Secrets Will Kill You

“You’re kidding me right?” I snapped as I followed Dean into a parking lot of a diner. I flew the door open and slammed it shut, jumping down to the gravel. “We’re stopping again?” I asked as Brit and I walked over to the guys.

“Hey, we haven’t eaten for miles so if you don’t mind, shut your trap and let me eat in peace” Dean said and I bit my tongue hard so I wouldn’t blow up on him.

Instead, I grumbled and followed him inside, leaving Sam and Brit outside. I looked around and saw him sitting in a booth. I walked over to him and sat across from him, seeing he already had a plate of a burger and fries. How he got it so fast, I’ll never know.

“Oh yea” he said in pleasure as he rubbed his hands together, picked the burger up and bit into it. It looked really good….

He swallowed and looked up at me, seeing I was eyeing his food. “Do you want some?” he asked.

“Oh, no thanks, I don’t eat carbs” I joked and he chuckled.

“Good one…”

But then I gave him a pointed look and his smile dropped as he stared at me in disbelief. “You’re not kidding…”

I waited a few seconds just staring at him… “I am kidding” I smirked. “I just refuse to share food with arrogant pigs” I leaned forward.

“Baby, it comes with the job description, we’re not too different” He leaned forward as well.

“We are nothing alike” I hissed and we had our glaring match. Truth is, we probably were more alike than I just wanted to believe….

“Hey, guys, come on, knock it off” Brit said as she slid in beside me and Sam slid in beside Dean.

We both leaned back to look at them. “You both have to worry less about killing each other and worry more about staying caffeinated so we can drive the next couple miles to kill our next case” she instructed as she ordered coffee for all of us.

“We got something, Sammy?” Dean asked.

“Yea, Brittney and I were looking it over outside, we think it’s a case” Sam replied, putting out a newspaper on the table so we could all see it. “In Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin, last week, Sophie Carlton, 18, walks into the lake but she never walks out” he explained.

“The authorities searched the water but found nothing. Sophie was the third one this year, none of the bodies were found and they had the funeral three days ago” Brit added.

“Funeral?” I asked as Dean shoved his face with another bite.

“For closure or whatever” Dean assumed, saying it with his mouth full and I gave him a disgusted look.

“Closure? What closure? People don’t just disappear, Dean, people just stop looking for them” Sam said and then there was an awkward silence so Brit and I both sat back to watch.

“Is there something you want to say to me?” Dean asked, looking at Sam with a hard look.

“The trail for dad is getting colder every day”

“Exactly. What are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know. Something. Anything”

“Ya know, I’m sick of your attitude. You don’t think I want to find him as much as you do”

“I know you do…”

“I’m the one who was with him every day for two years while you were off to college doing pep rally’s. We are going to find dad but we’re going to kill everything we find from here to there, okay?”

“You’re dad’s missing? Is he okay?” I asked.

“That is none of your business” he snapped at me, pointing his finger at me.

“Okay…never mind” I said, putting my hands up in defeat. I looked back at Sam and Brit. “Alright. Lake Manitoc…how far?”

We all got to a hotel and it was two in the morning. We got our rooms and Dean and I gave each other one last glare before he walked into his and Sam’s room and I walked into ours, collapsing on a bed.

“We’ll head out tomorrow” I heard Sam say. “Sounds good” Brit sighed and I heard her shut the door.

“Ya know, you should at least try getting along with him…” I didn’t answer though, instead, I took in deep breaths. “I know you’re still awake…” I still didn’t respond. She sighed and shut the light off.

~

We headed out in the morning, wearing respective clothing. The guys were wearing suits and Brit and I threw on some skirts. We came to a cabin beside the lake and before I could even get out, Dean came over to us and jumped up on the step, gripping onto the door so I couldn’t open it.

“You girls might want to let the big boys do all the talking” he gave me a smug smirk.

“The big boys? I only see Sam, where’s the other one” I gave him my own smug smirk.

“Okay, you two have got to stop it, we are working on a case” Brit snapped as she came around the front of the truck and over to where I was sitting and where Dean was standing.

I stuck my head out the window slightly and we both looked down at her and Sam. “She’s right, this is our first case we’re working on together so we have to learn to work with each other” Sam added.

“Exactly. So, both of you pull up your big kid panties, set your differences aside and just focus on helping people” Brit finished.

Dean glanced at me with a blank look as I gave him the same look. We both nodded and he jumped down. Then,I swung the door open and hit Dean so he did a face plant onto the ground.

“That was an accident!” I claimed quickly, jumping down.

Brit snickered and so did Sam as he tried to help Dean up but he just ripped his arm away from Sam, grumbled and fixed his appearance. I jumped down and we all just walked toward the cabin. We saw a guy walking toward us, he seemed to be Sophie’s brother.

“Will Carlton?” Sam asked.

“That’s right” he confirmed.

“I’m agent Ford, this is agent Hamel and these two are ...our intern agents Harrison and Kale. We’re with the US wildlife service” Dean introduced and it kind of shocked me that he made up with my name and Brit’s name on his own.

We followed Will toward the lake in front of the cabin. “She was out about 100 yards out when she got dragged” he informed us.

“You’re sure she didn’t just drown?” Sam asked.

“Yea, she was a varsity swimmer…she grew up in that lake, she was as safe out there as she was in her own bathtub”

“There were no signs of splashing or distress?” Dean asked.

“Or did you see shadows in the water, maybe a dark shape preached the service” Brit added.

“No, like I said, she was far out there”

“Did you see any strange tracks by the shore line?” I asked.

“No, never…what do you think is out there?”

“We’ll let you know as soon as we find out…” I said, looking out to the dock, seeing his father sitting there, looking out to the lake. “What about your father? Can we talk to him?” I asked.

“If you don’t mind, he didn’t see anything and he went through a lot”

“It’s okay, we understand” I assured him.

We started walking back to the cars. “How about we split up. You girls can go back to the motel and try to find more information while we go to see the sheriff and get our own information and then we’ll see what we both come up with” Sam suggested.

Brit and I looked at each other and shrugged, then we nodded at the guys.

~~~~

After a while, the boys showed up, knocking at the door. I walked over and opened the door. “So, there have been three drowning victims this year” I said as they followed me in.

“Any before that?” Dean asked as Sam shut the door.

“Yea, there were six more spread out in the past 35 years. Their bodies were never recovered either, if there’s something out there, it’s picking up the pace” I told them.

“So there’s a lake monster on our hands?”

“Well the whole lake monster theory just bugs me” Brit said.

“Why?” Sam asked.

“Well with the Lockness and Lake Champlagne, there’s hundreds of eye witnesses but here, there’s nothing. No one’s living to talk about it” Brit explained as I sat on my bed, opening up the laptop to a picture of a recent victim.

“Wait, Christopher Barwood?” Dean questioned, looking over my shoulder.

“Is he familiar to you?” I asked him, looking up at his face.

“When we went to see the sheriff, his daughter and grandson walked in, their last names were Barwood” Sam informed us.

“The victim in May, husband of Andrea Barwood, father of Lucas Barwood…he took Lucas out swimming and they were floating on a wooden platform when Chris drowned two hours before the kid got rescued…maybe we have an eyewitness after all” I read some of the article and then just looked up at Dean again.

His scent filled my nose and he looked…really hot…he looked down at me and his green eyes pierced through me but when he looked at me, I just gave him a look asking him if he wanted to add something and I shrugged.

“No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Once one of your relatives die, it’s something you don’t get over” he said and shared a look with Sam so I guess Brit and I were missing something.

Then he looked back at me and stared into my eyes as if he could see my past…

~~~

We all got to the park and met a woman sitting on a bench. “Andrea, this is Brittney and Melissa, they’re in training” Sam said.

“It’s nice to meet you Andrea” I shook her hand politely, smiling.

“Can we join you?” Dean asked, right away.

“I’m here with my son”

“Oh you mind if we say hi?” Dean asked and she just nodded.

He started walking toward the playground and I decided to follow him. “You should really just let me handle this” he muttered.

“Do you even know how to handle kids?” I sneered, smirking and looking down at the ground. “As a matter of fact, I do” he snapped.

We walked over to a little boy who was leaning on a bench to color. I guessed he was Lucas. “How’s it goin Lucas? This is my pain in the butt trainee, Melissa” Dean said as he squatted down beside Lucas.

I glared at Dean but then I looked at Lucas’ crayons and spread out sheets of paper and there were some army men. “Oh I used to love this things” I said, going on the other side of Lucas to pick up one of his army men.

I caught Dean smiling at me as he chuckled. “What? I wasn’t exactly your average girl” I laughed a little, kneeling down.

I noticed Lucas moved his eyes from me to Dean but kept his head down on his drawing, acting like we weren’t there. Dean looked back at him. “Crayons are more your thing though…that’s cool. Chicks dig artists…”

I rolled my eyes at him.

“Mind we sit with you and draw with ya for a while? I’m not so bad myself and I’d just love to see what Melissa, here, can draw for you” he said and I glared at him.

I started to mumbled under my breath. It wasn’t fair how he got to make cracks at me on the job…there was a little boy present though so I decided to be the bigger person and ignore him. Dean and I both began to draw as the air became serious.

“I’m thinking you can hear us but you just don’t want to talk…I don’t know what happened with your dad but I know it was something real bad…” I started.

“I think I might know how you feel…when I was your age…I saw something…” Dean added and it seemed like he was in a daze, reminiscing about something…I analyzed him carefully….

He glanced at me and then avoided my eyes. “Anyway, maybe you might think that no one will listen…” he continued.

“Or maybe you think no one will believe you…” I added and Dean glanced at me, this time I avoided his eyes.

“But you should know that we will…you don’t have to say anything, you could draw a picture about what you saw that day with your dad on the lake” he tried but Lucas, of course, stayed silent.

“Okay, no problem. This is for you” he said, picking up the piece of paper he was drawing on, they were stick figures. I laughed under my breath. He smiled up at me but quickly became serious again. “It’s my family…that’s my dad, my mom, my geek brother and that’s me…”

“Eh mine’s no better” I slid the piece of paper so they could see it and Dean grinned, seeing it was stick figures as well. “That’s my mom, my dad…” I paused. “And my best friend, Brittney… okay so we‘re sucky artists” I finished and let out a breath, forcing a smile to my face.

“We’ll see you around Lucas” Dean said.

Then we both stood up and started walking away. “Are you…” we both started at the same time. “I’m fine” we both said, looking away. I felt heat rush to my face as I just avoided his face.

We got back to Andrea, Sam and Brit, catching Andrea in the middle of their conversation. “We moved in with my dad…he helps a lot…it’s just when I think about what Lucas went through and what he saw…”

“Kids are strong…” Dean started.

“You’d be surprised what they can deal with” I finished and both Sam and Brit gave us weird looks.

“He used to be full of life. He was hard to keep up with to tell you the truth. Now he just its there and draws and plays with his army men…I just wish…hey sweetie” she said and we turned to see Lucas walking toward us.

He handed me a drawing of a cabin and I got close to Dean to show it to him since it was obviously for us. “Thanks Lucas” we both said.

Brittney’s POV

Sam and I were chilling in his room, waiting for Dean and Mel to get back from God knows where….hopefully they weren’t trying to kill each other. “Do you think this was a good idea?” I asked, suddenly.

“You mean with us teaming up?”

“Yea…Dean and Mel really don’t like each other…”

“It’s only because she didn’t fall for Dean’s charm” he laughed a little.

“So you think this is a good idea then” I assumed.

I secretly wanted him to say yes…but for a different reason…is that so terrible? “Yea, I do…I think it’ll be good for all of us to work together…spend some time together…over time Melissa and Dean will learn to get along…” he said but his voice trailed off as he was looking at me. I looked back at him, staring into his eyes.

“So umm…what’s your story? If we’re going to be working together we should learn more about each other right?” I suggested.

I wanted to get to know him…this is the only way I knew how to start the conversation. I’m lame I know…usually I’m not. Usually, with other guys, I just like to fool around with them…but it’s different this time.

“You are right…but umm…it’s kind of a long story”

“I have time…waiting for them to get back isn’t exactly fun. We should talk”

He smiled at me.

“Alright well…where do I start?”

“How about with how you guys got into hunting?”

He took a deep breath. “Alright but if I tell you my story you have to tell me yours” I hesitated. “Deal” I promised and faced him completely on the bed, giving him my full attention.

“When I was a baby…my mom died…”

“Sam…I’m so sorry…it was really a stupid idea, we don’t have to talk about this…” I tried, about to stand up.

But, he grabbed my arm. “No, you’re right, we should get to know each other better…” I sat back down. “A demon killed her…our dad got us out of the house before it blew up…ever since…our dad has been destined to find the thing and kill it…”

He continued to tell me his story…I didn’t like hearing him be pained. It hurt me. He was putting on a smile for my sake but I could see his eyes fill up with water…it wasn’t fair how this happened to him…to me…to all of us.