Faith:
It all started on yet another case which led us to an abandoned house. I opened the trunk to the car as Dean and Sam stepped up behind me, we were preparing for a fight before entering the rundown building. Dean pulled out the two tasers we had gotten specially for this case just a few hours ago. "What do you got those amped up to?" Sam asked as Dean eagerly fiddled with them.
Dean grinned, "A hundred thousand volts!"
I gave a low whistle, "You're packing some serious heat there, aren't you?" And they would probably need every last bit they could squeeze out of them.
"You bet I am!" Dean said excited. "I want this rawhead extra fricken crispy." Rawheads, she'd only faced one before this time and she hated it then just as she did now. "And remember, you only get one shot with these things." Well it was fun playing with the electricity needed to kill these things. "So make it count."
I carefully went down the basement stairs, Dean in front and Sam just behind. I had my favorite gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. At the bottom of the stairs, a noise erupted from a nearby cupboard. I shared a glance with Sam and Dean before we cautiously walked over. Dean started whispering a countdown, him on one side of the cupboard and Sam on the other. I stood in front, gun trained in the center. Let me tell you, it was a good thing I didn't immediately shoot because inside was nothing more than two scared little children. I lowered my gun but didn't let it go, who knows what could be in this basement. Sam asked in a quiet whisper in case we were heard, "Is it still here?" The children shakily nodded, holding onto each other.
"Lovely." I muttered, turning away to scan the basement as best I could with the dimming flashlight.
Dean turned to the boy who was clearly the youngest. "Grab your sisters hand, come on, we gotta get you out of here." We had to get the children out do the entire group one by one started up the stairs. But then a hand reached between the stairs from below, grabbing Sam's ankle and pulling. I shrieked as Sam yelled, falling back into me and sending us both crashing several feet and sprawling at the bottom of the stairs. The kids screamed and went running out. I groaned, feeling where my head had cracked against the floor. "Sam! Chris!" I faintly heard Dean screaming but my ears were ringing. Sam, doing better than I was, yanked me up. He pulled me in front of him and I awkwardly ran up the stairs, following after the children.
Down in the basement, Dean was suddenly shoved to the ground. He scrambled against a puddle of water to grab his weapon, shooting at the creature. But he made a grave error as he did so, because he and the creature were in the puddles that covered the floor. The electricity crackled against the floor, Dean's mouth open in a silent scream as it coursed throughout his body.
At this point, my head was cleared up and I was following Sam back down the stairs. I screamed, being the first to find Dean unconscious in the puddle of water and twitching.
At the hospital, I was biting my nails down to the numb in worry as we stood at the receptionist counter. "I'm sorry to ask, there doesn't seem to be any insurance on file." The receptionist was explaining. I'm pretty sure I looked pissed, damn economy, all anyone cares about was the money. They wouldn't care if he was dying, without the insurance, they would throw my big brother out to die on the streets without a care. Sam removed a card from his wallet, handing it over, looking just as depressed as I was. It was a fake insurance card for a Mr. Burkovitz, we would be out of here long before they leaned it was a fraud.
The cops that had shown up while we were trying to pull Dean up the stairs at the old abandoned house came over. "We can always to this later." The cop was saying.
"Why? We're all right here right now, might as well get it over with." I snarled, my mind firmly set on my big brother but unable to do anything to help.
Sam put a hand on my shoulder and I leaned into him. Sam explained to them exactly what happened. "We were just taking a shortcut through the neighborhood." More like looking specifically for that one house. "And the windows were rolled down, we heard some screaming when we drove past the house and we stopped." Those children in reality had been to frightened to make a sound let along scream. "Ran in."
"And you found the kids in the basement?"
"Yeah." Both Sam and I said. The cop looked confused but shrugged it off.
But then the doctor came out and I was before him in seconds worriedly. "The electrocution triggered a heart attack." I nearly felt my own heart stop in response. "Pretty massive I'm afraid. His heart...its damaged."
"How damaged?" Sam demanded, looking as worried as I felt.
"And can you fix him?" I was more concerned about. I lived twenty two years without my big brother; having to go without him...what did big brothers do with little sisters? To...help me with my homework, to teach me to drive, to threaten my first date although chasing away all the boys for the first eighteen or so years of my life.
And then the doctor gave them the bad news. "We've done all that we can." I felt my breath catch. "We can try and keep him comfortable at this point." What, did that mean they weren't going to do anything for him? "But I'd give him a couple weeks at most, maybe a month." He said it like it didn't even matter.
"No, there's gonna be something you can do." Sam said desperately. "Some kind of treatment."
"You're a doctor! Get in there and start healing!" I begged, waving my arms.
The doctor shook his head. "We can't work miracles, I really am sorry." And then he just walked away. I turned my gaze to the floor in front of me and slowly curled my hands into fists. Dean Winchester just couldn't be mean to die slowly while rotting away in a hospital bed. And I wasn't meant to just sit back and let things happen. I wasn't going to let my brother die without doing everything I could to stop it.
Bu first, we had to check on Dean. Dean was sitting in his hospital bed, actually watching daytime TV. In one word, he looked...horrible. I'd never seen him look so, well...on his deathbed. He was super pale with dark circles under his eyes. Dean didn't look away from the TV at our entering but at least he acknowledged us. "Have you ever actually watched daytime TV?" I'd never heard Dean sound so weak. "It's terrible." Only Dean would complain about something like that during a time like this.
"We talked to your doctor." Sam tried cautiously. Dean didn't answer, just kept staring at some commercial playing.
"Dean...did you hear him?" I asked.
Dean answered but not about what we were talking about. "The fabric softener teddy bear." He nodded at the tv. "Oh, I'm gonna hunt that little bitch down." Damn, was I ever so tempted to smack him right about now.
"Dean." Sam snapped.
With a sigh, Dean finally turned off the tv. "Well it looks like the two of you are gonna leave town without me."
"What the hell do you mean?" I demanded, hands on my hips. Like hell we were going to just up and leave him like this.
"We're not gonna leave you here." Sam said firmly.
Dean said as serious as could be, "Hey, take care of my car." He looked at me, "Or I swear I'll haunt your ass." Then he looked at Sam. "And I'll come after you if you even think about letting her drive."
Sam scowled instead, "I don't think that's funny."
"He's never funny." I glared. How could Dean act so...I don't even know, it was like he was trying to act like he wasn't dying.
"Oh, come on, it's a little funny." Dean insisted. "What do you want me to say?" I turned my back, crossing my arms and fighting tears. "It's a dangerous gig." Dean sighed a they're silence. "I drew the short straw." It was like he thought we were making a big deal over noticing. "That's it, end of story." I let out a frustrated sigh, couldn't he just once worry about himself, was that to much to ask?
"Don't talk like that, alright?" Sam said. "We still have options."
"What options?" Dean scoffed. "Burial or cremation."
I finally turned back around. "No, there has to be a third choice."
Dean sighed, "I know it's not easy but I'm going to die." I flinched at hearing that again. "And you can't stop it." I narrowed my eyes, like him telling me that was going to stop me from doing everything in my power to find a way.
"Watch me." Sam said.
Three days later, Sam and I were in our latest motel room. I was sitting cross legged on the bed, an open laptop in front of me surrounded by too many papers to count. I was pretty sure I had bags under my eyes and my hair was in the most sloppiest and pathetic bun you could imagine. "He's not going to answer." I muttered, not looking up from where I was hunched over the computer.
Sam ignored her, go busy talking to their dad's voicemail. "Hey dad, it's Sam." My finger paused over the letter 'L'. "Um, you probably won't even get this but it's, it's Dean." I didn't have to look up to know he was fighting tears. "He's sick and the uh, the doctors say there's nothing they can do." I slowly started to type into the search engine again. "Um, but they don't know the things we know, right?" The sounds of me clicking the keys were strangely soothing at this point. "So don't worry cause, I'm, uh, Chris and I, we're gonna do whatever it takes to get him better." I lowered my head far enough so my bangs covered my eyes. "Alright, just wanted you to know." He hung up and dropped heavily onto the other bed.
"Told ya." I muttered.
"...Shut up," Sam muttered, leaning against the headboard but with no real bite in his voice.
We both looked up at a knocking sound on the motel door. Sam and I shared a look before I set the computer aside, swinging my legs okay to the side of the bed. At this point, Sam had already got up and answered the door. I jumped up when I realized it was Dean in the doorway, leaning heavily on the wall looking worst for wear. "The hell Dean?" I exclaimed, he didn't look strong enough to leave the hospital yet along walk all the way here.
"I checked myself out." Dean grinned, looking like he was standing on his last leg.
"What, are you crazy?!" Sam exclaimed.
Dean entered, using anything he could to keep standing up right. I quickly hurried over to him, trying to help him to one of the chairs. But he brushed me aside, wanting to do it on his own. "Well I'm not gonna die in a hospital where the nurses aren't even hot." Dean said.
I shook my head, "Only you would think the nurses not being hot was more important than this."
Sam shut the door with a solid click. "You know, this whole I laugh in the face of death thing." I flinched again at the word 'death'. "It's crap, I can see right through it."
"We both can." I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Yeah, whatever." Dean muttered, and then got a real good look at them. "Have either of you slept?" His gaze flickered between the two of them. "I think I'm the best looking one here." It was true Sam looked just as bad as I did. "Not that I wasn't before." He eased himself carefully into one of the chairs.
"You wouldn't look good either if you've got up for three days." I scowled. Well two days and twelve hours, I'd literally passed out from exhaustion last night. I woke up with papers plastered to my face. Not the most pleasant experience.
"I've been scouring the Internet for the last three days." Sam explained. "Calling every contact in dad's journal." I slowly started gathering the papers into one stack from the bed.
"For what?" Dean asked like he seriously didn't understand.
"What do you mean for what?" I demanded, slamming the papers onto the table. "We're looking for information that will heal you."
"One of dad's friends, Joshua, he called me back." Sam explained. "Take me about a guy in Nebraska, a specialist."
"I just can't die in peace, can I?" Dean grumbled
"I'm not gonna let you die, period." Sam said firmly.
"Why else do you think we're here." I said.
Several hours later, I was leaning against the back window of the car, staring out as it rained heavily. Sam was driving since I was a horrible driver and Dean had his problems. We were in the middle of a field with a large white circus looking tent in the middle. Although it was nearly storming, dozens of people were milling around, heading towards the tent. Many looked injured in some way or was being helped by family and friends. I climbed out the car, sighing as I sunk a little in the mud. Trying to help Dean failed because he swatted both Sam and I away, preferring to try making it on his own. "Both of you, nothing but lying bastards." Dean complained loudly. "Thought you said we were going to see a doctor."
"Doctor, specialist, what's the difference." I said innocently enough. Dean glowered at me and I wasn't the least bit surprised. This was Dean after all.
"This guy is supposed to be the real deal." Sam said as we walked towards the tent, carefully through the mud.
"I can't believe you brought me here to see some guy who heals people out of a tent." Dean grumbled sourly. I didn't care about Dean's complaining or where the guy did his work from. All I wanted was for my big brother to be alright again, maybe take a break from hunting for a few days. Maybe we could grab a couple of beers, go to an empty field someplace and just look out at the stars while sitting on the hood of the impala, pure peace.
An old woman holding an umbrella over her head heard Dean complaining. "Reverend LeGrange is a great man."
"See." I bumped Dean lightly in his shoulder. "People here love him.
"Yeah, that's nice." Dean said sarcastic.
Then we walked passed an man talking to a cop. "I had a right to protest." the man was saying. "This man is a fraud!" He pointed up at the tent. "And he's milking all these people out of their hard earned money." He was clearly pissed over all this.
The police officer however just looked annoyed. "Sir, this is a place of worship." He literally dragged the man away.
"I told it he's not part of the flock." Dean easily guided.
"Of course there are always skeptics." I said. If there wasn't than we wouldn't have to hide what we do for a living. People wouldn't believe what was right in front of them, they couldn't handle it.
"But come on already, a faith healer?" Dean scoffed.
"Maybe it's time to have a little faith." Sam begged.
"You'd be surprised what people can do on faith alone." I said, holding my hands behind my back as I walked. I've seen a lot of things and that was why hunters existed, we were the only people that believed something extra was happening in the world and we had the drive to stop it as best we could.
"You know what I've got faith in." Dean started. "Reality." How did I know he was going to say that? "Knowing what's really going on."
"With the things we see everyday," Sam tried. "How can you be a skeptic?
"We see them, we know they're real." Dean said firmly.
"But many people don't and they still believe it to be fake." I said. You'd be surprised at hearing what people would come up with to deny the truth.
"How can you not believe good's out there if you know evil is." Sam said. There had to be a balance to these things. If there was clearly evil out there then there had to be good to counteract with it. But there was so much evil that sometimes, it was hard to see the good.
"Because I've seen what evil does to good people." Dean snapped.
"Well what if-" I never got to finish.
"Maybe God works in mysterious ways." A young woman passing had overheard them talking. She was an attractive woman with blonde hair holding an umbrella.
Dean was clearly checking her out like he did with every semi-attractive woman. "Maybe he does." Dean smiled flirting. "I think you just turned me around on the subject." I rolled my eyes at his shameless display.
"Yeah, I'm sure." The woman said. She clearly wasn't believing him.
"I like her." I whispered to Sam who nodded smirking.
Dean heard and glared at us over his shoulder. Then he introduced himself. "I'm Dean," he held out a hand. "This is Sam and Chris."
"Layla," She took his hand. "So if you're not a believer, then why are you here?" She raised a curious eyebrow.
"Well apparently my brother and sister here believes enough for all of us." Dean said, clasping a hand on my shoulder. I nearly buckled from his sudden weight before he pulled back. In that moment, I'd realized he'd used that brief second so he wouldn't fall over in front of the pretty girl.
That was when an old woman appeared, wrapping an arm around Layla. "Come on Layla, it's about to start." She spared us a smile before leaving but looked to me like she had a stick up her ass.
Dean looked after Layla grinning. "Well I bet you she can work in some mysterious ways."
"Ugh, spare me." I said disgusted. I did not need to think of my brother and sex in the same sentence.
Since it was about to start, we headed into the tent. The tent was overcrowded and there was a small stage at the front lit with candles. "Peace, love, and trust all over." Dean muttered, staring at something in the corner ceiling. I noticed where he was looking, a security camera.
"I guess not everyone is so trusting." I muttered.
Dean tried to take a seat in the back but Sam grabbed one arm and I grabbed the other, pulling him to seats of three as close as we could get. "What are you doing?" Dean hissed annoyed.
"We're sitting up front." Sam explained.
"You'll never get picked back there." I said, squeezing past him and Sam to sit on the end seat.
"This is ridiculous." Dean grumbled, angrily sitting in the aisle seat.
I leaned back in my chair as an old blind man with sunglasses was helped onto the stage by an old woman. "Each morning, my wife, Sue Ann reads me the news." The man said loud enough for everyone in the town to hear easily. "Seems like there's always someone committing some immoral, unspeakable act." The world was filled with that, it couldn't be escaped. "But I say to you, God is watching!" I'd believe it only if my brother was healed. "God rewards the good and He punishes the corrupt." Then how come all the good people seemed to die first, I looked around as the crowd cheered. "It is the Lord who does the healing here friends." I straightened up, glancing hopeful around Sam to Dean. "The Lord who guides me in choosing who to heal by helping me see into people's hearts."
"Yeah, and into their wallets." I heard Dean mutter to Sam.
"You think so, young man?" Roy asked from the stage twenty feet away. The tent went so silence you could hear a pin drop. Or the sound of me slapping my forehead cause of course it would be Dean getting the negative attention.
"...Sorry." Dean said awkwardly. I was so going to kill him.
"No, no, don't be." Roy said waving a hand. "Just watch what you say around a blind man, we've got real sharp ears." The crowd laughed and I slid slow in my seat, resisting the urge to cover my face. The crowd burst into laughter except for us three Winchester's although Sam smiled weakly. "What's you're name, son?"
Dean was clearly hesitant before he cleared his throat loudly, "Dean."
"Dean," Roy repeated to himself. "I want, I want you to come up here with me." The crowd started to clap and I sat straight up, grabbing Sam's arm hopefully.
"No, it's okay." Dean quickly shook his head.
I leaned over Sam, "Did you hit your head or something?" I hissed in a whispery voice.
"You've come here to be healed, haven't cha?" Roy asked.
"Yes, he has!" I answered for him. The crowd started to cheer encouraging like. I hoped that would motivate him going up there.
But of course Dean wouldn't, looking as awkward as he did with everyone no matter watching us. "Maybe you should just pick someone else." Dean suggested, shifting awkwardly in his seat. Sam looked at Dean like he was insane and I'm sure I mirrored the look.
"Oh no, I didn't pick you, Dean." Roy said like it was obvious. "The Lord did."
The crowd started to cheer again. "Get up there!" Sam nudged him excited. Dean clearly didn't look to thrilled but stood and let Sue Ann held him up the stairs of the stage to Roy.
"You ready?" Roy asked. I smiled hopefully and eagerly, clasping my hands together.
"Look, no disrespect but I'm not exactly a believer." Dean muttered to Roy although the whole tent now silent again could hear him. Damn it, couldn't Dean wait till after before he tried making the guy mad.
But Roy wasn't mad, no, instead he was smiling. "You will be, son, you will be." Roy said with a confident smile. Then he turned to the crowd, "Pray with me friends." I clasped hands with Sam as Roy laid a hand on Dean's shoulder and another on his head. I nearly came out of my seat when Dean suddenly fell to his knees.
But then he fell looking like he was dead and I was out of my seat in a flash. "Dean!" Sam screamed, just ahead of me as we both raced to the stage. The crowd started clapping excitedly like it was a good thing, what the hell were wrong with these people? Sam grabbed Dean by his jacket, yanking him up while I held Dean up with an arm behind his shoulders. Then Dean woke with a gasp, eyes bulging open and I realized with a start that he actually looked better than he had in days.
Neither of us realized Dean was staring in shock behind Roy. Nobody else could see the old man that looked pale with death in a black suit standing behind Roy. He stared down at Dean before he just vanished.
And nobody but Dean noticed a thing.
An hour later, "Stop complaining Dean, you're getting a checkup." I insisted. We were in one of the rooms at the local hospital waiting for the doctor to come back after several tests to make sure Dean was alright again.
I was at attention when the doctor came in, flipping through Dean's paperwork. "Well according to all your test, there's nothing wrong with your heart." I felt my shoulders drop in relief at the news that the faith healer had actually worked. "No sign that there ever was." I wanted to snatch the paperwork from him myself to read the diagnosis. "Not that a man your age should be having heart trouble." But I was smart enough to know I wouldn't understand all the complicated medical terminology. "But still, it's strange but it does happen."
"What do you mean, strange?" Dean questioned. He told us the last thing we expected.
"Well just yesterday, a young guy like you, twenty seven, athletic." The doctor explained. "Out of nowhere, heart attack."
"Seriously?" I said startled. I could smell a hunt in the making.
After the doctor left, Dean turned to us and said, "That's odd." Apparently Dean could sense it to.
"Maybe it's a coincidence." Sam tried to deny it in case there was something more to that faith healer they took Dean to. "People's heart give out all the time."
"Yeah, if they're like fifty and eat greasy burgers every meal." That's probably where Dean was heading if a demon didn't get to him first.
"Look, why do we have to look this one in the mouth?" Sam demanded, wanting to get back to the road. "Why can't we just be thankful that the guy saved your life and move on?" Because that wasn't our lives, it was never so easy to just ignore people dying and we can stop it.
"Because I can't shake this feeling, that's why." Dean said.
"What feeling?" Sam asked and Dean hesitated.
I nudged him with my elbow, "You can't just leave us hanging like that, big brother."
Dean paused for a moment. "When I was healed, I just...I felt wrong." Dean stopped to jump off the hospital bed, "I felt cold." He stopped again to turn his back to us. "And for a second...I saw someone." Then he jerked his jacket on. "This uh, this old man." Did he mean Roy? "And I'm telling you, it was a spirit."
"But if there was something there, we would have seen it too." Sam tried to make him see reason, shaking his head. "I mean, I've been seeing an awful lot of things lately." Right, I had almost put it out of mind that Sam was going all psychic on us.
Dean finally turned back around, "Well excuse me, psychic wonder." I glanced between the two nervously as Sam looked away licking at his lips. "But you just gonna need a little faith on this one, I've been hunting long enough to trust a feeling like this."
I stepped between them, "How about we just research about this, check it out. If there's nothing we can just leave."
"Great, Sam can go check out the heart attack guy, I'm gonna visit the reverend. Chris, get a computer and start doing research on if anyone else died at the same time as someone was healed by Roy."
Several hours later, Dean had going to Roy who explained how he'd been healed from cancer and then found out he could heal people with a touch the next day. Sam had went to the local swimming pool and found that the guy there had died at the exact time Dean was being healed. Then Dean ended up talking to Layla and her mom, learning that they were here because Layla had a brain tumor that was going to kill her in less than six months.
And all that time, I was staring at the laptop screen in our hotel room. My lips were turned downward in a frown and my shoulders were dropped, staring in numb sadness at the computer screen. I didn't even look up when Sam and Dean who met up in the lobby walked in. "What'd you find out?" Dean asked, pulling off his jacket since it had gotten so hot in the room.
All I could say was, "I'm sorry." In a whispery voice. Dean narrows his eyes while Sam swallowed hard nervously.
Dean threw his jacket to the bed and walked up behind me. "Sorry about what?" He demanded.
I took a deep breath and explained what I had found. "Marshall Hall died at four seventeen."
Sam paled, slowly sitting down in the chair across from me. Dean was stunned, eyes widening and mouth dropping a little as the truth was confirmed. "The exact time I was healed."
"I put together a list of people that Roy healed." I showed them the page on the computer. "Six people over the past year." I explained to them what they were looking at. "Every time someone was healed, someone else does." I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. "And each time, the victim died of the same symptom LeGrange was healing at the time."
At that moment, a woman with headphones in was running along a trail in the forest jogging.
Back at the motel room, "Someone's healed of cancer so someone else dies of cancer?" Dean clarified.
"Somehow, Roy...he's trading a life for another." Sam said.
In the woods, the woman had stopped, taking out one of her headphones looking around. She could have sworn she was being followed. But she shrugged and went on along her way.