Dead In the Water

I remembered this one. It was the case where the police guy killed the kid as a kid with another kid. Man. Kids those days. "The Carlton family is sad to announce the death of their beloved daughter in a tragic swimming accident. Sophie Carlton, 18… Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin…" I read the newspaper out loud to Dean and Sam. Newspapers. I'd been reduced from reading google recommended gamerant articles to reading black and white newspapers. My purple phone in its purple phone case rested on the side.

"Cute purse." the waitress smiled. She was attractive. Blonde hair, large chest, tiny tiny waist, wide hips. I ripped my eyes away from her pretty blue ones. My insecurities were starting to get the better of me. Again.

"Can I get you anything else?" she asked sweetly.

"No, thank you." I said quickly. "Just the bill."

"Of course." she smiled and walked away.

"Whatcha got?" Dean dropped the final fry into his mouth and leaned on the table. Sam pulled out his card to pay.

"Last week there was this girl, Sophie Carlton, eighteen years old. She walked into the lake, and never walked out. Authorities said they dragged the water, but they found nothing. Hers was the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago." I summarised.

"Funeral?" Sam asked.

"Empty coffin though." I shook my head at the vain attempt at a funeral. "Closure or something." What lies.

"Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear. Other people just stop looking for them." Sam scoffed.

"And we haven't stopped looking for John, Sam." I said softly. He looked distraught.

"The trail for Dad. It's getting colder every day." He looked distraught.

"Exactly. So what are we supposed to do?" Dean threw his hand in defeat.

"I don't know. Something. Anything."

"You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do?"

"Okay, guys, can we not fight in a diner?"

"You stay out of this Sharon. He's not even your dad."

"Excuse me?"

"Okay, you two can argue in the car. We're in public right now–"

"I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies."

"Dean, no. Don't patronise Sammy. Why are we all fighting? Anyway, my point is– We will find John, but until then, we have to stick together, alright?"

"And kill everything bad between here and there while we're at it."

Sam had no choice but to nod along.

'Welcome to Lake Manitoc' the sign read.

"Where are we starting?" I asked.

"Will Carlton. Last to see his sister, Sophie."

"Great." The car pulled up next to the Carlton mailbox.

Dean led us to the door and knocked. "Will Carlton?" the young man that opened the door nodded. "I'm Agent Ford. This is Agent Hamill, and Agent May. We're with the US Wildlife Service."

We flashed our badges on cue.

"Um, Mr. Clinton," I leaned a little forward when we sat down to question him. "Can you tell us about what you saw when your sister was out in the lake?"

"She was about a hundred yards out. That's where she got dragged down."

"And you're sure she didn't just drown?" Dean questioned.

"Yeah. She was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She was as safe out there as she was in her own bathtub." Not when there was a spirit that travelled through the pipes and tried to kill everyone in town.

"So no splashing? No signs of distress?" Sam tilted his head.

"No, that's what I'm telling you."

"Did you see any shadows in the water? Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?"

"No. Again, she was really far out there."

"You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean continued.

"No, never. Why? Why, what do you think's out there?"

"Well, we're not really sure. But, we'll let you know when we do find something out." I finished the conversation and we all left.

"Shouldn't we talk to the father too?" Sam suddenly said.

"I don't think there would have been much point in talking to him. He seemed pretty dazed." I got in the car.

"She has a point. That guy probably wouldn't make a peep." Dean shrugged and the two brothers got in as well. "Next stop, police station."

"Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" the Sheriff, Sheriff Jenkins, the one behind all of this glared at us.

"You sure it's accidental? Will Carlton saw something grab his sister." Sam shot back. Good boy.

"Like what?" the Sheriff gestured towards the chairs in his office. "Sorry, only got two in here."

"I c–" I started, but Dean cut in.

"That's fine. I'll stand." He put on the smile that said 'this is final', and I wasn't going to protest in public.

"There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake." the Sheriff repeated. "There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person, unless it was the Loch Ness Monster."

"Yeah, right." Dean laughed. Sam and I shot him a look. He quietened down quick.

"Will Carlton was traumatized, and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still– We dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."

"That's weird, though, I mean, that's, that's the third missing body this year."

"I know. These are people from my town. These are people I care about."

"We understand." I sympathised. Not really. This guy had murdered when he was a child. To me, he was more of a monster than the one that dragged people into the lake, because he was a human.

"Anyway… All this...it won't be a problem much longer."

"Well, the dam, of course."

"Oh, right. I didn't realise they had already begun construction."

"It's falling apart, and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town, either."

A beautiful voice brought us out of our very unenlightening conversation. "Oh, uh, sorry, am I interrupting?"

Dean's eyes were immediately on her. Jealousy bubbled in my chest. He had a soft spot for women and children. Single mothers even more. And there Andrea was, with her little boy. "I can come back later."

"Gentlemen, this is my daughter."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Dean." Dean held out his hand.

"Andrea Barr. Hi." Andrea shook it firmly. Man, another thing he liked.

"Sharon." I found myself quipping in. Andrea's smile faltered. Jealousy was a pain.

"And I'm Sam." Thanks Sammy for the backup. "We're with the Wildlife Services. About the lake."

"Oh," Andrea whispered.

"Oh, hey there," Dean finally spotted the kid hiding behind Andrea. "What's your name?"

The boy ran away without answering.

"His name is Lucas." the Sheriff answered.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked, concerned.

"My grandson's been through a lot. We all have." Yeah, like the grandmother of the poor boy he'd killed.

"Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know." The Sheriff walked out of his office. The conversation was clearly over.

"Thanks. You know, now that you mentioned it, could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?"

"Lakefront Motel. Go around the corner. It's about two blocks south." Andrea pointed down the road.

"Two–, would you mind showing us– Sharon!" Dean was just straight up flirting at this point. I could hear him yelling my name as I walked out the door. I could walk two blocks by myself. I heard Sam's heavy footsteps follow me close behind.

"Hey," Sam caught up. "You know he's not actually going to do anything with her right?"

"Yeah, flirting with another woman in front of his wife. That's not doing anything, indeed! Just another day on the job you know."

"Sharon, trust me, when I say that he has been loyal to you since–"

"Look here, Sam. I know what looking upon a beautiful woman or man feels like, alright? Just because sex disgusts me doesn't mean I don't want to look at a handsome man– with clothes on. But I wouldn't actually go up and talk to them like I don't have a ring on my finger."

"That's… that's true." Sam sighed.

"You would tell me if he ever has an affair, right?"

"Of course. He might be my brother, but I won't let him be a douchebag to my sister either. And you know that Dad would tell you too, right? You're like a daughter to him. Except he's MIA right now."

"I know John will tell me. He once texted me when he thought Dean was trying to take a girl to the motel from a bar when they were on a hunt."

"Wait, what?" Sam turned around to see if he could spot Dean.

"It was nothing, Sam. As it turns out, the girl had been roofied and the ambulances and firefighters were too busy putting out some fire in a restaurant, so he took her to the hospital."

"How do you stay with the guy?" Sam shook his head.

"By ignoring him until he realises his mistake." I opened the front door to the motel and slid my (fake) card to the clerk. "Two rooms please. One with one king, and another with two kings."

"He's being kicked to the couch?" Sam looked on, amused.

"Two rooms, coming right up." The guy chimed and handed the card back to us.

"Hey," Dean finally wandered in. I refused to look in his direction.

"Give me just one moment to find you guys your keys…" the guy was cute. Cute dirty blond hair and cute sparkling blue eyes… His name tag read 'William'. Cute name too. I felt a little guilty as an idea popped into my head. Two could play the game Dean was playing.

He dangled two keys on his fingers. When I went to take them, I made sure my hand brushed against his. "Thanks William."

"You're welcome. Ms. Carter." Even his smile was cute. Damn.

"You two should go ahead." I tossed the one for the double king bed to Sam. I tapped my fingers on the counter. "You wouldn't happen to know any bars around the area, would you?"

"What–" I heard Dean start, but he was quickly dragged away by Sam. I shot Sam a thumbs up. Thanks, Sammy.

"Fight with your husband?" William leaned in closer.

"He's– he's not–" I stammered.

William chuckled. "Oh, it's alright. I knew from the moment the bigger guy said 'couch'. And you and the other guy have matching rings."

"So people do see them," I groaned. "And they still willingly hit on them."

"I must say, he looks like the playboy type. How are you doing it?"

"Man, I don't know. I like the guy. He likes me back. He hasn't cheated. Not to mention he only flirts with women when I'm around. He knows I get jealous easily."

"You know… that sounds kind of… manipulative?"

I shrugged. "Well, did you not see me try to flirt with you?"

"Tit for tat huh." he laughed. Man, he was seriously cute.

"Well, obviously I wasn't very good at it." I sighed. "I've never actually done this kind of thing before. Sorry to have wasted your time."

"Oh, it was no problem." William grinned. "But if you really are looking for a bar. There's one two streets across. Gets real busy over the weekend."

"Do you know if they're hiring temp hands?"

"Oh, you're a bartender." William whistled. "I can introduce you to the woman that runs the joint. Her name's Andrea, Andrea Barr." What a twist of fate. But did Andrea run a bar in the series?

"Uh… like the one whose husband drowned recently?"

"Yeah. Christopher was a great guy. His son, Lucas, looks just like him…" William looked down sadly. "It was a sad thing. The boy's still traumatised from it. Won't talk to anyone."

"I'm sorry to hear that." But I already knew that information.

"Thanks." he gave a watery smile.

"Thank you too. Take care. I hope it'll get easier for you."

"I wish you luck with your husband too. Have a good stay."

That evening, I went to talk with Andrea before the bar opened.

"I thought you worked with Wildlife." Andrea looked at me with questioning eyes.

"Well, I also have a bartending license. Used to do it to pay for college." I handed her my (fake) license. "I just work as a temporary hire now when we're working longer cases. And we happen to be staying for a few more days." I leaned in to whisper. "Wildlife doesn't really pay that well to us leg workers."

Andrea nodded in understanding. "We do have a busy weekend. Bachelorette party of an old friend of mine. We're the only actual dive in town, so… welcome on board!" she held out her arms for a hug, and I hesitantly accepted her hug. Why did people like hugs so much?

She pulled away with a smile. "Lemme just go grab your apron and temporary name tag… Do you have makeup?"

"No–"

"I'll get you some of mine. And once I've introduced you to everyone, you can start as soon as we open in an hour!"

Working till 2:00AM worked out perfectly for someone with a whack a sleep schedule as mine. My bedtime had always been 3:00AM to noon, and that school schedule really threw me off. Bars had such better timing.

I inserted my key into my motel room door knob and twisted. No click. It twisted so easily. I was immediately on guard. I grabbed the gun in my pocket and held the trigger as I slowly opened the door. There was a giant figure in my room that spun around with a gun of his own. Dean?

"Where were you?" Dean was in my room, my separate motel room. We both put our guns away.

"What do you mean, 'where'? And breaking into a lady's room?" I couldn't believe him. Maybe William was right. This felt toxic.

"I'm just asking. Where were you?"

"You have no right to ask me that." I closed the door behind me. I dropped my bag on the bed and swiped at the lipstick Andrea had lent me. It was a bright dizzying shade of red. It didn't even come close to the pinks I liked wearing. But the pay for the night had been good. 200 dollars for four hours wasn't bad.

"Since when do you wear lipstick of that color?"

"Since today." I walked into the bathroom and splashed water all over my face. The sink turned peach with the amount of concealer that dripped down my face. I pulled at my eyelashes, wincing as clumps of mascara stained my fingers black.

In the bathroom mirror, I spotted Dean make his way over with my makeup removing wipes in his hands. He passed me one and leaned against the sink as I worked the paint off my face. The concealer was the wrong colour, the blush was too deep, the mascara was too clumpy, the lipstick was too red, the eyeliner stung, and the blush just sucked.

"You look terrible." Dean gently started wiping at my neck. I'd forgotten about the foundation on my neck. "It looks like Andrea's makeup."

"You mean your hookup's?" I spat. "How do you even know her makeup shades, huh? She give you a tour of her bathroom when you were railing her?" I knew that wasn't possible. Andrea had been at the bar, managing things.

"I was getting information. Sammy was with me the whole time. And that was earlier in the day."

"Yeah, information like her number and the position she likes doing it in." My jealousy was petty. It was stupid. We were working a case and I was letting my emotions take over. I blamed my period.

Dean ignored the remark. "The sheriff wouldn't say anything so I went for the next best option. Andrea Barr. She was the wife of the other guy that died. Christopher Barr."

"I know."

Dean ran his hand down his face. "You know why I flirted with her."

"I do." I really did. I knew Dean wouldn't leave me. When an attractive woman caught his eye, he would stare, but like me he would never make a move. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"You haven't answered where you went."

"I was working. With Andrea. She runs a bar."

"Huh, didn't expect that career from her." Dean wiped the last bit of makeup off from the back of my neck and threw all the used wipes into the trash can. "So what was that with that guy William?"

I felt embarrassment rise up my cheeks. I grabbed my nightgown from my bag. "Nothing. It was nothing."

"It obviously wasn't nothing." Dean's tone had gotten playful.

I pushed against him to get him out of the bathroom so I could change. "Dean, seriously, it was nothing–"

"You're as red as a tomato." Dean's finger hooked under my chin. His right cheek had quirked up with his right lip in a lopsided smirk. Damn, he was smooth.

"I'm not…" I tried pushing him out again. "I just wanna change my clothes–"

"Not anything I haven't seen before." he ran his hands down my sides. "Come on, sweetheart."

Fine then. I took off my top and went to pull my bra off.

"Wait, that's not how I imagined this would go." Dean groaned. "You're supposed to unhook the thing by arching your back–"

"Are you trying to live out some wet fantasy you've had?" I laughed. "My hands can never find the hook. You know that."

"Would it ever kill you to play along?" He leaned in.

His mouth covered mine and his arms wrapped around my waist. He pulled me impossibly close. My belt dug into my hips, almost painfully, but I had no room between our bodies to take it off. He was already on it though. His hands made quick work of the belt. He removed his mouth from mine to look over my shoulder. I knew exactly what he wanted. But…

"Dean," I whispered against his neck as he played with my straps. "Not tonight–"

"Oh," he stopped what he was doing. "Not in the mood?" I loved that low husky voice of his. It sent me to heaven every time.

"Well, I'm very much in the mood, but–"

"Oh God," He reached his hand down to my butt. The scrunch of my pads echoed in the bathroom. "Seriously?"

Did he have to do it like that? I felt the blush spread all across my cheek. "I didn't ask to bleed every month."

"Yeah? Well, we can still do this right?"

He was kissing me again. The force of the kiss pushed me backwards. My knees hit the edge of the bathtub. I gasped. "Dean," his hands held me up as he kissed me again. "Not the–" another kiss, "moldy bathtub–"

He picked me up by the thighs. But his lips never left mine. He only stopped once to lower me just enough that my head wouldn't hit the door frame when he carried me to the bed.

"We- we can't go all the way–" I could barely catch my breath with how heated he got.

"Hey," he brushed my hair away from my face, "we don't have to do this if you don't want to. It's up to you,"

God, he got so much more attractive when he was being gentle and asking for consent. And how could I say no to those beautiful green eyes?

"Will my thighs do?"

"Are you two good?" Sam asked the next morning.

"Nothing better than make up sex." Dean laughed. "Went all night."

"Too much information." Sam cringed.

"Dean, shut up. We're going to talk to Andrea or what?"

Andrea was sitting in a park, watching the kids play.

"Can we join you?" Sam asked.

"I'm here with my son."

"Oh. Mind if I say hi?" Dean walked curiously towards the kid.

"Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maguire thing is not gonna work on me." Andrea shook her head.

"I don't think that's what this is about." Sam told her. Andrea nodded like 'sure'.

"It must be hard. Having to go through all that." I said to her.

"Yeah," Andrea gave me a tired smile. "You did awesome last night by the way."

"Thanks."

"So who's the lucky guy?" Andrea's eyes traveled to my ring. Well that took her long enough.

"It's a secret." I told her. "Has he gone to speech therapy?"

"We've tried everything. All kinds of therapists, but nothing seems to work."

"I see that he likes to draw."

"Yeah." Andrea shook her head to dry her tears. "He keeps drawing this red bike. And I have no idea what that means."

"What are the Doctors saying?" Sam asked gently.

"That it's a kind of post-traumatic stress." Andrea sniffled.

"That can't be easy. For either of you."

"We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just...when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw…"

"Kids are strong. You'd be surprised what they can deal with." Dean had come back.

"You know, he used to have such life. He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there. Drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish–" Lucas interrupted her by running up to us with a picture. "Hey, sweetie."

Lucas handed Dean the picture. Dean knelt down to his level and accepted it. He looked so happy, talking to the kid, fist bumping, hugging him. All things we couldn't have.

"So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie." Sam said, walking into the room. William had a good laugh when we told him we were switching to two queens.

"What do you mean?" Dean took a swig from his second beer bottle of the day.

"I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead." Sam dropped the food he got on the table. I immediately grabbed my own burger from the pile, before it could be stolen by the one man in the room who inhaled burgers.

"He drowned? At home?"

In the sink.

"In the sink."

"What the hell? So you're right, this isn't a creature. We're dealing with something else."

"Yeah, but what?"

I held my hands up. I couldn't tell them it was a spirit that was attached to the lake.

Dean sighed. "Water wraith, maybe? Some kind of demon? I mean, something that controls water...water that comes from the Same source."

"The lake. Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time."

"And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere."

Yeah, now I couldn't go in the bathroom without fearing for my life.

"This is gonna happen again soon."

"And we do know one other thing for sure. We know this has got something to do with Bill Carlton."

"Yeah, it took both his kids."

"And I've been asking around. Lucas's dad, Chris, was Bill Carlton's godson."

"Alright, Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit."

The visit to Mr. Carlton's house was useless. The man was too distraught to talk after losing both his kids in the past few days. I'd only managed to get one tiny sniffle out of him, and that was that.

Dean pulled out the picture that Lucas had given him.

"That's the Carlton house right?" Sam asked. He lifted the picture up to compare it with the house we were standing right next to. "Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something."

Our next stop was Andrea's house.

"Hey," I smiled when she opened the door. "We were wondering if we could talk to Lucas about what he saw that day."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Yeah, any good mother would say that.

"Ijust need to talk to him." Dean insisted.

"Please, it could help explain and solve what's doing this to so many people. Will Carlton also passed away and we think that whatever Lucas knows is key to preventing further deaths."

Andrea nodded slowly. "But he won't say anything. What good is talking to him gonna do? It'll just make him worse—"

"If it helps, then I used to work with special needs children before this job. I'll go in with Dean and make sure that everything is good. Would you like to wait outside the door in case that helps?"

Andrea thought about it for a bit before sighing. "Yes, but keep the door open so I can come in."

"Of course. Thank you."

Sam and Andrea waited outside the door when Dean and I walked into Lucas' room. I busied myself with the artwork on the walls while Dean sat down on the floor with Lucas.

"Hey, Lucas. You remember me?"

Lucas continued with his coloring. More red bikes. They looked exactly like the one Dean and Sam would later dig out of the ground near the sheriff's house.

"You know, I, uh, I wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is, I need your help again." Dean handed Lucas the previous drawing of the Carlton house. "How did you know to draw this? Did you know something bad was gonna happen? Maybe you could nod yes or no for me."

Good tactic. But it wasn't gonna work.

You're scared. It's okay. I understand. See, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom, and I was scared too." Sam shifted uneasily at the doorway. "I didn't feel like talking, jut like you. But see, my mom— I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe, your dad wants you to be brave too." Lucas kept coloring. Huh, wasn't he supposed to give Dean the picture by now?

"Ask him to draw it for you. It's his preferred method of talking so let him." I suggested.

Lucas shot me a glance and handed one of his drawings to Dean.

"Thanks, Lucas." Dean straightened up.

We thanked Andrea once more and got in the car.

"Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died." Dean said.

"There are cases where going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions and psychic tendencies."

Did these cases include getting telekinetic powers? Or did some demon drip blood into my mouth too?

No demon blood in you, child.

Well, that was good to know. At this point, I'd stopped being surprised at the Angel popping into my head randomly. Dean and Sam's conversation faded in the background.

Your powers are something different.

Was I born with them?

Yes.

But then how was I not whipping people around back in my world?

Because magic, and the supernatural didn't exist there.

Huh. I guess that made sense.

You were able to lucid dream, correct?

Yeah, but everyone could if they tried.

Never as easily as you.

"Sharon!" I jumped at the sudden call. "Can you hear me, sweetheart?"

"What? Yeah. Yeah, sorry." I shook my head. The Angel was gone.

"Was the voice talking to you again?" Sam asked. I couldn't say yes, but the brothers got the right idea. "No problem. You just looked like you were in a daze like back at the hospital so we got worried."

"Yeah, I'm good. No worries. So, um, we're going to the yellow house by the Church?"

"Yep," Dean pressed the gas harder.

"We're sorry to bother you, ma'am." Dean cleared his throat. "But does a little boy live here, by chance? He might wear a blue ball cap… has a red bicycle?"

"No, sir." The old lady whispered. "Not for a very long time. Peter's been gone for 35 years now."

Peter Sweeney, the boy that the sheriff and Bill Cliton killed.

"The police never-" she wiped her tears. "They never had any idea what happened." Her sorrow filled eyes met mine. "He just disappeared."

Sam pointed out toy soldiers to Dean. I stayed with Mrs. Sweeney as she cried over her son's death. "Losing him- you know, it's… it's worse than dying."

"I understand."

She held my hand as she cried. "I don't care that it's been 35 years— I just want justice for my son!"

"Of course, ma'am." I let her cry. "We will do our best."

"Did he disappear from here? I mean, from this house?" Dean questioned.

"I remember it as clear as day. He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school, and he never showed up."

Dean lifted a picture from the table. "Peter Sweeney and Billy Carlton, 1970." He turned the photo to show me and Sam. If I remembered correctly, if we went to see Bill Carlton now, then we would be charged with possessing fake IDs and investigated for being on the scene when the spirit took Bill. I had to keep the bys far from it.

"Can we grab something before going to Bill Carlton's house?" I told the boys. It wasn't like I could save Bill if he was riding off in a motor boat.

"It's unusual for you to be hungry this time of the day." Dean grinned. "We should have time for a quick snack."

And so I was sitting in the car with an ice cream in hand, one I wasn't going to finish because I was full in reality. I'd managed to stall just long enough for Dean to realise that we'd been made.

"Police are looking for us." Dean mumbled as he started backing out of the scene. Ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks. Someone had called 911. And police cars meant the sheriff who had it out for anyone that went digging around his business. He was already staring at our car as we hightailed it out of there.

"Are we just gonna pack up and go?" Sam stared as I locked the door behind us.

Hopefully, the police didn't have a warrant to go searching our motel room.

Someone unlocked our door. The three of us immediately reached for our guns. "Hey, it's just me, William." William held his hands up. "Just asking— Are you guys in trouble? For impersonating government officials?"

Uhhh…

Dean had his gun aimed at the young man. He threateningly stepped closer. "You wanna sell us out?"

"Hey don't worry. You guys have been more than entertaining for me." William laughed nervously. "I just came by to tell you guys to stay quiet. The police will be here shortly— I'm gonna tell them you guys left. They think you're still in the other two rooms because our system takes 24 hours to update."

"And you're helping us because…?" Sam lowered his gun.

"Look. This is the happiest I've seen Lucas since that even with Chris. Whatever it is you guys are doing, I know it's to help. And Andrea tells me that too. So, just in good faith, alright?"

Sirens wailed outside. "So… I'm gonna go give them the other keys… and tell them you guys skedaddled a few minutes ago. Just— be quiet— and don't bring any dead bodies inside. Yeah?"

"Yeah," Dean refused to lower his gun until William had left. "Start packing. In case he's lying. We're leaving through the window."

The three of us started clearing up the room in case William decided to rat us out. We heard the police barge in, but they never walked into ours. A couple of hours later, the police were gone. William knocked on our door to tell us that the coast was clear.

"The kid really helped us." Dean mused.

"He's a good guy." Sam nodded.

"I think I'm gonna grab a beer." Dean stretched his arms.

"Yeah, me too." Sam grabbed his jacket. "Sharon, you coming?"

"Too tired. I think I'll chill instead. Besides, surely the police are looking for us. How often do you see two men with one woman? It's better for the two of you to go. Get me a coke though."

"Anything else for my lady?"

"Nope."

My phone suddenly rang. I reached into my pocket and fished it out. 'Andrea Barr'.

Maybe she needs help at the bar tonight? But that made no sense. Surely her dad told her about us. I picked up the phone anyway. Nothing. There was silence on the other end. "Andrea?"

Nothing.

Oh. "Lucas?" Lucas banged on a door. "Alright, Lucas. Listen to me. I'll be right there, okay?"

This was the Andrea drowning scene. I grabbed my jacket and ran outside. Andrea lived a few streets away. I could get there on foot faster than if Dean turned around and got stuck at a red signal.

I pressed his name on my phone. He picked up on the first ring. "Dean,"

"Did something happen? You're out of breath. What's wrong?"

"Andrea's house." I said in between breaths. I jumped when a car's headlights shone right in my face. It honked loudly, but I had places to be. "Lucas called. She needs help."

"And you chose to run to her place?" Dean yelled. "We'll be right there— don't do anything stupid."

"When have I ever done that?" I held back a laugh.

"We'll be there in five!" I heard Sam yell.

"Great. I'll be inside." I hung up as I approached the house. Lucas was waiting on the doorstep, running around in a panic.

"Lucas!" I yelled to him. He had fear in his eyes. He stood up the second I got there and pushed the door open. He looked terrified. Poor thing.

He led me up the stairs to the master bathroom.

I could hear Andrea's splashing through the door. "Andrea?!" I yelled, hoping for a response. Anything that would indicate her head was above the water.

Nothing. "I'm gonna break down the door!"

I backed up and ran into the door with my shoulder. The door wouldn't budge. One more time. Okay, I could hear a crack. With a couple more hits, I stumbled through the broken door.

The water in the bathtub was black.

"Stand back Lucas." I told the boy. He obediently stood right outside the bathroom, but watching with tears in his eyes.

Andrea's splashing was starting to grow weaker. I was running out of time. And against all logic, I submerged my hands into the water. I grabbed something that felt like human skin. Hopefully, it was Andrea, and not the vengeful spirit. I pulled as hard as I could. I braced my feet against the tub that kept oozing black water. I tried pulling her up again. This time I managed to pull up her arm which I'd been holding onto. But that was barely enough leverage.

I switched my grip to holding her under the arm instead, and I felt her hair against my hand. Good. I managed to find her other arm through the murky water and let a smile slip in triumph. But it didn't last long because the spirit only pulled harder. And now I was being pulled under along with her.

Like hell I was going to let that happen. But I was too weak to actually pull her up. She was dead weight in my arms, and that only meant double the effort in pulling her out. She wasn't even kicking at this point. How long had she not been breathing? Was she dead? Was I too late?

My heart leapt into my throat when there were thundering footsteps on the stairs.

"Lucas!" Oh, thank God, it was just Sam. Sam was rubbing Lucas' back as the boy burst into tears. "We're gonna get your mother out, okay?"

I was starting to lose strength in my arms. And Andrea was starting to slip. Fighting with a spirit wasn't exactly a walk in the park no matter how many times I did it. Dean rushed next to me and stuck his arms under the water too. His hands were over mine as he got a good grip on her.

"Pull!" Dean grunted, and I gave it my all. She finally broke free with our combined strength. Andrea had gone unconscious. But the spirit in the water wasn't done. It kept overflowing from the bathtub, and only gave up once we had Andrea back out in the hallway. Lucas raced towards her with a towel and wrapped her up.

"That-that sucked!" I collapsed on the hallway floor. But hey, Andrea was still alive. She was coughing up water as Sam gave her back blows.

By the time Andrea was stable enough to talk about what had happened, it was already dawn.

"Can you tell us?" Sam asked softly.

"No," Andrea shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense." She started crying. "I'm going crazy."

"No you're not." Sam reassured. "Tell us what happened. Everything."

"I-I heard— I thought I heard… There was this voice."

"What did it say?"

"It-it said… 'come play with me'." Andrea sobbed. "What's happening?"

Dean showed me a scrapbook he found. "Jake - 12 years old." He read to me. He lowered the scrapbook so I could see it too. He flipped through the pages and paused at a very specific photo. "That's Peter," He pointed to a boy in the picture. He turned to Andrea. "Do you recognise the kids in these pictures?"

"What?" Andrea stammered as she squinted at the pictures. "Um, no. I mean, except that's my dad right there. He must have been about 12 in these pictures."

Sam and Dean stared at each other.

"So Chris Barr's drowning. The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been the sheriff."

"Bill and the Sheriff," Sam corrected. "They were both involved with Peter."

"What about Chris?" Andrea looked at the three of us with wide eyes. "My dad— what are you talking about?"

"Lucas, what is it?" Dean suddenly said.

Lucas had run off to the window. "Lucas!" Andrea ran after him as he left through the door.

Lucas suddenly stopped at the entrance to the woods. The bike.

I grabbed Sam and headed for the car where our shovels were.

"Shovels?" Sam frowned at the sight of the equipment I was dragging out of the back. "What're we digging?"

A red bike. But of course I couldn't say that. "We're digging. Can you grab a shovel for Dean too?"

"Yeah,"

We ran back to where Dean was examining the spot where Lucas had led us to. "Digging?" Dean groaned. "Is there some corpse buried here or something?"

A corpse of a bike, maybe. I forced the shovel into the ground. Great, we were digging up things even when we weren't on a salt and burn.

"Got something!" Sam said. His shovel hit something metallic.

The two brothers got busy scraping the dirt away from what. They had hit and they pulled out the red bicycle together.

"Peter's bike." Sam stared at the rusty red thing.

"Who are you?" Someone suddenly said.

We turned around to see the sheriff pointing a gun at us.

"Put the gun down Jake." Sam dropped his shovel. Dean and I followed suit.

"How did you know that was there?"

"What happened?" Dean scoffed. "You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake and then buried the bike? You can't bury the truth, Jake. Nothing stays buried."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The sheriff said blatantly.

"You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty five years ago." Dean repeated. "That's what the hell I'm talking about. And now you got one seriously pissed off spirit."

"Dad!" Andrea ran up behind us. No, that meant that Lucas was alone. I tried to slip away from the group, but the sheriff shot at my feet.

"Hey!" Dean yelled in anger. Sam shifted till he covered me.

"Andrea! Don't leave Lucas alone!" I shouted at her. But she was too shocked by the accusations being thrown at her father.

"It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love. It's gonna drown them. And it's gonna drag their bodies God knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt." Sam tried to reason with the guy. But of course it wasn't going to work.

"Yeah, and how do you know that?" The sheriff laughed.

Bastard.

"Because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton."

"Listen to yourselves. You're insane."

"I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us. But if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust." Dean spat. "Now tell me you buried Peter somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake."

He let him go in the lake.

"Dad, is any of this true?" Andrea was in tears.

"No. Don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous."

"Something tried to drown me! Chris died on that lake— Dad, look at me!"

The sheriff turned in her direction.

"Tell me you didn't kill anyone!"

The sheriff looking away was all the confirmation Andrea needed. "Oh my God."

"Andrea, you need to go grab Lucas now!" I repeated.

But the sheriff chose to confess, keeping Andrea trapped in the conversation. I couldn't run after Lucas either, because the damn sheriff wouldn't put his gun away.

"Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to. But we held him under. Too long and he drowned. We let the body go, and it sank."

Dean glanced at me and Sam. The spirit was not gonna be put to rest until the dam was gone. And no matter how good of Hunters we were, breaking a dam was pretty impossible.

We have to get Lucas!" Dean yelled.

But in true Hollywood fashion, the sheriff and Andrea ignored our cries. All the while, Lucas was wandering closer and closer to the lake.

"Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational!"

Lucas was right at the edge of the water

Okay, I'd had enough. "Will you guys just listen to me for one second?! This is important! Lucas!"

Andrea finally snapped out of her stupor and looked at the boy whose feet had touched the water.

"Lucas! Baby, stay where you are!" Andrea screamed.

She and the sheriff were starting to get ready to jump into the water.

"Hold them back!" I yelled to the brothers. "I'll get Lucas!"

"Can she even swim?!" The sheriff yelled. "If it wants me, then let it kill me! Leave my grandson alone!"

Maybe the sheriff did have some heart in him. I took off my jacket and threw it on the muddy bank.

'Come play with me', said the voice of a young boy. The voice reverberated throughout the lakeside. Peter Sweeney. That was the kid who they'd drowned. The voice was eery, and my heart raced in the feeling I'd learned to call fear.

"Peter!" I yelled into the lake. "Peter! Stop!"

But of course he wouldn't. I grabbed Lucas before he could wade further than chest deep water.

"Lucas!" I pulled at him by the arms. "Don't listen to it! Listen to me!"

The spirit had Lucas in a stupor. And it was pulling Lucas in by the legs.

"Peter! You don't have to do this!" I fought against the spirit. "We'll make sure that the sheriff- Jake- is punished, okay! You don't have to take an innocent little boy!"

And of course, the spirit didn't listen. It continued pulling him down. But unlucky for him, I was a strong swimmer myself.

I heard the people on shore yell as Lucas and I got dragged underwater. But not for long. With Lucas being practically weightless thanks to the gallons of water pushing his body up, and my years of swimming, I was able to break the surface with him.

Only to be yanked down under again. I forced my eyes to open underwater and I spotted a ghostly pale young boy covered in seaweed pulling on Lucas' legs. With everything I had, I smacked the spirit in the face and swam back up.

Alright. All those lifeguarding courses and what did I learn about bringing an injured person to shore? Put them in a back float position, wrap your arm around their neck and swim to shore. What did I learn about bringing an injured person to shore when there was a freaking ghost chasing you and trying to drag said injured person back into the water? Nothing! They should start adding that into their lifeguard courses. Hear, hear, Red Cross!

My fastest stroke being back stroke was coming back to bite me. I couldn't swim to safety with an unconscious Lucas on my back. That would be suicide. So I kicked as hard as I could. The bank was just in sight. The four on land were yelling.

"Behind you!" Sam and Dean yelled together.

I turned around just in time to kick back the spirit one more time.

I was cold, so cold. The adrenaline was starting to wear off. My legs were growing heavier and each stroke took more energy than the one before. But. I had a kid to save.

Obviously, the spirit had a kid to kill. Once more, it pulled on Lucas. "Peter!" I yelled. Hopefully it would work. I had to try. Dean was in the water, swimming towards us while Sam held back the sheriff and Andrea. But Dean would never make it here in time. "If you kill Lucas, then that makes you just as bad as Jake!" The spirit's hold loosened ever so slightly. I kept going. "You don't want that do you?! Don't turn into a monster like he did! Leave the innocent kid alone!" The spirit stopped pulling but the murkiness in the water remained. "I promise you, Jake will be punished. He will lose everything he has ever had. He will lose his house. He will lose his job. He has already lost the trust of his family. Letting a prideful scheming man like him rot in jail is a way worse fate than dying."

The black in the water soon faded, and I felt Lucas finally stop being pulled downward. The spirit was gone. For the time being at least, and it was time to get him to safety.

"Sharon," I saw Dean swim over. "I'll take the kid."

I could only nod and let Dean take over Lucas. I was too exhausted to correct the way Dean pulled Lucas over to land. It didn't even matter. We were all safe. Including the killer sheriff who surprisingly had a semi decent heart when it came to his family. That's what really mattered.

Andrea and Jake were crying over Lucas' unconscious body. And Dean was calling 911 to report an unconscious half drowned boy while slipping into his own jacket.

"Here," Sam helped me wrap up in my jacket, and offered me his too. It was, like, ten sizes too big, but it was warm, much warmer than mine. It smelled like him too. An aftershave that Dean loved stealing and those cheap buy-2-get-1-free colognes from Gas-n-Sips.

"Don't do that again." Dean pointed at me.

"Do what?"

"Oh, I don't know, like jumping into a lake with a spirit in it that's actively trying to kill a kid!"

I looked towards Sam for support. He usually agreed with me if it meant saving people.

To my shock, he wasn't in support of me. "I kind of agree with him on this one. Sharon. That was reckless."

"I'm pretty much a swim coach."

"There was a vengeful spirit in the water!"

"Well, I calmed it down, didn't I! And I saved the two people that it wanted!"

"By almost dying yourself!" Dean protested.

"He's right." Sam shook his head. "That was stupid."

What the hell? I save a kid and that's their reaction? Seriously? As I stood up angrily, I felt a heavy weight in my jeans.

Oh, fuck. I'd completely forgotten in the chaos of the moment.

"Can we get back to the motel please?" I asked sheepishly.

Dean looked around. "As soon as I make sure the kid is okay."

"Then Sam can drive me back."

"I can, but what's the hurry?"

"I forgot I was wearing pads."

"Shit."

"Shit."

"I know."

"Thanks for the tip!" William said as we headed out.

"Thanks for the help." I waved him goodbye as we threw our bags into the car.

It was a happy ending. Jake the sheriff had his life screwed over. Lucas and Andrea were alive. And the killings were going to be gone for good once the construction started today. It didn't get better than that.

"You're still never doing that again." Dean reminded me.

"Sam, Dean, Sharon."

"Andrea." I smiled as she walked up.

"We're glad we caught you." She looked shy. "We just, um, we made you lunch for the road. It's not much, but–"

"Free food is good food." Dean grinned.

"I'm sure they're great." I looked at the tray of sandwiches Lucas was carrying. I hated sandwiches. But I could enjoy a gift.

"Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself." Andrea said with pride.

"Can I… give it… now…?" Lucas' speech was slow, but vastly improved since last night.

"Of course." Andrea kissed his forehead.

"Come on Lucas, you wanna help me load them in the car?" Dean invited the boy to check out the Impala. Yeah, he would make a great dad.

"How you holding up?" Sam asked.

"It's just gonna take a long time to sort through everything, you know?" Andrea blinked her tears away. "Dad loves me. He loves Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that."

Sam frowned when he saw Dean climbing into his usual seat. "What's he doing over there?" He went around the car to yell at his brother. Idiots.

"You're a woman of many talents." Andrea suddenly said. "You should stop holding yourself to such small regard."

"Huh?"

"The lucky man is Dean, right?" She smiled. "When he was walking with me, you were all he would talk about."

Oh, on the first day. "Yeah, well. He's kind of out of my league. I still don't know why he proposed."

"Like I said. You should stop holding yourself to such small regard. It'll consume you."

"I'll… keep that in mind." She had no idea. Insecurities were a pain. And I had a lot of them. No matter what anyone said, it was hard to see myself on the same level of charisma as Dean. But seriously, if I was a 'freak', then why was he still with me?

"Zeppelin rules!" came the sudden cry.

Andrea and I both jumped. Lucas, Dean, and a disgruntled Sam were doing a weird cheer for Led Zeppelin. No doubt, it was Dean's idea.

"That's right. Up high." Dean held up his hand for a high five. Lucas leapt and managed to hit it.

"You two would make good parents." Andrea said softly.

I had nothing to say. With our lives, I doubted we would. Hunters starting families wasn't unheard of, but they never really flourished. They were never happy. Once you were in the life, you couldn't get out. Even if you did get out for a few years and started a family, it would come to bite back, and it was always the children that suffered. Starting a family would just continue that cycle, and I couldn't take the risk. Neither could Dean.

"You take care of your mom, okay?" Dean ruffled the boy's hair. He opened the door and motioned for me to get in. "Get in, or we're gonna run out of daylight before we hit the road."

I opened the car door. "Well, that's goodbye I guess." I got in the car as Dean brought her to life. "Thanks for the sandwiches."

"Of course." She smiled. "Thanks for everything!" she and Lucas yelled as we drove away.