Here's chapter four. I just want to take a moment to thank all those people who have stuck with me from chapter one. All your comments and support have been so helpful to me. Chapter five is in the works. I'd planned to have chapter five up by Thursday but this horrific thing sweetly called a Choir concernt occured and set me back as well as a few perfectly timed tests by my very, very evil teachers. Either way, but the end of this weekend I'll have Chapter Five up if it kills me.
As always please review! Also, let me know if you find any errors or any other issues and feel free to e-mail me with questions, comments, whatever. Thanks so much!
xoxo
SJ
Disclaimer: I own only those characters not seen on The WB.
Chapter Four
"Sam, this is a bad idea. We should just get the hell out of here." Dean growled at him. Walking just ahead of them, Adelaide was giving the boys a moment, she could sense that they needed to talk something over on their own.
"Dean, you saw the bruises. She can't keep going like this. One of these dreams is bound to catch up with her, and what happens when I get hurt again?" Sam pressed. Dean winced internally. He didn't really like the idea that Sam was so comfortable with the fact that everything they'd faced lately had been kicking his ass, and he didn't like that Sam was convinced it would keep happening. He'd been better trained than that, but Dean let these thoughts and opinions go for the time being, filing them away for later.
"Well, what can we do to help her? I've never heard of something like this before. I don't know what to do here, Sammy." Dean whispered harshly, having trouble forming the words and getting them out. Sam sighed. He understood that Dean was panicking because, once again, he didn't know what to do, didn't know how to take care of the situation. Lawrence had been bad enough and now, Sam was sure, Dean had to feel like he was being thrown from the frying pan into the fire.
"Dean, you don't have to know how to fix this. Besides that I have a pretty good idea of what's going on, I just don't yet how to take care of things." Sam offered, lightening Dean's load.
"Are you going to enlighten me here?"
"The first time I dreamed of her she was burning on a ceiling. I think that's why we have this connection. What I can't figure out is how to break it." Dean thought about it for a moment as they continued to walk. They were getting closer and the snow was beginning to fall again. The snow was light, almost as though the heavens were dusting the world with salt. Salt. That gave Dean an idea.
"What if we treat this like a possession. I mean, some people when possessed have dreams and it's almost as if you two have possessed one another. Let's lay some salt around the both of you, exorcize your dreams, give her some protection blessings, and then get the hell out of dodge." Sam studied Dean. It could work. It was so crazy it could actually work.
"Wait a minute, Dean. The possessor is destroyed in the ritual. If we go through this you're going to kill either Adelaide or me, how do we distinguish who is the possessor and who is the possessed?" Sam tried to keep the tremor out of his voice, though he wasn't sure that it had worked.
"But since neither of you is truly possessed wouldn't it just treat you both as the possessed?" Both men paused to ponder the question.
"I don't know, Dean, but what else can we do? I mean, she can't sleep in a ring of salt for the rest of her life, and we don't even know if that will work! We can't just stand by and do nothing, though!" Sam exclaimed.
"I never said we shouldn't help her, I'm just saying that maybe my first plan wasn't the best one given the situation." Dean took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. Yelling at Sam wasn't going to help the situation. They had no idea as to what kind of time frame they were looking at and had no real plan of action at this point. The way Dean saw it, they were screwed.
"Okay, well let's say this is our last resort plan. . ."
"Sam," Dean warned.
"No, I'm serious, Dean. If it comes down to this plan or she dies anyway then we need to talk to her about it. Adelaide should have a choice in this." Sam was begging him to understand because, and this was what Dean feared the most, Sam knew it was going to come down to this plan. Dean could see it in the set of Sam's shoulders and the sadness in his eyes.
"No, Sam. No." As though saying it a thousand times would change anything.
"Hey, you guys. You passed my house." Addy called to them from her porch. The boys were almost two houses away. Dean gave Sam a look that clearly said their conversation was closed and that Sam wasn't going to say anything to her about it, and Dean could see that Sam wasn't going to listen to him. When this was all over, Dean decided, he was going to kick Sam's ass.
"So you're saying that if we do this one of us is going to die?" Adelaide looked between the brothers. Dean, slouched in his chair, looking every bit like a teenager that had just been busted for doing something wrong and was waiting for their punisher to dish out their worst, daring them even. Sam was sitting on the edge of his chair, elbows resting in the surface of the table, chin resting on his clasped hands.
"We don't really know. Both of us could walk away from this and be just fine, but one of us could die." Sam's smooth, even voice betrayed his concerns. Caleb, who had been sitting quietly through the entire conversation, suddenly slammed his fist against the table causing the plates to rattle.
"No! No way in hell am I letting you risk my little sister's life on some half assed idea! No!" He screamed, glad that his parents were already at their charity function.
"Finally, someone with some common sense," Dean muttered darkly. Sam sighed as he glared at Dean, his older brother wasn't helping at all.
"Caleb, I'm going to die if we do nothing. This thing that killed their mother and Sam's girlfriend is going to come after me. If we try this I might have a fighting chance. I might die but it's better than just waiting for this thing to come and kill me." Adelaide spoke softly, praying that her brother would understand, that he would see things the way she did. Caleb sighed, he knew his sister, she would fight this to the death. Caleb nearly laughed at the irony in his thoughts but restrained himself, laughing now would be a bad idea, a very bad one.
"Why don't you sleep on it? We'll set up some basic protections for you that should keep you safe from dreams tonight and then you can make your decision once you've given this a fair amount of thought." Dean suggested, praying that this move would buy him enough time to convince Sam that trying to exorcize them was a bad idea.
"Yeah, okay. Caleb and I will talk it over tonight." Addy conceded, scratching at her eyes. It wasn't even nine o'clock and already she was exhausted. The brothers were at the front door when Addy's voice stopped them.
"Dean, can I talk to you for a minute?" She stood before the brothers, Sam already halfway out the door. Dean looked to his younger brother who shrugged, accepted the keys to the Chevy, and left the two to their conversation.
"What's wrong, Adelaide?" Dean asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
"I know that you're worried that if you do this you're going to lose Sam, that he is going to die and then you'll be alone, and I can sense that you have issues with being without him, but you have to let him make his own decisions, Dean. Even if it kills you, you have to stand back and be an observer in this. He's a grown man and he knows what the risks are. He has to make this choice on his own. Just let him go, Dean. You're his older brother but you can't shield him forever." Dean looked at her. Deep down he knew that she was right, that Sam was a man now, not the baby that had been thrust into his arms when he was a child. Sam had seen everything Dean had, he knew what he was doing, but Dean was Sam's older brother and that meant it was his responsibility to look after Sam, no matter how old they were, and Dean would be damned if he failed him now.
"Get some rest, Adelaide. We'll be back in the morning." He told her gruffly as he closed the door softly behind him.
Don't forget the magic purple button just below these words!