Disclaimer: I own nothing but Emily.
Later that night dad had us pack up and led us to where his home base has been since this whole thing started. When I walked in I could see all the news clippings, notes, pictures, drawings, flags, all of it tacked and stringed together on the walls. It was… impressive? Obsessive? I'm not sure which word fit best at this point.
"So this is it. This is everything I know. Look, our whole lives we been searching for this demon right? Not a trace, just...nothing. Until about a year ago. For the first time I picked up a trail." Dad explained sitting down at his desk messing with the colt.
"…And that's when you took off." Dean pondered outloud.
"Yeah. That's right. The demon must have come out of hiding, or hibernation."
"All right so what's this trail you found?" I asked.
"It starts in Arizona, then New Jersey, California. Houses burned down to the ground. It's going after families, just like it went after us."
"Families with infants?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. The night of the kid's six-month birthday."
"I was six months old that night right?" I asked. Putting together the pieces in my head… realizing that this comes back on me.
"Exactly six months. But… there's something you three don't know." Dad said pausing to look down.
"Dad what is it?" Sam asked.
"This demon came to our house once before then."
"Wait. What do you mean?" Sam's face was scrunched in confusion as was mine and Dean's when he asked this.
"This demon came to our house when you were exactly six months old too Sam. Your mother. She heard something on the baby monitor and woke me up to check on you… when I walked in a man was standing over your crib, then he vanished into thin air. I searched the house frantically. No signs of a break in. I checked on Dean. I even went outside and walked the perimeter, but found nothing. So I thought maybe it was all in my head. I never even mentioned it to your mother, I didn't wanna scare her. Instead I spent the next few weeks getting up once an hour every hour and checking on you boys. Making sure it was all in my head and that you weren't really in danger."
We all stood there. Shocked. How could he never tell us this?
"It wasn't till that night… when he came back. I realized that it wasn't all in my head."
My mind is racing... Does dad feel like he got mom killed? Why did it come into Sam's nursery too? What was it doing in my nursery in the first place? Why did it kill mom the second time but not dad the first time? Does this have to do with Sam's visions? Is there something… off… about me too?
I just stood there staring at whatever object was directly in front of me while I considered it all. What it could mean. Was I tied into my mom's death? Was it my fault?
"So basically, this demon is going after these kids for some reason. The same way it came for me and Emily? So Mom's death...Jessica. It's all because of us?" Sam asked.
Hearing Sam say the words out loud made it sink in. This is about us. We got mom killed.
My heart felt like it dropped to my butt and I suddenly felt like I needed to sit down. I reached back behind me and sat against the table top looking down at my feet.
"We don't know that Sam." Dean said quickly flicking his eyes between Sam and I.
"Oh really? Cause I'd say we're pretty damn sure Dean." Sam yelled.
"For the last time, what happened to them was not your fault!" Dean yelled back.
"Right. It's not my fault but it's my problem."
"No it's not your problem it's our problem!"
"Okay. That's enough. Stop getting everyone worked up." Dad said standing up. Putting an automatic end to the boy's argument. I'm sure he was referring to me, the sudden grasp I made towards the table wasn't exactly on the down low. I just... I couldn't even comment. I'm still trying to process all this new information. I couldn't look at him, or any of them.
We all sat for a minute catching our breath.
"So why's he doing it. What does he want?" I asked quietly still not looking up.
"I don't know babygirl…" He said as he crossed the room and got down to look at me eye to eye. "Look I wish I had more answers, I do. I've always been one step behind it. I've never gotten there in time to save..." Dad's voice waivered towards the end and he turned away so that his back was too us. Dad's never been able to save the mother of the families. Just like he couldn't save our mother. I can't imagine how horrible that is for him to relive again and again for the last year. Part of me felt bad for giving him so much shit.
"All right so how do we find it… before it hits again." Dean asked.
"There's signs. It took me a while to see the pattern but it's there in the days before these fires signs crop up in an area. Cattle deaths, temperature fluctations, electrical storms. And then I went back and checked...and..."
"These things happened in Lawrence?"
"A week before your mother died. And in Palo Alto...before Jessica. And these signs, they're starting again."
"Where." Sam asked, his voice strained at the mention of Jessica.
"Salvation Iowa."
It wasn't even a full half hour before we were on the road towards Iowa. I opted to ride with the boys this time. It just felt like my norm lately and I could use a little normal at the moment. It feels like my whole world is teeter tottering. Threatening to flip upside down at any moment.
I sat up front between my brothers. But I haven't said much. I'm sure they both noticed but I avoided eye contact to hopefully avoid any conversation- not that it ever worked before, guess I shouldn't be surprised it didn't work now.
"Hey Em.. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that back there… Mom's death isn't about us… It isn't about you." Sam said quietly.
"We don't really know that yet…." I replied keeping my eyes glued to the radio in front of me.
"Yes we do… it's not your fault. It all comes back to that one demon bastard. Not us. So you two need to stop trying to turn this into something its not. Got it?" Dean said harshly.
"Yeah…" Sam mumbled. I just didn't reply. Dean threw his arm over the back of the seat behind me and I leaned against it letting out a deep sigh.
Out of nowhere Dad pulled the truck off the road in front of us. Dean followed.
"Dammit!" Dad yelled getting out of the truck and slamming his door shut.
"What is it?" Dean asked as we all climbed out.
"Son of a bitch."
"Dad! What is it?"
"I just got a call from Caleb."
"Is he okay?"
"He's fine... Jim Murphy's dead." No…
"Pastor Jim? How?" I asked heartbroken. Dean noticed, like he always does, and placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly.
"His throat was slashed. He bled out. Caleb said they found traces of sulfur at Jim's place." My stomach rolled and I felt like I could puke.
"A demon?" Sam asked. Dad just nodded.
"The Demon?" Dean asked.
"I don't know. Could be he just got careless, he slipped up. Maybe the demon knows we're getting close."
"What do we do?"
"Now we act like every second counts. There's two hospitals and a health center in this county. We split up, cover more ground. I want records. I want a list of every infant that's going to be six months old in the next week."
"Dad that could be dozens of kids. How do we know which ones the right one?" Sam asked.
"We check em all that's how. You got any better ideas?" Dad asked noticing Sam's frustration on his face.
"No sir." Was his only response though.
Dad turned around to get back in the truck but stopped and grabbed the side of it. Slightly leaning his head down, not moving…
"Daddy?" I asked quietly. I know he is hurting… Pastor Jim was a good friend to him.
He turned around obviously upset.
"Yeah. It's Jim. You know, I can't..." he said trailing off shaking his head. "This ends, now. I'm ending it. I don't care what it takes."
He got back in the truck and we piled back into the impala and quickly pulled out behind him to follow him the rest of the way.
"You okay kiddo?" Dean asked after a minute or so.
Pastor Jim used to watch us a lot when Dad would go on long hunts and didn't want us to just sit in a motel waiting on him. I loved Pastor Jim. He taught me how to sing all the church hymns and would take me to the dollar store and let me "shop" when I was little. He was the kindest man I've ever known. He didn't deserve this. Now he's dead cause of us.
"No Dean...I'm not. This is our fault." My voice cracked on the last word.
"Em… no it's not. Please don't think that." He said putting his arm around me and putting a hand on my shoulder absent mindedly rubbing his fingers along it.
"They killed him just to get to us Dean… he was murdered just for knowing us." I said quietly.
Dean sighed and didn't have anything else to say because he knew I was right. Sam just sat silently.
I leaned over and laid against Sam's side and he wrapped his arm around me, I pulled my feet up out of my boots and tucked them behind Dean's back to keep them warm. It was another hour before we got to the hospital and I just wanted to go to sleep and pretend this whole day never existed.
When we got where Dean was dropping off Sam I offered to go with him. I know Dean was going to try and talk to me when we were alone and I wasn't ready to talk about all this yet. If I go with Sam we can just focus on the job.
"Okay. That's all in this stack… you about done kiddo?" Sam asked an hour into our search.
"Yeah. Just got a couple more then we can head out and see if Dean needs help." I replied writing down the last few names and addresses.
"Not that I mind or anything but why come with me and not Dean? You two are attached at the hip, he hates for you to be out of his line of sight and you generally don't leave it."
I sighed looking over to him.
"Because Dean pushes… I don't wanna be pushed right now. I want to process this in my own time. And you can understand that."
He shook his head, "Yeah… I guess I can. Come on lets get out of here." He said ruffling my hair. I pushed him and he laughed.
When we walked outside the hospital we were reviewing the list Sam had and then he began rubbing his head and wincing in pain.
"Sammy you okay?" I asked concerned.
"Yeah.. I just… I.. Ahh!" He grabbed his head again and leaned forward.
"Sammy! Sam!" I said getting in front of him to help support his weight.
"Sammy please talk to me! Hey!" I'm freaking the fuck out! That whole world teeter tottering thing is on the brink of tipping over.
He finally stood up again catching his breath.
"Sam what was that?!"
"A vision…" he said instantly checking his list then grabbing my arm.
"Come on we gotta go!" He said as he dragged me behind him.
What the hell is going on? Are Dad and Dean okay?! What did he see? Why don't these assholes in my family explain shit to me!
We stopped in a park and I could barely speak between breaths.
"Sam… Please.. Talk… To… Me."
He was out of breath too but too distracted to really care, he again didn't answer me but he looked up at a house across the street and then down at the woman pushing a stroller in front of it.
"Its her.. come on.." He dragged me away again.
"Hi. Here, let me hold that for you. You look like you don't need that anymore." He said reaching for the stoller while she was trying to close an umbrella with one hand.
"Oh. Thanks." She said as he held the stroller in place so she could use both her hands. He looked down at the sweet baby girl inside of it.
"She's gorgeous. Is she yours?" I asked.
"Yeah." She answered with a smile.
"Oh wow, hi!.. Oh sorry, I'm rude. I'm Sam and this is my sister Emily. We just moved in up the block." Sam said reaching out to shake her hand while I just waved.
"Hi. I'm Monica. This is Rosie."
"Rosie? Hi Rosie."
"So, welcome to the neighborhood."
"Thanks. She's such a good baby."
"I know, I mean she...she never cries. She just stares at everybody. Sometimes she looks at you and I swear it's...it's like she's reading your mind." Yeah… or something like that. I was super tempted to say it out loud but didn't.
"What about you Monica? Have you lived here long?" I asked.
"My husband and I, we bought our place just before Rosie was born."
"And how old's Rosie?" Sam asked.
"She's six months today. She's big right? Growing like a weed." Oh shit… this must be the vision thing Sam was talking about. I shot Sam a look. He looked down to Rosie. Sad… worried.. determined maybe? I was struggling to read his face.
"Yeah. Monica..."
"Yeah?"
"Just uhhh, just take care of yourself okay?" Sam said weirdly. Geez Sam. Way to be smooth about it all.
"Yeah, you too Sam. We'll see you guys around."
We watched a van pull in the drive way and honk at Monica and Rosie.
"There's Daddy!" Monica said excitedly as Sam and I walked across the street.
We were only standing there for a minute before Sam doubled over in pain clutching his head again.
"Sammy! Sammy come on… we gotta get outta here." I said grabbing my phone and dialing Dean while trying to guide Sam to a spot out of eyesight.
"Here, try this." I said handing Sam a bag of frozen peas after he got done explaining to Dad and Dean what he saw in his visions. Dad didn't know about them, but he does now.
He reached up and put the bag to his aching head, I felt so bad for him. Its bad enough to have the visions but then they leave him with these horrible headaches afterwards.
"…A vision." Dad repeated again for the 3rd time now.
"Yes. I saw the demon burning a woman on the ceiling." Sam mumbled out slowly.
"And you think this is going to happen to this woman you met because..."
"Because these things happen exactly the way I see them."
"It started out as nightmares. Then it started happening while he was awake." Dean explained as he walked across the room to refill his coffee.
"Yeah. It's like the closer I get to anything to do with the demon the stronger the visions get." Sam said wincing. I reached up and rubbed a hand on his back. I just felt the need to fix him… but I couldn't do anything to help and it was bugging the shit out of me.
"All right. When were you going to tell me about this?" Dad asked annoyed. We all froze and turned to look at him.
"We didn't know what it meant." Dean said.
"All right, something like this starts happening to your brother, you pick up the phone and you call me."
Oh you have got to be fucking shitting me right now! I was just about to open my mouth and let her rip when Dean suddenly dumped his coffee mug and turned to Dad with the most unbelievable look on his face.
"Call you? Are you kidding me? Dad I called you from Lawrence all right? Emily called you several times, especially when I was dying. I mean, getting you on the phone? I got a better chance of winning the lottery!"
Dad just looked at him for a moment before looking down.
"You're right. Although I'm not too crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right. I'm sorry. To all of you…" He said looking over to me. Knowing that I practically had the same conversation with him just a couple of days ago and didn't get any kind of an apology.
"Look guys, visions or no visions, fact is, we know the demon is coming tonight. And this family's gonna go through the same hell we went through." Sam said breaking the moment. Gee thanks Sam.
"No they're not. No one is, ever again." Dad said determined.
Sam's phone began to ring and he went to get up and get it but I stopped him.
"Its okay, I'll grab it. Just relax." I said getting up instead to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Emily?" A woman said. What the fuck?
"Who is this?" I asked cautiously, catching the attention of the three men in the room.
"Think real hard it will come to you." She sneered… I know that voice…. No. Fucking. Way.
"…Meg." Dean instantly crossed the room and was at my side, Sam was starting intently from in front of me and Dad stood up as well.
"Last time I saw you, you fell out of a window bitch."
"Yeah, no thanks to you. That really hurt my feelings by the way."
"Just your feelings? Maybe I can come beat the shit out of you again and see what else I can hurt. How's the face by the way?"
She laughed, "Lemme speak to your Dad." We looked up at Dad and he reached out his hand.
"I don't know where my Dad is you stupid whore, incase you forgot about Sam's little bitchfest we've been looking for him."
"Don't play games with me little bitch. It's time for the grown ups to talk, let me speak to him now."
"Little bitch?! Oh I'll show you what this lit-" Dad ripped the phone out of my hands before I could finish. I jumped up to grab it back but Dean pulled me away by my waist.
"Chill!" He said quietly, I huffed and crossed my arms.
"Fine…" We went back to listening to the conversation.
"This is John." He said.
"Howdy John. I'm Meg. I'm a friend of your kids. I'm also the one who watched Jim Murphy choke on his own blood...still there John-boy?" Dad was frozen where he stood and the room was silent.
I'm going to rip that bitch to shreds with my bare hands for what she did to Pastor Jim.
"I'm here."
"Well that was yesterday. Today I'm in Lincoln. Visiting another old friend of yours. He wants to say hi..."
"Caleb?" Dad said suddenly. We all went on alert.
"You listen to me. He's got nothing to do with anything. You let him go." Dad said angrily.
"We know you have the colt John."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, okay. Well listen to this."
I couldn't hear what was going on, but it couldn't have been good because Dad's eyes went wide and his whole body tensed.
"Caleb. Caleb!" He yelled.
"You hear that? That's the sound of your friend dying. Now let's try this again. We know you have the gun John, word travels fast. So as far as we're concerned you just declared war. And this is what war looks like. It has casualties."
"I'm gonna kill you, you know that?"
Not if I get to her first daddy dearest.
"Oh John please, mind your blood pressure. So this is the thing. We're going to keep doing what we're doing. And your friends, anyone who has ever helped you, gave you shelter, anyone you ever loved. They'll all die unless you give us that gun."
Dad stood quietly for a long minute.
"I'm waiting Johnny, better answer before the buzzer."
"Okay." Wait what?! No. He can't do that!
"Sorry? I didn't quiet get that."
"I said okay, I'll bring you the colt."
"There's a warehouse in Lincoln, on the corner of Wabash and Lake. You're gonna meet me there."
"It's gonna take me about a days drive to get there."
"Meet me there at midnight tonight."
"That's impossible. I can't get there in time and I can't just carry a gun on the plane."
"Oh. Well I guess your friends die don't they. If you do decide to make it, come alone." Meg sneered before hanging up. Dad dropped his arm to his side and took a deep breath before turning to face us.
"Okay so I'll ask the million dollar question… how the hell is she alive?" I asked.
"Shes gotta be one of them…" Dad said sitting down.
"So you think Meg is a demon?" Sam asked.
"Either that, or she's possessed by one. It doesn't really matter."
"What do we do?" Dean asked.
"I'm going to Lincoln."
"What?" I asked confused.
"It doesn't look like we have a choice. If I don't go, a lot of people die, our friends die."
"Daddy, the demon is coming tonight. For Monica and her family. That gun is all we got, you can't just hand it over."
"Who said anything about handing it over. Look, besides us and a couple of vampires no one's really seen the gun, no one knows what it looks like."
"So what, you're just going to pick up a ringer at a pawn shop?" Dean asked seeming as confused by all this as I was. This is stupid. He can't go alone.
"Antique store." Dad corrected him.
"You're going to hand Meg a fake gun and hope she doesn't notice?" I asked sarcastically.
"Look, as long as it's close, she shouldn't be able to tell the difference." He tried to reassure me.
"Yeah but for how long? What happens when she figures it out?" Dean asks.
"I just...I just need to buy a few hours, that's all."
"You…. You want us to stay here, and kill this demon by ourselves?" Sam asked irritated.
"No Sam. I want to stop losing people we love. I want you to go to school, I want Dean to have a home, I want Emily to grow up and get married someday…. I want...I want Mary alive. It's just...I just want this to be over." He said, his voice cracking when he spoke Mom's name.
"Okay…. Fine. But you can't go alone." I said.
"Yes I can. And I am." He said sternly.
"Daddy this isn't a good idea… what if something goes wrong. You need to have someone for backup!" I argued.
"Emily I've done most of my hunts with no backup. This is no different. Besides… I want you three here. You're going to need each other."
I sighed giving up. I knew he was right, but I still hated the idea of him going alone.
Dean and I left for an antique store while Sam left with Dad to make sure he had everything he needed.
"You've been quiet these last couple of days Em… you okay?" Dean asked as we walked out of the antique shop with the old colt revolver wrapped in Dean's jacket.
"I don't know De… just a lot going on. I'm not sure how to process it all."
"Well… tell me what you're thinking."
"… Did I get mom killed? I mean the demon didn't kill dad when it came for Sam. And what the hell was it doing with me or him in the first place? I mean do you think its tied into Sam's visions? If it is then am I gonna start having visions one day?... What happens when we're face to face with this thing. What if we can't do it. What if it doesn't work. What If that poor little girl loses her mom too… what happens if one of us gets caught up in the job and gets killed… whats going to happen to Dad if he goes alone… and Meg… Dean I want to rip her limb from fucking limb… for what she did to Pastor Jim… Caleb. Dean we got those people killed. That comes back on us! Why did dad keep so many damn secrets from us.. Why does he keep leaving us behind… why isn't he facing this thing with us… If one of us dies then Dad won't survive it, I won't survive it.. Dean… I feel like I'm falling apart here, Like the ground underneath me is crumbling… I.. I just don't know whats going to happen next and it scares the hell out of me." The tears were flowing freely by the end of my ramble.
Dean reached out and wrapped both arms around me and held me close for a long few minutes. Then he bent down and put his face inches from mine.
"We're going to be okay Emily... I know it's a lot to take in… for all of us. But we're going to figure this out. We always do." He said keeping his eyes locked on mine making sure I was hearing every word he had to say.
"Promise?" I whispered.
"Promise." He said before kissing the top of my head and leading us back to the impala.
Dean never breaks his promises. If he makes it he keeps it come hell or high water. Having him promise me we'll all get through this makes me feel better. Saying it all outloud, makes me feel better. I'm not sure how he'll do it. But he will. Dean will make it all okay.
"You get it?" Dad asked as we pulled up and met them down a back road.
Dean pulled out the old revolver and handed it over to dad.
"You know this is a trap don't you. That's why Meg wants you to come alone?" Dean said as he compared the two guns side by side.
"I can handle her. I got a whole arsenal loaded. Holy water, Mandaic, amulets..."
"Dad..."
"What?"
"Promise me something."
"What's that."
"This thing goes south just...get the hell out. Don't get yourself killed all right, you're no good to us dead." Dean said seriously.
"Same goes for you…" Dad took a breath before starting again.. "All right listen to me. They made the bullets special for this colt. There's only four of them left. Without them this gun is useless. You make every shot count."
"Yes sir." Sam said.
"I've Been waiting a long time for this fight. Now it's here I'm not gonna be in it. It's up to you three now. It's your fight, you finish this. You finish what I started. Understand?"
"Yes sir." We all said.
Dad handed Dean the colt.
"We'll see you soon Dad." Sam said.
I walked up and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He returned it and lifted me up to where my feet couldn't touch the ground. I giggled.
"Becareful daddy… I love you." I said as he put me down.
"I will… I love you all. I'll see you later." He got in the truck and drove away.
"Later." Dean mumbled to himself.
That night we parked outside of Monica's house armed and ready. Waiting for any sign of trouble. I kept looking down at the clock on the radio, watching the minutes pass.
"Maybe we could tell em it was a gas leak. Might get em out of the house for a few hours." Sam said as we watched them clean up their dinner dishes through the window.
"Yeah and how many times has that actually worked for us?" I asked.
"Yeah… We could always tell em the truth."
Dean and I both turned to look at Sam with eyebrows raised.
"Nah.." The boys said simultaneously. I giggled. It was probably the first genuine smile I've had in days.
"I know I know. I just...with what's coming for these folks..." Sam trailed off.
"Sam we only got one move and you know it, all right? We gotta wait for that demon to show itself and then we get it before it gets them." Dean explained.
We all just watched the family follow their nightly routine through the windows. All of the lights went dark about an hour later, and we still sat in silence.
"I wonder how Dad's doing." Sam said.
"I'd feel a lot better if we were there backing him up. " I said.
"I'd feel a lot better if he were here backing us up." Dean added.
"This is weird." Sam said.
"What?" Dean asked.
"After all of these years we're finally here. It doesn't seem real."
"We just gotta keep our heads and do our job, like always."
"Yeah but this isn't like always." I added in.
"True." Dean said.
"Dean...uh...I wanna thank you." Sam started to say.
"For what?"
"For everything. You've always had my back you know? You and Em both… Even when I couldn't count on anyone I could always count on you two. And uh...I don't know I just wanted to let you know, Just in case."
"Whoa whoa whoa, are you kidding me?" Dean said.
"What?"
"Don't say just in case something happens to you. I don't wanna hear that freaking speech man. Nobody's dying tonight. Not us, not that family, nobody. Except that demon. That evil son of a bitch ain't getting any older than tonight, you understand me?" Dean had hit dad mode and was dead serious when he spoke the words. Sam just shook his head.
"Okay De." I said, "I'm going to try and call dad.. just to check in."
I dialed and it rang 4 times before I got his voicemail.
"Dad's not answering." I said trying to hid the worry in my voice.
"Maybe Meg was late. Maybe cell reception's bad." Sam said trying to reassure me.
"Yeah well what if it isn't…" I said just before we started hearing static on the radio. I grabbed Deans arm and look at his watch. It had stopped….. Its here.
"It's coming." Sam said. We all jumped out of the car and ran to the front door.
Dean quickly kicked in the door instead of wasting the time the pick the lock, but he made too much noise and when we got inside the husband charged us with a bat.
"Get out of my house!" He yelled but Dean quickly grabbed the bat and wrestled with him.
"Get out of my house!" He yelled again.
"Please please. Mr Holden please." I tried to get him to listen. Dean finally had him pinned against the wall.
"Be quiet and listen to me. Be quiet and listen. We are trying to help you." Dean said to him sternly.
"Charlie? Is everything okay?" Monica yells from upstairs.
"Monica get the baby!" He yelled back. No!
"Don't go in the nursery!" Sam yelled taking off upstairs while Dean and I tried to hold back the husband.
"You stay away from her!" He struggled harder and harder and suddenly Dean and I heard a gunshot. We looked to each other and an irritated Dean quickly punched and knocked out the husband.
"You go! I'll carry him out and be there in a second." Dean yelled to me.
I charged up the stairs and found Sam trying to pick Monica up off the ground.
"My baby!" She was yelling.
"No wait!" Sam said holding her back.
"MY BABY!" She screamed.
"Take her and go!" I yelled coming in the room.
"Rosie!" Monica yelled.
"I'll get her Monica now go!" I yelled to her, Sam led her out and I quickly grabbed Rosie out of the crib moments before it erupted into flames.
As I turned to run out Dean met me in the doorway.
"Go go go!" He said pushing me in front of him and rushing us down the stairs outside to meet Sam and Monica.
"You get away from my family!" The husband yelled as we came out the door with Monica and Rosie.
"No Charlie don't. They saved us." Monica cried stopping him from charging us again.
"Thank you." She cried as I handed her Rosie.
I turned and looked at the house that was now spilling flames out of the nursery window… There was a man standing in the room. The demon. It had to be.
"It's still in there!" Sam yelled suddenly charging to get back inside.
"Sammy No!" I reached out to grab him but Dean was in front of me already.
"Sam. Sam, no!" He said as he grabbed him.
"Dean let me go, it's still in there…" Sam said struggling against Dean's hold.
"No. It's burning to the ground, it's suicide!"
"I don't care!" He yelled. My breathing hitched.
"We do!" Dean said shaking him. He looked down at me and then back at Dean before ripping away from Dean and walking back to the impala.
Dean and I watched him and then looked to each other… we fucked up. We saved them, but we missed the demon and he's getting away. I have never felt so defeated in my life. My eyes began to water as Dean and I stared at each other. I know he felt it too.
"Come on Em.." was all he said as we got in the car and drove back to the motel.
"Come on Dad, answer your phone damn it." I said frustrated as I called him the for the 4th time now.
"Dean… Somethings wrong." I said.
Sam sat there staring ahead and Dean just rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.
"You hear me? Somethings wrong." I repeated getting upset.
"If you had just let me go in there, I coulda ended all this." Sam said staring at the floor.
"Sam, the only thing you would have ended was your life." Dean said back.
"You don't know that."
"So what, you're just willing to sacrifice yourself, is that it?"
"Yeah. Yeah you're damn right I am." Sam said standing up.
"Well that's not going to happen, not as long as I'm around." Dean said harshly before turning away from him and then back to me.
"Emily just call again." I dialed the number.
"What the hell are you talking about Dean, we've been searching for this demon our whole lives. It's the only thing we've ever cared about."
"Sam I wanna waste it. I do. Okay? But it's not worth dying over."
"What?" Sam said as if Dean's words were a foreign language.
"I mean it. If hunting this demon means getting yourself killed then I hope we never find the damn thing!" Dean yelled.
"That thing killed Jess. That thing killed Mom." Sam yelled back.
"He's still not answering." I added in but was ignored by them both. We don't have time to argue right now… Somethings wrong! Why won't they listen to me dammit!
"You said yourself once, that no matter what we do, they're gone, and they're never coming back." Dean said.
Sam lost his temper and grabbed Dean shoving him against the wall.
"Sam! Stop it!" I yelled but was ignored again. I moved to separate them but couldn't get between them.
"Don't you say that, not you! Not after all this don't you say that." He said inches from Dean's face.
Dean was quiet when he finally spoke, "Sam look. The four of us...that's all we have...and it's all I have. Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding it together man...and without you two or Dad..." Dean began to get teary, as did Sam. Watching them fall apart makes me nervous, puts me on edge. If Dean is losing it then you know there's some serious shit going on.
Sam finally let go and turned away running his hand over his face.
"…Dad….He should have called by now. Try him again Em."
"Okay…" I said shakily dialing again. Dean came over and stood next to me, sensing me getting upset.
"Its going to be okay Em… I'm sure he's just busy." He said watching my eyes tear up. He wrapped me into a hug and rubbed my back as I held the phone to my ear.
"You three really screwed up this time."…. Megs voice was on the other end of the line.
My entire body went rigid and my heart stopped. Dean felt it and let go, standing directly in front of me.
"Emily what is it?" He asked causing Sam to walk over too.
I opened my mouth but couldn't find the words at first… then the anger hit me.
"Where is he you bitch." I spat as if the words were venom.
"You're never going to see your daddy again." She laughed and hung up the phone.
I stood there with the phone against my ear for a moment and then it dropped to the floor without warning. You know how I mentioned that my world was teeter tottering? Yeah well it just flipped… everything has stopped. The world around me feels like it stopped spinning. Time stopped moving. Hell I couldn't even tell you If I was still breathing at the moment. Everything was wrong… and I was stuck in the center of it all.
"Emily whats going on!" Dean demanded.
My red rimmed eyes looked up and met his.
I couldn't find the words. I couldn't speak. I just stared at him with wide eyes, feeling the panic set in.
"Emily!" Dean said standing in front of me shaking my shoulders.
"…Dean." I barely choked out before falling to the floor in sobs.