Another Life / Book Ten / The Life Series / Supernatural

Plush

I was in the bunker's control room, sitting down at the map table with the research that Cas had gotten for us, holding Aiden, feeding him from a bottle.

Sam and Dean walked in.

"Thought we talked about this," Dean told him.

"Yeah, we did, Dean," Sam told him. "When you didn't have a soul. Why is it so hard to believe that God could be sending me visions about the Darkness?"

"You kidding me?" Dean asked. "He didn't feel the need to show up for the Apocalypse. Why would he give a crap now?"

"I don't know," Sam told us sarcastically. "Maybe because she's his sister? What do you wanna do? Sit back? Ignore him? Do nothing?"

"No, that's--that's not what I'm saying," Dean answered. "I'm saying, don't count on God. Okay? Count on us."

"Right," I told them, putting the bottle down on the table, standing. Dean walked closer, smiling a small smile. I smiled. "Hi." 

I kissed Dean for a moment.

Dean took Aiden, holding him close, bouncing him slightly. "Hey, little guy."

Sam smiled a small smile.

I looked over all of the research on the table. "Oh, this is everything Cas dug up in Gaza, every last bit of prebiblical lore."

Sam nodded. "Half of it is in Aramaic, so it's gonna take me a little time to translate. And the other half... nada. Not a single mention of the Darkness, so..." My phone rang. I pulled it out, seeing who was calling. "Well, I'll be damned."

"Huh?" Dean asked.

I answered the phone. "Donna, what's shaking?"

Sam whispered. "'Fat sucker' Donna?"

I ignored him, speaking into the phone. "What, are you working all 10,000 lakes now? That's not usually your beat."

"Just Larsen County, what with the cutbacks and all. For the most part, it's been tater tots and lemon drops, except for this doozy. I mean, I got a call about a killer Easter bunny."

"What do you mean, 'Killer bunny'?"

"Exactly my reaction. I don't know what to think."

"Well, I think crazy."

"Guy's real strong, too. Lashed out at several officers. Took a whole team just to get him into custody. But that's not the weirdest part. Bunny head won't come off."

"What do you mean?"

"Tried everything short of a chainsaw, but it's really stuck. I mean, who knows? Could be nothing. Guy could just have a big melon like my Uncle Wally. But ever since I've seen what goes bump in the night... I'm not taking any chances."

"You did the right thing calling, for sure. I'm just still not 100% sure this is our kind of case. But if, uh, you got a wild hare..."

Donna laughed. "I see what you did there!" I smiled. "It's good to hear from you, Ness."

"You, too, Donna. Listen, I'm gonna send the boys in, and you let me know later. All right?"

"Yeah, sure. You betcha."

I hung up, looking at Dean and Sam. "How you guys feel about a job?"  Sam nodded. Dean looked from Aiden to me, looking like he didn't want to leave. I smiled a small, understanding smile, wrapping an arm around him, leaning my head against his shoulder, holding Aiden with my other hand lightly on his back, smiling. "Hi."

Aiden burped loudly for a baby.

Sam, Dean and I laughed.

    ~~~~~~~~~~     

After I had put Aiden to bed, I was in the control room, researching, translating the other half of the research.

My phone rang.

I picked it up, seeing that it was Dean calling, putting it on speaker so I could still research. "Hey."

"Hey. Turns out it's not a wascally wabbit. The head came off the kid wearing it after he was shot and killed."

"All right, so what are you thinking? Cursed object?"

"That's what we thought, too, but another masked killer killed a coach. And the same thing. The costume won't come off."

"All right, so maybe ghost possession. I mean, somebody's spirit can attach itself to an object or a bunch of objects left behind. In this case, masks."

"Right, so whoever possesses the object..."

"Gets possessed."

"But if we can't get the mask, how the hell do we unpossess them?"

"Iron and salt, maybe. All you gotta do is spook the spook with a little salt and, uh, maybe you could pry it off. Dean, this is Ghost 101, and Sam could tell you all of this. You didn't call to ask me about the case."

"Busted."

I smiled a small smile. "It's okay if you wanna call to check in."

"Well, I wanted to call to check in."

"Well, we are good. Aiden's laid down for a nap, and I've spent hours on translating Arabic, so much so my brain's fried."

Dean chuckled. "So take a break."

"I was going to before you called."

"Oh, please. When you get into research mode, nothing can stop you."

We could hear Aiden crying from the baby monitor on the table. 

"That can. All right, I'll talk to you later."

"All right."

    ~~~~~~~~~~     

Sam and Dean had finished the job and came back home.

I was sitting in the library, at a table, holding the sleeping Aiden.

Dean was sitting next to me, looking at Aiden thoughtfully.

Sam was reading a book, looking thoughtful and distracted.

"Something on your mind?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered. "I keep praying to God because if it is God, and I know you think it isn't, but if it is, then he's showing me something I don't know what to do with."

"What?" I asked.

"The cage," Sam answered.

"Lucifer's cage?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered. "What if he's telling me I have to go back? What if he's saying that's where the answer is to beating the Darkness?"

"Sam, no," Dean told him. "No, okay? I don't know if these visions are coming from God of PBS or what. But we've been down that road. Anything having to do with that cage is... It--it's suicide. And you of all people know that. So, no. Just... not gonna happen."

"Okay," Sam told us.

I looked between them. "Okay."

I looked at Aiden's sleeping form in my arms, Dean by my side.