Episode 6
A Full House
We woke with a start in my bedroom, gasping for air as if we had been drowning. After exchanging awkward looks we stepped into the hall and were immediately greeted by Damian, Sherlock following close behind.
"Nice work babe! You really got em here!" he put his hand up, waiting for a 'return five'. I reciprocated and turned to them, grabbing Damian's hand and holding it tightly.
"Sam, Dean, this is my husband Damian. And this is—"
"Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective. Ah you must be Sam! Shaggy hair, obvious issues with authority… how much does it bother you when your brother plays 'Dad'?" Dean glared at Sam for a moment. "And Dean—"
"That's quite enough of that Sherlock!" I scolded, "Anyways ummm… this is my house, and my universe and there's a demon haunting my dreams so where exactly do we start?"
"I think it'd be best if we took a look around your house if that's ok with you?"
"Don't bother; I've already taken the liberty of searching. There's nothing out of the ordinary here besides how ordinary it is," Sherlock interjected, sounding bored.
"You can look everywhere except in my closet, there's nothing that could possibly help you in there. It's piled with a bunch of our shit so just… don't ok?"
"You mean that large container of mar—"
"SHERLOCK HUSH!"
"I'm just looking for anything that might be attracting him to you or maybe something that's heightening your abilities," I told him that I understood, and before I could blink the boys were out of my sight. I rubbed my temples and rested my head on Damian's chest, "I need a shower, and some clothes would probably be a good idea," our eyes closed he kissed my forehead and I headed to our bedroom, unfortunately it seemed Dean had beaten me there.
"Whoa what's eatin you princess?" he was balancing my old pageant crown on his head and standing in a mockingly regal pose.
"I could just use a shower and a change of clothes you guys can look around in here after," I cracked a smile. "I'm sure we could all use some breakfast too. Let me have my room for a while and I'll make us all some pancakes?"
"As you wish Princess," he bowed sarcastically and handed me back my crown, turning for one last look before he closed my door. I was glad to have a moment to myself; I hadn't expected meeting my favorite characters would be so stressful. I also never expected to be having three of them searching my house on a case. But I had to admit to myself that it was all kind of exciting, I was living a dream. I decided as I showered and changed into some leggings and an oversized grey sweater that I would have a fresh attitude and try to get this whole thing sorted out. I didn't realize how much that fresh attitude would be tested.
"Who the hell do you think you are telling me about MY father?! You may think you're a friggin genius but you don't know anything about my family!" Dean bellowed.
"I know that you're desperate to live up to your father's expectations. I know that there was nothing he could do to save your mother and you're still trying to avenge both their deaths. How many monsters do you have to kill until you feel the slate is wiped clean?" Dean said nothing, he just glared, nostrils flaring and looking ready for a fight. I was frozen as he reached across the table and cold clocked Sherlock with a fierce blow. Sherlock just shook off the blow and mumbled with a roll of his eyes, "Americans…"
"Dean, calm down he's on our side! I brought him here he's a guest in my house just like you are!"
"Why don't you calm down and let the big boys handle this Princess," he replied in a condescending tone.
"Why don't we all calm down, we've got bigger problems to deal with" Sam was now standing behind Dean's chair, he had a hand on Dean's shoulder. It was as if that hand was keeping him from jumping back across the table to finish the job. Dean shrugged it off in frustration.
"Yes the demons. I've done a bit of research but I'd like to hear about it straight from the horse's mouth. Or in this case Moose's," he flashed a rare exuberant smile at his own joke, Dean didn't look impressed.
"You're the genius why don't you tell us if you're so goddamned smart?" he grumbled.
"I know that their weaknesses include salt, iron and holy water, but that's in your universe. I hear you two have been here before maybe you could give me a bit of perspective on exactly how demon magic works here,"
"Long story short it doesn't," Sam replied. "Even angels lose their mojo here, there's no magic,"
"Well then it appears we have the advantage," Sherlock kicked his feet up onto the table casually.
"People are dying can you try to look a little less enthused?" Dean scolded.
"I find that remorse doesn't get the job done, now enthusiasm on the other hand does wonders—"
"Are you some kind of psycho what's wrong with you?!" Dean demanded.
"High functioning sociopath actually,"
"Dean do you trust me?" he looked at me for a moment as if he wasn't sure, but finally nodded. "Then you need to trust him too,"
"You expect me to trust this fuckin guy?!" Dean roared.
"He's the one who figured out how to get you here! Yeah he rubs you the wrong way he rubs everyone the wrong way that's part of being a super-genius and you better all get used to each other because we're in this together now!" I was standing, hands planted on the table and spitting fire, "God damn this is not how I pictured you guys meeting," for a moment there was silence, and that was when I heard it. There was faint wheezing and grinding sound that I was ready to pass off as the wind until it grew louder and more recognizable. A tear came to my eye as me and Damian locked eyes from across the kitchen, and without a word we both went sprinting for the screen door that lead to the backyard. We scrambled over each other, sliding the door open and stepping outside just in time to watch as it came into view. Across the muddy grass and behind the small slide and set of swings appeared a box. It was both ancient and brand new, and painted in my favorite shade of blue. A sign on the front read "Police" but I knew better what it meant. As Damian and I stood in the middle of the yard, his arms wrapped around me and tears in my eyes, we watched as the door opened and a young man with old and knowing eyes stepped out in a tweed suit, suspenders and a bow tie. I broke away from Damian and rushed to the old man, embracing him with such force he backpedalled into his TARDIS and we both ran into a very surprised Clara. "Clara Oswin Oswald!" I exclaimed, releasing The Doctor and shaking Clara's hand. "You have no idea how glad I am to meet you! How did you even get here?,"
"I don't know why you didn't come to me in the first place Stella! Parallel universes are my specialty" The Doctor straightened his bright red bow tie proudly. "Now where's our team?" I gaped at him for a moment in disbelief, a stupid smile plastered across my face. "Ah here we are!" under the cloudy sky behind me stood the four of them.
"Hello gentlemen, I'm The Doctor! I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallafrey and this is my compa—" Clara shot him the look, "-traveling associate Clara Oswald! I'm here to stop the demon. Don't ask stupid questions and don't wander off! Any questions?"
"Uh Doctor Who?" Sam questioned.
"Just 'The Doctor'" Clara answered.
"Yeah my turn, what's with the box?" Dean asked
"It's the TARDIS!" I answered excitedly. "That's his space ship and his time machine; it's bigger on the inside! Oh and he's an alien that looks like us but he's got two hearts! That about cover it?"
"Not even remotely babe but they'll catch on," Damian laughed.
"Doctor this is—"
"Sherlock Holmes! And the Winchesters, and of course your husband Damian, lovely to meet you all,"
"Doctor, how did you know?!" I was excited and frazzled all at once.
"I'm The Doctor! You think a dimension hopping demon could pop around my universe without me noticing?!" he passed me and pulled a small paperback out of his jacket, handing it to Sherlock. He didn't even glance at the cover before placing it carefully into his own overcoat.
"Yes of course the next book in the series, I've been expecting you Doctor," Sherlock replied.
"You're smart but you're not psychic Shirley," mocked Dean. "Why don't you quit showing off,"
The Doctor and Sherlock just ignored him. "Doctor, you still haven't explained how you managed to cross over into my universe," I was dying to know.
"Now there's a story!" he exclaimed, "We did a wibbly wobbly timey wimey thing and now we're here. The end! Well then now that that's out of the way I do believe we have some things we need to discuss!" he turned toward the door back into the house, with all but two of us following. The Doctor and Sherlock barely noticed that nobody had come into the house with them, as Damian, Clara and I watched the Winchesters expectantly.
"Come with us, please. They'll have some questions for you. They need your guys' help you know. They've never dealt with demons; Sherlock's never even been to a parallel universe. Can't you at least try to place nice Dean?"
"For you sweetheart? I'll be Mother-freakin-Teresa. For those assholes? Fat chance,"
"She's got a point Dean, you're the one who wanted to come all this way" Sam interjected.
"What did you just call my wife?!" suddenly Damian was eye to eye with Dean. His docile puppy dog eyes had turned vicious, but Dean just smiled carelessly. "She is a sweetheart, she's my sweetheart and I'm planning to keep it that way so why don't you go inside and DO YOUR JOB instead of flirting with my wife!"
Sam tugged at Dean's sleeve, but he just ignored him. "Oh I'll do my job alright. Excuse us while we discuss how we're gonna save your wife's ass," he looked me over, stopping at the particular body part he'd been referring to and smiling. Without missing a beat Damian grabbed Dean by the color of his leather jacket.
"You get a pass for now cause we need you, but you better watch your mouth!" he released Dean and they glared at each other for a moment. Dean faced Clara and I, winked, and finally let Sam pull him back into the house.
"Blimey, the testosterone!" Clara chuckled.
"Yeah no kidding. Thank god you two showed up I thought Dean and Sherlock were gonna kill each other earlier," I replied. "Would you like some tea or coffee or anything?"
"Some tea would be lovely, thanks!"
"Common babe, you heard the lady! It's cold out here and god only knows what they're up to in there," he wrapped an arm around me and kissed the top of my head.
"My Bubba!" and he smiled as the three of us started back into the house.
The living room behind the clear sliding glass door was full of energy. Sherlock was pacing wildly around the room, as The Doctor's hands flapped about every which way while he explained. Sam and Dean sat watching the two from our wine red leather couch. They stopped for only a moment as we entered through the door. Damian gave Dean a killer stare, and passed them to start on tea in the kitchen.
"Now this demon has his hands in every dimension, so reason tells us that he must have some kind of outpost in each place he visits regularly. Moriarty, The Master he picks the 'villain' and possesses them. That would explain how Moriarty survived after he shot himself," Sherlock paused. "He must have something set up here. Stella I need you to think if you wanted to cause the most pain and destruction in your world, if you wanted power whose place would you take?"
"God there's so many: governments, corporations, terrorist organizations, the church there's corruption and power everywhere here I wouldn't even know where to begin," I sat down in Damian's armchair and Clara took the empty spot beside Sam.
"There has to be something more powerful than the government, it'd be someone who could manipulate everything from the background think Stella!"
"He'd be the head of an American corporation. They've got their hands in just about everything because they have more money than our government,"
"Is that what America's come to here?" Sam looked disappointed.
"How do you think you two ended up as pretty boy actors?"
"Yes it's all very sad but you need to focus, we've narrowed it down some but we need to know where exactly he's hiding," The Doctor went deep into thought.
"All of our lives are on television, including yours Doctor. Now in Britain we both are on a major network, we have a mainstream following. But you two…" Dean had a look that showed he was waiting for him to say something out of line. "Your show doesn't have the same kind of following. You're on a small time network your fan base is very particular and underground. Our network isn't as popular in the States either… What if there's a purpose behind that, someone with authority over the network here in the US trying to keep the stories under wraps so nobody got to thinking about demons or parallel worlds…?"
"That'd have to be Castcom. They basically have a monopoly on cable in the US as of three years ago; they put everyone else out of business. All that's left are a few stray internet providers," I thought for a moment, "Are you trying to say that the head of Castcom is a demon?"
"That's what it's starting to look like," The Doctor answered.
"I guess I can't say I'm surprised. I've always said daytime television is evil I guess I just never knew how evil… Doctor can I ask you something?" he nodded. "Do you know where this… ability of mine came from?"
"Well, time travel has always been possible in dreams. It takes a very special kind of mind to do it, and even fewer can purposefully without some sort of help, but it is possible. I've never seen this level of psychic ability before, especially from this universe. No magic or advanced technology works here. But you Stella, you are a mystery," he finally sat on the coffee table facing me, eyeing me curiously.
"Great you've got yourself another 'impossible girl' now have you?" Clara said in mock jealousy.
"If no magic works here, that must mean our demon friend will be powerless if we can find him. He'll be practically mortal, we could just kill him the old fashioned way it'll be too easy!"
"Who said anything about killing?" The Doctor asked. "No, nope, no killing as long as I'm around no guns and no killing that's my only rule," Sherlock looked disappointed
"I thought your rules were don't ask stupid questions and not to wander off?" Sam asked.
"Well that's my other one, got a problem with that?"
"A bit yeah… we came all the way here so we can gank this demon what exactly do you plan on doing, bake him a cake?!" Dean was visibly frustrated now. I sat at the edge of my seat waiting to stop him.
"Actually I was thinking Clara could make him a soufflé! Why don't you boys leave that to me and my time machine?" The Doctor sounded so definite and final I knew better than to argue. But something deep down inside me told me that Dean was right; killing him while he's mortal seemed like the best option.
"It seems there's still one detail that we haven't covered, what exactly do you plan on doing about the children Stella?"
I glared at him for a moment, confused. "Oh my god the kids…" suddenly it hit me. Today was Sunday, and tomorrow at 6:00 AM sharp Anabelle would be dropping off the twins. Sam and Dean gave me a strange kind of look. "I'm a nanny, Monday through Friday I watch a pair of twins while their parents are at work," I explained.
"Ah yes children! I'm very good with children, I speak baby you know," The Doctor straightened his bow tie subconsciously.
"Are you kidding me? If they see ANY of you they'll have my head on a pike. They only agreed to let me watch the boys at my house because I promised I wouldn't bring strangers around! Besides nobody can see any of you, your parallel counterparts are famous. People photograph them all the time, if anyone saw you were in two places at once-" we all froze after I was interrupted by a pounding at the door. It was late afternoon, and Damian and I hadn't been expecting anyone. We met at the front door and Damian opened it apprehensively.
"I've been calling you all day WHAT THE HELL STELLA?!" Jasmine pushed passed me followed closely by her husband Luke. "Do you have people over? My sister is dead and one day later you're having a tea party?!" she pointed angrily towards the kitchen where the kettle was whistling loudly. Damian quieted it.
"Jazz can you just let me explain? JAZZ WAIT DON'T GO BACK THERE!" Jasmine stormed down the hall before I could stop her. As she reached the end of the hall and turned to face the living room time seemed to slow. She froze, and took a step back. Her eyes showed shock and anger, even a little bit of betrayal. "Jazz will you please, PLEASE hear me out?!"
"What the… what the fuck is going on here?!" she demanded. Luke and Damian were watching from down the hall, and using their 'brotherly telepathy' decided to let us sort it out.
"I think I can help ease the tension here—"
"I think you can shut the fuck up and let her explain," Jazz snapped at The Doctor, who was now standing before us in the doorway wringing his hands.
"Jazz… this is going to sound so beyond impossible,"
"Try. Me."
"Well this is The Doctor, Clara and Sherlock Holmes. And of course you know Sam and Dean Winchester…" they all waved uncomfortably. "Um guys this is my sister-in-law Jasmine MacGregor,"
"Prove it," her eyes were cold her arms crossed defensively across her chest. The Doctor and I exchanged a knowing smile, because we both knew just the way to prove it. I grabbed her arm and beckoned her to follow. We stepped out onto the muddy grass. Jazz looked at me in disbelief.
"Come on Jazz, I've been dying to go inside," now everyone was stepping out, following us towards the old box. Even Luke, who rarely let his guard down, was in shock as he looked everyone over. The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS. It was more beautiful than I ever imagined, or than it'd ever been portrayed. There were no lights on, all the buttons and levers were dormant and the round things on the walls looked dead. But nonetheless it was the most astounding and wonderful thing I've ever seen or ever will see in my whole life. The Doctor rested a comforting hand on my shoulder as I cried tears of joy. Nobody spoke; all nine of us were either speechless or wandering about. Sam and Dean both had to step in and out of the door a few times before they let themselves explore the center consol. "Well Jazz? Do you believe me?"
"How did… how'd you all get here?"
"It's kind of a long story, but first I have to tell you something…" she watched me expectantly. "Jazz your sister… she was murdered. It's all my fault but I brought them here, and they're going to make sure it never happens again. I'm going to make sure he can't hurt anyone else—"
"How dare you?! How could you say that; how could you possibly think you know anything about what happened to Ruby?!" I didn't even know where to begin. "What the fuck do you mean it's YOUR fault?" she was crying, her arms wrapped around Luke's waist and head buried in his chest. We were all silent.
"It's not her fault!" Clara finally spoke up. "Stella put her life in danger to avenge your sister's death. We're all putting our lives in danger so that her murderer never gets away with this again. We've traveled across time and through the barrier that keeps our worlds separate and we may not even be able to get back now," she was looking at The Doctor now, arms crossed, as if they'd had that conversation too late. "I'm sorry about your sister… we've all lost so much because of this man, demon, whatever it is,"
Jazz straightened up instantly, "Did you just say a demon? Did a demon kill my sister?!"
"We think so yeah," Sam, who had been watching sympathetically from the background, stepped forward in front of her. "We're not going to let them get away with it, if you know who me and my brother are then you know that we won't. In fact we were on the case before Stella even brought us here,"
"How is this even happening? How is this possible?" She broke away from Luke's arms and passed through the large group that was watching her, inspecting the inside of the TARDIS.
"Ah yes, possibilities! Anything is possible! Possibilities are endless! Dreams, it's our dreams that make everything possible the subconscious is full of… possibilities!"
"Spit it out space man!"
"Basically Stella's subconscious contains a door. No no… not a door a sort of—"
"Why don't you save yourself the trouble and just tell them it's a universe-wuniversey thing Doctor? I highly doubt anybody here besides me would understand…"
"Oi! Brain boy! Why don't you let The Doctor explain and give them a chance eh?" Clara had her hands placed defiantly on her hips as she spoke.
"Basically Stella has advanced psychic abilities that allow her to travel between parallel universes through her dreams. It also seems she is able to bring, well anything, from said worlds back to your world," The Doctor finished.
"Umm you didn't think to tell me that you're psychic?! What the hell dude have you been able to like read my mind and shit?!" Luke looked extremely concerned with the idea that Jazz had brought to the table.
"No I don't think it's that kind of psychic. Jazz I was going to tell you but this all started the night Ruby died. I thought it was just a premonition you know one of those freak things that happen but last night… I met Sherlock. I accidently brought him back with me. Then when I figured out it was a demon who killed her I thought we'd need their help and then The Doctor and Clara showed up in my backyard, it all happened so fast don't you see? How hard this would be to explain right now? I'm sorry OK but he's not going to stop and look Jazz, look around you, isn't it amazing?! Everyone in this ship, we're not going to rest until our family is safe. He could be after you too Jazz, he threatened to take away everyone close to me and that means you too," we were all nine of us silent. Standing in the TARDIS and waiting for her to respond I felt a levity, a feeling of safety.
"I… I think I can understand," she finally said.
"Look, I don't know about you guys but I'm starving. Me and Damian, we'll fix up a proper feast. Tomorrow, after the kids leave we're going to find out where this demon is and we're gonna take care of him once and for all," I nodded at Dean, hoping he would understand that I knew this monster needed to die. The Doctor said nothing, but eyed me suspiciously before brightening up.
"Yes! A nice dinner, lovely! Tell me will there be fish fingers and custard?" Clara and I chuckled.
"I think that can be arranged Doctor, common let's go back into the house,"
I took Jasmine and Luke to the store with me, explaining the whole story from the beginning in vibrant detail. After the burgers, fish fingers and tea was made we were scattered about the living room with whatever surface we could find under our plates, and by the end of the night even Sherlock and Dean seemed to almost be getting along. We exchanged stories, most of which Jasmine or I were already familiar with. At one point, we had almost forgotten that we had all been brought together under such grave circumstances. Finally our plates cleared and the discomfort of our situation seemingly passed us, we all sat quietly for a moment.
"I think you should all stay in the TARDIS for tonight, if that's OK with you Doctor. It's the one place nobody will stumble upon you and there's more than enough space. I know you don't sleep Sherlock and I'm not quite sure what your sleep habits are Doctor but I do have to get to bed and you guys can't be wandering around all night. Sam, Dean, this may be the best chance either of you could ever have to privacy and a good night's sleep without the risk of waking up to a monster in the closet. You should take advantage of it,"
There wasn't any protest, Sherlock had mentioned something about experiments and The Doctor seemed eager to get back to his ship and start with him. As the house cleared out I wondered how I was going to deal with sleeping that night, if I was going to travel again. I was afraid, but I knew I couldn't go the rest of my life without sleep because of what could happen. I silenced the room, cleared my mind completely, and finally drifted into a dreamless sleep.