Losing Hope | {BOOK 4}

70| The Return of Mommy Dearest

Emilie Dawson looked just like she did when I was little. Same long brownish-red hair that fell just past her shoulders, same brown eyes that matched mine, same everything. I could only gape in shock at her, phone forgotten in one of my hands, as I took her in. The white nightgown she wore was the same one I remembered her wearing in the hospital when she died. Finally tearing my gaze from her, I looked down at the phone in my hand and slipped it into my pocket.

"I, uh... Are you... really... real?" I asked.

She continued to stare at me warily as I approached her, reaching out one hand to touch her. She grabbed my arm, throwing me to the ground and putting her foot on my chest.

"Ohh!" I grunted.

"Where am I?" she asked me. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm- I'm Ellie. Dawson. I'm your daughter."

"No. My Ellie is four years old."

"I was when you died."

My mom released me, gasping as she remembered the day she died.

"Mom. Listen to me," I said, getting to my feet. "Your name- your name is Emilie Blossom, okay? You were born February 12, 1950 to Stephan and Cheryl Blossom. Your father, he bounced around a lot, for, uh, work, and you bounced right along with him, and you ended up in Greensburg, Pennsylvania."

"How do you know all that?" she asked.

"Dad told me. April 16, 1966, you were on a solo hunt- a ghoul. You got disarmed and thought you were gonna die, but then this guy came up from behind and killed it. He helped you up and tried to apologize, but you laughed it off and said it was fine. That was the night that- that you met-"

"James Dawson," my mom breathed.

"July 28, 1971, you were married and started a supply shop with a secret backroom for hunters... nine years later, I came along, and a few years after that, you got really sick, and..."

"Then I died. How long have I been gone?"

"31 years."

She moved forward, cupping her hands on my face.

"Ellie."

"Hi, Mom."

Slowly, she moved in to embrace me and after a moment, I returned it hesitantly. We moved over to sit on a park bench together and I gave her my jacket to wear so she had a bit more protection against the early dawn chill. I began to fill her in on everything she'd missed after she died.

"How did he die?" she asked me when I told her about how Dad was dead.

"Hunting accident," I replied. "He left to help a buddy out and didn't make it."

"He left you alone?"

"He told me he wouldn't be gone more than two days, tops. He tried not to take jobs that were far away because he didn't like leaving me by myself."

"So... you and Dean Winchester, huh?"

My cheeks heated up as my mother smirked over at me.

"Is he cute?"

"Mom!"

"What? I wouldn't know. The last time I saw him he was two and had come to the shop with his parents to celebrate your first birthday."

"I didn't realize they'd been coming around that long."

"Yeah, you and Dean were practically inseparable when you were little until Sam was born... You said God's... brother brought me back to life?"

"Pretty much," I nodded. "It's a lot. And I know it's a lot. And I'll explain everything. I will. But right now, let's get out of here. Let's get you home. Come on, Mom."

I linked arms with her as we stood, walking off.

 ⁘

I entered the Bunker ahead of my mom, who was staring around at the place in awe.

"You live here?"

"Yeah, when we're not on the road. It's an old Men of Letters Bunker."

"Men of Letters? Yeah. They're a myth. An old Hunter's story."

"Not so much," I shook my head. "New clothes look good."

"Thanks," she smiled. "It's better than walking around in that nightgown the rest-"

She stopped talking as we both spotted several large splatters of blood on the floor.

"That's blood," my mom observed.

"Yeah," I swallowed.

Removing my gun, I cocked it and moved forward, checking out the immediate area and noticing an angel banishing sigil on the wall.

"Sam? Dean? Cass, you there?"

I pulled a spare gun out from under the map table and handed over to my mom.

"Take this. Stay here."

"Ellie," she called after me.

"Dean?" I called out. "Madelaine? Zeppelin? Anyone?"

"Hands in the air. Get on your knees," I heard my mom's voice say.

"Who are you, and where are Sam and Dean?" Cass's voice replied.

"Hands, now."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" I pushed the gun my mom was pointing at Cass down. "It's okay. It's okay. He's a friend, alright? Hey, Cass."

"Eleanor!"

Relieved, Cass stepped forward and embraced me and I chuckled a little.

"Hey. Okay. Alright."

"Eleanor. You're alive?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"What about the bomb and the Darkness? What happened?"

"I'll tell you everything. Where are Sam and Dean and the kids?"

"They're not here."

"Are you a hunter?" my mom asked Cass.

"No, I'm an angel."

"He's an angel," I said at the same time.

"Come again?"

"An angel," I repeated. "You know, wings, harp."

"No, I don't have a harp," Cass corrected me.

"This is Castiel. Cass, this is... Emilie. Dawson."

"Your mother."

"Yeah," I nodded. "So, wait, uh, where- where are Sam and Dean? They're not answering their phones, there's blood on the floor. What's going on?"

"I don't know. We came back here, there was a woman waiting for us. She blasted me away. I don't know who she was. I don't know what happened to Sam and Dean. Or Madelaine and Zeppelin."

"I don't understand," my mom looked from Cass over to me. "What happened?"

"Okay, well, the Bunker's empty, so- so they've obviously left here. You said woman- not an angel, not a demon, a- a human."

"She was human," the angel confirmed.

"When did this go down?"

I walked to one of the tables, grabbing Dean's laptop.

"It was 2:12 a.m."

"Is that a-a computer?" my mom stared at the laptop.

"Yes," Cass told her. "I don't trust them."

On the laptop, I clicked through different views of streets.

"Got something. An SUV ran a red light a few blocks from here at 2:21 a.m. And there wasn't another car for 40 minutes."

"How did you do that?" my mom asked me.

"I hacked the traffic cams. Welcome to the future."

"You think it's them?" Cass asked.

"It's worth a shot."