In Which Sam Finds Ruby's Body...

[likely_evil]

OOC: Goes with this. Michael is herecmestrouble and used with permission

She is the sunlight.
The sun is gone.
- Trading Yesterdays "She is the Sunlight"


Ruby always went on jobs on her own. That wasn't what worried Sam. It was her way of relieving stress sometimes - go off on a small case, beat up a few demons and come back and take a long hot shower or else... well, that was another way they both burned off stress.

Sam sat up in bed reading until he fell asleep, waiting for her. It wasn't like her to take that long on a routine matter. He tried to call her again before bed, but it went to voicemail. If she was working, she wouldn't answer her phone. Maybe she needed to wait until late to hunt whatever she was after.

He was expecting her to come in during the night and wake him up by pressing her cold body against his back and wanting to share his warmth. But when he woke up and her half of the bed was still cold, that was when he started to worry.

It got worse when she didn't answer her cell phone still in the morning. It took him seconds to dress and then without even meeting his son for breakfast like planned, he went straight to the library and grabbed Bobby's journal and headed right for a spell room.

Finding the location spell in the book was easy and he said his chants, did the work and soon had her location. Forget waiting for her to come home. Something in his gut was screaming that this was wrong and he had to get to her quickly.

Michael found him in the armory as he grabbed extra shells for his shotgun that he was loading into his backpack. "Dad, what's wrong?"

"I just need to check up on something, son. I'll be right back." Sam barely lifted his head to look at Michael.

"I'm coming with you."

"Michael, no..." Sam turned as he watched his son grab bullets for the pearl handled pistol he wore on his hip.

"Dad, you're freaking me out. Something's wrong, and people are talking. They say Mom didn't come back last night. Is she in trouble?"

Sam closed his eyes. It had been so easy when Michael was little. Everything's going to be alright, son. Now go play and Daddy will be home again soon... "I don't know. But I think so. I did a location spell on her and I'm going to check it out."

"Well, I'm your backup."

"Michael -"

"Dad, she's my mother. I'm going. End of story." Michael stared at his father, a look Ruby had given him so many times in the last 300 years.

"Alright. Then let's go."

*~*

They were almost there when Sam felt it. The pain came from nowhere and he skidding the motorcycle to a stop and managed not to topple it over as he crumbled over the handlebars. He tore at his helmet, throwing it to the ground as he grabbed his head, trying to stop the pain.

"Dad!" Michael was at his side in an instant, hand on his father's back. "Dad, what's wrong?"

Sam couldn't explain it and just shook his head, blinking back past the pain. "We have to hurry," he told his son, and not even bothering to grab his helmet, he was back on the road and pushing the machine as fast as he could, hearing his son keeping pace beside him.

Then they were there and Sam was off the motorcycle and bursting in the doorway. His gun was in his hand as he stalked through the rooms, clearing them in turn until they reached the back room.

He stopped in the doorway and the pain in his chest returned. There she was, in the middle of a devil's trap and sprawled on the floor. "Ruby?" he said softly, making his way over and carefully entering the trap. He knelt down beside her and gently rolled her body over so he could look at her face. Feeling for a pulse wouldn't do anything, but he did it out of habit.

Ruby? he called to her through their bond, but there was nothing there.

She was gone, and the look on her body's face was one of shock and fear. She hadn't been expecting this. Someone had trapped her and sent her back to hell and it was someone they knew. It had to be.

The pain and betrayal was too much to bear and while he knew his son was watching, he couldn't help himself. He just collapsed over her, crying because she was gone, and there was one thing Sam knew he didn't have the power to do. He didn't have the power to bring people back from hell.

She was gone, and Sam didn't know what he was going to do without her.

Comments

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

"Good," Michael nodded, just leaning in to his father's hold and following his lead. This was better. Maybe they could take shifts. Or something.

He didn't like it when he had to be the one to hold them up, but he could do it. At least for now.

[likely_evil]

He waited until they were upstairs and that was when he let his son go, just to go to the liquor cabinet. "You should call Tara and let her know you're home safe. If you want her to come upstairs, that's fine."

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

He nodded, before starting to move over towards his phone to dial Tara's number.

[likely_evil]

Tara had been pacing in her room. She heard through the rumor mill that the Winchester men had rushed out of the complex and that Michael's mother was missing. She knew how close he was to his parents...

Hearing her phone ring, she dove for it and looked at the ID. She didn't recognize it, but it was one of the phones from inside the complex. "Michael?" she asked, the worry in her voice very evident.


Sam watched him a moment, then grabbed three glasses and poured some whiskey into two of them, leaving the third on the counter for Tara to make her own drink if she came upstairs. He then left one on the desk for his son and went to stand by the window, looking out while Michael talked on the phone.

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

"Hi," he said softly, moving to reach for the drink but not taking a sip until he was done speaking. "I'm okay, and Dad is too."

[tara-the-damsel.livejournal.com]

"And your Mom? When you rushed out, people said she was in trouble. Is she ok?"

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

Michael took a breath for a minute, running his hand over his face. "No, she's not."

[tara-the-damsel.livejournal.com]

tara gasped into the phone, then sat down on the edge of his bed. "Oh god, Michael. I'm sorry. Where are you? Do you want me to come find you?"

One of her fingers started to play with the edge of his blanket, worried for him.

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

Michael glanced back over at his father, before going back to the phone. "No, I'll be back down in a bit. I think I wanna spend some time with my dad for a while. I think he could use it."

[tara-the-damsel.livejournal.com]

"Alright. I'll just stay in your room so I'm here when you get down." She bit her lip.

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

"Okay," he said with a nod. "I shouldn't be too long."

[likely_evil]

"Ok. I love you," she said softly.


Sam looked over at his son a moment, not wanting to say that if he wanted to go to Tara, he would be fine. But Sam did want time with his son to make sure he was ok, so he didn't say it aloud.

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

"Love you too," he murmured, before hanging up the phone and turning back to his dad, taking another sip of his drink. "I'll go down and see her later."

[likely_evil]

"She's a good girl," Sam said, nodding slowly. "You got lucky with her."

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," he nodded. "I did."

He started to move back over to him, finishing off the rest of his glass and reaching to pour himself another one. "Are you okay, Dad?"

[likely_evil]

Sam wanted to lie and say he was, but he knew his son could read him pretty well, and lying wouldn't help here.

"No, I'm not. But you're here, so I'm doing alright for the moment." He reached over to press his hand against his son's shoulder, rubbing it a bit. "What about you?"

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

"I don't think it's hit me yet," he shrugged slightly, moving his father's hold a bit. He knew there were only so many chick flick moments that they could put up with, but it seemed a little necessary at the moment. He was quiet for a bit, before --

"I miss her."

[likely_evil]

"I know." Sam pulled his son closer and just held him, resting his chin on top of Michael's head. Sam was not above the chick flick moments when it came to his son's pain. "I do too. But you're right. She's going to be back."

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

Michael closed his eyes and just leaned into his father's hold. "Yeah. She'll be back."

What he wasn't saying though, was that no one knew when, or if she'd even be the same when she got there. If she'd even remember them. He knew how Hell worked. He wasn't stupid.

And he didn't want to lose his mom.

[likely_evil]

One month equals ten years in Hell. Every day here was 121 days in hell. No one came back the same, even after a day.

Time was going to be important. They needed to get her out of there somehow and some hunter alive or dead had to know how to pull a demon back out of hell. He just needed a set of directions and he would do it himself.

He couldn't lose her - not now. Not with everything that was happening.

And he needed to find the one responsible. Someone needed to investigate the scene and figure out if it was a hunter or a demon who did this. Find clues and track them down. And then Sam personally was going to find out why they had done this, and he swore it was going to be the last thing they ever did.

But his focus was on his son at the moment, because there was a chance they would never be able to find her exorciser, or a way to get her back. Then they would just have to wait for her to crawl back out on her own... and that could be something that could be longer than Michael's own lifetime.

"We'll find some way to help her, I promise. I won't leave any stone unturned."

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

"I know, Dad," he said softly -- not petulant or stubborn, just acknowledgment. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

[likely_evil]

"And no matter what we do, she's going to come back and bitch at me. Because she will make it my fault, like always," he let himself smirk just a bit.

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

Michael chuckled a little at that. "Of course. It's always your fault.

[likely_evil]

Sam held his son a moment longer, then carefully pulled away. "Want me to walk you back to your room. I should check up on what the doctors say."

[herecmestrouble.livejournal.com]

"Okay," he nodded, placing his glass back down on the table as he started to follow Sam to the door.