Chapter 22: A Brother's Confession
"Rise and Shine," she heard Dean saying to her.
Amber grumbled and rolled onto her right side, turning away from Dean and rolling off his chest.
"C'mon, babe, we've got a lot of stuff to do," he leaned over her, whispering in her ear.
She grunted and pulled the hotel blanket up over her head,
"What time is it?" she asked from her spot under the blanket.
Quarter to nine," Dean said, grabbing the top of the blanket and pulling it up over his head.
Amber rolled onto her back in order to look over at Dean, hair covering her face. Dean moved her hair off her face,
"I know Amber is under there somewhere," he grinned.
She smiled up at him, adjusting her skin-colored halter bra. She had removed her pink halter top before climbing back into bed with Dean earlier in the morning. Her jeans had also been removed, leaving her in her black lacy underwear.
"I really don't want to get up," she whined.
"Not much of a morning person, are you?" Dean leaned down and pressed a kiss to her pink lips.
"How could you tell?" she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"Guess what?" Dean asked.
"What?" Amber furrowed her eyebrows.
"This," Dean said, yanking the covers down to their waists.
"Oh, God!" Amber cried out, covering her eyes, "Don't do that again!" she pointed at him, laughing, "I can't see now!"
"Rise and Shine," Dean climbed out of bed.
"Ugh," she groaned, sitting upright, quickly covering herself when she saw Sam sitting at his laptop.
Dean stood beside the bed in his boxers and white t-shirt, arms folded across his muscular chest,
"Well, you better get used to this, sweetheart, this is normal for us," he said.
Amber slapped her hand down on the bed, pushing herself out of bed,
"Not for me," she muttered, wrapping a sheet around herself.
Dean smirked as she pulled the white sheet off of the bed, grunting as she did, watching the muscles in her arms bulge as she did so. He leaned forward ever so slightly to see the rounded bottom of her butt slightly sticking out of her black lacy underwear. When she looked up at him while bending over to pull the sheets off the bed, she saw Dean instantly straighten up,
"Hey!" she laughed, pointing at him.
Amber walked over to her messenger bag and pulled out a black pencil skirt and a white spaghetti strap shirt with lace on it. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her after pulling the sheet off and throwing it towards the bed.
Two hours later they found themselves standing on a dock behind Bill Carlton's log home. The man sat staring out at the water, tears in his eyes. The sky was grey and it looked like rain. The leaves of the trees lining the lake were bright green and reflected off of the water. Birds chirped in the distance and the sound of moving water filled their ears along with toads dwelling in the lake.
Bill Carlton had his back turned to them as they approached, but he did not bother to turn as their footsteps increasingly got louder until they were right behind him.
"Mr. Carlton," Dean called quietly as they approached.
He did not bother to move, he only looked up once at them as they stood beside him on the light wooden dock.
"We would like to ask you a few questions," Sam began, putting his hands in his dark bluish-gray jacket, "if you don't mind."
"We're from the department…" Dean began.
"I don't care who you are with," Bill Carlton was on the verge of crying, "I've already answered enough questions today."
Dean looked over at Sam and nodded.
"Your son said he saw something in the lake, how about you? Did you ever see something in the lake?" Sam pressed on, "Mr. Carlton, Sofie's drowning and Will's death…we think there may be a connection to you or your family," Sam said calmly.
"My children are gone," he cried out, "it…it's worse than dying," tears filled his eyes, "Go away….please," the poor man said, looking out at the lake, crying.
Amber touched Dean's arm and nodded towards the car. Dean nudged Sam and they thanked Bill for his time and proceeded to walk off of the dock, leaving Bill to the peaceful sound of birds chirping and frogs croaking. Gravel crunched beneath their feet as they approached Dean's Impala.
"What do you think?" Amber asked, leaning up against the car.
"I think the poor guy's been through Hell," Dean said, "and I also think there's something he's not telling us," Dean said, turning to face the house,
"what? What is it?" Sam asked.
"Huh, maybe it's time we pay Lucas a visit," Dean said.
"Don't you think that will be a little awkward, showing up at her house?" Amber asked.
"We need to figure this out," Sam said, "So I guess we're going to see Lucas."
Amber nodded and climbed in to the backseat of the Impala, behind Dean. Dean and Sam climbed in at the same time, closing the doors. Dean started the engine and pulled out of the driveway and headed towards Andrea's home.
They arrived at her home not even an hour later, pulling in front of her home. They each climbed out of the Impala and walked towards the front door of the large white house by the lake. Dean stood to the right with Amber between him and Sam beside her. Dean rung the doorbell and moments later a young woman with long-brown, curly hair answered the door.
"Can we come in?" Dean instantly asked.
Andrea furrowed her brows in confusion,
"Yeah, sure," she pulled the door open further to allow them each in.
Andrea led them through the house to the kitchen with large windows lining the wall facing the lake.
"I need to speak with Lucas," Dean said.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think that's a good idea," Andrea said, placing her hands on her hips.
"Andrea, please, just for a few minutes," Dean continued.
"He won't say anything," Andrea said in frustration, "What good's it gonna do?
"Andrea, we think more people might get hurt, we think something is happening out there," Sam tried to help.
"My husband, the others, they just drowned, that's all," Andrea said, sighing.
"If that's what you really believe, we'll go, but if you think for one moment that there's something more going on here, please let me talk to your son," Dean said firmly.
Andrea sighed in frustration, but she said,
"Alright, but only for a few minutes."
She led them up the stairs from the kitchen that seemed to be hidden beside the refrigerator. The wooden stairs spiraled and stopped at the top of the landing. A dark hallway stood before them and to the left was the bathroom and the right, Andrea's room followed by Lucas' room on the left, beside the bathroom. Lucas sat on his bedroom floor in a black long-sleeved shirt and jeans, playing with toy soldiers, drawings lying all over the light blue rug. They watched from the doorway for a moment before Dean walked into the room, crouching in front of Lucas,
"Hey Lucas, remember me?" he asked quietly, "You know, I wanted to thank you for the last drawing, but the thing is…I need your help again," Dean pulled out the first drawing from his pocket and lay it in front of him.
Dean paused for a moment as Lucas looked up at the drawing then continued to play with the soldiers,
"How did you know to draw this?" he asked as Amber, Sam and Andrea continued to stand in the doorway, Sam and Amber leaning against the doorframe.
"Did you know something bad was going to happen," he asked, but receieved no response from Lucas, "Maybe you could nod yes or no for me?"
Dean looked at Lucas, placing his hands in his lap as he continued to crouch in front of the doorway.
"You're scared," Dean finally said, feeling sympathetic, "It's okay, I understand, see when I was your age I saw something really bad happen to my mom and I was scared to," he said, voice cracking slightly, causing Sam to tilt his head to the right and look at him,, amazed that his brother was capable of emotion.
They were sharing a moment, unbeknownst to Dean. Amber could tell by watching Sam's expression that this was something Sam was not aware of.
"I didn't feel like talkin'," Dean almost whispered, but see, my mom, I know she'd want me to be brave. I think about that everyday. And I do my best to be brave," Dean said, the last sentence a struggle to get out, "and maybe your dad would want you to be brave too."
Lucas looked up from his drawings and stared at Dean for a few moments, blue eyes wide before handing Dean another drawing.
