Part Two: Stories and Secrets
"How long?" Sam asked, thinking that if Jess was still here, they'd be married by now too.
"A couple of months…yeah, I know, already lost my husband," Robin said, making a joke to try and stop herself from breaking down.
"So what else have you been hiding?" Dean said, looking at her with soft eyes that Robin couldn't interpret.
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything," Sam replied, waiting for Robin to begin her story.
Lucas lay awake in his bed, trying to force the animal in him away. But it was no use, it was growing with every day and soon it would be ready to break out and then…
He shuddered at the thought and images of the destruction and pain he would cause made his heart rip slowly.
There was only one way to get out of this situation and it lay on top of his dresser. He sat up and looked over to the gun, the metal glinting in the dark.
One shot is what it would take to end everything, to stop whatever evil was lurking in him. But as he had found, the animal didn't just have power on his mind but on his body now as well. The thing would never let him pull the trigger; he was a prisoner in a cage of skin. At first it had been small things, twitches and flinches but now they had grown, the animal would now lash out his arm at an unsuspecting stranger just to stir up trouble.
Lucas touched his stomach and felt the wound that was still raw. In his recent spot of trouble, the angry stranger had also been very drunk and glassed him with a beer bottle. It might have killed him but the animal had luckily moved his body enough to not endanger him but still hurt him. It was as clever as it was malicious and that was what scared Lucas the most. When he would no longer be in control of his body or mind, this monster would do things that would not only scar the flesh but the soul, and he knew who the first target would be…
Robin.
The boy felt the tears building in his eyes as thoughts of his beautiful wife entered his mind. He felt the gold band on his finger and knew that leaving had been for the best. But still not being able to tell her why he left was more than he could bear sometimes.
He remembered the night before he'd gone, she had cooked him his favourite, spaghetti Bolognese and had even brought him a present, a new leather case for work.
"I know you would never buy one for yourself because you're a tight bastard but I thought you deserved something, after what you've been through," she had said, as she kissed him on the forehead, her smile so warm, he could feel it now.
But instead of feeling grateful, he had just felt guilty and sad. He didn't deserve such a gift; he didn't deserve her, because what he had been going through was a lie.
Yes, he had been sick but not for the reasons she believed. The headaches, the blackouts, the vomiting, it hadn't been because of stress or a blood disorder like the doctors thought but because of the animal. It wanted his body and it was taking it piece by piece, as painfully as possible just to make Lucas suffer.
Maybe he should have told her the truth, but would she have understood? Yes, a voice answered him, Robin always understood. So why hadn't he told her?
Lucas' mind raced with excuses but it all came down to the fact that he was scared, scared of what she would think of him.
"I will always listen to you and stand by you. There is nothing in this world that could ever change that," she had said on their wedding day.
He should have told her, he should have said something, he should have trusted her. But it was too late now, it was just too late.
More and more of the last night with his Robin came back to him and he could smell her vanilla musk perfume in air. He remembered how they had danced to their song, Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' and the way Robin had leant her cheek on his and told him how much she loved him and how happy she was that they were married and had the rest of their lives to spend together.
At that moment, he had almost abandoned his idea of leaving that night but as he gazed into her chocolate eyes, he had felt the beast clawing at him, feeling its lust for Robin's blood and he knew he had to go.
He had packed the day before and hidden his bag in his office so all he had to do was grab it and walk out, but it just wasn't that simple. He remembered how long he had stood at the foot of their bed, just staring at Robin while she slept, his bag in his hands, his shoes on his feet and his big coat on. Having to leave the one person you needed more than anything was probably the hardest thing any human being could be asked to do. He had wanted to touch her one last time, to kiss her, but he knew he couldn't because it might have woken her. But more importantly if he did, he would never have left because there were always so many last things to do.
As another stabbing pain beat down on his stomach, Lucas grabbed his pillow and bit down on it. Not wanting to scream, not wanting to howl…
"I met Lucas when we were 12 and he was moving into the house next to us in Brooklyn. He lived with his Aunt, his parents had died in a car crash just after his born. Anyway, I remember I was sitting on my stairs watching them move their boxes in, one by one and then for no reason at all, he looked over and said, 'hello.'"
"Aaahh young love, what did you say?" Dean asked.
"I said, 'You're such an idiot,'" Robin replied, laughing loudly.
"So you were always this pleasant then," Dean quipped, imagining the scene.
"Well bear in mind, the boy had just tripped up his front stairs with a box labelled 'china.' I think it was well deserved," Robin said.
"And you grew up together?" Sam asked, seeing the way Robin's eye lit up as she talked about Lucas.
"Yeah, through thick and thin. Age old story, girl meets boy, they grow up together and fall in love and get married and then…well girl ends up chasing boy half way across the country. Not the conventional plot twist but hey, who needs convention?"
Sam nodded, feeling his heart warming to the girl.
"So why did the boy go half way across the country?" Dean asked, his tone becoming more serious.
Robin's eyes darkened a little before she spoke, "I'm not quite sure. But it all started to change when his Aunt died and then it just got worse after we came back from our honeymoon in Ireland."
"What happened?"
"He got sick; he started to get these headaches and stomach pains. And he would tell me things about a woman standing outside our apartment, watching him..."
"Did he see a doctor about it?" Sam asked, wondering if maybe Lucas just had a medical disorder rather than a supernatural ailment.
"Yeah, the doctors did some tests and they did find some slight abnormalities in his blood but they could never tell us what that meant. In the end, they just said it must be stress…"
"But you didn't think it was?"
"No…I mean, Lucas is one of the healthiest and sanest people I know. He hardly ever got sick and he was always so down to earth, you know always had it together. I mean fair enough getting sick but when his whole personality changed as well, I don't know, it just seemed like…"
But Robin couldn't say it, because if she did then it might mean it was true.
"What?" the brothers said in unison.
The girl turned her ring over and over on her finger; she had to tell them everything if she wanted Lucas back.
"He seemed possessed," Robin finally said, feeling a quiet relief falling over her as the words came out.
Writer's Note: Thanks Pure, you are sweet... :-)