The Three Winchesters

Everybody Loves a Clown

WOODS

Sam, Dean and Ellie are standing by the funeral pyre. The only light comes from the wrapped, burning body. The three stand with their hands in their pockets. Sam is near tears and fidgeting while Dean and Ellie stare into the flames silently. 
"Before he... before, did he say anything to either of you? About anything?" Sam asks, Ellie shakes her head but doesn't look at Sam, Dean continues to look into the fire.
"No. Nothing." Dean tells him. 

BOBBY'S JUNKYARD - ONE WEEK LATER

Dean, Sam and Ellie have been at Bobby's since the funeral. Ellie has been avoiding the topic of her dad and refuses to talk about him or the past month, she hasn't been showing no emotion with her brother's or Bobby and spends her time either reading up on supernatural lore and looking through John's work. Dean has been working on his car while Sam has decided it's time to honour his father. 
Dean is underneath his car working on it, only his legs sticking out. It is little more than a rusted frame, but it looks considerably better than the couch. Sam comes up from behind. 
"How's the car coming along?" Sam asks. 
"Slow." Dean tells him.
"Yeah? Need any help?" Sam questions, Dean drops something heavily and scoffs. 
"What you under a hood? I'll pass." 
"Need anything else, then?" Sam asks. Dean pushes himself out from under the car and stands. 
"Stop it, Sam." Dean snaps.
"Stop what?
"Stop asking if I need anything, stop asking if I'm okay. I'm okay. Really. I promise. It's Ellie we gotta worry about." Dean says.
"All right, Dean. I know we gotta worry about Ellie but it's just... We've been at Bobby's for over a week now and you haven't brought up Dad once. Ellie has barely spoke!" Sam bursts out.
"You know what? You're right. Come here. I'm gonna lay my head gently on your shoulder. Maybe we can cry, hug, and maybe even slow dance. We will get Ellie to come over and we all sit in a circle, hold hands and we sit and tell each other all our feelings." Dean says sarcastically.
"Don't patronize me, Dean. Dad is dead. The Colt is gone, and it seems pretty damn likely that the demon is behind all of this, and you're acting like nothing happened." Sam throws his hands up frustrated. 
"What do you want me to say?" Dean looks at Sam.
"Say something, all right? Hell, say anything! Aren't you angry? Don't you want revenge? You and Ellie have barely spoken at all, all she does is read and you just sit out here all day long buried underneath this damn car." Sam shouts. 
"Revenge, huh?" Dean scoffs. Sam nods. "Sounds good. You got any leads on where the demon is? Making heads or tails of any of Dad's research? Because I sure ain't. Ellie has had her damn head buried in that damn journal every day this week and she's gotten nada. But you know, if we finally do make headway - oh. No. Wait. Like you said. The Colt's gone. But I'm sure you've figured out another way to kill it. We've got nothing, Nothing okay? So you know the only thing I can do? Is I can work on the car." Dean snaps and crouches by the car again, getting back to work. Ellie comes over to them, Sam snaps his head around at Ellie. Sam smiles at her. 
"Hey guys." Ellie says quietly, with no emotion on her face. Dean comes out from underneath the car and also gives her a smile. "I was going through dad's old phones and I managed to crack his voicemail code. Listen to this." 
"John, it's Ellen. Again. Look, don't be stubborn. You know I can help you. Call me."
"That message is four months old." Ellie tells them. 
"Dad saved that chick's message for four months?" Dean asks. Ellie nods. 
"Who's Ellen? Any mention of her in Dad's journal?" Sam says to Ellie.
"No. But I ran a trace on her phone number and I got an address." Ellie explains. 
"I'll go ask Bobby if we can use on of his cars." Sam says. 

ROAD - DAY

In a beat-up, poorly maintained minivan, the three Winchesters pull up to the Roadhouse Saloon.
"This is humiliating. I feel like a friggin' soccer mom!" Dean says exasperatedly. 
"It's the only car Bobby had running." Sam explains. Ellie gets out of the car without saying anything going into the saloon. Sam and Dean stare at each other and quickly follow her in. 
"Hello? Anybody here?" Ellie shouts. The saloon is quiet except for a fly buzzing. A light bulb blows out. They go to the back and see a man passed out on the bar. 
"Hey buddy?" Sam goes over to the man passed out. "I am guessing that's not Ellen." Ellie shakes her head as Ellie goes into the back room to look around, Sam follows her. Dean goes down the steps, then pauses as he feels the point of a gun touch his back.
"Oh god, please let that be a rifle." Dean mutters. The gun cocks.
"No, I'm just real happy to see you. Don't move." A girl's voice calls out. 
"Not moving, copy that. You know, you should know something, miss. When you put a rifle on someone, you don't want to put it right against their back. Because it makes it real easy to do..." Dean turns over fluidly, grabbing the rifle and cocking it. "That." The girl punches him in the face and takes back the rifle. Dean doubles over, clutching his nose.
"Sam! Ellie! Need some help in here." Dean shouts. The back door opens to reveal Sam and Ellie with their hands on their head. They enter slowly.
"Sorry, Dean, we can't right now. We're a little tied up." Sam breathes out, and Ellie rolls her eyes. They nod their head, indicating another woman, who is behind them who have a handgun pointed at them. 
"Sam? Ellie? Dean?.... Winchester?" The woman asks.
"Yeah." The three Winchesters say in unison.
"Son of a bitch." The woman mutters. 
"Mom, you know these guys?" The girl asks. 
"Yeah, I think these are John Winchester's children." The mother says as she lowers the gun, laughing. "Hey, I'm Ellen. This is my daughter Jo." Ellen explains.
"Hey." Jo says as she lowers her rifle and Dean smiles at her. 
"You're not gonna git me again, are you?" Dean asks worriedly, Ellen hands Dean a small towel filled with ice.
"Here you go." Ellen says.
"Thanks. You called out dad, said you could help. Help with what?" Dean says.
"Well, the demon, of course. I heard he was closing in on it." Ellen explains, Ellie sits down on a table. 
"What, was there an article in the Demon Hunters Quarterly that I missed? I mean, who, who are you? How do you know about all this?" Dean looks between the mother and daughter. 
"Hey, I just run a saloon. But hunters have been known to pass through now and again. Including your dad a long time ago. John was like family once." Ellen tells them.
"Oh yeah? How come he never mentioned you before?" Dean scoffs. Ellie rolls her eyes at Dean's attitude.
"You'd have to ask him that." Ellen states, Ellie takes a breath in and looks at her hands.
"So why exactly do we need your help?" Dean asks again, Sam and Ellie look at their brother with raised eyebrows at his attitude.
"Hey, don't do me any favours. Look, if you don't want my help, fine. Don't let the door smack your ass on the way out. But John wouldn't have sent you if..." Ellen stops talking, realising something. "He didn't send you." Ellie looks down again, Dean looks at his brother and sister then looks down. "He's all right, isn't he?" Ellen asks. 
"No. No, he isn't. It was the demon, we think. It, um, it just got him before he got it, I guess." Sam tells her softly, Ellie continues to look down refusing to look at anyone. 
"I'm so sorry." Ellen says.
"It's okay. We're all right." Dean tells her.
"Really? I know how close you all were with your dad." Ellen continues.
"Really, lady, I'm fine." Dean snaps, Ellie slowly breathes out looking up. 
"So look, if you can help, we could use all the help we can get." Sam tells Ellen. 
"Well, we can't. But Ash will." Ellen explains.
"Who's Ash?" Sam asks. 
"Ash!" Ellen shouts. The man passed out on the bar jerks awake and sits up, flailing. 
"What? It closing time?" Ash blurts out. 
"That's Ash?" Ellie asks with raised eyebrows.
"Mm-hmm. He's a genius." Jo tells her. Sam and Ellie go and sit next to Ash while Dean stands behind them. Jo is on the other side of the bar pouring glasses of water. A brown folder is slapped down on the bar. 
"You've gotta be kidding me, this guy's no genius. He's a Lynyrd Skynyrd roadie." Dean exclaims.
"I like you." Ash says pointing at Dean, Dean gives out a small smile.
"Just give him a chance." Jo says. Dean sits and opens the folder.
"All right. This stuff's about a year's worth of our dad's work, so uh, let's see what you make of it." Dean states. Ash pulls out the papers and starts rifling through them. He shakes his head. 
"Come on. This crap ain't real. There ain't nobody can track a demon like this." Ash says. Ellie looks at Ash.
"Our dad could." Ellie says, Sam and Dean exchange a look and look at their sister.
"There are non-parametrics, statistical overviews, prospects and correlations, I mean.. damn! They're signs. Omens. Uh, if you can track 'em, you can track this demon. You know, like crop failures, electrical storms... You ever been struck by lightening? It ain't fun." Ash rambles.
"Can you track it or not?" Ellie asks quickly. 
"Yeah, with this, I think so. But it's gonna take time, uh, give me... 51 hours." Ash says. Ash gets up to leave.
"Hey, man?" Dean calls at him. Ash turns around.
"Yeah?"
"I, uh, I dig the haircut." Dean smiles.
"All business up front, party in the back." Ash explains. As he leaves, Jo walks by, flirting a little with Dean. He checks her out tiredly, then gets up to follow her. Ellie remains at the bar looking at her glass. Sam sees something behind the bar.
"Hey, Ellen, what is that?" Sam asks. Ellie looks up to see what Sam is pointing at.
"It's a police scanner. We keep tabs on things, we..." Ellen starts.
"No, no, no, no, the, um, the folder." Sam interrupts.
"Uh, I was gonna give this to a friend of mine. But take a look, if you want." Ellen takes a folder from the wall and places it in front of Sam. It has some newspaper clippings attached to the front, and on the front, in red marker: 
COUPLE MURDERED
CHILD LEFT ALIVE
MEDFORD, WISC. 
Ellie slides over to take a look at the folder to have a look. A few minutes later, Sam tells Ellen they'll check it out with Ellie quietly reading.
"Dean come here, check this out." Sam calls over.
"Yeah."
"A few murders, not far from here, that Ellen caught wind of. Looks to me like there might be hunt."
"Yeah, so?"
"I told her we'd check it out." Sam says.