Wish You Were Here
Soundtrack:
The Pretty Reckless – Take me down
The Record Company – Good Morning Rita
Dorothy – Raise HellLacey grabbed her bag from inside her locker before shutting it. She walked back out into the dining room of the Mystic Grill and leant against the bar.
"Hey, Matt, I'm clocking out now." She told the bar tender, removing her name tag.
"Okay, Lacey, see you next week." Matt smiled at her. Lacey was about to leave, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Damon, sitting further along the bar.
"Drinking alone again, Damon? Tut, tut." Lacey teased him as she slid onto the stool beside him.
"Yeah, well, it's been a long day." Damon gave her a forced smile.
"Wanna talk about it?" Lacey asked.
"What are you, my shrink now?" Damon joked. "What about you? How are you handling the loss of the boyfriend?"
"He's not dead, he's just missing." Lacey reminded him.
"Optimism, gotta love it." Damon said, taking a swig of his drink.
"And on that note, I'll see you next week, Damon." Lacey rolled her eyes and got to her feet, patting his arm.
"Have fun." Damon called after her. Lacey waved at him as she headed for the back door. When she reached the alley at the back of the restaurant, she checked no one was around before opening up a portal and stepping through. She walked out the other side, the portal closing behind her. Lacey let out a sigh and dropped her bag on the sofa before joining it. Damon's words were still ringing in her ears. She had been avoiding seeing Dean recently. Ever since he'd made the demon deal. She was having trouble processing. Which was silly. She was sitting here in 2012 fretting over something that had happened in 2007, even though she knew full well she would meet Dean in 2009, alive. Lacey shook her head, this was giving her a headache. Maybe she just needed to go see him and clear the air. Lacey closed her eyes and leaned back on the sofa. She concentrated and moments later she found herself on a brightly lit sidewalk, outside a restaurant. She glanced around, normally she was taken right to wherever Dean was. As if he'd heard her thoughts, Dean came barrelling out of the door to the restaurant, followed by Sam.
"Come on!" Dean yelled at Sam. Seconds later Sam fell straight onto his face. Dean came to a halt, looking at Sam, almost offended. "Wow! You suck!" He helped Sam to his feet.
"Ow." Sam complained, examining his ripped jeans and bloody knees.
"So, what, now your luck turns bad."
"I guess."
"I wonder how bad." Dean mused. He glanced over and realised Lacey was standing a few feet away watching them. "Here." He tossed Sam the keys. "Meet you at the car." Sam frowned but took the keys and headed for the Impala. Dean walked over to Lacey and the two of them stood in silence for a few seconds before either spoke.
"So, you're here." Dean started.
"Yeah, I'm here."
"I didn't think you were coming back. It's been almost 2 months." Dean told her.
"I'm sorry, I just needed some time to process everything, but I'm here now." Lacey looked down at her feet. Dean sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know it was probably the worst time in the world to disappear. I just didn't know what to do, this was all completely unexpected so I panicked. I'm not going anywhere Dean, I'm here to help." Lacey looked back up into his eyes. The dazzling green that met hers made her shiver. "So, what's going on, what did I miss?"
"Some guys broke into one of Dad's storage lockers, stole a cursed rabbits foot. Sam got it back from them, but some chick just stole it from him and now Sam is stuck with a hell of a load of bad luck." Dean explained. Lacey blinked at him.
"Wow. That's… wow. Ok, so what now?"
"I think it's time we find out why those guys stole the rabbits foot in the first place." Dean said as they walked over to the Impala.
Dean drove them back to the apartment of the guys who had stolen the rabbits foot. As they entered the guy looked up from the photo he was staring at and groaned.
"Oh, man. What do you want?"
"Heard about your friend. That's bad luck." Dean said, referring to the dead thief.
"Piss off." The man grumbled.
"We know someone hired you to steal the rabbits foot. A woman."
"Oh, yeah? How do you know that?"
"Because she just stole it back from us." The guy began to laugh.
"Listen, man, this is seri…" Sam began, before tripping over a wire and managing to pull a hi-fi and a lamp down with him, as he hit the floor. Dean let out a sigh. Lacey stared at Sam. And she thought she could be accident prone at time.
"Sam, you ok?" He called out behind him.
"Yeah, I'm good." Sam groaned, pulling himself to his feet. Dean turned his attention back to the guy.
"I want you to tell us her name."
"Screw you."
"It wasn't a freak accident that killed your partner." The guy looked startled.
"What?"
"It was the rabbits foot." The guy shook his head.
"You're crazy, man."
"You know I'm not, you saw what happened, what it did. All the flukes, all the luck. When you lose the foot that luck goes sour. That's what killed your friend. And my brother here is next. And who knows how more innocent people after that. Now if you don't help us stop this thing, that puts those deaths on your head." The guy looked worried at this. "Now I can read people… and I get it. You're a thief and a scumbag, that's fine. But you're not a killer. Are you?"
"No." Lacey smirked at Dean, shaking her head at his spiel.
Dean's words had clearly hit home as the guy gave him the name of the woman they were looking for. They left the apartment and headed outside. When they reached the street, Dean's phone began to ring.
"Hello?" Dean listened to Bobby on the other end. "Bobby, that's great, 'cept Sam… Sam lost the foot." Lacey watched in amusement as Sam tried to get some gum from the bottom of his shoe.
"He what!?" Lacey turned back to Dean as she heard Bobby raise his voice on the other end.
"Bobby, Bobby, listen. This hot chick stole it from him. I'm serious." Dean made a face at Lacey who was was trying to hold in a giggle at his description. "In her mid 20's, she was sharp, you know, good enough at the con to play us. And she only gave the guy she hired a name, probably an alias or something. Luigi or something?" Dean looked over at Sam for confirmation.
"Lugosi."
"Lugosi." Dean repeated back to Bobby, listening to his response. "Bela Lugosi? That's cute." Lacey looked around again at a splashing sound. Sam had dropped his shoe in the drain. Lacey gave him a sympathetic look, even though he couldn't see it.
"Well, she knew about the rabbits foot. Is she a hunter? I guess she's back. Great. Thanks, Bobby, again." Dean hung up the phone before turning to see a dejected looking Sam.
"What?"
"I lost my shoe."
Dean pulled the Impala up outside a motel.
"All right, Bobby, thanks. Hey, we owe you, another one." Dean hung up the phone. "All right, Bobby's got it on pretty good authority that this Bela chick lives in Queens. So it'll take me about two hours to get there."
"So, what are we doing here?" Sam asked, frowning out the window at the motel.
"You, my brother, are staying here cause I don't want your bad luck getting us killed." Dean parked the car and booked them a room. They walked over and Dean unlocked the door, switching the lights on.
"What am I even supposed to do, Dean?" Sam grumbled as he walked inside.
"Nothing! Nothing. Come here. I don't want you doing anything. I want you to sit right here." Dean grabbed one of the chairs and slid it across the floor. "And don't move, ok? Don't turn on the light, don't turn off the light. Don't even scratch your nose."
"I think I should stay here, keep an eye on him." Lacey told Dean.
"Sure, sounds like a plan. Sammy? Lacey's going to stay with you, make sure you don't get into any trouble."
"Okay." Sam said, looking around the room as if he would suddenly be able to see Lacey.
Once Dean had left, Lacey watched in amusement as Sam sat there, looking bored and trying his best not to scratch his nose. There was a clunking noise and smoke started to pour out of the air conditioning unit on the wall. Both Sam and Lacey hurried over.
"Oh, come one, I didn't… I wasn't…" Sam protested. Seconds later the smoke became flames. Sam grabbed a comforter from the bed and began to bat at the flames. As the flames died down, Lacey let out a sigh of relief. Turns out she spoke too soon, as Sam's jacket sleeve erupted in flames. He grabbed hold of one of the curtains and managed to put the flames out with it, unfortunately he wrenched the curtains back too far. Lacey let out a gasp and reached out trying to help him as he fell back, knocking himself out, but her hands went straight through him. Unable to help Sam, her attention was diverted by two guys, standing outside, looking through the window. She frowned at them, wondering who the hell they were. They disappeared from view and a few moments later, Lacey heard a rattling noise as they picked the door lock.
Once they were inside they picked up Sam from the floor and tied him to the chair in the middle of the floor. As they finished tightening the knots, Sam began to stir.
"Oh, he's awake!" One of them exclaimed.
"Back with us, eh?" The other one leaned down so he was level with Sam.
"We didn't even have to touch you. You just went all spastic and knocked yourself out. It was like watching Jerry Lewis try to stack chairs!" The other one guffawed.
"Who are you? What do you…" The second guy snapped his fingers, silencing Sam.
"I used to think your friend Gordon sent me." Sam scoffed.
"Gordon? Oh come on!"
"Yeah, because he asked me to track you down and put a bullet in your brain."
"Great. That sounds like him."
"But as it turns out, I'm on a mission from God." Lacey stared at them with her mouth open. This guy was a different level of crazy. He confirmed this moments later when he smacked Sam hard across the face, knocking him out.
Lacey stood next to Sam watching the two guys carefully. One of them threw a glass of water in Sam's face, bringing him back to consciousness.
"You were a part of that demon plan to open the gate, weren't you?" The sandy haired one, named Kubrick, asked.
"We did everything we could to stop it." Sam told them.
"Lie, lie, lie! You were in on it. You know what their next move is too, don't you?" He accused.
"No, I don't, okay? You're wrong about all of this."
"Where are they gonna hit us next?" Sam sighed and didn't say anything. Kubrick smacked him round the face.
"Where!? Gordon told me about you, Sam. About your powers. You're some kinda weird psychic freak?"
"No, not anymore! No power, no visions, nothing.."
"Liar!" Sensing what was coming next, Lacey stepped between them and concentrated hard, as Kubrick's fist headed towards Sam's face. His hand never connected as Lacey managed to telekinetically stop it, throwing up a tiny, invisible wall between him and Sam. Kubrick took a step back in shock. Cleary he thought this was Sam's doing as he rounded on him again.
"Now, no more lies. There's an army of demons out there pushing at a world that's already on the brink. We're on deck for the endgame here, right? So maybe, just maybe you can understand why we can't take chances." Kubrick pulled a gun from inside his jacket and pointed it at Sam.
"Whoa, okay, okay, no, hold on a minute…" Sam protested. The other guy weighed in too, looking uncomfortable.
"Hey, Kubrick, just…"
"No, you saw what happened Creedy. Ask yourself, why are we here? Because you saw a picture on the web? Because we chose this motel instead of another? Luck like that doesn't just happen."
"Look, I can explain all of that if…" Sam started but Kubrick interrupted it.
"Shut up! It's God, Creedy. He lead us here for one reason. To do his work. This is destiny." Lacey got ready to use what energy she had left to put up another wall, as Kubrick levelled his gun at Sam again.
"Whoa…" Lacey opened one eye and found Dean, pointing his gun at Kubrick. She relaxed a little. "Nope. No destiny. Just a rabbits foot."
"Put the gun down son, or you're gonna be scraping brain off the wall."
"Oh, this thing?" Dean asked, nonchalantly, holding his gun up high.
"Yeah, that thing."
"Okay. But you see, there's something about me you don't know." Dean said as he lowered his gun, putting it down on the side board. He picked up one of the motel pens.
"Yeah? What would that be?" Kubrick asked.
"It's my lucky day." Dean said, before tossing the pen towards Kubrick, where it lodged in the barrel of his gun. "Oh my god! Did you see that shot?!" Dean laughed. Creedy tried to tackle Dean, but he easily side stepped and Creedy ran into the wall, knocking himself out.
"I'm amazing!" As Kubrick tried to dislodge the pen from his gun, Dean picked up the remote and threw it at his head, knocking him out. "I'm Batman." Lacey couldn't help but smile at the proud look on Dean's face.
"Yeah, you're Batman." Sam told him, rolling his eyes.
Dean drove them to a nearby cemetery and Sam set up the ritual to get rid of the curse on the rabbits foot.
"So, how are you doing?" Dean asked quietly as he and Lacey stood to one side.
"How am I doing? After everything that's been going on, I should be asking you that." Lacey told him. Dean gave her a sad smile.
"I'm good, well, I'm coping." Dean shrugged. He pulled some scratch cards out of his pocket and began to scratch them.
"All right, bone ash, cayenne pepper, that should do." Sam said, getting to his feet.
"One second…" Dean told him.
"Dean, you…" Dean backed away as Sam came towards him.
"Hey, back off jinx. I'm bringing home the bacon." Dean put the scratch cards in his jacket, which was draped across one of the gravestones. "All right, say goodbye wascawy wabbit." There was the sound of a gun cocking and the three of them turned around. A woman with long brown hair was pointing a gun at them. Lacey realised this must be the Bela who Dean had stolen the rabbits foot back from.
"I think you'll find that belongs to me. Or, you know, whatever. Put the foot down honey."
"No, you're not going to shoot anybody. See I happen to be able to read people. Ok, you're a thief, fine, but you're not…" Dean began before Bela pointed her gun at Sam and shot him in the shoulder. Lacey let out a gasp, her eyes wide in shock. Sam fell to the ground with a groan.
"Son of a…"
"Back off tiger. Back off. You make one more move and I'll pull the trigger." Bela warned Dean. Sam got to his feet, clutching his shoulder. "You've got the luck Dean. You I can't hit. But your brother? Him I can't miss."
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Dean exploded. "You don't go around just shooting people like that!"
"Relax. It's a shoulder hit. I can aim." Bela rolled her eyes. "Besides, who here hasn't shot a few people? Put the rabbits foot on the ground now."
"All right. All right! Take it easy." Dean made as if to put the rabbits foot down but instead threw it at Bela. "Think fast!" Bela caught the foot.
"Damn!" She cursed. Dean smirked at her.
"Now what do you say we destroy that ugly ass piece of dead thing?" Bela let out a sigh and walked over to the fire Sam had lit for the ritual, and dropped the foot in.
"Thanks very much. I'm out one and a half million and on the bad side of a very powerful, fairly psychotic buyer."
"Wow. I really don't feel bad about that. Sam?" Dean asked, sarcastically.
"Nope. Not even a little." Sam grimaced as he held on to his shoulder.
"Hmm. Maybe next time I'll hang you out to dry."
"Oh, don't go away angry, just go away." Dean grumbled. Lacey smirked at him.
"Have a nice night boys." Bela called out to them as she headed to her car.
"Well, she is delightful." Lacey said jokingly.
"Yeah, right." Dean shook his head. "You good?" He asked, Sam.
"I'll live." Sam stopped for a second. "Hey, back in the motel room, Lacey did something didn't she?" Dean looked at Lacey questioningly.
"I managed to use my powers and stop one of those guys from punching Sam." Lacey shrugged.
"Yeah, she did." Dean nodded.
"Well, thanks Lacey." Sam nodded in what he figured was her general direction.
"You're welcome."
"She says you're welcome." Dean translated as he put his jacket back on. "I guess we're back to normal now, huh? No good luck, no bad luck. Oh! I forgot! We're up $46000, I almost forgot about the scratch tickets…" Dean checked all of his pockets, his smile fading. "Son of a bitch!" He shouted, realising Bela had swiped them. Lacey shook her head, smiling fondly at him.
"I'll see you soon." She told him before blinking out.
