Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, or any recognisable characters.
Thank you all so much for each and every wonderfully kind review!
I'm going to start wrapping this fic up, it's been going a long time, and I think it's time.
Enjoy!
Crystal storms up to Dean's room, where he is asleep on the bed, grabs a large book off the desk, and hurls it with surprising accuracy at his head.
Dean groans and rolls over with a shocked expression painted on his face as he rubs his head. "What the hell was that for?!"
"YOU'RE WANTED BY THE FBI FOR MURDER!?!" Crystal screams furiously at him.
Oh shit. This is not good. Dean thinks before he says. "I can explain, I swear."
"Explain?! You can explain this?!" Crystal yells at him as she picks the book back up, and threatens to throw again.
Dean sits up slowly as he says. "Come on, Cryss. Put the book down, and I'll explain everything."
"Explain everything?! You keep lying to me, Dean. Why would I believe a word that comes out of your mouth?!" Crystal questions him, not backing down at all, far from it as she grabs her cell phone, and starts dialling it. "I'm calling the police."
Dean jumps out of the bed, and is practically on his knees begging as he pleads with her. "Please Cryss, don't do that. Please let me explain. It really isn't what you think."
Crystal cancels the phone call, and still not relaxing, she says. "Fine. Explain."
Dean sighs, partially out of relief, partially out of apprehension before he says. "With what we do, sometimes we have to do things that aren't considered legal. But I promise you that we have never killed anyone innocent, and everything we have done has saved a lot of people."
Crystal is silent for a few minutes before she sighs, and tells him. "I don't know why I'm saying this, but I'm not going to call the police, I probably should, but I won't."
"Thank you." Dean whispers: clearly relieved.
Some time after their fight, Dean is cleaning the weapons, with Crystal watching curiously, when his cell phone rings. "Yea."
"Hello, is this Dean?" An official sounding voice questions him.
Dean pauses for a moment before cautiously saying. "So what if I am?"
"A …John Killimone listed you as his emergency contact when he hiked out into the Minnesota Woodlands last week; he was due to return two days ago-"
Dean interrupts the man he assumes is a park ranger by saying. "Thanks, I'll take care of this." Before snapping his phone shut, ending the call as he is already starting to stuff things into his duffel bag.
"What's going on, Dean? Is everything alright?" Crystal asks as she watches his frantic paced packing.
At this moment, Sam wanders out into the room, having overheard parts of Dean's phone call, and worriedly asks him. "What's wrong? What's happened, Dean?"
Dean briefly looks up as he tells them. "Dad's gone missing in the Minnesota Woodlands, I've gotta go find him."
Wendigo. Sam thinks as soon as he hears the location.
Dean continues talking as he resumes packing. "I'll hopefully be back in a few days, so just hang out here, and any luck this'll all turn out fine."
There is a pause before Sam moves over to his bed, and joins Dean in packing up their gear as he firmly insists. "No way, Dean, I'm coming with you."
Crystal steps forward from where she's been standing, and adds. "Me too."
Dean only sighs as he tells them. "Fine."
They continue to pack in silence, and leave within the hour.
Along the way they have to stop several times, because Sam is in pain, abused body feeling the strain of sitting for hours on end. And everytime Sam finally admits to the pain he is suffering, Dean pulls over quickly, and does everything he can to make him more comfortable, he can't help but feel guilty about dragging Sam with him.
They reach the Minnesota Woodlands late that evening, and settle into the first cheap motel they find, which Crystal describes as an 'experience'.
The next morning, Dean and Crystal go to the ranger's station, posing as federal agents to try and find out as much as they can about John's disappearance and why he was there in the first place, while Sam stays back at the motel, still worn out from the drive.
When they reach the rangers station, Dean hands Crystal an id from the box, and takes one for himself. "Let's go. Just watch and learn."
As they enter the station, a ranger greets them. "Hello. Can I help you two?"
Dean steps forward, and tells him. "Sure hope so. We're investigating the disappearance of John Killimone; what can you tell us about that? Family said he was supposed to get back three days ago."
The ranger pauses for a minute, pulling out a binder, and flicking it open to a page before he tells them. "He filled out a back country permit five days ago for two days. Seemed like he was well prepared for the hike and to camp, that's why we held off a day on calling the family, figured he knew what he was doing. We had a search party out a couple of days ago, but the weather's been making it too dangerous to get out there."
"We're gonna need a copy of the permit, and also, we'll need all your men to stay out of the area." Dean says coolly, glancing over at Crystal every few seconds to make sure she was keeping up the con.
Shockingly, the next question the ranger asks is. "Why?"
Maintaining his façade, Dean replies. "Ongoing investigation, it's classified."
The ranger mumbles something disgruntledly as he hands over a number of papers to Dean, and watches them turn and leave.
When they arrive back at the motel, Dean calls out to Sam, and is concerned when there is no response. He rushes over to where Sam is lying on the bed, and gently shakes his younger brother's body, eliciting a pained gasp.
"Sammy?! What's wrong?!" Dean asks frantically as he visually scans over his brother for any signs of injury.
Through gritted teeth, Sam replies. "Hurts… Couldn't reach the pills."
As Dean grabs the pill bottle, and shakes out a couple to give to Sam, he begins apologising profusely. "I'm so sorry, Sammy. I thought I left them somewhere you could reach them. I'm so sorry."
As soon as Sam shallows the pills, and Dean helps him settle back into the bed, Dean stands up, grabs his keys, and mutters a "I'm going out." To Crystal as he walks out the door.
TBC...
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