Sam was watching the sun rise as Dee slept curled around Page since her Daddy was no longer in bed with her. He smiled as he remembered her climbing in with him around 11pm and hadn't let go of him all night. Now though, he was going to have to wake her so they could get going; the news reports said that the search had started to include Maryland, as well as West Virginia, giving Sam the feeling that they were actually closer than what they wanted him to know. Knowing that it wouldn't take them long to include Pennsylvania, they needed to get out of the state soon; but avoiding major highways meant that they went slower than he liked. Of course the benefit was he wouldn't leave as much of a trail leading straight to Bobby's.
He'd been up for awhile trying to think of their next move but it was difficult when he wasn't sure where Hendrickson was hiding. He knew that if the agent was close then more than likely the FBI had picked up on their trail, and the best thing for them to do would head towards Canada and hope that they followed until an opportunity to lose them could be found. Of course it could be just as beneficial to go towards Kentucky and try to confuse them; that is if they were on to them in the first place. Sighing, he pushed the map away realizing that he was confusing himself by trying to think like a crazed FBI agent with a personal vendetta against them.
Pulling out his laptop he watched Dee while it booted up and wondered yet again about their life together. So many questions rushed through his mind, and he couldn't help but wonder if he was a good father, how were he and Jess doing, were they still in school or had they decided to drop out in order to take care of a baby? So many questions with so little answers; he couldn't bring himself to ask because he knew that it would hurt all the more, but he couldn't bring himself not to think about it either. Seeing that the computer was ready he quickly accessed the FBI database and found a back door, it took him a little while, but he managed to get into the accounting department and after finding the field agents expense reports, he was able to find Hendrickson's agency credit card number. Making sure he hadn't altered any records to alert anyone of his presence, he quickly exited taking precautions that any trace had been severed on the way out. With the number in hand, he ran a trace on the card and waited for the last time it had been used; Baltimore, MD an hour ago.
"Wake up Dee, we have to go." Sam said gently, hoping not to scare her, but at the moment the thought that the agent was no less than two and a half hours away and no more than four was scaring him enough for the both of them.
Rubbing her eyes, Dee saw that her Daddy was upset, but she wasn't sure why. "Daddy… you mad a' me?" she asked, wondering if maybe he was upset because she had slept with him again.
"No baby, but we need to go because the bad guys are getting closer." He said, knowing that the truth was the best policy in this instance, and he was right. Before he had a chance to say anything else, she had jumped out of bed and started to get dressed without anymore prodding. Suddenly she stopped and looked at him with wide eyes.
"Daddy… will bad guys get us?" she asked, worried that something bad would happen to her daddy.
Shaking his head he answered, "Not if I can help it, Baby Girl. Now come on. How about we head out and grab some food on the way?"
Dee thought a moment before she nodded, "Can Page get som'tng too?"
Laughing, Sam agreed that if the small doggie was that hungry, then he could get a little something too, which made Dee giggle at the thought that her doggie was ever not that hungry.
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"So what you're telling me is that the only thing close to lead is from some stoner of a teenager in a gas station in the middle of nowhere and he can't even be sure if it was them? Is that right?" Hendrickson ground out while crushing his coffee cup in his hand. He had been chasing shadows and it bugged him that they couldn't even catch up with two losers like the Winchester brothers.
"Sir, normally we'd be able to figure out where they were going by friends and family, but…"
"But they don't have any family, now do they? As for friends, they all are probably as psychotic. So, what do our wonderful profilers tell us to do now? Hope that they come to their senses and give up? Yeah, like they've done that so often before." He said pacing; now wishing he still had his coffee. "Pull up the information on John Winchester, if they were looking for a place to hide, it will be with one of his lunatic buddies."
He left the area quickly not wanting to associate himself with these people any more than necessary. It had always bothered him when he was assigned a team because that meant someone was standing there second guessing him; but what bothered him the most was when they assigned profilers to him, they always seemed to get in his way. They were the ones who suggested that since Sam was acting out of character that he would have run inbound of the state's boarders, unfortunately they suggested that long after it would have been useful. Now they were suggesting that he would head up to Canada and try to disappear with the French Canadians as if nothing happened. They failed to mention anything about Dean, he was the more impulsive one, he was the one to get to and let the younger one follow. So why couldn't they find him? Why wasn't he there protecting his little brother like the good little guard dog that he was? Why the hell could they not find them even after plastering their pictures across four states and declaring an Amber Alert on ever major highway announcement board?
Suddenly he felt like he'd been punched in the gut. They weren't on the highways; they knew it would be suicide. "Damn it!" he yelled, getting the other agents attention. Turning he yelled, "Make sure every cop in every damn Podunk town in the surrounding states has the Winchester's pictures, and remind them that these men are armed and extremely dangerous."
Marching over to one of the profilers, he demanded. "What the hell made you think that they'd stay on the major highways?"
Startled the young man answered, "It would have been the most brass thing for them to do, sir. Everything we have on them shows that they have no respect for authority, and even like to rub it in when they get away with something."
Hendrickson looked at the man in front of him and had to admit that from a textbook point of view, the theory was sound. However, these two clowns weren't a textbook case and they had wasted too much time trying to find them with textbook logic. Frustrated, he knew that they could be anywhere at the moment with as much of a head start that they had, but he wasn't going to admit that to any of his men. They had a job to do and if he had to knock on every damn door in the country, then he would; but he was going to bring in Sam and Dean Winchester even if it was the last thing he did.
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Deciding to take the Interstate Highways had been an impulsive decision, but Sam figured that with Hendrickson being so close, it would be a good time to act like Briar Rabbit. He hoped the agent had thought he was hiding in a small town somewhere while he actually was heading straight for Columbus, Ohio.
It had taken them close to eight hours to get to the city; after all you couldn't travel with a small child and expect to drive straight through to anywhere. So after potty breaks, and even a couple of last moment 'can we stop peese Daddy?' to see whatever caught her eye, Sam was more than a little thankful to pull into Columbus and find a small Motor Lodge that seemed to have been remodeled to replicate what it had been in it's glory days. He chose it because there weren't too many people around, Dee chose it because it was pink; and didn't that just throw him for a loop when she said it?
Settling Dee onto the King Size bed with Page, he found the Nature Channel and let her watch it while he made a quick call. Watching her closely, he didn't want to leave her alone, but also didn't want her listening to the conversation either.
"Sam! Damn boy, it's good to hear from you. Where the hell are you anyway?"
"Hey Bobby, you know… here, there, everywhere; but I want you to know that we're taking it slow 'cause all our resources are tapped. Don't worry though, we'll probably take Dean's baby out and get what's needed in a day or so. Thought you'd like to know."
"Yeah, thanks for the heads up. That means I can get on with my life instead of waiting on you two sorry excuses. Oh, and tell that jackass brother of yours that he still owes me for those parts I got for his beast awhile ago."
"Sure Bobby, I'll tell him, but you know how he is..."
"Uh huh, just make sure he knows. Gotta go kid, see ya 'round."
Sam hung up and continued to watch Dee as she was completely engrossed in a show about lions. "Hey Baby Girl, how about you and I go and get some food at a place with chairs tonight?" he asked, knowing that she had hated the drive- thru's and the gas stations they had stopped at during the day.
At first she didn't say anything, then a commercial came on and she smiled brightly. "With a page for me t' color?" she asked, he eyes full of hope.
"Hmmm… how about we go to IHOP and we get you pancakes?" he asked, knowing that there was no way she would refuse pancakes for dinner; he'd just have to make sure to include some bacon on the side… and maybe some milk… yeah, milk was good.
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Ellen knew something was up as soon as she heard the way Bobby was talking to Sam. He never got upset like that to either of those boys, even when Sam had taken it upon himself to shave Bobby's guard dog Patton, a German Shepherd that had been more of an oddity to the junkyard from what she understood. She had heard the story of how the boys had stayed with Bobby for a week or two during the middle of an unseasonably hot summer, and how Sam had taken it upon himself to make sure the dog was cool; using Bobby's best razor to do it. In fact, to this day Bobby insists that's why he grew a beard, he couldn't find a razor that worked as well.
"Bobby, what's going on?" she asked, getting more concerned, the quieter he got.
Glancing in her direction, Bobby let out a sigh, "That was Sam, he thinks the phones are tapped, but he's still coming in it'll take them a couple of days though."
"Oh, so that's what the pissy attitude was about. So, if the Feds are getting that bold, how are we going to keep them from finding Sam and Dean here?" she asked, knowing that there had to be something more to the conversation.
"I'm pretty sure he thought I'd find him a safe place to hide out, somewhere that agent wouldn't be able to find them even with a map." Bobby said smiling.
Ellen looked at Bobby, and finally asked, "So, I take it that's what you did yesterday?"
Smiling, Bobby nodded and took another sip of beer. If he was right, those boys would be pulling in at close to the two day mark, and he'd make sure everything was ready. Of course he couldn't wait to hear how they got themselves into this much trouble in the first place.