Lavender's Blue

32. Born Under a Bad Sign

UNDERPASS

Dean was on his phone, leaning against his car. He was fidgeting and upset. Kit was whimpering, wanting her father.

"Ellen, it's me again. Any chance you've heard from him?" He paused. "I swear, it's like looking for my dad all over again. I'm losing my mind here." He paused again. "No, I've called him a thousand times, there's nothing but voicemail. I don't know where he went, or why. Sam's just gone." He phone beeped. "Hang on."

Dean got a call from Sam and answered. "Sammy? Where the hell are you? Are you okay?" He paused. "Hey, hey, hey! Calm down. Where are you? All right, don't move, Kit and I are on our way."

MOTEL

Sam hung up the phone slowly, looking numb. His knuckles were bloody.

Dean and Kit drove to reach Sam, passing a sign that read TWIN LAKES. They arrived at the hotel and parked and got out.

Dean walked frantically down a narrow hallway, checking door numbers until he and Kit reached room 109 and knocked.

"Sam, it's us. Sam!" Dean called.

Dean tried the door to find it unlocked. He opened the door.

"Sam?" Dean called. "Hey."

"Hey, Dean. Hey, Kit," Sam replied.

Dean knelt beside him. "Are you bleeding?"

"I tried to wash it off."

Dean saw Sam's shirt covered in blood and groped at it, searching for a wound. "Oh my God."

"I don't think it's my blood."

"Whose is it?"

"I don't know."

"Sam, what the hell happened?" Dean asked, pulling Kit down and she screamed. "Kit, until we figure out what's going on, stay with Daddy."

Sam finally looked up. "Dean. I don't remember anything."

Dean and a yelling Kit left the room.

Dean and Kit returned to the room, the former carrying a grocery bag. Kit was happily snacking on applesauce.

"What'd you find out?" Sam asked.

"You checked in two days ago under the name Richard Sambora," Dean told him. "Of course, I think the scariest part about this whole thing is the fact that you're a Bon Jovi fan-"

"Dean."

"Your room's been quiet, nobody's noticed anything unusual."

"You mean no one saw me walking around covered in blood?"

"Yeah. That's what I mean."

"Then how the hell did I get here, Dean? What happened to me."

"I don't know. But you're okay, and that's what matters. Everything else we can deal with."

"Oh really? 'Cause what if I hurt someone? Or worse?"

"Sam..."

"What if this is what Dad warned you about?"

"Hey, whoa, whoa, come on man, let's not jump the gun here. We don't know what happened. We've just got to treat this like, like any other job. What's the last thing you remember?"

Sam sat. "Just me and you three, just, in that motel room in West Texas, going out to grab some burgers, and..."

"West Texas? That was, that was over a week ago."

"That's it." Dean looked at him, stunned. "Next thing I knew I was sitting here. Bloody. Felt like I'd been asleep for a month."

"Okay. Retrace your steps. The manager said you left yesterday afternoon and he never saw you come back, so-" He pulled back the curtain and found a bloody fingerprint on the window. "Hey."