A Change in Pace

A Case

“Left. Right. Left. Right. Duck! Kick. That’s it. You’re doing great,” Sam said. I wiped the sweat off my brow and smiled. We were in the gym. Sam was teaching me how to fight so that I could defend myself. Over the past eight weeks we had been covering firearms, sword fighting, and hand-to-hand combat.

He was a good teacher but extremely tough. Every morning, Monday thru Friday, he would wake me up at five a.m. and make me run a mile followed by fifty crunches and fifty push-ups. At first it felt impossible, but it has become easier and easier; granted I was very sore after the first week.

Dean was there too, but he rarely worked out with us. Actually he spent most of the time asking why we even bothered. Apparently working out wasn’t worth the effort or energy.

I was thankful for the distraction he provided. He would always talk; talk about TV, things he had hunted, and things about is childhood, about him and Sam. I enjoyed listening to those stories the most. They were funny, but sometimes sad. Like the time Sammy had been almost killed by a Shtriga, or the boy Sam had befriended at a school they were at for a few weeks who later committed suicide. Most of the stories, I noticed, were about Sam. I could tell that Dean really loved him.

Today however Dean seemed more conserved about my well being. We had been working on my karate form for almost three hours and I was exhausted.

“Hey why don’t you guy’s take a break?” he handed me a water bottle which I chugged gratefully.

“Oh, yeah. Sure. Sorry Grace.” Sam sometimes forgot that I didn’t have his stamina.

“You guy’s taking a break? Good,” Kevin said as he strolled into the room. “I found you a case.”

“Wait you found us a case?” Dean asked. Both his and Sam seemed surprised. “Why?”

“Because I am tiered of you too obsessively working out while Dean follows you around like a lost puppy. It’s driving me nuts and I can’t concentrate on any of my translations. So yes a case. Here.” He shoved a folder in Dean’s hands and stormed out of the room, leaving the three of us standing there in shocked silence.

The case in question was of house in McCook Nebraska were three families who had died in the same house over a course of fifty years. The first was the Alicken Family in 1937: husband, wife, and two sons. They were found in their beds, cause of death undetermined.

Next was the Zintu family in 1989. The wife, husband, and newborn baby girl were found in the same way.

The last was the Dickenly Family two days ago: single dad with two daughters and one toddle son. Same: in their beds with no apparent cause of death.

“Seems like it’s up out ally,” Sam said.

“Yeah, but Kevin? How’d he find this?” Dean was sipping a beer and flipping through the newspaper clippings.

“That surprising?” I asked tentatively.

“Well he just doesn’t take much time away from the tablets.”

“And he’s never even been on a case, let alone knows how to find one.” Dean leaned back and rubbed his forehead. “Well?”

“Well I guess we go to Nebraska,” Sam said.

“Hold on.” Dean stood and put his hand on Sam’s chest, stopping him from going to his room to pack.

“What?”

“Why don’t you stay here and look after Kevin.”

“Huh?”

“I’m worried. He’s been really jumpy lately, been spending too much time with the tablet. Make him take a break and relax.” Dean looked really worried. In the short time I had been here I had noticed that Dean really does care about both Sam and Kevin. I also noticed that he wanted Sam to stay not just for Kevin’s sake but his own as well. Sam was apparently still recovering from some sort of trials. I had noticed it as well. He never fell behind on our workouts, but he was always real pale and became dehydrated really easily. He also slept unusually long hours, at least nine hours a night, which was extremely unusually long time for a hunter.

“Oh and your going to go hunting by yourself?” He said it like that was the perfect argument.

“I’ll go,” I said. Dean shot me a look of gratitude. “I’ll go with Dean. I should be of some use.”

“Sounds go to me,” Dean said.

“Dean…”

“Oh come on Sam it’ll be fun. Think of it as a training mission. I’ll show her the ropes.”

Sam stared at him for a while, studying him. Then he sighed and mumbled, “Fine.”

“Yeah!” I jumped and wrapped my arms around Dean, but quickly jumped back out of embarrassment when I realized what I had done.

“Um... So yeah go grab a change of clothes and meet me in the garage.” He turned away but not before I saw a slight pink blush creep into his cheeks.