Chapter Twenty-Eight
When Sam and Alyson reached the motel they went straight to the room, Rebecca close behind them. Alyson didn't think anyone would suspect anything if he or she did see a little girl with them, but she didn't want to take any chances so they rushed to the room anyway.
Rebecca grabbed Alyson's hand and hid behind her leg when they found Dean at the table with the laptop in front of him. He barely glanced up, but when he saw Rebecca there his head jerked up and he stared.
"What's goin' on?"
Sam told Dean about the almost accident and about how they had found Rebecca in the backseat of the Impala. They hadn't known what to do, so they'd brought her with them.
Alyson knew that if they kept her while they were in town they would be charged with kidnapping if they were caught with her. She also knew Rebecca could be seriously hurt if they took her back home.
Sam explained the more delicate stuff to Dean, too, but he went to sit with Dean so he wouldn't have to speak loudly. It was probably for Rebecca's sake.
"Where's Jack?" Sam asked suddenly. "The Charger's not outside."
"Food," Dean explained with that simple word.
"Are you hungry?" Alyson asked, looking down at Rebecca, who was still clinging to Alyson's arm.
The girl hesitated before nodding.
Alyson led Rebecca to the bed she shared with Dean, and helped her climb up. Alyson sat beside her, keeping Rebecca's hand in her own.
"You're safe here," Alyson said. "I'm Alyson. The giant is Sam, and the one at the table is Dean."
"I'm gonna call Jack and have him pick up an extra burger and fries," Sam said, and Alyson nodded.
Sam went outside with his phone. Rebecca didn't know why because they weren't being loud or anything. Maybe he wanted to talk about the case or something. He couldn't do that around Rebecca.
Speaking of . . .
"Rebecca, why weren't you in school?"
"Diana teaches me," she said quietly. "She's nice."
Rebecca was home-schooled. That was one way to hide the abuse. Public school teachers were obligated to report any suspicious marks on a student, but if a parent taught their child at home . . . no one else had to know what was going on.
Alyson shared a look with Dean. She could tell he was thinking the same thing she was. They couldn't keep this girl safe forever.
"Sweetie, we're gonna have to take you home eventually. I think Mrs. Temple will miss you if you don't turn up for your next lesson."
"Mr. Temple works in the morning," Rebecca said. "He was only off today because the plant was closed."
"We can go back and talk to Diana tomorrow," Dean said.
Alyson noted that Dean was purposefully trying to make eye contact with Rebecca.
"You can stay here tonight. Okay?"
Rebecca nodded quickly. Alyson was almost completely certain it wasn't from fear.
By the time Jack got back with the food Dean had turned on the TV to a cartoon channel. Tom and Jerry was on. Rebecca was watching, but Dean seemed to be enjoying it more. Rebecca had actually withdrawn even more when Jack arrived. Dean could tell that she didn't like all the male company. If Mr. Temple was the only example she knew of the opposite sex, Dean completely understood her nervousness.
They ate without speaking much, and when Dean finished his burger and fries he started on a slice of pie he'd gotten Jack to get him. Rebecca, who had eaten only half of her fries, leaned around Alyson and glanced between Dean and the pie and back again. Dean stopped with the fork halfway to his mouth.
"Do you want some?" he asked gently.
Dean didn't share his pie with just anyone. Sam didn't really eat pie; Alyson usually got her own if she wanted some, but he would share it with her if she only wanted a bite or two. Rebecca, though, he was willing to share with her. She seemed to be a sweet kid, and she was asking him – a guy – for something even if she wasn't using words.
He brought the fork towards her and let it hover there for a moment. Rebecca looked at the fork for a second before leaning forward and taking the pie into her mouth. She chewed happily. After about a minute, Rebecca looked at the pie again and gave Dean a serious, "Please, sir, can I have some more' look. He couldn't resist the puppy eyes, so he gave her another bite of his pie.
It was worth it because Rebecca gave a tentative smile and crawled over Alyson's legs to settle herself between Alyson and Dean.
Dean pulled a plastic fork out of the food bag and handed it to Rebecca, giving her permission to help him finish the tasty dessert. He glanced up at Alyson, who had a small smile playing on her lips. It made him almost uncomfortable because he didn't know what she was smiling about.
"What?"
Alyson shrugged slightly. "You're just really good with her. You . . . you're a good man."
Something clenched inside Dean's chest. If it didn't feel so good, it would be painful. It was nice hearing those words from Alyson, but he didn't believe them for a moment.
He wasn't good. He killed things and he had killed people. He stole; he lied; he hustled pool for money. He did things he knew he shouldn't just because he had to live somehow, and he knew he wouldn't – couldn't – change.
When Dean and Rebecca got down to the last bite of pie Dean decided to let her have it, but Rebecca forked it up and held it up to his mouth and offered it to him. Dean opened his mouth and accepted. He would never deny himself pie.
Dean could tell it was going to be hard to leave once this case was over. He already felt something for this girl, and Alyson felt for everyone she helped. It would hurt to leave. But they couldn't not help this girl when she so desperately needed it. She needed to be cared for, needed to know she was worth being cared for.
That night Alyson had to let Rebecca use one of her shirts to sleep in since the girl didn't have anything but the clothes she was wearing.
After Alyson brushed her teeth, she cleaned her toothbrush with scalding water so Rebecca could brush her teeth as well. They didn't have any children's toothpaste, and Rebecca made a face of disgust at the taste of the Colgate Alyson had fixed on the toothbrush for her.
They changed into bedclothes after Rebecca finished cleaning her teeth. When she tried to strip off her yellow dress Rebecca grunted with frustration. She'd been reaching behind her back, and now Alyson realized the dress was the kind that zipped in the back.
"Here, let me help you," Alyson said, turning the girl around so she could unzip the dress.
Alyson had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out as the dress fell to the floor. There were welts on Rebecca's back. It looked like she had been beaten with a belt. The welts appeared to be on the brink of infection, and there were three parallel welts next to each other.
"Becca," Alyson said, not knowing what else to say. "What happened?"
How had Rebecca been able to stand the material of her dress pressing against her wounds all day? Alyson remembered Rebecca flinching when her back had hit the car door earlier, but Alyson had just thought the girl had jerked back too hard out of fear.
Apparently she had been wrong.
"Becca, what happened?" she asked again, and the girl tensed.
"I broke a glass," she replied softly. "I broke it."
Rebecca tensed as anger filled her. She'd been whipped because she'd broken a glass? Children always broke things. That didn't meant they should be beaten.
"Will you let me put something on it, make it better?"
Rebecca turned to her and met her gaze. "Will it hurt?"
"It'll sting for a little while," Alyson said, not willing to lie to her. "But it will help you heal."
"Okay," Rebecca answered. "But I want pie-man to do it."
Alyson grinned. "Pie-man, huh?" She squatted down in front of Rebecca and stroked her hair. She tried to ignore the bruise on Rebecca's cheek. "Pie-man has a name, you know."
"Dean. I want him to do it."
"Okay." Alyson handed Rebecca the shirt she was going to sleep in. "Just cover yourself. I'll be right back."
"She's a distraction," Jack said. "I don't like it."
"Unfortunately for you, no one cares if you like it."
Dean was on the bed he'd be sharing with Alyson and Rebecca that night, Sam was on the other bed, and Jack was at the table sitting on one of the chairs with a laptop in front of him.
"This could go very badly for us if we get caught with her."
"So we won't get caught," Dean answered and shrugged.
The bathroom door opened and Alyson stepped through the doorway. She looked at Dean and he noticed she seemed upset.
"Dean, get the first aid kit. Rebecca has a bunch of marks on her back from a belt or something. She wants you to put something on them."
"Me? Why?"
"You must've won her over with the pie," Alyson said. "She likes you."
Dean got up, grabbed the first aid kit from his bag, and headed to the bathroom. He caught Jack's gaze following him and decided to confront him outright.
"Ya know, no one said you had to be a part of this. The girl is stayin' and that's just the way it is. You don't like it, you can leave."
Jack scoffed at that and got up to leave. He grabbed his computer and almost stomped out of the room. As it was, he did slam the door behind him.
Dean looked at Sam, and they both shrugged.
When Dean stepped into the bathroom he saw that Alyson had taken a seat on the sink. Rebecca was leaning face-first against Alyson's legs. Alyson's shirt was covering the girl's front, and her bare back was facing Dean.
Dean almost dropped the first aid kit when he saw the marks Alyson had been talking about. He hadn't expected the wounds to be so bad. He'd been thinking that maybe Rebecca would have marks from a discipline session having gone wrong – he knew about that himself, having been on the receiving end of many. He hadn't expected to see welts that were almost infected. He hadn't expected to see whip marks that had definitely been put there on purpose with the intention to hurt and scar. They were meant to be left there as a reminder.
Nobody deserved to be treated like that, but a child even less so.
"Hey, Becca," Dean said as he knelt down so he would be more on her level.
He opened the kit and took out the necessary anti-bacteria cream and some cotton swabs. He was as gentle as he could be as he began cleaning Rebecca's wounds. The girl barely flinched, but Dean didn't know if that was because he wasn't hurting her or if it was because she was so used to pain that it didn't faze her anymore.
When Dean began cleaning the second wound Rebecca cried out and dug her little hands into Alyson's legs. So he was hurting her and she was feeling it. She'd just been conditioned not to let it show.
"I'm sorry," she muttered. It was as if she thought she would be hurt further for voicing her pain.
Alyson placed one of her hands on Rebecca's head and began stroking her hair. It seemed to calm the girl down a little. Dean looked up to send Aly a grateful smile, but it didn't make it to his lips. Alyson had tears in her eyes, but he could tell she didn't want them to fall. She probably didn't want to risk further upsetting Rebecca.
As it was, Dean was having trouble being gentle now. He wasn't upset with Rebecca – she had done nothing wrong – but he was angry. Angry as in: If Mr. Temple had been there, Dean might've beaten him to death.
How dare he damage Rebecca so much that she didn't think it was okay to show how much she was hurt?
"You okay?" Alyson asked softly.
"It burns," she admitted. She sounded resigned to what she was feeling.
Dean didn't like it. He stopped applying the ointment and began gently blowing against the welt he'd just cleaned. Rebecca stiffened against Alyson, apparently not used to someone taking the time to ease her pain.
Dean wondered if Mrs. Temple ever did anything to stop the mistreatment of Rebecca. He also wondered if that was why the woman was bed-ridden at the moment.
Dean continued blowing against her skin until Rebecca relaxed a little.
"Better?" he asked.
"Uh-huh." She sniffled.
He repeated the gesture twice more, once for each welt. After he finished cleaning her wounds he used a large bandage to cover them. He didn't want them to become even more irritated by the material of the shirt she would be sleeping in, and it would if she moved around a lot.
"A'right, kiddo, all done."
"Thank you," she said, face still against Aly's legs.
Dean stood up as Rebecca lifted her head and pulled the shirt over her head. He threw the cotton away and then turned the faucet on to wash the cream off of his hands.
Once finished, he turned back to Rebecca and said, "Ready for bed?"
"Yup."
Dean made his way out of the bathroom, and Alyson and Rebecca followed him. He made it to the bed first, Alyson not far behind, and they both sat down. Rebecca climbed up with the help of Alyson. They all laid down, Rebecca between them, and became silent.
Rebecca positioned herself with her back to Dean, but she'd still reached for his hand, which he'd freely given. Alyson pulled the sheet up over them and Rebecca settled down even more. Dean smiled sadly when the girl reached for Alyson's hand as well.
He didn't know what they were going to do when they had to take her back home. He didn't know what Rebecca was going to do either.
Rebecca went to sleep fairly quickly, and Sam almost immediately started in on what Dean and Jack had found out at the plant they'd gone to earlier. Sam had talked to Jack, but he didn't fully trust him. He'd rather hear it from Dean.
Alyson was almost asleep as well, so when Sam began talking with Dean they had to whisper.
"So, what happened?"
"Nothin'," Dean said. "No EMF, nothin'. Though it could've been the time we were there. You know, like that asylum place. I mean, the first time we went in we couldn't find a trace of spirit activity. The second time the place was orbing like crazy."
"So we should go back tonight, yes?" Sam asked. "Alyson can stay here with Rebecca while we go."
Dean looked at Alyson then, and Sam knew Dean didn't care much for what Sam had said. He also looked at Rebecca and Sam noticed the wistful expression Dean now wore.
It didn't surprise Sam, really. For all that Sam teased Dean, Sam knew Dean would love to have a child one day, a family that was just his. Sam thought that, despite the age difference, Alyson would be a great mother if Dean was the one she was having kids with. Granted, she didn't need children any time soon, and she'd obviously have to wait until after hunting was over – if it was ever over – because Sam didn't think Dean or Alyson would want to bring a child into the world just to have him or her be dragged into the hunting life.
Sam didn't think Dean would agree to continue hunting if he had a child. He wouldn't want to be an absentee father like John had been. He wouldn't want to go on a case for however long and chance not coming back because whatever he'd been hunting had gotten him first. Dean knew what that did to a child and he wouldn't do it to his own.
As good as Dean was at hunting, he would choose family over hunting every single time. Sam was well aware of the fact that the only reason Dean was still hunting at the moment was because Sam was still hunting.
"We can go tomorrow night," Dean said. "Tomorrow is probably better, anyway. It'll be Friday night, and the plant will be closed down for the weekend."
Dean looked down at Rebecca again.
"I wonder if she knows anything."
"Mrs. Temple said Becca used to hang out with Aaron and Stacey," Alyson said, proving that she hadn't been as asleep as Sam had thought. "It's possible they could've told her something."
"Did she say anything to you or Sam?" Dean asked, and Alyson shook her head.
"The first thing she said was "Please don't hurt me." She was so scared." Alyson paused, her eyes now open, and looked at Sam. "I don't understand why anyone would hurt a child. I mean, I agree with teaching a child right from wrong, but when you start leaving bruises, you've crossed a line. Parents are supposed to protect their kids, not hurt them."
"Some people are twisted," Dean said.
Sam took in the little cocoon Rebecca had wrapped herself in. It was composed of Alyson and Dean. The little girl was sleeping peacefully between them.
"So . . . how are we gonna do this? I mean, the way it sounds, there's a ghost haunting the place. Probably the same guy who did it the first time, but nobody knows who it was, so we have nothing to go on."
It seemed to Sam that Rebecca was more important to Dean and Alyson than working the case was, and to the outside observer, it seemed Sam didn't care at all about her, but that wasn't true. Sam just didn't know what to do for her.
He was doing the practical thing: Working on something he could probably fix as long as he got the proper information.
