Title: The Boys Went Down to Georgia
Author: Razorbackgal0225
Rating: PG-13--A little language, but that's all
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, cars or situations from Supernatural, but I sure wish I did. Anything you don't recognize is mine.
Author's Note: As always, thanks to my reviewers. And please, if you do read, drop me a line! I love hearing what people are thinking, whether you are liking the story or not. Or if you have suggestions. Or if you have an extra Dean laying around )
"Lilly, I'm back," Katie called as she entered her house. She immediately kicked off her shoes and threw her purse on the nearest chair. Jenny's wedding had been exhausting, since the bride had insisted that Katie redo one of the bridesmaid's bouquets at the last minute. Katie had been forced to rush down the block to the church in her terribly uncomfortable but stylish sandals. All in a day's work, she tried to convince herself. Sighing loudly, she walked into the dining room.
"Hi Aunt Katie," Lilly greeted her, a smile on her face. She waved the spoon she was using to eat at her aunt. "How was the wedding?"
"It was fine," Katie replied and then noticed what Lilly was doing. "What are you eating, sweetie? And where are Mr. Sam and Mr. Dean?"
"Ice cream and in the living room," Lilly dug back into her bowl. "They are re-search-ing." She carefully pronounced the word that Mr. Sam had taught her when she had asked what he was doing with his computer.
Katie frowned at her niece, apparently unhappy with at least one of the answers she had received. "You're eating ice cream? Before lunch?"
Lilly nodded enthusiastically. "Mr. Dean said it was my reward for helping. And for being a good student."
"Being a good student," Katie repeated slowly. "Okay, I'm going to go talk to Mr. Dean. I don't think you need to eat any more ice cream, no matter who gave it to you. You still need to eat lunch." She turned and headed into the next room. Katie saw Sam sitting on her couch, tapping away on the keyboard of his laptop. Dean was lounging in the armchair next to him, drinking a can of Dr Pepper.
"So, Jacob took control of the car, what's so hard to believe about that?" Dean was asking as she moved into their eyesight. Dean smiled at her, then stopped when he saw the annoyed look on her face. He knew there were any number of things she could be upset about, but until he found out which one was causing the problem, he wasn't going to admit to anything. So he ignored the issue and went back to talking to Sam. "It's pretty obvious that's what happened considering what we saw before the accident."
"You think he just took over a car driven by a person?" Sam countered. "Since when does that happen? Hi Katie," he said finally.
"Hi. Why is Lilly eating ice cream?" she immediately asked. "And before lunch? You know, it's not a good idea to let kids eat dessert before the actual meal." Dean ran his hand through his short brown hair, a gesture Katie was beginning to recognize as one of frustration. "What's wrong?" she questioned.
"Um, nothing's wrong," Sam answered. "There was just a little…incident while you were gone."
Katie's eyebrows shot up. "Incident?" she exclaimed. "What kind of incident? With Lilly? Is that why she's eating ice cream?"
Dean stood and walked to her, looking upset. "Listen, everything's alright." He glanced back at his brother who gave a small nod. Dean turned back to her and continued, "Lilly spotted Jacob outside. He was following the little kid across the street."
Katie gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, obviously shocked by the news. After a minute, she removed her hand and inquired quietly, "Is he alright?"
Sam quickly reassured her, "He's fine, everyone's fine. Dean got to him before anything happened. We're just concerned, since the attacks keep getting worse. This time a car was involved."
Thankfully, Katie was standing next to a chair, because she dropped like a rock at this revelation. "A car? Oh my God, what's next?" She dropped her head into her hands and was still for a moment. Dean looked at Sam, completely lost as to what to do. Then came another question, "Did Lilly see it?"
"No," Dean said. "Sam made sure she was out of sight before anything would have happened." He knelt down beside her, still unsure of how to comfort her. "That's why it's important that we go to the petting zoo today. We really need to figure out what's going on and put a stop to it." Katie sniffled faintly and Dean realized she was crying. He reached up and put a strong hand on her shoulder. When she met his gaze, Dean saw that she wasn't crying, but that her eyes had filled with tears. His jaw clenched reflexively and he was overcome with the need to fix whatever was wrong. "Katie, we'll get this thing. I know we will."
Katie sighed and nodded. Dean squeezed her shoulder before moving away from her. She wiped her eyes and straightened her shoulders. "Right, petting zoo." She stood from the chair. Then she seemed to remember something. "Wait," she stated, "that doesn't explain the ice cream."
Sam coughed noisily, trying unsuccessfully to disguise his 'I told you so' that he directed towards Dean. After throwing his brother a death glare, Dean began, "Well, we…"
"Not we, you, Dean. This was you," Sam interrupted.
"Yes, thank you Sam," Dean replied. "I," with emphasis, "thought that Lilly deserved a reward for seeing Jacob and warning us that something was going down. She might have saved that little boy's life."
Katie frowned slightly. "Oh. Well, in the future, I try to not feed her sweets at 11:00 in the morning." She started to leave the room. "I'll get lunch ready and after that I'll take you to the petting zoo."
"Oh and Katie," Sam called as she walked away, "he also did it because she got all the words right to a Def Leopard song."
"Bitch!" Katie heard Dean muttered as she got into the kitchen.
"Jerk," was Sam's response.
Momentarily forgetting about the ghost that was terrorizing the children, Katie rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered under her breath as she began making sandwiches.
About an hour later, Lilly was fed, dressed and ready to go to her best friend's house for the afternoon. Which meant that Katie was ready to go on her first ghost hunt. As Lilly skipped up the sidewalk to Casey's front door, Katie tried for the fiftieth time to slow her heart rate. She was incredibly nervous about where they were going, especially with what Sam and Dean had told her about the latest accident. Part of her hoped they found whatever it was that was causing all the problems, but the other part of her was scared to death they would find something. That would eliminate any remaining doubt she had that this wasn't a haunting, that a ghost child wasn't attacking the kids in her hometown. She shifted in the Impala's back seat, trying to get comfortable. Sam and Dean were quiet as they drove, heading in the direction of the petting zoo five miles out of town. She watched the familiar scenery pass by and suddenly remembered the information she had learned at Jenny's wedding.
"Hey," she leaned forward slightly, her brown head appearing between two sets of wide shoulders. "I found out something while I was at the wedding. I talked to my friend Sarah. She knows practically everything that has ever happened in Commerce since time began. She remembered the story about Jacob."
Sam turned in the front seat to face her. "What did she have to say?"
"She said that a lot of people in town originally thought that Tom Bennett, the man who ran the orphanage, killed Jacob. But, after the investigation ended and people talked to Tom, it was pretty obvious he didn't have anything to do with. Sarah's mom told her that he was really tore up over it. Actually, he was so upset that he quit running the orphanage, which is why it closed down right after Jacob's death. And…" she drawled out, "she also knew that Mr. Bennett ended up moving to Watkinsville, which is about an hour from here."
"Thanks, Katie," Sam said. "That'll help if we need to talk to him."
"Sarah said her mom was pretty adamant that Mr. Bennett didn't have anything to do with Jacob's death," she added.
If Dean hadn't been driving, she would have gotten the full effect of his skeptical look. "Adamant?"
Katie grinned. "Her word, not mine. She's very dramatic."
"Did Ms. Adamant tell you anything else?" Dean asked.
Sam was still facing Katie, so he saw the extra blinking that was thrown in before she answered. "Not about the case, no." She quickly moved back into her seat resumed looking out the window.
Sam and Dean exchanged a glance. "What else did she say?" Sam repeated the prior question.
Katie sighed heavily and Dean saw her fold her arms across her chest in the rearview mirror. "Nothing," she said again, followed by another couple of blinks, which Dean witnessed this time.
"You're lying, Katie," Dean accused. "Is there something else we need to know?"
She rolled her eyes in response. "She asked who ya'll were. That's all. I told you, she knows everything that goes on in town, so she had heard that I had guests." What Katie didn't tell them is that Sarah had asked specifically why she had hotties staying with her that she wasn't sharing. From being around Sam and Dean for the last couple of days, she didn't want to see their reaction to this news. Sam would probably get embarrassed and Dean would become even cockier than he already was. She also didn't want to analyze the fact that she knew immediately which guy Sarah was referring to when she asked specifically about the smokin' hot one. Now was not the time for her to be attracted to a guy. So she put it out of her mind and concentrated on the task at hand. Investigating a haunting.
Only a few minutes later, Dean pulled the Impala onto the gravel driveway, past the Myer's Petting Zoo sign. Katie had been here once before, but she didn't remember it being so quiet. Dean put the car in park and both boys got out of the car. Katie started to follow suit.
"No," Dean said decisively as Katie opened her door. "We agreed that if we let you come with us, you would stay in the car." When Katie huffed a little and frowned, Dean added, "I'm serious, you're staying here."
"Katie," Sam added, "we're only asking you to stay here for your safety. If this ghost is here, it could attack again. We don't want anything to happen to you, especially with what happened this afternoon."
She appeared to accept this reasoning and got back into the car. She noticed both guys were still studying her. "I'll stay in the car, I promise. But, what exactly are you going to do?"
Dean and Sam both surveyed the property in front of them. An older house sat near the front of the land, with two barns further back. The house looked to be about seventy-five years old, the farmhouse style of home that had been popular at that time. The barns, both red with paint peeling, were separated by a fence, which held the infamous goats and a few sheep. A few birds chirping in the warm afternoon air added to the peaceful and serene feeling surrounding the place. Sam and Dean knew, however, that appearances were often deceiving.
In response to Katie's question, Dean pointed at the farmhouse. "We're going to get into that house and look around. Then we'll poke around in the barns, see if we find anything."
"You're going to break into Mr. Myer's house?" Katie nearly shrieked. "You can't do that!"
Dean leaned down, resting his forearms on the open window of the Impala so that he could meet Katie's eyes directly. "Listen, we let you come along. But right now, we need to do our job. Sometimes our job requires getting into places that we don't belong." Katie rolled her eyes at his condescending explanation and he could tell he was making her angry. "So, sit here, like you agreed to, and let us do what we came to do."
Sam decided she needed a little more reassurance. "We'll be careful, Katie and won't leave a trace of being there."
"What happens if Mr. Myers comes back?" she called as the boys walked away.
Dean threw her a cocky grin and answered, "Stall him." He had a feeling that if he had been close enough to her, she would have slapped him.
"Stall him, he says," Katie muttered to herself as she slumped back into her seat. "Like I know how to stall someone. What am I supposed to say, 'oh Mr. Myers, please don't go in there, there's two guys searching your house for a ghost right now'?" She watched out the windshield of the car as Sam and Dean strode up the steps to the front door. She saw Sam knock, while Dean peered through the nearest window. "Seriously, how do they think they are going to get in?" she asked out loud.
After a moment, Sam tried the door to see if it was unlocked. No such luck. "You see anything?" he asked his brother.
Dean stood up straight. "Nope, not a sign of anyone. I think we're safe." He reached into his back pocket, pulling out his lock-pick kit. He crouched in front of the door, selecting the right tool and went to work. In three minutes, he was grinning proudly up at Sam. "I am truly good at this," he bragged, as he opened the front door. Sam's only response was an exaggerated sigh. Hoping for more of a reaction from their audience, he glanced back at the car. Katie's mouth had dropped open and her eyes were wide with amazement. This caused him to smile even more. Just to make her a little madder than he already had, he threw a half wave at her as he walked into the house, Sam half a step behind him.
The boys walked into the front room. The stairs were straight in front of them, with what appeared to be the living room and kitchen to the left and right, respectively. Dean gestured with his head upstairs. "You take up, I'll take down?" he suggested. Sam nodded and walked up the stairs to the second floor, pulling out his infrared camera as he went. Dean took his EMF reader out of his back pocket and began searching the front room. He then moved into the kitchen.
The kitchen was extremely large, with an older industrial size stove and huge sink taking up most of the space. Dean wondered if the house was the old orphanage; he couldn't imagine a family cooking this much, although his point of view was slightly skewed from meal after meal of fast food. He kept an eye on the meter as he roamed through the room. The needle never moved. If there was any type of ghostly activity in this room, it was currently well hidden.
Upstairs, Sam was amazed at the number of bedrooms. Most of them had the doors closed, but there were at least six rooms, not counting the bathroom. He had the same thought as Dean; this could possibly be the old orphanage. If it was, it would make sense that Jacob's ghost would have been disturbed by someone moving in. Especially if there were kids trampling through on a regular basis. He continued searching through the rooms, but didn't find anything either. No orbs or cold-spots, none of the normal signs of a haunting. This job just wouldn't conform to any of the usual characteristics of a ghost. Hopefully Dean had found something downstairs.
Ten minutes later, the boys met back in the front room. "You get anything?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "Not one sign of any kind of activity. This place is quiet as a mouse."
Dean ran a hand through his cropped hair, frustration showing. "Man, I would have thought this place would be jumping. Especially if this is the original orphanage house."
"Maybe we'll find something in the outer buildings. We don't know for sure where Jacob was killed. It might have been in one of the barns," Sam suggested, trying to make sense of the case.
"And that Sammy, is why you are the brains in the family. Well, sometimes," Dean said as he made his way back to the front door.
Katie let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding when she saw Sam and Dean come out of the Mr. Myers' house. She hoped that they were finished trespassing for the day. Instead, they moved towards the barns, Sam going to furthest one; Dean taking the closest. Katie watched, still nervous as they each disappeared into the barns. She was sure they knew what they were doing, but this seemed to be taking a lot longer than she had anticipated. With nothing to keep her attention, she leaned her head back against the seat and waited.
She had been lulled into a semi-sleepy state by the warm sun shining down into the back of the Impala. Since Sam and Dean had exited the house and moved to investigate the barns, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of them in about fifteen minutes. She was just about to fall asleep completely when she heard the unmistakable rumble of an approaching car. Waking up quickly, she looked down the road coming from the highway and saw an old pick-up truck headed towards the farm. A pick-up she recognized as belonging to Mr. Myers. Her heart began to pound as she realized that Sam and Dean weren't anywhere to be seen and she was left to explain her presence. Her heart started to pound and her palms began to sweat. What in the world was she going to do? She raced through any ideas that she could use.
Sam's cell phone rang as he swept the last corner of the barn he had selected to search. He read the caller ID and saw that it was Dean. He hoped his brother had more news than he did; he hadn't found one sign of supernatural activity.
"Hey, Dean, tell me you've found something," he greeted the older man.
"Not a damn thing. But we've got bigger problems," Dean leaned out the door of the barn he had finished explored as he talked Sam. "Someone just pulled up outside, right next to the car."
"Katie!" Sam summarized. He moved to the door and peered through the opening. He saw a truck parking next to the Impala and Katie opened the door to the car. "What is she going to do?"
Dean snuck out of the barn, keeping an eye on both vehicles the whole time. "I have no idea, but we've got to get her out of here. She can't be seen sneaking around with us, she does still have to live here." He looked over to the replica of the building he had exited and saw Sam coming out of the door. "I hope she's quick on her feet."
Not really knowing what she was doing, Katie decided there was no way to avoid this confrontation. She opened the door next to her as Mr. Myer's pulled in beside her. Taking a deep breath and praying her plan worked, she greeted him, "Hi Mr. Myers."