As Time Goes By
Author’s Note: This is chapter one of a very long series. It will not get updated often. If it does, that means a miracle has happened. It will not be very good. This is more of a story for me than other people. Warnings will be listed in the author’s note of each chapter. This chapter has some very minimal swearing. Like a singular f-bomb. This was recently edited because I hated it.
Chapter One: Dad’s on a Hunting Trip
“Whoa, easy, tiger.”
“Dean?” Sam asked, out of breath from the fight with his brother. “You scared the crap out of me.”
“That’s ‘cause you’re out of practice.” Dean teased. Sam easily flips Dean” over and pins him to the floor. “Or not,” he laughs. “Get off me.”
“Dean, what the hell are you doing here?” Sam asks as he helps Dean off the floor.
“I was looking for a beer.”
“Sam?” Jess calls out, turning on the light.
“Jess, hey,” Sam answers. “Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica.”
“Wait, your brother Dean?” The blonde asks in confusion.
The conversation is interrupted by three loud knocks on the door.
“Son of a bitch,” Dean grumbles.
“What?” Sam asks as he watches Dean walk to the door and open it.
“You know,” the young woman on the other side says, “Someone could’ve told me the elevator doesn’t work.
“Someone,” Dean glared at her, “was supposed to wait in the car.”
“Maggie?” Sam’s face softened as his sister walked into the room. “You’re walking?”
Maggie leans on her cane and shrugs, “I thought it’d be a nice surprise.” Sam wastes no time walking over and embracing her in a hug. “Whoa, okay, Sammy. Missed you too.”
Sam lets go of her and steps back, “What are you guys doing here?”
“Just some private family business,” Dean says then looks over at Jess, “You don’t mind us borrowing your boyfriend here for a minute do you?”
Before Jess can answer, Sam does, wrapping his arm around her waist, looking smug, “No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her.”
“Umm, okay,” Maggie looked between her brothers, “Dad hasn’t been home in a few days.”
“So he’s working overtime on a “Miller Time” shift. He’ll stumble back in sooner or later.”
“Dad’s on a hunting trip,” Dean clarifies, “and he hasn’t been home in a few days.”
The smugness from his face fell, “Jess, excuse us,” Sam says, “We’ll be right outside.” He kissed her temple and grabbed his jacket.
“Hang on,” Maggie interrupted him as he put on some shoes, “I’m not going down those stairs again.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have gone up them in the first place,” Dean shot back.
“Maybe—“
“Stop!” Sam finished tying his shoe and stood up, “I’ll...give you a lift.”
“Really?” said Maggie, her face lighting up.
“Yeah just,” Sam sighed and turned around, “hop on.” Maggie squealed in delight and, with some difficulty, hopped onto Sam’s back.
Dean rolled his eyes “It was nice meeting you, Jess,” He nodded to the blonde and started the door.
“Yeah, nice meeting you, Jess! Tally ho, Samuel.”
Sam turned to his girlfriend, “I’ll be right back.”
Jess followed Sam and Maggie to the door and shut it behind them. She could faintly hear Maggie say something along the lines of “she’s so pretty” and Sam reply with “I know, stop choking me.”
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“You know there’s EVP on that?” Sam said as he leaned over the open trunk of the impala. After setting Maggie down Dean started filling him in on their dad’s last case. A string of missing men over twenty years.
“Not bad, Sammy,” said Dean, “Kind of like riding a bike, isn't it?”
“Anyway,” Maggie stood up from where she was leaning against the car, “I slowed the message down and ran it through a Goldwave, took out the hiss, and this is what we got.”
Dean pressed play. The distorted noise from their dad’s last message now sounded like a woman saying, “I can never go home.”
“Never go home…” Sam pondered.
“Look, I know it’s been a while since we’ve all been together,” Maggie pleaded with Sam, “but Dean and I really think something’s wrong. I’m sorry we showed up like this—“
“—I’m not,” Dean cut her off and stared at his brother, “In almost two years, we’ve never bothered you, never asked you for a thing.”
Sam looked away and sighed, “...alright. I’ll go. I’ll help you guys find him, but I have to be back first thing Monday.”
“What’s first thing Monday?” Dean asked.
“I have an interview.”
“What, a job interview? Skip it.”
Sam huffed, “It’s a law school interview, and it’s my whole future on a plate.”
“Law school?” Maggie asked, impressed.
“Yeah,” Sam nodded, “So we got a deal or not?”
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In hindsight, the stairs might have been a bad idea. Maggie hissed as she rubbed her right hip.
“Told you to stay in the car,” Dean reprimanded. He sat in the front seat, his leg bouncing up and down.
“I know,” Maggie agreed. He wasn’t wrong. “I missed him.”
“I know.”
Maggie knew Dean wasn’t really mad about not staying in the car. He was just as excited to see Sam as she was. Ever since the...incident, however, her dad and Dean had been a pair of overbearing, mother hens. Which explains why their dad taking off and going radio silent was so weird.
“God, he still takes forever to pack,” Dean grumbled, checking his watch.
“It hasn’t been that long,” Maggie slowly turned and lifted her leg to rest it across the backseat. “He’s probably saying goodbye to Jess. She seems nice.”
“Nice is...one word,” Dean said cheekily.
“Gross.”
“Dude, she is way out of his league.”
“And way out of yours too.”
“Hey!” Dean shouted. His pride was only a little hurt by his little sister’s teasing.
“Shut up, there he is.” Maggie pointed to the entrance to the building.
Sam walked over to the car and put his bag in the trunk. He climbed into the front seat and looked between his siblings, “Ready?”
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“Watch out!”
BOOM.
BLACK.
Maggie jolted awake.
“You okay?” Sam asked from the front seat.
“Yeah,” Maggie nodded and tried to catch her breath, “Just a bad dream.”
“You want to talk about it?”
Maggie shook her head, “Not really.” She straightened up in her seat and looked around. “Where’s Dean?”
“Inside,” Sam said, then turned back to sort through the cassette tapes he found under the seat. “You know,” he said turning back towards her, “If you ever want to talk about it--”
“--I’m fine. Thanks, though. I appreciate it.” Maggie cut him off and gave him a small smile. He turned back around and she sighed.
Dean walked outside of the gas station they were parked at carrying a bag filled with junk food. “Hey!” He shouted at the twins, “You want breakfast?”
“No, thanks,” Sam replied.
Maggie nodded and reached out of the window to take the bag from Dean. She pulled out a coke and a bag of jerky.
“So how’d you pay for that stuff?” Sam asked, “You and Dad still running credit card scams?”
“Hunting doesn’t exactly pay, Sam,” Maggie opened up the jerky and held one over the seat, “Want one?”
“No.” Sam scoffed and shook his head. Dean finished up and climbed back into the driver’s seat. “I swear, man, you got to update your cassette tape collection.”
“Thank you!” Maggie exclaimed in agreement.
Dean looked between the twins, “Why.”
“Well, for one-- they’re cassette tapes, and two--” Sam pulls a few tapes out and reads them, “Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Metallica? It's the greatest hits of mullet rock.”
“House rules--driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole.”
“That’s why I invested in one of these babies,” Maggie pulls a CD-player out of her backpack and puts her headphones on, “Have fun, Sammy.”
“You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old. It’s Sam, okay?”
“Sorry, I can’t hear you, the music’s too loud,” Maggie shouts as she turns up her music.
Dean laughs and turns up his music as they drive off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Okay. Thank you.” Maggie said, hanging up her phone, “There’s no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue.”
“That’s something, I guess,” said Sam.
“Check it out.” Dean nodded at the road. Ahead of them was a bridge with multiple police cars and officers. Dean pulled off to the side of the road. He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a couple of fake ID cards. He hands one to Maggie and grins at Sam. “Let’s go.”
“Wait,” Sam said as he climbed out of the car. He turned to Maggie who was carefully stretching her leg, “What are you doing?”
Maggie shrugged and started following Dean toward the crime scene, “Working the case.”
The twins followed Dean up to the bridge where two officers were talking.
“You had another one like this last month, didn’t you?” Dean interrupted their conversation.
“And who are you?” said the first officer.
“Federal marshals,” stated Dean as he and Maggie flashed their badges.
“You three are a little young for marshals, aren’t you?”
Dean laughed, “Thanks, that’s awfully kind of you.” He walked over to the car, “You did have another one just like this, correct?”
“Yeah, that’s right, about a mile up the road. There have been others before that.”
“So, this victim,” Sam asks, “you knew him?”
The officer nods, “Town like this, everybody knows everybody.”
“Any connections between the victims, besides that they’re all men?” Maggie asks while getting a closer look at the car.
“No. Not so far as we can tell.”
Sam walked over to the car, joining his siblings, “So what’s the theory?”
“Honestly, we don’t know.” replied the cop, “Serial murderer, kidnapping ring?”
Dean nodded his head, “Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I’d expect out of you guys.”
Sam stared wide-eyed at his brother while Maggie stomped on his foot with her cane.
“Thank you for your time,” she gave an apologetic look to the officer while she ushered Sam forward.
Dean caught up to them and leaned down to Maggie’s ear, “Why did you crush my foot?”
“Why do you have to talk to the police like that?” Sam fired back for her.
“Come on,” Dean moved in front of the twins, forcing them to stop walking, “They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find Dad we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves.”
Maggie cleared her throat and looked over Dean’s shoulder. Dean turned to see both the Sheriff of the town and two very real FBI agents.
“Can I help you, kids?” The sheriff asked.
“No, sir, we’re just leaving,” Dean nodded at the agents as they walked past the group, “Agent Mulder. Agent Scully.”
The siblings walk past the sheriff back to the impala.
“Well,” Maggie says, as she carefully lowers herself into the backseat, “that could’ve gone worse.”
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“This is dumb,” Maggie mumbled to herself in the backseat.
The boys had decided to go talk to the victim’s girlfriend alone after Maggie maybe, definitely, had trouble getting out of the car. She had no one to blame but herself for the pain she was in. She refused to take one of her pills, walked up an ungodly amount of stairs, then sat in a car for hours.
Being alone, however, gave her time to think about what was going to happen after the case. It hadn’t been that long since Maggie heard from Sam. They talked at least once a month, but Sam and Dean? They’d barely spoken in almost two years. Would it go back to that after they dropped him off? Would they talk more? She hoped for the latter. Maggie missed Sam but she didn’t realize how much until she saw him.
No matter what, Maggie decided, after this case, she’s not letting things go back to how they were. Maybe she’d even get Sam and their dad back in contact. Whoa, okay, let’s not go crazy, she thought, baby steps.
“Finally,” Maggie said when she saw her brothers walking toward the car.
“Well?” she asked, “Anything?”
“Local legend,” said Sam, “Some woman got murdered on Centennial.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“Hit the books. Sam, you got a sixth sense for these things--where’s the local library?”
“Ha. Ha.”
At the library, Sam, Dean, and Maggie gathered around one of the computers. Dean, who was in the middle, searched “Female Murder Hitchhiker.” The three waited until the screen loaded, showing zero results.
“Let me try,” Sam urged.
He reached for the mouse only to have Dean pull it away, “I’ve got it.” Instead of asking again, Sam pushed Dean out of his chair. “Dude!”
“Hey,” Maggie whispered, “People are staring. Stop acting like children.”
Sam and Dean looked at each other and then mumbled a couple of weak apologies. Sam tried another variation of Dean’s previous search only to get the same results.
“Hang on,” Maggie stretched her bad leg out, “angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?”
“Yeah,” Dean agreed. Sam nodded his head.
“Well, maybe it’s not murder. Try suicide.” Sam types in “Female Suicide Centennial Highway” and hits ‘GO’. A few seconds later an article popped up. “That was in 1981.”
“Constance Welch, 24 years old, Jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river,” Sam reads from the article.
“Does it say why she did it?” Dean asked, looking over his shoulder.
“Yeah,” Sam scrolls down on the screen, “An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Her two little kids are in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both died.”
“Oh,” Maggie sighs sadly.
"'Our babies were gone, and Constance just couldn't bear it,' said husband Joseph Welch." Sam reads off.
Dean takes a closer look at the screen and points to the picture of the bridge where Constance committed suicide, “The bridge look familiar to you?”
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The siblings walked to the edge of the bridge. Dean braced his arms against the railing and looked down at the water rushing below, “So this is where Constance took the swan dive.”
“Apparently,” Maggie glanced around the crime scene. “Gotta say, this place gets a lot creepier at night.” The lack of movement from officers bustling around, the only light being that of the moon, the fact that someone was murdered there...calling it creepy would be an understatement.
“Do you think Dad would have been here?” Sam looked over at his older brother.
“Well, he’s chasing the same story, and we’re chasing him,” Dean answered and moved away from the ledge. He turned away and started walking towards the other side of the bridge.
“Okay, so what now?” Sam asked. Both he and Maggie followed Dean.
Now, we keep digging until we find him. Might take a while.”
Sam stops and sighs, “Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by—”
“Monday,” Dean turns to look at Sam, “Right. The interview.”
Maggie took a step forward and caught Dean’s eye. She knew where this was going and she didn’t have a lot of time to diffuse the situation. “We did promise him we’d have him back in time.”
“Thank you,” Sam muttered quietly to his sister.
Dean looked between his younger siblings, “You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl?”
“Maybe,” Sam shrugged, “Why not?”
“Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?”
Sam stepped closer, anger seeping into his features, “No, and she’s not ever going to know.”
“Well, that’s healthy,” Dean nodded his head, “You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are.”
“And who’s that?” Sam asked as he followed Dean who had turned to walk away.
“You’re one of us,” Dean said, still walking forward.
Sam walked faster and cut Dean off, forcing him to stop, “No. I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life.”
“Guys—“ Maggie limped up to them, trying to get in between them.
“You have a responsibility to—“ Dean started.
“To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures we wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back.” Sam interrupted.
Dean grabbed Sam by the collar of his jacket and shoved him up against the railing of the bridge.
“Guys, please…” Maggie tugged on Dean’s sleeve. He looked at his sister. Her eyes were pleading with him to stop. He sighed and looked back at Sam.
“Don't talk about her like that,” Dean let go of Sam and stepped away. The brothers stared at each other before Maggie broke their concentration.
“Uh, we’ve got company,” Maggie pointed to the figure on the bridge. The figure was a woman in a white dress standing on the bridge’s railing. The woman walked forward and stepped off the bridge.
Sam and Dean bolted towards the edge while Maggie limped behind them. The boys learned over the ledge, finding that the woman had disappeared.
“Where did she go?” Dean asked, confusion on his face.
“I don’t know,” Sam answered.
Just then, the sound of an engine filled the air. The siblings looked at the impala just as the headlights turned on.
“Who’s driving your car?” Maggie asked and looked at Dean. Staring at the car, he pulled his keys out his pocket for her to see. The engine revved, the tires squealed, then the car barreled towards the siblings.
“Go, go, go!” Dean yelled before the three of them took off
Maggie was quickly falling behind her brothers until Sam grabbed her. She dropped her cane and held onto her brother as he practically dragged her forward. The three jumped over the railing just in time for the car to come to a stop.
“Are you okay?” Sam asked Maggie who was hanging from the bridge next to him.
“Yeah,” she grunted, “I don’t think I can pull myself up.”
“Okay, Okay. One second.” Sam pulled himself up and over the railing before leaning down to help his sister. “Where’s Dean?” He asked after pulling her up.
“Dean!” Maggie shouted over the bridge’s ledge.
“What?” An annoyed Dean shouted back. The twins looked over by the river’s shore to see a very muddy Dean pull himself out of the water.
“Are you alright?” Sam called out to him.
Dean gives a thumbs up, “Super.”
Sam laughs and moves away from the ledge. He looked over at Maggie who was supporting herself against the railing. “Where’d you drop your cane?”
“Um,” Maggie shook her head slowly while trying to catch her breath, “Somewhere over there?” She pointed to the general area they were before the car started.
Sam walked over there and found the cane. It was broken from being run over and held up some of the pieces to his sister. “Do you have a spare?” He asked her.
Maggie laughed, “That was the spare.”
“Are you kidding me?” The twins looked over to see Dean had finally joined them. “That’s like the fourth one you’ve broken,” he said annoyed.
“Okay, to be fair, I didn’t break it,” Maggie pointed at the impala, “your car did.”
“She didn’t do anything,” Dean walked over to the car and opened the hood. “She didn’t mean it, baby,” he muttered to the car. The twins looked at each other and shook their heads at their brother’s antics.
“Your car alright?” Sam asked, coming to stand beside Dean.
He closed the hood, “Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems all right now. That Constance chick, what a bitch!” Dean sits on the hood and Maggie walked over to settle next to him.
“Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure.” Sam sat next to Dean, “So where's the job go from here, genius?”
Dean throws up his arms in frustration and flicks mud off his hands. “Ew!” Maggie exclaims and leans away from him, “You got some on me!” She wipes away at a splash of mud on her shoulder.
“Sorry.”
Sam sniffed the air and looked at Dean, “You smell like a toilet.”
Dean stands up and starts walking toward the driver side, “You know what? Everyone in the car.” The twins just looked at each other and tried not to laugh. “Now!” Dean yelled.
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Sam picked the lock to the motel door. He was always better than Maggie and Dean at that. The door opened and the siblings quickly rushed inside. Looking around, their dad had definitely been there. Maps, newspaper clippings, pictures, and notes littered the walls. Every surface was covered with books or evidence.
“Woah,” Maggie said as she flipped through a book on the desk.
Dean turned on a light and picks up a half-eaten hamburger, “I don’t think he’s been here for a couple of days at least.”
Sam bends down to run his fingers through a salt line on the floor, “Salt, cats-eye shells...he was worried, trying to keep something from coming in.”
“What are those?” Maggie asked Dean who was looking at papers on one of the walls.
“Centennial Highway victims,” he answers.
Maggie joins him over at the wall and reads over the missing posters for each victim. “I don't get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There’s always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?”
Sam walks across the room to another wall covered in papers. “Dad figured it out.”
“What do you mean?” Dean asked, him and Maggie walking over to join Sam.
“He found the same article we did,” Sam points to the printed article, “Constance Welch. She’s a woman in white.”
“You sly dogs,” Dean smirked at the wall of victims. He laughs to himself then turns back to the twins, “All right, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it.”
“Maybe she has another weakness,” Maggie offers.
“Well, Dad would want to make sure,” Dean heads back over to the article, “He'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?”
“No, not that I can tell. If I were Dad, though,” Sam taps the picture of the man in the article, “I'd go ask her husband.”
“If he’s still alive,” Maggie crosses her arms.
“Yeah,” Sam agrees.
“All right. Why don't you two, uh, see if you can find an address, I'm gonna get cleaned up.” Dean says, looking away from the article. He starts to head into the bathroom when Sam stops him.
“Hey, Dean?” Dean stops and turns toward Sam, “What I said earlier, about Mom and Dad, I'm sorry.”
Dean raised his hand to stop Sam, “No chick-flick moments.”
Sam laughs and nods his head, “All right. Jerk.”
“Bitch.”
“You guys are morons,” Maggie shakes her head and eases down onto the bed. Sam laughs again and Dean disappears into the bathroom. Something catches Sam’s eye and he goes to check it out. Hanging from the mirror is a rosary and next to it, stuck in the frame is a picture of their family.
“Wow,” Sam smiles sadly as he picks up the picture.
Maggie tilts her head at her brother, “What?” Sam walks over to Maggie and sits next to her, holding the picture for her to see. “Wow is right.” Sam just nods. “I hope he’s okay,” Maggie states sadly.
“Me too,” Sam replies quietly. He hands the picture over to his sister. “How are you?” He looks at Maggie, “Like seriously?”
“I’m okay,” Maggie reaches into her bag and pulls out a book. “Nightmares every other night and I’m in near-constant pain,” She places the picture in between some pages for safekeeping, “But I’m doing better.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Maggie looks at Sam, “If I was—,” he clarifies.
“No,” Maggie cuts him off immediately then looks down. “I made a bad call.” Sam nods. “I knew it was a bad call when I made it. And that’s on me, but hey,” Maggie, smiles up at her twin, “I got a cool cane out of it. And maybe if this hunting thing gets too much one day I can retire and become a fancy lawyer like you.”
“I cannot see you as a lawyer,” Sam laughs at her.
“Seriously?” Maggie asks then puts on her best serious face, “I object to that statement. You’re in contempt.”
“That’s what the judge says.”
“I am the judge,” she goes back to smiling, “Watch out.”
Sam stands, “Youre so weird.” He pulls out his phone and nods to the door, “I’m gonna go call Jess. I’ll be right back.”
“That’s ‘I’ll be right back, your Honor,’” Maggie shouts as Sam leaves the room, “Love-struck dork.” She mutters to herself while pulling out her CD player.
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“Hey, guys,” Dean came out of the bathroom, finally clean and shrugged on his jacket, “I’m starving. I’m gonna grab a little something to eat at that diner down the street. You want anything?”
“No,” Sam responded then went back to looking at his phone.
“Aframian’s buying,” Dean smiled. Sam shook his head.
Maggie paused the song she was listening to, “Can you bring me back a burger?”
“Sure,” Dean nodded and headed out the door. Across the parking lot, he spots the motel clerk talking to the police officers they spoke to at the bridge. The clerk pointed Dean out to the cops and Dean pulled out his cell phone and dialed Maggie’s number.
“What?” she answers.
“Five-oh, take off,” Dean says as the officers approach him.
Maggie sits up quickly and snaps her fingers at Sam. “Cops,” she whispers to him. “What about you?” She asks Dean as Sam helps her up and she grabs her bag.”
“Uh, they kind of spotted me. Go find Dad.” Dean hangs up the phone as the deputies approached him. “Problem, officers?” He turns and grins at them.
“Where are your partners?” The first asks.
“Partners?” Dean feigns confusion, “What, what partners?”
The first officer jerks his thumb towards the room Dean came out of and the second heads over to check it out. Sam sees the officer approaching through the window and urges Maggie to move.
“So, fake US Marshal. Fake credit cards. You got anything that's real?” The officer with Dean asks.
“My boobs,” Dean says after a beat, then flashes the officer a grin.
The officer nods then slam Dean over the hood of their cop car
“You have the right to remain silent,” the officer begins to read Dean his rights while Maggie and Sam make a quick escape.
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Dean stares straight ahead when the sheriff enters the interrogation room. He sets the box he carried in onto the across from Dean. “So you want to give us your real name?” He asks.
“I told you, it's Nugent. Ted Nugent,” Dean replies.
“I'm not sure you realize just how much trouble you're in here.”
“We talkin', like, misdemeanor kind of trouble or, uh, squeal like a pig trouble?
The sheriff leans on his box, “You got the faces of ten missing persons taped to your wall,” Dean looked away, “Along with a whole lot of satanic mumbo-jumbo. Boy, you are officially a suspect.”
“That makes sense,” Dean leaned against the arm of his chair, “Because when the first one went missing in '82 I was three.”
“I know you've got partners. One of 'em's an older guy. Maybe he started the whole thing,” the sheriff reached into the box, “So tell me. Dean…” He pulls out a leather-bound journal and throws it on the table in front of Dean, “This his?”
Dean stares at the journal and the sheriff moves to sit on the edge of the table. “I thought that might be your name,” he starts flipping through the journal, “See, I leafed through this. What little I could make out—I mean, it's nine kinds of crazy.” Dean leans forward to look through the pages. “But I found this, too.”
On the page is nothing but “DEAN 35-11” circled. “Now. You're stayin' right here till you tell me exactly what the hell that means.”
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“Are you sure this is the place?” Maggie looks at her brother as they walk up to the house.
“Yeas, I’m sure,” Sam responds and knocks on the door. A man opens the door and Sam quickly glances at Maggie, “Hi. Are you Joseph Welch?”
“Yeah,” Joseph replies.
“Do you think we could talk to you for a few minutes? We’d like to ask you some questions?”
Joseph agreed and closed the door. Maggie explained to them that they were looking for someone who might have stopped by recently. The three walked around the junkyard and Maggie pulled the picture out her bag to show him.
“Yeah, he was older, but that's him,” Joseph identifies John in the photo and hands it back to Maggie. “He came by three or four days ago. Said he was a reporter.”
“That’s right,” Sam nods his head, “We're working on a story together.”
“Well, I don't know what the hell kinda story you're working on. The questions he asked me?” Joseph shook his head.
“About your wife Constance?” Maggie asked.
Joseph nodded, “He asked me where she was buried.”
“And where is that again?”
“What, I gotta go through this twice?”
“It's fact-checking,” Sam said, “If you don't mind.”
“In a plot. Behind my old place over on Breckenridge.” Joseph answered.
Sam nodded, “And why did you move?”
Joseph shook his head, “I'm not gonna live in the house where my children died.”
Maggie stops walking and rubs at her hip, “Mr. Welch, did you ever marry again?”
The two men stopped walking. Joseph shakes his head, “No way. Constance, she was the love of my life, prettiest woman I ever known.”
“So you had a happy marriage?” Sam nods.
Joseph hesitates then nods his head, “Definitely.”
“Well, that should do it. Thanks for your time,” Sam starts leading Maggie back toward the impala. Joseph starts to walk away. Sam looks over at Maggie from across the top of the car. They give each other the same unsatisfied look and Sam turns back to Joseph. “Mr. Welch, you ever hear of a woman in white?”
Joseph turns around to look at the twins, “A what?”
“A woman in white,” Maggie answers, “Or sometimes a weeping woman?”
Sam continues for her, “It's a ghost story. Well, it's more of a phenomenon, really.” Sam walks towards Joseph and Maggie leans against the hood of the impala. “Um, they're spirits. They've been sighted for hundreds of years, dozens of places, in Hawaii, Mexico, lately in Arizona, Indiana. All these are different women,” Sam stops in front of Joseph, “You understand. But all share the same story.
“Boy, I don't care much for nonsense,” Joseph responds and starts walking away.
Sam follows after him, “See when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them,” Joseph stops, “And these women, basically suffering from temporary insanity, murdered their children.” Joseph turns to look at Sam, “Then once they realized what they had done, they took their own lives. So now their spirits are cursed, walking back roads, waterways. And if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him. And that man is never seen again.”
“You think…” Joseph’s voice wavered, “you think that has something to do with...Constance? You smartass!”
“You tell us,” Sam stares at him.
“I mean, maybe...maybe I made some mistakes. But no matter what I did, Constance, she never would have killed her own children. Now, you get the hell out of here! And you don't come back!” Joseph is shaking by the time he stops talking. He stares at Sam while slowly turning away.
Sam sighs and looks back toward Maggie.
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“I don't know how many times I gotta tell you,” Dean sighs, “It's my high school locker combo.”
“We gonna do this all night long?” the sheriff asks Dean, still interrogating him.
A police officer leans into the room. “We just got a 911, shots fired over at Whiteford Road.”
The sheriff looks at Dean, “You have to go to the bathroom?”
“No,” he replies confused.
“Good,” the sheriff handcuffs Dean to the table and leaves. Dean sees a paper clip sticking out of the journal. He pulls it out and looks at it. He picked the lock and left the room. While the sheriff and the officer prepare to leave, Dean watches them through a window and makes a break for it when they leave.
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Sam and Maggie were in the impala when Maggie’s phone rang. “Hello?” She answered.
“I knew we kept you around for something. A fake 911 call, pretty smart, kiddo.” Dean’s voice came through on the other line.
“As much as I appreciate the praise, this one has to go to Sammy. Hang on,” Maggie put the phone on speaker, “You can compliment him now.”
“That was his idea? I don’t know, that’s pretty illegal.”
“You’re welcome,” Sam says into the phone.
“Listen, we gotta talk.”
“Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a woman in white. And she's buried behind her old house, so that should have been Dad's next stop.”
“Sammy, would you shut up for a second?”
“I just can't figure out why Dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet,” Maggie looked at Sam, shaking her head.
“Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho.”
“What?” The twins asked at the same time. Then Sam asked, “How do you know?”
“I've got his journal.”
“Wait, he doesn't go anywhere without that thing,”
“Yeah, well, he did this time.”
“What's it say?”
“Ah, the same old ex-Marine crap, when he wants to let us know where he's going.”
“Coordinates?” Maggie asked, “Where to?”
“I'm not sure yet.”
“I don't understand. I mean, what could be so important that Dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Dean, what the hell is going on?”
“Shit!” Sam exclaims as he slams on the brake.
Maggie braces herself against the dash as the car comes to a sudden stop. “What the fuck, Sam?”
“Sam? Maggie?” Dean asks over the phone.
“Take me home,” Constance appears in the back seat, startling Sam and Maggie. Sam and Maggie look at each other. “Take me home,” Constance demands.
“No,” Maggie states. The woman in white glares at the twins and the doors lock themselves. Sam and Maggie pull on the locks and struggle to get the doors open. The gas pedal presses down on itself and the car moves forward. “Hit the brakes!” Maggie yells at him.
“I’m trying!” He yells back.
The car drives itself to Constance's old house, where it kills the engine and lights.
“Don't do this,” Sam pleads.
“I can never go home,” the ghost comments with a sad voice.
“You're scared to go home,” Maggie says. She looks in the backseat but Constance is nowhere to be seen. She looks forward only to find Constance pinning Sam to the seat while he struggles.
“Hold me. I'm so cold,” Constance runs her hands along Sam’s chest.
Maggie tries to open the door, “Get off him, you crazy bitch!”
Constance looks over at Maggie and then disappears. The twins look around for a moment before Sam yells in pain. Forming on his shirt are burn marks matching Constance's fingers. As she reaches her hand into Sam’s chest a gun goes off, shattering the window and frightening the ghost.
There’s a short break before she returns and Dean has to fire the gun again. Maggie reaches over and starts the car while Sam puts it into drive and slams on the gas pedal. The car crashes through the fence and into the side of the house.
Dean chases after the car and rushes up to the passenger side. “Sam, Maggie! You guys okay?”
“I think,” Sam replies.
“Mags, hey,” Dean yanked open the car door, “Can you move?” She nods and he helps her out of the car and then leans over to give Sam a hand. “There you go,” he says as he helps Sam out of the car.
Constance picks up a photograph of her family and throws it down when Dean shuts the car door. She glares at the siblings and a cabinet slides across the floor to pin them to the car. The lights in the house flicker and water began pouring down the staircase. Constance looks around the room in fear and sees a young boy and girl at the top of the staircase. The children hold hands and speak, “You've come home to us, Mommy.”
The children appear behind Constance and hug her tightly and she screams. Energy flickers around them as Constance and the two children disappear into a puddle on the floor. The siblings push the cabinet away from them. Maggie rests against the car while the boys investigate the spot where the spirits had disappeared. “So this is where she drowned her kids,” Dean states, looking at the puddle.
“That's why she could never go home,” Sam nods, “She was too scared to face them.”
“You found her weak spot. Nice work, guys.” Dean slaps Sam on the chest where Constance had hurt him. Sam just laughs through the pain.
“What about you, dumbass?” Maggie laughs, holding onto her hip, “What the hell were you thinking shooting Casper in the face?”
“Hey, saved his ass,” Dean pointed at Sam. Dean walked over to Maggie and ruffled her hair. She pushed at his shoulder and he turned his attention to the impala. “I'll tell you another thing. If you two screwed up my car?” He looks between the twins, “I'll kill you.” They laugh it off.
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With the Woman in White gone, the three siblings headed back on the road. Dean in the driver’s seat, Sam riding shotgun, and Maggie in the back. With a flashlight tucked between her chin and shoulder and the coordinates in their dad’s journal, Maggie used a map to find the next clue to where John might be.
“Okay, I think I got it,” she interrupted their silence. Sam turns his head to listen better. “It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado.”
Dean nods, “Sounds charming. How far?”
“About six hundred miles,” Maggie answers.
“Hey, if we shag ass we could make it by morning.”
Sam looks at Dean hesitantly, “Dean, I, um…”
Dean glances at Sam and then back at the road, “You’re not going.”
“The interview's in like, ten hours. I gotta be there.”
Dean nods but is very clearly disappointed, “Yeah. Yeah, whatever.”
Maggie turns off the flashlight and looks between her brothers, “But, hey, maybe Dean and I head up to Colorado after we drop you off and keep you updated? Let you know if we find anything else about where Dad went?”
Sam looks back at his sister’s hopeful face and thinks about it. It wouldn’t hurt to hear from his siblings more, even if it was about hunting. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
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Dean pulls up in front of Sam’s apartment. Sam grabs his bag and gets out of the car, Maggie does the same. Sam looks between Dean and his twin, “You’ll keep me updated?” Maggie nods. “And maybe I can meet up with you guys later, huh?”
“Or maybe we can come here sometime?” Maggie says hopefully, “We can meet your girl properly.”
“I think that would be okay.” Sam nods. He opens the door for Maggie to get into the passenger seat and closes the door. He pats the door twice and turns away.
“Sam?” Dean calls out. Sam turns around. “You know, we made a hell of a team back there.”
“Yeah,” Sam nods.
Dean turns away and drives off. Maggie props her elbow on the door and rests her chin in her hand. “You think Dad’ll be in Colorado?” She asks.
“Maybe,” Dean replies, not looking at her.
Maggie leans back in her seat and rests her head against the door, “I’m tired.”
“Get some sleep. I’ll wake you up when it’s morning,” Dean tells her. He watches her get comfy out of the corner of his eye and then looks down at his watch. It’s not working. “Hang on,” he tells her, making a U-turn.
“What is it?” She asks, sitting up.
“Something’s off.” Dean drives back to Sam’s apartment building and parks out front, “Wait here.”
He goes into the building and runs up the stairs to Sam’s apartment and smells smoke. He kicks the door in and calls out to his brother, “Sam!”
“Jess!” He hears Sam yell.
Dean runs into the bedroom, “Sam!” Sam is screaming ‘No’ and staring up at the ceiling. Dean looks up and sees Jess burning. He grabs his younger brother off the bed and shoves him out of the apartment while Sam struggles against him.
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Maggie stood next to Sam as he loaded one of their shotguns. She had a hand rubbing his back while he refused to talk about what just happened. Dean, who was watching the firefighters put out the building, walked away to join the twins. Sam looked up at Dean when he came over and nodded to him. He throws the shotgun into the trunk and sighs.
“We got work to do,” Sam says and closes the trunk.