Reckless and Brave

LXXIII. (73) Last Child (Part I)

[Jump the Shark]

Dean parked the car next to a lake. Holly was sitting at the edge of the road, looking out across it. Sam was leaning against the hood brushing his teeth. Dean was lying across the front seat, head and shoulders against the door. He twisted around, getting Sam's attention. He opened the door and nearly tumbled to the ground.

Holly turned and giggled as Sam said, "Hey. How'd you sleep?"

Dean climbed out of the car and Holly walked over to her brothers. "How do you think? I'm starving. Let's get breakfast."

Sam frowned. "Where? We're like two hours from anything."

"But I'm hungry now." He whined, walking to the front of the car.

"There's probably still a sandwich in the backseat."

He turned around and rubbed a hand over his face before reaching in through the open back window and pulled out a paper bag. He opened it and sniffed it before leaning his head back and inhaling. "It's tuna. Holly, don't you have something? You always have snacks."

"None you can have, D."

Dean shot her a look before tossing the bag into the backseat as a phone rang. Sam spit out his toothpaste as Dean rummaged through the glove compartment after realizing it was coming from the car. He hit his head on the roof as he tried getting out. He looked at the phone.

"Isn't that Dad's phone?" Sam asked.

Holly nodded as Dean flipped the phone open, pressed a button, and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Uh, is this John?"

"He can't come to the phone. Can I help you?"

"No, no, no--I really--I need to talk to John. This is Adam Milligan. He knows me."

"Well, sorry to be the one to break this to you, pal, but John died more than two years ago." Dean answered, hearing a shocked sound. "Who is this?"

"I'm his son."

Dean parked the Impala next to Cousin Oliver's Hilltop Cafe. They got out of the car and Sam said, "Dean, Holly, look, best I can tell, Adam Milligan is real."

Dean unlocked and opened the trunk. Sam read from a paper in an open folder. "Um, born September twenty-ninth, 1990 to Kate Milligan. No father listed on the birth certificate. He's an Eagle Scout." Dean pulled assorted weapons, including Ruby's knife. "Graduated from high school with honors and currently goes to the University of Wisconsin--biology major, pre-med."

Dean closed the weapons box and Holly stowed her gun under her jacket. "Dean? Holly? You listening?"

"This is a trap." Dean stated bluntly.

"We're prepared." Holly added.

Dean closed the trunk and he and Holly headed past Sam, who closed the folder.

They entered the diner and a bell rang as they entered. Holly glanced to see a man at the counter, a waitress serving a customer, and a couple other customers.

The boys scanned opposite halves of the diner and Dean noticed an empty table in a corner with four chairs. He pulled one of the chairs from the table and next to a potted plant. Holly sat across from Sam and brought one leg up, resting it on the edge of the table.

Holly then scooted her chair next to Sam, as she felt better sitting next to someone she actually knew. Sam put John's journal and Adam's folder on the table.

Sam glanced at his siblings. "Dean, Holly, I'm telling you, the kid checks out."

Holly frowned. "Great, so he's a real person on the planet Earth. Really sucks that he's possessed."