Down the Rabbit Hole

Wish You Were Here

Soundtrack:
The Pretty Reckless – Take me down
The Record Company – Good Morning Rita
Dorothy – Raise Hell

Lacey grabbed her bag from inside her locker before shutting it. She walked back out into the dining room of the Mystic Grill and leant against the bar.
"Hey, Matt, I'm clocking out now." She told the bar tender, removing her name tag.
"Okay, Lacey, see you next week." Matt smiled at her. Lacey was about to leave, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Damon, sitting further along the bar.
"Drinking alone again, Damon? Tut, tut." Lacey teased him as she slid onto the stool beside him.
"Yeah, well, it's been a long day." Damon gave her a forced smile.
"Wanna talk about it?" Lacey asked.
"What are you, my shrink now?" Damon joked. "What about you? How are you handling the loss of the boyfriend?"
"He's not dead, he's just missing." Lacey reminded him.
"Optimism, gotta love it." Damon said, taking a swig of his drink.
"And on that note, I'll see you next week, Damon." Lacey rolled her eyes and got to her feet, patting his arm.
"Have fun." Damon called after her. Lacey waved at him as she headed for the back door. When she reached the alley at the back of the restaurant, she checked no one was around before opening up a portal and stepping through. She walked out the other side, the portal closing behind her. Lacey let out a sigh and dropped her bag on the sofa before joining it. Damon's words were still ringing in her ears. She had been avoiding seeing Dean recently. Ever since he'd made the demon deal. She was having trouble processing. Which was silly. She was sitting here in 2012 fretting over something that had happened in 2007, even though she knew full well she would meet Dean in 2009, alive. Lacey shook her head, this was giving her a headache. Maybe she just needed to go see him and clear the air. Lacey closed her eyes and leaned back on the sofa. She concentrated and moments later she found herself on a brightly lit sidewalk, outside a restaurant. She glanced around, normally she was taken right to wherever Dean was. As if he'd heard her thoughts, Dean came barrelling out of the door to the restaurant, followed by Sam.
"Come on!" Dean yelled at Sam. Seconds later Sam fell straight onto his face. Dean came to a halt, looking at Sam, almost offended. "Wow! You suck!" He helped Sam to his feet.
"Ow." Sam complained, examining his ripped jeans and bloody knees.
"So, what, now your luck turns bad."
"I guess."
"I wonder how bad." Dean mused. He glanced over and realised Lacey was standing a few feet away watching them. "Here." He tossed Sam the keys. "Meet you at the car." Sam frowned but took the keys and headed for the Impala. Dean walked over to Lacey and the two of them stood in silence for a few seconds before either spoke.
"So, you're here." Dean started.
"Yeah, I'm here."
"I didn't think you were coming back. It's been almost 2 months." Dean told her.
"I'm sorry, I just needed some time to process everything, but I'm here now." Lacey looked down at her feet. Dean sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know it was probably the worst time in the world to disappear. I just didn't know what to do, this was all completely unexpected so I panicked. I'm not going anywhere Dean, I'm here to help." Lacey looked back up into his eyes. The dazzling green that met hers made her shiver. "So, what's going on, what did I miss?"
"Some guys broke into one of Dad's storage lockers, stole a cursed rabbits foot. Sam got it back from them, but some chick just stole it from him and now Sam is stuck with a hell of a load of bad luck." Dean explained. Lacey blinked at him.
"Wow. That's... wow. Ok, so what now?"
"I think it's time we find out why those guys stole the rabbits foot in the first place." Dean said as they walked over to the Impala.

Dean drove them back to the apartment of the guys who had stolen the rabbits foot. As they entered the guy looked up from the photo he was staring at and groaned.
"Oh, man. What do you want?"
"Heard about your friend. That's bad luck." Dean said, referring to the dead thief.
"Piss off." The man grumbled.
"We know someone hired you to steal the rabbits foot. A woman."
"Oh, yeah? How do you know that?"
"Because she just stole it back from us." The guy began to laugh.
"Listen, man, this is seri..." Sam began, before tripping over a wire and managing to pull a hi-fi and a lamp down with him, as he hit the floor. Dean let out a sigh. Lacey stared at Sam. And she thought she could be accident prone at time.
"Sam, you ok?" He called out behind him.
"Yeah, I'm good." Sam groaned, pulling himself to his feet. Dean turned his attention back to the guy.
"I want you to tell us her name."
"Screw you."
"It wasn't a freak accident that killed your partner." The guy looked startled.
"What?"
"It was the rabbits foot." The guy shook his head.
"You're crazy, man."
"You know I'm not, you saw what happened, what it did. All the flukes, all the luck. When you lose the foot that luck goes sour. That's what killed your friend. And my brother here is next. And who knows how more innocent people after that. Now if you don't help us stop this thing, that puts those deaths on your head." The guy looked worried at this. "Now I can read people... and I get it. You're a thief and a scumbag, that's fine. But you're not a killer. Are you?"
"No." Lacey smirked at Dean, shaking her head at his spiel.
Dean's words had clearly hit home as the guy gave him the name of the woman they were looking for. They left the apartment and headed outside. When they reached the street, Dean's phone began to ring.
"Hello?" Dean listened to Bobby on the other end. "Bobby, that's great, 'cept Sam... Sam lost the foot." Lacey watched in amusement as Sam tried to get some gum from the bottom of his shoe.
"He what!?" Lacey turned back to Dean as she heard Bobby raise his voice on the other end.
"Bobby, Bobby, listen. This hot chick stole it from him. I'm serious." Dean made a face at Lacey who was was trying to hold in a giggle at his description. "In her mid 20's, she was sharp, you know, good enough at the con to play us. And she only gave the guy she hired a name, probably an alias or something. Luigi or something?" Dean looked over at Sam for confirmation.
"Lugosi."
"Lugosi." Dean repeated back to Bobby, listening to his response. "Bela Lugosi? That's cute." Lacey looked around again at a splashing sound. Sam had dropped his shoe in the drain. Lacey gave him a sympathetic look, even though he couldn't see it.
"Well, she knew about the rabbits foot. Is she a hunter? I guess she's back. Great. Thanks, Bobby, again." Dean hung up the phone before turning to see a dejected looking Sam.
"What?"
"I lost my shoe."