Flight815Down: Hey, I like puns too. LOL. And honestly most of the time I don't even have to think of them, they just come to me naturally. And, yeah, I liked Ash too; it sucks that he had to die. I loved your little jokes about having to go through withdrawals while Supernatural is off (Or the new ones anyway) But don't worry, it comes back on on the 10th of September (I think). Thanks for saying you'll review more often. LOL. But I hope that you don't get eaten by a wendigo or tortured by Alastair. I would wish either of those on anyone. But I promise to forgive you if you don't review and that's happening to you. And you're right, it was a long review, but I don't mind; I love the long ones. Oh, and LOL to the spelling error thing. Couldn't stop laughing when I read it.
Magsdls: Thans for reviewing! I'm glad you like the sweet stuff (I try to keep it non-corny.) and all the rest of the emotions that I play with. And the child abuse issue...I think I just wanted to hit on the problem that there are human monsters in this world and I really wish we could do something about it. Children should not have to suffer just because their parents are miserable. If they didn't want kids the men should have kept it in the pants and the women should have kept their legs closed.
Little Responsibilities
Part Two
When we reached the motel, we went to our room. I was sure we wouldn't get in trouble; no one was around to see the little girl we were bringing back with us.
The Charger wasn't in the parking lot, so I assumed Dean wasn't back yet. Rebecca, who had suddenly taken a liking to me, was looking around the parking lot dubiously. Poor thing was probably scared that someone was gonna jump out at her.
She grabbed onto my hand and leaned in to hide herself against my leg. I squeezed her hand a little, not knowing whether it would comfort her or not.
"We're almost there, sweetie," I said. "And you're safe with us. No one's gonna hurt you here."
We made it to the room and Sam opened the door. I saw that Dean was on the bed with Sam's laptop beside him, right where I'd left it.
He looked towards us and then at the little girl clutching at me like I was her lifeline. "What's goin' on?"
We briefly told him about the almost-accident, and how we'd found her in the backseat, that we didn't know what we should do. On the one hand, if we kept her while we were in town we could be charged with kidnapping even though she'd sorta chose to come along. On the other hand, if we took her back to her house she could be badly hurt if Mr. Temple had the urge to smack her around a little.
"Well, is there a way you could get in touch with her mom? From the way you described her, she actually cares about her," Dean said. "She wouldn't mind you keeping her…especially since she thinks you're from child services."
"But I told her I wasn't there to take Rebecca away."
"So pretend otherwise," he said.
I bit my lip, considering it. I mean, I could pull it off easily. Mr. Temple made me angry enough that I could definitely take Rebecca away from him. But that would only work while we were here.
"Where's Jack?" Sam asked suddenly. "The Charger's not outside."
"Food," Dean said, by way of explanation.
I looked down at Rebecca, who was still clinging to me, and asked, "are you hungry?"
She hesitated before nodding. "Yes," she replied politely.
I led her over to the bed and helped her climb up, and then I sat down beside her. She climbed over my lap so she wouldn't be beside Dean. I understood her qualms about the guys; the man she lived with beat her, and that was probably all she knew about men, period.
"Hey, it's okay. I told you, you're safe here." I paused, again getting angry that someone could hurt an innocent child. But I didn't want to alarm her by showing my anger, so I forced it down. "Now, what do you like to eat?"
She bit her lower lip and shrugged. She probably wasn't used to getting a choice in the matter.
"Where'd he go, anyway?" I turned to Dean. "What restaurant?"
Dean shrugged. "Some burger place. I think it's called Ryan's or something."
"Well, I'll call him and have him get an extra burger and fries," Sam said, sitting on the bed opposite us. "Is that okay?" He glanced at Rebecca, and this time she nodded instead of shrugging.
Sam got out his phone and did what he'd said he was going to, and suddenly a thought popped in my head.
"Rebecca, why weren't you in school?"
"Mommy teaches me," she said quietly. "She's nice, not like Mr. Temple."
Okay, so she was home schooled. Probably to hide the abuse. But that meant trouble because tomorrow was Friday and though I wasn't sure how home schooling worked, I was pretty sure that it kept to the same days as regular schools did.
"Sweetie, we're gonna have to take you home eventually. I think maybe your mom will miss you if you don't turn up for your next lesson."
"Mr. Temple has to work in the morning," Rebecca said, trying to be helpful. Apparently, she'd given up on the idea of running away.
"Well, that's great," Dean said. "We can go back and talk to Mrs. Temple tomorrow." He glanced over at Rebecca, catching her eye. "Which means you can stay here tonight. 'Kay?"
Rebecca smiled slightly and nodded somewhat enthusiastically.
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By the time Jack got back with the food we had turned the TV on to a cartoon station. Tom and Jerry was on, and to be honest, Dean seemed to be more invested in it than Rebecca was.
We each started eating our meals, and I noticed that Rebecca was pulling herself into her shell again; I assumed it was from all the male company.
She continued eating, as did we all, and Sam and I explained the situation to Jack without getting into it too much.
When Dean was finished with his burger and fries he started on a slice of pie he'd gotten Jack to get him.
Rebecca, who'd only eaten half her fries so far, leaned around me and glanced from Dean to the pie and back. Dean, who caught the gesture, stopped with the fork halfway to his mouth.
"Do you want some?" he asked gently. That's how adorable this little girl was; Dean was willing to share his pie.
He brought the fork towards her, and just let it hover there as a silent offering. Rebecca looked at the fork for only a second before leaning forward and taking the pie into her mouth. She started chewing happily. It seemed we had another pie fanatic with us at the moment.
After about a minute, the little girl was looking at Dean again and she had a serious Oliver-Twist-please-sir-can-I-have-some-more expression on her face. So Dean fed her more pie.
Smiling tentatively, Rebecca crawled over my legs to settle herself between Dean and myself. Dean, who seemingly from out of nowhere had conjured up another plastic fork, handed it to her and together they started taking turns eating the pie.
If I had been the type to say awwww! I would have been saying it by now. Dean was being so…sweet to this girl. Not that I was expecting any different because I wasn't. But it was just hitting me full-force how nice of a person he was, how much of a good man he was.
I looked over at Sam, who seemed a little shocked at this little exchange. At how Rebecca had gone from scared and withdrawn, to open and smiling in the grand total time of maybe five minutes.
Dean was awesome that way, and it seemed that Rebecca knew it too.
Jack, who was totally oblivious to what was going on because he was looking at a newspaper, turned the page and continued whatever he was doing.
When Rebecca and Dean got to the final bite of the pie, Dean decided to let her have it, but when Rebecca got it on her fork she held it up to his mouth as he'd done for her, and offered it to him. He accepted.
I could already tell it was gonna be hard to leave this time, when the case was over. I already felt something for this little girl, which probably wasn't the best thing in the world right now.
------------- -
That night before going to bed we had to change our routine a bit. Since we didn't have anything of Rebecca's with us, we just had to make due with what we had.
I brushed my teeth and then cleaned it with scalding water so she could use it as well. We didn't have any kids toothpaste, so she made a face of disgust at the taste of the Colgate I had fixed on the toothbrush for her.
She was in the bathroom with me, and we were both changing into our bed clothes. I was letting her use one of my t-shirts, which would probably come down past her knees. When she went to strip off her yellow dress, she stopped for a second and then I realized the dress was the kind that zipped in the back. Not the best kind for a child.
"Here, let me help you," I said, moving forward to unzip the dress. After it fell to the floor, I stood there shocked. There on her back were welts - not scratches, but welts. They looked like they were on the brink of becoming infected. There were three right parallel to each other.
"Oh, Becca." That's all I said; I didn't know what else to say. I swallowed hard. "What happened?" And more important, how had she dealt with the dress pressing up against her all day? I had a short flashback of her flinching when her back had hit the car door earlier, after we'd found her with us.
"I broke a glass," she replied softly. "I broke it."
I breathed out slowly to try and release the anger before it would show on my face. It wouldn't do to make her withdraw again.
"Will you let me put something on it, make it better?" I requested.
She turned around slightly to meet my gaze. "Will it hurt?" she asked in a small voice.
I grimaced slightly because, yes, it would hurt. "It'll sting for a little while. But it'll help these heal."
She bit her lip, much like she had earlier, and looked like she was considering it. Eventually, she said, "okay, but I want pie-man to do it."
I grinned. "Pie-man, huh?" I squatted down in front of her and stroked her hair, trying to ignore that bruise on her cheek. "Pie-man has a name, ya know."
"Dean," she said. "I want him to do it."
"Yeah, okay," I said. I handed her the shirt I was letting her use. "Just cover yourself. I'll be right back."
I got back up to my feet and opened the bathroom door to go outside. Jack was still in our room and he was talking to Sam quietly, and I hadn't heard all of the conversation, but it sounded like Jack didn't totally agree with us keeping Rebecca with us.
"This could go very badly for us if we get caught with her."
"We're not taking her back home tonight," I said firmly. I looked to Dean, and said, "get the first aid kit. She has a bunch of marks on her back from a belt or something. She wants you to put something on it."
"Me?" Dean seemed surprised. "Why?"
"She likes you," I said. And then I watched as Dean got the kit and went towards the bathroom. But then he turned back around and looked directly at Jack.
"Ya know, no one said you had to be a part of this, but the girl is stayin' and that's just the way it is. You don't like it, leave."
And I guess he didn't like it, because Jack actually did leave the room. Well, good riddance, if he was gonna be like that. I supposed he just thought of Rebecca as another distraction.
------------- -
In the bathroom, I had taken a seat on the sink, and Rebecca was leaning against my legs face-first - she had my shirt covering her front - with her back to Dean. Dean, who seemed even angrier than me when he saw the marks. I was sure Dean was thinking that if only Mr. Temple were here, he'd like to dish out a little of what Temple had been serving to Mr. Temple, himself. And honestly, who could blame Dean if he did. No child deserved to be treated like that. I guess it was like that Pat Benatar song, 'Hell is for Children'.
I watched as Dean began cleaning Rebecca's wounds with the gentlest of touches; she barely even flinched. But I didn't know if that was because Dean was being gentle of if it was because she was so used to pain, it didn't faze her much anymore. If that was the case…Mr. Temple was even more despicable than I'd thought.
And then I heard her cry out softly, probably from the burning sensation of the anti-bacteria cream Dean was using. She began digging her little hands into my legs, and she whispered "I'm sorry," over and over again. It was as if she thought we were going to hurt her further because she was voicing her pain.
I began stroking her hair and she settled down a little.
She probably had gone through the type of abuse where if she cried out, she only got punished more. And seriously? I wanted to be locked in a room with Mr. Temple for five minutes; that's all I needed. Give him some of his own medicine. I could definitely make him cry 'uncle'. Because the wrath of Alyson was nothing to mess with. As we'd found out before. Now if I could just learn how to control it…without Jack…we'd be fine.
"You okay?" I asked her softly, still running my fingers through her hair.
"It burns," she said, sounding resigned to the pain.
Dean, who had heard the tone, stopped applying the ointment and then began gently blowing against the welt he'd just covered. I felt Rebecca stiffen against me; she apparently wasn't used to someone being concerned that she was hurt, let alone someone trying to ease the pain. So Mrs. Temple can't have been too nice if she just let her suffer.
Hm…and pain she was comfortable with, but someone helping her made her fidgety? Mr. Temple needed every square inch of his ass kicked…repeatedly.
Dean continued blowing against her skin until Rebecca had relaxed a little, and then he stopped. "Better?"
She sniffled once and nodded. "Uh-huh."
He repeated that twice more - once for each welt - and tears would have filled my eyes at the exchange if I had let them.
After he'd finished cleaning the wounds, he used a large amount of bandage to cover them. He probably didn't want the shirt to rub up against them and start to irritate them.
"A'right, kiddo. All done."
"Thank you," Rebecca said shyly, putting the shirt on over her head.
Dean turned the faucet on and washed the cream off his hands and then turned back to Rebecca. "Ready for bed?"
"Yup," she said, and as if on cue, she yawned.
Dean made his way out of the bathroom and then we followed suit and went toward the bed. Dean climbed on first and then me. Rebecca scrambled up and then got between us again, comfortably.
She gingerly situated herself so her back wouldn't get hurt more. Surprisingly enough, it seemed the most comfortable position was on her back. Maybe the pressure made it feel better or maybe the warmth.
Anyway, the bed covers had been turned down already, so I pulled them up and over us. Rebecca grasped onto my hand after I got situated.
Before I turned the bedside lamp off I saw her grab Dean's hand, too, with her free one.
------------- -
After Rebecca had gone to sleep, Sam had almost immediately gone into what Dean and Jack had found at the Crowley farm-plant thing. We hadn't gone into that at all because Rebecca was with us. But Sam seemed almost anxious to begin.
It was rather annoying to have a conversation at all because my back was to Sam because Rebecca had my hand in hers, and I didn't want to risk waking her up by removing it.
"So, what happened?" Sam asked, turning the lamp back on, which didn't seem to faze Rebecca at all.
"Nothin'," Dean said. "No EMF, nothin'. Though it could've been the time we were there. You know, like that asylum place." He was talking about a case he and Sam had worked before I'd come into the picture, apparently, because I had no clue what he was referring to. "I mean, the first time we went in we couldn't find a trace of spirit activity and the second, 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 like he didn't care too much for that idea, and then he looked at the little girl sleeping next to him. An expression passed over his face and if I hadn't been paying close attention to him, I would've missed it. It was kinda wistful looking.
It didn't surprise me, really. Dean would love to have a child one day, a family that was just his. I wasn't gonna be so presumptuous as to say it was gonna be with me, but I'd be okay with it if it was. As long as it wasn't anytime soon. It would have to be after hunting was over - if it was ever over - because Dean wouldn't want to bring a child into this world just to make him or her into a hunter. And he wouldn't be an absentee father, either. He knew what that did to a person and he wouldn't do it to his own child. And as good as he was at hunting, he would choose family over hunting every time. The only reason he was continuing hunting at the moment was because Sam was still doing it.
"Nah, we can go tomorrow night," Dean replied. "Tomorrow is probably better anyway. It'll be Friday night and the plant will be closed down for the weekend." He looked at Rebecca again. "I wonder if she knows anything," he sounded more like he was talking to himself than me or Sam.
I answered anyway. "Mrs. Temple said Becca used to hang out with Aaron and Stacey. It's possible they could've told her something."
"Did she say anything to you or Sam?" Dean looked from me and his brother, and I shook my head. "Oh."
"Yeah," I said softly. "The first ting she said was, 'please don't hurt me'. She was so scared." I paused, getting my thoughts together, and then continued. "I don't understand why anyone could hurt a child. I mean…I agree with teaching a child right from wrong, but if you leave bruises, you've crossed a line. Parents are supposed to protect their kids, not hurt them."
"Some people are twisted," Dean said.
I heard Sam sigh in what seemed like frustration. "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 absolutely nothing to go on."
Oh, right. The case. I was more focused on the little girl who was sleeping beside me. I was thinking about what was gonna happen to her when we had to leave this place. Hopefully we'd be able to do something for her before.
------------- -
The next morning I woke up to an odd clicking sound. It wasn't loud; it was actually quite soft. So soft that I was beginning to think it hadn't been what had awoken me. I had just woken up on my own, and that had been the first thing I'd heard.
I opened my eyes and rolled over, realizing that my hand was free now. I was alone in the bed, so I looked for where the clicking noise was coming from.
I smiled slightly when I saw that it was coming from the table; Dean and Rebecca were playing cards, him on one side, her on the other. The clicking sound was made by the cards landing on the table.
I sat up slowly and rubbed my face to wake myself up more. It didn't work much, but it helped a little.
The girl's voice, however, made me fully alert. "Morning, Alyson," she said sweetly.
"Mornin', Becca." I stood up slowly and walked over to the table. "What're you guys doin'?" I looked at Dean, grinning. "You're not teachin' her to play poker, are you?"
"I would never," Dean sounded mock-offended.
"Sure you wouldn't."
"We're playing Go Fish," Rebecca said, coming to his rescue. "Dean teached me how to shuffle." I grinned at her use of the word 'teached'. "I'm not good at it," she claimed. "He says it's 'cause my hands are small, but I'll do better when I grow."
"Sounds right to me," I said.
I heard a movement and looked to see Sam sitting up in his bed, rubbing his face much like I had. I looked at the clock on the nightstand; it was 9:30.
"Sweetie, when does Mr. Temple go to work?" I was loathe to bring it up but I had to.
"He's already here," she commented. "He leaves early and get home at supper time."
"Where's he work?" Sam asked.
"At the place Stacey was kilt," she said it simply, and nobody said anything at the way she'd mispronounced the word 'killed'.
"Your dad works at the Crowley Plant?" Sam asked.
"He's not my daddy," Rebecca said adamantly. "But, yes, he works there."
"How long has he worked there, Becca?" Dean asked, using my nickname for her.
"Since it opened again," she said softly. "That's when it all started."
That sounded vaguely cryptic, so I asked her to specify. "When what started?"
Rebecca lifted a hand to her bruised cheek. Clearly, she meant that the abuse hadn't happened until Mr. Temple started working at the Plant. I was pretty sure that couldn't really be a coincidence.
Dean suddenly took his phone out of his pocket - it must've been on vibrate because I hadn't heard his ringtone - and he answered it with a, "yeah?" A five second pause, and then, "Yeah, she's right here. Hold on."
He handed the phone over to me. "It's Ash."
I grimaced inwardly. I'd totally forgotten that I'd sent the picture of the letters-symbol I'd found yesterday to him. And I'd turned my phone off too. I hadn't even shown Dean the picture yet.
"Hey, Ash," I said apologetically.
"Girl, where've you been? I've been tryin' to get hold of you since last night."
He was worried. Yeah, Ash could be a goofball sometimes, but the concern he had in his voice right now was very real.
"Everything's okay. Something came up and I wasn't able to take any calls. Sorry," I said sincerely. "Really, I am. Um, did you find anything?"
Dean was looking at me, confused, and I held up a finger to tell him I'd explain after I got off the phone.
"I did. That's what I've been trying to get a hold of you for. It is the sign for the plant, but it's also the mark the person left back in the 1940's when the first rash of murders happened."
"Do you know who did it?" I asked quietly, hopefully.
"Naw, nothin' concrete." He sighed before continuing. "But smart money's on Josiah Crowley, the man who owned the place back then. He had a bunch of land in the area you're in."
"And the initials? What is that? Why would he leave them?"
"I don't know," Ash replied. "But after he died there was never another killin'. Until now. Oh and by the way, that Lillian Chase woman you told me 'bout…she doesn't exist. She's not in any up-to-date database. The only Lillian Chase in Lexington, Kentucky, that I could find died in 1945. Wife of Josiah Crowley."
"Oh, wow, his name just keeps popping up, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, that's my thought," he agreed.
"Okay. Thanks, Ash, I owe ya one."
I snapped the phone shut and handed it to Dean, who had a mock-angry look on his face. "You've got other guys callin' you on my phone?"
"Oh, yes," I said playfully. "Ash's and my love is the romance of the century."
Dean nodded. "I knew there was somethin' goin' on between you two the last time we were at the Roadhouse."
I shook my head, smiling fondly, and said, "are we through with this game?"
"Yeah," Dean said. "What'd he want?"
"Oh, I called him yesterday. There was this symbol on Stacey's floor and it looked like it had been burned there."
I got my cell phone out and turned it on to show Dean the picture, and then I went over everything Ash had just told me, leaving out anything that could be considered supernatural, which wasn't much aside from the mark appearing again after all these years, and the murders starting up again.
Truth was, I didn't think we should be talking about this with Rebecca around, but she was here…and we couldn't just not talk about it. There was a case that needed to be solved and we were the Scooby gang.
"So, to make a long story less long," Sam said. "We need to go to the library."
I quirked an eyebrow up and said, "yeah, pretty much." I sighed. "We need to find out about when Ms. Chase - the dead one - became Mrs. Crowley and how she died."
"And we should find out what the present Lillian Chase knows," Dean said. "Since that's not her real name."
I hadn't noticed, but the cards weren't on the table anymore, and Rebecca was paying more attention then I would've liked. Murder conversations weren't for children's ears.
I squatted down beside her and we were almost eye-level now. "What do you know about Ms. Chase?"
"She likes kids," Rebecca said hurriedly, almost like she thought we might get angry if she didn't answer promptly. "And she makes good cookies." And then more quietly, she said. "And she's always there after Mr. Temple goes to work. She helps Mommy."
In my opinion, no one could help Mrs. Temple until she wanted to be helped. Until she convinced herself she was better than a human punching bag for some man to take his anger out on. She needed to realize that if Mr. Temple really loved her - the way love was meant to be - then he couldn't do that to her.
"Cool," Dean said. "Two birds, one stone." Right. Lillian, or whoever she was, would be at the Temple house and we had to go there anyway.
There was a knock at the door, and I just knew it had to be Jack, so I went and opened the door. And, yup, it was him. And I hadn't known him for long, but already I could tell when something was wrong…like now. He had the same frown-face that I did.
Oh, and it was snowing. Great.
"What? You don't like the weather?" I snarked.
"Another kid was killed last night," he said softly, looking past me and to Rebecca. "It's on the news. And I'm sorry for being an asshole last night."
I moved away to let him in. "Don't worry about it. I'm getting used to it."
He winced at the words as if I'd physically hit him…he was still bruised from our last encounter. Strangely enough, I felt guilty for punching him even though he'd deserved it. Maybe Dean was right and I was too nice.
Jack went to the TV and put it on the local news station. It was footage of the plant from earlier this morning. Before anything disturbing could come on, I ushered Rebecca into the bathroom, grabbing her dress on the way.
"Come on, sweetie, we're gonna get you ready, okay?"
She nodded and followed me without question. Whether it was because she trusted me, or because she thought I might snap is she didn't, I wasn't sure but she followed nonetheless.
When she got her dress on she let me zip it up for her, making me see where the bandage was, renewing my anger. Although, to be honest, it soothed me to know they were probably less likely to get infected now.
"Alyson," she said hesitantly. "Can we go for ice cream?"
Was she actually asking for something she wanted? Wow, I guess she did trust me. But…
"We haven't even had breakfast yet," I reminded her softly. "How 'bout after?"
"But before lunch?"
I smiled. "All right, before lunch. And guess what?"
"What?"
"Dean is gonna love you for suggesting ice cream." Even though it is snowing outside, I added silently.
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By the time we got to the Temple house it had stopped snowing, but there was a couple inches coating the ground. Luckily, the roads weren't slick.
Anyway, when we got there we didn't get an answer. So, naturally, we picked the lock. No one was in the living room. I didn't know if that was a good sign or not, but I assumed it meant that Mr. Temple wasn't home, even though I was sure the plant would be closed because of the body that was found there. But it also meant that Ms. Chase wasn't here either, or she would've answered.
We'd found out from the news that this time it was a boy named Derek Summers who had been killed, he was the oldest so far. He was ten. And that's where Jack was now, at the plant, finding out whatever he could.
"Mommy," Rebecca called out.
"She's probably upstairs," I said. "That's where she was yesterday."
Rebecca headed for the stairs even before I'd finished speaking so I followed along. By the time I was halfway up the stairs I could just feel that something was wrong. It wasn't like the vibe I was used to…it was more just that everything was eerily quiet - deathly silent.
Rebecca was already at the top of the stairs when a sense of serious déjà vu came over me. Me walking up the stairs in my old house to my mom's room to find her dead on the floor.
But that couldn't be happening here. Right?
"Becca, wait for me," I said, running to catch up. I felt one of the guys behind me and when he touched my back I knew it was Dean.
We went to the room I'd been in yesterday and Becca opened the door. And, okay, it was happening here almost exactly like it had happened with me.
Mrs. Temple was lying on the ground, only the blood that was flowing from this woman wasn't coming from her neck, it was coming from her head. Her temple - take a moment to embrace the irony - to be exact.
Her face was as bad as it had been yesterday, and she was wearing a light pink night gown.
"Mama," Rebecca said, moving forward quickly, and went down to kneel beside Mrs. Temple. When she didn't get an answer, Rebecca shook her lightly. "Come alive, Mama. Please come alive."
I went to Rebecca and tried to move her away from Mrs. Temple, but stopped when she heartbreakingly said, "Don't be dead, you can't be dead!"
I looked back at Dean with a 'help me' expression, and he knelt down on the other side of me and checked for Mrs. Temple's pulse. Why hadn't I thought of that? It was, like, the first rule of first aid: If someone was unconscious you check for a pulse.
"Becca, she's alive," Dean said soothingly. "She just needs to go to the hospital. We're gonna have to call the cops." Dean moved from my side to hers and grabbed her shoulders gently; she didn't seem scared. "Now, listen to me, 'cause this is important, okay?"
"Uh-huh," she said tearfully.
"If anyone asks - anybody - your mom gave you permission to be with us, a'right? That's what you say if anyone asks, 'kay?"
"Uh-huh."
"Good," he replied, wiping her tears away. "Good girl." Then he turned my way. "Get her outta here, and I'll make the call."
"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, okay."
------------- -
When the cops got to the house, the ambulance right behind them, they had to ask us the routine questions while the paramedics loaded Mrs. Temple into the ambulance.
They were asking all sorts of questions that we didn't know the answer to or we just couldn't answer. Eventually, they tried to take Rebecca with them, at which she started crying and clinging onto Dean's leg.
"Look," Dean began, stroking Rebecca's hair, "she's fine with us. She spent the night with us last night. We were just bringing her home and we found Mrs. Temple like that. Isn't it better to leave her with us than to take her to the station where she'll be alone? We can take care of her."
"Until we contact her dad," the officer in charge said.
"Actually, he's the one who did this," I spoke up. "I'm pretty sure, anyway."
And then of course, I had to go through my whole story of how I'd been here yesterday - leaving out the child psychologist thing.
"And the bruise on her cheek? He did that too," I said. "The man's nuts. He works at the plant where the kids have been found."
"Are you saying you think he had something to do with what's been happening?"
"No," I said. "I'm saying he's been abusing his wife and kid."
Of course me telling the police this didn't do a thing unless Mrs. Temple decided to press charges if she woke up.
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We had to stay at the house for an hour, at least, just answering questions, but eventually the police left.
"Okay, so now what?" Sam asked tiredly. "Someone needs to be at the hospital for when Mrs. Temple wakes up. Someone needs to go see Ms. Chase. Jack's already at the library-"
"Sam," I interrupted his rant. "Chill. You're not known as the Winchesters for nothing. I can go to the hospital with Becca and you guys go talk to Lillian."
Sam seemed hesitant. "Ah, I don't know. She might respond better to just me."
"I think she might respond better to Alyson," Dean said. "She's the one who saw the symbol thing, which looks like a brand mark, now that I think about it. You know, like the thing they brand cows with. A branding iron."
"Yeah, that Josiah guy," Sam said. "Lillian did say it was the logo for his plant, right?"
"Yup," I agreed, and then felt an insistent little tug on my arm. Rebecca was crying again.
"I wanna go see Mommy," she said.
"Yeah, okay," I said. "We can do that. But we should get some of your things together first. And you should change your dress…it's cold outside, you don't wanna get sick."
"Come with me?" She asked pleadingly.
"Sure." Thinking, I added, "Or you can just tell me where your room is and I can go get some clothes for you."
I was surprised when she took me by the hand and began leading me to the stairs. Turns out her room was the same one Mr. Temple had told me was Aaron's. Now I'd be able to see if the mark was there, too.
Rebecca opened the door and the first thing I noticed was two beds. One had race cars on the covers; the other had elf-looking things on them. The room was tinted blue with little white squiggly lines that could've been birds, but I wasn't sure.
In the side of the room there was a white four-drawer dresser; it was shiny so I assumed it was polished. Though instead of going to the dresser, Rebecca went to the closet on the opposite side of the room.
I hadn't noticed it before, but the doors in this house had the old-timey doors that had the keyholes under the knob. That seemed a little strange to me, because this wasn't exactly an old fashioned house.
Anyway, I saw her get a pair of stretch pants out of the closet, and then I told her to get a couple pairs since we didn't know how long she'd be with us.
About two seconds later, Dean walked into the room holding the weapons bag from the trunk of the car, only it was empty.
"Thought you might need this," he said, handing it to me.
I place the bag on the elf bed and then turned back to Dean. "I'm assuming you're going to be the one who goes to the hospital?"
"Yeah, Sam's gonna drop me and Rebecca off and then take you to that lady's place, see what you can find out.
We got her stuff together - it was enough for three days - and then we checked the room for the mark and, sure enough, it was there, only this time it wasn't under a window. It was near his bed.
"Becca, did someone come into the room the night Aaron disappeared?" I asked.
She didn't say anything, but she shook her head. It was more a she didn't know rather than just a no. Which seemed weird because she slept in here with him, didn't she?
"Did he not come home that night?" I asked.
"He was in here," she said. "But I wasn't."
"Where were you then?" Dean asked.
"There's a room downstairs that I stay in sometimes when Mr. Temple thinks I'm…being bad."
Stay? Probably should read locked up, but I wasn't gonna make any assumptions. But then again, someone who abuses their wife and child shouldn't get the benefit of any doubt, in my opinion. As the saying goes: If they do it once, they will more than likely do it again.
So, as always...please review. Let me know what you think.
