"So, that Channing's a real peach," Lou says grumpily as she sits down across from Sam at a campus café table. She places a boxed to-go salad in front of him and a sandwich and chips in front of herself before pulling two cans of soda from her oversized black purse.
Sam huffs a laugh at her as he loosens his tie and opens the top button on his fed suit.
"What?" Lou asks him, eyeing him while opening up her lunch.
"You just… you sounded like Bobby," Sam tells her, smiling fondly. They've had time to miss him and mourn and now Sam does his best to focus on those little things about the man that always made him laugh. His language and irritability are at the top of the list. Endearing despite rude.
"Yeah, well, I take that as a compliment," she tells him, popping a potato chip into her mouth, crunching away.
"You should," Sam agrees with her. "And yeah, Channing was a pretty nasty dead end."
"Just with Kevin for his prestige," Lou awes with disdain and a head shake. "That'd be like me only liking you for your… uh…." She pauses there, a look of surprise for coming up with nothing to end the statement.
"Yeah, good luck finishing that," Sam laughs and clicks away at his computer. "I don't have a damn thing to my name."
"Shit. You're right," Lou concedes. "What the hell am I doing with you again?"
"I have no idea," Sam tells her with his eyes glued to the computer screen, sounding too honest with her joking.
Lou pauses and stares at him with narrowed eyes, waiting for him to look up at her. He reads on, eyes still stuck, and he blindly opens his salad up and pours on some dressing. When he looks away to stab a bite he realizes she's fixated on him. "What?"
"You do actually know why I'm with you, right?" Lou checks, eyes hard on him.
Sam stutters a little. "I… uh, I always just assumed you just… loved me?" He's kind of surprised that he's just now realizing he's never considered this before.
"Yeah, but there's a reason for that, dumbass," Lou says to him. "A lot of them. I mean, sure, you never got that cushy lawyer job but lawyers suck, man."
"Hey…" Sam gets offended.
"And you don't have a car, or a house… or any money..."
"Wait, weren't you trying to make me feel better?" Sam jokes.
"But lucky for you… I don't like bullshit stuff. Channing's a gold-digger. Me? I settle for a pretty face." She smirks at him.
"That all I am to you?" Sam wonders, batting his eyes jokingly and leaning into his fist in jest. Lou throws a piece of chip at his face and he catches it last second in his mouth.
"No. Not even close. But you know that," Lou says with certainty.
Sam just looks at her for a moment, knowing she's not about to get all serious on him and speak from the heart. The last time she did that it was out of the blue the night after they got married. And she was hammered. She told him what it was that she admired about him; his judgment, his kindness, his endurance, his ability to overcome the worst, his purity in the face of his evil destiny, the way he respects her despite her lack of earning it half the time… she really let it all out. He knows she may never do that again, and that's fine. He's aware of who she is. He loves her anyways.
"I know that," Sam nods seriously, taking a bite of salad and letting it go.
Grinning at him, Lou settles with just that. "So, what now?" she asks him. "Keep our eyes peeled for a short, Asian kid on a college campus? Because, I gotta tell you, that sounds like finding an Asian needle in a stack of Asian needles…."
"Well, I decided to go another direction while you were snooping around on foot," Sam tells her, clicking away on his laptop.
"I'm all ears, you nerd," Lou smiles at him before picking up her sandwich and taking a bite.
"I went to the computer lab and found the computer he was on."
"How did you know which one he was on?" Lou wonders aloud.
"Hacked into the security footage."
"Or course."
"I found the website he was visiting," Sam explains his afternoon. "I then found his account username, hacked into the website, found when else this username logged in, and then I reverse-tracked the IP address back to the original user, Kevin, who has apparently been using the same wireless router for the past two months."
Lou stops chewing her bite to stare at him with unimpressed eyes. "You gonna translate that into normal, non-nerd people speak, or…?"
Sam sighs. "I think he's in Iowa. At a coffee shop."
Lou groans. "Great. Can we finish lunch first?"
"Yes," Sam nods and smiles. "But then we change and head out."
"Fine," Lou responds, taking a bite of her sandwich. "I forgot how freakin' long road trips can be."
"We haven't really been driving much this past year," Sam agrees, closing his laptop and packing it away.
"Nope… and now that I'm not used to it I don't want be driving all over the friggin' country like this."
Sam watches her take a bite of lunch with wide eyes and a wrinkled forehead. When she realizes he's staring she rolls her eyes. "What's with the face?"
"You used to love driving… and we're driving your car."
"And?" she wonders with irritation.
"And… I never thought I'd ever hear you bitch about that."
"Not bitching," Lou denies. "I just wish we were… elsewhere."
"With Sammy, you mean," Sam clarifies on her behalf.
"Maybe," Lou gives in. "Yes. I really miss him."
"Me too," Sam quickly agrees with her feelings.
"And, holy shit… the way he got all upset when we left," Lou reminds him.
"Almost broke my hardened heart," Sam half-jokes as he remembers that sad little face pleading him to stay.
"Mine's shattered," Lou shakes her head, wiping her face with a paper napkin. "It made me really want to ditch this and stay."
With a nod, Sam agrees completely. "But we dropped the ball. Hard. And we let Kevin down…."
"I know we're doing the right thing," Lou explains. "But I'm nervous now. That this whole life of ours could come and kick our asses right back into hunting."
Looking down at the table, Sam confesses, "Me too."
They look to each other when they agree too much on this one. Neither is able to give hope otherwise at this point.
"Eat up," Sam says, stabbing some lettuce with his fork. "We gotta go."
They get out of the Mustang after a several hour drive, the day coming towards an end as the sun gets lower. Lou takes one look at the old, worn, abandoned church and sighs with uncertainty. "A church? Seriously?"
"Maybe the kid enjoys irony," Sam says jestingly, walking for the big front doors.
"You sure this is right?" she has to check.
"Barista at the coffee shop swears he's seen Kevin ducking in here for the past few months," explains once more as he was the one that went into the café that Kevin's IP address had been tracked to. "Plus, when you're suddenly shoved into the world we live in and you have demons on your ass?"
"Yeah, a church doesn't seem like a bad idea all of a sudden. I get it," she nods as they make it to the door.
Sam tries to pull it open but it's locked tight. He then knocks. "Kevin. It's Sam Winchester. I'm here with Lou. Open up."
They wait and hear nothing on the other side. When Sam looks to Lou she already has a lock pick set out and in her hand, offering it to him with a grin. He's always been faster at picking locks than she is. Sam takes the set and gets to work.
Once he has it unlocked, Sam stands up and pushes the door open. They walk slowly and with caution, eyes peeled for any movement.
The moment they're both through the doorway they're getting drenched by chemicals coming from a Super Soaker.
"Shit! Stop!" Lou holds her hands out to feebly block the spray, her face and head completely soaked. "Not Leviathans!"
Kevin stops spraying them when nothing happens, the smell of lemon and borax in the air. He looks over the two hunters, his face getting angered by their presence. "What the hell happened to you guys?"
There's a pause as Sam and Lou look at each other. Lou fields this one. "Cliff Notes? Lizzy and the angel went to Purgatory. Sam bought me a bar."
Kevin blinks once with the odd barrage of succinct information. "For real?"
"Yeah," Lou grumps, wiping her face with her jacket sleeve. He makeup is already running down her cheeks and Sam's hair makes him look a little like a wet dog.
"You guys want some towels?" Kevin asks, dropping the water gun and walking into the church.
"We're good," Sam refuses the hospitality. They don't deserve it anyways. As they follow him further into the building he gets a load of all the symbols painted everywhere. "Who taught you all this?"
"I guess... God." Kevin shrugs as if it's no big deal.
"God taught you how to trap demons?" Sam asks with curiosity.
"Technically, yeah."
"Wait, wait, hold on," Lou stops everything to iron out how they hell they all got to this very place in life. "Crowley kidnapped you. We both saw that happen. But then you left a message saying you escaped. How the hell did you pull that off?"
"Well..." Kevin sighs heavily. "First, he took me to a warehouse. His bitches brought me to him, Crowley told me I was safe, that he wouldn't hurt me… and told me to get to work."
"On?" Sam wonders, needing more.
"Translating."
They both wait for an explanation but Kevin just keeps looking at them.
"Do we need to keep asking or could you just give us the run down already?" Lou loses her patience.
"He had a tablet."
"Wait, there's another tablet?" Sam questions, eyes wide on the prophet.
"Yeah."
"So… another Word of God?"
Kevin nods. "Yes."
"How many Words of God are there?" Lou asks, her eyes equally as wide with the idea of several tablets existing. They only knew of the Leviathan one.
"I just became a Prophet, like, a year ago." Kevin shrugs, unsure of anything.
"Well, did this tablet have a name?" Sam asks.
Kevin nods again. "Demons."
"What about 'em?" she wonders.
"As far as I could tell... everything." Sitting in a stool by a basic wooden table, what might have once been the small church's alter when the place was in use, Kevin explains. "First thing I read was about hell gates. There was one in Wisconsin and Crowley wanted me to open it."
"You showed the King of Hell how to open a Hell Gate!? So that all the demons in Hell could come out all at the same time!?" Sam panics at the idea. They were there when a hell gate was once opened. Bad move.
"What? No," Kevin denies the very idea. "I read ahead and didn't tell that dick. I only told Crowley I was opening a hell gate… but really I was reading from another chapter… how to destroy demons."
Lou and Sam just stare at him for a moment, impressed by his sneaky ways. "Smart little bastard, you," Lou tells him with a smirk.
"Wait," Sam interrupts. "Kevin, where's the tablet now?"
Kevin's face falls. "Safe."
"Safe where?" Sam's narrowed eyes look at him with suspicion.
"Doesn't matter," Lou interjects lightly, patting Sam's shoulder to make sure he goes with her. "As long as it's safe we're good." She nods at Sam and he just blankly looks at her, not wanting to stop poking. Lou returns her attention back to Kevin. "Anything else you got off the tablet before you stashed it?"
This is where the tired, worn teen smiles back at them. "Only the stuff about closing the gates of Hell. Forever."
Both hunters freeze.
"What?" Lou has to ask for a repeat of that.
"Banish all demons off the face of the Earth, lock them away forever." Kevin gets smug and gives them a look of pride. "That could be important, right?"
Lou lets go of a small, shocked laugh as Sam is frozen in place at the very idea. Both have a complete experience of awe at the kid in front of them.
"You brilliant little bastard!" Lou nearly shouts and marches right for Kevin. She grabs his face and plants one right on his lips, far too excited by the prospect he presents them with to not kiss him.
When Lou pulls back with a comical smacking sound, she's grinning wide. Kevin just looks at her with shock before turning to stare at the six and a half foot man he knows she's romantically involved with. He looks scared.
"Relax, Kevin," Sam half smiles, knowing Lou couldn't hold back. This is a massive game changer if he's right. And the prophet is probably right. "So… you're sure about this? That there's a way for sure to close the gates of Hell?"
"Trust me. If there's one thing I'm good at… it's homework," Kevin tells him with a slight hint of cockiness.
"Damn straight you do, advanced placement," Lou grins like a kid on Christmas. When she turns to check on Sam's happiness she's disappointed to find so little written on his face. Instead he looks overly concerned. "What's up with you?"
Sam shakes his head, trying to pretend he's fine.
Lou's not having any of that. "Hey, Kev. Can you excuse us for a second?"
Not waiting for a response she takes Sam's hand and pulls him back out the front door of the church, standing at the top of the steps with him.
"What's wrong?" she asks with annoyance.
"I just think you're not looking big picture here," Sam admits to her. "I'm not trying to rain on your parade but… this is a big deal."
"Yeah. I'm aware of that," Lou says with obviousness. "Sam, if this kid is right, he's sitting on a bombshell… a bombshell that will change our lives and the whole fucking world forever." When Sam's only response is to look away in the emo, frustrated way that he does, Lou rolls her eyes. "What?"
"There's no way that Kevin's getting out of this intact, is there?" Sam sadly asks her, knowing the answer already.
Lou gets it then. With this kind of information, Kevin is no college student with a bright future. He's a fugitive of Heaven and Hell both. "Well, he's doing pretty well for himself so far," she tries to bright-side.
Sam nods. "Yeah, he got out. That was pretty good."
"Very good," she corrects. "He's really smart. Maybe even smarter than you. And now he's in it... whether he likes it or not."
"So...freedom to choose how to live your own life, that's only for us?" Sam challenges, seeing all Kevin's hopes and dreams going down the toilet.
Lou's eyes darken. "Does it look like we're about to head home and be normal? Run the Roadhouse and tuck Sammy in at night? Sam, Hell's gates can be closed. That life is over for now… at least for the two of us."
The reality makes Sam wash a hand down his face with sheer frustration.
"I know, it sucks… but we have to do this and you know it. Why fight it?" Lou then grabs his hand and makes him look her in the eye. "Giant, we have an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. We take Kevin to the tablet, he tells us the spell, we send every demon back to hell. Forever. Every single fucker that destroyed our lives locked away. They killed your mother, killed Jess. My parents, Lizzy's parents… Bobby's wife…."
"I get it," Sam stops her there, knowing how long the list is. "What about Dean and Lizzy and Sammy?"
She thinks quickly. "We do this on our own. They don't need to know."
"No more lies, Lou," Sam lets her hand go and gets mad at her for even thinking it. "Come on. We're done with that."
"Fine, we tell them… but they stay out of it. We tell them what we're up to but we don't tell them how we plan to do it. They can't come along if they don't know where or how, right?"
Sam nods slightly to that, looking up at the church steeple. "Fine. Let me talk to Kevin a minute?"
"I'll grab him some food. He's probably starving. Only saw a couple boxes of mac and cheese and some cereal. He needs a real meal." Lou pulls her keys out of her pocket and jingles them.
"Try for healthy," Sam asks of her. "He probably could use it."
"I'll get a mix. Some healthy… some that doesn't taste like cardboard." She winks and sprints for the car.
Sam shakes his head at her and heads back into the church, accepting slowly that this is their sudden new path of his life. That year of working, raising Sammy, living safe and well was really nice. He was even contemplating grad school and finding a way to make sure it was permanent. Now?
He can't see past Kevin's discovery anymore. It's blocking out all the good possibilities that were present as of just yesterday. Why he's surprised, he has no idea. The life always pulls them back in. But he'd convinced himself that this time was different.
Clearly it isn't.
When he gets back into the church he finds Kevin sitting in the few remaining pews in the large open room, his focus on the crucifix.
Sam sits down behind him in a different pew, Kevin not bothering to turn around to ask, "You really think he walked on water and turned water into wine?"
"I don't know," Sam admits. "But I've seen a hell of a lot weirded than that before so… probably."
"Huh," Kevin thinks. "Crazy. That it's all real. I believed, went to church with mom… but to know for fact that it's real is…."
"Overwhelming?"
"Definitely," Kevin agrees with that sentiment.
Sam prepares himself for a quick second before he finally speaks his peace, something he knew he needed to do from the second Dean made him listen to those voicemail messages. He looks at his hands as he powers through this. "Kevin, I, uh... I owe you an apology." Kevin turns around to look at Sam when he can hear the sincerity. "Um... look, when you were taken and Lizzy and Cass disappeared, we... we were all in shock I think. And we were a huge mess, Dean especially. We needed to get a handle on things and make a life that was safe for Sammy... I had a lot of pieces to pick up between Lou and Dean and Sammy all losing someone they depended on… and I can't help but think you too were one of the pieces that I should have been there to pick up."
Kevin looks him over for a second, seeing the remorse there. "You've been a hunter since you were a kid, right?"
"Yeah, mostly." Sam looks at Kevin now when he doesn't hear anger in the kid's tone.
"Ever since I realized I was a prophet... it's just hard to believe this is actually my life."
Sam smiles slightly at this, knowing how to sympathize with that feeling. "Yeah. It sucks right now. I know that. Um, it might suck for a lot longer, but... trust me on this, it gets better."
"You know I'm not gay, right?"
Sam can see he's joking. They both relax a touch and smile at that. "Look, if we can do this, get the tablet, get you everything you need to close the gates of Hell… there's a world out there where nobody, not Crowley, not even a single demon, is chasing you anymore."
"I guess I just don't see how I get from here to there," Kevin admits sadly. It's been shit for over a year, scary for longer, and he doesn't see how this could turn around.
"I used to not be able to see it, either. But there is a way."
"Or you're just crazy after all these years in this life," Kevin shrugs.
Sam has to laugh. "Might be that."
"Where's Lou?" Kevin asks, noticing there's one person missing.
"Getting food. You look like you could use some good food."
"Yes," Kevin nods. "Cereal was getting old."
"Well, Lou will take care of that. Promise."
"Alright!" Lizzy cheers as she unlocks the motel room door and opens it. She takes a look around the Super 8 room and smiles. Clean. Even clean enough for a young boy that loves to play on the floor and get into everything. "Here we are!"
Dean walks into the room, a duffle bag in his clutch with Sammy ridding piggy back on him. "Not bad."
"Totally livable," she agrees and drops her own bag by the door before shutting and locking up.
"We stay here?" Sammy asks his dad over Dean's shoulder.
"That we are, kiddo," Dean answers easily, tilting his shoulder once he reaches the bed farthest from the door. He dumps Sammy off his back and the little guy flops onto the big double bed, bouncing and laughing loudly at the fun. "Bed comfy?"
"Yeah," Sammy giggles some more.
Dean drops his bag at the foot of the bed and gives Sammy a look. It's serious yet Sammy knows it isn't all that serious.
"No, daddy!" Sammy laughs before anything even happens, knowing already how this goes.
"Oh, I think so," Dean answers, still pretending to be serious.
"You gonna do it! No!" Sammy shouts, still laughing as he scrambles back and hides behind a pillow.
"Nope!" Dean denies the move, reaching out to grab and yank away the pillow. He then pounces. He jumps onto the bed and traps Sammy under him, ticking his sides mercilessly.
"Stop!" Sammy tries to call out through maniacal laughing. "Daddy! You stop!"
"Never!" Dean shouts at him and pulls his black little t-shirt up to reveal Sammy's still baby-pudgy tummy. "Ah-ha!" He immediately leans down and blows a massive raspberry on Sammy's stomach.
Sammy squeals with laughter, hands grabbing Dean's hair as he squirms. Dean keeps going, another long, loud raspberry to the belly.
Lizzy sits on the opposite bed and grins, unable to prevent himself from also laughing as the scene.
"Get in on this, momma," Dean calls over his shoulder, looking at Lizzy from where he is hovering over Sammy's giggling form.
"You sure?" Lizzy wonders skeptically. The day today was far better than yesterday but she still has moments where she feels like an intruder or like it's the Dean and Sammy show and she's just watching.
"L, come here," Dean tells her, his voice dropping and making it clear that he means it.
Something quickly flashes through her eyes at the demanding tone, something Lizzy thought was gone with her newly found, very strong ways. But no, she's still Lizzy somehow. She still like her man telling her what to do… to a degree.
And Dean doesn't miss it. The little thrill that runs through him to know she still looks at him that way, still sees him as the man that can take a woman as difficult and headstrong as her and make her putty in his hands… well, that's just damn fucking perfect.
Lizzy gets up and jumps goofily onto the bed with her boys. She quickly makes her way to Sammy and takes the open shot, blowing an impressive raspberry on Sammy's tummy. Her heart races, unsure if he'll accept her for it or get weird.
The explosion of giggles that follows gives her the answer she needs.
"Mommy crazy!" Sammy shouts in his laughter as he looks up at her.
"I'm crazy!?" Lizzy jokes back. "You're crazy!" She then gives him another raspberry. As he falls into another fit Lizzy looks to Dean. "We totally just riled him up when he should be going to bed for tomorrow."
"Eh, he sat still for a seven hour drive," Dean reminds her. "I think we can afford a later night tonight."
"Even if we have to be up and out early tomorrow morning?"
Dean just shrugs it off, not at all concerned. Lizzy looks at him with surprise. "Huh."
"What?" Dean question.
"Never thought you'd be the softie parent of the two of us," she grins wide.
Dean gives her an annoyed face. She ignores it.
"So, how about a little snack, we brush some teeth, get in some PJs… watch TV?" she asks her son.
"Okay, mommy," Sammy easily agrees. "We go to zoo?"
"Bright and early tomorrow morning," she assures him, the boy having been so, so excited about the zoo since he was told early in the morning that they were taking him. "So let's get ready for bed so we can rest up, okay?"
"Okay," he says again.
"Alright, come with me," Lizzy offers, praying he'll go for it when she gets up from the bed and holds out her arms to him. She's relieved and shocked when he dives for her, jumping into her hold.
"Oomph!" Lizzy exaggerates as she just barely catches him. "We gotta stop feeding you so much food! You're heavy!"
"I not heavy," Sammy argues back.
"Oh, yes you are."
"No I not," he returns.
"Trust me, you are," Lizzy laughs a little as she keeps him perched on her hip while grabbing his packed bag. "And aren't you the one always saying you're a big guy?"
"I big guy," Sammy assures her, pointing to himself.
"Well, big guys are heavy. And big guys need to get changed for bed," she explains and heads for the bathroom, all the while chatting aimlessly with her boy. One glance at Dean before they disappear into the bathroom and he gives her a thumbs up. They're both excited to see him trusting her again.
Lizzy gets him dressed with a massive smile on her face.
"Mm," Kevin hums in ecstasy, biting into the perfectly cooked rib. He takes another bite before finishing his first, humming again through his mouthful.
"Here," Sam smirks, sitting with his own takeout container of ribs from the joint Lou found in town. He hands the kid a paper napkin.
"Mm, thanks," Kevin says while chewing, grabbing the napkin and barely taking a second to properly wipe down his messy face. He keeps eating, sauce still everywhere.
"So, you like bar-b-que," Lou observes, putting down her pork sandwich to speak. "Good to know."
"So hungry," Kevin answers with the brevity of a caveman, inhaling food. "Haven't eaten like this… ever."
"Well, slow down before you choke," Sam huffs at him.
Kevin nods, chewing furiously and sitting back in his chair at the old, busted table in the church. "Sorry." He picks up the napkin again and does a real job this time, getting most of his face clean. "It's been a busy year. I don't stop for luxuries all that often."
"This is a luxury to you?" Sam asks with massive concern and pity.
Kevin shrugs. "I've been on the run from the King of Hell. Food seemed… unimportant compared to that."
"Well, we got your back now," Lou reminds him. "So no more living like shit, okay?"
"No offence… but you two haven't been all that helpful as of late," Kevin says with a small, cautious tone. They fucked up, sure, but they could kill him a million different ways without even thinking with the hunting lives they've lead so pushing it feels reckless.
"We're gonna change that," Sam promises with pure regret.
"I know you mean that… but don't be shocked if I take time to warm up," Kevin keeps it real for them. "I just think…."
His words are cut off by the sudden rumbling and shaking of the entire church. They all look around and at each other, alert as all hell now.
"We got company," Lou puts it simply as she gets up swiftly. She grabs the demon killing knife off the old alter and hands it to Sam while Kevin snatches up his Super Soaker. She then grabs a sawed off for herself and all three stand at the ready. For just a quick second Lou glances at Sam. They share a very nervous look with each other. It's been so, so long since they've been in a real fight, with demons nonetheless, that this could get ugly.
The doors of the church fly open and two demons, black eyes shining, walk into the open space.
"A couple Winchesters," one of them says with surprise. "Aw, but look." He taps his fellow demon on the shoulder and motions to Sam. "They're the wrong ones. I was hoping to see the bitch back from Purgatory, see how she fared." With an expression of delight, the demon eyes Lou. "I bet she's in a padded room by now."
"Actually, my guess is she could kick both your asses with a hand tied behind her back after an experience like that, but hey, that's just one hunter's opinion."
Sam doesn't miss the fact that she referred to herself as a hunter without thinking. No time right now to be sad about it but he knows that'll sting later when he recalls it.
Quickly the demons rush them, one lunging for Sam and the other for Lou. Without second thought Lou pulls the trigger as Sam's tackled to the floor, the demon's hand gripped hard around his knife-grasping wrist.
The buckshot hits the demon square in the chest, causing it to fall onto its back with a thud on the old floorboards. Lou cocks her shotgun once more and keeps it aimed, walking over to the demon cautiously. She grins down at it as she's standing over him, rock salt littering his chest. "Stings a little, I know." She grins.
From behind her she can hear a demon scream out in pain along with the distinct sound of sizzling. Kevin is hosing down the demon that had tackled Sam with holy water. As he stays there, suffering, Sam stands to the demon's side and starts talking before he can recuperate.
"Exorcismus te," he starts, speaking loudly in order for this one to count for both demons in the room. "Omnis immundus spiritus. Omnis satanica potestas. Omnis incursio infernalis adversarii. Omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, draco maledicte. Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire. Te rogamus, audi nos."
Smoke billows from both bodies on the floor, the black thick fog filling the air before rushing off to banishment in Hell.
"Holy shit," Lou huffs out with surprise that it's already over. "That was pretty easy."
"I sent in my least impressive demons," Crowley announces as he walks in and eyes what's happening in the church. "I would hope that was an easy one. Never liked those two anyways."
All three humans turn to face the king as he stands there, hands in pockets without a fear. Lou points her sawed off at him.
"Oh please," Crowley scoffs. "Put the gun down."
"Make me," Lou mouths off, cocking it.
Crowley rolls his eyes before swiping his hand through the air, the shotgun predictably flying from her hands and skittering across the floor.
"Hello, Louise," Crowley hyper focuses once her weapon is gone. "How are you? It's been, what… a year now since I've gotten to see that pretty, surly face of yours?"
Lou doesn't answer, knowing Crowley craves banter. Dean always give into it. She does what she can to deny what he wants from her.
"Talkative," Crowley comments with annoyance as he walks into the building a little more. "So, cherubs… where's your angel at these days?"
"Like we'd ever tell you," Sam fires back, shocked that Crowley would even bother asking. He has to know they wouldn't give Castiel up even if he was around.
"There's that grade-school, younger brother zip. Missed it. I really did, Moose." Crowley gives his longer hair and current style a solid look over. "Still with the pork chops. I admire dedication." He turns to Kevin then. "Much like I admire yours, my little prophet with a big heart." He snaps his fingers and Kevin's ex-girlfriend is standing next to him. "You've been checking on her. So much dedication."
Kevin panics when he sees her. "Let Channing go."
"That's not Channing, Kevin," Lou sadly tells him already sure of it. Right then the demon inside Channing flashes some black eyes to prove it. "Not anymore."
"What an awful thing to say to the boy. Of course it's Channing. Kev," Crowley coos in a patronizing way. "Last time we danced, you stole my tablet and killed my men. Tell you what. Come with me now, bygones. And I'll let the girl go back to... What's-the-Point U."
"Kevin, he's lying," Lou says to her side where Kevin is standing between her and Sam, her eyes never leaving Crowley. "You won't get Channing back. Kid, she's probably… gone already."
"Sweetheart, if our relationship is going to be pleasant in the future I need you to stop lying to the boy," Crowley gets slightly upset at her.
"Pleasant relationship?" Lou questions with hatred. "You serious?"
"What, you think Moose here is giving you all that you deserve?" he scoffs. "Please. Anything you could ever want would be yours if you were mine. I'd treat you like the queen that you are."
"What the hell, Crowley!?" Sam gets pissed off.
"You really think this fine example of a woman is happy with five dollar burgers and never ending patterns of plaid in her life? I could do better."
"Dude!" Lou gets utterly offended. "Shut the fuck up! I will never be with you, you short little, conceited piece of shit."
Crowley cocks an eyebrow confidently. "You say that now…."
Lou loses the little patience she has for the demon and grabs her pistol from the back of the jeans. She aims in a split second and pulls the trigger. He's hit in the chest with a single bullet to the heart yet he doesn't move, just as Lou knew would happen. She knew he wouldn't be effected but she couldn't stand his face anymore.
Crowley looks up at her with a little more anger. "I just got this suit!"
Lou just eyes him hard as she cocks her gun. "I got more of those with your name on 'em, prick. Those shoes look awfully expensive."
"Alright, alright," Crowley puts his hands out in surrender. "I can see we're still stalling out on the love-hate level of our relationship. I get it. But would you two stop telling Kevin his girlfriend is dead? Let the girl speak for herself." He snaps his fingers.
The black eyes Channing had been sporting are suddenly gone, her normal dark brown eye color blinking around the room. She spots the prophet standing across from her and she smiles slightly, relief flooding her senses. "Kevin?"
With much trepidation, Kevin asks, "Channing?"
"What's going on?" she has to ask him, looking around her and having no clue where she is or why.
"There's a demon in you," Kevin rips off the band aid, not know how long he might have to speak to her. "And you're going to your safety school."
"What?!" she fires out with disgust.
"But it's gonna be okay," Kevin starts to reassure her, now determined to get her back since he knows she's alive.
"I, I just… I can't," Crowley's eyes roll as his stomach churns with the sappiness being shared between the young adults.
"No, no, wait!" Kevin tries to stop it but Crowley snaps his fingers again and Channing's eyes go black.
Quick decision. "Okay. I'll do it," Kevin tells the demon that's holding his girlfriend hostage.
"Kevin…" Sam tries to warn him it's a bad idea but the sentiment doesn't land.
"Myself for the girl," Kevin promises, knowing Channing is innocent in all this. "But this ends. Alright? No fighting, no nothing. It ends."
Lou closes her eyes in frustration. "Can't let you do that, Kevin."
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Kevin defiantly asks her like the teenage he is before turning back to Crowley. "I'll grab my stuff." He walks out of the big open room to do so, disappearing behind some double doors.
"Chin up, dear," Crowley says to Lou's let down expression. "I'm a professional. I tend to work it out in my favor."
"This isn't over, Crowley," Lou promises him, eyes hard on the demon that thinks he won.
"It's a shame that you believe that so fully, my beauty," Crowley says to her with zero sympathy. He then yells out, "Come on, Kevin. Chop, chop." They wait a moment. And another. "Kevin?"
When Crowley steps forward to walk past them and check on the prophet. Sam moves to block his way, holding out the knife. Snapping his fingers once more the handle of the demon killing knife glows red with heat until Sam can't take it anymore and drops it.
"Really, Sam?" Crowley asks as he walks past them both. "It's like going up against a child… except that the child never learns his lesson, no matter how many times we do this dance. Kevin!"
Crowley heads for the double doors Kevin just walked through to grab his things. Channing follows and when he opens the door they both find Kevin standing on the opposite end of the room, a rope in hand.
Kevin gives Crowley one determined expression before pulling the rope, holy water that had been contained in some bucket over the door way splash down onto Crowley and Channing. They both yell in pain as the holy water sizzles and steams.
"Sam, Lou! Run!" he shouts to them, following his own instructions.
In a rush, all three humans meet out by the Mustang and scramble inside, Kevin barely jamming himself into the small back seat in time. Lou fires up the engine as Sam and Kevin see Crowley and Channing make it to the front door of the church. The King of Hell says something to her and black smoke exits Channing's body in a rush. The moment it's gone Crowley lifts a hand and holds eye contact with Kevin as they begin to drive away. With a flick of the wrist, Channing's neck twists and snaps, killing her instantly in front of the small audience.
"Daddy! El-phants!" Sammy nearly screams with delight when he can see the elephant in a cage just up ahead from his perch sitting on Dean's shoulders.
"No! Where!?" Dean jokes, knowing the exhibit is coming due to the various signs set up on the paved path winding through the zoo.
"Over 'dere!" Sammy points and bounces with excitement
"Whoa, easy big guy," Dean warns as he grabs onto Sammy's legs tightly with his squirming. "We're going. Clam down."
"They have trunks!" Sammy starts spilling the facts he knows about the massive animal as they approach.
"Do they?" Lizzy wonders, holding onto the bag of cotton candy they half demolished already. Sammy's face is stained a shade of pink but who cares? It's a fun day. Screw sugar-limiting rules.
"They have trunks. And Uncle Sam say they have big ears. They flap big like this!" Sammy starts to wave his arms around floppily and it makes her grin at him.
"Sam and him read this animal book together a lot," Dean explains. "Sam bought him a ton of books for Christmas. That was his favorite one."
"Such an animal lover," Lizzy mentions with surprise.
"It's really bad," Dean admits, Sammy still bouncing with excitement on his shoulders. "The neighbors have a golden retriever that gets loose, like, once a day. Every time the damn thing ends up on our front doorstep looking for Sammy. They love each other."
Lizzy's face breaks out in a grin. "I loved animals growing up. I used to try and bring home a new one every week. I snuck a cat into my room once for two days. My dad's allergy attack tipped them off. I was in so much trouble for that one."
"A cat?" Dean asks with disdain.
"Yes, a cat," Lizzy bumps his shoulder with her own. "Back then I wasn't an animal snob."
"Dog or nothing," Dean comments. "Cats suck. They're like sneaky little bitches that eat your food and stare at you with hate all day. They don't need us, we don't need them."
"Hey, the fact that you're a dog lover at all is still kind of spectacular."
"Not a dog lover. I just like… liked Cass." Dean's face falls a little as he's reminded of the dog they lost two years ago. The damn thing had no idea he was doing anything but protecting his family when he went after the demons breaking into his home. He had no idea he'd die for his loyalty and to this day it bothers Dean to no end. That dog was a friend when he had none. He helped pull him out of the depression he fell into when Sam was in the Cage. He deserved better. "Just Cass."
Lizzy forces a smile on her face so that she won't cry, feeling the very same way about that dog. She grabs his hand as the walk up to the elephant cage, letting Sammy's exuberance take their loss away.
"He big!" Sammy nearly screeches out when they get closer to the big beast. "Daddy! Look!"
"I see," Dean assures him, looking nearly straight up at the large animal as it stands right up near the cage. "Friendly guy, huh?"
"Ah, no. Just hungry," Lizzy corrects as she points to the sign on the cage.
Feeding Time: 12:45
"Well, would you look at that," Dean says, checking his watch. "Right on time."
As he says it the door to a faux stone wall off to the side of the cage opens and a woman dressed in zoo-official attire walks out with a massive hay bale.
"Hello, everyone!" she shouts to the people surrounding the cage. "Would anyone want to help me feed Fanny today?"
Lizzy's face bursts out in a grin when she hears this. She immediately pulls out her phone that she made sure to take from the shoe box Dean found in the basement. It was her old phone, same number and all her old pictures. Time to add to that. "We would love to!" she tells the woman.
After being shown how to hold the handful of hay, the woman gives Sammy a bundle as he stays seated atop his father. "Okay, Sammy. Just reach up high like this," she tells him, holding her hand up high.
Sammy listens as he looks over at Fanny the elephant. Soon enough the animal sees him and reaches her trunk through the cage. She grabs the handful right from Sammy's small hand and she brings it to her mouth as the little boy nearly howls with excited laughter.
"Mommy! She eated it!" he screams with near insanity. He claps his hands together and looks at her with wide eyes as she records the whole thing. "She touch me!"
"I know, sweetie! I saw!" Lizzy laughs out as Sammy gets handed another bunch. He reaches up again and Fanny takes it, munching happily as Sammy laughs some more.
In the middle of her video a call pops up on her phone, interrupting it. It's an unknown number.
"Hello?" Lizzy asks as she answers it. The second she hears the very familiar voice on the other end her face drops. When she realizes Dean's paying attention to her too closely she gets annoyed purposefully. "Sorry, dude. Not interested."
She hangs up and Dean asks, "Telemarketer?"
"Yeah, those vultures," she complains, pocketing her phone.
"You haven't turned on that phone in over a year until two days ago," Dean points out.
"You think they haven't been trying this phone while I was gone anyways? They're vultures." Lizzy laughs. "I just wasn't there to answer it."
Dean nods, accepting that for what it is.
"Hey, I'm gonna run to the bathroom," Lizzy smiles wide, leaning into him to kiss him quickly. "You two get that elephant nice and fat while I'm gone."
"Really? You don't want to stick around for this then go?" Dean questions, already sensing something is up.
"When ya gotta go," she shrugs and starts to walk off quickly, heading straight for the restroom a few yards down.
When she peeks back at Dean and Sammy once she reaches the bathrooms, they're preoccupied and wouldn't see her slipping off for a second. So she does.
Behind the small bathroom structure Lizzy pulls her phone out and redials the number that had previously called her.
"There she is," a southern drawl happily answers on the other line.
"And how is it you got a phone?" Lizzy asks, lightness to her tone when she smiles a little to hear from him. She can't help it.
"Would you believe they sell these things in convenience stores now?" he asks her, still in awe of the world around him. "A lot's changed in 50 years, darlin'."
And her sympathy hits hard. "Must be a hell of a lot to take in, Benny boy."
"Mostly it's the choices, you know?" he says very truthfully to her. He knows he can be honest with her, and really only her. His voice sounds further when he clearly pulls away from his phone a bit. "So many choices."
"Where are you, Benny?" she gets serious when she gets a feeling that something is very off about him. First, he's calling her. Second, his voice is strained. He's struggling. She knows him too well not to be sure of that.
"Cemetery of all places," he tries to sound light and unburdened. It doesn't work.
"Why?"
"Why not? I got nowhere to be, darlin'," he reminds her.
Lizzy bows her head with sadness. She worried about this. When they parted he didn't have a plan. Unlike her, he had no family left waiting for him or a purpose to return to. Everyone he knew was dead or elderly. Or vampire. And he couldn't return to his nest.
"Yeah, I know." She sighs and thinks, knowing how hard this is about to be. "Listen, Benny, you know how much I respect you and how much I owe you. What we did back there… is what we had to do. Now, I don't regret it for a second because it got me out and back to my family.
"They okay?" Benny has to wonder. She talked so much about them during their time in Purgatory that he feels like he knows them.
She grins. "They're great, actually. They were out of hunting, if you can believe it."
"No more huntin', huh?" Benny says with surprise. "Well, guess I should be happy to hear that if your man is half as good a hunter as you claim."
"He's better and you should," Lizzy promises him.
"That boy a' yours… he's doing good too?"
Pressing a hand over her mouth to contain her thanks as the lump in her throat plagues her again, she swallows hard and tells him, "He's perfect. He really is. We're getting to know each other again and it's… ha, it's everything."
"Aw, well I'm glad this is all working out for you, Liz," Benny says in a completely heartfelt way. "I mean that."
Her guilt is killing her. "I know you do. But... Benny, you know, maybe until we both adjust back into this world, it's best we don't talk for a while."
"There it is," he laments on the phone to her when he sees how it will be.
"I know that sounds harsh," Lizzy tries to get him to understand. "But, dude… if Dean or Sam find out about you…."
"I know, I know. Back to Purgatory I go, head lopped clean off."
"At the very least," she promises him. "My husband is a good man but…"
"He's a hunter. Can't change that kinda man at the heart of it," Benny says.
Her stomach drops. Even the monsters know hunters can't change their colors. She still has to hope they can though. She has to.
"It sounds like you're having a rough go," Lizzy makes it clear that she gets what's happening with him just from this conversation.
"Yeah… yeah, but I'll figure it," Benny tries his best to sound positive. "I'mma head on down to Carencro, see if I can get myself set up there."
Lizzy smiles sadly. "Sounds like a plan." Benny doesn't respond. "One day at a time, just like we talked about, alright?"
"I think I had it right, Liz."
"What's that?" she asks, wrinkled brow trying to recall what he'd said in the past.
"Purgatory was pure," he explains himself. "I'm kind of wishin' I had appreciated it more. You know? I know you hated it and you might not get what I'm sayin'…."
"I get it," she assures him. Maybe she didn't respect what he saw in the place, the purity as he calls it, the kill or be killed simplicity of it all, but she had a family to get to. She had a focus. She hated the place. "I may not feel the same but I get it."
"Yeah…."
"Listen, you get caught up in an emergency, you call me, you understand?" Lizzy tells him strongly. "I may not have the luxury of talking to you every day without risking your life but… I can at least be there if something catches you up, okay?"
"I hear you," Benny says gratefully to her. He clears his throat. "You keep your nose clean, girl."
"You don't worry about me," Lizzy says with confidence.
"I don't know," he jokes a little. "I remember saving your ass more than just a handful a' times."
"And how was it you got out of Purgatory again?" she jests right back. "Be safe, Benny."
She hangs up and stares at her phone for a moment, smiling wistfully. After almost a year with him she has to admit to herself that she missed him. A lot. Sure, he was a mutually beneficial acquaintance that she barely trusted at first but he proved himself. Quickly. And he became more than just a partner with a deal to escape prison. He became a friend.
A friend she now knew she had to hide from her hunter family.
When Lizzy jogs back to Dean and Sammy she finds them done feeding Fanny the elephant and they are just standing around waiting for her.
"You feeling alright?" Dean asks, narrowed eyes on her as she stands next to him.
"Fine," Lizzy smiles at him.
"You know, you were gone a whole year and you're still not a good liar." Dean gives her that stare, the one that says don't fucking lie again.
Lizzy huffs a laugh. "Alright, so… maybe diner breakfast doesn't sit so well with me these days," she lies some more with a pat to her stomach and does her damnedest to cover it. "It's been a long time since I've challenged my digestive system like that."
Dean makes a grossed out face. "Sorry I asked," he scoops Sammy up off the ground and onto his hip. He then takes her hand on the other side. "You feel okay to keep going?"
"Definitely," Lizzy assures him before looking at Sammy. "Where to next, buddy?"
"Giraffes!" Sammy says way too happily. Dean leans away from him with the loud volume, face surprised.
"Sammy, I know you're excited but, dude… take it down a little." Dean eyes his son.
"Sorry, daddy," Sammy says with a wide smile, not really meaning it.
They head on down the path through the zoo, the day sunny and getting warmer by the minute… son happy as a clam, mom pretending not to have a massive burden on her shoulders in the form of a vampire friend in need, and dad acting like he isn't super suspicious of his wife after she just he saw her sneak around the back of the bathroom instead of going into the bathroom and then lie to his face about it.
So much going on at once!
Side note, I entered the Supernatural Fan Fiction Monthly Awards for the month of May. I entered The Definition of Family. Bummer, I totally lost to another story. Ah well. It was still very much worth it. I got a couple more people to read my work and I received some very helpful and constructive criticism. I was hoping for more traffic but hey, what can you do? It was definitely something worth doing! So there's my update on that whole thing. Thanks for the encouragement from everyone that urged me to go for it. Much appreciated!