Three
Heavenly Host cont'd
It was dawn before Dean, Sam and Adam finally stopped pacing Bobby's front room. They'd spent the entire night going over Mary's files and all the lore about Lilith, but so far, nothing was really jumping up and biting. And it didn't help that there was virtually no information about the Lilin other than what they already knew. Even Dean had to admit it was looking grim.
Sam decided to make breakfast, scrambling a few eggs with bacon and brewing some coffee before they all sat down to eat.
"There's got to be something we're not picking up on," Dean said over his plate. "Did Cas say anything before we got here yesterday?" he asked Adam.
"He just told me what was going on. He knew where Bobby was, so as soon as he put Mary down, he started looking through Bobby's books. But there wasn't anything new." Adam paused, it appeared, thinking quickly. "He just kept saying it had to be somewhere."
Sam looked up from his own food. "What had to be where?" he asked.
Adam appeared to think on it heavily, silent for only a few seconds before he looked at Sam. "A map."
"What did he say about where it was supposed to be?" Dean asked. "Why didn't he tell us about it last night? He had plenty of opportunity!"
"I don't know!" Adam exclaimed. "Maybe he didn't think it was here after all."
"And why didn't you tell us?" Dean demanded. "This is the end of the world we're talking about here, Adam. This is important! Yet again."
"I didn't remember it until now! The guy who used me to end the world as we know it showed up, and I got a little distracted!"
"Hey!" Sam yelled over both of them. "Stop it! That's not gonna help anything. And it's sure as hell not gonna help Mary." He paused, looking at Adam again. "Cas was looking for a map. A map to what?"
"What have we been looking for?" Adam reminded Sam. "The Demons and where they're taking Mary. Cas said it had to be here somewhere, but he didn't say what it was, where it was, or how to find it. He kept — he kept saying, ‘the beginning.' It would be at the beginning. But he never elaborated, and I was too busy freaking out to ask him what it meant. I'm sorry," he shouted at Dean.
"Okay," Sam said. "It's okay. We've all gone through this. We're on edge. We haven't slept. It's okay. Let's just think for a minute. I mean, beginning of what?"
"He never said," Adam continued. "He just kept saying it over and over."
Sam looked at Dean, prompting the elder Winchester to speak.
"Maybe it's Lilith," Dean said. "Her beginning. Didn't she climb out of the Devil's Gate in Wyoming?"
"Yeah," Sam said, glancing at Adam. "But that was after Mary was already born. Is it possible she had this going before she got out?"
"There's no way of knowing for sure," Dean concluded. "There's probably a million different places they could be, and we have no idea where to start looking. Let me be the first to say that this sucks."
It was quiet for several more minutes, and then Adam spoke softly. "What about Mary's beginning?" he asked, looking at Sam and then Dean.
Sam looked at Dean. "What do you think?" he asked his older brother. "Is it possible?"
Dean thought about it for another few seconds. "It's the best we got so far."
"Where was Mary born?" Adam asked softly.
Sam got up from the table abruptly, hurrying into the front room and retrieving Mary's papers from the group home where Mary had stayed. He laid out all of her records on the table between the plates of food, and together, they all looked over adoption papers that were blank, hospital records that were blacked out and school records that were half-empty. At first, they thought it was useless. Then Adam found her birth certificate, discovering that most of the fields had been completed the day Mary had been born, November 2, 2005.
The moment Sam saw Mary's birthdate, he cursed under his breath, staring at the paper otherwise silent and then clenching his jaws as Dean took the paper.
"Where was she born?" Dean asked. He scanned the paper, speaking after a few seconds. "New Hope, Minnesota. Well, that's ironic if anything ever was."
Adam spoke then. "Didn't you find Lilith the first time in New Harmony, Indiana?" he asked softly.
Dean sighed. "Yeah. Inside a little girl terrorizing her family and with Demons guarding the entire block. I don't think this will be like that."
"Why not?" Adam asked.
Dean looked at Sam, and together, they sighed heavily. "Because they probably know what happened there," Dean told Adam. "And since Lilith was doing that for fun, we have to guess that this is business. Her minions will break out the big guns for this one. We need to check for omens in the area, and maybe that'll give Cas time to get back. Sam, keeping looking through Mary's papers and find out how far away New Hope, Minnesota is from here." Dean looked at Adam. "You know what to look for. I've gotta make a phone call," he said getting up from the table and stepping out the side door.
Adam looked at Sam. "Do you tink they'd really go back to Mary's birthplace? Is that what all this is about?"
Sam inhaled deeply, pulling out his laptop and doing a search on New Hope, Minnesota to find a map. "I honestly don't know, but there's only one way to find out. Get on the web; check for omens. We'll go from there."
Adam stood up slowly, retrieving his own computer from the front room and beginning his own search.
The moment Dean stepped outside into the midmorning cold air, he inhaled as deep as he possibly could, feeling uncomfortable with his situation for the first time in three years. And since everything had started back up again, Dean hadn't stopped to think about it. He had a job to do, and he was one of only a handful of people who could get it done. That was just the reality of the job. But that didn't mean he had to give himself over to it completely — not like he'd done before. Never like he'd done before.
So when he stepped out of the house and pulled out his phone, he walked a good distance from the front porch, hitting his speed dial and lifting his phone as it began to ring. The moment he heard Lisa's voice, everything bad just seemed to fade away for a minute.
"Hello?"
"Lisa, it's me."
She sighed softly. "Dean, where are you? You were supposed to be back by now."
He inhaled again, looking around. "I know. This thing came up, and Sam and me had to act quick."
"What else is new?" he asked, a lot like Adam had the day before.
Dean chuckled softly. "Yeah, I guess so. What's Ben doing?"
"Wondering where you are. You were supposed to take him to karate yesterday. He was worried."
Dean turned back to the house. "I'm okay. I think. And I'll make it up to him. I'll go to karate with him when I get back. I'll ever dress out and let him kick my butt. How's that?"
Lisa laughed softly over the phone. "He'll definitely take you up on that." She paused, speaking after half a minute. "Dean, is everything okay? What is this thing? Is it dangerous?"
He didn't want to lie to her, but he knew if he told her the truth she would worry. And he didn't want her to worry about him when she had others to think about. Dean could take care of himself.
"It's fine, I promise. Sam and me are just working this like we always do, trying to figure out what to do next. Lisa," he said, thinking of the words in his head and trying to make them come out right, "you're a girl — "
She laughed. "That's very observant of you," she teased.
"And you know a lot about emotions and stuff like that," he continued. "If you were eight and in a real bad situation where you could get hurt without really meaning to, would you do anything to prevent it, or would you do it because you thought it would keep other people safe? Even if you didn't come out clean."
She didn't say anything for a minute, and Dean thought he hadn't said it right. But then she spoke. "I guess that would depend on the situation," she decided. "Kids are funny that way, Dean. They love unconditionally. But they also hate unconditionally. And they don't always know the right thing to do, or the right person to trust. Why are you asking?"
Dean hesitated. He didn't really want her to know the specifics of the job they were working on, but he needed advice, and she was the one with the kids. She could tell him what to do. At least, he hoped she could tell him what to do.
"Sam and I were looking into these disappearances in New York, and we found this little girl. She's eight. Her name's Mary, and she's in trouble. And I really want to help her. I do. But I'm worried that if Sam and I do this, it'll cost us further down the road, you know. Like it did last time. And she's beautiful, Lisa," he revealed, his voice breaking slightly. "She reminds me of you. But she's scared, and no kid should ever be that scared. I don't know what to do, Lisa."
Lisa was quiet for a couple of minutes, and Dean knew she was thinking about what he'd just said. He hoped she would see it from a mother's point of view. He really needed to know what a real parent would do, because right now, he felt completely helpless. Dean never liked feeling helpless.
"Dean," she said softly, "children are innocent. They're vulnerable. Given the right environment, some kids never lose that innocence. And they're always vulnerable. If this little girl needs you to keep her safe, then you have to do everything in your power to keep her safe. Even if that means taking a chance in the future. You once told me that it was worth more to live your life now, when it matters what happens immediately and not a few years down the road. This little girl deserves the same chance Ben had. And if you can save her, then that's what you need to do."
Dean blew out the breath he'd been holding in, not having heard Lisa's voice in over a week. "I hate it when you're right," he teased, grinning as he turned back to the house and saw Sam on the porch.
"It's the price you pay for asking my advice," she shot back. "Dean, whatever you do, please be safe yourself."
"You know I'll do my best. Bye, Lisa."
"Bye, Dean."
For several seconds, Dean stood still, holding his phone and easing his finger over the screen where her picture was still displayed. He wondered what she'd been doing when he'd called, because he was sure she would stop doing that and start to worry about him now. She always did, and more than anything, Dean had really want to avoid that. With her being so far into her pregnancy, he hoped she knew to stay calm and not stress too much about him. Dean told her all the time that he could take care of himself.
Dean made it to the porch as Sam spoke, pocketing his phone and easing up the steps to face his brother.
"New Hope, Minnesota is four and a half hours away," Sam reported. "Maybe less. And Adam found Demonic Omens everywhere in the area for the last few weeks. The Demons have been there for almost three weeks — the same amount of time passed since the first girl disappeared. But they're all over the place. There's no way of knowing where in town they're keeping Mary or the other girls."
Dean sighed, thinking about what Lisa had said and knowing he was running out of time to find Mary so she would be safe. He knew Sam and Adam wanted her safe even more than he did, but he was the oldest. And he'd been in plenty of stupid situations to know that Sam was the one who needed to be on the outside. That could really only mean one thing.
"Okay," he said to Sam, stepping passed him onto the porch and then inside the house.
Heavenly Host cont'd
It was dawn before Dean, Sam and Adam finally stopped pacing Bobby's front room. They'd spent the entire night going over Mary's files and all the lore about Lilith, but so far, nothing was really jumping up and biting. And it didn't help that there was virtually no information about the Lilin other than what they already knew. Even Dean had to admit it was looking grim.
Sam decided to make breakfast, scrambling a few eggs with bacon and brewing some coffee before they all sat down to eat.
"There's got to be something we're not picking up on," Dean said over his plate. "Did Cas say anything before we got here yesterday?" he asked Adam.
"He just told me what was going on. He knew where Bobby was, so as soon as he put Mary down, he started looking through Bobby's books. But there wasn't anything new." Adam paused, it appeared, thinking quickly. "He just kept saying it had to be somewhere."
Sam looked up from his own food. "What had to be where?" he asked.
Adam appeared to think on it heavily, silent for only a few seconds before he looked at Sam. "A map."
"What did he say about where it was supposed to be?" Dean asked. "Why didn't he tell us about it last night? He had plenty of opportunity!"
"I don't know!" Adam exclaimed. "Maybe he didn't think it was here after all."
"And why didn't you tell us?" Dean demanded. "This is the end of the world we're talking about here, Adam. This is important! Yet again."
"I didn't remember it until now! The guy who used me to end the world as we know it showed up, and I got a little distracted!"
"Hey!" Sam yelled over both of them. "Stop it! That's not gonna help anything. And it's sure as hell not gonna help Mary." He paused, looking at Adam again. "Cas was looking for a map. A map to what?"
"What have we been looking for?" Adam reminded Sam. "The Demons and where they're taking Mary. Cas said it had to be here somewhere, but he didn't say what it was, where it was, or how to find it. He kept — he kept saying, ‘the beginning.' It would be at the beginning. But he never elaborated, and I was too busy freaking out to ask him what it meant. I'm sorry," he shouted at Dean.
"Okay," Sam said. "It's okay. We've all gone through this. We're on edge. We haven't slept. It's okay. Let's just think for a minute. I mean, beginning of what?"
"He never said," Adam continued. "He just kept saying it over and over."
Sam looked at Dean, prompting the elder Winchester to speak.
"Maybe it's Lilith," Dean said. "Her beginning. Didn't she climb out of the Devil's Gate in Wyoming?"
"Yeah," Sam said, glancing at Adam. "But that was after Mary was already born. Is it possible she had this going before she got out?"
"There's no way of knowing for sure," Dean concluded. "There's probably a million different places they could be, and we have no idea where to start looking. Let me be the first to say that this sucks."
It was quiet for several more minutes, and then Adam spoke softly. "What about Mary's beginning?" he asked, looking at Sam and then Dean.
Sam looked at Dean. "What do you think?" he asked his older brother. "Is it possible?"
Dean thought about it for another few seconds. "It's the best we got so far."
"Where was Mary born?" Adam asked softly.
Sam got up from the table abruptly, hurrying into the front room and retrieving Mary's papers from the group home where Mary had stayed. He laid out all of her records on the table between the plates of food, and together, they all looked over adoption papers that were blank, hospital records that were blacked out and school records that were half-empty. At first, they thought it was useless. Then Adam found her birth certificate, discovering that most of the fields had been completed the day Mary had been born, November 2, 2005.
The moment Sam saw Mary's birthdate, he cursed under his breath, staring at the paper otherwise silent and then clenching his jaws as Dean took the paper.
"Where was she born?" Dean asked. He scanned the paper, speaking after a few seconds. "New Hope, Minnesota. Well, that's ironic if anything ever was."
Adam spoke then. "Didn't you find Lilith the first time in New Harmony, Indiana?" he asked softly.
Dean sighed. "Yeah. Inside a little girl terrorizing her family and with Demons guarding the entire block. I don't think this will be like that."
"Why not?" Adam asked.
Dean looked at Sam, and together, they sighed heavily. "Because they probably know what happened there," Dean told Adam. "And since Lilith was doing that for fun, we have to guess that this is business. Her minions will break out the big guns for this one. We need to check for omens in the area, and maybe that'll give Cas time to get back. Sam, keeping looking through Mary's papers and find out how far away New Hope, Minnesota is from here." Dean looked at Adam. "You know what to look for. I've gotta make a phone call," he said getting up from the table and stepping out the side door.
Adam looked at Sam. "Do you tink they'd really go back to Mary's birthplace? Is that what all this is about?"
Sam inhaled deeply, pulling out his laptop and doing a search on New Hope, Minnesota to find a map. "I honestly don't know, but there's only one way to find out. Get on the web; check for omens. We'll go from there."
Adam stood up slowly, retrieving his own computer from the front room and beginning his own search.
The moment Dean stepped outside into the midmorning cold air, he inhaled as deep as he possibly could, feeling uncomfortable with his situation for the first time in three years. And since everything had started back up again, Dean hadn't stopped to think about it. He had a job to do, and he was one of only a handful of people who could get it done. That was just the reality of the job. But that didn't mean he had to give himself over to it completely — not like he'd done before. Never like he'd done before.
So when he stepped out of the house and pulled out his phone, he walked a good distance from the front porch, hitting his speed dial and lifting his phone as it began to ring. The moment he heard Lisa's voice, everything bad just seemed to fade away for a minute.
"Hello?"
"Lisa, it's me."
She sighed softly. "Dean, where are you? You were supposed to be back by now."
He inhaled again, looking around. "I know. This thing came up, and Sam and me had to act quick."
"What else is new?" he asked, a lot like Adam had the day before.
Dean chuckled softly. "Yeah, I guess so. What's Ben doing?"
"Wondering where you are. You were supposed to take him to karate yesterday. He was worried."
Dean turned back to the house. "I'm okay. I think. And I'll make it up to him. I'll go to karate with him when I get back. I'll ever dress out and let him kick my butt. How's that?"
Lisa laughed softly over the phone. "He'll definitely take you up on that." She paused, speaking after half a minute. "Dean, is everything okay? What is this thing? Is it dangerous?"
He didn't want to lie to her, but he knew if he told her the truth she would worry. And he didn't want her to worry about him when she had others to think about. Dean could take care of himself.
"It's fine, I promise. Sam and me are just working this like we always do, trying to figure out what to do next. Lisa," he said, thinking of the words in his head and trying to make them come out right, "you're a girl — "
She laughed. "That's very observant of you," she teased.
"And you know a lot about emotions and stuff like that," he continued. "If you were eight and in a real bad situation where you could get hurt without really meaning to, would you do anything to prevent it, or would you do it because you thought it would keep other people safe? Even if you didn't come out clean."
She didn't say anything for a minute, and Dean thought he hadn't said it right. But then she spoke. "I guess that would depend on the situation," she decided. "Kids are funny that way, Dean. They love unconditionally. But they also hate unconditionally. And they don't always know the right thing to do, or the right person to trust. Why are you asking?"
Dean hesitated. He didn't really want her to know the specifics of the job they were working on, but he needed advice, and she was the one with the kids. She could tell him what to do. At least, he hoped she could tell him what to do.
"Sam and I were looking into these disappearances in New York, and we found this little girl. She's eight. Her name's Mary, and she's in trouble. And I really want to help her. I do. But I'm worried that if Sam and I do this, it'll cost us further down the road, you know. Like it did last time. And she's beautiful, Lisa," he revealed, his voice breaking slightly. "She reminds me of you. But she's scared, and no kid should ever be that scared. I don't know what to do, Lisa."
Lisa was quiet for a couple of minutes, and Dean knew she was thinking about what he'd just said. He hoped she would see it from a mother's point of view. He really needed to know what a real parent would do, because right now, he felt completely helpless. Dean never liked feeling helpless.
"Dean," she said softly, "children are innocent. They're vulnerable. Given the right environment, some kids never lose that innocence. And they're always vulnerable. If this little girl needs you to keep her safe, then you have to do everything in your power to keep her safe. Even if that means taking a chance in the future. You once told me that it was worth more to live your life now, when it matters what happens immediately and not a few years down the road. This little girl deserves the same chance Ben had. And if you can save her, then that's what you need to do."
Dean blew out the breath he'd been holding in, not having heard Lisa's voice in over a week. "I hate it when you're right," he teased, grinning as he turned back to the house and saw Sam on the porch.
"It's the price you pay for asking my advice," she shot back. "Dean, whatever you do, please be safe yourself."
"You know I'll do my best. Bye, Lisa."
"Bye, Dean."
For several seconds, Dean stood still, holding his phone and easing his finger over the screen where her picture was still displayed. He wondered what she'd been doing when he'd called, because he was sure she would stop doing that and start to worry about him now. She always did, and more than anything, Dean had really want to avoid that. With her being so far into her pregnancy, he hoped she knew to stay calm and not stress too much about him. Dean told her all the time that he could take care of himself.
Dean made it to the porch as Sam spoke, pocketing his phone and easing up the steps to face his brother.
"New Hope, Minnesota is four and a half hours away," Sam reported. "Maybe less. And Adam found Demonic Omens everywhere in the area for the last few weeks. The Demons have been there for almost three weeks — the same amount of time passed since the first girl disappeared. But they're all over the place. There's no way of knowing where in town they're keeping Mary or the other girls."
Dean sighed, thinking about what Lisa had said and knowing he was running out of time to find Mary so she would be safe. He knew Sam and Adam wanted her safe even more than he did, but he was the oldest. And he'd been in plenty of stupid situations to know that Sam was the one who needed to be on the outside. That could really only mean one thing.
"Okay," he said to Sam, stepping passed him onto the porch and then inside the house.
