A Supernatural Quickie: Chapter 25;
"Ummm…Dean?" Sam asked when his brother took the third turn north in less then an hour.
"Yeah?"
Sam's eyes moved to the backseat for a second before answering. Rachel had finally crashed after they'd stopped for breakfast…or lunch he really wasn't sure which it was if your first meal happened to be in the middle of the day. She'd nodded off in the back out of what, as far as Sam could tell, was shear exhaustion and a losing fight against the inevitable.
"For someone who claims to not have a particular destination in mind, you seem to be making some pretty decisive directional choices."
"I never said I didn't know where we were going Sam," Dean said, following his brothers eyes to the backseat.
"Wanna let me in on the big secret then?" Sam asked. The night before Dean had only said that they should head into less populated areas like Rachel wanted, telling Sam to keep off the main road, which from Bobby's place had meant heading north. But since then Dean had continued choosing roads that led them further and further north, the air getting colder and frost starting to show on the ground in the fading afternoon light.
"There's a friend of Bobby's," Dean sighed, figuring it would be better to get Sam on his side about this now rather then waiting. "He lives up near the Canadian boarder. We'd talked about seeing him before, he's a specialist in retrieving traumatic memories and helping people who've been possessed by demons."
"Uh, Rachel wasn't possessed Dean."
"I know that," Dean said, fighting to keep his voice quiet. "But I've got to try something Sam. I don't know how to get us out of this," he confessed, staring straight ahead as the sun set into a haze of grey cloud. "We can't keep ahead of the demons forever, and even if we could fight them all, the angels are a whole other can of carnivorous worms. We need answers; we need someone who knows more about what they'll do and how we can protect ourselves then I do….we need her to remember Sam." Dean tried to push all doubt out of his mind that he was just doing this for selfish reasons…because he needed her to remember him. This was bigger then just them now.
"Bobby's friend is out best shot at it."
"How long until we get there?" Sam asked, trying to figure out how much time he had to work with. If Dean was really this sure about trying to force Rachel into remembering their past, then Sam needed to try and get her to come clean with him first.
"I don't know…if we drive all night-maybe another day…tomorrow evening probably."
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Rachel lay in the backseat, listening to the murmur of her family talking quietly. It was such a comforting sound, soft and familiar like the rocking of the car it lulled her to sleep, made her forget why she'd been trying so hard to stay awake.
She opened her eyes, but the perspective was all wrong—she should be in the car, not watching it. She could still feel the movement of it underneath her, still hear Dean's voice talking quietly in front of her…"I don't know how to get us out of this…" he sounded so lost, she just wanted to go to him and hold him tight, tell him that no matter what he was facing tonight they'd get through it together. But she couldn't seem to move.
There was a dark blue car hood in front of her, a man's hands on the wheel the only thing she could see. He was watching the black Impala a few cars up, matching their speed and turning when they did.
Oh God, Rachel thought as the desperation grew…wake up. Wake Up Now. She blinked her eyes furiously, at first to try and see anything else, and then to dispel the tears from her vision. Please, just let me wake up…
The man moved, adjusting the rear view mirror and Rachel, seeing through his eyes like they were her own, gasped at the solid blackness that looked back at her and smiled. She watched as he glanced down at the seat beside him, one hand picking up the hilt of the dagger, thumbing the edge to check its sharpness and drawing blood. She felt her lips whisper "soon…" mirroring his as he sped up.
Only two cars behind the Impala now she was close enough to see Sam staring moodily out the window. He didn't look happy as he turned back towards the inside of the car, and she heard him as if from a long way off: "how long until we get there?"
She heard the click of a shot gun barrel being loaded loud in her ears as the man exchanged the knife for something with a longer range. No…Rachel jumped, trying to grab control of the dream and force the man off the road, make him drop the gun he was aiming…anything!
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"tomorrow evening, probably," Dean sighed, turning his attention back to the road. Rachel sat up suddenly in the backseat, her hand that automatically reached out to grip Dean's shoulder making him jump. "What the?" he asked, shaken.
She couldn't help it, she needed to touch him to convince herself that she really was awake now, one thumb lightly feeling the pulse in his neck and she concentrated on breathing while her own heart beat slowed to match the speed of his.
"We're not going to make it there," she said, reaching out and grabbing Sam just as suddenly as she'd woken up, pulling him forwards and down while the window shattered beside him, a round bullet hole sending cracks radiating outwards in the windshield.
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"Son of a bitch!" Dean swore, swerving the car back onto the road and ducking down. Where the fuck had that come from?
"Demon," Rachel said, reading his mind, or more accurately the question that had been written all over his face. She was down on the floor of the backseat, Sam doing the same beside him, a gun gripped in his brother's hand.
"Where?" Sam asked, looking around as much as he dared.
"Two cars back, dark blue sedan."
Sam didn't question how she knew it, but peeked out over the side of the door, seeing a man at the wheel. It was too far away for him to see the man's eyes, but the second bullet that came flying from the shot gun the man held braced against the window and hit the side mirror right in front of Sam's head was enough to convince him.
"Take a left," Rachel instructed.
"I don't listen to backseat drivers," Dean said, but turned off anyways. There wasn't any maneuvering room on the highway and this case of demon road rage could get a lot of people killed really fast out there.
Gravel flew out from underneath the tires as he took the turn without slowing down, foot pressing down on the gas as the road straightened out in front of them.
"Now what?" Sam asked between clenched teeth.
"Damned if I know," Dean said, watching in the mirror as the blue car followed them off the highway. "Come on baby," he whispered, urging the Impala faster he didn't even realize he'd said it out loud until he felt Rachel's hand touch his face as she sat up behind him.
"We can't outrun this Dean," her voice held a truth he didn't want to acknowledge. "Just stop the car and let me out."
"No," he shook his head
"We're running out of options here, how much longer are you going to fight this? There isn't any other way."
And Sam looked up from where he still crouched on the floor, to see as Dean met Rachel's eyes in the mirror, something heartbreakingly sad in their hazelnut depths. This is why she didn't want to me tell Dean, he realized, because she never really thought that it would turn out any other way. She knew that the demon's wouldn't stop hunting her, that eventually they'd find her or the angels would and she'd get caught in the cross fire. She didn't want Dean to know that she remembered because then he'd lose her all over again, and as long as she kept up the charade, then he wasn't really losing her, not the woman he'd spent a lifetime loving and had a family with….he was losing a stranger.
"There isn't any other way Dean, there never has been. You tried, you really did," she said, reaching forwards and putting her arms around him, and Sam noticed when she drew away she held his gun pulled from his jeans, in one hand. "But it's time to let go now."
Dean closed his eyes, hating to see the acceptance and sadness on her face, but knowing that she was right. He hadn't been willing to see it before, but he couldn't hide from it anymore. There just wasn't a place for them here…she didn't remember their life together and he didn't know how to make a new life for them with demons and angels hunting them across the country.
He blinked back tears, taking a hard right around an almost blind corner that was hidden between a corps of evergreen trees, before slamming on the breaks and bring the car to a stop.
"Thank you," she whispered, wanting to say something else but knowing he'd never leave if she did. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly over a nearly invisible scar on his cheekbone before getting out, looking back as the dust that marked the demon's car came closer.
Dean looked back at his brother, noting the disbelief and tears in Sam's eyes. He should have known better then to try and fool Sammy; Sam knew him too well to believe he'd let Rachel walk into danger.
"Take care of her," he said, grabbing a fist full of Sam's shirt and dragging him out of the car, using the momentum to push Sam at Rachel, toppling them both into the ditch as he jumped back in the car and sped off, the demon on his tail.