Disclaimer: You know I own nothing, I'd brag if I did. All info about Pigeon Pointe I got from Dude, they know everything don't they?
"No way. No fucking way." Dean said staring a hole into Jack's head.
"Hey you were the one that said we're broke, so until we get cash its the car or this." Jack said folding her arms over her chest.
"Sam, can you help me out here? Tell this woman we are not staying at a damn hostel on the property of the lighthouse." Dean said turning to where his brother was sitting on the hood of the car. They were parked in front of a diner on their way inside to order the cheapest thing on the menu when Jack decide to inform them she'd gotten a deal on rooms for them at a hostel that used to be the Light keepers house at Pigeon Pointe.
"Sam. Hello?" Dean tried waving his hand in front of his face but Sam wasn't listening to the argument.
"Dean." Jack grabbed hold of his arm and turned him to face her. "The place is empty, no one wants to stay there right now, so we'll have no one but staff to deal with and we'll be close to the light house, its a win-win situation."
"I don't wanna." Dean protested. He mentally tallied up how much money the three of them had, twenty three dollars and eighty eight cents, and no new credit cards for at least a week.
"This is about that movie isn't it?" Jack narrowed her eyes at him.
"No." Dean denied stubbornly. No way in hell was he admitting that some damn horror movie had freaked him out.
Sam, for his part, was too zoned out to care where they stayed. He was so busy avoiding thoughts of Jess and how much he didn't want to be in the tri-state area that he missed Jack's announcement and the subsequent taunting she gave Dean over being freaked out by a movie.
"It didn't even take place in America, you wimp." Jack said.
"I told you its not the movie. What if other guests come, those places aren't exactly private." Dean retorted.
"I guess its a good thing I booked us as a family so we'd get some privacy. Besides this is free and beggars, that's us, can't be choosers." Jack said sensing a victory when she used the 'F' word, in a good context for once too.
"How'd you swing that?" Dean asked.
"Front desk man believes the stories even of the manager doesn't and he thinks paranormal investigators would be a good thing." Jack said slyly.
"You told who we were paranormal investigators?" Sam piped up finally zoning into their conversation.
"Now you speak up." Dean said sarcastically.
"He heard the million dollar word, free." Jack said.
"Catch me up here." Sam told them.
"Jack got us free board at the now empty Hostel on the property at the light house." Dean explained with a roll of his eyes.
"Good we can't afford any place anyway and the sooner we get done there the sooner we can leave." Sam said agreeing with Jack.
"But he melted her face with a blow torch." Dean protested.
"What?" Sam asked in confusion, he looked at Jack for answers but she was trying to hard not to laugh.
"I know Dean, he's a very bad man." Jack placated him as she put her arm over his shoulder and led him inside the diner.
"But the good guy shot him, so he won't be popping out of the closet at Pigeon Pointe."
"Shut up." Dean pouted.
Sam followed behind them shaking his head.
The small road side diner was one of the few places around the part of state park where their gig was. It was already decorated for Halloween, all orange streamers and paper ghost cut outs. Sam felt the urge to pull the orange pumpkin decoration hanging form the ceiling and throw it, but they might misconstrue that as hostility and throw the three of them out.
"Ah, cheap food." Jack said sliding into a booth next to Dean across from Sam. He stretched out his legs across the seat nearly tripping an unfortunate waitress holding a tray.
"So what do we know so far?" Sam asked.
"A couple months ago guests started saying they saw someone walking around the light house late at night. An apparition that disappeared when they got too close, you know the drill." Dena said. He stopped to order coffee for them and burgers.
"Anywho," He continued when they were alone again. "People keep seeing this and the place gets some extra attention for it till a couple weeks ago a guy climbs to the top of the place and jumps off."
"Wasn't the door locked?" Jack asked frowning.
"Yeah and get this, they say the thing wasn't touched." Dean told them.
"So either he's Curious George or something let him in?" Jack asked.
"But how does a ghost let someone into a locked building?" Sam wondered skeptically. "Are you sure this is our kind of thing?"
"Hey dad was pretty damn sure. He said we needed to get here so here we are." Dean said. The waitress came back with their order.
"So this desk clerk guy gonna let us poke around the light house?" Dean asked biting into his burger.
"Yup, he said he was going to quit his job if this kept up." Jack answered. She looked critically at her burger. It seemed to small to her almost empty stomach.
"She slid a sideways glance at the nearly empty diner. Two other guys and neither of them looked to be good marks. Probably didn't have much more in their pockets than she did.
"Eat your food and stop sizing up people." Sam said disapprovingly.
"We are broke guys. And the best bars to hustle at are in Santa Cruz and San Fran." Jack said dropping to a low whisper.
"We don't steal unless its an emergency." Sam said.
"Sammy boy, your morality is going to rub off on me if I'm not careful and then I'll have to kill you." Jack said with a martyred sigh. She bit into her sandwich, devouring it in three bites.
"You poor thing." Sam rolled his eyes.
The rest of their lunch passed in silence with Dean looking through their father's journal and Jack stealing fries from his plate when he wasn't looking.
Sam finished eating and leaned his head back against the cheep vinyl seat of the booth. He was trying not to close his eyes, having a contest to see how long he could last through the dry pain that burned after a minute or two of not blinking. Every time he closed his eyes he saw little bits and pieces of his dream played out again and again. Never the whole picture, but small details, like where he three his house keys when he first stepped inside. The cookie falling to the ground when he opened his eyes to that haunting image on the ceiling. He pressed his thumbs into his eyes getting them to tear up without closing them so he could alleviate the dryness without blinking. The pain this caused blocked out his thoughts for another second or so.
"What's her name?" Jack asked out of the blue. Sam looked up to see her staring out the window with mild curiosity.
"What the waitress, I think it was Claire or something." Sam said grasping at the tiniest distraction from his masochistic game.
"No, the car." Jack said. He thought she was being sarcastic when he followed her eye line to see that she was indeed staring at the Impala.
"The car? The car doesn't have a name." Sam said slowly.
"Yeah she does. Dean, what is your car's name?" Jack said poking Dean to get his attention.
"What was your motorcycle's name?" Dean asked with a smirk.
"Alice." Jack answered proudly.
"You named your bike?" Sam asked, not feeling very surprised by this fact.
"Hey, Alice was part of the family. Don't speak ill of the dead Sam." Jack warned him with a smile tugging at her lips.
"Tell me you didn't name your car Dean." Sam said to his brother. Dean looked at Sam and smiled mysteriously before draining is cup of coffee.
"We should get going." Dean said standing up waving Jack out of the booth ahead of him.
"What's that look? Now you gotta tell us what her name is." Jack said smiling in anticipation of a joke. Dean threw some dollar bills on the table top. He shook his head and walked out of the restaurant ahead of the other two.
"What was that about?" Jack asked Sam.
"Don't know, maybe you managed one up him in automotive insanity." Sam teased. Jack punched him in the shoulder and walked past him. Sam noticed her favoring her right leg on the way out and lengthened his stride to catch up with her out the door.
"Jack what's wrong with your leg?" Sam asked in concern. It was her bad leg, the one they'd had to operate on when she had her 'accident'. The second worst of her injuries.
"Its nothing." Jack said shrugging. She started to walk away when he stepped in front of her.
"Jack." Sam said quietly.
Jack looked up and was caught by Sam's Patented Puppy Dog Look. She sighed and tried to step around him ignoring the dull ache in her leg.
"If you're hurt you shouldn't be hunting. We should have taken some more time for you to recover." Sam said the last half to himself. He still felt responsible for Jack.
"Its just giving me some trouble today, Sam. And we couldn't take more time. Virgin eater in Illinois, remember?" Jack said. She gave him a lopsided smile of reassurance.
The doctors told them she had to take it easy after getting her cast off and not even a week later she was ducking and dodging evil spirits. Not ideal for recuperating. She didn't want to admit her leg had been bothering her ever since then. Her pride wouldn't let her admit that a relatively easy fight was staying with her weeks later.
"Sam, I'll take some painkillers and rest up at the hostel." Jack promised when he wouldn't move out of her way.
"Let me look at it." Sam said.
"No." Jack said startling him with how serious her tone got. Her dark eyes froze over, her jaw setting mulishly.
"Hey, what's taking so long?" Dean called from the car, honking the horn at them.
"Sam I'll be okay." Jack said softening her tone a little.
"You gonna tell Dean?" Sam asked.
"He's not my keeper and neither are you." Jack replied. She looked up into Sam's green eyes defiantly, he stared back unimpressed.
"When we get to the hostel I'm looking at your leg and you're going to take it easy." Sam said sternly before turning away from her, heading to the car. Dean stopped honking when Sam opened the passenger side door and sat down.
"What's wrong?" Dean asked when Jack joined them in the backseat.
"Nothing." Sam said shaking his head nonchalantly. He caught a brief grateful look on Jack's face in the rear view mirror but he couldn't be sure, it was gone so fast, replaced by a look of indifference. Dean looked between them but got nothing from their expressions except that they obviously weren't agreeing on something.
"Whatever." Dean sighed putting the car in gear, backing out. He popped in his Aerosmith tape and cranked the volume up too loud for conversation.
Sam kept a covert eye on Jack watching her slip two of their ill gotten pain killers into her mouth when she thought neither of them was looking. He let out a quiet sigh and realized that while he was arguing with Jack he'd forgotten to feel like shit. Yeah, he thought, nothing like worrying about your friend's busted leg to keep you from thinking about your dead girlfriend. He clenched his teeth hard enough to hurt and started the game over again, this time keeping an eye on Jack every time she shifted to make her old injury more confotrable.
"Its pretty." Jack let the words slip out before she could stop herself, she knew she shouldn't have taken two Vicodin, her head was starting to feel loopy.
"Yeah, I guess." Dean said looking at her oddly.
"Lets get inside." Jack said grabbing her pack from the backseat. She made sure not to limp at all this time when she walked. Partly to spite Sam and partly so Dean wouldn't see it and she wound up having two mother hens to deal with.
The brothers followed Jack into the office. She plastered a smile on her face and walked up to the desk clerk, Rodney, the nametag said.
"Hi I'm Jack Carr, we spoke on the phone." She said. The young man, no more than twenty one stared at the trio for a second before jumping up in recognition.
"Oh the, uh Paranormal Investigators. Yeah I remember." He said standing up and coming around the desk to greet them. He was short fro a man, 5'9" with sun bleached hair and watery blue eyes. His casual polo shirt had the Light house's name on it with a ketchup stain next to it.
"Sam." Sam introduced himself shaking the guy's hand.
"Dean." Dean said keeping his hands in his pockets. Rodney dropped his hand awkwardly.
"Um, would you like to look at the light house right now? There's no one really around at all…" Rodney asked eagerly trailing off at the end.
"No thanks, its been a long trip. We were hoping to take a load off first, Rodney." Dean said flashing him a charming smile.
"Of course, here let me show you to your bunks. Do you need any help with your things?" He asked reaching for the duffel bag Jack was holding.
"No." She said simply following it up by an innocent smile when his own smile faltered a bit.
"Ookay." He said biting his bottom lip. "Follow me."
They followed him to their bunks dodging questions about their job. Rodney was proving to be difficult to get rid of till Dean put an arm around him pulled him aside saying something too low for Jack or Sam to hear. He left quickly after that.
"What did you say to that poor kid?" Jack asked in amusement.
"I promised him your phone number if he left us alone." Dean replied flippantly.
"Really? Cause the way he was looking at you I'd have thought he'd prefer yours." Jack shot back. She slung her bag onto one of the beds, claiming it as hers. There were four beds in the room and a bathroom out in the hall. Jack tried not to feel anxious about sharing a room, she rationalized that she hadn't awoken to singed blankets or a boiling hot room in weeks. But her power was too volatile to lower her guard completely.
"Shower." Dean said grabbing some clothes from his pack, cracking his neck to get some circulation back into it.
"Okay let me look at it." Sam said as the door shut behind his brother. He moved to sit on the edge of the bed Jack was sitting up on.
"I told you I'm fine." Jack said.
"Like hell. Let me see or I'll tell Dean and he'll hold you down while I take a look." Sam threatened.
"Sounds like fun, got any handcuffs? I'm a sucker for those." Jack said with a shit eating smirk.
"Haha." Sam said dryly reaching for her right leg. She squirmed out of the way but he caught her leg easily, applying a little pressure so she couldn't pull away without hurting herself.
Jack felt a moment' anger and lashed out verbally if not physically.
"Leave me alone. Find something else to distract you from your damn self pity parade." She said. Sam froze and his eyes hardened so much Jack flinched. She felt a pang of guilt, wishing she'd kept her damn mouth shut.
"Fine." Sam said through clenched teeth. He pushed her leg away and got up to cross the room to another bed.
Dean let himself admit that this might not have been a bad idea after all when he felt the nice hot spray of the shower. Not that he'd ever admit it to Jackie Girl. He thought back to their earlier conversation at the diner. Smiling Dean started to hum a Metallica song, working shampoo through his hair. He had a name for his baby, but he'd never told it to anyone before, not Sam, not even his father.
After he rinsed off and pried himself from his beloved shower head he headed back to room, instantly wanting to turn around and go back to the shower. He could have cut the tension in the room with a knife. Wonderful, he thought, just what we need.
"What happened in the ten minutes I was gone?" Dean asked annoyed. He looked from person to person and neither would meet his eyes.
"Guess I'm talking to myself here." Dean said.
"Its nothing Dean." Sam said. He rose from his bed and grabbed his bag, heading out the door to the shower.
"Jack what's goin on?" Dean demanded. Jack avoided his gaze and shrugged lazily. He wasn't fooled for a second.
"You and Sammy have a fight?" Dean persisted.
"Just something stupid, it'll be fine." Jack said calmly.
"Yeah, you want to know how many stupid arguments nearly got us killed on a hunt?" Dean said.
"I'm not going to not watch you guy's backs because of a dumb tiff." Jack said defensively.
"Didn't say you would." Dean said. "But poltergeists can use the smallest doubt or disagreement against you. To turn you against the people around you."
"I've been dealing with this stuff almost as long you have Dean." Jack reminded him.
"Yeah, well you don't know what these things can make you feel or do until you've experienced it first hand." Dean said.
"How do you know I have-"
"Because that wouldn't have been the conclusion you jumped to if you knew." Dean cut her off. He walked across to the bed next to Sam's. "I suggest you two bury whatever shit you just had it out over."
"Oh and Jack." Dean said turning back around to smirk at her. "Don't ever use the word tiff again. Its just…wrong."
"Go to hell." Jack said laughing. She stretched out on her bed and resigned herself to the fact that she'd have to apologize to Sam and she hated apologizing.
Sam washed himself mechanically taking his time less out of wanting to stay under the warm water and more because he didn't want to go back to the room and bite Jack's head off. Though it was tempting. Self pity, he thought bitterly snorting out loud. A small part of him was whispering that Jack didn't know what he was going through, she had no clue it was only a few days away from That Day. But he ignored the reason she didn't understand and focused on her not knowing what the hell he was thinking or feeling and not having any right to talk shit to him for wanting to help her out.
TBC……..
AN: Tension, tension, tension. When I was first imagining this story line that whole argument wasn't in this, it was going to go in a later installment. But I guess they need to have it out a little. No worries, my heroes won't fight for long. More angst to come as Sam starts taking out his frustrations on everyone around him. Poor puppy, he needs a hug. Thanks for reading and as always for reviewing.
BTW, the movie their referring to in this is Hostel, I just couldn't resist making Dean freak out about staying at an actual hostel.