Disclaimer: sadly I still don't own the boys or supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters
a/n: thanks to all who review, read or alerted this story without you all this story wouldn't be possible
BETA: the awesome Vonnie836
OOOOOOOOOO
The next morning
After getting up and feeding Gracie her breakfast and drinking his third glass of coffee Sam was ready to leave with Dean
"Ok so I see you in a few days. Don't worry; she will be taken really good care of." Mel assured him, while walking him to the Impala, where Dean was already waiting.
"Ok, bye baby, see you in a few days, be good." Sam told Gracie, who gave her dad a wet kiss on the cheek.
"Awe, that's so cute." Mel said, as she watched the scene.
Sam got in the car and waved goodbye to his daughter then they were off to Wisconsin.
OOOOOOOO
"So the boys left?" Bobby asked Melinda, when she returned to the living room with Gracie.
"Yep" She replied, placing the toddler on the bean bag chair and turning the television on to Barney, when Stella and Emma came downstairs
"Hey dad, are the Jackson's here yet?" Stella wondered.
"No, they will be here around noon, so you have time to clean your room."
"Come on dad, do I have to?" The teenager complained.
"Yes, you do!" Her father ordered.
"Ok fine, come on Emma." She replied, leaving the room followed by her friend.
"Oh, how I remember when I was like that, not wanting to clean my room."
"You should see Jared room, it's a disaster, looks like a tornado hit his room." Bobby smiled, before he continued, "Mel you ok in here, I'm going into town to meet with some friends, I will be back by noon"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
After the hunter left, the young woman sat down in the living room and watched TV with Gracie until she fell asleep then she put her in the play pen, while she went to call her sister.
OOOOOOOOOO
Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin
The Impala pulls up outside the Carlton's house. Sophie's brother and sister, Will and Tina Carlton, answered the door to Dean's knock.
"Hi, I'm Agent Ford, this is Agent…Hamill. We're with the US Wildlife Service."
"What you guys want?"
"Can we talk to your parents?"Dean asked.
"Sure whatever, follow me." Will led them to the back of the house, where Bill and Leslie where sitting by the dock.
"Before I take you to my parents, there's something you should know, my sister couldn't have drowned. Sophie was a varsity swimmer; she grew up in that lake.
"We'll take that into account" Dean stated, following the boy with Sam lacking behind slightly.
"Mom, dad, there is someone here to talk to you two."
"Ok Will, go back inside with your little sister."
"Yeah ok." He replied, walking back up the path towards the house.
"Let me guess, you're here about my daughter?"
"Yes we are!" Sam answered.
"Well, I'll tell you, what I told everyone else. Something dragged her down and that she didn't drown."
"Mrs. Carlton, did you witness you daughter getting dragged under?"
"My son Will and I did and I immediately called the police."
"Did you see any dark shadows in the water, any shapes that breached the surface?"
"None that I can remember, I was too far to see anything."
"Did you or your son see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean asked.
"No, but what do you think is out there?" Mrs. Carlton questioned.
"We'll let you know, as soon as we do." Dean told her.
After the conversation with the Carton's, they headed to the sheriff's office to see if they could find any more information.
OOOOOOOOOO
"So what do a bunch of Wildlife Service Agents care about an accidental drowning?" Sheriff Jake Devin's wondered, reasonably enough.
"How sure are you that it was an accidental drowning? There are two witnesses that say otherwise." Sam said.
"Let me tell you, what I told the Carlton's, there isn't any carnivorous animal in that lake and nothing that big to pull someone under.
"Are you sure?" Dean spoke up.
"I'm sure Will and his mother are traumatized and that the mind can play tricks on you. My department dragged that lake and found nothing, not even a corpse.
"Isn't it strange, how this is the sixth missing body this year?" Dean continued to pry.
"I agree, these people are from my town and I care about them. Anyway all this won't be a problem much longer, the dam is falling apart and the stupid feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. Won't be much of a town either, but as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that."
"Oh yeah, we know all about that." Dean hurried to reply, trying to play it cool.
Just then a young woman walked into the department, interrupting them, before Jake could question them any further.
"Hi honey, how you doing and why are you here?" The sheriff asked.
"I brought you food. Oh hello, I didn't know you had guests."
"Boys, this is my daughter Andrea Barr and her son"
"Hi, they are here for what?" Andrea asked.
"They are here about the lake."
"Sad thing that happened out in that lake."
Just then the little boy poked his head out from behind his mother, not meeting anyone's eyes.
"Hey there, what's your name?" Dean asked, but the boy retreated from the room, without answering or even looking at him. Andrea, looking worried and apologetic, followed her son without a word.
"Sorry about that, Lucas is my grandson and he's been through a lot. We all have."
"I think we have enough information, so we'll be out of your hair." Dean replied.
Jake saw the boys out, passing Andrea, who was getting Lucas settled with paper and coloring crayons.
"Do you know where the nearest hotel is?" Dean asked her, while watching her hand Lucas crayons and a piece of paper. It made Dean remember 22 years ago and how he almost could see himself in Lucas.
"I could tell you, but I have a feeling you'll have a problem finding it. Dad can you watch Lucas, while I take these two to the motel, then I'll be back to take him to the park," She said, kissing her son on the cheek.
"Sure, I'll watch him, go ahead.
OOOOOOOOOO
"So, cute kid," Dean cheerfully offered, as Andrea walked them around the corner. "Kids are the best, huh?"
Sam and Andrea both laughed. It was amusing, because it was just harmless flirting. It was fun for him, both entertaining and flattering for her and amused Sam, so it was all good. A few minutes later they made it to the motel.
"Must be hard, with your sense of direction," Andrea remarked, as she left them outside the motel. "Never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line. Next time try something else, if you want to flirt with someone.
Sam was highly entertained, by what is going on "Kids are the best? You don't even like kids."
"I love kids! You just assume I don't" Dean protested.
"Name three children that you even know and if you can I'll pay you 5 bucks" Sam challenged
"Ok well, there are Gracie, Ian, Stella, Jared, Emma, Jake, and ha that is more than three kids, that is six."
"Ok fine, you have a point."
"Darn right I do, now pay up, you owe me 5 dollars."
"Fine" Sam replied, taking his wallet out and giving dean the 5 dollars.
"Oh and next time Sammy, don't pick a challenge you're going to lose." He laughed, entering the motel with his brother following right behind him.
OOOOOOOOOO
Once they booked into a room, Sam went to get washed up while dean went out to get food. By the time he got back Sam was on the laptop doing some research.
He found a list of previous victims spread out over several years and what he found alarmed him.
"Dean, you might want to see this." He called out to his brother.
Walking over to the computer, the older Winchester could see on the screen, why his brother was so alarmed.
"Wow, 15 victims over the years, that is a big number and there are no survivors." Dean mused, going back to eating his hamburger.
"Dean, I think we do have an eyewitness. That little boy, I found an article on Christopher Barr, he must have been married to Andrea and it says that Lucas witnessed his father drowning. He didn't get rescued off his wooden plank for two hours." Sam read the article to Dean, who was preoccupied with his burger, but was listening to what his brother was saying.
"Looks like we have an eyewitness after all," Dean said while munching on his burger and fries. He understood the kid perfectly. "After seeing something like that kill his dad? Man, no wonder the kid was so freaked out…" He murmured, knowing a thing or two about childhood traumas himself and instantly empathizing with the little boy. "Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over. Anyway Sammy, hurry up and eat so we can meet Andrea at the park" He said out loud, while drinking the soda that came with his meal.
"It's Sam and yeah I'll eat, did you bring me my salad?" The younger man asked, looking through the bag
"Nope, that's for chicks and you're a man, so I brought you a chicken sandwich with a side salad"
OOOOOOOOOO
After they finished eating, they went to look for the park. It took them a while to find it, they even had to ask three different people for directions on to how to get there, but eventually they found it and with it Andrea. The young woman was sitting alone on a bench, watching her son.
"Hi, what are you two doing here?" She asked once she spotted them.
"We were out for a walk. May we join you?" Sam wondered.
"Yeah sure, Lucas is over there coloring." She replied, pointing in the direction of Lucas.
"I'll go say hi to him." Dean told her, walking over to the boy.
"Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maguire thing isn't going to work." she told Sam.
"I don't think that's what this is about," The younger Winchester smiled back, sitting down beside her.
"So this might be off topic, but do you have a family? It's just because I see a ring around your neck."Andrea asked him.
"Sadly, she died." Sam swallowed and looked away.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."
"It's ok, I still have my daughter."
"Well at least you and I have something left. After Chris died I had to move on for Lucas' sake, as he just shut off.
"It's hard on kids, when a parent dies.
While Sam and Andrea were talking Dean talked to Lucas.
OOOOOOOOOO
"How's it goin'?" The older Winchester greeted the kid. Lucas didn't even look at him. "I used to love these things." He continued, looking at the army men.
When Lucas still completely ignored him, he tried again, this time sifting through some of the boy's drawings. "So, crayons are more your thing. That's cool, chicks dig artists. Hey, these are pretty good. You mind, if I sit and draw with you for a while? I'm not so bad myself."
Lucas continued to be oblivious to everything around him, as Dean sat down with a crayon and a sheet of paper and started drawing. It wasn't easy to try and reach out to someone this traumatized and withdrawn, especially a child. He kept plugging away at it though, keeping his tone soft and reassuring.
"You know, I'm thinking you can hear me. You just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel.
"When I was your age, I saw something…." Dean trailed off, but was brought back to his senses when a ball was thrown his way.
"Sorry mister." A little boy said, picking up the ball and running back to his friends.
Anyway, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you or, uh, believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything; you can just draw me a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake."
"Okay. No problem." Getting nowhere, despite all his efforts, Dean decided to call it a day – no matter how much they needed the evidence Lucas might be able to provide, there was no sense in pushing it. He showed Lucas the picture he drew, "This is for you. It's my family. That's my Dad and that's…that's my Mom. That's my geek of a brother, that's me and that little figure is my little niece." He sighed. "All right, so I'm a sucky artist. I'll see you around Lucas." Getting off the ground, he headed back to Andrea and his brother.
They talked about what was wrong with Lucas and how the doctor thought he had PTSD, how she moved in with her dad and how they both been through a lot, how he used to be a smart, happy kid but now just kept to himself.
"Kids are strong," Dean reassures her. "You'd be surprised, what they can deal with."
Just then Lucas walked up to them and handed Dean a picture, before going back to what he was doing.
"That's the first time he showed any response to someone. Thank you for talking to him, even if he didn't talk to you."
"You're welcome."
After that, they walked back to the motel to think things through and plan what their course of action should be. In the end, they fell asleep in the middle of it.