Chapter 12
Happy
(Season 1, episode 8 - Bugs)
Dean pulled in front of one of the newly built homes and pulled the keys out of the ignition. The trio simultaneously exited the vehicle. Dean took a quick glance around and immediately started judging. "Growing up in a place like this would freak me out."
Sam didn't even look at his brother. "Why?"
"The manicured lawns, the 'How as your day, honey?' - I'd blow my brains out."
"There's nothing wrong with normal."
Dean disagreed. "I'd take our family over normal any day."
"I have to agree with you, Dean," Sarah stated. "Normal is too boring. At least we get some excitement on a weekly basis."
"I thought you lived the 'normal' life." Dean air quoted the word 'normal.'
"Not really. Not the manicured lawns nor the 'How as your day, honey?' That was not my family and I am glad it never was."
"Hm. Cool."
Before Sarah could ask why Dean said that was 'cool,' she looked down and saw that her boot was untied. "Oh, you guys go ahead. I gotta tie my shoe. I'll meet you in there."
"Yeah okay." Sam grinned cutely at the girl they left behind.
Dean knocked on the door and the two waited. Dean looked over his shoulder at Sarah, making sure she was all right. What am I doing? Of course she's all right. She's just tying her shoe. Stop being creepy. Just as he turned his head back, the door was open and they were greeted by a well dressed man.
He smiled at the boys. "Welcome."
"Is this the barbecue?" Dean asked, hoping this was the spot for the free food.
"Yeah, not the best weather, but..." He reached his hand out first to Dean, then to Sam. "I'm Larry Pike, the developer here, and you are?"
"Dean. This is Sam."
Larry shook both men's hands firmly. "Sam, Dean, good to meet you. So, you two interested in Oasis Plains?"
"Yes. sir," Dean said confidently.
Sarah ran up to the brothers just in time to hear the greeter say the greatest line. "Let me just say that we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or... sexual orientation."
Sarah started coughing while trying to hold in her laugh. Sam hit her in the side, trying to silence her.
Dean's face stayed serious. "We're brothers."
Sam interjected before his brother said something stupid. "Our father is getting on in years, and we're just looking a place for him."
Sarah moved between the boys and put an arm around each of them. "Yeah. Dad needs a place to spend his retirement years. We're just trying to be good kids and give back to him after all the years he spent raising us. Right boys?" Sarah smiled innocently.
Dean's eyes only moved to see her smile. "Right." Hearing that tone of voice from such a strong, beautiful woman made him uncomfortable. This was something he certainly wasn't used to.
"Great, great. Seniors are welcomed too. Come on in." Larry tried to cover his mistake but that was something that was going to live in Sarah's mind for years.
Once in, Sarah reached out to Larry. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself. I'm Sarah, their sister."
"I'm Larry, the developer." He shook her hand.
Sarah smiled widely. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Larry. These houses are quite beautiful. You did such a wonderful job."
Dean stood behind the two and stared in awe. Her acting skills were much more developed than his. He never imagined her as so... pleasant.
"Why thank you so much, Sarah. The barbecue is this way if you'll follow me."
"You said you were the developer?" Sam asked.
"18 months ago, I was walking this valley with my survey team," Larry explained. "There was nothing here but scrub brush and squirrels, and you know what? We built such a nice place to live that I actually bought into it myself. This is our house. We're the first family in Oasis Plains." They followed Larry to the backyard where they met up with a tall, blonde, middle-aged woman. "This is my wife, Joanie."
"Hi, there. Hi nice to meet you." She shook their hands and pretended to be cheery.
"Sam, Dean, and-" Dean looked to see Sarah staring at the fences. "And Sarah," Dean added a little louder to regain her attention.
Larry looked at his wife. "Tell them how much you love the place, Honey. And lie if you have to because I need to sell some houses."
"Right," she nodded.
"If you'll excuse me." Larry left the trio to talk to his wife.
"Don't let his salesman routine scare you. This really is a great place to live."
Another woman appeared from behind Joanie. "Hi, I'm Linda Bloom, head of sales."
"And Linda was second to move in," Joanie added. "She's a very noisy neighbor, though."
Linda laughed and Joanie left. "She's kidding, of course. I take it you two are interested in becoming homeowners."
Two? Dean looked behind him and saw Sarah turned around, not paying attention again. Her mind was just not in this one for some reason.
"Y-yeah," Sam stuttered.
"Well, let me just say that we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or... sexual orientation."
Dean couldn't help but laugh this time. "Hm. Right. Uh, I'm gonna go talk to Larry. Okay, Honey?"
Sam shot his brother a look while he left him with the realtor.
Dean grabbed Sarah's arm and started pulling her toward the house. "What's with you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're acting... nice."
"Yeah, Dean. Acting. In reality, I want to get out of here before the suburban mom rubs off on me and poisons me forever."
He nudged her on the arm. "That's my girl."
"Again. I'm not your girl."
"Take the compliment and let's go find Larry before another person call me and Sam gay."
"Really? Another one did that?"
"Yeah. The head of sales lady. You would have heard if you were paying attention."
"Sorry. I just remember passing places like this when I was younger and wishing that when I was older I'd have a husband and a place like this. It's amazing what time does, ya know?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I know." From just that little flashback, Dean could imagine her about five or six pointing to the houses and making up stories about her future like any normal young girl. It made him like her a little bit more. "Come on. Let's find Larry."
"Yeah okay."
They ended up finding Larry in the house and requested a tour of the home. He showed them everything top to bottom. He explained all of the luxurios features like the garage, fancy showers, three or four bedrooms, and large backyards. They could even choose the finishes in the home including the flooring. "You have three choices - carpet, hardwood, and tile."
Sarah didn't listen to a word of it. Instead, she fantasized. She imagined her and Dean living in a place like this one day with one or two rugrats. Sam would live next door with his own wife and they would have cookouts together all the time. Dean worked as a mechanic and Sarah worked from home writing stories about their adventures. Ha! Yeah right! It would be a cold day in hell before I even consider living like this. And with Dean? That's even a longer shot. I really need to lay off the coffee and booze. I might be going crazy. Sarah snapped out of her daydream when she heard Dean's low voice.
"Whoa, someone likes bugs."
"My son," Larry admitted. "He's into insects. He's very inquisitive."
"Hm." Dean nodded.
Larry changed the subject, not wanting to talk about his son's interesting hobby. He smiled fakely. "Well, we should get back to the party before people start wondering where we are."
"Right. We left Sam there all by himself. He's probably lost like a little puppy. We have to look out for our little brother."
"Right. Our little brother, Sammy." Dean thought Sarah was pushing this sibling thing a little too far. Puppy Sam? Come on now.
"Okay, I'll lead the way."
"We're right behind you," Sarah giggled lightly.
Dean leaned down to her and whispered, "Lay off this happy sibling crap. Sam's my brother, not your's."
"It's working," she whispered back. "So shut your trap and we'll talk about this later. Right now, we're working."
"Matthew!" Larry's voice brought their attention back to the job at hand. They ran up and met with Sam who was standing with a boy who was about 15 or 16 years old. "I'm so sorry about my son and his... pet," Larry apologized.
"It's no bother," Sam excused.
"Excuse us." Larry grabbed his son's arm discretely and brought him back to the house.
Sam waited until they were out of earshot before talking. "Remind you of somebody?" Dean stared at the father and son scene happening on the other side of the yard not entirely sure what Sam was talking about. "Dad?"
"Dad never treated us like that," Dean claimed.
Sam giggled at Dean's innocence. "Well, Dad never treated you like that. You were perfect. He was all over my case." Dean shrugged. "You don't remember?"
"Maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes you were out of line." Dean loved his father unconditionally. He always made up excuses for whatever their old man did.
"Right," Sam laughed without humor. "Right, like when I said I'd rather play soccer than learn bow hunting."
Sarah took a step back. "Do you boys need a moment?"
Dean waved her off. "No, it's all right. Bow hunting's an important skill, right, Sarah?"
She raised her hands in surrender. "I don't want to get between you two."
Sam shook it off. "Whatever. How was your tour?"
"It was excellent. I'm ready to buy," Dean joked. "So you might be on to something. Looks like Dustin Burwash wasn't the first strange death around here."
What? Sarah tried not to show how shocked she was to hear that. She was supposed to be paying close attention to what Larry and Dean were talking about during the tour. Instead, she was off daydreaming of something that will never happen.
"What happened?"
"About a year ago, before they broke ground, one of Larry's surveyors dropped dead while on the job. Get this - severe allergic reaction to bee stings."
"More bugs."
"More bugs."
"More bugs," Sarah repeated like the boys.
Dean patted her on the back. "Come on. We should get out of here and talk about this some more."
"Yeah. That's a good idea."
They thanked Larry for the hospitality and went on their way. Dean let Sam drive the car and Sarah sat in the back like always.
Dean flipped through his father's journal, finding nothing helpful. "You know, I've heard of killer bees, but killer beetles. What is it that could make different bugs attack?"
"Well, hauntings sometimes include bug manifestations," Sam suggested.
"I've never seen hauntings do anything like that before." Sarah leaned against the front seat and rested her head on her arms.
Dean sighed."Neither have I. And besides, I didn't see any evidence of ghost activity."
"Yeah, me neither," Sam admitted.
Suddenly, it was like a light bulb went off in Dean's head. "Maybe they're being controlled somehow, you know, by something or someone."
"You mean like 'Willard?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, bugs instead of rats."
"That's possible," Sarah agreed.
Sam considered it for a second. "There are cases of psychic connections between people and animals, elementals, telepaths."
"Yeah, that whole Timmy/Lassie thing."
Sarah turned her head to Dean. "You are obsessed with movie references, aren't you?"
"You're damn right I am." He smiled, glad she understood his references. "Larry's kid - bugs for pets."
Sam looked at his brother. "Matt?"
"Yeah."
"He did try to scare the realtor with a tarantula."
"Ha. That's pretty funny."
Dean grinned at Sarah's small laugh. "You have a strange sense of humor."
"Hey, at least I'm not a stick in the mud like those people at the barbecue." She smiled widely and Dean couldn't help but smile back.
"You're right. It is kinda funny." Focus on the case, Dean. "Think he's our Willard?"
Sam sighed. "I don't know. Anything's possible, I guess."
Dean looked out the window and got extremely excited. "Ohh, hey, pull over here."
Sam turned the car into the driveway of one of the empty homes and leaned out the window. He thought Dean saw something. "What are we doing here?"
Dean opened his door and left the car leaving Sarah and Sam inside. "It's too late to talk to anybody else." He lifted the garage door so his brother could park inside.
Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing. "We're gonna squat in an empty house?"
"I want to try the steam shower, come on."
Sarah slid over and opened her door. "This is the best idea you've had all week," she called to him.
He loved the compliment. Nice job. You just impressed the pretty lady with your good idea. He looked back and forth to make sure there was no one around. "Come on, Sammy."
Sam hated the idea but pulled the car into the garage. He did get back at Dean by taking a cheap shot at his groin.
Dean started to pull the garage door down and Sarah started running toward it. "Wait for me." She was giggling as she rolled under the door like some sort of secret agent. The door slammed down next to her, but her smile never faded. "Well that was exhilarating."
Dean reached his hand down to the woman on the ground, offering some assistance. "What is with you today?"
She grabbed his hand and he hoisted her up. "What? I can't have fun?"
"You've been acting weird today."
"I guess it's just been a happy day."
Dean smiled and wrapped his arm around around her shoulders. "I think I know why."
Without even thinking, she grabbed his hand and held it loosely. "Oh, yeah. Why?"
"I was your fake brother making you look like less of a loner."
She couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Yeah, okay. Well fake brother, shall we get some sleep in our fake house?"
"I think we shall."
A/N: Hi, everyone. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I want to apologize for the long delay. I decided to take a bit of a break from writing and try to get everything together after my surgery. Now that I am done with school, expect more. I am completely refreshed and am ready to put my heart and sole into this story. So please review this and let me know what you think. I can't wait to get another chapter out to you guys soon. This chapter was named after Happy by Pharrell Williams.
