Trelawny - Ch 4 of 10 (Sam/Dean NC-17)
The next morning goes pretty much the same way, Sam and Dean wake up completely wrapped around each other. Both of them are awake for a long time but pretending to be asleep for as long as they can manage to wait. In the end it’s Dean’s bladder that gets the best of him and he has to disengage. “Sorry Sammy, I’d love to stay in bed with you all morning, but a man’s gotta go when a man’s gotta go.”
Sam just groans in response and buries his head in Dean’s pillow, enjoying breathing in the remnants of Dean’s scent. He hasn’t had such good deep sleep in a long time, he feels so well-rested, just from sleeping together with Dean. He starts wondering how he can make sure this sleeping in the same bed thing keeps happening on a regular basis from here on out. Seems like it’s good for both of them.
After another wonderful Celeste-produced breakfast, they roll up to Cambridge Manor and park as near to the entrance as they can manage. As they walk in Sam asks, “Hey, you think that there’s room in the trunk for the wheelchair?”
“Sammy you know there’s room for a couple of dead bodies, no problem.”
“Ssshh, and bodies aren’t the same shape as a wheelchair.” Sam whispers as they approach the front desk.
“Good morning Winchesters” the receptionist, Barbara sings out cheerily.
“Hey Barbara, good morning to you, Mrs. Callahan and Ms. Trelawny are expecting us.” Dean says, just as cheerily in return.
“I know it, let me buzz you on back, you know the way now right?” Barbara says, smiling at the two tall, handsome men standing at her desk.
They nod and go through the double doors as the buzzing lock sounds. The bell curtain chiming noise happens at the same time, and there’s barely an effect for them to even notice. They shrug to each other to communicate it silently. There’s absolutely no one in the halls this early in the morning. The door to room 118 is ajar, so they enter with a soft knock. “We’re here.” Says Sam quietly.
“Right on time, we are ready.” Meredith crows from her wheelchair by the window. She’s dressed in heavier clothes, all shades of green and white, her hair is done up in complicated braids instead of loose. Her eyes seem different, more alert and there, sparkling with anticipation.
“You sure about this Meredith?” Dean asks.
“Yes Dean, it is the only way left to us. I cannot in good conscience let this keep happening. It has gone on for far too long. I am also not sure that I will still be with it enough by the next equinox. In addition, you two are finally here. I cannot put this off any longer.”
“What do you say Mrs. Callahan?” Sam asks.
“I’m with Meredith one-hundred percent, as far as what happens at her house, what she says goes.” Mrs. Callahan answers, her blue eyes twinkling up at Sam as she grips his elbow hard with a hand showing surprising strength.
“Well okay then. Let’s do this.” Dean begins pushing Meredith in her wheelchair out the door, but she stops him looking back for a second at the room fondly, as if she suspects she might not see it again. Sam shares a concerned glance with Mrs. Callahan.
“Onwards, eh Merry?” Mrs. Callahan says briskly, clapping her hands together twice.
Everyone seems to snap out of it and heads down the hallway. Getting into the Impala is an adventure, the ladies insist on sitting in the back which thankfully Dean had cleaned out not too long ago so there isn’t too much crap that they have to trample on. The wheelchair when folded up fits with plenty of room to spare in the trunk. Dean slams it and looks at Sam as if to say I told you so. Sam just smirks.
The drive to Trelawny is quiet. Mrs. Callahan holding up Meredith in the back seat, keeping her steady, Dean concentrating on driving as smoothly as possible. Sam looking in the back seat often trying not to seem too nervous.
When they turn onto the driveway, Meredith straightens up and looks out the window avidly like she doesn’t want to miss a thing. Sam can see Mrs. Callahan clutch at Meredith’s hand to keep her in check. Meredith’s whole face is lit up though, like she’s seeing all her treasured memories flash by all at once. Dean pulls them up in front of the house parking under the enormous tulip tree. He helps Meredith out and she stands for a bit, leaning up against the Impala, looking up into the tree. “I can’t believe how big this tree is. Seems like it’s doubled in size since I’ve been here.”
Sam comes around with the wheelchair, steadying it as Meredith gets situated. He pushes her up onto the porch, Dean helping negotiate the steps, and finally they’re at the front door. “I believe I will need to walk through the doorway for this to work.” She says in a shaky voice.
“Are you sure Merry?” Mrs. Callahan asks her with a voice full of concern, reaching out to touch Meredith on the shoulders.
Meredith places her hands over Mrs. Callahan’s, and looks up at her, “Yes Maggie, it is truly the only way that will do.” She squeezes their hands together briefly and let’s go, looking up at Sam and Dean, “Boys, whatever happens, you must keep those medallions on and do not let go of each other, not even for one second.” Meredith explains with sudden intensity.
Sam and Dean are supporting her between them and lock their hands together behind her back. They look at each other briefly and nod that they’re agreed to go through with whatever this turns out to be.
“Onwards then.” Meredith reaches out and opens the door. The moment she walks through the doorway, the bell ringing curtain sound happens again, much louder than ever before. She and Mrs. Callahan look around wildly as if they’re expecting something to happen. Sam and Dean just feel slowed down and packed all around in cotton batting, everything muffled. They can’t do a thing to help even if they knew what that was.
A shimmer at the base of the stairs begins to glimmer and shake, and a tall, strikingly handsome Native American man appears, stepping through this doorway that shouldn’t exist. His haughty deep-brown eyes take them in at a glance. His dark-red robes flow around him almost as if they’re sentient, settling finally just above the floor.
“Mohit? Is that you?” Meredith asks, almost collapsing between Sam and Dean. They struggle to get out of their torpor to be able to support her. They don’t let go of each other and concentrating on their connected hands seems to help.
Mohit inclines his head in a slight bow, his long, straight, shiny black hair covering his face momentarily, and intones in a deep, rich baritone, “You are no longer allowed here Meredith. I have work to do. You two will come with me now.” He motions to Sam and Dean with one outstretched hand, the bone and bead bracelets on his arms shaking with the movement.
Mrs. Callahan is coming up behind them with the wheelchair so she catches Meredith as she falls out of Sam and Dean’s support as they raise their linked hands over her head and slowly walk towards Mohit as if in a tractor beam. Their hands still remain locked, and they’re struggling the whole way across the hallway, faces etched with anger and worry as they try to resist moving towards the faery.
Mohit states to Sam and Dean, in this voice that is commanding, powerful and not to be argued with. “You have no approval for your love and it keeps you apart when you should be together. When you are with my people you will be happy there.” They finally come to a stop in front of him, still holding hands, eyes locked on each other in worry that this might be it for them. Mohit begins a complicated hand motion and intones some words. To their dismay the shimmer starts to glow again at the foot of the stairs.
“No Mohit, no more. Your job is done. These two do not need your help. Please talk to me.” Meredith pleads, walking hesitantly towards him across the foyer with Mrs. Callahan’s support, shielding her eyes against the increased brightness of the shimmer now surrounding Mohit and Sam and Dean.
Mohit pauses in his incantation, but just shakes his head mournfully at her. She sighs, seeing that he’s not able or willing to listen. She does a quick spell of her own and the medallions that Dean and Sam wear suddenly blaze with a hot white light. Mohit stumbles back, covering his eyes. Sam and Dean are abruptly released from his control, and are able to run back towards Meredith and Mrs. Callahan.
“Go boys! Get the book! Follow the path! Do you see it? Do not worry, Maggie and I will hold him.” Meredith yells in a voice as loud as the shrill alarming sound the light from their medallions is now producing.
Finally they see it! Yes, there it is plain as day, a lit-up pathway all the way up the stairs. Sam and Dean run up the wide staircase, hands still locked together, following the trail of glowing purple marks. The pathway leads them all the way to the third floor into the suite of rooms right to the opening in the wall where the dumbwaiter comes up from the kitchen. Sam leans in, still holding onto Dean’s hand, and sees a ledge inside the open framework and on it is a small red leather-bound book. He reaches in and snags it.
“This has got to be it.” Sam says over the continuing shrill noise of their medallions, holding the book out to Dean.
“Can you find the spell in it?” Dean asks loudly.
“We need to do this while we hold hands. Here, you hold the book in your hands, don’t let go of my left, and I’ll turn the pages with my right one.” They arrange themselves with the book on a dresser near one of the windows. Over the constant alarming drone of their medallions, they can hear a lot of noises coming from downstairs, it sounds like Mrs. Callahan and Meredith are keeping Mohit occupied for the moment. Sam pages through frantically until he finds the passage describing the father’s separation spell. It’s heartbreaking all over again to think of a father doing that to his only child. Denying her the love of her life. On the next page the curse that Mohit laid on the house is detailed. Sam can see where the two have overlapped.
“I think this part here is where the two got mixed together. We’ve got to let him go from the father’s spell first. From what I read, if we read this part of the spell in reverse it might work. See how it’s spelled out phonetically here?”
“Okay, but what if it doesn’t work?” challenges Dean.
“Then we bring the book to Meredith.” Sam answers looking at him intently to see if he’s as scared as Sam’s feeling.
Dean nods in reassurance with a small one-sided what-the-hell grin, “Let’s try it. Do we have to be near him?”
“No, I’m pretty sure he just has to be within hearing distance, like he was when the spell was originally cast. I think the top of the stairs should do it. And I’m guessing there’s something about these medallions, the design on them, see it here, written out next to the father’s spell? I think we should hold them in our joined hands, they seemed to have a lot of juice when they broke Mohit’s control before. And Meredith had insisted on us holding hands, so there’s something about that, maybe it’ll help.”
“You’re the wizard Sammy, whatever you say.” Dean squeezes his hand in reassurance.
They step out onto the landing and can just see the edge of Mohit’s red robes down on the first floor, so hopefully this is really close enough. Sam grabs at his medallion and brings it close to Dean’s, they grasp them with their joined hands and hold the book up in their other two, so they can both read the phonetic spelling of the strange words, not Latin, not Enochian, but something else, maybe a Faerie language. Their words seems to echo and get louder, the medallions emitting the bright light once again, amplifying the reversal spell, the noise from them approaching ear-splitting levels, until it all goes super bright and super quiet. Everything in the whole house seems to shake and then resettle.
Mrs. Callahan yells up to them, “Good work boys, come on down.”
They let go of the medallions but not their hands, Dean holds firmly onto the book and they get down the three flights of stairs as fast as possible. The scene below is one of chaos, like a whirlwind has gone through the hallway, nothing remains in one piece, everything torn into shreds and small pieces. Mrs. Callahan is holding Meredith’s hand tightly in hers and they’re looking closely at Mohit who is standing as still as a statue against the stair railing. He looks like he’s coming out of a trance, slowly he begins shaking his head, tossing his long hair back and forth, bone and bead necklaces rattling, until he finally stops, looking at them with clear vision for the first time.
“What happened?” Sam asks Meredith.
“You reversed my father’s spell. And the effect is still working through him.” She answers.
“Meredith, you’re standing up, are you okay?” Dean asks, concerned to see her just standing there, the wheelchair knocked over and broken to bits behind them.
“I’m fine Dean, now that the spell has been reversed I can be here again, I am feeling somewhat restored.” Meredith answers, brushing a stray hair out of her eyes that’s come out of her braids.
Dean notices that she looks much younger, her body straightened out and her face less wrinkled. Her long braided red hair even seems to have fewer streaks of gray. Mrs. Callahan still looks the same, except she has a very happy look on her face.
“You boys did it! I know you had no idea but you two were the only ones that could have done this for her.” Mrs. Callahan says, grinning from ear to ear, making her look ten years younger.
“What did we do?” Sam asks, because he really doesn’t know what happened here.
“Now they can be together Sam, as they were always meant to be.” Mrs. Callahan answers nodding at Mohit and Meredith who are now standing an arm’s length from each other.
Mohit finally shakes off the remnants of the spell reversal and stands up to his full height, and addresses Sam and Dean over Meredith’s head, “I still must take you two to my people.”
“No Mohit, the spell my father cast is now gone, you can remove the curse you laid now.” Meredith protests.
“There is no removing the curse. You know this is not possible Meredith.” Mohit answers, a deep sadness etching his face.
“You are the one who set it. Mohit undo it for me please. They are the ones who brought me back to you.” Meredith begs.
“My heart is unchained, and for that I am thankful. But the curse still compels me to bring this couple back to my people where they can be happy. I will come back for you Meredith.” Mohit tries to assure her.
Meredith stamps her foot in impatience, “No Mohit, I will not be here if you do that. You must choose.”
Mohit steps towards her and takes one of her hands, bringing it to his lips to gently kiss the back of it, “I cannot make that choice, do not expect me to Meredith.”
Meredith looks up at him with pleading eyes, “Mohit if you still love me, then choose me.”
“We aren’t a couple.” Dean says flatly, interrupting their back and forth argument.
“Is this true?” Mohit asks as he turns away from Meredith and faces Sam and Dean.
“Yes, it is. We were previously, but now we aren’t. We have a bond yes. But we are not a couple, not like one you normally concern yourself with.” Sam explains, instantly getting what Dean is trying to do. No matter how much it kills him to say this out loud.
“You do not love him?” Mohit demands of Dean. “Answer true or your life is forfeit.”
Dean tears his gaze away from Mohit and looks at Sam, “I do. I love him”
“And you?” Do you love him?” Mohit demands of Sam.
Sam is looking back at Dean in honest surprise, their silent communication going strong, but Sam answers, “Yes I do. I love him.” Dean’s eyes widen in matching surprise, wandering over his brother’s face. His heart full once more on hearing this answer, but his joy must be postponed until they deal with Mohit.
“And yet you are not a couple, why should I believe you?” Mohit asks.
“You should believe it, because it is the truth. We were a couple, yes, for a long time. But now we are not.” Dean answers, letting the sadness he feels at this truth show in his naked unprotected eyes.
Sam nods in agreement, “It is true, we are no longer a couple.” And answers Dean’s silent question with his own sadness.
Mohit examines first Dean’s face closely, reading all the awful truth that is written there for everyone to see, he turns to look at Sam in the same manner and sees the twin expression of sadness, loss and frustration. “Then there is no reason remaining for me to take you. I can stay with Meredith until the next equinox.”
“That is still a few weeks away Mohit.” Meredith says, breathing a sigh of relief that Sam and Dean won’t fall victim to her family’s curse.
“We’ll just be going then, leave you two alone to get to know each other again. I’m sure you have a lot of catching up to do.” Dean says, pulling at Sam to go towards the door.
“Halt!” Mohit commands holding up one hand to stop them. Sam and Dean freeze in place waiting to see what he’ll do next. He steps towards Meredith and takes both of her hands in his, looking down at her intently, “Meredith, will you accompany me to the land of my people? I shall be able to heal you there, and we can be together just as we had always planned. What say you?”
Meredith doesn’t hesitate in her answer. “Yes, I thought you’d never ask.” She throws her arms around his neck and he gathers her up in close in a passionate embrace. They kiss slowly, with no shame or hesitation even though there’s an audience.
Mohit lets her back down slowly, and caresses her cheek softly with one enormous hand, “We should go soon Meredith, I do not sense you have long to still remain yourself within your own mind. Am I correct?”
Meredith holds the hand steady against her cheek, leaning her weight into his strength, “Yes, the disease I have is progressing more rapidly. Sooner rather than later is better. I have it all arranged so that I may leave right now. I was hoping something like this would happen based on what you had told me all those years ago.” She turns away from Mohit, “Maggie you know what to do and where all my paperwork is located, correct?”
“Don’t worry about a thing Merry, I’ll take care of it. Just like we talked about. You can count on me dear.” Mrs. Callahan answers in a trembling, yet happy voice.
“I always have Maggie, thank you.” Meredith steps away from Mohit and holds Maggie’s hands closely to her and kisses them gently. “You have been my best beloved friend, I shall never forget what you have done for me.”
“It was an honor to know you Merry. It truly was.” Maggie says bowing her head in sadness and recognition.
Meredith turns to Sam and Dean. “Now, you two, in thanks for freeing me and my love and my house, I give her to you. Trelawny is all yours. All that I ask is that you keep her up in the style to which she is accustomed to.”
“Meredith, we couldn’t possibly accept something like this.” Sam protests.
“Sam, it is already drawn up, I had the papers done with my lawyer years ago. That is how certain I was that you two would eventually get here. Please let me do this for you. You both deserve it. After what you’ve done for the world.”
“How do you know what we’ve . . .?”
“Dean, when you closed all the Gates, it was hard to mistake who was behind it. As I mentioned before, Mohit had warned me about you two, what was it he called you back then? Warriors for the World I think it was.” Meredith pats him on the cheek and smiles at both of them.
Sam looks over at Dean to see what he thinks and gets a silent nod with a smile in Dean’s eyes, Sam looks back over to Meredith, “Yes Meredith, we will, we promise to take care of Trelawny.”
“Promise me something else Sam, you work on what we talked about, okay?” Meredith says, with a wink.
Sam nods, “Yes, I will, I promise Meredith. Thank you.”
“Good bye all. I am off to my next adventure.” Meredith hugs Sam and Dean in turn giving them kisses on their cheeks.
Mohit bows to Sam and Dean in thanks and shakes each of their hands in turn. “I thank you most deeply for returning my love to me. These lands shall now be yours. Have no fear, I shall not return.”
Mohit gestures and intones the spell again and the shimmering doorway reappears. Meredith puts her arm through Mohit’s and they walk past the barrier, disappearing without a sound, taking the shimmer away with them.
“So how are we going to explain this to the nursing home Mrs. C?” Dean asks, breaking the sudden stillness.
“Meredith has thought of everything, please do not worry. If you are able to get me back to Cambridge Manor in one piece, it will all work out as she has planned.” Mrs. Callahan answers in an exhilarated yet sad voice.
“What happens to all the people who Mohit took to his people’s lands?” Sam asks as they walk out the front door, Dean firmly closing it behind them.
“Meredith believed that when she was finally there with him that she could make sure the disappeared couples would have the chance to return here if they want to. I am sure some of them will, as well as some of them will choose to stay in Mohit’s lands where they are happy and accepted.”
“Ready to go?” Sam asks Dean, fingering the medallion and thinking about what they’d both just declared to Mohit. If we love each other, why aren’t we together? That’s the $24,000 question, and he knows Dean is thinking it too, because he’s quiet. Way too quiet after an exciting hunt like this. Dean just nods silently and gets in the Impala, starting it up without a word.
They drive Mrs. C back to the nursing home, and in the parking lot she asks them to come inside with her. Neither of them had ever seen her room before, it’s smaller than Meredith’s, but just as neat and tidy as Mrs. C herself. “So, Merry asked me to take those medallions back from you and keep them safe.” They both remove the silver necklaces and hand them over to her. She places them in a jewelry box on her desk and turns around with a large stack of official looking papers. “And she also directed me to give you this.” She hands the stack of paperwork to Sam, which he can see includes the deed and so on for the house.
“Is this what I think it is Mrs. C?” Sam asks, bewildered and confused even though Meredith had told them earlier.
“Yes Sam, Trelawny is all yours. Meredith also left you some money, which is in the local bank. Here is the information on that also. I wish you both good luck, and you must have me over sometime once you have moved in. Please do not be strangers now.” She shoos them out the door quickly, obviously wanting to be alone and mourn the absence of her friend.
They head back to Smuggler’s Rest and check out, thanking Celeste for her hospitality and promising her a mention in their article if it is ever published. Sam feels badly about deceiving her, since they’ll be living in the same town now. But they’ll have to come up with a story to cover that somehow.
Picking up some basics for the kitchen at the store, and a quick stop at Susan’s Bakery for fresh bread and another pie, they head back out to what is now their house in a sort of stunned stupor, not saying much. Both still thinking on the question of the day. If we love each other why aren’t we together? They clean up the mess in the foyer as best as they can, luckily there wasn’t too much furniture ruined in the events that took place there earlier today. Dean makes some dinner while Sam cleans out a few of the bedrooms on the second floor for them. They toast with beer over their hamburgers in the kitchen.
“To us finally having a house.” Dean proclaims.
“And to Meredith finally having her Mohit.” Sam adds.
“Pretty weird isn’t, how we end up getting what we wanted for once.” Dean observes through a mouthful of partially chewed hamburger.
Sam nods, “Yeah, I’m not sure what to really think, it’s all too perfect you know?”
“Think Mohit is really gone? Or are we still on the edge of Fairyland here?” Dean takes a swig from his beer.
“I did a couple finding spells while I was upstairs, and out in the yard. It seems like he’s really gone. As far as I can tell, we’re safe.”
They’re both thinking so hard about suddenly getting almost everything they ever wanted that conversation is at a minimum as they clean up the dishes and head upstairs.
“Well, goodnight, see you in the mornin’” Dean says, just a little sadly, closing the door to his room. He can hear Sam’s footsteps getting fainter as he pads away down the hallway to his chosen room, the door closing quietly. And then there he is alone in his big room with the slightly musty smelling draperies and the enormous old carved four-poster bed like something out of a gothic novel. He finds himself wishing for a small two-queen motel room with the presence of his brother more than he’d ever thought possible. How could he miss something like that? Just the quiet, no-sound of Sam’s breathing as he falls asleep, no hum from Sam’s laptop, or tapping from his pencil on the research papers. Instead he has only the quiet settling of an old house all around him and the emptiness of the space where his brother should be.
Down the hall in his room, Sam’s stretching and doing some yoga poses, at first just happy to have a little alone time where no one is mocking him or making stupid noises while he meditates. Right away he’s missing it, all of the annoyances that come with being with Dean, the reminders that he’s right there where he should be. Once Sam’s settled in bed, the loneliness of the room hits him like a big wet pillow, wrapping him in a heavy uncomfortable silence. No snores from Dean’s side of the room, no rustling around of paper bags and clinking of secreted away liquor bottles. Just silence.
It’s been too many years living practically on top of each other, I just need to get used to it he tells himself sternly, trying to go to sleep. But all he can think about is that long, endless year when Dean was gone, and how it was just like this, too quiet, too still, the space not filled up correctly, even with Amelia. That disconnect between wanting him back and needing his space that’s needled him forever seems so silly now. All he wants is his brother in the same room. Like always, like he’s supposed to be.
Unable to sleep, Sam finally gives up and goes downstairs to the kitchen to brew himself some tea, thinking maybe that will help. As the kettle’s warming up he hears quiet footsteps coming down the servant’s back staircase. Dean of course, looking a little abashed about being here, which means he was probably having the same trouble.
“Couldn’t sleep either huh?” Sam asks with a wry grin.
Dean shrugs and yawns, “Yeah, too quiet in my room.”
“Want some tea?” Sam offers, holding out a mug.
“Sure.” Dean, drinks slowly, not saying anything more, just watching Sam putter around with the tea things, tidying up like he always does.
“Hey Sammy?”
“What?”
“This might sound stupid but, wouldja mind if we used one of the rooms that has two beds tonight? I just think I’d maybe sleep better.” Dean asks.
“Sure, good idea. I think the room in between ours had two beds.”
“’kay, thanks.” Dean says, thankful that Sam’s not awake enough to be teasing him.
“It’ll help me too.” Sam says, glad that Dean was courageous enough to say it first.
They walk up the small twisting back staircase together to the second floor and open up the door to one of the larger bedrooms. Two double beds with a small bedside table in-between them, not much else besides a small table with two chairs, a dresser and a closet. Not very much unlike one of the thousands of motel rooms they’ve stayed in their whole lives. Dean of course chooses the bed nearest the door, Sam getting the window side.
“Guess it’s what we’re used to.” Sam says as he settles down into his bed.
“Why mess with what works?” Dean answers with a shrug, climbing into his own.
“Night Dean.”
“Night Sammy.”
They fall right asleep without any further discussion about how screwed-up it probably is that they can’t even manage to sleep without each other in the same room any more. Not like there’s anyone left to tell them that of course, and hell they’ve both known for a long time that the word co-dependent doesn’t even come close to describing them.
~@~!~@~!~
Masterpost ~ Chapter 5