"I'm going to the library for a little while. Stay here with Tessa?"
"Sure. Call if you find out anything."
Tessa raised her head groggily, blinking her eyes in the bright morning light streaming in from the grimy window. She caught a glimpse of Dean pulling the door closed behind him. Tessa yawned. She moved some of her thick brown hair out of her face and stretched.
"Morning, Tessa," Sam said, somewhat hesitantly. Tessa supposed that he was expecting her to burst into spontaneous tears at any moment, given how traumatic the past few days had been for her.
"Good morning. I'm starved, do you want to go grab some food? The brochure said something about a 'gourmet' breakfast," Sam nodded. Tessa disentangled herself from the blankets and threw on the first things she found in her bag. Not bothering with makeup, Tessa slid on her worn combat boots and followed Sam out the door.
The gourmet breakfast, it turned out, was a toaster, a pile of staling bread, a pitcher of orange juice, and a few pieces of limp bacon. Tessa made a face as she lifted one of the bacon slices into the air.
"How do people eat this stuff?" she asked in wonder. Sam raised an eyebrow before helping himself to a glass of orange juice. "Oh, yeah, vegetarian. It goes back to when I was a kid. Dad showed me this documentary about cows and chickens raised for slaughter and it screwed with me," Tessa laughed weakly. Talking about her family killed her inside.
"Don't let Dean hear you say that," Sam teased as they walked to a tiny folding table. The chair made a loud scraping noise as Tessa pulled it out, earning a few dirty looks from people around her. She and Sam ate in silence for a few minutes. Well, Sam ate, Tessa picked at her crumbly toast.
"Can-" Tessa was cut off by the blaring of Sam's cell phone. She sighed quietly, restraining from rolling her eyes.
"Yeah. Okay. We'll be there in about half an hour," Sam pulled the phone away from his ear and turned expectantly to Tessa.
"I was going to ask if I could borrow your phone to call my dad... I left mine in the room," without waiting for a reply, Tessa plucked the cell phone from Sam's hand and dialed in the familiar number. It only took two rings for her father to answer.
"Hello?" he sounded groggy, like he'd just woken up. Tessa snuck a glance at Sam's watch; it was 7:30 AM.
"Hey, Dad. It's Tessa, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be staying over at Lily's for a while today. I hope you don't mind," Tessa internally prayed that her father wouldn't put up a fight, or worse, insist that they both go home.
"Where's your phone at, honey?" she froze. Of course her father had caller ID, and he wouldn't recognize the number.
Tessa said the first thing that popped into her mind. "Oh, yeah. I borrowed Lily's. My battery died last night, and I, being me, left my charger at home. What time are you planning on going home, by the way?" she bit her lip hard, willing her shaking voice to steady.
"Okay. I was planning on coming home later this evening. The family all missed you. Stop by if you feel like it, okay? There's no pressure on you, of course. Do whatever you need to," Tessa nearly started crying at the love in her fathers tone. He had no idea of the lies and secrets, and she was terrified that he might someday find out.
"Thanks, I'll definitely think about it," Tessa paused as she exchanged a look with Sam, and although he was smiling, she could tell that he needed her to wrap it up. "Um, I have to go, but I'll call you later. I love you, Daddy."
"I love you too, Tessie. Stay safe," the line went dead. Tessa shot a small smile at Sam before setting the phone in his waiting hand.
"So where to now?" Tessa popped a piece of toast into her mouth, cringing at the burnt, bitter taste of it. As she watched, Sam finished off his glass of juice and rose.
"That sad excuse of a library. Dean hasn't made much progress; apparently there's some girl working the counter who keeps making eyes at him," Sam rolled his eyes, and Tessa had to agree; Dean would flirt, and eventually sleep with, anything that had boobs.
Back in the hotel room, Tessa began to gather her things. There wasn't much to put up besides her toiletries and dirty clothes. Tessa cringed internally as the blood and dirt encrusted pajamas mixed with the fresh and clean items. She would have to run a load in the washing machine the next chance she got.
"Um, Tessa?" Sam had two large bags slung over his shoulder, and he held something in his right hand-
"Oh my god! I'm sorry... It must've just fallen out of my bag," Tessa awkwardly reclaimed her hot pink bra from Sam and shoved it into the outer pocket of her duffel. Both of their faces were a bright red.
When they began walking down the block to the library, Tessa was grateful for the silence. Sam had thrown their bags in the backseat of the Impala before following Tessa down a street she had known her whole life. O'Brien didn't have much, so if you wanted anything you came here. She had spent many afternoons walking the streets with friends waiting for her dad to finish shopping.
"Hi. We're with him," Sam gestured to the back room where the outline of Dean was just visible. The girl nodded, and Tessa could see why Dean had been unable to concentrate. She was classically pretty; blonde hair, bright blue eyes, perfectly tanned skin... Tessa wanted to shrink away into the corner.
"College's a bitch, isn't it? I'm in my third year. I'm Wendy, by the way. Let me know if I can help you out with anything," the girl, Wendy, flashed Sam a brilliant smile before turning to Tessa. "And you too hon. Are you his little sister?"
"She's a friend of mine. We're both in our second year. Thanks," Sam saved Tessa the embarrassment of responding, leading her to the record room.
Dean began smirking the second he laid eyes on Tessa. "Hey, sis," he teased.
"Asshole," Tessa snapped, feeling her cheeks flush again. She practically radiated embarrassment.
"Anyway," Sam paused, glancing briefly at Tessa before turning away, most likely thinking about the bra incident. "Have you found anything?"
"Not much. The house was built in nineteen-eighteen, so it's possible the spirit could be one of the old owners. Not many people have lived there, though, from what I've seen. Maybe four different families, including Tessa's," Dean took a breath before continuing. "I'm trying to dig up some dirt on the residents now. Nothing has stood out so far."
Tessa tried to stop the bitter disappointment from flooding her body. What Dean had basically said was that they were no closer to finding out what the hell was in her house. She sighed.
"We're on a deadline, you know. My dad's not going to stay at Uncle Karl's forever; I can't stall him with anything else," Tessa didn't mean to sound so harsh, but she couldn't help it. Dean had promised to help her, and so far nothing was happening.
Dean let out an exasperated breath. "You're kidding, right? Maybe you could help and stop being such a little bitch-"
Tessa cut swiftly across him. "You know good and damn well I will do anything I can. And don't you dare speak to me that way again, or we will have a problem." Tessa's voice was icy; Dean didn't even attempt to defend himself.
Sighing, Tessa pulled a box of records at random across the table towards herself. She began flipping through the files. 1976... 1942... 1923... 2004...
It was going to be a long day.