||CHAPTER TWO // SURPRISE||
They finally get to Pontiac, Illinois, to the hotel Sam's staying at. The bright illuminated sign almost glares Dean in the face as they walk inside. They get the room number from the front desk before Dean practically runs toward the room, Bobby hurries after him. Bobby's missed Dakota a lot, having not seen or heard from her since Dean's death.
Dean glances at Bobby as they stop outside room 207 before knocking. A brunette girl, only wearing a tank top and underwear, answers the door. Cocking an eyebrow as she notices they aren't holding anything.
"So, where is it?" She questions them both, her eyes bouncing between the men.
Dean and Bobby exchange a glance before Dean purses his lips. "Where's what?" He asks in return.
"The pizza that takes two guys to deliver." The brunette sasses back. Dean smiles awkwardly.
"I think we got the wrong room." He takes a step back as Sam enters the room, looking toward the brunette.
"Hey, is--" He breaks off, noticing Dean and Bobby standing outside the door.
Dean's eyes light up and he smiles at his little brother. "Hey ya, Sammy." Sam's breathing picks up as Dean walks into the room a little bit. Sam charges at him, flipping out a silver pocket knife and attacking Dean, Bobby rushes to grab Sam. The brunette cowers into the door and screams when she sees the knife.
Bobby drags an angry Sam away from Dean, Sam screaming. "Who are you?!"
Dean faces turns angry. "Like you didn't do this!" He snaps.
"Do what?!" Sam spits back trying to get free from Bobby's grasp.
"It's him. It's him, Sam." Bobby hushes Sam, assuring him that it's actually Dean. "I've been through this already. It's really him." Dean watches his brother almost sadly.
"But..." Sam says in disbelief his eyes softening and turning wide.
"I know." Dean says softly, before joking. "I look fantastic, huh?"
Bobby rolls his eyes at Dean as Sam steps forward. He pulls Dean into a tight hug, trying not to cry, Dean closes his eyes briefly as he hears Sam sniffle quietly. Dean squeezes Sam before they both release the other, holding a hand on the other's shoulder.
"So, are you two like...together?" The brunette by the door questions, breaking the reunion between the brothers.
The Winchesters both pull a disgusted face before Sam answers her. "No, he's my brother."
"Oh." She says surprised, glancing at Dean before turning to Sam. "I guess, look I should probably go."
Sam agrees instantly. "Yeah, yeah. That's probably a good idea. Sorry." He doesn't seem that sorry as he ushers her out the door. She tells him to call her but he gets her name wrong, turning the whole atmosphere awkward before she finally leaves.
Sam sits down to put on his shoes, Dean crosses his arms over his chest. "So, tell me, what'd it cost?" He questions his brother, Sam looks up at the question in confusion.
"The girl? I don't pay, Dean." Sam chuckles.
"That's not funny, Sam." Dean hisses. "To bring me back." He supplies.
"What'd it cost?" Bobby repeats Dean's question.
"Was it just your soul, or was it something worse?" Dean asks, bringing Sam's attention to him.
"You think I made a deal?" Sam snaps with irritation.
"That's exactly what we think." Bobby butts in, blinking slowly, almost rolling his eyes at Sam.
"Well, I didn't." Sam's face screws up a bit.
"Don't lie to me." Dean growls, his eyes not moving from Sam's form.
"I'm not lying." Sam snaps angrily. Dean's too angry to listen.
"So what now? I'm off the hook, and you're on, is that it?" Dean stalks forward, Sam clenches his jaw. "You're some demon's bitch boy? I didn't want to be saved like this!"
Sam stands, glaring at Dean. "Look, Dean, I wish I had done it, all right?"
Dean lunges forward, gripping the front of Sam's button up in his fists. "There's no other way that this could have gone down." He hisses before his voice raises sharply. "Now tell the truth!"
"I tried everything!" Sam shoves Dean's hands away from his shirt. "That's the truth. I tried opening the devil's gate. Hell, I tried to bargain, Dean, but no demon would deal, all right?" They glare at each other for a moment. "You were rotting in hell for months--for months and I couldn't stop it. I'm sorry it wasn't me, Dean, I'm sorry."
"It's alright Sammy, it's okay, I believe you." Dean looks away.
Bobby goes to speak up when a sharp cry goes through the air, both Winchesters straighten up. "Sammy!" The small voice wails, full of sobs. "Uncle Sammy!"
"Kota..." Dean goes to take a step forward but Sam stops him. "Sam, let go, I have to see her."
"She had a nightmare, Dean. You going in there will scare her more. Let me calm her down and bring her out here." Sam says quietly, holding his brother back.
"Sammy!" Dakota cries.
"I'm coming, honey." Sam calls before disappearing into a different room. Dean stares after them with a pained look. Dakota's having nightmares, Sam was able to tell almost immediately it was a nightmare and not something scaring her in her room. Dean realized it wasn't the first if Sam was able to recognize it was a bad dream.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Sam's soul remains intact, but it raises a sticky question." Bobby breaks the silence.
"If Sam didn't make a deal, than what the hell pulled me out." Dean finishes, before sighing. "We'll figure that out later, I need to see my daughter."
"C'mon Kota, it's okay." Sam soothes, footsteps approaching the room that Dean's in, causing him to shift his weight in excitement.
Sam enters before a small girl with tangled blonde hair comes in behind him, Sam tugs her in as she rubs her eyes. Dean's heart nearly breaks at the sight of her teary green eyes. She looks up and notices Dean, causing her to stop mid step and her eyes to widen severely. Her lower lip wobbles. "D-daddy?" She stutters hopefully.
"Hey, baby." He whispers, that's all it takes for Dakota to drop Sam's hand and launch herself into Dean's arms.
She buries her head in the crook of his neck sobbing, gripping onto his jacket tightly. He picks her up and cradles her head, rocking her soothingly before rubbing her back with the hand that was on her head. "Shh I know, baby, I know. I'm here now, I'm right here."
She cries louder into his neck, she'd dreamed about having her dad back but it was always ruined with her waking up and remembering he's gone.
"Please be real. Please be real." She sobs into his shoulder, Bobby's heart constricts at the sound of her pleas. He's painstakingly reminded of a young Dean clinging to his father whenever he got back from long hunts.
Dean squeezes his eyes shut, murmuring to her that it was real, that he was there.
He notices that her hair turned more sandy and gotten longer since the last time he'd seen her. The freckles that splayed across her cheekbones had gotten more prominent, he also notices that her ears stick out a bit, just like his does. She's gotten to look more like Dean, making him have an odd sort of pride, he's glad that she took little to nothing from her mother. Most of her features she's gotten from him, that unfortunately included his anger.
Her green eyes, her blonde hair, her freckles, her ears, her skin tone, and her facial shape was all him. The only thing she'd seemingly gotten from her mother was her height. Dean could also pick a couple features that she shared with Sam, although he knew he was probably imaging it but he almost swore that Dakota had the same nose as Sam. Her chin even seemed to match Sam's more than Dean's. She, of course, shared the same body language with the boys, running her hand through her hair was from Sam. Her face twitching slightly when she was angry was from Dean. Her goofiness was all Dean, but her love for books was Sam. Though Dean suspected she's now picked up a few more ticks from Sam, having spent four months with him.
The only thing that worried Dean was the fact that she was still small for her age, she hadn't grown since he left-she didn't look seven, she was still the size of a small six year old. Of course, he's glad that she's small, he doesn't want her growing up, but he doesn't know if it's a health issue from not growing up like normal kids or if she was just small. Her mother was short, so that could be a factor in it as well.
"How are you here, daddy?" Dakota's small voice pulled him from his thoughts, he pulls away slightly to look at her-placing his hands on her shoulders to keep her close.
"I'm not sure, baby, but we'll figure it out-don't worry." Dean replies, casting a look over at Bobby and Sam who nod at him.
Sam excuses himself for a moment to grab some beers for them, besides Dakota who sits on the floor coloring in a book Sam had gotten her. Dean perches himself on the coffee table beside her, watching the picture she's coloring while throwing in tips and reminding her to try and stay in the lines. He smiles and ruffles her hair before Sam comes back in carrying three beers and a small bottle of bug juice.
"Here ya go, bug." He says softly, handing the juice down to his niece. She mumbles a thank you and returns to her colors.
"So, what are you doing around here if you weren't digging me up." Dean asks, casting a glance at his daughter before lowering his voice slightly.
"Well, once I figured out I couldn't save you, uhm...I started hunting down Lilith." Sam darts his eyes between the two men before taking a drink, trying to stall the last bit of information. "Trying to get some payback."
Dean's face pinches together slightly and he opens his mouth to scold Sam but Bobby jumps in before he could say anything. "All by yourself? Who do you think you are, your old man?" Bobby says.
"Why would you bring Dakota anywhere near where Lilith might be? Why take her in the first place?" Dean questions, his tone full of controlled anger. In his view, Sam stole Dakota's chance at a mostly normal life, he knew that if Bobby had her than she'd get to be a kid. Go to school and not worry about what monsters might be lurking in the dark.
"Dean...I took Kota because she's my family, I couldn't leave her." Sam says before clearing his throat and dropping his eye line. "And...she reminds me of you. With her it was almost like you were still here, you know?" Sam then moves his eyes over to Bobby. "I'm sorry Bobby, I was pretty messed up. I should've called." He shrugs a little while giving Bobby a sheepish look.
Dean gets up and picks up a pink laced bra hanging over on of the chairs. "Oh, Yeah. I really feel your pain." Dean smirks a little. Sam laughs. "You brought girls to sleep with when Dakota was around? Man, I didn't even do that." Dean sits beside Sam, tossing the bra over to his little brother. It was true, whenever Dean found girls to sleep with he never brought them to the motel where Dakota was sleeping. He always took them somewhere else, mainly their places.
"Anyways," Sam changes the subject quickly. "Uh, I was checking the demons out of Tennessee, and out of nowhere they took a hard left, booked up here."
"When?" Dean jumps in quickly.
"Yesterday morning." Dakota answers absently, ripping out the completed paged before turning the page to color another page. "Uncle Sammy and I got here yesterday when I woke up." She gives her dad a small smile, handing him the colored picture of a car.
"Thanks, baby." He says softly before turning to Bobby when Dakota's attention was taking by her book. "When I busted out."
"You think these demons are here 'cause of you?" Bobby asks.
"But why?" Sam asks his brother, Dean gives him a pointed look and jerks his head back slightly.
"Well, I don't know." Dean answers full of sass, "some bad ass demon drags me out, and now this?"
"Swear word," Dakota mumbles quietly, Sam chuckles at his niece as Dean continues with his rant.
"It's got to be connected somehow." Dean says, bringing Sam attention back to him and the serious conversation.
"How you feeling, anyway?" Bobby's question which causes Dakota to lower her crayon and raise her head, concerned for her dad's health.
"I'm a little hungry?" Dean replies almost confused before pushing it off into a shrug, he glances over at his daughter who's looking at him with her wide green eyes.
"No," Bobby says a little annoyed with Dean's sass, "I mean, do you feel like yourself? Anything strange or different?"
"Daddy?" Dakota questions.
"Or demonic?" Dean ignores Dakota question. "Bobby, how many times do I have to prove I'm me?" Dean snaps at the older man.
Bobby rolls his eyes at Dean. "Yeah, well, listen--no demon's letting you loose out of the kindness of their hearts. They gotta have something nasty planned."
"Well, I feel fine." Dean says taking a deep and looking at Bobby with slight annoyance.
"Daddy." Dakota says, bringing the three men's attention to the little girl. "Are you sure your okay? Demons can be meanies." Dakota continues with an adorable look of concern and innocence.
"Baby, you haven't met any demons." Dean says with a playful eye roll before smiling at his daughter. "I'm okay, Kota." He assures.
"I have met a demon." Dakota swears, making Dean cast a nervous Sam a look with a raised brow.
"Okay, look, we don't know what they're planning." Sam changes the subject quickly, trying to bring the topic away from him and the four months Dakota spent with him. "We got a pile of questions and no shovel." Sam says, looking over at his brother nervously but Dean's focused on the bigger issue. "We need help."
Bobby speaks up. "I know a psychic a few hours from here." Dean licks his lips as he works through Bobby's words. "Something this big, maybe she's heard the other side talking."
Dean perks up slightly, causing Dakota's attention to sway from her book and unto her dad. "Hell, yeah. It's worth a shot."
"Another swear word." Dakota pushes her dad's leg.
"I'll be right back." Bobby says, getting up to go call his friend. Dean gets up to stop him but Sam's voice stops him.
"Hey, wait." Sam says, standing up as well. "Kota, honey, can I have it?" Sam asks, looking down at his niece.
Dakota sighs and stands up, pulling the necklace over her head and handing it to Sam. He gives her a smile before passing it to his brother. Dean turns it around in his hand a few times before thanking his family. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Sam says in return.
"I wasn't talking to you." Dean replies, before smiling down at his daughter. Crouching down and holding his hand out for a high five. Sam is quiet for a couple moments before asking the question that's been dreading him.
"Hey, Dean. What was it like?" Sam asks, not looking at him. Dean looks up before standing.
"What? Hell?"
"Swear!" Dakota says again.
"No, that time it's not a swear word, it's a place." Sam answers, sticking his tongue out at his niece.
"I don't know. I-I-I-I must have blacked it out." Dean stutters, looking up at his little brother. "I don't remember a damned thing." Dakota doesn't both telling him he swore, instead she sighs and throws her hands up in defeat before walking away to find Bobby.
Edited 3/24/19