Gooooooooood Morning! Apologies for dropping off the face of the earth for a while there. My work took an unprecedented turn that made my life not-my-own for a while, but I'm hoping it's all over now and I can get back to the important things in life like writing #priorities.
Special thanks to Jenmm31 for being the best beta/cheerleader in the world! Go check out her stories and show her some love. Also, special thanks to MariaKata for the continued inspiration for this case. She gave me an idea in a review that exploded into a one-shot (see previous chapter) and then this case story. I hope you enjoy it, sweetie!
Thank you all for sticking with me, and for the reads and follows, and especially the reviews. You all are incredible, and I'd go hunting with each and every one of you every day if I could.
A/N- in this story, Natalie is 16. This is part one of a three part story.
Part 1
The clicking of the two keyboards echoed around the large stone room, overlaying the low-key hum of the older electrical equipment flanking the walls. It was a foreign sound in the room. Nothing so modern had been heard in the bunker in a very, very long time. The building had sat in silence for years upon years. But the Winchesters were doing everything in their power to make it a new home.
They had discovered the bunker a little under a year ago. None of them liked to talk about how it happened- there was just a mutual, unspoken agreement to try to move past it and focus on the now. Natalie was experimenting with cooking more now that she had a kitchen all to herself, Sam had all but claimed the library, and Dean was happy as a pig in shit in the arsenal. Things were good here- almost as good as being in South Dakota. Sometimes it was just easier to get here than back to Sioux Falls, and they were grateful for the option- not to mention all the extra gear and lore that had fallen into their laps. Talk about a Supernatural Christmas.
Sam leaned back in his chair for a moment, and then leaned forward again, squinting at the screen. Natalie pretended not to notice. Sam, for whatever reason, got a little hot under the collar when it was suggested that he might need reading glasses nowadays. She wasn't making that mistake again any time soon. However, the little snort he gave at whatever he was reading was all the permission she needed to question what she really wanted to know.
"Did you find something?" she asked eagerly, immediately abandoning her own schoolwork. Sam's eyes just flicked over to her for a second before going back to his own screen.
"How's the report coming?" he asked without missing a beat, continuing to scan the article. She chose to ignore this comment, and bound out of her seat on the other end of the table, making her way over to where he was sitting. Upon seeing that she wasn't listening to him, Sam leaned back again, and closed the lid of his laptop with a classic bitch-face gaze at his niece. She immediately put on the puppy dog eyes to get him to let her see what he had found.
"Nice try," he commented dryly. Even though he had learned to harden his heart to her 'pitiful' glances when she wanted something, it still made his guts twist a bit. He never should have taught her those puppy dog eyes. "Where are you at with your report?" he asked again, in his no-nonsense tone.
"Almost done," she said in her most winning voice, edging towards him again, mentally willing him to tell her what he had found on the Internet.
"What does 'almost' mean?" Sam asked a bit more firmly this time, steering her back on track. After being her on-the-road schoolteacher for ten years, he knew her tricks. And she knew he knew them. She sighed heavily, but answered truthfully.
"One half page and the conclusion," she said in a rush. "But I know exactly what I'm going to say, I just have to write it out."
"Then get back to it."
"C'mon Uncle Sam-" she began, but broke off quickly. Instead of answering, he just raised one eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes in typical dramatic teenage fashion, turned on her heel, and went back to her chair. Sam nodded once in approval before taking a sip from his beer and opening his laptop once again. He didn't particularly like having to be firm with his niece, but if he wanted her to focus on the schoolwork at hand, he had no other choice. She was just like her father- the second something more interesting came along, it immediately grabbed her attention. She was a typically a pretty good student- it wasn't often an issue. But she was jonesing for a case right now. They all were.
He smiled as the sound of Natalie's furiously fast typing filled up the room again. She'd be done in a moment, then he could share what he found. In the meantime, he began doing a little cross-examining.
As soon as she finished, she looked up hopefully, but Sam was, once again, a step ahead of her, just looking at her with one raised eyebrow. She growled under her breath, beginning the spellcheck and re-reading process that he always insisted on, knowing that was what he wanted from her next. But she hurried. Sam smothered a smile watching her pout.
About five minutes later, Natalie looked up again to find Sam watching her. "Spellchecked, grammar checked, sources cited, whole nine yards," she said, letting the end of her sentence dangle hopefully. For two seconds, he stayed completely still, making her panic and wonder what she'd forgotten this time. He saw her face drop, then he let out a chuckle.
"Just messing with you, Bug. Good job. Send it to me and I'll grade it soon," he said, causing her face to flood with relief, before adopting a reproachful smirk as she walked over to him.
"Jerk," she said affectionately before punching him lightly on the shoulder.
"Yeah, so your father tells me," Sam replied amiably, before turning the laptop towards his niece. She leaned down to get a better look at the article.
"Where's the latest nightmare?" she asked as she read quickly.
"Lakeland, Florida," Sam answered promptly. "Apparently, there have been a couple mysterious deaths there over the past couple years that police are just now starting to think might be related, mostly due to the fact that all the deaths were caused by poison."
"So what makes you think this is us?" Natalie asked curiously, her eyes still scanning the article.
Sam smirked, and gently turned the laptop back towards himself. "Here you go," he said, clicking on a different tab. A court document popped up on the screen. Sam pointed to the defendant. "This is from a couple years back. This is the first murder victim, Bill Skebba. See here at the bottom?" Sam pointed to another part of the document, and Natalie leaned forward to read it.
"This…these are divorce papers, right?" she asked, looking at Sam for confirmation. He nodded proudly; glad his lessons with Natalie in legal documentation were paying off in the supernatural world.
"Well done. Now see what the reason is listed as."
"Proof of adultery."
"Mm-hm. So get this." With a few swipes of his fingers on the touch pad, Sam brought up another article. "Second victim had just broken away from his company partner-"
"A sort-of divorce," Natalie said with a shrug, keeping pace with his thoughts.
"Exactly. Third one was another divorce, the fourth and most recent-" Sam sighed heavily and bitterly. "College kid, nineteen, home on school break. According to the article, he wasn't seeing anyone at the time, but his Facebook page-" Tap, swipe, click. "-still has him listed as 'in a relationship'."
"So he probably broke it off right before leaving, and hadn't changed his profile yet before he kicked the bucket," Natalie said, pinching her lips together as she examined the now-deceased boy's page. He was only three years older than her. She swallowed hard. "So someone in this town is taking out people who have recently separated from their significant others. A sort of real life Black Widow thing?"
"Except that the poison that killed them all hasn't been identified. In any of the cases. All the victims' organs clearly show they were shut down due to poisoning, but they can't identify the substance. All they know is that all four show the same results, with no actual poison named, which is to say, inconclusive."
"This could still be the work of some psycho killer with a physics degree."
"Take a look at WHEN they were all killed."
"Like the years?"
"The dates."
Natalie quickly scanned the four articles, her fingers flying. After a moment, she gave a quiet inhale. "All between June 22 and July 23 in different years."
"Exactly," Sam said, leaning back, watching her puzzle it out. "So. What happens on June 22 to July 23?" he asked, wanting her to put it together herself. She tapped her lips, thinking. Sam couldn't help but give a bittersweet grin- he remembered her doing that as a child. It was still adorable. When the answer came to her, she dropped her hand away from her mouth.
"That's one of the most powerful sun cycles. Combined with an untraceable poison…unknown herbs, strong nature connection, untraceable…" Natalie turned to Sam for confirmation. "Witches?"
Sam pointed a finger at her. "Bingo," he said. "At least that's what it seems to be."
"Yeah, no kidding," she muttered, double checking the dates on the articles again, just to be sure. "So- Florida. Cool. Hey!" she suddenly said excitedly. "You can take me to Disney World!"
"Yeah, keep dreaming," Sam snorted. Putting on a playful pout, Natalie snatched up Sam's computer and began walking towards the garage where she knew Dean was washing and waxing Baby.
"DAD! We've got a case! And Uncle Sam won't take me to Disney World!"
Sam just laughed.
*SPN SPN SPN*
A couple of days later, the Winchester clan had made it to Florida, introduced themselves to the local law, and were in the process of interviewing anyone they thought could help them identify the witch or witches involved. Natalie and Dean were teaming up on this particular interrogation, having introduced themselves as 'FBI Agent and Intern'. Today's particular sob story was coming from the girlfriend of the college-aged victim- and this girl was taking 'sob-story' literally.
"I just can't believe he's actually gone," the girl said for the eighth time as fat tears rolled down her overly made-up face. It was all Dean could do not to roll his eyes as he passed her yet another Kleenex. Natalie, usually more sympathetic, was reaching the same point of frustration as her father. So far, they hadn't gotten much out of the girl other than her continued disbelief that her ex was no longer alive. She blew her nose noisily, giving a very theatrical shudder yet again.
"Look, Marissa," Natalie began, trying her hardest to cover the exasperation she felt at all the time they had wasted, listening to this girl say the same thing over and over. "I know it's hard to believe that Ryan is gone. And we're very, very sorry for you loss. But-"
"We were just together for so long," Marissa blurted out, interrupting yet again. This girl had clearly watched too many reality TV shows and thought that you were supposed to handle interviews in the most dramatic, weepy fashion possible. Natalie forced her set-on-edge teeth into a sympathetic smile. She could clearly see Dean gripping the table leg from her vantage point, ready to snap it off in frustration, so she tried again.
"Yes, you said two years, right?" Natalie said loudly, over the girl's renewed wails. Marissa just nodded her head, unable to formulate words due to the back of the throat whining noise she was now making. Natalie swallowed hard, trying to keep a grip on her patience. Some days this job sucked.
"Was there anyone or anything that wanted to hurt Ryan?" she asked in a hurry, while the girl was taking a breath.
"Why? Why do you…was there foul play?!" Marissa asked suddenly, her voice going up in volume as she put two and two together. "Did someone do this to him?"
"We don't know, we just-" was all Natalie got out before Marissa let out another ear splitting wail. Since they were getting nowhere fast, Dean finally just decided to abandon the game plan and go for Bad Cop. He never liked this plan, since Natalie wasn't particularly good at keeping to Good Cop, but his ears were ringing and he was at the end of his already limited patience.
"Listen, we need to know NOW if there was someone who was out to get Ryan, kapeesh?" he said harshly. Natalie wanted to shoot Dean a look at his abruptness, but as the "intern" of an FBI agent, that was against character. Not to mention, it'd probably get her drawn and quartered when they got home.
Upon the realization that her dramatic episode was being slammed to a close, Marissa gulped and looked at Dean with shocked eyes. "Well…I…I can't really imagine that anyone would want to hurt him. I don't know why anyone would want to do that." Natalie and Dean both exhaled and leaned back at the same time, frustrated. Great. They had wasted all that time for nothing. "Except for the fact that he was a two-faced bastard," Marissa finished stonily. That made both Winchesters sit back up in tandem. Now they were getting somewhere.
"He cheat on you?" Dean asked brusquely. An unmistakable look of anger crossed the girl's face for a moment, before she turned away, staring at the wall. Natalie opened her mouth to speak, but Dean just held out a hand to her, not wanting her to break the momentum he had going with this girl.
"Listen, we all know men are scum, right?" Dean said in a matter-of-fact voice, gesturing that this was commonplace. "They cheat, they two time, they're horn dogs. We all know this. But is that a reason for him to die?"
Marissa looked back at Dean, the full implication of what he was saying hitting her. Her mouth dropped open in shock. "You…are you saying that I killed him?" Dean just shrugged. "I didn't! I wasn't even here in town when he died! I was visiting my family across the state." Natalie knew that Dean knew this- the girl had an airtight alibi. So where was he going with this?
Dean stood up, walking around the table to Marissa's side. "Not saying you did. Just saying- was there someone else who might have killed him? Another secret admirer?" Dean leaned in toward the girl. "Were you cheating on HIM?"
Marissa's shocked and horrified face turned to Natalie as if to ask for help, but Dean interceded before either of them could speak again. "Don't look at her, look at me," Dean said harshly. "And answer the question."
"I…no…I didn't. I was faithful. He's the one who…" Marissa couldn't finish the sentence before she started crying again, and this time, the tears weren't being exaggerated. They simply flowed down her cheeks, leaving streaks in her foundation as she struggled for control.
"That's okay, Marissa," Natalie said loudly, trying to get Dean to back off, which he did. "We know you didn't do it, and it doesn't sound like there's anyone else who might have either. But if you think of anything, let us know, okay?" she finished, pulling one of her Bobby-made cards out and sliding it across the table to the girl. Marissa just nodded, pressing the tissue against her mouth, unable to say anything else.
"Let's go," Dean said abruptly, shoving his chair away under the table. She immediately obeyed, scooping up the files and paperwork and following him. She wanted to stop and try to say a comforting word to Marissa, but the words just wouldn't come, so she ducked out, embarrassed, following her father.
When they got to the hallway of the building, Dean let out his breath in a frustrated snort. "Good god I thought we were going to have to build an Ark with all those damn tears flooding that room," he grumbled, his eyes searching the hallway for the coffee kiosk they had passed coming in. He saw it towards the end, and immediately starting making his way there.
"Yeah, about that," Natalie said in a careful tone. "Don't you think you could have been a bit…nicer to her?"
"Nicer?"
"You were pretty harsh back there."
"We weren't getting anywhere with her by playing nice. I had to go Bad Cop."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to be so mean about it."
That made Dean stop and turn on her. "I didn't have to be so MEAN?" he hissed, looking at her in disbelief. "You sound like your uncle. You know that we can't handle everything in this job with kitten cuddles and unicorn stickers. Sometimes, you have to get mean. And you know that," he said, his eyes narrowing at her before continuing his trek towards coffee.
Natalie sighed. As usual, Dean was going straight to the offensive rather than hearing what she was trying to say. "It just…it wouldn't have killed you to be a little more sensitive. That's all."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." He walked right up to the coffee bar, eagerly anticipating a tall cup of joe, but the young woman behind the counter just looked at him with an apologetic glance.
"I'm so sorry sir," she said. "We just ran out of coffee."
"I'm sorry- what?"
"We just ran out of coffee. I apologize for the inconvenience."
Dean's already fed-up face became even more so. "How can you run out of coffee?" he asked grumpily. "It's a freaking coffee bar."
The young woman, who had very pretty eyes and long, dark hair, tilted her head to the side in sympathy. "I have some brewing right now- it'll only take about ten minutes." She reached over, straightening the napkins and small tub of creamers and a vase with a lovely lotus blossom in it, as if to distract Dean from the wait. Dean just rolled his eyes and stomped towards the front door, not answering the girl. He wasn't going to wait that long. There had to be a Starbucks somewhere close by. Wasn't that a general rule? There was one every 50 feet or something like that?
Natalie trotted after him, silent, but she couldn't keep the grin from sliding onto her face. Of course, he noticed it immediately. "What?" he barked.
"Just can't help thinking that maybe this is karma for you being mean to that girl," Natalie said lightly, letting Dean know with her tone that she was just joking. A small chuckle behind her caught her attention. Natalie turned around just in time to catch the eye of the coffee girl, who quickly looked away but was definitely the source of the chuckle.
"Shaddup," Dean grumbled, spotting a coffee shop at the end of the block.
*SPN SPN SPN*
They sat at a table by the window, waiting for Sam to join them. Dean slurped his coffee, now in a much better mood, as Natalie pored through the files. "I don't really know that there's much of anything to gain from these," she said, studying the forensic photos again. "Nothing found at the scene of the crime, and even if we find something on the last victim, it's been years with these other ones."
"No way to link them," Dean said, finishing her thought as he watched Baby pull into the parking lot. He tossed a ten-dollar bill at his daughter. "Why don't you go get your uncle some coffee? You know how he likes it, Coffee Wench." Natalie rolled her eyes.
"You're never gonna stop calling me that, are you?" she asked, with an annoyed smirk. Dean just gave her a full-toothed grin in response. She shook her head and made her way over to the counter.
"Hi," she said to the boy behind the counter. "One venti coffee, black please," she ordered pleasantly. The boy rang in her order with a smile.
"You already made it through the other one?" he asked, indicating the table where she and Dean had been sitting. "I may have to call the caffeine police on you."
"Hey, isn't it your job to keep people well caffeinated?" Natalie responded with a grin. The boy shrugged, appearing to think about what she was saying.
"Yeah, but it's my duty as a patriotic American to make sure that no one is over the legal limits of caffeine," he said, adopting a serious demeanor that was clearly anything but. Natalie giggled.
"Well, rest assured, good citizen," she said as she forked over the bill. "This one is for my other partner. He's about to come in. Being the intern, I'm fulfilling MY duty," she said, hoisting the cup he had just handed to her. The boy chuckled.
"What exactly are you interning for?" he asked, leaning in. Natalie took a quick look around. No line forming behind her, and the guy was kind of cute- why not?
"FBI."
"Whoa. You…okay, don't take this the wrong way, but you look a little young to be an FBI intern."
"I get that a lot. Graduated early, top of the class, you know, all that crap," she said dismissively. Wow, she thought to herself, I am getting so good at this cover story.
The guy laughed, this time a bit nervously. "Wow. So- you work with the FBI and I'm here selling coffee. Guess that kind of means you're out of my league, huh?"
Natalie could feel her cheeks turning red. She wasn't used to guys straight up hitting on her like this, but it wasn't unwelcome. Besides, she had watched Dean Winchester operate for years. She knew how this went down.
"Why don't you let me decide that for myself?" she said boldly, tilting her head a bit. There was no way he was going to go for that. However, to her surprise, he took a deep breath and went for it.
"I'm down with that. Can I have your number?" he asked, trying to appear casual and nonchalant. I can't believe that WORKED, Natalie thought to herself. She must be more like Dean than she thought. With a coy smile, she pulled another business card out of her pocket and handed it over. Not saying a word, she just bobbed her eyebrows at the boy, picked the coffee up, and turned back towards the table.
"What are you grinning about?" Dean asked as Natalie sat down next to Sam, handing over the coffee. He took it gratefully as Natalie avoided her father's gaze.
"What? Nothing," she said, feeling the blush creeping back into her cheeks. Knowing that his niece was lying, Sam looked down at her for a moment, then back at the counter where she had just come from. When he saw the boy still staring at Natalie, he turned back with a grin.
"Ah," he said.
"What?!" Dean barked again. Then he looked up and saw the boy. His face turned stoic immediately. "Come on. Back to the motel," he ordered.
"Why?"
"You know why."
"C'mon, I just gave him my number. We didn't even plan anything. You said I could start dating when I was sixteen."
"You're not going to be able to focus with that hanging around here."
"Well, at least let me try?" she asked gently, knowing this was more about Dean not wanting her to be around any boys rather than her ability to focus. Sam just looked at his brother as if to say 'chill out, dude'.
"Fine," Dean said grumpily again, before pointing a finger in Natalie's face. "But you start drifting, and we're out. Kapeesh?"
"Yes, sir," she answered promptly. Dean nodded once, then pulled the files towards him, looking again at the photos. Sam just nudged Natalie's shoulder once, and she gratefully nudged him back in a silent thank you.
They talked, they drank their coffee- well, Sam and Dean did anyways, Natalie still hated coffee- they compared notes. Sam had spent the morning at the morgue, and had a theory on the poisons used, but still didn't have any conclusive proof. They sat there for another fifteen minutes, batting around ideas, when Natalie's cell suddenly rang. The boys continued their quiet discussion as she plucked the phone from her pocket. It wasn't a number she recognized. Thinking it might be Marissa, she swiped to answer.
"Hello?"
"Hey. It's Brian. From the coffee shop."
Natalie reared back in surprise, and her eyes flew to the counter. Sure enough, there was the boy, his own cell pressed to his ear, grinning at her to beat the band. She couldn't help it- that was a charming move.
"Well, hi," she said, looking straight at him. "Wasn't expecting a call from you so soon."
"I just wanted to make sure that it was actually your number and not some other government official," he said with a chuckle.
That made her laugh. "You got me," she said. "I'm in the middle of a meeting right now- as you can clearly see," she said, tilting her head to the side. "Text you later?"
"Sounds good."
Natalie hung up the phone with a giggle, still looking at Brian, who winked at her. Just then, she became very aware of the two very large and silent men at her table staring at her, one in particular. The smile quickly slid off her face as she tried to adopt a serious look, but she failed miserably.
"We're going home," Dean announced as he stood up, snatching the files, his eyes not leaving his daughter until she was in front of him, out of the coffee shop. He turned around to shoot daggers at the boy behind the counter in warning.
Luckily for him, Natalie missed that. She was trying to wipe the smile off her face as they made their way towards where Sam had parked Baby, under a tree next to a lovely decorative pond in front of the coffee shop. There was an old man there, skimming the surface of the water, being careful to avoid the water lilies. When he saw the young girl's blushing face, he chuckled and winked at her, reminding her of the other wink she'd just received.
Sometimes, the job didn't suck so bad after all.
