Challenge 28 - I felt it. You know what I mean

Here's something a little different: a two-parter featuring Jody Mills! This takes place after the Leviathan storyline, but sometime before 'Alex Annie Alexis Ann'. Also, the boys aren't fighting in this because I like it when they get along. :)

Anyway, this one is a little bit darker with a side of angst . . .


"It's good to see you boys!" Jody grinned as she pulled Dean into a tight hug almost before the hunter managed to shut the door to the Impala.

Sam watched with a smirk as the older Winchester hugged her back, squeezing her tightly. When Jody released Dean and turned to Sam, he couldn't fight the infectious happiness on the sheriff's face. He leaned into her warm embrace, trying not to let himself think that it was probably what a mother's hug felt like.

Jody was family, one of the few people remaining who the brothers knew unequivocally had their backs. She made no secret of her affection for them and she had never once let them down or made them doubt their place in her world.

And, for what it was worth, the feeling was more than mutual. The Winchesters held her well-being in high priority. They would move heaven and earth for Sheriff Jody Mills. They would also show up at her house unannounced between hunts, eat the food in her fridge, and crash on her couch, but Jody never complained. She fed them, housed them, patched them up, and sent them off with leftovers and orders to call her more frequently.

She called them her boys and it never ceased to make Sam blush with some indefinable emotion.

After losing Bobby, he'd never thought that there would be anyone else who would care so deeply about their well-being. Jody was caring and maternal, but also more than willing to lecture when she thought it necessary. She was comfort and tough love at the same time, frequently proving to be a cool head with good advice when one brother or the other was getting too pigheaded for his own good. She backed them up on hunts that people with far more experience would have turned down, and she did it with a calm professionalism that any hunter would have been grateful to possess.

So, when Jody called them for advice, it went without saying that the Winchesters were heading to South Dakota.

Sioux Falls itself was both a place of respite and sorrow. It had been a constant refuge in their childhood when the brothers stayed with Uncle Bobby. Even when Bobby's home had been destroyed, somehow Sam had clung to the belief that they would rebuild it once the Leviathan threat had been dealt with. Instead, Bobby had died and all hope of things going back to the way they were had been ripped to shreds. Sioux Falls became a painful memory. It was a reminder of everything they had lost and the first few times they had returned, Sam had struggled with the depth of that loss. Visiting the city felt like re-opening a gaping wound that would never heal.

It had taken a long time before he could start thinking of it as visiting Jody instead of going to Sioux Falls.

The pain was still there, but it was easier to bear when Jody took them in.

Sam blinked, trying to hide the fact that his eyes were tearing up. Dean would never let him forget it if he saw that a simple hug from Jody Mills could have him crying. Then again, maybe Dean's eyes weren't exactly dry, either. Sam managed to keep the smile on his face.

"So, what's the latest?" Dean asked, drawing attention back to the matter at hand.

Jody had called them for a reason - there would be time for visiting after.

"Well, two days ago, I had what I thought was a domestic dispute. We went in and found Jim Johnston beating his wife - he nearly killed her. I had two deputies with me and the guy still managed to get away."

"So he's fast and he's a wife-beater," Dean frowned. "The dude sounds like a dick."

"Oh, he is," Jody agreed. "At least, he was. Jim Johnston died three days ago. His wife, Monica, shot him in self defence a full 24 hours before he tried to kill her."

"So dead-Jim rose from the grave to exact vengeance on Monica for killing him?" Sam asked. "Could be one of a few things . . . zombie, ghoul, spirit-"

"Definitely not a spirit," Jody cut in, already shaking her head. "It was solid. I felt it. You know what I mean."

She turned a mock glare to Dean, who didn't quite manage to wipe the amused grin from his face at Jody's words.

"Sorry, Jody. What do you mean, you felt it?" he asked with a snicker.

"Whatever it was, it was there physically," Jody explained. "And its skin was . . . strange. I grabbed him to pull him off Monica and it was like his skin wasn't even attached to him."

"Like it shifted in your grip?" Dean guessed. "Like you could have ripped it off like really disgusting wrapping paper?"

"Exactly," Jody nodded, her eyes narrowing. "You already know what it is, don't you?"

The brothers exchanged a look and Dean nodded for Sam to give the breakdown.

"It sounds like a shapeshifter," Sam said, grimacing at the thought. "They have the ability to take the form of other people. When they want to change skin, they just rip it off and start again. They can literally be anyone they want to be and they can access the thoughts and memories of whoever they're impersonating."

"That sounds horrible," Jody said. "Kind of like the Leviathans?"

"Kind of," Sam agreed. "Leviathans could take your shape and access your memories, but they worked together. They had a hierarchy and a mission - they took over people in key strategic locations and everyone else was going to be food. Shifters aren't like that. They'll go after anyone that fits their particular victim profile. They're loners and they're only out for themselves."

"They can be hard to track down," Dean added, "but the good news is that they aren't really that hard to kill. Silver will do it and decapitation is good, too."

"Wow," Jody breathed. "And you're telling me that this thing can be anyone in the entire city? Where the hell do you start to look for something like that?"

"You find its lair," Sam offered. "They seem to like underground hideouts like the sewers."

"These things are pretty gross," Dean agreed. "They also have a weird effect on camera. If light catches their eyes, it'll appear as a sort of retinal reaction or flare. It's quick and easy to miss if you aren't looking for it."

Jody shook her head slowly. "This is one of the weirder things you boys have told me, but I guess I can work with that. What I don't get is why would one of these things pretend to be Jim Johnston? He was an abusive drunk with a mountain of debt and a dead-end job. He didn't exactly have a lot to offer."

Dean sighed. "We ran into a shifter in St. Louis and it seemed like its only goal was to cause pain. It'd take the form of a man in a happy relationship and use that body to torture and kill the wife or girlfriend while framing the guy for it. Another one was killing people and taking their forms so it could rob jewellery stores and banks. Honestly, I don't think there's much to work with other than the fact that they seem to want to hurt people."

"Well, seeing the man who had terrorized her for years come back from the dead would have hurt Monica," Jody agreed. "Am I right in assuming that this thing isn't finished yet?"

"It's a safe bet," Dean confirmed. "It can do pretty much anything it wants without fear of getting caught. Most of the time, local law enforcement doesn't even know that these things exist, so it probably isn't too worried about covering its tracks."

Sam leaned back against the Impala's hood. "We don't know why it picked Jim and Monica, but there may be other cases that will help narrow down how it's choosing its victims. Any other recent assaults with a similar MO? Abusive spouses?"

Jody gave a bitter laugh, clearly finding no humour in the situation. "Unfortunately, more than a couple abusive spouses. None of them came back from the dead, though."

"We'll need to see the files for those cases anyway," Sam said. "You never know what might help."

Jody nodded. "Can do."

"And any blueprints you have of the city sewer system," Dean added. "We're gonna end up down there sooner or later, so we may as well start looking at it now."

"Sounds fun. I can't wait."

Sam smiled at the dry tone in the sheriff's voice. Jody was most definitely not looking forward to a trip in the sewers, but once again she was willing to do whatever was required.

"I'll stop by the office and pick up the files. You boys head to the house and I'll meet you there. No sense scaring the deputies with talk of resurrected wife-beaters."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean smirked.

"Don't you 'yes ma'am' me, Dean Winchester," Jody warned teasingly. "Now get going, I'll be there soon."


They did, in fact, end up in the sewers sooner rather than later.

Out of the dishearteningly thick stack of files that Jody had brought for review, there were four possible matches dating back over six months that could have been the work of a shifter. In all four cases, the husbands had been arrested based on forensic evidence, eyewitness accounts, a long history of abuse, and surveillance footage. Even with the men in jail, it wasn't the happy ending anyone had hoped for. Two of the victims were dead and the other two were so traumatized that Jody hadn't been able to get much useful information from them. In each case, the husband claimed to have been somewhere else at the time, but no one had believed them or been able to prove an alibi.

Sam didn't even try to muster any sympathy for them. They may not have killed or tried to kill their wives on that particular night, but they had done so before on numerous occasions. He and Dean would do what they could to stop the shifter, but beyond that, it was Jody's can of worms.

The brothers had mapped out the crime scene locations with the blueprint of the sewers and found a possible starting point for their search. They had parked in a little-used area of the city, near the warehouse district. All in all, it was an ideal location to start the hunt - a quiet place to park that wasn't too far from the main sewer lines; somewhere where they would likely not be noticed. It wouldn't do to have the entire population of Sioux Falls watching as their sheriff crawled into a manhole armed to the teeth so she could hunt monsters.

They were also not waiting for nightfall. Odds were that the shifter would be sleeping during the day and out causing mayhem at night, so the chances were better of finding it unaware.

Dean had gone to break open the metal grating locked in place over the entrance, leaving Sam and Jody to get the weapons together. Even as they were separated, Sam kept an eye on his brother, who was just far enough away that he wouldn't be able to hear when Jody finally turned to him.

He'd been expecting it for awhile. Jody had been giving him glances all morning, but he wasn't entirely sure what she was going to say.

"You're awfully quiet," Jody said. "Everything okay?"

Sam nodded slightly. "I'm just not overly fond of shapeshifters."

"Dean told me about the one he killed in St. Louis. Said it got him framed for murder and beat the crap out of you while wearing Dean's face?"

Ah. So that explained the sidelong looks. He should have guessed.

"Yeah," Sam grimaced at the memory. "That's not why I hate them, though."

"That's not enough of a reason?" Jody looked a little surprised.

Sam shrugged and re-checked his gun, making sure it was loaded and ready to go. He had spare rounds, but he was hoping to take care of the problem with a single shot if possible.

"Why then?"

He didn't really want to go into it, but the more information Jody had, the greater her chances of coming out alive. Sam sucked it up and turned to face her.

"Every time we've gone up against something like this it ends badly for us in some way. When that shifter took Dean's form, I knew it wasn't him," Sam confessed. "I knew it almost immediately. There was just something off. I had my gun ready; I could have taken it down right then and there, but I hesitated."

"It couldn't have been easy," Jody surmised gently. "He looked like your brother."

Sam gave a small huff. "Because I hesitated, that thing managed to run around with Dean's face and it did things that Dean had to live with. Even after it was over, every time we had a run in with the police, St. Louis kept cropping up. How did Dean fake his own death? Why was he such a screwed up serial killer? He took it really well, but it was hard on him. He'd spent his life helping people and then suddenly he was vilified; Dean Winchester was a psychopathic killer who got off on torturing people. That was his legacy."

Jody frowned, her forehead creasing as she looked up at Sam. "That's hardly your fault."

"Maybe not," Sam admitted, "but if I had just taken that shot, we could have avoided that. Dean could have stayed off the FBI radar and things would have been a lot better for him."

Dean had made jokes about his supposed death at the time, but Sam had never found the matter funny. It hadn't helped when the story had taken off in the news; Sam's former classmates had sent him countless emails expressing their shock at the fact that Sam's brother had been a monster. One had even dared to wonder if Dean himself had been responsible for killing Jessica - after all, she had died right after Dean had reappeared in Sam's life, and to all appearances, Dean had stolen Sam away shortly after her funeral, never to be seen again. Sam had never mentioned those emails to Dean.

Jody moved to speak, but Sam cut her off.

"That's the thing, Jody. With a shapeshifter, it can be anyone. Family, friends, innocent victims . . . it wants you off guard. It wants to make it hard for you to kill it; it wants you to doubt yourself and it wants you to suffer because of it. But you can't hesitate. If you aren't prepared to make that split-second decision, or if you don't act the second the opportunity presents itself, it's probably already too late."

Jody nodded slowly. "And no matter how many times you face these things, you can't help but hesitate, can you?"

A brief humourless smile flickered across Sam's face. "There have been a lot of things that have used Dean's face over the years and I have never not hesitated. I guess when it comes down to it, I'd rather die than hurt my brother and that's exactly what those things are counting on."

"And that's why we're not splitting up on this one," Jody said firmly. "If it doesn't get a chance to separate us, it can't take our forms. Or if it tries, we'll know which one is the impostor as soon as it shows its face."

"Just . . . don't hesitate, okay?" Sam said seriously. "If you think you're in danger, you need to take the shot and you can't let it get close to you."

"I won't hesitate," Jody promised, but Sam knew that she would. How could she not?

Dean cleared his throat, not-so-subtly announcing his presence. Sam wasn't sure how much of the conversation he had overheard, but judging by his brother's serious expression, it was enough.

"Did you get the grate off?" Jody asked.

"Ready to go," Dean replied, holding up a large pair of bolt-cutters. "It put up a fight, but I won in the end."

"Let's hope that luck holds," Jody said lightly.

Dean took a moment to secure a machete to his belt and take the gun and ammo that Sam offered him. When they were all ready, they made their way to the sewer entrance, flicking on their flashlights as they stared into the dark abyss.

Jody took a deep breath. "So, who goes first?"

Wordlessly, Sam and Dean put out their fists.

"Seriously? Are you guys doing rock, paper, scissors?" Jody asked incredulously.

"It's easier this way," Sam replied. He brought his fist down as a rock, ready to smash Dean's scissors, but was instead greeted by his brother's outstretched palm - paper.

He looked up with surprised eyes; Dean always used scissors.

Dean didn't look nearly as surprised as Sam felt; he merely took the lead in a silent movement and started down into the tunnel.

"I feel like I just missed something here," Jody muttered as she trailed behind the elder Winchester.

Sam didn't answer. He just took a deep breath and followed the others into the darkness.

To be continued . . .