𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝙷𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛[𝙳.𝚆]

070

I called in the body. Cops were here in less than ten minutes. Sam and I were quiet the whole time, so Dean did the small talking for us both before the cop moved onto Alice for questioning after she got the gash on her forehead patched up. She was barely keeping it together as she explained what happened, or at least, the little white lied version.

"Max attacked me. He threatened me with a gun." Alice says blankly, looking distant.

"And these three?" The cop gestures to us.

"They're, uh...family friends." She answers, voice cracking. The cop eyes the three of us. "I called them as soon as Max arrived. I was scared. They tried to stop him. They fought for the gun." She rasps, eyes watering.

"Where did Max get the gun?"

"I don't know. He...showed up with it, and he..." she didn't finish her sentence, sobbing quietly instead. She was pretty good at lying. Another random thought occurred to me then.

How many times did she lie to protect her husband and brother-in-law after they'd beat Max to a pulp?

"It's alright Mrs. Miller." The cop sighs, closing up his notepad. He knew he wouldn't get anything else out of her.

"I've lost everyone." She sobs.

"Okay." The officer turns to us. "We'll give you a call if we have any further questions."

"Thanks, officer." Dean says. He elbows me lightly, snapping me out of my gaze on Mrs Miller. "Come on." I nod at the officer in goodbye and follow Dean out the door with Sam.

"If I just said something else...gotten through to him somehow." Sam says, shaking his head. We weren't even off the lawn yet and Sam's already blaming himself for what happened.

"Sam, don't." I groan.

"Don't what?"

"Don't blame yourself."

"It wouldn't have mattered what you said. Max was too far gone." Dean adds.

"When I think about how he looked at me, right before..." he pauses, rolling his lips into his mouth. "I should have done something."

"Come on, man. You risked your life. I mean, yeah, maybe if we'd have gotten there twenty years earlier." Dean says as we reached the Impala. Sam sighs.

""Well, I'll tell you one thing. We're lucky we had dad." I stop myself from opening the door to stare at Sam surprised.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that." Dean says. I look up at him and see he's just as surprised as me.

"Well, it could have gone a whole nother way after mom. A little more tequila, a little less demon hunting, then we would have had Max's childhood." I frown at that. They may not have had Max's childhood, but it seemed pretty close. I decided to just keep my mouth shut though. "All things considered, we turned out okay...thanks to him."

"All things considered." Dean repeats before getting inside.

We decided to hit the road now instead of waiting till morning so that we could avoid the cops calling for questioning. Plus, this place blows. I think the three of us needed to get out of here. So I went and packed my things, taking my time to fold them neatly since we weren't in a rush this time.

"Hey, Sam-I-Am." I pat Sam's back as he opened up the Impala. I pass him my stuff and went to enter their room. Dean's in there rolling up his clothes absentmindedly. "Hey, hot stuff." I smile, walking over to place a kiss on his cheek. He smiles down at me and leans in to kiss me quickly. I break away, smiling even wider. "You're an affectionate one, aren't you?" I laugh.