A couple of days had passed since we'd left Buffalo and we hadn't heard a peep from Crowley, something I was thankful for. I didn't need the stress of dealing with him on top of the stress of attempting to live like nothing was wrong when Sam blurted out whatever he thought every two seconds, no matter what it was.
Thankfully, Dean had found what he thought was a case in Elwood, Indiana. Reports of bright lights and crop circles don't qualify as our thing, in my opinion. But when it's followed by four people going missing...then maybe it just might be.
Either way, I was just thankful to have something to keep us busy that allowed us to get out of the motel room we'd been staying in.
Currently, we were walking through the town posing as journalists writing a story about the occurrences. I held the small camera up to the people we were interviewing and Sam scribbled down notes with everyone we spoke to, not speaking much, letting Dean and I handle the questions.
Wayne Whittacker who, in his own words was a famous UFO chaser, was here because he was convinced it was aliens. According to him, we're right in the middle of a UFO flap and he's personally recorded dozens of eyewitness accounts, strange lights in the sky and mysterious presences attempting contact.
Yeah, this guy's nuts.
But Wayne wasn't alone, oh no. He had a whole team. And one of his little followers, Sparrow Jennings, couldn't wait to tell us how she so happy that it's all finally happening. These entities have come to help push humanity to the next stage.
I really wanted to roll my eyes at that one.
By the time we'd gotten around to speaking to Kim Porter, the girlfriend of the first missing person. I was done with these people. But we had to keep doing. And I did feel bad for her, she looked really upset. Her voice shook in panic as she explained that there was this light and then Patrick just vanished! Something took him, and she knew it.
Well, she was at least partly right.
The Sheriff barely even wanted to speak to us, mumbling gruffly about how since this whole damned circus has blown into town, no one seems to realize we got four missing persons cases wide open. He went onto say that his friends lost loved ones, finishing strong with I can guarantee you that this has nothing to do with UFO's, little green men. Nothing extraterrestrial whatsoever.
I had to agree with him, there.
The woman who stood in front of us was named Marion Allen. A few people said she was the town recluse, but we found her coming out of the local coffee shop with a bag of tea leaves. She rolled her wide blue eyes at us when we asked her about the alien activity.
"Of course it's not UFO's," She smiled. I shared a relieved look with Dean. "It's fairies."
The relieved smile dropped off my face immediately as I peeked out from behind the small camera to fully look at her. "Fairies?"
"Yes," She nodded enthusiastically.
"Fairies," Dean repeated. He cleared his throat, smiling at her. "Okay. Well, thank you for your input."
"What? Flying saucers not insane enough for you?" Sam commented.
Marion furrowed her brow, taken aback by Sam's words. "What newspaper did you say you worked for?"
"If you want to add glitter to that glue your sniffing, that's fine, but don't dump your whackadoo all over us. We'd rather not step in it," Sam said flatly. Dean and I shared a wide-eyed look.
"Okay," Dean took Sam's arm, trying to pull him along as we stepped away. "We- we're done."
"The only thing you're missing is a couple dozen cats, sister," Sam added. Marion looked up at him with her mouth hanging open, clearly offended.
"It's a blood sugar thing," I muttered to her as we began walking away, Dean and I both taking one of Sam's arms. I smiled sheepishly. "I apologize." Marion just nodded, watching as we dragged Sam away. It wasn't until we turned the corner that we both let him go, smacking his arm. "What the hell's wrong with you?"
"Hell," Sam replied simply. I narrowed my eyes at him. Sam shrugged. ""What did I do?"
"You gotta ask?" Dean rolled his eyes at his question. "Right, yes, you do have to ask."
"Look, I'm sorry, but this is all a big joke, right, and we're not actually taking this UFO crap seriously?"
"No, man. ET is made of rubber. Everybody knows that. But there are four legitimate vanishings in this town. Something's going on. And by the way, it's not the lady's fault that she took the brown acid."
Sam shrugged. "So?"
"Empathy, Sam. Empathy," I interjected.
"I mean, the old Sam would have given her some, some pussy, dew-eyed crap," Dean added.
"Old Sam had a soul - was a soul," Sam rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
"Right! Yes, and- and- but you don't- aren't," Dean huffed, shaking his head. "Whatever. You don't care."
"Well-"
"You have to care!"
"About what, exactly?" Sam asked, I rolled my eyes, rubbing my temples. I could feel a headache coming on already.
"About everything, man!" Dean exclaimed. "About being human at least."
"Look, Dean, you guys obviously care. A lot. And that's great. But I can't care about what- I can't care about it, you know? What do you want me to do, fake it?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Yes. Absolutely. Fake it till you make it."
"What happened to you wanting me to be all honest?"
"Your honesty is a pain in the ass," I mumbled. Sam shot me an annoyed look as we crossed the road, heading towards the Impala.
"You wanna be a real boy, Pinnochio, you gotta act the part," Dean said.
"I was faking it, Dean!" Sam huffed. "Ever since we got back on the road together, I was picking every fucking word. It's exhausting."
"Okay. But until we get you back on the soul train, I'll be your conscience, okay?"
"So you're saying you'll be my…Jiminy Cricket," Sam muttered nearly cracking a smile, rounding the back of the Impala to get to the passenger side.
"Shut up," Dean mumbled, stopping at the driver side of the Impala. "But yeah, you fucking puppet. That's exactly what I'm saying."
Sam looked to me. "That makes you my Fairy Godmother."
"There wasn't a fairy godmother in Pinocchio, genius. She was the Blue Fairy, and if you call me that, I'll break your arm," I said, opening the back door, sliding inside.
Once everyone was in the car, we made our way across the small town over to Brennan's Watchworks so we could speak to the father of the first missing person, Patrick Brennan. As we reached the entrance, I looked up to Sam.
"This guy lost his kid. At least try here, okay?" I asked. He nodded. With that, we entered the small shop where a man sat behind a desk. Beside him was a small spot-light, facing towards the watch he was fixing.
"Mr. Brennan?" Dean called, getting the man's attention.
"Yes?" He asked, pulling his magnifying glasses off.
"We're with The Mirror," Sam explained. "We'd like to ask you a few questions-"
"Is this about Patrick?" Mr. Brennan asked. We nodded. He put his glasses back on, turning back to the watch in his hands. "Patrick's gone."
"Missing," I corrected sympathetically. He let out a sigh, but I continued. "That's what we want to talk to you about."
"Now, your son was the first to disappear-" Sam began.
"First to be taken," Mr. Brennan interrupted.
The three of us shared a look. Sam furrowed his brow. "Taken?"
A moment of silence before Mr. Brennan pulled his glasses off again. Standing to his feet, he pointed to the door. "Get out. Out!"
We began moving back towards the door when Dean stopped, turning to face the man. "Mr. Brennan, who do you believe took your son?:
Mr. Brennan paused, looking back at us. "You people can't help me. My boy is never coming back."
"You sound awfully sure," Sam observed.
"Excuse me?"
"Like you know something you're not talking about," Sam speculated, intensely staring at Mr. Brennan.
"Okay," Dean muttered to his brother. "Alright."
Mr. Brennan took a step in front of Sam, staring him down. "You know what they said. Seventy-two hours. After that, the odds of finding a missing person drop to nothing, right?"
"Every case is different," I pointed out, feeling for the man.
"It's been weeks," Mr. Brennan muttered, a strange look in his eye as he turned away from us to lean down on the counter behind him.
"Alright, listen," Dean said, pulling a card out of his pocket with one of our many numbers on it, sliding it next to him on the counter. "Call us if anything comes to mind."
Mr. Brennan didn't say another word, so we left, heading back out to the sidewalk that lined the stores. As crazy as the sheriff said people in this town had gotten, everyone we'd passed seemed to be going about their days just fine. Shop owners were starting to close up so they could get home before nightfall.
"What do you think?" Sam asked us.
"I think he's hiding something," Dean replied, looking over to Sam and I as we reached the Impala. "Why don't you two watch Watchmaker and see what happens when the sun goes down, and I'll go check out the crop circles."
"Sick of me, already?" I questioned, an eyebrow raised.
"No. No, I just-" Dean's eyes trailed down to my stomach, snapping back up to my face. "We- we don't know what's going on here and I just figured-"
I nodded, understanding. "It's okay. Just be safe, alright?"
"Always am," Dean smiled, placing a kiss on my lips before getting into the Impala. I stood back on the sidewalk with Sam, watching Dean drive away.
"You guys just don't trust me alone, huh," Sam commented after the Impala was out of sight. "I mean, I can handle watching an old dude for a night."
"Sam, you'd maim the guy in the blink of an eye," I mumbled.
"I was on my own for a whole year, I did fine without the two of you."
"Yeah, well, I don't want to know your definition of fine. Plus, that's not the only reason Dean didn't want me to go."
"What is it, the kid?" Sam asked, his eyes unfeeling.
I glanced over at him, shaking my head. "Yeah, Sam. Part of it."
"You've been fine so far, I'm sure you'd be alright now."
"That's not-"
"Hey, have you figured out a name yet? I mean, I don't really care, but I don;t think you should just keep calling it the baby."
"If it's a boy; Axel. If it's a girl; Stevie," I smiled, thinking about the other night when Dean and I were discussing some names.
We were accepting more and more each day that we couldn't constantly avoid the reality that this baby was coming. As scared as we might be, we needed to at least try to be ready as possible. Ignoring the inevitable wouldn't end well for any of us. Especially our child. We were going to be prepared no matter what would be thrown at us. And we were going to be okay.
Sam wrinkled his nose, grimacing. "Those are horrible names. You want that kid to get beat up everyday, or what?"
I gritted my teeth, glaring up at him, doing everything in my power to not claw his eyes out.
"Know what," I hissed. "Let's just try to get through tonight without speaking, okay?"
"Okie dokie," Sam shrugged, unaffected by my annoyance.
By the time the sun was all but set, Mr. Brennan had left his shop and made his way across the street to the local bar. Sam and I followed along, keeping a good distance from him, sitting in a booth on the opposite side of the room from his seat at the bar. Sam ordered a beer and I got a soda, trying to seem as inconspicuous as possible.
"How many drinks is that now?" Sam asked.
"I don't know, he's had like five beers already, at least," I replied.
Sam checked his watch, his eyes widening a bit. "We've been here a half hour."
"Jesus," I sighed, shaking my head.
"We should talk to him again."
"No, Sam."
"Even Dean said he thinks something's up."
"Yeah, but-"
"I'll call him," Sam said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He held it to his ear. "The only thing this guy is up to is alcoholism. Tori doesn't think we should- what?" Sam questioned, his brow furrowing. Dean replied, but I couldn't hear him. "You see something?"
"What is it?" I asked. The sudden sound of Dean yelling on the other end of the phone made me sit up straight in worry, my eyes wide. "What's going on?"
"Dude, stop yelling," Sam told Dean, ignoring me. "You're breaking up. I didn't catch that last part."
"Sam, give me the phone," I pressed, trying to remain calm as I held my hand out.
Sam waved me off. "Close encounter? What kind? First? Second?"
"What?!" I all but shouted. I reached for the phone, but Sam slapped my hand away.
"Tori, stop," Sam rolled his eyes at me, looking to the waitress as she passed, pointing to the bottle of beer that sat in front of him. One more, he mouthed, before going back to looking uninterested with whatever was going on with Dean.
"Sam, give me the goddamn phone!" I exclaimed, done with his bullshit. Thankfully it was loud enough in the bar that no one was looking at us, but I wouldn't care if they did. Something was clearly wrong.
"Third kind already? You better run, man. I think the fourth kind is a butt thing," Sam mumbled nonchalantly, picking up his bottle to take a swing of beer.
I angrily pushed the bottom of the bottle upwards, causing the neck of it to clink into his front teeth, beer spilling down his chin. While he was distracted by it, I grabbed his arm to pull the phone away, quickly putting it to my ear.
"Dean? Baby?" I called into the receiver, hearing him panting as static and the sound of leaves rustling in the wind on the other end. There was a loud thud into the phone and I heard Dean yell out a come on from far away, and then...nothing.
"What happened?" Sam asked, looking completely and totally uninterested.
"Dean. We- we have to go," I said, standing to my feet just as the waitress came over, handing Sam the new beer.
"Thanks," Sam smiled up at the waitress, leaning to check out her ass when she walked away.
I smacked the back of his head, glaring down at him. "Really?"
"What?" Sam shrugged, looking up at me over his shoulder.
"We have to go!"
"Do we?" Sam asked, holding up his beer. "It's full."
"You're fucking with me, right?" I hissed.
"Fine," Sam huffed, taking a sip of beer before getting up. "Let's go."
At the rate Sam was moving, if it were up to him, we probably wouldn't make it there before morning. Sitting at the mouth of the field was the Impala. I checked inside, hoping to find Dean there somehow, but it was empty. We began trudging through the thick corn stalks as I called Dean's phone over and over again until I could hear the ringtone.
Following the sound of it led me to a trampled line of corn that led into a large crop circle, Dean's phone lying in the middle of it.
With no signs of him in immediate sight, I picked up his phone, staring down at it in my hands. I wanted to panic. I wanted to lose it. But I kept myself calm, repeating in my head how that was the only way I'd find Dean.
"We have to spread out, look around," I said, slipping his phone into my back pocket.
"How are the two of us going to cover all this ground?"
"You're right," I nodded, an idea popping into my head. "We need more people."
If Sam and I couldn't cover all that ground by ourselves fast enough, we certainly couldn't do that and keep an eye out around town, too. So, as much as I didn't want to leave that corn field, I had no choice. Sam wasn't totally convinced of my plan, and to be honest, I wasn't either. But I didn't know what else to do.
The two of us made our way across the large clearing near the corn field until we reached the circle of RV's and trailers that sat there, alien enthusiasts mulling around. Some were eating at one of the tables that was set up, some were standing around. But they were all talking to each other excitedly about the prospect of aliens being here. The vehicles were decorated with streamers of little aliens, plushies of little alien heads and a bunch of banners and posters of UFO's with the words The Truth is Out There printed underneath in various fonts.
"Why are we here, Tori?" Sam questioned, shooting some side eye at a man who was talking about his experience seeing a little green man in his bedroom closet when he was five.
"They might be able to help," I said, not believing the words as they came out of my mouth. I sighed. "We don't know anything about this stuff."
"Because aliens don't exist," Sam said, throwing his arms out to the side. The small group of men behind us narrowed their eyes. Sam looked over his shoulder at him, glaring hard enough for them to turn away.
"Then what took Dean?" I asked pointedly. Sam didn't answer, opting to shake his head. I nodded. "Exactly. So, sadly enough, this shit-fest is our next best bet."
"Let's just get this over with."
I didn't waste any more time arguing with him about his attitude, spotting Wayne Whittacker sitting out in front of an RV across the camp, his feet propped up on the folding table in front of him with a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. I quickly made my way over to him, Sam following close behind. Wayne looked up as we approached, taking his glasses off with a smile.
"So they're real," I muttered. "UFO's?"
"Like I said before, hon. The truth is out there," Wayne nodded, placing his mug down.
"Right," I said, fighting the urge to make a sarcastic comment, pulling in a heavy breath.
Wayne pulled his feet off the table, leaning forward. "What can I do you for?"
"How do we find them?"
"Find who?"
"Aliens, dumbass," Sam mumbled in an obvious tone. I smacked his stomach with the back of my hand, looking back to a shocked Wayne.
"Excuse my brother, he's an idiot," I apologized, gaining a glare from Sam. I ignored him, continuing. "We just- we really need to know how to find...them."
"You and me both," Wayne said, grabbing a flyer to hand to me as he stood. I flipped through the pages, seeing nothing but typical conspiracy theory, x-files style alien abduction bullshit written there.
"This is it?" Sam asked incredulously, having looked at the pages with me.
"Well, I'd say that thirty years of eyewitness accounts speak for themselves as incontrovertible proof-"
"Yeah, right. My brother was abducted so I'm pretty good on the whole proof part."
A woman I recognized from earlier in the day walked over to us. "Your brother was abducted?"
"Were you eavesdropping?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.
She smiled. "I'm like a breeze in the wind. I hear everything."
I stared at her blankly for a moment, blinking a couple times. "...what?"
"How are you dealing with this?" She asked, placing a hand on my arm comfortingly. I glanced down at her hand, not answering. I didn't want therapy. I just wanted to find whoever took Dean, kill them and get him back.
"It's fine," Sam shrugged. I shot him a look and he quickly backtracked. "I mean, I've had time to adjust."
The woman nodded understandingly. "So it happened when you were kids?"
"No, like, half an hour ago," Sam mumbled. The brunette furrowed her brow. Sam looked over to Wayne again. "So, you've been hunting UFO's for over three decades and you basically have no concrete data and zero workable leads. Have you considered the possibility that you suck at hunting UFO's?"
"Look," I interjected. "We just- we could really use some help."
"I'd be happy to," The woman smiled, squeezing my arm a little tighter. "If I can."
With no obvious direction to take this in, the three of us split up. As much as I didn't want to leave Sam alone, it was the only option to find a lead as fast as possible. I took the Impala to go drive around the backroads while Sam and the girl, whose name I'd already forgotten in all this mess, stayed on foot, walking around the small town.
More time went by and it was getting harder and harder to stop myself from becoming frantic with each passing second. I gripped the steering wheel tighter and tighter, my teeth clenching as I stomped down the panic.
I couldn't allow myself to believe he was gone again. It couldn't happen.
With another hour gone, I decided to give Sam a call. He didn't answer, something he'd had a habit of doing lately. Usually I thought nothing of it, but this was different. I made a quick u-turn on the empty road I was driving down, heading back into town.
As I pulled down the street our motel was on, I saw a figure walking in the distance on the sidewalk up to the motel's parking lot. Even though they were facing me, it was too dark out to see their face, but I knew the gait immediately and hit the gas, speeding into the entrance closest to me. I barely put the car in park before getting out, my feet moving fast underneath me.
Dean sped up when he saw me, the both of us reaching each other in no time.
"Oh my god!" I exclaimed as we hugged each other tightly. After a moment, I pulled back enough to look him over, still staying in his arms. "Are you okay?"
"I- I think so. I just spend like an hour walking back to town."
"Let's get you inside," I suggested. Dean nodded. I made sure to keep an arm around him as we walked up to our room.
As I reached for the key, I heard a moan come from inside the room. Dean shot me a look. "Is this the right one?"
"Yeah, one-ten," I nodded, unlocking the door.
My mouth dropped open in shock at the scene in front of me, my blood boiling instantly. Inside the room, Sam and the brunette were in bed together. She was on top of him, the sheets thankfully covering their bodies. Well, their bottom halves, anyhow. They froze the moment the door opened, looking over at us.
"They brought Dean back!" She smiled widely, not making any move to get off of Sam. "Tori, you found him!"
"You…" I trailed off, gritting my teeth as I stepped into the room, glaring at Sam. I stopped myself from saying any more, remembering the girl was still there. Pulling in a deep breath, I looked to the brunette. "Dove-"
"Sparrow," She corrected with another smile.
"Whatever," I sighed, exasperated. "You have to leave."
She looked to Sam for confirmation. "But-"
I picked up her shirt and jeans, tossing them to her. "I'm serious. You need to go."
"Okay," She nodded, rolling off of Sam, making sure to keep herself under the sheets as she went. Sam cleared his throat, wrapping the comforter around himself as Sparrow slipped on the clothes that I tossed to her. "It's alright. I so totally understand that you need time as a family."
"Oh, yeah," I muttered, narrowing my eyes at Sam. "Family."
Gathering up her sweater, belt and shoes up off the floor, she made her way to the door where Dean was leaning against the wall.
Sparrow stopped in front of him, a sheepish look on her face. "This might be a bad time...but what were they like?"
"They were grabby, incandescent douchebags," Dean muttered, annoyance clear in his voice.
"Sorry, I- this is just so exciting!" She exclaimed happily.
"Yeah, I'm thrilled for you. Goodnight," Dean said, opening the door.
With that, I pushed Sparrow towards the open door. She stepped out onto the pavement, turning around to face me with a concerned smile. "I can feel a lot of tension coming off of you. I think you should come see me later. I can smudge you!"
"Oh, please, go smudge yourself," I mumbled with an eye roll, slamming the door in her face. I leaned against it. Trying to control my breathing as anger surged through me, I forced myself to put my focus on Dean. "Come on, let's go sit."
"That sounds like a good idea," Dean nodded, heading over to Sam's bed. He was about to sit down when he thought better of it, moving to our bed instead.
On my way to get Dean something to drink, I passed by Sam, who was now standing in the middle of the room, the sheet still wrapped around him. I glared. "Move."
"You're upset," Sam stated emotionless, moving aside.
I turned around, seething. "Upset? I'm not upset, Sam. I'm livid!"
Dean shook his head, looking up to his brother. "I was abducted...and you were fucking patchooli?!"
Sam shrugged. "I didn't think she smelled that bad."
"I was abducted by aliens!"
"I'm gonna kill him," I muttered to Dean through clenched teeth as I handed him a bottle of water. I looked back up to Sam. "I'm gonna kill you!"
"Hey, I was looking into it!" Sam argued, throwing his arms out to the side.
"Looking into what? 'Cause I gotta tell you, the place you were looking, you weren't gonna find Dean in there!" I exclaimed, nodding back to the door where Sparrow just was. Sam rolled his eyes at me. "Don't roll your eyes at me, Sam, I was out all night looking for him and you weren't doing a damn thing! Nothing that would help Dean, anyway."
"Wait, all night?" Dean asked incredulously. "I was only gone an hour."
"Baby, you were gone for more than an hour," I said, pulling Dean's phone out of my pocket, handing it to him as I sat down on the bed next to him.
Dean looked at the time on his phone, letting out a breath. "Five A.M?"
"It's UFO timeslip!" Sam exclaimed almost excitedly. He rushed over to the table where a few papers sat lying around. "That actually falls in line with a lot of abduction stories."
"Falls in line…" Dean trailed off.
"Yeah."
"Nothing's falling in line."
Sam came over to us then, sitting at the foot of the other bed. "Come on, talk to me. What happened?"
Dean glanced over at me before looking down to the floor. "Well, uh, there was this…god help me, there was this bright white light."
"It's okay," Sam nodded, placing a hand on Dean's knee. "Safe room."
Dean looked down at Sam's hand incredulously, shaking his head. "You're not wearing enough clothes to be this close to me, dude."
Sam quickly took his hand off of Dean's leg, moving it back to his own lap as he leaned forward on his elbows. "Okay. Go ahead."
Swallowing hard, Dean glanced over at me before looking back to the ground. "I just- I uh, suddenly, I was in a different place. And there were these beings, and they were too bright to look at, but I could feel them pulling me towards this sort of table-"
"A probing table!" Sam exclaimed. I glared at him around Dean.
"Don't say that out loud!"
"Right," Sam nodded. "So what did you do?"
"I went crazy. I started hacking and slashing and firing," Dean answered, glancing over to me with a small, still slightly nervous, but proud smile. "They actually seemed surprised. I don't think anybody's ever done that before."
"I can imagine not," I mumbled, rubbing his back encouragingly.
"Yeah. I had a close encounter. And I won."
"You should take a shower," Sam interjected.
"I should take a shower," Dean agreed, handing me his bottle of water as he stood to his feet. "I'm gonna take a shower now."
A good ten minutes had passed with Dean in the bathroom, Sam had thrown some clothes on behind the rooms partition that separated the beds from the table, where I currently was cleaning up all the papers scattered there that Sam had left, sorting them into a neat pile.
"So...aliens," Sam mumbled from behind me.
"Leave me alone, Sam."
"Don't you think you're overreacting?" Sam asked. I spun around on my heel, glaring at him. "At least a little." He added quickly. "I mean, Dean is fine. Everything's fine."
I scoffed. "You do realize what just happened, right?"
"He got abducted," Sam shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh, yeah. No biggie," I shook my head, mumbling asshole as I turned back around.
"I heard that," Sam said as the shower turned off in the bathroom.
"Good," I said flatly, lowering myself down into one of the chairs at the table, letting out a heavy breath as I went. It wasn't until I allowed my body to relax that I realized how tired I actually was. I was very much used to sleepless nights. Used to not taking any breaks, constantly going.
But lately, it was getting harder.
The bathroom door opened a few moments later and Dean walked out with wet hair, wearing a clean pair of jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. He let out a heavy sigh. "Man, I am starving."
"We should go get some breakfast somewhere," I suggested, looking at my watch. "I'm sure that diner down the street will be open in a few minutes."
"Sounds good to me," Dean agreed, throwing on one of his jackets. He looked over to me. "Do you want to hang back and get some sleep? I could bring you something for later."
"No, no," I shook my head, standing to my feet. "I'm good, I'm coming."
Dean shot me a worried look. "Tor-"
"I'm fine. Plus, being out all night alone, looking for you alone," I emphasized, glaring over at Sam as I spoke before turning back to Dean with a smile. "Well, I'm actually pretty hungry."
The ride over to the diner was fairly quiet, save for Dean telling baby how much he missed her and blaring the radio. Once we arrived and sat down, Dean and I ordered our food. Sam declined any, getting only a black coffee. He mostly just spent time staring at the waitress's ass whenever she walked by.
"I can't believe this," Dean began out of the blue, mumbling around a bite of toast.
"What?" I asked, drinking the last sip of the juice that Dean insisted I get.
"I'm trying to act like it's- but this- I just-"
"Spit it out," Sam rolled his eyes. I narrowed mine at him.
"On top of all the demons and the angels and the ghosts and the skinwalkers, it turns out that there's- so if aliens are actually real, what's next? Hobbits? Seriously," Dean huffed, shaking his head.
"It is a lot to process," I said. "But, just like everything else, we'll get through it. We'll figure it out together."
Sam completely ignored both of us, smiling at the waitress as she passed, nodding his head to her. I let out an annoyed huff as Dean stared at his brother in disbelief. "You just gave her the silent how you doing."
"What?" Sam asked.
"Our reality's collapsing around us, and you're trying to pick up our waitress?"
"Yeah. Okay. Look. Brings up a question. So, say you got a soul and you're on a case, and your brother gets abducted by aliens-"
"Yeah, then you do everything you can to get him back."
"Right! You do, but what about when there are no more leads for the night? Are you supposed to just sit there in the dark and suffer, even when there's nothing that can be done at that moment?"
"Yes!" Dean exclaimed.
Sam furrowed his brow in confusion. "What?"
"Yes, you sit in the dark and feel the loss."
"Absolutely! But couldn't I just do all that and have sex with the hippie chick?"
"No, Sam!" I shook my head.
"But it'd be in the dark!"
"You wouldn't be suffering! And you can't just turn that off!"
"So you're telling me that any time I was missing, you two didn't screw around?" Sam asked pointedly.
"No!"
Dean cleared his throat, looking around with guilty eyes. "Well-"
I put my hand up to stop him. "No," I pressed, continuing. "And it's not the point, Sam. I needed your help last night. I needed you."
"I don't see how," Sam shrugged, calling the waitress over. Dean and I shared a look of disbelief as he blew us off, asking her for the receipt. Once she left, he took a sip of his coffee.
"Sam we are talking, here."
"Yeah, I know."
"Dude!" Dean huffed.
Sam sighed. "Look, what else was there to do last night?"
"How about being there for each other?" I pointed out.
"So we were just supposed to sit together in a dark motel room and cry about everything?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes!" Dean and I both exclaimed at the same time.
Just then the waitress came over, placing the receipt down on the table with a smile aimed only at Sam. "Here you go."
Sam smiled at her again, taking a peek down her low-cut plaid shirt with a smirk. "Thank you."
"Who are you, Dean?" I snapped at Sam.
"Hey," Dean threw a hand up, looking offended.
"Sorry," I mumbled to him.
"So basically what you're saying is that having a soul equals suffering," Sam said.
"Yes, that's exactly what we're saying," Dean replied.
"So you're saying suffering is a good thing."
"I'm saying it's the only game in town."
"Fine," Sam sighed. "So how do we deal with the little green men?"
"Research. We've got about a century of UFO lore to catch up on, and there's no time for-" Dean paused, something outside catching his eye. "What's up with that guy?"
I followed his gaze to the window, seeing nothing there. "What guy?"
"The guy by the window giving me the stink eye."
I shared a confused look with Sam, neither one of us seeing the guy Dean was talking about. Sam looked at his brother in question. "You mean the cop?"
"No, not the cop! The guy! He's right-" Dean paused, glancing back at us. "Now he's gone."
"Who's gone?" Sam asked. Dean shook his head in annoyance, balling the napkin sitting next to his plate up, tossing it onto the table.
"Maybe we should head out," I suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
With that, the three of us headed out, dropping Sam off at the library to do some research on our way back to the motel. As much as I wanted to argue, to say that we needed all hands on deck to figure out this new situation we'd found ourselves in, I couldn't help but agree with Dean when he said I needed to get some rest.
As we entered the motel room, I pulled my jacket off, tossing it onto the back of one of the chairs while Dean kicked his boots off.
"Dean, I- I'm sorry about Sam," I finally said. "And last night. What he did."
"You're joking, right?" Dean asked incredulously as he pulled his jacket off. "It's not your fault."
"I know. It's just, I know he's not going to apologize and I feel like somebody has to," I said, making my way over to the bed, sitting down with a heavy sigh. I moved to pull my boots off when Dean stopped me.
"I got it," he muttered, bending down in front of me to unlace them.
"I can do it, Dean. I'm not that big yet. Unless you think I am," I teased, keeping my face serious.
Dean glanced up at me, his eyes wide. "What? No, no, n-" He stammered. I smiled playfully, letting him know I was joking. He let out a heavy breath, shaking his head as he grinned. "Don't do that to me."
"Sorry, I couldn't help it," I laughed, seriousness taking over as I looked down at him. I kept my voice low as I continued. "I was so scared. I thought I would never see you again. Again."
"Me too," Dean muttered, looking up at me sullenly.
"We really need to stop doing that kind of stuff to each other," I mumbled, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah. I'd say."
I smiled, biting my lip as I looked down at him. "These jeans are a little uncomfortable. Mind helping me take them off?"
"I'd love to," Dean smiled, reaching over to unbutton my jeans. I leaned back on my hands, lifting my lower half up off the mattress slightly so he could slide them down and pull them off.
As he let them fall to the floor, I leaned over to kiss him sweetly before deepening it, my lips lingering on his as I pulled back slightly.
"Thanks, babe," I murmured. Moving back, I pulled the sheets down to tuck my legs underneath them. I laid down, sinking into the soft, fluffy pillows. "Wake me in a little bit?"
Dean stayed kneeling next to the bed, looking up at me. "Oh, you really think you're getting away with that?"
"With what?" I asked innocently.
"You don't get to just kiss me like that and then turn away like nothing happened."
"Oh, I don't?" I challenged, leaning on my elbows with an eyebrow raised.
"Hell no," Dean grinned.
In one swift movement, he stood upright and moved the sheets aside so he could climb into bed, hovering over me, a hand on each side of my shoulders. I let myself drop onto my back as he bent down to kiss me, the length of his body pressed onto mine.
It didn't take long for one thing to lead to another, the both of us eager to have this time together since we hadn't in what felt like forever. Whether it was due to the pregnancy or how much we did, I was so exhausted I ended up falling asleep in Dean's arms immediately afterwards.
In what felt like a few minutes, I woke up expecting to find Dean laying next to me, but instead he was sitting at the table in his boxers, staring intently at the laptop screen in front of him.
"You get any sleep?" I asked, leaning up on my elbow to look at him.
Dean nodded, looking up at me with a grin. "I needed it after that."
"That makes two of us," I smiled at him. "Anything from Sam?"
"Yeah. He just called. The library is closing so he's heading back now."
"Wait, closing? How long was I asleep?" I asked, looking at the clock on the nightstand to see that it read six pm. I looked back to Dean with wide eyes.
"You needed the rest, Cherry Pie." Dean tried to convince me, a warm smile on his face.
"Yeah, but, I could've been helping with research."
"Trust me, all this-" Dean gestured to the laptop in front of him, "Would annoy the shit out of you."
"A lot of stuff annoys the shit out of me. I still have to do it."
"Well, I haven't found one article with punctuation. You hate that."
"I do hate that," I agreed with a nod. Dean smiled at me. I let out a sigh. "Well, since I slept all damn day, I think I'm gonna go take a shower.
Getting up from the bed, I grabbed a change of clothes from the dresser, leaning over to give Dean a kiss as I passed by him on my way to the bathroom.
"Need any help in there?" Dean called out playfully as I entered the small room.
"I'm sure I can manage," I laughed, shutting the door behind me.
Standing under the stream of hot water, I let it run over my head and down my shoulders to at least attempt to diminish some of the stress I was feeling. Needless to say, it did jack shit.
Just as I was rinsing out my hair, I heard a loud bang on the other side of the door and quickly shut the water off. Wrapping a towel around my body, I rushed out of the bathroom to find Dean standing in front of the shut microwave, breathing heavily.
"Got you, you little bitch!" He exclaimed.
"What is going on?" I asked, worry filling my voice
"I got her!" Dean announced loudly, looking over at me with wide eyes.
"Who?"
Before Dean could answer me, the motel room door unlocked and Sam walked in, looking at the scene in front of him with confused eyes. "What the hell is going on?"
"My question exactly," I said.
"Come here," Dean called us both over to the microwave as he opened the door. Sam and I stepped to either side of Dean, peering into the appliance. Dean looked between the two of us, then back to the microwave. "See?"
I shared a confused look with Sam, who furrowed his brow at his brother. "See what?"
"See what? See the blood. See all the blech," Dean commented in disgust, gesturing a hand to the spotless microwave.
Sam shrugged. "Sorry, man. I'm not seeing it."
Dean huffed, waving Sam off as he looked over to me. "You see the ick?"
I shook my head. "No, Dean. I don't."
"It's right there!" Dean cried. "How can you not see it?"
"Okay, let's go with you see it and we don't," Sam started. "What the hell was it?"
"It was a- a little-" Dean paused, glancing over at me timidly.
"A little, what?" I pressed.
"A little...naked lady. Okay? It was a little, glowing, hot naked lady. With nipples," Dean said, holding his hands in front of his chest, his pointer fingers out. I grimaced and he let his arms drop to his side. Dean continued dejectedly, looking to the ground. "And she hit me."
I stared at him in complete and utter shock, waiting for him to say he was kidding around.
"I'm not supposed to laugh, right?" Sam asked, looking over to me.
Dean whipped around to face his brother. "No, Sam!" He scolded.
"Why is it okay for her?"
Dean looked over his shoulder, spotting the amused look I was trying hard to cover up. His eyes narrowed. "What the hell, Tori? It's not funny!"
"No, you- you're right. It's not," I said, biting the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing.
Dean walked away from the two of us with a huff, moving over to the table. Sam and I exchanged an amused look, that we both quickly dropped when Dean sat down, facing us again.
"So, shot in the dark here, but did this little lady have wings?" Sam wondered aloud.
"What the hell makes you say that?" Dean questioned.
"She did, didn't she?"
"Yeah, but how did-"
"One of the fringier theories I came across. It's actually what crazy crystal lady was yammering about," Sam said, looking between Dean and I as he made his way over to the laptop on the table near Dean. "What if these abductions have nothing to do with UFO's?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked as Sam sat down, typing something on the laptop.
"Say these encounters have been going on for centuries, not with extraterrestrials but with ultra-terrestrials. People nowadays say space aliens or whatever, but they used to call them-" Sam turned the laptop around to show a painting of multiple people, some with wings and some without, all of them sitting or walking on hills.
"Smurfs," Dean muttered sarcastically.
"Fairies," Sam corrected.
I moved over to the table, leaning down on it next to Dean to look at the picture more closely. "Fairies? Sam, come on."
"There's a straight line between ET's and fairies" Sam argued his point. "Glowing lights, abductions. It's all the same UFO stuff, just under a different skin."
Dean shook his head. "You seriously think that the secret with UFO's is-"
"Hey, you're the one who pizza-rolled Tinkerbell. I'm just doing the math. But this is good. This is a lead."
"A lead where?"
"I think you know," Sam said pointedly.
"Oh, no," I mumbled, catching his drift. "Come on. There's gotta be another way."
"Hey, if you've got one, I'm all ears," Sam sighed, throwing his arms out to the side. When I didn't respond, he shut the laptop and stood. "That's what I thought. Listen, Tori. I went along with you before. I trusted you. If you want to stop these people from getting abducted, you gotta trust me."
There was no part of me that trusted Sam this way. Not even a little bit. But it's not like we were walking into anything super dangerous here. It was a chance we had to take. So with that in mind, I put some clothes on and threw my damp hair up in a ponytail and we left for Marion Allen's house.
Inside the small trailer, there were fairy statues of various sizes and styles scattered all over the small space, lining every window sill and bookshelf that they could fit on without falling off. Marion led us into the cramped kitchen where the three of us sat at the tiny booth that was situated on the right side of the room. She gave us each a tea cup filled to the brim and a saucer to place it on.
The light coming in from the window bounced off of the porcelain fairy status that sat on the window sill, the beams shining brightly into our eyes.
Marion made her way over to the table with a big smile and a plate of cookies in her hands. She sat down next to me, practically smushing me up against the wall. Dean shot me an apologetic look from across the table where he and Sam sat.
"Fairies," Marion gushed, the glitter on her skin sparkling in the sunlight. "Sprites and spriggens. Bogarts and brownies. The little people have many names."
"Well, that's, uh, that's her," Dean pointed to the smallest figurine on the window sill right next to me. I looked over, inspecting the small nude figure sitting there. I could've sworn the thing was staring at me. It made me uncomfortable enough that I looked away quickly.
"Ooh," Marion smiled wide.
Dean cleared his throat, still looking at the array of statues scattered around the room. "Anyway, I- I get that tinkerbells are fairies, but what about the tiny Santa Claus and the troll and the-"
"That's a garden gnome, and that's a large goblin," Marion explained each one. "And-"
"But they're all fairies?"
"Yes. The fairy comes in many shapes and sizes. Magical, mischievous beings from the realm next door."
"The fairy realm," I muttered. Marion nodded, picking up a cookie, holding it out to me. I shook my head. "No thank you."
"So it's like another dimension?" Sam questioned.
"Another reality! Yes. Only people who have been there and returned to our world can see the fairy here."
"Right, okay," I nodded. "But why are fairies abducting people? Aren't they supposed to be, I don't know, nice?"
"See, that's the first common misconception," Marion told me, wagging her finger. "The fairy can be quite ruthless if they must. And as far as them abducting people. Well, there is much theory and little fact. We know they only take firstborn sons, just like Rumplestiltskin did. Personally, I think they're taken to Avalon to service Oberon, the King of the Faery."
"Dean?" Sam called, looking over to his brother. "Did you service Oberon, King of the Fairies?"
Dean looked at Sam in annoyance as Sam stared back in question, an eyebrow raised. I cleared my throat, looking to the woman sitting next to me. "Marion, if we ever came into contact with fairies...how could we-"
"Interact with them?" Marion interjected happily.
I glanced over at Sam and Dean, turning back to her with a shrug. "Yeah. Sure."
"Well, if you want to win a faery's favor, leave a bowl of fresh cream. They love cream."
"What about a more forceful interaction?"
"Oh," Marion nodded, puckering her lips as she thought it over. "Well, all fairy hate iron, and the dark fairy burn when touched with silver. Oh! And, you can spill sugar or salt in front of them. No matter how powerful, the fairy must stoop to count each grain."
The boys and I shared a look of slight disbelief, none of us really sure what to think here. Dean smiled at Marion. "Well, alrighty. That- that's a lot to absorb. Thank you."
As Dean and Sam moved to get up from the booth, I looked to Marion, waiting for her to move so I could get up. But she didn't budge, smiling at the three of us. "Oh, no. Stay. Finish your tea."
Realizing that she wasn't about to let me out of the booth, Dean sat back down, trapping a very annoyed looking Sam by the wall. He picked up his cup, taking a sip of tea.
"I gotta say, I love the feel," Dean muttered into his tea cup, gesturing to the room around us. "It's uh- it's-"
"It's like Sedona, Arizona, crapped in here," Sam mumbled. I kicked his shin underneath the table, shooting him a look. He rolled his eyes, going back to his tea, finishing it in one gulp.
"Pewteriffic is what is it," Dean covered for his brother quickly, smiling at Marion. She looked completely unbothered by Sam's comment, giggling at Dean's words.
"Do you have bigger cups?" Sam asked.
"Oh, no," Marion said, shaking her head apologetically. "No, I don't."
"You only drink out of tiny ass cups twenty-four-seven?"
"They're very...quaint," I said quickly, nodding to the plate of cookies to distract her from Sam. "May I?"
"Of course!" She smiled brightly, picking up the plate for me.
It felt like an eternity had passed before she finally allowed us to leave. If I had to hear one more story about her adventures in fairy hunting, I was gonna lose it.
"The sun is setting?" I observed as we stepped out into the street, heading towards the Impala. "Were we really in there that fucking long?"
Sam sighed. "I guess so."
"Is it on me?" Dean asked "I feel like I've got the crazy on me."
"No. You did sit in some glitter, though," Sam told him. I looked down at Dean's pants, seeing some iridescent purple glitter on the back on the back of his pants.
"Oh, god. You did," I said, attempting to brush it off as we reached the Impala.
"Makes me want to believe in UFO's again," Dean mumbled, turning his torso to look back at me. "Is it gone?"
"It's like glued on there. You might as well just throw these jeans away," I huffed, pulling my hand away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bunch of glitter now stuck to my palm and groaned.
I wiped my hand on Sam's jacket, much to his dismay. "Really?" He complained.
"That whole thing was a flop," I complained. "We got nothing."
"That didn't really give us our next move, I grant you that. We can always put the call out to Bobby."
"Oh, yeah," I rolled my eyes. "Hey Bobby, know anything about fairies?"
"Well, I'll be damned," Dean said. I looked up, following his gaze through the small line of trees that separated the neighbourhoods road from the main street, to the little story across the way where an employee was helping Mr. Brennan load a few crates of cream into the back of his car.
"They do love cream," Sam said pointedly.
With that, the three of us got into the car and followed Mr. Brennan over to Brennan's Watchworks where he began bringing the crates in through the back entrance of the store. As he came back from carrying the last crate, he got into his car again, starting it back up.
"Alright, you stick with half and half. I'm going to check out his store," Dean said, moving to open the door.
"Wait, alone?" I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Yeah."
"The last time I left you alone, you got abducted by fairies. I'm coming with you," I said, my tone leaving no room for argument.
"I love it when you get all bossy," Dean grinned.
"Oh, come on," I rolled my eyes playfully, getting out of the car as Mr. Brennan drove away.
Dean followed along getting out of the Impala, and as Sam slid over to the driver side, he leaned in through the open window, looking at his brother pointedly. "And no hippie chicks."
The two of us made our way around the back of the store where I picked the lock, getting us inside fairly quickly. Dean moved to stand in front of me, the both of us pulling out our iron blades as he turned the doorknob, creaking the door open just enough for us to peer inside.
Four wingless fairies stood at various work stations that sat atop small tables, each putting together a different part of a watch. On each table was a small bowl of cream. One of the men sprinted over to one of the bowls, slurping down the whole thing before placing the bowl back down. He wiped his mouth off on his sleeve, going back to work. Dean and I shared a look of bewilderment before taking a step back, shutting the door with a barely audible click.
Back out in the alleyway, I looked up to Dean to see that his mouth was still hanging open.
"Are you okay?" I asked, noticing how off he seemed.
"No," He replied. "Are you?"
"Well, no, but-."
"Alright, well at least it's not just me," Dean interrupted, pulling his phone out to call Sam. "It's fucking full of Keeblers over here, man. Just full of 'em. It's like the story with the shoe guy and all the elves."
"Wait, do you think Brennan made a deal with them?" I wondered. Dean looked down at his phone with a huff. I peered over to see the blank screen. "What happened?"
"He said he'd get back to us."
"Alright. Well all we have to do is just wait it out and-" I stopped, seeing Dean staring intently over my shoulder across the street. I looked behind me not seeing anything there that would be worth the look in his eyes.
As I turned back to Dean, I saw him still staring as he turned around, taking a small step to his right, then another back towards me. Out of nowhere, he turned on his heel and started walking again, this time away from me.
I hurried to his side, matching his stride. "Dean, what's wrong?"
"It's that guy," Dean whispered rather loudly. "The red hat dude."
"From the diner?"
"Yes."
I looked over, not seeing anybody once again. "Okay. It- it's okay. We'll just keep moving until Sam gets back to us."
"Yeah," Dean nodded, his eyes still locked on this person that I couldn't see.
A few moments of silence had passed as we made our way across the street, heading down another sidewalk that lead to a small restaurant where a bunch of people were mulling around along with a couple of cops. I was trying to stay strong for Dean, but I'd be lying if I said his level of paranoia wasn't freaking me out a little. Or a lot, really. It's just a little unsettling for something you can't see to be following you.
"Oh shit," Dean hissed, his pace quickening.
"What?" I asked, matching his stride as we made our way past another set of stores, coming up to an alleyway.
"He's like right fucking there."
"Okay, okay. Listen. Maybe I can't see him, but you can. So no matter what happens, all you have to do is just let me know what's going on," I said, trying to calm him down. Dean slowed behind me slightly, but I didn't think much of it, still in de-escalation mode. "And if we stay together, we'll be fine." I finished, waiting a moment for his reply, but got nothing. "Right, Dean?"
When I was met with silence once again, I turned around to find that Dean was gone. My heart dropped and I rushed back down the path we'd just come from, not finding any trace of him. Panic began to set in as I all but retraced our steps with no leads whatsoever. It was like last night all over again.
I made my way back up the sidewalk, hearing a commotion all the way at the other end where a crowd of people began gathering around. I picked up my pace when I heard Dean shout; what do you want, you fairy?!
Pushing my way through the crowd, I found Dean wrestling with a short man, who was struggling to get away from him as a small group of people, who I assumed to be the man's family, rushed out from the restaurant next door, looks of horror on their faces.
"Daddy!" The little girl screamed.
The cops that I'd seen before standing outside of the restaurant quickly rushed over to pull Dean off of the man. As soon as the cop grabbed him, Dean's eyes widened in realization and he let the man go quickly, trying to laugh it off. "I'm just kidding!"
One of the two cops pulled out his radio, calling in for backup while the other moved to haul Dean up to his feet. I quickly moved into the small circle the crowd of people had created, looking to the man. "Wait, wait."
"Ma'am, my name is Sheriff Morton," The man who wasn't holding Dean said, flashing his badge. "I suggest you take a step back,"
"Okay, okay," I said, holding my hands up.
Sheriff Morton looked over to the man Dean just fucking assulted. "I'm sorry you had to deal with such ignorance, Mr. Naples."
Mr. Naples just nodded. I turned my attention to him. "Sir, I am so sorry. I-"
"Sorry?" He scoffed. "He tackled me to the ground!"
"And I- I'm very sorry for that. But he- he's just-" I paused, looking to Dean as the cop was putting him in handcuffs. "What is wrong with you?"
"That fairy was following me!" Dean exclaimed with wide eyes, still clearly not over his paranoia as he looked around frantically.
Mr. Naples, his family and the entire crowd all gasped. I gestured to Mr. Naples, shaking my head. "He- he doesn't mean him."
"It doesn't matter now," The sheriff said as the sound of sirens blaring came echoing down the street, cop cars stopping in front of the scene Dean had created. "You're headed downtown, kid."
Seemingly before the cop's cars were even put in park, they flew out, some of them controlling the crowd while others began questioning people.
"Isn't this all a bit much?" I asked.
"Who is this man to you?" Sheriff Mortom questioned, taking a step over to me.
"My husband."
"Well, your husband just assaulted the district attorney for Tipton County," he explained. I stared at him blankly for a moment in complete shock before glaring over at Dean, who was barely even paying attention to what was going on. The sheriff continued "And let me tell you, he runs a tight ship. So no. It is not a bit much."
With that, sheriff Morton moved to walk back over to Dean, but I took a small step in front of him. "Please. You really don't understand, this is not what it looks like."
"It looks like a hate crime."
"It's not!" I argued, turning to Mr. Naples. "This is all a misunderstanding, honestly. Dean wouldn't- he's not like that. He's not. Please," I pleaded to the man, who looked as though he believed me. But that was probably just me being hopeful.
Out of nowhere, I heard Sam call me from the small sea of people, Mr. Brennan standing next to him.
"Look. Unless you want to be put in handcuffs, I suggest you go with your friend over there," Sheriff Morton said, nodding to Sam. I only took a few steps back, knowing it wouldn't do us any good if I got arrested too.
"What happened?" Sam asked when I got closer to him, throwing his arms out to the side.
"Truthfully, I don't even know," I replied. "But we're screwed. Again. Big shock there."
As the sheriff began moving Dean towards the open door on one of the cop cars, Dean looked over to Sam and I, staring deeply into my eyes. "Listen to me, baby. Fight the fairies."
"What?" I asked, my brow furrowed.
"You gotta fight those fairies!" Dean suddenly shouted, catching me off guard. Sheriff Morton let out a disgusted grunt, roughly shoving Dean into the backseat, slamming the door behind him. Even though he was in the car, and his voice was very muffled, Dean still turned around in the seat to look at Sam and I though the rear window, shouting; "Fight the fairies!"
We didn't stick around to see the cops take Dean away, heading back to Brennan's watchworks. On the way over Sam filled me in on everything. How Mr. Brennan was beginning to lose the use of his hands due to parkinson's disease and when this man, who of course turned out to be a leprechaun, told him he could give him all the success he wanted he took the deal. He had no idea it would cost him his first born son. And by the look in his eyes as Sam recounted his story, I could tell that was the truth.
Once we arrived at the shop, Sam brandished his shotgun while I took out my iron blade, the both of us following Mr. Brennan as he led us to the back room where Dean and I had been a few hours earlier. The bowls that once held cream were all tipped over, a few of them lying on the floor.
"Are they here?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Mr. Brennan nodded. "But it's alright. Cream hits them like tequila."
We followed him to the front of the shop where he rushed over to a safe, putting in the code and opening the door. He pulled out a small book, flipping through it until he landed on the correct page. He began reading the incantation while Sam and I stood around, attempting to keep watch for things we couldn't see.
Suddenly, Mr. Brennan's words were cut off by gurgling and I turned around to see something punctured straight through his heart. The person standing behind him let his body drop to the side. My eyes widened as Wayne Whittacker smiled at us, wiping the end of his cane down with a handkerchief.
"It's you? You're the leprechaun?" Sam asked in disbelief.
"Indeed I am. Sorry about the mess, but your friend here," he nodded down to Mr. Brennan. "Went back on his deal."
"Well, you weren't very clear with him on the terms."
"I told him there was a price. Once we come, we come to stay."
"So you take firstborns and then what? Sit back while all those people cover the abductions for you with all that crazy UFO bullshit?"
"Which you help encourage, naturally." I scoffed.
"Nice con," Sam added. "But, your cover's blown now, Wayne."
"Blown? To whom? Brennan's dead. Dean?" He laughed. "He's marked. Been to the ranch. He's ours now. And you? Well, you can only see me if I let you." He said, disappearing from sight.
"True, but you'll have to get near me eventually, and I have very good reflexes," Sam said, the both of us on high alert as we scanned the room.
"You're no like the rest of them, are you?" The leprechaun said, reappearing on the opposite side of the room, his eyes trained on Sam.
"Nope."
"I could see that right off. You're missing a certain piece, right in the center, ain't you?"
"Says who?"
"We fairy folk? We're all about energy. And the human soul gives off a certain perfume. Your soul is far away. But not completely out of reach."
"Is that so?" Sam pressed.
"Sam, I can get it back for you. For a price," he said. My heart pounded in my chest at his words. Could he really?
"It's locked in a box with the devil," I told him.
The leprechaun smiled. "Your devil. Not mine."
"So you're saying you can do what an angel can't?"
"Angels," He scoffed out a laugh. "Please. I'm talking about real magic. From my side of the fence. Got a way of getting in back doors."
My mind began racing a mile a minute. Of course it could be bad, end worse. But isn't it already terrible? Would this be worth it?
"So you're my blue fairy?" Sam asked, an eyebrow raised. "You can make me a real boy again?"
"When you wish upon a star," he said, holding his hands out. I glanced over at Sam, silently telling him to think about it. Even for a second. But he shook his head, and turned back to the leprechaun.
"Yeah. I got a wish," Sam said, shooting the leprechaun in the chest.
Out of nowhere, the leprechaun disappeared, reappearing behind us, kicking Sam in the back of the knee, sending him flying to the ground. The gun slid across the floor, so I hurriedly plunged the iron knife into the leprechaun's back, where it sizzled, smoke coming off of his skin. He growled angrily, pulling the knife out before hitting me across the face, sending me flying backwards. I hit the floor hard, the air getting knocked out of my lungs.
As many times as he tried to stand up, the leprechaun repeatedly hit Sam over and over again with his cane, preventing him from doing so. I flinched every time it came into contact with him, forcing myself to stand up to my feet, remembering the small vial of salt in my pocket.
"Hey Lucky!" I called. The Leprechaun turned around, his eyes wide when he saw what I was holding. "Count this for me?" I smiled, twisting the lid off, pouring the salt onto the ground.
Whittacker growled, throwing his cane down in anger as he knelt on the floor next to the scattered grains of salt, beginning to count each one. I rushed over to Sam, helping him up to his feet and over to the book where he began reading the incantation that Mr. Brennan didn't get to finish. With the leprechaun preoccupied, Sam finished and the fairy disappeared from view.
"Jesus Christ," Sam huffed, leaning down on the table. He looked up at me, blood dripping down his chin from the cut on his lip. "Thanks."
I patted him on the back. "Let's go."
The sun shined down on the Impala that was parked out in front of it near the corn field Dean got abducted in. I sat on the bumper next to Sam while Dean grabbed a couple beers and a water from the cooler. He went to hand Sam a beer, but he declined. I took the water from Dean as he tossed the other bottle of beer back into the cooler, keeping his own.
Both of their faces were cut and bruised from the beatings they each took last night. I would've at least thought Dean was somewhat safe inside the cell, but he told us how the fairy in the red hat appeared and began fighting him.
Thankfully our timing was impeccable last night, and we got rid of them before he could do any more damage.
"Here's to the tiniest DA," Dean said, holding his beer up. "At least they're dropping the charges."
"Little big man," Sam nodded.
"Your ass is lucky as all hell," I commented to Dean with a grin, taking a sip of my water.
"Don't I know it," Dean nodded, taking a swig of his beer. "I was wondering something."
"Yeah?" Sam asked.
"You think he really could have, you know, soul to sender?" Dean asked. I'd mentioned the details of what happened last night to him a couple hours ago while I cleaned up the cut on his forehead, I'm surprised he waited so long to mention anything.
"Come on. It's crazy to think," Sam shrugged. "He did talk a good game though."
"You said no...why?"
"It was a deal."
"But I saw you. You didn't even give it a second thought. You just went straight to no," I interjected.
When's a deal ever been a good thing?" Sam questioned.
"I'm just saying."
"Just trying to figure out how it works in there," Dean added, gesturing to his head.
"I do still have all my brain cells. If anything, my brain works better now," Sam said.
I raised an eyebrow. "Better?"
"Yeah," Sam shrugged. "Why?"
"Just making sure of where your head's at. That you're not having second thoughts about getting your soul back," Dean said, looking over at his brother intently. "You're not, are you?"
"No," Sam shot us a small smile, turning to look out over the corn field. I shared an unsure look with Dean, who turned the other way, taking another drink. My eyes trailed to the dirt in front of us as I leaned against the car.
Even though everything inside was screaming at me to press the topic, I stopped myself. There was no use in it. Sam gave an answer, one that we were supposed to take as truth. And I wanted to. More than anything. But I was finding it hard.
There were so many questions running through my mind. None of which I even remotely had any answers to.
This is one of my favorite episodes solely for the fact that Jensen had to stare into a camera and say "nipples". Hooray for a two updates in a day!