Chapter 15
She was lying in a bed she didn't recognize in clothes that weren't all hers smelling of hospital (eck) and (mmm) aftershave… she wanted to sleep forever. There were these two deep voices whispering somewhere to her right making it impossible for her to do that though… and it was making her cranky.
A little tossing, a little turning. Pulling the blankets over her head didn't help, and neither did the pillow. Just as she was about to give up the fight and get up someone made the choice for her.
"Look Sam, it's been a whole day… twenty-four freaking hours. If I don't wake her up now she may never get up again!" Okay, melodramatic much?! Wasn't she supposed to be the girl in this little trio? Well Sam must've given Dean the go ahead… or maybe he just decided to ignore his little brothers' opinion and do it anyway.
There was the loud sound of metal hooks sliding against a cheap metal rod as the curtains were pulled all the way open letting bright midday sunlight flood the room. To Cal, even with eyes closed, it was like someone turned on a gigantic spotlight. Her eyes burned and her head throbbed. A loud groan to express just exactly what she thought about the sun and she was burrowing deep under motel blankets trying to block the damned thing out again.
Well she succeeded. Those blankets may be cheap but they were also thick. Perfect for blocking out sunlight in the case of hangover-induced type allergic reactions to sunlight such as headaches and brain implosions. Which ironically just happened to be her current reaction to a certain guy that wouldn't let a girl alone. They were perfect all right. Until someone yanked them right the hell off of you.
"Rise and shine She-Ra!" Good God, please let the man not be one of those incredibly annoying, perky morning people. She curled up into a tight little ball and covered her face with one arm. "Come on man! Let a girl get her beauty sleep already. It's got to be the butt-crack of dawn!"
See now, normally Dean would be the one grumbling about the wake up call. Watching Cal go through it was just plain funny. Oh, sure… he could sympathize with the whole 'not a morning person' thing. But it was now officially lunch time, a good thirty-odd hours after she'd passed out from exhaustion in the car.
"Up and at 'em Cal. You've just slept a whole day away. Any more beauty sleep and you'll turn into Barbie." Ugh, you couldn't get more evil than that.
She was cute curled up in a ball like that, reminding him that she really was a girl after all. Despite the way she acted most of the time.
"Go to Hell Dean."
Okay. That right there, not so cute. The girl was getting up and she was doing it now.
He'd been tempted for hours now… tempted to do something that just might get him killed. He couldn't help it… knew it would annoy the hell out of her… and yet he did it anyway…because he knew it would work.
He just barely touched a the tip of his finger to the soft skin of her side. He had a feeling she might be ticklish, and he'd been right. Good thing he already knew how fast her reflexes were otherwise he would have probably had a broken finger to nurse. It got her up though.
Face hiding behind a mass of sleep mussed hair she moaned and groaned her way to the bathroom for a shower and a change of clothes. "One word Winchester and I will hurt you." Of course… she didn't say he couldn't snicker… or laugh… or get a gratuitous ogle in while she bent over to rummage through her bag.
"Coffee?" It wasn't a question, it was a request when she stepped out of the bathroom a good forty five minutes later. God it felt good to be clean again! Dean just nodded toward a steaming take-out cup flanked by creamers and sugar packets. "Wasn't sure what you put in it. Might have to nuke it too. You took a lot longer than we thought you would." Whatever. After the last couple of days she deserved to be able to take her time waking up. Now that she was awake there wouldn't be any more time to relax. There was work to do.
She made a face, wrinkling her nose, as she took her first sip of coffee black to start the caffeine buzz before adding the cream and sugar to it. God the stuff was raunchy! The things she missed about living a normal life…
The guys were sitting at the small round table by the window amidst a mess of papers and their laptop in the center of it all. "Research?" She asked casually. "Yeah, we thought we'd get a head start figuring what we're up against with this Earl guy." "Um, why didn't you ask me? I've been waist deep in this stuff for months now. I can tell you anything you need to know… stuff you could never pull off the internet or out of a book. I am the information source on this one."
"Well now, y'see the thought had occurred to me… a couple of days back actually… Unfortunately what with you being unconscious three quarters of the time and running away when you're not passing out on us that particular plan of action wasn't exactly available to us. Least not until now."
"You should have got me up." She was bordering on accusation. Right, like he wouldn't have preferred to do that in the first place.
"Hey, I wanted to. About twelve hours ago actually. Sammy here thought it would be nice of us to let you sleep. Truth is I think you scare him. Every time we made any kind of noise in here you threatened to hurt us. Personally? I'm used to it by now…"
"Twelve hours? Are you serious? How long was I out exactly?" Crap, this wasn't good. She couldn't afford that kind of time… they couldn't afford that kind of time. Not around here…
"About thirty hours straight. Plus the time at the hospital and in that fancy hotel room of yours."
"WHAT!?!" Thirty… they'd let her… thirty!?! "You let me sleep an entire day away? What is wrong with you Winchester?" Man was she high strung first thing in the morning. "Y'see Sam? I told you I should have done it hours ago."
"We've got to pack up and hit the road. Damn! One of Earl's goons will have found us by now. We're smack in the middle of feeding ground. Those suckers are everywhere around here. We're lucky they haven't crashed the party yet. If we don't leave now we might not be able to get away at all."
Well she was back to her usual charming self. Nice to know she was on the mend finally. He'd have to watch himself in case she tried to deck him again. "Whoa now. I get the concern…but isn't the whole point to draw them out? I mean isn't it easier to deal with them when they're away from the nest and vulnerable?'
You don't get it do you? There are dozens, yes plural, dozens of them out there and they come around here when they're hungry. We're sitting ducks right now. There's too many of them and they're too strong for just the three of us. For months now I've been running from them… baiting them…trying to get Earl to come after me himself. The thing is he always brings a couple of friends with him when he does. Insurance against being pinned to a wall by girl with a cross bow I guess. Whatever… Point is we needed to draw him out. I've done that. As soon as he's done messing up Mr. Smackdown for what happened at the hotel he'll come for me. We need to get as far away from here as possible to bring the numbers to a more level playing field. The farther away we are the harder it'll be for him to bring more than a couple of his followers with him."
Once Earl dies the rest of them will scatter. They'll be easier to deal with separately. That she could do on her own. But Sam and Dean didn't need to know that until later. Like when she was driving away after this was over.
"Okay. Far away. Got it. How far are we talking exactly?" Dean was business as usual She wanted to call the shots, fine. He was listening. For now. Of course, it was moments like these when he let his guard down that she managed to floor him. He never saw it coming… though he should have expected trouble when he caught her impish little smirk. It always led to trouble.
"Canada"
"Excuse me?" She didn't even blink. Shouldn't a girl at least have the common courtesy to blink when she's ripping the ground right out from under you? Then again… Cal had never show any signs of playing by any rules other than her own… and even those tended to change to suit her mood.
"You heard me." She was picking up steam, packing up her stuff. Getting ready to go. She had to be joking, right?
Sam was laughing… as usual. He would think this was funny. Of course he probably thought she was trying to pull a fast one on them to get him going again. Didn't last long though. Not at the rate she was packing. "Oh God. Cal… you're serious? Canada?"
"Yeah. My parents old place. Dad willed it to me when he… well anyway. Vampires are what he does… did best. It's as far away from here as I can get. Earl'll be completely isolated from his little group. It's perfect." Okay, so she was holding something back. The way she saw it, wasn't important just yet so they didn't really need to know did they? She'd acted the girl enough over the last few days to want to avoid another go round by hashing out her twisted family history of death and loss.
"So what then? We put in a full tank of gas, drive around a bit to make sure they know where we are so we'll be followed, cross into Canada and then waste the damned thing? Just like that?"
"Yup"
"You're crazy"
"Nope"
The hell she wasn't.
"Okay, lets just forget the fact that we could go pretty much anywhere else in the country to accomplish the same thing for a second. How the hell do you expect us to get past the border with a trunk full of guns, knives and ammo?"
"Easy, you don't."
"This is what I'm saying."
"No Dean, I mean you leave the car and the bulk of the toys here. Take what you need, stash it in my car to get across then when it's done I drive you boys back."
"What!?" the girl needed a straight jacket, a padded room and a couple of little men in lab coats. Seriously. Leave his baby? She really was insane.
"Are you out of your mind?" this time it was Sammy. Thank God. About time he started taking his side on things. "Not only will that leave Dean and I completely vulnerable… but you're expecting Dean to just park the Impala somewhere and leave it indefinitely? Not to mention… we're not even sure we can get past the border in the first place. Last I heard they get a little upset if they find out you're flashing around fake ID."
"You won't be vulnerable. I grew up there, I still go back and forth a lot. You think they don't have ghosts and things that go bump in the night up there too?"
"So?"
"So, not only can I provide you with genuinehomegrown Canadian fake Id to get past the border patrol, but my Stang is retrofitted with hiding spots for all my toys in case the car gets searched on the cross over. Plenty of room to hide whatever you want to bring with the added bonus of easier access then the trunk on the Impala."
"Okay… keep talking."
Looked like Sam was in. Now the hard part… getting Dean in on it. Months of running, baiting, luring… if he said no now she'd be going it alone and she really didn't want to.
"As for the car… well you've got to know someone you can park it with for a few days. Someone you can trust."
"That would be Bobby's place…" Well, at least she had him thinking about it. She did just kind of spring it on them out of nowhere. The room went dead quiet as the boys considered what she was suggesting they do.
"Nope. Still don't like it." Dean was shaking his head before the words even came out. "There's got to be someplace State-side that we can do this." But it was important to her that it be done there. Because of the past, for her father… for her mom.
"Oh come on! You're acting like I'm asking you to fly overseas with me to hunt down freaking count Dracula or something. My folks place is just a couple of hours drive past the bridge crossing into Cornwall. We can make it there by tomorrow morning."
Dean didn't even bother with words, just stubbornly kept shaking his head 'no'.
"Look, if I'm going to pull this off I need to be on my home turf alright? I've been running for a very long time. Baiting, drawing them out and then running again just get a fix on how this guy works. It's taken a lot longer than I ever would have expected. I'm tired, I'm hurt and let's face it: I'm not anywhere near the top of my game right now. If I was I would never have bothered asking for help. I wouldn't have needed it. I need help. I need Winchesters. I also need familiar ground." She needed to keep a promise.
But Dean wouldn't have it. He was giving her 'I won't back down' on this. That's okay… she still had a few buttons to push.
"We could do it at Bobby's… or maybe Caleb's old place. It's been empty since…well anyway, it's as good a place as any."
"And since when does Dean Winchester care about risky anyway? Didn't you go up against a Wendigo with nothing but a flare gun? Not to mention facing off with a Reaper… Bloody Mary… a woman in white… If I didn't know any better I'd say you were getting soft in your old age."
"You did not just call me soft! Let me tell you the day I get soft is the day you start acting like a girl Caitlin. Oh. Wait. I forgot. You've done that already, haven't you?"
"Shut up Dean." There was a steel edge to her voice. He knew better. Was lucky she was even warning him off rather than just lashing out.
"No. You know, for days now we've been chasing after you just because you asked us for help." Well, at least at first. "During that time I've been kneed in the nuts, driven to jealousy and punched in the face. I've found you passed out on the side of the road. Watched you turn into the chic from the exorcist and nearly die. You've stolen my car, my wallet and my phone… threatened and insulted me at every chance you got…oh! And let's not forget the Steroid Cowboy from the bar and the Angry Wrestler Wannabe from the hotel room. Hey, those guys were lots of fun weren't they?"
Deep breath before going on… or rather going off on her again.
"Now, after all that… and then some. And don't you dare try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about Cal. You know exactly what I mean by 'and then some'"
He glared at her when she just looked angrily away. Didn't even have the decency to blush.
"After all of that now you're asking me to let you drive us clear across the Canadian border to your parent's place… just so you can be on familiar ground when you face off with this guy?"
Put that way, it didn't sound so great. Thing is… they didn't know all there was to know about her reasons for wanting to go back now. Her promise. She be damned if she told him now though. He'd probably just toss it back in her face… besides she didn't have time to argue with him. She'd wasted enough already. Screw the button pushing. Either he was in or she was through.
"You stubborn, selfish…self-centered…pig-headed excuse for a… Did you even bother to spare a second in that little hissy fit of yours to consider the fact that I've been living this hell for months now?" Ever since she'd found out the truth about her mother… the whole truth. Ever since her father had died.
"Not to mention the incredible leap of faith it took for me to ask you two for help? I've been working alone for years now…and before that the only person I trusted enough to do this stuff with was my father. When I finally found you guys I had an idea of what to expect. I've heard the stories. Damn it Dean, I had to protect myself from you as much as from Earl. Maybe more." Oh, she had his attention there. Unfortunately they were both far too wound up and angry to really hear what the other was saying.
"Protection? I don't think you ever really got this… but we're the good guys. Isn't that why you tracked us down in the first place? Why you wanted our help?" No. She'd wanted their help because next to her Dad they were the best there was out there… and her Dad was gone now so she couldn't ask him anymore. Dean had pushed the wrong button without even knowing it.
"You don't want to help? Fine!" Her voice was low and she was deadly calm. "I'll go pick up my car and take care of this myself." Or die trying, but that little bit went unsaid. "Who needs you anyway?" Her walls were back up again. Great big brick ones firmly mortared into place. She didn't need this garbage. Asking for help had been a mistake.
The receiver was in her hand. She was dialing the local cab company, asking them to send a car over to take her back to the hotel where she'd left her wheels. Then her bags were slung over her shoulders again and she was turning around to face him one last time before passing through the door.
"It was nice meeting you Sam." She smiled at the younger man. "It's been a slice." Then she turned to face his older brother. The daggers she was shooting from those pretty blue eyes did nothing to hide the sadness that lay behind them. "Don't follow me Winchester." It was an order. She didn't want to see him again. Ever.
Her back was to them now. The door closing carefully behind her. There was the sound of a car pulling up in front of the room and the solid thunk of a door closing. Dean was at the window watching the cab drive away.
"What the hell just happened?" Sure they'd argued before… but not like this.
"I don't know Dean… but I think it might have something to do with her folks. Why else would she be so hell bent on heading up there?"
Damn. He knew it. Knew there was something she hadn't told them. You'd think she would have learned the first time around… now look where it was getting her: back in the line of fire… alone. DAMN!
Scooping up the papers on the table he tossed them into the nearest one of their bags. He never had been very good at taking orders… he'd be damned if he'd take hers. She was coming clean and she was doing it today. Then he was going to make it damned clear that she was not going to walk out on him again.