On the table in front of him was a feast fit for Thanksgiving. Fried chicken steamed in two separate bowls in the middle of a table that Heather had drug into the living room along with mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls and ...
"Oh my god, is that homemade apple pie?" he exclaimed. She laughed, coming back from the kitchen carrying Mary's plate and a platter of cupcakes she'd decorated for Mary's birthday.
"Sit down and eat Dean, there's plenty to go around."
They all enjoyed the meal, Sam and Heather talking animatedly about funny things that had occurred during their cases and all the while all Dean could think of is the many dinners he'd had with Lisa and Ben that had been so like this one but not. One empty chair had always stared Dean down, but tonight that chair was full of a beaming Sam who was feeding his little baby girl and loving every minute of it. He could see it everyone's face, the joy they were feeling but the dread was there in the eyes of each of them. He met Heather's gaze across the table who was staring at him sadly. Time enough for that later Dean, just enjoy what you have for now, her look said. His own face told her When will enough be enough? How much more can we suffer before it has to stop? She smiled and winked and he continued listening to Bobby recount the many ornery things him and Sam had done in the past. At one point someone mentioned the ghost drive and Dean popped up.
"So what are the files about that are listed under Mary's name?" Heather smiled softly at Sam.
"I took videos of her every day and posted them once a month on the ghost drive. I figured one day Sam would figure out the password and find them or he'd just give up and erase the drive all together." Sam stared her long and hard.
"I never would have given up on trying to figure it out." He took her hand under the table and she squeezed back.
"I know Sam."
They continued talking way into the night until Mary Jess fell asleep in Sam's lap. He carried her into her room and placed her in the crib. Tucking her in and kissing her goodnight on the forehead, he walked back into the living room and sat down. Heather had already cleared the table long ago and was coming back in with a bottle of whiskey and glasses. He stopped her for a moment and brought her up against him, dipping his head to capture her lips in a quick, but sweet kiss. Her smile lit the room on fire for him.
"Ok boys, down to brass tacks now the kiddo is in bed. I assume you have a message for me Sam?" Sam nodded. He'd almost forgotten the problems of the outside world, tucked safely away here in the little valley. He handed the sealed note to Heather who opened and read it. Sighing she let it fall to the table. It had one word scrawled in archaic handwriting, but legible nonetheless.
Bracelet.
"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked. Sam looked at her confused as well. She sighed.
"One day I came up on this old man with a silver tipped cane in a back alley where I'd followed a first generation who tried to attack me. He told me that he'd been watching me for a while and knew what I could do: tap into the universes energies, or flow, or whatever and interpret the signals. Like radio signals right?" Everyone nodded, not sure exactly what she meant but getting the gist of what she was describing. "He told me that he had something to give me and that it would come in handy one day and I'd know when to put it on. 'Till then though, I needed to keep it safe and not wear it. I put it in a safety deposit box and honestly I forgot about it till now."
"What does the bracelet do?" Sam asked.
"I think it works like one of the horsemen's rings. I know it's what we'll need to help Death get the lost souls back, which in turn will put out some of the fire that's feeding Raphael at the moment." Bobby shook his head.
"How does that play into Raphael's hand?" Heather smiled sourly at him.
"He's planning on using the souls, once he gets a hold of them that is, to perform a ritual that will drag Lucifer out of the cage by way of purgatory." Sam swallowed dryly. Dean, without looking at him, pushed the bottle towards him. He poured more whiskey in his cup.
"Are you kidding me?" Dean asked.
"Not one bit. He's looking for a book, made of human skin, that disappeared with .. get this .. dragons." Everyone looked at her like she'd grown two heads. Heather laughed and nodded wryly. "Yeah, so apparently dragons used to roam the earth in human form. They eventually got bored with humanity and burrowed deep underground and have been sleeping ever since. Rumor has it, they guard the opening to purgatory, and took the book underground with them to keep it safe. If Raphael can find the dragons, he finds the opening to purgatory."
"And you thought a vamp/shifter orgy in the park was the top of your jackassery list. Tell me Bobby, how do Dragons rank?" Dean commented sarcastically to Bobby.
"Damn, I'm beginning to wonder if we should be asking for dinner every time we get screwed. We got a to do list started yet?" Heather nodded.
"I've tried tapping the energies and can't find anything about the dragons. Odds are neither can Raphael and he's waiting on us to make the first moves to find them. Thing is I have no way of knowing if they are on our side, his side, their side, hell's side, or just don't give a shit either way. So I figure we need to start with finding out everything we can about dragons. While we are doing that we need to find the lost souls. If we get them off the table then Raphael is really screwed over. But there is nothing to stop him from sacrificing human souls so the book is priority." Bobby nodded.
"I'll take the dragons, you guys figure out the souls. I'll ..." he stopped suddenly looking around almost as if he was lost. "Dammit ... I have nothing to use to research. All my stuff is gone ..." he whispered, running a hand over his face. Heather leaned over and touched his hand.
"I'm sorry for everything you've lost Bobby, but I have an extensive library myself out in the barn. It's full of books, items, tools, anything you could possibly need. Just help yourself and if you need something I'm sure we can find it for you." Bobby nodded absently.
"So, that leaves the souls." Sam said.
"We don't have anything on them either. All we know is that something or someone has been taking souls. We know that some of the angels have been moonlighting as crossroads demons but for what we have no idea." Dean shook his head frustrated.
"Well time to call in some heavenly favors then cause you're going to need them. We have just a matter of days before Raphael goes all Terminator on earth. His army is here and actively pursuing any leads on the dragons. Odds are, I put the souls with the other fallen angels. Find them, find the souls."
- I'm very narcissistic so please review -