Family Business Part 2

Soundtrack:
American Authors – Best day of my life
Raphael Lake – Don't die today
The 88 – At least it was here

As they drove to the next address Lacey began to search for something in her bag. She pulled out a ziplock bag and offered it to Dean.
"Cheeseball?" Dean raised an eyebrow before taking one from the bag and eating it.
"Where did those come from?"
"My Aunt Rose made them and insisted I take some for my trip." Lacey smiled. "Just be glad it's not a Sparhuven Krispie."
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that." Dean said, keeping his eyes on the road.
"About Sparhuven Krispies?" Lacey frowned.
"No." Dean chuckled. "About you staying with your Aunts. Would you consider coming back and staying with us? No pressure, I mean, you can have the bed, I'll sleep on the floor or whatever, it would just be nice to have you around."
"Uh, yeah I think that would be ok. You don't have to sleep on the floor though." Lacey said, giving him a small smile. Dean grinned back and reached out and squeezed her hand. He pulled up outside the house.
"Why don't you wait here and I'll shout if I need you."
"Sounds like a plan." Lacey laughed.

A short while later Dean reappeared, holding the magazine with gloved hands. He dumped it in the trunk too before getting back into the drivers seat.
"Let's just say it's a good job you stayed in the car." He told her as he dialled Sam's number, putting him on speaker.

"Hey. Got the porn. Just in time, too."
"What was he doing?"

"Uh, like you said, you don't want to know. Where you at?"

"I just got the gramophone. I'm across town. I'll head your way." Sam said before hanging up.

"So my mom wasn't just some whack job. All this stuff is real?" Scott asked as Dean put the boxes back into the safe.

"Yep." Dean closed the door and straightened up.

"Well, now I really feel like crap."

"How come?"

"I kept pushing her to sell the store. She kept saying no, and I kept pushing her, you know, telling her how much money she'd make."

"You think you changed her mind?" Dean asked.

"I don't know. You know, this real-estate lady kept coming around, and then one day, just like that, mom says okay. Then she had that accident, never even got to enjoy the money."

"How soon after?" Dean probed.

"The next day."

"The n— How did she die?" Dean stared at him.

"Car crash. You know, I keep thinking, if I hadn't pushed her, then..."

"Hey, a little tip. Uh, feeling guilty ain't gonna bring 'em back. Best you can do is live your life the way that you think would make her proud. Or at least not embarrass the crap out of her. Oh, uh... you know the drill, right? Don't touch anything in those boxes. In fact, don't even go near the safe. Once we get it all boxed up, we'll get a U-Haul and get everything out of here."
"Believe me, I got it." Scott reassured him.

Lacey and Dean headed to a café across the street from the Antiques shop. As Lacey was in the queue, Dean called to check on Sam.

"Hey, what's up? I'm on my way." Sam answered

"Yeah, not sure we're taking the safe out of town just yet. So, it turns out that mama hoarder didn't just die and leave the store to Scott."

"She didn't?" Sam sounded confused.

"No, listen to this. The lady spends 40 years trying to keep that place, right? Then one day she wakes up and sells. Next day, drives her car off a cliff."

"So, uh... What, you think somebody cut her brakes or something?"

"No, I think the world is full of hilarious coincidences. Oh, and there's this new company – never even tasted real estate, just gobbled up a huge chunk of Main Street. Now, I could be off the deep end here, but doesn't that seem weird to you?" There was a pause as he waited for Sam to respond, but there was no reply. "Sam? Sam?"

"Yeah, Yeah, yeah. Yeah, sounds good. Keep me posted."

"Sounds good? Are you all right?" Dean frowned in concern.

"You know they say that, uh, sleep deprivation is an 'enhanced interrogation technique'?" Sam asked.

"Yeah."

"Trust me, it's torture." Sam told him, before hanging up. Dean sighed and put his phone down. Lacey came over carrying drinks and slices of chocolate cake for them.
"Is Sam ok?"
"He's managing it." Dean said. "Come see this." Lacey pulled her chair around to his side of the table. "This real estate company have just bought up most of main street." He told her as he tried to open their web page on Sam's laptop. The page came up as blocked. "Son of a bitch." Dean muttered.
"That is pretty weird. A company big enough to buy all that land should have a website." Lacey agreed. Dean picked up his phone and dialled a number, putting it on speaker phone.
"This better be good." Frank's voice echoed across the line.

"Frank, hey, I don't mean to double-dip in your crazy sauce. No offense."

"None taken, fudge pop." Lacey almost choked on her cake.

"But I think we found something."
"Hi Frank." Lacey added.
"Hi sweetness." There was a pause. "My silence is your cue, Dean."

"All right, so, there's this new company that's buying up a whole bunch of, uh, mom-'n'-pops in Portland, but I hit a firewall when I tried to access its site. Think you can crack it?"

"Can a dog play poker?" Lacey smirked at the confused look on Dean's face.

"I don't..."

"The answer is yes. What's the company name?"

"Uh, Geothrive, Inc."
"I'll call you back." The line went dead.
"Pleasant as always." Dean noted as he put his phone away.
"I like Frank." Lacey smiled. "Even if he is a little… eccentric."
"Yeah, he's a good guy, once you wade through the crazy." Dean admitted. They carried on eating their cakes and a few minutes later Dean's phone buzzed to life.

"Frank, tell me you got something."

"No, I'm calling with the Lakers-Celtics score."

"What?" Lacey couldn't help but smile. Dean seemed to be perpetually confused when it came to Frank.

"'Course I got something. I figured out why you hit that firewall."

"My silence is your cue, Frank." Dean quipped back.

"Oh, touché. So, you were trying to access the Geothrive internal site, and the reason why you couldn't is 'cause, if you dig down deep, it's all Dick." Lacey couldn't help giggling this time.

"Yeah, well, that'd be helpful if you didn't say that about everything."

"Yeah, except I'm operating on hard fact now, wise-ass."

"So you're tellin' me that Geothrive is part of Roman, Inc.?" Lacey's smile faded.

"It's a conglomerate within a subsidiary within a conglomerate. It's all tied together, Dean."

"So, what, Leviathans are – are Walmart-ing mom-'n'-pops?"

"And bingo was his name-o."

"So, we've got a big ol' field in Wisconsin and a bunch of friggin' shops in Portland? What the hell are they up to?"

"Beats me. All I know is it's corporate and smelly as the day is long. If I were you, I'd get out of Dodge, pronto." Lacey glanced up and spotted Sam parking outside the café.

"People are dying here, Frank."

"Sure, every second. Check the obesity stats. That town ain't nothin' special."

"Well, we're not done here, okay, and, hey, we might get some answers."

"Fine. Call me if you don't die." Frank hung up again. Sam walked into the café and joined them at the table.
"So, how's it going?"

"Just got off the phone with Frank. Apparently, we have a bit of a Leviathan issue in this town."

"Leviathans, here?" Sam looked surprised.

"Yeah. We're lookin' at a big, old giant nesting doll of Dick, as far as property sales go." Lacey blinked a little at the weird explanation. "Hey, you hearing me?" Dean asked, waving a hand in front of Sam's face as he stare of into the distance.

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry." Sam shook his head.

"Okay, you know what? Enough with the insomnia crap. All right, Pacino? You need to crash. I'll keep working. You find a motel and get some sleep. Okay?" Lacey frowned and mouthed "Pacino" at Sam, not getting the reference.

"It doesn't matter what I do, Dean. Lucifer will not shut up."

"Even now?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"He's singing "Stairway to Heaven" right now." Sam admitted.

"Good song." Dean nodded.

"Not 50 times in a row."

"Hmm." Sam's phone began to ring.
"I used to be able to play that on the piano." Lacey mused.
"You play the piano?" Dean asked as Sam answered the phone.
"Not anymore."

"Hey, Scott."

"Please, Sam. Y-you got to help me." Scott stammered on the other end.

"What's happening?"

"I looked in one of my mom's old mirrors, and now I want to rip my face off! I think it was cursed."

"All right, hold tight. Uh, we're on our way." Sam hung up the phone and got to his feet.
"Let me guess. He touched something he was not supposed to." Dean sighed as he packed the laptop away.

"'Course he did." Lacey shook her head and followed them out.

Sam drove them back to Main Street and they hurried back inide the Antique Shop. As they entered the back room they found Scott tied up on the ground and two people in matching red blazers standing beside him.

"So much for the cursed mirror." Dean commented.

"Sam, Dean and Lacey. It is such a pleasure to make your acquaintances. Now, just so you can put names to the faces that'll be eating you, I'm Joyce, and this is my assistant, George."

"Oh, you're the lady from the real-estate signs." Dean recognised her.

"Yes. You like my photo?" Joyce smiled.

"Oh, you might want to lay off the whitening strips." Dean advised.

"Oh, Dean. I am gonna enjoy picking you out of my teeth." She grinned at him before grabbing hold of the front of his jacket and throwing him into one of the glass cabinets. George grabbed hold of Sam which left Joyce facing Lacey. Lacey took a step back uncertainly as Joyce advanced. She looked down at the glass, scattered across the floor then back up at Joyce with a smirk on her face.
"You seem to be labouring under some misapprehension. In fact there's something you don't know." She raised a hand and all the glass on the floor flew up, impaling Joyce. "I got my powers back." There was a spluttering noise behind them as Sam dunked George into a bucket of Borax. He got to his feet and grabbed the sword from inside the smashed display case and used it to decapitate Joyce.

"Thanks." Dean muttered as Lacey helped him to his feet. He picked up Joyce's severed head from the floor and stuffed it in a duffel bag, which he then proceeded to lock in the safe. While he was doing this Sam untied Scott.

"Okay, I get that these things mean business, you know, but I can't just, like, uproot my life." Scott protested.

"Sure you can. It's not as hard as you think." Dean told him.

"Look, Scott. These big mouths don't like to leave loose ends."

"So don't you look back till you get someplace where you don't speak the language." Scott nodded, taking it all in.

"All right. I'm going. Thank you, I guess."

"Don't mention it." Scott disappeared upstairs to pack his bag and the three of them turned to face George who was now tied up on the floor.

"One minute. That's how long you have to explain to us why you helped us." Sam told him.

"Because I am dying to know what that bitch tastes like." George grinned. Lacey wrinkled her nose at him.

"Wait, let me get this straight. You want to eat your boss?" Dean looked at him incredulously.

"You got a better way to make her stay dead?"

"So, what? So now you're on our side or something?" Sam frowned.

"Yeah, no. But if Joyce is alive, then I spend the rest of my life cleaning her messes. Or worse, I get eaten. Or bibbed. So, thanks... for chopping her head off for me. Taking her on solo – yikes. So, really, thanks for the assist there. And, of course, you're welcome... for saving you... before she ripped into your ass like a Christmas present. Win-win, right? So how 'bout that head?"

"Yeah, not gonna happen, Georgie." Sam held the sword up to Georges throat. "Now... what the hell is Dick Roman building in Wisconsin?"

"I don't know. I barely know where Wisconsin is. I'm a West-Coast representative."

"You gonna keep killing people who don't sign on the dotted line?" Sam asked.

"All right, take it easy." George growled as the sword bit into his skin. He reached a hand up and swiped at the blood before tasting it. "Mmm. Killing people isn't part of the agenda. Joyce just kept getting impatient. You got nothing to worry about with me. Don't you get it? You guys are freaking out about the wrong thing."

"Oh, you think?" Dean asked, sarcastically.

"A couple of real-estate deals? Come on. Big picture, guys. You think it's just here? It's everywhere. And it's a lot more ambitious than this little project. My advice, keep your heads down and stay down."

"Listen to me, you gooey son of a bitch. You're gonna tell us what you're building here, or I'm gonna wash your mouth out with soap." Dean threatened.

"Hmm. I was hoping we could play nice. But if you must know... it's going to be a research center." George admitted.

"Research for what?"

"Disease. This, gentlemen, is where we are going to cure cancer." Lacey raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Wait. That doesn't make any sense. I mean, why would Dick Roman want to cure cancer?"

"'Cause we're only here to help." Sam and Dean exchanged a glance before Sam took off Georges head.

The three of them left the shop and got back into the car.

"Monsters cure cancer. A sentence I never thought I'd say. Why does it make me so nervous?" Dean asked as he started the engine.

"Yeah, I hear you. So, what do we do now?" Sam asked.

"You are gonna sleep on it, all the way to Frank's. Capiche?"

"I wish I could." Sam shook his head.

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Yeah. Yeah. A little. I-I don't know." Sam admitted.

"Well, we'll find you a soft-rock station. Always knocks you right out." Dean told him as they headed for the highway.

Several hours later they pulled up outside Frank's trailer. They got out of the car and Dean began to bang on the door.

"Hey, Frank!" There was no answer so he tried again. "Devereaux!" They could hear music playing inside. "What the hell is he doing in there?" Dean tried knocking one more time. "Frank! Don't shoot! We're coming in!" He shouted again before turning the handle and pushing the door open. The scene that met them was horrific. The whole trailer had been pulled apart as if someone had been searching for something. Amongst the debris were puddles of blood. Lacey put her hand over her mouth and tears welled in her eyes. Dean put an arm around her shoulder.

"Not good." He said, pulling Lacey into a hug as tears streaked down her cheeks.