1.21
Dad's been going through everything with us about the demon, and all the stuff he's been tracking.
"So this is it," says Dad. "This is everything I know. Look, our whole lives we been searching for this demon right? Not a trace, just...nothing. Until about a year ago. For the first time I picked up a trail."
"And that's when you took off," says Dean.
"Yeah. That's right. The demon must have come out of hiding, or hibernation."
"All right so what's this trail you found?"
"It starts in Arizona, then New Jersey, California. Houses burned down to the ground. It's going after families, just like it went after us."
"Families with infants?" Sam asks.
"Yeah. The night of the kid's six-month birthday."
"I was six months old that night?"
"Exactly six months."
"So basically, this demon is going after these kids for some reason. The Same way it came for me? So, Mom's death...Jessica. It's all because of me?"
"No," I say.
"We don't know that Sam," says Dean.
"Oh really? Cause I'd say we're pretty damn sure Dean," says Sam, annoyed.
"For the last time, what happened to them was not your fault."
"Right. It's not my fault but it's my problem!" yells Sam.
"No it's not your problem it's our problem!"
Dad stands up. "Okay, that's enough."
John: (Standing) Okay. That's enough.
"So why's he doing it?" asks Sam. "What does he want?"
"Look I wish I had more answers, I do. I've always been one step behind it. Look, I've never gotten there in time to save..." Dad looks down.
"All right so how do we find it…before it hits again," says Dean.
"There's signs. It took me a while to see the pattern but it's there in the days before these fires, signs crop up in an area. Cattle deaths, temperature fluctuations, electrical storms. And then I went back and checked...and..."
"These things happened in Lawrence."
Dad nods. "A week before your mother died. And in Palo Alto...before Jessica. And these signs, they're starting again."
"Where?" Sam asks.
"Salvation Iowa."
"I think the demon's messing with us with that," I say.
"I think so too," says Dad.
I go to get in the truck with Dad.
"You're just abandoning us now are you?" Dean jokes.
"I always get shotgun with Dad."
Sam laughs. "Very important."
"Of course," I say and climb in the truck.
"You think she's got a favorite?" I hear Dean ask.
"Yeah, it's Dad," says Sam.
"That's just rude," says Dean. "I practically raised that kid."
"Yeah, but you're not Dad."
I smile and close my door. Dad climbs in a minute and smiles at me, he starts the engine. It's good to be home.
As we drive along, Dad's phone rings and he answers. "Caleb…wait, what? …dammit. Yeah, okay….." He hangs up and hangs his head.
Dad pulls off to the side of the road.
"What's happened?" I ask.
He gets out of the truck, I follow. Sam and Dean have pulled up behind us and are out of the car.
"God damn it!" Dad yells.
"What is it?" asks Dean."
"Son of a bitch."
"What is it?"
"I just got a call from Caleb."
"Is he okay?"
"He's fine. Jim Murphy's dead."
"What?" I ask.
"Pastor Jim? How?" asks Sam.
"His throat was slashed. He bled out. Caleb said they found traces of sulphur at Jim's place."
"A demon," says Dean. "The demon?"
"I don't know," says Dad. "Could be he just got careless, he slipped up. Maybe the demon knows we're getting close."
"What do we do?"
"Now we act like every second counts. There's two hospitals and a health centre in this county. We split up, cover more ground. I want records. I want a list of every infant that's going to be six months old in the next week."
"Dad that could be dozens of kids. How do we know which one's the right one?" asks Sam.
"We check em all that's how. You got any better ideas?"
"No sir."
Dad nods and we all head back to our cars. Dad stops, leans on the trunk.
"Dad?" I ask.
Sam and Dean turn.
"Yeah. It's Jim. You know, I can't..." he sounds the most upset I think I've ever seen him. "This ends, now. I'm ending it. I don't care what it takes."
We all get back into our cars. I try and hold back tears. Pastor Jim. Dead. When I first came to live with Dad I spent at least a month every summer with Pastor Jim. He took me to my first waterpark, theme park. He's the one that taught me about sunscreen for god's sake. A tear escapes and I wipe it with the back of my hand. But I haven't seem him in well over a year. And now I never would. Another tear falls and I take a deep breath.
"We're gonna get this bastard, Jane," says Dad.
I nod, looking out the window. I never liked Dad seeing me cry. I think he got enough of that the first few months I lived with him. But I can't stop it this time.
"I'm sorry, sweetie," Dad says, his hand gently rubbing my shoulder. "I know you love him."
I nod again. Not being able to form any words.
I sneak in with Sam in a filing room in Salvation Medical Centre copying birth certificate information. There's a knock and I slip under the table.
"Here you go officer," says a voice.
Sam thanks them, the door clicks shut, and I climb back up, picking right up where I left off. When we're done I hand Sam the pages and he puts them back in the notebook.
"They're very prolific here in Salvation," I say as we leave the hospital. "How are we going to narrow it down?" I ask.
Sam clutches his head and keels over.
"Sam?" I ask, grabbing his arm, but I can't really steady him. He stops. "You okay?" I ask.
"Vision," he says. "Map." He pulls one out.
"What are you looking for?" I ask.
"I saw something, come on." He says. We walk on to a park. Sam stops, checks the map again.
"Are you some sort of GPS thing now?" I ask.
"I don't-" but he doesn't finish he clutches his head again. He looks over the road. Then he runs up to a woman pushing a pram.
"Sam," I hiss and follow him.
He goes up to the woman. "Hi. Here, let me hold that for you," he says holding the stroller. "You look like you don't need that anymore."
"Oh. Thanks," says the woman.
Sam looks in the stroller. A ridiculously cute baby is there.
I can't help myself, "Aww…" I say.
"She's gorgeous," says Sam. "Is she yours?"
"Yeah."
"Oh wow, hi!" he says to the baby.
"Sam," I say, and elbow him, looking at the woman.
"Oh sorry, I'm rude. I'm Sam," he says.
"Jane," I say with a wave.
"We just moved in up the block."
"Hi. I'm Monica," says the woman. "This is Rosie."
"Rosie?" I say, my voice inexplicably going higher when I look at the baby.
"Hi Rosie," says Sam.
"So, welcome to the neighbourhood," says Monica.
"Thanks. She's such a good baby!"
"I know, I mean she...she never cries. She just stares at everybody. Sometimes she looks at you and I swear it's...it's like she's reading your mind."
"What about you Monica? Have you lived here long?"
"My husband and I, we bought our place just before Rosie was born."
"And how old's Rosie?"
"She's six months today," says Monica.
Sam freezes.
"She's big right? Growing like a weed."
"Yeah. Monica..." Sam starts.
"Yeah?"
I glare at Sam. He bites his lip.
"Just ahhh, just take care of yourself okay?"
"Yah, you too Sam, Jane. We'll see you around."
Monica pushes her stroller and a car pulls up, honking. "There's Daddy!"
Sam holds his head again. I grab his arm and turn him away from Monica.
"That's the baby?" I ask.
Sam blinks. "Yes," he says flatly.
I cock my head.
"What?" Sam asks.
"Convenient vision," I say.
"I wouldn't say any part of that was convenient."
"Okay, yes, the killer migraine isn't good. But…"
"Hey, at least we know."
I nod. Sam calls Dean and Dad and we head to a motel.
We fill Dad in. He is…not impressed. Sam is rubbing his head at the table. I sit across from him and Dad and Dean sit on the end of the beds.
"A vision," Dad says, disbelieving.
"Yes. I saw the demon burning a woman on the ceiling," says Sam slowly.
"And you think this is going to happen to this woman you met because..."
"Because these things happen exactly the way I see them."\
"It started out as nightmares," explains Dean. "Then it started happening while he was awake."
Dean gets up and gets more coffee.
"Yeah. It's like the closer I get to anything to do with the demon the stronger the visions get."
"He's got demon power GPS," I say.
"All right. When were you going to tell me about this?" asks Dad.
We all stare at Dad.
"We didn't know what it meant," says Dean.
"All right, something like this starts happening to your brother, you pick up the phone and you call me."
Dean practically throws the coffee jug onto the counter and goes to Dad. "Call you? Are you kidding me? Dad, I called you from Lawrence all right? Sam called you when I was dying. I mean, getting you on the phone? I got a better chance of winning the lottery."
"You're right. Although I'm not too crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right. I'm sorry."
I look at Sam, who looks like he's still in pain.
"Look guys, visions or no visions, fact is, we know the demon is coming tonight," says Sam. "And this family's gonna go through the Same hell we went through."
"No they're not. No one is, ever again," says Dad.
Sam's phone rings, he answers. "Hello? …Who is this…Meg… Last time I saw you, you fell out of a window…Just your feelings? That was a seven-story drop…" Sam looks at Dad. "My Dad. I don't know where my Dad is."
Sam looks at Dad again, and then hands him the phone.
"This is John," says Dad. "…I'm here…Caleb? …You listen to me. He's got nothing to do with anything. You let him go….I don't know what you're talking about…Caleb. Caleb!" Dad yells.
Oh no. Not someone else.
"I'm gonna kill you, you know that?" says Dad. He listens to the phone. Pauses. "Okay. I said okay, I'll bring you the colt…It's gonna take me about a days drive to get there…That's impossible. I can't get there in time and I can't just carry a gun on the plane."
Dad gives the phone back to Sam.
"So you think Meg is a demon?" Sam asks.
"Either that, or she's possessed by one. It doesn't really matter."
"What do we do?" asks Dean.
"I'm going to Lincoln," says Dad.
"What?" asks Dean.
"It doesn't look like we have a choice. If I don't go, a lot of people die, our friends die."
"Dad, the demon is coming tonight," says Sam. "For Monica and her family. That gun is all we got, you can't just hand it over."
"Who said anything about handing it over. Look, besides us and a couple of vampires no one's really seen the gun, no one knows what it looks like."
"So what, you're just going to pick up a ringer at a pawn shop?" asks Dean.
"Antique store," says Dad.
"You're kidding right?" I ask.
"You're going to hand Meg a fake gun and hope she doesn't notice?" asks Dean.
"Look, as long as it's close, she shouldn't be able to tell the difference," says Dad.
"Yeah but for how long? What happens when she figures it out?" asks Dean.
"I just...I just need to buy a few hours, that's all."
"You mean for us," says Sam. "You want us to stay here, and kill this demon by ourselves?"
"No Sam. I want to stop losing people we love. I want you to go to school, I want Dean and Jane to have a home. I want...I want Mary alive. It's just...I just want this to be over."
Dean and I find a pretty good antique gun.
"Pretty close," I say as we get in the car.
"Yeah, doesn't mean it'll fool her," says Dean.
"But Dad said it just has to…" I trail off. "She's going to kill him if she figures it out."
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Dean says.
I look over at him, and the look on Dean's face says he doesn't believe it.
We meet Dad and Sam on a backroad. Dean and I get out of the car.
"You get it?" Dad asks.
I hand him the paper bag with the gun. Dad pulls it out.
"You know this is a trap don't you. That's why Meg wants you to come alone?" says Dean.
"I can handle her. I got a whole arsenal loaded. Holy water, Mandaic, amulets..."
"Dad..."
"What?"
"Promise me something."
"What's that?"
"This thing goes south just...get the hell out. Don't get yourself killed all right, you're no good to us dead."
"Same goes for you. All right listen to me. They made the bullets special for this colt. There's only four of them left. Without them this gun is useless. You make every shot count."
"Yes sir," says Sam.
"Been waiting a long time for this fight. Now it's here I'm not gonna be in it. It's up to you boys now. It's your fight, you finish this. You finish what I started. Understand?"
Dad hands Dean the colt.
"We'll see you soon Dad," says Sam.
"I'll see you later," says Dad.
"Bye," I say quietly.
We watch Dad get in his truck. Sam wraps an arm around my shoulders and chest. I hold on to his arm as we watch him drive away.
"Later," says Dean.
We drive to Monica's house and watch her and her family through the window. I'm the backseat, leaning forward to see clearly into the house.
"Maybe we could tell 'em it was a gas leak. Might get 'em out of the house for a few hours," says Sam.
"Yeah and how many times has that actually worked for us?" asks Dean.
"Yeah. We could always tell 'em the truth."
Sam and Dean look at each other. "Nah," they say.
"You guys are freaky, you know that?" I say. I watch the family through the window. "They seem happy."
"Yeah," says Dean.
"With what's coming for these folks..." says Sam.
"Sam we only got one move and you know it, all right? We gotta wait for that demon to show itself and then we get it before it gets them," says Dean.
"I wonder how Dad's doing?" says Sam.
"I'd feel a lot better if we were there backing him up."
"I'd feel a lot better if he were here backing us up."
We watch for a while longer.
"This is weird," says Sam.
"What?" asks Dean.
"After all of these years we're finally here. It doesn't seem real."
"We just gotta keep our heads and do our job, like always."
"Yeah but this isn't like always."
"True."
"Dean...ah...I wanna thank you."
"For what?"
"For everything. You've always had my back you know? Even when I couldn't count on anyone I could always count on you. And ah...I don't know I just wanted to let you know, Just in case."
"Whoa whoa whoa, are you kidding me?"
"What?"
"Don't say just in case something happens to you. I don't wanna hear that freaking speech man. Nobody's dying tonight. Not us, not that family, nobody. Except that demon. That evil son of a bitch ain't getting any older than tonight, you understand me?"
I learn more forward, so I'm next to Sam. "So Dean is your favorite, then?" I ask.
Sam jolts at my voice. He fakes a laugh.
"No 'thank you' for me? Your only sister?"
"Bit hard for you have my back when you're half my size," says Sam.
"I'm a better shot than you," I point out.
Sam laughs. "You wish."
"Sammy," says Dean, looking at him.
"What?"
"Jane is a better shot than you."
"See?" I say. "Anything ever comes at you that needs to be shot, I got your back."
"Thanks, Janie," says Sam.
"You're welcome, Sammy."
A few hours later Dean tries to call Dad. "Dad's not answering."
"Maybe Meg was late?" says Sam.
"She's a demon," I say.
"Maybe cell reception's bad," Sam offers.
"Yeah well…"
Static comes over the radio.
"Dean wait. Listen." Sam adjust the dial on the radio, more static. Wind blows. Lights in the house flicker. "It's coming."
We get out of the car.
Sam and Dean break in, I get to wait on the grass with a gun and a knife. Very important of course. Apparently keeping me away from the demon is top priority. Everyone else can get it on the action, but not me. But maybe, tonight, I don't mind.
I hear smashing. Oh, they're awake…But I stay outside. There are muffled shouts. I look up at the windows, I can't see much. But then I see a shadow. The demon? I point my gun at the window. The shadow disappears.
The father stumbles outside to the grass, unconscious? I run over check him, he's fine. Just passed out. I give him a shake.
He groans.
"Rosie!" I hear Monica yell.
A gunshot.
I stand up, the Dad groans again, pawing at my hand.
More yelling I can't make out. The window explodes, flames shooting out of it.
"Rosie…" the father mumbles.
I go over and help him up.
The front door opens, letting smoke out, I stand up with the father, Monica and Sam come outside.
The father staggers towards them. "You get away from my family," he says to Sam.
"No Charlie don't. They saved us," says Monica.
Dean runs out, holding Rosie wrapped up.
Monica cries. "I mean they saved us." She says, taking Rosie from Dean. The dad wraps his arm around them both. "Thank you," says Monica.
The house is on fire. I see the shadow of the demon again. Just standing there.
"It's still in there!" Sam says, going to go inside.
Dean grabs him. "Sam. Sam, no."
"Dean let me go, it's still in there."
"No. It's burning to the ground, it's suicide."
"I don't care!" yells Sam.
"I do!"
I look up at the window again. The flames grow larger, the shadow disappears again. Dammit.
We still haven't heard from Dad. Dean keeps trying to call, it rings out. Sam and I sit on the bed.
"Come on Dad, answer your phone damn it," says Dean. He hangs up. "Something's wrong."
Sam is staring at the wall.
"Sam?" I ask.
"You hear me?" Dean says. "Somethings wrong."
"If you had just let me go in there, I could've ended all this," Sam says.
"Sam, the only thing you would have ended was your life."
"You don't know that."
"So what, you're just willing to sacrifice yourself, is that it?"
Sam stands up. "Yeah. Yeah you're damn right I am."
"Please don't," I say.
"That's not going to happen, not as long as I'm around," says Dean.
"What the hell are you talking about Dean, we've been searching for this demon our whole lives. It's the only thing we've ever cared about," says Sam.
"Sam I wanna waste it. I do. Okay? But it's not worth dying over."
"What?"
"I mean it. If hunting this demon means getting yourself killed, then I hope we never find the damn thing."
"That thing killed Jess. That thing killed Mom."
"You said yourself once, that no matter what we do, they're gone, and they're never coming back."
Sam grabs Dean, I jump up. Sam shoves him against the wall. I scream.
"Don't you say that, not you! Not after all this don't you say that!" yells Sam.
"Sam look. The four of us...that's all we have...and it's all I have. Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding it together man...and without you or Jane or Dad..."
"Dad," Sam mutters.
Sam lets Dean go; he turns away. Dean breathes deep. "He should have called by now. Try him again."
Dean tries again. His face falls when I hear someone answer. "Where is he?"