"What were you thinking!?" Dean yelled when he and Sam had finally found Lyn and Reneey. "You could have been hurt!"
"She could have killed you!" Sam continued on.
"She could have sent demons after you!" Dean ranted.
Reneey poked Lyn's side. "Um... lady... who are these people?" she whispered to Lyn.
"A couple of freaking moronic jerks!" Lyn yelled in response, glaring at the Winchesters and not even looking at Reneey. "I went because she had Reneey, and if I hadn't, RENEEY WOULD BE DEAD BY NOW! Does that not occur to either one of you!? I know it was stupid, I know it was reckless, but I DON'T CARE! You think I'm gonna freaking sit and cower because something might happen to me and let her die!?"
Reneey blinked. "I was going to die?"
"Why didn't you tell us!?" Dean yelled, throwing his hands up. "We could have saved Reneey as a team!"
"Yeah, and then Bela would've bailed and when that building freaking EXPLODED, Reneey would've still been inside it because BELA WOULDN'T HAVE TOLD US WHERE SHE WAS!"
Reneey turned to Dean. "How do you know my name?"
Dean and Sam stopped dead. "What are you talking about?"
Reneey turned to Lyn. "Is he also deaf?"
"I'm beginning to wonder," Lyn growled. "Definitely DUMB, anyway."
"Ha ha, nice joke, Reneey," Dean said. "Cut the shit, you know me!"
"... And your name is...?"
Sam blinked. "Do you know me?"
"No," Reneey said, shaking her head.
"Are you sure you don't know me?" Dean repeated.
Reneey turned to Lyn. "Yeah, I definitely think he's deaf."
"Why, you..."
"Stop acting like a raging rhinoceros before I kick you in the teeth," Lyn growled, glaring at Dean. "Are you really that dense? Bela did something to her memory!"
"What did she do!?" Sam asked.
"Who's Bela?" Reneey asked, blinking.
"The woman in the building, hon, remember?" Lyn asked, her voice shifting gears and turning gentle. "The one who talked funny?"
"You mean the lady that I remember?" Reneey asked, blinking.
"... Why is Reneey acting like a three-year-old again?" Dean asked.
Sam whacked him. "She's lost her memory, Dean!" he said, shaking his head sadly.
"And I told you before, she's not a freaking lady," Lyn growled. She shot a dark look at Dean and Sam and informed them, "Reneey remembers Bela giving her something, probably some kind of drug, in food. This totally brings 'special brownies' to a whole new level."
Dean sighed. "I'll go get Bobby on the line." And he left.
"And I'll go search the internet," Sam said, and he left, too, so it was just Reneey and Lyn, sitting on one of the beds in their room.
"So, if you're my sister, who's the mom and dad?"
Lyn sighed heavily and rested her chin on her hands. "That's... a very good question."
Reneey blinked. "You mean you don't know?"
Lyn was silent for a moment, after that. When she finally spoke, her voice was low and careful, as if she was evaluating each word carefully before enunciating it: "I'm... not... exactly sure. I think... when I was very little... I might have known... Something Sam said... after we were turned back from being kids... Or, really, something he wouldn't say..."
"Turned into kids?" Reneey asked, then muttered, "I feel like a damn kid not knowing crap..."
Lyn grinned. "Well, at least you remember how to cuss. I guess that must be some comfort for you. At least it's fairly normal."
"What's fairly normal?"
Lyn sighed. "For me? Thinking way, way too much and blowing up at people whenever they intrude on said thoughts. For you? Doing random, insane things and cussing like a sailor having a root canal."
"Sailor? Root canal?" Reneey asked, blinking. "What else do I do?"
"Um, you're obsessed with emo guys... Scotty Vanity... Songs in languages I can't understand..."
Letting out another yawn, Reneey asked, "So what else do I do? Like, for instance -- say, wear, those things. So I don't feel left out."
Lyn smiled. "Well, your clothes are all in that duffel bag over there," she said, pointing to the bag on Reneey's bed. "The ones that aren't all over the floor, anyway. You'll figure it out, I'm sure."
Reneey looked at the duffel bag, and the clothes on the floor. "These are the clothes I wear? Why is it so tight and... dark?"
"Because that's what you like, I guess," Lyn said, shrugging. "I dunno. I never really thought much about what I wear; it was mostly second- or third-hand, until I came here. Now it's just whatever's cheapest."
Reneey looked in disgust at her clothes. "It looks all... egh! Don't I have something light? Orange, pink, green, anything that's not black or red!?"
Lyn raised her eyebrows. "You... have no idea how strange it is to hear you say that."
"And what's with this hair!?" Reneey shouted. "Blue, green, red, yellow! What the fucking hell is this!?"
"It's your hair," Lyn said, frowning as she took a step back away from Reneey. "You like it that way."
"Why would I!?" screeched Reneey. "Tomorrow I'm going to get real clothes! Cute, and bright colors!"
There was a deep crease between Lyn's eyebrows now, and her eyes were worried -- almost frightened. "A-all right," she said quietly. "Whatever you want..."
"And fix my hair!" She turned to Lyn. "What's my natural hair color?"
"Black..." Lyn's voice was barely audible, her face pale.
"Hmm... maybe blond. Black is so... ick."
Lyn suddenly felt very nauseous. "Why don't you... think about that, for a while, okay? I'm... I'm gonna be right back. Just.. look at your clothes and stuff... maybe borrow something of mine, if you'd rather..."
She turned and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her. She then proceeded to the other room, where Dean was on his phone and Sam was, as usual, sitting behind his computer. She announced her arrival by growling, "All right, whatever the crap that moron did had better get reversed soon. Because I hate to break it to y'all, but this new Reneey? She's freaking scary."
"She already was scary," Dean muttered.
"What do you mean, Lyn?" Sam asked.
"I mean she's in there, talking about buying bright new clothes and dying her hair blond! If I wanted a freaking retarded backstabbing prep for a friend, I would've hung around with Anna Delano!"
"Reneey's a backstabber?" Dean asked, blinking. "And a prep?"
Sam sighed. "Well, I found something on the net -- sometimes, when a person's memory is taken away by force, their personality alters."
"I already figured that out, thanks," Lyn growled, pacing around and continuing ranting. "I mean, I feel like I'm stuck in a bad episode of the freaking Twilight Zone! I am not staying in there with spastic-prep!Reneey!"
"But someone has to stay with her so nothing bad happens!" Sam objected.
"I'm busy with Bobby," Dean said.
"And I have to look up stuff!" Sam continued.
"But if you don't really care..." Dean trailed off.
"Urgh!" Lyn raged. "That's it, I am so freaking killing that conniving little wretch with her blasted horrible accent! Fine, I'll make sure Reneey doesn't kill herself or anything -- but can I at least knock her out first?"
"No," Sam said, clicking on random keys. "It says that if any harm is caused to the person, even a simple bop to the head, she could be stuck like this forever. But, there is a way for her to not be all... well, scary, as Lyn put it."
"Definitely scary," Lyn agreed. "I'd take hyper, semi-homicidal, sado-masochistic lunatic over pink-fluffy-clouds-and-unicorns-riding-on-rainbows Reneey any day. So do share whatever little revelation you're currently keeping to yourself."
"All right, so there's a ritual that can make Reneey be a little kid again," Sam said. "If she's a kid again, then that means she'll have whatever memories and personality as she did when she was three." He paused for a minute. "And when we find out how to get her memories back, we can turn her back to being fourteen and give her the antidote." He looked at Lyn. "Since you're her older sister, you're about as close to a parental figure as she has, so what do you say?"
Lyn's brow furrowed. "You want to make her a kid again... again? Seriously, you don't think all this crap is gonna screw with her head anyway?"
"It won't," Dean assured her, "but you are like a parent and sister to her, since you're the oldest, so it's your call."
Lyn growled exasperatedly and crossed her arms, pacing again. "Dadburn it, why the crap is it always my job to be the freaking adult!?"
I dunno, because you're good at it? Reneey's voice answered in her head. She remembered when Reneey had said that; naturally, it had been when Lyn was on one of her why-am-I-always-the-one-taking-care-of-everyone-and-everything-even-though-I'm-a-freaking-teenager rants. And then Kyle had smiled sadly and he had answered, too...
You're right, it's not fair. But you're strong and you live up to it, and if you feel like you're not gonna make it, we're here, and we'll help.
His voice in her head almost made her cry again, but she pushed that back behind her wall of frustration. She knew it would crack eventually, but she was sick of breaking down in front of people, letting them know that she really was vulnerable and hurt and weak. But she couldn't be now, because Reneey needed her. And Kyle had been wrong; he wasn't always there, and by now Lyn was pretty sure he never would be again.
Finally she sighed heavily and stopped stomping around, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose between her middle finger and thumb, driving the knuckle of her index finger into her forehead as she did so. "You're sure this won't just make things worse?" she asked, her voice suddenly very quiet.
"Yes, I'm sure of it," Sam said as he left to start the ritual.
"Hey," Dean said quietly, "I know how you feel, believe it or not." He gave a half smile. "Ever since I was four or so, I always took care of my baby brother. I was the one who rocked him to sleep, who gave him baths, who made his food." He sighed. "Dad was obsessed with finding the demon that killed Mom, he sometimes.. forgot about Sam."
Lyn met Dean's gaze wearily, her expression grim. "No, you don't," she said in the same low voice. "Because you had a dad. And you had a brother. I had grandparents who only remembered me if I didn't wash the dishes or mow the yard and a couple of drunk parents who occasionally showed up to bum food or cigarette money. So spare me the sympathy, I can take care of myself."
She then turned on her heel, still wearing a fathomless expression, and left to follow Sam and check on Reneey.
--
Sam was in the libing room, sweating and with lots of bruises on his shins, standing next to... and three-year-old Reneey?
"WHERE'S LYNNI!?"
"Lyn, please control your sister," Sam pleaded.
Dean walked in to see this commotion and blinked at Sam. "You defeated killer ghosts, but yet you get defeated by a three-year-old?" he had to chuckle.
"WHERE THE FUCKING HELL IS LYNNI, YOU BIG MONSTER STALKER MEANIES!?" Reneey yelled.
"Hey, hey, hey -- Reneey, hon, remember me?" Lyn asked, approaching carefully.
Reneey looked up at Lyn, blinking, and then her expression shifted gears, turning perfectly calm. Then suddenly she ran to Lyn and hugged her legs in a death grip. "Lynni! I missed you! I was so scared when you weren't here, and then these evil monster stalker meanies came in, and I did what you told me to do! I kicked him! Just like you told me, remember, Lynni?" Reneey looked up at Lyn and asked slowly, "Did I do the ring thing?"
"Evil monster stalker meanies?" Sam repeated, twitching.
Lyn rolled her eyes at him. "How exactly would you explain it to a three-year-old who isn't really a three-year-old without totally freaking her out? And yes, Reneey, but you don't have to kick them, okay?"
Reneey frowned and looked down. "But you told me to protect myself, I'm confused..." Then she glared at Lyn. "But you told me you would never leave me!" she pouted. "And here you were, not here!"
"Look, we're not evil monster stalker meanies," Dean said as he approached the girls. Reneey shook her head and hid behind Lyn's leg.
"It's okay, Rea," Lyn reassured her. "They're not gonna hurt you. And they're not meanies. They're Dean and Sam. Okay?"
Reneey looked at Lyn. "Are you sure? 'Cuz that meanie over there --" she pointed at Sam -- "tried to grab my arm!"
Lyn raised an eyebrow. "And how many times had you kicked him by that point?" she asked wryly.
"Ten times!" Reneey said proudly.
Dean couldn't help it; he fell over, laughing.
"I'm hungry!" Reneey reached up to grab Lyn's hand. "Can you make lasangune?"
Lyn laughed. "It's three-thirty in the morning, Rea. You need to get a glass of milk and go to bed."
Reneey pouted. "I DON'T WANNA! I DON'T LIKE MILK! AND I DON'T WANNA GO TO BED!"
Lyn shrugged. "Fine, then. Stay awake. But you'll be staying awake by yourself, because I haven't slept in thirty-seven hours."
Reneey whimpered and hugged onto Lyn's leg tigher. "But I don't wanna be 'lone!"
"I didn't mean by yourself," Lyn clarified. "I'll still be here. I'll just be asleep."
"Promise?"
"I promise I'm not gonna go anywhere and leave you, okay?"
Reneey thought for a moment. "'Morrow, can you make lasaeunga?"
Lyn rolled her eyes but grinned. "Fine. Lasagna, tomorrow, or you'll kick me. Gotcha."
Sparkles filled Reneey's eyes. "Okay! You can go to sleep now!" Then she blinked. "How are you going to sleep standing up?"
"Oh, don't tempt me -- that is how I slept when Mom was in the hospital two summers ago," Lyn said, shaking her head. "Don't ask me why, but whatever..."
"Mommy was at the hospital two summers ago?" Reneey asked, blinking. "Is Mommy all right? Where is Mommy? Doesn't she wanna be here? Doesn't she want us?"
Lyn's brow furrowed. "Who... exactly... are you talking about?" she asked slowly, shooting a suspicious glance at the spot where Sam and Dean had been standing earlier, but they had already left.
"Mommy! You know, our Mommy! The Mommy on the wall that I see!" Reneey said worriedly. "Didn't Mommy want us...?"
"I... I'm... sure she did, Reneey," Lyn said quietly, trying to understand what she was hearing. Three-year-old Reneey... remembered Lyn as a kid... remembered a 'Mommy'... their mom? And Dean and Sam hadn't seen fit to mention that!?
So why isn't she here!?" whined the younger girl.
"I don't know, Rea," Lyn murmured, now trying to think back as far as she could into her childhood; she remembered birthdays and holidays and getting her picture made, but though she couldn't remember a mother in them, she now realized that she couldn't remember her grandparents in them, either. "I... don't remember..."
Reneey whined. "But you'll stay here, right? So that we we won't be lonely!?"
"Yeah," Lyn whispered, sitting down on her bed and gazing unseeingly at the floor. "I'll... be here..."
Reneey hugged her sister. "And I'll be here too! We will never be lonely!"
"Reneey?" Lyn asked suddenly, and it astounded her that she had never thought to ask this question of the three-year-old before. "Who.. who am I? How do you know me?"
The little girl blinked. "You are Lynni, my older sister, who beat up this one person who pinched my cheek!"
Suddenly Lyn felt everything crashing. Her world, her reality, everything she had held onto because she knew this couldn't be right and real, someday she would get back home and it would all go away... But it wouldn't, because this hadn't started when she had come here. It had started when she was a kid, she just hadn't realized it. She realized all of a sudden that she had started breathing quickly and calmed her breaths, closing her eyes for a second to fight back the shock. She could deal with this, she could figure it out.
"Hey, Rea... I changed my mind. I don't wanna sleep yet. I wanna talk to you for a while..."
