Author's Note: Hey guys! Let me know what you think in the review section PLEASE! I love you all and appreciate all your support and love! Big things are coming! Stay tuned!
2 Months.
Sixty days.
1,440 hours.
That's how much time I have left to save my brother.
That's how much time I have left to practically perform a miracle… and it's scaring the hell out of me.
Everything I've done for the last 3 days is about saving Dean. I've read book after book, spent hours during the night on Sam's computer researching websites. I don't know where else to look. I've called every contact we have, I've called and talked to Bobby till I was blue in the face.
I can't find a damn thing… and its scaring the hell out of me.
So now I'm sitting in the bathroom at 2 in the morning. Staring at the beige tiles on the floor. Dirt filling in where the grout is supposed to be. They complement the deep red walls nicely, and the off white fixtures that all have a ring of stains at the bottom are a nice touch as well.
But I can't stare at any of this for more than a minute before my eyes wander back to my bag on the sink… the same bag that holds the small black bottle. The same black bottle that holds those little white pills.
I can't sleep and its starting to really drive me crazy.
Every time I lay down to sleep I feel like I'm wasting hours. Counting how many I have left in my head…
Every time I do actually fall asleep I'm just biding my time before Dean's screams fill my ears. Visions of him being ripped apart haunt me… they won't leave me alone.
So here I sit. At 2 in the morning. In the dirty bathroom floor. Staring at the bag. Wondering if these pills would even help me… wondering if I should even try them.
Wondering what other option I have.
I reached up and pulled down the bag, opening the bottle and putting one pill in my hand. I fiddled it between my fingers for a few minutes, then I tossed it back, stood, ran the water under the faucet and swallowed it.
Hoping that I'd find some peace.
That I'd finally get some sleep again… but every time I close my eyes, its like a clock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
It won't stop! It keeps going… nothing ever stops it.
I just want to stop it.
Just for a little while.
Please. Just. MAKE IT STOP!
"Emily, what are you doing in here?"
"Nothing. I. I just… I just. I can't. I can't sleep! It just won't- It won't stop!"
"What are you talking about?" Sam said as he crouched down in front of me.
"The clock. The clock it just keeps going. I've only got. Hours… just hours."
"Em." Sam sighed. "How long have you been in here?"
"I don't know." I admitted.
"C'mon. Get back in bed before Dean gets up and realizes you're not there."
He reached out and I took both his hands, he pulled me up with ease, letting me stand on my feet for a second.
"We're gonna lose him aren't we?" I whispered looking up at him. My vision blurring on the edges of my eyesight as I felt my emotions start to take over.
"Em, please don't do this." Sam said reaching up and wiping my cheek.
"Oh god.." I breathed. "He's going to die! I-I can't stop it! What am I gonna do?! I, I can't do this!"
"Whoa sweetheart calm down." My breathing pattern increased dramatically as I felt like the weight of the world started to cave in around me. Suffocating me.
"Sammy I- I can't, I can't breathe!"
"Shhh, deep breaths Em. Come on. Calm down."
I clutched onto his shirt for dear life as he rocked me back and forth. I felt like my knees could give out at any second. Sending me to the floor if he wasn't holding me up.
"Sammy I don't want him to die!" I cried.
"Shhh, Emily he's not gonna die. Its okay. We're gonna be okay." He repeated over and over again but I still felt like the world around us was on fire. That we were just biding our time until it all fell to the ground in ash.
"Deep breath kiddo." Sam whispered as my breathing began to slow down again. Little by little the fire felt farther away.
So here I stand… in the dirty bathroom at 2 in the morning.
Losing my fucking mind.
"Let's get you back to bed." Sam said as he squeezed me in his arms one last time. I nodded and finally released my hold on him. He led me out of the dirty bathroom, and over to Dean's bed where I had crawled out over an hour ago.
I kissed Sam on the cheek before laying down.
I pulled the blanket up as far around me as I could, then I moved to lay my head in the crook of Dean's shoulder. Letting the smell of cologne and whiskey lull me to sleep again.
He's here.
He's still here.
He's going to be okay… he has to be.
….
"Emily you sure you don't want to sit in the back?"
"No. I wanna stay up here." I said as I laid my head on Dean's shoulder. I tried to stay out of the way as he drove, but still stay as close to him as possible.
"Could you scoot over just a hair, I'm up against the door over here kiddo." He complained. I scooted closer to Sam, who just looks at me with pity every time I acknowledged him this morning, so I've decided to ignore him for the rest of the day.
"Plenty of room back here." Judson smiled as he stretched out comfortably.
"I'm good." I said softly, letting Dean get readjusted before I leaned against him again. I could tell he was getting a little frustrated with the clinginess this morning, and as pathetic as I felt about it all, I still couldn't bear to let myself be more than a foot away from him.
It's like subconsciously if I just never let him go, then he can't leave. He just can't.
So if saving him means never being more than a foot away from him for the rest of my life so be it. He'll get over it.
"So I say we grab some grub, hit up the records on this place and cruise in tonight." Dean suggested.
"Sure." I mumbled.
"Yeah, sounds good to me." Sam agreed.
Judson simply nodded from the backseat.
Dean pulled into the first diner we came across in town, it was the same as every other diner we ever went to. Contrasting colors, daily specials on the sign outside, and more often than not a small gas station attached.
I moved to get out and follow my brothers inside but someone grabbed my arm as I stood.
"We'll meet you guys inside in a minute." Judson said, Dean nodded and him and Sam continued to walk. I sighed, watching them until they were out of sight before turning and facing Judson.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"I don't know… I was hoping maybe you would tell me."
"I don't want to talk about it." I whispered, begging him silently not to make me.
"Emily just tell me what the hell is going on. You know I'm not gonna back off until you do. You're overly clingy this morning. Why?."
"I just… I'm running out of time." I admitted.
"So what about that has changed in the last 24 hours that's got you so on edge?" He asked as he stepped closer to me. Putting his hands on my arms. Leaning in to keep our conversation quiet.
"I don't know. I just woke up one day and realized it… Like. It just hit me all at once that I have 2 months… that's it. Its been 10 months and I haven't found ANYTHING to save him yet. I'm running out of time, and this clock in my head. I see it. I see the numbers every time I try to sleep, they just keep going. They never ever stop. They just go one after another, after another, again and again and again and I-"
"Whoa! Take a breath, Em." Judson interrupted my rambling.
I inhaled deeply through my nose and leaned back against Baby, Judson stood over me and held me against him.
"Are you sleeping at all?" He whispered into my ear.
I shook my head back and forth.
"I got a little bit last night after a meltdown in the bathroom with Sam, but other than that I can't stay asleep for more than an hour or so without the nightmares. And that's when I actually can fall asleep… most of the time the clock in my head just teases me until I get up and go digging through more books."
"Emily you can't keep doing this, you'll exhaust yourself before 2 months is close to being over."
"Well that do I do then? ! I'm all ears for an answer!" The street light above us shattered suddenly and caused me to jump, shattering three more.
"Okay, first of all you're gonna chill out. Before you bust every lamp on the street. Second of all you're going to try and push this all aside for just an hour or two. Just… focus on being here. Right now. Don't think about what's coming, don't think about what's happened. Just live in the moment. Give yourself a break, because you are seriously on the edge right now."
"I know." I mumbled. "Can we go back inside now? Please. I just wanna be with Dean."
"Emily now is about the worst time to stick to him like cling wrap, its only gonna make this w-"
"Make it worse! Okay, yeah I get it. You only tell me this every other fucking day. But I need him… please. You don't understand!"
"Actually I do."
"NO YOU DON'T!... You don't know how it feels. To listen to him scream in your head at night, and wake up and have to pretend like it's not gonna happen… you don't get it."
"Fine… After you." He said pointing his hand towards the diner. I pulled away from him and quickly walked into the diner, taking my seat in the booth next to Dean. Judson sat across from me and stared judgmentally as I buried myself under Dean's arm.
"Kiddo, what is going on with you today?" Dean whispered to me.
"Just a bad night." I mumbled back. He kissed the top of my head and didn't fight it as I scooted closer to him, keeping his arm around my shoulders as the waitress made her way over to the table.
"What can I get you guys?"
"Um. Just water with lemon and some fries, thanks." I smiled when she made it around the table to me.
"You want some chicken strips or something with those Em? Protein would really do you some good." Sam suggested.
"Sure, that's fine."
The waitress nodded and walked away.
"So two of us should hit the county records department, pull up some death records. The other two should get a solid history on this place. My best guess is to start at the library, maybe swing by the historical society in town. See if they know anything." Sam said.
"Me and the uh, spider monkey over here will take county records." Dean said nodding to me.
"I guess that leaves you and I to tackle history of the place." Sam said to Judson.
"Sounds good." Judson said still not breaking his eye contact with me. I don't know what he thinks staring at me is going to do right now other than irritate me more. I need this meal to hurry up and end…
….
"Hi, I'm Detective Brown, this is my intern Ms. Copeland. We'd like to pull a few of your death records if you don't mind." Dean smiled to the older woman behind the desk. These older women always swooned over Dean. I simply stood by and smiled sweetly, pretending to be nervous and over eager.
"Well of course, let me take you on back to the records room." She said as she slid her glasses down her nose and winked to Dean. It was all I could do not to laugh. I elbowed Dean for a second to catch his attention, he simply winked at me.
What a kiss ass.
"The ones on this wall are all the records from now back to the 60's and the wall over there are from the town's founding in the late 1800's to the 1950s. Every person who's ever died in this town will be mentioned in one of these books."
"Um, excuse me ma'am. I have a question that you may or may not be able to answer. There's a local house in town, I believe it was owned by the Morton family. Could you perhaps tell me when that house was built?" I asked.
"Oh I'm sorry dear I'm not sure. Honestly that place gives me the heebie jeebies. I try to avoid it really."
"Okay, thank you for your time. We won't be too long in here." I smiled at her. She left us alone and Dean pulled down a box from one end of the wall and I grabbed one from the other.
"So you gonna talk to me or just glue yourself to my leg for the rest of the day?"
I sighed and sat down on the table in the center of the room.
"I just had a bad night De, that's all."
"Emily I've seen you have bad nights… I've seen you cling to me or Sam after a bad dream. But today you are literally attached to me. Not that I mind, I don't really but I'm worried about you."
"You're running out of time." I whispered to him.
Dean put down the files in his hand and walked over to stand right in front of me.
"Look at me… We're gonna figure this out kiddo. We're gonna do everything humanly possible to stop this."
"And what if nothing works… what then?"
"Then we try even harder. We leave no stone unturned."
"I don't wanna lose you De."
"Emily I swear to you right here, right now… I will do EVERYTHING in my power to stay with you and Sammy. You've just gotta have a little patience and a little faith. I got us this far, don't start doubting me now."
I nodded my head up and down and went back to digging through files. Hoping we were going to be stuck in here a while just the two of us. Sometimes I miss the days before Daddy went missing… when Dean and I were on the road together alone. Always having each other's backs, being in a routine with hunts and down time… we just work well together. There's no clash, there's no friction. Everything was always good… I miss times being that simple.
I miss it being Dean and I against the world.
…
"You guys get the death records?" Sam asked as he and Judson climbed in the backseat.
"Official death records no, BUT… we did find the missing person's reports on every person who's gone to visit the house and was never seen again. Only one body was found months later not far from the property. Probably not related to the other deaths to be honest." I explained.
"Okay, so we need to go check this place out before midnight. Supposedly after midnight the places goes on some supernatural lock down, we'll be trapped just like all the missing vics."
"So in and out by midnight. Sounds great." Dean smiled.
"So when do we head that way?" Judson asked.
"After dark. Its always spookier at night." I winked at him. He gave me a half a smile.
…..
"Dean, stop walking so fast!" I whisper yelled trying to keep up with his long strides as we walked form where we hid Baby on the back of the property up to the house.
"Well thanks to you we're cutting things a little close so I'm kind of in a hurry."
"Its not my fault the shower had shitty water pressure! Have you seen how thick this hair is?! You try getting all the conditioner out of it with a leaky ass faucet."
"Oh would you two shut up already! We're here, lets get in and scope it out, wait outside till midnight then see if we can get back in. Maybe we won't be trapped that way." Sam said stepping between us and breaking up the arguing.
"Fine." I said crossing my arms and slowing down to walk with Judson who was trailing behind us.
"You two always bicker like this?" He asked me.
"Always. It's what makes us get along so well. We don't keep things form each other. If we have something to say we just say it… if it pisses us off, we say that too. Then we get over it."
"Are you at the getting over it part yet? Cause hearing you bitch about the shower pressure is getting redundant. Its been shitty for the last 3 motels."
"Bite me. You three don't understand the struggle."
"Oh I'm sure the struggle is real." He said rolling his eyes playfully. I punched him in the ribs and he laughed at me, pushing me so that I almost tripped over my own feet.
"Wait. Hold up." Dean said getting our attention.
"What?"
"There's someone inside."
I followed his line of sight to see lights moving around inside the house. More than one of them. Probably a bunch of local kids getting stoned off their asses.
"Got a badge on you?" Sam asked him.
"Always." Dean said lifting his badge and walking forward.
"Em you and Judson hang back, don't let them spot you. They're not gonna buy it if all four of us try to play cops."
"Sir yes sir."
We entered the house, there were definitely people in here. I could hear footsteps from upstairs, and voices drifting down the stairs.
Dean looked at us and nodded, we stepped back into a corner and let the shadows hide us. I put my back against the wall and Judson stood over me.
"You know…" I whispered to him. "This might be kinda hot if my brothers weren't two feet away."
"Why is that?" He asked back, leaning in to whisper in my ear. It was pitch dark in our little corner. I could barely make out his outline, so I reached up and ran my hands up and down his chest.
"People get a little braver when they have the darkness to hide behind."
"People like you?" He whispered back, his hot breath tickling my ear. I moved my hands up and around his neck, pulling him closer to me. Putting our lips close enough together that I could practically feel the tension between them.
"Freeze! police officers! don't move!" Dean screamed. I jumped back away from Judson nervously before I realized Dean wasn't talking to us. I blushed with embarrassment. Thankfully it was too dark for Judson to see. Flashlights flew up in the air and there were screams.
"All right. All right. All right. Take it easy, take it easy." Sam said trying to calm the situation.
"Let's see some identification."
"What - are we under - under arrest?" One of the guys asked.
"We are unarmed!" Another one said nervously.
"These poor guys sound terrified." I whispered to Judson. He chuckled.
"5 bucks says one of them pissed their pants." He whispered back. I leaned into him again and giggled.
He put his arms around me, and in the dark… I did feel brave. Something about touching him without actually seeing him was so hot. I ran my fingertips up and down along the side of his rib cage. I could feel him shudder under my hands.
His trailed from my waist up my body, until either hand framed my face. His thumb traced my bottom lip lightly, until I reached out and grazed it with my tongue. He held me in place as he bent down and placed his lips against mine. I bit down on his lip and sucked it into my mouth. Causing him to moan slightly.
"Wait… I know you." One of the guys said loudly. This caught my attention and I quickly pulled away from Judson.
"What's wrong?" He whispered.
"Shh… listen." I said hushing him.
"Yeah, sure you do. Give me some identification." Dean replied.
"Yeah, ho- whoa, hold on a second. I know the both of you guys. Yeah!"
"Shit." Sam cursed loudly.
"What?" Dean asked.
"Uh, West Texas... the... the tulpa we had to take out. Those two goofballs that almost got us killed... The hellhounds or something?"
"Fuck me." Dean groaned.
"NO FUCKING WAY!" I said loudly giving up our position in the corner, I quickly moved towards the center of the room with my brothers, Judson right behind me, keeping a hand on my back… I didn't mind.
"Yeah, we're not hellhounds anymore, okay? It didn't test that well." The dark haired man I quickly recognized as Ed said.
"Ed, what's going on?" Another unfamiliar man asked.
"Dude. What the fuck are you wearing?" I asked looking him up and down. He was in some military uniform and some giant headpiece with a camera dangling from it.
"They're not cops, buddy - no, not at all." Ed told him.
"Ed, you had a partner, too, didn't you - A different guy?" Dean asked.
"Oh, yeah, yeah."
"Is he around here somewhere?"
"He's running around, chasing ghosts."
"Seriously? Again… you two never learn do you?" I said shaking my head.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Judson whispered to me.
"I'll explain later." I whispered back.
"Okay, well, listen, you and Rambo need to get your girlfriends and get out of here." Dean said forcefully.
"All right. Listen here, chisel chest, okay? We were here first. We've already set up base camp. We beat you." Ed said defensively, I had to stifle my laughter.
"They were here first." Dean said to Sam, who also seemed extremely amused.
"Mm hmm." Ed nodded proudly. Dean quickly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
"Oh, god." Ed trembled.
"Ed..." Dean sighed.
"Yeah?"
"Where's your partner?"
"U-upstiars."
"What are you doing in the Morton House, Ed - on leap year - what are you thinking?" I asked him.
"We're here to spend the night, okay? It's for our TV show."
"What? Great. Perfect. We FINALLY get killed off and now these assholes are gonna have us all over the TV!" I said throwing my hands in the air.
"Well, nobody's ever spent the night before." The other guy, Corbett said trying to defend Ed.
"Uh, actually, yeah, they have."
"Uh, we've never heard of them." Ed smarted back to me.
"Yeah, you know why? 'Cause the ones that have haven't lived to talk about it!"
"Oh, come on, I don't believe you."
"Look - missing-persons reports going back almost a half century. John Graham stayed on a dare - gone. Julie Wilkerson - gone. There are tons more. All of them came to just stay the night through, always on a leap year. The only body they ever found was the last owner, Freeman Daggett." Sam said showing him the papers.
"These look legit." Ed nodded appreciatively.
"They are legit. Look, Ed, we ain't got much time here, buddy. Starting at midnight, your friends are going to die." Sam warned him.
Suddenly there are screams and a flood of feet and lights coming down the stairs.
"Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Guys! Guys! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! We got one! Corbett! Corbett, we saw one! We saw one!" Harry came down the stairs screaming.
"Dammit." I rolled my eyes.
"These guys aren't serious are they?" Judson asked me. I sent him an aggravated blank stare. He quickly caught on that they were unfortunately very serious.
"Why didn't you just shoot them in Texas?"
"I'm asking myself the same thing right about now… although to be fair. I did almost shoot Harry's balls off."
"What?!"
"Well he was a little pervy back in Texas."
"Who, glasses over there?"
"Yup… but I didn't feel like shooting someone in the balls again. So I let him go."
"Again?!... When did you shoot someone in the balls?"
"Can we have story time later?"
"Oh. We're definitely having story time." Judson said nodding his head up and down quickly.
"It was a full apparition! It was like a class four. It was a spectral illumination! It.." Harry was rambling.
"It was amazing!" A girl suddenly cut him off.
Then Harry began to shine lights in our faces.
"Hey, aren't those the assholes from Texas?"
"Yes." Ed nodded curtly.
"All right, let's have this reunion across the street, guys." Dean said trying to usher people out.
"Crap! What are you guys doing here?... except for you sweetheart. My invitation to you always stands." He winked at me.
I gagged a little.
"Alright Romeo! Come on, come on. We'll get you ice cream - our treat. What do you say? Let's go." Dean said trying again to push them towards the exit.
"Yeah, I say no."
"Well I say you don't have a choice." I reminded him pulling out my gun. His eyes instantly got wide and his hand went straight to his balls.
"Look at this. Look, look. Ed, Ed. No. No. Look at this. Okay, honest-to-god proof, all right?" The girl interrupted us, going over to Ed. They watch some footage on a camera. Definitely a death echo, but what the hell was it doing here?
"Are you people listening?! We have to leave!" I reminded them all.
"What kind of reading did we get?" Some guy with another camera asked.
"Uh, it was a 10.9."
"10.9?"
"Yeah, it was 10.9. It was almost 11. I came out, and I was like, "what's going on?" And I was like - wait, watch this. Oh! He got blasted. It was crazy."
Dean nodded at me and Judson, we stepped off from the group slightly to talk.
"Think we were off on this? I mean, that was just a death echo." Sam asked.
"Yeah, but what's it doing here? Did anybody get shot here?" Dean asked.
"No. Not that any of us found." I told him.
"What's a death echo?" The cameraman asked spying on us.
"Dude. Privacy?" I said annoyed.
"Look, we got a problem here. That ghost ain't it." Sam said getting every one's attention.
"What's a death echo?" The cameraman asked again.
"Echoes are trapped in a loop, okay? They keep replaying how they died over and over and over again, usually in the place where they were ganked. It's about as dangerous as a scary movie." Judson answered.
"Who's he?" Harry quickly asked me. I rolled my eyes instead of responding. Judson leaned forward and draped his arm over my shoulder possessively. I kinda like it… not gonna lie.
"So maybe the echo's not dangerous, but maybe something else is." Sam said.
"You're right. All right, we need to get out of here, guys. Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Pack it up." Dean said, but they weren't listening.
I lifted my gun and shot it up through the ceiling. Everyone ducked and the girl with them screamed.
"What the hell?!" She yelled.
"Time is running out!" I yelled back.
"We're moving!" Dean said pushing them towards the doorway.
"What about all of our equipment? What are we gonna..." The girl asked.
"We'll get it in the morning sunshine." Dean said.
"We got more material. We got all kinds of stuff. We'll make you guys recurring guest stars." Harry bribed. I snorted at his offer.
"Wait! Wait! Where's Corbett?" Ed suddenly yelled.
"Corbett!" Harry yelled. No response. DAMMIT!
"We'll get him out, you guys just go." Sam said.
"No man left behind." Ed said standing his ground. I was fixing to open my mouth when a horrible scream caught us all off guard.
"That was Corbett." Ed whispered.
"That was Corbett! Corbett!" Harry yelled. They all began to run up the stairs.
"NO! Get out!" I yelled running after them, Judson and my brothers hot on my tail.
"Guys! Go back!" Sam yelled.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean groaned from behind him as he checked his watch.
"Corbett!" They yelled on and off.
"Let me go! Guys!" A terrified Corbett screamed in the distance.
"Corbett, you need to come back, Corbett!" Ed yelled.
"No!" Corbett yelled once more, his screams fading away.
"That can't be good." I said looking to Judson. He nodded.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Come on." Dean said pushing his way through them all.
"Corbett's... He's not here. Let's go. Let's go." Sam said.
"No. No. No. But that's Corbett. No, that was Corbett. Didn't you hear that?" Harry said frantically.
Dean and I got behind the group and began herding them back down the staris.
"Here we go. Keep it moving. Keep it moving." Sam sighed.
"Hey, hey, hey. Watch him. Watch him." Dean said as Harry tried to squeeze past Judson and I.
"I don't think so." I smiled and pushed him down a step or two. "Move it! Go."
We were halfway down the stairs when a beeping noise behind me started. I looked back curiously at Judson. He lifted his watch, everyone watching.
"It's officially 12:01." He sighed with his watch lifted into the air.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean yelled marching down the rest of the steps.
Everyone followed him down.
"Oh, god, what's happened? Oh, god. He's gone. He just disappeared." Ed mumbed.
"Okay, let's just go through all the angles. Let's go through all the cameras we have." Harry said to his group of people.
"Well, it's 12:04, Dean. You good? You happy?" Sam said sarcastically.
"Yeah, I am happy."
"Let's go hunt the Morton house, you said, it's our Grand Canyon." He mocked.
"Sam, I don't want to hear this."
"You got two months left, Dean. Instead, we're gonna die tonight." Sam said angrily as he picked up a chair and smashed it against the sealed doors. I turned towards Judson and buried myself in his shoulder. He put and arm around me and softly kissed the side of my head.
"Are we gonna die in here?" I whispered.
"No one's dying tonight? Okay."
I nodded and didn't let him go.
"Whoa! what the hell is going on guys?" The camera man turned and asked us.
"I'll tell you what's going on. Every door, every window, I'm guessing every exit out of this house - they're all sealed."
"But w-why are they sealed?" The girl asked.
"It's a supernatural lockdown, okay? Whatever took Corbett doesn't want us to leave, and it's no death echo. This is a bad mother, and it wants us scared." Dean told her honestly.
"Or it just wants us." I added nonchalantly.
Suddenly their EMF meters began to go off rapidly.
"Uh, guys, the camera's fritzing again."
"Whoa. Whoa. Guys, the EMF's starting to spike. This is a big one!" Ed said.
"Everybody, stay close. There's something coming." Sam said. I quickly moved to stand beside him and Dean, holding hands with Judson. Pretending not to notice as Dean looked down and glared at us out of the corner of his eye.
Another ghost appears in the center of the room.
"Is this the same echo you guys saw earlier?" Dean asked.
"No, it's a different guy." Harry replied.
"Multiple echoes? What the hell's going on?" I asked.
"Beats me." Sam shrugged. Dean stepped forward.
"Okay. All right. All right. All right." He stood in front of the ghost. "Uh, hey, buddy! Hey. Hey. Wake up. You're dead! Hello!"
"What's he doing? What's he doing?!" Harry asked nervously.
"It's rare, but sometimes you can shock an echo out of its loop if you can talk to the part of the ghost that's still human, but usually you have to have some kind of connection to the deceased." I explained.
"Come on! Wake up! Be dead!" Dean yelled.
There was an odd sound coming from somewhere in the distance, slowly getting louder.
"You guys hear that?" Judson asked.
"What's that sound?" Harry asked.
The noise gets louder and louder, until I finally recognized it as a train blowing its horn, a bright light shined on the ghost and in a split second he was hit by something large and disappeared.
"What the fuck!" I said jumping slightly.
"Where the hell did it go?" Ed asked.
"Dude, there's no records of any of this here. No one got shot here. Obviously, no one got run over by a freaking train." Dean said to us.
"Something's off here De… I can feel it."
"Stay close Em." Sam said as he pulled me closer to his side, I dropped my hand from Judson's unwillingly.
"Did the echoes take Corbett?" The girl, Maggie, asked.
"Yes. No. I don't know. We don't know what's doing what here; that's what we're trying to figure out, okay?" Dean answered frustrated.
"All right, stay close. Okay, look, um, death echoes are ghosts, okay? Now, ghosts - they usually haunt places where they lived or where they died." Sam began to explain.
"Except these mooks didn't live or die here." I smiled.
"So, what are they doing here?" Maggie asked.
"Hey, give the lady a cigar." Dean mocked. "All right, seriously, does looking at this nightmare through that camera make you feel better or something? I mean..." Dean threw his hands up at her as she pointed a camera in his face.
"Um...I, uh... Well, yeah. Uh, yeah. I think so." She stuttered. I rolled my eyes and followed Sam and Dean through the house. We came across what looked like an office and began to dig through filing cabinets.
"Freeman Daggett, house's last owner, officially commended for 20 years of fine service at the Gamble General Hospital." Sam said holding up a broken plaque.
"He was a doctor?" Judson asked.
"Janitor." Sam corrected.
"This looks like his den. When'd you say he died - '64?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, heart attack." I answered.
"What are these, c-rations?" Maggie asked holding up old MRE packs.
"Yeah, army-issued, three squares - like a lifetime supply." Judson said looking over the boxes she found.
"God, is that all he ate?"
"One-stop shopping."
"Hello, locked." Dean smiled as he found a safe in the wall.
"Oh, come on, guys. This is ridiculous. I mean, how the hell is this supposed to find Corbett, huh? We should be digging up the friggin' floorboards right now." Ed demanded.
There was a loud bang as Dean pried open the safe.
"Crap. Crap. Taxidermy. Okay. You said Daggett was a hospital janitor?" Dean asked.
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"Ewww. Got three toe tags here - one, death by gunshots, train accident, and suicide." I said holding them up and trying to hold down my dinner.
"Ewww!" Sam replied.
"What?" Harry asked not catching on.
"Well, that explains why all the death echoes are here. They're here because their bodies are here...somewhere in the house?" Sam explained slowly, as if talking to a five year old… which he basically was.
"Daggett brought the remains home from the morgue. To 'play'." I added when Harry still had that blank stare on his face.
"Ewwwwwwwwww! Ugh!" They all said in unison.
"That's nasty, dude." The camera man added.
"Harry. Harry, I got an 8.6 and climbing fast. Something huge is coming. Look. Something big is coming." Ed said catching our attention again. The cameras all began to flicker.
"It's past 11, you guys."
I quickly stood next to Dean, Judson on my other side, his hand on the small of my back.
"Nobody move! Hold on. Hold on. Stay quiet." Dean instructed.
There was another loud static noise coming from the cameras that made me jump slightly. I reached down and gripped Judson's arm.
"It's really cold in here." Ed suddenly said.
"Oh no… this isn't the echo." I whispered to Dean.
"Sam?" Dean said.
"Some kind of surge." Ed explained.
"Sam?!" Dean yelled frantically.
"Where'd he go?!" I asked.
"Oh, no." Maggie mouthed as Dean bent down and picked up Sam's flashlight from the ground.
"SAM!" I yelled frantically, letting go of Dean and taking off down the hall.
"Sam! Answer me dammit! SAM!"
Dean was hot on my tail, also yelling for Sam to respond.
"Oh god… Sam!" I said feeling the panic in me rise. I stopped and leaned back against the wall. Dean pushed forward and kept looking, as did the others.
"Corbett! Sam!" Ed yelled as he passed us.
"Corbett! Talk to us!" Harry yelled form behind him.
I took in some shallow breaths and tried to focus on where in this house he could have gone, how someone could have grabbed him from RIGHT beside us.
"Em, talk to me." Judson said as he stood in front of me.
"I can't find him! I- I don't know where he could be! He was right there!"
"I know hun, we'll find him. Okay? We will."
"I can't lose him too! I can't Judson, you know I can't!"
"I know, I know… we're gonna go find him. Right now, come on. Lets stay close to the group."
I nodded and let Judson lead me back to Dean and the rest of the group.
"Sam!" Dean was still yelling.
"De! De… do you see anything?"
"No, I- I don't know what happened!"
"Could he have been in the walls?! Like the guy from the apartment with the blondes?"
"No way, house like this doesn't have big enough space to fit a Sam in the wall." Judson replied.
"Sam!" I yelled out again, spinning in the room.
"Ed! Ed! Ed! Ed! Ed!" Harry began to yell from the other room.
"Get off Harry!" Maggie quickly yelled after. Dean marched past us and into the room, Judson and I right behind him.
"What the fuck are you doing?! Cut it out! We're down by two people!" Dean yelled breaking up their fight. "Sam! Sammy!"
"Seriously? You guys are fighting right now?! You realize your friend Corbett is probably dying somewhere in this house right now!" I yelled.
"Emily, lay off, they're freaking out enough as it is." Judson whispered in my ear. I shook my head and went back to looking for Sam.
"Sammy! Sam!" I yelled again.
We followed Dean as he rushed back to Daggett's office area.
"Dean, what are you doing?" I asked as he dug through the desk.
"Okay, so Daggett was a cold war nut, okay? He was - he was an amateur taxidermist. He liked to slow dance with cadavers, and all he ate were c-rations, so what the hell are we looking for?!"
"Horrible little life." Maggie sighed.
"Yeah, a lonely life...A cold war life. He was scared. He was scared...he was scared." Dean kept repeating.
"Scared of what? What? Dean, where are you going?" I asked as he took off to another room. I jogged to keep up with him.
"Guys like Daggett back then, the ones who were really scared of the Russkies - they built bomb shelters. I'm guessing he's got one. I'll bet you it's in the basement."
I finally caught on to what Dean was saying and turned for a second to tell Judson something when a door in the hall way slammed, cutting the group in half.
"Woah!" Harry yelled from behind me.
"Dean! DEAN!" I yelled frantically beating on the door.
"EMILY!" Dean yelled back as he slammed into the door.
"Um, who closed the door?" I could hear the cameraman ask from the other side.
"It did. It wants to separate us." I said more to myself.
"EM! Listen!" Dean yelled through the door, I pressed my ear against it. "Get everyone down the main room, get in a circle, and stay there!"
"Okay! Dean becareful! Go get Sammy!"
"I will, Judson?"
"Yeah, I'm here." Judson yelled back.
"Don't you take your eyes off of her for a second!"
"Wasn't planning on it." Judson replied before taking my hand and leading me away.
"You three follow us, stay close. Grab the back of my shirt, don't let it go, make a line and hold on to each other. No one lets go. Got it?" I told Harry. He grabbed the back of my shirt and I gripped onto Judson's arm. Letting him lead us down the stairs.
"Okay, you guys stand right here for a minute." I said once we reached the bottom. Judson tossed me a box of salt and we began on either side to make a circle, meeting in the middle.
"Alright, everyone in." I said tossing the box aside.
"Harry, hurry up. Get in the circle. Get in the circle. Come on. Come on. Quick, quick." Ed mumbled.
"Guys, guys, I don't want to die, okay, and I don't want you to die." Harry said back.
"Harry, listen - listen to me, okay? listen. If we don't die... ...it's totally okay if you, uh, do my sister."
"EW!" I quickly said. Maggie reached up and smacked Ed in the back of the head.
"You good Em?" Judson asked now that we were safe for the moment.
"I'll be fine as long as both my brothers come through that door."
"They'll be okay. Dean's got this."
I nodded, but still felt this overwhelming fear that I could lose them both right here, right now.
I leaned my head forward and laid it against his chest.
"They'll be okay Em. I promise." He whispered before kissing my cheek.
"How can you promise me that? We're not even helping. We're standing in a salt circle like cowards."
"Dean want's you safe. So you're safe. He can't concentrate on getting Sam if he's watching for you too. So we stay here, and let Dean do his thing. Okay? Its better this way."
"It doesn't feel right."
"Well we'll just have to tough it out." He half smiled as he pushed some of my hair behind my ear, letting his hand linger on my face. I reached up and kissed his lips softly. Pulling away and wrapping my arms around his waist, he held me and softly rocked us back and forth.
"So… this your boyfriend? Is he why I never got your number?" Harry asked.
"No Harry, he's not. And you didn't give my number because you were never going to get my number."
"Ouch." Ed whispered. Harry stared at me and quickly composed his face.
"Well I didn't want it anyways… you almost shot me like a freaking maniac!"
"You wouldn't be the first, or the last." I smiled at him.
"She's all yours." He smiled to Judson.
"I don't want her." He said looking down at my playfully. "I'm just into the whole chicks with guns thing."
I laughed slightly.
"Well. To each their own." Harry mumbled as he turned back around to mind his own business.
"Hey guys, hey guys, it's coming again." Maggie said showing us the camera dysfunctions.
Judson kept me tucked under one of his armsas the EMF meters began to buzz.
"Oh, god. Oh, OK. Guys. Get in close." Ed panicked.
The lights started to flicker.
"No one let go of anyone! And whatever you do, STAY in the circle!" I told them.
"Oh, god." Harry trembled.
The light continued to flicker, until a death echo appeared in front of us.
"Oh no…" I sighed.
"Oh. Oh, c-Corbett?"
"Oh god, what have we done? Oh god." Harry said shocked.
"Harry I'm so sorry." I said to him.
"I… I don't understand." Ed questioned.
"Corbett's a - he's a death echo. He's reliving his own murder." I answered solemnly.
"Over and over forever." Maggie whispered.
"Unless someone can snap him out of it, yes." I said sadly.
Corbett screamed softly and began choking on blood, then he flickered away. The group was definitely on the verge of losing it. They held each other in an odd circle and Ed sang the 'ghostfacers' theme song to himself over and over again.
"Judson they're taking too long. We should go help." I said feeling myself get ancy.
"Or you can stay here like Dean said."
"Or you could grow a pair and not do EVERYTHING my brother tells you to do."
He rolled his eyes at me.
"Emily. I'm only here to keep you safe! If Dean's gonna allow me to stay he has to trust me to listen when he tells me to do something, otherwise he'll cut this whole deal out and then I can't protect you."
"… Is that really the only reason you're here?" I whispered to him.
He sighed and put his arms around me again, letting his hands rest on my lower back, just above the waistline on my jeans. I reached out and looped my fingers through two of his belt loops in the front of his jeans.
He leaned his face down against mine, I pulled back just enough to touch our lips together again. Letting the feeling of butterflies fill my stomach.
"So are you guys like, a thing?" Harry asked, I pulled away and turned to see Maggie pointing a camera directly at us.
"Either take the camera off of me or I'll shove it up your ass." I told them spinning around quickly.
Maggie quickly put it down and held her hands up slightly in surrender.
Suddenly the EMF meter began to ding again, and Corbett appeared in the center of the room again. My shoulders slumped as I his spirit shake in fear. It was horrible.
Plus being cursed to wear that ugly uniform for the rest of eternity. Yikes.
"Guys, it's - it's Corbett. He's - he's - he's trapped. He's in a lot of pain, you know? We got to try and... we got to try and pull him out of his loop. We have to." Ed said standing and stepping towards the edge of the circle.
"Ed?" Harry said caustiously. "Don't cross the line of salt."
"I gotta do it, Harry. Corbett, listen to me. Okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. Listen. Listen. Oh, god. Corbett. Oh."
Corbett flickered and Ed jumped.
"Get back!" Harry yelled as Ed continued to retreat back into the circle.
"Oh, I can't, okay? He's not hearing me, okay? He won't stop dying."
"I...I know how we can get through to him." Harry mumbled.
"How?" I asked.
"Ed... He had feelings for you."
"Huh?"
"He wanted you."
"Dude. Gross." I sighed.
"Wa- wanted me to what?" Ed asked confused.
"Dude. He WANTED you!" I said flatly. "As in me and him- want." I said gesturing to Judson and myself.
Ed looked at me shocked.
"You can do it, Ed. You've always been the brave one. Yes, you can. You make us brave - Maggie, right?" Harry continued.
"Yeah. Yeah you do. You totally do." Maggie nodded.
"Ed...You got to go be gay for that poor, dead intern. You got to send him into the light." Harry finally came out and said.
Ed hesitated and then nodded, stepping back outside of the circle.
"Hey Ed, if you can get through to him you can get him to help us… ghosts can take on ghosts."
He nodded at me then returned to Corbett.
"Corbett, look. Hey, it's just Ed, buddy. It's just me. Hey, hey, Corbett, listen to me. Listen to me. I - we... Okay. You meant... Corbett, you meant a lot to the team. You meant... You meant a lot to me. You know, never back down...Never say a bad word, okay? I remember that, Corbett. I-I remember that. I remember because I love you, Corbett. I really, truly love you. Do you remember that? do you?"
Corbett slowly stopped shaking then finally met eyes with Ed.
"Hey. Ed?" Corbett whispered.
"Yeah. Yeah, Corbett, it's... Corbett, yeah, it's me. It's me. look at me. You got to help us, man. you have to help us, Corbett. Please. please. Please help us right now!"
Corbett nodded up and down.
"I can sense him."
"Corbett wait!" I said before he flickered away. "Is Sam alive?"
"Yes. But Daggett is close to them, I can find him…"
I nodded back, then Corbett disappeared in a flash of light.
"Where's he going?" Harry asked.
"He's going to save us." I told him confidently.
We sat and waited no more than five minutes before Sam, Dean, and the camera guy came around the corner.
"Sam!" I smiled leaving the circle and running towards him. I jumped and wrapped myself around him, he caught me with a huff.
"Hey Em, I'm okay." He said as I death gripped him.
I let him go and he set me back down on the ground.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again, Sammy."
"I'll try not to." He laughed.
…
We all stood behind Ed and Harry as they played out their "TV show" on the monitor. We watched in silence for about an hour as the tapes reminded us all of what happened last night. Honestly. The editing skills weren't bad.
But I REALLY wasn't a fan of whatever camera caught Judson and I kissing in the salt circle. I blushed nervously and both my brothers cut their eyes at me. Judson didn't seem as nervous about it all as I did. He almost laughed at my blushing face, but that would have only drawn more attention so I'm thankful he didn't.
"You know, I kind of think it was half-awesome." Dean said as the screen cut to black.
"Half-awesome? That - that's full-on good, right?" Maggie asked.
"Yeah, um, I mean it's bizarre how you all are able to honor Corbett's memory while grossly exploiting the manner of his death. Well done." Sam smiled. I nodded politely.
"Yeah. It's a real tight rope you guys are walking there." I added.
"Nah, that's reality, man. Yeah, Corbett gave his life searching for the truth, and it's our job over here to share it with the world." Ed said.
"Right. Well, um, our experience, you know what you get when you show the world the truth?" Sam asked. They all stared at him blankly.
"A straightjacket. Or a punch in the face. Sometimes both." I told them all.
"Oh come on, guys, don't be 'facer haters just because we happen to have gotten the footage of the century." Harry said.
"You got us there." I shrugged sarcastically.
"Yeah, well we'll see you guys around." Dean said pushing us all out the door.
"We clean?" I asked as we made it to the car, before anyone could answer we heard screams coming from the garage.
"Nooooooo! Are you kidding me?!"
"Electromagnet wiped out every tape and hard drive that they have." Dean smiled.
"The world just isn't ready for the Ghostfacers." Judson chuckled. I climbed into the backseat with him and bumped his knee with mine. He winked at me.
"It's too bad. I kinda liked the show." I mumbled.
"Yeah. It had its moments." Dean said turning in his seat to face us. "Like you macking on my sister."
Judson's smile quickly fell as Dean's did.
"Dean!" I yelled.
"Well, our sister seemed to initiate it all to be fair." Sam added.
"We'll discuss that later." Dean said shooting his eyes at me before pulling out onto the road.
I looked at Judson and smiled slightly. He shook his head at me.
The ride back to the motel was quiet. I ran my hands along Judson's arm, tracing his veins. He snoozed on and off. He was kinda cute when he was sleepy.
Once we pulled into the motel Dean tapped the breaks quickly, making Judson jump forward and wake up suddenly. I laughed. He rolled his eyes at me and got out of the car. Sam and Dean went straight to the room.
"You gonna go pass out for the night?" I asked Judson as I pulled my bag out of the trunk.
"Yeah. I guess so."
"You sure you don't wanna just split a room with us? We can roll in another bed, or take turns on the couch?"
"No I'm good. I like the quiet."
"Are you telling me I'm a loud mouth?" I asked offended.
"Actually yes."
I slapped him on the chest. He laughed.
"Goodnight Em. Hey, try and actually get some sleep tonight okay?"
"No promises." I smiled at him. He pulled me in and kissed my forehead.
"Hey…" I asked him hesitantly.
"What?" He pulled back to look at me.
"I like having you around."
"I like being around."
"And I… uh… I kinda sorta… Like you." I stuttered nervously, moving closer to him.
"I know." He said softly. I don't know if it was just me being paranoid but I could have swore something in his eyes looked frustrated, guilty… I tried to shove it out of my mind. "Goodnight Emily."
"G'night." I said as he walked away.
…
"De. I know its Sam's turn to share but do you mind?" I asked sheepishly as I stood at the foot of his bed in the dark.
"Sure thing kiddo." He said scooting over.
"I tried to sleep over there, but I can't." I whispered as I laid down.
"You've not been sleeping the last few nights have you?"
I shook my head back and forth.
He wrapped me up like when I was little. How he used to rock me to sleep on bad nights.
"Em can I ask you something and you tell me the truth?"
"Anything De."
"Did you and Judson.. ya know.."
I laughed.
"No Dean. We haven't. And I'm not necessarily planning to."
Okay that's kind of a lie… I wouldn't mind getting that hot ass naked.
"Are you guys a thing now?"
"De I don't know what you're so worried about? You knew I liked him for weeks now… and I thought you liked him too."
"I do Em, he's a good kid and he protects you. And for that I can't thank him enough… but. I don't know. I was kinda hoping nothing would really come of it all. I just want you to have someone stable right now, and emotions make things messy."
"Well I'm a teenage girl and emotions are kinda part of the package."
"I know that smartass."
"He's good to me De… If he wasn't you'd be the first to know."
"I hate the thought of him touching you."
"Well you're gonna have to get past that." I laughed.
"Or you two could just not touch each other."
"Dean. I respect you enough that I don't shove it in your face. And I won't do that to you… but you and I both know I was never good at keeping my hands to myself."
"When it came to fighting yeah, but boys? Ughhh… I never in a million years imagined that you would be so boy crazy. I mean you kissed some boy on a play ground when you were seven and I almost ripped his arms off! A seven year old, Em…"
I giggled.
"Well don't rip this one's arms off. I'm kind of a fan of those."
"If you don't shut up I'm going to puke on you." He said as he fake gagged.
"Fine." I laughed.
"Dean… you now we only have one month and 28 days…"
"I know kiddo… I know."
"What are we gonna do De?"
"I wish I knew… we're just gonna keep trying. That's all we can do."
"I won't let them take you De…. I promise."
"YOU. Will not get yourself hurt trying to stop this. If it comes to down to the hounds, they're gonna take me one way or the other. They'll go through you to do so… don't be there."
"Dean you said we were going to do EVERYTHING we could to stop this. And I'm not gonna back down just because teeth and claws enter the picture. We're gonna fight. All of us."
"The last time you faced hell hounds I had to stitch you back together! You could have bled to death… If I'm gonna die then so be it. I'll deal with that. But I will not let my last minutes on his earth be spent watching you die too."
"Dean I can't just watch… that is literally the nightmare I face every single night. I won't."
"Then don't be there… promise me."
"Dean I can't." I cried.
"Yes you can… promise me. If we can't stop this, don't be there. Don't do that to yourself. Don't do that to me Em… just don't."
"…I promise."