Hey bitches and jerks and idjits and assbutts. Here's part 3. Thank you all for the reads and reviews- you're incredible. Thank you to my Sammy, Jenmm31. Working on some new stuff for all of you, so stick with me. I will always ask "Where Do We Go Now" with my Natalie :)
PS- still not ready for the 14 finale, even though I've watched it and it's been 3 days, lol. Anyone else?
A/N- in this story, Natalie is 19. This is part 3 of a 3 part story. Please see profile page for disclaimers.
"Natalie? NATALIE?!" Dean yelled into the phone, but the line had gone dead mid-sentence. With fear and fury gripping his heart, he shoved his phone in his pocket.
"Dean, what? What is it?" Sam barked, having only heard half of the phone conversation. "Is Natalie okay?" He was nearly beside himself at the thought that Natalie might be in trouble.
Sheer, unmitigated fury was etched in every line of Dean's face. It was too much. They had just lost Bobby. The pain, regret, and desolation of that blow to his family was still resonating deep in his heart, in that place that he never showed anyone or told anyone about. He couldn't take another loss. He was not about to lose his daughter. It would end him- there would be nothing of himself left. So he went with his trusty go-to mode. He was out for blood, and there was no stopping him from getting to his Baby Girl.
"C'mon Sam. We're going in."
*SPN SPN SPN*
"Miss Rose. Miss Rose, can you hear me?"
The first thing Natalie registered was whoever was talking to her had a deep voice. And was gently slapping her face. Curiosity almost immediately gave way to annoyance as her eyelids fluttered. She struggled to return to consciousness. When she was finally able to open up her eyes, she looked up to see Clay, the janitor.
"Clay," she rasped out, then coughed. Whatever had grabbed her neck had had a good grip. She massaged her sore throat as she struggled to sit up.
"Whoa, careful there Miss Rose. You don't want to take another tumble into the paper towels, do you?" Clay asked, the amusement in his voice plain. However, she didn't have time for his well-meaning jokes. She pulled herself to her feet.
"Clay, I didn't fall in here. Someone pushed me in and locked the door," she said, before coughing twice again. The man's eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"But Miss Rose, I heard a loud crash, and come to find you here," he said, trying to sort out what she said.
"Was the door locked?"
"Well, yes ma'am, but I thought that was because sometimes it does that," he finished limply, looking at her, scared. Not wanting to work through his convoluted sentence, Natalie shook her head impatiently, then laid a gentle hand on his arm.
"Look, Clay. I need your help, okay? I need you to come with me to my office. Something is wrong here." Natalie suddenly realized that in the scuffle, she had dropped her phone. She frantically searched through the mess on the floor for it, and found it, cracked and broken beyond repair.
"Fuck," she hissed. Clay reared back in surprise.
"Miss Rose! How you know that word?"
She rolled her eyes, but realized it and stopped herself with a calming sigh. "Sorry. There's a lot about me that would surprise you. Can you just help me out right now?"
"Yes, ma'am, I'll do whatever you need."
"Good." Without further ado, Natalie took off running for her office. She heard Clay keep up with a grunting pace behind her. As she ran, she tried stabbing her fingers into the buttons on her cell, but was rewarded with a fat lot of nothing. She inwardly cursed again. Knowing that she had been on the phone with Dean right before this all happened, and knowing that his sixth sense would tell him she needed backup was comforting. She knew he'd stop at nothing to get to her. She shoved her now dead cell into her scrubs pocket and burst into her office. Diving for the lowest drawer of her desk, she hauled out a small lockbox. Clay's eyes followed her curiously as she pulled a small key from a string around her neck and opened the box. He gasped when she withdrew two pistols.
Clay backed away with his hands raised. "Miss R-Rose, what are you doing?" he asked, the terror clear in his eyes.
"Clay, it's not what you think," she whispered urgently. Before she could explain further, however, Dr. Cohen burst into the room. He had heard their mad dash into the office and had come to investigate. He got one look at Natalie with guns in both hands, and the disappointment on his face was almost more than she could take.
"Rose," he whispered. "Whatever is happening here, I can promise you it's not worth it."
"Son of a bitch," Natalie hissed out loud as this situation took another unprecedented turn. Clay pointed at her, and looked at the doctor, stunned.
"Did you know Miss Rose knew all them bad words, Doctor?" he asked, clearly more upset by her swearing than the fact that she had weapons in a children's home. Dr. Cohen's eyes darted back and forth between the janitor and Natalie, clearly agitated. Not wanting to waste anymore time, but knowing if she was going to proceed, she had to offer an explanation, Natalie took a deep breath.
"Dr. Cohen," she said in a calm, level voice. "Since the moment I met you, you've told me that you're willing to do whatever it takes to help the children here. Is that still correct?"
Stunned at being asked such a question in the middle of his heated situation, the poor doctor stammered for a moment. "I…uh…yes, of course, that's what…."
Cutting him off, Natalie continued. "Okay then. I need you to stand by that now, and just listen, because I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep these kids safe too. You gotta believe me on that. Okay?" He had barely nodded before she plowed on. "My real name is Natalie. I'm a supernatural hunter." His mouth dropped open in shock. "The thing that you all thought was a weird flu? Draining those kids of their energy and stuff? It's a monster. It's what killed your nurse and the cafeteria worker, and it's about to start feeding on the kids. It'll start with Jason and Danielle, and then move to the others."
"B-but Jason and Danielle are in the quarantine ward," Dr. Cohen stammered, struggling to keep up. "They have been since the…since whatever this is started. No one can get in." Natalie truly hated telling him the next part, but it had to be done.
"The monster is here. It's someone who works here, sir. I don't know who. My partners and I have been trying to narrow it down, but I'm pretty sure it just attacked me in the hallway."
"Was that the thing that put you in the closet Miss Rose?" Clay whispered wide-eyed, forgetting that she just told him her real name.
"I think so, Clay."
"Do we…do we call the police?" Dr. Cohen asked, sounding like he was about to pass out. Natalie knew that the poor man was grasping at the straws of a situation he never thought he'd encounter in a million years, but she recognized that he was trying to help.
"No, police are no good. Like I said- you're dealing with the supernatural now. That's why I have these," she said, looking at the guns in her hands, but making sure they realized she wasn't a threat to them with them. "The only way to kill a shtri- this monster," she corrected herself quickly, knowing they wouldn't understand the name. "Is with consecrated iron."
"Where do we get…consecrated iron?" Dr. Cohen said, blinking rapidly. Natalie smiled at his efforts to stay with her and help.
"Already packing it." To her relief, the doctor suddenly smiled a bit.
"You really are always prepared, aren't you?" he said, the corner of his mouth pulling up.
"Damn straight," she said, grinning back. She stepped forward, holding a gun out to each one of them. Clay took the proffered gun with delight. As she placed the gun in Dr. Cohen's palm, his nervous eyes darted to hers.
"We can't take them both, what will you use?" he asked her, hushed. Almost embarrassed, Natalie reached behind her and pulled her .45 from her lower back. The doctor looked at her with amused consternation. "How in the world did you slip that one past me?" he asked, the humor and exasperation clear in his voice. She shrugged, embarrassed.
"Not my first rodeo," she said, avoiding his gaze. For some reason, she still didn't like the idea of disappointing him. He chuckled, but took a good grip on the gun.
She eyed them both, speculatively. "You ever fired a gun before?"
The doctor gave her a cool smile. "This is Tennessee. What do you think?" he asked, and she was glad to see his sense of humor was back. She nodded and looked quickly to Clay.
"Yes, ma'am, I learned to shoot before I learned to walk," he said proudly. Relieved that she didn't have to add an impromptu firearms class to the things she had to do before hunting the shtriga, she nodded.
"Okay. I have a plan. Listen up."
Clay nodded seriously. "Good. Let's get this sumbitch, Flower Girl." As Natalie's eyebrows went up in surprise of his own expletive, he smiled proudly. "I know them words, too."
*SPN SPN SPN*
After a quick discussion of what a shtriga would look like and when to shoot- a headshot only if it was feeding- Natalie dispatched Dr. Cohen to watch over Jason and Danielle, while Clay was to keep an eye on the lower level. Natalie assigned herself to wandering the hallways of the children's ward. She wasn't even trying to fool herself. She needed to know that Mia and Riley were safe. Dean's constant overprotectiveness hit home in a way that it had never done before, and for the first time, she got it. She had to know that they were safe.
She crept to their door, and saw them both sleeping peacefully. Her heart resting slightly, she continued her search down the dark corridor. Praying that Sam and Dean would get here soon, she looked around the corner carefully, listening as she went. A slight clicking noise drew her attention towards the emergency exit at the end of the hallway. She silently crept towards it, gun at the ready. But before she could make it to the door, a hand shot out from the darkened corner, pushing her gun away. She just managed not to pull the trigger when she saw it was Dean. Of course it was him. He and Sam were the only two people on earth who could sneak past her and catch her off guard.
She rolled her eyes, but nodded gratefully, glad he was there. He pointed back down the stairwell, answering the unspoken question of where her uncle was. Relief flooded her system- but only for a moment. Suddenly, a child's scream came from the other hallway. The hallways with Mia and Riley's room.
Without even stopping to think, Natalie suddenly began sprinting for them. She could hear Dean hot on her heels, giving her back up. She skidded around the corner, and tore up the carpet in her mad dash to protect those kids. She ran into their room and was greeted by a scene that would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life.
The shtriga dropped Mia on the floor unceremoniously, where the little girl didn't move. Riley was already unconscious on the floor next to her. The shtriga licked its lips, and looked her full in the face. Natalie recognized the blue scrubs and the blonde hair, even if it was all framing a horrible ghoulish face.
"Lily, you BITCH!" Natalie screamed, terror for Mia and Riley ripping through her heart. Please don't let them be dead, she prayed silently in her head as she tore across the room, ready to take the shtriga's head off. But just before she got to them, Riley, pale as death, pulled himself up off the floor and held his hand out to Lily. She had been draining him, but it seemed he still had one spark of life left.
"You are not the boss of me," the boy said in a faint voice, determination blazing in his eyes as he faced the monster. "You leave her alone."
Lily snarled, and with the superhuman speed of a shtriga, grabbed Riley by the neck. "NOOOOOOO!" Natalie screamed at the top of her lungs. "RILEY!" Natalie's focus shifted for one moment as Lily lifted Riley high into the air, and that was all the monster needed. She backhanded Natalie as the hunter lunged towards her, sending her flying across the room.
Natalie landed with a sickening thud against the dresser drawers on the opposite sides of the room. Her head still hadn't quite recovered from her previous trip into unconsciousness, and she struggled with all her might to keep her vision from swimming out of focus and into blackness. She heard a shot. She knew that had to be Dean- but he'd only shoot if the shtriga was feeding. As her sight went blurry, she saw two figures drop to the ground. Her last thought was please let them be okay.
She swam her way back to consciousness after what felt like hours, but had in reality only been moments. She heard her father's sigh of relief as she came around. "Thank God," Dean muttered, pushing her hair back from her eyes. She opened them, finding herself in Dean's arms, and looked deep into his eyes, seeking comfort from her father.
"Did you get her?" she asked in a strangled, exhausted voice.
"I got her, kid."
"What about the kids? Are Riley and Mia okay?"
Dean didn't answer her. Natalie struggled to sit up, her voice growing more urgent.
"Dad, are Riley and Mia okay?" she asked again, hearing the hysteria slip into her voice.
"Natalie…" he began. But she knew that tone. It was the tone he used when delivering bad news. She tried to push herself up, but her limbs gave way in fear.
"Natalie, take it easy. You- you can't help them now, kid," Dean said gently, but she continued to struggle. Finally, knowing that nothing was going to stop her until she saw for herself, Dean picked her right up and set her on her feet. Keeping a strong arm around her, he led her over. Lily was laying in a crumpled heap, head completely blown off. The two tiny bodies on either side of the monster didn't move either.
With a shaking hand, Natalie reached down to Mia's neck. There was no pulse. Swallowing the tears that threatened to over take her, she quickly shifted over to Riley. He was still warm, but already stiff. Natalie took the small hand he had held out towards the monster to stop her, trying to be brave and save her. She pressed it to her cheek and sobbed.
*SPN SPN SPN*
Later on that night, Sam, Dean, Natalie, Clay, and Dr. Cohen stood side by side, watching the pyres burn. Natalie had insisted that Mia and Riley have a separate pyre than the shtriga. She couldn't bear the idea of them being that close, even though it couldn't hurt them any longer. Neither Sam nor Dean had argued with her.
She stoically watched the flames consume the small bodies. The bodies that only a couple hours ago, she had held and comforted from the terrors that stalk the night. And she had failed. She hadn't gotten there in time. She had let them down.
Dr. Cohen walked up next to her. She couldn't bear to look at him either. She felt that she had let him down just as much as she let down Riley and Mia. He didn't say anything at first, but finally spoke in a soothing, low tone.
"Rose… I mean…Natalie," he said, shaking his head at his own stupidity right off the bat. She wanted to offer him a smile, letting him know that it was okay, but she just couldn't right now. She had nothing left to give. "Natalie," he began again. "I just want you to know that you made Riley and Mia's last days some of the best of their lives."
Her traitorous tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, Natalie just snorted derisively. "Yeah, well, if I'd been there in time, they wouldn't have been their last days," she remarked bitterly, her eyes never leaving the flames.
"You did everything you could," he said gently, not giving into her self-accusations. "You were on constant vigilance. This was just one of those things that…" he trailed off, unsure how to complete the sentence. Natalie just shook her head.
"Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do and all, but the fact of the matter is that I…I let them down," she said, her voice tightening. She couldn't say anymore.
"The doc is right, kid," Dean said suddenly in his low but no-nonsense tone, butting into the conversation. "You should listen." She knew better than to shake her head at him, but she set her jaw, determined to block him and his words out. She didn't deserve to hear them right now. Sam saw this in her, and spoke up.
"Bug, this is never easy," Sam said, trying to reach her. "Dr. Cohen is right. You did everything you could."
"And in the end, it didn't amount to anything," she spat bitterly.
"That's not true, Miss Rose," Clay said suddenly, causing everyone's head to turn his way. "Think of all the kids you saved. And Jason and Danielle too- 'member them? They up and normal already." Natalie turned her attention back to the flames, not wanting to hear what he was saying, but for some reason, was unable to block him out. "That's because of you. I'm real sad that we lost Mia and Riley, too. But you gotta remember that you saved a whole bunch of people. That's on you, Flower Girl. You did that by stopping the monster. Okay?"
Dean watched as the tightness around his daughter's eyes softened ever so slightly. But he knew she was still beating herself up over this one, and would for a long time. As the fires slowly died down, Clay and Dr. Cohen quietly shook hands with Sam and Dean. Dean noticed that when Dr. Cohen gave Natalie a hug to say goodbye, she whispered something to him. He looked at her quizzically, but nodded, and with a final squeeze, walked away with the janitor.
After a moment, Natalie walked up to Dean. Her hands were behind her back, and she was standing at attention. Dean hadn't seen this from her in a very long time. He had no idea what to make of it. But before he could question her, she spoke.
"Sir, I would like your permission to go on a solo hunt," she said in a formal, no-nonsense tone; the one she had gotten from him. Dean's eyes widened in surprise. The stoicism, the soldier's stance- she was deadly seriously about whatever this was.
"A solo hunt?" he asked, skeptical. "What are you…" and it suddenly clicked with him. She had told him just before they got cut off on the phone that she had discovered that Riley and Mia's parents had been killed by a vampire.
"Oh," he said suddenly. She didn't shift or say anything more. She simply stood at attention, like a good soldier, waiting for permission from her commanding officer. But Dean knew her too well. He had watched her every move for the last nineteen years. And he could read between the lines to what she was actually saying.
"You want to go hunt the vamp that killed their parents, don't you."
"Yes, sir."
"And you're not really asking permission, are you."
There was a slight moment of hesitancy before she swallowed hard and replied. "I…would like your permission, sir," she said delicately.
"But even if I don't give it, you're going anyway. Aren't you."
There was a long pause, before finally she spoke the truth. "Yes, sir," she said stoically, without rancor.
"Kid, you don't know that it's not a nest."
"I know that."
"That's not a one person job."
"I need to do this."
Dean looked right into her green eyes. The determination he saw in them was the only thing keeping the sadness in them at bay. As much as it killed him, he knew what he had to do for her.
"Sam and I will be one town over. You will call us if it turns out to be a nest. I expect you to check in every night, or I come over there, no questions asked. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir, I do."
"Good."
*SPN SPN SPN*
Three days later, Dean was relieved to hear her key in the lock of the bunker door. She had ganked the vamp last night, all by herself, and told them she was driving home alone the next day. Not wanting to push her, knowing that she still needed time, Dean agreed, and he and Sam had taken off for the bunker. He had half wondered if she would take a detour on the way just to try to clear her mind, but he was truly relieved that she had come right home, getting there only an hour after they had.
He tried to sit back casually, gazing at his laptop, like he hadn't been waiting for her in the war room. She came down the stairs slower than usual. He dared to look up. She looked fine- no scratches, cuts or breaks that he could see. She just looked seventy-five instead of nineteen. He sighed heavily. Growing old before your time was just part of being a Winchester.
He met her at the base of the stairs, casually taking her duffle bag from her. "You got the vamp?" he asked, already knowing that she had, but wanting her to say it out loud.
"Yes, sir, I did," she replied woodenly. "He won't be hurting anyone else."
Dean nodded, searching her eyes. "You feel better?" he asked simply.
She paused for a moment, matching his gaze. "No," she said tightly, before the tears started oozing down her cheeks again. Dean immediately dropped the duffle and pulled her into his arms, where he let her cry herself out. It felt like forever to her. She hated crying, but just couldn't stop. Dean just rocked her gently, stroking her hair, trying not to let his own tears drop into her hair, shushing her like he used to when she was a baby.
Finally, after about five minutes of her not even trying to stop her crying, she leaned back, running her arm across her nose in a very unladylike manner. Dean used his thumbs to brush away the remaining tears on her cheeks.
"You avenged them, kiddo," he said in his gruff yet gentle manner. "Ain't nothing past that you can do."
"Almost," she said, shrugging, trying already to blow off her tear stained face. "I called Alex on the way home. She's going to look into finding the best nurses possible for Maplestone to fill the vacancies there. Dr. Cohen was thrilled," she grinned smugly, before sniffing again, her smile wavering. She finally sighed heavily, cutting right to the heart of the matter. "Dad, how am I supposed to think I ever did enough for them? I didn't save them. They were so young. For fuck's sake, Mia was only seven. She was SEVEN, Dad. She wasn't supposed to die like that."
"I know, kiddo," Dean said. "Trust me, I get it. When you lose one, it's a real bitch. Especially when it's a kid. And you got a double dose on this one. It's gonna take a while, you hear? But you need to work on forgiving yourself. It's why we do what we do- so more people don't get hurt and don't die. That Clay dude was right- you gotta remember all the people you saved, not just the ones you didn't."
She shook her head, barely holding it together as the tears threatened to fall again. "But I see them. Every night. All I see is their faces, looking at me, asking me why I didn't save them, why I didn't get there in time." She looked desperately up into his eyes. "How am I supposed to forget that?"
Dean tilted his head to one side. "First things first- I didn't say 'forget'- I said 'forgive'." Natalie took a sharp breath, really hearing Dean's words in her soul, understanding in a new way what he was trying to tell her. But before she could respond, he continued. "As for Mia and Riley- well, I had a feeling you'd say something like that. So I called in a favor to help you try to start with the forgiveness." He looked behind Natalie, causing her to turn around. To her immense surprise, Castiel was standing right behind her. She jumped at his unexpected presence.
"Dammit, Cas," she hissed. Cas looked at her strangely. It was the first time she had ever been caught off guard by his presence. She turned back to look at Dean, who was trying to hide him mirth at her shock. "Yeah, yeah, I get now why you flip out when he does that," she said, the sarcasm clear in her voice. Dean just grinned at her, but wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"I asked Cas to check on the kids," he said simply. Realizing the full implications of what her father was saying, Natalie's eyes grew wide. She whipped around to Cas again, giving him her full attention.
"They're…Cas, they're in Heaven, right?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She couldn't bear it if he said no. To her intense relief, he nodded.
"Yes, they are," he said simply. "I went to their Heaven. They've been reunited with their parents."
Natalie's hands flew up to her mouth, trying to contain both the joy and the sorrow. But Cas continued. "Riley- the boy- is very happy, Natalie. He said that you would know why." Natalie felt her knees almost give way at hearing that, but in true Winchester fashion, she locked them in place, determined to hear the whole story. "The little girl, Mia, wanted me to tell you something very specific."
"What did she want?"
"She said to tell you- Let It Go."
The disbelieving sound of joy escaped from Natalie's lips before she could contain it. The message from little Mia couldn't have been clearer. Not only did she want Natalie to remember the happy time they had in the nurse's office playing Elsa, she was telling her that it was okay- that she and Riley were okay. And for the first time since their deaths, Natalie finally believed it. She felt Dean wrap his arm around her shoulders again.
"See? There you go," he said. "They're good. You did good, kid." Natalie swallowed hard, determined to hang onto this feeling. She reached out a hand to Castiel, who took it and squeezed. She tried to pour her thanks into that hand squeeze, because she didn't trust herself to talk just yet. Dean kissed the side of her head.
"C'mon you two. I think we all need a drink."
