Author's Note: Hey, c'est moi encore. Lol, that's my lil touch of French for the day. Anywho, as you can see I've updated this story. Hope you're all excited about reading and reviewing wink wink. I'll try my best to have another chappie up by Friday since it's my only day off. This chapter was a bit more relaxed, not much humour from Leah I know, or any action, but that will all come into play in the next chappie, so hold tight. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Leah, is all mine. Supernatural and it's handsome boys, not mine. The ice cream in my freezer, DEFINITELY mine. :D
Shout Out: To all you very kind and loyal reviewers, thank you all so much for telling me what you like and don't like and sharing your thoughts about this story. It makes it all that much more fun and it gets all these crazy ideas going in my head. So, keep it up and thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Crash Course
By: Babyhilts
Chapter 7:
Painful hours sluggishly ticked away. Darkness came, we stayed at a hotel. The sun rose and off we went once more. The second day we drove was more laid back than the first. We had been making good time up to this point, so automatically everyone eased into the remaining hours. Dusk was crawled over the highway in grey wisps. It curled and uncurled above the asphalt, struggling against the eventual trampling of the Chevy's tires.
We drove through Stull just to catch a glimpse of what waited for us in the morning. The town slept soundly. House lights had been extinguished hours before our arrival, yet as we passed the cemetery and demolished church, a patrol car hid in the darkness of a looming oak. A high fence encased the grounds in a interweaving mesh a metal. An eroded sign dangled from the entrance that exclaimed "No trespassing. Anyone found loitering will be prosecuted." For just a moment the impala faltered and unconsciously we turned to squint through the thick black. The endless rows of graves; cement ruble that marked the sight where a church once stood. A chill ran through my upper back. The car picked up speed, Dean mentioned something about only being 10 miles away from Lawrence when I caught him looking through the rearview mirror. Since leaving the gas station a day earlier, we'd barely spoken more than five words to one another. Sam gave us these looks, when the other wasn't paying attention and I felt bad of course, but I still didn't bother to break the awkward cycle Dean and I had created. So, when I caught Dean's hazel green eyes glaring through the reflection of the mirror I assumed they were directed at me. A lump formed in my throat and aimlessly I wondered why it had taken him so long to react and why now.
"We're being followed."
Well that was a relief. It was bad enough we weren't going to talk to one another until everything was settled in Lawrence, but to have him glaring at me…well, he wasn't anymore I discovered, but just the thought had made me uneasy.
"What is it?" Sam asked. He'd been slipping into a dream. His voice struggled to rid itself of its tired rasp. I spied him watching intently at the side mirror.
"Not what. Who." Dean looked to the rearview mirror. "It's that patrol car."
"What patrol car?"
To be honest my hunting skills weren't as well defined as the Winchesters and I hate to say it, but the only reason I'd know about the car hiding quietly in the shadows was because Dean told me just then.
"It's been following us since we left the cemetery."
Over the top of my shoulder I caught the lonely headlights of a single car. I couldn't make out any colors or shape really, but the bold red and blue lights that sat along the roof created an awkward shape of black.
Silence siphoned through the interior of the Chevy. When we reached the city limits the patrol car turned around and disappeared once again into the ebony city walls of Stull. Sam fell back asleep. His shaggy head thumped against the glass pane. The road was a bit rough. I'd tried to fall asleep too, but the worry crept in once more. Would Missouri show me for what I was, a liar and a leech? What would Sam and Dean think? Where would I go? When could I see Caitlyn again? God, I missed home. Tomorrow would be the first day of a series of days to follow in our investigation of Stull. Sam had done research the entire trip, but hadn't bothered to relay anything of it back to us.
Ten minutes from Missouri's Dean switched on the tape deck. The volume was turned down but still the music flowed through the car. Bob Segar sang that 'When you're ridin' sixteen hours and there's nothin' much to do and you don't feel much like ridin', you just wish the trip was through' and in that quiet moment, I couldn't help but agree with the guitar wielding man.
I was gnawing at the ends of my already ravaged nails when Sam woke and the car turned into a gravel drive. The crunching of loose rocks beneath the car shook me from my reverie. Unaware that we'd even entered the quiet suburban street, I felt the sudden rush of panic course through my veins. Two single sodium lights illuminated the windows of the moderate Lawrence house. Deep inside the home was Missouri Mosley. Tears wanted to rise, but I was better than this. I shoed them away and swallowed the anxious bile back into me stomach. It was ridiculous. I was an adult, I could handle this small confrontation. Right?
Through the fogging of the windshield I saw the door to the house open and a healthy, plump black woman appeared in a warm bathrobe on the porch steps. I couldn't handle this.
The engine turned off. The reassurance of music vanquished.
"Sam, can you get our stuff from the trunk? I just have to talk to Leah for a minute."
Sam unbuckled himself from the restraint of the seatbelt and looked hesitantly between Dean and I. Although I could barely put together any rational thoughts that didn't involving me bolting for the door and running full throttle down the street in tears, I nodded towards him.
"We'll be fine" I reassured.
Sam didn't buy it, but got out of the car and left us just the same. When he'd taken the weighed down duffel bags from the trunk and had already begun to great Missouri on the porch, that was when Dean turned around and looked at me. It was the first time in nearly a day that he'd looked at me head on, without quickly jerking away from the eye contact. Was he just as nervous as I was about all this lying? Did he expect to find out I was some sort of demon? Was that what he feared?
"Leah, you okay?"
He wasn't trying to be compassionate about the situation and honestly, I didn't expect it, but he softened his tone of voice and took on that adult quality that made me take him more serious. I nodded through the tumbling of worried thoughts.
"It's been a long ride, is all" I tried to answer. It didn't do much good. The awkward silence was still there and Dean had yet to turn around.
"You didn't say much."
"Neither did you."
Dean forced a smile. "It's late. I think that we can wait until tomorrow to go over what we talked about."
"You're not worried I might take off on you by then?"
"Where would you go?"
He was right. Where would I go? I looked past him, through him almost and saw that Sam had disappeared into the house; however, Missouri still remained, standing with her arms folded across her chest, staring out across the driveway and into the interior of the car. I got the feeling she was looking at me. I didn't much care for the feeling. I felt violated and naked and for some reason embarrassed that perhaps she could look inside me and see what made me tick.
"Tomorrow it is then."
Dean nodded "Tomorrow."
We broke eye contact. He slipped quietly out of the driver's seat. Missouri had gone back inside the house. I stayed a moment longer in the impala, wishing I didn't have to move. That I could fall asleep on the back seat and nuzzle my head into the rough upholstery. I wanted to go back to sleep and wake up in the arms of my baby sister. I wanted to hold her and cry. I was getting over these feelings of confusion bit by bit, but the last two days had taken their toll on me. I was starting to feel more wrung out with each passing day. I felt on the brink of cracking like some delicate china doll. Now with Missouri's judgment only hours away and a hunt in Stull, I wasn't sure just how long I'd be able to keep things together.
I picked up my plastic bag from the impala's floor. Dirty clothes and clean clothes, all bought from the cheap dime store miles behind us now, rolled into one bag. I locked the door behind me and made my way with a determined glare, up the wooden steps and through the front door. A dim light led the way up another series of stairs to where I guess Missouri's room and any spare ones were. I didn't see Dean or Sam anywhere and I feared that if I didn't move soon I'd run into the older psychic and she'd reveal me for a fraud before the first light of days touched the sky.
"Leah?"
Sam stood at the top of the stairs. He descended them in a rush.
"I was wondering where you boys ran off to" I said trying to fake that girly playfulness.
"Just brought the bags up to the spare room. Missouri has a spare bed ready for you upstairs if you want me to show you."
"Where's Dean sleeping?"
Sam furrowed his brow. Mentally I scolded him for acting like a thirteen year old boy with raging hormones. "He's crashing on the couch tonight."
I shook my head. "That's fine. He can take my room. I'll sleep on the couch."
"Leah…"
"He did most of the driving here. If anyone deserves a bed tonight it's him. He can have mine. I'll be perfectly fine on the couch. Besides, we all have to be rested up for tomorrow."
Sam was struggling to think of some excuse, I could see it in his eyes. He opened his mouth to protest when a rather warm, southern voice drifted into the room.
"She's right Sam. Dean's had a long drive. This girl seems fit enough to handle one night on that couch of mine."
She winked and let slip a quiet smile. Her dark curls were pulled back into a large bun at the back of her head, while the bathrobe revealed baby blue pajamas underneath. I caught her looking at me again, the way I'd seen earlier, now openly doing so in front of Sam. I scolded her for making it so obvious, not out loud of course, but knew immediately afterwards that she probably had heard me anyway. Her lips curled once more before she ushered Sam up the stairs for the night.
"And you tell that brother of yours that if I catch him eating my sweets again I'm a make him sleep outside."
Sam chuckled and continued up the stairs to his room. Moments later the lights at the top of the stairs shut off. Missouri turned to me. The cheerful front she'd put up disappeared and a more serious once came over her. She motioned for me to follow her into the living room where a couch and a folded quilt with two pillows awaited me. I stood patiently by her side, listening as she made polite conversation, going through the movements of preparing my bed. I barely processed what she was saying. She reminded me of my long departed grandmother as she tucked a white sheet into the crevices of the couch. When I was just a little girl my grandmother had taught me how to make the prefect bed. Her wrinkled fingers would force out any creases in the bed sheets and keeping the pillows firm and smooth beneath the floral spread. I watched Missouri and smiled thinking that Missouri would make a great mother.
The older woman paused in her movements. She turned to look at me over her shoulder and I realized when we locked eyes that she had stopped talking. Did I miss something? Should I saw something?
"That's sweet of you dear."
She bent over and finished making my bed. It took me a moment to realize that Missouri had openly been listening to my thoughts. That feeling of nakedness washed over me once more but when she had tucked in her last corner of the quilt and flashed me that warm smile, the feeling disappeared.
"Thank you so much" I told her, mid step towards my bed for the night. She shook her hand and took hold of mine, gently leading away from the room.
"You and I need to have a talk before tomorrow."
My heart raced. Dean lied. He said we'd discuss it tomorrow. Accusations and anger flooded my body. I was about to jerk out of Missouri's grasp and race up those stairs to knock some sense into him when Missouri let loose a light hearty laugh. Her hand slipped out of mine and returned to her side.
"Take a seat Leah and don't you go accusing that boy. He may not be the sharpest young man, but you can trust him. It's me who wants to talk to you."
I nodded and tried to restrain myself from thinking out loud. I pulled out a seat at the round, mahogany table that looked similar to Caitlyn's. Missouri busied herself in the kitchen before she returned to my side, carrying a steaming mug and a plate with three chocolate chip cookies. They were rather large and appeared to be homemade.
"I thought you didn't want anyone eating your sweets" I said through the first sip of my hot chocolate.
"That boy has a nasty sweet tooth. Nearly ate me out of house and home last time they were here."
I laughed and took another sip from the mug. She had been waiting for me I realized. All this, to prepare me for the confrontation I'd been dreading the entire trip.
"Are you that scared of me child?" she said warmly.
I spoke through a mouthful of cookie. "No, it's not that, it's just…"
She nodded. "I could sense it from the porch. You're very trouble dear. I'm not sure what about, most of what I've picked up from you is a jumbled mess but your mind is clouded. I fear that if you are to help these boys tomorrow and the days to come, you'll have to be more settled."
"I don't know how to do that. Not right now anyway."
"Then how about you tell me what you haven't told those boys."
I shrugged and for the next fifteen minutes I recounted the last few days to the older woman. I told her of how I fell asleep in Vancouver and awoke in Texas, how I could see myself unconscious in this hospital, how I'd lied to the Winchesters in fear that I'd be left alone, to fend for myself. I told her all I knew of the supernatural, of her, of pastor Jim and the demon that had tried to take their lives only months earlier. When I'd finished the mug and plate sat empty in front of me. My eyes were itchy and red from the endless tears that I'd kept hidden. Missouri was quiet for a second before she picked up my glass and plate and went to rinse them in the sink.
My body shook as an after effect of the crying. I listened as her slipper covered feet padded across the cold linoleum. I still had my sandals on. I ran a tired hand across my face, rubbed raw at the stickiness of drying tears. Missouri appeared at my side and rested a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"I'm not sure what to tell you right now, that will do any good" she sighed and fell back into the chair. "In all honesty dear, if never heard of something quite like this. I can look into it tomorrow for you, but the chances of finding any answers behind these strange events are slim to none."
I was expecting that, but hearing it out loud, from Missouri Mosley just made it all the more painful.
"And what about tomorrow? Dean was going to have a chat with us, about…well, about everything."
Missouri got to her feet. "That boy worries too much. I won't tell him we talked. I'll leave that up to you."
"I can't. He'd flip out Missouri. You know him. He'd probably ship me off to some asylum…"
"Leah Carlson, don't you go making any fast judgment on people. Dean may seem all black and white sometimes, but that boy has a lot of grey inside of him too, he may surprise you. But for now, we'll leave it as is. When we have all our facts straight then we'll tell him."
"Thanks Missouri."
"Don't be thanking me, I didn't do anything honey except lend an open ear."
I smiled. "Well, then thanks for the cookies. I can see why Dean eats all of them."
"Don't tell me I'll have to watch out for your sneaky little hands now too."
Missouri and I said our goodnights. I watched her go up the stairs to her room and waited until I heard the door ease close behind her. Making my way into the dark living room and onto the couch, I felt relaxed and at peace for the first time since entering this new world with the Winchesters. I was warm and felt almost at home in Lawrence. Missouri was a like a second mother that I just wanted to hug tight, the way I'd do with my own mother. For once things felt under control and I was finally looking optimistic about my future. Funny how things could change so quickly within a few hours.