Chapter Fifty-Two
Sam quickly backtracked the number from Mrs. Davis, and it led them exactly where she said it would- a pay phone near some decrepit factories with a railroad track running through them. The box around the phone was rusted, the cord fraying. Lilly reached out and picked up the phone, examining it. It was old and dirty but otherwise uninteresting.
Dean kicked at a rock on the side of the road. It branched off in gravel towards the factory buildings. "We should check it out," he said to Sam, nodding at the buildings. Lilly ignored his pointed look and took a gun from the backseat of the Impala. "Let's go," she responded.
When neither brother had moved or said anything, she turned around to see them both looking at her grimly. "Why don't you wait for us here," Sam said gently.
"No, what if you need help or-"
"Wait for us here." Dean said firmly. Lilly looked as if she was about to protest, until she saw the plea in Dean's eyes.
"Okay," she said, stroking Dean's arm, "but be careful."
"Always am," Dean said, giving her a peck on the cheek. Lilly leaned against the Impala as Sam and Dean pulled out guns and various other supplies. Dean glanced at Lilly a final time, nodded, and then headed down the gravel road after Sam.
The buildings were clearly abandoned; the wood was rotted and the metal rusted. Dean peered at a large door hanging off the hinges and nudged it with his toe. It creaked and dust wafted up around them. Sam tilted his head towards the door, and aimed his gun as Dean pushed it open. A few mice skittered away from the light, and the door squealed loudly, but there was no other sign of movement.
They crept into the room, taking turns moving forward and covering the back. Dean relaxed when they had covered the entirety of the room and seen nothing.
"What was this place?" Sam asked softly. Dean glanced around. He'd been looking for monsters, not at the machinery. There were a few big machines still occupying the center of the room, but most of the smaller stuff had been pushed off to the sides. Tables and workbenches lined the walls, covered in tools of varying function.
One of the large machines he identified as a wood chipper, but he wasn't sure about the others. They contained sharp blades and numerous buttons.
"Lumber mill?" Dean said hopefully, nodding to the wood chipper.
"Maybe," Sam murmured, already moving on. Dean opened his mouth to comment further on the machinery, then closed it.
"Sam, did you see that picture?"
Sam turned around. "What picture?"
"The one in Mrs. Davis' house! From Chicago!" Dean said incredulously.
Sam shrugged. "Sorry I was focused on other things," he said, gesturing around him. "I don't know, Dean, maybe she's been there before, maybe she saw someone she knew in it…" Dean started to protest, but Sam stopped. "Trust me, I know it's weird that she forgot what she was saying. But maybe she only forgot because it wasn't important," Sam said, meeting Dean's eyes. "How often has Lilly forgotten something important?"
Dean grunted. He toed a tarp covering a workbench; mice squeaked and ran for cover but nothing jumped out. "Should we even be letting her travel with us? Like, should I just put her in a hotel somewhere and visit sometimes?"
Sam laughed without much humor. "Come on, you really think she'd go for that?"
"I'm serious, Sam. Aren't pregnant women supposed to, you know, be stationary?"
"I don't think you have much to worry about with her," Sam shook his head. "She's harder to kill than you or me."
Dean turned to face his brother, frowning. "Wait, what?"
Sam frowned back. "You didn't know?"
"Didn't know what?"
"She can't be killed as easily as normal humans."
Dean folded his arms. "I thought except for her… mind… thing, that she was a normal human," he said, staring at Sam.
Sam chuckled. "Still uncomfortable with it, huh?" Dean rolled his eyes and started to speak up, but Sam cut him off. "She doesn't just have her 'mind thing'. She's stronger than either of us. Not like superhuman strength or anything, but… I don't know exactly. I don't think she takes less damage than us, it just takes more damage to kill her."
Dean's jaw had begun to drop. "How do you know all this?"
Sam shrugged innocently. "She told me."
"Oh, well, sorry I missed all of this bonding you two did." Dean scoffed.
"You really never noticed anything?" Sam asked. Dean made a small noise of protest. "Come on, there have been at least three times she should've died so far and has bounced back pretty quick. Then there's the fact that she started getting sick and found out she was pregnant, like, a week after… You know, and-"
Dean interrupted. "Wait, what's weird about the pregnancy? Something wrong with the kid?"
Sam stared. "It normally takes about a month for morning sickness to start."
"Well, how am I supposed to know that?" Dean demanded, throwing up his hands. "Do I look like a doctor?"
"Dean, they cover that in high school biology."
"Oh."
"Didn't you take high school biology?"
Dean shrugged. "I skipped a lot." Sam shook his head. "Back to the point," Dean continued, "Does this mean there's something wrong with the baby?" There was genuine concern in his eyes.
Sam glanced around the room, his eyes not settling on anything. "I don't know. I mean, I don't think so. I'd say she should see a doctor, but I don't think that anyone will have seen this before. Or that they'll react well to it," he added with a grimace.
"So, what, do we just ignore this until something happens?" Dean said, distressed. Sam tilted his head, weighing the invisible options in his hands.
"Honestly, Dean, yeah. Lilly can feel what's going on better than we can see it, so unless something goes wrong, I think that's all we can do."
"Fine," Dean replied, stepping back. He moved towards the exit. "There's nothing here; let's head out."
When they reach the car, Lilly was leaning against it, searching the horizon. Dean hurried to her side and slipped an arm around her.
"Everything okay out here?" He asked.
"Yeah," she responded, looking up at him. "Find anything?"
Sam shook his head as Dean answered. "Nah. Just a typical creepy old factory." He turned to open the car door. "Come on, let's get back to the hotel." Lilly and Sam nodded and got in the car.
The drive was mostly quiet, punctuated only by the occasional comment about what they should look into for the case. When they arrived and entered Sam's room, Sam and Dean got started on searching online and in newspapers for any other information. Lilly announced that she was going to take a nap. Dean flashed her a quick smile, told her they could handle things for a while, and placed a hand on her still flat stomach. She closed her fingers around his hand briefly, returning the smile, and then kicked off her shoes and curled up on Sam's bed. In minutes, she was dozing lightly, not quite fully asleep yet. As she was beginning to drift off, she recalled the picture from the old woman's living room.
Lilly was too tired to process that was she had seen in the photo was a tall, thin older man leaning on a cane, staring off into the distance. Even if she had realized it, due to her trying to forget her final moments with Sebastian Slade, she wouldn't have remembered that this man's face was one she had begun to see just before Dean had found her.
