Calling in a Marker

By Criminally Charmed

Disclaimer - Don't own. Wish I did. But wasn't last week's ep AWESOME! And next week's looks even better – yeah! Trickster Time, baby!

Chapter Thirty Six

Kate Tracy secured the blanket covering Jason around the young man's shoulders. Smiling at him before moving away, she pretended not to hear when he spoke to his older brothers, Mike and Adam.

"Why do I fell like I've just been tucked in by my mother?"

Virgil snorted, trying not to laugh while he both made sure that the IVs and monitoring devices were secure and that the three Bumpers with him would be protected when they beganto move back through the caverns. "Don't worry," the medic spoke, trying to make sure his sister-in-law couldn't hear him. "She does that to everyone."

"Watch it, dude, or I am so telling the boss!" Kate called back from where she was making sure the Bumper Twins were belted onto their bench before slipping into the driver's seat.

Seeing Virgil frown, Adam shrugged. "Is she seriously going to say something to your commander?"

When Virgil continued to frown, Mike chuckled. "Nope. I think she would rat him out to his wife, right?"

Nodding, Virgil sighed. "And worse…my other half is preggers at the moment. The usually calmest, sweetest woman in the world becomes possessed by a harpy when her hormones run rampant."

"And that one is definitely being reported to the female population of the base!" Kate hollered even as she put the Mole into gear and began to back out of the cavern.

Adam leaned forward as Mike looked on in sympathy and Jason frowned in confusion. "You know, I'm a lawyer. I would be happy to plead your case."

Now laughing, Mike shook his head. "No, Adam. The best lawyer in the world couldn't get him off from marital court."

Jason looked even more confused before deciding to just get some rest. As he drifted off, his last thought would have brought out even more laughter.

"The cave-in and the crazed feline from Hell were bad. But I am beginning to think that wives are the scariest creatures known to man. A beautiful bird is a joy to behold but when she becomes a wife…

I'm staying a bachelor.

Scott Tracy leaned against the pack he had carried into the caves earlier. Biting his lower lip so hard that a single drop of blood appeared, the oldest Tracy son had to force his breathing to calm down. The level of his panic was incredibly high. He had not felt this anxious and angry since the time he and most of his family had been trapped on Thunderbird Five. Then, like now, the fear was less for himself and more for his youngest brother. A monster was once more stalking Alan, and Scott could do nothing to protect the baby he had helped raise.

"You can't get over the feeling either, can you?" Dean Winchester's voice broke in on Scott's frantic thoughts.

Shaking his head slightly, Scott turned his face towards the other man. "What feeling is that?"

"The helpless, angry feeling when the kid you helped raise is in danger and there is nothing you can do about it?" Dean explained, sighing deeply. "I swear, at times I have thought Sam was born with a tattoo of a target. From the time Dad brought him into the family business, the bad guys figured out fast that the way to get to us was Sammy. Of course, there was that one time with the shtriga…" Dean's voice faded away, lost in a memory that still haunted him.

"A shtriga?" Scott asked, relieved to embrace any distraction from their current dilemma.

"Um, a kinda witch. And sorta a vampire, but instead of sucking blood, it drains the life force from children. Doctors think it is some kind of unexplained virus. The one we stopped, um, three years ago, I think? Well, we think he was the same one Dad was tracking back when we were kids. I was around ten and Sam was six. I wasn't supposed to leave Sammy unsupervised but…well, I did. I snuck out to play some video games. I came back and…"

Dean sighed deeply once more. "It came after Sammy. Would have got him if Dad hadn't tracked it back to where we were staying. It took stopping it almost twenty years later to get over that guilt. Kinda. Well, maybe some of it. Truth is, Sammy as been the center of my universe since he was born. I taught him to walk, talk, potty training, taking him to school…forced myself to let him go when he was accepted to Stanford."

Scott smiled slightly. "Sounds like me and Alan."

"Well," Dean mused as he leaned back, trying – and failing – to find a comfortable spot among the Civil War debris. "I bet you never sold your soul in order to save your brother's life, spent a year trying to beat the deal, only to be ripped apart by hellhounds, suffer in Hell and brought back by an angel who yanked you from the pit for some cause that no one is willing to explain."

"No…" Scott mused. "Never had to. And frankly, Kate is probably scarier than Hellhounds."

Dean looked over at the injured Thunderbird and laughed lightly. If one-tenth of what he had heard about Katherine Tracy was true…She was scarier than most of the evil the Winchesters had fought for almost three decades.

Jeff and Bobby had run into another blocked entrance. "I've seen the maps for these caves. Most of these tunnels had at least some access. I don't know which explosion caused the most damage. A lot of it may be a combo of the two."

"Well," Bobby asked, "why not use that thingamajiggy? The portable blaster?"

Looking down at the case holding a small version of the Thunderizer, Jeff grinned. "Alan and Fermat's testing showed it could only be used twice on average blockades and once on a major one without being recharged. The device to recharge it is back at base. I really don't want to use it unless I have to."

"Wait. Alan came up with that?"

"Alan and Fermat Hackenbacker. I think you met him when he and Tin-Tin went to Boston to pick up Alan and Sarah back in December? Fermat had an idea for a miniature Thunderizer but had trouble with a containment unit that wouldn't blow with use. Alan used his engineering skills and some creativity that has served him well as a sci-fi author to create the container." Jeff's pride in his son's accomplishment was obvious and made Bobby grin.

"Yeah," Bobby grinned. "But could he build a sawed-off shotgun before he was fourteen?" At Jeff's raised eyebrow, the hunter shrugged. "Your kids do their thing, mine do theirs."

Jeff gave a small smile as they continued to move forward, anxious to find their boys and get out of the caves before anything else could go wrong.

Gordon Tracy leaned back and closed his eyes. He knew that Virgil and Kate would be there soon. And he wanted a chance to ask John something…

"What if something goes wrong?"

John looked up from his hand-held data pad, where he had been listing the way he had neutralized the chemicals so that in a hopefully not future situation, they wouldn't need the help of International Rescue to get rid of the toxic waste. "Gordo, the chemicals are neutralized, the Bumpers are rescued, and we need to hope the rest of the team is OK. Until we get out of here, there is no purpose in worrying about something we can't do anything about."

"No…I mean," Gordon sighed deeply before continuing. "I mean when Julie has the baby. Julie is built a lot like Emily. She is small, not like Kate or Sarah or even Tin-Tin. What if something goes wrong?"

John set down his data-pad and put a comforting arm around his brother's shoulders. "Gordon, Julie may be small, but she has higher endurance, or did you forget those two Olympic Gold medals for swimming she has?" When Gordon still didn't look convinced, John decided to reveal something his wife had found out recently.

"Listen, Emmy never knew this until recently, but her paternal grandmother – who she strongly resembles – died in childbirth with what should have been Emily's aunt. Emily had Elizabeth examined for what turned out to be a cardiovascular weakness." At Gordon's worried expression, John was quick to comfort him.

"No, Elizabeth is fine. But Emily was able to get her mother's and both grandmothers' medical records. That wouldn't have been possible before her mother's death, but now she knows. Her mother knew there was a chance of Emily needing special care if she got pregnant and never told her. If Emily had gotten that care when she was carrying Elizabeth, she might not have almost died having Keith." John's usually gentle blue eyes were hard and cold, refusing to forgive a dead woman whose silence could have cost him the love of his life.

When the stone walls and floor began to shake gently, John stood and gathered his supplies. Gordon mimicked his elder brother's movements and they both hugged the wall behind them as the Mole forced its way back through the tunnel it had made earlier.

Barely had the Mole stopped when the door slid open. Both Tracys were glad that they had lowered their visors when an unfamiliar face peered out.

"Hello," Maria Bumper cheerfully greeted the rescuers. "Your friends want to know if you would care for a ride or do you want to wait for the next bus?"

Gordon grinned under his visor. He liked this woman. As he stepped forward, John nudged him and whispered, "Married man now, Gordy. Married man now."

Gordon laughed silently. He loved Julie completely and deeply and while he admired this woman's humor, endurance and – he could admit it – her rather attractive face and form, what the red-headed Tracy son would have liked best would have been if he had a still single brother to introduce her to.

She would have fit right in with the Tracy wives.

Sam Winchester forced himself to stand, wincing at the pain in his shoulder and head. He stretched out his good arm and pushed Alan back so that the younger man was partially hidden behind him. When Alan stumbled slightly, he reached out, trying to balance himself on Sam's left shoulder.

Big mistake.

When Sam howled in pain, Alan stepped back further, alarmed at the cry from his friend. "Sam? What is it?"

Before Sam could reply, the demonic deputy sneered at the young hunter. "Aw, does little Sammy Winchester have a boo-boo? But nothing like the boo-boo I'm gonna give you."

"You are taking this way too personal, dude," Alan grumbled behind Sam.

"No, not really," Demon Dutton said calmly. "Scott Tracy did everything he could to ruin Keifer Dutton's life and Dean Winchester killed my brother." At the startled look on Sam's face, the demon shook his head. "Really, Sammy, and I thought you were the smart one. You've met demonic families before. I know you remember Meg. After all, the Winchesters killed her brother. Then you killed her father. And you wonder why the demons pick on the two wittle Winchester boys. Maybe it's because you're both just a couple of filthy murderers."

"Shut up!" Alan yelled. "They are nothing like you. I am so sick of monsters like you hurting innocent people and then blaming those who are brave enough to stand up and do the right thing. You hear me in there, Keifer? What did Scott do to you? Refuse to let you be the town bully and get away with things? Stand up to people? He is a good person and so are the Winchesters. You are a coward and as much of a monster as that demonic body buddy you have there."

Sam reached back and patted Alan's arm, when the young rescuer nudged at the hunter. Briefly glancing at the floor, Sam was shocked to see a devil's trap etched into the stone surface. He wasn't sure how his young friend had recognized the symbol or even how it came to be there, but Sam was a firm believer in improvising.

Alan continued to taunt Dutton from behind Sam – as the younger Winchester was not about to move – as they both hoped that the demonic deputy would step into the trap, thus allowing an exorcism to begin…

One more step, Sam whispered in his head. Just one more…

Dutton's angry demeanor suddenly shifted and his facial expression changed into one of sick humor. "Aw, that was good, Sammy. So close. Yeah, what do you think of that artwork there? Nice little devil's trap. You almost got me. But you didn't!" Dutton growled as he clenched his fist and threw it upwards.

Alan cried out in worry while Sam simply yelled in pain as he felt an invisible hand clutch his throat and throw him away from Alan. As consciousness faded from Sam once more, only one thought was on his mind.

I knew someone couldn't resist trying to choke me.

A/N - OK, more trauma and drama, plus some good bonding time all around. But what will happen next with the babies? Who can save them?

I know, but I ain't telling.

And Jaimie (the little girl whose mom was killed) started back to school this week. She is in a wheelchair but is getting back to her routine. So thanks for the prayers and positive thoughts. All the love being sent to this family is surely helping with the healing process.

Laters! - CC