Liza fiddles with her car keys as the doctor examines Lilly, bored out of her mind and wondering how the hell she got roped into this. The doctor sits down on the stool with a stumped, slightly annoyed look that, combined with the frizzy gray hair, made the woman look like a mad scientist that's just been struck by lightning. "Any ideas, Doc," Liza asks, gaze flicking between Thompson and Lilly.
"I don't know," Thompson sighs, tugging on the sleeve of her lab coat. "We've had cat scans done, we've tried laxatives, X-rays, ultrasounds, and blood work. I'm honestly starting to think this is all psychological, you know?" The keys bite into Liza's hand as she clenches it in frustration. "Jealousy from the other foster children her parents take in regularly." Now it's clear why Tanya made her come, Liza was downright mean when it comes to the baby.
"I had the exact same diagnosis when I was a senior. My white cell count was normal, as were all those other tests I had to go through, so I must be making it all up, right?" The doctor shifts slightly in her seat, looking a little scared at the intense look that was being leveled at her. "Turns out I had appendicitis and the only thing that kept my appendix from bursting inside me was an exploratory surgery.
"Now, Miss Mayson—"
"You either find my niece a doctor with half a brain or you'll be seeing a lot more of me around here." Her voice stays even through the entire spiel, but it wouldn't take a genius to read her expression as I'll shank a bitch for my niece. "If she gets worse, then you can rest assured that I won't give you a moment's peace. I will poke and prod at you until you either break and help Lilly or you go completely bonkers. Got it?" Thompson nods, the color drained from her cheeks as she watches Liza pick the three year old up and leave the room. Liza doesn't even bother paying attention to the nurse at the front desk, deciding the clinic would get paid when they pulled their heads out of their asses.
Parked outside next to Liza's Chevy was a familiar black Impala, two equally familiar men sitting on its hood. "Sammy," Lilly shouts, wriggling excitedly until Liza set her down. The little girl basically launches herself up into Sam's arms despite her pain, giggling when Sam blows a raspberry against her neck. Dean smirks at the scene, walking over and pulling Liza into a much-needed hug. "Can I braid your hair?!" Liza can't help but snort at the helpless look on Sam's face as he nods his consent to Lilly.
"Any news," Dean asks, glancing over at Lilly before looking back to Liza for an answer.
"No, but I'm pretty sure I might have the cops called on me for a threat I may or may not have made against that quack of a doctor in there." Chuckling, Dean wraps his arm around her shoulders and leads her to the cars. "Follow me to Tanya's place so I can drop off squirt and then we're gonna find the closest bar."
Liza sits next to Sam on the hood of the Impala, flipping through a magazine she'd stolen from the Dollar Store a block away while Sammy reads the newspaper for any weirdness they might need to check out. It was already dark outside and Dean was still multitasking, hustling a game of pool while hitting on the cute bartender, Carly or Candy or something that begins with C.
The floodlights outside the bar are enough for her to see Dean as he finally comes outside, laughing and holding a wad of cash in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. "You know, we could get day jobs once in a while," Sam points out, glancing up from the Sunday funnies.
"Hunting's our day job and the pay is crap," Dean responds, handing the bottle off to Liza. She arches a brow when she sees the label, recognizing it as the cheapest kind in the place. "Carla the bartender thought it might be bribe enough to get you back inside."
"Really," she asks skeptically," and why would she want that?" Liza takes a swig all the same, making a face at the taste of it. Liza preferred a good stiff drink to beer, especially considering most beer tasted like absolute shit, but this one really took the gold medal for bad brews.
"Let's just say she's not my type and move on."
"Well, she's gonna need a better taste in booze before I fuck her." Dean takes the beer from her and throws it in the trash, sending her a wink. "That look isn't gonna get you a threesome, buddy. Those things are just plain uncomfortable." It's Sam's turn to make a face, looking at her like she'd just stomped all over his childhood dreams. "Don't give me that look, we both know how adventurous you were in college."
"That's not—" Sam's cut off by Dean snickering, the pair turning to look over at him with raised brows.
"Got a little somethin' on your shoulder, Liza," he says, pointing. She looks down at the shoulder he's pointing at, not expecting to find anything let alone the giant ass spider sitting there like it pays rent. She lets out a loud scream, flailing to get the spider away from her and falling off the hood of the car in the process. That little stunt has Sam and Dean laughing their asses off and Liza scowling at the two men while trying to pick herself up off the ground with what little dignity she had left. At Liza's sour look, Dean's laughter dries up and he clears his throat. "So, we got a new gig or am I gonna have to sleep in the motel bathtub tonight?"
"Oasis Plains, Oklahoma," Liza answers, picking herself up off the ground. "Zane called a few minutes ago and said he'd like some help. It's not far from here." His brows scrunch together, looking confused as he no doubt tried to remember who the hell Zane is. "Dustin Burwash was said to have died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob."
"Huh?"
"Human mad cow disease," Sam supplies, taking over.
"Mad cow? Wasn't that on Oprah?"
"You watch Oprah," Sam and Liza ask at the same time, their brows raised in surprise. Dean pauses as if realizing what he just said, licking his lips nervously before continuing to talk.
"The guy ate a bad burger, so what? Why is this our kind of thing?"
"Mad Cow disease causes massive brain degeneration, it takes months, even years for the damage to appear. Dustin's brain disintegrated in about an hour, maybe less." If that doesn't cause suspicion, then Liza has no clue what will. "Now, it could be a disease, or it could be something much nastier and if we don't go down there to help Zane figure out what it is, Liza will just go without us." She nods with a smile, leaning against the Impala with her arms crossed.
"All right," Dean shrugs," I guess we're staying in Oklahoma."
"I even know some good places to eat around here," Liza puts in. The hunters load back up in the car, music blaring through the speakers as they settle into the familiar rhythm; Dean driving and humming along to the songs, Sammy flipping through John's journal to try and get a heads up on what they could be dealing with, and Liza texting Zane to brainstorm.
"Hey, maybe this time we won't run into a crazy dude that wants Liza dead."
