Down the Rabbit Hole

Blind Alley Part 1

Lacey sighed to herself. They had spent most of the day interviewing people about this missing kid. No one seemed to be able to explain it. Everyone seemed to think it was UFO's which was totally crazy. Lacey was so bored of hearing this drivel that she had tuned most of the conversation out. It wasn't until she heard the woman they were interviewing say: "Of course it's not UFO's, it's faeries." That she started to pay attention again. The three of them stared at her in different stages of confusion and disbelief.
"Faeries, okay. Well thank you for your input." Dean managed to get out.
"What? Flying saucers not insane enough for you?" Sam asked sarcastically.
"What newspaper did you say you worked for?" The woman frowned.
"Okay if you want to add glitter to that glue you're sniffing, that's fine, but don't dump your whack-a-doodle all over us. We'd rather not step in it." Lacey stared at him open mouthed.
"Okay, we're done." Dean tried to usher him away.
"The only thing you're missing is a couple dozen cats sister!" Sam called over his shoulder.
"It's a blood sugar thing. My apologies." Dean waved before leading Sam away. Lacey tutted at him.
"What?"
"What? You gotta ask? Right yes, you do have to ask."
"Look, I'm sorry but this is all a big joke, right? And we're not actually taking this UFO crap seriously?"
"No man. ET is made of rubber, everybody knows that. But there are four legitimate vanishings in this town. Something's going on. And Sam? By the way it's not the lady's fault that she took the brown acid."
"Yeah! So?" Sam seemed confused.
"Empathy man. Empathy. I mean the old Sam would have given her some wussified, dew eyed crap." Lacey giggled.
"Old Sam had a soul, was a soul, whatever."
"Right! Yeas but you don't, aren't. Whatever."
"Right."
"Right. You don't care." Dean commented.
"Well..." Sam thought about it.
"You have to care!" Dean informed him.
"About what exactly?"
About everything, man. About being human at least." Sam sighed.
"Look, Dean. You obviously care. A lot. And that's great. But I care about... what I can't care about, you know? What do you want me to do, fake it?"
"Yes. Absolutely. Fake it. Fake it until you make it."
"What happened to you wanting me to be all honest?" Sam asked.
"You could just try and be more understanding." Lacey suggested. "Like, even if you can't feel it, at least try to understand why other people do." Dean nodded.
"Exactly. You wanna be a real boy Pinocchio, you gotta act the part."
"I was faking it! Ever since we got back on the road together, I was picking every freaking word. It's exhausting."
"Okay. All right. But until we get you back on the soul train, I'll be your conscience, okay?"
"So you're saying you'll be my Jiminey Cricket?" Sam asked. Lacey couldn't help but smirk at this.
"Shut up. But yeah, you freaking puppet. That's exactly what I'm saying. You don't do anything without running it by me or Lacey first. You got that?" Sam shrugged.
"I guess so."
"Good." Dean nodded as he climbed into the Impala.

They headed across the town to Brennan's watch works. The shop was owned by the missing kids father.
"Mr Brennan?" Dean called as they made their way through the shop to the back room.
"Hmm?" Mr Brennan looked up as they walked through the door. He was sat at a desk, working on one of his watches.
"We're with The Mirror." Sam began. "We would like to ask you..."
"What? Is this about Patrick? Patrick's gone." He told them abruptly, sounding distracted.
"Missing. Right. Yeah that's what we want to talk to you about."
"Now your son was the first to disappear."
"First to be taken." Brennan corrected.
"Taken?" Sam asked.
"Get out! Out!" Brennan snapped, ushering them towards the door.
"Mr Brennan, who do you believe took your son?" Dean asked.
"You people can't help me. My boy is never coming back." Brennan sounded defeated.
"You sound awfully sure." Sam commented.
"Excuse me?"
"Like you know something you're not talking about." Sam guessed.
"Okay, alright." Dean shoved him through the door.
"You know what they say, 72 hours. After that, the odds of finding a missing person drop to nothing, right?"
"Well every case is different."
"It's been weeks." Brennan told him.
"All right. Listen, call us if anything comes to mind." Dean handed him a card before he and Lacey followed Sam out.
"What do you think?" Sam asked as they headed out of the shop.
"I think he's hiding something. Why don't you stay and watch watchmaker and see what happens when the sun goes down, and I'll go check out the crop circles."
"Okie dokie." Sam nodded.
"But do not engage with, maim or in any way kill Brennan. In fact I don't want you making any judgement calls whatsoever. Take Lacey with you, she can make the decisions." Lacey glared at Dean.
"Why do I have to babysit him?"
"Cause I've got to go check out the crop circles and there's no one else." Dean told her.
"I'm right here you know." Sam told them, sounding annoyed. "And you know what Jiminey, I was on my own for a whole year. I did fine without you guys."
"Yeah, I don't want to know your definition of fine." Dean told him.
"Anyway, what help is Lacey going to be, it's not like she has loads of life experience herself." Lacey raised an eyebrow at this.
"Look, she knows right from wrong and that's all that matters right now, so just go with her." Lacey opened her mouth to speak. "That's final." Dean said before she could protest.
"Fine. But you owe me." Lacey told him. Dean wiggled his eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes. "Come on puppet boy." She said as she dragged Sam around the corner to wait for Brennan.