AN: Here is a longer chapter! Hope everyone enjoys it!
Garth is sitting at the counter working on fixing his EMF meter while Dean sits on the couch reading John's journal. Sam's at the table behind Garth working on his laptop, papers strewn about on the rest of the table.
"There's a million things with claws go bump in the night," Dean says, flipping through the pages in the journal, "Once you throw in 'invisible', the number goes down."
The hotel door opens and in walks Gracilynn carrying bags of food. Dean looks over at her before turning his attention to something on the end table next to him that has caught his eye. Gracilynn walks over to the table but stops seeing it covered. Turning around, Gracilynn walks over to the counter and sets the bags down next to Garth. Dean picks up a motel card off the end table next to him and reads it, raising an eyebrow.
"'Afternoon Delights'? Really, Garth? Don't you think this place is a little, uh..." Dean says, looking up from the card and glancing at Garth before waving at the room they are in. Gracilynn smirks as she begins unloading the food from the bag and setting it on the counter.
"Uh, you want a nice hot tub after a day at the office. It's the little things," Garth says, glancing at Dean. Garth shifts his gaze to a clear package Gracilynn has just set on the table holding a piece of Apple pie. He grins and reaches for it only to have Gracilynn smack his hand away. Garth looks up at her and sees her looking at him sternly.
"That's not for you," Gracilynn says, reaching into the bag and taking out the last item and setting it on the counter. Garth sighs and turns his attention back to his EMF meter.
"I feel sad for those brewery dudes. Spend your life beautifying the world through beer. First a partner offs himself," Garth says, playing with his device. Dean takes a swig from his flask and Gracilynn grabs a container containing a salad. She walks over and sets it down in front of Sam.
"Thanks," Sam says without looking up from his computer. Gracilynn walks back to the counter.
"Now two kids get ganked by unknown freakadeek," Garth continues, looking up from his EMF meter and looking over at Dean and Sam.
"According to this, Dale wasn't just a partner," Sam puts in, scrolling down the page on his computer screen. Gracilynn sets Garth's food down in front of him before turning and looking over at her uncle. "He was also the brewmaster."
"'Brewmaster'?" Dean asks, closing the journal and setting it down on the end table. He leans forward and gives Sam his attention.
"That's a real title?" Gracilynn asks, eyes twinkling and a smirk on her face. "Awesome."
"He was widely considered a genius," Sam continues, reading further down the page before him.
"All right, that's it," Dean says, getting up from his seat. "No microbrew is worth… "
Dean sets his flask on the counter next to Garth and Gracilynn and the EMF meter in Garth's hand begins to make noise. Gracilynn and Garth both look down at it.
"...what was it…eight Food Magazine awards?" Dean continues, not paying any attention as he walks over to the fridge and takes out four beer bottles. Garth and Gracilynn look from the EMF meter and the flask as Garth begins moving the meter towards the flask and hearing the meter get stronger and moving it away and hearing the meter get weaker. Gracilynn shares a look with Garth. "Beer's not food. It's whatever water is."
Dean sets a beer down in front of Garth before walking over to Sam, who has opened his salad and begun working on it, and handing one to him as well. He begins to inspect the label on his own bottle as he walks over to the couch and sits down. Gracilynn grabs the two cheeseburgers and set them on the end table next to the couch before walking back to the counter and grabbing the pie and fork, swatting Garth's sneaking hand out of the way again.
"Hm. Thighslapper," Dean says before taking a drink. He pulls the bottle away and looks at it with wide eyes and a raised eyebrow. "Wow, that's actually awesome. Damn it, I'm not even mad anymore."
Gracilynn walks over and sets the pie and fork on the table next to her dad, who gives the container and longing gaze, and grabs her cheeseburger and sits down next to him on the couch. Dean hands her the other beer in his hand and she takes a sip, looking surprised herself before setting the bottle on the other end table on her side of the couch. All three Winchesters look over in time to see Garth chug the whole beer down before burping.
"Wow. Party on, Garth," Dean says, raising his eyebrows and tipping his head to the side before turning his attention to his burger.
"I don't even usually drink beer. It messes with my depth perception," Garth says and then, burps once again before hiccupping. "Especially when I skinny-dip."
Dean, Sam, and Gracilynn look at each other sharing identical looks, their eyebrows raised.
"Hey, you guys want to hear a joke?" Garth says, grinning widely. Sam purses his lips before sighing and turning back to his computer screen. Gracilynn shakes her head and dives into her own burger. Garth opens his sandwich and begins on it as well.
"Listen to this. This is something interesting," Sam begins earning a giggle from Garth. Dean and Gracilynn look over at him, mid-chew; Sam glancing over as well, furrowing his eyebrows. "Garth, are you drunk?"
"Dude, I just... drank a whole beer. Of course I'm drunk," Garth replies, burping again and looking at them with the same wide grin. Gracilynn raises an eyebrow.
"Dude, talk about lightweight," Gracilynn mutters with her mouth full. Dean snorts and then turns to Sam, finishing his mouthful and talking.
"Something interesting?" he asks, seeing Sam looking at Garth with an odd expression on his face. Sam shakes himself and glances at Dean.
"Right. Uh..." he says, looking back at his screen and beginning to find his spot again.
"Hey, can I have some more Thighslapper?" Garth says, setting his bottle down and gazing longingly at it.
"No," Sam and Gracilynn say at the same time.
"No. Coffee for you, Tara Reid," Dean says directly after them. Garth looks over at them and his grin gets broader.
"Coffee with kalhúa in it?" he asks, looking hopeful. Gracilynn shakes her head and continues working on her burger.
"So, it says that Dale actually left the company two weeks before he died. Or... maybe he got pushed out 'cause he didn't want to sell. I mean, Baxter said the deal's been in the works for months," Sam begins explaining as he reads through the information on his computer screen.
"That would explain the widow. She's suing. Maybe Dale had a bone to pick, and he's still picking it," Dean says, then, finishes his burger and grabbing the pie, opening the container and digging in.
"Right. So, maybe he's a spirito malo," Garth says, taking another bite of his sandwich. He looks over and sees Gracilynn finish her burger and wad up her wrapper. Dean takes another bite of the pie, Garth noticing he's finished half of it already. Dean looks over and sees Gracilynn is done and takes her garbage, handing the second half of the pie to her and setting the garbage on the end table. Gracilynn takes the pie with a grin and delves into it.
"Unit to McAnn residence. 698 Washburn," a voice on Garth's police radio says. The group of hunters turn their attention to it.
"'McAnn residence', as in Jim McAnn?" Sam asks, furrowing his eyebrows and looking over at Dean.
"As in, let's hope for their sake our spirito ain't made it out of the woods. All right. Let's go check it," Garth speaks up, looking over at Sam and standing up. Dean stands up along with him. Sam and Gracilynn share a look before Sam looks over at his older brother.
"Uh, you two go. I'm gonna visit the widow," Sam says. Dean looks at him and Sam offers him a smile.
"Uh, yeah. I'll hang out with Uncle Sam this time," Gracilynn pipes up. Dean looks back at her, earning a grin from his daughter as well.
"Uncle Sam huh?" Dean asks with a smirk. Gracilynn wrinkles her nose, realizing what she has just said. Dean chuckles but follows Garth out the motel room.
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"Your husband did a lot of traveling, huh?" Sam asks Dale's widow as he takes a seat on the couch. Dale's widow sits in the chair across from him and Gracilynn sits down next to Sam.
"He went to all kinds of exotic places for the best ingredients," the widow explains, nodding her head. Gracilynn glances around the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
"Right. I've tried his work. It's…it's great. Um, I hear you're not exactly on the best of terms with Dale's old partners," Sam replies, keeping eye contact with the widow, knowing Gracilynn is checking out their surroundings.
"Well, they sold his company right out from under him. It's not about money. It's about... It was his baby, you know?" Dale's widow says, her face steeling as well as her voice. Gracilynn nods her head.
"Completely understand," Gracilynn says, looking over at the widow and offering a sympathetic smile.
"You sound pretty upset about it," Sam says, watching the widow sitting across from them.
"I'm furious. I hate them. But then I think how Dale was," the widow says, looking away from Sam and Gracilynn, recalling what had happened.
"What do you mean?" Sam asks, prodding her to keep going.
"His friends left him behind, but you know what he said? 'I'm gonna send them a gift that shows I forgive them'," Dale's widow continues, moving her gaze back to Sam and Gracilynn. Gracilynn can almost hear her uncle's gears turning inside his head.
"Do you have any idea what he sent them?" Sam asks, thinking this is the break they've been looking for.
"Bottle of sake. From one of his trips. In a... gorgeous box with writing. He was so careful with it. Wouldn't let me touch it," the widow answers, keeping her attention on Sam, who has pursed his lips. Gracilynn looks over at Sam and can see he knows exactly what the widow is talking about.
"Alright, well, thank you for your time," Gracilynn says, standing up and looking over at the widow. She extends her hand and the widow shakes it, turning to Sam and shaking his hand as well. Sam and Gracilynn make their way to the door and the widow sees them out. Sam and Gracilynn walk to the street and climb into the Camaro and Sam starts up the car, pulling out onto the street.
"Call Dean, tell him to meet us at the Brewery," Sam says, glancing over at his niece. Gracilynn meets her uncle's gaze.
"You saw something," Gracilynn says, studying her uncle. Sam nods his head and looks to the road in front of him.
"Yeah, there was a box matching the widow's description sitting on a shelf in the Brewery's office," Sam explains. Gracilynn nods her head in understanding and pulls out her phone, hitting her fathers' speed dial. She puts it to her ear and listens to the phone ringing on the other end.
"Hey Gracie," Dean's voice comes on through the phone.
"Hey dad. We've found a lead. Meet us at the brewery," Gracilynn says into her phone.
"Yeah. Got it. We're on our way," Dean replies, hanging up the phone afterwards. Gracilynn hangs up her own phone and puts it in her pocket.
"They're heading over now," Gracilynn relays to her uncle. Sam nods his head, making a face. Gracilynn furrows her eyebrows.
"What?"
"Garth…he's…different…" Sam says, struggling for the right words. Gracilynn snorts.
"That's putting it mildly. Nerdy. But his hearts in the right place," she says, shrugging her shoulders. "And he helped us get you back so…"
Sam looks over at her, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips. He had heard about the job with Becky and everything Garth did to help. Including getting knocked out.
"Well, he tried…" Gracilynn says, giving her uncle a smirk in return.
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Garth sits in the car in the brewery parking lot watching Sam pick the brewery door lock with Dean and Gracilynn standing on either side of him, keeping lookout. There is a click and Sam stands up, opening the door and following Dean and Gracilynn inside. The three of them quietly walk through the brewery and into the office, Sam heading straight for the back wall.
"Here it is," Sam says, pulling the wooden box covered in Japanese writing from the shelf and setting it on the desk. Dean and Gracilynn walk over and peer down at the box. Sam opens it up to reveal another box decorated with a face and more Japanese lettering on it. Inside this box is the bottle of saki, with the seal broken. Sam picks it up and his eyebrows raise. "Oh."
"What?" Gracilynn asks, looking up at her uncle. Sam shakes the bottle hearing a small amount of liquid sloshing around inside of it.
"Wait a second. Someone's been sampling the goods," Sam says, looking over to Dean whose own eyebrows raise at hearing this as he studies the bottle in Sam's hands.
"Oh, you don't say?" Dean says, looking up around the room, his eyes falling on a camera hanging up on the opposite wall. "Hey, check it out. God, I love paranoid people."
Gracilynn and Sam look up and notice the camera across from them, watching their every move. Dean looks down at the computer and waves his hand at the screen.
"See if you can get on."
"Okay. Uh..." Sam says, putting the bottle of saki back in the box and taking a seat in the chair. He pulls the keyboard over and begins typing. Gracilynn peers over his shoulder, watching as Sam pulls up an image of the three of them sitting and/or standing at the desk. "Huh!"
Dean, Sam, and Gracilynn wave at the camera, watching the screen as their hands begin waving on it. They all drop their hands and Sam gets into research mode. Gracilynn leans forward, resting a hand on the desk and a hand on the back of Sam's chair.
"All right, so, first death was, what, uh, four months ago? Yeah?" Sam asks, already beginning to rewind the tape on the monitor. Dean nods his head.
"Mm-hmm, and, uh, Trevor McAnn. Patient zero," Dean replies, resting a hand on the desk and a hand on the back of the chair, not realizing he's mirroring Gracilynn's stance.
"So, what did he let out of that bottle?" Gracilynn asks, watching the screen as it continues to rewind. Sam reaches four nights ago and presses play. The three Winchesters watch Jim Mcann and Randy Baxter in the office they are in. Sam fast forwards it, stopping when the cleaner comes in, mopping the floor. Sam fast forwards the tape a little more, the cleaner leaving and shortly after, Trevor entering the room. Sam plays the tape watching Trever pull out the box and opening it up, breaking the seal and taking a swig.
"I don't see anything," Gracilynn says, watching the screen.
"Nothing there," Sam agrees, also keeping his eyes on the screen. Dean stands up straight.
"That we can see," he says, looking away from the screen and looking behind him at the shelves. Gracilynn watches as Trevor begins taking bottles from the office before leaving the room. Dean grabs three glasses and a bottle. He sets two glasses down on the desk in front of Sam and Gracilynn along with the bottle of whiskey. Sam and Gracilynn look over at it as Dean sets the other glass down in front of him.
"What, are you kidding me?" Sam asks, looking up at his brother.
"You're encouraging me to get drunk?" Gracilynn asks, eyebrows raised as she looks over at her father.
"Tick-tock," Dean says to them, clapping Sam's shoulder and wiggling his eyebrows at his daughter. Dean turns around and grabs another bottle, one with stronger alcohol in it. Sam tilts his head and sighs, grabbing the bottle of whiskey and opening it up, pouring himself and Gracilynn a glass, handing hers to her. Dean looks at his bottle's label before taking the cap off and sniffing it. "Ugh."
Gracilynn snorts as she watches her father who puts the cap back on the bottle and setting it back on the shelf before grabbing another bottle.
"I mean, can you even get drunk anymore? It's kind of like, uh, drinking a vitamin for you, right?" Sam asks, glancing behind him at his brother, hiding the smirk playing at his lips.
"Shut up," Dean says without turning his attention away from the shelves. He grabs another bottle off the shelf, looking at the label and taking the cap off, sniffing it. "Holy…"
Dean takes a sip out of the bottle and coughs. He pours himself a glass of the clear liquor and clinks glasses with Sam and Gracilynn and the three of them drink the glasses in one gulp. Gracilynn shakes her head and the burning taste from the whiskey as she sets the glass down. Sam pours her another glass after pouring his own. Dean notices his daughter's head shake.
"You good?" he asks with a smirk. Gracilynn looks over at him and steels her face.
"Yeah," she says confidently before taking her glass and downing this one as well, being careful not to let the taste get to her again. She isn't used to taking such large gulps of it, but she is determined to keep up with her dad…well, at least her uncle. Dean smirks before pouring himself another glass.
Five minutes later finds the three Winchester feeling good and tipsy, Gracilynn more so, having trying to keep up with her dad and uncle. But, she's a lot smaller than both of them and the liquor is hitting her harder.
"All right. Party time," Dean says, hanging on to his half-drunk glass as he stares at the computer screen. Gracilynn sets her glass down and watches the screen as well.
"Okay," Sam says, setting his glass down and rewinding the tape.
"Rewind and go," Dean says, staring at the screen, not realizing Sam has already started to rewind the tape. Sam presses play and the three of them watch the footage of Trevor walking in to the office. They are now able to see a long-haired woman in a white dress and black hair standing behind Trevor after he opens the box. Dean gulps down the rest of his drink.
"So, he…he let that thing out of the box, and it must have just followed him to the place with all the thingies," Sam stutters out, his eyes wide and staring at the screen. Gracilynn nods in agreement, grabbing the desk when the action makes the room spin.
"Yes. Yes. That's smart. I'm actually kind of drunk," Dean agrees and announces. He holds his glass up and looks at it, noticing it's empty. "What is this?"
"You should've read the…the things on the glass thing," Gracilynn says, looking over at her dad. Dean looks at her and points at her, grinning, thinking she has a point. He grabs the bottle and pours himself another glass, holding the bottle up high and watching as the liquor waterfalls down into his glass.
"Me likey. I miss these talks," Dean says, setting the bottle down and taking a sip from it.
"What the hell?!" Baxter suddenly exclaims as he walks into the office. Dean quickly spits out the liquor he has just drank back into the glass. Sam's head whips up, his glass all but dropping on the floor. Gracilynn stands at attention, her hand flailing behind her to grasp the back of Sam's chair to hold her balance. She just misses it and falls back onto the ground, letting out a squeak.
"Oh, man," Dean says, staring at Baxter.
"Um…," Sam stutters out, his eyes wider than before as he stares at Baxter as well.
"Turn it off. Turn it off," Dean mutters urgently to Sam, who quickly reaches over and shuts off the computer. Gracilynn sits up and grabs the arm of Sam's chair and pulls herself up to her knees and she peers at Baxter with wide eyes.
"FBI, huh? You know what?" Baxter says, pulling out his phone and hitting buttons on it. "You can save it for the cops."
"Whoa, whoa, Mr. Baxter, listen," Sam immediately begins, shoving his chair back and standing up. The chairs shoves Gracilynn and she loses her balance again, falling on her butt and letting out another squeak. "If… if you just let us explain, you might not…"
"Ah!" Baxter suddenly shouts as his body arches and his hands go up into the air, his eyes wide. Gracilynn quickly shoves herself to her knees again, grasping onto the chair arm once again. The chair rolls forward slightly, causing her to grab the desk for fear of falling forwards this time. She watching as Baxter collapses to the ground. She looks up and sees Garth standing in the doorway with a Taser in his hands.
"911. What is your emergency? Hello? Do you need assistance?" comes from the phone's speaker.
AN: Please review! I have to say I absolutely loved adding Gracie into the last scene of this chapter! I was totally picturing the whole thing as I watched the episode! Please give me some feedback!