Long Distance Call
"I mean, Dad?" Sam asked as he sat on the foot of the bed. "You really think it was Dad?"
Dean paced the floor, holding Evie to his chest as she slept. "I don't know. Maybe."
"Well, what did he sound like?" Sam asked.
I sat, legs crossed, in the middle of our bed. "That wasn't a very smart question."
"Like Oprah. It was Dad, he sounded like Dad, what do you think?" Dean said, turning to face Sam.
"What did he say?" Sam asked.
"My name."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, the call dropped out."
Sam was quiet for a moment. "Why would he even call in the first place, Dean?"
"I don't know, man. Why are the ghost calling anybody in this town?" Dean asked. "But other people are hearing from their loved ones. Why can't we? It's at least a possibility, right?"
"Yeah, I guess." Sam shrugged.
"Okay, so what if...?" Dean sat down on the edge of our bed. "What if it really is Dad? What happens if he calls back?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do I say?"
"Hello..." Sam suggested.
"You're horrible at this, Sam." I said.
"Hello?" Dean repeated. "That's what you come back with? Hello?" He stood, turning to gently lay Evie down on the bed. He moved toward the door, grabbing his jacket. "Hello?"
I sighed as he walked out of the door.
___
I leaned over the bed, grabbing my phone that was on the nightstand. "Hello?" I answered.
"Hey, Pumpkin."
My heart dropped to my stomach when I heard my dad's voice. "Dad?" I whispered.
"Hey, Saige."
Tears stung my eyes. I didn't know what to say, what to do.
But it didn't matter, the call cut out then, static crackling before went silent.
"Saige?" Sam asked from the couch across the room where he had his computer and papers scattered on the coffee table.
"It was...It was nothing."
___
Dean walked back in the room, making his way toward me. He leaned down, kissing me. "Everything okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, it's all good." I told him, smiling as Evie moved toward the edge of the bed where he stood.
Dean lifted her into his arms, tossing her in the air and catching her, making her giggle uncontrollably. "Find anything?" He asked, moving toward Sam.
"After three hours, I have found no reason why anything supernatural would be going on here." Sam stated.
"Wow, you know, you'd think that a Stanford education and a high school hookup rate of 0.0 would produce better results than that." Dean said.
Sam smiled. "Hilarious."
"Sammy, you're just looking in the wrong places, pal." Dean stated.
"And what are the right places, Dean?"
Dean pulled a pamphlet from his jacket. "The motel pamphlet rack." He dropped it on the table.
"What exactly are bars and strip clubs going to do for us?" I asked, moving past him and toward the counter where the coffee pot was.
"You have no faith in me and it hurts me deeply." Dean said.
"Mm-hm, I'm sure."
"Milan, Ohio. Birthplace of Thomas Edison." Dean stated.
"Yeah, right. So what?" Sam asked.
"Keep reading." Dean told him.
Sam sighed, scanning the pamphlet. "You're kidding." He looked up at Dean.
Dean smiled, wiggling his eyebrows.
___
"And we're walking. And we're walking." The museum guide said, leaning a group of people into another room filled with glass cases full of historical artifacts. "And here we have one of the museum's most unique and treasured possessions: Thomas Edison's 'spirit phone.'" She put air quotes around the words. "Did you know that Mr. Edison, while being one of America's most beloved inventors was also a devout 'occultist'? Ooh."
"Who didn't know that?" I asked quietly.
"Of course, you know that. You and your odd history facts." Dean said. "What's with the quote-y fingers?"
"He spent years working on this, his final invention, which he was convinced could be used to 'communicate' with the 'dead.' Pretty spooky, huh?" The guide checked her watch. "And we're walking. We are walking. We're walking. And we're not touching that."
The guide and the small group disappeared into the next room.
Sam pulled out the EMF detector.
"Anything?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "Nothing."
Evie leaned forward, trying to grab something on the case next to us. I grabbed her hand. "You can't take that."
"What do you think?" Dean asked, looking over the spirit phone.
"Honestly, it kind of looks like an old pile of junk to me." Sam said.
"Who are you and what have you done with Sam?" Millie asked.
"It's not even plugged in." Dean agreed.
"Maybe it didn't work like that."
"I highly doubt it did." I spoke up. "I mean, it's not like they were plugging into the wall like a landline or something."
"Okay. Maybe it's like a radio tower, you know? Broadcasting the dead all over town." Dean shrugged.
"Could be." Sam shrugged.
"That makes more sense." I mumbled.
"Well, the caller ID is 100 years old, right?" Dean asked. "Right around the time this thing was built."
"But why would it all of a sudden start working now?" Sam asked.
"I don't know." Dean said. "But as long as the moldy are calling the freshes around here, it's the best reason we got."
"Yeah, maybe."
"So maybe it really is dad." Dean said.
A part of me hoped it wasn't. I think it would be worse if it was. Hearing from my own dad hurt. It might make it easier if it weren't really him.
___
It was the middle of the night when I woke up to an empty bed. I slid my hand across the sheets, hoping to find Dean. I sat up once realizing he wasn't in bed. Sam was asleep, awkwardly trying to stay on one side of the bed whereas Millie didn't really care.
I stood, quietly stepping past a sleeping Evie in her collapsible crib. I made my way over to Dean, who sat at the table with a coffee in hand and his phone resting beside him.
"Dean?" I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up at me. "Hey, baby. What's up?"
"Why don't you come to bed?" I asked.
"I can't." Dean said.
I sighed. "Well, I'll stay up with you then."
"No, no. It's okay. You can go back to bed, Si."
I smiled. "Well, I'm not. It's okay. I only have one request."
"What's that?"
I straddled his lap, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. "Just hold me." I rested my head on his shoulder, pressing a kiss to his neck.
Dean nodded his head. "I can do that."
"Good."
I wasn't sure how much time passed before Dean's phone rang, but he grabbed it immediately. I stood, letting him slip past me and toward the other end of the room as he answered the phone.
He disappeared inside the bathroom.
Minutes passed and I sat there on the tabletop, waiting for him. Finally, he walked back out and made a beeline for me. He pulled me into his arms, burying his face in the crook of my neck.
"Is everything okay?" I asked, wrapping my arms around him.
"He said the demon who holds my contract is in town." He whispered. "I can get out of this."
___
"What's up?" Dean asked as Sam walked in. Dean sat on the couch, typing away on the computer as it sat on the coffee table.
"That girl, Lanie, her mom's ghost spooked her out pretty bad last night." Sam stated.
"That sucks." Dean said, digging through papers stacked around him.
"Yeah, it does." Sam agreed as I sat down next to Dean, placing a cup of coffee in front of him. "What are you doing?"
"I think dad's right." Dean said. He grabbed a paper, stood and handed it to Sam. "I think the demon is here. Check it out." He crossed the room, digging through a duffle bag.
"Dean, babe, maybe we should take a breath, maybe go out to eat or something?" I suggested.
"What is this, weather reports?" Sam asked.
"Omens. Demonic omens." Dean corrected. "Electrical storms everywhere we've been for the past two weeks."
"I don't remember any lightning storms."
"Well, I don't remember you studying meteorology as a kid, either." Dean quipped. "But I'm telling you, that's bastards been tailing me wearing some poor dude's meat."
"And it's following you because...?" Sam asked.
I held my head in my hands, willing the headache to go away and for this to not turn into a huge argument.
This is exactly why I ignored it when my dad called back. I couldn't talk to him. It was too much.
"I guess I'm big game, you know?" Dean smiled. "My ass is too sweet to let out of sight."
I laughed a little. "Yeah, Dean, you're right."
"Okay, sure." Sam said.
"Don't get too excited, Sammy. You might pull something." Dean snatched the papers from him.
"Dean, look, I wanna believe this, man. I really do--"
"Then believe it." Dean snapped.
"Jeez, you people are getting annoying." Millie muttered.
"I mean, if we get this sucker, it's Miller Time." Dean continued.
"Yeah, that's another thing." Sam said. "Dad rattles off an exorcism that can kill a demon. I mean, not just send it back to hell, but kill it?"
"I've checked it out." Dean said. He moved back to the table, picking up another paper. "It's heavy-duty Dark Ages. Fifteenth century."
"Yeah, I checked on it too, Dean. So did Saige. So did Bobby." Sam said.
Dean's face fell a little. "Okay. And?"
"Look, it definitely is an exorcism, okay? There's just no evidence that it can kill a demon."
"No evidence it can't." Dean pointed out.
"At least my optimism is rubbing off of you...?" I suggested weakly, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, Dean, come on--" Sam said.
"Hey, as far as I know, the only one of us that's actually been to hell is Dad." Dean stated. "Okay, maybe he picked up a couple of tricks down there. Like which exorcisms work."
"Maybe it does." Sam shrugged. "I hope it does too. But we gotta be sure."
"Why aren't we sure?"
"Because I don't know what's going on around here, Dean." Sam stated. "I mean, some guy blows his brains out, a little girl is scared out of her wits."
"Wow, man, a couple of civvies are freaked out by some ghosts. News flash, Sam, people are supposed to be freaked out by ghosts." Dean snapped.
I stood, stepping between the brothers. "Alright, boys, let's calm down. Okay? What do you say we go out, get a pizza or something, take a walk. Just breathe."
Sam sighed. "Did dad tell you where to find the demon?"
"Or just ignore me."
"I'm waiting on the call." Dean waved his phone around.
"I told Lanie I'd stop by." Sam turned for the door.
"Can you go babysit that one?" I asked Millie.
"No, yeah. You go hang out with jailbait. Just, uh, watch out for Chris Hansen." Dean told him. "Meanwhile, I'll be here, you know, getting ready to save my life."
"I don't think you needed kids, Saige. You already have two permanent toddlers." Millie mutter, moving toward the door.
Sam kept walking to the door.
"You are unbelievable, you know that?" Dean asked. "I mean, for months, we've been trying to break this demon deal. Now dad's about to give us the freaking address and you can't accept it? The man is dead and you're still butting heads with the guy."
"Dean, hey, come on. It's okay." I placed my hands on his chest, willing him to listen to me.
"That is not what this is about." Sam said, turning back to Dean.
"Then what is it?!" Dean asked.
"The fact is, we got no hard proof here, Dean." Sam stated. "After everything, you're still just going on blind faith."
"Yeah, well, maybe! You know, maybe that's all I got, okay?!" Dean caught himself then, looking at the ground.
"Please." Sam said, voice calm. "Just please don't go anywhere until I get back, okay, Dean? Please." And with that Sam walked out of the door.
Dean sighed, moving to sit down at the table.
I moved to him.
He looked up at me, a million emotions flashing through his eyes. "You're with me on this, right?"
I nodded my head, straddling his lap. "I'm always with you." I told him. "Good, bad, wrong, right, I'm here. You could make the most ridiculously wrong statement and I'd stand by you."
Dean sighed. "I'd do that for you too."
"I know." I said. "That's what love is. Standing by your person when things get tough, when they're going through hell, when they're right or wrong or struggling. Dean, I love you. We're in this together."
"What the hell would I do without you, Si?" Dean let out a strained chuckle.
I ran my hands down his chest. "Well, for starters, you'd be all alone with no pets, no kids, and no woman to annoy you in the middle of the night. You'd crash and burn." I smiled at him.
Dean laughed. "I love you."
His phone rang. His smile dropped. He grabbed it, answering. "Dad? Where's the demon?"
A/N: The song Don't Let Me Be Lonely by The Band Perry is so Dean and Si. I've loved that song since it came out. I was just listening to it and was it reminded me of them. especially season 1 them.