Part 15 - Old Wounds Reopened
"We are not going out."
"Oh, come on! We need
to eat," Dean complained.
"And we can do that
here," Emery said matter-of-factly.
"But..." Dean was
about to continue his protest when Sam interrupted.
"Em's right, Dean, we
gotta continue our research."
"Yeah, like the
"research" has taken us anywhere so far.
We need to go out there and... and..." when Dean didn't know what
exactly to say, he simply added, "Do something!"
"Do what, Dean? There's not a single connection between our
vics. The only thing we know is that
this thing is somehow connected to Emery.
So we need to go over her journal again... and research supernatural
things that are capable of waging a personal vendetta," Sam explained.
"Yeah, okay,
Professor. But we're not gonna order
room service, their food sucks. I'll go
grab some takeout nearby." Sam nodded
and sat down with Emery's journal at the table across the beds. Emery, on the other hand, continued to
suspiciously stare at Dean. "What?!"
Dean complained. "I'll be back in a
jiff, you weirdos." Rolling his eyes and muttering
something under his breath, he walked out the room. Emery stared after him and
her lips curved slightly upward in a smile.
She grabbed a chair across Sam and was surprised seeing Sam smiling at
her.
"What?" Emery asked not understanding
the reason of his amusement. When Sam continued to smile at her without saying
anything, she repeated, "Sam? Why
are you smiling like that?"
"You're good for him," Sam said as if
he was simply telling her the capital of England, a mere fact.
"Wha... What??" Emery asked, totally
surprised by the random admission.
"Dean's a great guy but most people only
see the act that he puts up. We've lost
a lot of people we cared about, Emery, and he has learned to protect
himself. But you... you are one of the
very few people who see beyond that."
Emery smiled as if
dismissing what Sam was implying, "I see auras, Sam. Remember? I can't really help seeing even
what people want to hide."
"But it's not just
that you can... you want to. And you
have no problem telling him off when he's being an ass. You're good for
him," Sam explained with a wink.
Emery was really confused. She couldn't believe
that Sam actually thought that she was involved with Dean somehow. Could
that happen? Could the two of them be together like that? It wouldn't be too
bad, would it? Suddenly she snapped out of it. No way! They barely tolerated
each other. Well, she might more than tolerate him, even like him a little, but
she was sure Dean barely tolerated her.
"Sam, you're mistaken. We're just friends.
Barely even that. Partners. Yeah, that's more like it. He barely tolerates
me."
Shaking his head, Sam replied with a smile,
"Em, I'm not sure whether you really haven't realized yet or if you're
just in denial, but the guy more than tolerates you. He may huff and puff to
put on a show but he does everything you ask him to. He doesn't even do
everything I tell him to, and I'm his little brother." When Emery
continued to give him the You-Are-Nuts look, he continued with a conspicuous
smile, "I'll let you two work it out."
Emery doubted that
she was not in denial. Yes, Dean's aura
had changed over time. It wasn't burning
red anymore, which meant that he didn't despise her anymore. But that was about it. Right? Her thoughts were interrupted when Sam's phone
rang.
"Hello," Sam answered. "What?! Yeah, we'll be right there." Sam got up hurriedly.
"What happened?"
"What we were afraid of. There's been another death... two blocks from
here." Emery closed her eyes and tried
to take a deep breath, as if she was hurting very bad. It wasn't a physical pain but a guilt like that
on the conscience is much worse than any physical wound. "Dean saw the police outside a house and
stopped to investigate. We have to go,
Emery. Now!" Emery took another deep
breath to snap herself out of it. How
many more people would have to die because of her? She wasn't sure how much more
she could take. But Sam was right. They had to go right away. And so steeling her resolve, she got up. Sam was already at the door when she
followed.
~*~
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~*~
When Sam and Emery had arrived at the
scene, Dean had realized right away that he should have asked Sam to come
alone. This won't be easy on Emery. She seemed very distracted and there was
almost no color on her face. It got
especially bad when she saw the dead body being carried to the ambulance parked
right outside the house. It was an
eleven year old boy. She had pretty collapsed
on the yard next to the circle the little boy was found in. This one, as conjectured, did say 'Final.' Seeing the boy had broken something in her. Dean had taken her back to the motel right
away while Sam worked with the police to get the details. He had spent a few minutes explaining away Emery's
behavior. Dean
and Sam had not seen anyone so lifeless before.
Back at the motel the
following morning, Sam and Dean were working on building a theory. Everything at the crime scene was exactly the
same as the previous deaths. Both Sam
and Dean were more furious than ever, he was just a little boy! But the most
frustrating thing was that whatever they were hunting was probably going to
move on now. They had to catch it this
time, before it was too late again.
"You know, this
morning Emery was frantic in her sleep," Sam said to Dean. He had heard
her screams when he was doing his research and Dean was out canvassing. "I
knocked a couple times but that didn't seem to wake her. I let myself in, and I
had to shake her a couple times to wake her. She just opened her eyes,
looked at me, apologized, turned around and hid her face under the sheets. I'm
telling you, man, there's something going on with her. I've never seen anyone's
eyes so totally blank."
Dean had a hunch what was bothering her so much.
"Did you make out anything she was saying in her sleep?"
"Uh.. Not much.. I did hear her mumble 'sorry'
and 'Adrian' a few times."
"Adrian was her baby brother," Dean
stated. He had told Sam about Adrian a little after Emery had confided in him.
She wanted Sam to know, too. Dean had seen how much she was hurting while
telling him everything so he had offered to be the one to tell Sam and Emery
hadn't objected. She was hurting enough without having to put those memories
into words again, not that she ever forgot anything. No, the pain, the
memories, the loss were a constant part of her existence.
"I know, but what's made such a mess of her
now?" Sam asked.
"I have a theory." Sam looked at Dean
as if urging him to go on. "She said that the only thing that kept her
going was saving lives. What if not being able to save the little boy let go of
something she was holding inside?"
"Possibly. But she has been hunting for
years, Dean. She must know by now that hard as we try, we can't save
everyone." Dean shrugged in response.
"But you're right... Wasn't Adrian about the same age when he died?" Dean nodded.
Just a few seconds
passed in silence when the boys heard Emery's screams from next door. It took
Dean a second to reach her. Sam was only a step behind.
Emery was hysterical, still lying in bed, her eyes
scrunched tightly as if she was having a nightmare. "I'm so sorry,
Adrian. I'm so so sorry!" She kept repeating frantically.
Dean sat down on the bed next to her, gently pulled
her up and held her in his arms. While rubbing her back gently, he whispered in
her ears, "Shhh.. Emery, relax. Calm down. I got ya. I got ya..." After a few seconds, she
wrapped her arms around his neck and seemed to relax. She stopped screaming
hysterically but Dean could still hear her quiet sobs. The pain that he felt at that moment was
inexplicable. He didn't think he was
capable of feeling that strongly for anyone but his family, yet here he was,
holding the girl he had met just a few weeks ago, soothing her, trying to take
her pain away.
A few moments passed as Emery began to calm down. When Dean was sure that she was back to a
peaceful sleep, he gently lay her back down on the bed and tried to untangle
her arms around his neck. That proved to be harder than he had expected because
Emery was holding onto him tightly. Her fingers were interlocked and she wasn't
letting go. After a few seconds, her grip loosened a little. Gently placing her hands by her sides, Dean
got up from the bed. He continued to gaze at her for a few moments to make sure
she was fine. Then he turned to see Sam smiling at him. There was no doubt in Sam's mind anymore that
Dean felt something real for Emery. Walking
past Sam, Dean gestured him to follow. They stepped out of the room while Dean
closed the door.
"What?" Dean asked Sam, a little
annoyed.
"Nothing. It's just nice to see you taking
care of someone other than me."
"Seriously, Sam, if there was a Sissy of
the Year award, you'd definitely get it." Dean replied, his voice laced
with sarcasm.
"Turn it into one of your infamous punch
lines but you know it's true," Sam replied calmly and went back to his
laptop. Dean just stood there thinking. Sam was right. It had been awhile he
had thought about anyone other his little brother Sammy and his friend Cas...
and it felt nice. Slowly, Emery was unknowingly getting his walls down.
As scary as it was, Dean also felt a jolt of excitement. He had been with
a lot of women before, might even have been in love, but this felt different,
something strong, something so very strong and pure within him and it only
seemed to be getting stronger. Could this be it? Was this how it felt like when
you were truly falling in love?
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