Our Journey

12

~~DEAD IN THE WATER~~

Felix was startled out of her dream gasping for air which alerted the boys immediately who turned to see her holding her neck and coughing. Dean quickly climbs in the back,

"Lix, hey, talk to me, baby. What's wrong?", he asked worriedly. She couldn't form a sentence. She kept latching to her neck, "Nothing there, Lix. Hey, breathe", Dean soothed as Felix finally cried out exhaling heavily, finally catching her breath. Sam stared intensely at her having felt that she could be experiencing the same thing he was. He made a note to ask her when Dean wasn't around her. Felix leaned her head against Dean, "I'm okay", she coughed rubbing her chest. Dean gripped her chin gently,

"You sure?", he asks. She nods slowly.

Dean gestured for Sam to continue on before he made comfortable in the back pulling Felix on top of him, "I was...drowning. I couldn't breathe Dean", she closed her eyes. Dean sighed kissing her head while rubbing her back and sides.

"Yo, maybe we should stop for a while. Get something to eat", Sam spoke up to which they agreed.

**DINER**

Exiting the Impala Felix swipes a couple of newspapers from outside and follows the brothers inside. Felix tugged on Dean's arm showing him the newspaper while raising an eyebrow at some bimbo waitress who kept looking at Dean. Dean ushers her to a table near a booth, ordering burgers and fries with some soda. Dean flips through the newspapers searching for anything that would lead to a case. Felix sees that the bimbo waitress kept coming near their table.

Once their order came, they ate while talking amongst themselves. Sam noticed Felix's stares at the waitress and softly nudges her feet. She looked to Sam who motioned to Dean. Dean had not once glanced at the waitress who kept passing by. She mumbled incoherently to herself munching on her fries.

Sam smiled looking away with a shake of his head. Felix hadn't really eaten much so she leaned on Dean to help find anything that could potentially lead them to a hunt.

"How about that one?", she pointed to a small article on a young woman that drowned and disappeared at the bottom of the lake. Dean smirked circling it.

"Can I get you anything else?", the bimbo leaned against the table.

"Just the check, please", Sam says taking a seat. Felix smirked grabbing Dean's chin before smashing her lips to his, which caused Dean to almost fall off his seat. The blonde walked off with a roll of her eyes. Felix smiled pulling back from a dazed Dean who cleared his throat, a smirk etched on his face. He passes the newspaper to a grinning Sam,

"Here, take a look at this. I think I got one", he shifted himself.

"Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin- -last week Sophia Carlton, 18, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water- - nothing. Sophia Carlton is the third Lake Monitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found, either. They had a funeral two days", Dean explains.

"A funeral?", Sam asks confused.

Felix nodded, " Yeah, it's weird. They buried an empty coffin for closure", she says to which Sam scoffed softly, "Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Felix. Other people just stop looking for them", sam says but Dean turned, " Something you want to say to me, Sam", he says to which Felix looked between the two.

"The trail for dad- -", Sam sighed, " it's getting colder every day".

"Exactly, so what are we supposed to do", Dean states looking Sam directly in the eyes.

"I don't know. Something. Anything", Sam looked around.

Dean shook his head,

"You know what, I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think we want to find dad as much as you", he argued.

Felix pinched the bridge of her nose, she could feel another argument coming.

"we're the ones that spent every single day with him for the past two years while you've been off to college going to pep rallies...we will find dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there, okay", Dean didn't let him talk, he put his head down with a groan. Felix rubbed his back.

"Alright, Lake Manitoc...hey", Sam snaps his fingers getting Dean's attention. Dean lifted up his head from the table with a groan, gathered the papers, and left the diner.

✨✨✨✨✨✨ ✨✨✨✨✨✨

Dean had left Felix to rest in the car while he and Sam interrogated Will Carlton brother of the victim that drowned. Dean knocked on the front door seeing a young man open the door,

"Will Carlton?", he asked.

"yeah, that's right".

Dean pulled out his fake I.D, "I'm Agent Ford. This is Agent Hamill. We're with the U.S Wildlife Service", he says. Will gestured for them to walk out and follow him out near the lake,

" She was about 100 yards. That's where she got dragged down", he stated solemnly.

"And you're sure she didn't just drown?", Deana asks the young man.

"Yeah. She was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She's as safe out there as in her own bathtub", Will says.

Sam nods, "So, no splashing? No signs of distress?", he asked.

Will cut in, " No, that's what I'm telling you", he shrugged.

Dean blinked twice looking at Sam,

"Did you see any shadows in the water, maybe some dark shape breach the surface?", Sam asks trying to see if he did see something and just ain't saying nothing.

Will shook his head,

"No, again, she was really far out there", he replied.

"you ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?", Dean spoke up.

Will looked to Dean, " No, never, why? What do you think is out there?".

Dean nods turning away, "We'll let you know as soon as we do", he says walking back to the Impala.

Dean notices Sam didn't follow,

"What about your father? Can we talk to him?", Sam asks but Will looked back to his dad and then turned back with a soft sigh, "Look, if you don't mind, I mean, he didn't see anything and he's kind of been through a lot", he says to which Sam nodded, "Of course, we understand", he softly says getting into the Impala and drove off.