly. Liz slapped her forehead at his response.

"What?" Dean said defensively when he noticed Liz's reaction. "We were."

"You're right, we were," she agreed. She raised her head, and scarlet stained her cheeks. "I didn't realize it at the time, but the reason that things were so…intense was because the pathway between our minds was opening."

"Run that by me again," Bobby requested.

"Our minds are connected. If I think really hard, I can tell you Dean's deep, dark secrets," she explained.

Dean balked. "It goes both ways," he insisted. "That memory of the girl in pigtails is not mine."

"Yes, Dean, you can see my thoughts, too," she agreed tiredly. "Except it is harder for you because I have been in training for as long as I remember to be able to shield my mind. You'll need to start learning right away."

"No, I won't because this won't be a problem for that much longer."

"Do you really still believe that?" Liz asked him.

"You don't know Bobby."

"I don't have to. He's not going to be able to undo this. That much I know. Why can't you accept that?" Liz asked in frustration.

"Liz," Bobby said to get her attention, " Can I talk to the boys alone for a minute?"

Liz nodded unhappily. "Of course. I'll be in my room."

Bobby waited for her to leave before he began. "You boys really got yourselves in a mess this time."

"Boys?" Sam objected. "Try Dean."

"You seem to be more involved in this mess than you're letting on, Sam," Bobby pointed out. "Lucky for you, I have a soft spot for the two of you. How about I work on researching this marriage ritual while you help me out with a ghost in Mississippi? I could keep Liz here with me, and you boys could go on the hunt. Liz and I'll see if we can't figure out some way to beat the marriage ritual and you boys can show this ghost who's boss. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great," Dean said gratefully. "I've only been married for two days and I already need a break."