Chapter 25

By the time they got back to the motel they had decided to spend another night in Columbus and get an early start for Canton in the morning. Sam hoped Jody had made it out of Sioux Falls, and South Dakota, without too much trouble and was safe. And that she was on her way to their arranged meeting place.

This quest to save Dean was a new experience for him. The Winchesters had never had much of anybody but themselves, and Bobby the last few years, to rely on. They had never really missed a support network over the years; they had each other. After losing Bobby it became painfully clear how void of relationships their lives have been. But now, here he was trying to organize a small army of people to save his brother. He wasn't used to asking for help; this time his brother's life depended on it.

After taking the afternoon off to walk with Amelia; he decided to get some research done before dinner. He opened his laptop and found an e-mail from Cassie. "Oh My God!" He cried out.

"What?" Amelia asked in concern. She didn't want to admit his excitement had blasted into her mind unbidden.

"Cassie found Haley." He looked at her, too excited to notice her expression. "I couldn't find her in Colorado because she got married and changed her name." He glanced back at the screen. "Holy crap. She's living near Toledo!" He looked back at the computer. "And here's the best part, Cassie found the announcement of the birth of her first child!" He jumped up from the table, picked Amelia up and swung her around in his excitement. She flung her arms around his neck to hang on. As he stopped spinning, it dawned on him what he was doing. He carefully let her slip back to the floor. But before he let go of her he gave her one of his beautiful, full dimpled smiles. Amelia let out a long sigh as he released her and went back to his computer.

"See, I told you we would find everyone we needed." She paused, realizing she had no idea how far away the young mother was. "Is Toledo close?"

"It's half a day's drive north." He looked up from his screen at her; still smiling, although the dimples had disappeared.

Amelia walked over and sat at the table with Sam. "Tell me about Haley, which one is she?"

X

They changed their plans after learning Haley was in Toledo. They would drive up tonight and contact her in the morning. It wasn't a huge detour; they would still make it to Canton to meet Jody as planned.

They quickly started packing their gear. Sam smiled at the thought it was their gear this time. Amelia actually had a few things of her own now. Except, it suddenly dawned on him, she didn't have any toiletries. He really should get her a toothbrush and some other stuff. That made him wonder what she was using now. He looked up at her and she smiled at him as she went to the bathroom. He wasn't sure what it meant. If it had been Dean, it would have meant he had been using his toothbrush; or something worse. He shuddered at that thought. But then he figured, it shouldn't be too bad, if he was sharing a toothbrush with Mother Nature. He heard her giggle quietly from the bathroom. He really hoped she hadn't heard all that…..

They had decided to have dinner when they got to Toledo; with the full tank of gas, Sam said they could get there in a few hours without having to stop. The Interstate highways connecting Columbus and Toledo would take them back west before going north; so, Sam took the state highways once he got out the greater Columbus area. As soon as they had cleared the suburban sprawl and were on the open road, Amelia repeated her question. "Who is Haley?"

Sam thought back to the first case he and Dean had worked together after he had left Stanford, and after Jessica's death. He had been an emotional wreck; angry at himself and the world. He didn't recognize it at the time, but he had fallen back into Hunting effortlessly, like it was what he was meant to do. He couldn't imagine his life any other way now.

"Sam?" Amelia called his name, bringing him out of his soul-searching. "Tell me about Haley?"

"Haley Collins and her brother Ben were trying to find their other brother Tom, who had disappeared in a remote wilderness hiking area." He smiled at her as thanks for bringing him out of his funk. "Our dad had sent us the coordinates to the same area. He was amazing, my dad. He could take a set of random facts and put them together as having a supernatural origin better than any Hunter on the planet." Amelia couldn't tell if she could hear the pride for his father in Sam's voice or heard it in his mind; but she could see the small smile on his face, either way.

"It turned out there was Wendigo living and killing people in that forest for decades. Dean and I found her brother and Dean killed the thing." He glanced over at her. "Haley was this amazingly strong girl. She wasn't going to stop until we found her brother." He paused for a second. "Maybe that's why she felt so special, she was just like us. There was nothing more important to her than her family. I know she'll help, because Dean gave her back what she valued most, her brothers." He smiled. "Of course, Dean managed to hit on her the second we were all safe."

Sam looked down to his chest. "He's humming. I guess that means Apsu likes the story?"

Amelia smiled back at him. "Watch it buddy. I'm supposed to be his translator." She was joking with him; but was glad he was starting to feel comfortable with the talisman's power. "But, I think you're probably right." They watched the countryside pass by their windows for a few minutes. "Toledo seems like a big change for a mountain-hiking girl from Colorado. Did Cassie have anything else to say?"

"You know, I thought so too." He glanced up at her before continuing. "I was worried she might have really changed, making such a big move." Now he smiled. "Turns out she became an engineer, in solar energy technology. She works at Bowling Green University because of the research they do there."

Amelia whole-heartedly approved of anything and anyone that wanted to help protect her planet. "Did Cassie know anything about the man she married? Where is he from, what does he do? Or if the baby was a girl or a boy? What's it's name?"

Sam just turned and stared at her for a second. He smiled as he turned back to the road. "Geez. Anything else you want to know?" He said while chuckling at her. She gave him one of her non-lethal glares and then smiled back at him. "I don't remember all the details; but, he works for the Arboretum. I don't think she knew where he was from. His name is…Robert…Parks. The announcement said the baby was a girl, but no name was listed." He stopped his recitation of the information he could remember from Cassie's note. He looked over to Amelia and noticed the concerned look on her face. "What's wrong? A guy who helps save trees should be right up your alley."

She looked puzzled for second, not understanding which alley Sam was speaking about; but guessed it was some slang she was unfamiliar with. "No, no. I do like that Haley chose someone like herself, someone working to help preserve the natural beauty and resources I put here." She paused, still looking concerned. "Do you think Haley told him about the wendigo and what she went through?"

"I don't know; I doubt it." He looked at her again, not understanding why she was concerned. "We've found most people don't, at least not more than once. They usually get treated like they're crazy if they talk about monsters. Why?"

"I was just picturing how we explain to her husband why we need some of Haley's milk?"

"Crap."