Love Without End, Amen

17. Salvation

"He's fine. Jim Murphy's dead."

"Pastor Jim? How?" Sam asked.

"His throat was slashed. He bled out. Caleb said they found traces of sulfur at Jim's place."

"A demon," Sam determined and John nodded. "The Demon?"

"I don't know. Could be he just got careless, he slipped up. Maybe the demon knows we're getting close."

"What do we do?" Dean wondered.

"Now we act like every second counts. There's two hospitals and a health center 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," Sam said. "How do we know which one's the right one?"

"We check 'em all; that's how. You got any better ideas?"

"No sir."

John nodded at them and they turned back to their cars. John stopped, leaning on his trunk.

Dean turned back as he opened his door and paused. "Dad?"

""Yeah. It's Jim. You know, I can't..." His face hardened. "This ends, now. I'm ending it. I don't care what it takes."

They got back in their cars and pulled back onto the main road, speeding in the distance.

---

John pulled up in front Salvation Children's Hospital. He opened the container between the seats and shuffled through the number of IDs there, selected on, and pinned it to his jacket.

Sam was sitting in a filing room and a nurse brought him another load of files.

"Here you go, officer," the nurse said.

"Thank you," Sam replied.

"You're welcome."

Sam continued copying birth certificate information into his notebook.

A pretty receptionist handed a file to a hospital worker, then looked down at her clipboard. She looked up again as Dean walked in, holding Lennon's hand, and paused, looking around. Simon followed, wanting to walk by himself. He noticed her and raised his eyebrows.

"Hi," the woman greeted. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Dean smiled. "Oh God yes." She smiled and looked down and Dean held up his ID. "Only I'm uh... working right now, so..."

Sam came out of Salvation Medical Center and flipped through his notebook, then clutched his head as a vision hit him. The Yellow Eyed Demon was in a baby's nursery. He flashed to a mother looking out the window, heard a train, and saw the demon again. As soon as the vision finished, he was able to focus and quickly pulled out a map.

---

Later, he was in a park and was checking his map again. As he did, he got the vision flashes again. When it was over, he realized the house from the vision was right in front of him. The woman from his vision pushed a stroller along the road while holding an umbrella.

He approached the woman.

"Hi," Sam greeted. "Here, let me hold that for you. You look like you don't need that anymore."

"Oh. Thanks," the woman replied, closing her umbrella while Sam held her stroller.

He looked inside. "She's gorgeous. Is she yours?"

"Yeah."

Sam looked to the baby. "Oh wow, hi." He turned to the mom. "Oh sorry, I'm rude. I'm Sam. I just moved in up the block."