Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke & Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

Chapter Three

It's a few days after they left Colorado and the trio are at a diner attached to the Lynnwood Inn, the motel they were staying at. While Dean was looking at the obituaries part of the newspaper, Ruby was eating and looking through the main news section. An attractive waitress whose nametag read Wendy approached the table asking if anyone needed anything else.

"Just the check, please." Sam spoke softly as he sat down ignoring the look from Dean.

"You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while." He watched Wendy in her short shorts walk away and pointed at her, "That's fun."

Sam just looked at him with his patented bitch face, but it was Ruby who kicked Dean in the shin under the table. He winced and leaned down to rub his leg before handing the paper to Sam. He pointed to an obituary that he had circled. Last week in Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin, eighteen year old Sophie Carlton went swimming in the lake and never came out. The authorities dragged the water, but found nothing. It was the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies had been found either. Ruby bit her lip as the boys began to argue and then kicked Dean again when he got distracted by the waitress. It wasn't long before the three of them were piled back into the Impala heading toward Wisconsin. Once in town, the boys went off to speak with the Carlton family after dropping Ruby off at the local library to look into just how far these drownings go back. Will Carlton, Sophie's brother, informed the boys that Sophie had been a varsity swimmer, that she had been about a hundred yards out, and that she had been dragged down into the water. It was Sam that asked if they could speak with Will and Sophie's father though Will insisted that his father hadn't seen anything and he'd also been through a lot. So Sam followed Dean to the Impala and they headed off to the local police station posing as agents from the Federal Wildlife Service.

"Will Carlton was traumatized and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still.." Sheriff Jake Devins sat down, "We dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."

"That's weird, though, I mean, that's, that's the third missing body this year." Dean pointed out.

"I know. These are people from my town. These are people I care about." The Sheriff nodded.

They continued to talk and got onto the subject of the dam. It was falling apart and the feds wouldn't give the town the grant to repair it so they opened the spillway. In another six months, there wouldn't be a lake and probably wouldn't be much of a town either. A young woman knocked at the door interrupting the conversation and the Winchesters stood up looking at her. The Sheriff introduces her as his daughter. A little boy steps in around the woman.

"Oh, hey there. What's your name?" Dean asked the kid only to watch him walk back out into the main room with the woman following.

"His name is Lucas." The Sheriff pointed out.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked noticing how Lucas was acting.

"My grandson's been through a lot. We all have."

The three of them walk out of the office and Dean asks about a motel. Andrea Barr, the Sheriff's daughter, tells him about the Lakefront motel that is around the corner and two blocks south. Dean asked her if she could show them where it is and she laughs at the notion that he needs to be shown where something is two blocks away. She tells her father she'll be back to pick him up at three and tells Lucas she'll take him to the park later before walking out of the building with the Winchesters.

"So, cute kid." Dean spoke up as the three of them walked along the street.

Andrea smiled and nodded her head, "Thanks."

"Kids are the best huh?"

She glances at him and then keeps on walking. Sam just shook his head trying not to laugh at his brother.

Andrea stops when they reach the motel, "There it is. Like I said, two blocks."

"Thanks." Sam nods in appreciation.

Andrea nods and looks at Dean, "Must be hard, with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line." She walked away and called out over her shoulder, "Enjoy your stay!"

"Kids are the best? You don't even like kids." Sam laughed as he pulled out his phone texting Ruby to let her know where they were staying.

"I love kids."

"Name three kids that you even know." Sam remarked and watched Dean think before waving his hand at him.

"I'm thinking!" Dean said scratching his head as he followed Sam into the motel.

When Ruby finally shows up to the motel room, she brings food along with her knowing the boys had to be hungry by now. They were and looked at her appreciatively as she handed them their food. She then sat down on one of the beds pulling out her laptop and logged on as they ate in comfortable silence.

"So there's the drowning victims this year." Sam spoke up as they began to discuss the case.

"Any before that?" Dean asked glancing over at Ruby knowing she had done the research.

Ruby nodded turning the laptop so both of the brothers could see, "Uh yeah."

The browser window is open to the Lake Manitoc Tribune. DROWNING TAINTS ICE FISHING FESTIVAL. Ruby clicked and another page popped up also from the tribune. 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL DROWNS IN LAKE. Second drowning in six months at Lake Manitoc.

She looks at them as she sips her soda, "Six more spread out over the last thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If something is out there, it's picking up its pace."

"So, what, we got a lake monster on a binge?"

"I don't think so. I mean, unlike Loch Ness or Lake Champlain, there are no eyewitness reports here. I mean, whatever is out there, no one has lived to tell about it." Sam explained as Ruby scrolled down to the comments section of one of the articles.

"Wait, Barr, Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?" Dean wondered as he pointed to one comment in particular.

"Christopher Barr, the victim in May." Sam read aloud from the page.

Ruby clicked on the link opening a new page. LOCAL MAN IN TRAGIC ACCIDENT. The picture loads. It shows a police officer with Lucas.

"Oh. Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband. Lucas' father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued." Sam looked at the picture and scratched his head, "Maybe we do have an eyewitness after all."

"No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over." Dean said and shared a look with Ruby for a moment.

It was after three when they found the local park. Just as they suspected, Andrea was there with Lucas. She was sitting on a bench watching him play with his toy soldiers and color. While Sam sat down beside her, Dean asked if he could go talk to Lucas before walking over to him. Ruby, on the other hand, was sitting at another bench that was closer to the kid and was pretending to read a book. Lucas has a pile of drawings in front of him. The top one is of a big black swirl and the drawing beside it is of a red bicycle.

"Hey, these are pretty good. You mind if I sit and draw with you for a while?" Dean picks up a crayon and begins to draw on a blank piece of paper, "I'm not so bad myself."

Ruby bit back a laugh when she heard that.

"You know, I'm thinking you can hear me, you just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something." Dean paused and glanced at him, "Anyway. Well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or, uh...or believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake. Okay, no problem. This is for you."

Dean handed the picture he drew to Lucas. It's of four stick figures. His father, His mother, his brother Sam, and himself.

"Alright, I'm a sucky artist. I'll see you around, Lucas." Dean heads over to Sam and Andrea while Lucas picks up the picture looking at it.

Andrea bit her lip as she watched her son, "Lucas hasn't said a word, not even to me. Not since his dad's accident."

"Yeah, we heard. Sorry." Dean sighed as Andrea nodded.

"What are the doctors saying?" Sam asked curiously with a sympathetic look upon his face.

She sighed, "That it's a kind of post traumatic stress. We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just...when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw..."

"Kids are strong. You'd be surprised what they can deal with." Dean assured her before Lucas approached them handing Dean a picture.

It was a picture of the Carlton house. Later that day, back at the motel, Ruby walked out of the bathroom dressed with her long blonde hair wrapped up in a towel. Dean was sitting on one of the beds. Just then Sam walked in and they looked over at him.

"So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie." The younger Winchester spoke as he sat down beside Dean, "I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead."

"He drowned?"

"Yep. In the sink."

Ruby's bright blue eyes widened, "What the hell? It's definitely not a creature then. What the hell are we dealing with?"

"I don't know. A water wraith, maybe? A demon? Something that controls water that comes from the same..the same source." Dean trailed off looking at Sam.

"The lake." Sam said completing Dean's thought, "Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time."

"And if it can get through pipes, it can get to anyone anywhere. It's going to happen again. Soon." Dean responded running his fingers through his hair.

The blonde sighed removing the towel from her hair, "Well, we do know one thing for sure. It has something to do with Bill Carlton. It took both his kids. Also I asked around. Turns out Lucas' father, Chris, was Bill Carlton's godson."

"Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit." Dean said as he stood up.

The boys headed over to the Carlton house only to find Bill Carlton sitting on a bench looking out at the lake. Mr. Carlton refuses to answer any questions and tells the Winchesters to go away which they did. When they returned to the Impala, Dean felt that Mr. Carlton was hiding something. He also felt that perhaps Lucas knew something as well since he was the one that gave Dean a drawing of the Carlton house. The boys head over to Sheriff Devins house where Andrea is staying with Lucas. It takes a little convincing, but Andrea lets Dean talk to Lucas while she stands in the doorway of his room with Sam. Dean crouches down beside Lucas and smiles a bit.

"Hey, Lucas. You remember me?" He glances down at the drawings before looking at Lucas, "You know, I, uh, wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is I need your help again."

Lucas is drawing a picture of a person in water. Dean opens up the house picture and sets it down on the table.

"How did you know to draw this? Did you know something bad was gonna happen? Maybe you could nod yes or no for me." Lucas just continues to draw and Dean nods, "You're scared. It's okay. I understand. See, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom, and I was scared, too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom—I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe, your dad wants you to be brave too."

Lucas drops his crayon just then and looks up at Dean. He then hands Dean a picture of white church, a yellow house, and a boy with a blue baseball cap and red bicycle in front of a wooden fence.

"Thanks Lucas."

Outside the motel, the Winchesters are in the Impala waiting for Ruby. She walks out of the room and gets into the car noticing Sam holding a child's drawing in his hands.

"Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died." Dean explained gesturing to the picture that Sam was holding.

Ruby leaned over taking a closer look at the picture, "There are cases—going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies."

"Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow? I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead, please." Dean remarked glancing at both Sam and Ruby.

"Looks like we have another house to find."

"Only problem is there's like a thousand yellow two-stories in this county alone."

"See that church? I bet there's not a thousand of those around." Sam remarked pointing to the church in the picture.

"Oh college boy thinks he's so smart." Dean smirked as he drove off through town in search of the church.

"You know, um, what you said about Mom. You never told me that before." Sam looked over at Dean as he bit his lip.

"It's no big deal." He said and then groaned lightly, "Oh God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?"

A little while later, they approach a white church comparing it to the picture that Lucas drew. Just like in the picture, there's a yellow house beside it with a wooden fence nearby the house. The trio head over to the yellow house and knocked on the door. An old woman named Mrs. Sweeney answered. After asking her about the boy in the blue cap with the red bicycle, she revealed that the boy was her son Peter who had been missing for thirty-five years now. Sam points out the toy soldiers that are on a table. Mrs. Sweeney explained that Peter was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school, but he never showed up. He just disappeared. It's Dean who picks up a picture from a mirror. It's of two boys. One is clearly Peter as he is by a red bicycle. Dean turns the picture over and reads the back of it. Peter Sweeney and Bill Carlton, Nineteen Seventy. The boys and Ruby then leave the Sweeney home. The three of them come to the conclusion that Bill is hiding something, the people he loves keep dying because of the water, and that it is possible that they are dealing with the vengeful spirit of Peter Sweeney. The Impala approaches the Carlton house and the three of them get out.

"Mr. Carlton?" Sam calls out as they looked around.

The sound of an engine roaring catches their attention. They head around the house only to find Bill Carlton in his boat heading out onto the lake. The three of them run out to the end of the dock calling out for him to turn around, but it's too late. The water rises up and flips the boat over. Bill Carlton and his boat vanish. A short while later, Ruby is giving her statement down at the station as a witness while Sam and Dean walk in with the Sheriff. Andrea and Lucas are already there. She and her father talk about Bill Carlton along with the lake. Then it happens. The Sheriff tells Andrea it would be better for her to go on home with Lucas. The little boy looks up and whines looking stricken. He jumps up and grabs Dean's arm.

"Lucas, it's okay. It's okay. Hey, Lucas, it's okay. It's okay." Dean tried to calm the young boy down and watched as Andrea pulled him away from Dean.

As his mother led him out the door, Lucas' gaze remained on Dean. The Winchesters follow the Sheriff into his office. It doesn't take long for the Sheriff to reveal that he called the Federal Wildlife Service and that they had never heard of the boys. He then gives them an ultimatum. Either he arrests them for impersonating government officials, holding them as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance or they get the hell out of town never coming back. The Winchesters chose option number two and made their way back to the motel. Ruby returned to find them packing up the Impala and huffed.

"What, Ruby? It's not like we have a choice." Dean said as he loaded up the trunk.

The blonde glanced around for a moment before looking at him, "Actually, you do. The Sheriff said you two had to leave town. He doesn't know I'm connected to you guys. I can just stay here and finish the job."

"And let your father gank us for leaving you here on a case alone? No thank you. Get your ass in the car, Ruby."

Ruby narrowed her eyes and stalked back into the motel room, "Bite me, Dean. I'm not going anywhere."

She definitely sympathized with the Barr kid a bit too much. Ruby herself had only been a toddler when her mother passed on. She remembered the living room being messy. The blonde had been half asleep when her father strapped her into her car seat in his old Chevelle. It was her maternal grandmother's scream that woke her up. Little Ruby Singer had no idea what was going on at the time. She didn't understand why her grandmother was so upset or why her daddy was leaving without her. Ruby didn't see her father for at least a year after that though he did send her a birthday gift for her fifth birthday. It was on her sixth birthday that she was finally reunited with her father and he brought her back home. Being a hunter was something that he had never wanted her to be. He gave her the most normal childhood that he could. Still, it didn't stop her from telling him that she wanted to be a hunter when she was sixteen years old. Naturally, Bobby forbid it and that was the end of that. Until she ran away and ended up running into the Winchesters. She would eventually reunite with with her father and after a long talk, Bobby reluctantly agreed to let her hunt as long as she wasn't hunting alone.

Dean and Sam were sitting in the Impala waiting for the traffic light to turn green. They had let Ruby stay behind much to Dean's displeasure. There's a sign that says the I-43 North to Milwaukee is to the left. The light finally turns green, but the Impala doesn't move.

"Green."

"Huh?"

"Light's green." Sam responds and watches as Dean turns the Impala to the right, "Uh, the interstate's the other way."

"I know."

The boys are in the Impala heading back into town. There is a somewhat comfortable silence between them until Sam speaks up.

"But Dean, this job, I think it's over." He paused, "If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got it's revenge, it should be at rest. Case closed."

"Alright, so what if we take off and this thing isn't done? What if we missed something and more people get hurt? What if Ruby gets hurt or worse, Sam?"

"But why would you think that?"

"Because Lucas was really scared. I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid is okay and that Ruby's safe."

The boys drive over to the Devins/Barr house and get out of the car only to find Ruby approaching the home. She gives them a look, but lets Dean ring the doorbell. The door suddenly swings open revealing Lucas looking desperately afraid. The three of them follow him inside and run up the stairs after him. The kid stops in front of a door and pounds on it. Dean pushes Lucas over toward Sam and Ruby before kicking the door in. They ran in toward the tub while Ruby held Lucas back keeping his view blocked. The Winchesters stick their arms into the tub and pull Andrea out. She gasps for air only to be pulled back under. They fight to pull her back until they finally get her pulled out. It is then that Ruby kicks the boys out sending them downstairs with Lucas while she hands Andrea a towel. Dawn is breaking by the time Andrea is downstairs sitting comfortably with dry clothes. Dean is looking through notebooks that are on the bookshelves.

Andrea began to cry, "It doesn't make any sense. I'm going crazy!"

"No, you're not. Tell us what happened. Everything." Sam responded as comfortingly as he could.

She thought back to what had just happened a little while ago, "I heard..I thought I heard..there was this voice. It..it said 'Come play with me'."

It was then that Dean found a scrapbook and pulled it out. He flipped through it only to stop when he found a picture of Explorer Troop 37, an old group photo of a boy scout troop. He showed the picture to Andrea and she points to one boy claiming that he was her father and that he must of been twelve in the picture. She then pointed to another picture of the young Sheriff and he was beside Peter Sweeney. Dean looks at Sam as they both realize that Christopher Barr's connection was to the Sheriff and not to Bill Carlton as they had once assumed. It was then that Dean noticed Lucas was looking outside.

"Lucas, what is it?" Dean asked only to see the kid walk outside.

The group followed him until he stopped and looked at the ground before looking up at Dean. He tells Andrea to get back to the house with Lucas and stay there. She does as he said and Ruby goes with her. The boys then fetch shovels from the Impala and dig into the dirt until Dean's shovel clanks against something. They dropped the shovels and dug with their hands until they pulled out a red bicycle.

"Peter's bike." Sam remarked looking down at it.

"Who are you?" The Sheriff asked as he approached with his gun aiming at them.

Seeing that, Andrea told Lucas to go up to his room and lock the door. She watched him run off and then went outside. Ruby swore under her breath and followed her out to where the three men were standing. The guys are all arguing despite the girls showing up.

"Don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous." The sheriff stated looking at his daughter.

Andrea frowned at her father, "Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake. Dad, look at me." She pauses as he looks at her, "Tell me..Tell me you didn't kill anyone."

He looks away and she gasps.

"Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to. But we held him under too long and he drowned. We let the body go, and it sank." The sheriff finally confessed as Dean looked at Sam, "Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational."

Dean then tells Andrea and her father that they needed to get them all far away from the lake right now. It was then that Andrea gasped as she spotted Lucas walking toward the lake. Her father called out his name and they all ran toward the lake. Lucas is leaning over the side of the dock reaching for a toy soldier that is floating in the water as his mother calls out for him to say where he is at the moment. Just then a hand reaches up pulling Lucas into the water. By then, they had reached the lake. The sheriff stops and is horrified to see Peter's head is visible. He recognizes him instantly. The Winchesters pulled off their jackets and ran down the dock before they dove right into the water. Andrea gasped again and pulled off her own jacket preparing to dive in as well.

"No, Andrea, stay where you are. We'll get him." Sam assured her before going back under to look for Lucas.

Panic was evident upon Andrea's face as she looked out at the water, "No! Lucas!"

Ruby approached Andrea pulling her back a bit from the water, "It's going to be okay. They'll find him."

Andrea just nodded before looking at the blonde, "How do you know? Do you trust them?"

She nodded looking at her reassuringly, "I know because they have never let me down before. I trust them with my life."

As the boys continue to look for Lucas, his grandfather takes off his jacket and wades into the water.

Andrea's eyes widen as she looks over at her father, "Daddy! No!"

"Peter. Lucas—he's, he's just a little boy. Please, it's not his fault, it's mine. Please take me." Jake, the sheriff, pleaded with the spirit.

The Winchesters came up for air just then and Dean calls out to Jake. Peter surfaces just then looking at Jake.

"Just let it be over!" Jake exclaimed only to be dragged under the water.

Another gasp is heard from Andrea as she watches the scene, "Daddy! Daddy! No!"

The boys dive down again to look for Lucas. Sam pops back up a few moments later shaking his head. Andrea mouths the word 'No', but then Dean bursts out of the water with Lucas in his arms who isn't moving.

"Look, we're not going to save everybody." Sam said as the three of them loaded up the Impala.

"I know." Dean sighed.

Andrea approached the car just then with Lucas beside her, "Sam, Dean, Ruby."

"Hey." He smiled as he turned to face them.

Andrea smiled, "We're glad we caught you. We just, um, we made you lunch for the road." She gestured toward Lucas who was carrying a tray of sandwiches, "Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself."

"Can I give it to them now?" Lucas asked looking up at his mom expectantly.

She nodded and kissed his head softly, "Of course."

"Come on, Lucas. Let's load this into the car." Dean remarked as Sam walked over to Andrea.

"How are you holding up?" He asked.

Andrea sighed, "It's just going to take a long time to sort through everything, you know?"

"Andrea, I'm sorry." Sam frowned at her.

She shook her head, "You saved my son. I can't ask for anything more than that. Dad loved me. He loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that."

Dean puts the sandwiches in the car and then crouched by Lucas.

"All right, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a very important phrase, so I want you to repeat it one more time." Dean looked at Lucas expectantly.

"Zeppelin rules!" Lucas smiled as the phrase earned a eye roll from Ruby who couldn't help smiling herself.

"That's right. Up high." He held his hand up and smiled as a grinning Lucas high fived him, "You take care of your mom, okay?"

"Alright." Lucas nodded and then stepped back.

Andrea stepped forward at that moment and kissed Dean, "Thank you."

Ruby shook her head climbing into the car. Dean thought for a moment before scratching his head and moved to get into the car as well.

"Sam, move your ass. We're going to run out of daylight before we hit the road." Dean started the car as Sam got in and the three of them smiled at the waving mother and son as they drove off.

The blonde bit her lip in thought before sighing softly, "Dean, about yesterday.."

"It's alright, Ruby. It's no big deal. You wanted to finish the case. Believe me, I get it." He assured her and turned up the radio a bit as Zeppelin blasted through the speakers.