Memories Forgotten: Part V
Title: Memories Forgotten
Author(s):
hunters_retreat
Crossover: Supernatural/Dollhouse
Characters/Pairings: Sam/Dean, Dean/Caroline
Warnings: Incest, Dub-Con (Sex with Dolls), AU
Artist: chosenfire28
Art Link: here
Summary: Everything changed int he Winchester family the day Sam went off to Stanford, leaving his father and brother behind to try his hand at normal. He had no idea how his choices had affected his family until the day he met Cain. Nothing in Sam's life will ever be the same again.
Memories Forgotten
Part V
It wasn’t near as bad as Sam thought it would be. They were in the car and ready by the time Dean and Caroline were settled. The streets were busy enough that Paul was able to follow them without the trouble of being spotted and yet not to heavy that they were hard to keep up with. It helped that as soon as they could they hit the nearest highway and stayed on it. He didn’t have to scry them at all that night and it wasn’t until they were driving in the downtown of Los Angeles that he needed to give it a go.
Sam just closed his eyes when Paul lost them and set the paper on his lap, letting his mind go blank and focusing only on his brother. It only took a moment before he felt it start, the automatic writing that would give him the map to his brother.
When he showed the map to Paul he nodded and followed it. They passed a parking garage that seemed to fit the end of Sam’s map. It was an open garage with no gates but the way it dipped low there was no way to see what was inside. It was a good place to hide in plain sight and Sam shook his head at the idea of a secret organization that left itself so close to the everyday mundane.
“This is going to be a long fucking day.” Sam said softly. Paul snorted next to him and Tony was already asleep again in the backseat.
They parked the car a block away, hoping it would be close enough if they needed to make a quick escape. It was after ten o’clock that night when they made their way to the parking garage and snuck towards the opening. There was no one there but Paul was quick enough to point out the cameras and they moved to the side, away from them and hid behind one of the cars, waiting for Dean and Caroline.
They were only there a few minutes before a door opened and Sam saw Dean looking for them. He let out a relieved breath and walked quickly to his brother.
“Worried Sammy?” Dean asked as he got close.
“Of course not. Things always go the way we plan ‘em.”
Dean’s smile was all the answer he got and it was more than enough. “Now what do we do?”
Dean nodded to another door that stood open. “You get dressed.”
“What?”
“There’s a lot of people that won’t know if you’re an operative or not. Only the head people ever really know everyone so if you dress the part you might get out of here without anyone noticing you.”
“Makes sense, except we’ll be moving around late and isn’t everyone supposed to be asleep?” Paul asked.
Sam just nodded and took the clothes that Caroline handed him. He trusted Dean’s instinct when it came to a hunt and even if there was nothing supernatural here, it was still a hunt. He was already shrugging his shirt off when he heard Dean’s answer.
“Yeah, but people come in late sometimes and if we need to take this to the morning you’ll be better off.” Paul only looked at him a minute before nodding. “We get actives in sometimes that haven’t been here before.”
“Like November.” Caroline said. “She was out in the world for a while and they just brought her in. No one notices. Just use one of their names.”
“What do you mean?” Tony asked.
“I’m Echo. He’s Charlie.” She said to Dean. “Sam is still good. It’s another version of Sierra. Tony you get to be Tommy for the day. Paul is Peter.”
“Charlie? It doesn’t have the same kick your other aka’s do.” Sam said, trying to calm his nerves.
Dean’s eyes held him hard as Sam slipped the shirt over his head. “Would you prefer Cain?”
Sam froze and then Echo was there between them. “You ready Sam?” She asked. He could tell she was trying to stop the confrontation and also to test him.
“Yeah, I’m ready Echo.”
“If someone talks to you, just follow our lead. You like everything they talk to you about. Your body is lethargic and so is your mind.”
“We’ll see what we can find now and if we need to be here in the morning, we’ll take you to the sauna. Once everyone wakes you can come out of there and no one will notice.” Dean told Sam.
“Are you serious?” Paul asked, looking from Dean to Sam.
“If he says we’re safe then we are.” Dean gave him an odd look and Sam shrugged. “You might be pissed at me but you’d still throw yourself in front of a bullet to protect me Charlie.”
He looked like he might say something else, but shook his head and walked out. Tony and Paul were dressed by then and their own clothes were stashed in a bag by the door if they needed to grab them.
“Alright. Everyone ready?” Dean asked.
They nodded and Dean led the way out of the room. The hallway was bland like those you’d find in any business basement. When they reached the elevator Sam noticed the dark wood and the expensive finish. Wherever they were about to go, it was going to be nice. Even the clothes they wore, soft and simple but fine material and good cut. The cars in the garage had been expensive and tasteful. When the elevator opened up in the building, they walked out quietly, going single file behind Dean. Sam took the rear guard with Paul in the center, Caroline in front of him and Tony behind.
The whole place looked like some sort of decorator’s idea of an expensive, classy Buddhist retreat. He took it in for a second, wondered what Dean had been made to do that made something like this so bad. He shook his head of that thought because just not being Dean was enough for Sam.
Dean led them quietly up a set of stairs and then they were alone in a room with an entire wall that was a window overlooking the rest of the place. “Damn.” Tony said quietly, looking at the computer and the equipment there.
Sam nodded at it. “Think you can make anything out of it Tony?” He asked.
“I can try.” You’d think Sam had just given him a present the way he smiled but Sam knew him. Tony was a technology junkie. He’s gone so far into computers as a kid that he’d never come back out. He wondered if he and Ash would get along and decided he’d have to introduce them after all this was over.
Dean walked over to Sam. “Not a lot of security at night. Topher will be here earlier than most so if he can’t get anything you might be able to get it out of him.”
“Topher?”
“Skinny ass computer geek who erased our memories.”
Sam nodded. “How long?”
“Five hours. Maybe. You think your friend there can figure this out?”
“Only person I know of that’s as good as he is would be Ash.”
“I’d prefer Ash here.”
“Me too but didn’t have time to get him here.”
Dean nodded. “You called Dad?”
Sam shook his head. “Bobby didn’t seem to think I needed to.”
“Thanks.”
Paul drifted over to them even as his eyes kept moving, taking everything in. “So we’re just supposed to sit here and wait?”
“We can’t just let these people go. You don’t know what it’s like to be like this. They couldn’t survive on their own. We need to get their memories back first.”
“What about your way?” He asked Sam. “Can’t you just… magic them back?”
“The only reason it worked on them was because we knew their names. If you’d been wrong about Caroline’s, she wouldn’t remember anything right now either.”
The light flicked on as they were standing there and Dean pulled Caroline back behind Sam and Paul. When a man came walking in, suit and tie and eyes cold and hard Sam recognized him as security. A gun was pulled as the guy smiled at them. “Well, it looks like we have visitors.”
“Can I have my treatment now?” Caroline asked from behind the men.
The security guy looked confused and Dean stepped forward then. “They said we were to come for treatment now.”
Two other figures came in and Sam recognized them from the day before. “Echo, it’s time to go back to your pod.”
Dean smiled as he looked at the man. “I like to take naps.” He said, his voice soft and dreamlike.
Echo nodded. “They are very soothing.” She walked past the two men and Sam didn’t hesitate when he saw Dean turning. He kicked out at the security man before him. The guy didn’t seem to be expecting an attack like that and Paul was beside him. It only took a second until the other guy was down.
Dean’s handler was on the floor unconscious and Dean was about to hit the other over the head but Caroline came to his defense. “No Dean! No.” They both looked at her in surprise. “Tie him up or something but don’t hurt him. He took good care of me.”
Dean snorted. “I think you’re the only one whose handler did.”
“Echo, tell me what’s happening. You trust me right?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t Boyd but you tried to keep me safe. You had concerns about what they were doing. My name is Caroline and I’m leaving tonight.”
He nodded. “I’m not going to try to stop you.”
She smiled. “I know you won’t.” Then Dean was moving around her, taking him and tying him to a chair.
“If you don’t make a sound I’ll leave you without a gag. You make a noise and I’ll shut you up. You got that?” He asked.
Boyd nodded and Dean put him in the corner out of trouble and out of sight. “Any luck Tony?”
“Who the hell are you?”
They turned to find two people standing in the doorway. Dean was still tying up the two men from earlier and Paul was looking over Tony’s shoulder.
“DeWitt.” Caroline said in surprise.
“Hello Caroline.” She said, her voice sounding pleasant as she stepped into the room. The man behind her seemed concerned, his expression ranging from fear to panic to anger as he saw someone else at the desk.
“Get away from that!”
“Tell us how to give them back their memories.” Caroline demanded.
“I can’t.”
“No, but he can.” Dean said, coming up behind Caroline.
“Dean.” DeWitt’s smile was brighter then. “I would never have thought to meet you again so soon.”
“Of course not, after you stole his memories.” Sam said, his fists gripped tight as he looked at the woman in front of them. He knew a person of power when he saw it and he took a deep breath as he tried to let Dean take the lead in this.
“There is that, but most of our actives who have this sort of trouble do it for a specific reason. I think Dean, of all the people I have met over the years, was the most eager to take our offer.”
Sam waited for Dean’s denial but it never came. When he looked back at his brother there was only anger. “Maybe, but what you offered isn’t the same as what you gave, was it? Of course at the end of five years I wouldn’t have known that, would I?”
DeWitt seemed taken aback by his words, as did the man beside her. “Oh yeah, I remember it all. I remember the treatments and the assignments. I remember all three of my handlers and why they didn’t stick around long. I remember the jobs I wasn’t supposed to be doing that you had me do anyway. I gave you my body in that contract and you broke it.”
“Who else?” Caroline asked. DeWitt looked like she was about to ask but Caroline cut her off. “Who else is having trouble? You seem to expect me to be up here, but who else? Who else are you going to put in the attic because they don’t behave the way you want?”
“We can’t give them their memories back. Not like you have them.” DeWitt said.
“Of course you can.”
“No, it’s not possible.” The other man spoke up then.
“Explain yourself Topher. And you’ve got about two seconds.” There was something in Dean’s eyes, something that made him wonder about Topher and his relationship with his brother.
“Look, you can’t have that many personalities in your brain. It’s that simple. You can’t take it all, it’s why you’re left as such a blank slate when you’re in here.”
“And do you want those memories? Really Dean? Do you want to remember all those men? Do you want to remember the guns and the drugs and the filthy lies you told for them?” DeWitt shrugged down towards the main floor. “They don’t want to know and neither do you. You came to us Dean. You and Caroline and ever single person in here. You came to us of your own free will. We made you an offer and you signed your conscience off for five years. We went above that for you and even removed your scars. We filled our end of the bargain.” She walked closer to him then, letting one hand rest on his wrist. “We helped with all your problems, except the one you could never run away from.” She said quietly, her eyes flicking back over to Sam. “We can make it so that you forget again Dean. We can erase it all, tabula rasa Dean, the blank slate you were looking for.”
He watched Dean close his eyes like he was making a hard choice. When he opened his eyes though the anger seemed to have won out over whatever else he might be feeling. “I want the actives you’re planning on putting in the attic. These people made their choices, but we’ll take those off your hands.”
DeWitt watched him for a minute then nodded. “Alright. It takes the strain off me to find a way to fix them again. However you did this though Dean, once they start glitching the memories don’t work as well as they used to.”
“Sam?”
“Give us their files. We need to know their names and something about them before we leave with them.”
“November, Sierra, and Victor were all about ready to be put in the Attic. You can bring them all up and I won’t fight you on it.”
“Why?” Caroline demanded as Dean slipped out of the room.
“Because I run a business. They were good actives but they are past their usefulness. If you take them they are no longer a drain on my resources.”
Sam thought it sounded weak but he didn’t fight her on it. Caroline and Dean knew these people a lot better than he did. He could tell Paul was thinking along the same lines. They’d managed to get in here, but if they couldn’t restore their memories it didn’t do any good to bust these people.
When Dean came back Paul stiffened visibly. “Mellie? Lubov?”
Sam saw the way Paul was looking at two of the new faces and he wondered if his own face had looked similar when he’d found Dean. Of course he doubted Paul had just figured out he’d slept with his lost brother, but there was obviously something going on.
“You had better start explaining lady.” Paul said.
“We needed to keep you in line. We needed people close to you that would be able to take care of things if you got too close. If it’s any consolation, she was barely programmed at all. It was her own nature that drew her to you as we knew it would.”
“Paul?” Sam said.
Paul looked at him, nodding.
“We’ll take those files then, and be out of your hair Ms. DeWitt.” Dean said softly.
“Of course. They’re in my office.”
“Paul, why don’t you help me with these two?” Dean said, motioning DeWitt and Topher. They watched as the two men led the others away. He took a deep breath as they did.
“You sure Dean can handle this if something goes wrong?” Tony asked as he looked up from the computer.
“You don’t know anything about Dean. Right now, I would pity anyone who got in the way of his anger.”
“What was he running from Sam?” Caroline asked him softly.
Sam shook his head. “I don’t know.” He said softly, “but if I had to take a guess, it would be me.”
They stayed silent after that, waiting for the others to return. It didn’t take long and then Tony took the files and they took DeWitt and Topher with them out of the building, back the way they’d come.
They watched her as they walked out of the parking garage with her. “This isn’t over.” Paul said as he walked out.
She smiled. “No, I don’t suppose it is. However the next time we meet face to face I expect the security in our new home will be a bit higher.”
It was obvious Paul wasn’t happy about walking out with something so small, but whenever his eyes rested on November he could see his resolve growing. There was definitely something there and Sam knew he was putting her safety before his ambition to destroy the Dollhouse.
Sam was ready to scream by the time they got back to the car. He still wasn’t so sure they’d gotten away with anything, but the people with him were free and that was more than they’d had going in.
Dean was quiet and he didn’t understand what had happened, why they’d left so many people behind but he knew his brother and something more was going on here. Instead of trying to get him to open up about it he decided to just wait it out. At least until they were alone.
They drove an hour out of town until Dean told Sam to pull off at a storage center. He was surprised until he saw what was inside the thing. Dean’s smile lit up as he looked at the Impala.
“Damn.” Paul said behind him.
Sam sat back and watched. “That’s Dean’s baby. I knew he had to have her somewhere safe.” He crossed his arms as he waited, then realized there was no need for this. “You got the name and address we gave you?”
Paul nodded. “Yeah. You sure about this?”
“Yeah. Ellen will take good care of you and she’ll do what has to be done to get your friends back. Tony and Ash will probably disappear with the information Tony was able to figure out and you’ll never see them again. Just… don’t trust anything Ash might try to give you to drink, even if it looks like it’s come straight from the bottle.”
Paul nodded and shook Sam’s hand. “It’s been an interesting weekend Sam.” He said.
Sam snorted. “Keep in touch Paul.”
When the car pulled away ten minutes later Sam was left with Dean and Caroline. She’d refused to leave Dean point blank and Sam wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He couldn’t force her to go though and Dean seemed to take comfort in her being there.
“Think she’ll make it to Bobby’s?” Sam asked as Dean finally stopped tinkering with her.
Dean nodded. “Gonna take it easy on her but we should be able to get there tomorrow.”
“It’ll be good to see him again.”
Dean ran his hand over his face and sighed. “Yeah.”
“He was worried about you Dean. He’s not angry.”
Dean nodded. “Yeah. Well we aren’t going to make it if we don’t get started.”
Sam smiled. “Back on the road again?”
“So, where we going? Caroline asked.
“A friend’s place.”
“Dean?”
“Yeah Sam.”
“I need to make a stop somewhere first.”
“Yeah?”
“I need to… see to some things in Stanford. Why don’t you take Caroline and I’ll meet you there?”
“Sammy?”
“It’s okay Dean. I need to close some things up and it’ll give you two some time to figure out what to do next.”
Dean nodded. “Alright Sammy.” He hesitated then continued on. “You’ll come back though, right?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah Dean. Just need to see someone and pack a few things up in Palo Alto and I’ll fly back down to Bobby’s.”
Caroline leaned up from the back of the car. “So… are you two going to explain the whole brothers’ thing or just leave me to guess?”
“What?” Sam asked, eyes wide as he looked back at her.
“DeWitt’s files. Dean’s closest living relative was listed as his little brother Sam. I might not be a rocket scientist but it doesn’t take much to figure that one out.”
“I…”
Dean just shrugged as he popped a tape into the player and turned the music up. Caroline looked surprised and Sam just shrugged. She looked at Dean a second longer as he pulled out of the storage center, then just laughed. They were on the freeway again and they had their own lives and it was enough to let the explanations rest. For now.
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