A/N: A special thanks to Clowns or Midgets for her feedback on some of these last chapters. Her insight helped me to make them that much better for your reading. They are back but things are out of sorts for them. Thank you for reading my story. Reviews would be nice. Enjoy... NC
Chapter 43
"Awe hell!" Dean grunted in disgust. "We're in another freakin' forest. Couldn't he at least put us near some city or something."
"Don't complain, at least we didn't end up in some ocean or lake somewhere or where it's freezing." Sam offered looking around. "Hey I think I see a trail over there." he pointed a short distance away.
"Guess we need to find out where we are." Dean huffed, taking in a deep breath to steady himself.
"And we need to find a phone to call Bobby." Lark added letting Dean step ahead of her as they made their way through the trees toward what looked like a well traveled trail.
"There's a sign up there let's see what it says." Sam offered walking toward the wooden sign to read it. "It says the main parking lot is this way."
"Where's there's a parking lot there has to be vehicles. Maybe we can bum a ride from someone." Dean said as he walked the way the arrow pointed.
It took them thirty minutes of hiking to get to the trailhead and a large dirt parking lot. They looked around seeing a number of cars and truck parked in the lot but no people. Lark walked over to a billboard and began to read the papers on it and looked at the map.
"Guys, we're in North Carolina in the Great Smoky Mountains National Forest." she said looking back at them with a surprised look on her face.
"Right, couldn't be any farther away from Sioux Falls." Dean complained. "So what now?"
Lark heard voices and looked down one of the trails leading to the parking lot and saw two guys walking their way. She waited until they got closer before speaking.
"Hi, I was hoping you might could help me and my friends. We've been hiking for several weeks and could use a ride to the nearest town." Lark asked politely, giving them a warm smile.
"Sure if you don't mind riding in back of a truck." one of the guys said looking from Lark to Sam and Dean.
"What did you guys get into?" the other inquired looking at their nasty clothes and their disheveled appearance.
Lark frowned for a moment and looked down at her dirty, torn, blood stained clothes and over at the guys who were not in much better shape. She could image how they looked to them since they hadn't had a bath in like five days. She absently tried to tame her unruly hair as she thought up a reply. At least the blood was dried and dark and didn't look like what it was.
"Hard hiking and we found a cave we explored. Pretty nasty mess and we didn't take time to try and clean up since we wanted to get back." Lark shrugged hoping the lie would pass.
"The nearest town is about an hour away. It's not big, Bryson City, but they do have some motels you can probably get rooms at." the driver offered as he unlocked his truck.
"That's fine, we don't mind the back." Sam said taking his pack and putting it in back. He took Lark's and sat it beside his before opening the tailgate so they could climb in. He heard Dean hiss and grunt in pain but he managed to get into the back.
"We appreciate this, you can drop us anywhere. We're going to get a motel room for a couple of nights to rest and clean up." Lark told them. "Oh would one of you happen to have a cell I could borrow to make a call?"
"Sure, use mine." the passenger said digging a cell from his pack and handing it to her. "I'm Clay and that's my brother Will."
"Thank you, I'm Lark and this is Dean and Sam, they're brothers too."
"Hey, nice to meet you." Sam said giving a wave as he watched Dean settle, noticing he still looked pale.
"Thanks for the ride." Dean nodded as he leaned against the back of the truck and clenched his jaw to keep from moaning.
Lark brought up the dial pad and punched in Bobby's work number thinking that would be the easiest way to get him. She listened to it ring four times before being picked up.
"Singer Savage." he growled into the phone like he had been disturbed.
"Hey Bobby it's Lark." she said, happy to hear his voice. She waited but didn't hear anything but silence from the other end. "Bobby? Are you still there?" she asked cautiously not sure what the problem was.
"Lark is it really you? Are Dean and Sam with you?" he finally got out.
"Yeah Bobby, we just got back to...here." she said not wanting to say anything more since Clay and Will were listening.
"Damn Lass...I had 'bout given up hope of seeing you guys again..." he said a catch in his voice.
"What do you mean Bobby?" Lark asked slowly.
"Lass you've been gone over six months now." he informed her.
"Shit!" Lark cried out making everyone look at her in surprise. "Sorry, look we're going to get a motel room and will call you later."
"Where are you? I can come and get you."
"We're in North Carolina in a national park. I'll rent us a car and we'll drive back Bobby. We need to rest for a couple of days, but I will call you later with an update."
"You do that and Lass, I'm glad you all made it back." he replied a hint of warmth in his voice.
"I promise. Bye." she said ending the call. "Thanks Clay. We're ready when you are."
"Okay, get comfortable." he said getting in the cab with his brother.
"What was that about?" Dean asked in a low voice when he saw the puzzled look on her face.
"Guys, Bobby said we have been gone over six months." she whispered, not believing her own words.
"Holy crap..." Sam mused as it hit him the amount of time that had passed in this world compared to the short time they had been in the other.
"Guess time runs differently there." Dean surmised. "It's not the first time we've come across this." He was thinking of his time in hell and the difference between the times.
Lark looked at him, waiting for him to continue but he didn't and wondered what he was thinking when she saw the closed off expression on his face. She glanced at Sam and saw the pinched look on his face and wondered what the story was behind that, but didn't question it as the truck bounced over the dirt road until it got the blacktop and slowly picked up speed. She was hunched between the brothers leaning again the cab and pulled her coat tighter around her for warmth. She figured it was late September by the nip in the air and the changing of the leaves on the trees she noticed. It was still hard to wrap her mind around them being going that long, when it was only about a month by her calculations. The brothers didn't try to talk and their trip was a silent one.
spn
Will was correct, in a little over an hour, he pulled into a gas station on the outskirts of Bryson City and stopped. The travelers moved their stiff bodies and got up slowly to get out of the back and grab their packs.
"There's several motels and eating places at this exit." Clay said as he got out of the truck.
"This will work fine." Lark replied seeing two motels in the distance and several places they could eat at.
"Thanks for the lift." Dean told the brothers as he looked around at civilization with a different perspective.
"Yeah, we appreciate it." Lark added giving a wave as they headed across the parking lot.
"Safe travels." Sam called to them before following Dean and Lark toward the motels.
"I'll go in and get us a room." she said checking the two places out and deciding which one she liked better.
Dean looked at Sam over her head and wondered if she realized what she said 'a room' and if they would be bunking together still. He wasn't going to press her after all that had happened in the other world, but he hoped there would still be feelings between them. He didn't mind taking it slow and working back to what they had if it meant there was a chance for them.
"How are you going to pay?" Sam asked thinking he had some money somewhere in his pack.
"Plastic." Lark replied with confidence. She made sure to pack a credit card and some cash in a zippered pocket of the backpack to use when they got back, since they had no idea where they would come out. And she was glad of it. She stopped outside the office of the motel and took off her pack to dig out her credit card. "I'll be back in a minute." she said weariness showing on her face that she couldn't hide.
"We'll be right here." Dean nodded taking a seat on a bench outside the office door.
Sam plopped down beside him and breathed out a long breath. "Dean, do you feel different?"
"How you mean?"
"I don't know, but it's like my body has not caught up with this world. I feel sort of weighted down and really tired."
"Like the air's too heavy and pressing in on your body." Dean added glad he wasn't the only one feeling out of sorts.
"I guess our bodies have to get used to this world again. I for one feel like I could sleep for a week." Sam sighed.
"I can't wait for a nice hot shower to get some of this shit off me." Dean surmised looking at his hands and seeing blood and dirt under his fingernails and ground into his knuckles.
"You know we should get something to eat. You two didn't eat last night or this morning. You must be hungry." Sam said.
"Food we don't have to cook..." Dean said longingly. "I can get an ice cold beer."
"Maybe hold off on that until this evening, it's not even lunchtime yet." Sam chuckled getting up when Lark came out of the office.
"I bribed the clerk into letting us have a room early since business is slow and the rooms are already cleaned. I got it for two nights." Lark said holding up two key cards.
"Why don't we drop our packs off and go grab a bite?" Dean asked thinking his stomach did feel empty.
"You read my mind. There's a milk shake calling my name." Lark answered as she licked her lips just thinking about it. "We're on the bottom floor corner room. I asked for one away from other guests so we won't be disturbed by noise."
"Once I go to bed, I don't think a bomb would wake me." Sam said wearily.
"You two feeling it too?" Lark asked as she led them around the motel and down the walkway to the end room. She opened the door and before she could go in, Dean stepped in front of her to check the room out first. "It's not the first motel room I've gotten you know."
"Sorry force of habit." Dean told her with a shrug. He noticed two queen size beds in the room but didn't say anything.
"So fast food?" Sam asked, though he didn't like to eat it, none of them looked very presentable to dine in. "There's seat soutside we can use so the other customers don't have to smell us."
"Good idea, I don't smell us anymore but I'm sure we're pretty ripe." Dean agreed.
"Let me use the bathroom first." Lark said dropping her pack and heading into the bathroom.
Dean and Sam laughed when they heard her making comments from inside the room about hot water and a commode. They each took a turn using the bathroom and washed their faces and hands before heading out to a fast food place just down the street.
spn
"How's the shoulder and arm?" Lark asked Dean as she sat bags of food and the container holding two drinks, milk shake and a water on the outside table of the fast food place.
"It's fine." Dean said not wanting to complain of the ache in his shoulder.
"Maybe you should take some pain meds when we get back." she suggested.
"Maybe." he said pulling a large drink out of the container and taking a long draw on the straw filling his mouth with the cold liquid. He frowned at the taste and looked at the cup suspiciously.
"Alright, double, bacon cheeseburger for you and fries." Lark said pulling food from the bag and dividing it up. "Grilled chicken and fries for you Sam and single cheeseburger and fries for me."
"Thanks." Sam said opening up his sandwich and looking at it.
"Ketchup?" she offered pulling packets from the bag and laying them in the middle of the table. Lark picked up her chocolate milk shake and sucked a small amount into her mouth relishing the coldness of the liquid on her taste buds. "I think I've died and gone to heaven..." she moaned in delight before making a slight face, but took another sip anyway.
"Bacon..." Dean whispered lovingly as he took a large bite of the burger. He chewed the food and frowned slightly wondering why the taste seemed funny and worked on swallowing it. "Sammy?"
"What?" Sam asked making a face as he chewed a bite of his chicken sandwich.
"Why doesn't my burger taste right? It couldn't have changed that much in six months." Dean whined looking down it. "Even the bacon taste like crap."
"It's not just your burger. Mine doesn't taste right either." he remarked opening up his sandwich to look at it. He didn't see anything that looked wrong with it and frowned as his mind tried to work out the answer.
Lark had drunk a third of her shake before the pain hit. She cried out softly and fisted her hands pressing them to her temple and she doubled over.
"Lark what's wrong?" Sam asked in concern.
"Babe? What is it?" Dean asked laying a hand on her arm as she groaned again.
Before she could answer, she stumbled to her feet and moved to a small grassy area away from the tables and emptied her stomach. She leaned against a small tree as she tried to get her breath and see if she was finished.
Dean started to get up but Sam stopped him when he saw the look of pain on his face. "I got this." he told him getting up to go check on her. He picked up her water and went to her offering the cup. "You okay?"
"Yeah." she mumbled sipping some water and rinsing her mouth out. "Just didn't sit right on my stomach I guess." she said wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her jacket.
"I think we're gonna have to ease into our food. I'm guessing our bodies need to adjust to the changes of the two worlds."
"Yeah I think you're right." she said letting Sam help her back to the table. She sat down and wiped her face on a napkin before picking up a fry and trying it. She pushed her shake away deciding not to drink anymore.
"I think this is the first time I've ever said this..." Dean said looking at the other two. "I don't feel like eating the rest." he said looking sadly down at his half eaten burger.
"Me either." Sam agreed pushing his partly eaten sandwich away too. He picked up a fry and took a bite before dropping the rest back onto the wrapper. The food had a dull, bland taste with no flavor except for it being hot or cold.
"I was so excited and looking forward to that shake." Lark said tears forming in her eyes that she blinked away. It seemed her emotions were as off as her taste was right now. She looked around when a couple came out the door and frowned when she seemed to sense their feelings of happiness. "I think I wanna go back to the room."
"Me too. I want a shower and a soft bed." Dean said getting up and gathering his trash to throw it away.
"You two go on back, I'm going into the convenience store and grab some ginger ale for Lark and green tea. Maybe it'll settle your stomach." Sam told them throwing away his leftover food too.
"Grab a six pack. Maybe after some sleep things will be better." Dean asked waiting for Lark to get up.
"Here's one of the key cards so you can get back in." Lark offered pulling the card from her jeans pocket and holding it out for him.
"Thanks, I shouldn't be long." Sam told her taking the card and walking toward the store, away from them.
"See ya back there." Dean called to him. "Ready?" he asked Lark wanting to put an arm around her, but didn't want to be forward or assume anything.
"Yes." she said walking toward their motel.
