Chapter 14: Two Plans
All talking of troll hunting stopped when their food arrived. The three ate in silence for a few minutes. Dean was pleased as he watched his brother eat his entire breakfast. He had noticed for a while now that Sam was eating more. He had a feeling that was because of Dad being there. Sam knew Dad wanted him to regain the weight he had lost from the coma and little by little Sam was bulking up once more. A week of physical therapy and a week of sparring, exercising, and practicing had also helped to give Sam some of his muscle tone back.
They finished eating and Dad paid the bill while Dean flirted with the waitress. The girl was young and had her hair in two long braids that reminded Sam of Sarah. He suddenly found himself thinking about her. What was she doing? Was she getting along with her father? Did she miss him?
"Stop it," he told himself. He had made a decision to stay out of her life and he wasn't going to change his mind. Until the demon was gone no woman would ever be safe with him.
"Ready to go?" John asked.
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"Dean," John called.
Dean's head snapped up and he gave the waitress one last suggestive smile before grabbing a toothpick from the counter, sticking it in his mouth, and then walking out the door.
"Where to, Sam?" Dad asked.
"We need a supermarket," Sam said.
"Dude, we just had breakfast?" Dean asked. "What do we need a market for?"
"Because what I have in mind requires a supermarket," Sam laughed. "You need to chill out."
"Hey, I'm chilled. I just like knowing what's about to happen is all."
"Control freak."
"Geek boy."
"Boys," John groaned, although truthfully he loved to listen to them banter back and forth.
John saw a Kroger and pulled into the parking lot. They headed inside and Sam grabbed a shopping cart. John and Dean followed as Sam went into deli department and grabbed turkey and ham sub sandwiches and a container of potato salad and coleslaw. Next in the cart was a bag of chips and Oreos followed with a pack of Pepsi.
"We need just a couple more things," Sam said. He walked to the seasonal aisle and grabbed a 99 cent Styrofoam cooler and then a bag of ice for a dollar twenty-five.
"This is your big idea," Dean smirked, "a picnic?"
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"What made you think of this cheesy idea?" Dean asked.
"Jess and I did this once. We were flying back from visiting her parents and the plane had engine trouble. It was forced to land in Colorado. Because it was Labor Day weekend all the other flights were booked. We had to wait almost nine hours for our next flight to California and between the two of us we had a whopping $14." Sam smiled as he recalled the memory of that day with Jessica. "Her idea to pass the time was to find a market, grab some cold cuts and bread, a few snacks, and then spend the entire day at the park lying beneath a tree."
Dean had been tempted to tease his baby brother but the look of longing on his face as he talked about a happier time in his life made him stop. Dean remembered what the demon had said. Sam had been about to ask Jess to marry him, had even gone ring shopping. Jessica had been much more to Sam than just a girlfriend. She had been his future wife, the future mother to his children, and now she was gone. "It sounds nice," Dean finally said.
"It was one of the best days of my life," Sam agreed and gave one more wistful smile. "Anyway, I thought that…well…since we have all this time to kill that maybe we could do the same. We can hang out by the river, relax, wait for dark to fall, and then kick some troll ass."
John put his hand on Sam's shoulder and gave a little squeeze. He also saw the look on his boys face, and he could remember once upon a time doing the same thing with Mary. "That sounds like a fine idea. We can even do a little fishing. I have my rod in the truck." Dean and Sam knew that their dad always kept a tent, blankets, and fishing gear on him at all times for those occasions when there was no money for food or lodging.
"Well, let's pay for this stuff and go then," Dean suggested.
Dad grabbed the buggy since he could see that Sam was having some trouble pushing it. He suspected that Sam had skipped out on his pain medication this morning. As they neared the register Dean saw a pack of cards and grabbed them figuring they would help pass the time. He also grabbed a bag of peanut M&M's and chucked them into the cart. Picnics weren't really Dean's thing, but it was his job to make Sam happy so if a picnic was what his brother wanted then he would get one.
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John pulled out the blanket he kept in the truck. It had definitely seen better days. There were several rips and tears in the material and even a few places were the batting was coming out.
John walked to a place Sam had picked by a tree that was about a hundred feet from the bridge and he placed the blanket on the ground. Dean set the cooler on the corner to keep it from blowing away. The bag of Oreos and the tackle box were used to anchor down two more corners.
Dean stole a glance at the couple of other families that had set up picnic areas for the day and saw their big shiny coolers, folding chairs, and barbeques. The few children there had soccer balls, horseshoes, and other assorted play things. He looked back at their shabby blanket, disposable Styrofoam cooler and the dirty tackle box and suddenly felt out of place. Then he looked at Sam and saw his brother looking at their pathetic little setup with a big smile on his face. God his little brother was such a dork.
"You two boys stay here and have a seat. I'm going under the bridge to find all of the troll's traps," John said.
"You should have someone watching your back," Dean pointed out.
"I'll be fine. The troll isn't going to try anything in broad daylight. He won't even show himself until dusk. Besides, we need to be careful not to draw attention to ourselves with all these families about. You two stay here and I'll go below."
"Yes sir."
John grabbed his small hand shovel and headed down the bank. Sam and Dean had a seat on the blanket. Sam looked out at the water and watched as several ducks and swans made their way back and forth. The temperature was perfect and the slight breeze rustled the leaves in the large oak that stood over them.
"So did you and Jessica do this often or just the one time?"
"That lay over in Colorado was our first picnic but we had several more after that. We also went to the zoo several times." Sam laughed, "Jess loved the pandas. They had this baby panda that was born in captivity and it was this big miracle that it survived cause usually those born at zoos die within the first couple of weeks. She would log on to the zoo website to watch the live panda cam they had in the panda house. On our first anniversary I got her this giant stuffed panda bear along with a dozen peach roses."
"Why not red?" Dean asked.
"Peach was her favorite color."
"Oh," Dean replied. "So, uh, were you really planning on asking Jess to marry you?"
Sam looked down at the ground for a moment before lifting his eyes and answering. "Yeah, I was. I had spotted the perfect ring at this jewelry store not to far from campus. It was an antique jewelry store and Jess had commented on it several times. Anyway, I was waiting to see if I got that scholarship to law school, you know, that interview I was trying to hurry back for. If I passed the interview I was literally going to buy the ring that day and propose later that night. I had even called her father to ask for permission." Both were quiet for a moment.
"Sam, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I knew it hurt you to lose Jess but I guess I never really knew just how important she was to you until that night when the demon said you wanted to marry her. I knew you were grieving for her and I wanted to be supportive of you, but part of me wanted you to just get over it so you'd be okay again. I never really thought about how you were experiencing the same thing Dad had gone through all those years ago when mom died."
"Its okay, Dean," Sam replied. "You didn't know how much I loved her, and I never really talked about it. Besides, you're what held me together through all of that. I feel bad for Dad. When mom died he had no one."
"That's not true," Dean replied. "He had us, and in our own way we pulled him through. He couldn't put a bullet in his head because then there would be no one to protect us."
"I guess, but it must have been hard. I can suddenly understand all the drinking. When Jess was first gone there was a many a night I'd wake from a nightmare and think, 'God I want a drink,' but then I would remember Dad and how he would be so sick the next morning and I figured it wasn't worth it. Then I would just end up missing Jess and be puking at the same time."
"Sounds like good logic," Dean grinned. "Besides, you can't hold your liquor for shit. Seriously, I thought one of the purposes of a college education was to build up a tolerance to booze."
Sam laughed, "I managed to avoid the whole keg thing."
"And the sorority chicks!" Dean smirked. "Sometimes I wonder how you are my brother."
"I didn't need sorority girls. I had Jess." Sam stopped talking after that and Dean decided to be quiet too and let Sam have a moment to himself. Besides, the conversation was starting to border on becoming a Lifetime original movie but they hadn't crossed the line to a full fledged chick-flick moment since there had been no tears, sniffles, or offers of hugs.
Sam closed his eyes and let his memories go back to his life with Jess and their little apartment. He missed her but the memories now made him smile instead grieve. He had loved and lost, but at least he had had her in his life even if it was only for a short time. He wouldn't give up his memories of that time for anything. She would always he his first love.
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John made his final sweep of the muddy bank. He had uncovered eight traps and had been careful not to disturb the ropes too much for fear of alerting the troll just in case it was under the water waiting for something to tug one of the lines.
John had to admit that he had not seen this one coming. He knew trolls were supposedly good hunters but they were still technically animals. He figured them to operate much like a mountain lion or even a coyote; get a sniff of something, stalk it, attack it and eat it. He never expected this level of sophistication from the creature. He would have to make a note of this in the journal later.
He took a moment to look at the lay of the land. The winch on the truck was definitely long enough to reach the lassos on the ground so hooking them on wouldn't be a problem. He would need to have his cell phone ready to call Dean so he would know to floor the truck.
He realized they needed a black up plan just in case the troll didn't take the bait or if it let go of the rope too soon. He looked up and saw the answer. The underside of the bridge was like a giant monkey bar playground. Someone could easily climb up in there with a gun and surprise the troll. Sam could drive the truck and Dean could climb up and be ready with the gun. John would stay on the bank with the machete and hopefully decapitate the thing once the truck pulled it ashore.
Then John remembered Dean's leg. There was no way Dean could safely climb around up there. No Dean would have to keep his original job and drive the truck. That left Sammy, but his arm was hurt. One thing John was sure of, he didn't want Sammy or Dean standing on the river bank when the job went down. No, that would definitely be John's job. Sam would just have to be careful and climb up there. The beams were close together so it shouldn't be too hard of a climb for him and he would be safe and out of the way when the troll was reeled in. He nodded his head. It was a good plan.
John walked away from the bridge and stepped to where the ground was drier. He washed his hands in the river removing several layers of grime from digging for traps. Then he carefully rinsed off the bottoms of his boots. He looked back at the bridge and then towards the sky. There was still at least six hours before dusk. It was time to go spend some time with his boys.
A/N: Now what could possibly go wrong with Pappa Winchester's brilliant plan? Hmmm………