Swallow me under and pull me apart
I understand, there's nothing left
Pain so familiar and close to the heart
No more, no less, I won't forget
Come back down, save yourself
I can't find my way to you
And I can't bear to face the truth
Sing something new
I have nothing left
I can't face the dark without you
There's nothing left to lose
The fight never ends
I can't face the dark without you
BEDTIME STORIES
Impala
I felt like banging my head on the window I was currently leaning my forehead against. The cold glass was helping ease the headache that was forming behind my eyes as I listened to Dean and Sam argue, yet again, in the front seat.
"I don't understand, Dean. Why not?!" Sam asked, sighing in frustration at our brother.
"Because I said so," Dean argued in a tone that was final. Sam never took much notice of the tone.
"We've got the Colt now!" Sam said, and Dean looked over at him with a warning look.
"Sam..." he said, his voice low, he was clearly trying not to start yelling at our little brother.
"We can summon the Crossroads Demon..." Sam started.
"We're not summoning anything," Dean interrupted.
"... pull the gun on her and force her to let you out of the deal!" Sam finished over the top of Dean.
"We don't even know if that'll work!" Dean countered.
"Well then we'll just shoot her!" Sam said without missing a beat. "If she dies then the deal goes away!"
"We don't know if that'll work either, Sam! All you're pitching me right now is a bunch of 'ifs' and 'maybes' and that's not good enough," Dean said loudly, staring at the road ahead. "Because if we screw with this deal you die, and Beth goes to Hell!"
"And if we don't screw with it, you die!" Sam said angrily.
"Sam, enough! I am not going to have this conversation," Dean said with a finality to his voice.
"Why, because you said so?" Sam argued,
"Yes! Because I said so!" Dean yelled.
"Cut it out you guys," I said from the back, they completely ignored me.
"Well, you're not Dad!" Sam yelled back at Dean.
"Sam!" I yelled, he looked back at me with a frown. Before turning to stare at Dean who was looking at him.
"No, but I am the oldest," Dean said loudly, "And I'm doing what's best. And you're going to let this go, you understand me?!"
"Sam," I said, leaning forward and squeezing his shoulder. "Sam, just let it go, okay?" I looked at him with sympathetic eyes. I knew what he was going through, but there was no getting through to Dean, he simply wasn't going to budge.
Sam stared at me for a few moments, shaking his head, swallowing back words as he shoved his anger down.
Dean watched us, and sighed. "Tell me about the psychotic killer," he said, changing the subject. Sam stared out the window, angry.
"C'mon, Sam, tell me about the psychotic killer," he said quietly, trying to smooth over the argument. Sam sighed and picked up the paper in his lap.
"Psychotic killer... rips victims apart with brute-like ferocity," he said in a monotone voice.
"Okay, any mention of his razor sharp teeth or his four-inch claws? Animal eyes?" Dean asked.
"No," Sam said quietly. "But the lunar cycle's right," he said a little sulkily. "Look, if it a werewolf, we don't have long, moon's full this Friday and that's the last time it changes for a month." He stared out the window, clearly annoyed at Dean still.
"Two days," Dean said with a nod. "No sweat."
Hospital
Maple Springs, New York
The Next Day
I leaned against the wall just inside the hospital room while Dean and Sam went in to interview the victim, Kyle.
They held up their badges and then returned them to their suit pockets when Kyle looked satisfied with their credentials. He was in bed covered in bandages and scrapes. He looked as if he'd had a run-in with a lawnmower.
"I'm Detective Plant, this is Detective Page," he said gesturing to Sam, before looking over at me. "And Detective Jones," he added. I waved from my spot by the door.
"We're with the County Sheriff's Department," I said to Kyle.
"Yeah, uh, I've been expecting you," he said to us.
"You have?" Dean asked, surprised. That would have to be a first.
"All morning. You are the sketch artist, right?" Kyle asked and I frowned.
"Uh..." Sam started, looking around.
"Absolutely," Dean said confidently.
"Yeah," Sam replied, quietly.
"Yeah. That is exactly who my partner is. The things he can do with a pen," Dean said with a chuckle. I stifled my own giggle and shook my head while Sam glared at Dean.
"But listen, before we get started on that, I wanted to ask you, uh, how'd you get away?" Dean queried.
"I – I have no idea. I was hiding, and he found me. He was coming right for me, and then he just stopped. Staring at me with this blank look. And after that he just took off running."
"Okay. Um, I'm going to need as much physical detail as you can remember," Sam said, pulling a notebook out of his jacket, starting to sketch. I raised an eyebrow, curious. Did Sam take art lessons or something in college? Because I sure didn't remember him being able to draw.
"Uh, yeah. He's about six feet tall..." Kyle said.
"Six feet..." Sam nodded, starting to draw in his notepad.
"Dark hair," said the man, and Sam nodded. Dean was looking at the sketch, frowning.
"Umm, what about his eyes, what colour eyes did he have?" Sam asked.
"Maybe... blue?" Kyle said, uncertainly.
"Blue?" Sam asked.
"It was dark," he said with a shrug.
"Did they seem..." Dean cleared his throat. "Uh, animal-ish?"
"Excuse me?" Kyle asked, looking at Dean in confusion.
"What about his teeth? You notice anything strange about 'em?" Sam pressed.
"No," Kyle said, shaking his head. "They were just teeth."
"Teeth," Sam said. "Okay." Drawing some more in the notepad.
"How about his fingernails?" Dean asked and I frowned, the guy looked like he was about to freak out.
"Look, he's – he's just a normal guy, with normal eyes and … and normal teeth and fingernails!" He said, gesturing with his hands and frowning.
"Look, sir, it's okay if..." Sam was interrupted by the man in the bed.
"No! No. Those were my brothers. This guy, he – he killed my brothers. How would you feel?" He asked, and I swallowed at the question, looking at my two brothers standing next to him.
"I couldn't think of anything worse," Sam said quietly, echoing my sentiments exactly. Dean glanced over at Sam before looking back at Kyle.
"I know this isn't easy, but if you could remember any more details," he prompted.
"There was one more thing, he had a tattoo on his arm of a cartoon character. It's, uh, it's the guy who's chasing the Roadrunner ..."
"Wile E. Coyote!" Dean said with a grin, pointing at Kyle.
"Yeah, that's it." Kyle nodded and Dean looked pleased with himself. I smiled, it was the simple things that made me love that man, his pure delight in something like recognising a cartoon character, it made him so damn cute.
A doctor appeared by me in the doorway. "Kyle?" He asked.
"Dr. Garrison," Kyle said, looking over at him.
"How are you holding up?" The doctor asked, advancing into the room.
"Okay, considering," Kyle answered.
"You're Kyle's doctor?" Dean asked of the man.
"Yes?" He replied and Dean held up his badge.
"Can I just ask you a few questions?" Dean queried. Dr Garrison nodded, and they left the room. I walked up to Sam, placing my hand at his back and he smiled.
"Don't I get to see it?" Kyle asked, pointing at Sam's notebook.
"Uh, yeah," Sam said, looking a little nervous. "Yeah, yeah, um, yeah it's a, you know... work in progress."
Sam held out his notebook and Kyle looked at it. I glanced over and stifled a laugh, it looked like Ben had drawn it, more or less a stick figure of a guy with a tattoo.
Kyle looked up at Sam, raising his eyebrow and clearly trying to be supportive. "It's really... really .. huh." He said, speechless, and handed it back to Sam with a smile.
"Well, thank you for your time, if you think of anything else, please give us a call," I said to Kyle, handing over one of our cards with our numbers.
Outside Hospital
Dean was chuckling at Sam's drawing, shaking his head.
"Boy, this is a piece of art. Really," he said and Sam snatched the notebook back with a glare.
"Yeah, like you could've done any better. So what did the Doc have to say about Kyle's brothers?" He asked.
"Not much, they were D.O.A at the scene. He did give me the low-down on the Coroner's report."
"Let me guess, their hearts were missing?" Sam asked.
"Nope," Dean said with a sigh.
"But chunks of their kidneys, lungs and intestines were." I looked at him with a frown.
"That's just gross!" I said, shuddering at the image.
"Yeah, also definitely not werewolf behaviour," Dean said with a nod.
"So, what? Demon? Attacker could have been possessed," I suggested, thinking about the possibilities.
"Why would a demon stop halfway through an attack?" Dean asked. I frowned, that was a very good question.
"Maybe... well..." I shook my head and shrugged.
"I think that, uh... could've... yeah. I got nothing," Sam added and Dean nodded.
"Me neither."
Well, so far we had a big fat zero on ideas. Great.
Motel Room
Sam had gone on the food run while Dean was taking a shower. I was on police scanner duty because it was about as good a lead as we had on what was going on around here.
Suddenly there was a call that went out over the scanner. A couple had been attacked in the woods by... of all things, a little old lady. The man was dead, and the woman was being taken to the hospital.
I jumped up, heading into the bathroom where Dean was belting out a tune. He looked at me through the steamed up glass and started singing Hungry Eyes using the shampoo bottle as a microphone. "I been meaning to tell you, I've got this feelin' that won't subside... I look at you and I fantasize... you're mine tonight!" I laughed and walked over, pressing a kiss up to the glass.
"Cute," I said with a raised eyebrow. He grinned and opened the door to the shower.
"I've got.. hungryyyyy eyes! One look at you and I can't disguise..." He tried to grab me but I backed away shaking my head.
"Okay Romeo, come on, we gotta go," I said with a grin. He looked at me disappointedly.
"Serious?" He asked, the humour fading from his eyes.
"Yup, granny just went psycho on a couple in the woods," I said. "They're bringing in the woman to the hospital now."
"Damn," he said with a sigh, putting down the shampoo bottle. "Sam back? Because you know, we might have time..." Dean's thought process was interrupted by the sound of the motel door opening and Sam announcing he was back. "Damn!" He cursed again, throwing his hands in the air.
I chuckled and tossed him a towel, taking a moment to admire the view before leaving him to get dressed.
Hospital
A couple of sheriffs were exiting the room of the victim, Julie Watson, when we arrived. We all turned away and tried to look inconspicuous until they were gone, and then Dean led the way down to the room, not stopping to check in with the nurse's station. Julie, a young woman in her twenties was begging the doctor to be released.
"Please, please," she said, crying and trying to get out of bed.
"We have to observe you while the drugs still might be in your system," Dr Garrison was saying to her.
"I have to go. I have things to do, arrangements to make," she said, distraught.
"It can wait. Now you need to rest," Dr Garrison said. "Stay. I'll be back in a few minutes."
The Doctor turned and saw us standing in the doorway, and with a sigh he approached us. "Detectives..."
"Dr Garrison," Dean said with a nod.
"What the Hell is going on here? My whole town is going insane," he asked us.
"We'll let you know as soon as we do," I said to him gently. The doctor nodded and walked away, leaving us to enter the room.
I led the way in, pulling out my badge. "Ms Watson? Hi. We just need to ask you a few questions if that's okay?" I asked. She looked up at me, tears in her eyes, clearly upset.
"Do we have to go over this again, now?" She asked.
"We'll try to be brief," Sam answered, giving her the puppy dog look. "Can you tell us how you got away?"
Julie nodded. "I didn't eat as much as Ken did, so I wasn't as out of it. And, when the old woman was... carving Ken, I shoved her and she fell. Cracked her head on the stove." She paused, looking up at us. "She's dead right? I – I killed her?"
"Do you have any idea why she did this to you?" Dean asked.
"No!" Julie said, starting to cry. "One minute she was a sweet old lady, and the next she was, like, a monster!"
"Can you remember anything else?" I asked gently.
Julie stopped to think, nodding at me eventually. "Um, yeah. Did you find a little girl there, by any chance?" She asked.
"A little girl? At the house?" I asked, looking up at Dean and Sam. They both looked as surprised as I felt.
"I thought I saw her outside the window. She just disappeared. Just vanished, into thin air," Julie said, wringing her hands together. "It must've been the drugs," she said absently.
"This disappearing girl," Dean interjected. "What'd she look like?"
Julie looked confused at him. "Does it matter?"
"Yes," Sam answered. "Every detail matters."
She sighed, looking out the window before turning back to speak directly at me. "She had this dark, dark hair and really pale skin. She was around eight? She was a beautiful child, it was... odd to see her in the middle of something so horrible." I frowned and nodded.
We thanked her for her time, passing on our condolences, and then made our way out to the car.
"Right, time to check out the old lady's house," Dean said decisively, getting in to the driver's seat.
Old Lady's Home
The house was small and open planned, the kitchen fed into the dining and living area, all part of one large room. Dean was checking out the kitchen while Sam and I were in the living room. "Well, there's no sulphur anywhere, how about the EMF?" He asked, looking over at us.
"Yeah, it's going nuts. Right over here by the window," Sam said. "There's definitely a spirit here."
"Who stood outside the crime scene and watched," Dean said with a disturbed look on his face.
"Looks like," I said, crossing my arms and frowning at the window. Julie had been right, it was a very strange place and situation to find a beautiful young child.
"What the hell do you make of that?" Dean asked me and I shrugged.
"Actually, I have a theory, sort of," Sam said, looking over at us.
"Hit me," Dean said, nodding.
"Well, thinking about fairy tales," Sam said. Dean smirked and came over to lean against me, shoulder to shoulder, giving me a playful shove.
"Oh, that's – that's nice. You think about fairy tales often?" Dean asked Sam with a grin.
"No, Dean I'm talking about the murders. A guy and a girl? Hiking through the woods, an old lady tries to eat them?" He rolled his eyes at Dean and looked at me.
I nodded, seeing where he was going with it. "Hansel and Gretel," I answered, and Sam nodded. Dean gave me a look that more or less seemed to ask just whose side was I on – either I was teasing Sam or I was one of the nerds. Today it was Team Nerd it seemed.
"Then we got three brothers arguing over how to build houses, attacked by the Big Bad Wolf," he said, this time looking at Dean.
"Three Little Pigs," Dean said with a frown.
"Yeah." Sam said. Dean turned to me with a grin.
"Actually, those guys were a little chubby," he said and I rolled my eyes. "Well wait, I thought those things ended with uh, everyone living happily ever after?"
"No, no, not the originals," Sam said, shaking his head. "See the Grimm brothers stuff was kind of the folklore of it's day – full of sex, violence, cannibalism. Now, it got sanitised over the years, turned into Disney flicks and bedtime stories."
I nodded, remembering some of the stories my mother used to tell me.
"So you think the murders are what? A re-enactment? That's a little crazy." Dean said, raising an eyebrow.
"Crazy as what? Every day of our lives?" I asked, looking at him with a sigh.
Dean frowned. "Touché," he said with a nod. He looked back at Sam. "How's the creepy ghost girl involved?" He asked, starting to gather our things back into the bag we'd brought with us.
"Um, well, she must've been here for a reason," Sam said. "I'm willing to bet you top dollar she was at the construction site too."
Dean zipped up the bag and looked at Sam with a grimace. "We gotta do research now, don't we?"
Sam shrugged at him and Dean closed his eyes. Dean hated research, I had a feeling I was likely to be the one doing our fair share, it was usually the case.
County Central Library
Dean had left me a good hour ago, bored and needing some air. I stretched and shut the computer off in front of me. When I exited the library, Dean and Sam were waiting for me, leaning against a brick retaining wall.
"So?" Dean asked, looking at me.
"I checked every record they had," I said as we all started walking away. "Found the usual amount of violent childhood deaths for a town this size." We crossed the road to the park.
"Okay," Sam said with a nod.
"Have a guess how many were little girls with black hair and pale skin?" I asked, skipping ahead of them and turning to face them as I walked backwards keeping their pace.
"Zero?" Dean asked, and I grinned.
"Bingo! You want to know how many little girls with black hair and pale skin have gone missing?" I looked at them expectantly, coming to a stop as we reached the grassy area of the park.
"Zero?" Sam asked with a smile.
"Right again. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Please tell me you've got something good because we just totally wasted the last six hours in there," I said to Sam.
Sam started walking and I turned to join them as we followed the path. "Well, you ever hear of Lillian Bailey? She was a British medium from the 1930s," Sam said. I shook my head, shrugging.
"She got a thing for fairy tales?" Dean asked.
"No, trances. See she'd go into these unconscious states where, um, get this, her thoughts and actions were completely controlled by spirits," Sam said, shaking his head.
"A ghost puppet master," Dean stated and Sam nodded.
"Yeah." He said.
"You think that's what this kid is doing?" Dean asked. "Sending wolfboy and grandma into trances, making them go kill-crazy?"
"Could be," Sam said. "You know, kind of like a spirit hypnosis or something."
"Trances I get," I said, "But fairy tale trances? That's bizarre, even for us."
A croaking noise drew our attention to our feet and we stopped walking. Sitting in the middle of the path was a bullfrog.
"Yeah, you're right that's completely normal," Sam said with a smirk.
The bullfrog croaked at us again and again, like it was just sitting and watching us. Dean glanced over at Sam.
"All right, maybe it is fairy tales. Totally, messed-up fairy tales. But I tell you one thing, there's no way I'm kissing a damn frog!" He shuddered, looking slightly disturbed by the idea.
"Hey, check that out," Sam said suddenly, pointing to a house across the road. There was a pumpkin sitting on the porch.
"Yeah?" Dean asked, confused. "It's close to Halloween."
"What? Do you remember Cinderella?" Sam asked, looking more at me than Dean. "The pumpkin that turns into a coach and the mice that become horses?" He pointed at a couple of mice scuttling along the porch.
I nodded and Dean looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow. "Dude, could you be more gay?" He asked. Sam gave Dean an amused look and Dean shook his head. "Don't answer that," he said, looking back at the house.
We crossed the road and knocked, no one answered the door. With a glance, Sam picked the lock and we entered the cosy looking house.
"Well who knows, maybe you'll find your fairy godmother?" Dean chuckled to me and I rolled my eyes at him. I followed Dean down a hallway while Sam headed to another section of the house. There was a noise that echoed from the back of the house and we all glanced at each other, drawing our guns.
Dean closed the front door and we systematically moved from the front of the house through to the back, searching each room we came to.
There was another noise and Dean motioned Sam to go ahead while we covered.
"Help! I'm in here!" A girl's voice sounded and Sam moved quickly through a little foyer into the kitchen.
"Hey, hey," Sam said, kneeling down beside a young girl who was handcuffed to the oven. "It's okay, we're here, we got you." Sam opened his lock pick kit to grab the right pick for the handcuffs.
"You have to help me, she's a lunatic," the girl said, whimpering.
"What happened?" I asked, crouching behind Dean.
"My stepmom, she just freaked out, screamed at me, beat me. Chained me up," she said.
"Where is she now?" Sam asked.
"I don't know," the girl said. I looked up, spotting movement out of the corner of my eye and saw a young girl looking at us through the kitchen door, she had the same dark hair that Watson had described.
"Dean!" I whispered urgently. He and Sam both looked up, seeing the girl at the same time. The girl turned and walked away, I got up and followed her, losing her momentarily as I moved through the dining room into the foyer. The girl was waiting for me in the living room, and when she saw me she calmly walked out of sight, I swallowed and followed her nervously. By the time I got there she was gone. I looked around and then got the prickly sensation I often got when someone was watching me. I spun around and the girl was standing right in front of me.
"Who are you?" I asked, glancing over to see Dean enter the room from behind her. The girl was silent, watching me, then she flickered and vanished right before our eyes. I looked at Dean, surprised. Dean frowned, moving forward and when I looked down he was reaching for a red apple that had appeared on the rug. He stood up, holding it, and looked at me confused.
"What the hell?" He asked, I shrugged, crossing my arms and staring at the apple, surprised at the memories it was bringing up in me.
Beth's Bedroom
18 years ago
(Just before Beth's 8th Birthday)
Grace's POV
The tiny little girl in my lap stared intently at the fairy tale book I was holding, her finger brushing over the pictures on the page. We were almost finished with the story, coming up to her favourite part.
"The dwarfs, meanwhile, wept and wept over Snow White. She looked so pretty even in death that they did not have the heart to bury her. So they built a casket of glass, and placed her in it, and set the casket upon a ledge of rock in the forest. One of the dwarfs always remained by the casket, watching." I read out the words as Ella turned the pages of the book, smiling as she saw the prince on a horse appear.
"One day a prince came riding by on a white horse, and seeing the beautiful maiden lying as though asleep in the casket, he fell in love with her.
'Give me the casket,' he said to the dwarfs. 'I cannot live without Snow White, and will take good care of her as long as I live.'" Ella smiled, leaning back against me.
"The dwarves could not bare to part with Snow White and refused the prince. The prince became sad and knelt by the glass case, looking at the dwarves. 'Can I at least kiss her?' He said to them, and they felt so sorry for him that they agreed, and took off the glass cover.
"The prince knelt by Snow White and stared lovingly at her before leaning down and placing a kiss on her lips. This was no ordinary kiss, it was the kiss of true love. Snow White opened, and everyone looked at her in surprise. She smile at the Prince, falling in love at first sight.
"'Will you marry me and be my wife Snow White? I will love you and take care of you for as long as I live." The Prince said. Snow White could not have been more in love with the Prince, and they were married the very next day, and lived happily ever after."
Ella looked at the book, as she always did and sighed.
"I hope I find my Prince Charming one day," she said, and I smiled at her, brushing her hair back from her face.
"I'm sure you will my love," I kissed her gently on the forehead and climbed off the bed, settling her back in against the pillows and tucking her in. I sat beside her again and smiled.
"He won't be riding a white horse though," Ella declared and I raised an eyebrow.
"No?" I asked.
"No, I think he will be riding a black one," she said and I smiled, looking up at her father who had just come to the door.
"A black horse?" Patrick asked, looking in on us.
Ella smiled and nodded. Patrick grinned and came in to join us, resting his hand on my shoulder.
"Any reason he'll be riding a black horse?" Patrick asked, winking at me.
"So I'll be able to recognise him, of course, if all the other princes are riding white horses, I'll know he's not the one for me." Ella said with a big smile. "It'll be a special horse."
"Of course," I said with a smile, kissing her again on the forehead. "Well you better get some rest then, if you're going to be on the look out for this black horse and Prince Charming." She smiled and nodded, snuggling in with her teddy bear.
"Daddy?" Ella asked, looking over at Patrick.
"Yes, sweetheart?" he asked.
"Does God always make sure we find our true love?" She asked, and Patrick turned back to nod at her.
"Of course Bethie. You just have to keep praying and believing," he answered and I nodded.
"And does God make sure we all live happily ever after?" She asked, I frowned, what was with all these questions?
Patrick gave her a beaming smile that would melt the coldest heart. "God loves us, and wants us to be happy, and sometimes sad things happen. But even through all the bad things there is always light at the end, we just have to have faith. Don't worry about these things Bethie, you'll get to it all in due time." He kissed her and turned off the light, the room was lit up with a small night light and Ella sighed.
"I can't wait to meet my Prince Charming," she said happily, rolling over with a smile. I looked at her, a heaviness in my heart – the angels said she had big things to accomplish in life, and not all of them would be pleasant. I wished there was a way that I could protect her from all the evil life could throw our way, but it was impossible.
Somehow, we had to just prepare her in faith, teach her to believe in her angels and that they are always watching over her, and trust that it would be enough to see her through in the darkest hours.
Patrick wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to the door. We looked back on our little girl, almost asleep already, smiling happily and dreaming about a man on a black horse. I only hoped one day she found him, and that he was worthy of such devotion.
Outside "Cinderella" House
Present Day
Beth's POV
Dean was sitting on the hood of the Impala while I leaned against a street sign nearby, we were tossing the apple back and forth to each other waiting for Sam.
"You okay?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, sure. Why?" I questioned.
"You've been kind of quiet since we saw ghosty girl back there," he said with a slight frown, tossing me the apple again.
Sam walked up and I threw him the apple which he caught with a raised eyebrow.
"Paramedics picked up Cinderella," he said, looking at us both.
"That's good," Dean said with a nod.
"Yeah," Sam said, looking at the apple.
"So... little girl, shiny red apple. I'm guess that means something to you, fairy tale boy?" Dean said with a smirk.
"It's Snow White," I said, before Sam could answer. Dean looked at me surprised.
"Snow White?" He said, his expression turning cheeky. "Ah I saw that movie. Oh the porn version anyway. There was this wicked Stepmother? Woo... she was wicked," he said, pulling me in to him with a grin. I rolled my eyes at him and Sam snorted, shaking his head.
"There is a wicked stepmother. And she tries to kill Snow White with a poisoned apple," I said, biting my lip.
"But the apple doesn't actually kill the girl right?" Dean asked.
"No. Puts her in a deep sleep, so deep it's almost like she's dead," Sam answered, and Dean looked curious at that. He kissed me on the cheek and then slid across the hood of the car to the driver side.
"Yee haw, let's go then!" He said, landing on his feet and turning to open the door.
"Go where?" I asked, watching him and he turned and grinned.
"You'll see."
Hospital
"No, sorry. We don't have any comatose little girls," the Nurse said to us at the nurse's station. Dean looked disappointed, he had been certain he had cracked the case.
"You sure?" He asked with a frown.
"Totally. It's mostly old guys. And well... Callie. She's been around since before I started here." She said thoughtfully.
"Callie?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.
"Yeah, it's so sad. And poor Dr Garrison he just won't give up on her," she said with a shake of her head.
"Is Callie one of his patients?" Sam asked curiously.
"No, his daughter," she answered. We all exchanged a look and the nurse went to answer a phone.
A few minutes later we were outside Callie's room. Before us lay a beautiful young lady, no longer a child, but still dressed as if one. She was in a white night gown and her hair was brushed down around her shoulders falling straight and black, just like Snow White. Dr Garrison was sitting by the side of her bed reading from a book – The Complete Works and Tales of The Brothers Grimm.
"...and the Huntsman stepped inside, and in the bed lay the Wolf. So the Huntsman took a pair of scissors and cut open the Wolf's belly," Dr Garrison read, and I grimaced. I hated this story.
Dr Garrison noticed us standing in the doorway and looked up, clearing his throat. He closed the book, touching Callie's arm affectionately before approaching us. "Detectives. Can I help you?" He asked.
"We just... heard that Callie is your daughter," Dean said.
"And we wanted to say how very sorry we are," I finished for him while Sam nodded beside me.
Dr Garrison nodded at us. "Well, uh. Thank you. If you'll excuse me."
"Oh, heading this way?" Dean asked as the doctor brushed past us and down the hallway. "We'll walk with you. How long has Callie been like that?" He said, getting directly to the point.
"We don't mean to intrude, we can't possibly understand how hard it must be for you seeing her like this," Sam interjected, turning on his puppy dog eyes.
"It's not easy," Dr Garrison said, taking off his glasses which he'd been using to read with. "She's uh, been here since she was eight years old."
"That's when she was poisoned?" Sam guessed, and Dr. Garrison nodded.
"Yes. Swallowed bleach. Never figured out how she got her hands on the bottle. My wife found her, uh, brought her to the ER here and I was on call." I lagged behind and listened as the boys questioned the doctor.
"Your wife was uh, was that Callie's stepmother?" Dean asked, now right into the flow of things.
Dr Garrison stopped walking and looked at Dean. "Actually, yes. How'd you know that?" He asked.
Dean shrugged and looked a little sheepish. "Lucky guess." The doctor nodded, looking down at the floor.
"Well, Julie was the only mother that uh, Callie ever knew. My wife passed away last year, and uh, it's just my daughter and me now. She's all I got left." He paused. "Um, excuse me I've got to get back to work."
The doctor walked off and we headed in another direction.
"Well, you're right. It's Snow White in spades," Dean said, suddenly the expert in the story.
"Yep, stepmom poisons the girl, puts her into a deep sleep. What's the motive you think?" Sam asked.
"Could be like Mischa Barton," Dean said, clarifying when Sam and I raised our eyebrows at him. "Sixth Sense, not the O.C."
Sam looked confused. "What?"
"Hey, you know fairy tales, I know movies," Dean said with a grin. "She played the pasty ghost. You know, the uh, remember the mom had that thing you know?" He looked at me for a little help. "Where you keep the kid sick so you get all the attention?"
"Yeah, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy," I said.
Sam looked thoughtful. "Huh, could be," he said with a shrug.
"So say all these years Callie's been suffering silently because nobody knows the truth about what mommy dearest did?"
"And after all this time her spirit just gets angrier and angrier, until it finally just starts lashing out." I said with a nod.
"Right," Dean said, coming to a stop in the hospital waiting room. "Meanwhile she has to listen to Dad tell her these deranged stories about a rabid wolf or a cannibalistic old lady, it's enough to drive anybody nuts."
"Okay," Sam said, in complete agreement. "But how are we gonna stop her, I mean Callie's stuck here, her father's keeping her body alive."
"It does make it a bit hard to burn the bones," I said with a raised eyebrow.
"You think?" Sam asked with a grin.
"Coming in!" Someone shouted behind us, and the emergency doors swung open. We watched as the paramedics brought in an old lady on a stretcher.
"Okay, what's her status?" A doctor asked, going up to the stretcher.
"Seventy-two year old female, sustained multiple lacerations and puncture wounds. BP is eighty over forty and falling. Sinus tachycardia," the paramedic said.
"Is that a bite?" The doctor asked, looking at the woman's neck.
"Looks like she was mauled by a mad dog or, maybe a wolf?" The second paramedic said
"What was the last story Dr Garrison was reading Callie?" Dean asked.
"Little Red Riding Hood," I answered, swallowing.
Ten minutes later the lady was dead, and I was watching the paramedic shaking his head with a sigh as he looked over paperwork. I pulled out my badge and approached him.
"Excuse me," I asked, flashing him my badge. "Was she the only victim?" I asked, pointing to the body of the woman, now covered in a sheet.
He nodded. "She was found by the side of the road, barely alive. Alone."
"We need to find her next of kin," I said.
"Yeah, she has a granddaughter," he answered.
"Do you have an address?" Dean asked from behind me.
The paramedic nodded and handed a sheet of paper to him.
"Thank you," I said, taking one last look at the woman on the table. I shook my head. I hated fairy tales.
Dean stopped on his way out the door and looked back at Sam and me.
"Hey, you guys find a way to stop Callie, all right?" He said, and I frowned.
"Well, what are you going to do?" I asked, biting my lip.
"I'm gonna go stop the Big Bad Wolf," he said, pausing as he realised what he had just said. "Which is the weirdest thing I've ever said." He started to walk away and I ran after him.
"Dean..." I said, he paused looking back at me questioningly. "Just, be careful, okay?" He smiled and pulled me in for a quick kiss.
"I'm always careful," he said with a grin, which had me rolling my eyes. "Help Sam, okay?" I nodded and let him go, staring as he walked across the road and jumped in the Impala, roaring off like a knight in shining armour to save the day. I shook my head at the image and Sam joined me, clearly thinking along the same lines.
"All that is missing is his white horse," he commented with a grin. I laughed, and looked up at him.
"Nah, every prince charming or knight rides a white horse. At least we know when it's him coming, hard to miss in the Impala." I said, shaking my head.
"That's true," Sam said with a short laugh.
"You know, when I was eight I told my mother that my prince charming would ride a black horse." I smirked, shaking my head. "Talk about childish dreams."
"Oh I don't know... the Impala comes pretty close to being Dean's black horse," Sam said with a chuckle.
I stared out the window and smiled. "Don't tell Dean, he's got a bit enough head as it is without declaring him my Prince Charming."
Sam smiled and put his arm around my shoulders. "Come on, let's go figure out how to kill Snow White."
Hospital
We went looking for Dr Garrison, finding him walking down a corridor reading through someone's chart.
"Dr Garrison!" Sam called out and we rushed to catch up with him.
"Detectives. What can I do for you?" Garrison asked us.
"Well, um. It's about Callie," I said gently, these conversations were never any fun to have, particularly when you knew you were going to sound nuts as soon as you got into it.
"My daughter? What about her?" Garrison asked, looking confused.
"You know, maybe we could sit down for a minute?" Sam asked. This only seemed to annoy the doctor.
"No. What about her?" He asked again.
"Okay," I said with a sigh, looking at Sam. "Well, um, all right. Doctor this isn't going to be easy to hear. But what happened to Callie, it wasn't an accident."
"Excuse me?" The doctor asked looking at us incredulously.
"I'm sorry, but it's true," I said, and just this once it would have been nice to have someone go 'Oh, really? I completely believe you, tell me more!' I was, of course, going to be disappointed.
"You have no idea what happened to my daughter," Garrison said to us. He turned and started to walk away, we followed him, trying to convince him to listen.
"There are things you don't know Doctor, about your wife," Sam said.
"My wife?!" Garrison asked, frowning, but he kept walking.
"Doctor, your wife poisoned Callie," I said. Garrison stopped and turned back toward us.
"Why would you say something so horrible to me?" He asked.
"Because we need your help," Sam said.
We'd reached Callie's room, and Garrison glared at us. "You stay away from me, and my daughter, you understand?" He said, turning to go into the room. Sam tried to follow but he shut the door in our face.
Sam turned and sighed at me, opening the door and letting us in, closing it behind us. Garrison looked at us and then reached for an internal phone.
"I'm calling security," he said. Sam placed a hand over the phone, stopping him.
"No, listen. I don't have time to do this gently. If you don't listen to me more people are going to get hurt, because Callie is going to hurt them." Sam said, I cringed internally, I knew how it sounded: like we were insane.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Garrison asked, frowning.
"You're going to think we're crazy, but just understand this, doctor," I said, trying to placate the man a little. "Your daughter Callie is still here. She's a spirit."
Garrison looked at us, then over at Callie, a sad expression on his face. He sighed and turned back to us, sitting on the end of Callie's bed. "So you've seen her too?" He asked. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
"You've seen her?" I asked, flabbergasted, and Garrison nodded.
"I sensed her, Callie. Her presence, her scent. I even saw her standing at the foot of my bed, but I never... believed it. I thought I was dreaming." He said softly, staring over at his daughter.
"It wasn't a dream. She looks like she did when she was eight," I said, glancing at the girl. "White dress. Red ribbon in her hair. She's been trying to talk to you."
He looked at me, sadness in his eyes. "You guys aren't cops, are you?" He asked, looking from me to Sam.
"No, we're not," I said gently.
"Then who are you?" He asked.
"People who know a little about this kind of thing," Sam answered, and I nodded.
"But what you said about my wife poisoning Callie, that's..." he shook his head, not wanting to believe it.
"Sir. Callie told us," Sam said. It was never going to be an easy thing to hear.
"What?!" Garrison asked, looking up at him.
"Not in so many words, but in her own way. She told us." I said, walking around to look at the girl lying deathly still in the bed. She really did look like Snow White, it was uncanny. I shook my head at the thought, it was one of the oldest stories I knew, my mother had read it to me as a child.
"My wife loved Callie," Garrison said. "So how is – how is that possible?" He asked.
"I don't know," Sam answered. "But it is."
"No, no, I don't believe you," he said, going into denial.
"Doctor. Callie is killing people. She's angry. She's desperate, because nobody will listen to her," I said, looking at him. "So you have to listen to her. Please, listen to your daughter."
Grandmother's House
Dean's POV
I arrived at the house belonging to the most recent victim. It was the only place I could think to go. Kicking in the door, I moved inside, gun drawn, searching for signs of anyone being there. I shut the door behind me, and moved into the living room, it was dark and dusty, smelling of old lady.
A little girl in a red hoodie was crouched beside a bookshelf crying, she looked startled when I came into the room. I moved toward her, crouching down to her level.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," she nodded, and her eyes moved to something behind me. "Ah!" She screamed and I swung my gun around to face the danger. I wasn't fast enough, a big angry man knocked the gun from my hand, so I punched him. He grabbed me by my shirt, and I grimaced as I felt myself tossed through the air over a table and into a china cabinet. The sounds of breaking glass echoed around me as I felt sharp stinging in my back.
Hospital – Callie's Room
Beth's POV
Dr Garrison sat on the side of the bed, and started to talk to his daughter. "Callie? Callie it's Dad," he said, looking around. Nothing happened.
"Keep trying," I encouraged him, and he nodded.
"It's me, Daddy. Is it true? Did Mommy do that to you? I know I wasn't listening before, but I'm listening now. Daddy's here. Please honey, is there something you want to tell me?"
"Doctor.." Sam's voice interrupted the man and he glanced up. Callie's spirit had appeared next to the man.
He stared at her, stunned. He reached a hand out almost as if he couldn't believe she was there, and I realised that it was probably the first time in a long time he was seeing a living breathing image of his daughter. "Is it true?" He asked. Callie's spirit nodded at him.
Dr Garrison looked devastated, tears in his eyes as he talked to his daughter. "I'm so sorry baby," he said. "But listen to me. You gotta stop what you're doing okay? You're hurting people. I know everything now. I know the truth. It's time for you to let go." He paused, looking at the girl. "It's time for me to let you go."
He turned back to the bed and kissed Callie on the forehead, almost instantly her monitors began to flatline. I put my arm around Sam, tears in my eyes as I watched the girl pass on. Sam looked down at me, concerned, and put an arm around my shoulders. We stood there, unable to do or say anything that would make it better for the doctor. His daughter was dead, and she'd been all he had left.
Grandmother's House
Dean's POV
The guy I was fighting hoisted me to my feet and I fought to get a grip on him, tossing a few glancing blows across his ribs before he threw me to the floor again. I spotted a basket of knitting by the armchair I was next to, and a pair of silver toned scissors glinted at me. I grabbed them, finally I was armed again. The man advanced on me, pure rage in his eyes. I swung at him, missing and then punched him with my other hand, sending him flying into a bookcase which collapsed from the impact.
I stood, panting, looking at the guy, wondering what the hell was taking Sam and Beth so long? The man stood up and ran at me, tackling me to the floor. I tried to stab him with the scissors still in my hand, but he was strong and fighting me off. I rolled him on to his back, getting the upper hand, landing a blow across his face. He grunted and wrestled with me. I pulled back with the scissors in my hand, ready to stab him when he held out his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Whoa! Stop, stop! Whoa stop! Whoa! Where am I? What's going on?!" He said, looking around as if seeing the house for the first time. I gasped for air, and breathed a sigh of relief, lowering the scissors and climbing off the man. I was exhausted.
Almost immediately my phone started ringing and I sat back against the couch, reaching for it.
"Hey suparpie," I said, knowing it had to be Beth.
"Hey, we did it, she's gone – did you find the guy?" Beth's voice sounded tired and upset.
"Yeah, yeah – and not a moment too soon I might add, good job," I said.
"Are you okay?" She asked, listening to me catching my breath.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'll see you soon, okay?" I said, she agreed and I hung up the phone, looking over at the man who was now sitting on the floor. How to explain this one to the cops? Poor bastard was in for a real hard time, I kind of felt for him.
Hospital
Beth's POV
Dean had joined us again as soon as they brought the little girl in to be checked over. We were standing by the nurses station when Dr Garrison joined us.
"And the girl's okay?" Garrison asked Dean, who nodded. The doctor sighed. "So, it's really over."
"Yeah. All thanks to you," Sam said with a smile.
"Callie was the most important thing in my life. But I should've let her go a long time ago." Dean looked over at Sam and me when he said that, I pretended not to notice. I didn't like the sentiment.
"See ya 'round Doc," Dean said with a smile.
"I sure hope not," Garrison said with a laugh, patting Dean on the shoulder before walking away.
"You know what he said?" Dean said, and I crossed my arms, looking over at Sam. "Some good advice."
Sam looked furious for the both of us, shaking his head. "Is that what you want us to do Dean? Just let you go?" He asked. I shook my head, I didn't want to get into this, not now. I felt like my heart was going to break. Dean looked at us, I couldn't even meet his eyes. Sam had tears in his eyes and Dean just walked away, not giving us an answer. I watched him go, tears building in my eyes, tears that I'd been fighting for so long.
Sam pulled me in for a hug and I held on to him tightly around the waist, sniffing everything back, shaking my head.
"It's okay, Beth," he said, trying to reassure me. But it wasn't. He knew it, I knew it, Dean knew it. There was no light at the end of the tunnel here, there was no happy ending.
Motel Room
Dean's POV
Beth and I had been arguing since we all got back to the motel. Sam had stepped out to give us some space, but he'd made it clear that he wholeheartedly agreed with everything coming out of Beth's mouth.
I was sitting on the bed, quietly watching as she tossed things around the room, her anger rolling off her in waves. I don't think I'd ever seen her this angry, other than the time when Sam had pulled her away from the angel garden she'd destroyed. I sighed, there was a pattern with Beth's anger, with her despair, and this one had been building for a few months now and I couldn't say I blamed her.
"Let you go? Just... let you go?!" She said for the umpteenth time, storming past me and starting to toss things in her duffel bag. "How about this Dean? You don't get to come into my life like a god damn knight in shining armour and save me, just to abandon me ten years later! It's not fair, and you don't get to just tell me to let you go!" She stopped suddenly, looking over at me as I stood up, reaching out a placating hand to her.
"Beth, now hold on a minute, I wasn't the one who went and made that deal with the crossroads demon," I said. But I was the one who trumped it.
"Oh don't you start with that," Beth said, flashing angry eyes at me. "That deal was better than any you were offered, and you know it. I'd have gladly paid it ten times over if it meant we had five more years. But now I'm stuck with this dread in my stomach every single day, and I look at you and all I see is a countdown to when I have to... I can't Dean, I can't do it, I can't …" I watched as she slid down the wall and landed in a heap on the floor, sighing and moving to sit next to her.
"There's no happy ending Dean, there's nothing, just pain and suffering. All my childhood my mother lied to me, where was her happy ending? Where is ours?" She said and I put an arm around her as she leaned in to me, burying her face in my neck and sobbing.
"Hey, come on," I said, swallowing back my own despair. "You have a long life ahead of you, won't even remember who I am in a few years. You'll find someone else and get a happy ending with them." It really wasn't the right thing to say, I watched as her mouth dropped open and yet more tears started falling from her eyes.
"How can you say that?" She asked, barely getting the words out. "Dean, if I can't have you I don't want anyone else." It broke my heart to listen to her, because it was the same reason I'd made the deal in the first place, a life without her was no life at all. Now there was nothing we could do to get out of this, not if I wanted to save her from an eternity of suffering.
"Sure, you say that now, but in three... four years... if you get out hunting, find a life..." I felt myself just digging the hole deeper, but I still couldn't manage to shut my cake hole.
She climbed over my legs, straddling my lap and looking at me. "You think this is a fling for me? You think I'm just going to pick up and move on the minute you're gone?" She looked at me with bleak eyes, already full of mourning and a broken heart. "I will never, ever get over you, I will mourn you until the day I die if we don't get you out of this deal."
I pulled her tightly against me, there was nothing to say to that and it was my worst fear of all, leaving her to a life that wasn't even worth living. I was really starting to curse my impulsiveness, the sheer idiocy of jumping in on that deal. If I'd just listened, stopped for one moment, we'd have five years to figure this out, not seven months.
"I'm sorry," I said finally and she sank into me, her sobs starting to subside. After a moment she pulled back, and I fought back the tears in my eyes as she looked at me, a new determination to her face.
"I'm going to save you Dean, I don't know how, but I am. I'll figure it out or I'll die trying. If you go to Hell, I will come for you, and I will find you, and I will drag you out of there myself. You don't get to tell me to move on, not when you know it's exactly the same thing you would do for me." She said calmly, and as I sat there holding her, I knew she meant every word.
"Okay," I said with a nod. "Okay." I kissed her with a quiet sorrow, hoping to ease back some of the despondency that was sitting inside us both. "If this thing goes down, and you know it probably will...then we do what we do best, we find a way through it, okay? We figure it out. And you wait for me; I really didn't mean a damn thing I said before about you moving on..."
I detected the slightest smile at the corner of her mouth as she sighed, looking at me with so much devotion, a love I didn't deserve. "I'm sorry," I said again, brushing my hand along her cheek. "You're right, I can't tell you how you should feel. I only wish you didn't have to go through this at all."
Motel Room
Several Hours Later
Sam's POV
Whatever Dean had said to Beth, it had seemed to placate her for the moment. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief, I was completely terrified of how I was going to help her through this whole thing, how I was going to convince her not to give up on Dean if he were dragged down to Hell.
They were sleeping peacefully in bed now, Beth wrapped around him with her head on his chest. I watched them, and I knew I was going to go through with my plan, regardless of what Dean would say.
I picked up my backpack and cast one last look at the two most important people in the world to me. Quietly I left the room, closing the door behind me.
I walked down a dirt road, coming to a crossroads, and took the box out of my bag that I'd prepared earlier, all the summoning ingredients necessary to bring the demon to me. I crouched down, closing the box and burying it in the ground with my bare hands.
By the time I'd turned around, surveying the directions of the road, the demon had appeared, standing beside me.
"Well. Little Sammy Winchester. I'm touched. I mean... your brother and sister have been to see me twice, but you? I never had the pleasure." She said, her eyes glowing red. I glared at her in response.
"What can I do for you Sam?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
I drew the Colt out of my jacket and pointed it directly at her head. "You can beg for your life," I told her.
She sighed. "We were having such a nice conversation, then you had to go and ruin the mood."
"If I were you I'd drop the wisecracks and start acting scared," I said, narrowing my eyes at her.
"It's not my style," she replied with a smirk. "That's not the original Colt. Where did you get that?"
I ignored the question, watching her.
"Ruby. Had to be," she said, shaking her head. "She is such a pain in my ass. She'll get what's coming to her... you can count on it."
"That's enough. I came here to make you an offer." I said to her.
The demon looked at me incredulously. "You're gonna make me an offer? That's adorable," she said.
"You can let Dean out of his deal right now. He lives. Beth lives. I live. You live. Everyone goes home happy. Or..." I cocked the gun, raising an eyebrow at her. "...you stop breathing. Permanently."
The demon smiled at me, and then laughed. "Oh. All this tough talk. I have to tell you, it's not very convincing. I mean, come on Sam. Do you even want to break the deal?"
"What do you think?" I asked.
"I don't know. Aren't you tired of cleaning up Dean and Beth's messes? Of dealing with that broken psyche of his? Aren't you tired of being bossed around like the little snot-nosed brother? Cast aside whenever you become a third wheel and they want to get their rocks off? You're stronger than Dean. You're smarter than Beth. You're better than the both of them."
"Watch your mouth," I warned her, glaring at her.
"Admit it. You're here, going through the motions. But truth is, you'll be a tiny bit relieved when he's gone," she taunted., taking a few steps toward me.
"Shut up," I said.
"No more desperate, sloppy, needy Dean. Just Beth, and oh how needy she is going to be. You can finally be free of that brother, and maybe, just maybe there's something deep down that wishes you were the brother she'd fallen for. Who knows maybe she will once Dean is out of the picture."
"I said shut up!" I said loudly at her, waving the Colt in front of her.
"Huh. Doth protest too much if you ask me." She said with a smirk.
"All right, enough of your crap. You let Dean out of his deal, right now." I ordered her.
"Sorry sweetheart, but your brother's an adult." She said, starting to circle around me. "He made that deal of his own free will, fair and square. It's iron clad," she said with a smile.
"Every deal can be broken," I said, following her moves with the Colt, my eyes not leaving her for a moment.
"Not this one," she answered, turning to smile at me.
"Fine. Then I'll kill you. If you're gone, so's the deal," I said, and in my heart I knew it wouldn't be that easy, but it was worth a try. I was also fishing for information.
The demon laughed at me, shaking her head. "Guess again."
"What?" I asked.
"Sam, I'm just a sales woman. I got a boss like everybody else. He holds the contract, not me. He wants Dean's soul, bad. And believe me, he's not going to let it go." She said.
"You're bluffing," I said.
"Am I?" She asked. "Shoot me, if it'll get you off, but the deal still holds, and when Dean's time is up, he's getting dragged into the pit, regardless of what you, or that pretty little sister of yours tries to do to stop it."
"Then who's your boss? Who holds the contract?" I asked, lowering the Colt, I'd just kill him too.
"He's not as cuddly as me, I can tell you that," she said with a smile.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"I can't tell you. I'm sorry Sam. There's no way out of this one. Not this time," she said, looking at me almost sympathetically.
I felt a rage pass through me that I hadn't felt in a long time, and I was torn. I sighed, looking down at my hands. When I looked up again, I lifted the Colt and shot the demon right between the eyes. She looked shocked, and then fell to the ground with a groan.
What was I going to do? This had been our best bet and it had been a complete waste of time. Just what was I going to do now?
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Song for this chapter is: Without You by Breaking Benjamin
If there's any one out there skilled at making videos, I'm still looking for someone who might be interested in tackling some Dean & Beth fan vids :)
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