Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sam didn't know what to think.
He knew that Tori and Marsha were his friends but being without Dean, well that frightened him.
With his arms wrapped tightly around his middle, the hunter stared at the back of the driver's seat, listening to Marsha sing along to the music coming from the speaker.
"Can we go to the beach when we get to the East Coast, Mommy?" Tori asked from where she sat in her car seat beside Sam.
"Of course we can," the redhead replied, and then asked if Sam had ever been to a beach.
The young man didn't answer.
Dean wouldn't abandon him. No, that wasn't possible. Dean wouldn't allow that to happen. They must be coming back to South Dakota, they must be.
But when?
"W-When?" Sam asked quietly. Too quietly it seemed because Marsha continued singing and didn't respond.
"When?" the young man repeated, his voice slightly louder.
"What's that, Sam?" the woman asked and turned down the music.
The hunter didn't speak for a moment.
"…When…"
In the rearview mirror he could see Marsha frowning.
"When what, Sam?"
Shifting his gaze to the side window, Sam spoke again, "Coming back…when."
"Coming back from the East Coast?"
Sam nodded once.
"On Friday."
The hunter relaxed. They'd be coming back. A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips and he let his arms drop to his sides as he stared at the town of Sioux Falls flash by his window.
SPN
Dean remained in the driveway long after Marsha's car was no longer visible.
Bobby walked up to the younger man and placed a calloused hand on his shoulder.
"They'll be fine, Son."
"Then why do I have this sinking feeling in my stomach?" Dean asked and without waiting for Bobby to respond, turned around and walked back to the house.
SPN
Sam gripped Tori's small hand in his much larger one as tightly as he dared without hurting the girl. They followed close behind Marsha as the woman led them across the crowded parking lot of the yellow-and-red fast-food restaurant.
Sam felt sweat break out on his forehead and his mouth grew dry. He forced himself to stare straight ahead, even if that meant he had to stare at the life-sized figure of Ronald McDonald sitting on the end of a bench in front of the store, one garishly painted leg crossed casually over one equally gaudy thigh.
"Can I have a Happy Meal, Mommy?" Tori asked, tugging on Sam's hand in an attempt to speed up his pace.
"Sure," Marsha replied casually, "Cheeseburger or hamburger?"
"Cheeseburger please," the little girl piped up, eyes sparking at the sight of the Golden Arches.
Marsha held the door open for her daughter and Sam and the young man's eyes widened, not with excitement but with anxiety.
There were three lines of customers trailing from the trio of cash registers at the counter almost to the front door itself. The crowd, mainly composed of families, was boisterous and fidgety, unpredictable.
Sam stopped moving just inside the second set of doors, causing Tori to stumble back a couple of steps and peer up at him.
"C'mon Sammy," she cajoled and tugged at his hand.
"Sam?" Marsha asked and turned to look at the young man as well.
The hunter did not respond, his gaze resting upon the crowd of hungry people in front of him.
"Maybe we should-" Marsha began but then the hunter took a shuffling step forward, his grip on the little girl's hand tightening.
As he came abreast of Marsha, the woman looked concernedly at him.
"Are you okay, Sam?" She asked.
Tight-lipped, he didn't answer but continued to move forwards toward the end of the line stretching out in front of him.
He heard Marsha let out an audible breath as she moved forward to join him and her daughter.
"Look Mommy! A play place! Can I go in? Can I? Please?" Tori pointed to a section of the restaurant that was separate from the dining area by a large scuffed and smeared Plexiglas wall. An open doorway in the center of the wall allowed the sounds of laughing and shouting children playing in the multicoloured tunnels or ball pit to filter through.
"Why don't you wait until after we've eaten?" Marsha suggested and although Tori gave one longing look at the play area, nodded and shook Sam's hand excitedly.
"Look Sammy!" The child pointed to the collection of Happy Meal toys displayed in a case shaped like Ronald McDonald beside the line of customers, "I want a Pony in my Meal!"
The selection of toys were divided by gender- My Little Ponies for girls and Transformers for boys- and positioned in the perfect location to encourage the buying of the child's-sized meals. Other children in line were also excitedly babbling about what Autobot they wanted or which Pony they thought was the prettiest.
Tori, encouraged by the chatter of the other children began talking about the toys as well; "I want the purple one, no, the blue one! No, the pink one! Mommy, can I have the pink one?"
"We'll see, Tori," Marsha told her daughter distractedly. She was more concerned with how Sam was doing in this loud, crowded fast-food joint than what toy came in her child's meal.
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, the woman thought. We should have gone through the Drive-Thru; ate in the car-
"Ma'am, may I take your order?"
Marsha startled, surprised to find they were at the front of the line.
"Uh, yes," she stammered, feeling flustered, "One minute, please."
Turning to the younger Winchester, Marsha opened her mouth to speak to him, "Sam, do you want-"
Instead of finishing her question, Marsha decided to order for the young man, realizing that he most likely wouldn't care what he ate.
"Can I get a Big Mac with a large order of fries, a child's cheeseburger Happy Meal- can you put a pink pony toy in the meal- and a Filet-O-Fish with a large fry."
"Anything to drink?" the girl at the cash register asked. Marsha noticed her gaze sliding to the side to take in Sam's large frame- and undoubtedly passive expression- before it returned to her face and she offered a forced smile that said "I-Hate-My-Job".
"Yes, um, two medium Pepsis and can I get milk in the Happy Meal?"
"Sure thing," the girl answered and punched the drinks into the cash register, "That'll be fifteen-sixty."
As Marsha began to pull out the correct amount of cash from her wallet, she sensed rather than saw Sam's entire body tense. She didn't even know how she knew; maybe her Mother's Instincts were working on the young man as they worked whenever Tori was in trouble.
"Sam-" the woman spoke his name and looked up, money in her hands and saw that the young man wasn't even looking at her. He had completely turned around to face the doors to the restaurant where two women had just entered.
Marsha frowned. The two women didn't look threatening at all, in fact, if she had to guess they were mother and daughter. The younger wore a bright yellow crop-top, low-cut jeans and sparkly flip-flops. She was quite obviously chewing gum and flicked her bright blue hair back from her pale shoulders. The older woman was dressed more sedately in grey dress slacks, an off-white blouse and black heels.
What struck Marsha however- and what had clearly set Sam on edge- was that both women had eyes as black as pitch.
Without thinking, Marsha grabbed Tori's arm in her free hand, stuffing her money back into her purse with the other and began backing away from the cashier.
"Ma'am, aren't you going to pay? Ma'am?"
Marsha's throat tightened so that all she could do was shake her head. Tori whimpered as she was pulled backwards, Sam following along, his pace not changing but clearly agitated. The girl at the cash register simply gaped at the trio as they backed away from her.
Casting around, Marsha spotted a side door beside the play area and made a beeline towards it, all the while praying that they would get out of the restaurant safely.
Dear God don't let me die in a McDonalds, the woman thought as she tugged her daughter and Sam closer to the exit.
With what seemed like an astounding amount of luck, they pushed through the side door and onto the sun-warmed asphalt of the parking lot.
The redhead let out a breath and gripped Tori's hand tightly as she headed straight for her vehicle. She had expected her daughter- still very young- to protest the abrupt exit but the child was thin-lipped and silent as if, she too, sensed the danger they had just narrowly escaped.
After settling Tori into her car seat and helping Sam buckle his seatbelt, Marsha climbed into the driver's seat and revved the engine, almost causing the car to stall.
"Shit," she murmured under her breath, telling herself to calm down, damn it.
Finally, gaining control over her emotions, Marsha pulled out of the parking spot and peeled away from the Golden Arches, glad to put them in her rearview mirror.
"Mommy," Tori spoke up from the back seat about ten minutes of driving, "I'm still hungry."
"I know, baby, I'm sorry," the mother apologized, "We'll stop somewhere soon."
As she drove, Marsha glanced in the rearview mirror at Sam. He seemed to have calmed down- his muscles were not long as tense as steel cables- but his face was pale and there were dark circles standing out beneath his eyes.
The woman couldn't help but think it was one hell of a coincidence that a couple of demons should wander into the same Mickey D's they were in, craving some burgers and chicken nuggets.
Were they after you? Marsha directed the thought at the young man sitting in the seat behind her but didn't speak the question out loud.
It was better not to know, anyway. Best just to put as much distance between those monsters and her baby girl as possible.
Marsha shuddered as she all-too vividly recalled their last run-in with a demon and hoped that there was not a repeat of that experience in their near future.
W
Sam was visibly at ease as Marsha led him and Tori into the sit-in restaurant called 'Auntie Joyce's Family Style Diner' and waited to be seated.
"Hi, welcome to Auntie Joyce's Family Style Diner," a perky young hostess with bouncy brown hair and chocolate-coloured eyes greeted them, "Where everyone is family."
Marsha gave the girl a somewhat wan smile in response.
"For three?" the hostess asked and Marsha nodded as she picked up two adult menus and one child's menu.
"Table or booth?" the hostess asked as she began walking deeper into the diner.
Marsha glanced quickly at Sam before answering that they would take a booth.
The hostess ushered the trio into a booth and handed out the menus.
"Enjoy," she told them, "Someone will be by to take your orders."
Marsha thanked the girl distractedly and focused on helping her daughter pick something to eat.
"Look Tori, they have cheeseburgers here too," the mother pointed out the option to her daughter in the child's menu.
Once Tori had made her choice- cheeseburger with French fries and a strawberry milkshake- Marsha turned her attention to Sam.
The woman knew that the hunter preferred foods such as salads, soups, sandwiches and wraps over for fast food-esque choices. Now that Marsha felt out of danger of demonic entities and unhurried by the assembly line of customers beneath the Golden Arches, she decided that Sam should be able to enjoy his lunch as much as she and Tori.
"Let's see what we've got here," the redhead said and opened her own menu so that she could look through the options with Sam.
Several minutes later, when their waiter appeared- a thin young man with a shock of orange hair that stuck up if he'd been electrocuted, with pasty skin and a dusting of freckles on his nose and cheeks- walked over to their table, "Welcome to Auntie Joyce's Family Style Restaurant," the young man, who must have still been in high school, greeted them, "My name's Collin. Can I get you anything to start?"
"I think we're all ready to order," Marsha told Collin.
The waiter nodded and took out a notepad and pencil.
"Can we get a kid's cheeseburger with fries and a strawberry milkshake, the Club sandwich with the House salad and a Pepsi, and the Soup and Sandwich of the Day with a Root Beer?"
The waiter wrote all three orders down and promised he'd be back with the drinks in a few minutes.
Marsha sat back against the back of the booth and rested a hand on the back of Tori's head.
"How're you feeling, honey?"
The little girl looked up at her mother and smiled.
Marsha smiled back at her daughter and peered across the table at Sam.
"How are you doing, Sam?"
The young man stared at Marsha for a long moment before he offered a wan smile.
"…Okay…" he said quietly.
The woman sighed; they'd put the danger behind them and now all they had to focus on was a week of Atlantic surf, a nice hotel room and all the New England clam chowder they could eat.
SPN
Bobby slammed the fridge door shut as he grabbed a beer from inside but Dean didn't even flinch. The younger hunter was sitting at the kitchen table, chin propped up on his fist, staring out the window above the sink.
"They've only been gone for a few hours, Son," Bobby said, "Marsha promised to call soon."
"I should have heard from them by now," Dean answered, not taking his gaze away from the window.
"You are not gonna sit at this table for the whole damn week," Bobby told him, "You'll just drive yourself sick with worry."
"Something's going to happen, Bobby," Dean insisted, now meeting the older hunter's gaze, "I just know it is. I can feel it."
The veteran hunter gave him a sympathetic look before taking a swig of beer, "Why don't you come out to the garage and help me with the car I'm working on. It'll take your mind off worrying and Marsha will call before you know it."
Dean looked as though he was about refuse but then he sighed and stood, making his way to the refrigerator himself and grabbing a cold one.
"Maybe you're right," he muttered as he twisted off the lid of the beer bottle and tossed it into the sink, "Maybe I am just getting paranoid."
Bobby nodded, closed-mouthed and headed back out the front door, Dean following right behind him.
Author's Note:
Thanks to whatnosheep, BranchSuper, jensensgirl3, daleaikman, Mistycat, mikeysrevenge, Trucklady53, ArtistKurai, SPN Mum, NightReader22, AlxM, Katlover98, Souless666, reannablue, Cielshadow17, pryde23, mandancie, Kas3y, Nyx Ro and Guest for reviewing.
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