Chapter 59

By 10 AM they had collected the cooler and were back on the road heading south, back to Lawrence. The storage facility had been pretty deserted that early in the morning, and they had used the isolation and quiet to check that the stored fluids were still protected; and transfer the last two Thermos bottles into the larger cooler.

"Well, that just leaves mine." Sam said as he loaded the precious container in the back of the SUV. "Any idea when and where we're supposed to collect it?"

"No, not exactly." She stopped as she was about to open her car door, "But, I know it will happen."

"What, what will happen?" Sam asked as he through his open door.

She smiled warmly at him as they climbed into the car. "I don't know where it is, but I can see it." Amelia closed her eyes. "It's a beautiful little spring, secluded and untouched. As you step out of the fresh, clean waters, I'm waiting for you. We lay down in the grass…" Sam put his hand on her arm, bringing her back to reality; and to stop her before she started to glow any brighter.

"That sounds amazing. Let's get out of this concrete and steel jungle, and you tell me where to find it."

They smiled at each other as Sam started the engine. As he stopped to exit the facility and enter the morning commuter traffic, he asked her 'which way?'.

She replied. "Head to Missouri's; and I'll let you know when we're there."

"Huh. Is that ancient goddess for 'I'm making this up as I go'?" Sam asked, chuckling.

Amelia glared at him. She was still trying to stay out of his thoughts, but his tone of voice told her he was teasing her. "No. But, this is powerful goddess for 'Shut up and drive'." She said as she waved her hand toward the street. Sam looked out to the street just as all the cars came to a stop, leaving them a clear path. He glanced back at her, and she just raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders. "Well?"

Sam stepped on the gas and pulled onto the street. As soon as the Tahoe was on the street, the traffic started moving again. "Nice."

X

As soon as they cleared the densely populated, urban area around Madison, Amelia started watching the landscape intently. After an hour, as they cleared Rockford, Illinois, she sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"There is so much …, just so much. We're nowhere near the spring." She closed her eyes and it was obvious she was concentrating. "But, there is something else. I can't see it clearly, but I feel a presence… Someone or something is out there."

"Can I assume; something not good?" He asked as glancing at her face and seeing concern. "Of course, not good. I knew it would be bad luck yesterday when I said I was hopeful."

She looked at Sam, and allowed herself to read his thoughts for the first time since she had reminded him she couldn't stay. "Please don't lose hope now. Whatever it is that I'm sensing, it will not stop us. I promise, in less than two days Dean will be out of Purgatory and with you."

Sam took a deep breath to let go of some of the fear her words had caused. He kept driving down the I-88, but started checking his rear-view mirrors, looking to see if they were being tailed.

In just under an hour, they had started heading west on the I-80; with no sign of being followed. They stopped for gas and then lunch on the west side of Davenport, Iowa. Sam thought Amelia was overly calm after sensing something was after them. He stayed on high-alert as they ate in the car, so he could make a quick get-away and/or protect Amelia and the fluids, if needed.

"Sam, would a place like this have a restroom I can use?" Amelia asked suddenly after finishing her sandwich.

"Yeah, they should."

"Okay. I'll be right back." She said as she popped out of the car before Sam could stop her.

He watched her go to the counter and the cashier point to the far side of the small building. Sam kept an eye on her as she walked to the side of the shop and then out of sight. Despite knowing she was fully capable of taking care of herself, he worried the second he couldn't see her.

His concern grew dramatically as a panel van pulled into the parking lot and parked to the side, blocking his view of corner of the building. Sam saw the driver sitting the van, with the engine running, but couldn't see if there were any others exiting the vehicle.

Sam knew it took women longer to go to the bathroom; and even after living with Jess, he didn't quite understand it. But, it had now been several minutes since Amelia had disappeared around the corner of the building, and two minutes since the van had obscured his view. His hunter's senses were now screaming at him that something wasn't right.

He pulled out his gun to check it and was just reaching to open his door when he heard Amelia's voice in his head. 'Sam, we have company. Be careful, there is another one watching you and the car.'

"Crap." Sam cursed. He looked around the parking lot as casually as he could. That's when he noticed a pickup truck behind him, near the road. It also had the driver still sitting behind the wheel, and the engine idling. 'Amelia, are you okay?' Sam asked her in his thoughts. They hadn't communicated this way at such a distance before, but if he could hear her, she should be able to hear him.

'Oh yes. We're fine. Can the other one; and by the way, it's Tim, the hunter I sensed at Cassie's. Can he see the restroom door?'

'Fuck. How did Tim find us?' Sam's apprehension was now replaced with anger. But, it only took him a second to tuck that away for later and assessed the situation. 'No, he can't have a line of sight to you.'

'Can you distract him while I go around the building, and get behind him?'

'What? Amelia, don't do it! Tim may be an asshole, but he's a seasoned hunter.' Sam said as he got out of the car, knowing she wouldn't listen to him. He also knew she was probably already headed around the back of the building.

He started stomping towards Tim's truck, hand behind his back, gripping the handle of his gun. "Tim! You asshole, get out of the truck and face me, you bastard!"

Sam saw Tim look at the van, and then he opened his door. From his stance behind the open door, Sam assumed he had his gun drawn as well. He let Sam get within a few feet of the hood of the truck. "That's close enough Sam. Take another step and your girlfriend will suffer a little more than she already has."

"You seem to make a habit of using women for shields. Your mother must be so proud." Sam taunted, as he spotted Amelia coming out from behind the building.

"Talk about using women; exactly what are you doing to that girl? You know, the one Roy and Walt should be loading into that van as we speak." Sam knew immediately who Tim had to be talking about; the pair of hunters that had shot him and Dean three years ago. "You Winchesters. How you call yourselves Hunters is beyond me. You're worse than most of the things I hunt."

"Yeah, 'cause kidnapping an innocent girl is so noble." Talking to Tim was making his skin crawl, but he needed to give Amelia a couple more minutes to get into place. "I'll give you points for finding me. How'd you manage that, anyway?"

"Garth and his little computer geek made a point of spreading the word, assuming everybody would want to get on the 'help the Winchesters bandwagon'. Well, that and Walt's wife works at the storage place and saw you rent that locker. We just waited for you to come back." Tim replied cockily, and then he stepped from behind the truck door. Sam had been correct; he had a pistol in one hand, which he now pointed at Sam. In his other hand he had his phone, which he lifted to speak into. "Walt? You guys got her in the van yet?"

"No, I'm afraid they don't." Amelia replied, from a few feet behind Tim. As he started to whirl around to face her, she smiled at Sam and clapped her hands together. Tim dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Is he dead?" Sam asked as he came around the open door.

"No. But I can arrange that if you'd like." Amelia responded very matter-of-factly. "And his friends, too."

"What did you do with them?" Sam asked as started to load Tim into his truck.

Amelia picked up Tim's gun and phone from where they had fallen to the ground. "They're in the back of the van." This time she was definitely grinning. "They'll wake up with very nasty headaches."

"Huh. Well, despite the fact they were trying to kill me; and that Roy and Walt already did once, I can't let you kill them." Sam said as closed the pickup's door and looked around the parking lot to see if they had any witnesses. There was absolutely no one around. He looked at Amelia, but didn't bother asking the question, since she was reading his mind again.

"I'm learning. No spectacles, right? It's just a slightly bigger version of the traffic stop spell." That's when Sam noticed there were no sounds and no movement, of any kind. She started to quickly lead Sam away from Tim's truck; as they were climbing into the car, she waved her hand. Suddenly there were all the background noises of everyday life. A few seconds later a car went by on the highway. "See, no witnesses."

"Did you just stop time?" Sam asked from behind the steering wheel of the SUV.

"No. Even I can't do that. I just suspended motion for anything in the area." She responded, again like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Did you decide what we should do with Tim and his friends?"

Sam sat there in stunned silence. He didn't know how long she'd had this much power, but she seemed very comfortable using, what he considered substantially increased powers.

"I could erase their memories of us. Oooh ooh. I could implant some really horrible images, too."

"Slow down, I'm still wrapping my head around suspending animation." He looked at her, and her face fell with disappointment. "But, definitely wipe their memories of us."

As Sam started the car and put it in gear, Amelia saw how concerned he was about her behavior the last few minutes. She looked to the van and closed her eyes for a couple seconds; then she repeated the procedure facing Tim's truck. "Okay, they'll wake up and have no idea why they're here."

Sam pulled out onto the road and headed back to the interstate. "Sam. You don't need to worry about me, I'm not turning into some power-mad, vengeful creature. We controlled the situation, eliminated the threat and nobody got hurt." She had been speaking calmly, trying to reassure him. But, then a grin slipped on her face, and she added, "Of course, the three of them will have the mother-of-all headaches." She gave him an expectant look. "Mother-of-all headaches, get it?"

He groaned, that was possibly the worst pun he had ever heard. And he had heard a lot of them from Dean over the years. As he turned up the ramp to get on the I-80, he was hoping it would be her last attempt at puns.

"What? I thought it was funny!"