Anything But Normal

Part 14

A week later Liz was sitting in an old bar. The place was small and a bit run down, but overall it was a nice place. Liz sat at the bar with an older woman. She looked about 45 years old. She said her name was Ellen.

"You ever tend bar before?" Ellen asked in her deep raspy voice.

"Yeah, worked at a bar in LA for over a year." Liz answered.

"You ever serve hunters before?"

"Only the Winchesters."

"Hunters aren't exactly normal like civilians in this bar."

"They aren't a whole lot different. So every one has a nine millimeter in their pocket? I know how to duck and dodge bullets. They're still guys. When they get drunk, they tend to be stupid and perverted."

Ellen smiled. "Your shift starts tonight at eight."

November 4, 2005

Liz had settled in quite nicely at the Roadhouse. She loved exchanging stories with other hunters, and being able to take off whenever she needed to go on a hunt. One night, Liz was cleaning up with Ellen and Jo when the phone rang. Ellen picked up. "Harvelle's Roadhouse...John...Yeah, alright...I'll put you on with her." She took the phone away from her ear. "Liz, it's for you."

"Hello?" Liz asked as she picked up the phone.

"Hey, Liz. It's John. Listen, you should really come down to Palo Alto." John said in a low voice.

"John, I thought you said–"

"Liz, I'm sorry, but Jessica..."

In a voice just above a whisper, Liz said, "She's dead, isn't she?" Liz didn't need to ask how.

"I'm sorry, Liz." John said sympathetically.

"Is Sam okay?" Liz asked, voice trembling.

"Yeah, he's just fine." John said is a reassuring voice.

"Thank god." Liz breathed.

"Her funeral is Thursday morning at St. Augustine Cemetery." he told her.

"Thanks, John." Liz hung up the phone.

"You should go." Ellen said.

A day later, Liz was in Palo Alto. She was watching the ceremony from the back. She could see Sam towards the front. He was barely holding it together. Liz walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Sam gave her a sad smile.

After the ceremony, Liz had stayed and talked to Jessica's parents a bit. She gave them her new cell number and told them she was living with friends in Wisconsin. She explained that she needed a change. They were leaving as everyone else already had, and she was about to. "Wait, Liz!" Sam called. He'd been waiting for her to finish talking to Mr. And Mrs. Moore.

"I can't stay." she told him.

"You can't even stay for a cup of coffee or anything? We haven't talked in a while."

"I think it's safer if we don't. I'm sorry, Sam." Liz said sadly. She turned to walk away.

"I'm sorry about Gavin." Sam called after her, knowing it would catch her attention.

"He died the same way Jess did." she turned around.

"Is that why we suddenly lost touch?"

"No...well, kinda. Your dad came, and he saved me from the fire. He told me that it isn't safe for us to talk."

"Why not?"

"He wouldn't say, but he was really serious. I think we should listen to him."

"My dad is missing. Dean hasn't seen him in weeks. We don't even know if he's alive." Sam

"He's alive." Liz said reassuringly.

"Have you seen him?" Sam questioned.

"He called me to tell me about Jess."

"Do you know if he's hurt? Or if he's in trouble? Or why he isn't–"

"Sam, I don't know. I don't think so. He just told me about Jessica. I asked him if you were okay, and he said you were. I would've thought that he was here at some point."

"He's okay." Sam said to himself. He was relieved.

"I should go."

"So this is goodbye?" Sam asked sadly. He'd been hoping that she'd keep him sane while he was on the road with this brother by their late night phone conversations.

"Yeah." Liz answered in a similar tone. She hated saying goodbye. She just said goodbye to Gavin a few months ago, Jessica a few hours ago, and now Sam.

Sam hugged Liz. "You know you can call me if you ever need anything."

""Yeah, I know. Goodbye Sam."

"Bye, Liz." Liz got into her black cavalier and drove away, praying she'd never need to go back.

Sam went back to his motel room. "Hey, Dean."

"Hey, how was it?" Dean asked as he packed the last few things into his duffle bag.

"It was fine."

"You ready to hit the road?"

"Yeah, let's go. Colorado, right?" Sam grabbed the bag that he'd packed earlier that morning. There wasn't much as most of his stuff was lost in the fire, but he would go shopping in Colorado.

"Yeah, the coordinates point to Black Ridge, Colorado. We can make it by tomorrow morning." Dean said.

February 2006

Sam and Dean were driving through Indiana after just leaving Michigan. The sky was cloudy and dark, fitting for their moods. "I think Max had powers because the same demon killed our mothers." Sam said.

"Yeah, I think so too." Dean sighed.

"What if there are others?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. We don't know why you have powers, we can't track down every kid who had their mother die in a nursery fire, and they wouldn't believe us if we told them anyway. I say we just forget about it." Dean told him.

"I can't just forget about it, Dean. I have to know why this is happening to me."

"Then what are we supposed to do? Do you have some brilliant idea, Sam? Cause as far as I can see, the only thing we know is that it's connected to the demon. That doesn't exactly sound safe." Dean said in that protective tone he had whenever it came to his brother in danger.

"Since when have we been safe? Dean, we have to do something. There are other kids like me out there."

"And how are we supposed to find them, Sam?"

"Remember a girl named Liz Atwood? She was on the were–l"

"Werewolf case. Yeah, I remember Lizzie. The demon killed her mother."

"We have to look for her."

"Richmond, North Dakota then?"

"No, she isn't there anymore. At least I don't think so. She moved out to LA about three or four years ago. But she disappeared around September."

"I'm sorry, back up. How do you know so much about Lizzie?"

"She was Jessica's cousin. We met again over the summer."

"Oh. So she disappeared?"

"Yeah." Sam proceeded to fill him in on the whole summer, how they kept in touch, the dreams, and what happened at Jessica's funeral.

"You think Dad might know something about your powers?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I do."

"Where should we start looking? North Dakota? LA?"

"I guess LA. We'll try and see if she gave her landlord a forwarding address."

Dean made a U turn. "We're off to Cali then."

A/N: Sorry it took me a while to get this posted! I wanted it up last weekend, but I kept getting distracted. Then I was gonna post it last night after I came back from the midnight Harry Potter show (yep, I'm an HP freak), but then I got the brilliant idea of the last bit with them leaving Max's house (during the movie, which was rather odd). Again, Sorry! Anyway, DEAN! I brought him back. Alright, there wasn't a whole lot going on with him, but I did what I could. I didn't intend to have him here at all, but everyone seemed to really want him back (are there no Sam fans reading?). Next chapter, I promise, he'll be in much more. Let me know what you thought!