Been gone a long time
I kinda lost my way, I can't find it
And I caught a short ride
To the grave and back this season
I can try to get by
But every time I start to panic
I'm a little bit shy
A bit strange and a little bit manic
...
On the narrowing line
What a way to sort my troubles
In a very short time
Gonna pop, better duck and cover
Can you figure me out?
I got caught like a little kid stealing
Did I say it too loud?
A bit hard or a little misleading
…..
I went to a wishing well
But sank to the ocean floor
Cut up by sharpened rocks
And washed up along the shore
I reached for a shooting star
It burned a hole through my hand
Made it's way through my heart
blink-182 – Wishing Well
Even a few days after we'd left that small town, I still had Castiel's words replaying through my head about how Dean and I would have tough decisions to make in the coming months. That even him, an angel, didn't envy us. I couldn't imagine what that meant, I didn't even know where to begin.
"Uriel told me something." Sam blurted out suddenly as we sat in a small bar grabbing a bite to eat.
"Okay?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.
"About you."
"And?"
"He said that- Dean he told me to ask you about hell."
"What did he want you to ask?"
"What you remembered."
"Well, that stupid considering I don't remember anything."
"It just doesn't make any sense, Dean. I mean, why would Uriel tell me you remembered hell if you didn't?"
"Maybe because he's a dick. Might have something to do with it." Dean said, downing another shot.
"Maybe, but he's still an angel."
"Yeah, an angel who was ready to level an entire town. Look, I don't know what-"
Suddenly our waiter came bounding back to the table, a huge smile on his face. "Radical. What else can I get you guys?"
"Uh, I think we're good." I said, looking up at him.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Yeah." I nodded.
"You want to try a couple of fryer bombs? Or a chipotle chili changa?"
"No, no, we're – we're still good." Dean told him.
"Okay, awesome." He said cheerfully, walking away with a slight skip in his step.
"Listen, honestly, I have no idea why Uriel told you what he did, okay?" Dean said, looking back to his brother, avoiding looking into my eyes at all costs.
"Right." Sam sighed.
"What?"
"Okay. Fine. Then look me in the eye and tell me you don't remember a thing from your time down under." Sam said, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't remember a thing from my time down under." Dean nodded as Sam scoffed. "I don't remember, Sam!"
"Look, Dean, I just want to help."
"You know everything I do. Okay? That's all there is." Dean said, lowering his eyes slightly.
"Outstanding!" Our waiter yelled, coming out of nowhere. "Dessert time? Huh? Am I right?"
"Dude."
"Listen, dudes. You have got to try our ice cream extreme. It's extreme."
"Listen, we're kind of trying to have a conversation here, so could you please just go get us our check?" I asked.
"Alright." He muttered, turning from the table.
"Thanks."
Dean took a breath, changing the subject. "So, where do we go from here?"
"I'm not sure. Uh, looks like it's been pretty quiet lately. No signs of demon activity, no omens or portents I can see." Sam said.
"That's good news for once." I muttered.
"Yeah, just the typical smattering of crank UFO sightings and one possible vengeful spirit. Here, check this out. Up in Concrete, Washington, eyewitness reports of a ghost that's been haunting the showers of a women's health facility." Sam said, pushing a paper over to us. Dean suddenly started choking on the beer he just drank. I patted his back, shaking my head. "The victim claims that the ghost threw her down a flight of stairs."
"I guess you're interested?" I asked Dean, a knowing look on my face.
"Women, showers." Dean said, glancing over at me. "We got to save these people."
CONCRETE, WASHINGTON – DAY
Lucky Chin's Restaurant
Surprisingly, Dean decided to go with me to the restaurant to speak with Mrs. Armstrong instead of going to the showers with Sam, something I was extremely surprised about. After Sam had driven away, I turned to Dean, looking up at him with worried eyes.
"Why didn't you want to go to with Sam?"
"I don't know."
"We're talking a room full of wet, naked women."
"Don't remind me." Dean mumbled, turning towards the restaurant doors.
I grabbed his arm, holding him back. "Hang on a second. Does this have anything to do with what Sam was asking you about this morning?"
"Maybe I just didn't want to leave you alone."
"Tell me the truth, Dean."
"That is the truth. I was away from you for too long. I'd like to spend some time with my girl." Dean smiled, something in his eyes telling me otherwise.
"Dean."
"Yeah, okay? I mean, of course I want to be with you, that's completely true. But I also I don't want to hear him asking anymore. I don't remember hell."
"You don't?"
"No."
"...I can tell when you're lying, Dean." I muttered, looking up at him with sad eyes.
"Can we- can we just do this, please?" Dean asked, looking exasperated.
"Okay. Let's go." I nodded, the both of us making our way inside, finding Candace Armstrong sitting alone at one of the tables, waiting for us. "Hi."
"Oh, hello." She smiled as we sat down. "Where should we start?"
"Well, on the phone you said that you felt the presence of the spirit, right?" I asked, taking out a pad and pencil.
"Yes. And I'm not surprised the spirit world chose to make contact with me. I'm something of a...natural sensitive." She said. "So, what did you say you're calling your book?"
"Oh, well-" Dean scrambled, glancing over at me. "Uh-"
"The working title is...Supernatural." I said, cringing as I did so. "We've been crossing the country, gathering stories like yours. But, anyways, you were telling us about your encounter."
"Yes. Well, once I saw the apparition, that's when I started to run." She explained. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dean staring over her shoulder, following his gaze to see two people making out at the other end of the restaurant.
I shook my head, trying to ignore them and focus back on Candace. "So, you said the ghost chased you, right?"
"Not just that. It knew my name. It kept yelling, Mrs. Armstrong! Mrs. Armstrong! And that's when I hit the stairs and fell."
"You fell?" Dean asked. "The ghost didn't push you?"
"Oh, I don't- I don't know. I mean, I think it did. Maybe." She muttered, falling over her own words.
"Did you feel like it meant to hurt you? Like it was violent, or..."
"It was a ghost. I'm lucky to be alive." She exclaimed. It took everything in Dean and I to not roll our eyes at that. "Anyway, I was at the bottom of the stairs, and that's when it got weird. It helped me up."
I thought for a moment that I didn't hear her correctly. "I'm sorry?"
"Yeah. It helped me up. And it kept saying over and over, please, don't tell my mom."
"Yeah, that's weird." I mumbled, glancing over at Dean, sharing a look with him. "Well, I think we've got everything we need."
"Yeah." Dean nodded as we slid out of the booth, standing to our feet.
"Thanks for your time."
"Oh, when will the book be out?" She asked, smiling at us. "I want to show my friends."
"Uh...sometime next year. We haven't decided on a date yet." Dean explained.
The two of us left after that, making our way to the fitness center, which wasn't too far from the restaurant. We spotted Sam sitting on a bench outside, looking down at a newspaper in his hands. He looked up in our direction, hearing our footsteps approach.
"You find anything?" Dean asked. "Please tell me there weren't any naked women that needed a big, strong man and I missed it."
"Nope." Sam chucked. "No EMF in the shower or anywhere else.
"Yeah. I'm not surprised." I muttered. "I kind of got the feeling back there that crazy pushed Mrs. Armstrong down the stairs."
"Really?"
"She said that after she fell, the ghost helped her up."
Dean sighed, sitting down. "I got to tell you, I'm pretty disappointed."
"I know. You wanted to save naked women." I pouted.
"Damn right I wanted to save some naked women." Dean mumbled. Suddenly a small boy ran by, being chased by three bigger ones.
"Come on, guys, get him!" One of the boys yelled.
"I got him! I got him!" Another other shouted.
"Run, Forrest, run!" Dean called out to the small boy. I shook my head, sitting down in between Sam and Dean.
"Sorry, Dean, but I don't think anything's going on around here." Sam said.
The three of us stayed sitting on the steps, resting for a few minutes, breathing in some fresh air when I heard a man start yelling to an officer on the pier a few feet away.
"How the hell was I supposed to get a look at it? It grabbed me from behind and threw me into a tree!"
"Something's going on." Dean said, looking back at Sam and I as he got up.
"Yeah, okay, Gus. I understand you got shook up. Anyone would be. But don't you think it- don't you think it had to be a bear?" The cop asked.
"I know a damn bear track when I see one! This thing didn't leave bear tracks! Its feet were huge!"
"Now, Gus..."
"It was Bigfoot, Hal. The Bigfoot!" Gus exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"Gus, you're not talking sense here."
"There's a Bigfoot out there, damn it, and he's a son of a bitch!"
"Excuse us. FBI." Sam called as we walked over to the two men, approaching slowly.
"What?" The officer asked, looking at us suspiciously.
"Yes, sir. We're here about the...that."
"About Bigfoot?"
"That's right. Sir, can you tell me exactly where this happened?"
"Yes, I can." The man said, turning to us.
After hearing Gus's insane story, we headed off into the woods to...find Bigfoot.
"What the hell's going on in this town? First there's a ghost that's not real, and now a Bigfoot sighting?" Dean asked, stepping over a few fallen branches.
"Well, every hunter worth his salt knows Bigfoot's a hoax." Sam said.
"Maybe somebody's pumping LSD into the town water supply." Dean said, stopping short causing me to run into him as he stared at the ground. "Okay. What do you suppose made that?"
My eyes went wide as I looked down to the huge prints in the ground. "Well, that is...a big foot."
"Okay."
"Look, they're going this way." I said, stepping in front of Dean to follow the tracks.
Not too long after, we came upon the back of a liquor store where the tracks ended. The windows were smashed in and the doorknob was broken off, laying on the ground next to the open door. I put my hand on my gun, just in case and followed the boys inside.
"So, what? Bigfoot breaks into a liquor store, jonesing for some hooch?" Dean asked, looking over the shelves. "Amaretto and Irish cream. He's a girl-drink drunk."
Dean tried to discreetly put the bottle of whiskey in his jacket, but I saw, raising an eyebrow at him. He shot me a sheepish smile, walking towards me.
"Look." I muttered, nodding to the empty magazine rack in front of me.
"He took the whole porno rack? Well, I'll say it again. What the hell is going on in this town?" Dean asked, looking over at me. I shrugged, not having the faintest idea.
After spending a few more minutes in the store, we made our way out to the front steps, sitting down on them, trying to figure out just what the hell could be going on here.
Dean sighed, shaking his head. "I got nothing."
"It's got to be a joke, right? Some big-ass mother in a gorilla suit?" Sam asked, looking around.
"Or it's a Bigfoot." Dean shrugged as I shot him a disbelieving look. "You know, and he's some kind of a alcoholo-porno addict. Kind of like a deep-woods Duchovny."
"I think your LSD in the water theory is more believable than an alcohol and porn addicted Bigfoot." I mumbled, looking ahead as a little girl passed by us on her bike, a magazine falling out of the basket.
"A little young for busty Asian beauties." Dean muttered, glancing over at me.
We watched the girl stop a few feet away from us, putting down a box full of bottles of liquor and porn magazines, along with a note on the top that read sorry. We got into the Impala, trying to not look creepy as we followed the little girl back to her house, waiting until she got inside before walking up the porch steps, knocking on the door.
"What's this, like a Harry and the Hendersons deal?" Dean asked.
"I really hope not." I mumbled as the small girl answered the door.
"Hello?"
"Hi. Are your parents home?"
"Nope."
"No...?" I asked, slightly confused. She shook her head.
Dean looked down at the girl. "Um...have you seen a really, really furry..."
Worry covered her small features as she looked up at Dean. "Is he in trouble?"
"No." I chuckled, trying to play along. "Not at all. We just- we wanted to make sure he was okay."
"Exactly." Dean said, nodding along with Sam.
"He's my teddy bear. I think he's sick." The little girl told us.
"Wow. Amazing. 'Cause you know what? We are...teddy bear doctors." Dean smiled.
"Really?" She asked, looking hopeful as the three of us nodded. "Can you please take a look at him?"
"Sure." Sam said.
Dean nodded. "Sure. Yeah."
In a way, I was glad that this little girl trusted us enough to allow three complete strangers into her home while her parents were away so we could try to get to the bottom of this, but at the same time, it worried me. What the hell were her parents teaching this kid?
"He's in my bedroom. He's pretty grumpy." She said, knocking on the door she stopped in front of. "Teddy? There's some nice doctors here to see you."
I'm sure this was just gonna turn out to be a kids' imagination running wild. It had to be.
The little girl turned to us with a small smile on her face, opening the door. I gasped, grabbing Dean's arm tightly as I saw a giant teddy bear who was very drunk and very much...alive sitting on the edge of the bed watching TV. "Close the fucking door!"
She quickly closed the door, biting her lip. "See what I mean?"
"Oh my god." I mumbled, holding a hand to my chest. "Holy- oh my god."
"All I ever wanted was a teddy which was big, real, and talked. But now he's sad all the time. Not ouch sad, but ouch-in-the-head sad. He says weird stuff, and smells like the bus." She murmured sadly.
This was definitely something she'd have to go to therapy for. Unless she can convince herself it was all one long nightmare, which isn't likely. Hell, I'm gonna have to go to therapy for this.
Dean sighed. "Um, little girl-"
"Audrey!"
"Audrey." Dean paused, glancing over at me. "How exactly did your teddy become real?"
"I wished for it."
"You wished for it?" I asked, looking down at her.
She looked up at me, nodding. "At the wishing well."
Dean reached around her to open the bedroom door again. The three of us took a slight step inside, staring at the bear.
"Look at this. You believe this shit?" He asked us, pointing to the news on the TV.
"Not really." Dean muttered, glancing back at Sam and I.
"It is a terrible world." The bear mumbled, his voice shaking. "Why am I here?!"
"For tea parties!" Audrey told him.
"Tea parties? Is that all there is?" He asked, starting to sob as we slowly backed out into the hallway.
"Audrey, give us a second, okay?" Sam asked. She nodded and walked a ways down the hallway, leaving us alone. "Okay. Are we- should we- uh, are we gonna kill this teddy bear?"
"How?" Dean asked. "Do we shoot it? Burn it?"
"I don't know. Both?"
"I say both. Use all the firepower in the world and put the creepy little shit out of it's misery." I said, a chill running down my spine as it sobbed loudly from behind the door.
"How do we even know that's gonna work? I don't want some giant, flaming, pissed-off teddy on our hands." Dean said, making a good point.
"Yeah. Besides, I get the feeling that the bear isn't really the, you know, core problem here." Sam said, turning in the direction Audrey went. "Audrey, where are your parents?"
"My mom wished they were in Bali, so I think they're in Bali."
"Okay, well...I'm really sorry to have to break this to you, but your bear is sick. Yeah, he's- he's got..."
"Lollipop disease." Dean finished, sounding serious.
"Lollipop disease." Sam repeated, nodding. Audrey stared up at us, a worried look on her face.
"It's not uncommon for a bear his size." I said, not believing what the hell just came out of my mouth. "But it's really contagious. You really need to stay away from him for a bit. Is there a grown-up that you can stay with while we...treat him?"
"Mrs. Hurley lives down the street." Audrey replied.
Dean nodded, smiling down at her. "Perfect."
"Good, yeah, good. We'd like you to stay there for a few days, okay?" Sam asked her.
"Oh, Audrey? Where is this wishing well?"
LUCKY CHIN'S– DAY
Back inside the restaurant we interviewed Candace Armstrong in, we made our way to the back of the building where a large fountain sat, several coins scattered around the bottom of it.
"Think it works?" Dean asked, leaning over, looking into the water.
"Got a better explanation for teddy back there?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
Dean sighed, pulling a coin out of his pocket. "Well, there's one way to find out."
"What are you gonna wish for? Those naked women you never got to save?" I asked.
"Not supposed to tell." Dean shrugged, throwing the coin in the well.
Suddenly, a man walked through the door, looking around. "Somebody order a footlong Italian with jalapeno?"
"That'd be me." Dean called, holding his hand up.
I stared on, in slight shock as the man came over, handing him the sandwich before leaving. We made our way over to one of the tables, sitting down at Dean unwrapped his sandwich, taking a bite out of it.
"This is insane." I mumbled, shaking my head.
"This works. That was pretty specific." Dean said around a mouthful of food, holding the sandwich over to me. "Want some?"
"There has to be a catch here."
"What? Are you saying there's something wrong with the sandwich?"
"I don't know."
"Huh." Dean mumbled, staring at the sandwich for a moment before shrugging, taking another bite out of it.
"The teddy bear, the sandwich..." Sam trailed off, pushing the paper he was reading over to us. I looked down at it, seeing an article about a lottery winner. "I'm guessing this."
"I'm guessing that." Dean said pointing to the couple next to us, the same ones who were making out from before.
"Jesus, they're still here?" I asked, shaking my head. "Something's just...wrong about all this."
"What are we supposed to do, huh? Stop people's wishes from coming true? I mean, it sounds like kind of a douche-y thing to do."
"Yeah, maybe." Sam muttered. "But come on, man, when has something like this ever come without a price tag? And it's usually a deadly one."
"I don't know. This is a damn good sandwich."
"Dean, this is serious."
"Me too! This is a good sandwich." Dean said, catching the look of slight disapproval in my eyes. "Alright, we'll put a hold on the wishing 'til we figure out what's going on."
"Okay." I nodded, flipping through the newspaper as a waiter came walking up to the table.
"Uh, I'm sorry. We don't allow people to eat outside food here."
"Well, I am certainly not gonna eat the inside food here." Dean said, placing his sandwich down. "Health department. You, my friend, have a rat infestation. We're gonna have to shut this place down under emergency hazard code fifty-six c."
"Rats?!"
Dean stared up at him for a moment before nodding. "Right."
A little while later, the fountain was completely drained of all the water and Dean stood inside with a broom, sweeping up the coins while I held a dust pan, collecting them.
"Typical fountain, plaster Buddha." Dean shrugged. "Nothing I can see."
"Yes, nothing." The waiter muttered. "We keep a clean place here."
"Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave during the preliminary investigation, okay?" Sam asked. The man stared up at him for a moment before letting out a huff, walking away. "Thank you."
"Oh, come on. Aren't you a little bit tempted?" Dean asked, looking between Sam and I.
"No." Sam said, handing Dean the coin back. "I wouldn't trust it."
"I don't know. That bear seemed pretty real. Come on, if you could wish yourself back, you know, before it all started. Think about it. You'd be some big yuppie lawyer with a nice car and a white picket fence."
Sam shook his head, letting out a sigh. "Not what I'd wish for."
"Really?" I asked, surprised by his answer.
"It's too late to go back to our old lives. I'm not that guy anymore."
"Alright, well, what, then?" Dean asked. "What would Sammy wish for?"
"Lilith's head on a plate. Bloody." Sam said, his tone of voice chilling. Dean and I stared at him for a moment, again surprised by his answer.
"Okay." Dean nodded, looking over to me. "What would you wish for?"
"I don't know." I shrugged.
"Oh, come on. There's gotta be something. If you could have for anything in the world, what would it be? A couple dozen of me?" Dean asked, a smirk on his lips.
"No thanks, one is hard enough to deal with." I teased. "As cliche as it sounds...I'd just want us to be able to be...happy. For once."
"Yeah."
"What about you?" I asked. Dean thought for a moment, a smile crossing his lips.
"Another sandwich." Dean said, something about the look in his eyes telling me that wasn't at all what he'd wish for. I nodded, silently telling him I knew there was more there than he said. Dean went back to sweeping, finding it difficult to move one of the coins. "What is that?"
"Some kind of old coin." Sam muttered. "I don't recognize the markings."
I bent down, trying to grab the coin, but it wouldn't budge. "Shit."
"Move aside, let the man do it." Dean said, winking at me as he bent down, trying to pick it up, not having any luck.
"What's the matter, Dean?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Can't lift it with all the manly strength of yours?"
"Lift with your legs." Sam suggested, chuckling lightly.
Dean huffed, shaking his head as he gave up. "Is that little mother welded on there?"
"I'll be right back." I said, heading out to the Impala to grab a hammer and crowbar.
"What are you doing?" The waiter asked as I made my way back inside, heading over to the fountain. I heard him running behind him, his footsteps frantic.
"What is this?! You are gonna break my fountain!"
"Listen, sir, I don't want to have to slap you with a forty-four-sixteen, but I will." I said, raising an eyebrow at him. He let out a sigh, shaking his head as he turned around again. "Thank you."
"Let me see that. I got an idea." Dean muttered, taking the tools from me, placing the crowbar underneath the coin, hitting the other end of it with the hammer...breaking the hammer.
"Holy shit!" The waiter exclaimed, watching from across the room.
"Damn."
"The coin's magical." Sam mumbled.
"Boy, I'd say. I think it's hoodoo that's protecting the well. I don't think we can destroy this."
Sam grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, tracing the top of the coin before standing upright, handing me the paper. "Alright, here. You guys go look into this."
"Where you going?" I asked.
"Something just occurred to me."
After speaking with a professor, Dean and I made our way off the campus and over to the Impala. The boy that was being chased before was now the one doing the chasing, the bigger boys running away from him, seemingly terrified. Dean and I paused at the end of the Impala, watching him.
"You better run!" The boy shouted, turning to confront us when he realized we were staring. "You got a problem?"
"What? No." Dean muttered, furrowing his brow. The boy narrowed his eyes at us before turning and running away.
"That was weird." I mumbled, looking over to see Dean holding his stomach. "You okay?"
"No."
"What's the matter?"
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"What?" I asked as Dean suddenly turned to a few bushes, throwing up. I went over to him as he stood upright, holding him steady while he wobbled on his feet. "Give me the keys."
"No way. I'm not sitting in the car feeling like this. What if I get sick?"
"I'll pull over and you can puke on the side of the road. We have to get back to the room, Dean. You need to rest."
"I can wal-" Dean paused, gagging rather violently before swallowing hard. "I'm good."
"Dean, get in the car."
"No."
"Get in the goddamn car, Dean!" I exclaimed, gently pushing him over to the passenger side. I grabbed a garbage bag from the trunk, handing it to him. "Just in case. Give me the keys."
"Fine." Dean huffed, dropping the keys into my hand.
MOTEL – DAY
As soon as we got back to the room, Dean got sick again and he'd been throwing up ever since. I leaned on the wall outside of the bathroom, a grimace on my face as I heard him get sick again. Just then, Sam walked into the room, pausing when he heard what was going on.
"Is he okay?"
"No." I shook my head.
"The wishes turn bad, Sam." Dean strained. "The wishes turn very bad."
"The sandwich, huh?" Sam asked, cringing as Dean gagged loudly again.
"The coin was Babylonian. It's definitely cursed." I explained. "We found some fragments of a legend. The serpent is Tiamt which is the Babylonian god of primordial chaos. The priests were doing some serious black magic."
"They made the coin?"
"Yeah, to sow the seeds of chaos." Dean said, standing in the doorway.
"You okay, baby?" I asked, glancing back at him as he nodded.
"Whoever tosses a coin in the wishing well, makes a wish, it turns on the well. Then it starts granting wishes to all comers."
"But the wishes get twisted." Sam said. "You ask for a talking teddy..."
"You get a bipolar nut job."
"And you get E. coli."
"Yeah. This thing has turned more than one town upside down over the centuries. It's even wiped a few off the map. I mean, one person gets their wish, it's trouble, but everybody gets their wish..."
"It's chaos." I finished.
"Any way to stop it?" Sam asked.
"There's one way. We have to find whoever dropped the coin in and made the first wish. They're the only ones who can pull it back out and reverse the wishes."
"So for now, we've got a couple of nutso dreams come true, but once the word gets out about the well, things are just gonna get crazier and crazier." Dean muttered, heading over to the refrigerator to get a beer.
"No, no." I said, taking the can out of his hand.
"Why not?"
"Dean, you just puked your guts out. Alcohol is not something you want to have right now."
"Yeah, it is."
I shook my head, handing him a bottle of water. "Drink this."
"Tor-"
"Dean, come on."
"Fine." Dean nodded, opening the bottle, taking a few swigs of the cold water.
"Feel better?"
"...no." Dean mumbled, sitting down on the edge of one of the beds. "So, let's go through this. Who made wishes?"
"Well, we got teddy bear, lottery guy, invisible pervert guy." Sam rattled off. "They all must have wished sometime in the last two weeks. But who wished first? And how are we supposed to know who else wished for what when?"
"Well, it helps when they announce it in the paper. Goes back a month." Dean shrugged.
Sam nodded, flipping through a few pages in the news paper. "Wesley Mondale and Ms. Hope Lynn Casey have announced their surprise engagement."
"Ah, true love."
"Best lead we got."
MONDALE HOUSE – DAY
Once Dean convinced me he was feeling well enough, we made our way over to Wesley Mondale's house, hoping we'd be able to find something that could help us along with this case. I knocked on the door, hearing footsteps rushing over to it before the brunette from the restaurant answered, a big smile on her face.
"Hi, are you Hope Casey?"
"Yes. Who are you?"
"We-"
"Are you florists?" She asked, sounding excited.
"Do we look like florists?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.
I smacked him in the stomach, chuckling as I smiled back at her. "This joker. Of course we are."
"Oh, yay! Come on in." Hope smiled, leading us to the house and over to a living room where a nerdy looking man was sitting on a couch, watching TV. "Wes! You didn't tell me that you called the florists for the wedding."
"Huh?" Wes asked.
"You're the best!" Hope exclaimed, placing a kiss on his cheek. "I'm gonna go get my folders."
"Uh, o- okay." Wes nodded as Hope rushed upstairs.
"Wesley, how's it going?" Dean asked.
"It's Wes...aren't you the guys from the health department?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded. "And florists on the side."
"Plus FBI. And on Thursdays, we're teddy bear doctors."
"Huh?"
"It doesn't matter who we are. It matters what we know." I said.
"So, coin collector, huh, Wes?" Sam asked, gesturing to the wall of framed coins.
"Oh. Yeah. My grandfather gave them to me."
"Did you happen to lose one of those coins lately?" Dean asked. "And by lose, I mean drop into a wishing well at Lucky Chin's and make a wish on it?"
"No, I- I don't know what you're talking about." Wes scrambled as Hope bounded back over to us with a huge folder full of papers.
"Okay, now. I have a lot of ideas, but, you know, we don't have all the money in the world. Wes is between jobs right now. Means more time for me. You know, I'm thinking a Japanese-y ikebana kind of thing."
"Yes." Dean nodded. "I can see it."
"Hope, why don't you tell us how you two lovebirds met." I said.
"Oh, best day of my life." She smiled.
"I bet." Dean mumbled.
"Yeah! It's the funniest thing. We both grew up here, but I never really knew who he was. Not by name anyway. Until one day last month, it was like I just- I just saw him for the first time. He was just...glowing. Oh, just glowing."
"Uh, babe, can you- can you get us some coffee?" Wes asked, swallowing nervously.
"Yes. Yeah." Hope nodded, kissing Wes over and over, barely coming up for air. Dean and I shared a glance, looking back to them as Hope kept kissing him.
"Oh, okay." Wes muttered as Hope trailed a hand down his chest, disappearing into the kitchen.
"Wes, we know." Sam said. "So tell us the truth."
"My- my grandfather found the coin in north Africa, you know, World War II. And he brought it back. He said it was a real wish-granting coin, but that nobody should ever use it. It was all I had, and when he died, I thought, well, you know what? Why not give the coin a shot?"
"Yeah, well, now you're gonna wish it back."
"Oh. No, I'm not."
"If you don't stop it, something bad's gonna happen." Dean said.
"Something bad." Sam nodded. "Like us."
"We really wish you'd come with us, Wes." I said, shook him a small smile, the threat clear behind all of our eyes. Wes swallowed hard, nodding as he got to his feet.
IMPALA – DAY
Back out on the road, Dean was driving and Sam was sitting in the passenger seat, leaving Wes and I in the back as the trees sped past the car.
"I don't get it. So, my wish came true. Why does that have to be a bad thing?" Wes asked.
"Because the wishes go south, Wes. Your town is going insane." Sam replied.
"Come on, you're gonna sit there and tell me that your relationship with Hope is functional? That it's what you wished for?" Dean asked.
"I wished she would love me more than anything."
"Yeah, and how is that going?" Sam asked. "That seem healthy to you?"
"Well, it's a hell of a lot better than when she didn't know I was alive. Any of you in a relationship?"
"Yeah." I nodded over to Dean. "We are."
"See?" Wes asked. "And you love each other, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"Do you know how lucky you are to have each other? Because think about living in a world where either one of you still feeling that way when the other doesn't even know you exist."
"Kind of know what that feels like, buddy." Dean mumbled.
"What?"
"Look, what we've got, it didn't just fall into our laps. Things were hard and they sucked. Bad. For a while. Then we got together." Dean explained. "You don't know how many guys I had to watch her with before that."
"Hey, I had to watch you with way more girls." I said, looking over at him with a raised eyebrow. Dean shrugged, not able to argue with that.
"Okay, but you still got together. And I mean, come on, do you think I could ever in my life get a girl like this...naturally?" Wes asked, gesturing over to me. "I don't think so."
Dean nodded. "Well..."
"Dean." I scolded, looking over at Wes. "Why not?"
"Have you looked at me?" He asked.
"Yes, I have."
"And would you date me?"
"...that- that's not the point."
"And that's a no."
"Wes, what I'm saying is that just because you might not be my type doesn't mean that there isn't a girl out there who will really care for you, because you're you and not because you wished for her to."
"Sure. That's worked out so well for me so far."
"You're not supposed to get what you want, man, not like this. Nobody is." Dean said. "That's what the coin does. It takes your heart's desires and it twists it back on you. You hear of the whole, be careful what you wish for?"
"Careful what you wish for. You know who says that? Good-looking jerks like you guys, the ones who've got it so easy because you happen to be...beautiful."
"Beautiful?"
"Wait, easy?" Sam asked. "Believe us, we do not have it easy."
"We are miserable." I said.
"Yeah." Dean nodded. "We never get what we want. In fact, we have to fight tooth and nail just to keep whatever it is we got."
"But you know what? Maybe that's the whole point, Wes." Sam said.
"Yeah, people are people 'cause they're miserable bastards, 'cause they never get what they really want."
"Right, yeah. You get what you want, you get crazy."
"Take a look at Michael Jackson, huh? Or Hasselhoff."
"You know what? Hope loves me now. Completely. And it's awesome. Besides, look around. Where's all this insanity you guys were talking about?" Wes asked.
Almost as if on cue, the Impala pulled up in front of a large truck that the bullies were seated inside, the younger boy lifting the car up with one hand.
"Well, that should cover it." Dean muttered as the boy tipped the vehicle over onto it's side.
"Kneel before Todd! Kneel before Todd!" Todd exclaimed, rocking the car back and forth.
"I'll handle Todd. You get Wes to Lucky Chin's." Dean said, getting out of the Impala.
"Dean?" I called, looking out the window.
"What?"
"I never thought I'd say this in a situation where you're going to talk to an eight year old, but...be careful, okay?"
"Yeah." Dean nodded as Sam slid into the driver seat, heading back out onto the main road.
LUCKY CHIN'S – DAY
Sam parked the car out in front of the restaurant, he and I getting out. I held the door open, looking back down into the car at Wes, who just sat there, seemingly in shock.
"Come on, Wes." I muttered.
"That- that kid turned over that car like it was nothing."
"You should have seen the teddy bear. Now, come on. Fun's over. Time to pull the coin." Sam said, walking around to my side, hauling Wes out of the car.
"Well, why can't we just get what we want?" Wes asked.
"Because that's life, Wes."
Suddenly, a single strike of lightening came down from the sky, hitting Sam, sending him flying to the ground. My eyes widened as I bent down, checking his pulse, feeling my heart drop inside my chest.
"No, no." I murmured, pushing his hair off his face. "No, Sam..."
"Oh my god." Wes mumbled.
I stood to my feet, grabbing Wes by the collar, pushing him up against the side of the Impala. "You go and fix this right now, or so help me...you don't want to know what I'll do to you. Or worse, what Dean's gonna do!"
"Okay, okay!"
"Go!" I exclaimed, pushing him forward into the restaurant. Following him inside, I saw Hope standing in front of the well, quickly pulling out another coin when she saw me, holding it over the water in the fountain.
"Hope?" Wes called. "Hope, no. Don't do that."
"I have to, don't I? They're gonna make you wish away our love." She replied.
"You wished a man dead?"
"I love you more than anything."
"Stop saying that!"
"But I do. More than anything. More than me. More than life. Oh, Wes. Don't hate me." Hope sobbed as Wes went over to her.
"It'll be okay. I'll make it okay. It's gonna be okay." Wes murmured, bending down to remove the coin from the fountain. I looked back outside, seeing Sam waking up and quickly rushed over to his side, helping him off the ground.
"Come on. You okay?"
"What- what happened?"
"You died."
"I, what?" Sam asked, his eyes going wide.
"It's okay. Wes got the coin. Everything's back to normal now." I said, leading Sam back inside with me.
"Hope." Wes murmured.
"Do I know you?" Hope asked, looking up at him in confusion before turning and walking out of the restaurant. Wes walked over to us dejectedly, handing Sam the coin before leaving.
PIER – DAY
Dean and I sat next to each other on a bench towards the end of the pier, looking out onto the sparkling water as it sloshed back and forth in front of us, waiting for Sam to get back from melting the coin down. Dean placed the newspaper next to us, a large headline reading Winning Lottery Ticket A Fake. Audrey walked by with her very sunburned parents, carrying a now much smaller version of her teddy bear.
The only difference was the clear bullet hole through his head. My mouth dropped open as I stared at it, my mind wandering.
The bear didn't...oh my god.
"You know, I agree with something Wes said."
"What?" I asked, glancing over at Dean.
"I'm lucky to have you. All the things that have happened and I just- I'm really lucky to have someone like you. Someone that understands me."
"Me too." I smiled.
"Well, the coin's melted down." Sam announced, walking up behind us. "It shouldn't cause any more problems."
"Audrey's parents are back from Bali. Looks like all the wishes are gone. And so are we." Dean sighed as we got up, heading back for the Impala. I glanced back, seeing that he stopped walking. "Hang on a second."
"What?"
"You were right."
"About what?"
"I shouldn't have lied to you." Dean mumbled, looking up at Sam and I. "I do remember everything that happened to me in the pit. Everything."
"So tell me about it."
"No. I won't lie anymore. But I'm not gonna talk about it."
"Dean, look, you can't just shoulder this thing alone. You got to let us help."
"How? Do you really think that a little heart-to-heart, some sharing and caring, is gonna change anything? Somehow heal me? I'm not talking about a bad day here."
"I know that."
"The things that I saw...there aren't words. There is no forgetting. There's no making it better. Because it is right here in my head...forever. You wouldn't understand. And I could never make you understand." Dean said, moving past us, heading back to the Impala.
To answer Kim's question again, Tori's father is not an angel. Everything will be revealed eventually when it comes to that stuff ;)
Also, I agree that Cas being Tori's father would've been a good plot twist, and I even considered it, but I thought it would end up being too weird with some of the things that happen in the show that I would like to keep in the story and also some things that I might like to add.
Thanks for reading!
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