Chapter Nine: Asylum
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural.
Sam's POV
"Uggghh...Sam pull the car over." AJ groans as she's curled up in the passenger of her mustang.
"Feeling a bit sick are we?" I laughed back at her, which earned me a well deserved glare. Serves the poor girl right. She did ask Dean to get her plastered after she dealt with Ryan.
"Sam! Pull. Over. Now!" I signaled and pulled over on the shoulder just in time for AJ to throw the door open and proceed to get sick. I put the car in park and get out, walking over to her to pass her water.
"Dear lord, why did I have to get so wasted?" AJ mumbled and reached out for the bottle of water.
"Because you asked Dean to get you drunk. And the fact that you ended it with Ryan officially." AJ groaned and wiped her mouth. "AJ were you going to try and get out of this life? Like I thought I had with Jessica?" AJ pulled herself back into the passenger seat as I started up the engine.
"Honestly Sam, I don't know. Ryan is a great guy and I loved him but the minute that Dean showed up on my door..." She took a deep breath and pulled her hair into a ponytail. "When Dean showed up, I was more than willing to take off and go hunt. It's like I was playing make believe in Arizona. Does that make me a horrible person Sammy?"
"AJ you're not a horrible person. You tried to get out and realized it wasn't for you." I gave her a reassuring smile. "We're a few miles out from Bobby's why don't you try to get some shut eye. I'll let Dean know he needs to pick up food before we meet up."
"Make sure he gets extra bacon and lots of coffee. He never gets me enough bacon." She mumbled as she curled up in the seat beside me. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and hit the speed dial for Dean.
"What's up Sammy? Is Ali wanting to kill me yet?" Dean asked.
"She's feeling and looking like she got hit by a truck." I laughed. "So you're on food detail and I'll take her straight to Bobby's to clean up."
"Alright. So get her as much grease filled food as possible?"
"Yeah, get her the usual stuff. Though she said to make sure you get lots of extra bacon and coffee. Apparently you never remember to get enough."
"Whatever. I'll see you two at Bobby's." He mumbled and hung up. We were a few minutes away from Bobby's and getting AJ into shower. Poor girl stinks of booze.
Alison's POV
I wake up just before we hit the gravel road leading into the salvage yard. I rubbed my face and grabbed my water bottle, taking a long drink before speaking to Sam.
"Remind me to kill Dean for getting me so drunk. I know it's my fault for telling him to but dear lord I swear this hangover is going to last forever." Sam started laughing as we pulled up right in front of the house. I grabbed my bag and headed up the stairs to the door.
"AJ you totally brought it on yourself. Didn't you learn when we were 18 and Dean would sneak us drinks after a hunt?" I grimaced, remembering the first time Dean had snuck us whiskey after a hunt. Dean had to carry me up to my room because I was such a lightweight and passed out after a few drinks. I swore to myself the day after that I would never let him get me drunk again, yet I let him every single time.
"Oh God, don't remind me." I said as we walked into the den. "Hey Dad. I'm going to go get cleaned up. Dean's coming too, just stopped to pick up some grub." Dad had looked up from one of his books, saw that I still had my sunglasses on inside and shook his head.
"You still haven't learned have you Alison?" I groaned and walked upstairs to my room. I could hear Sam talking to Dad about Lawrence and what all went down afterwards. Thank you Sammy for explaining it to Dad. Dad doesn't really do the sappy girl moments that well.
I tossed my bag onto the floor by my bed and started peeling off clothes and tossed them into the laundry basket in my bathroom. I started the shower waiting for the water get hot and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like a hot mess, no wonder Dad and Sam are laughing at me. I stepped into the shower and stood under the hot spray until it started getting cold. I scrubbed the stench of alcohol off and turned off the shower. I can hear my radio on which is weird because it was off when I went to take my shower. Stepping out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around me and went to check it out.
"You know, I could really get used to you greeting me in just a towel." Dean was sitting on my bed holding a bag of greasy take out.
"Don't get used to it Dean." I rolled my eyes and snatched the bag out of his hand. "You actually remembered the extra bacon! I could kiss you right now." Dean chuckled and started walking around my room.
"Now Ali, I know you want to jump me but let's not while your dad is downstairs." I balled up the empty bag and tossed it at the back of his head, laughing.
"You're such a pig." I started pulling clothes out of my dresser. "So, why are you hiding up here anyways?" I put on a pair of comfy light wash jeans and a green v-neck t-shirt.
"I came up here to bring you food. Plus Sam sent me to check on you." I tapped him on the shoulder to let him know I was done changing. I grabbed a pair of boots and started lacing them up, as he looked at the pictures on my desk.
"You didn't have to check up on me you know. I would have come down eventually." I smiled when he picked up the picture of the two of us.
"I know. I think this is the only picture of the two of us." Dean said putting it back down and making his way to the door. I put some fresh clothes in my bag and put it by my door before following him out.
"I think it is. It's probably my favourite memory though." I told him as we were walking down back to the den.
"Really? That was taken what 3 maybe 4 years ago?"
"It was about three years ago. It was the last Christmas before I went off to college." I gave him a small smile. "It was the last time we were all really happy. You had just given me a whole bunch of stuff to take care of my baby and Sam managed to capture the moment."
"Ali..." Dean started to say and I just nudged him with my shoulder.
"You don't have to say anything, Dean. I know." We walked into the den where Dad and Sam were now talking about the case in Illinois.
"Nice of you to finally join us Alison. Now here's what I know about the Rockford Asylum."
A few hours later... Rockford Asylum
Dean's POV
Sam, Ali and I head down a hallway in the south wing of the hospital. "Dude, make sure you let us know if you see any dead people Hayley Joel."
"Dean enough already." Ali puts herself in between Sam and I. It's been a bit of a rough trip already. Sam is all moody and brooding since we're following intel from Dad's journal and that Bobby backed it up. Sam's been losing his mind that I'm following the messages that Dad sent. Dad is still alive and wants us to continue where he left off. What doesn't that kid understand.
"You get a reading on that thing or not?"
"That's a big fat nope! Of course, doesn't mean there's no one here." Ali shakes her head wandering down the hall a bit more.
"Hey guys, spirits can't come out at certain times of day right?" She said as she opened a door to another room.
"Yeah. Most spirits come out at night." Sam replied.
"Ali don't wander off on your own." I said as she turned back and stuck her tongue out at me. "What? Who knows what kind of creepy thing will want a slice of Ali pie."
"Oh shut up Dean." Sam and I walked to where she was waiting. Looking into the room I let out a whistle.
"Dang. Electro-shock. Lobotomies. These guys did a ton of twisted stuff to patients." Sam ignores what I said and keeps digging around. I looked to Ali for support and she just shook her head.
"Dean, he's just frustrated with John not mad at you. Well at least I think he's not mad at you. Give him time." She sighed and walked over to Sam. "So Sam, what do you think? Ghosts possessing people?"
"Hmm maybe. Or maybe it's more like Amityville or the Smurl haunting."
"So like spirits driving a person insane? Like my man Jack in the Shining." I grinned and Ali rolled her eyes at me.
"Dean." Sam looked at me. "When are we going to talk about it?"
"Talk about what Sam?"
"The fact that Dad isn't here." I'm about to chew his ass out when Ali coughs and gets our attention.
"Guys, how about you hash this out once we get back to the motel?" She was poking around and found a sign 'Sanford Ellicott'. "So how about we go find out more about this Ellicott character? I'll even let you win this time Sam."
"Yeah whatever AJ." Sam turned and left us in the room. Ali looked like she just got hit in the gut and Sam has no right to take his issues with Dad out on her.
"Hey Ali don't take Sam being an ass to you to heart. I'll deal with him."
"Dean... Don't. I tried to make light of it and I should have known better." She took a picture of the sign and started walking out the door. "You coming or are you waiting for some crazy ghost lady to service you?" She said right before hightailing it down the hallway.
"You're dead Singer!"
A few hours later...
Alison's POV
So Sam went and visited the current Dr. Ellicott's office. He didn't say much about the visit, which he spent a long time at. The only thing he told Dean and I was the south wing had contained the criminally insane. Then in '64 the patients rioted, killing staff and each other which caused them to transfer patients elsewhere and ended up closing the asylum. So now we're back at the asylum and it's even creepier at night. I pulled my leather jacket tighter around me as I waited for Sam and Dean to get their poop in a group.
"You boys ready? I don't want to be here longer than we have to. This place gives me the creeps."
"Yeah let's go." Sam handed me a flashlight and a shotgun. I looked over to Dean and he had the camcorder and EMF ready to go.
"Alright. Let's do this." We walked through the main lobby and headed towards the south wing, stopping and checking out rooms one by one. I paired up with Sam while Dean went to go check out another room. Sam and I came across a crazy old lady spirit which I got rid of by shooting it, causing Dean to come running in.
"AJ don't you think it's weird that she didn't attack us?"
"Sam! I wasn't waiting to see if she was about to freaking attack us! Are you kidding me?!"
"She looked pretty aggro to me and I just saw Ali blow that thing away." Dean piped up.
"She didn't hurt us. She didn't even try Dean! So if she didn't intend to harm then what did she want?" All of the sudden I heard noises coming from one of the rooms we were passing. Dean and I raised our shotguns as Sam shines the flashlight in the room. I see a blonde head behind a bed that was turned on its side and I nodded to Sam to go check. Sam tipped the bed over and a girl turns around and screamed terrified that we have shotguns in her face.
"Don't shoot. Don't shoot!" She screamed.
"Hey calm down. We're not going to hurt you." I crouched down beside her. "What's your name?"
"Kat. My name is Kat."
"Okay Kat. My name is Alison and those two are Sam and Dean." I held out my hand to help her up.
"So, Kat what's a girl like you doing in this place?" Dean asked her while giving her a flirtatious grin. Seriously I swear this guy thinks with his downstairs brain most of the time.
"Um...My boyfriend Gavin thought coming here would be fun. You know to try and see some ghosts. I saw things and then I heard Gavin scream..."
"Alright Kat. Sam is going to get you out of here while Dean and I go looking for Gavin, okay?" I said to her as Sam was trying to escort her out of the room.
"No! I'm not leaving without Gavin, I'm coming with you." That's when Dean stepped in, there's no way we were about to deal with a panicked girl trying to find her boyfriend in this freaking place. She was just going to cause more problems than help us.
"Sorry there sweetheart but Ali is right. You need to go now. Sam will carry you out if he has to." This resulted in him getting the bitch face from Kat and Sam at the same time.
"Look Kat... I know you're worried about Gavin. I promise we'll find him but we can't risk you getting hurt in the process. So please go with Sam. I beg you." Kat realized that I wasn't going to give her any other option and she agreed to wait outside with Sam.
A little while later
Dean's POV
"So how do you manage to always get through to people rationally?" I asked Ali as we were walking down a hall, looking into each room for this Gavin kid.
"I don't know. I can just sense how they're feeling and the right words just come out." She said right before she tripped over a leg that was sticking out from a doorway.
"Ali, are you okay?" I asked her as I shined my light on the body. It was Gavin.
"Yeah I'm fine." She shook Gavin. "Hey Gavin, wake up! We're here to help."
"Where's Kat? Is she alright?"
"Yeah your girl is fine. My brother is with her waiting outside so let's go." I could tell that Ali was giving me her 'Play nice' look. "Are you able to walk? And how did you end up here?" I asked him.
"Um yeah. I was running and I think I fell."
"What were you running from Gavin?" Ali asked as we helped him up.
"Well..There was this girl and her face..her face was so messed up."
"Did she try to hurt you?"
"No, she uh..she kissed me." Gavin said. The dude made out with a dead chick...Nasty.
"Well, trust me it could have been worse for you dude."
"Dean!" I just shrugged and kept walking. "Sorry Gavin. Do you remember anything else?" Ali asked him.
"Umm well she tried to whisper something in my ear. But I don't know what she said. I ran like hell." We showed Gavin the way out to Sam and Kat when my flashlight started to fade.
"Son of a bitch!"
Meanwhile outside the asylum
Sam's POV
While waiting outside with Kat, I started getting anxious about what was going on inside with AJ and Dean. Have they figured out what's going on? Why did I get stuck on babysitting duty? I mean first we follow Dad's orders to check this place out and now I'm not even working the case. This is bullshit!
"You know your face is going to freeze like that." Kat snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Sorry Kat. Just thinking." She smiled.
"Do you think they found..." Kat looked past me and started running. "GAVIN! You're okay!" I walked over to where they were by the entrance.
"I'm okay. Dean and his girlfriend found me. They told me to come out and wait with you two." Gavin said while holding onto Kat.
"They aren't together...You know what, you and Kat stay here I'm going in to help them." I told them as I passed them a flashlight and grabbed a new one from the trunk. "Stay here and don't move until we come back. Understand?"
"Can't we just go home?" Kat asked "I really don't want to be here anymore."
"Just stay here until we come back. I need to make sure whatever is going on is gone for good."
I walked back into the building and heard AJ screaming. I started running down the halls trying to find Dean and AJ.
"DEAN! AJ! Where are you?" I came to a halt when I saw Dean banging against a door and I could hear AJ screaming.
"Sam help me out. Some ghost grabbed Ali and I can't get the door to budge." Dean yelled at me. "Ali hold on! We're going to get you out I promise!"
"Dean! I'm scared and I have no weapon. Hurry!" I started thinking what if the ghost wasn't trying to hurt her but communicate.
"AJ listen to me! You need to look the ghost in the eye. It's like the old lady, it's trying to communicate."
"Easier said than done Sam!" Then it got really quiet. Dean and I looked at each other, waiting for something to happen.
"This better work Sammy." Dean said just as the door to the room unlatched and AJ walked out shaking.
"AJ? What happened?" I pulled her over to me checking to see that she was okay.
"137. He said 137." She whispered. "I volunteer to go on babysitting duty. I'm done being molested by creepy ghosts in this hell hole." Dean chuckled at her and she flipped him the bird.
After walking around for awhile, we finally found room 137 which belonged to Dr. Ellicott. The room was a disaster, papers strewn everywhere, tables flipped over and cabinets flung open. I rummaged through the cabinets while Dean searched the room and he found a secret hatch in the wall. I walked over to Dean and he threw a satchel onto the desk.
"This is why I get paid the big bucks Sammy!" He grinned as I shined the light on it. He pulled out a book and started flipping through the pages. It showed all the messed up experiments Ellicott did on the patients.
"This is barbaric Dean. How could someone do this?"
"I don't know Sammy. Let's go find the body and make it burn."
A while later...
Alison's POV
Sam and Dean walked out of the asylum looking a little worse for wear. I walked over to them grabbing Sam's face and checking him out.
"What the hell happened in there? You're covered in blood."
"Well Sammy here got infected by the good old doctor and tried to kill me." Dean said while I checked him out too. I cocked my eyebrow in shock. "Yeah not kidding there, Tiny. He went full on Whacky Jacky."
"Well I'm kind of glad I wasn't in there. Dealing with a ghost was enough for me. I don't think I could have dealt with a whacked out Sammy."
"Dude. I'm right here. It's not like I meant anything that I said in there." Sam pouted.
We said bye to Kat and Gavin watching them walk off. Knowing that this was all over, I just really wanted sleep and a hot shower. Nothing like getting creeped on by a ghost to make you want to scrub yourself clean until you're raw.
"Dean I mean it. I didn't mean any of what I said back there. Do we need to talk about this?" Sam asked concerned. Dean turned away and walked to his door, tossing his bag in.
"No. I'm not really in the caring and sharing kind of mood. I just want to get some sleep." Dean replied bluntly and got in the Impala. I looked over to Sam and we both got in slowly. It was going to be a long car ride back to the motel.
When we got back to the motel Dean hit the bathroom first. We decided that I would bunk with the guys in one room to save on cash. I sat at the table with my laptop looking for new cases, when Sam came over and sat across from me. I looked up from my computer and waited for him to talk.
"I didn't mean to say all those horrible things to Dean." Sam said once he heard the shower turn on.
"Sammy, whatever you said to him. You meant it on some level. Ellicott only amplifies a person's anger." Sam looked down and gave me his puppy dog eyes. "You're allowed to be angry, Samsquatch." I replied gently. "Dean will be okay too. Just give him time. Whatever you said to him...It hurt."
"I know AJ. You're amazing, you know that. What would I do without you?" He smiled and I started chuckling.
"Of course I'm amazing." I got up and kissed him on the top of his head. "You and Dean would have killed each other by now."
About two hours later we were all showered and the boys were already passed out in bed. I sat up searching for cases, not wanting to fall asleep. I don't think I could handle nightmares tonight after the creep show at the asylum earlier. Suddenly, my phone rang from the nightstand in between the beds. I grabbed it quickly not wanting to wake the boys.
"Hello."
"Alison." The gruffy voice said on the other end.
"John." I replied. "It's about damn time." I was standing in the middle of the two beds, while talking on the phone. "Where the hell are you? I never heard from you after I called about Lawrence."
"I can't tell you where I am. The boys will try to find me." John spoke and I was already starting to get frustrated. I know I told him I would keep them out of the loop, but this was about to get out of hand.
"Really? Because it's not like the boys haven't been trying to track you down for the last six months!" I told him in anger and used my sarcasm which I knew he hated.
"Ali, is that my dad?" Dean asked but I wasn't paying him any attention.
"You better be careful with that tone young lady." John warned me and I sighed. I knew I just pissed him off.
"Please John. They want to help find the thing that killed Mary and Jess." I turned my attention to the two boys, who were now wide awake. "Let us help you, John." Of course, he went silent. I'm frustrated, he wants me to protect his boys yet he keeps wanting to keep tabs. "You know what? Talk to one of your sons then. You know the ones you let think you disappeared." I snapped and Dean looked shocked at the tone I just used with his dad. I held the phone out and Dean snatched it before Sam could.
"Dad it's me...Where are you? Yes sir. I got a pen. What are their names?" I sighed deeply and sat on the edge of the bed. I hated this. Whenever Dean spoke to John, he'd just fall in line. Like a perfect little soldier. Dean got off the phone with John and headed over to my laptop, typing in the names John had just given him.
I grabbed my running gear out of my bag and headed to change. Sam looked to me and knew better than to ask what I was about to do. I came back out and grabbed my ipod off of the dresser.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Dean asked. I stopped with my hand on the door.
"Going for a run. Not that it's any of your business." I snapped.
"Whoa. Why are you being such a bitch?"
"Because Dean, John calls and you fall in line like a good little soldier." Dean stands up and looks pissed. "Did he tell you that after Colorado he called me? Told me that he was hunting the thing that was killed your mom. He ordered me to protect you boys and yet he keeps dangling little missions for you to carry out." I'm panting and my face is turning red from anger.
"He called you?" Dean asked sternly. "And you knew he was alive?" Sam got up and was ready to intervene if this blew up.
"Didn't I just say that Dean?! I even told you two that I knew he was alive." I was shaking and my head started throbbing. "Ugh damn it." I fell to my knees.
"AJ. Are you okay?" Sam asked concerned as he crouched down beside me.
"Yeah I'm fine. You know what I'm just going to go out. I'm done arguing." I got up to my feet and took a couple deep breaths. I looked over to Dean who had a mix of concern and anger on his face.
"Ali we're not done here."
"I know. But we need to cool off before we say something we regret." I said as I walked out the door.
I started running down the road as fast as I could, feeling the cold air burn my lungs. Maybe the two of them can look up those names dear old John gave Dean, while I'm gone. Selfish bastard doesn't even realize he's putting them in danger. He might as well just tell us where he is. The sooner we kill the thing he's hunting maybe we can figure out what killed mom. Suddenly I hear screeching tires and see a car heading towards me.
It comes skidding to a stop inches from me and I'm blinded by the headlights.
"Ali, get in! We need to go now!" Dean yelled.
AN: And that's it for this chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it. Cheers! -Vickie
