Standing Outside the Fire

42

[Blood Brother]

Sam, Dean and Francesca entered a motel room in Enid, Oregon. Sam crossed the bathroom and turned on the light. Dean and Francesca looked around the room.

He pointed at Sam and Francesca. "Well, that's twice that he's burned us. Shame on you two."

Sam frowned at him. "No, no, no, no. We're the ones who said he set us up. You said he burned us."

"No, you said, "I wonder if Kevin is setting us up", Frankie agreed, and then you started in with all the techno babble. That was two states ago."

"Yeah, well, whatever. Either way, that's another room billed to one of Kevin's false credit IDs." Dean picked a lock on the mini-bar. "And the motel ran his number today."

"Just like he actually checked in?" Dean asked.

Francesca nodded. "Yes."

"Kid's like Rain Man. He's like a crappy little credit-card counting... criminal prodigy Rain Man."

Francesca shrugged. "I mean, he was in advanced placement."

Dean frowned at her. "Shut up." He handed Sam a beer and Francesca a soda from the mini-bar. "When's that little idiot gonna stop running from us?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't know, Dean. I mean, you did try to kill his mother."

"I was trying to kill Crowley, okay? Who happened to be wearing Kevin's mother at the time. Well, there's a difference."

"Apparently not to Kevin. Oh, I know. Maybe because -- oh, yeah -- it's his mother."

Dean's phone rang. "Hold that thought. No, actually, you know what? Don't hold that thought."

He answered. "Hello? Hello? Uh, hang on. There's not enough bars." Dean walked outside, motioning for Francesca to follow, and closed the door behind them. "Benny?"

"Hey, Dean. You and your girl, um -- you got a minute? Afraid I messed up, buddy."

"What did you do?" Dean asked worriedly.

"No, man, not like that."

Sam looked outside to see Dean talking on the phone and Francesca standing next to him.

Outside, Dean glanced over his shoulder at the motel room window.

"Wait," Dean said with a frown. "You took on how many? Are you out of your mind?"

"Hey. See, the thing is, my legs -- they ain't working so good. There's, uh... a fuel barge not too far from here. I'm pretty sure I can make it at a slow crawl. I was kind of hoping maybe I could ask you two for one more favor?"

Dean walked back inside and put a bag down on the bed. Sam frowned. "And -- and what exactly is that supposed to mean, you and Frankie have got to go?"

"Which words are giving you trouble?" Dean retorted.

"We're on the case, remember, Dean? The -- the Winchester holy grail, "shut the Gates of Hell forever" case."

Dean nodded. "Sure we are. But, see, in order to close the Gates of Hell, we need our prophet, am I right? So our first step -- find Kevin Tran. As you can see, he ain't here. But clearly he wanted us to be, which means we're probably as far away from the kid as he could possibly put us. So step two -- find Kevin Tran!" He looked back at the mini-bar. "You mind if I grab the Toblerone?"

Dean left the room, followed by Sam and Francesca.

Sam said, "Wait. Dean, seriously?"

"Hey, the trail is dead, but the room is paid for," Dean reasoned. "You got some research to do, and Frankie and I got some personal crap I got to take care of. That's all."