I am so sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Winter break was busier than I thought and school's already kinda crazy. I've also had hard drive problems that still have yet to be fixed. So, out of guilt I am posting the unedited version of Chapter 5. It hasn't been beta'd so please forgive any mistakes either in spelling, grammar or if things just don't make sense. I hope everyone's had a wonderful holiday season and is enjoying 2009! Thanks for reading!
Ch. 5 Rise And Shine, It's Hunting Time
It was still dark in the Pioneer themed motel room when Sam Winchester cracked open his eyes. The digital clock read "5:30am" and the first rays of sunlight danced just above the treetops.
He was still tired, but he knew that he could catch up on his sleep on the way to their next job, whatever that would be. He sat up and swung his long legs around to the floor glancing at the still form of his brother asleep in the bed opposite his. Dean was laying on his stomach with his left arm draped over the side of the bed and the right under his pillow most likely with a vice grip on his trusty knife that he never went to bed without. His comfort blankie, Sam chuckled. He could have sworn he saw a darkened drool stain spreading on the pillow just under Dean's partially opened lips, but the lighting in the room was too dim to know for sure.
He looks beat. Sam thought. He had one hell of a night last night. He's not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows when he wakes up, that's for sure.
Sam quietly gathered his clothes, so he wouldn't wake up the elder Winchester and slipped into the bathroom to shower. With the comfort of the warm water on his skin, Sam allowed his mind to recall the events of the drive back to the motel the previous night.
The announcement for last call had been made just as Dean and Kale quickly called Molly over to replenishes their drinks. The barkeep practically had to throw the two out when they refused to leave.
Sam swiped the car keys from Dean, despite his protests that he was "not too drive to drunk." After much deliberation, Dean had finally succumbed to sit shotgun while Kale sat in the center of the backseat where he then insisted on being a backseat driver, literally. Sam wrestled with Kale over his shoulder and finally resorted to elbowing him in the nose to get him to release his grip on the steering wheel.
Once the Impala finally pulled out of Howie's, the rest of the five-minute drive back to the motel consisted of a very off-key performance of 'Stairway to Heaven' from the intoxicate men. Every so often one of them would make a move for the wheel causing Sam to swerve. All in all, it was a miracle they had made it to the motel parking lot alive and without any suspicious attention from the local law enforcement.
Sam toweled off and threw on some old, faded jeans, a dark blue tee, his favorite hoodie, and a beat up pair of converse then slipped out the door.
He walked the three doors down to room 116, which if he remembered right was the room that Kale staggered into a mere three hours earlier. He raised his hand to knock on the door when it opened.
"Good morning, Sam" the perky brunette smiled up at him. "I was just going to see if you Winchester boys wanted a little breakfast."
"That's just what I was coming to ask you." He laughed.
"Great minds think alike," She winked. "Why don't we go together then?" Riley closed the motel door and grabbed her keys from her pocket. "We'll take my car."
She led Sam over to the 1969 Chevy Chevelle SS parked across the lot. The white racing stripes that ran along the top of the vehicle stood out in stark contrast to the deep blue paint job covering the rest of the car's sleek body. The recent wax job reflected their surroundings almost as if it were a mirror.
"Nice car. Dean's gonna flip when he see it."
"Thanks. I got it for a birthday present. I promised that I'd take good care of her." She unlocked the doors and climbed into the driver's seat.
"You know, this may sound weird, but it looks really familiar." Sam did his best to get his tall frame into the car without bumping his head. It had been a long time since he'd ridden in anything but the Impala.
"It's funny that you mention that. You boys know Bobby Singer, right?" Riley questioned as she buckled her seatbelt.
"Well, yeah. He's practically family." Sam gave her a puzzled look. She knows Bobby?
"It was in his junkyard and I had had my eye on it for a while. He helped me fix it up and gave it to me for my 16th birthday." The engine roared to life, as did the radio. She quickly reached for the knob, lowering the volume. "Sorry about that. I kinda like my music loud." She pulled through the parking space and sailed down to the local diner across the road from Howie's.
- - - - -
On the way back to the motel Riley pulled into a small building off of Main Street.
"What are we doing?" Sam inquired.
"Just taking a little detour. I have to drop off a book that I borrowed from the library."
"This town has a library?!" Riley laughed as drove up to the drop-box. She rolled down the window and slid the book into the slot.
"Don't look so surprised, Sam. It has a small one. I was lucky that they had the book I needed for my paper."
"Paper?"
"I'm taking an online course on Urban Legends and Mythology. I had a research paper due this week."
Sam stared at her with a quizzical expression across his face. "You hunt and take college courses?"
"Well, I was gonna have to do the research anyway. So, I figured why not get some credit for it?" Riley stated.
"Okay. But, why?" Sam partly wished he had considered the option. Then again, online classes wouldn't be the ideal way to get through law school.
"I don't know if I want to hunt my whole life, Sam. I mean, I've been hunting for as long as I can remember and I'm not sure if I want to spend the rest of my life like this. Underneath it all, I'm just a normal twenty-one year old girl who dreams of some day having a family. And I'm gonna have to support that family, which means no hunting. So, I need a backup plan," Riley parked the Chevelle in the empty space in front of her room. "Don't you ever think about what you'd do with your life if you didn't have to hunt?"
Sam inhaled sharply as the memories of his normal life came back. He had tried to get away from the horrors that most people never even know exist. He had tried his hand at normalcy: law school, a girlfriend, and the promise of a happy life. And then I lost it all.
"Sam?" She felt his mood change and his mind grow distant. She reached out to touch his arm. "Sam."
He jumped at her touch, pulling his thoughts back to her question. "Yeah. Yeah, I do." He cleared his throat. "Let's go eat."
They grabbed the food from the backseat. Sam headed down to the room he shared with his brother and Riley headed inside room 116 to wake Kale.
- - - - -
"Wakie, wakie, Kale," she called in a sing-songy voice. "Sam and I got breakfast. Pancakes, your favorite."
Kale moaned and turned over, pushing his face into the back of the couch.
"Oh, c'mon. We have to go down to the boys' room to talk cases. Now, get up and grab the files."
Kale waved her off and pulled a pillow over his head.
"Fine then. I was gonna be nice and give you some of this aspirin I picked up, but now…" She sauntered over to the back of the couch, leaned over placing her lips above where his ear would be under the pillow and whispered, "I'm done playing nice."
She pulled as hard as she could on the back of the couch, causing it to topple backwards. Kale rolled off the back end of the couch and onto the floor.
"Ow!"
"I told you to get up." Riley laughed. Kale was tangled up in the blanket at the foot of the bed. His hair was a mess and he had a light bruise on his nose. He was still in the clothes he was wearing the night before, including his boots. One of them at least. "Looks like someone had fun last night."
"Oh yeah," he grunted as he pulled himself off the floor and found his way out of the blanket.
"Here," she threw the small bottle of aspirin at him. He caught it with one hand and quickly opened it, dispensing two pills. He tossed his head back as he swallowed them.
"Thanks, Rye. Dean'll probably need those now." He tossed the bottle back to Riley then slowly turned to get the files. "Here. You can take those"
"Geez, you need to brush your teeth." She grabbed the files with her left hand as she waved her right in front of her nose for effect. "Seriously, Kale. You do that and I'll meet you in their room. It's number 113."
Kale rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath as he walked into the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the bright florescent lights.
- - - - -
Sam stepped into the dark room. Not much had changed since he left. Dean was still in the same position only this time the dark stain had grown under his mouth. He set the food down on the table in front of the window and opened the blinds.
"Dude!" Dean called out as the bright light flooded the room. He squinted and shielded some of the light with his arm; sunlight glinted of the surface of the blade he was still firmly holding. "How about a little warning next time."
"I'll try to remember that." Sam set Dean's coffee down on the nightstand.
"What's that smell?" Dean sniffed the air, and then took a sip of the warm liquid. "Pancakes? Dude, you got me breakfast in bed! That's so considerate of you, Sammy"
"Sorry to disappoint you, Dean, but you don't exactly get to eat it in bed. We've got company coming, so get dressed." Sam took the to-go boxes out of the plastic "Thank You" bag and set them out around the table. He enjoyed the feeling of normalcy this gave him. Finally having a meal at a table that wasn't located in some bar or diner, even if they were eating with plastic utensils. He heard the bathroom door click shut followed shortly after by a knocking on the door.
"Come in, Riley." He set out the plastic wrapped sets of plasticware and napkins.
"Wow, you're really going all out. You've set the table and everything." She pulled out a chair and set the files on the tabletop. "I feel like I'm at the Ritz."
"Well, it's not everyday we get to have guests." Sam laughed as he took a seat next to her. She handed him the manila folder overflowing with newspaper clippings and police files that had been collected over the past few weeks. He started to thumb through the papers. "And it's even more rare for us to have business meetings."
Dean emerged from the bathroom in a pair of ripped jeans and a light gray t-shirt, which accentuated his muscular chest. The golden amulet that hung from his neck reflected the light. "Mornin' Riley," he winked. He saw a familiar blonde through the window and waved him inside.
"Morning, Dean. I've got something for you." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the aspirin, tossing it his way.
"Thanks," he took two pills and joined the feasting trio at the table. "So what have we got?"
"There's only two possible cases that we've found nearby," Kale started with a full mouth; pieces of pancakes stuck to the corners of his mouth. Riley threw him a disapproving look. He swallowed and wiped his mouth with his sleeve before continuing. "That first clipping there. Rye and I think there's a rawhead in Santa Fe. Numerous children have gone missing all within a five mile radius."
Sam peered up at Dean from the article. For a split second he could see the pale, sickly face of his brother who'd checked himself out of the hospital after taking 100,000 volts on their last rawhead hunt. "Santa Fe's kinda far. Is there anything closer?"
"Well, there's a string of strange deaths in Las Vegas," Riley answered.
"Oooh, Vegas," Dean raised his eyebrows. "I vote Vegas."
Sam rolled his eyes. "How strange?"
"Three victims have died from myocardial infarctions…"
"Heart attack," Sam told his brother.
"Dude, I know what the medical term for a heart attack is. I'm not an idiot."
"…with no prior heart conditions." She continued. "They all had a clean bill of health when they died."
"The only problem was that they were dead," Kale chimed in. "So whatdya boys think? Should we hit up Vegas?"
"Heck yes!" Dean cried out before he shoved a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. Sam nodded in agreement. There was no point in arguing with his elder brother. "Do you think we'll see Grissom?"
"Or Catherine?" Kale joined excitedly. "Mmmm…Catherine."