The Foundry Part 1

Lebanon, Kansas

Sam, Dean, Angela, and Grace were in the kitchen eating breakfast. Grace ate her pancakes and kicked her feet happily.

"All right," Dean started. "So, what have you guys found on her Majesty's Secret Suckbags?"

"Well, Angie and I may have turned the bunker upside down looking for any reference whatsoever to the British Men of Letters, and all we found was this letter tucked into an old ledger." Sam sighed heavily.

"It, uh, from the 'London Chapterhouse," Angela added.

"Okay, well that's something." Dean shrugged.

"Yeah, uh… not so much." Angela turned the letter around and most of the letter was blacked out.

Dean took the letter and looked at it, rolling his eyes. "Awesome."

Castiel walked into the doorway of the kitchen and Dean looked up at the angel.

"Hi Unca Cas!" Grace exclaimed happily.

"Morning sunshine," Dean greeted. "Some coffee?"

"No, thank you. I have to go."

Castiel turned and walked away. The Winchesters looked at each other, clearly confused, and they followed the angel.

"Gracie, stay here and eat your breakfast!" Angela instructed as they followed Castiel.

"Cas?" Sam frowned.

"Cas, wait up."

"Hey," Angela grabbed Castiel's arm. "Wait a second. Where are you off to?"

Castiel paused for a moment and turned to answer. "Cleveland, Ohio."

"For what?" Sam's brows furrowed.

"I think I may have a lead on Lucifer," Castiel replied. "I found a police report in Cleveland about a man whose eyes flared a glowing red. It could be Lucifer in a new body."

"All right," Dean nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like something. We should go check it out."

"No." Castiel shook his head. "The Devil is free because of me. Finding him is my responsibility."

"Cas, you're gonna want some backup on this," Angela replied sternly.

"If it is him, I will call you," he assured. "In the meantime, I think you're needed here."

Castiel nodded his head at the three hunters and turned and walked away.

"The hell was that about?" Dean muttered.

"Mom? Robert?" Sam suggested.

"What are you talking about?" Dean scoffed. "They're fine."

"I don't know, my dad's been acting a little off lately," Angela replied.

"Yeah, I heard Mom walking around all night last night," Sam added as they started walking back to the kitchen. "I mean, don't you think she seems a bit… withdrawn? You know… shaky?"

"Where's Unca Cas?" Grace asked as her parents and uncle sat back down.

"He had to go on a trip," Angela told her daughter. "He'll be back soon, sweetie."

"Of course she's shaky," Dean told Sam. "She hasn't been on this planet since Jane Fonda was wearing leg warmers. Look, all she and Robert need are a little R&R. You know, some good family time… they'll both be aces."

Mary and Robert walked into the room, and Grace perked up.

"Grandma! Grandpa!" the toddler beamed.

"Hey cutie," Robert walked over to his granddaughter. "What d'you have there?"

"Pancakes," she replied. "Daddy made them."

"Hey, Mom." Sam and Dean greeted Mary.

"Hi, Mary." Angela waved.

"Hey. Hi." Mary smiled gently.

"Hey. Morning." Sam smiled back at his mother.

Mary noticed the bacon sitting on a plate on the table. "Ooh."

"Oh, we can fry up some more," Sam suggested. "That's—that's probably cold by now, Mom."

"It's bacon." She shrugged.

"Wow," Dean chuckled. "We are so related."

"Did you cut your hair?" Angela inquired.

"I'm gonna keep it short if Robert and I are gonna go out on a hunt, you know?" Mary shrugged. "Why give the bad guys the advantage of long pullable hair, right?"

"Wow. I've been trying to tell Sam that for years." Dean smirked.

Sam rolled his eyes and he fully processed what Mary had said. "Did you say, uh, 'going on a hunt?'"

"I found a case." Mary shrugged.

Sam's brows shot up. "I thought you were still struggling with even the idea of the internet."

"I had Dean pick up some newspapers when he went into town."

"Whoa, whoa," Dean frowned. "I… you didn't tell me you were looking for a case."

"I wasn't. I just… found one." Mary replied. "Minnesota. Two dead, locked room. Victims had put in a call about a crying baby. But the place was empty. The only thing at the scene was their bodies. Been five days, and the coroner still hasn't put out a cause of death. Seemed fishy."

"It's probably nothing," Robert added. "We just thought it would be a good idea to get out there, stretch our legs."

"Mom, I—I thought you-you weren't down to hunt in the first place," Sam argued.

"Well things change, right?" Dean chimed in. "Family hunting trip."

"I'll text Jody," Angela added.

"Sure." Mary smiled tightly.

"All right. Meet at the car in 10." Dean smiled.

Dean got up from the table, looking happy to be hunting with his mom. Sam still sat at the table, looking upset at the way things were going while Angela just looked confused.

"What about the R&R?" Sam asked.

"W…" Dean gestured to where Mary and Robert had already left. "Look, man, Cas healed our s'mores foot, all right? I got Baby back to mint. We're road ready. And if Mom and Robert want to hunt, I say we hunt. You guys are gonna…"

Dean waved his arm and pointed at the dishes on the table.

~/~\~

St. Paul, Minnesota

The hunters had brought Grace to Jody's and were now in Minnesota. They were at a gas station and Sam was filling up the tank while Mary, Angela, and Robert waited in the car. Dean walked back to the car from the convenience store.

"Nice bike," Dean noted as he passed a black motorcycle and got into the driver's seat. "There's a lot of things that have gone to seed since you were here," he told Mary. "But the variety of snack food flavors is not one of them. We got your teriyaki jerky, we got your sriracha, and we got your chili lime, which… is my personal favorite."

"Let's give chili lime a whirl." Mary reached over Angela and took some of the jerky.

Sam got into the back seat of the car where Robert also sat.

"Eh?" Dean grinned.

"It's… good." Mary nodded. "Artificial, kinda tingly."

"That's how you know it's working," Dean replied as he turned on the radio.

'Born to be Wild' played on the radio. Sam motioned for Dean to turn the music down.

"Hey."

Mary reached over and turned the music up instead. Sam just half-smiled and Dean grinned as he peeled out of the gas station.

~/~\~

Mary, Robert, Angela, Sam, and Dean were in the coroner's office dressed in their FBI apparel.

"Agent Shirley Partridge, out of the Minneapolis field office," Mary introduced. These are my partners, Agents Cassidy, Bonaduce, Madden, and Forster."

"This is a local case," the coroner frowned in confusion. "Why the hell did the FBI send—

"They're new." Robert nodded to the three younger hunters. "Wanted their first case to have training wheels."

"Mm." the coroner grunted.

"We wanted to have a look at the bodies," Mary replied.

"Now you haven't filed a report," Angela noted. "Has there been any problem determining the cause of death?"

"Problem?" the coroner repeated. "No. No, no, no. I figured out the cause. Just doesn't make any damn sense."

Dean wandered around to the side of the woman's body and noticed a mark on her arm. "Is this a burn?"

"Frostbite." The coroner replied, earning shocked looks from the hunters. "Yeah. Both victims died of acute hypothermia… in a 65 degree room. When I opened them up, their hearts were literally—and I mean literally—frozen. Wanna tell me how to present that to the public? Or to their families? So much for training wheels, huh?"

~/~\~

Mary, Robert, and the three younger hunters walked into the abandoned house that night to have a look around.

"You sure you got the swing of that thing?" Dean nodded to the EMF meter.

"For the third time, yes," Mary muttered. "Dean, it's analog. I'm good."

"Right," Dean replied.

Mary and Robert wandered into the bedroom with the crib and doll inside. Sam, Dean, and Angela went in another direction. Both Mary and Robert's EMF meters started going off and the light above the crib started flickering. Robert pulled back the blanket that covered the doll.

"Dad, Mary, we got something over here!" Angela called.

Mary pocketed her EMF meter and she and Robert turned to walk out of the room. Suddenly, the door slammed in their faces.

"Sam?" Mary frowned.

"Angie?" Robert yelled.

"Mom?" Dean's brows furrowed.

"Dad?" Angela rushed to the door.

"Dean?" Mary called out as she tried to open the door.

"Hold on! We're coming!" Dean assured. "Both of you get away from the door!"

Mary and Robert both backed away from the door. Suddenly, a small hand grabbed Mary's arm and she turned to see a small blonde boy. Dean finally broke the door down. Sam grabbed Mary while Angela ran over to Robert, and Dean swung his crowbar through the ghost, causing him to dissipate. Mary held up her arm to the light of Sam's flashlight and noticed that there was a bright red handprint on her arm.

Sam frowned in concern. "Mom, you're hurt."

Dean walked over and looked at Mary's arm. "Let's go. Come on. Come on."

"Okay." Mary nodded.

~/~\~

The next day, Sam, Dean, and Angela were working on the computers while Robert was looking through a few books. Mary walked into the room.

"Okay, ready to head out? Go knock on some doors?"

"Doors?" Dean's brows furrowed.

"Yeah." Mary nodded. "Talk to the neighbors, hit up the Hall of Records, work the… case? We still do that, right?"

"Sometimes." Angela nodded. "But the, uh, the internet has made a lot of that legwork… obsolete."

"I mean, I'm already in the St. Paul Police Department database," Sam added.

"Anything?" Dean raised his brows.

"Yeah, a lot. I got police reports filed from 2004… uh, '91, '89, '85, '78…" Sam answered. "All deaths. All kids. Looks like it started with this girl here. Elizabeth Moriarty."

Mary's brows shot up in disbelief. "You got all that from that…"

"Yeah." Sam nodded.

"I'm still getting used to how much technology has changed in just 15 years." Robert comforted Mary.

Mary backed up to sit down on one of the beds, clearly overwhelmed.

"Mom… don't worry about it. We'll teach you how to do this." Sam assured his mother.

~/~\~

"Mylings?" Dean asked as the continued researching.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "From Scandinavian lore. Uh, children's spirits, vengeful ones. 'Their cries to help lure adults to their death.'"

"Anything about frozen hearts?" Angela asked.

"Uh, no, not yet," Sam mumbled. "But this is just from old, incomplete folk accounts. We all know the lore isn't always 100%."

"Hmm." Mary hummed. "Maybe, but… all I know is, that little boy that grabbed me, I… he didn't want to hurt us. He was scared."

"Yeah, um… it must've felt that way, but, Mom, the victims were all lured to their death by a baby's cry." Sam explained. "Uh, the spirit marked Natalia right before she was killed, the same way the spirit marked you. I mean, if we hadn't gotten there in time…"

"Well, look, we know all the kids' names, right?" Dean shrugged. "We know that they're all buried locally, so I say we salt and burn 'em. That's the safe bet."

"Agreed." Sam nodded.

"All right," Dean replied. "Well, let's do that."

Mary didn't seem convinced by the conclusion, and Angela looked skeptical as well. Mary sat down heavily on the bed, holding her head in her hands.

"Mom?" Dean asked concernedly. "Hey, you okay?"

"Mom?" Sam frowned.

"Yeah, fine. I'm fine. I'm fine." Mary stood back up. "I'm fine."

"May—Maybe, uh, you should stay here," Sam suggested.

Angela noticed Mary's displeased look. "I can stay with you, Mary."

"Great idea," Dean took out his phone and handed it to Mary. "You guys call if you need us."

"Okay." Mary nodded.

"Back soon," Sam promised before he leaned down and kissed Angela on the cheek. "Love you."

"Love you, too," Angela replied.

"See ya soon, Pumpkin." Robert kissed his daughter's temple.

Sam, Dean, and Robert grabbed their stud and headed out the door.

A/N: Hey, guys, I hope you liked this chapter! The dynamic between everyone is going to be really interesting. I'm excited to delve into Robert and Sam's newfound relationship. Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! Love y'all, xoxo :)

~Emily