family line, supernatural [ 1 ]

047. haunted house

Natalie is sitting on the bed in the motel room, her legs curled up to her chest and she's gnawing on one of her nails as she watches the news. The three are still in Peoria, continuing to look for Ava, it having been one week since the whole possession thing. They moved to a different motel and Natalie is back to sharing a room with the brothers, none of them wanting her to be alone.

Sam is on the phone with Ellen and Dean went out to get coffee.

"The killings of multiple men have appeared to decrease. The killer -- or killers --- seems to have moved on or is, at the least, taking a break in order to decrease suspicion or attention. Despite the target being men, we advise everybody to be careful out at bars, don't go home with anybody you don't know, and keep your doors and windows locked. This is one of the worst--"

The TV is clicked off. Natalie looks up, seeing Dean next to the bed, the remote in one hand and a carton of drinks in his other.

"You're done." Dean tells her. "We told you no news."

"Can't help it." She mumbles.

"Yeah, well, only TV you're watching from now on is Scooby-Doo, got it?" Dean says, putting the remote on the nightstand. "Here. Uh... some sort of tea." He holds a drink out to her.

"I don't want tea." Natalie says.

"Yeah, I know. Uh, Sammy said it helps calm you down or something. Camo... cama... cha--"

"Chamomile?" Natalie asks.

"Yes. Yes, that." Dean nods. He puts the drink on the nightstand. "Here. I got you hot chocolate, too." He holds a second cup out to her. Natalie considers before taking it, cradling the warm cup in her hands. Dean lets out a quiet sigh, frowning. He ruffles her hair before walking over to Sam who hangs up with Ellen.

"What's she have to say?" Dean asks.

"Oh, she's got nothing. Me, I've been checking every database I can think of -- federal, state, and local. No one's heard anything about Ava, she just... into thin air, you know? Demon really did good at covering its tracks." Sam says.

Natalie takes her phone out and goes into he contacts. She finds Jacob's name and hovers over the call button. After a few moments, she decides against it, and goes to the text messages where all of the unanswered texts from him are.

She hasn't talked to him since he was in the hospital. The guilt eats her alive for what she did to Sam, Jacob, and all those innocent people. She knows Jacob is at least somewhat safer if she doesn't talk to him.

All his texts show that he's worried and just wanting to make sure she's okay, but she doesn't have the strength to even text him a simple "I'm fine." back. She knows that if she didn't live with Sam, she'd probably be ignoring him too.

"What about you?" Sam asks, taking a coffee cup from Dean.

"No, same as before. Sorry, man." Dean says.

"Ellen did have one thing." Sam says.

"Hmm?" Dean asks.

"A hotel in Cornwall, Connecticut. Two freak accidents in the past three weeks." Sam informs.

"Yeah? What's that have to do with Ava?" Dean asks.

"It's a job. I mean, a lady drowned in the bathtub. Then a few days ago, a guy falls down the stairs, head turns a complete 180. Which isn't exactly normal, you know? Look, I don't know, Dean, it might be nothing, but I told Ellen we'd think about checking it out."

"You did?"

"Yeah. You seem surprised."

"Well, yeah, it's just, you know, not the, uh, patented Sam Winchester way, is it?" Dean asks, sitting on his bed.