Gimme Somewhere Else to Go
After Toni reached the driver side door, she looked back at the Winchester brothers and called out, "It was nice to finally meet you Dean! Keep out of trouble!"
The brothers both smirked then waved as the got into the Impala.
While Dean started the car, he chuckled and repeated, "Keep out of trouble?"
Sam rolled his eyes then replied, "Just shut up Dean. I'm sure she was probably just nervous, so just leave it be… How long until we hit Wisconsin?"
"Touchy touchy… I think that we can make it there some time tonight, depending on home many pit stops we have to make," Dean responded while he eased the car out of their parking spot. Just then his phone started to ring. After checking the call display, he answered it, "Hey Bobby, how's it going? Uh huh… Yeah, he did... Really? You did? Oh okay… No that's fine… Yeah… No, thanks Bobby… Yeah, you too… Okay, yeah. Bye."
Dean stopped the Impala and turned to look at Sam as he asked, "What did Bobby have to say?"
"Well, he took a little detour on his way to a job in Indiana and he took care of that ghoul problem in Jamestown. Sooo…"
"So we don't have to go to Wisconsin and we can help Toni with her job in Mississippi," Sam commented with the slightest bit of excitement in his tone.
"Well yeah, that's one way to look at it… But I was thinking…" Dean started to say as he shifted the Impala into park and turned the engine off.
"Fine… Pop the trunk so I can get my bags," Sam interrupted, understanding perfectly what his brother's train of thought was without Dean having to say it out loud.
Dean had backed the Impala behind Toni's truck before he eagerly jumped out to open the trunk for Sam.
"Once I know more about what's happening in Mississippi, I'll call you and we can figure out a somewhere to meet," Sam explained as he hoisted his bags over his shoulder.
"Sounds good… And I'm sure that Toby's bound to have something on the werewolf for you, so I'll see what he's found out," Dean replied over his shoulder as he made a hasty retreat to the driver's side door. "Talk to you soon!"
Dean nearly shouted a warning once he got behind the steering wheel when he saw the reverse lights illuminate on Toni's pickup, but she thankfully stopped quickly enough that no harm came to his beloved Impala. The he held his breath as he watched Sam get into the passenger's seat, waiting to see if Toni would kick Sam out of her vehicle or not.
He gave it a full minute and when the passenger's door didn't reopen, he slipped the car into drive and started on his way towards the Interstate.
As Sam shifted to look at her notes, Toni turned to wave 'Goodbye' to Dean, but she was met only with the taillights of the Impala as he sped off. When she turned back to look at Sam, he looked absolutely cramped in his seat because he had his two bags covering his feet and part of his legs with the majority of Toni's research spilling over his lap.
"Oh geez Sam," Toni commented as she put the truck into 'Park'. Sam looked over at her with his brows furrowed contemplatively. "Why don't I toss your bags in the back with mine?"
Before he could answer, she slid out of her seat and ran around to his side. "It's no problem Toni," Sam replied after she opened his door. "Really it's not… Plus they're pretty heavy."
Toni shot him a steely glare as she lifted both bags with ease and placed them with her own in the secure container in the box of her truck. Once she was back behind the wheel and had the truck moving again, Sam reached out, squeezed her knee and said, "Sorry, I shouldn't have… I keep forgetting… Thank you, I'm much more comfortable now."
She felt her heart skip a beat when his palm connected with her denim clad flesh, but she wouldn't allow herself to show him the true impact his presence had on her. Instead she shrugged nonchalantly, started out of the parking lot and replied, "Well… I really don't want any jackwads to have any temptations to break into my truck when we stop for lunch."
Sam laughed softly and shook his head as he thumbed through one of her note books. As he read through the information, he was absentmindedly running his left hand up and down Toni's thigh.
"So you think the other one is actually a guy?" He asked as he looked up from the papers in his lap. He then noticed what his left hand was doing and quickly retracted it with a soft, almost inaudible "Sorry".
"Yeah, but I also thought that Valerie was a 'he' up until the moment that she decided to use me as a chew toy… So I guess you could probably take my conclusions with a grain of salt," Toni answered with an even tone.
Sam ignored her self-deprecating comment and continued to look over her notes then found a Missing Person file prompting him to question, "What's with the file on Jimmy Medina?"
Toni shrugged somewhat dismissively saying, "I was in talking with the local PD when his wife came into the office freaking out that he was missing. She was yelling about how he's never done this, they had to find him, blah blah blah. So I sat with her to calm her down because none of them seemed to be able to and I got her to check the local hospitals and when they were all clear and she had the file started, I took her home. The attacks in town had started the night that he disappeared, so he seemed like the most likely suspect."
"That sounds about right to me," Sam asserted encouragingly. "Now the victims… They were all women, right?"
"Yep… Women of all shapes, sizes and ages. Stupid me, I should have known that the thing in Louisiana wasn't the same as whatever's in Mississippi… Mississippi werewolf doesn't have a type other than they are all female."
"You've definitely got a good start… Now you said that the trail went ice cold, so you decided to move onto Louisiana, right?" Sam inquired as he pulled out his cell phone and started to scroll through his contacts while he waited for her reply.
"Yeah… And Roseland didn't seem like it was too far from the Mississippi border for him to have move onto there," Toni reasoned.
Sam nodded then put his phone to his ear. "Hey, can you do me a favor? Great! Osyka, Mississippi… Can you dig up whatever you can on any suspicious deaths or animal attacks? Anything, you know, strange… Yeah… Okay…. Thanks Buddy!"
Sam tucked his phone into his pocket then said, "Okay, so by the time that we get checked into our rooms, we should have a few more solid leads."
"Oh yeah? And how are we magically going to get that information?" Toni questioned while sounding thoroughly amused.
As he finished bundling up all of Toni's research, Sam answered, "Toby's a wiz at research, so if there is something out there to be found, he'll find it for us, email it to me and then we can go over it all after we've settled into a place."
"Really? Wow… Okay… Well on that note, I'm starving, how 'bout lunch?"
In the diner, they continued their conversation about their different theories about this latest target in comparison to the last one they took out. Once their discussion started to loop and repeat itself, they slowly moved onto the topic of their various experiences during their time apart. Now that they knew the truth about each other's knowledge of the supernatural, Sam was able to go into more detail about his father's death, as did Toni about her brother's passing.
As they walked back to Toni's truck, Sam finally mustered the nerve to ask her the one question that had been bugging him since the night of her attack, "So… Your tattoo? How did you learn about that?"
Toni groaned audibly as she crawled in behind the wheel and Sam offered, "Or… Umm you don't have to tell me… Really it's no big deal."
"Man… It's not that Sam… Just… Don't make fun of me okay?" Sam's expression didn't change as Toni looked over at him. "Sam, I'm serious. If you make fun of me in any way, shape or form then you can just walk back to Iowa to meet your brother for all I care, got it?"
"Sure… Yeah, okay. I won't make fun of you, no matter what you say," Sam replied, crossing his heart and holding his right hand up as if he was taking an oath of truthfulness on the witness stand in court.
Once she was satisfied that he was going to keep a level head, Toni explained, "Well, when I took care of the thing that killed William, I started reading everything I could about this stuff. You know anything about ghosts, demons and whatever else I could get my hands on… I even delved into the fluffy stuff just for fun. Then I found this series of novels and in one volume it mentioned the anti-possession tattoo. I had read some stuff about how nasty demon possession is and since the novel's rendition matched some stuff I found later, I figured, what's the harm, right?"
During her explanation, Toni kept her eyes fixed on the asphalt of the road for fear that she would lose her nerve if she stole a glance at her travel companion. When she was finished and she finally did sneak a peek at him, Sam was biting down hard on his bottom lip and looked like he was trying to stifle some laughter.
"Sam!" Toni scolded while sounding more hurt than angry.
"No! Sorry, I'm not making fun of you… It's just that… I forgot that Chuck did write in a few good tips that beginners could use," Sam clarified with his hands held up defensively.
"Chuck? No the author's name…" Toni answered completely confused.
"Right… I meant 'Carver Edlund'… By the way, that's just a pen name. Basically the long and short, Dean and I know Chuck… Uhh Carver pretty well. You do realize that his series is based on two brothers named 'Sam' and 'Dean'…" Sam trailed off in an attempt to allow Toni to connect the dots for herself.
"HOLY SHIT! No way!" She stopped herself from saying anything more by throwing her hand over her mouth. She immediately felt her cheeks burn hot with embarrassment, but quickly tried to deflect their attention away from her by saying, "So… What you're telling me is that if I actually read the whole series and not just the one or two books that I did… Then I'd be completely caught up on everything that you've been doing since you left Stanford?"
"More or less, yeah… Up until they stopped publishing at least," Sam answered nonchalantly.
Suddenly Toni's right had shot out as she back handed Sam on the upper left arm.
"Hey! What was that for?" He questioned with the slightest hint of amusement in his voice.
"I can't believe that you're 'Sam'… 'THE SAM'!" She exclaimed with a chuckle as she pulled to a stop in a parking lot.
"Whoa! Hey, I didn't poke fun at you, I totally told…" Sam started to protest.
Toni laughed and pointed to the building to his right. "And I thank you for that, but this is the first place that I've seen since hitting town that I've seen with their 'Vacancy' sign still lit… Unless you'd prefer sleeping in the truck."
Sam shook his head as he watched Toni pull out her cell phone with a confused look on her face. "No, this place should be good enough. What's wrong?"
"The Colonel's calling… Dad never calls…" She replied staring at the screen.
Sam reached out and touched her arm saying, "Well then you take care of that while I go and get us checked in, okay?"
She nodded without hearing him and answered, "Hello? Yes sir… Yes sir… Of course… Sir…"
Toni had completed her brief conversation by the time that Sam returned to the truck, motel room key and local paper in hand.
"So… There's a football tournament in town… I was able to get us the last available room that they had… Possibly the last one in town according to the guy at the desk. I hope you don't mind sharing."
"No, that's no problem," she answered sounding very distant. He pointed towards the part of the motel parking lot where the map indicated their room was and he immediately noticed that her hands were shaking as she steered towards their destination.
"Toni? Is everything alright with your dad?"
She pulled into one of the few available spots by their section of the complex, but before motioning to get out she stared out the windshield and stated, "My dad wants to see me for my birthday. The Colonel actually called asking to see me."
"But… That's a good thing, right?"
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and smiled saying, "Yeah, of course it is. Sorry, I was just a little surprised that he did. So… Football tournament, huh? I thought football was only a big deal in Texas."
Sam snickered softly and followed her lead out of the truck to the box in order to retrieve their bags. Since Sam was still carrying pretty much all of her research, Toni took one of his bags in hand as well as the room key because it seemed like it would be easier for her to unlock the door.
After a small fight with the aged lock on the door, Toni swung it open and quickly found the light switch beside the door frame. The room was a lot nicer than Toni had anticipated, but after she completed giving the suite her full once over, she stood completely frozen in her place.
Sam had to gingerly push her out of his way in order to get by which prompted him to ask, "What's wrong? Is the room not to the lady's liking?"
She jutted her chin slightly to the left then hesitantly replied, "Umm… Sam… There's only… Uhh… There's only one bed."
"Yeah… Last room in town… Remember?" Sam retorted sounding somewhat annoyed that he had to repeat such a simple explanation again. Then he looked down and saw how pale Toni looks, so he added more pleasantly, "I can sleep on the floor if you want."
She turned her gaze towards Sam as a mischievous grin spread across her previously chagrin face. "No, it's totally fine. I just hope that you've gotten over your blanket hogging phase, is all."
She placed his bag that she had carried in on the left side of the bed before placing her own on the right side.
"Ha! Well I'm just hoping that you still don't kick box in your sleep," Sam retorted jovially while pulling his laptop out and taking a seat at the kitchenette table.
Before making herself comfortable, Toni picked up a pillow and threw it at the back of Sam's head. Once he had his attention and he half turned to look at her, she added, "And you, my friend, are the only guy who has ever complained about that… So I'm guessing it must have just been my way of trying to steal back some covers from you."
"Sure… Sure, whatever you have to tell yourself," he joked with a wave of his hand, turning his attention back to the laptop.
Toni smiled to herself then continued more earnestly called over her shoulder as she slipped her shirt off, "Okay… Well, while you look into whatever Toby sent you, I'm going to quickly check on my stitches and see how much damage Valerie did."
Toni carefully lifted the tape with the gauze from her wound in the hopes that she could reuse it after her inspection. She had endured a number of different types of injuries, both before and after becoming a 'hunter', but this was the first time that she had been stitched up with dental floss, so she stare at them with amused fascination for some time. She was fairly confident that they were still clean, but the dried blood that was crusted around them had impeded her range of motion during the entire drive from Louisiana. She the wet a face cloth and quickly washed the wound before retrieving her bottle of Vitamin E oil in the hopes that it would help to keep it from scarring too badly.
As she rubbed in the last of the clear liquid into her back, she walked back to where Sam was and asked, "So? Did he send you anything interesting?"
Sam's eyes remained fixated on the screen of his computer while replying, "Yeah… Turns out there were a couple of other women killed since you left and they were found just on the outskirts of town. One was a Grad student that was doing research here and the other was a teacher from the high school."
Sam looked up just as Toni was redressing her stitches and she caught his eye while he lifted an interested brow. Toni shot him a look of indignation and swiftly put on her shirt back on then said, "Grow up Sam; you've seen me in much less."
Sam just smirked then continued looking through the pages that Toby had sent him. "Huh… Looks like as of two nights ago Jimmy still hadn't made it home… At least according to the last Follow-Up on the police report he hasn't."
Toni looked up from reading through the local paper to ask, "And how on God's green Earth would you know what the police file says?"
"Umm… None of us have the guts to ask Toby how he does it, but he can get us pretty much any piece of information we need," Sam replied with a chuckle.
"Oh… Plausible deniability, huh? Man… Where can I get me a 'Toby'?" Toni teased as she turned her attention back to the newspaper.
"So, I'm thinking… We probably won't get very far tonight with the case beyond some possible recon, but then we can pick up with the local PD tomorrow," Sam proclaimed as he shut his laptop closed on the table top.
"Yeah… Uh huh… Okay," Toni answered without hiding that she was still engrossed in the words she was reading on the newsprint.
"Unless you happen to have a better idea."
"Personally, I hate wearing suits and high heels… They hurt like a bitch…"
"Okay…"
She folded the paper so that the article she had been reading was visible. "When you guys read the local papers on a job, you don't usually venture past the Obituaries, do you? I myself have found that people seem to really hate talking with the authorities any more than they have to," she explained as she pushed the paper towards Sam. Then she continued, "There's a couple of houses for sale in the Medina's neighborhood and they're having a block party this weekend… I bet top dollar that his wife would be pretty chatty once you get a couple of drinks into her."
Sam read over the article then looked up at her and asked with slight concern, "Okay, but what would our cover be for this job?"
Toni walked over to her bag as Sam watched her intently as she pulled a small box out of her bag. Before looking back at him, she slipped something onto her left hand then as she stood beside Sam she asked with a slightly humorous tone, "Umm… Will you marry me?"
Sam took the box and removed the gold band that match the set that Toni was now wearing on her left ring finger. He started to ease it onto his finger, just to see if it would fit and remained mute with a questioning look on his face.
"I also saw that there are a couple of postings for teachers in this school district. So, I was thinking… And stop me if this makes you at all uncomfortable… But, what if instead of posing as Feds or Police, we go in as newly-weds that are looking for a place to settle down and start our lives? I didn't spend all that long with Mrs. Medina, so I could just bluff my way through it and say that I was at the Police Station for my background check… You know as part of my application process… I promise… I'd let you drive the truck."
Toni could feel herself shrinking deeper into her chair the longer that Sam stayed silent.
He was twisting the band around his finger as he asked, "So, if you're a school teacher, what would my cover be? Other than your husband?"
Toni let out an audible sigh of relief, pulled the newspaper back towards herself and said, "Oh I don't know… Umm… How much do you know about football? Because they're also looking for a PE teacher slash coach here too."
Sam watched Toni for a bit as she nervously fidgeted with the rings she had just placed on her finger before he reached out and stilled her hands saying, "That sounds like a really good plan… So… For us to do this right, how'd we meet? And where did we get married?"
She looked up and gave him a relieved grin. "Well… We could always stick with the whole us meeting at school… The rest… Umm to be honest I hadn't really planned that out at all… I didn't think I'd ever have to use this with someone else… Umm… How 'bout a small wedding in Vegas since we're both… Uhh orphans?"
"That works perfectly for me… Now… Would it be out of line for a newly married couple to hit the local bar for the night?"
Toni shrugged and replied, "Either way, I know which one the Medinas visit practically every Friday."