Alright guys, we're wrapping up episode 3! (Yes, it's taken us nearly 14 chapters to make it through three episodes.) There's some feeling to be had in this chapter, so it was fun to write and I'm hoping you like how Dean and Ari's relationship begins to unfold here. After this I'll be skipping ahead a bit and not focusing on every single episode in an effort to get us moving along a bit quicker, but in the meantime, I hope you like this conclusion! Xoxo-NickyLynn
Dean was rifling through a storage closet in the back of the sheriff's house, trying to uncover some sort of clue on his connection to Peter Sweeney, when Ariella slid into the small room as well, pulling his attention away from the box of books he had been busy sorting through. "Nothing in the attic but cobwebs and old trading cards." She informed him as she stepped into the small space, pulling Dean's eyes onto her. "Find anything down here?"
"Not yet." He answered, eyes falling back on the box in front of him as he resumed his searching. "How's Andrea holding up?"
"Sam's keeping her company." She answered with a shrug. "She's doing okay, all things considered. Refuses to believe the sheriff's hiding bodies in his closet though."
"I don't think anyone would want to believe that about their father." Dean grunted in agreement.
"Well, I mean…hiding your murderous tendencies from your kids, versus indoctrinating them into it…not sure which one is worse to be honest." She quipped with an arched brow. Dean paused in his movements to cast her an unamused look from over his shoulder at that dig against his own father. "Kidding." Ariella told him with a roll of her eyes, seeing the unhappy look that washed over his face. She reached towards a rather large book sitting on the shelf in front of her then, trailing her fingertip over the spine of it curiously.
"At least my dad was honest with us." Dean said, feeling the need to defend the man.
Ariella's jaw tensed at that statement, having to fight off the urge to laugh at the absurdity of it. John Winchester was many things, but honest was not something she would have ever dubbed him. Dean, however, had always been blinded when it came to John's attributes. "Honest." She repeated with a scoff.
"You've got something you want to say?" Dean challenged as he stood back up, pulling his arms across his chest and he turned to face her.
Ariella let her head roll to the side, eyes sweeping up and down the length of him. "John's not been honest with you since the day Mary died." She bit out moodily, sleep-deprivation and hunger causing the words to come out with more venom than she had anticipated.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.
Ariella's jaw fused together as she pulled her eyes away, instantly regretting having said anything. "Nothing." She said, letting out a long breath as she reached out and pulled a photo album from the shelf. "If you want to go on believing that your dad's this superhuman being incapable of having faults, then by all means, be my guest. No one's gonna stop you, especially not me."
Dean narrowed his eyes down on the side of her face as she flipped open the album, finding that his anger was quickly bubbling to the surface in response to her snarky remarks. "You want to know what I think?" he challenged with an arched brow.
"Please…" Ariella answered without pulling her eyes away from the page she was looking at. "Enlighten me."
"I think you're jealous." He asserted, eliciting a snort of laughter from her. "Jealous that my dad dumped you on Bobby's lap. Jealous that you weren't really his kid." Ariella's eyes snapped over to him with that, and the emotions that flared within them was all the confirmation he needed. He watched the muscles in her face twitch in anger before she took a step closer to him, coming nearly nose-to-nose with him.
"You want to know what I think?" she countered lowly, eyes practically burning into Dean in a way that sent his heart racing.
"Enlighten me." He told her, refusing to back down.
"I think you're so obsessed with pleasing John, that you let it consume your entire fucking personality." She threw at him bitterly. "So scared of displeasing him that you never let yourself become an actual fucking person." She accused, jabbing a finger into his chest. "I swear you open your mouth and John's voice comes flowing right out. He's turned you into a walking puppet. I mean, what happened Dean? You used to be more than this!" she said, hand sweeping over him. "You used to want more than this!"
"What? Like you?" Dean threw back at her, anger now completely boiling over. "So that's what this is really about."
"This has nothing to do with us." She denied, voice dropping even lower.
"You sure about that? Because from where I'm standing, you're acting an awful lot like a bitter girl who's just pissed off that I chose my family over her." He accused.
"Wow." Ariella huffed in response as she took a step back. "You really are a one-track record, aren't you?" she said before turning with a shake of her head. "I've found the connection to Peter, by the way." She said, waving the photo album still in her grasp up in the air as she walked back out of the small room. "You can stop shuffling through the box of fucking encyclopedias."
Dean found himself having to fight off the urge to pick up one of the heavy books and throw it at the back of her head as she slipped around the corner. As usual, she seemed to know just what to say to get under his skin in the worst of ways. He let out a low growl as he attempted to shove his anger back down, before slipping out of the room after her and following behind as walked back towards the others.
"I'm going to assume one of these fine young gentlemen is your father." Ariella said as she made it to the living room, dropping the photo album onto the table in front of Andrea and Sam. She let it fall open to some photographs of what looked like a boy scout troop. Andrea leaned forward with furrowed brows, studying the images, before nodding as she pointed out one of the boys.
"That's my dad." She confirmed. "Why?"
"Because that…" Ariella said as she dropped a finger down onto a boy next to him. "Is Peter Sweeney….and that-" she continued, sliding her finger onto another face. "Is Bill Carlton."
"I guess we've established our connection." Sam commented as he looked over the image for himself.
"Looks like it." Ariella agreed, eyes moving from the photo up to him. Lucas came into the living room then, grabbing hold of Ariella's hand and pulling her away. "What is it, Lucas?" she asked him, eyebrows dipping together as she let him lead her towards the side window. He pointed out the window then, eyes locked onto what looked like an empty patch of lawn. "There something out there?" Ariella asked Lucas as her eyes bounced between him and what he was trying to point out. He nodded in response before slipping his hand into hers again and pulling her along.
Dean and the others followed behind curiously as Lucas guided her outside, bringing them all to the side yard. He came to a stop over an empty spot of mossy ground, finger hovering over the spot as if something was buried underneath. "There's something under there?" Ariella asked in confirmation, leaning down to be eye level with Lucas. He nodded. "Sam, will you get the shovels?" Ariella said then, standing upright again as she gently pushed Lucas back towards his mother. "You two should go back inside." She instructed before her eyes fell on Dean. "We've got some digging to do."
Andrea and Lucas went back inside with no dispute, letting Sam, Dean, and Ariella dig up whatever was buried alone. As there were only two shovels, Ariella let Dean and Sam do the dirty work while she stood guard. "You guys think Peter's body is down here?" Sam asked while he and Dean shoveled out scoop after scoop of dirt.
"Let's hope so." Ariella said, releasing a long breath as she watched them work. "To be honest, I've been worried that his body is in the lake." She admitted.
"That would definitely put a hamper on our plans." Sam agreed with a grunt as he stuck the spade into the dirt again.
"God, when's the last time either of you have dug up a body?" she then asked with a scrunched-in face. "You're moving slower than a couple of amoebas. We need to hurry before the sheriff decides to drop by." Dean's response was to fling his latest pile of dirt over his shoulder at her. "Hey!" she exclaimed in irritation as the dirt pelted her side.
"If we're moving too slow for your taste, then why don't you get down here and dig it out." Dean shot at her as she swiped angrily at her clothes.
"And let you miss out on the chance to show off your muscles while Andrea watches from the window?" Ariella countered with an arched brow. Dean threw another scoop of dirt at her. "Would you stop that!" she huffed angrily.
"Both of you stop." Sam interjected with a roll of his eyes.
Dean's mouth fell open to defend himself, but the sound of Sam's shovel hitting against metal with a loud CLANK caused it to snap shut in surprise.
"Well, that didn't sound like a body." Ariella commented as the three of them shared a brief look.
"Help me get this out." Sam told Dean as he threw his shovel to the side, reaching down to scrape against the Earth with his bare hands. Dean thew his shovel down as well and joined in, sweeping the dirt away to reveal some sort of metal frame. "Pull!" Sam shouted as he latched onto it and pulled against it. The two of them managed to free it from the dirt together, revealing the faded red paint of Peter's bike.
Dean was so focused on freeing the bike, that by the time he heard the unmistakable clicking of a gun being cocked, it was too late. He and Sam spun around in alarm to find the sheriff holding a gun to the back of Ariella's head. Ariella was frozen in place, hands up in the air on either side of her as she locked wide eyes with them. "I thought I told you people to get the hell out of my town." He said, eyes narrowed down on Dean and Sam.
"Put the gun down, Jake." Sam said calmly, bringing his hands up in front of him in an effort to ease the tense situation.
"How did you know that was there?" he demanded, nodding towards the dirt-covered bike.
"What's the matter Jakey?" Ariella asked, turning slightly to face him. "Afraid we're going to figure out what you did to poor Peter?" she questioned with a lift of her brow. "Afraid that we're going to uncover the truth?"
"You can't bury the truth, Jake." Dean echoed, pulling Jake's eyes back onto him.
Ariella used his momentary distraction and acted. She lunged forward, grabbing hold of his wrist and twisting it around in one swift motion until she was able to free the gun from his grasp. She pried the weapon away from him before he could even react, instead turning the gun on him like John had taught her over and over again.
His eyes, blown wide with surprise, centered on her as she leveled him with a dangerous look. "Here's what's going to happen." She said lowly, keeping the stolen gun trained at his forehead. "You're going to tell us what you did to Peter."
"Ari." Sam said in warning, concern filling him as he watched her entire demeanor shift.
Ariella chose to ignore him. "What happened?" she continued, head tipping to the side as she watched him. "You and Billy drown him in the lake?" she guessed.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about." He said, refusing to confess.
"Stop lying!" Ariella yelled as she took a threatening step closer.
"Ari!" Dean shouted as he took a step forward as well.
Andrea chose that moment to come sprinting across the yard as well, placing herself in front of her father. "Stop!" she shouted in fear. "Don't hurt him!"
"You and your buddy killed Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago and now his spirit is trying to take revenge on you by going after Andrea and Lucas." Ariella bit out, gun lowering to her side. "And it's not going to stop until it they're both dead." She warned. "Now, you're going to tell us what you did with the body so we can stop that from happening."
"You're insane." The sheriff said, shaking his head back and forth. "All of you."
"I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us." Dean said as he stepped up next to Ariella. "But if we're going to bring this spirit down, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Tell us where you buried him! Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake!" he yelled angrily.
"Dad, is any of this true?" Andrea asked, wide eyes sweeping from Dean over to her father in disbelief.
"No." he said instantly. "Don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous."
"We're not the liars here, Jake." Ariella said with a humorless laugh. "So I'm going to ask you one more time what you did with Peter's body before you find out just how dangerous we can be." She threatened with a cocked brow.
"Dad…" Andrea said. "Chris died on that lake….and last night something would have drown me in the tub had it not been for her saving me!" she said, motioning towards Ariella. "Tell me….tell me you didn't kill anyone." She said in a near-plea.
Jake was silent as he pulled his eyes away from her. As the silence stretched on and his breathing began to go uneven, Andrea got her answer. "Oh my God." She breathed out in a whisper, tears building in her eyes.
"Billy and I were at the lake." He began to confess, unable to handle the disappointment radiating from Andrea's eyes. "Peter was the smallest one…we always bullied him, but this time…it got rough. We held his head underwater. We didn't mean to, but we held him under too long and he drowned." He admitted, sounding downright ashamed. "We let the body go and it sank." He added despondently, eyes moving from Andrea, back to Dean and Ariella.
"Shit." Ariella sighed, realizing they had just been hand-delivered the worst-case scenario.
"Alright, listen to me…all of you." Dean said seriously. "We need to get you away from this lake. As far as we can…right now."
"If you think I'm going anywhere with you because of some ghost story-" the sheriff began to say in protest before Ariella let out a sharp gasp and took off in a sprint, dropping the gun as she did.
Dean swung around in confusion before he took notice of what she was running towards. At some point Lucas had wandered down to the Lake, and was currently hanging over the edge of the dock, dangerously close to the water. Dean was running soon after, followed by the others as they, too, noticed what Lucas was doing.
"LUCAS!" Andrea screamed in terror as she ran behind Dean, knowing they'd never be able to get to him in time.
"Lucas get away from the water!" Ariella screamed as she hit the edge of the dock, a good distance ahead of the others.
Unfortunately, none of them were fast enough. Without warning, Lucas plunged into the lake with a splash, eliciting another scream from Andrea as they ran even faster. As soon as Ariella hit the end of the dock she dove in, slipping under the surface just moments after Lucas was pulled under. Dean bolted across the dock and dove in as well, the icy water slamming into him like a wall as he crashed into the surface. Once under, he sealed off his lungs and strained his eyes, desperately searching the murky depths for any sign of Lucas.
After a few strong stokes he brought himself back up to the surface, sucking in a deep breath as he spun around in the water, looking for any signs of him or Ariella. A moment later, someone breached the surface next to him, and he spun around to find Sam popping up out of the water. "Anything?!" Dean asked in a panic. When Sam shook his head in response, he drew in another breath before slipping back under the water. The fear coursing through him pushed his muscles to move faster as he swam deeper, and just as his lungs began to burn for the need for air again he caught sight of Ariella struggling a few feet deeper, pulling along Lucas's limp body.
With a surge of determination, Dean swam down to where she was struggling against the boy's weight. He locked eyes with her for a moment as he got close enough, and with a nod she pushed Lucas into his arms. Dean took hold of him and kicked his legs as hard as he could, bringing the two of them back up to the surface. It took all of Dean's willpower not to draw in a breath while he swam up, his lungs screaming for oxygen by the time his head popped back up into the air. He sucked in a loud gasp as he continued pulling Lucas along, trying his best to keep his face up as he swam back towards the dock.
"SAM!" he yelled as he got closer, calling for help. Sam swam over to him as quickly as he could, helping pull Lucas over to the dock before lifting him back up onto the wooden platform. Andrea was pulling Lucas up onto the dock as tears streamed down her face, sobbing Lucas's name over and over again as she pried his lifeless body from the water.
Sam pulled himself up on the dock once he was out, quickly laying Lucas out on his back to begin CPR. Dean reached for the dock to pull himself up as well when he realized there was someone missing. "Ari!" he yelled as he spun back around, searching the water for signs of her. He was swimming back out into the lake not a moment later, diving back into the water in search of her.
He pushed against the water as quickly as he could, researching the area he was sure he had last seen her, but there were no signs of her. He had to bring himself back to the surface once more, and the panic that had set in was enough to keep his heart slamming against his ribcage painfully. "SAM!" he yelled, spinning to see Lucas sitting upright on the dock, coughing out round after round of water. "SAM, I CAN'T FIND HER!"
Sam dove into the water again as Dean slipped back under, both of them scouring the water. As the seconds ticked by with nothing but darkness and seaweed surrounding them, the panic in Dean began to morph into sheer terror. It was too long. She had been under too long.
Dean could feel the helplessness settling in after having come up for air the third time when a shadow drifting in the murkiness caught his attention. He swam as hard as he could for it, and nearly let out a sigh of relief when he took in the slack face of Ariella. He wrapped his arm around her waist before kicking with everything he had. Once he made it back to the surface, Sam quickly swam over and helped pull her to the dock as well. It took more effort to get Ariella up onto the wooden platform, and once she was up, Dean's panic only tripled. Her skin had gone blue from how long she had been under.
Things were a blur after that for Dean. He didn't remember beginning it, but he was suddenly pressing up and down on her chest as hard as he could. He could barely make out the sound of Sam's voice, saying what Dean didn't know. Perhaps he had even been screaming. There was nothing filtering into Dean's mind in that moment other than the sound of his own erratic heartbeat as he tried restarting hers. Dean didn't know how long he kept working on her…he quickly lost count of how many rounds of compressions and breaths he administered…all he knew was that he couldn't bring himself to stop. After what felt like hours, Ariella surged upward as a bubble of water shot out of her throat, and the relief that filled Dean as he pushed her over onto her side was enough to leave him sagging across her in exhaustion.
Ariella's entire body shook as she coughed out what water had seeped into her lungs, and after she was able to eject it all and fill them with air again, she rolled back over. Her wide eyes landed on Dean as she rolled onto her back, chest heaving up and down as she worked to refill them. "Lucas-" she gasped in fear.
"He's okay." Dean told her in reassurance, nodding to where Andrea was sitting, arms wrapped tightly around a frantic Lucas.
Ariella's wide eyes fell on them for a moment before she gave a nod of understanding. "I thought I was dead." She breathed out shakily, head rolling back towards Dean.
Dean felt his heartrate slowly coming back down as he watched her chest moving up and down, the realization of how close she had been to never drawing in a breath again slamming into him harder than he was expecting. "Me too."
As it turned out, the day was not without casualties. Jake, in an effort to save Lucas, had walked into the lake and surrendered himself to Peter's spirit. And with that, it was over. They of course did the whole song and dance of calling in emergency services to report his drowning. However, all of them knew there was no body to be found. Paramedics cleared both Lucas and Ariella after checking them over, and they were all sent on their way to recover from everything that had happened.
Ariella, Sam, and Dean had stayed for a while to make sure Andrea and Lucas were okay, but as the day stretched on, Sam and Dean had gone back to the motel to gather up the remainder of Ariella's supplies and some food, while Ariella stayed behind. She was currently in the middle of replacing the lock on the front door when Andrea came over with a fresh cup of coffee.
"Here." She said, holding it out for Ariella to take. "You must be exhausted." She said, she herself having just woken back up from a quick nap with Lucas.
"I'm alright." Ariella said with a lift of her shoulder, reaching out to take the mug from her regardless. She took a sip of the hot drink, the warmth of it helping chase away the cold that had seemed to seep into her bones since her plunge into the lake.
"I didn't think you would actually fix it." Andrea then said with a small chuckle, motioning towards the door which could properly latch into place now.
"I'm a woman of my word." Ariella told her in response.
"That you are." Andrea agreed with a low voice, face dropping down seriously. "Listen…I-"
"I know." Ariella said before the words could leave her mouth. "You don't have thank me." She said, waving away the idea.
"You saved my son." Andrea said with a shake of her head. "The least I can do is say thank you."
"I'm not sure it was really me who saved him." Ariella muttered over the rim of her cup, knowing the only reason Peter's ghost had moved on from her and Lucas was because of Jake's sacrifice.
"You played a part, at least." Andrea maintained. A beat of silence passed between the two before Andrea let out a sigh. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now." She admitted as she moved over to the living room, dropping herself down on the couch. "Everything that happened…" she said, shaking her head.
"Look-" Ariella said as she stepped into the room, reaching out to set her cup down on the table before dropping herself down next to Andrea. "If I were you…" she began with a tip of her head. "I would sell this place. I would get what I could for it, take Lucas, and get as far away from this place as possible. Find somewhere where you can start rebuilding your life…far away from all the painful memories this place holds."
Andrea seemed to contemplate that, but after a few moments a smile crept up her face and she shook the idea away. "There are a lot of painful memories here." She agreed. "But there are far more happy ones. This place…" she said, eyes trailing around the room. "It's my home. I couldn't never just leave."
Ariella let out a humph as she thought that over. "Yeah, well…I've always had a tendency to run from my problems, so it's probably best not listen to me anyways." She acknowledged with a smile before bumping her shoulder into Andrea's. "You're gonna be fine."
"Were you?" Andrea asked, eyebrows dropping down. "You said you lost your mother as a kid…were you okay after?" she asked, eyes shimmering with worry. Worry, Ariella was sure, centered around Lucas.
Ariella let her thoughts spiral down into a series of memories as she considered how to answer before she licked her lips and sucked in a breath to respond. "My experience isn't Lucas's." she said with a shake of her head. "He still has a parent who is willing to take on the world to protect him. He's going to get through this. You're both going to get through this." She told her with a small smile. "You both still have each other. That's all that matters."
The relief that washed over Andrea's face as she took in those words was brighter than the setting sun. She opened her mouth to say more, but a loud knock from the door startled both women, interrupting their conversation. Andrea moved to the door quickly, pulling it open to find Dean standing outside.
"You ready to hit the road?" he said, lifting his chin towards Ariella as she moved to step up behind Andrea.
"Yeah." Ariella answered, letting out a breath as Andrea spun back around to face her. The other woman reached out and took Ariella by surprise as she wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace.
"Thank you again…for everything." She said as she hugged her.
"Of course." Ariella said in response, awkwardly bringing her hands up to return the embrace before the pair separated again and Ariella moved for the door.
"Thank you, Dean." Andrea said to him next, leaning forward to plant a kiss on his cheek. "And tell Sam thanks for me, too." She added, motioning to where she could see him waiting in the Impala.
Ariella couldn't help but laugh at the flustered look that washed over Dean's face as Andrea pulled away, slipping past him as he flashed Andrea a tilted smile. "Anytime ma'am." He told her, reaching up as if he was tipping an imaginary hat at her.
"Alright. Come on, cowboy." Ariella called back to him with a roll of her eyes as she began making her way back to her car, parked behind the Impala.
The sound of a small, shrill voice caused Ariella to pause mid-step however, and she turned to find Lucas rushing out the house towards her. "Wait!" he called out to her as he ran. "Don't go yet!" Ariella dropped down onto one of her knees just as he slammed into her, planting his face against her chest as he clung to her. "Don't go." He cried.
Ariella had to fight off the urge to cry right along with him. Instead, however, she pushed him back enough to smile down at him. "It's wonderful to finally hear your voice, Lucas." She told him, eyes shimmering with happiness. "And I know this must hard for you to understand, but I have to go now." She told him, reaching out to stroke his hair.
"But I don't want you to go." He said, lip quivering with sadness.
Ariella's eyes trailed from his distraught face, over to where Dean was walking up to them. "Do you remember what Dean told you about being brave?" she asked Lucas, voice dropping down to a whisper as her eyes landed back on him. He gave a silent nod. "You and your mommy are going to be brave together, alright? You're going to help her be brave for whatever happens next, won't you?"
Lucas gave her a nod again, though his tears failed to let up. "You're going to be okay, Lucas." She told him as she rose back up to her feet just as Dean made it to them. "You're the bravest kid I've ever met." She said, giving him a wink as she began walking backwards, a smile pulling up her face as she watched Dean ruffle up his hair playfully as he passed.
"Take care of your mom for us, Lucas." Dean told him as he stepped beside Ariella, who then watched Lucas run back towards the house, planting himself against his mother's side. Her smile stretched even wider as she lifted a hand to wave goodbye before turning and walking in step with Dean.
"You were wrong, by the way." She said as they made their way towards the cars, pulling Dean's confused eyes onto her. "What you said to Lucas…it's not about finding someone to be brave with." She explained, coming to a stop as her eyes fell on him, her previous smile dropping. "It's about finding someone to be brave for." She told him before letting out a long breath. "You may not consider me family, Dean, but you and Sam have always been mine. You want to go on pretending like I'm the enemy, then by all means, feel free to. But, at the end of the day, all I've ever done was fight for you, even if that meant fighting against your own self-destructive tendencies." She told him, sick of him dragging her through the mud for her choice to go after Sam when he left for Stanford. "Hate me all you want, but you keep on letting the fear of disappointing John control your entire life and one day you're going to wake up and realize that the only person you truly hate is yourself." She said before turning and walking away, leaving Dean frozen in the spot as he considered what she had said.
"Oh, and Dean?" she called back as she made it to her car, pausing just as she opened her door. "Last one to Milwaukee buys dinner."