A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Regardless if you are spending it with someone or not, hope you all are having a great day! Here is the next chapter for you all!
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural
The meeting in the auditorium had disbanded for a short break. Natalie, Dean and Sam couldn't have gotten out of there fast enough. All of this was just to weird for all of them, though Natalie would think that it was most uncomfortable for Sam and Dean.
They made their way back out into the lobby and walked over to Chuck and Becky, who were leaning against the bar.
"Oh, Hi Sam!" Becky said quickly.
Sam gives Becky a small nod, still to distracted by everything around him. Dean walked up to Becky, "Excuse us." Dean then turned to Chuck, "In case you haven't noticed, our plates are kind of full, ok? Finding the Colt, hunting the devil. We don't have time for this crap."
Chuck let out a light scoff, "Hey! I am not the one who called you guys!"
"He means the books, Chuck. Why are you publishing more books?" Sam asked.
Chuck gave Sam and Dean a questioning look, "Um...for food and shelter?"
Dean's eyes narrowed and he leaned towards Chuck, "Who gave you the rights to our life story?"
"Um, an Archangel, and I didn't want it!" Chuck was quick to defend.
"Well, deal's off, ok. No more books. Our lives are not for...public consumption." Sam said, taking a side glance over to Becky.
Natalie, focused her attention back over at Becky and saw her eyeing Sam. She looked up at Sam, seeing he was trying his best to ignore her, and this only caused Natalie to smirk.
Natalie turned to Sam, tapping him on the arm. Sam looked down at Natalie and then leaned towards her. "Looks like she is a really avid fan of yours, Sam."
Sam rolled his eyes and sighed, "Yeah, you have no idea." Natalie's smirk turned into a full on smile and when she turned back around she saw Becky, throwing her a hardened death glare. Natalie only stared at Becky, amused at her behavior. She is acting like a jealous little kid.
Chuck sighed and turned to Becky, "Uh, Becky. Would you excuse us for just a second?"
Becky's gaze broke from Natalie and over to Chuck. "Sure!"
Chuck looked between Dean and Sam, then his gaze was on Natalie. "Oh, um, you guys go ahead. You three need to talk about this." Natalie said, motioning for them to go.
Dean and Chuck quickly began to make their way to a hallway when Sam turned to Natalie. His eyes briefly looked at Becky, "Don't let her get to you to much."
Natalie scoffed and smirked, "Don't worry. It'll be fine." Natalie gently pushed Sam towards the direction of Dean and Chuck. Sam paused for a moment, giving Natalie a small smile before walking out into the hallway.
Natalie could feel her smile lingering and that familiar tingly feeling soon began to return. It was a feeling that was relatively new. But, she had experienced it very briefly during the job when Dean became an old man. But, she had managed to push it away, back into the recesses of her mind. Though now it was slowly crawling back out.
Natalie mentally shook herself back to reality, feeling a pair of eyes burning into her. She turned to look at Becky, who had not lighten her glare. Natalie let out a deep sigh and then turned fully around.
"You know staring at people like that isn't the most polite thing to do." Natalie said, her arms folding across her chest.
Becky shrugged and shifted her feet. Her eyes began to scan the room and Natalie knew that she was trying to ignore her.
Natalie smacked her lips together, "You know if you intend on ignoring me...quite throwing me death glares." Becky kept her eyes off of Natalie, fully intent on ignoring everything Natalie was saying. "Wow, you really are acting like a jealous little kid."
Becky glanced over at her, "I am not jealous."
Natalie nodded her head and laughed, "Are you sure? Because there is nothing to be jealous about."
Becky narrowed her eyes and scoffed, "Oh, please. I saw the way you looked at him...the way you both looked at each other just now...and how you act together..."
Natalie raised her hand towards Becky, stopping her words. "Whoah, okay. There is nothing...nothing going on between...Sam and I. Never was...and never will be." Natalie could hear her voice tapering off towards the end, causing her only to question herself.
Becky eyed Natalie skeptically and hummed to herself. "Yeah, well that's what you think. But, it doesn't matter anyway."
Natalie's eyes became fixed on Becky, though her mind began to go elsewhere. Why did she timid when she said that? There is nothing going on between us. Natalie began to assure herself, there was no way. Her and Sam were close but as friends...and nothing more.
A woman's scream echoed throughout the lobby, bringing Natalie from her sense. Natalie doesn't hesitate before taking off towards the staircase. Sam and Dean soon her alongside her, all three of them running up the stairs.
A maid was crouched down in the corner and Sam walked over to her, helping her up. "Are you alright?" Sam asked.
"I think so."
"What happened?" Dean asked, taking a quick scan of the area.
"I saw a ghost." The maid replied. Soon a crowd began to gather behind them and Natalie rolled her eyes.
"A ghost? Could you tell us what it looked like?" A man, who had lowered his voice to mimic Dean's, asked causing Natalie to look over at him.
Dean turned around to him, "Why don't you leave this to the grownups pal."
"A woman. She was in an old fashioned dress. Really old. Like a school marm, or something?"
"Did she say something to you?" Another man asked.
The maid then began to grin, "Okay. Gather close everybody for a terrifying tale of terror. I saw, a ghost!"
Natalie's face fell, feeling actually pissed that this was all just part of an act. Natalie rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed groan. "Really?!" She pushed past the crowd of people and walked down the stairs, making her way back over to the bar and rested her forehead against the counter.
"Oooo, the LARPing's started." Becky said.
"The...what is that again?" Dean asked.
"Live Action Role Playing? It's a game. The convention puts it on." Becky answered. She then hands Sam a piece of paper.
"Dad's Journal. Dear Sam and Dean, this hotel is haunted. You must hunt down the ghost. Interview witnesses, discover clues, and find the boxes. First team to do so wins a $50 gift card for Sizzler. Love Dad."
Natalie let out a tired laugh, "Well that is such a great prize, isn't it?" She mumbled, her head still resting on the counter.
Sam sighed, putting the piece of paper on the table and rubbed Natalie's back. She was tired from all of this and there was not mistaking that he was as well.
The players walk around the lobby, dressed up in suits and flashing their FBI badges out at the convention manager. Sam, Dean and Natalie watch all of this from the bar, their faces showing nothing except annoyance.
Dean sighed and shook his head. "Well that's just about all of the community theater I can take."
Sam nodded in agreement "Yeah, this cannot get any weirder."
Two men walk past them, one of them was speaking in a low voice, no doubt he was Dean in the group. "Dad said...he said I may have to kill you."
"Kill me? What the hell does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"Oh..." The two men continue walking neither of them noticing the looks Sam and Dean were giving them.
Sam and Dean look over at each other, reading each other's expressions. "I need a drink." They both said in unison.
Natalie sighed and turned around, leaning her arms on top of the bar counter. She raised her hand up and rested her cheek against it. She just wanted to leave, she wanted to get out of here. There was nothing here that was a cause for them to stay. There was no job...nothing. Though, in her mind Natalie had reverted back to what Becky had said earlier. It was the only thing that was capable of occupying her thoughts at the moment. Becky had to of seen something happen between her and Sam to even mention anything.
Natalie slowly turned her head, her eyes fixing on Sam who was trying to enjoy his drink. She continued to look at him, that fluttery feeling once again coming back.
Sam set down his drink and he could feel a pair of eyes on him. He looked to his side, seeing Natalie staring at him. Her face was filled with a blank confusion, like she was trying to sort something out in her mind. His brows furrowed curiously and he waved a hand in her face, "Nad, are you alright?"
Natalie shook her head and cleared her throat. "Oh, yeah, sorry for that...awkward staring. I was just...thinking."
Sam hummed and smiled, "Is it anything you want to talk about?"
Natalie was quick to shake her head, "No. No, it's just something...nothing to worry about." Natalie kept her gaze down and cringed, mentally berating herself to get a grip.
Sam could see that she was trying to keep her focus off of him and it made him grow curious. She wasn't like this earlier, and now all of a sudden she seems out of focus and distant. Really hope Becky didn't say anything to her.
"For the last time I'm not making this up, ok? She's upstairs, a real live dead ghost."
At this Dean, Sam and Natalie's heads perked up and they turned to see a guy who looked genuinely freaked out. Dean looked back at Natalie and Sam then motioned towards the guy.
They get up from the bar and walk over to the guy and his friend. "Did you say that you saw something?" Sam asked.
The guy looked at the three of them, "This isn't part of the game jerk." He then turned to his friend, "Look, I'm getting out of here and you should do the same."
He then walks away, his friend chasing after him. "Alex, wait. Hey, come back!"
Natalie hummed, "Well, he was a big help."
Sam turned back to Dean and Natalie. "What do you think?"
"I don't think that guys a good enough an actor to be acting." Dean answered.
"So, you think that there is actually something going on here?" Natalie asked.
Dean nodded his head, "No doubt in my mind."
Natalie sighed, "Good. It'll give us something to do."
They made their way across the lobby and up to the hotel manager. "Excuse us, mind if we ask you a few questions?" Dean asked.
The Hotel Manager sighed and rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't have time to play Star Wars guys. Go ask the guy in the ascot."
Dean hummed and took out a $50 dollar bill across the desk. "Actually we ah...really want to talk to you."
The Manager eyed the bill and slowly took it. "You guys are really into this, aren't you?"
"You have no idea." Sam said.
The Hotel Manager nodded and leaned his arms on the counter. "What do you want to know?"
"All this stuff they're saying. This place being haunted. Leticia Gore. Is there any truth to it?" Sam asked.
The Hotel Manager hesitated, "Well...we generally don't like to publicise this to...normal people...but yeah. 1909 this place was called 'Gore Orphanage'. Miss Gore, killed four boys with a butchers knife, then offed herself."
"And tonight...is it really the anniversary of when all of this went down?" Natalie asked.
"Yep, guess your convention folks wanted authenticity."
"There been any sightings?" Sam began to press.
"Yep, over the years. A few maids have quit saying they heard the boys or saw them. A janitor even saw Miss Gore once."
Dean's brows raised and he nodded. "Where did Miss Gore carve up the kids?"
"Look, I don't want you stomping all over the join. A lot of this place is off limits to nerds."
Dean slides another $50 dollar bill across the table. The Manager picked it up and leaned in closer to them. "The Attic."
Dean and Sam nod in thanks, though Natalie rolled her eyes at how easy it was for Dean to bribe this man. "Thanks." Natalie said, before following Sam and Dean.
Dean opens a door that turned out to be a crawl space leading to the attic. He looked back at Natalie and Sam before crouching and crawled through the doorway.
Natalie turned on her flashlight and quickly crawled through the doorway. The attic looked like how any ordinary attic would look it. It was creepy. It made Natalie feel really uneasy, though all attics made her feel this way.
Sam holds out the EMF which starts to buzz. "The EMF's going nuts."
Dean sighed, raising his flashlight up and took a glance around the room. "Great. We got a real ghost, and we got a bunch of dudes pretending to be us poking at it."
"No way this ends well."
"Yeah, well, serves them right." Dean responded.
Sam and Natalie looked over at him. "Dean..." Sam lightly scolded.
Dean shrugged, "I'm just saying."
"Yeah, don't worry Dean, I agree with you." Natalie said, wandering off to one side of the room. Dean and Sam look at each other before splitting up. Dean went in one direction while Sam followed Natalie. Natalie shines her flashlight in every direction to every corner, though she saw nothing except for dust covered furniture and objects.
Natalie looked over at a mirror that was nestled up against a corner. The glass had been cracked and it looked like it had been here for far to long. She walked up to it and gazed at her reflection, and a feel of an eerie dread washed over her. Just looking at her reflection sent a small chill down her spine. There was something about the way she was presented in this reflection that made her feel like it wasn't her own image.
Natalie eyed the mirror and let out a sigh. She turned to see Sam looking through a desk, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Her head slowly turned and she saw a little kid huddling in another corner. Her hand reached up and grabbed hold of Sam's arm.
Sam could feel Natalie grab his arm and he quickly looked over at her. He could see a frozen shocked expression on her face. "Nad, what is it?"
Natalie swallowed and pointed over in the corner. Sam followed her hand and saw a little kid in the corner, his hands covering his head. "My mommy loves me." Sam and Natalie looked at each other then back at the kid.
Dean walked over to them only to raise his brows in surprise at the sight of the little kid. "I said my mommy loves me."
Sam began to walk, cautiously, towards the kid. "I'm sure she does."
The kid looked up at them, "My mommy loves me this much!" He moves his hands and reveals his forehead which has been partially scalped. Natalie's eyes widened and she raised a hand to her mouth. Sam stepped back as the boy disappeared.
Dean looked around the room as soon as the kid disappeared and turned back to Natalie and Sam,"What the hell was that about?" Dean asked.
Hope you all enjoyed it! Don't forget to review! Xx