🔷 Before you read, please remember votes and comments = more chapters—no votes or asking me to "please update" comments = no chapters. Just follow me so you know I've updated instead of asking me to. Thank you.🔷
❈•≫────≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫────≪•❈
❈•≫────≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫────≪•❈
Later that day, the three Winchester's trailed into the sheriff's station once again, this time by Andrea's father, Jake. It was not long after Bill's disappearance that police showed up, having discovered the three of them standing there along with a missing person, which looked rather suspicious to the sheriff, who orders them back to the station for questioning.
Just as they walked in, Harriet spots Andrea getting up to face them just after putting a bag and container on her chair, "Sam, Harriet, Dean. I didn't expect to see you here."
"So now you're on a first-name basis," Jake questioned with some disapproval as he led the way towards his daughter, "What are you doing here?"
"I brought you dinner."
He gratefully accepts the food in the container she gives him, "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I don't really have the time," Jake puts the box down on his desk before taking off his jacket.
Andrea gives her father a dubious expression to then glance at the Winchester's, who looked somewhat awkward as they stood behind her father, "I heard about Bill Carlton. Is it true? Is something going on with the lake?"
Harry's eyes darted innocently about the room as Jake back at the three people before him, and as she did so, she noticed Lucas fidgeting rather anxiously from where he was sitting in a chair. The poor boy looked in distress about something, and it made the young Winchester wonder what was bothering him so much.
"Right now, we don't know what the truth is," the sheriff sent the group a deathly glare, "But I think it might be better if you and Lucas went on home."
Just as soon he finished speaking, Lucas looked at them with pure panic in his eyes and let out a small whimper of distress. He hopped up and went to grasp Dean's arm, firmly tugging it in desperation. Dean instantly goes to crouch before him and tries his best efforts to reassure the boy
"Lucas, hey, what is it?" yet Lucas doesn't respond. It seemed as if he was trying to communicate something just from the sheer yet determined expression upon his face, "Lucas. Lucas, it's okay. It's okay. Hey, Lucas, it's okay. It's okay," the eldest Winchester continued to reassure the boy just as Andrea came to wrap her arms around her son and pull him away from Dean before leading him away outside. But Lucas doesn't look away from Dean as he's led out.
But all Harriet and Sam could do was stare after the poor boy who had looked nothing but petrified. Yet both had a horrible sinking feeling in the pits of their stomachs and gave Harriet a strong pull in her gut to chase after the boy and to ask what had caused his strange behavior. Only the twins, but both shared a brief look and shrugged it off for the time being.
Everyone remaining inside stood frozen for a moment before Jake threw his jacket down on a desk and walked into his office. Sam followed in soon after, and Harriet turned to do just that before she noticed her older brother was still staring after Lucas. She could see the apprehension in her brother's face that he wasn't the only one who wanted to go after the kid, but right now, they had to clear things up with the sheriff, that's if they could.
She went to rest, a calming hand upon his shoulder, and gently spoke, "Let's go, De."
Stirring at his sister's words, he turned slowly to follow her inside the office to arrange themselves as they had done when first visiting here with the twins in chairs, and Dean stood beside them.
"Okay, just so I'm clear," Jake proceeded as he came to face the three people before him, "You see...something attack Bill's boat, sending Bill-who is a very good swimmer, by the way-into the drink, and you never see him again?"
Dean catches his sibling's gaze with a rather thoughtful expression before they all nod in agreement and return their gazes towards the sheriff, as the eldest Winchester simply states, "Yeah, that about sums it up."
"And I'm supposed to believe this, even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake? And what you're describing is impossible? And you're not really Wildlife Service?" Jake states, leaving all three siblings gawking back, somewhat surprised they've been sussed out, "That's right, I checked. Department's never heard of you three."
"See, now, we can explain that," Dean hurried to say but got cut short rather abruptly.
"Enough. Please," Jake went on declare after interrupting him, "The only reason you're breathing free air is one of Bill's neighbors saw him steering out that boat just before you did," he takes a deep, shuddering breath before going on in a threatening manner, "So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance. Or, we can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your car, you put this town in your rearview mirror, and you don't ever darken my doorstep again," he finally finished with a cold hard stare in their direction.
"Door number two sounds good," Sam said after awkwardly clearing his throat.
"Oh, I definitely agree with door number two," Harriet nodded in approval along with a nervous laugh.
"That's the one I'd pick," the sheriff remarks going to open his office door, gesturing for them to leave.
❈•≫────≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫────≪•❈
After the somewhat intimidating speech, the three Winchesters headed back to the motel gathered up their belongings. Quickly grabbing everything and shoving their things into Baby, and hit the road just as night fell upon the town.
Harry kept zoning out as she gazed out the car window when she suddenly heard her twin speaking up, "Green."
Now glancing up, she notices they've come to a stop at an intersection, the I-34 North that headed towards Milwaukee as her brother points out and that the traffic light was indeed green but haven't moved. Leaning forwards to look at her big brother in the driver's seat, staring looking as if he was lost within his thoughts as doubt filled his features.
"What?" the eldest Winchester suddenly remarked.
"The light," Harriet replied, "It's green."
With a shake of his head without another moment's thought, Dean pushed down hard on the gas, and the Impala advanced smoothly as he took a right turn and speeds down the road.
"Uh," Sam cautiously interrupted, The interstate's the other way."
Dean simply continued gazing directly ahead of him with nothing but determination in his voice, "I know."
Harriet knew in that instant, off from the indecision on her older brother's face, that he's been battling whether or not they should be leaving this town behind them. She and Sam also had been having a lapse of doubt about whether or not this case was actually over and if they could leave now with nothing but a good conscience.
"But Dean, this job..." Harriet tried to protest, only to then pause and let out a sigh of uncertainty, "I think it's over."
"I'm not so sure, Harry."
"If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed. The spirit should be at rest," Sam tried to reason, sounding rather doubtful about it as he shared a brief look with his sister.
"All right," Dean now spoke out, "So what if we take off and this thing isn't done? You know, what if we've missed something? What if more people get hurt?"
"But why would you think that?" Sam asked with a frown.
"Because Lucas was really scared," Dean contended.
"That's what this is about?" Harriet asked with a slight hint of amusement in her voice.
"I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid's okay," Dean returned firmly.
Sam gazed at him in disbelief with raised eyebrows. "Who are you? And what have you done with my brother?"
Harry snorts in amusement at her twin's statement just as the older Winchester peered over briefly at Sam in a moment of awkward silence before declaring solemnly, "Shut up!"
❈•≫────≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫────≪•❈
Not long after, they finally reached Andrea's house in the dead of night, and as they stood outside the front door, the female Winchester enquired to her older brother, "Are you sure about this? It's pretty late."
Dean gave a simple nod before pressing the doorbell, and they could all hear an echo from inside the house. It was just a few seconds later that the front door was pulled open by a panting and somewhat panicked Lucas stood inside the doorway.
"Lucas? Lucas!" Dean shouted after the boy, who immediately turned and ran back inside. All three Winchesters raced after Lucas, who quickly led them upstairs with water cascading down them. Pausing before the bathroom door that had water escaping out from underneath as the young boy now began pounding on the door.
Quickly grabbing hold of Lucas, Dean passed him over to Sam, holding him tightly as the eldest Winchester took a few steps back before charging at the door and kicking it open. From behind him was Harriet, who could see the bathtub full to the brim overflowing with dark, murky water, lake water Harry realized, and Andrea was lost somewhere inside the tub.
Sam now passes the young boy to his sister and went charging into the room towards the bath, reaching his arms inside and start pulling on Andrea as Harriet was somewhat terrified but tried not to show it as she kept a firm hold on Lucas, not wanting the poor boy to witness this. Still, it was apparent that her brother wasn't winning this fight.
She turned to Dean, who was standing beside her just as terrified that something might happen to Sam, "Dean, go! Sam needs your help!"
Dean doesn't hesitate for a second longer before he goes racing inside to the tub and assists Sam as the female Winchester kept her arms wrapped around Lucas to restrain him and calm him all at once.
Glancing towards the bathroom, Harriet sees her brothers, who are grunting with nothing but effort as they slowly but surely pull Andrea free from the bath. Only to almost get quickly pulled under again as the brothers, with all their might, tugged her out together and ripped her free of the black water. All three collapsed onto the ground catching their breath as Andrea curled into a ball, coughing up water.
Lucas starts struggling anew inside Harriet's arms as he sees his mother lying on the floor but keeps hold of him a couple of moments longer, allowing time for Andrea to recover somewhat. Eventually, she stopped coughing up water and began to breathe normally again, and Harry lets go of Lucas. The latter sprinted towards his mom and clashed into an embrace as Lucas cried into Andrea's shoulder.
Harriet is reminded that the woman is indeed naked and goes looking around the bathroom for a towel to cover her up with. Eventually, she finds one hanging up on the wall to pull it down before gently draping it over Andrea, who returned her a grateful smile.
The Winchester's decided that it would be best to stay for the evening, which Andrea was thankful for having their reassuring presence. Despite being shaken up from her ordeal, she had allowed Harriet to dry off and get into some more comfortable clothes.
But poor Lucas refused to let his mother out of his sight, and Dean had stayed to comfort him to try and distract him, so Andrea had time to herself. They spent the night downstairs in the living room as no one wanted to be near the bathroom upstairs, and Andrea finally passed out on the couch from pure exhaustion from the events of today with Lucas curled up beside her until the late hours of the morning.
The three Winchester's searched around the house a couple of times to ensure everything was okay. Still, as the night now drew on and just as the adrenaline wore off, they eventually squeezed themselves like a tin of sardines on another couch, with Harriet ending up squashed in the middle of her brothers. They just sat there together in total silence, neither of which are bothered to talk.
After a while, the days' events started to catch up with them when Harriet let out a massive yawn letting her head fall to rest against the sofas back. Feeling herself beginning to drift off slowly, her head slipping downwards startles her awake. Noticing the problem his sister was having, Sam grabbed a pillow and laid it on his lap, and gave it an inviting pat. She gave him an appreciative smile and rearranged herself on the sofa, her head resting on her brother's lap.
She would have opted to curl her legs up to fit in the middle but instead chose to stretch out her legs deliberately across her older brother's lap. Dean glimpsed over at his sister as she quickly closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, which made him shove her legs off him. Harry smirked cheekily at him, only to return her legs and cracked one eye open to see Dean rolling his eyes in annoyance, but the subtle quirk of amusement on his lips said otherwise and let her leave her legs in place. She was rejoicing internally at her small victory before sleep suddenly overtakes her.
Harriet began drifting into a dream; she felt weightless, almost as if she were mysteriously floating, but it was dark, almost eerie, and that's when she realized she was in the water that was too murky to see through. She began drifting towards erratically, and as she drew forwards, it gradually became lighter until she spotted a pair of legs paddling before her. She dragged herself closer out of curiosity, and as she drew closer, she was suddenly overcome with a murderous intent to bring that person down into the water with her. Swiftly she closes in on them and latches onto them, viciously tugging them into the deep and yanking them down below the surface.
But once contact was made with that person nonetheless, Harriet unexpectedly becomes that person being dragged under and starts to struggle against the force who was pulling her down. Regardless, it was no use. She was losing the fight getting tugged further and further into the murky water until she was enveloped by darkness and lungs scorched from no oxygen. She fights to hold her breath a little bit longer and to escape, but her body gives in and opens her mouth to suck in the air, only to fill herself with water.
In that exact moment, she comes to with a gasp as if she's fighting for air and struggling to get free from the tight grip around her legs. It took Harriet only a couple of seconds to realize that she was still breathing air and that the grip on her legs was a blanket she had gotten all twisted around her legs during her struggle.
"Hey, are you okay, Harry?" Sam exclaimed softly to his twin sister with concern as she now glanced to see she was still resting on his lap and probably had become moderately startled but relatively anxious about his sister's unexpected movements.
She has also noticed Dean is no longer on the sofa before turning to her brother, "Uh, yeah, I'm good. It was just a bad dream, that's all."
Sam smiled wanly with understanding and nodded, knowing not to bother his sister about the matter any further before getting up to stretch his long legs. Peering out the window, Harriet noticed that it was beginning to get lighter outside. The sun hadn't yet risen, so she mustn't have slept long. Sitting up against the couch, she tried to remember the dream she had, but the details had begun rapidly slipping away the moment she had woken up.
Her thoughts suddenly get interrupted by Andrea and Lucas, who was on the other sofa, starting to wake up. Harriet indicates this to Sam before getting herself up to her older brother and informing him everyone is awake. Maybe she could sneak a cigarette in as well because she is sure as hell was craving one right about now, along with a mug coffee would be utter bliss right about now.
It was now later on in the morning, and Harry was happy that she got to have her morning cigarette and coffee just as the sun began to rise over the horizon. She and Sam now sat down beside either side of Andrea, who was currently hunched over on the couch, and tried to get her to explain what she experienced last night.
"Can you tell me?" Sam gently inquired the woman who hadn't uttered a word since the night before.
"No," Andrea replied with a whisper, shaking her head, "It doesn't make any sense," her voice breaks, and she begins to cry, "I'm going crazy," she hides her face in her hands.
Harriet rubs her hand soothingly up and down the woman's back, trying to console her, "No, you're not. Tell me what happened. Everything."
Andrea paused in thought and tried to pull herself together before answering, " I heard...I thought I heard...there was this voice."
"What did it say?" Sam inquired with a whisper.
"It said...it said 'come play with me,'" Andrea starts crying once again, "What's happening?"
Suddenly the eldest Winchester comes hurrying inside the room carrying what appeared to be an old scrapbook and goes to place it before Andrea pointing at one picture of a group of young boys wearing matching uniforms, "Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?"
"What?" Andrea looked at him with confusion for a moment before continuing, "Um, um, no. I mean, except that's my dad right there," she points him out in some of the photos, "He must have been about twelve in these pictures."
Dean, Harriet, and Sam shared a knowing look before the eldest Winchester spoke up, "Chris Barr's drowning. The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been to the sheriff."
"Bill and the sheriff?" Harriet asked, somewhat shocked.
"They were both involved with Peter?" Sam inquiries just as equally shocked.
"What about Chris?" Andrea spoke up, "My dad-what are you talking about?"
"Lucas?" Dean uttered, and all of them see the young boy starting out the window as the eldest Winchester raised a question to the boy again, "Lucas, what is it?"
But Lucas didn't say anything and went to open the door and step outside. Harriet frowned at her older brother in confusion before they all went to follow after Lucas as he wandered into the woods behind his home. But he doesn't go too far before coming to a stop at a patch of mossy-covered ground and stares at it for a short moment before gazing up at Dean pointedly.
Dean returned the boy's gaze for a moment to then declaring to Lucas's mom, "You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?" At his words, Andrea grabbed her son and pulled him back towards home. Soon as they were out of sight, Dean glanced over towards his sister, "Harry, get us some shovels."
Harriet went running back to Baby to fetch the shovels. Once she had returned, she each tossed a shovel to her brothers, who got to work digging in the spot Lucas had been staring at while she stood watching on.
They had only been digging a short while when Sam's shovel hits against something with a clang. Dean and Sam instantly chucked their shovels aside, and Harriet joined in to help her brothers uncover what was under the dirt with their hands. As they were carefully pulling away from the earth, a red bicycle was unearthed that must have been buried here underground, aged with rust and caked in dirt.
"Peter's bike," Harriet uttered.
Soon as she finished talking, there was the sound of a gun cocking from behind them, and they slowly turned to face the source's noise, "Who are you?" Standing no more than a couple of feet behind them was Andrea's father, Jake, who had his pistol angrily aimed at them.
"Put the gun down, Jake," Sam advised, gently placing the bike down and putting his hands up in surrender. Dean dropping his shovel, came to stand protectively in front of his siblings.
"How did you know that was there?" Jake asked them, ignoring Sam.
"What happened? You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake, and then buried the bike?" Dean questioned him gruffly, "You can't bury the truth, Jake. Nothing stays buried."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Jake denied with a firm shake of his head.
"You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago. That's what the hell I'm talking about."
Andrea suddenly comes running onto the scene playing out before her, "Dad!"
"And now you got one seriously pissed-off spirit!" Dean finished off.
"It's going to take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love. It's going to drown them," Harriet's eyes grimly explained, glaring daggers at the man, "And it's going to drag their bodies God knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then, after that, it's going to take you, and it's not going to stop until it does."
"Yeah, and how do you know that?"
Sam offered, definitely narrowing his eyes, "Because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton."
"Listen to yourselves, all the three of you. You're insane," Jake returned defiantly.
Dean's temper had reached its peak with this man's pure stubbornness and knew his spite was going not only to put himself in danger but the ones he loves as well, and that wasn't something he would allow, "I don't give a rat's ass what you think of us," Dean growled at him, "But if we're going to bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Now tell me you buried Peter somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake."
The female Winchester glared daggers at Jake, who continued to aim his gun at them. Andrea thankfully tries to intervene, her voice filled with fear, "Dad, is any of this true?"
'No. Don't listen to them. They're liars, and they're dangerous," Jake cautioned to his daughter just as Harriet let out a disbelieving snort, making Andrea briefly glance at the young woman and then back towards her father.
"Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake," Andrea tries to argue her case, "Dad, look at me," slowly. Still, indeed Jake reluctantly turned his head to face his daughter, who was gazing back at him with the tears now starting to brim her eyes, "Tell me you-you didn't kill anyone," at her very words, he broke eye contact with his daughter. He looked away, the deathly silence giving Andrea the answer she wanted, "Oh my God."
"Billy and I were at the lake," the sheriff began to explain, "Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough, " he paused for a moment feeling somewhat nervous, "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 internally sighed before glancing in his sibling's direction,
"Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake," Jake tried his best to explain this to his daughter with a pleading tone in his voice, "But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational."
Yet Andrea decides to say nothing in response as her face is filled with nothing but a mixture of shock and disbelief.
"All right, listen to me, all of you," Dean firmly interjected, "We need to get you away from this lake, as far as we can, right now."
Once Dean had finished speaking, Andrea suddenly spotted Lucas to the left of her and gasped. Harriet turned at her gasp, seeing that Lucas was standing on the lake's dock, and they all instantly started running towards him.
"Lucas!" Jake yelled as he raced forwards and took the group's lead just as they reached the dock.
"Lucas!" Dean next cried out as he was right behind Jake.
"Lucas! Baby, stay where you are!" Andrea called out frantically.
Harry was just right at the back of the others but could about make the young boy out as he was crouched down at the edge of the dock as she shouted for him, "Lucas!" He reached his hand out towards something in the water but struggled to get it without dropping in. Once the group had finally reached the forest's edge, a hand suddenly shot out the water, pulling Lucas down into the water.
A new burst of energy made Harriet go charging down towards the dock and skids to a halt, having passed Jake, who had also stopped with a gasp standing frozen on the spot, mouth hanging open. Peering into the water, the young Winchester sees the ghostly form of Peter's head just about breaking the water's surface, but she paid no mind to it and went on past him to the very end of the dock.
Just ahead of her, the young brunette spots her brothers diving into the lake as soon as they have reached the end of the dock and sees Andrea beginning to pull off her jacket as if planning to go in as well. Nonetheless, Harriet reaches her just in time, tugs her away from the water, and commands her, "Andrea, stay here!'
"No!" Andrea pleaded, trying to pull herself from Harriet's grasp, "Lucas!'
"Andrea, we'll save him! But please stay on the dock!" Harriet implored firmly to the other woman before going into a small run towards the edge of the dock and diving straight into the body of water, thankful she hadn't been wearing her jacket that was currently in the car to help her brothers save Lucas. She dived into the murky depths and looked around everywhere she could for Lucas as she swept her hands back and forth throughout the water just in case she brushed against something. But so far, she was having no luck, and her lungs were starting to burn for air, so she pushed herself back up towards the surface for air.
She resurfaced and peered around, spotting her siblings, who had also returned to the surface as the eldest Winchester called out, "Harry? Sam?"
Both grimly shook their heads to imply they hadn't found Lucas yet before all three took a deep breath and went diving back under in once again. Harriet, now rather desperate to find the boy, went down deeper and deeper into the water. Still, it soon began to come over dark that she could barely see in front of her, and she immediately stiffened at how familiar this situation felt. It was playing out just like her dream from last night.
A fear suddenly shot throughout her body like lightning, and she felt her heart beating inside her throat when suddenly something wrapped itself tightly around her ankle. She began to thrash around to get herself free, and without any irrational thinking, she opened her mouth to scream, letting water flood into her lungs, strangling her airways.
Harriet kicked herself towards the surface and was surprised but somewhat relieved to discover that what had been wrapped around her ankle was no longer pulling her down. She finally makes it back up towards the surface, coughing up the water from her lungs. Yet, she was struggling to keep herself afloat while still purging the water from her body so she could breathe properly.
Continuing to tread water, her brothers also resurfaced and saw their sister struggling, making Dean call over with concern, "You doing okay, sis?"
She waves back in response, her throat feeling rather sore to talk, reassuring her brothers that she was fine, and she continued searching for Lucas.
Sam and Dean go back under once again as Harriet lets herself recover before wanting to rejoin the search with her brothers. Once again, she hears Jake speaking up, turning to face where he was standing, taking off his jacket, and starts quickly wading into the water, "Peter, if you can hear me...please, Peter, I'm sorry. I'm so-I'm so sorry."
"Daddy, no!" Andrea pleaded.
"Peter. Lucas-he's, he's just a little boy," he went on, ignoring his daughter, "Please, it's not his fault, it's mine. Please take me."
Sam and Dean came back up for air once more, and they also saw what Jake was doing as Dean cried out, "Jake, no!"
Being the one who was the closest to Jake, Harriet mustered all the energy she could and began swimming furiously towards Jake before Peter could take him.
"Just let it be over!" Harriet was trying to swim fast as she could, but before she even had a chance to reach him, Jake was quickly yanked out of sight quicker than she could have got him.
"Daddy! Daddy! No!" Andrea screamed out in horror.
Dean entered the murky water once again, and Harriet wishing she could help her brothers, hardly had the strength to keep herself going. At this point, her struggle from earlier had drained her energy. But she wasn't going to let that stop her as she took a deep breath before diving under again to search for Andrea's father, but as she went deeper, her muscles began to ache in protest, and she had no choice but to give up. Because the last thing Harry wanted was her bothers searching for her, she came back to the surface and tiredly paddled herself towards the dock. As she now neared it, her twin brother resurfaced again and gave Andrea a grim expression shaking his head as the woman looked at him.
"No!" Andrea screamed out with pain as Harriet quickly pulled herself up onto the dock in case she had to stop Andrea from trying to jump in again. Nevertheless, about a few seconds later, Dean bursts through the lake's surface, grasping an unconscious Lucas tightly against his chest. Both Harriet and Sam sigh with relief but are thrilled to see the young boy. Yet, they were somewhat amazed at how their older brother had found him as the female Winchester dropped down from exhaustion on the dock, gazing up at the cloudy blue sky above her.
❈•≫────≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫────≪•❈
It was the following morning they checked out of the motel, and Harriet was lost swimming amongst her thoughts as she carried her duffle bag towards the Impala along with her brothers. It was a struggle to begin after what had happened over the past two days. They saved, or instead, her big brother had saved Lucas from his watery demise but had lost Jake to Peter's revenge.
She keeps mulling everything over what had happened to her the other morning in the lake. Harriet had been plagued with nothing but guilt for having been able to save Jake like when she hadn't been able to save Jess-feeling that she had been nothing but useless and had nearly gotten herself drowned all over the fear of a stupid lousy dream. When having regained her breath, she now recalls what had gotten tangled around her leg was that of a plant. She had almost died over a stupid free-floating plant and found it rather ridiculous to of happened.
With a shake of her head, Harriet brings herself back to reality, not having noticed Sam had been giving her a glance filled with nothing but worry and concern. He hated when she put herself down over something that was out of their control, like everything else in their lives. Of course, he and Harry were still getting back into the swing of hunting again after a long four-year break. He knew she probably had concerns that she wasn't as fit as she used to be from all the smoking, drinking, and partying; of course, he had tried to help her get fit at one point, but she had chickened out halfway through.
Sam returned his attention to putting his bag in the boot of the car along with his siblings, now noticing the same look of guilt on Dean's face that Harriet had, "Look, we're not gonna save everybody."
Harriet could sense her older brother was feeling just as bad as she was just from the brooding look in his eyes as he fiddled with the car keys, also probably blaming himself for what happened to Jake as well.
"I know," Dean uttered with a sigh as he looked back at his siblings before running a hand over his face.
"Sam, Harriet, Dean," all three Winchesters turned around to see Andrea approaching them along with Lucas coming to wish them goodbye, "We're glad we caught you. We just, um, we made you lunch for the road."
That's when Harriet noticed Lucas was holding a tray full of sandwiches for them and was a little overcome by the sweet gesture.
Andrea happily explained with a small smile, pointing at the tray, "Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself."
"I've said once, and I'll say again, you, Andrea, are my favorite person like ever," Harriet offers with a smile.
"Can I give it to them now?" Lucas now asked aloud as they all smiled, glad to hear him finally speaking again.
"Of course," with another smile, Andrea kissed the top of her son's head.
"Come on, Lucas, let's load this into the car," Dean declared while grabbing the tray and leading the boy over towards Baby, and Harriet couldn't help but smile as they went.
"How are you holding up?" Sam now inquired to Andrea.
Andrea shook her head and then sighed before answering, "It's just gonna take a long time to sort through everything, you know?"
The twins both nodded in understanding when Harriet had the sudden urge to speak up, "Andrea, I'm so sorry abo..."
Andrea stops the young woman before she can even apologize, "You saved my son. I can't ask for more than that. Dad loved me. He loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that."
Not long after that, the three of them joined Lucas and Dean beside the Impala where they were currently standing after having put the sandwiches away, "All right, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a crucial phrase, so I want you to repeat it one more time," the eldest Winchester spoke earnestly to the young boy.
"Zeppelin rules!" Lucas smiled, making Harry shake her head.
"That's right. Up high," Dean holds up his hand for a high five before slapping their palms together and grinning at each other, "You take care of your mom, okay?" he tells Lucas after a moment.
"All right," the young boy laughed.
At that very moment, Andrea went to lean up and gently kissed Dean on the lips before pulling away with a grateful smile, "Thank you."
Afterward, Dean seemed to have lost the incapability to speak for a moment as he now awkwardly scratched his head in thought before clearing his throat and then going around Baby to the driver's side to directly call out to his siblings, "Harry, Sam, move your asses. We're going to run out of daylight before we hit the road."
Harriet could only shake her head and smile at her older brother's behavior before opening the back passenger door crawling in to settle herself beside the sandwiches. Andrea and Lucas are waving as they pull away, Harriet returning it until they are entirely out of sight and continuing their journey, not knowing where it would lead them to next.
Graphic by Winter326