Hiraeth

Where You Going Now?

Nearly a month had passed by since the last time Cora had seen Sam, Dean, or Bobby. After getting to South Dakota and finding out about the demon version of her sister, she had needed to take a break for awhile. It had been a long time coming, anyway, but she couldn’t stop seeing Vivian’s face in her mind, twisted and contorted into some hideous version of her that she’d never seen before.

In life, her sister had been a good person, if not a bit conceited and snobbish. She had truly wanted to help people and that was the real reason she’d gone to medical school. She had already been wealthy by the time she’d joined Doctors Without Borders, and a lot of her free time had been spent at low-cost or free local clinics in neighborhoods where people just couldn’t afford regular medical care. Cora remembered all the late nights her sister had talked about when they had talked on the phone. She remembered her sister’s triumphs and excitement when she was able to help someone, but she also remembered the times that Vivian had been reminded that she was simply human, capable of making mistakes that had a cost.

It was sweltering hot today as she sat on the front porch of her grandmother’s house, looking out over the front yard. Her neighbor’s dog had strayed into her garden and was playfully chasing a squirrel. A small smile tugged at her lips. Days like this reminded her that not every day was a life and death situation.

She had just stood up and was heading back into the kitchen to refill her tea when the sound of tires crunching on gravel and loud music blasting from car speakers caught her attention. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she turned, seeing Dean pulling the Impala to a rest in her driveway.

She sat her empty glass back down on the table and headed down the front steps of the porch, meeting him halfway in the yard. Sam was right behind him, although he wasn’t smiling like she was. Something was obviously troubling them, she realized.

“What brings you boys through town?” She asked quietly.

They hadn’t spoken since Bobby had given her the information he’d had, and part of her wondered if it was because they felt guilty for taking her to South Dakota. It had been obvious on that whole trip that they hadn’t wanted to; that they’d known something was up, and in a way she felt badly for both of them. As much as she didn’t agree with them sometimes, they both just wanted her safe at the end of the day.

“We need your help, Cor.” Sam was the first to speak as he motioned towards the porch. She bit down on her bottom lip and nodded, walking up the steps before she took a seat on the bench sitting against the wall. Dean leaned against the railing, while Sam took his spot next to hers.

“Dad’s cell phone went off last night and someone broke into a lock-down he had,” Dean explained to her, exhaling heavily before folding his arms across his chest. “Bobby’s MIA with Rufus right now, and there’s some other stuff going on…So we thought of you.”

Cora frowned, looking up at the boys. She hadn’t known John Winchester, but everything that the brothers and Bobby had told him about left her with a bad feeling about this. He had been rather clever in the way he’d done things and if someone had broken into one of his locations, it wouldn’t have been for anything that wasn’t important.

“Any idea where the location is?” She asked.

Sam nodded, flipping through some paperwork he’d brought with him out of the Impala. “Black Rock, Buffalo, in New York,” he told her. Cora furrowed her eyebrows together even more, biting down on her bottom lip. That was a long way from home, she realized, and she had her own problems she needed to sort out.

But maybe this trip could help her with that. She had a feeling the boys wouldn’t be here if they didn’t actually need her help, and she could see it all over Dean’s face that something else – something he probably wouldn’t talk to her about – was going on. Sam looked troubled, too, and she sighed. How could she say no to them when she wasn’t even doing anything?

“Give me a few minutes to get my bag and my gear.” She sighed, standing up from where she’d been sitting. Dean moved out of her way so she could make her way back into the house, and she left the door cracked as she made her way back to her bedroom to gather her things.

When the boys were sure she wasn’t within hearing range, Sam shot a glare at Dean and stood up. “We shouldn’t have come,” he muttered under his breath. “Bobby said the best thing for her is—”

“Bobby’s MIA, in case you hadn’t realized it.” Dean scowled. “And with all of your shit going on, we could use all the help we can get.”

A frown settled itself on Sam’s face as he looked down at the ground. He didn’t want to admit that Dean was right, but he was. Neither one of the brothers wanted to fill Coralee in on exactly what had been happening in the last month since she’d seen them because she had her own mess to deal with.

After a few more moments, the door opened, and Cora came out with a rucksack on her back and a black case in her hand. She wasn’t smiling, but Dean supposed she didn’t do much of that these days anymore, anyway.

“I’m ready when you are,” she told them with a sigh. “Maybe along the way, I’ll find a lead on Vivian.”

The brothers looked at each other, neither one sure of what to say. Dean was the first to make his way towards the car, not looking back at the two behind him. He was terrified, he realized. He and Cora had a lot more in common than she realized, and he hoped it never came to light.