A/N: Thanks for sticking with me and for the kind reviews! So, here is chapter 10, and chap 11 is on the way. Only one special note: extra points for anyone who knows what movie Dean quoted. ;P
Chapter 10
Dean was gently snapping the dash panel back into place after properly reconnecting the ignition wires when he heard the motel room door slam. He sat up sideways in the driver's seat, feet on the asphalt, watching Sam approach.
"Yeah, yeah, Bobby, he's okay, he's right here." Sam held the phone out to Dean, who's only move was to scowl at Sam.
"You called Bobby?" Dean's look was fratricidal.
Sam returned the phone to his ear for a moment, "I'm gonna put you on speaker," then he held out the phone between himself and Dean over the open door where the raised window would have been. Casually, he cocked his hip and leaned against Baby's fender pressing a button on the phone.
"Dean?" Bobby's voice was a little tinny, but the gruff anger was unmistakable. "What the hell happened boy?"
"Sam over reacted, as usual," Dean said sourly, countering Sam's bitch face with one of his own.
"That's not what I heard." Bobby continued, but some of the anger was gone from his voice. "What have you idjits gotten yourselves into this time?"
"You sent us out here -" Dean started.
"I didn't do anything, Dean's the one who ran off and -" Sam spoke loudly over Dean.
"All right, boys," Bobby cut them off. "I'm still half a day out at least, think you can stay outta trouble long enough for me to get there?"
The brothers traded a look that said I won't tell if you won't, and chorused "yes."
"Fine." Bobby answered and ended the call.
"I can't believe you called Bobby."
"I can't believe my idiot brother ran off and got himself in trouble. Again."
"What? I didn't do anything. I was following tracks, just like you."
"Well, there's where you're wrong, because I was following you."
"Whatever, dude." Dean shut the car door and headed toward their room Sam dogging his heels.
"It was stupid, Dean," Sam began to vent some of his worry and fear, and it came out in his irritation laden voice. "You always do that. You just run off and expect me to follow you and save your ass when you get yourself in trouble."
"First," Dean opened the room door with an old style brass key on a diamond shaped plastic fob. "You don't have to come save my ass because my ass doesn't need saving."
Sam followed him in and closed the door saying, "you did this time!"
They squared off just inside the doorway, and Sam stretched up to his full height, as if those extra three inches would actually intimidate his stockier older brother.
"Uuhh, you didn't have anything to do with it. I saved myself. So you can just drop it because we have work to do." Dean watched Sam's face register a split second of beaten puppy before he schooled his features into something more neutral. "Sammy, look, I was worried about you, too. I shouldn't have gotten so far ahead of you."
Sam sighed and slouched again, relaxing a bit. That was as close to an apology as he would ever get. "I was worried when I saw the blood...just...dammit, just don't run off like that again!"
"What's the matter baby brother -"
"No! Dean, I'm serious! I just got you back!" Talking with Bobby had brought back the fear Sam had felt when he last spoke with the older hunter and the pit had yawned wide in his stomach again, only to erupt with the worry and fear he'd swallowed all day and all night.
"Okay, okay." Dean soothed, one hand patting the air. "I'll be more careful, okay? It's all right, Sammy. I ain't going anywhere. You're stuck with me."
Sam was obviously still irritated, but looked somewhat mollified.
Dean gave him a big grin, "so what say we get some breakfast? I could eat the ass end out of a dead rhinoceros."
Sam looked disgusted. "You watch way too many movies."
888
The morning sun was bright as they traversed the worn dirt road to Lizzie's home. Dean squinted into the east where the sun was three quarters of the way to overhead, but still casting long morning shadows as he pulled up in front of the cabin behind the Silverado. He looked up as he cut the engine, seeing the front door swing wide, Lizzie stepping out of the shadows onto the porch. He grinned at her, but her expression never wavered from a carefully neutral expression.
The car doors sang as they swung open in near unison. Dean headed toward the porch with a quick glance over his shoulder at Sam who was leaning, arms folded on the roof of the Impala, and one foot up on the lip of the open door. He shrugged at Dean when he saw him look back. Sam was content to wait and let Dean get the answers they needed.
"Hey," Dean called out as he approached the porch.
Lizzie's expression didn't change. "Why are you here?" She asked softly.
Dean's eyes narrowed as he reached the bottom of the steps. "I – we – need your help. I need to find a place near here I, uh, saw when I was lost."
"What makes you think I can help with that?"
"You said this was home. I thought maybe you'd recognize this place; it was a bunch of stone houses in a cliff."
"There are a lot of places like that around here." Lizzie said in a conversational tone that was anything but.
"There was a round sunken room at the base of the cliff. Does that help?"
"Why do you want to go back out there?"
He thought quickly, and the lie came smoothly. "I think that's where I lost my gear."
Lizzie snorted softly, "Really? Your gear?"
Dean felt his exasperation rising. He half turned and looked back at Sam who only frowned and shrugged again over Baby's roof. He turned back. "Does it really matter why I want to go back there? Can't you just point me in the right direction?"
Lizzie shook her head, eyes closed and her whole body seemed to sag. "Dean, listen to me. You don't want to go out there. You're going to get yourself killed. Or worse."
He gave her a crooked grin. "I think I can handle it."
"No. You can't. Believe me. Please."
He shrugged. "Well, we're going to go looking anyway. I didn't walk all that far. Just thought you'd be able to save us some time looking. Thanks for everything." And he turned and headed back to the car.
"Dean." Lizzie called, but he ignored her. "Dean! You can't do this alone."
He turned back to her, gave her a one shoulder shrug. "Well, I was hoping my local guide would help me out, but she seems to be busy."
Lizzie sighed audibly. "You're an idiot. You know that? You're just going to walk straight into a meat grinder when it's running at full speed?"
He almost laughed. "Kinda my thing."
She stared at him for a moment and he met her gaze steadily. "I didn't tell you everything last night, you realize that don't you? You'll change your mind, I swear, but I'll tell you if it will keep you from being stupid and going back out there."
"I do realize that." He replied firmly, "And I didn't tell you everything either. But I think I'll be the one changing your mind."
888
They sat on the porch, the three of them, drinking Lizzie's thick and slightly bitter Army style coffee and talking softly. Sam gave her the talk, and Lizzie didn't bat an eye. Dean couldn't help but admire that. They didn't like telling people about all the things out there in the dark, and were usually met with disbelief, aspersions as to their sanity, and outright anger. But Lizzie only drank her coffee and nodded once in a while. Eventually, the conversation trailed off and they sat quietly for a few moments.
"So whadda ya think?" Dean asked softly.
Lizzie looked at him, her dark brown eyes deeply shadowed to nearly black. "I think I'm a little angry now. Don't get me wrong, I believe you. But, damn, this is rich." She shook her head, her expression appalled. "People kill each other for no good reason and now you're telling me there are monsters everywhere that do too?"
"Well, most of them kill us for food. Survival." Sam replied. "Not that it makes it right, obviously, but I suppose from their point of view there is good reason."
Lizzie scoffed softly, setting down her mug to place the heels of her hands over her eyes. She paused there a moment, slowly rubbing her eyes. "So, all the Diné – uh, Navajo – monsters are real too?"
"Well, we've found some overlap between cultures, same monster, different name, slightly different lore, that sort of stuff." Sam nodded.
"And some aren't real, there's no Godzilla." Dean added with a slight grin.
Lizzie gave him a sarcastic grin and rolled her eyes before continuing. "So what about the yee naaldlooshii?"
"Actually, these skinwalkers aren't much like anything we've seen before." Dean interjected.
"Yeah," Sam continued, "They sound like some monsters we know, but not quite the same. Like I read that they are humans that turn in to different animals by means of magic. The shapeshifters we've hunted before only copy other people and they are born that way. And the spell work, that's witchy. You don't usually find a vamp casting a curse, for instance."
"Yeah," Dean agreed. "They just want to drink you."
"Wait. Wait. So you're telling me you don't know any more about these things than what I told you?"
Dean half shrugged. "Sam's pretty good at research and we run into things we haven't seen before all the time."
Lizzie stared at the brothers in disbelief for a long moment. "You're fucking idiots! You know that? So what, you just hunt down any monster you run into whether you know what you're doing or not?"
"We know what we're doing!" Dean protested.
"We don't go in blind. We figure out what it is and what will kill it before we go after it." Sam explained calmly. "And if we haven't seen it, some hunter somewhere probably has and there's lore about it. It's simply a matter of doing the research and learning what it's vulnerable to."
Lizzie gathered up the empty mugs and stood, "Ah. 'Simply.' Right."
She headed into the house and the boys followed her. Once inside she turned back to them. "Look, this is truly a terrible idea, guys."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "We're still going after it."
"Yeah, cause that worked out so well for you the last time." She looked pointedly at Dean's left leg and he immediately shifted putting more weight on it despite the pain. "Besides, if the place you want is where I think, it's a long ass walk."
Dean shrugged. "And?"
"And," she gave him another hard look as she went to drop the mugs into the kitchen sink and returned to the entry hall where the hunters waited, "we're not walking anywhere until I get a look at that wound." Lizzie firmly planted her fists on her hips and her scowl was formidable.
"I'm fine."
Lizzie caught Sam's raised eyebrow and skeptical look. "Don't try to bullshit a bullshitter. Now go sit and take your jeans down so I can get a look."
Dean felt an uncomfortable warmth spread up his neck and he scowled in return. Normally, dropping trou in front of a pretty girl wasn't a big deal, but for some reason, it felt wrong to get that intimate with Lizzie.
She caught his uncomfortable look and sniggered. "Like I've never seen one before. Besides, you can keep your shorts on. You aren't going commando, right?"
Dean forced his head to shake 'no' and with a disgusted look in Lizzie's direction started to undo his jeans.
"Sit, idiot." Lizzie shoved him toward the couch.
Once his pants were undone and the ends of the waist band wadded tightly in his fist, he looked beyond Lizzie, "Where's grandma?"
Lizzie took a deep breath and sighed in exasperation. "She's seen naked men, too. And did I mention that you aren't going to be naked? You wearing dirty underwear or something, jackass? Besides, you don't want grandma out here, she sees that leg and she's gonna cover it with a stinky poultice and make you drink some of her gag inducing potions and blow smoke in your face while dancing around singing to the Great Spirit."
"Will I have to pull my pants down for that?" Dean asked sarcastically. He could hear Sam sniggering behind him. He turned, a finger raised to emphasize his words, "Shut it!"
Sam stifled his laugh and backed away a little, just out of Dean's reach.
Lizzie just stood smirking at him, an unmovable object. And Dean was too irritated to be an irresistible force.
"For fuck's sake, I'm fine!" he mumbled under his breath, jerking his jeans down to expose his left thigh and sitting back onto the couch.
Lizzie, snickered, "Seriously? Scooby-Doo?"
Dean merely growled under his breath and ignored the strangled laugh from Sam's direction pulling his flannel shirt down around his hips.
"Now I understand, and your secret is safe with me. But you'll have to shut your brother up on your own time." Lizzie and Sam shared a laugh but quickly quieted as Dean's growl grew a little louder and his scowl much deeper.
Still softly chortling, Lizzie leaned over and removed the dressing, poking the wound lightly; inspecting the stitches. She laid a cool hand briefly across the wound to check the temperature of the skin surrounding the scabbing line beneath the stitches. "This one on the end is pulling a little." Indeed there was a slight tear where the suture entered his skin. "You need to take it easy. But, okay, you're healing, and there's no infection."
"So do I get to go outside Mom?"
Lizzie looked up at him from under her brows as she recovered the wound. "I guess so."
"Awesome." Angrily. And even before Lizzie had backed away Dean was standing to refasten his jeans. "Let's go."
"Not yet." Lizzie said firmly as she stood, pushing him back onto the couch. "I have to get grandma settled. Then we can leave. So, both of you, sit. I'll be ready in a few minutes."
Sam joined Dean on the other end of the couch. His expression was carefully neutral and he stared straight ahead. But he couldn't stand it, and a smile crept to his face. Seeing his stubborn big brother meet his match was delicious schadenfreude. "So..." he ventured softly.
Just as softly in return, "no."
"But I -"
"No."
"Really? I mean-"
"No, Sam. And the next thing you hear is going to be my fist hitting your face."
Sam nearly exploded in laughter. Dean gave him a side eye and an angry frown, but a grin tugged at the corner of his lips.
"It's like-" Sam spluttered, "like watching you argue with yourself!"
"I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself Samuel."
"It's Sam." Sam replied firmly, still chuckling. "Seriously, dude, a man who wears cartoon boxers should have a better sense of humor. Lighten up."
Dean, who - in order to retain his composure - was still not looking in Sam's direction, sighed deeply and leaned back into the couch.
A few minutes later, Lizzie reappeared in the doorway to the great room, Grandma trying to push pass her to her chair by the coal stove. Lizzie steadied the frail old woman until she was seated comfortably, then turned to the young men on the couch. "Grandma wants to have a few words with you. Both of you."
Dean and Sam exchanged curious looks and before either could say a word, the old woman began speaking softly in Navajo. After a moment, Lizzie began to translate for the elder.
"The first world was black as soot and the second was blue. The third was yellow. But we live in the fourth world, the White World. When the people first came here it was a world of water and monsters. The Holy People and First Man created the Sacred Mountains and all that the Diné needed to survive.
"The first person who was born in this world was Changing Woman. In turn she gave birth to twins, two brothers, Slayer of Monsters and Born for Water. The land in which they lived was infested with giants and foreign gods and monsters who were killing The People. The brothers grew strong and fierce and they left their home to find a way to help their mother and The People. They had many adventures, and they learned and grew stronger and Slayer of Monsters and Born for Water killed many of the alien things that preyed upon their people." Lizzie sat cross legged beside grandma's chair. She respectfully kept her gaze down as she listened the old woman, intent on getting the words right.
Grandma was silent for a moment and her sharp eyes appraised both Sam and Dean. Then she raised a hand and pointed at Dean, and after a few seconds, Lizzie picked up the translation again, "I have seen you in my dreams. You and your brother. You are here to continue the work of the Hero Twins. I will give you my blessing."