Fallen Angel – Part 13
Stepping off of the porch Stacey walked towards the Impala to where Dean was stowing his gear in the trunk; even from the distance, she could tell that he was tense. She was unsure whether it was because of the hunt or whether it was something else. His playful mood from earlier was gone, replaced by a coldness that she hadn't seen in him since the first night all those weeks ago. Something was bothering him and that bothered her. They had grown closer over the last weeks, the incident with Crowley and the demon in town forgotten. Their days had been spent training and working on their cars, and their nights, well those had been pretty spectacular. He held her when the nightmares came and kissed her until she could think of only him; loved her with an intensity that banished thoughts of black eyes and pain. She had never been with anyone like him and cherished the time they spent together.
He had trusted her with so much, sharing the burden of his time in hell, his struggles to come to terms with his role in the Apocalypse that followed and his guilt at allowing Sam to sacrifice himself. It was in those quiet times that she held him while he cried. Amitial had been right, they were healing each other and with every day that passed she felt stronger, mentally and physically. She was like a jigsaw and Dean was putting her together one piece at a time.
"Dean."
Stacey watched as the man encompassing her thoughts stiffened and then turned. If she hadn't learned to read him so well she would have missed the almost imperceptible shadow which crossed his face before being replaced by his usual cocky grin and in that moment she knew that something was definitely wrong. She was worried and wasn't about to let him go without finding out what it was. It was clear that she had interrupted a tense conversion in her Uncle Bobby's study. She could almost feel the unease it had been that thick in the air.
"Come to wave off the men folk?"
"Something like that." Stacey laughed softly, her eyes holding his briefly before flickering away. "Dean, is there something wrong?"
"What makes you think something's wrong?"
"Dean you're so tense you look like you want to put a hole in something or someone and I definitely interrupted something in the study."
Jesus Christ! Dean cursed internally. She was far too perceptive, although he hadn't really been doing a great job of hiding his anxiety. There was no way he was telling her this now he'd wait till they got back from the hunt then he'd tell her. Right now he had to convince her that she had nothing to be concerned about.
"This is me pissed at my idiot brother." He reached over, took her hand and squeezed. "Stace, there's nothing to worry about. We had a bit of a disagreement about the hunt. That's it, I promise."
Stacey wasn't stupid; there was more to it than that, he was lying. Everything fibre of her being shouted at her to call him out on it, instead she nodded, her stomach churning painfully.
"Okay, fair enough."
She reached into the back of her jeans and pulled out the demon killing knife. "Take this."
"Stace, no."
"Please I'd feel better knowing you have it. You never know what you'll run into on a hunt." She insisted. "Besides, this place it totally demon proof. I don't need it just now."
"Okay, thanks."
Stacey watched silently as he took the knife and tossed it into the trunk of the Impala, her calm outward appearance masking her inner turmoil.
Dean closed the trunk and turned back to where Stacey was staring at him solemnly. Guilt soared through him as he looked into her eyes; worry and guilt battled for dominance within him. Pushing his warring emotions aside he grasped her hand and drew her in until their bodies fit perfectly together.
He inhaled in the soft scent of summer berries, a scent that he associated with her and committed it to memory. A surge of protectiveness flowed over him. "I'll be back in a couple of days."
Stacey drew back a little and studied his face. "Be safe Dean... I kind of like you in one piece."
"I kind of like me in one piece too." He grinned, his eyes crinkling.
"Funny Dean-"
He interrupted her, kissing her once softly, then again more urgently before reluctantly releasing her. He saw a flash of panic cross her face causing guilt to course through him once more.
Glancing towards the porch he saw Sam jogging down the steps.
"Ready Dean?"
Dean released his hold on Stacey. "Gears stowed, baby's gassed. We're good to go."
"I'll just let you two finish saying goodbye." Sam said.
Dean waited until Sam got into the car then leaned in and gave Stacey a final brief kiss. "I'd better go."
Stacey nodded and pulled away. "See ya soon Winchester. Don't let the monsters bite."
Dean walked around the car and got in, his gaze drawn to the rearview where his eyes immediately found Stacey.
"You're sure you want to do this Dean?" Sam asked concerned.
"Sammy I told you I don't want her worrying about this."
"But-"
Dean raised a hand, stopping Sam's impending rant. "Sammy let it go!"
"Fine!... don't come to me crying when this blows up in your face."
Dean didn't respond instead pressed play on the cassette, ACDC filling the interior of the car. With a final glance towards the porch he pulled out of the yard.
xxOOxx
When Dean was a boy his life revolved around protecting Sam and a then hunting and protecting Sam. Every decision, every choice he made was made with those primary goals in mind. There was nothing he loved more than his brother, would and did sacrifice himself for him. The lowest point in his life had been standing in the cemetery in Lawrence. He had watched Lucifer wearing his brother kill Cas, then Bobby and finally when Sam had taken control back from Lucifer and swan dived into the hole he had been alone.
Every person who had ever meant anything to him had been taken from him, his mom, dad, Joe, Ellen and countless others, and in those minutes he would have welcomed oblivion, had wanted to simply not exist. Then something amazing had happened, Cas was alive brought back by God. Next came Bobby. Then Cas had swept into the depths of Hell and yanked Sam from Lucifers' cage. He wasn't alone.
He didn't know why God had brought Cas back, gave him the power to bring back Sam and Bobby. If he was honest he hadn't cared only that they were back. As the months passed and they had once again became regular hunters he thought his life was good, he had his brother, his pick of hot woman and he was happy.
Then they met Zara, a feisty redhead and their life changed again, they went to war to save her and she in turn had saved Sam in a way that he never could. She brought stability to their lives, turned Bobby's house into a home and against all odds Sam was going to be a dad and that was freaking amazing.
He didn't envy his brothers happiness, didn't want anything more in his life than what he had, but then came Stacey and the circle of people he had in his life expanded once again. With Stacey it was different; sexy, sassy and a hunter who understood their lives and could kick his ass. She turned him inside out and with each moment they spent together he found himself wanting her just a little bit more. He refused to put into words how much she meant to him, scared that somehow if the world knew that he would lose her. Right now, something was going on in Pontiac that threatened to pull the future that he had begun to hope for apart. His gut told him it was directly related to Stacey and that meant he'd tear apart the son of a bitch responsible before he'd let it get to her. If that meant lying to her to keep her safe so be it. She could kick his ass when the danger was over.
He remembered the last time that he had been in Pontiac. He had only just been dragged out of Hell. Stacy had been in town just before, she told him that after she arrived she had visited his grave. It was still intact, which meant what had happed to her had happened right before he got pulled out of the Pit.
"Dammit!" Dean cursed. "Sammy wake up."
Sam opened his eyes groggily and stared at his brother. They had been driving in silence for hours, Dean staring stoically ahead as he drove lost in his thoughts. Every so often his hands would tighten on the wheel and his face would darken, but he never spoke. Sam had decided to let him work through things in his own head before attempting to talk to him. He had eventually fallen asleep. Now though it looked like Dean was ready to talk.
"Dean?"
"How'd you know that you got all the demons?"
"What do you mean? Cas smited some and I took out the ones that were left. They were all dead I made sure."
"If Stace is the only person alive who knows what happened, then how'd the son of a bitch killing these girls get any of the details. Stacey didn't remember anything until after she was safe with us so she couldn't have told anyone in the hospital. The details of what happened to her aren't public knowledge. She woke up in a town miles away two years later with different injuries and they didn't tie her as the missing girl from Pontiac."
Sam frowned. "The demons in Pontiac were dead but..."
"But?" Dean asked.
"We can't know for sure how many were in town before we got there." Sam replied quietly. He was shocked that they could have overlooked that fact. "The demon who tortured Stacey could still be alive."
"Son of a bitch!"
"Why after all this time start killing girls who look like her and dumping their bodies at the warehouse where they tortured her... It doesn't make sense."
"The dick thought she was dead, left her there to rot, didn't know that she was saved and still alive, until...""
"... until the news report of the Jane Doe being found in a field in Winchester three months ago. Stacey's picture was all over the news."
"The son of a bitch is trying to draw her out, doesn't know where she is."
"Dean she's safe at Bobby's. That place is a fortress."
Dean frowned fiercely, his hands gripping the wheel tightly his knuckles turning white under the pressure. The son of a bitch is dead! He thought.
Sam stared out of the window of the car, leaving his brother to his thoughts. His own thoughts turned to Zara and how he had felt when she was the target of The Order and knew that Dean was going to go just a little bit crazy. Dean took his responsibilities for the people in his care seriously and add that to the fact that he was in love with Stacey then his natural tendency to be over protective was going to hit astronomical levels.
"Have you told her Dean?"
Dean glanced over at Sam. "Told her what?"
"That you love her."
"Seriously, you want to talk about my feelings now?" Dean said incredulously. "Are you sure you don't want me to take you back to the house so you can join the girls and have some girl talk Sammy?"
"Don't be an ass Dean." Sam laughed. "You haven't told her have you?"
"Sammy I'm not talking about this with you."
Sam stared at Dean, his eyes glittering with suppressed laughter. "Fine I won't say anything else about it just... if you love her tell her. Don't screw it up Dean."
Dean remained silent, his gaze focused intently on the road. After a minute he glanced over at his brother a small smile on his face "I don't intend to Sammy."
A few hundred miles later they walked into their room in The Lucky Charms Motel in Pontiac. It was late and they were exhausted but Sam immediately got to work whilst Dean went outside to call Stacey. He set up his laptop and pulled up the details of the case, deliberately leaving out the photo's of the victims. He was unwilling to look into the faces of the dead girls, all of whom looked eerily similar to his friend. He also didn't want Dean loosing focus as they worked. As soon as he was done he picked up his phone and dialled home, needing to check in with Zara before it got any later.
"Hello."
"Zara."
"Sam." Zara said her voice soft and sleepy.
"Sorry babe did I wake you?"
"No I just came upstairs, I've been waiting for your call." She replied. "Is everything okay? How's Dean?"
"Don't worry, everything's fine. Dean's been his usual charming self. You know what he's like when he's worried, but he'd doing okay." He didn't tell her about their suspicion that the demon who tortured Stacey wasn't dead and was likely responsible for what was happening in Pontiac, not wanting her to worry anymore than she already was. "Stacey doesn't suspect anything?"
"No she's been fairly relaxed, we spent the night eating ice cream and watching movies." Zara said quietly. "She's in her room; I heard her phone go a second ago so I'm assuming Dean's checking in."
"Yeah, he's calling her now."
"You will be careful Sam."
"Zara don't worry we'll be home in a couple of days." Sam said with a smile. "Tell baby daddy'll be home soon."
"I will. I love you Sam."
"I love you Zara... get some sleep I'll call you tomorrow."
"I will, night Sam."
"Night babe."
Sam hung up the phone as Dean walked back into the room.
"Stacey okay?"
"She's good, just heading to bed." Dean replied relief clear in his tone. "I don't think she suspects anything's off."
xxOOxx
Stacey snapped her phone closed and sat unmoving on the edge of her bed. She couldn't shake her earlier suspicions that Dean had lied to her, that there was something off with the case that they were working on. It had taken all of her self control to hide her anxiety from Zara; they had eaten ice cream, watched movies and giggled like school girls when they gossiped about their men. Bobby had come in a few times to check up on them, but left quickly citing urgent research work. They had laughed insisting he just didn't want his hair braided.
Now that she was alone her mind began to race. No matter what Dean had said they weren't arguing about an angry spirit and she was going to find out what was going on.
She waited just long enough to be sure that Zara was asleep then left the room, making her way slowly downstairs. She didn't want to wake Zara and have to explain why she was snooping. Uncle Bobby was far enough away that he wouldn't hear her moving about.
Once in her Uncle Bobby's study she switched on his computer and waited as it booted up. When it was done she immediately went to the computers browsing history, unsurprised to find that it had been wiped. "Please, you'll have to do better than that Sammy."
Her fingers flew across the keys as she worked to recover the data that she needed. Got it she thought triumphantly when she finally unlocked the security measures Sam had set on the computer.
"Okay Dean what are you hiding?"
She scrolled through the data, her eyes searching for details of Sam''s searches from earlier in the day. She had been working for a while when one word jumped out at her, Pontiac. What the Hell! She thought and opened the file and began to read. A minute later she felt herself begin to shake and bile rise within her throat as details of the case became clear. Dean had lied to her alright, they weren't in some non descript town hunting down an angry spirit, they were in Pontiac tracking down some evil bastard monster who was slaughtering girls. It didn't escape her notice that the girls looked like her.
Forcing down her anxiety she continued to read, her eyes flickering over every detail, the girls, the torture, the pentagrams and finally the warehouse where they were all found. Her eyes focused on the building where her life had changed forever. It was old, derelict and as dark as she remembered. She stared at the image, freezing in horror as she noticed something which made her heart stop; she magnified the image until it became crystal clear. Oh my God she thought and immediately began to close down the computer.
She rushed quickly upstairs and pulled on her clothes; then after leaving a note for her Uncle Bobby and Zara she left the house and got into her car, her destination Pontiac, Illinois.
TBC