Grace was perfectly warm when she woke up, opening her eyes to find Dean holding onto her just like how they'd fallen asleep the night before. Primary character in Chuck's stories or not, she was just glad he'd made it home. Whenever he left, even if it was just for a grocery run, part of her worried that he'd run into Chuck-sized trouble. When he and Sam went hunting, her anxiety was even worse. Now that they were demoted to normal people with normal luck, she was sure to keep an eye on them, even if they were just staying in the bunker.
"Good morning," Dean yawned, giving her a sleepy kiss.
"Morning," Grace smiled. "You might be out of luck, but you've definitely still got the Dean Winchester mojo."
"Good." He sat up, asking if she wanted to help make breakfast. "Actually, you might want a shower first. Sam and I are going to Alaska, so it might be the last breakfast -"
She reached for her glasses, trying to put together the rush of information she'd just received. "Wait, Alaska? Why?"
"There's this place Garth told us about. It's a rumor, really. But there's a chance that this place exists where people can get their luck back if they've lost it. There's got to be a catch, but it's worth a try. We don't have many other options right now."
Grace gave him a surprising answer. "If you really believe you - we - were all demoted and we don't have whatever makes us as lucky as we usually are, then we should do it." Dean had been expecting her to fight it, but, "If we're going to eventually confront Chuck, we need all the luck we can get. I'll start packing in a bit. I'd at least like to brush my teeth first. What's summer like in Alaska? I've never been."
The drive took two and a half days, with the three of them sleeping in shifts and taking turns driving north. Sam woke them up when they reached the Canadian border, making sure to pass the agent their fake documents, but avoiding their credentials, so they didn't set off any alarm bells in the system. They were waved through, Dean and Grace falling asleep again soon after.
"Mom!" Samantha and Robbie reached out for her, so close and yet so far away. They stood in the middle of the burning pyre that she, Sam, Dean, and Cas had just set ablaze. Tears streamed down their cheeks as they reached for her, so clearly in unbearable pain. No. They were dead. Jack had killed them. "Help!"
Grace instinctively turned to look for Dean, but he was gone. No one was there to help her, and she knew there was no way she could stop a blaze this big on her own. She looked back to the flames climbing into the sky, another face appearing behind her children's. "Gracie! You have to help us!" Dean reached for her, but like the kids, he was trapped within the pyre.
"Mom, look out!"
Jack materialized beside her, holding a book of matches. "It's a pretty night for a fire, isn't it?" he asked, giving her a haunting smile. He tossed another match towards the flames for emphasis. "There's no helping them now."
"We need all the luck we can get. We'll be dead if Chuck comes for us and we're out of luck." Grace woke with a start, the brothers talking in the front seat. Sam was still behind the wheel. They hadn't stopped while she was out.
"I'm just saying, nobody but Garth has ever heard of this place. It's not in the lore. Grace has been looking nearly every waking moment, and she's found nothing. If she can't find this place, I don't know if it's real." The skepticism in Sam's voice was real, but he also knew they were running out of time.
"Where are we?" she yawned, looking between them. The road ahead looked like it could be any stretch of highway in the middle of Canada. "And what time is it?"
"Just outside of Houston, British Columbia," Dean answered, showing her on an old-fashioned paper map. "My phone died about an hour ago, and the charger isn't working. I figure we'll pick one up the next time we stop. How much money do we have left?"
Grace reached for her bag, counting bills carefully in the back seat. "About three hundred dollars, but we're going to need most of that for gas. I've got a bunch of snacks back here if you want something."
"I'm fine," Dean told her, folding up the map again. "You should have something, though. Might help you wake up. It's almost your turn to drive."
They swapped drivers at the next gas station, Sam running inside to pick up a few essentials before taking Grace's spot in the back seat. He was soon asleep, but Dean sat up to help her navigate. "What are you going to do if this doesn't work?" Grace asked, keeping her eyes on the road. "Did you guys come up with a plan yet?"
"This is our only option so far, and Sam's not entirely convinced we're going to find anything. Want some licorice? I swiped some from the station back there," Dean offered, holding a piece in front of her face.
"You didn't grab good snacks?" Grace laughed. "Sorry, I know you've got to take what you can when it comes to five-finger discounts. I'm good, though." She thought for a moment as she settled in for a long drive. They'd been on the road almost constantly, only stopping long enough to run to the restroom, refuel, and shower when they could find a place. While one person slept, the others drove and did research, navigating and keeping each other awake. It was one of the longest drives they'd ever made in one go, but between the three of them, they were making it work. "I'll try to get the cards sorted out when I get WiFi. It's the kind of thing I need a laptop and my spell books for, but I should be able to come up with something that'll get us there and back to the bunker."
Dean could read her fairly well. "You don't think this is going to work."
Grace frowned, confessing that, "I don't know if there's anything that can work. I mean about Chuck. I can find a spell to get you your luck back, but it would take a while and would probably be pretty painful, so it's worth checking this place out just to see if there's a possibility of it helping. But Dean, I honestly don't know what we can do about Chuck. There are things that can kill him - Death told you that a long time ago. But we can't kill him and we can't lock him away, or the balance in the universe would be gone. Amara's settled for now, but let's be honest, it's like carrying a nuclear bomb. We can't let her exist in the world without some kind of balancing force."
"Then we take them both out." Grace looked over to him for a brief second, her face full of disbelief. "Hey, eyes on the road. If we're out of luck - I'm not having Baby get wrecked because you're staring at my handsome face."
"You're the ones Chuck demoted, not me. You're normal now, and so am I. Your odds are bad for Sam and Dean, but I'm still normal. I think."
"Just be careful," Dean frowned, restlessly unfolding the map again. "How about I take over when we get to Meziadin Junction?"
"Okay. I'll sit up and navigate so I can watch your handsome face then."
They decided to stop at the last diner for a few hundred miles, Sam and Dean going to grab some food while Grace called Cas to check in. He wasn't answering, so she left a message, pacing in front of the car as she talked. Cas was busy trying to find answers about where Chuck had gone, since Heaven and their angel radio was largely quiet. No one had reported a sighting for days now. There weren't even any rumors circling around. So he had gone venturing around the world, trying to track down any angels who had seen Chuck while he was on Earth. She tried one more time, but went inside when Cas didn't answer.
"Hey, want some pie?" Dean offered, handing her his fork. "I'm not hungry."
Grace frowned, knowing that it was out of character for him. Well, for him now, she'd always suspected that he gorged himself on cheeseburgers and pie nowadays because he would so often pretend not to be hungry when he passed his food on to Sam. It made up for all of the times he had gone to bed hungry as a kid. Of course he wouldn't take "no" for an answer, so she accepted, eating slowly in case he decided he wanted any more. "We've got a flat tire," she reported as he stood to let her take over his bar stool.
"Shit. One thing after another."
"Give me a second, I'll help you fix it."
"Sam and I have got it," Dean told her, taking his keys and marching out the door.
Sam filled her in on what they'd learned. There was a rumor, an urban legend, really, about a pool hall where people could play for luck. One of the diner's regulars had recently gone that way and never came back. Things were starting to add up. It was looking more and more likely that Garth was right. "How's Cas?"
"Not answering. I didn't expect much." She stood, thanking their waitress. "Let's go help Dean with that tire before - no, I shouldn't say it. Not going to try your luck."
Dean managed to get them back on the road, driving until they saw a wooden building in the distance. "That's got to be it. Only place around for miles," Sam noted.
"If it really is pool, we've got this," Dean assured him. "We used to hustle pool all the time as kids. I'm sure I've still got it. We don't even need luck for that."
"I'm going to hang back here," Grace decided as they parked. "I'll check the place out and see if there's a spot I can use to work my magic. I don't know if I can make you luckier, but I can play with the odds of the universe a little." The three of them climbed out of the car, Grace giving Sam a hug. She turned to Dean, who pulled her into a hug too. "Don't do anything stupid," Grace instructed. "And you, don't let him." Sam nodded, the boys heading into the pool hall as Grace took a look around.
As the boys went to figure out how to play for their luck, Grace found what she thought was a wood storage shed. Most of it was empty, since it was still early enough in the year, so she set her bag down, starting to take things out. Lighting a candle, she settled in to start a spell. She'd been researching them on the way up, and hopefully, what she found would work. If not, they were pretty much dead as soon as they left, though she tried not to think about that.
