A whole lot more prompt with this update! Hope you guys are excited! Lots of dialogue from Season 6, Episode 16 "And Then There Were None", but this chapter is longer then usual. And, if you look close, there's clues to the next part of my plot in this chapter, so sleuth away! Also, I've added another chapter to this section of the story, so we'll round it out with chapter 20!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I claim none of the lines taken from 6.16!
We're All Mad:
Bobby eyed the four of them critically, "Well, you've all still got your limbs attached."
Dean smiled tightly, "All souls attached now too, right, Sammy?"
Sam grimaced, and Isabel pat him on the shoulder before embracing Bobby, "We're fine, promise."
Bobby made a face, standing awkwardly in her grasp, "Damn, girl, what's this for?"
"Well, you looked like you could use a hug, and the boys aren't going to give you one, so I figured I'd take one for the team and come on in." She said, smiling broadly as she stepped back in between the brothers.
Bobby huffed, but both boys could tell that the older hunter was blushing under his beard. "Come on in, you three look like you could use beers."
Once inside he went through the usual screening process, going so far as to put Ion through the same paces, before handing all three of them beers. Dean opened Isabel's, passing it back to her. They'd learned the hard way that she couldn't open beer bottles without crushing them. She was working on that, but none of them wanted to be cleaning up beer when they should be talking about the newest big bad.
"This bitch is your aunt?" Bobby gasped.
Isabel nodded, taking the first sip of her beer to avoid elaborating. She started gagging instantly, "Ugh, how long has this been in your fridge? I think it's gone bad."
Sam took the beer from her and took a swig, frowning, "Tastes fine to me."
Dean chuckled, "Bobby would never let a beer go bad on his watch."
"You check your mouth, boy." Bobby growled, but looked, concerned, in Isabel's direction. "You feeling alright, girl?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, shaking her head at Sam when he tried to give her her beer back, and stifling a yawn, "Think maybe I just need some sleep. There a place I can crash while you boys talk?"
"Bedroom on the left down the hall, just toss the papers and crap on the floor. Sheets are clean." Bobby told her, smiling when she pat him fondly on the shoulder as she walked away, Ion trailing behind her. "Keep that damned thing off the bed!" He yelled after her, getting a wave of acknowledgement back.
Dean sighed, "Dude, that dog. It's like her fucking shadow. Keeping it off the bed is a nightlong struggle."
Sam chuckled, "Ion's not that bad, Dean. Oh, and Bobby, she'll have to sort your papers before she'll let herself stack them somewhere else. Teacher thing, she can't help herself. Back of the Impala is freaky organized now."
"Like Sammy on steroids." Dean commented, taking Isabel's beer from Sam and taking his own swig, "This is a good beer. What's her problem?"
Sam shrugged, "Who knows. She usually makes it her goal to try to keep up with me."
Bobby huffed, "Like that little thing could keep up with you."
"I said try. Three beers and she's usually passed out." Sam clarified, flipping through one of the old books Bobby had collected, "Hey, I'm gonna give her aunt a call, see if she's got anything on Eve."
"What's this aunt do, shoot rainbows out her ass? Seemed like a nice broad, but how's she gonna help?" Bobby joked darkly.
Sam glared, "No, Alice is a psychic from a long line of Hunters." He dialed the library phone number, listening to it ring before Alice finally picked up, "Hey, Alice."
"That niece of mine better be in one piece still, or I'll skin both you boys." Alice snapped in greeting.
Sam winced, "Hello to you too. Isabel's fine, I just had a question about something I thought you'd be able to answer."
"I don't, but Mr. Singer does." She answered ideally, and Sam could hear her flipping through the book she seemed to keep half her brain in.
"Um...okay. We've been looking all over this place. Any clue where it'd be?" Sam asked, standing up and looking around, ready to rifle through whatever pile she indicated.
"Not you, Sammy. Let me speak to Mr. Singer." Alice said fondly.
Sam held the phone to Bobby, "She wants to talk to you."
"Balls." Bobby cursed, brushing crumbs off his beard. He took the phone, giving Sam a withering look, "Go." Dean and Sam watched with rapt attention as Bobby's face turned several shades of pink before he finally muttered, "Yes, M'am. I'll be there.", and flipped the phone closed, throwing it back at Sam and heading to the kitchen, "Book's in here, let's go figure out how to gank this bitch."
Dean laughed, "Jeez, Bobby, what'd the old lady promise you?" Bobby didn't respond but his face turned bright red, and both brothers gagged, "Ugh, that's nasty."
"Says the two of you. Don't get me started on what I think about the little triad you three have got going. Miss. Alice and I are just meetin' for lunch once this crap is all over." Bobby growled, stooping to tug at a book under the front corner of the china cabinet.
"Hold on." Sam brusquely said, getting on his knees and pushing some of the cabinet's weight off the book in question. Bobby retrieved the book and Sam grabbed one from a nearby pile to hold the spot before standing, "I'm gonna go check on Izzy."
Dean waved their Dad's journal, "We'll be reading! My favorite!"
Bobby hummed as he read, and Sam never came back. A few hours later Dean drifted into the bedroom and found Isabel and Sam fast asleep, the lingering smell of sex in the air and Ion sulking in the hallway. Dean shook his head with a smile on his face and went back to Bobby, "Time to hit the hay, Bobby. Let's go talk to that guy that bashed his family's heads in in the morning."
They started driving to Sandusky, Ohio just after sunrise.
When the possibly possessed man, Rick dissolved into tears, Isabel, who was dressed in a pressed woman's suit neither brother knew she'd packed, felt the need to hold the man as he cried.
Bobby muttered about her being a bleeding heart, but recoiled at the video of the man's interaction with some creature at the gas station, "I've never seen that in my life. All those vamps and ghouls out on I-80? Maybe they're coming in for Mother's Day."
Dean stood nervously, glancing at Isabel, "Um, Okay, well, if that is Big Mama, Eve or whatever, we got zero on ganking her. So what are we gonna do if we run into her? Throw salt and hope? Have Isabel poke her with an angel blade?"
Bobby scowled, "No, we're gonna turn tail and run, because we're in over our heads."
Dean wasn't sold on the idea, "I mean, we better get some real info on this bitch before we do run into her."
They were cut off by the locals stirring about trouble down at the Cannery. Bobby headed out the door only for Isabel to follow a few steps behind, "Damnit, girl, I can be by myself."
She smiled weakly, "I know, but honestly, I couldn't handle being around Rick anymore. Shouldn't have touched him. So sad."
He shook his head, "Well, stay close and follow my lead." At the Cannery, he flashed a badge, "FBI. Willis and Matthews. How many in there?"
The officer looked ill, "Six dead."
"What happened?" Bobby asked, grabbing Isabel by the hand before she could touch one of the injured.
The officer shrugged, "Apparently, a guy walks in, pulls a hunting rifle, just opens fire. Captain! These are agents..."
The captain was pissed, "What? There a Fed convention in town or something?"
"Excuse me?" Isabel hissed, the teacher in him detesting his tone.
An African-American man approached from behind the captain, "Agent Willis? Am I right?" He looked quizzically at Isabel, but held a hand out to Bobby.
"Agent." Bobby acknowledged hesitantly. "We weren't expecting you...yet."
The man mad a slight face, "Oh, well, apparently, you didn't get the call. Gentlemen, can you excuse us?"
Isabel followed next to Bobby like a child, feeling unusually lost in the situation, "What in the high holy are you doing here, Rufus?"
"Same as you- tracking 31 flavors of crazy, which led us both smack into the middle of this. Who's the girl?" Rufus asked sharply.
Isabel bristled, "I'm the girl that's got Bobby's back."
Rufus shot her a disapproving look, "Not much help, Bobby."
"Girl packs more of a punch than she looks like she would. Sam and Dean are with us too." Bobby said, feeling more than a little defensive.
"So are we partnering on this or not? Jailbait here might be good monster food, but she can't be that great on a hunt. We're here, let's do this. Just like old times." Rufus urged, and only Bobby's hand on her arm kept Isabel from lunging at the man.
Bobby agreed, and the three of them ended up in the morgue, "Isabel, you stay over there, and don't touch anything."
Rufus rolled his eye, "Girl, can't be squeamish."
"That's not what I'm worried about." Bobby told him before Isabel could unclench her jaw to respond. Truth be told, the smell was making her sick, but Bobby had his own reasons, "Girl's half angel, don't really want one of these stiffs getting too lively."
Rufus looked Isabel over again before humming, "So, do you think the mother of whatever the hell is wrapped up in this, Bobby?"
Isabel did her best to not let her uneasy stomach get the best of her as they swabbed and postulated over the body, resulting in the five of them ending back up at the Cannery.
"Look what the cat dragged in!" Dean directed jovially to Rufus when they arrived, and Isabel quickly tucked herself against Sam, ready to be far away from the misogynistic man.
"It really is good to see you, Rufus." Sam said, squeezing Isabel's shoulders.
"I can believe it. It must get old dealing with this miserable cuss here all by yourself." Rufus ribbed Bobby good-naturedly. The ribbing went on for a few more minutes before they headed inside. Rufus sneered at Isabel, "You just gonna hide behind Sam or are you gonna make yourself useful?"
Isabel lunged at him, but Dean caught her around the waist, "Woah, Baby Girl, relax, he's just teasing."
Shrugging Dean off, she materialized her blade in her hand and stalked after Sam and Bobby, "I'm not some half-witted whore you can trash talk, old man."
Rufus chuckled to Dean, "I like her."
They came upon Gwen Campbell in the higher levels of the Cannery. The shit hit the fan a second later, and Sam and Dean were squabbling in front of an older bald man, Isabel positioned in front of Bobby and Rufus unsure of why that awful burning wasn't racing through her even though they were fighting.
"I take it you know each other." Rufus drawled from behind her.
"He's our grandfather." Dean growled.
Rufus chuckled, "Oh- somebody needs a hug."
The boys went at each other a few seconds longer before Bobby barked at Sam to take Dean on a walk. "Watch her." Sam instructed as he pushed Dean out of the room, bobbing his head at Isabel.
Bobby nodded, and once they were gone, he stood in front of her, "So, you're Samuel."
The bald man was cocky, "You must be the guy pretending to be their father."
"Well, somebody ought to." Bobby popped back as Sam returned, trailing a hand over Isabel's shoulder as he passed.
Isabel had to laugh when Samuel started talking about a creature from Purgatory, "You're wrong. Eve's not from Purgatory, she's from Heaven."
Samuel finally looked at her, "And how would you know that?"
"Because, she's my Mother's twin sister." Isabel said shortly, mentally searching for Dean and tuning out most of the snappy conversation that followed and hardly noticing as Gwen left the room.
She did notice the gunshot, and the sudden wrongness filtering from the energy outside the room. "Dean!"
"Isabel!" Sam yelled after her, but she kept running, nearly stumbling over Gwen. Sam ran past her and Bobby and Rufus came to their knees beside her. "Bobby, see if you can plug that hole up."
"Isabel?" Bobby asked, looking at the girl who had her hands over Gwen's wound.
Her eyes were wide. "I-..."
Rufus growled, shoving her back, and both men started working on the dying woman. She was dead less than twenty seconds later. Sam came back to them, "I couldn't find Dean." He noticed Isabel, crouched to the side, blood on her hands, and went to her, "Hey, Izzy. What happened?"
Isabel was staring at the blood, but the light was still in her eyes, "I don't know. I couldn't heal her. I tried, but...nothing happened."
Sam forced a comforting smile and hauled her to her feet, "Don't worry about that now. We've got to find Dean. Whatever got into those guys must have got into him." Isabel stayed with Sam and Bobby as they searched, wiping her hands as clean as she could on her jeans.
They came upon Dean, half hysterically waving his gun between Rufus and Samuel. Rufus tried to check his ear for the supposed 'Kahn worm', and he jumped away. Isabel glared at the man and approached Dean slowly. "Shush, Dean, just let me look, okay?" He eyed her every step of the way, but she sighed in relief, kissing his cheek, "We have goo."
Dean started rubbing his ear, "Goo? What the hell does that mean?"
"That means it was in you, all right." Rufus said, and then Bobby started to convince them all to give up their guns. Isabel put her angel blade into the bag too, more a show of good faith than anything since, if she needed it, the blade would be back in her hand.
The next hours drug by, Isabel passing the time by scratching Dean's arm against a rusty table edge and trying to figure out why her healing power that had come so naturally before was almost non existent even if she concentrated. He was being an innumerably good sport, but she knew it was because he was trying to riddle out what had happened with Gwen. She wanted to hug him, but he wasn't in the mood for that and it would set Rufus and Samuel off big time. They'd already pieced together the nature of her relationship with the boys and were silently judging them. All they needed was a reason to rip her apart, with or without any worm.
Naturally, Dean falling out of his well balanced chair and keeling over groaning gave them all the reason they needed to spring into action. "What the hell!" Bobby yelled, and Samuel had Isabel off her feet in an instant, arm around her throat.
"What did you do to him?" Samuel growled in her ear.
"Let her go!" Sam ordered, the fury in his eyes unlike anything she'd seen before. Wait, she had seen it before, in the brief moments before insanity had taken over after they'd pulled the vampire trying to kill her off her. That was the insanity both brothers shared, an insanity that bled from her to them. Her fear enraged them. Dean was fighting against the pain he was in, forcing himself to stand at his brother's side.
Samuel was prepared to break her neck. Isabel was clinging to his arms, pulling them far enough away that she could breathe but wasn't hurting him. "I'm not doing anything!" She gasped, and Dean swayed, falling against Sam, who looked between the two in panic, his brain trying to prioritize one over the other.
Isabel made the decision for him, gripping his arms firmly and throwing Samuel over her head like Dean had taught her. The man landed on his back with a grunt, but Isabel was already at Dean's side, "Hey, breathe, baby." She ripped his shirt open, the fabric giving easily under her hands. "Sam."
The younger Winchester was at her side before she'd even finished uttering his name, "Another tattoo?"
Isabel nodded, letting Dean curl around her, muffling his agonized groans on her hip. She tried to ease the pain, laying a hand over the forming words that were marching down the side of his torso, but this was much bigger than the last mysterious mark, and she couldn't soothe it all like she had then. Isabel leaned over him, kissing his neck and whispering softly to him, carding her fingers through his short hair.
Sam sat on the concrete floor next to her, his body pressed against her side, eyeing the three older hunters like a wild animal, daring them to come any closer. He'd kill them if they did. He knew that beyond a doubt.
By the time the pain finally let Dean breathe, Isabel was crying, "I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry. This is all my fault, if I wasn't around, this wouldn't happen. I'm so sorry!"
Dean kissed her, not caring anymore that Samuel and Rufus would see. "Hey, baby girl, it's fine. I'm okay now, promise. Shit, don't cry."
She hiccuped a few times, looking perversely young as she stared down at him, big blue eyes swimming in tears, face tinged red, and her blonde hair hanging messily around her face. Then he noticed the grip Sam had on the back of her neck. That would explain the sudden urge to fuck her. She was out like a light, all rational thoughts out of her mind, her only focus on the two of them, not the other hunters, and not the worm that seemed bent on killing them all. Sam bent closer, his mouth next to her ear and whispered something so softly that even Dean couldn't hear. She whined, breathing heavily at whatever he was saying, he said something else and then logical Isabel returned, shooting Sam a nasty look. "You better be willing to back that up, Shaggy."
Sam grinned, kissing her quickly, "If we're still alive after tonight, you're on."
A new expression passed over her face, an impish sort of glee. She softened a second later, cooing over Dean again, and reading the new Enochian etched into his skin, "Three trials, three hearts, three distances to part. Croatoan."
Dean cursed, "I hate that damned word." He fell silent, trying to regain his bearings and to push the awful thoughts out of his head, "What if the future he'd seen was still going to happen? What if they lost Isabel, and Sam said 'Yes' to Lucifer? Sam loved the damned girl more than air, and Dean wasn't far behind. If she was gone, what would happen? It all still had time to happen, the virus to spread and him to lose the parts of him that made him him, and to turn into that man he could hardly recognize.
Isabel hauled him to his feet, again exerting effort that was far too much for her slight frame, as always, just a hint of how not human she was. He stared at her, once again amazed at how strong and fragile she was, she vacillated between the two so quickly it was hard for him to pin down in his heart. "You sure you're okay?" She asked, noticing his stare.
Dean nodded, kissing her again, "Yeah. Just tired of riddles."
"Aren't we all?" Sam commented, frowning, when Samuel stood up, and getting right in front of him.
"Relax." The old man hissed, "Bathroom break. So unless you want to hold it for me."
Sam let his grandfather pass, but the brothers followed him. Isabel stayed put, she had no desire to get in between the mess that was there. Again, a gunshot drew her out of the room. Sam and Dean ran in front of them as they exited the room, "It's Samuel. Isabel, stay put."
She froze in the doorway, peeved, "Like hell." Her blade appeared in her hand and she was a little more than pleased. They lost him though, and the three returned to Bobby and Rufus.
It was decided that they'd stick together, a plan Isabel was all for. Hence the panic when Sam was separated from the rest of them, "Come on, Baby Girl, he's gonna be okay." Dean told her, but she had a terrible feeling in her gut that something was about to go terribly wrong. He held her back when they came upon Sam standing over Samuel's body. They kept her away from his body even though her fingers itched to lay a hand on the man, just to see if she could do anything at all. She was all too willing to leave when they brought in the cranial saw. Samuel came jolting up and bolted them out, they had to watch, then came the electrical testing. The worm proved to be in Bobby before Isabel was tested, and she caught Rufus as he fell, Bobby's knife in his chest. He was dead before she got him laid out on his back.
The boys incapacitated the possessed Bobby and Isabel spent her time dragging the three dead bodies together so they could figure out what to do with them. The worm talked about Eve, and Isabel nearly lost it when it, "You're all gonna die. She's pissed, she's here, and it's going to be nothing but pain for you from here on in."
Sam held her back while Dean electrocuted Bobby to expel the worm, "You're going to kill him!" Sam let her go and all three rushed to Bobby when black goo ran out of him. He wasn't breathing. "I've got him!" Isabel cried, hoping she could save someone in this damned excursion. She put her hands over his chest and he was gasping an instant later, grabbing onto her shoulders. She held him gently while he regained his bearings, and held a hand on the back of his shoulder as they stood over Rufus' grave.
"Sometimes I think I over analyze.
As if I can control the time and place.
Life isn't something you try on for size,
You can't love without the give and take.
Who's to say the darkened clouds must lead to rain?
Who's to say the problems should just go away?
Who's to point a finger at what's not understood?
Because, we're all mad in our own way,
Colours fade the grey away.
Different people all the same.
Each reveals the meaning.
We're all mad in our own way,
Fill the sky with different shades.
Read the story on each page
Each reveals the meaning."
We're All Mad
By: Natasha Bedingfield
Okay, so kind of plot heavy, but hope it wasn't too dull!
Question: What are your thoughts on Wincest? Kind of been thinking about the boys realizing that they don't mind getting a little closer. I haven't decided either way, just started writing a scene where Isabel's in charge of Sam for once and Dean walks in… Not sure how much to have him join in…depends on what you guys say really! Won't be full on Wincest, just a little, not enough to really impact the plot, but I'm being super indecisive about it.
Anyway, just let me know! Favorites and reviews are always welcome!
-Jenn