Stranger

Chapter 12

When Dean approaches the stop sign, preparing to turn, Nevaeh grips his shoulder which makes him hit the brakes. "Wait."

"What?" He turns to her.

"Turn right."

"The interstates the other way," Sam says.

"We can't get on the interstate. I need to know why Lucas did what he did."

"Nevaeh—"

"Please," she cuts Dean off. "I got a bad feeling."

Dean takes one look at her uneasy expression on her face illuminated by the moonlight, and he nods, making the right turn. Sam looks back at her, "but, Nevaeh, this job, I think it's over."

She shakes her head, "I'm not so sure."

"If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney, and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed. The spirit should be at rest."

Nevaeh still doesn't budge. "Sam, if we take off, and this job isn't done, then what? I think Lucas was trying to tell us that it isn't over."

"But why would you think that?"

"Lucas acted out after Bill was murdered." When Sam frowns, she continues. "Look, I just don't wanna leave until I know he's okay," she sits back, the gesture finalizing her choice.

When they make it to the house, Nevaeh's the first to get out of the car and knock on the door. A few strides, and the Winchesters are right next to her. "You sure about this?" Sam asks her and she nods. "It's pretty late," he says, as Dean reaches to ring the doorbell, but before he can, Lucas swings the door open gasping and panicking. "Lucas? Lucas?" She grips his shoulders and he takes off running, so they follow.

Lucas runs up to a door that has water flowing from underneath it and he begins banging on it. Dean grabs him and heaves him into Nevaeh's arms before kicking the door open. Sam runs into the bathroom and uses all of his strength, fighting against something, to pull Andrea out of a overflowing tub of dirty water that looks as if it came from the lake as Nevaeh holds back Lucas who is fighting to get to his mother. Nevaeh breathes a sigh of relief when Sam pulls Andrea out of the tub, and she quickly gives Lucas to Dean and reaches for a towel for Andrea to cover herself up.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Dean asks Nevaeh from the other side of the room. Sam is downstairs talking and comforting Andrea after the horrific event, while Dean and Nevaeh continue to look for something to help them out.

"Something, anything," she tells him just before she finds something, a photo album with Jake-12 years old written on it. "Hey," she waves Dean over, "check this out." Dean comes up behind her as she flips through the album. He's pretty close, close enough for her to smell his signature scent, and she doesn't really know why, but for some reason, the two being alone in the dimly lit room, and the distance between them suddenly makes her hyperaware of his presence, and brings back older memories that the two had never gotten the chance to talk about, and probably never will, now that she has a boyfriend who she loves and plans on spending the rest of her life with. She frowns at herself, confused as to why she's focused on his presence and not the book in front of them, or more importantly, the problem downstairs. "We should get this to them," Dean says, lowly, and Nevaeh nods. "Yeah," she breathes.

"You recognize the kids in these pictures?" Nevaeh asks Andrea, sitting the book down in front of her, flipped to a photo of a group of kids. "What?" She asks and looks up at her out of shock before looking back at the book. "Oh, um... no. I mean, except that's my dad right there. He must've been about 12 in these pictures," she points to the older picture of her father. "Chris Barr's drowning," Dean says, "the connection wasn't to Bill Carlton, it must've been the sheriff."