Alright... close all your mouths before a bug flys in there. YES i updated... in a day! LOL I am seriously making the effort to finish this now. An yes it DOES look like it'll be 3 more. Well two more after this one. so WOO! I should be able to post the last chapter on Saturday morning before i head off.
I'm going to Salem, Mass. for the weekend to enjoy halloween! Get my palm read, eat cider doughnuts... learn about witches! lol Good times!
Also i would like to say THANK YOU to everyone reading! the hits on this story are now over 20,000!!!! So to all the silent peeps out there... i hope you are still enjoying reading it! and to the peopel that have reviewed I Love you!!!
Now after i upload this i'm going to have to find the time to read all 41 fanfic Alerts that i got last night as well! i haven't been getting my update alerts from for about a week and they all hit me last night! LOL
ok!! read away! I'm done rambling! and let me know what ya think!
Steph
Sam opened up his eyes to see his brother flicking channels on the opposite couch. Bright light shown through the front windows of the living room causing Sam's eyes to take a bit longer to focus. Once they decided to work for him he let them stay on his brothers form that still continued to flick from channel to channel.
Dean didn't even look at him… but he must have known he was awake as a question Sam was far from expecting to hear slipped from his lips in a soft whisper.
"Did you cry?"
Sam looked at his older brother, searching for any sign that this was just a joke. Dean was yanking his chain or something. He had to be. Dean never willingly had such a question in seriousness. His brother shied away from any sort of touchy-feely conversation.
When he looked up and saw no hint of a smile… only a serious expression as his hazel eyes now boar into Sam's brown ones… he couldn't help but still try to see if this was going to end up being a joke at his expense.
"Dean … are you trying to start a chick flick mo.."
"…To hell with that Chick flick crap Sammy. I'm serious… did you?" Dean cut him off.
Sam's face fell.
"Well… did you get my letter?"
"Yea I got it. You said you did when it happened but… I wanna know if after you did."
"Why?"
"Sam!"
"Alright fine! Well… I guess… I … yea I did…"
Dean didn't respond to what Sam admitted. All he did was turn his head back to the TV and continue his flicking of the remote. It was like Dean already knew the answer and that fact alone confused the hell out of the younger Winchester. Why did he want to rehash it? He didn't even look at him and Sam started to worry that his brother's opinion of him changed at his admission.
But in Dean's mind he knew Sam was at the end of his rope if he had cried. It showed Dean how truly upset his brother was about losing him. He proved how serious it was. Dean didn't want to dwell on the incident that happened back a few months ago. He was angry that he lost some time in his life but he didn't blame Sam for it. With Sam's track history however he'd let it fester inside him for years and years until this had to be brought up again and again and hopefully not in therapy. He could let slide Sam crying over him in the dark cellar but afterward just wasn't in Sam's nature... he struggled with things more internally then externally. It had to be brought up now. It had to be finished… For Sam's sake AND Dean's.
"I thought you had died Dean." Sam finally choked out, not able to handle Dean's silence any longer. "When it first happened I guess I was crying more from the shock of seeing you so helpless and… I dunno adrenaline and…"
"Your rambling Sam…" Dean commented, still in a slight whisper. A defeated tone that made Sam cringe.
"Yea… Sorry. Well after... I mean I tried to be tough for you."
"Why?"
"Huh?" Sam stared shocked at his brother's question. 'Why'? Did he just ask me WHY?!
"Sam…" Dean hit the power button on the remote and tossed it to the coffee table. "I want to get something straight with you. You don't owe me anything. You understand? I need to know if something happens to me in the future that you aren't going to do to yourself what you did this time around. Do you think I spent my whole life looking out for you to see you throw that shit away when I'm gone? I need to know you'll move on and find that freaking normal, safe life you so desperately want."
Sam turned away from Dean's gaze and bit his bottom lip at the words sinking in. Something started to boil deep within him. Guilt, Fear, Sadness… an Agony that couldn't be healed. A mixture of ingredients that just didn't go well together. Throw in the fact that he had just woken up and was still vulnerable… DAMN HIM! He PLANNED THIS! He knew it would be harder for me to resist this conversation and its emotions like this!
And right then… Sam cracked.
"I'm sorry I left you! I should have stayed!" Sam cried out while sitting up quick in the recliner. "I'm sorry I let you down that night! If I had only…"
"Sam STOP!" Dean yelled out and reached foreword grabbing his brothers' shoulders and shook him momentarily. Later on he'd worry about if he shook him too hard or yelled at him too loudly. But for now Dean needed to concentrate on stopping the guilt ridden confessions pouring out from his brothers quivering lips.
"Sam you are going to listen to me because it's going to be the last time I say it… We are not going to rehash this again after this… you understand?"
Sam looked up into his brother's face from his seated position and nodded wordlessly. His eyes glistened with the tears threatening to come down his face. He didn't want to cry. Not in front of Dean. Not again.
"This Job that we have? It's dangerous Sam. And ya know what? I'm fully aware of it. I know that when we go into a hunt I might not come out. But I have to always make sure you do. That's also part of my job. It always has been. There is no room for guilt Sammy. This is my mission and I accepted it a long time ago. I cherish it. If I die Sam then… I die! I know it's coming someday and I'd never blame you for it! What happened with that witch was not your fault. Its not your fault you didn't realize it was a spell. It was a hunt gone wrong for more then one reason and trust me… those reasons aren't you."
"Dean I couldn't get the torch lit."
"No you couldn't Sammy… But it wasn't going to kill her anyways. We didn't know that back then. We went into that hunt blind and we didn't even realize it. This may have been a blessing in disguise because from now on I'm sure we'll be researching shit a lot better huh?" Dean let a smile grace his lips at his words and Sam felt himself relax still in his brother's grip.
"Yea."
"Things just weren't in our favor that night. That's the end of it. Ok?"
Dean let go of Sam and stood up in front of him.
"Ok…" Sam replied and looked down at his hands. He didn't want to look up at Dean just yet. He felt stupid at his actions.
"Alright… so how about we wake up those lazy females and get them to make us breakfast huh? I'm starving!"
"I think Nurse Jenn would kick your ass for that comment." Sam smiled and pulled himself out of the recliner to stand next to his brother.
Dean patted him on the back reassuringly before turning to walk towards the kitchen.
"Hell I'm more worried about that Tracy chick. She looks like she could pack a wallop. And why do you keep calling her Nurse Jenn? You sound like a Second grader that just skinned his knee and asks to go to the school nurse."
Sam reached over and swatted at his bothers are in a playful manner.
Things were now starting to fit back to normal again.
Once Jenn and Tracy came down for their morning Coffee and Eggs were had by all, the four of them sat at the kitchen table ready to work out what's been going on, what new things they've learned and figure out how to kill Organa."
"Ok so here's the deal… get a notebook out Sammy. Time to take notes."
"Notes? Dean? What the hell... I'm not taking notes..." Sam grumbled.
"Now Sammy! Remember our conversation? Better research…" The older brother slid a piece of paper across the table to the younger with a goofy looking grin plastered on his feature. The smartass-ness of it all got Sam into better spirits.
"Bite me…" The younger replied.
"Here have a pen!" Dean said with a snarky smile, ignoring the comment."
"Ass." Sam gave in and picked up the pen but hardly intended on writing anything down.
"So we've come to the conclusion that Organa is stealing life from young girls. That keeps her young and alive. But there's a big piece missing here."
"What's that?" Jenn asked curiously, rather enjoying this hunting stuff.
"She can't be killed." Tracy added.
"Oh that…" Jenn replied with slumped shoulders.
"Sure she can." The older Winchester jumped in. "And that's what we're sitting here to figure out. EVERYTHING can be killed. We just have to figure out a way."
"Yea… And I have a theory… "Sam added, getting the attention of everyone at the table.
"Fire away Sammy."
"Well she has to steal other life forces right? She doesn't have her own. She couldn't if she needed others to live off of."
"Good point."
"And because she feeds off other essences she is keeping this oddly long life. Her life essence would have died out a long time ago with her body if she still had it no matter how many lives she was taking."
"So there's something out there that's holding her essence then? She must have it somewhere safe and contained. And we have to find it to kill her… is that basically it?" Dean asked as he summed up what he figured his little brother was getting at.
"It appears so… but what? That I just can't figure out. Burning her does nothing if her essence isn't in her to kill." Sam brought the pen up to his mouth and began chewing in thought. "It isn't like the life forces she's using are like a possession so we cant exorcise her… She isn't hurt by being shot… Can't hang her… Can't chop her head off…."
"Which would be really fun to do though I'd like to add… Bitch…" Dean Added in with a growl causing Jenn and Tracy to give out a snicker.
"I get it… no other way. So where do you think she would hide her essence and in what?" Tracy questioned. The two brothers looked at each other and shrugged.
"That's the 64,000 dollar question now isn't it?" Dean commented. "We figure that out and this bitch is toast."
By noon the foursome still hadn't come up with an idea of where her essence could be hidden. Sam checked online for a few things but came up empty handed and Dean ever being the one to shy away from reading a book, left the girls to the task of looking in some while he went out to the Impala to do what he did best… prepare for a hunt.
Sam was back in the comfortable recliner in the front room again with his laptop on his lap. Still coming up empty handed, he sighed loudly and turned his head to look out the window. From where he was sitting he could see Dean and the Impala. His brother was leaning into the car doing something he couldn't see. Probably cleaning and loading his gun stash. He most likely figured that bringing them into the house with the girls there might be a bit unsettling.
Sam didn't really like Dean being outside by himself but after their conversation that morning he was going to try not to worry so much about his brother. He knew what he was doing and Sam was just ever the worrywart.
Sam was shaken from his inner thoughts by the shrill of a cell phone ringing. It quickly reminded him that he didn't even know where his own Phone was as he pulled himself from the comforts of the chair in search of the source of the ringing.
Finally after pulling up a couch cushion he spotted Dean's cell phone. Quickly he popped it open sneaking a glance at the "Unknown" number on the screen before giving a questioning "Hello?"
"Sammy?"
The voice that greeted Sam was insanely unexpected and short gasp came up his throat before he could answer.
"Dad?!"
"Sam... Remind your brother about the necklace. Don't forget!"
"The necklace…? Dad I don't…"
"SAM! I can't explain! You two will figure it out."
"Dad?"
A Click rang through his ear and Sam slapped the phone shut in annoyance.
"Damn him! Why does he do that!"
"What he say Sam…"
Sam jumped two feet at the voice of his brother behind him and spun around. He obviously didn't realize Dean was standing there listening… 'Great hunting skills… Shape up Sammy.' He scolded to himself.
"He told me to remind you about the necklace?"
"Oh... Dean!! Jenn interrupted running from the kitchen to the hallway obviously overhearing their conversation. "Remember… I told you he said that back at the hospital!"
"Yea I remember… now…" Dean said with a humph, still astonished at how vague those first moments were now to him.
Sam reached into his back pocket of his jeans and pulled out an object.
"Did he mean this?" Sam responded in kind of sheepish manner, embarrassed to admit he had this object the whole time. Dean's Scarab Pendant…
Sam handed it over to Dean who didn't say a word and slipped it over his neck back in its rightful place. He was a little upset Sam hadn't given it back to him yet but kept his mouth shut on that subject for now. He put a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder in a silent 'I understand' gesture.
"I dunno… Maybe…" he finally tried to answer Sam. His necklace couldn't have anything to do with this. Plain and simple. But why did he think it was some sort of clue?
"Well what's so important about it?" Tracy asked. She had followed Jenn in the hallway, keen on not being left out of the loop an anything.
Sam shook his head. "No clue. I just remember you always wearing it." Sam said turning to Dean.
"Yea…" Dean replied with a "lost in thought" tone.
"Dean?"
"Hmm"
"Do you know?" Jenn questioned him softly.
"Uh... no. I don't know." The hunter said rather unconvincingly.
Sam knew he was lying but if Dean knew anything that could be a reason for that necklace to be so important as to his father breaking his silence and contact them then he'd grin and bare it and tell. Sam felt as Dean did on the matter. This necklace isn't what his father meant. It couldn't be.
"Ok… well… I have a feeling whatever this necklace thing dads blatting about is, it's important to the whole thing. So we should work on looking that up."
"Yea…" Dean agreed, happy to pull the attention away from the little scarab pendant around his neck. It just wasn't the time to pull out what it was all about. "Hey by the way…"
Dean opened up his hand revealing a small clear crystal resting in his palm.
"What's that?" Sam asked while picking it up and looking it over.
Dean looked up at Jenn. "Does that look familiar to you?"
"Umm…" Jenn wasn't sure. She had an idea but didn't want to say it and didn't have to as Sam jumped in.
"This is a healing crystal… Where'd you get it? They are really rare."
"Found it in the glove compartment. I don't remember it being there before. Must have "mysteriously" ended up in the car." Dean said with a bit of sarcasm.
"Dad?"
"Dad… He's a cryptic individual I swear to god."
"Dean?" Jenn blurted out finally not able to hold her tongue any longer. "That's the crystal your dad used on you when he… uh… woke you up right?"
Sam's head shot up at Dean in surprise but Dean never wavered his eye contact with Jenn as he nodded.
"Apparently he feels we needed it. Must have slipped it in the glove compartment on his way out of town. I'm shocked I didn't notice it before."
"Dean I have this feeling that the answer is… RIGHT there. But for some reason we can't grab it. Like we're being tested."
"Tests suck…" Dean pouted. This was getting annoying as hell. There was a piece missing. A piece to the puzzle that he could have sworn was just under the coffee table or under the welcome mat. Somewhere so close but yet so far. Dean flicked his eyes from Sam to Tracy and finally letting them rest on Jenn… when suddenly…
"Wait… Jenn!"
"Yea?"
"She knew you! How the hell did I forget this! Jenn she recognized you at the barn! Have you ever seen her before?"
"What? No!"
"Jenn think hard… ever? Ever in your life?!" Dean questioned her again in a softer tone.
"NO Dean I'd think I'd remember her!"
For some reason everything started clicking in Dean's head… like a large haze was lifting from his brain. He'd argue later that it was the concussion blocking his mind from the answers but for all he knew he could have just been struck by lighting with the revelation he was about to make.
Organa was scared of her… she left as soon as she saw Jenn. Jenn is the key… somehow someway. She came with Dean to find Sam saying for some reason she felt it's where she belonged. Fate worked in mysterious ways that was for sure and that saying "things happen for a reason" started chewing at him.
"Jenn… have you ever met anyone else like us?"
"Like you?"
"Like us! Hunters…"
"No Dean. The first I heard about this stuff was when you told me!"
"Ok… Umm…."
"Jenn?" Sam interjected… "You mentioned your parents to me once…"
"Yea I did. What's going on here!" Jenn was getting more frightened then angry at the interrogation. She wasn't sure she was going to like what was coming next.
Dean picked it up right away and jumped in with Sam. This was all starting to come Together like metal to a magnet. "Do you remember what your parents did for a living?
"Um… My mom was a school teacher for elementary."
"And your dad?"
"He ran his own business… he sold things across the country."
"So he traveled a lot? Was away from home a lot?"
"Yea… selling stuff…"
"Did he ever come home bruised or have any injuries? Did he smell like sulfur?" Dean knew the question would be odd but they NEEDED to know
"Sulfur?"
"Jenn…"
"No… no! I don't think so…" the young nurse thought hard for a moment and then continued. "I remember a few times he did come home hurt. One time he said a dog attacked him. He had a big bite on his leg."
Dean and Sam looked at each other both thinking the same thing as Jenn continued.
"Fell down the steps of a clients home once… cut his hand all up. He walked into a door once and had a big gash on his head. He was just clumsy! That's all!"
"No… he wasn't as clumsy as you think." Dean added.
"Jennifer was your dad a hunter?" Sam asked knowing full well the question had to come out.
"NO! no! He couldn't be?! He wasn't…"
And as the young nurse tried desperately to disagree with the Winchester brothers, memories flooded through her mind of moments seeing weapons in his father's bag he had to go on business trips. Said he was selling them…
"Dean?" she said. She searched for him to say something to change it all, to reassure her, to comfort her. She was scared. Did she even know her parents at all?
"Do you remember Organa, Jenn? This is important…" Dean rested his hand on her shoulder and leaned down to look her in the eyes.
Her mind led her down the path of a flashback. To a hospital… A car accident… her mother and father in a coma. Her dad was bleeding internally. He had taken the impact in the car. She had been safe in the back seat but her mother hit her head. They were both in a coma… dying. Then a woman walked in. Tall. Beautiful. Mysterious. And she had an Accent…
"Oh my god… yea…. Yea I've met her…" Jenn whispered breathless and alarmed. "She came in their hospital room… Said she was a friend. I'd never met her before that. She said she worked with my mother at the school and said she was sorry to hear about the accident. That was it. I never saw her again…"
Sam turned to Dean as Tracy ushered Jenn to the couch to sit and calm down. He started talking low even though they were still in close proximity to the girls and could still be heard.
"Why do I have a feeling this matches up."
"Cause it does. And if we both didn't have scrambled brains maybe we could have figured this shit out."
"Funny."
"No its not funny Sam. If she wanted her parents dead, one being a hunter, then they knew how to kill her. They had an in Sam… an answer. And that answer probably died with them."
"She's not…"
"Huh?" the brothers said together as they turned back to Jenn.
"My mom… she's not dead."
"I thought you said your parents were dead." Sam interjected a bit stunned.
"I tell everyone that… Its… Easier…"
Sam and Dean looked at each other in triumphant shock.
"She's still in a coma back at the hospital."
A few minutes later the Winchesters stood outside leaning on the Impala reveling in the information they just received.
"I have an idea Sam. What if her mother is under the same spell I was. After all… I have a feeling that car accident they were in wasn't from a drunk driver. The way that witch looked at Jenn in the barn… she knew her. And if Jenn's father was a hunter maybe he was close to wiping her the hell out. So instead of him getting her… she went after the whole damn family."
"It's possible but I dunno Dean. I don't want her to give her hopes up… like… I did."
"Aww… moving on… We have to do this. We have to try."
"But what spell did dad use to counter act you?"
"Something I don't have…. Damn it!"
"Well call dad…"
"Call dad?! I think we have about as much help as we're going to get from the old man."
"But he came to help you Dean! He's listening somehow isn't he?!"
"Yea but is this important enough for him to come out of hiding?! It took a coma for that Sam! And he thought I was you!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing! Just nothing. Look… Dad is not an option anymore. We have to find the spell on our own and fast. We're leaving in the morning back to that hospital. He had to have found it somewhere. Start making a few calls. Pastor Jim is usually helpful with spells. So is Bobby."
"Yea whatever. Fine…" Sam muttered as he gave in.
"Sam…?"
"Yea…?"
" I think this is going to get ugly. And I hate that they…" Dean nodded his head towards Tracy's house that contained the two girls "…Are in the middle of it."
Sam nodded his agreement with his brother and sighed outwardly. Pushing himself away from the Impala, the youngest Winchester headed back into the house.
He scooped up his laptop from the front room and went back to the kitchen with Tracy to do some work on finding the spell to use with the crystal. He wasn't sure this was all going to work but they had to try it. This was their only lead.
Dean on the other hand sat down next to Jenn, who was still on the couch, in silence. Neither one saying a word for what felt like hours as they both stared out the front window watching the world breeze by.
It took about an hour before either of them made any attempt to talk. Dean was going to wait for Jenn to go first. After all… this next adventure pertained to her and her family.
"I started working in the hospital because of them."
Dean turned his gaze to the young nurse next to him and just listened.
"I was so young when they were taken from me. I had no other interest, no other place to run to… so I became involved in things at the hospital. The nurses showed me how to help out and do things. My grandparents took care of me and didn't like that I was always at the hospital. They thought it was too morbid for a 10 year old but it gave me comfort helping others. Finally I went to school for it. I didn't want to be a doctor. I wanted to be a nurse. They always seemed to have more time for the patients then the doctors. I wanted to be with people. But of all my years there… I never got so attached to someone as I got to you. It was odd. You never talked to me… I'd never heard you speak. But for some reason I felt very close to you. Sam too although he kept very hidden… always shut off from everything."
Jenn looked up at Dean and gave him a weary smile.
"You reminded me of my mother and father. I'm so sorry if that sounds odd or disturbing but just something about you… I don't think I'd ever be able to explain it. But I guess maybe because you were hunters and so was my father? Its just… when they told me you were lost… I couldn't believe it. Just like Sam couldn't. I wouldn't accept it because… I had to believe my mother would wake up someday. I don't know and I'm so sick of thinking."
Dean grinned and threw his arm around her shoulders. The comfort she sought out earlier engulfed her completely and she sighed.
"I'm sorry this is all springing up on you know. But I promise I'll try to make it better."
Jenn elbowed him in the side playful but looked up at him with sad eyes.
"Don't make promises you can't keep Dean. There's never a happy ending… only learning to live through the pain."
"That's a terrible way to look at life. But I'll say this… I'll work my damnedest to change your outlook. How's that?"
"Sounds good… good luck on that. I'm pretty stubborn if you haven't noticed"
"You? Stubborn? Never!"
The two battered souls laughed out loud. It felt good to laugh. Both of them needed that release.
"Ok Dean… I have an embarrassing confession to make and I blame me admitting it on the fact that I'm not in my right mind."
"Ok!" Dean laughed out as she looked up at him sheepishly.
"Back at the hospital after you came out of the shower… after you woke up. Ya know what my first thought was? I thought... Damn he smells good."
Dean threw his head back and chuckled. "Why… Nurse Jenn! I don't blame you at all! I know how hard it is to resist me!"
Jenn playfully gasped and sat up, placing a hand on her chest in mock astonishment.
"Why Dean Winchester! Is that Ego I sense? A massive amount of it? Well don't worry. After a while I realized that I only smelled a pot of coffee brewing down the hall. Now you smell like dirty frogs and puppy dogs."
"What?"
"I dunno where I got that from either!" They laughed together a bit more before finally
Jenn started eyeing Dean's necklace."
"So what does it mean?"
Dean followed her gaze down to the pendant.
"It's… It's a protection symbol."
"Oh like good luck?"
"Sorta…"
"I have a necklace I wear for good luck too. It was my moms."
Jenn reached under the collar of her shirt and pulled a chain out from underneath. It was a locket with initials engraved in cursive.
"It's nice." Dean smiled while eyeing the trinket.
"Yea... I remember she always had it on so I figured I'd carry it too. It makes me feel closer to her somehow."
"Well that's always a good thing. So you think it brings you good luck?"
"Sure… Well till I met you two." She joked.
"Hey you survived those vampires didn't you? Now I know how!" Dean snickered nodding towards the locket around her neck though this time he gave it a curious glare, taking in the writing on it and how old it looked.
"Oh haha…" she replied, her words dripping with sarcasm.
Dean smiled at her comeback and turned his attention back to looking out the front windows. His whole being screamed at him to relax. He felt like he had just won the lottery but had to wait to tell anyone.
Dean had just found the missing piece to the puzzle.
dun dun dunnn!