A/N - This takes place right after the season two episode 'The Usual Suspects' and in case it isn't clear Sam and Deal are fleeing from the scene right at the beginning of the chapter. Yay for the return of the Winchesters!
October 11, 2006, Leaving Maryland
Sam and Dean had just finished a job in Baltimore. Dean was tense because while they were there he had been arrested and in jail for a few days before managing to escape, but as the miles got put behind them as he drove his mood had gradually gotten better. He popped out a heavy metal tape and rummaged through his box of old tapes and put in some Blue Oyster Cult.
"You know, whenever I heard this band I think about Lady," Sam said lightly. "Remember, that cursed house in Texas?"
"Yeah, I remember," Dean said.
"That reminds me, I talked to her," Sam said, now that they had a moment to breathe he wasn't eager to see Dean's reaction, but it was better to get it over and done with than sit on it any longer. Dean's hands clenched at the steering wheel when Sam told him Lady had visited the Roadhouse.
"Can't believe she went to the damn Roadhouse. You know if she screws up and they think she's a witch all of those damn hunters will be on our asses after they kill her."
Sam nodded. He could see that going bad as having people they befriended deciding to take a shot at them or just the suspicious glances. "Yeah, I hear that."
"Just wish she'd stay at her place and finish going through that damn book, find a cure to get rid of that curse," Dean continued angrily. "Psychotic bitch."
Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head. Dean would be furious until he talked to Lady and they could hear she was okay, that all was well. And then the sexual innuendos would start and then Dean would be looking forward to see her again. "Call her whatever you want, bro, you and I both know what will happen next time you see her."
"Shut up," Dean snapped.
"Proven, time after time," Sam laughed. "It's cool. I like Lady, I think she's strangely enough a good match."
"Dude, stop," Dean rolled his eyes.
Sam let it go. Both Dean and Lady were up for the casual thing, but he saw the difference in his brother when Lady was around. There was chemistry between the two of them. Sure, it had started in Kansas with Lady's intense flirting, but after their father died Sam had spent a lot of time watching Dean. After the few days he spent with Lady, and when Lady returned a few weeks later, he had seen an improvement in Dean's attitude. Dean would laugh it off as getting laid, but even just hanging out in Bobby's kitchen relaxing while playing cards Dean seemed better. Lady had a grin that was hard to resist and never missed a chance to crack a joke. If Lady could make Dean happy then Sam wanted his brother to go for it, the only reason he didn't vocalize his thoughts was because he wasn't entirely sure Lady might feel the same way, and if she did her life expectancy worried all of them.
"Who you calling?" Sam asked as Dean pulled out his phone, hoping it was Lady while at the same time wishing Dean would wait until he was alone so Sam didn't have to listen.
"Ash. I wan to see if he has any news for us," Dean said.
Sam looked out the window at the dark countryside. It wouldn't be too late in Nebraska to call, not that Ash seemed to sleep much. Since Jo had told them their father was the reason her father was dead Dean had been more pissed off than usual. Sam had tried, so many times, to help Dean recover from their father's death and some days were better than others. The past several days had been nearly painful. Sam was hoping that Dean would consider laying low for a bit at Bobby's or if Lady wasn't busy even head up to North Dakota for a few weeks until the heat in Baltimore wore off. But if Dean was calling Ash for an update the chances were they would be looking for a new hunt soon.
"Hey, Ash, got anything for me?" Dean asked as they saw a sign notifying them they were entering the great state of Virginia. Dean let off the gas a bit to be closer to the speed limit as a set of headlights appeared in the distance, they didn't want to get picked up for speeding after escaping from police custody.
"Hey, put it on speaker," Sam said, turning off the stereo.
Dean looked annoyed but did as he was asked.
"Sorry, man, got nothing new but still looking," Ash said. There was a lot of background noise and they could hear Ellen faintly in the background shouting at the patrons in the Roadhouse.
"What's going on over there?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, sounds like we're missing a party...that we'll never be invited to again," Dean said bitterly. Chances of Ellen allowing them to stay at the Roadhouse again after Philadelphia were slim to none. If there was a negative possibility that would be closer. It was too bad, they both had enjoyed having a place to hang out. They had been able to meet several new contacts, not to mention the genius Ash. At least Ash was still helping them out.
"You guys aren't missing anything you don't already know about from what I hear," Ash said. "Whole place has been pretty excited over news of a witch coven Roy and Walt took out. They went out with this pretty little witch-hunter and rumor has it you guys know her."
"Lady? Yeah, we know her," Dean said, sounding unimpressed. "She used our name to make a case for herself with the guys there?"
"Nah, Jo vouched for her the whole way, man," Ash said and the noise became muffled after the sound of a door closing. "Maybe you two can help me out? Ellen's been having me do a search, she wanted to get some info on the chick but I haven't dug up anything. The girl is a total spook. Not like you two, I search your names and I find records in half a dozen states and a few thousand dollars of parking tickets. By the way, how'd you get out of jail so quick?"
"Maybe I'll tell you later," Dean said tensely.
"Sure, fine," Ash said. "Anyways, Roy and Walt stopped in to share the news and show off their scars."
"Scars? Something go wrong?" Dean asked quickly.
"Yeah, Walt got a bit chewed up by a black dog," Ash said. Ash's tone sounded casual, like it was unremarkable, but Sam and Dean knew that a black dog meant someone high-up in the coven Lady hunted. "And Roy got a tooth knocked out. He says the witch did it but I heard from a reliable source that Jo did that for him."
"Jo was there?" Sam asked, frowning angrily. Lady had lied to him. "She got out okay?"
"Yup," Ash said. "Well, she did tell me Lady left a few marks on her when Jo was dragging her into the hospital. Guess Lady got caught in the crossfire when Roy was busy shooting the witch full of lead. Round to the thigh in friendly fire." The Impala jerked forward as Dean stepped on the gas.
"Roy shot her?" Sam asked, grabbing the phone from Dean so he could put both hands on the wheel.
"That son of a bitch still there?" Dean asked.
"Dean, it was an accident," Sam said, thankful Nebraska was a long drive away and his brother had time to calm down. "Is Lady okay?"
"Jo said she was. Dropped her off at Singer's Auto Salvage to recoup," Ash said. "Jo called to tell Ellen what happened and I got the full story. I hafta say Roy's version was more entertaining but I'd believe Jo over him any day. But at least Roy's story had some sex in it."
"Uh," was all Sam got out.
"Excuse me?" Dean said.
"Yeah! First thing Roy was bragging about when he helped Walt in was shagging the Lady," Ash chuckled. "Not sure if it's true or not. But it makes for fun story time."
"We'll talk to you later, Ash," Sam said, hanging up the phone as the speedometer nudged a hundred.
Sam sat quietly in the passenger seat, the look on his brother's face was frightening. Dean could say his relationship was casual all he wanted to but he cared about Lady, they both did. Sam cared for her only as a friend, maybe like a sister even. And hearing about Roy bragging that he had gotten Lady in bed wasn't something Sam wanted to hear about, and if Lady was his sister he may even consider doing something about it. Not like Lady had much virtue to protect or a real name to keep clean, but it just wasn't polite.
Sam wasn't sure what Dean thought of Lady. He definitely didn't think of her as a sister, at least Sam hoped not. A close friend with benefits was the only thing Sam was sure of. What he thought he saw as jealousy in his brother's eyes could be from some macho primal thing of his territory being invaded, or could be because what he had with Lady wasn't as casual as he put off. Sam just hoped the fury faded from Dean's face before they got far enough west for him to be able to do something about it.
"I'll call Bobby to let him know we're stopping in," Sam said. "Because it is more important to check on Lady than it is to slug Roy. And Jo already beat us to it."
"He shot her, I say eye for an eye," Dean snarled.
"Lady's a big girl and she's going to be fine. If she has any hard feelings we can drive her to Nebraska so she can handle it herself," Sam said.
Across the miles Dean's face went from silent fury to silent fury about to pass out from exhaustion. They switched drivers and continued on the course.
Sam pulled into Bobby's lot a few nights later. As he was grabbing his bag and the bag of dirty laundry that would get washed while they were there Dean got into the driver's seat. "We just got here, where are you going?" Sam asked.
"A fun place called none of your damn business," Dean said. Dean started up the engine, "I'm just going into town, okay?"
"Great," Sam muttered as he brother drove off. Bobby met him at the door. "Hey, Bobby."
"Where's Dean off to?" Bobby asked.
Sam made a face, "He wants to hang out in town for a bit." Sam knew Dean wasn't going to Nebraska, they had checked in once already and knew Roy wasn't there anymore. Dean was going into town to be away from them. "How's she doing?"
"Trying to wean her off the pain meds, but she's a big baby," Bobby said. "High as a damn kite right now."
"You look pretty beat. I'll keep an eye on her for a while."
"Thanks," Bobby said.
Lady had a hazy smile on her face as she stared blankly at the television playing late-night cartoons. Freddie was on the couch with her and she was leaning on him. "I don't need a babysitter, Sam," she said.
Sam smiled as he sat in a chair. "I know you don't. You might like some company?"
"Always," she said happily. "Well, not always. But right now, sure. What are you doing here?"
"Uh, well, we finished in Baltimore. But while we were there we got arrested so I was hoping we'd hang out for a while until the heat is off of us. And, uh, Ash, at the Roadhouse, has been tracking the demon for us. When we called to check for an update he told us what happened in Dallas. The Roadhouse is all abuzz," Sam said.
Lady shifted uncomfortably, "Ugh, this is going to come back and bite me in the ass, won't it?"
Sam thought about it. Lady successfully lived so far off the grid even Ash couldn't find information on her but now her name was being passed around the hunter circles. "Probably."
She looked around with slow eyes, "Dean isn't with you?"
"He was," Sam said. "Just, uh, you know long car rides can get. He just wants some time off from me." Sam didn't plan on telling Lady that Dean had gone from surprised hearing she had gone on a hunt with strangers to concern of hearing she had been shot to anger hearing how and then a quiet type of trembling jealous rage when he heard Roy had been bragging about the night he spent with her. Sam knew his brother enough to know that he was in town right now trying to find some strange woman for a one-night stand to even out some sort of sexual scoreboard. "Is there anything you need?"
She looked at him hopefully, "Bobby's hiding my pain medication. I'm pretty sure it's in the upstairs bathroom, but I can't get up there."
Sam smiled, "I know it hurts but you need to take it easy on those meds."
Lady whimpered, "But, Sam, it hurts so bad."
"Don't fall for it!" Bobby called from the kitchen.
"Fall for what? I'm in pain!" Lady whined, and Freddie whimpered at her high voice and got off the couch. Lady slumped over as her pillow disappeared and grumbled as she tried to get comfortable again.
"Sam, I'm going to try and get some sleep. She can have more when she's really in pain. And keep her away from the good liquor."
Lady sighed in complaint and went back to watching cartoons. "He's just trying to keep you healthy," Sam said helpfully.
"Being healthy is overrated," Lady said. "I don't have long to live and I've been sitting on this couch the past two days watching TV and being subjected to torture while I wait for my next fix of pain meds."
"Hey, don't talk like that, okay?" Sam said. "We expect you to find the counter-curse, and if we need to listen to you bitch and moan in pain so you don't overdose, we will. That's what we do for those we care about."
Lady looked at him with wide eyes, "You know, you sort of look like the dude from the 'Gilmore Girls'." Sam's eyebrows raised in confusion as she studied him. "Nah, he's way hotter."
Lady passed out after he gave her a dose of pain meds, she had nearly gone through a whole bottle already. He got out of his chair when he heard the Impala returning and went to meet Dean by the door. "Hey, be quiet, okay?" Sam said, leading his brother into the kitchen.
"Why?" Dean asked, smelling like alcohol. Sam knew his brother enough to tell he wasn't drunk but the six-pack he was carrying meant he was still trying.
"Bobby's been waiting on Lady since she got here a few days ago, he's exhausted," Sam said. "I got a cot out in the back but I was thinking someone should stay in the living room with her in case she needs anything."
"She just took a bullet to the thigh, she isn't paralyzed," Dean said roughly.
"She's in pain," Sam said. "And she's frustrated being immobile for most of a week. I hate to say it but she's actually been a royal bitch."
"Hey!" Dean snapped.
Sam's eyes widened. Dean had called her that, among other things, several times. Hell, he even called Sam a bitch. "Neither of us have gotten much sleep, okay? Just, go in back I'll stay with her."
"I'm not tired. You go, I can babysit," Dean said.
"You sure?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Dean said, shrugging out of his jacket.
Dean only got three beers into his six-pack before he fell asleep in the chair watching the news channel. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep when he jerked awake at the sound of a crash, and jumped to his feet when Lady let out a string of painful swears. He found her on her back outside of the bathroom and when he stood over her she laughed and said, "Good thing I fell coming out, otherwise I totally would have peed just now."
Dean's anger was still brewing and he was still feeling enough alcohol that he would have told her she was an idiot, but the laughter faded from her face quickly and was marked with real pain. "C'mon," he said, helping her to her feet and putting her arm over his shoulder so she could hop back to the couch.
"Where's Sam?" she asked.
"Sleeping," Dean said. "He grabbed a cot in the back."
"There's more than one. Why are you out here?"
"We figured someone should be out here in case you did something stupid. Like fall," Dean said, helping her ease into the couch. She was wearing shorts and the bandage was easily visible, mid-thigh. Not lethal, but painful.
"Aw, you are so smart," she said, and he couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or if she was just stoned.
"Everything okay?" he asked as she adjusted herself.
"It just hurts so bad," she said. "Everything above the knee just throbs with every pulse, and from my knee down is so cramped from being tensed that I can barely move, and everything waist up just trembles."
"Yeah, I've been there," he said. Dean sat on the couch and put her legs on his lap. "Just gets worse the less you move, but moving still hurts worse," he said, putting his hands on her lower leg and pressed his fingers gently into her calf. "Right there?"
"Yeah, you feel that knot?" she asked as his warm hands gripped the cramped muscle. "Are you serious?" she asked as he began massaging her aching leg.
"Want me to..."
"No, keep going," she said quickly.
He let a smile slip over his mouth. Lady laid down on the couch as he continued. For a while it felt normal, relaxing on a couch watching CNN at four in the morning. "You know when I first met you I thought I had you figured out," Lady said, sounding drunk. "But I had you wrong."
"What do you mean?" Dean asked.
"I thought you were a self-centered pretty-boy with a few tricks in his leather jacket," she said with a smirk. "But you are far from self-centered. Took me a while to see that. You know, I got so used to doing things alone but, uh, in Dallas I was really itching to grab the phone and call you and Sam to come help."
"Why didn't you?" Dean asked, some of that anger returning. If she had asked he wasn't sure if they would have been able to, they had been starting out on their own hunt then and were all the way in Baltimore. But he liked to think he would have tried.
"Because I am an arrogant self-centered person," she muttered. "Because I thought Roy and Walt could hold their own. Because I knew even if you weren't busy you wouldn't make it in time. Well, I won't make that mistake again."
"Next time you'll call instead of running in?"
"No, I mean I won't make the mistake of giving two idiots with a few guns in their trunk a bit of trust," Lady answered.
"You trust me, right?" Dean asked, meeting her drug-glazed eyes.
"Yeah," Lady said, looking over his handsome face. She'd said she had trusted him a few times and this time it hit her hard. "As much as it scares me, I do."
"Why is that?" Dean asked.
"I'm pretty scared I'm going to get you killed," she admitted. She knew they would come help her if she asked. Him and his brother were stand-up guys, even if they didn't trust her or consider her a friend they would jump right in the fire with her to help her take out her coven. And she didn't want anything to happen to them. "Or your brother. You know, when I went out on my own at this I changed all the rules Bobby taught me. I know I go in blind but it's because I can see things before they happen. Maybe it's only a few seconds but it's saved my life a lot of times. In Dallas I had no plan, and I didn't get to Walt before he got caught by the black dog. The sacrifice they were doing was another witch, when we cut him loose he...Jo had to shoot him to get him off of me. Everything went to hell down there. Thing is I'm glad it was them instead of you two, I don't give a damn about either of them. I would have been pretty pissed if you or Sam got hurt because of me."
"Listen to me," Dean said. "You don't go into this with people you don't trust, because they feel the same way. You call us. If it means a black dog gets a bite out of my ass, so be it."
"Dean, if you lost a chunk of your ass that would be a tragedy," Lady joked.
Dean let the smallest smile form as he kept working out the knot in her calf down to her ankle. He would have ditched Maryland and made it to Dallas in time had she called, at least he would have if he hadn't been in jail. Maybe he would have bitched about abandoning the haunting but he would have done it. And if he had been there when Roy shot wide Jo wouldn't have gotten a chance to knock out his front tooth, he would have broken his jaw. Lady didn't give a damn about Roy, but she apparently did when it came to Dean.
The next day Lady was limping around the house. Dean swayed as Lady latched onto his arm before she could topple. "Baby steps," he muttered, letting her use him as a crutch so she could hop into a chair.
Bobby came in from outside, "Damn, it's getting cold out there." Freddie came in and yawned widely before trotting into the kitchen and began nudging Sam for attention. "Now that you are walking around maybe you can go pick up some of your dog's presents."
Lady frowned at Freddie as he began licking Sam's face. "You mean the ones he doesn't eat?"
Sam made a disgusted sound as he pushed Freddie away and Dean burst out laughing. He held his hand out, "Brilliant."
Lady gave him his high five, "It's true."
Dean's smile became forced, "God, that's disgusting."
"He's a dog," Lady said.
"Yuck," Sam complained, moving to the sink and splashing water on his face.
"How sober are you feeling?" Bobby asked Lady.
"Feeling like I don't want to be," she said. "But you changed the hiding place for the pain meds."
"Stop being a baby," Bobby said roughly. Lady made a face when he turned his back. "You are up and moving, that's all that matters. A few more days and you'll be good."
"Yeah, well, I need to get back to work. Searching the ley lines isn't going the way I wanted it to and it's a black moon next month."
"A new moon? Yeah, that happens every month." Sam said.
"No, a black moon," Lady said. "You guys know the blue moon, third full moon in a season with four full moons? A black moon is the same thing, just for new moons. It's when the coven gives the biggest sacrifices to appease whatever pagan deities they want to suck up to."
"Why didn't you mention this? We could have been working on this for how long?" Dean asked angrily.
"This isn't my first black moon," she said. "I have been working on this. I figured out a few ritual sites that I know it won't happen at, and that witch in Dallas won't be participating."
"When is this black moon? What day?" Dean asked.
"The twentieth of November," Lady said. "More than a month and a half for me to find a new tactic."
"Which is?"
"I have to find it," she muttered bitterly. She rubbed her forehead. "There will be some obvious signs the day of the new moon, it draws in enough power that the clouds will spin around the ritual site and light up with electricity. Before the most I could hope for was that I would be close enough to hear about the shift in the weather and make it there before they finished the ritual. I was hoping checking out these past sites they used would help me identify where and be ready for them, but it isn't. However I am the eternal optimist and I will find something new. Maybe, I don't know."
"Any other signs that can be tracked?" Sam asked.
She shook her head, "Nothing concrete. I'm mostly hoping they'll use their own as sacrifices."
"Maybe we can get Ash to do a nationwide search, like he is for us," Sam suggested, looking at Dean. "That combined with known ritual sites that there is no way we have enough time to check all of them out…maybe we can narrow down her search?"
Dean made a face, "Yeah, but I'm not so sure how welcome we're going to be at the Roadhouse. The three of us aren't exactly Ellen's favorites."
"If you guys can put a good word in for me I'll see Ash alone, I can handle Ellen," Lady suggested. "I'm willing to give him a shot."
"No, we'll take you," Dean said, not looking too happy.
A/N - I feel like I need to tattle on myself. The actual Black Moon happened in the summer of '06, not autumn like I'm using in my story. I really doubt there is anyone who is researching to check these dates but I made a slight creative change to the whole moon cycle to fit my story. For the most part the mythology I'm using with this story I did do some research on. Do a search on wikipedia about ley lines if you don't believe me. Considering it is a fanfic plus in the fantasy genre I've made my own additions/tweaks as I see fit, but with the moon I just felt bad for changing the date of it so I had to say something...or else my guilty conscience would get the better of me.