Chapter 4
Brooklyn POV
It had been a couple of weeks since we saved Sam. Dean thought it was best to take a break from hunting, for all of us.
No matter how many times I reassured him I was fine, he still kept me in eye sight. It also didn't help that I seemed to be getting sick in the morning and sometimes at night, making Dean think I was still recovering from everything.
As for Mary, she seemed to be warming up to the place nicely. She was fitting right in, making herself at home.
This morning though, she had slept in, leaving Sam, Dean, and I to sit at the kitchen table by ourselves with cereal in our hands.
Though we hadn't been hunting, our research on Lady Bevell and the Men of Letters continued, bringing Dean to ask his brother, "So, what have you found on her Majesty's Secret Suckbags?"
"Well, I may have turned the bunker upside down looking for any reference whatsoever to the British Men of Letters, and all I found was this letter tucked into an old ledger, uh, from the "London Chapterhouse.""
Sam slid a letter over to Dean and I, making me look over Dean's shoulder as he glanced at it. Most of the letter minus just a couple of words was blacked out.
"Well, that's just great," Dean mumbled with a sigh as he tossed the letter to the other side of the table.
Cas walks into the doorway of the kitchen, stopping to look at us.
"Morning, sunshine. Some coffee?" Dean asked, holding his cup to his lips.
"No, thank you. I have to go." With that, Cas walked back out of the kitchen and down the hallway. The three of us look at each other before getting out and quickly following him. I bring my cereal, holding it in my hands as Dean stops the angel.
"Cass, wait up. Where you off to?"
He pauses before turning around to answer with a sigh, "Cleveland, Ohio."
"For what?" I asked with a mouthful of cereal.
"I think I may have a lead on Lucifer. I found a police report in Cleveland about a man whose eyes flared a glowing red. It could be Lucifer in a new body."
Dean nodded, "All right. Yeah, that sounds like something. We should go check it out."
My eyes glanced at Dean, surprised to hear him mention going out and doing something "hunting" related. But, Cas shut that down.
"No. The Devil is free because of me. Finding him is my responsibility."
"You don't have to do it alone though," I said, lowering my bowl.
"If it is him, I will call you. In the meantime, I think you're both needed here," Cas says, looking only at Dean and Sam before walking away. I didn't need him to glance at me to know what he was thinking.
"I know you're talking about me!" I yelled before rolling my eyes and heading back into the kitchen. I sat the empty bowl on the table and collapsed into the sear as Dean and Sam re-enter, talking about Mary.
"What are you talking about? Mom's fine."
Sam, sitting down, made a face, "Sure. I heard her walking around all night last night. I mean don't you think she seems a bit... withdrawn? You know... shaky?"
Raising my hand slightly and making a face of embarrassment, I speak up. "That may have actually been me." Both boys look at me. "I couldn't sleep last night. I ran into Mary once but she said she was just going to the bathroom."
Dean sat in the seat next to me again, looking at m concerned, "Why didn't you wake me?"
"Because you're just too damn cute when you sleep," I said, holding his face between two fingers and making a squinting face. I dropped my hand and shrugged, "That and there wasn't anything you could do about it."
Sam spoke up, "But mom was awake, right?"
I shrug, not sure if she was awake the whole time or if she had gone back to bed. This seem to make Dean sigh and look at his brother, hoping his words weren't true.
"Sam, of course mom's shaky. She hasn't been on this planet since Jane Fonda was wearing leg warmers. Look, all she needs is a little R&R. You know, some good family time like the old days... she'll be aces."
The youngest Winchester nodded, mumbling a "Yeah" before being interrupted by Mary walking in. Her hair, that was once long, was not cut shoulder length short.
"Morning," I say as the boys say "Hi" to their mother.
"Hi," Mary says, looking down to see bacon on a plate and made a happy face, grabbing a piece.
Sam stuck a hand out towards his mother, "Oh, we can fry up some more. That's probably cold by now mom."
Mary made a face, "It's bacon."
I shook my head with a smile, "You guys are defiantly related." Mary smiled in reply before I continue, nodding to her hair, "I like your hair."
"I'm gonna keep it short if I'm gonna go out on a hunt, you know? Why give the bad guys the advantage of long pullable hair right?"
Dean's eyes went wide, "Wow. I've been trying to tell Sam that for years."
Sam rolled his eyes and motioned towards me, "What about Brooke's?"
"He likes my hair long," I smirked, making Dean look at me and wiggle his brows, "Yes I do."
Looking away, Sam says, "Okay, ah, eww." He quickly looks at his mother, hoping to change the subject, "Did you say "going out on a hunt"?"
"I found a case."
"I thought you were still struggling with even the idea of the Internet."
"I had Dean pick up some newspapers when he went into town."
Dean, holding out his hand and shaking his head, said, "Whoa, whoa. I... You didn't tell me you were looking for a case."
Mary shrugged, "I wasn't. I just... found one. Minnesota. Two dead, locked room. Victims had put in a call about a crying baby. But the place was empty. The only thing at the scene was their bodies. Been five days, and the coroner still hasn't put out a cause of death. Seemed fishy."
I looked at Dean with hopeful eyes, "We've gone on less than that."
"It's probably nothing. I just thought I might... get out there, stretch my legs."
"I thought you weren't down to hunt in the first place," Sam said, making Mary look down.
Dean shrugged, "Well things change, right? Family hunting trip."
Mary looks at the boys as if she doesn't want us to come, but mumbles a "Sure" in response.
"All right. Meet at the car in 10," Dean says and gets up as Mary leaves. Sam still looks upset though, asking Dean about the "R&R" time.
"Look, man, we took a break. Cas healed you up, I got Baby back to mint, and mom wants to hunt. This will be good for all of us."
Sam looked at me, "Brooke what about you? Are you ready?"
I catch Dean making a motion with his hand over his neck to stop Sam from talking.
"I'm going to tell you what I told Dean, don't talk about and I'll be fine."
Dean nods once and looks at Sam, "See. Great. So you're gonna..." He waves his hand around the table, gesturing to the dishes on it. He then offers his hand out to me, saying, "Come on baby," before pulling me up out of chair and placing his hand on my back as we rush out before Sam can object.
Finally! We're going hunting again!
We stopped at a gas station, Sam filing up the Impala while Dean and I grabbed snacks inside. Mary waited in the car.
As Dean and I exited the gas station, my eyes came across a beautiful motorcycle, "We need to get a motorcycle," I comment.
Dean scuffed at my words, "Yeah, cause that'll be great for hunts."
"Listen, you have your baby, now I need one." Dean looks at me, slightly taken back. I roll my eyes and shake my head, "Not what I meant." I continue walking, throwing the snacks in the car before climbing into the back.
Dean climbs into the driver seat as Sam climbs into the backseat with me. Dean looks into the bag as he talks to his mother, "There's a lot of things that have gone to seed since you were here, but the variety in snack food flavors is not one of them. We got your teriyaki jerky, we got your sriracha, and we got your chili lime, which... is my personal favorite."
I hit his arm, holding out my hand, "Or you can stick with the classic Cheez-it's like Brooke does." He tosses the box into the backseat where I catch it and smile with satisfaction.
Before we drive off, Dean opens up a bag of Chili Lime Jerky, making Sam and I watch in anticipation. Mary takes a chip and chews it, thinking for a moment. "It's... good. Artificial, kinda tingly."
"That's how you know it's working," Dean smiles wide before driving off.
We head to the coroner's office where the body was being held, flashing our FBI badges. It was always sketchy when we had three people showing up, but now we had four.
The Coroner sighed, "This is a local case. Why would the FBI be interest–"
Mary nodded to Sam and Dean, "They're new. Wanted their first case to have training wheels."
"Yeah, see if we can weed out the ones who can't take it," I say, smirking slightly to myself as Sam and Dean roll their eyes.
"We wanted to have a look at the bodies," Mary said, making the Coroner sigh and motion for us to follow him.
Sam spoke up, mentioning, "Now you haven't filed a report. Has there been any problem determining the cause of death?"
"Problem? No. No, no, no. I figured out the cause. Just doesn't make any damn sense." He pulls the sheet back, revealing a mark on her arm that represents a hand print.
"Is this a burn?" Dean asked?
"Frostbite. Both victims died of acute hypothermia... in a 65 degree room. When I opened them up, their hearts were literally, and I mean literally, frozen. Wanna tell me how to present that to the public? Or to their families? So much for training wheels huh?"
The four of us glance at each other before leaving. We change back into our normal clothes and head to the abandoned house where all this happened. Our equipment is going off like crazy as we enter, making me mumbled, "Well, there is defiantly something in here."
Mary wanders into a bedroom while Sam checks out the livingroom and Dean and I go into the kitchen.
Dean continues to look around as he speaks to me, "You doing okay?"
"Dean," I say, making him shrug as his back is to me, "What I can't ask my wife how's she's doing?"
"It's what you're getting at that I don't like."
He sighs, realizing he's caught, and stops, turning to face me. "Listen, I'm just worried about you. And I should be. I mean you've been getting sick and wandering the halls at night without telling me.
"I don't need to tell you every time I get up, Dean. And as for getting sick, it was probable just food poisoning or the flu."
Dean responded, "No, you don't have to tell me everything, but I'd like to know when something's wrong with my wife."
Taking a step towards him and forcing his hand into one of mine, I say, "Dean, I'm fine, really. We took some time off, had some alone time, and now I'm ready to get back into the swing of things."
At first I wonder if Dean is going to object or something, but he's silent and just starring into my eyes with an unreadable expression. The sudden silence though is taken away when the sound of a door slamming and Mary calling out for her boys is heard.
"Mom?" Dean says and we quickly rush into the hallway and to the door that seems to be locked. "Mom? Mom!"
"Sam! Dean!"
Sam runs over, trying the door as well, "Mom! Hold on, mom! We're coming!"
I lean against the wall next to the door, yelling, "Mary, get away from the door!"
Finally, Dean is able to break the door open. A young blond boy is standing in the middle of the room, holding onto Mary's wrist. Sam grabs his mom, tearing her away as I swing a crowbar through the ghost of the boy. He dissipates and I let out a breath before looking at Dean, Sam, and Mary.
A red handprint is on Mary's wrist, making the boys and I worried.
"That's the same mark that was on the victim," I say.
"Let's go. Come on," Dean says and I nod in agreement before we rush out of the home.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one has a surprise ending!