When You Feel All Alone:
Toni was surprised to find herself settling in comfortably and so easily at the hunting cabin on her own. After the Winchester brothers had taken on the Amazons in Seattle, Sam and Dean had stayed out on the road going from job to job while Toni manned the phones and helped to do research from where she was in Montana. At first she had stay at the cabin because she was still working through her emotions pertaining to her revelations about the events following William's death, but then she realized that without the guys being around full time that the cabin felt less claustrophobic and she really didn't mind staying behind to help on the research front. She even found that she was calling her dad less often because she was actually able to get lost in her own thoughts in this environment.
That was until Sam called to tell her about a demon that he and Dean had exorcised in the past that was back and up to its old tricks in Idaho. Although Toni still wasn't looking forward to going toe to toe with a demon anytime soon she had extended a sincere offer to come out and join the brothers on the hunt. Much to her dismay Sam had rejected the idea almost as soon as the words were out of Toni's mouth, but she managed to keep her relief hidden from her boyfriend because she didn't want to appear weak to either Winchester for any reason.
"It isn't that I wouldn't love for you to help us Toni… Or to see you in person, but that's not the only thing going on here right now," Sam explained sounding tired and withdrawn.
Toni wasn't sure how she should react to Sam's statement. On the one hand she was a bit outraged that Sam and Dean could be dealing with something more sinister than a serial killer demon and yet Sam didn't seem to think that she could be of any help to stop it. On the other hand maybe he meant that they didn't require her help there, but that Sam had found another job for her to do while the Winchesters took out the demon, so she couldn't help but feel mildly relieved at that prospect.
With the latter in the forefront of her thoughts Toni almost cautiously asked, "Oh yeah Sam? What other stuff is going on right now that I don't know about?"
"Well… First…" Sam stopped to laugh self-consciously.
Toni didn't know if she should be angry, hurt or worried about Sam's sudden fit of laughter, but she still went with her gut and scolded him saying, "Alight. So what's so funny?"
"Sorry… Sorry…" Sam recanted trying to calm himself down enough to try to explain. "Sorry… I was going to say 'First you have to promise not to get too worried about me', but then I realized that that's exactly what you would do the second I said it, so that fact that I still wanted to say it just seemed stupidly funny to me."
"Okay, so instead of worrying me, you're just trying to piss me off by stalling and laughing at some joke that makes no sense to me?" Toni said without much heat in her tone even though she did feel her impatience mounting.
Sam swallowed audibly and made sure to use a careful voice as he said, "You're right… This really isn't all that funny, I guess that I'm just a little nervous is all…"
"Nervous about what?" Toni cut-in inadvertently due to her concern. When she realized that she was unconsciously rushing Sam through his explanation and that she would have been beyond pissed off if he had tried to do the same thing to her, Toni quickly added, "I'm sorry… You were saying?"
"It's okay Toni. I guess I just don't really know how to put it into words exactly… Well at least not in a way that won't sound too disturbing or melodramatic… I'm not actually trying to stall or anything…" Sam then took in a deep breath and pushed it out through his lips as a loud exhale. "Okay so I know that you've been worried about my insomnia, but have been trying not to say anything much about it…"
They both let out a nervous laugh because despite her better judgment Toni had been asking Sam about how he had been sleeping at night more than once every conversation that they had had over the phone. Since Sam hadn't called her out on it, Toni thought that her concern had gone unnoticed, but now she knew better. Sam had heard her concern, but he had been willing to play along to keep her from feeling too overprotective.
"Well I don't really anticipate it getting any better because Lucifer is getting harder and harder for me to ignore."
Toni took in a deep breath and held it to make sure that she would at least sound calm when she asked, "Are you having hallucinations again or are you just having really vivid nightmares? Or…? God… Is it something new?"
"Hallucinations now on top of the nightmares that I've been having since we were last together," Sam answered honestly and without skipping a beat.
Toni had to pull her phone away from her face when she felt her resolve break momentarily so that she could hide her sob from Sam. He had finally admitted what she had instinctively already known. The fact that she had become so in tuned with Sam's wellbeing still gave her pause, but she no longer feared it like she had in the past. Now she almost embraced it because it meant that they truly were stronger as a couple and could see each other as a part of a team and could lean on each other for support when it was needed.
When she thought that she could talk with a steady voice, Toni croaked out, "How long have you been having them?"
They both cringed slightly at the strain in her voice, but Sam chose not to acknowledge it because he was so absolutely touched by her concern (even if she was trying to hide just how much she truly did worry about him). "They just started happening again recently and I can't seem to shake him off. I really don't know why this is happening right now."
"Even with the hand scar trick?" Toni asked in a quiet, unsure tone.
"That works most of the time, but when it doesn't… Well it really doesn't."
"Shit… Sam…I am so sorry to hear that. I wish there was something more that I could do to help you with all of this."
Sam smiled at the change in Toni's tone because she now sounded genuinely calm instead of the forced even tone she had been using before that statement. "Still nothing for you to apologize about. We all know that Cas had warned Dean that it could get ugly if they put my soul back after it was stuck in hell for a year with Lucifer and Michael torturing it."
"Castiel… Right. Don't get me started about him. I still haven't found anything that would be good to use to inflict an enormous amount of pain on an angel, so he's lucky that he's dead because I WILL find something… Someday… Because I'm SO not cool with angels fucking around with anyone that I love like he did. Soldiers hurt, maim or kill for the greater good of the cause, but personal vendettas are set aside… They cannot and should never, ever cloud a soldier's judgment. If it does then you're just a bully who uses their station as an excuse to be an enormous dick… And then for him to be the one… Especially after his warning…"
Toni was hyperventilating slightly by the end of her statement so Sam remained silent while she attempted to catch her breath and regain her composure. Once Sam could tell that Toni had calmed down enough to listen to some reason he replied in a gentle, no scolding-tone (because even though he understood his girlfriend's anger, he still couldn't allow himself to indulge in it in anyway right now), "Yeah I know that he did warn us and well… I'm pretty sure that a slow painful death was punishment enough for him, I also know helped Dean out and were by my side when I was down and out, but you didn't see… (Sam paused wondering if saying the angel's name would spark Toni's anger with a renewed vigor or not) Him… It wasn't Cas at the end… Well not really… Hell I don't even think it was Cas that broke the dam in my head. Personally I think he was totally possessed by the Leviathans by then…"
Sam fell silent then because Toni had fallen eerily quiet on the other end of the line. He couldn't even hear her breathing during that explanation. For her own part Toni didn't mind getting completely lost in her own thoughts before she replied to her boyfriend's explanation.
"So…" She started sounding slightly distracted. "It was the Leviathans that used Castiel's memories to incapacitate you? It was actually the Purgatory monsters that hurt you to take you out of the game…? Cas…? The angel… Well his vessel was just the conduit that allowed them to do all of that? Angels…? They…? They still do stuff humans can't completely understand in the name of good? And they still solely work to further God's will? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"
Despite Toni's faraway tone Sam still knew that he should reassure Toni that she was right because Tom (Toni's father) had told Sam why he considered his daughter to be the 'Angel' of the McNamara family even though he had never spelled it out so plainly for his offspring. Sam thought that she more than deserved the reassurance right now to try to keep her from becoming completely disillusioned with God's heavenly hosts when she and her family had placed so much faith in them before everything that happened with Castiel and the claiming of the souls from Purgatory.
"Yeah I do believe all of that. After Castiel opened up the gate to Purgatory he changed and went from threatening to do things to keep us on the path he knew we needed to be on to actually following through on things that were worse than the stuff he had previously told us that he would do. I don't know Toni… And maybe I'm wearing my rose colored glasses here, but Cas was our friend and most unyielding supporter during the opening of the Seals, right? I know I wasn't as close to him as he was to my brother, but I don't think that he was faking it when he said that he would go to any lengths to save our planet from Lucifer and then Raphael's grasp and that it was trusting Crowley that was his undoing…"
"Damn it!" Toni cursed out as Sam started to lose some of his earlier gusto.
"Toni?" Sam questioned quietly. He wasn't sure what she had actually been cursing but Sam was willing to hear her out even if he wouldn't be inclined to agree with her reasoning.
"Damn it Winchester!" She tried again with a mildly humorous tone. "Why don't you just let me hate the guy that did his to you? Why do you have to go and be all reasonable to explain how these new creatures could have manipulated the situation to make it as shitty as it is now?"
Although Toni couldn't see it, Sam's lips spread into a satisfied smirk as he replied almost smugly, "Well I did work on a project with a gir… Woman my freshman year at Stanford who almost beat into me that I had to look at all of the angels surrounding any given situation before attempting to even think that I might be able to draw any educated conclusions. She was quite adamant that I not have tunnel vision on ANY situations in my life."
"Beat?" Toni almost questioned with a soft breathy laugh. "I'm fairly certain that any bruises that I've been able to put on your body did not come from any beatings Mister Winchester…" She allowed Sam to revel in some of the memories of the two of them being intimate while they were at school together for a brief moment. When she heard his breath hitch in a similar fashion that she could draw out only when they were spending time together in California (or a room where they didn't think that they would be interrupted for some time), Toni's tone turned disturbingly serious as she added, "But I do concede that your premise holds more than some validity to it. I have a ton of angel and psychological research back at home so I'm thinking that it might be beneficial for me to look into all of that again… Unless you don't think that it would be?"
Toni had managed to make the end of her statement sound like a question causing Sam to sputter out, "Right… Right… Yeah anything that you can possibly find to help me with the Lucifer situation wouldn't be unappreciated and… Umm…" Sam paused because he wasn't used to using vulgar sexual terms with a woman, let alone one that he had genuine feelings for, even if Toni had begged him to use them not only when they were at school together and laid in each other's arms but even more recently when they had some private time to say and do anything that they desired together. Toni had still been apt to use harsh terms during their love-making so Sam gave it his best effort to match her terminology by offering, "I would… Umm… Go… Uhh… Godownonyou for hours if you could find something that could help me evade Lucifer on a more permanent basis."
"Sammmm…" Toni responded breathlessly over Sam's hallucination of Lucifer replying, "Sammy! Such language to the woman to whom you've announced your undying love… Well actually to the whore… Okay maybe I owe you congratulations instead."
"Sam I might have to hold you to that promise in the future, but for right now I think that I'll just make my way back to Wisconsin to go over everything again," Toni added in a much more even tone. "But don't think that I won't want to collect when we get some time completely alone because… Well we both can be screamers."
"Oh I won't," Sam answered knowing Toni's stringent rule of reciprocity and the fact that her pleasure would only lead to a more vigorous offering from his girlfriend to draw out his arousal. "Believe me, I wouldn't deny anyone THAT pleasure if I can help it."
Toni couldn't be certain of Sam's ultimate meaning behind his words so she just answer, once again through bated breath, "Good. Then I'll call you when I get back to Madison. Stay safe Sam because I swear that we will figure this out. I promise you that we can and will."
It didn't take long after Toni had returned to the townhouse for the Colonel to notice that his daughter seemed to be absolutely set on a mission and was single-mindedly set on accomplishing it above anything else. After two days of just getting grunts in response to his questions in regards to his concerns of Toni being hungry or what Toni might want for their up-coming meal, Tom finally relented and just started bringing his daughter whatever meal that he had prepared at that time of day. Toni seemed to be willing to eat whatever her father put in front of her so neither of them raised any objections when Toni chose to just stay in her room to continue her research.
After almost a week of fretting over Toni's near obsession with finding out every detail that she could about angels and how they could affect a human soul, Tom had finally decided to seek some refuge with Yvette at her townhouse. He particularly enjoyed the fact that his new 'lady friend' was the type of psychic that could sense what a person was thinking by the emotions that they emitted so he didn't have to try to put his feelings into words when it came to letting Yvette know how he was feeling about his daughter at the moment. Instead Tom could just find himself on Yvette's doorstep while projecting all of the concern he couldn't lavish on Toni when she was in problem-solving mode and Yvette would just wrap him in her loving embrace and tell him that they would figure something out. Yvette knew from the beginning of their relationship that using the term "everything will be okay" wouldn't work with either McNamara because of their past heartache, but she still always felt that she was there to help to guide both of them so that she could help both of the McNamara's to truly be okay… If either of them would let her… And even if they couldn't she would still strive to guide each of them towards the right direction to find their proper path.
Yvette woke up with a start after a particularly vivid dream causing Tom to instinctively sit up on the bed with her and to wrap an arm around her shoulder in a sleepy show of comfort. Even as his arms wrapped around her body, the Colonel remained ignorant to the reason of why he was comforting his bed-mate as he whispered, "Shh… Shh… It's okay Sweetheart… There's nothing to be afraid of… I'm right here to protect you. Everything is going to be alright."
"I know," Yvette answered as she easily relaxed in Tom's arms and against his chest. "Really I do believe that Tom, but this premonition… It wasn't about me or you…" Toni's dad didn't question Yvette's use of the term 'premonitions' because after all of the time they had spent together the Colonel had easily accepted that his new girlfriend had a gift that could delve into things that were way beyond his comprehension. "Tom I'm okay, but I think… No! I feel that you need to be with Toni right now and not me, so pull on your robe and go to your daughter… Now!"
Tom did just as Yvette had instructed without much thought because since he had been with this Army widow, his understanding of his daughter's emotional needs had grown beyond anything they had been able to find with any of their counselors. Toni had been the first one to believe that Yvette actually possessed true psychic gifts, but Tom had been slower to get on board with trusting Yvette's intuition. He now knew that it was a natural reluctance that he had originally felt but that he was willing to overlook it because her visions had to do with his only surviving off-spring that was involved. Tom understood about having a 'gut-instinct' but he wasn't quite ready to write it off her feelings as a psychic gift like his daughter had been able to on so many occasions. But now he rushed down the tree lined trail between Yvette's backdoor and his own to find his daughter because he knew that Yvette had seen a vision that involved Toni and his daughter really needed her father right now to be strong for her.
"Shh… Shh… Vee it's alright… No…" Tom heard Toni saying in a pleading voice as he approached his daughter silently. Toni's breath hitched slightly when she felt her dad's hand clamp down on her shoulder but she didn't make any moves to turn and look at him. "It isn't anywhere close to being your fault Vanessa, so please don't do that to yourself, okay? Joe loves you and Stephanie more than anything on this planet so I'm sure he's… Oh he can't… I mean he isn't able…? Well I can get there in just a few hours if you think that you can sit tight until then… You think you can? Perfect. I'll get out there to you as soon as I can, okay? Okay… Good… No it's fine Vee… I'll see you soon."
After Toni terminated her call, she turned in her father's arms to hug his torso. "I'm okay dad," she announced against his chest. Toni then pushed out of her embrace and placed a soft hand on her dad's cheek saying. "I'm sorry that you were so worried, but whatever Yvette saw, it isn't me that needs the comfort and support right now." When the Colonel's eyebrows furrowed in silent question, Toni let out a quick laugh before clarifying, "It's the middle of the night and you were supposed to be spending the night with her again… Why else would you have rushed over here in your robe?"
"I've said it once and I'll say it again," her dad replied as he pulled her against his chest once again. "You are just too smart Angel. But I would be inclined to disagree with you because I know you've been dealing with something pretty serious since you got home and I can only assume that it has to do with Sam, so you really do need my support right now Angel."
Toni wrapped her harms even tighter around her dad's waist as she said, "I'm sorry Colonel, I didn't mean to shut you out but I didn't really know how to explain it all to you… But I swear to you Dad that I've pretty much got all of that well in hand and I really need to go to Vanessa to help her right now."
This time it was Tom's turn to hold his daughter's face to help them maintain eye contact. He wanted to press the Sam issue with her, but he didn't because he could see the raw fear in her eyes when she had said her best friend's name so he instead asked, "What's happening with Vanessa right now?"
"I don't really know to be completely honest," Toni answered while leading her dad by the hand up to her room so that she could start to prepare for her trip to Portland. "It all sounded really weird but then again she was telling me the story through choking sobs, so I don't think I've actually heard all of the details just yet."
Tom found a seat in front of Toni's desk while she pulled out a duffle bag from the closet and started packing it during her explanation, "Oh Angel… She seems like such a lovely person, who would dare to do anything to anything to harm her?"
Toni paused to face her father over her shoulder then she turned back to her previous task replying, "No one… Well not that I know of… Well it's not really like that, but from what I could gather, she bought one of her co-worker's an antique fountain pen as a thank you for taking on so much of her work during her maternity leave and he… And I know this sounds nuts but… Well he seems to have used it to commit suicide…" The Colonel quickly wrapped Toni into another hug and she let him press her back against his chest. "That's the weirdest part about it all Dad… I mean who would use a pen to kill themselves?"
"I don't know," he answered as he turned his daughter around to face him. "But one thing I'm sure of is that if anyone could answer that question that it's you Angel."
A dark blush quickly spread across Toni's cheeks causing her to duck her head as she quietly whined, "Dad…"
"Okay you or the Winchesters," he teased causing his daughter to laugh and one again make eye contact with him. "So what can I do to help you Toni?"
"Would you…?" She started hesitantly. "Would you mind going on-line and booking me the earliest possible flight you can to Portland?" As Toni had predicted her father's eyebrows raised in surprise causing her to chuckle softly before she added, "I know it's not my usual mode of transportation, but Joe's out of town at a conference so Vanessa needs me to get there as soon as humanly possible. Whatever it is… Well once I get Vanessa settled, I can just buy whatever supplies I'll need while I'm there so that I can put it down."
Her dad gave Toni a sad smile over his shoulder before he turned back to her computer and asked, "Will two hours be enough for you to get to the airport?"
Toni stopped in the middle of closing the zipper on her bag to run over and throw her arms around her dad's neck exclaiming, "More than enough! Thanks dad. I love you so much and still consider myself blessed to have you in my life. I couldn't do this without you."
The Colonel raised a hand to pat his daughter's forearm as he hoarsely replied, "I love you too Angel. Be safe on your travels and be sure to keep me in the loop."
Toni backed away from the sleeping toddler and mother slowly then exited the room as quietly as she could. Vanessa had been able to take an extended leave of absence from her two jobs and spent most of her time in bed due to her deep depression. She was still blaming herself for her colleague's death despite everyone's adamant protests to the contrary. Because of this Toni ended up becoming the nanny, house keeper, chef and care-giver of the household as soon as she got to Portland and somehow that felt completely natural to her.
After putting away a couple of the toys that Stephanie had been playing with in the living room, Toni tried to take a mental stock of everything that she thought that she could accomplish while mother and child napped. She had been able to get at least a week's worth of groceries bought the day before, the laundry was in the dryer and it was too early to call Joe to give him his daily updates about his family. Vanessa's husband had tried to book a flight home, but for some reason he wasn't able to find any, so Toni told him to stay at the conference because she was more than happy to stay with Vanessa and Stephanie for as long as she was needed there. Despite Joe agreeing with Toni's logic, he still kept trying to find a flight out but he let Toni believe that he was concentrating on his work.
From her spot beside the coffee table, Toni's eyes landed on Vanessa's car keys and she shrugged as she said out loud to herself, "Well the Dance Studio should be open right now and having those numbers most likely would help to ease her mind…"
Even before she was finished reasoning with herself aloud, Toni was already scooping up the keys into her hand. At the door she stopped and mentally kicked herself for almost getting out the door without leaving Vanessa a note in regards to her whereabouts. She then quickly turned around to write a quick note and left it where she had found her friend's keys, although she was hoping to get back to the house long before Vanessa or Stephanie woke up.
Vanessa had been doing a side project of directing a play at the studio and had mentioned more than once that she really needed to call the cast's parents to let them know that rehearsals would be postponed for a while. Toni had hoped to get out to the studio sooner than later after speaking to the owner of the establishment about picking up the necessary documents, but somehow over the last couple of days the daylight hours had just flown by and she had missed her opportunity to leave the house. Thankfully the studio owner sympathized with her predicament and offered Toni nothing but patient understanding ever time that she called to apologize for not being able to make it in that day.
Since Vanessa's boss had had more than enough time to compile all of the information together, Toni was hoping that she could just pick up the package and get back to the Stevenson household straight away. At least she did up until the moment that Toni caught a glimpse of the red and blue lights reflecting off the building's siding as she made her final approach. He heart sank slightly when she saw a police officer leaving the studio with a grim look on his face and she almost wanted to turn around and just head back to Vanessa's side.
Toni waited in her car until the police cruiser drove away because no matter what had happened there, she didn't want to let herself get involved in any way. He only focus right now was on her friend's wellbeing and if something supernatural was wreaking havoc in this town then someone else would have to take care of it. She paused for a brief moment in front of the door with yellow police tape across it, but just shook her head to remind herself of her earlier resolve.
"Miss? Can I help you with something?" A soft, sad sounding woman's voice asked from somewhere just behind Toni.
It took a moment for Toni to recognize Vanessa's boss' voice because of the raw emotion that changed its timber but she made sure to keep a soft smile on her face as she replied, "I believe that you definitely can." Toni took a step forward and extended her hand. "You must be Kelly… I'm Toni, Vanessa Stevenson's friend."
"Oh! Toni… Right… Right… I almost forgot," the other woman said with an embarrassed blush blossoming across her cheeks.
Toni offered her a sympathetic smile then replied, "It looks like you've had a bit of excitement here so please don't apologize."
"Excitement…?" Kelly stated sounding very distracted. "Right… Anyway… If you'll follow me I'll get you those numbers you asked for right away."
Toni just nodded in response and then trailed behind the woman who was visibly distraught. She desperately wanted to ask what had happened behind that door to see if there was some way that she could help, but she managed not to give in to her curiosity. Vanessa was the only person she was in town to console, this stranger would undoubtedly have friends and family that she could turn to for support. Toni felt awful for thinking such a thing, but she had to do everything she could to keep her priorities in check right now.
"So here's the contact information for the cast," Kelly explained as she passed Toni a large manila envelope. "Although we're already putting the word out that the studio will be closed for at least a week because of… Our latest tragedy."
"Oh," Toni exclaimed quietly in mild surprise. "Okay well… I'm sorry that you have to go through all of this right now."
Kelly smiled softly then said, "Thanks for the sentiment… Although I don't think there's ever a good time to deal with something like this. Please do send Vanessa my best wishes. We all miss seeing her here but we understand why she can't be here. Tell her to take her time getting back to us."
"I will," Toni promised before she turned and left the office.
Unfortunately the only route out of the building took Toni past the crime scene she had been trying to ignore. This time she actually did reach out to turn the knob on the door but jumped back in surprise when the door opened before she could touch it. Toni nearly fell over but caught herself against the wall opposite the door and managed to stay on her feet.
"I'm sorry I startled you," Toni heard as she caught her breath. "Toe…"
"Agent," she interrupted Sam quickly. "No need to apologize, you're just trying to go about and do your job properly."
Toni gave Sam a look that he instantly understood that she had been so formal because she was trying to help him from blowing his cover. They then walked silently side by side and exited out the door at the end of the hall. As they walked down the front stairs, Toni quickly reached out and squeezed Sam's arm because she couldn't help herself from trying to make any type of physical connection with him. He looked down at her out of the corner of his eye and gave her a small smile of appreciation.
At the side of Vanessa's car Toni stopped and turned to face Sam and ask, "So what brings you to town Agent…?"
"Hornsby," Sam answered when Toni quirked a questioning eyebrow at him. "One of the dancers that trained at this studio sort of danced her feet off…"
Toni closed her gaping mouth then asked, "Off? Like literally danced them off her legs?"
"Yeah, exactly that. We're leaning towards it being some sort of cursed object or a curse put on the dancer somehow."
"Shit," Toni cursed under her breath.
Sam gently turned her face so that he could make eye contact with Toni once again. "And may I inquire as to why you've found yourself at this crime scene today?"
"What?" Toni questioned absentmindedly because she was still lost in her own thoughts. After a moment she actually heard Sam's question and she couldn't help but laugh self-consciously. "Sorry what I meant to say was that Vanessa works here part time. She asked me to come down here to pick up a couple of things for her. I didn't know that anything weird had happened her until I saw a police officer who must have stopped by to do some follow ups."
"Vanessa works here too?" Sam asked with a thoughtful scowl on his face.
Toni mirrored his expression as she said, "Yeah… So? What difference does that make?"
Sam couldn't miss the heat in her tone even if he tried and quickly apologized saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. I guess I was just thinking out loud."
"I know you were Sam, but… Well I get a little defensive when it comes to anyone saying anything negative about my friends."
Sam squeezed her forearm where it rested, crossed over her chest. "I know you do Toni. So how is she holding up right now?"
Toni shrugged then leaned against the car door answering, "She's a bit of a mess. She still blames herself for his death and I've sort of run out of ways to convince her that she's totally wrong. I don't know, but Joes mentioned that her doctor thinks that it could also be some sort of delayed port-partum or something as well. She seems to be doing a little bit better now that I've finally been able to get her to eat, take her medications and to get a least some sleep every day." She paused there and reached up to hold Sam's cheek observing, "Speaking of… You look like you haven't slept in days."
"I swear it isn't for lack of trying," he replied placing his hand over hers on his face. "But you have enough on your plate with Vanessa and Stephanie right now so you don't need to be worrying about me too."
"You know that isn't going to happen." Toni quickly checked around them to make sure no one was watching them. When she felt confident that there were no prying eyes she stood up on her tip toes to give Sam a quick kiss. "And that being said, I should probably be getting back to the two of them…. But… I am just a phone call away if you need me for any reason, okay?"
Sam leaned down to kiss his girlfriend and both of them allowed his embrace to linger for longer than they should have allowed. "Okay… Give Vanessa my best."
"I will. Good luck with whatever the hell is stirring up shit here right now."
Dean caught the tail end of Sam's interaction with the petite brunette and almost called out to his brother to playfully tease him. Instead he waited until the female drove away in a brand new silver Chevrolet Equinox before he approached his younger sibling saying, "Sammy… Sammy… Sammy… Sammy… Making out with strangers in the parking lot… I guess Lucifer must really be messing with your head to make you do something so stupid, especially when you have a girlfriend that knows more than one way to cut your nuts off in your sleep without waking you up."
Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes replying, "Dean that was Toni that just drove off. She's in town visiting her friend Vanessa… Remember? That was Vanessa car that she was driving."
Dean blushed slightly then said, "Right… Yeah I knew that… So… I guess next stop is the police station?"
"Yeah she did buy the pen at 'Out with the Old Antique Shoppe'", Toni said into her phone as she started unloading the dishwasher. "Why do you ask?"
"Well…" Sam started slowly because he really didn't want to have to tell her this information right now. If he could of done so with a clear conscience he would have kept it from Toni, but he knew his girlfriend well enough that he didn't want to risk her wrath if wasn't honest right now. "That's where the ballerina bought her shoes before she ground her feet into oblivion and…"
"Shit fuck," Toni cursed when the realization of his statement hit her. "Wait! Does that mean that there were more cursed objects floating around town?"
"Yeah there were, but we were able to find them all and got them back into their hex boxes before too many other people could succumb to the worst kind of tragedy."
Toni groaned softly then said, "Thank God you guys were able to get here in time. So what are you going to do with them all so they can't hurt anyone else?"
"Originally we were going to let the store owner get rid of them, but after our little run in with a couple of Leviathans Dean and I decided that it might be best if we just take care of them ourselves."
"Leviathans?" Toni asked not even trying to hide her disbelief that this job had gotten so complicated. "Holy shitballs Sam! Are you okay…? Is Dean alright?"
"We're both a little bruised up, but neither of us are missing any limbs, so yeah I guess that means that we'll be fine. So… Dean and I are heading out now to catch up with Frank to see what he's been able to dig up about why Dick's crew was here and I was wondering if you might want to join us."
"Oh… Wow… Umm…" Toni quickly slipped out the back door of the Stevenson's house to gain some privacy then continued, "As much as I would LOVE to work with both of you guys again, Joe just got home and I think that he's more than a little overwhelmed with Vee's condition so I was kind of planning on staying here for at least a few more days. You know…? Just to make sure that everything here is comfortable and in place for all of them before I leave. I'm really sorry that I can't join you."
"Hey no problem. I just wanted you to know that I was thinking of you and that I wanted to spend some time with you."
"Damn it Sam! Quit being so fucking sweet and understanding," Toni scolded Sam with a soft chuckle. "But seriously… Thank you for the offer. Hopefully I can catch up with you again real soon. I love you and be safe!"
"Feelings are more than mutual. Love you too."