Saving Grace

Family Remains -- Bubkes

~*****~

The light is the first thing that wakes me up. It lulls me into a dazed, sort of sleepy comfort. Then the smell hits me. I snap upwards, my peer through my bleary eyes as Dean holds Mary on his chest, his gaze fixated on the files propped up on the steering wheel. "What are you doing?" I ask sleepily.

"What's is look like?" Dean questions as he presses a kiss to Mary's head.

"Looking for a job?" I murmur.

"Yahtzee." Dean retorts.

"Is something wrong with your nose?" I question irritably as Sam sits up in the back, his nose wrinkling at the smell, too.

"No?"

"You sure? Smell the baby." I say.

Dean hums in response peers down at his daughter and takes a whiff. His head recoils like a rubber band and his eyes blink rapidly. "Oh, damn--" He manages before I scoop the infant from his arms.

She gurgles and starts tugging at her feet when I lay her across the seat. Sam and Dean are already rolling down their windows at the stench. "We just finished a job like two hours ago," Sam mentions.

"Adrenaline' still pumping, I guess." Dean comments, his gaze remaining on the files. "So, what do you think... Cedar Rapids, Tulsa, or Chi-Town?"

Sam grunts. "I am all for working. I really am." Sam expresses. "But you got us chasing cases nonstop for like a month now. We need sleep."

"Ah, we can sleep when we're dead." Dean comments. He glances at Mary and grins. "'Cept you, you sleep."

Mary gurgles and returns to tugging at her feet.

"You're exhausted, Dean." I comment after tossing Mary's diaper out the window.

"I'm good--"

"No, you're not. You're running on fumes, and you can't run forever." I mention.

"And what am I running from?" Dean asks.

I purse my lips and sigh through my nose. "From what you told us." Dean goes silent. "Or are we pretending that never happened?"

Dean decides not the pick the fight. "Stratton, Nebraska-- Farm town. A man gets hacked to death in a locked room inside a locked house. No signs of forced entry." Dean states.

"Sounds like a ghost." Sam comments.

"Yes, it does." Dean grins. Sam yawns and lays back down.

Dean takes the baby once she's in a fresh onesie and wiped down with baby wipes, and resettles her on his chest. I yawn lightly before laying back down, my head propped on his thigh.

~*****~

For once, I'm glad I got a baby carrier. I looked stupid as hell wearing it with my usual gothic attire, but Mary had all the freedom to kick her legs and flail her arms around as much as she wanted without hitting me in the face. We entered the old home, and began to investigate. "Three bedrooms, two baths, and one homicide. This place is gonna sell like hotcakes." Dean comments as we stroll through the house.

The kitchen is a disgusting shade of yellow. "God, I hate this kitchen," I mention irritably. "No one uses paisley anymore." I pick at the paisley covering above the stove, and grimace again.

"Hey, check this out," Dean hums, tearing my gaze from the ugly walls.

Sam snorts as Dean knocks on the wall. It echoes lightly, indicating an opening behind it. "It's probably a dumbwaiter." Sam comments. "All these old houses had them."