Monday, March 5, 2012

Fiction WiC30- Lonesome Roads

Title: When It Changes
Author: Restive Nature
Genre: Crossover
Type: WiP
Shows: Dark Angel and Supernatural
Disclaimer: Neither show represented in this fiction belongs to me. Dark Angel is the product of Cameron/Eglee and Fox, whereas Supernatural is the product of Kripke and The CW. No profits are made from this fiction and it is intended for private enjoyment only.
Story Rating: PG-13 up to NC-17 for language, violence and sexual situations. (All higher rated material will be contained in its own chapter and clearly marked at the beginning of the chapter. PG versions of these chapters will also be available.)
Chapter Rating: PG-13 for language.
Timeline/ Spoilers: This story takes place predominantly in the Supernatural timeline. This means that the Dark Angel structure of post-pulse America does not fit in. The massive changes will be that Manticore is decades ahead of itself and the characters from DA are born much earlier than portrayed on the show. There is no Pulse occurring. Any other changes to the structures or episodes of the shows will be (hopefully) explained within the story itself.
Pairing: Dean/ Max, Sam/ Jess

Summary: Change can be a choice and you never know where the road you choose to take will lead you.

When It Changes

Chapter Thirty
Lonesome Roads


"Hey Dean," Sam muttered as they climbed back into the car, after looking over the scene of the supernatural crime just outside of Jericho, California.

"Yeah man?" Dean asked, glancing warily at his younger brother. He was just waiting for the next attack on his style of investigation. They'd already blown off some of the steam with that foot stepping, head slapping bit around the cops.

"Did it ever occur to you to call Max and ask her if she's seen Dad?" Sam asked casually, though Dean could detect a note of annoyance that he even had to ask. Not that it was any different from anything else Sammy had said since Dean had convinced him to come along on this trip. Everything that came out of Sam's cake hole was pure annoyance, sometimes on both their parts. Dean really had forgotten how anal Sammy could get when they were hunting.

"Why bother?" he shrugged, even though he still winced inwardly at the thought of calling Max. He hadn't actually talked to her in almost two years. That was a long time to go and way past the point where he could just pick up the phone and ask her out of the blue if she'd heard from Dad. He knew what the answer would have been. Yeah she had a few weeks ago. 'Cause they always talked. They talked every few days. And by what Dean had gathered, Sam and Max talked every other week or so, sometimes more. The only person that she wasn't talking to was him.

And maybe it was better that way. Dean had finally come to the point where being without her didn't ache like a huge gaping hole in his chest every damn day. He'd come to a point where he could hear her name without having to glance around to see where she was. The point where he could finally live his little life like a normal, healthy, red blooded male. And he was just fine with that.

"Why bother?" Sam repeated incredulously, staring at his brother while he drove, heading towards the town that was their main destination this weekend. Of course, he was able to infer a few more things than Dean probably meant him to understand. "Man I can't believe you guys are still mad at each other."

"Mad?" Dean choked out. "Who said I was mad at Max?"

"No one," Sam shrugged one shoulder. "I mean, it wasn't that big of a deal. You think you'd get over it by now." He was completely startled when Dean applied the brakes a little more suddenly than he'd been expecting, his hands coming up to brace against the Impala's dashboard. "Dude!"

"She told you!" Dean exploded, having twisted in his seat to stare at his brother.

"A little bit yeah," Sam snorted and then gestured out the window to the stretch of highway and after a startled moment, Dean continued on. "I mean, Jess told me there was more to the situation that Max didn't feel like telling me about."

"Your girlfriend knows?" Dean demanded incredulously. "Max told her?"

"Actually, Jess guessed," Sam smirked, remembering how when Jess had finally shared details with him, just the vaguest hints since she didn't want to outright betray Max's confidences, Sam had reminded himself that he should definitely listen more often to her 'women's intuition'. Especially when it came to his sister. It did on occasion save him from having his ass kicked by a perturbed younger sister when he accidentally said the wrong thing to her. "I mean look, I know what she did was stupid. But can you really blame her?" he continued on, strangely amused by the wide-eyed petrification on his brother's face. "I don't think I know anybody who thinks clearly at eighteen when they're pissed off at someone who is being his typical self," he stressed, clearly letting Dean know at whose feet he was placing the blame.

"Excuse me?" Dean snorted, half caught between anger and amusement. He could tell from the hint of a grin on Sammy's face that there was no way in hell that his brother actually knew, as in had full access to details about what had occurred between him and Max, because if he did, there was no way that Sam would be grinning like that. Which meant his little brother was on a fishing expedition and Dean was just way too good at avoiding that trap. At least so far he was. "You only heard Max's side of the story."

"So tell me yours," Sam retorted instantly.

"No," Dean said shortly, fixing his attention back on the road. He could feel Sam staring at him, assessing the best way to keep at this topic. There really were few choices. He could try and manipulate and wheedle the information out of Dean and unfortunately, Dean was forewarned and would be forearmed against that. Or he could keep pestering about it, which was almost a surefire bet. Or he could sit back and wait and bide his time and try and catch Dean off guard. Which, judging from the way he was slouching back in his seat, seemed to be the method of choice for Sam this time. "You know, if you're so worried," Dean continued, carefully trying to sound casual, "why don't you call her and ask if she's heard from Dad."

"I would," Sam sighed, "but I hate calling her at work."

"She's working today?" Dean frowned. He wasn't aware of that, obviously. Sam was nodding.

"Yeah, she's trying to get some extra shifts in to make some money to come down at Christmas," he informed his brother. "So she picks up shifts from her co-workers on Saturdays."

"Ah," Dean nodded. It made sense. "So what's so bad about calling her at work?"

"Uh, because I really don't like distracting her on the cell phone while she's trying to ride through all that traffic all the time," Sam huffed out like it should have been obvious. "And the few times that I've actually called Jam Pony, Normal got so anal about it that I just quit. She already gets yelled at enough."

"Her boss yells at her?" Dean demanded, frowning slightly. "Where does he get off-!"

"He yells at everybody Dean," Sam chuckled wryly. "I mean he yelled at me when I was up visiting last year."

"Oh," Dean grimaced. "What the hell for?"

"Because I was apparently standing in the wrong spot while I was waiting for Max to pick up her paycheck," Sam grinned, remembering the occasion.

"Huh," Dean grunted.

"Yup," Sam continued. "Called me a freakishly tall, feckless bum who ought to know better than to interrupt the flow of his workplace while waiting on a good for nothing-!"

"What!" Dean snapped. That was what Max had to put up with? He knew that she'd told Dad that her boss was a little out there. But what right did the jerk have to insult people, especially his family?

"Nah, that's as far as it got," Sam laughed. "Apparently Max was standing right behind me and OC said something about poor Max's brother not used to all this hustle and bustle after Stanford."

"That shut the guy up?" Dean surmised aloud and Sam nodded.

"Yeah, turns out he applied to Stanford when he was younger, didn't get accepted and started going on and on about his education and the lack of opportunities because of it. Max just grabbed her paycheck and we ducked out."

Dean shook his head, catching sight of the sign that welcomed them into Jericho proper.

*****                            

Sam watched as the young woman who had lost her boyfriend, the latest victim in the series of murders they were investigating, was led away by her friend. At least now that they knew about the supposed legend circulating around, they had a little more something to go on than they had before. Sam glanced down at his watch, checking the time and mentally calculating.

"We should hit the library," Dean decided quietly before slurping down the last dregs of his coffee. Sam nodded absently. He'd already pulled out his cell phone and was dialing his sister's number. "Who're you callin'?"

"Max," he answered shortly and softly. Dean glanced away, his fingers twisting his coffee cup in an uneven circle. Sam's face tightened a little as he contemplated just how deeply this fight was running between his siblings. It was obvious to him that Dean hadn't gotten over Max's departure and subsequent life changes. Just as it was obvious that he harbored a little resentment towards Sam for going to Stanford. Even if he said he didn't. Finally the phone was picked up on the other end and Kendra's familiar voice answered. "Hey Kendra, it's Sam. How're you doing?"

Dean turned slightly in his seat, interested in the conversation despite himself. He couldn't help it. Every single time his father talked to Max, he'd struggled to listen in yet not be caught at it, just hoping to hear that she was okay, or that maybe she'd thought of him. It was pathetic, he knew, but, well, crumbs for a dying man were better than nothing at all.

"Uh huh," Sam continued with a small smile. He shuffled out of the booth they had been sitting in and Dean followed after. "So I didn't interrupt your class, did I?" The taller of the Winchester's waited for his brother, the phone still pressed to his ear and Dean wondered what class Sam was referring to. He'd never been much interested in what Max's roommate had been like or what she did with her life. "Oh, I'm glad. What are you working on right now?" Dean pulled his wallet from his pocket and threw down a couple bills, enough to cover the drinks they'd had before tilting his head towards the door. Sam caught it and nodded, following after him. "Haiku's or what?"

Dean frowned. Their father was missing and Sam was talking about Japanese poetry? His snort must have reached Sam since his brother suddenly smiled bemusedly at him. Dean rolled his eyes and headed towards the car. He was pretty sure he had seen the public library where they were sure to have computers where they could begin looking up information.

"Well that's good to hear," Sam continued as he climbed into the car. "So is Max home yet?" Dean dug into his pockets for the keys to the Impala and unlocked his door. He climbed in and even as he was leaning over to unlock Sam's door, he heard the loud, "What!" Wondering what could possibly be wrong, he hurriedly opened the door for Sam, who sank into the seat, looking somewhat stupefied.

"And what's his name?" Sam demanded. "Eric what?" Dean's eyes widened as he realized the implication of that. Their sister had a new boyfriend. Another one. He bit his tongue slightly, at the tip, trying to keep from letting out a frustrated swear. Every new boyfriend, or even old boyfriend, it was just another person that took her further and further away from him. But it was not like he could blame her. It wasn't as if he'd let his love life, and there a snort did escape him, stand still. He could hardly expect her to live life like a nun. Even if it would have given him and Sam and Dad great peace of mind. Shaking his head just a little, he tuned back into Sam's conversation. "That still wasn't very smart. What the hell does she know about this guy?" That didn't sound very promising. Sam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're right Kendra. I'm sorry, I know. I shouldn't take this out on you. I'll just call my sister and chew her butt out." He listened again and then laughed. "All right, you too. Bye." Sam hung up on the call and Dean gave him a WTF? gesture that Sam tried to ignore while he dialed his sister's cell phone number.

"Dude," Dean whined, "what's going on?" Sam held up his hand and waited, but there was apparently no answer.

"Max," Sam rumbled and Dean had to grin at the ominous tone. Man, the kid sounded exactly like Dad had the first time he'd caught Dean in the backseat of the Impala with a six pack and a lovely young lady and a very obvious pack of condoms. But suddenly Sam's tone brightened and Dean realized right away that he was leaving her a message. "I just talked to Kendra," Sam chirped with fake enthusiasm. "And guess what she just told me? I really think you need to call me back. Because for one, Eric what's-his-name, not really happy with that. And two, Dad's missing and we're wondering if you heard from him sometime in the last few weeks." He snapped his cell phone shut and stuck it back into his jacket pocket. He turned, wondering why his brother wasn't driving yet. "What?"

"That's what's important to you?" Dean growled. "Max's new boyfriend is more important than finding whee the hell Dad went to?"

"Well, there's A," Sam pointed out, "Dad has gone missing before, like I said. And he always turns up just fine. And then there's B. This Eric guy? Max just met him last night, he followed her home from the bar. She assures Kendra that nothing happened, but apparently Eric has other ideas."

"Really?" Dean replied, his voice flat. Okay, he could definitely see where Sam was coming from with this.

"Yup," Sam nodded. "So Max decided to go on a day trip up north and Mr. Eric just goes and invites himself along, right when she was leaving."

"And she let him?" Dean demanded and Sam nodded. "What?" Dean squawked. "Why didn't she just say no?"

"No clue," Sam huffed, shrugging his shoulders. "I have no clue why she does half the things she does. But apparently, Jess assures me, that's normal."

"Yeah, well at least you have a user's guide now," Dean smirked with a shake of his head.

"Dean!" Sam protested automatically, even though he had thought along the same lines himself a few times, although never putting it as crudely as Dean had. There were many occasions when his girlfriend had been able to she light on his sister's moods or possible emotions, and vice versa. It was actually a very valuable tool that kept Sam out of trouble and where that ended, his natural sensitivity to other people's feelings took up the slack.

"Well, back to work," Dean muttered as he started up the car and pulled into the moderately busy Jericho street.

*****             

"You know," Sam murmured as he climbed into the car with his brother. He was breathing shallowly, trying not to be affected by the sewer-like stench that rose from his brother's clothing. "I'm starting to worry about Max. She hasn't called me back yet."

"She's a big girl Sam," Dean sighed, still peeved about the Woman In White, Constance Welch appropriating his car for a spirited joyride. He didn't need to hear his brother voicing concerns that he himself had. That just made him dwell on it all the more.

"I know," Sam echoed his brother's sigh. "But she always calls me back within a few hours."

"Well why don't we head back into town and find someplace to get cleaned up and you can try her again," Dean offered reasonably. He didn't add that he really wanted to hear that she was okay as well. He didn't think he could handle worrying about her on top of his father's sudden disappearance. Sam nodded and stared out the window for a moment. "So, Constance Welch," he began, and the conversation revolved around the hunt as the sky began to lighten and Dean drove them back to Jericho.

*****         

At precisely seven a.m., Sam resolutely dialed his sister's phone again, wondering if she were back from her road trip, if she were well, wondered about this Eric character. He and Dean both knew that Max was extremely adept at taking care of herself, but there were some things that even Max couldn't guard against. And he was hoping against hope that it was just an overactive imagination on his part and that Max would laugh his fears off as she normally did.

"Hello?" a male voice answered promptly. Sam lifted the phone up to his mouth as his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Yeah," he spoke softly, his puzzlement betrayed by his voice. "Is this Eric?"

"Yeah," the male confirmed and his tone seemed a little belligerent to Sam's ear. "This is Sam?"

"Yeah, that's me," he spoke hesitantly, thinking that Eric must have read his name off of Max's phone. "I'm Max's brother. Is she there?"

"Oh, her brother," Eric sounded relieved and all belligerence was dropped from his tone. "No man, she's not and frankly, I'm worried."

"Where is she?" Sam demanded, but it seemed that Eric was off on some sort of rant.

"...I mean, I love her, but this is whack!" Eric growled. Sam turned hesitant eyes to his brother, a feeling of dread growing in the pit of his stomach. "Mysterious trips, diving underwater for God knows how long, people calling. I can't handle this."

"Handle what?" Sam was very confused. "Where are you?"

There was a pause. "Sedro Island," Eric finally told him. Sam was already digging through Dean's haphazard map collection. Finally he found the one for Washington state and quickly located where Sedro Island was. It was a ways from Seattle

"Why are you out there?" Sam muttered under his breath as he drew an invisible line from Seattle to the island with his fingertip.

"I don't know man," Eric whined and Sam snapped his attention to the petulant young man. "I mean, I thought we were just taking a nice day trip, little drive, and then bam, Max drives straight through the night and when we get here, she didn't tell me a thing. Just took off."

Suspicion ate at Sam right then. What the hell was going on. "Max didn't say anything at all about this trip?" he prodded.

"Nah man," Eric sighed. "All she said was that she was going to see someone."

Sam jabbed at his brother's arm to get his attention and Dean threw him a puzzled look. "Did she say who she was going to see?" Sam pressed, a small hope lighting in his chest. No matter what he said to Dean, it was his father they wee talking about after all and there was always the possibility that this hunt was his last hunt. His brother caught on quickly as to where the conversation was leading and mouthed 'Dad?' at his brother but Sam didn't respond just yet.

"No, she didn't," Eric denied.

"Okay," Sam tried again. "Did she say anything about our Dad? Could she have been meeting him?" Both men in the car seemed to hold their breaths.

"She didn't say anything about him," Eric denied again. "But, look, I don't know what the hell is going on, this black helicopter shit is really freakin' me out. And I'm waiting for Logan to call me back."

Sam mouthed the name Logan, recalling that this was the first name of the reporter that Max had mentioned. What the hell did that have to do with anything? And also... "black helicopter?" he puzzled. Dean frowned, trying to watch the road and listen and follow the conversation at the same time.

"Look Sam," Eric grunted, readily losing what little patience he seemed to have, "any other answers, you're gonna have to get from your sister. I just don't know."

"Yeah, yeah,' Sam agreed hastily. "Just have her call me as soon as she can."

"Will do," the young man sighed before the phone disconnected.

"Well?" Dean demanded before Sam had even pulled the phone away from his ear. "She hear from Dad?"

"Don't know," Sam shrugged. "Her boyfriend said that she drove straight through the night to get to Sedro Island, that she was meeting someone, she didn't mention Dad, and something about black helicopters," Sam recounted for his brother. He twisted slightly in his seat. "You think Dad could be up in Washington? Would he have abandoned a case here?"

"If it was important enough," Dean nodded. "And it would make sense that he'd call Max for help since I was back east the last couple weeks." Sam nodded. That was his assessment as well. "But black helicopters? What would that be about?"

Dean grinned faintly, "well, you know better than most how easy it is for Dad to piss people off." Sam chuckled and nodded. Easier than breathing some days.

"So what's the plan?" he wondered.

"Same as before I guess," Dean decided. "We find somewhere to clean up, wait for Max to call you back, or Dad and while we're waiting, figure out this Welch bitch. If Dad had to leave, then we need to take care of this before someone else ends up dead."

"Right," Sam nodded his agreement.

*****              

"Oh man," Sam groaned as he rubbed at his chest where the ghost of Constance Welch had tried a very physical form of persuasion to get him to cheat on Jess. Even with her ghostly hand around his heart he'd refused. An old maxim echoed through his mind, 'better death than dishonor' and while that had not precisely been what he'd felt, it was close enough.

"Oh suck it up Sammy," Dean grinned. "Bitch didn't do that much damage."

"Only to those of us that have a heart Dean," Sam groused right back. "And it's Sam." He was saved listening to Dean's retort when his cell phone rang. Checking the screen, he let out a relieved breath. "Finally!" He barely noticed the way Dean's finger's clenched convulsively around the steering wheel. "Max? Hey."

"Hey Sam, what's up?" Max's cheerful voice greeted him.

"I was about to ask you the same damn thing," Sam grunted, his face tightening and his eyebrows furrowing.

"What do you mean?" she chuckled. "Is someone a little pissy that I didn't mention the new guy in my life?"

"Oh believe me, we are going to get to that," Sam mock growled. Just hearing her voice, knowing that she was okay had taken a huge weight of his chest, figuratively speaking of course. "No, the reason why I was calling was, have you heard from Dad?" He shot a smirk at Dean, letting his brother know that yes indeed, Sam had his priorities straight. But the smirk disappeared when he heard her reply.

"Not for about ten days or so," Max informed him. Sam felt himself almost deflate at that.

"So you weren't up at Sedro helping him with a case or anything today?" he clarified. He heard his brother's muffled curse.

"No," Max voice sounded wary. "That was something completely unrelated. Sam, what's going on?"

"Dad's missing and Dean's worried about him," Sam announced and winced when he felt the whip smart smack his brother delivered to his arm. He threw Dean an aggrieved look, wondering what the hell his problem was now. "He left right in the middle of this case he was working on and we thought he might be up there."

"Well if he is, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him," Max returned. "How long has he been missing?"

"About a week, as far as we can figure." Sam explained.

"We?"

"Dean and I," Sam offered and he could almost hear the amusement radiating down the line to him from her. "It's actually been longer than that that he's talked to anyone. What did you guys talk about?"

"Oh the usual," Max grunted. "You know, it's funny. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but he did warn me to be careful. I mean, he always does, but this was..."

"Was what?" Sam asked hesitantly. Like the other Winchester males, Sam trusted Max's intuition on a lot of things.

"A little more intense, I guess," Max finally sighed. "What was he working on?"

"Woman in white,' Sam answered swiftly.

"Ouch," Max winced, knowing the lore behind those types of manifestations. "He left in the middle of that?"

"Don't worry," Sam grumbled. "Dean and I got her."

"Oh, good," Max sighed again. "And... you guys are okay?" she asked hesitantly and Sam wondered at it.

"Dean's fine," he groused. "Me on the other hand..."

"What happened?"

Sam winced at the sudden panic in her voice. "Calm down, I'm okay. Just a little sore."

"What did you do?" Max sounded exasperated now. "And tell me the truth or I'll come down there and kick it out of you."

"You'd kick an injured man?" Sam teased. "No, don't answer that. I know you would. Yeesh, you and Dean definitely come from the same school of bedside manner." He laughed as both his siblings squawked indignantly at that sully. "Anyways, I guess if you haven't heard from Dad then that's the end of that. We'll have to keep looking."

"You're what?" Max asked, sounding perplexed. "I thought you had your interview tomorrow."

"Oh well, yeah, I do," Sam nodded. "But now back to that other thing I wanted to talk to you about..." he trailed off, semi-threateningly, though not seriously so.

"Ah, before you get started," Max interrupted, "I met Eric at the bar, he was drunk. I left for a little while, and when I got back, he was falling down drunk. So bad he couldn't even tell me which doorstep to drop him off at. So I took him back to my place where he immediately slept off a really nasty bender. Of course he had the wrong idea when he woke up and I didn't have the heart to burst his bubble first thing in the morning. Nothing happened Sam," she assured him.

"Okay, that's fine," Sam smiled. "But what about this road trip." He very clearly heard the disgusted snort at the other end of the line.

"Fool invited himself along at the last second," she growled out.

"Okay," Sam drawled. "Yeah, I'm getting the sense that you're getting soft here Maxie."

"I am not!" she protested indignantly.

"You are," Sam laughed and then again harder as he saw Dean's frown. It was intent and disturbing in its fierceness. What the hell was Dean's problem? "Come on, you're telling me that you couldn't just say no to this guy?"

"Well," Max whined, "he was all... puppy like. And I can't kick puppies."

"No, I guess not," Sam chuckled softly before changing his tack. "So why did you go up to Sedro? Eric said you were meeting someone."

"I was," Max confirmed and Sam could tell by the sudden softening of her tone and volume that it had been an extremely important meeting. "Did I ever tell you about Hannah?"

"Uh," Sam searched his memory for  a moment, but came up with nothing. "Not that I recall. Who is she?"

"Well, she's a nurse," Max explained. "But um, she helped me out, when I first ran away."

"Oh," Sam murmured softly. Yes, a very important person indeed.

"So when I found out she was living close by, I went to see her," Max explained. "She remembered me and we were talking and Sam...?"

"Yeah Max?" his voice was quiet as well, sensing the emotion that Max was struggling to contain. He noticed that Dean for once, was being extremely quiet and courteous. No derogatory or mocking words were coming from him.

"She um, she remembered my Mom," Max informed him and Sam felt his eyebrows shoot up. That was, well, interesting, to say the least, especially as parents had been an extremely taboo subject with Max. Her parents, at least.. "I mean, my birth mom. Hannah worked at the hospital where I was born. She said that I looked like her, and that um, she wanted me very much. But well, she was young when she had me, so in the end, she had to give me up. But you know, hearing that..."

"That's awesome Max," Sam encouraged, speaking around the sudden lump in his throat.

"I thought so," Max breathed out and for a moment, Sam was reminded of the tiny, shaking, terrified girl that his family had taken in. How much had she blossomed over the years. How much pain had she had to go through to get where she was today and Sam was so damn proud of her for it. For not letting the past weigh her down, but just taking the positive and letting go of everything else. Maybe it was time to take a page out of his sister's book. He heard something that sounded like a sniffle and then, "but anyways, I should get going. I have to work tomorrow. And you have your interview."

"Yeah," Sam concurred.

"And again, good luck with that,' Max chuckled. "Not that you'll need it. You're a shoo-in."

"Ah, if only the interviewer will think like that," Sam retorted. "So, call if you hear from Dad," he instructed.

"You too," Max said quickly. "Bye Sam."

"Bye Max," Sam replied softly and hung up his phone. He turned to Dean. "Max said she hasn't heard from Dad in about ten days."

"Yeah, I caught that," Dean nodded, chewing on his lower lip the way he always did, Sam noted, when he was upset and mulling something over.

"So, apparently there's a new guy in the picture," Sam grinned. "Although I don't know how long he's going to last."

"And why the hell would I care about that?" Dean snapped suddenly and Sam was slightly taken aback.

"Sorry," he huffed. "I just thought it was funny. That you'd want to hear about it."

"Look, Max hasn't heard from Dad," Dean grunted. "That's all I care about right now. Max and her little..." he seemed to gag on the next word, "boyfriends, will just have to take backseat at the moment."

"All right," Sam ground out. "You know Dean, it might help with this, um hostility problem you have, if you just talk about it."

"It's none of your damn business, all right Sam!" Dean snapped again and Sam raised one eyebrow contemplatively. Dean must have screwed up badly because the guilt was radiating in huge waves.

"All right," he finally said softly. It took a few minutes, both men riding stiffly in the car, before Dean leaned over and popped a tape into the cassette deck. For the next stretch of road, it looked like Blue Oyster Cult was going to rule the conversation. Sam leaned his head back against the seat's headrest. What a screwed up family he had. At least he was lucky enough that he had Jessica to go home to.



Chapter Thirty-one

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