"No!" Riley jumps to her feet and runs over to the edge of the bridge. She cradles her injured arm in her hand and desperately searches the dark below the bridge, then hears a grunt. She looks down and sees Sam climbing back up into the bridge. She sighs in relief. "Riley? That you?" Sam says through his effort.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Sam pulls himself over the edge and sees Riley holding her arm He notes that her shoulder is a bit slouched. He reaches to touch it, but Riley jerks away. "Where's dad?" Sam frowns and looks around. "Dean!" Riley looks at the water in fear. "Dad!"
"What?" Riley sees him crawling out of the water and hangs her head back in relief. "Hay, are you alright?" Dean lays on his back and Riley sees that he's covered in mud. She wants to laugh, but the tears in her eyes from both fear and pain stop her. "I'm super." Sam laughs for Riley.
He turns to his niece and looks at her arm. "Hey, I'll be gentle." Riley stares at him for a moment then nods. Sam gently places his hands on her arm and Riley whimpers in pain. "It's dislocated and probably bruised." Riley nods and bites her lip. Dean walks onto the bridge and jogs over to them.
"Kid?" He sees Riley's arm then glances at Sam. They know what they have to do. Riley leans against Baby. "Just do it." She mutters. Sam sighs and nods. Dean takes Riley's hand and she closes her eyes. "On three. One- Two-" Riley lets out a choked scream as her arm pops back into place. "I know weren't going to go to three. No one ever does."
She looks up at the sky and blinks away her tears. "Alright?" Dean asks her. She nods and she stands up. Sam carefully lifts his jacket off her, then ties it around her neck as a splint. "Thanks." She mutters.
Dean checks under Baby's hood and Sam walks over to him. "Car alright?" Riley looks to the place where Constance had stood on the edge of the bridge and flips it off harshly. She winces in pain as the sudden movement jostles her arm.
"Yeah, whatever she did to it, it seems fine right now." Dean turns around and Riley gets a look at his muddy face and snickers. "That Constance chick- What a bitch!" Riley hums in agreement. "Amen." Sam looks where she had stood.
"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure." Dean leans against Baby and lets out a breath. "So where's the trail go from here, genius?" Dean throws out his hands. Sam sniffs the air and Riley groans stepping away from her father. "You smell like a toilet." Sam tells Dean.
Riley gags and Dean looks down at himself.
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Riley, Sam and Dean enter the hotel room where John, or rather, Bert Aframian, had reserved for a month. In it are news clippings, pictures, and missing posters. Dean picks up a burger and sniffs it, jerking away in disgust. Riley cradles her arm as she steps over a salt line. "Can't smell much worse than you."
Dean gives her a look. Sam runs his fingers through the salt. "Salt, cat's-eye shells. He was worried, trying to keep something from coming in." Riley nods vaguely and looks around. She sniffs the air, testing for any trace of sulfur. Nothing. "What do you got there?" Sam asks as he and Dean look at a timeline.
"Centennial Highway victims. I don't get it," Sam looks at the other side of the room and RIley goes to stand next to her father. For a moment she forgets about his stench, then quickly steps away. "I mean, different men, different jobs, age, ethnicities." Riley glances at Sam then looks at her arm.
She's beginning to feel a bit guilty. Does he really deserve how angry she's been towards him?
"There's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?" Sam turns on a lamp. "Dad figured it out." Dean and Riley turn to look at him. "What do you mean?" Sam points to an article on the wall. "He found the same article we did." Riley looks at it, but has to squint her eyes to see what it says above it.
Damn her bad eyesight. "Constance Welch. She's a Woman in White." Riley blinks in shock and Dean looks at all the victims. "You sly dogs."
Dean turns to Sam. "Alright, if we're dealing with a woman in white dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it." Sam narrows his eyes at the article. "She might have another weakness."
Riley looks at the bed and sees an envelope on it. 'Riley' reads across the top of it. She creases her brows and grabs it, glancing at Sam and Dean as they talk. She turns the envelope around and sees a small note. 'Read only when alone.'
Riley snorts. He knew they would find this place. She glances at her father, then folds the letter in half and stuffs it in her back pocket.
"Hey, Dean, what I said earlier about mom and dad- I'm sorry." Riley looks at Sam and her dad. Dean raises his hand with a smirk. "No chick-flick moments." Sam laughs. "All right, jerk." Dean smirks. "Bitch."
"Idiots." Riley finishes.
"Riley," Sam starts as he turns to her. Riley looks away from him. She doesn't want to have this conversation now. "Sam, I don't want to talk about this." Sam sighs and nods. "Okay." He whispers.
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Riley sits on the bed, leaning against the headboard. Her arms is hurting worse now that the adrenaline has completely worn off. She has her knees up to her chest and is staring at the letter from John in her hands. She wants to read it terribly, but he ordered her to read it alone so she'll do just that.
The waiting is torture though.
"Hey man, I'm going to grab a little something to eat." Dean says as he exits the bathroom. Riley quickly hides the letter as he looks at her. "You want something Ri-Ri?" Riley touches her arm. "Some aspirin would be nice." Dean nods and heads out the door.
Moments later Sam's phone rings. "What?" He answers. Riley stuffs the letter in her pocket. Sam jumps to his feet. "What about you?" Sam hangs up and looks at Riley. "Cops. They got Dean." Riley sits up. "What?"
Sam peaks out the window and sees a cop approaching. "C'mon. He's coming." Riley scrambles off the bed and they both rush to the bathroom. Sam being his massive self opens the bathroom window. "You first." Sam lifts Riley up onto the counter and she begins crawling through the window.
With nothing to land on she falls to the floor and lands on her bad shoulder. She groans in pain and Sam jumps out of the window. He pulls her to her feet and they begin running. Once they are a good distance away the two of them duck behind a bush. "You okay?" Sam asks as he looks at Riley.
Her face is blanched. "Define okay." Sam sighs and shuffles closer to her. He pulls down her sleeve and looks at her shoulder. A massive black, blue and purple bruise is forming. Well, it's bigger than before.
Sam pulls her sleeve back up and looks at her. "We'll be fine. It's Dean." Sam assures her. Riley nods sharply. "Can we not talk about that? I think I'm going to vomit." Sam winces and nods. "Yeah." Sam peaks out from the bush and sees the cops driving away with Dean in the back seat. "C'mon. Let's go talk to the husband."
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Riley reaches under the steering wheel of Baby and pulls out the bundle of wires underneath it. "You sure you know what you're doing?" Sam asks as he stands in front of Riley, blocking anyone from seeing him with his giant form.
"Yeah, taught myself last year." She begins untangling the necessary wires to jump the car. Sam creases his brows. "What? Why?" Riley shrugs. "Dad and Grandpa were hunting. I got bored. Stole a car, got arrested, broke out, then the next day we skipped town. It was the most fun I had in months."
Sam turns to Riley. "Does Dean know about this?" Riley snorts as she pulls out her pocket knife to cut the wires. "Of course not. And he's not gonna know unless you tell him." Riley glances over her shoulder. "And if you do, I'll make you regret it."
Sam sees the mischievous gleam in Riley's eyes and swallows hard. She is well aware of his fear of clowns and a relentless, merciless prankster.
Riley begins sparking the two wires together and Baby sparks to life. Riley laughs in victory. She stands and gestures to the seat regally. Sam laughs, impresses and gets in. Riley walks around the other side and Sam drives off.
"So you've been arrested and Dean has no idea?" Riley smirks and raises her head proudly. "There's a lot that he doesn't know." She's actually been arrested two times, but Sam didn't need to know that.
"Why does that scare me?" Sam says as he shakes his head. Riley smiles smugly and looks out the window.
- author's notes -
naughty naughty Riley....
Bye!
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