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Concrete cool on the bottom of bare feet, bottle of whiskey dangling from fingers calloused by hard labor instead of guns, shovels and knives, Dean Winchester stared into the gleaming finish as though his Baby held all the answers.
Maybe she did. She’d carried him safely through many a crisis always patient…always there.
He saw the reflections of the woman so didn’t flinch when she spoke.
“Stay.”
‘I can’t.”
“Dean?”
“No. Azazael may have been a hallucination, but he was right. You can’t run from your past. I won’t let that hurt you and Ben again.” His voice was quiet, but adamant.
Lisa tugged her robe closer to ward off the sudden chill. The hunter was back.
“Are you going with Sam and your grandfather or to Bobby’s? Her tone held hope she could enlist their help to hold Dean here.
“Neither. Sam’s made it clear he doesn’t want me. He’s got a better family now…smarter…like him…like Mom.”
She fought to talk around the lump in her throat. Dean hadn’t talked like this since he thought Sam was dead.
“What about Bobby?”
Dean gave a disgruntled snort. “How do I trust him again? They lied…cut me out of their lives…I get it. It took awhile ‘cause I’m a little slow on the uptake, but I’m clued in now. They.Don’t.Need.Me.” He ran fingertips over the black paint. “She knew.” He whispered more to the car than Lisa. “She knew it’d be me and her again.”
“Dean?”
“I’m sorry, Lisa. You and Ben…you saved my life. Kept me from losin’ my mind. I won’t repay that by lettin’ a bunch of evil sonsabitches use you for bait.”
“When?” Her voice broke.
“Tomorrow.”
“Ben?”
“I’ll take him to school.”
“In her?”
“Yeah.”
“He’ll know.”
“Yeah. Save a lotta talkin.”
“You two always could commune over her.” Lisa tried to smile.
“Come sleep in my bed one more night before she takes you away?” She held out her hand.
Lisa sat staring at the phone Dean left behind with all of his other ‘civilian’ things. He hadn’t been as broken when he left as when he’d shown up on her doorstep a year ago, but it was a near thing. She wanted to hate Sam and Bobby for their treatment of Dean, but she could only pity them for their loss of Dean’s trust.
Ben had been amazing. She wasn’t sure what Dean had told her son, but there was a maturity that hadn’t been there before. She knew Dean still talked to Ben, but she didn’t pry.
She was about to sweep the phone and Dean’s set of house keys into the junk drawer when the screen lit up with an unknown number. She pushed the answer button.
“Dean?” The male voice asked.
“Dean’s not here.” Lisa answered.
“Lisa?”
“Yes.”
“It’s Sam.”
Lisa was tempted to push ‘End’.
“Lisa, please don’t hang up. Is Dean around?”
“No.”
“When will he be back?”
“Probably never.”
“What!? What happened?”
“You and Bobby.”
“…What do you mean?” We saved his life after the Djinn poisoned him.” Sam sounded affronted.
“You destroyed his life.” Lisa said flatly.
“He stayed with you.” Sam snapped.
“Only because there was nowhere else he felt safe enough to try and put the pieces back together.” She snarled.
After not feeling anything for so long, Sam felt a fissure of fear race down his spine.
“Lisa, where’s my brother?”
“Not.Here.” She ground out.
“I need to talk to him.” Sam was starting to lose his temper. He could feel the fire starting to crawl along his nerves.
“It’s always been about what you want---what you need. Never about Dean.”
Hazel eyes narrowed at the censure in Lisa’s voice.
“You don’t know…” He was rudely interrupted by her angry hiss.
“I know you, Bobby and Samuel betrayed him.”
“We didn’t.”
“If you didn’t want him back you would never have let him know you were alive.”
“The Djinn…”
“Were an excuse. You could have called Bobby to handle it. You never had to show your face here.” She snapped.
Sam’s words died on his tongue.
“You came here to take him back or rub his nose in your new and improved family…I’m not sure which.”
Sam heard a sob catch in her throat.
“We both lose, Sam. He packed his black Bitch and left. I tried, but the second he moved that tarp and opened her trunk---you and she won. But in the end only she got Dean.”
“What are you saying, Lisa?” The fire of Sam’s anger died.
“He left the day after you did.” Lisa sounded tired.
“Where?” The fear was returning.
“I don’t know, Sam.” She shouted. “Where does a shattered, paranoid hunter go? ‘Cause he’s already been to Hell and back three times.” The call ended.
Bobby and Samuel looked up when they heard the kitchen door slam. The older men moved to follow.
They watched as the volatile young man fought for control.
“Sam?” Bobby asked quietly.
“That was Lisa.” He ground out.
“Is Dean gonna call back?” Samuel asked.
“No.” The broad chest heaved as Sam fought for control.
Bobby approached Sam tentatively. “Is Dean alright, boy?”
The sadness in the hazel eyes made Bobby’s breath catch. “Is he…”
“Gone.”
“What do you mean gone.” Bobby’s voice rose.
“As in packed the Impala and left.”
“Where to?” Samuel asked.
“Away from the people that betrayed him.” Sam said quietly.
“Betrayed?” The older men sounded confused.
“We lied to him for over a year, which in Deanspeak means we didn’t have any use for him and that I had a new family that didn’t include him.” Sam hung his head.
“Damn. We’ll never find ‘im.” Bobby turned for the house.
Samuel turned to his namesake.
“He means Dean will go so far underground...We won’t find him ‘til he wants to be found.”
“Could be for the best. That conscious of his would just slow us down.”
Samuel took a step back at the expression in Sam’s eyes. He had never feared Sam, regardless of what people whispered, but now he saw why they whispered.
“That’s why I.Need.Him.” Sam hissed between gritted teeth as he headed for the house and his computer.
When Sam wasn’t hunting, he was searching. Every time he got a whiff of Dean, he was on the chase always disappointed to be a day or two behind. The closest he got was pulling into the motel parking lot as the gleaming black of the Impala was rolling down the block, taunting Sam with a glimpse of Dean. Before he could follow, his phone rang. Samuel calling him back to their current squat.
Dean ran the chamois over the wet hood. It was a perfect Indian summer day. It would soon be time to think about heading south to keep his Baby out of the winter weather and chemicals. He was relaxed. He’d finished the salt and burn the night before, and was in no hurry to go anywhere.
He’d found a lead worth checking out when the feeling settled over him that it was time to leave. He looked around the nearly empty diner and into the parking lot, but nothing appeared out of place. Never one to ignore his ‘spidey’ sense, the Impala was soon headed east.
An hour later, a black Charger growled its way through the diner parking lot.
Dean rubbed the back of his neck while looking down at his car. He often thought about having Missouri ‘read’ the car to see if she was possessed, but the psychic would call Bobby, and though the wounds had scarred over, Dean wasn’t ready to forgive the older hunter. So whenever it felt like his Baby was pushing him to do something, Dean just went with the feeling ‘cause at the end of the day She was his protector.
Late in the night, caught in the middle of nowhere, barely able to hold his eyes open, Dean pulled off the road. Unrolled a sleeping bag in the back seat, pulled off his belt and boots before letting the sounds of katydids and the ticking of the cooling engine lull him to sleep.
Settled into the shadows to escape detection, the Impala cradled her cargo. Maybe it was time to urge her human to go to South Dakota---because nobody put her Baby in the corner.