Amnesia!
(Chapter Twenty-Two)
(Beck Unconscious)***
I woke up trapped, frightened, and confused.
I screamed and screamed, but no one came, no one heard me.
"Oh my god! I realized I've been buried alive."
"Dean! Sam! Cas! Daddy!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, but not one of them answered me, answered my cries for help.
I thrashed, kicked, and clawed; ripping out my nails, leaving my fingers raw and bloody.
Finally, I managed to get out of my prison, only to have my mouth filled with earth.
I dug my way out, gasping and heaving when I finally made it to the surface.
I was in a graveyard, sitting on my own grave. A few feet away I saw a sign that read: Sioux Falls Cemetery.
Sioux Falls? Dad?
I shook my head confused and turned to look at the headstone, but it wasn't my name, it wasn't me, and it wasn't my grave.
WHAT THE FUCK WAS GOING ON HERE?!
All of a sudden Cas was there next to me, well sort of, he was flimsy; transparent, barely there at all really.
"Rebecca! Rebecca! Wake up! I can't stay, I don't have enough..." Cas seemed to be shouting, but I barely heard him.
"Cas! Cas, I can't hear you." I called out to him.
"Becky-baby, come on wake up. Don't you dare leave me a second time!" I heard Dean's voice demand from somewhere distant.
"Dean?" I asked feeling weak.
Then suddenly.
*CRACK*
What the hell?!
Why does it feel like someone just slapped me?!
(Beck Slowly Regaing Consciousness.)
"Dean! What the hell are you doing?! Stop slapping her!" Sam yelled at his older brother.
"I ain't losing her again, Sam! I can't!" Dean yelled back.
"Dean, slapping Rebecca awake will not solve anything if she is really to die a second time." Cas tried to reason.
If Cas had any sense he would have been glad that; a) he was an angel and b) that looks couldn't kill, cause if they could he'd be dead where he stood.
Dean raised his hand again to try to slap Becky awake, but before he could even lower it Sam grabbed his wrist.
"Uuuuuaah." Beck groaned, slowly regaining consciousness.
Cas, Dean, and Sam all looked at the slowly regaining conscious Beck.
Cas, while Sam still had Dean's wrist, quickly scooped Beck out of Dean's grasp, carried her over to a nearby armchair, and sat down in it with her still in his arms.
"Are you alright, Rebecca?" Cas asked tentatively.
"Other than feeling a little freaked out and like my head may explode, I'm ok Cas." Beck answered groggily, shifting slightly to rest her head on Cas's shoulder.
"I do not think your head will explode, but it may hurt a little from Dean slapping you." Cas replied, starting to understand why Sam and Dean both enjoyed holding Rebecca.
"Why, in the name of Christmas, were you slapping me may I ask?" Beck asked Dean, slightly angry from her position on Cas's lap.
"You wouldn't wake up. I thought that..." Dean tried to explain trailing off.
"You thought what exactly, buster?! That slapping me was an acceptable means of waking me up?! Have you lost your ever-loving marbles or something?!" Beck shot back, taking her head off Cas's shoulder and turning it quickly to look at Dean.
"You started convulsing, Becks. Dean thought that you may be having some sort of life-threatening fit, he freaked out." Sam told his angry female best friend.
"Did it ever occur to either of you to call an ambulance or better yet drive me to the hospital yourselves?" Beck demanded of the Winchesters, sitting up fully in Castiel's lap.
Both men had the grace to look sheepishly at each other and then back at the angry huntress.
"Are you alright now, Rebecca?" Cas asked.
"Yea, I think I'm good Cas. Thanks for rescuing me." Beck replied turning her head to answer her angel friend.
" I could not allow Dean to keep harming you Rebecca, no matter how good his intentions were." Cas replied.
"Well thanks for that too, but I meant for showing up in that god-awful dream and helping pull me out of it." Beck said to Cas.
"Rebecca, I was not able to pull you out of that dream. I could barely reach you, something was blocking me and depleting my power even further from its limits." Cas told Rebecca confused.
"Mmmm! I was afraid of that, shit!" Beck groaned and rested her head against Cas's shoulder.
"What's up?" Sam asked her cautiously.
"Get me my phone, please Sam?" Beck requested in return.
Sam went to Beck's purse, which was slung on the back of a chair; opened it, rifled through for a moment, found her phone, and pulled it out. Beck, with her head still resting against Cas's shoulder, giggled slightly at the sound of Sam rifling through her purse.
"Next time just dump the stupid thing Sammy-bug. It's a lot easier than digging. I'm already aware I have way too much crap in it anyway." Beck told Sam amused.
"And I'm not gonna get ripped a new one for it?" Sam asked, chuckling, bringing Beck her cell.
"No. I asked you to get it for me. Honestly, sweetie, I could give a crap less if you know what I keep in my purse. I live with you for Christ's sake, it's not like we have any privacy anyhow." Beck replied with a snort accepting her cell from Sam.
"Alright. You may wanna clean that thing out eventually though, Becks." Sam said with a smile.
"You ever feel that bored or whatever feel free, Sam. Cause ten to one says it probably won't happen in this lifetime." Beck laughed as she tapped her phone a couple times and waited for whoever was on the other end to answer.
"Who ya, callin Becky?" the unnaturally quiet, until that moment, Dean asked.
"Dad." Beck replied.
"She means Bobby, right?" Dean asked his brother.
"Yep. Becks didn't tell you that Bobby is her biological father?" Sam replied and asked his brother in return.
"She mentioned something about Bobby and family while we were dealing with the whole Famine thing, but no she never told me that." Dean replied a little shocked.
"No, I will not stay out of it! (pause) Dad, you're being an ass! (pause) This does so concern me, I'm your daughter! (pause) Screw you, the boys and I will be there and you can just deal with it!" Beck angrily told her father and hung up on him.
"Bobby seemed angry and you yelled at him." Cas stated simply.
"Your damn right I did! Doesn't concern me my ass! Who the hell does he think he's talking to?! Some stranger off the street?! God, he is pissing me off!" Beck ranted climbing off of Cas's lap.
Hurricane Rebecca had officially touched down.
"I do not believe Bobby was unaware of whom he was speaking with Rebecca. I am uncertain what there is of your ass to be concerned about." Cas said confused.
"Cas, man let it go. She's on a warpath. When a woman gets like that you just hunker down and hope to survive it. The safest thing to do is keep your trap shut." Dean advised his angel friend.
"Sound advice for once, Mister." Beck grumbled irritably in Dean's direction.
"So uh... Wh-what's wrong with Bobby, Becks?" Sam asked nervously.
"He's being impossible and thinks that he can hide shit!" Beck growled in return, prowling around the motel room collecting everyone's things as she did.
Sam, Dean, and Cas watched silently as Beck started viciously shoving everything into its proper place so it could be taken out to the Impala. She had been at it for about forty-five minutes when a wave of intense pain and nausea brought her (literally) to her knees.
"Becky!" Dean exclaimed jumping off the bed and rushing to Becky's side, scooping her up into his arms.
Beck convulsed slightly in Dean's arms and gasped for air, losing consciousness once more.
(Beck Unconscious Once More)
"Why were you yelling honey?" I asked Bobby.
"It's nothin' babe. Just...someone being nosy is all." Bobby told me in a calmer tone of voice.
Babe?
Huh, wait a minute. When did dad start calling me that?!
And when the hell did I start calling my dad "honey"?!
What the Hell is going on here?!
My mind raced like a dog on a track. I couldn't seem to think straight. I was me, but I was someone else, someone extremely important to my father.
"Are you alright, Karen?" Bobby asked me.
Karen?!
Who the hell is Karen?!
And while we're at it, NO! I am not alright, I feel like I'm going insane!
"I'm fine, sweetheart. Just felt a little lightheaded for a moment." I said instead of what I had been thinking.
What the blue fuck?!
Now I'm calling my dad "sweetheart", just what the hell is wrong with me?!
"Maybe you should sit down, honey. I'll fix us some dinner, so you can rest." Bobby suggested.
"No, it's fine. I'm fine, I want to make you dinner." I rushed to reassure him.
"Are you sure, baby?" Bobby asked.
"Of course, I'm sure, Bobby. Why don't you pull a couple beers outta the fridge for us, call back whoever you yelled at, and apologize, while I make dinner." I suggested shooing him away as I started to make our dinner.
Bobby walked over to the fridge, opened it, got out two beers, opened both, handed me one, kissed me (romantically, UCK!), and left the kitchen with his cell.
I started to cook dinner when nausea and pain returned with a vengeance.
"Becky, Becky! C'mon baby wake up, this shit ain't funny. C'mon babe, be ok for me." I hear Dean's voice beg fuzzily.
Dean, where are you? What's going on? Why do you sound so far away?
"Becks? Come out of it if you can Dean's freaked and Cas is worried that Dean'll start slapping you again to wake you up." Sam's voice said, he sounded like he was pleading.
Sam? Sammy, what's going on? Why can I hear you so much better than I can Dean?
"It's alright. You needn't be afraid, just go back to them. We will meet again soon enough." a soft clear female voice told me.
"Who are you?" I asked feeling every bit as afraid as she had told me not to be.
"You already know the answer to that. Now, go back to those boys so they don't worry anymore." the woman's voice ordered me, comforting and stern at the same time.
"Alright," I replied still unnerved but felt calmer this time.
(End of Beck's Unconsciousness)
From her position on the bed she shared with Dean, Beck's deathly still body began to fight and gasp for air once more. The movement and noise sent the Winchesters and Castiel running to Beck's side.
"Rebecca, stay as still as possible and try to relax your body. It will make breathing easier." Cas instructed.
"Cas, man. I don't know if she can hear you." Sam tried to tell the angel gently.
"She can, Sam. It may be difficult for her to respond, but Rebecca is with us once more. So she will be able to at least hear my instructions." Cas patiently informed Sam.
"Oh, h-how can you tell?" Sam asked a little nervously.
"The same way I could tell for you or Dean. You each have distinct psychic energy. Angels generally utilize it to affect dreams or if they are cupids to brand the hearts of people intended to mate." Cas explained.
"So what? Becky's psychic energy shit just decided to pull an Elvis and leave the building?" Dean asked in frustrated confusion.
Cas pulled his "constipated bulldog" face and tried his hardest to understand Dean's analogy. Not understanding what human fecal matter had to do with psychic energy.
Sam rolled his eyes, gave his older brother an exasperated look, and asked Cas, "Is our psychic energy part of our soul Cas?"
Cas turned his attention back to Sam and replied, "No Sam. Psychic energy is part of the human spirit. It is the form, if I understand it correctly, where humans and angels can exist together without our need for vessels."
"Ugh. Please stop talking Cas, they aren't gonna get it." Beck groaned, finally coming round.
"Becks! Hey, you ok? Damn you scared us, again. What happened?" Sam rattled out.
"Slow down, Sammy. Breathe. Gimme a minute and I will answer your questions." Beck hoarsely chuckled at her best friend.
At the foot of Dean and Beck's bed, where the guys had moved Beck when she had collapsed, sat Dean. Cas hovered close behind him.
"I'm thinkin maybe we should take you to a hospital and get those seizures of yours checked out." Dean said in a gruff, yet gentle voice.
"No. I don't need a hospital Dean. Some water would be good though." Beck replied, her voice still a little ragged.
"I will get the water for you, Rebecca." Cas volunteered.
Beck nodded and gave Cas a grateful smile.
"I think Dean's right, Becks. Maybe you should go get checked out." Sam said agreeing with his brother.
Water in hand Cas walked over to Sam and Beck. He gave Beck her water as he regarded her thoughtfully.
"Do you feel the need to go to the hospital, Rebecca?" Cas inquired.
Beck slowly sat up slightly, took a couple sips of the water Cas had brought her, and shook her head "no".
She took another sip of her water from the glass, gingerly sat up the rest of the way, placed the water glass on the bedside table, and said, "Thanks Cas. I don't need to go to the hospital guys. I'll be alright. I think I'm starting to understand what's going on and a hospital isn't going to help."
"Ok, so what's going on Becks?" Sam asked gently.
"Well. do you remember a few years ago? When you had premonitions that were connected to "Yellow Eyes", Sam?" Beck asked, then realized that it was a stupid question.
Of course, Sam would remember that!
Those premonitions brought Sam to his knees more than once.
Dummy.
Dean stiffened visibly at the end of the bed.
Sam merely gave Beck a small smile and nodded his head, that yes he did remember.
"Sorry, it was a dumb thing to ask." Beck apologized with a blush.
"Don't worry about it Becks." Sam replied kindly.
"So what? Now ur having premonitions too?!" Dean demanded.
"Sort of. I think they're more real-time visions, to be honest though." Beck replied a little uncertain.
"Wait, you mean you don't know?!" Dean demanded.
"Well since I've never had this happen before Dean. Yeah, that's exactly what I mean." Beck replied waspishly.
"He's just worried about you, Becks." Sam said trying to quickly restore peace between his brother and his best friend.
Beck sighed and nodded. She knew that Dean was worried. She also knew that Dean being worried tended to make him cranky and spoiling for a fight.
Beck sighed again and calmly asked Dean, "Do you know who Karen is?"
"Karen? No, not since you that I know of Becky." Dean replied with a confused frown.
What the hell was this about? Was Becky accusing him of cheating on her with this Karen broad?! She should know by now that he solely belonged to her! Hell, he climbed into the bottle when he thought he'd lost her, probably would've stayed there too if she hadn't come back to him. Didn't she know it would kill him to lose her again?!
"Earth to Dean. Babe? Hey...come back to me from wherever you're at for me." Beck called watching Dean stare into space, a gamut of emotions flashing in his eyes.
"Dean...Dean...Dean." Cas called trying to help Rebecca reclaim his best friend's attention.
" 'Scuse me, Sam-I-Am." Beck said softly as she scooted to the bed past Sam and sat next to Dean at the end of the bed.
Beck swung her legs over Dean's, slid her rear onto his lap, and placed one of her hands on his chest, right over his heart.
"You're scaring me, Mister." Beck said softly, searching his eyes.
Dean blinked a couple times, refocused his eyes, and came out of his thought to find his Becky-love sitting in his lap looking worried.
"Hey there." Dean murmured huskily wrapping his arms around Becky.
"Welcome back. Where'd your mind wander off to love?" Becky asked softly cuddling in against Dean's chest.
Dean closed his eyes for a moment and just smiled as he held the woman he loved close.
At the other end of the bed, Cas and Sam watched the couple, then turned their heads to each other and shared a smile.
"Dean, Karen is someone important to Bobby. Are you sure you've never heard of her?" Beck asked lifting her head to look at him.
"Oh, well then yeah. I know who you're askin about. I thought you meant..." Dean answered trailing off.
"You thought I meant what? Dean, did you think I was accusing you of sleeping with other women and me at the same time?" Beck asked frowning in confusion at first, her eyes widening in surprise as she began to understand.
"Well...I...Uahum." Dean stumbled clearing his throat.
"That explains the spacing out, I suppose." Beck murmured frowning again looking at Sam and Cas.
"I ain't cheating on you." Dean asserted in a low voice, pushing Beck's chin with his index finger so her eyes connected with his own again.
Beck looked into Dean's eyes. She saw that Dean meant what he said, Beck's eyes danced in delight.
Beck smiled happily and asked, "So who is Karen to Dad? All I know is that he loves her."
Dean smiled back happy that Becky understood without having to say more.
Chick-flick moments were not his thing.
"Karen was Bobby's wife. She's the reason he became a hunter." Dean told Becky.
"Oh, dear." Beck said in a worried tone.
"What's wrong Becks?" Sam asked, reminding Becks and Dean that he and Cas were still there.
"We need to finish packing up and haul ass home, Sammy." Beck told Sam pulling out of Dean's arms and climbing off of his lap.
Beck walked over to the packing she had started before her "fit".
"Is there anything I can help with Rebecca?" Cas asked.
"Yeah, yeah there is Cas. Do me a favor, and shadow Ellen and Jo for a bit. I'd feel better if you kept tabs on them for me for a little bit." Beck replied.
"Very well, Rebecca." Cas replied and disappeared.
"Good. Three fewer people to worry about for the time being." Beck said out loud with a decisive nod of her head.
"Did you just get rid of Cas, Becks?" Sam asked with a surprised chuckle.
"Damn right I did. The last god-damn thing I need is him hovering, on top of you two doing it." Beck replied, sounding every bit her father's daughter.
"What's going on at Bobby's?" Dean asked.
Beck took a deep breath, stopped what she was doing, turned to Dean, and said, "Karen's back. Those "fits" I've been having somehow connect me to her, and before you ask I have no idea how or why."
"Karen's dead." Dean stated.
"Not anymore." Beck told him.
"So, Bobby's wife is back. Well, that cannot be good." Sam said softly.
"No, it's not and she's not the only one. Lots of people who died in Dad's hometown are back from the dead and are reuniting with their loved ones." Beck replied just as softly.
"Zombies. Are they already killing people Becky?" Dean asked.
"Not yet, but probably soon." Beck replied.
"Is Bobby's wife, um, Karen gonna end up like that Becks?" Sam asked slightly horrified.
"Original history, no. This time around? Not if I have anything to do with it." Beck replied with a little steel in her voice.
"She came close, in the show I mean, didn't she Becks?" Sam asked gently.
"Yea, very. Probably will this time too." Beck replied dejectedly.
"Well, then Dean and I will help you finish packing up. The two of us can take all our gear out to the car and then the three of us can go, so we can try to keep that from happening." Sam said purposefully.
"Sounds good, thanks Sam. I'll do my share of the loading up too. It's not fair for you and Dean to do it all." Beck replied gratefully.
"How bout you just take it easy. Sammy and I can manage the rest of the packing and do the loading ourselves while you relax." Dean told Becky trying for gentleness.
"I'm not helpless or ill Dean. I can do my fair share of the work." Beck replied feeling hurt.
"Dean's right Becks. If you end up having another "fit or vision" you could end up getting seriously hurt. Neither of us wants that to happen. We love you, ya know." Sam told Becks backing up his big brother.
Beck smiled, sighed happily, and sat down in the nearest chair, conceding defeat without argument.
Twenty minutes later Beck and the Winchesters were flying down the highway to Bobby's. Dean drove with Sam riding shotgun beside him. The boys had been able to gently coerce Beck to ride in the backseat, just in case of another "fit/vision" thing.
It turned out to be a smart move on the Winchester's part because fifteen minutes from Bobby's place that was exactly what happened.
As with the previous couple of times, Beck was seized with an intolerable amount of pain, convulsed, struggled for air, and cried out from the pain before she passed out.
(Beck Unconscious Yet Again)
"Whatcha up to darlin?" Bobby asked me.
"Just making sure we have plenty of food for everyone for breakfast, baby." I replied.
Great, here we go again with this shit!
"We expecting company, hunny?" Bobby asked me with a confused frown.
"Yes, dear." I replied with an indulgent shake of my head.
No, wait not my head.
Karen. It's Karen who is talking, not me.
This means I'm unconscious and the boys are probably worried sick.
Aw, Shit!
"It will be alright. Don't worry so." Karen's voice told me.
"I can't help it, they're all I've got." I whispered back feeling like a scared little girl.
"Karen, you alright?" Bobby asked.
"More than my love. Can you go fix up the window seat for me please?" Karen/I asked him.
"Sure thing, hunny." Bobby replied and wheeled himself into the living room.
"Just a few more minutes now wouldn't you say? Bobby should see you and the boys pulling in the drive at anytime now." Karen murmured out loud to me.
"You sent him to the window seat to do just that on purpose. Why?" I asked confused.
"It had to be done. I know I married a very stubborn man." Karen replied cryptically.
Gee, that was helpful.
From the kitchen "we" heard the roar of the Impala's engine as it pulled up to the house and parked.
"Aw, shit!" "we" heard Bobby loudly cuss.
"Watch your mouth my love and let them in. They're going to need your help." "we" sang out to Bobby.
"We" heard Bobby wheel himself to the front door, open it, and then yell out, "What the hell happened to my daughter?! Git in here with her now!"
"Try not to be too angry with him, sweetie." Karen told me.
The room spun.
I felt sick and frightened, the need to vomit enveloped me.
The darkness returned.
(End Beck Unconscious)
"Set 'er down in the window seat." Beck muzzily heard her father, Bobby Singer, instruct whichever one it was of the Winchester who was carrying her.
"Uhhh." Beck moaned as she felt herself being lowered into the window seat.
"Sounds like she's coming around." said the relieved voice of Samuel Winchester.
"She's gonna hurl in a minute, so you might wanna get out of the way." Beck croaked nauseously in warning, turning on her side.
"Here put this on the back of her neck." a familiar female voice (to Beck) instructed Sam.
Moments later Beck felt a cool washrag on the back of her neck and heard hurried footsteps exit the room. She could only guess that they belonged to her stepmother, Karen Singer, going to fetch something.
The hurried footsteps quickly reentered the room and Beck heard her stepmother say, "Alright honey, just take deep breaths if you can. This is a bucket right here for you to be sick in and I'm gonna go get you some iced tea."
"Is there...is there anything that Dean or I can do to help?" Sam asked stumbling over his own tongue.
"Mmmhhmm, Karen replied kindly, you can sit with her, keep that washrag on her neck, talk softly to her, and try to keep her hair out of the way. Dean, you can come with me to get the iced tea and some medicine that will steady her stomach."
"There anything you need me to do, darlin?" Bobby asked his wife.
"Calm down and stop hollering would be a good start." Karen replied with a small smile and a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I'll work on that." Bobby replied sheepishly.
Beck felt a slow smile creep across her lips, as she listened to Dean and Karen's footfalls fade from the room. Although she had yet to see her stepmother, from what she heard of her, Beck was quickly coming to like the woman a lot.
"Hey, Becks. You doin ok?" Sam asked in a soft voice crouched next to his best friend.
"My tummy doesn't like me very much at the moment Sammy." Beck moaned pitifully in return.
Sam gathered up Beck's lovely honey-blonde hair, put it into a ponytail, attached the ponytail to the top of Beck's head with a claw clip, and slipped six bobby pins in for fly-aways. He gave her a sympathetic smile that she couldn't see (as her eyes were still closed), and said, "It's ok Becks. The bucket's right here. Don't worry I won't let you vomit on your beautiful golden hair."
Beck weakly chuckled (which turned out to be a mistake) and promptly yakked into the bucket that Karen had provided for her.
The problem with vomiting often is that once it starts it can be enormously difficult to stop.
This, unfortunately, was the case for Beck.
Sam Winchester sat next to his best friend, held her hair sympathetically (if a little grossed out), and mumbled unintelligible sounds of comfort. He figured that, at that moment, it didn't matter in the slightest really what he said, as long as Becks knew he was there for her.
Bobby sat nearby watching, worried as hell about his child. He also wondered just what was taking Dean and Karen so long to get what they had gone to get for Becca.
In reality, the other two hadn't been gone long at all, but to a worried parent, a few minutes can easily feel like an eternity.
Karen and Dean entered the room a minute later.
Karen had a bottle of pink liquid in one hand and a dosing spoon in the other.
Dean, on the other hand, followed Karen with Beck's iced tea in one hand and a breakfast burrito for himself in the other.
"Here, I want you to give her a couple tablespoons of this after she stops vomiting and has had a few sips of iced tea." Karen told Bobby handing him the pink liquid and the dosing spoon.
Karen gave her husband a quick kiss, straightened back up, and returned to the kitchen.
"Here, Sammy. You need to try to get a little bit of this into Becky. If you can get her to stop barfing long enough, that is." Dean said to Sam giving him the iced tea Karen had made for Beck.
"Seriously dude? You're really just gonna stand there and stuff your face while Becks is puking her guts out?!" Sam demanded appalled.
"Hell, no. I wouldn't do that to Becky. I'm gonna go stuff my face in the kitchen, so she don't have to smell it. Besides I don't wanna lose my appetite listening and watching her barf." Dean replied.
Sam gave his big brother a disgusted look and then turned his attention back to Becks, hoping she was too busy being sick to have caught anything that had been said.
Sam took the washrag off Beck's neck, as it no longer seemed to be helping, and used it to help Beck clean up a little when she laid back down on her back.
"Thank you, Sam." Beck mumbled, grateful to have Sam Winchester as a best friend.
"Your welcome, Becks. Here see if you can take a couple sips of this, it should help." Sam replied giving Becks the iced tea.
"So is there any chance of finding out what's wrong with my daughter?" Bobby asked gruffly sick of waiting for someone to tell him what the hell was going on.
"She's been having "fits" lately. This is the first time she's thrown up from them though." Sam's short version was explained to Bobby.
"Fits? Like what?!" Bobby demanded alarmed.
"Seizures, trouble breathing, convulsions, passing out, and visions of some kind." Sam rattled off the symptoms for Bobby.
"Why the hell ain't she in the hospital?!" Bobby wanted to know.
"Because she don't need to be in one." Beck growled at her father, slowly sitting upright.
"Sound like ya do ta me, little girl." Bobby shot back.
"Well you should be locked up in ur own panic room for sheer stupidity, but that ain't gonna happen. So you can just forget me going to the hospital." Beck sassed her daddy spunkily.
"Drink some more of your tea Becks." Sam said with weary affection.
Beck drank a little bit more of her tea and said to Sam, "Go eat before the bottomless pit leaves nothing left for you."
"You sure? I don't want to leave you alone Becks." Sam asked uncertainly his stomach beginning to growl.
"Yup, I'm sure. Dad's right here waiting to pour medicine down my throat so I'm hardly alone Sam." Beck teasingly replied.
"Alright. Yell if you need me." Sam asserted and left the room.
"He worries way too much." Beck said out loud with a sigh.
"Course he does. He loves you." Bobby told his daughter.
"I know. I love him too. He's my best friend. I love you too for that matter. Even if you are a stubborn old pain in my ass." Beck replied looking at her father.
"The feeling's mutual, baby girl. Now do me a favor and take ur medicine." Bobby said, wheeled himself over to Beck, and gave her the dosing spoon full of pink stuff like a small child.
Beck opened her mouth and quietly swallowed the medicine Bobby gave her.
"Drink some more of ur tea, hunny." Bobby told Becca gently after she had swallowed her medicine.
Beck obliged her father and drank some more tea, studying him as she did. She sighed and put aside the glass of tea on the floor at her feet.
"Dad, I know you don't wanna hear this, but... Karen has to die again." Beck told Bobby softly.
Bobby's face contorted in anger at his daughter's words and was about to yell at her when he was cut off by Dean, who had come to the doorway unseen or heard with Sam.
"Don't...just don't, Bobby she's right. Your wife is a zombie or gonna be one and you know what'll happen next." Dean said.
"You need to end it before that happens, man. What if she comes after you or worse, after Becks." Sam said.
"Sam." Beck softly admonished her best friend.
"He's right baby. You know that there are others in town and they're gonna start tearin into people." Dean said sticking up for Sam.
"Look, I know what's gonna happen. Karen don't seem ta remember a thing, bout what happened. I just...I just want some time with her before it happens is all. I'll end it when it does." Bobby promised thickly.
"Bobby, man..." Sam started to say.
"Sam, let it go. We'll deal, this is family." Beck interrupted her best friend, under no certain terms.
"Whatever you want, Becky-baby," Dean answered for his brother.
"Good, now if you'll excuse me. I'm gonna go meet my stepmother. I expect my men to behave." Beck said as she stood up.
Beck leaned down, kissed her dad on the cheek, straightened up, and walked to the doorway. Upon reaching it she kissed Dean on the lips, squeezed her best friend's hand, and walked down the hallway, into the kitchen.
Beck entered the kitchen and saw her stepmother, Karen, at the stove cooking more fixings for breakfast burritos. She stood there and took a deep breath. She opened and closed her mouth several times, but nothing came out.
Beck simply couldn't say a single thing to her stepmother.
"Why don't you come over here and help me by grating the cheese, honey." Karen said kindly to Beck without turning around.
Beck mutely nodded her head and walked across the kitchen. She picked up the cheese in one hand, the grater in the other hand, held them over the bowl and grated the cheese standing next to Karen. Beck had a million things on the tip of her tongue to say, but none of them would come out.
The two women worked together for a while in silence.
Eventually, Karen turned off the stove, rearranged things a bit (as to not burn anything, still on the hot burners), and turned to Beck. She stopped Beck from grating any more cheese (there was more than enough), turned the young woman towards her, and held Beck's arms out, holding her hands to get a good look at the woman who could have been her own daughter. Under different circumstances.
"You are a very beautiful young woman." Karen said in a kind soft voice.
"Thank you." Beck whispered in return.
"Your daddy loves you a whole bunch, ya know. I can tell that he's really proud of you." Karen told her stepdaughter.
Beck blushed and ducked her head at her stepmother's words.
"Bobby and I always dreamed of a family, children to fill this house with. A couple of boys, maybe. Noise and laughter, the sound of young feet thumping, running, or even tracking mud throughout the house. Bedtime stories, games, worry, pain, and colds. We wanted all of it, everything that came with raising kids. The good and the bad. We didn't want to miss out on any of it. I remember one evening, well into our marriage, we got to talking about being lucky enough to have a choice of a boy or a girl, and what would we want most. It turned out to be that, more than anything, we both wanted a pretty little girl. And here she is." Karen said telling Beck, in her own way, how much she was truly wanted.
Her stepmother's words warmed Beck and made her feel guilty at the same time. Beck was Bobby's daughter, but not Karen's. It didn't seem fair somehow to her.
Karen saw the look on Beck's face and smiled. She could easily guess how the young woman was feeling. It was sweet, but as far as Karen Singer was concerned it was also totally unnecessary.
"Don't feel guilty, sweetie. That was never my intention. You have nothing to feel bad about. I'm glad Bobby met your mama and they had you. It's what we wanted, after all, a daughter. I'm happy that Bobby found someone who would love him. Even if it didn't work out, they got you out of it, and that's all that really matters. You're the best part of who they both are, darling." Karen told Beck trying to soothe away her discomfort.
"I don't know about that. I mean...I never had a dad growing up. I don't really know what to do now that I have him. Truthfully I feel more like the worst parts of them than the best. I mean I'm moody, I'm bossy, I yell, and I can be a real brat." Beck said contradicting her stepmother.
"In other words, you act like any other daughter who adores her daddy." Karen chuckled softly in reply.
"If you say so. I really don't have any experience at it, so I wouldn't know." Beck replied uncertainly.
"Well, I do say so. Now, this all looks done to me, so let's call the men in here to eat." Karen said decisively.
"You'd think Dean had already eaten enough." Beck chuckled.
"He's a man, honey. They never do." Karen returned playfully.
Beck giggled at Karen's words and nodded her head. She knew that when it came to Dean, except during the run-in with Famine, could always eat.
"Sam! Dean! Bobby, honey! Come eat!" Karen called out to the men.
Sam, Dean, and Bobby heard their names called and swiftly joined the two ladies in the kitchen. The five of them fixed themselves their breakfast burritos and ate quietly enough.
Karen was sweet, kind, and thoughtful to her husband's adopted sons. She was ready quickly enough to refill their plates with more food.
To Beck, she was patient, and understanding, and treated the young woman as if she were her own natural daughter.
When the Winchesters, Bobby, and Beck had had enough to eat Karen shooed them out of the kitchen, insisting that she would do all the dishes herself.
This made Beck laugh as she had, not so very long ago, done the same thing to Bobby, Dean, Sam, and Cas, herself.
The four of them, once in the living room together again, looked at each other.
The silence between them hung heavy in the air.
"Why don't the two of you, go check out what's going on in town with the rest of the recently undead?" Beck suggested to Sam and Dean, putting an end to the silence.
"Alright, you sure you're gonna be ok here?" Dean asked in reply.
"More than. Go get the information on what's going on, so we can deal with it quickly." Beck replied.
"Sounds good. See ya later. C'mon Sammy." Dean agreed and said to his brother, heading out the door.
"Right. Later Becks." Sam replied and said goodbye to his best friend, following his brother out the door.
"Later Sammy." Beck replied.
"And stay clear of Sheriff Mills!" she cried out, as an afterthought, to the retreating backsides of the Winchesters.
Beck turned to her father and shook her head fondly.
They both knew that trouble seemed to follow the boys like a puppy at their heels.
"I'm sorry bout yellin' at ya on the phone earlier, hunny." Bobby apologized gruffly.
"It's ok, dad. I get it. More than I want to, but I get it." Beck replied with a sigh.
"Hey, you two. What are you up to?" Karen asked playfully, joining Beck and Bobby in the living room.
"Talkin." Beck replied with a smile.
"Just talkin, huh? Well then, how about the three of us veg out to some TV." Karen suggested.
"Sounds good to me. What d'ya think, dad?" Beck asked her father.
"I could do some good ole fashioned TV time with my girls." Bobby agreed happily.
"Great. You two go ahead and get yourselves comfortable. I'll go grab us some drinks. Bobby honey, either you or Beck snap on the tube for us." Karen said picking up Beck's half-full forgotten tea glass.
"Yup." Bobby replied.
Karen left the living room, once again, with Beck's old iced tea and went to the kitchen to get fresh drinks for her husband, her stepdaughter, and herself.
Beck gathered up all the pillows in the room, lined the window seat with most of them, and tossed the remainder on the floor beneath it.
Bobby positioned the TV and grabbed the remote.
"Want to get outta that chair for a little bit and curl up with Karen in the window seat, dad?" Beck asked her father.
"Sounds nice little girl, but how d'ya propose I do that?" Bobby asked his daughter with a slight frown.
"You wheel your ass over here to the window seat and I help you." Beck replied, trying not to be exasperated with him.
"Alright, if ya think ya can." Bobby replied sounding doubtful, wheeling himself over to the window seat.
"I've done a lot more difficult things lately, daddy. Helping you sit somewhere other than your wheelchair shouldn't be too complicated." Beck told Bobby sweetly.
"Brat." Bobby grumbled playfully back locking the brakes on his wheelchair.
Beck quickly kicked the pillows on the floor out of her way and walked over to her dad. She stood in front of him, braced her feet, bent her knees, and reached out for her father. Bobby, for his own part, had positioned his feet (by lifting his legs with his arms and hands) on the floor, reached out his own arms for his little girl, and used his upper body strength to assist her in moving him onto the window seat.
For an awkward moment, it looked like father and daughter would both crash to the floor. They were quickly righted by the sudden appearance and assistance of Karen, who helped her stepdaughter maneuver her husband into the window seat without any further issues.
"Well, that was an adventure. Maybe next time you two impatient boots will wait for my help, hmm?" Karen playfully scolded father and daughter.
"Maybe." Beck replied with a cheeky grin.
"Have it your own way, Mistress Clever." Karen replied with a grin of her own and a shake of her head.
"I generally do these days, surrounded by all males as I usually am. I've become quite spoiled." Beck replied in a mock snobby voice with an insolent little toss of her head.
Karen chuckled at her stepdaughter and lightly swatted her behind.
Beck giggled herself and quickly sidestepped her stepmother's playful swat, giving Karen room to sit and relax in the window seat with Bobby.
Karen walked over to the window seat, helped her husband arrange himself comfortably, and then sat down herself. She leaned slightly against a couple of the pillows Bobby had put in front of his stomach for her use, while he lay comfortably (as was possible for him to be) curled up in the window seat.
After making sure her father and stepmother were comfortable settled Beck retrieved a TV tray from across the room, set it up near the window seat, and retrieved the drinks from where Karen had quickly put them on the desk before she had helped Beck with Bobby. Once the drinks were on the TV tray Beck sat down under the window seat, rearranged the pillows she had kicked aside, and got herself comfortable.
Bobby, remote in hand, clicked on the television, flipped around for a few minutes, and found a TV movie for him and his women to watch.
"Grab your brush out of your purse, honey." Karen told Beck.
"Alright." Beck replied.
Beck got up from her spot on the floor, went over to her purse, retrieved her hairbrush out of it, brought it over to Karen, and handed it to her.
"Sit back down, hon." Karen instructed Beck.
Beck sat back down as she had been told, rearranged the throw pillows on the floor, and sat Native American-style (Indian-style, he-he, must be politically correct), with her back propped up slightly against the pillows.
Karen planted her feet on either side of Beck, put the hairbrush next to her left thigh, and began to take down Beck's hair. She first took out the six bobby pins that held the loose strands of Beck's long honey-blonde hair in place. She slid them, one at a time, onto the sleeve cuff of her long sleeve shirt.
Next Karen gently removed the claw clip, holding Beck's hair up in a flip, opening and closing its jaws. She sat the claw clip next to the hairbrush. Karen, then, gently removed Beck's ponytail holder and undid the ponytail Sam had put up to help keep Beck from vomiting in her hair earlier. Karen braceleted the ponytail holder picked up the hairbrush, and in smooth long strokes brushed the tangles free from Beck's, waist-length, long honey blonde hair.
Beck leaned back while her stepmother brushed her hair, sat still, and enjoyed watching TV with her "parents".
As Beck, Bobby, and Karen watched their TV movie, Karen arranged her stepdaughter's hair into a fishtail braid.
"You have beautiful hair, sweetie." Karen complimented her stepdaughter as she finished doing Beck's hair for her.
"Thanks." Beck replied softly.
"Your welcome, hon." Karen replied.
Karen snuggled in with her husband and Beck made herself comfortable on the floor beneath them. The peace that engulfed the three of them from that quiet little family moment would only last until nearly the end of their movie. It was then that Karen started to act oddly.
Both father and daughter noticed Karen's strange behavior.
"You feelin' alright, darlin?" Bobby asked, concern dripping from his voice.
"I don't feel well." Karen murmured in reply.
Beck looked at her stepmother and knew what was happening.
Karen was turning. Soon she would be a zombie, after that nothing would matter.
Not how much she loved Bobby, not how much she wished Beck was her's, and not how much she liked the Winchesters.
Nothing would matter, nothing but feeding, killing, and violence.
She wouldn't be able to help it.
"Help me back into my chair, girl." Bobby told his daughter.
"Sure, dad." Beck replied.
Helping Bobby back into his chair proved more hazardous than helping him out of it.
This time Beck was not solely focused on assisting her father, it was also focused on keeping an eye on Karen in case she started to turn homicidal.
Luckily Karen did not and Beck got her father into his wheelchair with no major incident.
Bobby was able to shepherd his wife into the downstairs bedroom and got her laid down on the bed. She didn't put up much of a fight about it as she has said she wasn't feeling well.
Beck suspected that Karen knew exactly what was happening and wanted to spare Bobby as much pain as she could from that knowledge.
Once her father and stepmother had disappeared into the downstairs bedroom, Beck was left alone to worry, pick up the area that the three of them had used, and wish that the Winchesters were back.
While she was doing all this cleaning, worrying, and wishing Beck heard the Impala pull in the drive and park. She met Sam and Dean at the door and opened it for them.
"Hey, where's Bobby and Karen?" Sam asked in greeting.
Beck looked away and sighed, leaving Sam's question unanswered.
"Something wrong, baby?" Dean asked, noticing Beck's avoidance of Sam's question.
"Karen did my hair." Beck replied in a small voice, still not making eye contact with either brother.
Sam and Dean gave Beck a confused frown, then looked at each other with mirrored expressions of worry.
"You two figure out what's going on in town?" Beck asked trying to change the subject.
"Uh, yea. It's just like you said, lotta people comin back from the dead. May get ugly here real soon, we were hoping that you and Bobby would help with that." Sam replied.
"Kinda figured. I'll go let dad know that you guys are back." Beck responded.
Beck quickly left the Winchesters standing in the front hall, made her way to the bedroom where her father and step-mom were, knocked on the door, and entered the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
"The boys are back." Beck told her father and Karen softly, after closing the door.
"That's good." Karen replied gently, lying on the bed.
Bobby nodded absently in agreement with Karen, looking shell-shocked.
"Bobby, I'd like to talk to Beck alone please. Why don't you go talk to your boys?" Karen asked Bobby gently.
At first, Bobby shook his head no, he didn't want to leave Karen's side for any length of time at that point.
"Go on, honey." Karen instructed, determined to have her way in this, patting his hand gently.
Bobby reluctantly gave in, wheeling himself to the door.
Beck opened the door for him, to let him out and closed the door behind him when he was.
Beck turned back to Karen and regarded her step-momma sorrowfully, waiting to hear what Karen wanted to say to her.
Karen turned her head, gave Beck a gentle, fond, motherly look, and softly said, "Please."
Beck felt tears well up in her eyes but refused to let them fall. She gave her stepmother a quick decisive nod, that yes she understood and yes she would carry out Karen's last request.
Beck had mixed feelings about Karen understanding what had to happen next.
It was a comfort, a cold one, that Karen didn't want Bobby to end her life any more than Beck herself did and they both thought it would be better if Beck shouldered that responsibility.
Beck quickly and quietly left the bedroom, walked down the hall, opened the front door, left the house shut, the door quietly behind her, walked down the front porch steps to the Impala (which was oddly enough unlocked), and retrieved the Colt from the glove box.
She, then, closed the glove box back up, locked up the Impala, and returned to the house. Once in the house, Beck silently stole into the room where Karen was lying down, shut the door quietly behind her, leveled the Colt at Karen's head, took a deep breath, and...
*BANG*
Karen Singer was, once again, dead.
Beck plunked her butt in the chair next to her dead stepmother and waited.
She was sitting in the chair all of thirty seconds (at the most) when Sam and Dean burst through the door with Bobby at their heels, nearly running them down in his wheelchair.