Disclaimer: Y'all know the drill. Insert joke here
Dean sunk the 8 ball in the corner pocket t a chorus of disappointed groans. He grinned, scooped up the hundred dollars worth of twenties from the two guys trying to tag team him and downed the rest of his drink.
"Hi, I'm Laura." A husky female voice said behind him. He turned to see a dark haired beauty giving him the once over, a beer in one hand and a pool cue in the other.
"Believe darling, I'd love to but I got a pouty brunette at home waiting for me." Dean said with a groan as she leaned in close. Of course he failed to mention that said pouty brunette was his baby brother and that he was just waiting up to give him a lecture about hustling pool and his alcohol consumption. Where did he go wrong with that boy.
"Well, I'll be over there in case you change your mind-" She hesitated giving him an opening to give his name.
"Dean." He supplied.
"Dean." She purred his name before walking away.
'Damn ghosts.' He thought as he fought with himself to walk out the door with his pocket full of bills.
He really did have to head back, he didn't doubt he was in the proverbial doghouse for making Sam and Jack baby-sit the lighthouse. It was edging on 3 am. He'd been to four bars and collected $300.00. Enough to go through Jack's shopping list and get a decent place to sleep in between gigs.
Sam sat on the counter of the kitchen working on his fourth cup of coffee. He wouldn't go to sleep. Even if he felt like a zombie(he did), he would not go to sleep. He felt suddenly that he wasn't alone.
"Sammy?" Jack squinted groggily at him in the dim light.
"Couldn't sleep." He said with a sip to his cup. Another pot was already brewing for him.
"Couldn't?" Jack asked eyeing his coffee. She walked further into the room, shuffling still half asleep. She hopped up on the counter next to him.
"Penny for your thoughts?" She said.
"You don't have a penny." Sam told her.
"I'll give you an I.O.U." Jack responded.
Sam looked at the brown liquid sticking to the bottom of his near empty cup. He had the wild impulse to tell her about the crack, she knew more about this psychic shit than him and she had been hinting to his need to learn more about the telekinesis.
"Jack-" He started and stopped. She looked at him patiently. He grabbed for something to ask instead. The other as still too raw.
"Do you believe in something…more?" He asked. Jack looked contemplative for a second. Sam continued, "Dean's a skeptic and I guess I am too, but what about you?"
"I hope for something for the good ones that don't make it." Jack stated uncharacteristically serious. "But you know given what we see everyday its tough. Its hard to have faith in anything but the gun in your pocket and the guy watching your back, you know?" Jack smiled sleepily at him.
"Yeah." Sam nodded. Jack pushed off the counter.
"Get some sleep, Sam. It'll be okay again. You'll get through this." Jack said putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing softly.
"How did you do it?" He asked when she got to the doorway.
"I killed the things that killed him and then I ran for my life. Its harder to think about how alone you are when you've got to survive. Oh and I followed a strict regimen of drinking and ensuring my place among the Royally Fucked Up." Jack said lightly but with a serious undertone. Pain and a sadness he could recognize flew across her face before they vanished.
"Night, Sam." Jack walked back to the room. She got to her bed and sat feeling her face heat up. 'Soldiers don't cry.' She told herself. She bit the inside of her lip, she wished she had something else to say to Sam but it true, what she said. She picked up her trusty backpack and hugged it her body, letting herself drift off to a fitful sleep.
Sam empties the rest of his cup out and turned off the coffee machine. He was about to leave the kitchen when Dean came in on silent feet. He grinned at Sam and held up a handful of twenties and fifties. Sam shook his head laughing softly.
"Its a tough job but somebody's gotta do it." Dean said clapping him on the back.
"You alright little brother?" Dean asked.
"I'm tired." Sam said looking into Dean's eyes. Dean nodded in understanding all teasing gone.
"You look like shit." He said with a small smile.
"Thanks, thanks a lot." Sam said scratching his eyebrow.
"C'mon." Dean said.
"I'm kinda wired too." Sam said sheepishly looking over his shoulder at the empty coffee cups in the sink.
Dean followed his gaze and raised an eyebrow at Sam in a clear You're an idiot look.
"I'm waking your bitch ass up first." Dean growled pushing him out the kitchen doors.
"No nightmares. No nightmares. You'll sleep fine." Sam started mumbling under his breath as they walked into the room.
Dean watched his younger brother worriedly. It was obvious he hadn't slept in days and he wasn't eating right either. He was pale and disheveled and if Dean didn't know the words by heart he would think that maybe Sam was cracking up, but those words helped him get up the courage to fall asleep. Dean slid a glance at Jack, he always had to know where either of them were. She was fast asleep with her backpack held loosely in her arms. Another show of grief, another manic gesture of security.
It was almost down when Sam finally fell asleep. And Dean who'd kept an ear open through out the night as Sam shifted and fidgeted finally let himself relax when Sam's breathing evened out.
"You want us to what?" Jack looked at Rodney like she was going to fry him on the spot. Poor guy didn't know that when it came to her, looks really could kill. She was blocking his view of the room so Sam and Dean could continue making up the satchels for the ritual while she questioned the clerks sanity.
"It'll just be for a few minutes. The thing is with the lighthouse the way it is most of the staff took one look at it and drove back home." Rodney squeaked. His eyes were darting all around him and he was shaking like he was going to cut and run at the drop of a dime.
"So you want us to hand out candy to trick or treaters." Jack said.
"Only until six then the place is closing up for the night." Rodney said hurriedly.
"You realize now I'm going to stealing the towels, pillows and anything else I can fit, right?" Jack said lazily.
"Yeah." Rodney said with a look of relief. Of course he was relieved, he got to leave now.
"And I'm drinking the rest of your beer." Jack called out as the man hurried down the hall making his escape.
"I thought you loved Halloween." Sam yawned as she stomped back to the table where they were working.
"I don't kids on the property while George's being a pissy bitch." Jack said. "Why couldn't they just put a sign up or something?"
"Owner is an ass." Dean said popping a jagged piece of Tiger's Eye into his pouch.
"What's the game plan?" Sam asked rubbing more sleep from his eyes. Dean hadn't been joking, he woke Sam up first at eight in the morning.
"We bury these in the four corners, North, South, East, West, around the lighthouse, then I take the fifth inside where ghost started his wooey act and put it somewhere. I'm thinking inside the light itself. Then say t he pretty words." Jack explained.
"Not alone. That guy'll be all over you and Sam the second you set foot in that place." Dean said.
"That's cause we taste like chicken." Jack said.
"You taste like psychic." Dean told her.
"How would you know, have you been tasting without me knowing, you perv." Jack snarked.
"We'll be wearing the holy water around our necks and we'll have the guns ready." Sam assured him.
"You're sure this will work?" Dena asked Jack momentarily placated.
"Not in the least. This is all theory." Jack said cheerfully. "But if we all die at least we'll have a cool lighthouse to haunt."
"You have the least reassuring smile of anyone I've ever met." Sam said.
"Trick or treat!" The children chorused holding out their bags to Sam as he answered the door. Their parents stood a few feet back, glancing nervously at the lighthouse trying to figure out if it was just a really good decoration or something else.
Sam had been elected candy giver outer because as Dean said "You look like a big kid anyway."
Sam gave a strained smile to the kids and started dishing out candy without really paying attention to what he was doing.
"Hey she got more than me." A kid dressed like Dracula accused pointing at a little girl dressed like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. Sam blinked at the boy and dropped another handful in his bag. This bought about a chorus of protests from the other kids in t he group till Sam just handed the whole bowl to the tallest kid and shut the door in there faces.
'Happy damn Halloween.' He thought. He checked his watch: 4:30. Still an hour and a half till closing. He shuffled into the kitchen, where they'd started working after the rest of the staff made a break for it.
"You do a great Lurch impression." Dean said through a mouthful of sandwich. He pushed a plate in his direction. Sam picked at his food brooding silently. All the prep work was done. All they had to do was start the ritual, but it couldn't be done till nightfall which was why it was so dangerous for them.
"Sam you have to eat. Your starting to look third world skinny." Dean said in reproach.
"I'm not hungry." Sam said.
"Fine, but if you end up passing out I'm not gonna carry your ass." Dean said pushing the plate closer to Sam.
"I'm fine." Sam said picking up a fry but not eating it. Jack put down her food and moved to stand behind Sam's chair. She put her hand on top of his head and looked gravely at Dean.
"For just ten cents a day Sammy here could have a place to sleep," She started in a serious voice, "New shoes, food and the education he desperately needs."
Dean laughed loudly, slapping the table.
"Can you say no to a face like this?" She said cup his face. Sam pulled away batting her hands away.
"You're an ass." Sam told her trying not to laugh. He munched on his fry rolling his eyes at them.
"Happy?" He asked picking up his sandwich.
"Ecstatic." Dean said.
"Three syllables Dean. You're learning." Sam said.
"Nuh-uh and you can't prove it." Dean said indignantly.
Another knock sounded at the front door but Sam ignored it. Those kids had enough sugar already.
"Got the South done." Jack called using her spade to smooth out the dirt over the hole.
"North's good." Dean called. "What about you Sammy?"
"Got East." Sam called rotating his shoulder. He tossed his spade in the air and caught it.
"Westward ho." Jack said coming round the corner swinging the fourth pouch by its tassel.
"Don't lose that shit." Dean warned kneeling at the west point of the area. He dug a quick hole sprinkling holy water into it for extra protection before Jack dropped the bag into the hole. As soon as the hole was filled and the dirt smoothed over a sense of calm fell over the area. If not for the continued dark presence in the lighthouse itself they would have thought it was done.
"Let's go." Dean said taking out the fifth pouch, Jack held the piece of paper with the words to the ritual in her hand and Sam was at the ready with his gun.
The air got colder the closer the got to the lighthouse and Dean flinched when he grabbed hold of the icy door handle. It opened easily. George would be waiting for them inside. Another flaw in the ritual was that he'd know what they were up to, there wasn't any hiding it.
TBC……….
AN: Angst and violence to come my fellow minions of fandom. LOL . Another chapter either tonight or tomorrow if my luck holds. Cross your fingers for me. Thanks for the perty words of encouragement!