Chapter 60

The Tahoe sailed west along the I-80 and they reached Des Moines just in time to catch the evening rush hour. Mother Nature despaired again about the way her planet was being treated, and she and Sam discussed, at length, progress, population growth and urban blight. Sam felt like he needed to defend the human race to the goddess, but he largely agreed with her. An hour later, they had cleared the city and were headed south toward the Kansas Cities.

By the time they crossed into Missouri, the interstate was running through beautiful rolling hills, scattered through with streams and small rivers. The wide expanses of verdant green fields filled with crops and stands of trees, with their leaves shimmering in the evening sun, almost made the goddess forget her earlier dismay. About an hour later, Amelia suddenly told Sam to take the next exit. As he quickly changed lanes to get to the exit, he noticed the signs for Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

"Excelsior Springs?" Sam questioned. Amelia didn't respond, she was scanning the landscape, obviously searching for something. "I've heard of it; but they've been developing the springs around there for close to a century."

Sam stopped the car on the shoulder. They were on a slight rise that allowed Amelia an almost 360 degree view of the area. She got out of the car, at first staring towards the hilly area that was famous for its abundant, natural springs; then closing her eyes. Sam would swear it was like she was listening for the spring to call to her.

As if on cue, she opened her eyes. "It's there. The spring for your ablution is about to reach the surface."

"Okay. What?" Sam walked over to stand next to her. "What do you mean 'about to reach the surface'?" He couldn't see anything in particular, just the lights of the small city in the rapidly approaching dusk. "Tell me what we're supposed to do. It's getting dark, do we go find it now, or come back tomorrow, when its light?"

"Now. We go now, before somebody else finds it in the morning," She said as she headed back to the SUV.

Sam jogged back toward the car, picking up on her sense of urgency; and in awe that Amelia could know when and where a new spring would occur. "Show me the way." He said as he started the car and continued down the exit ramp.

As he approached Excelsior Springs, she had him take a small road that led away from the city and the known springs. She hadn't told him when or where to turn, he had just known. Sam assumed Amelia was projecting the images into his mind, because he could swear he was sensing this new spring, too.

After he turned onto an old, overgrown and narrow path, he started hearing a thrum. Or maybe he'd call it a vibration; but whatever it was; it had a consistent tempo, like a heartbeat. He glanced over at her, expecting to see Amelia glowing again, but she wasn't. Her eyes were closed again, and she seemed to channeling the source of the vibrations he was feeling.

Sam was a little concerned, he had never seen her quite this….. He had a hard time thinking of the proper word; focused didn't seem adequate. Enthralled was the best he could come up with. He stopped when he had driven as far into the brush as the SUV could go. As he turned off the engine, Amelia came out of her trance-like state. She grinned at him. "Let's get the blanket and your Thermos bottle; we haven't much time." And then she was out of the car.

It was rapidly becoming dark. Sam grabbed the blanket and last Thermos bottle, and handed them to Amelia. He turned back to the SUV and was reaching for the duffel of weapons. They were going into the unknown, and he wanted more than just his handgun. "You won't need those." Amelia said, and then turned and headed into the woods.

"We can't just leave the Tahoe and the fluids unprotected like this." Sam said as he closed the door, feeling vulnerable without his usual arsenal.

She turned back to Sam; waving her hand at the car. "That will keep them safe." Amelia held out her hand and smiled at him. Sam caught up to her and she gave his hand a comforting squeeze as she turned back to the thicket of brush and trees.

X

If Sam thought the last few minutes had been weirder than the usual weirdness surrounding Mother Nature, the next few were surreal. One of the weapons he had wanted to bring was his machete, to cut a path through the undergrowth. Instead, he watched in amazement as the vines and shrubs seemed to part, making them a path through the trees.

The thrumming he had heard in the car was getting louder, well, not really louder, because he wasn't hearing it, he was feeling it. It felt like the ground was vibrating in a regular rhythm. Purring! It felt like the earth below his feet was purring like a blissful cat. But, he could also feel it coming from Amelia, from where their hands were joined together.

As he was looking where she was holding his hand, Amelia turned to glance back at him. If the ground was making the happy purring noise, her face reflected the same pleasured expression. She smiled at him and he was awash in a feeling of pure love. There were no words, orally or telepathically. No images flooded into his mind, or maybe he could see everything that was and had ever been. He didn't remember moving his feet, but suddenly they stepped out of the trees into a clearing.

Dusk had come and gone and it was fully night, but the clearing seemed to have an ambient light. He looked around and saw swarms of fireflies acting like lanterns. The clearing was a nearly perfect circle, with a stony depression at the center, circled by a smooth ring of grass and moss. Amelia let go of his hand and then slipped out of her clothes. In this perfect place, which did truly seem untouched by another human being, there was no mistaking that she was Mother Nature. She stood there with her hands outstretched and eyes closed, her skin shining with a warm radiance. Sam thought this must be what she looked like the first time she stepped out of the primordial chaos.

Sam spread the blanket out on a level grassy area, remembering Amelia's description of this night. He set the Thermos down and started removing his clothes. There was no spring, yet; but he knew without a trace of doubt that there would be. And, if the vibrations coming up through his feet were any indication, it would be very soon. He stepped onto circle of stones next to Amelia just as she looked down to the depression in the stones.

Sam followed her line of vision and within seconds he could see water bubbling up through the rocks. He stared in amazement as the trickle of water became a steady stream. He didn't know if she had just sensed the spring would form here, or she had called the waters out of the ground. Maybe it was a combination of both, but either way it was spine-tingling to experience.

As the water flowed out of the ground, Sam noticed the hole seemed be shaped like a hot tub and even had a stone ledge on one side, like a step. Within minutes the hole was filled with water, but didn't overflow the stone circle. He looked down at Amelia, and now that she had brought forth the spring she looked like his Amelia again, not the powerful goddess she had been a few minutes ago. No, that wasn't right, in fact, she looked more like a small, frightened girl.

She turned to face him, and spoke for the first time since they left the car. "Sam, there is one final barrier we must face before you can step into the water."

He didn't say anything; her tone of voice told him the whole plan hinged on this moment and that he had to get it right. He wasn't really scared, he trusted her as absolutely as he did Dean; and knew there was nothing they couldn't do, together, to get his brother back.

Amelia avoided his eyes, staring at the amulet around his neck. "You have come to know you are not doing this because you owe it to Dean, you are not repaying him for all his sacrifices. Just as you've learned you are worthy of true love, you know your love for Dean is absolute and unfettered. You have learned that kind of love isn't a commodity, it can't be bought or sold, and it does not have a price." She reached up and laid her hand over the amulet. "But to use the amulet as a key to open Purgatory, we must free Apsu, and freeing Apsu does have a price."

Sam reached down and tilted her chin up to make eye contact. "Amelia. Whatever it is, we'll make it work; just tell me." He bent down and kissed her forehead.

She nodded before speaking. "Do you remember why Apsu was cursed into the amulet?"

So much had happened since she had told him about the trapped god, her former consort. "Yeah, something about your kids."

She snorted in derision. "The idiot thought killing our noisy, rowdy children would be a relief to me." She paused as a tear slid down her cheek. "He was cursed by Ea and his spirit was trapped; but I also was cursed. I had had many children while in my vessels throughout the centuries. But, because Apsu had thought I would like it if our children were murdered, I was cursed to never bear children again." She looked down at her abdomen, putting her hands over the tattoo. "Until now."

"What?" Sam could only manage to whisper out.

Mother Nature, or she should probably think of herself as Tiamat, since that was who she was when she had been cursed, took a deep breath before raising her head and looking up at Sam. "Sam, the price that must be paid is mine, not yours. I get to know that this vessel will have your child, but that I will not be here to experience more than the first few days of her existence."

"What?" He could still only manage the single word, but managed a little more volume.

Tears were now streaming down her face as she saw the turmoil in his mind, knowing she had been the cause, yet again, of the shock he was feeling. She also knew there were no words to say to help him over this barrier, so she decided to show him. She put her hand back on his chest, but over his heart this time. Mother Nature opened her mind unto his and showed him his future with Amelia Stone and their daughter. She showed him a life-time of happiness with a family, a family that included his brother, watching and guiding each other's children grow into adulthood, and both of them getting old together.

"To break my part of the curse, I must be willing to sacrifice myself for a child." She saw tears were now streaming from his eyes, as well. She reached up and wiped the tears from his face. "In two days, I will leave our child in your and Amelia's capable hands. You will grow to love Amelia; and you will face whatever life throws at you." She paused and smiled. "You will argue with your brother about whose turn it is to host the Fourth of July BBQ and call Dean a jerk on his deathbed when he's 85."

She took a step back away from Sam. "I think maybe I was wrong; you too, have a price to pay. You had to understand the part I play in this mess, and be willing to proceed despite my faults. So, now, knowing everything; you need to demonstrate your purified love for Dean and step into the water. And then, we will make love in this beautiful place and collect the final fluid to free your brother."

Sam didn't know how his head hadn't exploded with everything he had heard and seen in the last few minutes. Every human emotion he knew of was fighting for dominance in him. He was filled with joy at the future he had been shown; but he was just as angry at the cost that happiness would cost this woman, or goddess; hell, he didn't even know what to call her any more. And, he was scared shitless because he had just learned he was going to be a father, a dream he had given up years ago.

Somehow, as all these thoughts fought each other in his mind, he watched the ancient goddess, his lover, the mother of his child, walk over to the blanket and sit down, waiting for him to come to her. Then, it was suddenly clear to him. He turned and stepped down into the pool of water. He turned to look at Amelia as he bent his knees to immerse himself completely in the pure water, and smiled. The coolness of the water only further cleared his thinking. He had rewritten destiny before, and he'd do it again. He closed his eyes as he dipped his head back and let his face be covered by the water. As he lifted his head back out of the water, he didn't have a plan, exactly. But what was clear was that he was Sam Winchester, stopper of the Apocalypse, survivor of Lucifer's cage, and brother of Dean Winchester, the best hunter there ever was. Once he got Dean back, nothing was going to stop them from saving his goddess, and all three of them facing their futures together.