Stay With Me (Hold My Hand) ⋆ SPN

9. The Colt

A/N: This takes place in episode 20, Dead Man's Blood. Also, sorry for the delay; the fanfic writer curse got to me. Don't (a) take boat rides from sketchy people or (b) take a semester of college-level discrete mathematics in three weeks as a high school student :D

Also, certain parts (especially closer to the end) are more graphic than past chapters (still pretty canon-typical violence though dw)

~

"Stop rubbing it." Dean said, and Abby, ashamed, removed her hand from where it had been rubbing her forehead scar.

It had become a nervous habit, like biting the inside of her cheek, one that Dean had been trying to stifle. He was sure Abby was going to break open the skin, and it had been hard enough to give her stitches the first time. Even though he had done them as fast as possible, the Winchesters didn't exactly have access to sedatives and Abby had cried, despite her best efforts. She had done well though, and neither that nor the marks on her side had become infected. It had been tough to keep her from popping her side stitches, and it meant the brothers hadn't been able to allow her to go to Haley's like she had wanted to. Haley and Sarah were going to the beach to celebrate the end of their summer break, a trip that Abby had been invited on but was forced to decline.

But now, sitting in a sunny diner in the middle of nowhere, the dark night Abby had gotten the scars seemed a million miles away. Abby wasn't thinking about it, just trying to eat the ginormous pancakes Dean had ordered for her.

"Hey, you know, we could just keep heading East- New York, upstate? Could stop by and see Sarah again, eh?" Sarah referred to the girl Sam had had a fling with recently, not Abby's Sarah. Abby hid a grin at Dean's teasing of Sam with another mouthful of pancake. "She's a cool chick, man. Smokin'." Dean whistled. "You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?"

"Yeah, I don't know. Maybe someday." Sam said in a way that really meant 'not any time in the near future'. "But in the meantime, we got a lot of work to do, Dean. And you know that."

"Yeah, you're right." Dean reluctantly agreed. "What else you got?" Sam had his computer out on the diner table, looking for new cases, without much luck.

"Uh, man in Colorado. Local man by the name of Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home."

"Elkins... I know that name."

"Doesn't ring a bell." Sam continued, though Dean had clearly become lost in his thoughts. "Looks like the cops don't know what to think. At first, they said it was some kind of bear attack, and now they found signs of robbery." Dean had gotten out John's journal, now, and was leafing through the pages.

"Here, check it out," Dean said, flipping John's journal around so Sam and Abby could see what page he had flipped to. Abby read 'D Elkins' and then what was presumably a phone number, written in blue ink and their father's handwriting.

"You think it's the same Elkins?" Sam asked, clearly dubious.

"It's a Colorado area code."

So, the Winchester siblings were going to Colorado. After Abby finished her pancakes, of course.

~

It was dark when Dean pulled up in front of Daniel Elkins' cabin. Despite the July heat, as Abby stepped out of Baby, goosebumps covered her arms. Secluded in the woods, surrounded by mountains, the cabin had an eerie feeling hanging around it like fog.

Abby shined her flashlight around the inside of the cabin, looking at the extensive research Mr. Elkins had clearly done into the supernatural as the siblings started into the house. Illuminated piles of books and stacks of papers, organized in an order she couldn't figure out, were spread around the cabin.