⌜ chapter three ⌟

There's a knock on Isla's motel door, and she reluctantly gets up off of her bed and walks over to answer it. She's holding the kitten against her chest, cradling it in one hand. "Oh, goody. The cat hater." The blonde mutters as she turns away from Dean.

"It's not hatred, it's allergies." He argues as he walks into the room with Sam right behind him.

"Whatever." She sits on the bed again with her back against the pillows, and the kitten squeaks  as she adjusts herself to get comfortable. "So, what'd you guys find out about the asylum?"

"There was a riot back in '64, and a lot of deaths resulted from it." Sam tells her as he and his brother both walk over to sit at the table. "Some of the bodies were never even recovered, including the chief of staff that you told us to look into. The cops scoured the place, but the patients must've...stuffed the body somewhere hidden."

"That's disgusting." She mutters, and he nods. "Are you guys going back tonight?"

"Yeah. We gotta see if we can find any of the bodies, put the spirits to rest."

"Man." She shakes her head. "Actually got a case in a haunted asylum, and I can't work it." She makes a noise, sucking her teeth, and he chuckles.

"Disappointed?" Sam asks.

"How many times do hunters come across cases like this?" She pets the kitten when it stirs awake again. "But you're a high-maintenance baby who needs round-the-clock care."

"You have to hold it all the time?" Dean asks. He genuinely knows nothing about taking care of a kitten, especially one this young.

"I don't have all of the equipment that shelters, rescuers, and fosterers have. Some of them have these machines that kinda look like incubators — it's meant to keep them warm while they're not with you. I just had the kitten in the crate with a heating pad and a blanket." She explains. "I don't have the special technology, so... Body heat."

"Have you thought of any names?" Sam asks.

"Well, if I'm wrong, and the little one's a boy — Salem." The blonde smirks. "He was Sabrina's cat on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. I used to watch it as a teenager."

"You haven't thought of any girl names?"

Isla shakes her head as she looks at him. "Salem was so obvious. I'm just working my ass off to keep her alive right now." She tells him, and he nods.

"When are you feeding her next?"

"About an hour."

"Alright, uh... Why don't we let you take a nap or something? You seem exhausted." Sam says as he stands up, and his brother follows suit.

"Just a little." She yawns, and he chuckles as he shakes his head.

—

It's just after six o'clock in the morning when Isla's phone starts ringing on her bedside table, and she groans as it wakes her up. Her hand fumbles around on the tabletop until it finds it, and then she answers.

"I hate you." Is the first thing she says. "And if I weren't so damn tired, I'd tell you all the ways that I want to kill you. Slowly."

John chuckles. "Mornin', Sunshine."

"Don't sunshine me. There isn't enough sun shining for that."

"Are you with the boys?"

"Yes. You sneaky, conniving, manipulative—"

"I want you to stay with them, Isla." He cuts her off. "I hate all the time that you spend alone. I think you and Dean can work out that last fight if you just tried."

"They wanna know where you are." The blonde says as she sits up in her bed. "They're worried, and they don't understand why you're not calling them."

"You know why."

"I can't keep lying to them, John." She shakes her head. "When they find out that I know what you're doing, they're gonna be pissed. They'll never forgive me. But more than that — they deserve to know. They have a right to know what's going on. You can't ask me to do this."

"I can't have them with me." He looks down. "I know this is hard for you to understand, but you're just gonna have to trust me on this."

"They're your sons, and they're worried about you. Why don't you at least call them? Call Dean. I mean, far be it from me to take his side in anything, but... He has spent more time with you than most boys spend with their father, and then you just left him. You gave no explanation or warning, you just vanished. Don't you think they deserve better than that? Don't you think they deserve to know that you're after the thing that killed their mom?"

"They deserve to be with someone like you. I can't talk to them now, but I promise you that I will." He tells her, and she takes a deep breath. "Tell them that I'm okay. I'm alright, and they don't need to worry about me."

"They'll never stop worrying."

"I know." He sighs. 

"I won't lie to them, John." She tells him, shaking her head. "Either I tell them what you're doing, or I leave. You can't have it both ways, it's not fair to any of us."

"Okay." He nods. "You can tell them. Tell them what it is, tell them that I think I'm finally closing in on it. Tell them that I don't want them helping me with this, and to stop looking for me."

"You talked to Caleb." Isla sighs as she looks down. "He told you that they're calling around, asking your contacts if they've heard from you."

"This is the last time I'm gonna be calling for awhile. It's dangerous for us to talk, and you're not alone anymore." John says. "This is an order. They stop looking, you stay with them, and you three do your job. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." She nods. "I understand."

"Good. Now get a pen, I need you to take down these names." He tells her, and she scoffs.

"I'm supposed to tell them all this, and then we go work a job? You honestly think it'll all be business as usual?" She questions.

"Get a pen, Isla. This one needs to be done now, it can't wait."

The blonde sighs as she turns in her bed and picks up the pen and notepad that's supplied by the motel. After taking down the names of a few couples and a town that they're all linked to, she climbs out of bed and starts getting ready for the day. Her blonde hair's thrown up into a ponytail, and she's wearing black leggings paired with a dark gray hoodie and her Vans. She takes care of the kitten, and packs her stuff up before walking over to the boys' room.

Dean opens the door in nothing but sweatpants, and his green eyes are squinted under a furrowed brow — obviously having been woken up by her incessant knocking. "The hell do you want?" He questions, and she takes a deep breath as she looks up to meet his gaze.

"To shoot anyone with the name Winchester." The blonde says, and he just looks at her for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry, doll face, it's still early, and I'm not awake enough for our usual banter. Can you just tell me what exactly you're talking about?" He asks, and she holds up the paper with the information that John made her take down.

"What's going on?" Sam asks as he walks over to them, and unlike his older brother, he's fully clothed.

"Your dad called me an hour ago, you boys got a new job." Isla says, and Dean looks back at her.

"He called you again?" He questions. "Well, I guess we know who his favorite is."

"I'm not his favorite, the man's just a coward." She argues. "He Parent Trapped the three of us so that he wouldn't feel obligated to call me anymore. That was part of his message."

"He say anything else?"

"Yeah, uh... Can I come in? There's something I have to tell you guys." She says, and the boys exchange a confused glance before heading back into the room with her right behind them.

"What's going on?" Sam asks as he turns back to face her, and Dean grabs a t-shirt from the foot of his bed to put on while they talk.

"You know, I don't take either of you as the type to hit a woman, but, uh... Just so you know, I am currently carrying a kitten, so..." She looks down at her pocket where the little, black, fluffy head is just barely poking out of her sweater pocket.

"Why would you think that either of us would want to hit you?" Dean questions, and her hazel eyes flicker between the two of them.

"I wasn't entirely honest with you yesterday, and I told John this morning that the only way the three of us were staying together was if I could be." She starts. "I do know why he took off, and I know what he's doing."

"You know where he is?" Sam asks, and she pauses as she pulls her phone out of her pocket; it's on the opposite side than the kitten.

"Uh... The area code this morning was 916, which I think is...Sacramento?" She says as she looks back at him. "He does travel a lot, and the numbers he calls from are never the same. You can call it back if you want, but I'm sure he's long gone." She holds her cell phone out to him, and he takes it so that he can see the number for himself.

"What do you know?" Dean questions.

"Well, uh... I was in Nebraska when he called me in early November. The first thing he said confused the hell out of me — he said, It's back, and I have to go." Isla tells them, and her eyes settle on Sam again. "He knows about Jessica, that she... He's tracking the thing that killed her and your mom. He says that it's a demon, and he's closing in on it."

"A demon?" Sam echoes, his voice barely audible.

"That's all I know about that. John refuses to give me any more details, and he..." She takes a deep breath as her eyes flicker to Dean as well. "He wants the three of us to stay together, and he wants us to stop looking for him. He says that's an order."

"That's all you know?" Dean questions, and she nods. "And why should we believe that you're telling the truth now when you lied to us before?"

"The fact that I told you anything at all, and have been telling John from the start that you deserve to hear from him is all the reason that you need. I don't owe you anything, Dean." Isla says. "Your father — the man who I owe my life to because he saved my life — asked me not to say anything until he had more information to tell. So, I didn't say anything yesterday, but I told you now. After I told him that I refused to lie anymore. I don't care if you trust me, I don't care if you like me; I stopped trying to be your friend four years ago. I'm not here for you."

"I believe you." Sam says as he passes her phone back to her.

"That paper that I gave you..." Her hazel eyes return to Dean, and he looks at the page with the list of names. "He said the job's urgent, that it can't wait."

Dean and Isla spend a bit of the day doing research — and arguing — before they get on the road and head for Indiana. The two have no idea what Sam was doing, but they left him alone, both figuring that he needed a little more time to let the information digest than Dean did. His girlfriend died only five months ago, and one doesn't simply forget what he saw in the bedroom of the apartment that they shared.

It's after dark now, and Sam's driving the Impala down a deserted highway with his brother riding shotgun while he goes over the information that he and Isla found. The blonde's driving her truck as she follows behind them; the kitten tucked comfortably in her sweater pocket again, and her cell phone on speaker in one hand while the other remains on the steering wheel.

"Alright, so the names Dad gave Isla — they're all couples?" Sam asks, marsh-colored eyes on the road ahead, and Dean nods.

"Three different couples all went missing." His older brother tells him.

"And they're all from different towns, different states?"

"Mhm, that's right." He nods. "Yeah, Washington, New York, Colorado — each couple took a road trip cross-country. None of them arrived at their destination, none of them ever heard from again."

"Well, it's a big country, Dean. They could've disappeared anywhere."

"Yeah, but each one's route took them through the same part of Indiana." Isla tells him, speaking up for the first time in awhile, and Sam glances down at Dean's phone, which is resting on the bench between the two men. "Always on the second week of April, one year after another, after another."

"This is the second week of April." Sam says, and she nods.

"Mhm. I'm assuming that's the reason he said this job was so urgent and couldn't wait."

"So, Dad is sending us to Indiana to go hunting for something before another couple vanishes?"

"Yahtzee." Dean points toward his brother, still going over the information in his lap. "Can you imagine putting together a pattern like this? The different obits Dad had to go through — the man's a master."

"Aw, I forgot how much you idolize him." Isla teases. "Daddy's little boy."

"Shut up before I hang up on your ass." He says as he glares at the phone, and Sam starts pulling off to the side of the road.

"What are you doing, Sasquatch?" The blonde questions as she follows his lead, and Dean glances around as both cars park.

"We're not going to Indiana." Sam says, and Isla raises her eyebrows.

"We're not?"

"No. We're going to California." He tells them. "Dad called from a payphone in Sacramento."

"Sam, I told you — he never stays in one place long." Isla shakes her head. She understands where he's coming from, she just doesn't think that it's a good idea. "And that was over twelve hours ago."

"If this demon killed our mom and Jess, and Dad's closing in, we got to be there." He argues as he looks at his brother. "We got to help."

"Dad told Isla that he doesn't want our help." Dean reminds him.

"Well, I don't care."

"He's given us an order."

"I don't care." Sam persists, and his older brother's eyebrows furrow. Dean doesn't understand how he can say that. "We don't always have to do what he says."

"Sam, Dad is asking us to work jobs, to save lives. It's important." The older boy argues.

"Alright, I understand. Believe me, I understand." He nods. "But I'm talking one week here, man, to get answers. To get revenge."

"Alright, look, I know how you feel—"

"Do you?" Sam questions, and Dean just looks at him. "How old were you when Mom died — four? Jess died five months ago. How the hell would you know how I feel?"

"Sam, John said that it's dangerous — that just talking on the phone with us is dangerous." Isla interjects. She wants to stop the argument before it gets out of hand; she knows how affected Dean is by their mother's death. "I've tried to piece together as much as I could, but he doesn't tell me anything because he doesn't want anyone else getting involved."

"He obviously knows something that we don't." Dean adds. "So if he says we stay away, we stay away."

"I don't understand the blind faith you have in the man — either one of you. I mean, it's like you don't even question him."

"Yeah, it's called being a good son." He snaps, and Sam just looks at him for a moment before climbing out of the Impala and slamming the door shut behind him.

Isla sighs as she hangs up the phone and then opens her own door. She holds onto the kitten as she hops down from the truck, landing on the wet asphalt, and she hears little cries when the kitten feels the cold air. The blonde tries to sooth her, pulling her further into the long pocket of her sweater as she shuts her door and walks over to Sam. He's currently standing at the back of the Impala with the trunk open while he collects his stuff.

"Sam, I do question him — all the time. It just doesn't get me anywhere. He is so firm in his belief that he knows what's right, he won't listen to anything that we have to say." She tells him. "You have no idea where in Sacramento he is, how are you even gonna find him?"

"I'll figure it out." He says as he glances at her.

Dean's door shuts as he makes his way over to the two of them. "You're a selfish bastard, you know that?" He says, and Isla sighs. She knows that this isn't gonna end amicably. "You just do whatever you want. You don't care what anybody thinks."

"That's what you really think?" Sam questions as he looks down at his older brother, and the blonde starts toward the passenger side of her truck.

"Yes, it is."

He scoffs. "Well, this selfish bastard is going to California."

"Come on. You're not serious." Dean says, both of them ignoring the woman as she leans toward the trunk of the Impala behind Dean's back and sets her duffle inside.

"I am serious."

"It's the middle of the night." He argues. "Hey, I'm taking off. I will leave your ass here."

"Yeah, 'cause you're a dick." Isla says as she walks back over from the backseat of the Impala.

"What?" He questions as he turns to look at her, but she walks past him and goes to the passenger side of her truck. "Oh, right. I forgot. You don't actually say anything to my face, you just make snide comments in passing."

The blonde slams her truck door shut as she looks at Dean, holding the bag with all of the kitten's stuff in her left hand. Sam watches the blonde as she walks right up in front of the older boy, looking him in the face before she speaks again. "You are a self-absorbed, narrow-minded asshole." She says, and he raises his eyebrows. He's not offended, he's surprised by the outburst. "You can have your beliefs, I really don't give a shit. But it's not your place — or your father's — to decide what Sam does."

"Oh, how cute." He says sarcastically. "You're defending him. You have a crush?"

"And there's that narrow-mindedness. Always thinking that interactions between men and women have to be motivated by hormones or sex."

"That's not true. It sure as hell ain't that way between me and you."

"Ooh, he finally got somethin' right." Isla says as she turns away from him, shifting the bag to her right hand so that she can reach into her sweater pocket with her left. She pulls her keys out and holds them out to Sam. "I really hope you find him out there, and I hope that you're able to find some kind of...closure or peace. But do me a favor, and don't get dead, huh? I'd hate it if the most likable person in your family was gone."

"You're sure that you're okay with me taking your truck?" Sam asks as he lets her drop the keys into his palm. "You two won't kill each other?"

"He'll be working, I'll be taking care of my crying baby...who I really need to be getting out of the cold." The blonde says as her free hand finds the kitten, trying to both warm and calm her. "And there's always music in the car. His cassette collection is about the only thing I don't mind about him. Take care of yourself, Sam. And call so that I know you're alright?" She asks, and he nods.

"Thank you." He says, and she offers him a small smile.