For the remainder of the day the three of you split up. Trying different methods of research to narrow down the reason for this case. After flipping a coin it was Dean who was sent to the library to search through the records for any sign of the girl Miss Watson described. Meanwhile you and Sam dug through any article containing any lore about the grimm fairy tales. Scrolling through article after article went on silently, only the occasional feedback here and there. Soon you were broke out of this state by Sam's phone alerting him of a text.
"Dean's done. Time to go see is he's gotten anything more" Sam announced. Soon the two of you were out the door on the way to the library.
You and Sam were walking towards the town library, having parked a little ways down the street. Before you could walk more than into the parking lot, you spotted Dean walking out of the library. You nudged Sam and motioned towards his brother. The two of you began to head toward the eldest Winchester.
"So?" Sam asked still moving towards his sibling. You paused your steps waiting for them both to reach your spot.
"Checked every record they had. Found the usual amount of violent childhood deaths for a town this size. Do you want to know how many were little girls with black hair and pale skin?" Dean asked in a frustrated manner.
"Zero" Sam answered echoing Dean's response.
"Do you want to know how many little girls with black hair and pale skin that have gone missing?" Dean looked at his brother, then you, before plowing right ahead. "Right again. Zip, zilch, nada. Tell me you've got something good, 'cause I've totally wasted the last six hours."
"Well, you ever hear of Lillian Bailey? She was a british medium from the 1930s" Sam informed while the three of you started strolling down the street.
Dean and you shared a glance before Dean inquired, "She got a thing for fairy tales?"
"No, trances. See, she'd go into one of these unconscious states where, um, - get this- her thoughts and actions were completely controlled by spirits" Sam continued his thought.
"A ghost puppet master?" Dean asked with skepticism.
"Yeah."
"You think that's what this kid is doing? Sending wolf boy and grandma into trances and making them go kill-crazy?"
"Could be. You know, kind of like a spirit hypnosis or something" Sam concluded.
"Trances I get, but fairy-tale trances?" Dean said with disbelief. You had to admit it did sound a bit far-fetched. Although only a few months ago everything about your current life would have sounded like a make believe story.
"That's bizarre, even for us" Dean mirrored your thoughts.
All of a sudden in the middle of the sidewalk right in front of you, a frog blocked your path and let out a single croak. It was as if it was staring directly at the trio of you.
"Yeah, you're right. That's (pointing to the frog) completely normal" Sam spoke with a slight roll of the eyes.
"Well I dunno maybe it is common for frogs to be in this area" your thoughts came out. The two brother's just looked at you like you were the insane one. "As ridiculous as this may be, it's our only lead, so we might as well start with it" You quickly brought the conversation back on track.
"All right, maybe it is fairy tales," Dean made eye contact with you, "Totally messed up fairy tales. I'll tell you one thing. There's no way I'm kissing a damn frog."
You let out a chuckle before teasing, "Why not? Isn't that something you do on a regular basis?"
Dean just glared at you before giving you a small push on the shoulder. "Nah, that's more up your alley" He teased back.
Before you could try to think of a come back Sam spoke up.
"Hey check that out" Sam pointed at a white house with a lone pumpkin on the porch.
"Yeah? It's close to Halloween" Dean wrote off Sam's suspicions.
"You remember Cinderella? The pumpkin that turns into a coach and the mice that become horses" Sam elaborates, going along with the fairy tale theme.
Dean stares as his brother before commenting, "Dude could you be more gay?"
Sam glances at Dean, an insulted look crossing his face before looking away.
Dean shook his head, "Don't answer that."
You momentarily placed a hand on Sam's arm, flashing him a smile, before turning your attention back to the house. "Are we gonna check out this house, or just continue to mess around?" You commented as you began to cross the street, ready to start investigating.
The brothers glanced at each other before rushing across the street to join you. They quickly made their way past you to be the first to the house.
Not finding anything of importance on the outside, Dean pulled out his lock pick set and quickly got the door opened. With a creak Sam entered inside, followed by Dean putting away his set. You kept close and brought up the rear.
"Oh who knows, maybe you'll find your fairy godmother" Dean joked, looking at his brother with a smirk.
Sam sent Dean an annoyed look before focusing back on the task at hand. Dean started heading towards the left, while Sam went right, leaving you to go forward. You had just begun to enter another room, when a rattling sound had you pausing in your footsteps. You glanced at your two companions. With only looks, the three of you silently convened towards the right of the house, where the sound came from. On the way over Dean made a point of shutting the front door. Each of you withdrew your guns before cautiously moving into the next room.
You walked into a dining room with a large wooden table taking up most of the space. On the opposite side of the room was another doorway, presumably leading to the kitchen. Sam stayed in lead with you and Dean being close behind.
Before any of you made a lot of progress, a voice called out from the other side. "Help! I'm in here!"
Sam rushed in. Dean and you quickly followed suit. When you found yourself in the kitchen you were surprised to see a woman in a blue grey shirt handcuffed to the stove. Sam was kneeling next to her, digging in his pockets for his own lock pick set.
"Hey. It's okay. We're here, we're here" Sam tried to comfort the terrified woman.
"You have to help me. She's a lunatic" The woman spoke fast, clearly scared of being caught in her escape.
"What happened?" Dean asks, scoping out the room for any signs of another person.
"My stepmom - she just freaked out, screamed at me, beat me, chained me up" She answered with panic in her voice.
Sam had begun to pick out the right tools as he asked, " Where is she now?"
You had begun to scan around the kitchen, just feeling your adrenaline kick in making you hyper-aware of the environment. Before your eyes could return to the woman, you let out a small gasp. There in the doorway was a little girl with long black hair in a white dress.
Both the brothers turned their gaze first towards you, then followed your eyes to the girl.
The girl's eyes went wide before she turned around and walked out of the room. Dean quickly stood up from his crouch to pursuit after her. You took a moment to glance back at Sam, finding him pulling out his phone and dialing an emergency number. Trusting that Sam had the situation in the kitchen under control, you made your way to find Dean and the girl. You quietly walked into a room on the other side of the front door, just in time to catch Dean asking the girl who she was.
She pursed her lips before flickering and disappearing completely. However, in her place was a single red apple. Dean picked up the apple, examined it and then did a slight eye roll.
Soon you and Dean were down the street leaning on the Impala as an ambulance rushed by. Dean held the apple in his hand, giving it a look over. You decided to remain quiet as Dean worked through his thoughts. Soon Sam was walking across the street towards you, "Paramedics picked up Cinderella."
"That's good." Dean said raising the apple a bit higher.
"Yeah."
"So little girl, shiny red apple. I'm guessing that means something to you fairy-tale boy?"
Sam and you glanced at each other, clearly both thinking the same thing.
"You really can't figure that one out?" You asked. Dean just responded with a slight glare.
"I think it's Snow White" Sam answered his brother.
"Snow White" Dean grinned. "Oh I saw that movie." Sam and you both just glanced at each other with shock apparent on your faces. "Oh, the porn version, anyways. There was this wicked stepmother -she was wicked."
Of course Dean had seen the porn version.
"There is a wicked stepmother, and she tries to kill snow white with a poison apple" Sam informs Dean of the actual story.
"But the apple doesn't actually kill the girl" You continued.
"Yeah, puts her into a deep sleep - so deep, it's almost like she's dead" Sam finished.
"Does that mean we're looking for someone in a coma? You know someone in a deep sleep?" You guessed.
"Sounds like it" Dean agreed. The three of you piled back into the impala once again.
Soon you arrived at the hospital for the third time this case.
"You know if I had wanted to spend this much time at a hospital I would have pursued a medical degree" You said.
"Oh yeah, and what was your degree?" Dean asked.
"Psychology, with a minor in art" You replied nonchalantly.
"Psychology? Wouldn't that put you in the hospital too. You know with the crazy ones" Dean teased, while also hold a genuine curiosity.
"Not necessarily, I was hoping to have a private practice." I'll save the conversation about "crazy ones" for another time.
After your last comment, the three of you entered through the hospital doors and it was time for the FBI persona to take hold.
You quickly made your way over to the reception desk. "Welcome back detectives, what can I do for you?" The receptionist asked.
"We were wondering how many coma cases you had here?" Dean inquired.
"Well I'm not sure. I know we have a couple, but let me find someone who would know more. Follow me." The receptionist stood up from her chair, made some comments to another worker, before going passed the doors that led to one of the wards.
When you caught up with her, she was chatting with a nurse. "This is Krissy one of our head nurses. She can answer all of your questions" The receptionist introduced before taking off in the direction she came from.
"So I heard you're looking into comatose patients? Any demographic in particular?" Krissy asked turning her full attention towards the three of you.
"We were just wondering if you had any little girls in a coma." Dean said in a casual yet not to be questioned voice.
"No, sorry. We don't have any comatose little girls."
"You sure?" Sam asks.
Krissy turned her head towards Sam before answering. "Totally. It's mostly old guys, and well, Callie. She's been around since before I started here."
"Callie?" Dean prodded.
"Yeah. It's so sad. Poor Dr. Garrison - he just won't give up on her" She continued.
"Was Callie one of his patients?" Sam asked, trying to understand Krissy's statement.
"No, his daughter."
"I see. Well thank you for your time. We'll let you get back to your work" You spoke up, letting Krissy get back to her duties.
You glanced at the other two members of your party to see them sharing a glance. You understood their thoughts, and quickly asked one of the passing physicians where Callie's room was located.
Approaching Callie's room you could hear a heart monitor beeping, keeping a consistent rhythm. There was also the voice of Dr. Garrison coming from inside. As you got even closer his words became clearer, "The huntsman stepped inside, and in the bed lay the wolf. So the huntsman took a pair of scissors and cut open the wolf's belly." Well there's the connection to the Grimm fairy tales. He stopped reading as soon as the three of you entered the room. Dr. Garrison placed his bookmark inside the book before addressing your intrusion, "Detectives, can I help you?"
"We just heard that Callie is your daughter." Dean informed.
"And we wanted to say how very sorry we are" Sam continued.
"Well, uh thank you" Dr. Garrison stood up from his seat and headed towards the door, "If you'll excuse me."
"Oh we're heading this way" Dean prolonged the goodbye. He motioned for the doctor to head out first. "We'll walk with you. So how long has Callie been like that?"
"We don't mean to intrude. We can't possibly understand how hard it must be for you seeing her like this" Sam quickly covers Dean's bluntness.
"Yeah it's not easy. She's been here since she was 8 years old" Garrison informed the three of you.
8 year olds that seems to be the age the "ghost" was. So if Callie is the one behind all of this, why?
"That's when she was poisoned?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah swallowed bleach. Never figured out how she got her hands on the bottle. My wife found her, brought her to the ER here and I was on call."
"Your wife was, uh - was that Callie's stepmother?" Dean asked.
At his question Dr. Garrison stopped walking and looked directly at Dean. "Actually yes. How'd you know that?"
"Lucky guess" Dean says just giving his brother and you the shortest glance.
"Well, Julie was the only mother that Callie ever knew. My wife passed away last year, and it's just my daughter and me now" Dean and Sam shared a quick look before the doctor continued. "She's all I got left. Excuse me, I've gotta get back to work."
"Yeah, no problem" You responded letting the doctor take his leave. "So do you think Callie fits our criteria? I mean she may not be a little girl anymore, but since she's been out for so long she wouldn't know any different. Could she be our Snow White?"
"Well, you're right. It's Snow White in spades" Dean replies as the three of you begin walking back towards the exit of the hospital.
"Yep. Step-mom poisons the girl, puts her into a deep sleep. What's the motive, you think?" Sam thinks out loud.
"It could be like Mischa Barton." Dean says.
Sam and you both just look at him unclear of his thought process.
"Sixth Sense' not 'the O.C." Dean extends his thought a bit.
"What?!" both Sam and you say.
"Hey, you know fairy tales. I know movies. She played the pasty ghost. Remember the mom had that thing, you know, where you keep the kid sick so you get all the attention?" Dean finishes his thought.
"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Huh, could be" Sam remarks with a slight smirk.
"So, say, all these years Callie's been suffering silently because nobody knows the truth about what mommy dearest did."
"And after all this time her spirit just gets angrier and angrier until it finally just starts lashing out" Sam progresses the brainstorm.
"Meanwhile, she has to listen to dad tell her these deranged stories about a rabid wolf or a cannibalistic old lady. It's enough to drive anybody nuts" Dean completes putting the puzzle pieces together.
"Okay but how are we gonna stop her? I mean Callie is stuck here. Her father's keeping her body alive" Sam says.
"That does make it a bit hard to burn the bones."
AN: So so sorry for the super late update. . Life has been a bit chaotic recently. Although things are starting to settle down. I also lost some inspiration for this story. Let me know what you think. What you would like to see in the upcoming chapters. Thanks for the support!