Sam returned to Lucy's bed and sat down beside her, the file in his hand. He drew in a deep breath and let it out with a shaky sigh and clenched his jaws when he looked at her but the slow but steady rise and fall of her chest gave him the reassurance he needed that Lucy was sleeping. Dean had fallen asleep again beside Lauren and she had wrapped both hands around his left arm as if to make sure that he would not go anywhere during the night. Sam let his gaze travel from his brother to Lauren and then back to Lucy who was so close to him that he could touch her if he only reached out for her hand. But he didn't want to wake her now that she finally got to rest a bit.
As silent as he could, he browsed through the pages, absorbing every piece of information without judging what was important or not. He just needed to know everything and he prayed that there was something that would help them understand more about these demons or whatever it was that they wanted. Sam was sure that there was something.
The earliest dates in that file showed that someone had started to file reports about the Hawking's and Lauren in particular in the night Dr. Stevenson got killed – which also was the night Lauren had been born.
Right after sergeant McAdams had been brutally killed, Lauren had been locked away in a medical facility to check if there were any psychological evidences that she could have committed the murders of the Stevenson's family and sergeant McAdams. This must have been the first time she had suffered from the drugs and electroshock therapy. Sam felt a twinge of sadness when he read about what they had done to the little girl. They had seen so many weird and strange things in their lives but from the viewpoint of humanity, these were the most horrible things they've ever experienced. The other incidents, the brutal attacks and mutilations that happened to these reporters were another thing. How could anyone ever think that someone of Lauren's age and size have the physical strength to injure a grown up person like that? Of course, he, too, knew the stories about possessed people who suddenly had the strength to lift up a car or do anything of that sort. Even children were able to do something when they were possessed, the lore said. But after movies like The Exorcist people were led to believe that things like that really could really happen.
During Lauren's stay in the medical facility, the other sergeant, Timothy McRyan, disappeared for three days and was found dead and badly mutilated down by the lake behind the Hawking's house. What Sam found strangely interesting was the stamp that rendered McRyan's profile terminated.
"Terminated…" Sam whispered. "What could that mean?" After a worried glance to sleeping Lucy beside him to check if he had woken her up with his straying thoughts he turned back to the file. When he first had looked into the file he had thought that this stamp had marked the termination of the file after Adams' and McRyan's death but now he felt differently about it. Both Adams and McRyan had been investigating in this case and both had died a violent death. Piecing together the information of the three brothers being demons and all the dead people, he finally understood. The sergeants had been terminated, killed, murdered by the three brothers because they had probably found out too much. But then why keep a file? Why keep records of something like that?
For long moments, he sat there, staring onto the page, trying to put together everything. With all the information from the file, he could only begin to understand what had been happening. Lauren functioned as some sort of scapegoat after having added the energy that was necessary for these demonic brothers to escape from hell or so it seemed. But still, it didn't make much sense to him. Why were those things happening? For a moment he pondered upon what he could do and then it came to him. Why hadn't he thought about that before? He stood up again, walked over to the other bed and gently touched Dean's shoulder. With a startled expression in his eyes, Dean woke up and sat up straight in the bed. It took him a moment to realize what was going on and when he felt the tiny hand of Lauren in his he stopped moving around.
"What is it?" he whispered, still sleepy.
"We have to go and check the Stevenson's house!" Sam murmured rapidly. "There's still something I don't get, something that I think I'll find in the Stevenson's house."
"Calm down, Sammy! What are you talking about?" Dean spoke while trying to pry Lauren's little fingers from his hand without waking her.
"Sergeant Adams and Sergeant McRyan were killed!" Sam blurted out.
"Yeah, I know!"
"No, you don't understand what I'm trying to say! It wasn't Lucy, it were these guys, the three demons!"
"Yeah, I figured as much." Dean smiled a little and wiped his eyes again.
"What?" Sam glared at him. "You knew?"
"Never said that, Sammy, I only said I figured as much. I knew Lauren couldn't have done it, so I figured as much!"
Sam was silent for a moment but the frown on his forehead showed Dean clearly that Sam was not very happy with that kind of answer.
"What else did you find out?" Dean asked just for peace's sake.
Sam didn't look at him. "Not much…we need to go to the Stevenson's place and check if there's something. I know…there has to be something!"
Dean looked at his brother and realized how desperate he was. "Ok, ok…calm it, dude! We'll go and check it out. Tomorrow, ok? Try to get some sleep now! And please, don't read anymore and don't wake me anymore, you hear me?" He fell against the cushion and yawned. "Go!"
When Sam returned to the bed, he watched Dean push Lauren away a bit and then pull her into his embrace with one hand while struggling a little with the blanket with his other hand. Once he was satisfied with how he and the tiny girl were covered, he let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes, starting to snore right away. Lauren snuggled up against him and Sam was sure that she felt totally secure now. She would get a good night's rest now. Lucy, on the other hand, was a different matter. There would be no time and place for them, even though Sam didn't want to admit to that. He felt strangely attracted to her, attracted in a way that he had never imagined he could be to anyone. It was totally different to his attraction to Jessica or to Sarah a few months ago, this fascination was a more fundamental one, a more familiar one. The way Lucy cared about Lauren, the way she gave everything to make her sister safe, both impressed and reminded him of his own brother Dean. Dean – so much he knew – would give his life for Sam, any time, any place, without further questions or consideration. Just as Sam would do in return for Dean.
Sam felt his heart pound against his chest, shouting out in rage, trying to break out of its cage. His mind on the other side quietened the racing heart with images of Jessica burning, nailed to the ceiling, and with strange ideas of Lucy having to face the same fate if Sam would give in to his heart's folly wishes and longings. He knew he had always been too considerate for a man his age and background and so he knew that it would have been foolish to rush things and break into the Stevenson's old place right away during the night with no preparation or consideration beforehand, because they didn't know what these demonic sons of bitches were capable of. Breaking into a house full of demons would not only be dangerous to them, it would also endanger Lauren and Lucy.
So all he could do right now was sit tight and wait…