AN: I know it's been a while. One more chapter after this one to go! Also, I do not own Supernatural.
Dean and Sam went back to the hotel. They saw Emily working at the front desk again.
"Hey, Emily! Your mother-in-law is quite the lady," Dean remarked.
Emily grinned. "She sure is. Seven kids and eight grandkids will do that to you. I am so lucky to have such an awesome second mom. Not the biggest fan of the father-in-law."
Dean's jaw tightened at that line. He had to know. "And why is that exactly? She's amazing."
She sighed. "Honestly, it's a lot of things, but the fact that he put his hands on her never sat right with me. On top of the emotional and verbal abuse that he put her through for not years, but decades—yeah. I just—I tried to get along with him, but we have vastly different ideas of what marriage is supposed to be."
Dean's anger rose as she continued to talk, and Sam had to put his arm on Dean's shoulder to remind him that he couldn't lose it. Not here. Dean shot Sam a look that was murderous. He managed to calm himself down enough to give Emily a tight smile. "Thanks, that helps me a lot. Please tell me he doesn't visit you here."
"Oh, no. No, he rarely leaves his house. Most of his kids haven't even talked to him since he assaulted Mom. I guess Faith is of the mindset that since he has mental health issues on top of depression, we should give him grace. I just can't accept that," she shrugged. "I mean, I'm a Christian and all about forgiveness and grace, but there are lines that shouldn't be crossed."
"I agree," Sam injected. "We were just coming to change clothes." His clothes were only now getting dry, and thankfully, he was finally warming up.
"What happened to you?" Emily queried. "You look like you went for a swim in your clothes. The water is FREEZING."
"Fell in accidentally." Dean and he exchanged a quick glance, then he asked Emily for some extra towels and shampoo. She nodded and went to grab them from the back.
"I'm gonna fucking kill him, Sam; why in God's green earth would you put your hands on your wife?" he growled. Sam remained silent. Mary had told him, but he knew that if Dean found out, her husband's life was forfeit. "I know you know."
"We have bigger problems than Kyle right now, Dean." Dean groaned.
"His name is Kyle? That name sounds douchy." Emily appeared with 2 towels and a handful of shampoo. They thanked her for the extras and headed back up to their room so Sam could get a shower and wash up after dying 2 hours ago. Thanks to Officer Sayavong, he was alive and kicking. They just had to wait for her call, which could come at any time.
Sara was trying to be patient with the museum curator, but her fuse was shortening with every minute. "Look, Ben, I really need your help with this."
"I can't give it to you without a guarantee that it will come back safely and undamaged."
"What if I bought it from you?"
"This is a priceless treasure!"
She groaned inwardly. "How much would you wager it's worth?"
"I don't think you understand what the word 'priceless' means," Ben shot back.
"What if I signed a waiver saying that I will take care of it, and guarantee its return?" A pause. That gave her a glimmer of hope. "I promise that you will get it back." She could hear him shifting his weight on his chair over the phone. "C'mon, Ben, this is really important. I wouldn't be asking you if it wasn't."
"Of all the things in this museum, I still don't understand why this particular item. This belonged to a man who is part of our local history. Imagine the stories it holds."
"I understand that. So do we have a deal? Can I borrow it if I sign a waiver?" Another pregnant pause followed by a big sigh.
"I can do that. For you, and only you."
"Thank you, Ben! You have no idea how much I appreciate this and how much I owe you for this," she promised the man. "When can I come pick it up?" She could hear him shifting around.
"Meet me in an hour." The phone clicked off, and she let out a squeal she didn't know she was holding in. She started making calls to inform the agents, her partner, and the police chief. She needed someone to cover for her while she took care of all of this. She prayed that this would be the end of it.
Sara clutched the bag with the doll in it, Sam and Dean looking at her with apprehension. "I promised the museum owner that I wouldn't let the doll get beat up or destroyed. Isn't there a way for you to keep the doll intact while getting rid of the ghost? I signed a waiver for this, and if something happens, it's going to ruin my finances for decades."
Dean scratched his head. "We've never run into this problem before. Usually we just grab whatever it is and burn it to ashes. The watch got burned, and it didn't get rid of the ghost. We are talking about people's lives at stake here. I am all about telling a story that the doll got swiped from you and burned before you could recover it. That would get you out of dealing with the museum owner, right?"
Sara's face twisted in worry. "I don't think that's going to fly with him, Agent Scott, especially since he knows I'm police. I may be small, but I got enough skills to take out someone your size." She was both humble and confident in herself. "Can we think about it some more before we commit fully to incinerating this thing?"
Sam looked at the bag, a thought forming. "What if we could find someone to replicate it? If it looked exactly like the real thing, no one would know the difference, and we can destroy the actual object and still provide the museum with the 'doll'."
Sara bit her bottom lip. "But that would take over a week, if not a month, to properly replicate. We don't have that amount of time; the ghost is killing, on average, 3 bodies a week. I will not be responsible for 12 more deaths. I c—I can't. Not again," she replied, her nostrils flaring. She could feel her eyes pricking the corners with the promise of tears. She took a deep breath to steel herself from the emotions welling up.
"It's because of Lee, isn't it?" Sam asked softly. When her face snapped to his, he quickly added, "I saw you pause on Lee's picture when we were in the office. It's not my business to pry, but I can tell he meant something to you." She nodded numbly. "You don't have to explain anything to us, but if we are trying to kill this ghost, we need some sort of plan. And we can't damage the doll in the process which makes it so much harder."
Dean interjected, "What about Rowena?" Sara gave him a confused look while Sam looked exasperated.
"We can't keep asking her to help us out like this."
"She OWES us, Sam. Maybe she can figure out a way to take out the spirit or feelings attached to the doll from Edward, and we can get rid of it that way, doll still fully intact." Sara's face visibly brightened at that thought. "Or she could potentially create a replica for us with her witchy powers." Officer Sayavong's visage darkened for a minute.
"A witch? You mean witches are real too?"
Dean cast his gaze on her. "Witches, angels, demons, werewolves—all of it," he added grimly. "We don't tell everyone this because it would freak them the fuck out."
With those words, Sara gave a harder look at the brothers. "So—you're like Mulder and Scully, but with magical beings?"
"That's the jist," Sam agreed.
"So who's Scully?" she asked immediately.
"Oh, definitely Sam. It's the hair," Dean quipped. Sara hid her smile while Sam gave Dean a withering stare. "You know it's true," he shot back to Sam. Sam huffed, but didn't reply. "I think Rowena is going to be our best bet. Cas?" The faint whip of wings touched the air, and Sara blinked at the man in a trench coat that had materialized in front of her. "Cas, we need Rowena, and we need her pronto." The man gave Dean a small smile and a nod. A slight ruffle and the man was gone.
"What the hell?"
"Angel," was all that Dean offered up as an explanation. In less than a minute, a different being appeared with a red-head in tow. Once the red-head released the being's hand, the angel (Sara assumed it was an angel) disappeared. "Rowena, good to see you."
The red-head beauty gave them a thin smile. "Hello, boys. What is it you need now?" she said, crossing her arms against her chest. "I'm assuming you need someone with a little power since you called so abruptly." Sara wasn't sure how to react to her, but she definitely was not expecting a Scotswoman. Her arched eyebrow was a clear indication that she was not amused at being interrupted and flown from who-knows-where to help these agents. But then the woman's eyes met hers. "Oh, hello. I haven't met you before," she directed. "Obviously, in with this lot." She gave the boys a disdainful look. Sara's hands tightened on the bag in her hands, which Rowena noticed. "Oh, what do we have here?" she asked Sara, a glint in her eye.
"It's a Norwegian troll doll," Sam began. "There's a nasty spirit attached to it, and we can't torch the doll because it's a museum collectible. We were hoping you'd be able to extract the essence that's bound to it so that we can destroy the ghost without pulverizing the doll." Rowena gave both Sam and Dean a slightly distasteful look. "Or if you could make a perfect replica of the doll, we can destroy the real one and bring back the copy. Honestly, I'm fine with either. The fact is the ghost that we found has already killed 6 people that we know of. We can't afford for it to get stronger."
Rowena narrowed her eyes. She didn't care about that. "That's your problem, boys. I'm not going to help. Find someone else to deal with that. Or just burn it and get it over with. It's not a big deal." She turned to leave but instead ended up facing Sara. "I don't know how they got you roped into all this, but I'd leave as fast as I could. They will ruin you."
Sara held her ground. She looked Rowena squarely in the eye. "My uncle is dead because of this ghost. Another woman lost 3 of her friends. THREE. If you don't care, fine, but there are good people losing their friends and family because of this—thing. What if it was your son or daughter?" Rowena scowled.
"My son wouldn't be affected."
"But what if he was? What would you do to protect him?" she demanded, her voice rising. "Because this city doesn't need any more senseless death. They need to know that they're protected." Rowena's jaw clenched. Sara stared at her, daring her to leave.
"Fine," she bit off. "I'll help you. But this is IT," she replied, turning to the Winchesters. "I am through being your bitch after this." She pulled out her spell book and began leafing through it. As the pages flipped, she spotted the incantation she needed. She looked at Sara, Dean, and Sam, who were now all standing together. "I'm going to need a few special ingredients." Sara nodded. She knew a place they could go. "Then let's get to it."
Once Rowena had all the items she needed, she asked where they could go to perform the spell. Sara hesitated. "Do we need to be by the ship in order for it to work?" she asked the Winchesters. "I've never seen the ghost until you two tried to take it on yourselves at the Lottie Cooper."
"It's a ghost; they usually get summoned when you mess with their things," Rowena responded, trying not to roll her eyes. "Once I start, I will need something to put the soul of the object into. Don't suppose you got anything off-hand?"
Sara paused. Another object? Her hand flew to her watch. Her uncle had given it to her for her 30th birthday. She closed her eyes. It had to be something. Why not give her uncle vengeance of a sort? She stripped the watch off her wrist and handed it to Rowena. Rowena quirked her eyebrow.
"Whatever you wish." She placed the watch with the rest of her ingredients. "So where shall we do this?"
"I have a place that's perfect. It's deserted, big open space; it should give us a good place to make a stand." Everyone agreed to go. "Let's meet there in an hour."