Chapter Five
A silver moon shone through the chocolate brown curtains in the living room, the light from the TV screen flickered light on Dean's sleepy face, "I'm ready to turn in." He said rubbing his tired eyes with a yawn.
"Me too." Lola replied, lifting her head from Dean's shoulder, stretching out her arms above her head. She looked over at Sam who was slumped in the chair next to them in a deep sleep."
"Shall I wake him up." She whispered, nudging Dean to look over at his brother.
"No one night on the couch wont hurt." He replied quietly, rising to his feet and walking round to the stairway, Lola following behind.
Dean paused in the doorway to Joshua's room, smiling down at his wife as he lazily draped an arm around her shoulders,
"It's hard to believe that he's trying to break us all up." He said with a sigh. Lola nodded in agreement,
"We'll figure it out, Dean." She said, reaching up and giving the hand that dangled by his shoulder a quick and gentle squeeze. He placed a kiss on her temple,
"Yeah. We will."
"C'mon…if we loiter here much longer we might end up falling asleep in Josh's doorway." She joked, tugging on his hand and leading him off down to their room.
Dean's eyes flashed open, staring up at the pitch black ceiling. Even though it was the midst of summer, there was a slight chill in the air. He sat up, letting the duvet pool at his hips as he ran his hands soothingly over his hair. As he raised his head, glancing up across the room, he jumped at the sight of a small shadow watching over him,
"Josh…" He breathed, "What're you doing in here?"
"Uncle Dean…" Joshua whispered, "He's here. The yellow-eyed-man's in my room."
Dean's face fell. He gripped the duvet tightly and whipped it off of his body, careful not to wake Lola up as he did so,
"Stay here." He told Joshua softly, placing his hands lightly on the boy's shoulders. Joshua nodded and climbed up into Dean's spot in the bed as Dean opened the bedside draw and took his gun, "Do not leave this room." He said firmly, ruffling Josh's hair before leaving the room quietly.
As he crept down the hall, his gun raised in front of him as he turned into Joshua's room, scanning it in the darkness for the demon. After several seconds of standing there, he relaxed, flicking on the light switch to discover the room completely empty. As he moved across towards the closet, sliding the door open to check, though he knew it was unlikely,
"Relax Dean…he's not Michael Myers…" He muttered to himself as there was a small, high-pitched squeal from down the hall, "JOSH!" He cried, running back across the room and down the hall. He snapped the light switch on as he burst into his room. Standing over the bed was Tristan, he had Joshua tucked neatly beneath one arm with the other out-stretched, holding Lola against the bedroom wall by the throat, "I see you're still hanging around in that body…" Dean remarked, "Let them go."
"I don't think so, Dean." Tristan spat,
"I said," Dean began, "Let them go."
"And why should I? What exactly do you propose you're going to do to stop me?" He asked, tightening his grip on Lola's neck, choking her tightly,
"You son of a bitch…" Dean muttered, raising his gun and firing a bullet directly through the demon's forehead, the shot echoing throughout the house. Joshua screamed at the loud noise, though Dean was horrified as the bullet wound failed to achieve the desired effect. The darkened hole simply closed itself up, leaving the demon still standing perfectly still, a sickening smirk gracing his lips,
"Well if I ever do decided to leave this body," He began with a smirk, "that'll be the end of your lovely wife's dear old friend."
"You bastard…" Dean ground out, shaking his head. Maggie appeared in the doorway,
"JOSH!" She screamed, rushing forwards to snatch her son out of the demon's grasp. The demon dropped Lola to the floor in favour of pinning Maggie back with a wave of his hand. Maggie barrelled backwards into Sam who had just arrived from downstairs, the gun shot having both woken them up. The two siblings ended up slumped on the floor in the hallway behind Dean. The three watched in horror as the demon tightened his arms around Joshua and became engulfed in flames, "NO!" Maggie screamed, clawing her way forwards to her feet, rushing towards the column of flame where the demon and Joshua had been standing. She shielded her eyes as the flames spread to the curtains, moving quickly up the heavy drapes towards the ceiling. The demon had disappeared in the mayhem as the fire spread across the room at a frighteningly fast pace,
"Dean…we've gotta get out of here." Sam told his brother,
"Right." Dean agreed, "Help Lola up, I'll get Maggie." He said, moving to grab Maggie's arms. She was standing in the middle of the room, tears running down her cheeks, sobbing and calling out for Joshua. Dean gently pulled her back but she screamed for him to leave her alone, swiping at his face, pushing him back and away from her. Dean tucked his gun into the back of his belt and grabbed Maggie roughly, using all of this strength to drag her out of the room and along the hall towards the stairs,
"NO!" Maggie growled, flailing her limbs around to fight against her brother, "What about Josh?!" She sobbed, beating against Dean's chest with her fists. As the foursome reached the stair case, there was a loud bang as flame exploded from the spare room, lapping at the walls. Dean finally grew tired of pulling Maggie along and scooping her up, he laid her over his shoulder, following Sam and Lola down the stairs and out onto the front lawn. The four of them collapsed into a heap in the cold, dark grass. Maggie broke free of Dean's grasp and jumped up, making a dash for the house but Sam soon followed, grabbing her around the waist from behind, "LET ME GO SAM!" She screamed, fighting against him,
"He's gone, Maggie…" Sam said softly, "I'm sorry…but…he's not in there…it would be suicide."
"JOSH!" Maggie cried, falling limp in Sam's arms, flopping against his chest, sobbing loudly into his blue shirt. Lola sat on the grass, still coughing and wheezing for breath as she watched her best friend fall apart in her brother's arms. She looked over at Dean sadly who was breathing heavily,
"I let him get away…I let him take Josh…" He muttered, staring angrily at the ground, "This is my fault."
"Don't say that! Lola scolded, "There's nothing you could've done Dean…we'll find him."
Dean looked over at her and gave her a nod before pushing himself up to his feet and walking over to his siblings,
"Maggie I'm sorry…" He mumbled, enveloping her in a hug, "I really am…"
Ten years later…
Dropping onto the bed with a groan, Maggie draped her arm across her eyes to block out the bright early morning sunlight. Kicking off her shoes, she relished the feel of the cool carpet beneath her toes, a soothing feeling after the long nine-hour shift at the hospital. With a slight grunt, she began to drift off, still wearing the purple scrubs she'd spent all night in, her head lulling on the pillow as she rolled onto her side, curling against the toned body beside her. The peace was short lived as only a few minutes later, the door bell rang. With a groan, Maggie swiped at her partner's arm,
"Ryan…" She mumbled into the pillow, "Ryan…there's someone at the door…" She continued, but to no avail. The man beside her let out a soft snore in reply, his eyes remaining firmly closed. Rolling his eyes, Maggie pulled herself up out of the bed and stalked out of the room, grumbling as she went, "Don't worry dear…" She muttered, "I'll get it…I mean…I've only just come off of a nine hour shift, but hey! It's okay. I don't need to sleep…" She continued to gripe to herself as she stomped down the stairs, "It's probably only the postman…it's probably not even for me…" She sighed, rubbing at her eyes as she shuffled across the wooden flooring from the staircase to the front door, pulling the heavy wooden door open to find someone who definitely wasn't the postman,
"Hello mom."
"Josh'…" Maggie whispered, dumbfounded.