Getting To The Bottom of This.
Summary: Tall Tales wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The majority of Sam's irritability came from the fact he was sick, and not only of his brother. The boy's stay at Ellen's to recuperate, but she ships them to an old family friend after she gets fed up with their bickering. As both brothers recall old memories of their so-called 'Aunt Mandy' more questions surface than answers; why does she move so much? Why did she disappear for such long periods of time throughout their childhoods? How does she know Bobby, Ellen and John? And what is with her fascination of water and local aquariums? As Sam gets better, neither brother can help but wonder what her secret is and why she hid it for so long.
Disclaimer: I don't claim to own anything belonging to the "Supernatural" realm. I will put my stamp of approval on all original characters, and hope they meet the fandom's high standards. All characters pictures can be found on my homepage. More questions are answered, including the detailed history of Melvina Anderson. The idea for a selkie did come from The Supernatural Book of Monsters, Spirits, Demons and Ghouls, and correlated with an entry from John's Journal in which they were in Portland, Maine.
Chapter 12
Dean turned on the old am radio in the kitchen, trying to take his mind off the idea of his Aunt being a… well, seal. Sam looked up from his laptop to cast Dean a look of concern and reluctant acceptance before diving back into his research.
'Sugar, ah honey honey. You are my candy girl, and you've got me wanting you. Honey, ah sugar sugar. You are my candy girl, and you got me wanting you.'
Dean suddenly was overcome by the memory of Miranda dancing around her kitchen to this song.
"Come on Dean, dance with us!" Mandy had picked up Sam and was twirling him around, both laughing and smiling.
"I don't think so."
"Don't be a grumpy gus," she said jokingly. "Come on Sammy, I know ya know the lyrics!" Dean rolled his eyes, sitting at the table as his Aunt and brother joined in, singing.
'I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you, (I just can't believe it's true.) I just can't believe the one to love this feeling to, (I just can't believe it's true.)'
"You'll never catch me singing this song," he muttered, trying not to laugh.
'When I kissed you girl I knew how sweet a kiss could be, (I know how sweet a kiss could be.) Like the summer sunshine pour you sweetness over me, (pour your sweetness over me.)'
"But Dean, 'I'm gonna make your life so sweet!'" Mandy sang to him, finally causing him to crack a smile. "Come on Dean! Dance with us!"
"Yeah De, dance with us!" Sammy called over Mandy's shoulder, laughing as she twirled him around again.
"No, I can't."
"How could we not put this together Sammy?" Dean said angrily, banging his fist against the table, causing the salt and pepper shakers to clink together.
"It's not that we didn't put this together, it's that-"
"Ya'll really didn't see this comin' did you?" Dean and Sam looked over to the back door to see Bobby and Ellen entering- Dean hadn't noticed the engine due to reminiscing. "Didn't you ever wonder how when you were ill your hot water bottles never got cold? Or how she never ran out of hot water, even after all those hours of sittin' in the steam tryin' to help all your sinus infections?"
"It was a very bad cold!" Dean said indignantly. "The kind people used to die from!"
"How much control does she actually have?" Sam questioned as Dean rolled his eyes. "Most lore on selkies talks about connections to music and longing for the sea, not any abilities involving water. I haven't found any information on that at all."
"Don't encourage them," he muttered under his breath, taking a long, slow gulp of ice water.
"Enough," Ellen said before she smacked the back of Dean's head. It took all of Dean's control not to spit out the cold beverage. "You're being ridiculously rude today Dean, all irritable and out of sorts. Is everything-"
"Shut up! This isn't, it's not that!" All three smiled at the same time as Dean rolled his eyes, rubbing the back of his head, thinking.
Sam and Dean sat in the back seat, rummaging through the battered box of cassette tapes their father owned.
"Dad, why do we have a copy of The Archie's Candy Girl? We never listen to this-"
"Don't touch that!" John scolded, yanking the tape out of Dean's hand and throwing it into the glove compartment.
"But-"
"Just don't mess with that Dean," he muttered, looking at his sons as they both glanced at each other, shoulder's slumped and clearly hurt. "Dean?"
"Yeah Dad?"
"Just… You'll learn more when you're older, but for now just don't, just forget it's there."
"Yes sir."
Dean looked up at Sam.
"What?"
"Did you ever clean out the glove compartment after the Impala got totaled?"
"No, why?"
"I just… remember that cassette tape Dad threw in there so we wouldn't break it? What was it?" Dean paused, pretending he couldn't think of the name so he could have the opportunity to run his hand through his hair.
"Um…The Archies Candy Girl?" Sam offered questioningly. Dean smiled as Ellen and Bobby looked at each other.
"What on earth are you gettin' at?" Ellen finally asked, sitting down at the table.
"Don't you think it was odd that Dad was that, well, protective of a tape?" Dean said after a moment.
"Maybe…"
"And I don't think it's just a coincidence that it happens to be Mandy's favorite song," Sam muttered, finally catching up. All four looked at each other and within a moment Sam and Bobby were scrambling out the front door to get to the Impala. Ellen looked over at Dean, gently taking his hand.
"What's goin' on sugar?" She questioned as Dean took his hand out of hers.
"Besides the whole discovery of my aunt being best friends with Flipper?" Dean said sarcastically.
"Warm, but not hot. I'm talkin' about the idea that Sam may have figured this out before you, or that you knew something was off but didn't want to admit it." He looked at her, confused and startled.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered as Sam rushed back in, tossing Dean the cassette tape.
"Bingo!" Dean turned his attention to the cassette tape in his hands; the label was peeling off and as he turned it over in his hands he recalled his father's scolding for touching it.
"Guess we're old enough," Dean said mostly to himself as he put the tape in the tape player and smiling slightly as his aunts favorite song played over the radio. After the song was over though, the tape continued to play. Static overlapped with a few small noises: paper being shuffled and a chair scrapping against the floor, and lastly a throat being cleared.
"I've never done this before." Mandy's voice echoed through the speakers, clearly nervous.
"Don't be scared, just talk like it's just me in the room." This was John.
"Like it's just you?"
"Exactly. Now state your name and the reason for this interview."
"My full name is Melvina Lorraine, but most people either call me Miranda or Mandy- Sammy and Dean call me Manda because they can't pronounce Miranda," she said with a slight laugh. "And I guess the reason for this is because ya wanted to know my back story."
"Which is?"
"I'm a selkie- I have been on land for almost eighty years, and have been married four times."
"A selki is?"
"A seal. I took off my skin so I could sunbathe on the beach one day and someone took my hide."
"Someone?"
"Well, not just someone. William Cooper; he decided it would be fun to have a selkie for a wife. Never told me he had the hide, just said he would try to find it. Made it seem like he was the only one who could help me out." She sighed. "Was married to him for almost twenty years before he realized that it wasn't as much fun to have me as a wife as he originally intended."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, this whole eternal life thing may come with its perks, but I didn't age along with him. He felt self-conscious that the whole town was always talking about us."
"Was that the only reason why?"
"Lord no! People started to presume things, unnatural things. I was always winin' the county fair contests for pies and junk- they took it as I was a witch, but it's more along the lines of the fact that I came from water, so I have just enough control of water to make my baked goods come out moist." John laughed.
"Just enough?"
"Yeah, I've never tried anything crazy big, like controlling a lake or something, but I have used it before."
"On what else?"
"Mostly it's for keeping cold things cold and hot things hot. Like drinks and junk."
"Alright June Cleaver," he said, referring to the 50's housewife. "Tell me more about William, and Jonathan and Garrett, and…" John shuffled through some papers. "Michael."
"Well, William decided before he died that the best thing was for him to sell me to the highest bidder. By that time he didn't have any more extended family, and we'd never had kids. Few months before he hit the bucket I was sold to Jonathan Sackett, a firefighter a few towns over. He was… well, he was somethin'."
"Stop me if I'm getting ahead of myself here, but if you're from Maine, why do you have a southern accent?" Dean, who had always wondered that himself, was finally given an answer.
"Garrett, that son-of-a-bitch decided he was sick and tired of me mopin' around the house feelin' sorry for myself and always hangin' out at the peer. He figured the farthest place from Maine was Georgia, where his family just so happened to live. Worst fifteen years of my life down there in that sweltering heat. But we were talkin' about Johnny." She sighed. "Johnny was the biggest drunk I've ever seen- he drank down whiskey like it was water. So one day, about five years into our marriage, he got drunk and decided he… well, he decided that he didn't want me to procreate more inhuman creatures like me." There were a few moments of silence before John said anything.
"Oh Miranda, I'm so sorry; I didn't know."
"Hey, what's done is done. He was just an idjit, that's all."
"That's terrible."
"Yep, decided he didn't want me to ever be happy. Said it was for mankind's protection, so no one else would have to deal with my people. Said it was what was best for both of us."
"That's bullshit."
"Naw, what's bullshit is the constant beatings he gave me because he was pissed off at life. Didn't want me leavin', which I couldn't do anyway. Didn't want me to pass this genetic monstrosity onto his or anyone's children, so he took care of that. And then he decided one day that no one else should have to deal with my crap again, because by this time I was fed up with his drinking and shit and had learned how to use my little abilities." Mandy laughed. "Boy it was fun turnin' his baths freezin' cold! But he tried to kill me, unsuccessfully obviously."
"Obviously. But how?"
"Just the normal after work beatin's took more time, were more frequent. He was gettin' frustrated that he couldn't leave bruises or marks, I heal crazy fast. He couldn't break any bones or nothing either."
"So?"
"So he tried to kill me, and when he couldn't he decided that if he couldn't kill me than no one else should have to deal with me or my offspring. Shortly after that he was found dead by the peers."
"And after that?"
"After that Garrett Paige, Johnny's best friend, decided to move in and take up where his friend left off. Garrett decided to move us to Georgia until he could figure out what to do with me."
"And now?"
"Well, I was with Mike Anderson. He was actually the only good apple out of the bunch, up until the last few years when he figured out why seals were killin' his family. Decided if he couldn't kill me, he'd kill them. God men are stupid pigs."
"Where is she?" Sam asked quietly after the tape had ended, leaving an oddly bitter silence where Mandy's voice once was. Dean looked up from leaving rings of condensation on the table to see three utterly sad and depressed faces staring back at him.
"Well," Ellen started, blinking away tears as Bobby put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"We don't know if she wants to be found- by Tweedle Dumb over here anyways." Bobby stated simply.
"What?" Outraged, Sam tried to glare at his older brother through glassy eyes, but only managed to cause Ellen to burst into tears.
"Lord knows w-we know w-where she is," Ellen hiccoughed out. "S-she's just n-not ready to come h-home yet."
"Come home?" Dean said what was on both brothers minds, causing Bobby to snap at him yet again.
"This is her only home and you drove her out of boy!" Bobby spat suddenly at Dean. "Listen, I can deal with all you're bickering about all the petty shit you think is important and still try to at least smile, but don't you dare spit on a cupcake and tell me its frosting!"
Dean tried not to laugh.
"This 'aint funny Dean! You're so thick that when you find out something unnatural is going on right in your own backyard you just drive it away without thinkin' twice!"
"That's not true-" Dean started before Bobby cut him off.
"You're just as stupid as you are stubborn! God damnit Dean, this woman has been a mother to you and Sam and you pushed her away!"
"Don't you know how badly she wanted to tell you sugar?" Ellen said quietly, her voice strained so it didn't crack.
"If she wanted to tell us she would have," Dean stated simply.
"Don't you understand how much she hated walking around on eggshells around you boys- about why she could never go swimming with you when you went to the beach?"
"We only went once!"
"Selkies can't touch salt water while in seal form," Sam muttered to the table. "She'd be void of all human contact for seven years, and then it's just a vicious cycle."
"Does this mean mermaids are real too?" Dean asked sarcastically, earning another glare.
"Are there… male selkies?" Sam asked suddenly. "And Dad's journal states that a source tells him mermaids are very territorial creatures; more vicious and hauntingly beautiful than anything."
"Mandy's brother comes by every seven years to visit for a week or so," Ellen spoke up, clearing her voice. "She calls him with seven tears during the high tide, and don't you dare ask me what the hell is up with all the sevens because I don't know. And one of her friends, oh what's-her-name?"
"Pamela." Bobby answered.
"Yes, Pam comes up with him. I think they're married or something."
"So let me get this straight- Mandy can touch water, just not salt water when she has her skin otherwise she's permanently changed herself into a seal for seven years?" Dean said, finally asking a real question.
"Something along those lines, yes."
"But she can touch salt water without her skin and be fine?"
"It's like going to a steak house and getting a tofu burger; you're tempted to get something better, something juicy and meaty and real. It's not the same and you can't trick yourself into thinking it is." Both boys nodded at Bobby's correlation.
"But she'd be fine?"
"It's playing with fire Dean," Ellen whispered.
"Where is she now?"
"The aquarium, she found out that since the salt water there is treated with chlorine and chemicals it somehow balances itself out and she can swim with her skin but change back. At least, she hasn't had any problems before."
"But there's one thing I don't understand; if we found Mandy in the summer of '87 and two years later were in contact with her again, then what about the seven year rule-"
"You'll have to ask her that yourself Sammy," Bobby said. "We'll go visit her around midnight, and nothin' stupid."
