family line, supernatural [ 1 ]

008. something in the water

Dean and Natalie are sitting at the counter in the diner, Dean circling obituaries while Natalie finishes her breakfast.

"Can I get you anything else?" The waitress, Wendy, asks Dean. He looks up, grinning around the pen he's chewing on.

"Just the check, please." Sam sits on the other side of Natalie.

"Okay." Wendy walks away.

"Thank you." Natalie tells her twin. He smiles, even though his main thought process wasn't to save her from torture of hearing their older brother mention sex, and just so they didn't lose Dean for a little while.

"You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while." Dean says before pointing at Wendy who is walking away. "That's fun." Sam looks at him. "Here, take a look at this." Dean gives Sam the newspaper. "I think I got one."

"Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week, Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water -- nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago."

"A funeral?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, it's weird, they buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure or whatever." Dean says.

"It's not actually super weird." Natalie argues.

"Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them." Sam snips.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Natalie mutters.

"Well, maybe if you didn't kick all the time, I'd have decent sleep." Sam retorts.

"Maybe if you weren't so giant and hogged the bed, I wouldn't have to kick you." Natalie counters.

"Sam, something you want to say to me?" Dean asks.

"The trail for dad. It's getting colder every day." Sam says.

"Good." Natalie mumbles. Dean flicks her in the head.

"Exactly. So what are we supposed to do?" Dean asks.

"I don't know. Something. Anything." Sam says.

"You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find dad as much as you do?" Dean asks.

"I don't." Natalie says.

"Shut up." Dean tells her.

"I know you do, Dean, it's just--"

"I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past few years, while you've been off to college, going to pep rallies, and Natalie has been making minimum wage."

"Compared to you who makes nothing." Natalie says.

"We will find dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?" Dean says. Sam rolls his eyes, Dean getting distracted by Wendy as she walks by.

"All right, Lake Manitoc." Sam says. "Hey!" He gets Dean's attention. "How far?"

+++

They knock on the door to the Carlton house, Will Carlton answering it.

"Will Carlton?" Dean asks.

"Yeah, that's right." He nods.

"I'm Agent Ford. This is Agent Hamill and Agent Fisher. We're with the US Wildlife Service." Dean holds his badge up.

"She was about 100 yards out." Will states. "That's where she got dragged down."

"And you're sure she didn't drown?" Dean asks.