Chapter 11

"You can tell your aunt this stew is the best." Dean said helping himself to another bowl.

"You can tell her yourself, we'll be seeing her tomorrow, remember the festival?"

"I guess we could make an appearance." he pouted.

"So you don't want to be a judge for the pie contest?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Good we leave at six in the morning so you might want to think about going to bed early."

"Yes Mom." he mimicked taking another piece of cornbread and smearing butter on it.

Sam ate in silence watching his siblings banter with each other. He smiled to himself glad that Oree was putting what happened behind her, at least she was putting on a good face. He knew she still thought about it and what she had done. If there was any fall out from this he would be sure she was not caught up in it.

"Are you with us there bro?' Dean asked Sam snapping his fingers in front of his face.

"What? Stop that." he fussed slapping his hand away.

"I asked if you wanted to have dessert on the porch, maybe do a little star-gazing? Looks like a great night for it."

"Sounds good to me." Sam said taking his bowl to the sink and rinsing it before putting it in the dishwasher.


Oree cut slices of pie and dished them out for her brothers. Dean poured himself coffee and nodded to Sam who agreed and poured another cup. Oree grabbed a bottle of water and followed them to the front porch.

The evening was coming alive with a symphony of night noises as they settled into chairs to enjoy the pie. Oree took the swing and stretched her leg out beside her. Dean and Sam moved their chairs closer to the railing to see the night sky better. Sparkling diamonds glistened down on them casting their surroundings in shades of black. The moon was only a quarter and didn't shed much light to the earth.

Sam sat back and quietly enjoyed his pie, while Dean was moaning in delight as he took another bit. Sam shook his head smiling slightly at his brother's enthusiasm. Both were startled by a mournful high-pitched howl coming from their baby sister. It wasn't but a few moments later that a similar howl answered her from the hills beyond the house.

"That's my girl." Oree said softly smiling out into the night.

No words needed to be said as the siblings let the peace and calmness of the night overtake them, washing away the stress and tension of their lives. Sam closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath feeling the layers of build up anxiety and worry peel away. He wasn't sure what it was about this place, but it always had such a calming effect over him. Sam looked over at Dean who nudged him with his foot and nodded toward their sister. It hadn't taken long and Oree was slumped in the swing asleep.

"Let's put her to bed." Dean said softly sitting his cup of coffee on the rail of the porch.

"Want me to get her?" Sam asked.

"Naw, I'm good." Dean said taking her plate and glass and handing it to Sam. He leaned down and picked Oree up in his strong arms. Oree mumbled and twisted in his grip trying to open her sleepy eyes.

"Sh-sh, go back to sleep." Dean told her shifting her slightly as he waited for Sam to open the door.

Sam picked up the dirty dishes and pushed open the door allowing Dean to enter. Dean carried Oree to her bedroom and settled her on the bed. He kissed the top of her head and pulled a blanket over her small body.

"Sweet dreams little sis."


Sam was putting the dishes in the dishwasher as Dean strolled into the kitchen. He took a seat at one of the bar stools and centered his attention on his little brother.

"Ok, fill me in." Dean said crossing his arms and waiting for a response.

"What?" Sam asked looking up from his chore.

"I know you got her to talk while you guys were gone, so spill it."

"Dean," Sam started. "I don't know..."

"No! No Sam, don't hand me that crap, tell me what she said. I'm her big brother too, I want to know what happened. Don't think I couldn't see how frayed and red-eyed she was when you guys got back and you were gone long enough for there to have been a talk."

"Fine." he sighed taking a seat next to him. "When we were at the store, we saw Jessup's mom."

"Damn!" Dean muttered more to himself than Sam. "Go on."

"She told me some of what happened, not all I'm sure. Jessup kidnapped her, took her to some rundown cabin up on the mountain. You can guess what he wanted to do to her..." Sam said trailing off before continuing. "She stopped him. He shot himself and she left him there. Really feels guilty 'bout it."

"And you guys ran into his mother?"

"Yep." Sam replied tearing up a napkin into strips.

"No wonder she was upset. How do you tell his mom, he was a douche bag?"

"Don't know, think we need to go check it out?"

"I doubt it, maybe he'll be found eventually, but if not, no loss that I can see."

"You're right 'bout that. I think she'll be ok if given a little time." Sam said stacking the strips on the counter.

"All we can do is be there to listen if she wants to talk again or give her a shoulder to cry on."

"I'm going to bed, five-thirty is going to come early." he said getting up and stretching before heading for the bathroom and then his bedroom.

Dean sat at the bar looking at Sam's neatly stacked torn napkin. Still the neat freak, he thought leaving it on the bar as he headed for the bathroom.


Several hours later Sam woke enough to know Oree had slipped into bed with him curling up into his back. He settled back down wondering if he would see her in his dreams.


"Wake up!" a voice yelled breaking into Dean's blissful sleep. He rolled over and ignored it until he heard it again. "If you're not up in five minutes, there will be ice water!"

"I'm awake." he growled tossing a pillow at the door. A giggled echoed down the hall as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around when the smell of coffee caught his attention.

"Though you might need this." Sam said sitting a cup on the nightstand.

"Thanks." he said pulling himself up and grabbing the cup. He blew on across the top and took a small sip. Dean smiled and closed his eyes letting the brew wake him up.

"Oree has some breakfast biscuits ready, she says we're leaving in twenty minutes so you better get a move on, she said she'd leave your butt if you weren't ready." Sam told him leaving so he could get dressed.

"Too early for Ms. Hitler." Dean yawned getting up and finding some clean clothes.

"Hey Dee, made some biscuits, but don't eat too much, you need to leave room to be a pie judge." she told him running around the kitchen gathering things up.

"Don't get your panties in a wad." Dean growled back at her as he picked up a biscuit with bacon and egg in it.

"Here's a travel cup for more coffee if you want some." Oree offered to Dean.

"Hell yeah I want another cup." he answered accepting the cup and filling it.

"Sammy?"

"No I'm good, water's fine."

"Ok, let's get this show on the road."


Dean parked in the vendor section and got out to help Oree and Sam with the boxes she brought. Oree was going to have a booth with her aunt to sell herbs and natural remedies. Dean let Oree load his arms down and waited to follow her.

"Dee, sit them down over there. You'll be judging the pie contest in the tent over there." she pointed to the left of the booth. "It's going to start around ten, they're going to be expecting you."

"Right." he said checking it out.

"If you guys want to wander around, help if you can, I should be ok. Auntie will be here shortly. Oh and my cousins have a beer tasting booth a couple of tents down, they're showing off some of the new brews for this fall. Even named one after me Aurora's Sunrise. You'll have to go check it out. "

"Beer, did ya say beer?" Dean asked looking down the row of booths trying to see the one she was talking about.

"Will your aunt need help?" Sam asked taking a knife and opening the boxes for her.

"Yes, if you want to head back toward the lot you can help her carry her things."

"Call if you need us." Dean said sauntering back toward the parking lot. Sam finished the last box and hurried after him. He glanced around and saw women watching them and hope he wasn't going to have a repeat of the birthday party. He didn't want to be fixed up with anyone's daughter.

"Sam?" Dean fussed.

"What?" he jumped not hearing what he had said.

"What's got you so jumpy?"

"Mothers." he grumbled. "We're being checked out."

"Just ignore them." Dean shrugged not caring about the mothers trying to get their attention.


"So how is Dean doing?" Oree asked Sam who had gone to watch Dean in his judging of the pies for a bit.

"He's died and gone to Heaven." Sam laughed. "You may never get him out of there."

"I knew he would be good at that. Could you do me a small favor Sammy?" she asked innocently.

"Sure what you need?"

"Nathan needs to take a break to grab some food and go to the bathroom, could you fill in for him for 'bout an hour?"

"I guess, where is he?" Sam asked looking around.

"You'll need to change clothes first." she said handing him some clothes. "You can change over there in that tent."

Sam accepted the clothes and headed for the tent not sure what he had just gotten himself into. Ten minutes later Sam stuck him head out and called to Oree.

"Sis." Sam called.

"You ready?"

"Oree what did I just volunteer for?" Sam asked stepping out in cut off blue jeans and a tank top. "I feel naked."

"Come on, I told Nathan you were coming." she said pulling him out of the tent and toward an area several booths below hers. "Hey it's nothing hard, all you have to do is sit there."

"Crap!" Sam groaned when they stopped in front of a dunking booth.

"Hey it's only an hour or so, and it's for a good cause." she begged giving him her best puppy dog eyes.

"Alright." he huffed heading to the back of booth to climb up and into it.

"Hey girls! Who can dunk the hunk in the tank? Come on, pull those dollars out." Oree called out to the people walking around.

Sam started in horror at Oree as he got seated and watched the girls begin to line up to try their luck. He prayed no one had a good arm, the water didn't look appealing. Oree waved to him as she headed back to her booth. Sam gave her the his number one b*tch face and mouthed you're dead meat. He could hear her laughter as more girls began lining up to try their luck.


Forty minutes later Sam was still dry and starting to think he had dodged a bullet, since none of the girls had hit the mark yet. The air was warming, but there was still a little chill to the air and after one dip of his foot in the water he shivered slightly knowing it was ice-cold.

Oree looked up as she saw more of a crowd growing down by the dunking tank. Curious to what was going on, she told her aunt she was taking a short break.

"Dunk! Dunk! Dunk!" the crowd of girls were chanting.

"Ok, pay up girls and pretty boy goes in the water." Dean announced as he tossed a ball up in the air catching it easily.

"Dean, no, not fair." Sam was complaining as he squirmed around on the seat. "Go judge some more pies."

"Awe Sammy, these girls want to see you go down, am I right?" he asked the fifteen or more girls standing around him.

"Yeah!"

"Take him down!"

"Ten dollars if you do it in one throw."

"I'll add to that."


Oree pushed her way to the front of the crowd and saw Dean standing there was a look of mischief on his face as he made ready to throw the ball. Her eyes widen as he wound up and threw the ball, hitting the arm with enough force to release the seat sending a horrified Sam into the cold icy water.

A huge cheer went up as the girls tossed money on the table and starting yelling cat calls at Sam as he tried to get out of the water as quickly as he could. Dean had a huge grim plastered on his face as Oree socked him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked rubbing the spot.

"For being so mean to your brother." she fussed trying her best not to laugh.

"You know I couldn't pass this up. Not every day I see little bro in a dunking tank."

"Yeah, well how did your judging go?"

"Great, I've never seen so many pies in one place." he said following her to the tent Sam had disappeared into. "Yo Sammy, you decent in there?"

"No!" he yelled back as they came in any way.

"Don't matter." he said entering to find his brother in his briefs trying to cover himself with a towel.

"It's ok Sammy, I've seen your briefs before." Oree shrugged but turned her back to him anyway.

A cell phone stopped Sam's response as they looked at Dean who was digging it out of his pocket.

"Hey Bobby." he answered. Dean listened intently nodding his head and turning away from them. "Right, we'll be heading that way."

"What?" Sam asked quickly slipping his pants on and pulling a tee-shirt over his head.

"Sorry to cut this short kid, but we need to go." Dean said giving Sam a look.

"Do you still have the spare key I gave you?" she asked pouting a little, but knew he wouldn't leave unless it was important.

"Yeah, can you get a ride home?"

"Auntie will take me. Please be careful and call if you need me." she said give Dean a big hug.

"We will." he said kissing the top of her head.

"Sammy, take care of yourself." she said turning to him to wrap her arms around his waist and accepted his hug. He shivered slightly.

"You're cold Sammy, let me." she said placing her small hands on his icy cheeks and allowing energy to flow into his body.

Sam closed his eyes and let the warmth course through him giving him relief from the chill. He sighed as Oree stepped back smiling up at him.

"Thanks Sis."

"You be careful and if you need me call." she whispered as she gave him one last hug. "Dee take care of our brother."

"Always. Come on Sammy, we need to go."

"Love you guys." Oree told them as she walked them out. "Thanks for being a good sport Sammy, you brought in more money in that forty minutes than Nathan did in the four hours he was up there."

"Good, but you're not getting off that easy. I owe you. " he warned her giving her a deep frown.

"Call me." she said giggling at Sam's expression knowing she was safe.

"I will." Sam said softly.

Oree stopped at her booth and watched her brothers head for the parking lot. She was not going to rest easy until she knew they were ok. If she had to guess what Bobby called them about would have been something to do with the angel, Castiel. She wish she could get a better read on him then maybe she could help them. Her only hope was if they ran into big trouble they would call her and let her help.


Could not resist a dunking booth it just seemed so right. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write. To all who are following, favoring and reviewing you have my deepest thanks. Please review

NC